The Long Emergency - Page 7

[macheetah]

I think I need to watch that X-Files episode too

I'm practicing "guerrilla crunchiness" in my deed-restricted community. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make sure the several pounds of horse manure I plan to obtain (from a friend's farm, for my garden) won't get...noticed....reported... ....no way am I going to let that full-sun backyard in a zone with two growing seasons remain manicured lawn. Of course there are no specific restrictions in the covenants/bylaws against this, but they've already come after me on things that were much more of a stretch.

[wombatclay]

In the x-files episode I think the first couple got squished because they painted the trim the wrong color? Or maybe it was the mailbox? I just remember thinking there's no way these covenants could be that crazy. Oh well! I'm going to continue assuming that mud monsters don't eat non-compliant home owners.

[macheetah]

I just remember thinking there's no way these covenants could be that crazy.

Oh yes, yes they can
I have many horror stories, but the latest is of my friend's experience. She lives in an older community with HOA. She pays some horrible fee into it for "maintenance" although the community looks trashed. She recently got cited $100 for not pressure-washing her siding (it was a sprinkling of humidity mold, nothing more) while meanwhile, the house across the street from her is charred and literally half-burned down and has been for months. Maybe over a year.

Here in FL we have recent, actual cases (can google) of wars between HOAs and counties over watering restrictions - with the poor homeowner in the middle. The HOA cites the homeowner for not watering the supposed-to-be-emerald-grass and the county levies fines for not following the water restriction in drought -- and never the twain shall meet...

Anyway, more in keeping with the thread, I just dug out my "Back to Basics" big yellow book from childhood and am off to do some happy reading...

[heathenmom]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

In the x-files episode I think the first couple got squished because they painted the trim the wrong color? Or maybe it was the mailbox? I just remember thinking there's no way these covenants could be that crazy. Oh well! I'm going to continue assuming that mud monsters don't eat non-compliant home owners.

I'm pretty sure it was burnt-out lightbulbs in the street lamps ....

[jennlyn]

I didn't get through the whole thread, so if these were mentioned before, forgive me. www.pathtofreedom.com and www.sharonastyk.com The first site shows what you can do on suburban acreage and do a search on the second site for her booklist.

[leerypolyp]

Double-second both of those sites, jennlyn. I Sharon Astyk.

[Tradd]

I just looked up the "Back to Basics" book and it IS available on Amazon used, cheapest was $35.

[sogriffin]

Originally Posted by jennlyn

I didn't get through the whole thread, so if these were mentioned before, forgive me. www.pathtofreedom.com and www.sharonastyk.com The first site shows what you can do on suburban acreage and do a search on the second site for her booklist.

I : Path To Freedom!

They are such an inspiration

[henhao]

Originally Posted by wednesday

Seriously though DH is an attorney and he predicts that states will pass legislation disallowing the banning of energy-saving practices such as clotheslines.

Neighborhoods forbid clotheslines? OMG. I guess I'm extra happy to have moved into a blue collar neighborhood.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by henhao

Neighborhoods forbid clotheslines? OMG. I guess I'm extra happy to have moved into a blue collar neighborhood.

Not only that, but in MIL's HOA she is not allowed to run the dishwasher/washer/dryer before 8am or after 10pm.
She has to help pay for the above unit's balcony replacement, all trees must be 10ft & under, and any lost keys to community property (pool, clubhouse) costs upward of $100. There's more. HOA's are, in my view, crazy OCD busybody organizations bent on collecting lots of money while paying out very little.

Of course, that's only my opinion.

Ami

[p.s]

Originally Posted by JTA Mom

Oh, and with regards to lifespan, the estimate of 40 to 50 is not correct. What lifespans do is total all the range of ages (from one day old to 110 y.o) in a population and divide by the number of people. Therefore, societies where there is a LOT of infant mortality, lifespan is artificially lowered. From what I've read, if a child lived to be older than 3 or 4 y.o. (during the majority of history) then that child had a good chance of living well into their 60s, 70, 80s, etc. The most vulnerable time in a child's life was actually when they were weaned, since they now had to fully sustain themselves without any back-up help from momma's milk.

40-50 in overestimating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_ex..._human_history
and there is a reason infant mortality is included in life expectancy calculations.
Even removing the infant mortality component, 60-80 seems a bit high to my non-anthropological mind. But I would love to hear your actual resources.
Wikipedia is hardly an absolute authority but it does serve as a good jumping off point.

