Bad Neighbors

I met my neighbor for the first time last Fall. I call him my neighbor because, to me, that's what he is. He lives with his wife in a house on the adjoining property. But to him, I am not a neighbor. I am simply a problem.

We met early one morning late last year. I was strolling behind my tent as he drove down his driveway, which is 30 yards or so behind my tent. The area is wooded, but there are breaks through the trees where you can glance through and see the back of my tent from his driveway. I happened to be standing in one of those breaks when he drove by so I waved to him. He saw me wave and we made eye contact, but then he quickly turn forward and kept driving, trying to ignore me. I shrugged and started to turn away, but just then he stopped his car and, after a short pause, put the car in reverse and backed up to where I was standing.

He got out of his car and started walking to the property line, so I began walking to meet him. We met at the fence line, I on my side, he on his, and he yelled, "I don't know who you are or what you're up to, but I don't like it!" Okay, I get that. He must be thinking the worst, I thought. Maybe once he gets to know me, he'll calm down.

 

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Late Spring

May is nearly over and I'm beginning to miss it already. March through May are perhaps my favorite months. I leave my door open this time of year and receive plenty of visitors, like lizards and mice and birds and all sorts of insects.

There seem to be more lizards this year than last, and the mice are happy to pop in and say hi, too. My relationship with mice has evolved a lot over the past couple of years. At first, I considered them menacing little creatures and trapped them without guilt. Then, earlier this Spring, I started to see them as cute little annoying neighbors that chewed up everything in sight. I no longer trap them. I just store my food in glass and plastic containers, keep my blankets in sealed plastic bags, and have resigned myself to wearing T-shirts with cute little hole chewed in them.

I saw my first firefly in flight last night, a sign of Summer. And I've enjoyed a number of thunderstorms. Their winds rocking the tree tops as well as my tent. The dark clouds causing me to light my lamps in the late afternoon. The heavy rain drops bouncing off my stoop and into my doorway, the door remaining open to let the cool wind evacuate the stale air from my tent. Temperatures quickly dropping from 80 to 65 as the lightning begins striking about, leaving me feeling mostly excited, but a little frightened, too.

The nights are still cool enough to require a blanket, but the heavy Winter bedding has been packed away since March. I still heat my bath water a little in the morning, but not nearly so hot. And my fuel costs are at their lowest this time of year since I don't have to heat the tent anymore. That won't start again until September.

My mornings are peaceful in spite of the birds in their frenzy at sunrise. There's plenty of early morning sun streaming through the cool air that still lingers from the night before, and a morning walk through the woods with coffee, and some guitar music to accompany the morning sounds.

These are wonderful days to live in a tent.

Time for Some Home Improvements

I've been living in a 12' x 14' canvas wall tent for 2 1/2 years now, and I love it. I live alone, which has some practical advantages. For example, I've been able to fully explore extreme simplicity with no constraints. I'd use my own personal values as my only guide, with no need to compromise or accommodate anyone else's needs. I'd come upon a problem, pick a solution that made me happy, and that was that.

As a result, I've simplified my lifestyle to my full satisfaction. I've eliminated most modern day comforts from my home like electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, refrigeration, and central heat and air, and I don't miss any of them. I light with oil lamps, carry in water, use a bucket for my toilet, heat with wood, and forgo air conditioning altogether. But throughout this entire experiment, I've only been concerned with myself. And now that I've found my own personal balance, and have experienced the incredible contentment that comes from living this way, I naturally want to spread the good news and share my lifestyle with others. And so I have. I've shared the details of tent living with many people from many different walks of life, and each time I have, I've gotten nearly the same reactions. On the one hand, nearly everyone appreciates my simple, stress-free way of living and wishes that they, too, could simplify their lives. But time and again, they stop short of changing anything in their own lives. And time and again, I hear the same concerns.

Here's a countdown of the top 10 reasons why most people would never explore my style of living:

10. It's just too crazy. Tent living is just too far out there for most people.

9. No electric lighting. Most people want to just flip a light switch and don't like the idea of dealing with candles and oil lamps full-time.

8. No air conditioning. Unlike Winter extremes, which can be controlled with a wood stove, the extreme heat of Summer is quite uncomfortable.

7. No central heat. Although I have a wood stove and am very comfortable in Winter, most people don't want the bother, mess and inconvenience of heating with wood.

6. No electronic entertainment. No TV, no Internet, and no stereo system. Most people believe they would be bored.

5. No refrigeration. That means no convenient leftovers waiting in the frig, and no cold beer in Summer.

6. It's no way to raise children. Many young families with children find my lifestyle completely impractical.

3. Not enough space. My entire home is around 170 square-feet, while in the US, the average per capita residential square footage is over 800.

2. No running water. Especially no running hot water, which means no bubble baths and no hot showers.

1. No flush toilet. This, by far, is the biggest concerns. My tent toilet consists of a bucket of sawdust, and almost nobody is okay with that.

It's also hard to entertain more than a few close friends at my place, especially in Winter when my living space is shutdown. And I can't really accommodate overnight guests.

So I'd like to extend my home to include the following:

• Better toilet facilities. I'm still trying to avoid a flush toilet, but I want to greatly improve my current setup.
• Guest bedroom. I really miss being able to invite guests over for a comfortable overnight stay.
• Room to entertain. I'd like to have eight or ten people over for dinner and drinks, even during the Winter.

My current thinking is to setup another tent to be used as a guest tent, build an outdoor bathroom, and improve my outdoor living space.