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January 27, 2017: In Portlandia, Again

Still at Eleanor’s place. Tonight I will go to the outskirts of the city and attend the Karen Pryor Clicker Training Expo. Right now El is at work. I can hear the low rumbling of construction machinery. This is a sign that things around here are never going to be the same again. There goes the neighborhood.

If I lived here, I’d move. El isn’t going to move. I can’t blame her. She has a beautiful house, it is perfect for her. It is bright and airy, and has good sized front and back yards. The apartment building going up – it’s sort of a race against time for her in relation to the transportation issue. She will retire in two years, then she won’t need to drive her car as often.



She has a very short commute to where she teaches. Most others in this town are not as lucky.

If I lived here, I’d be impatient. I am impatient enough, in having to deal with Idiot Boys I, II, and III.

I must say, the living here is easy. Examples abound. El has indoor plumbing, so I don’t have get all suited up and trudge to the outhouse. No piece of hard foam on the commode here. El also has hot water that comes out of the shower at a consistent temperature. There is no luke warm, hot, luke warm, hot temperature fluctuations here. And the water comes rocketing out of the pipes. I also do not have to put on boots and go outside and fire up the generator.

El also has a washer and a dryer. We have a washer but in the winter we hang up our wet clothes on multiple wooden dowel racks. We also hang our clothes on the stairwell railing. El also has her mail delivered to her door. She therefore does not, as we do, have to go five miles in order to pick up her mail.

These are all seemingly small things but they do add up.

I live where I do because it is quiet, and peaceful and in a woodsy, mountainous setting.

Many who live the way El do support their life styles by working hard. Pete and I work hard in order to maintain our life style. The addition of animals, of course, complicates things because they also live off the grid. If we had automatic waterers, and electronic light sensors, and a heated barn we would not have to expend so much physical energy tending to them.

If I get the job, I’ll have to purchase a new car so that I can get to work and home again. This is because my red car will not, in a year’s time, be as reliable. So I will work in order to pay for the car that I will be using to get to work. This is an example of working for the sake of working.

The price I pay for working at home is that I have more time to write, read, and think than most. I am loathe to give this up. We shall see what will happen in the months ahead.

Next: 28. 1/28/17: Conference: What goes Around comes Around

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