[p1gg1e]

Most HOA wont let you have a clothes line or a Garden :

My area the weeds in the yard cant be 6 inches high...so when the dandelion flowers pop out the day after you mow...you get a happy little letter telling you to take care of them or you get a fine :

Only less then a week till I'm in my little country home and the zoning people can bite me :

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by p.s

40-50 in overestimating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_ex..._human_history
and there is a reason infant mortality is included in life expectancy calculations.
Even removing the infant mortality component, 60-80 seems a bit high to my non-anthropological mind. But I would love to hear your actual resources.
Wikipedia is hardly an absolute authority but it does serve as a good jumping off point.

It is in the last 2 sentences of the first paragraph on wikipedia. I don't have any direct sources at hand right now, just what I learned while getting my degree in Anthropology. I can try to look some up, but I don't think there's one place for that info, so it may take me some time.

Mind you, I'm not talking about life expectancy in cities or other urban areas, or agriculturalists. Until very very recently, cities were cesspools that only expanded through immigration. I'm not debating that infant mortality is not important, it is. But one has to remember that until recently, and amongst pretty much all other animals, the death rate for the young is incredibly high. Simple colds & flus can turn deadly on infants very quickly. Nowadays we have antibiotics plus other medical support to help infants through this.

Also, agriculturalists, even to this day, suffer from poor nutrition. There's a reason that people were much shorter 100 years ago compared to today. If you look at hunter & gatherer info, a good amount of the people who survived early childhood had a good chance to live to be quite old. And they were also pretty tall, like us nowadays.

If you look at the wikipedia chart, they explicitly state that they include infant mortality. It's statistics and math that skew life expectancy lower. Like a curve in a class, those doing poorly bring the curve down a lot. Even if the majority of the class got 75% on a test or better (say 2/3 of the class) the other 1/3 who completely flunked it would cause the curve to settle on a much lower mean than exists in reality. Am I making any sense? lol

Oh, and that's why 'farming' families have so many babies. It's not so they have more hands on the farm, but because only 2 or 3 of the 10 might survive into adulthood. So having 10 surviving siblings was an anomaly. It's only with modern medicine that this has become possible.

Ami

[AngelBee]

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[Ary99]

I just picked up the book from the library today. I have found myself looking at my neighborhood differently. that's no longer a neighborhood swimming pool.. .it's an emergency water supply!

[shelbell]

I read the Long Emergency about 2 years ago. It really opened my eyes to peak oil. I just got World Made By Hand today, and I can't wait to read it.

[KBecks]

I have not read the book but have heard predictions of continually rising gas prices, and a prediction of $9 - $10 gallon gas within 10 years. It's kind of shocking, but I think it's worth thinking about how our lifestyles will absolutely change. We live a modest but comfortable life right now.

The things I see changing for us, on a household level:

-- Next vehicle will likely be a hybrid or some sort of more fuel efficient vehicle. Not sure what will be out by the next time we purchase a vehicle.

-- We'll not do any flight travel vacations. We don't do any flying travel right now, but we'd scrap our plans for air travel vacations. I am kind of hoping to do something like a NYC weekend when our kids are older, but that kind of thing will not be affordable.

-- If our kids go to college or universit, they will likely go to a school that is close to home and not across the country. Same with their first jobs and getting married, etc. It will be too expensive to do cross country visits, and yes they can move,but we'll have to use technology to stay in touch -- web chats instead of personal visits. Maybe that would work out just fine.

--Less shopping, maybe biking to the grocery store -- it's close enough. There would be less road traffic to worry about. Public transport is not convenient for where we live, but there is shopping, parks, etc. nearby so that's nice.

--If food prices go up a ton, we may do more gardening. We may get more lean with our food, but I'm not sure exactly how we would do that. We may all become thinner and healthier.

[A&A]

Originally Posted by Ary99

I just picked up the book from the library today. I have found myself looking at my neighborhood differently. that's no longer a neighborhood swimming pool.. .it's an emergency water supply!

even with all the chlorine in it??

[p1gg1e]

Originally Posted by A&A

even with all the chlorine in it??

Thats what I was thinking!

[karne]

I'm just starting World Made By Hand as well.