Minimalism vs. Hobbies. Can't make up my mind.

[B and C]

I've always wanted an old gas station. Bays big enough for my van with a lift to boot and it can be kept indoors. Make the office part a living room with a bathroom and a small kitchen. Sleep in the van. Best of both worlds.

 

[Cammalu]

Well this one is pretty sad right now but we will get it done

I was thinking something cute like this:

The blocks are in good shape but doors, windows and roof gotta go. Whoever owned the house evidently decided to use the interior for trash rather than go to the dump. I’ve taken a jillion loads already outta there.

 

[B and C]

Ohhh. Two bay doors, perfect! Once you get started it will turn out great I am sure.

 

[highdesertranger]

Cammalu that is so cool. highdesertranger

 

[Cammalu]

HDR, I was down in Lake Placid, FL some years ago and the town is full of murals. One such mural depicts “Florida Crackers” which were the Florida cowboys. They cracked whips in the air to keep the cattle moving hence the name.

The mural is pretty huge and it’s a cattle drive. As you pull up and get out to look your movement triggers the taped sounds of the cattle drive being played over a speaker. You can hear the cattle lowing, the whips popping and various shouts of the cowboys. It’s really cool.

Anyway I thought that maybe I could do something like that to the old gas station but with the sounds of an old timey full service station. You know the Ching Ching you would hear when you pull up, maybe the sounds of a car being cranked, various voices and even someone asking, “Fill ‘er up?” Just noises of an old gas station from days gone by. What do you think?

 

[highdesertranger]

that's a really cool idea. I love that mural.

I always thought the term crackers was a derogatory slur.

highdesertranger

 

[IGBT]

I thought that was where the "Cracker Barrel" restaurant got it's name.   From the cattle driver whip crackers.

 

[bullfrog]

Cammalu I hate to even ask this but having thought about buying an old gas station years ago in Kentucky I discovered that the old tanks had not been removed and even the old waste oil tank when it leaked the floor drains had been used for oil and antifreeze. Thankfully I wasn't yet the owner and he was required not only to remove the tanks but put all the contaminated soil in hazardous waste containers to be shipped and treated as such. Then a ventilation system had to be installed in the ground for several years at a huge expense. It was almost too good a buy to pass up. There are several undocumented country properties like this in Kentucky I sure hope yours isn't one.

 

[highdesertranger]

there are lots of things cracker means,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(term)
wiki definition of cracker

I had no idea I only heard the racial slur part.

highdesertranger

 

[Cammalu]

No problem with that Bullfrog. Tanks were removed 30 years ago. I was told then I double checked with the state anyway because I always fact check. I did find out while investigating that even if they hadn’t been removed there is a program of some type here in KY that will take care of it anyway.

We will probably rent it out at about $500 a month once it’s all nice and pretty. I guess it could be used for just about anything. There is a bathroom around the side but there is another inside. Right now it’s being used as a home for lots of birds. I kept seeing them fly in and out all spring carrying branches and food.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Camm, what were you thinking, well you are a YARC member so we know ya ain't right LOL

Very cool but that is a monster huge project....wow...tackling that is wild!! Very cool to trip a speaker and hear sounds from the past like that.

I love how you still want projects in your life....me and hubby are running from anything now that even sounds like 'work'....heehee…..

 

[Cammalu]

I’ve never been able to be a couch potato. Only thing that has slowed me down is this crippled old body but I still move even if it’s with a walker.

I have to do things.

 

[RoamerRV428]

yea I get that
we move move also all the time. work was what kept us going for that but now we choose the fun things like hike, kayak and more Owning a working big farm for all those younger years have left us worked out literally at this stage for us.

 

[Dingfelder]

 Since we are both old and crippled as crap we have to rely on my nieces hubby to do all that in his time off on the weekends. Going to be slow going. Then we have to fill in the giant hole.

Blessed be charitable relatives, especially the young ones willing to work up a sweat.

 

[Dingfelder]

You will want something to do that involves an activity you love to do and that occupies your mind so well that you don't realize how the hours could possibly have flow by so quickly. Otherwise you might end up crawling up the walls of the van and right out of the nomadic life. But you do need a blend of a hobby or a couple of hobbies that gets you up off the couch and out of doors and also a more sedentary, indoor, hobby that is good for rainy days and/or winter days that have far too little daylight for outdoor hobbies.

I am not going to make specific suggestions because hobbies are very personalized to the individual, no one hobby fits everyone.

Strongly agree!  The people I see who seem the most content are those who keep themselves busy, and can do it in more than one way.  Something like watching TV is probably not going to be enough; it has to be more engaging IMO.  And at least one or two hobbies or interests has to transcend the seasons, as otherwise you're outta luck as soon as the season changes.

I also think, like you do, that your hobbies or interests should be of different types. If they're all physical and you feel like hell or broke your foot, what do you do? Go out of your mind?  If they're all mental or creative, you can become housebound, out of shape, or too easily fragile and weary of the world.  If they're all social and you can't stand your own company, you will be in trouble someday.  If you can only stand your own company, you may not miss people now, but you might later ... and lots of life can be pretty tough if you have no allies and pretty easy if you do.  Without a mix of things, it's hard to be a well-rounded person who can entertain themselves and get along with the rest of the world too.

 

[Dingfelder]

What is so sacred about Minimalism, anyway? Minimalism is boring. The ultimate in Minimalism is to be dead.

A beautiful statue is simple to make:  just carve away everything that isn't a beautiful statue.

Minimalism can be simply about not outliving and outlasting your means of support; it is also a discipline and can be artful spiritual practice.  Zen is minimalistic, and it can create great beauty, as can the process of finding out enough about yourself to know what you truly need and who you truly are, and eliminate the deadweight of false knowledge and the tendency to keep just a little more, and then do it again and never stop.  I would say to anyone, especially someone wanting to be mobile or independent, to not become a slave to too much stuff.

I had a friend who for some reason decided he liked antique cups and saucers.  They weren't properly secured, and an earthquake destroyed his entire hobby of at least 30 years.  Yes, he did enjoy the hobby for 30 years.  But he's probably got another 30 years to regret his loss and, not a wealthy man, the huge amount of money that went into it.  Money that now by definition could have gone into virtually any other investment and been more remunerative.  Yes, he had thought to profit by it one day.

The point is, not being a minimalist has plenty of drawbacks too.  You have to choose your poison.  But minimalism can be a discovery process and very rewarding, even if you have plenty of money.  I know thousandaires who dress like a million bucks and a billionaire who dresses in sweat pants.  I wouldn't say one is smarter or better than the other, but I would say that one of them shows that some things aren't all they are cracked up to be, in more ways than one.



You can drive yourself into a kind of mad fixation on "stuff" that a lot of people are coming to realize isn't all it's cracked up to be  It's just "stuff," after all.  Sometimes the more stuff you accumulate, the more stuff you have to worry about, be burdened with, and take over your psychology and life overall.