Village Squire, 1979-10, Page 42P.S.
I'd like to be
independent
if I wasn't
so dependent
• Sometimes n dust seems to get to you.
mean the pressures of this modern Life.
You go downtown for a couple of things
and by the time you get back you've
spent a day's pay. You pull the car in for an
oil check and the man tells you you need a
whole new motor. You send in for a free, no
obligation book from a book club and not
only find that you're stuck buying one book
a month for the next five years but that
your name is sold off the computer list and
you have three salesmen at your door on
the sante day and get three pounds of
junkmail a week for the rest of your life
unless you change your name or the post
office goes on strike.
You have those days and you just want to
scream and run out the door and find a
quiet log cabin in the woods where you can
get away from it all. That urge has become
a popular trend in this country. Finding a
country place can be something like a
needle in a haystack these days as people
seek the peace of the countryside. The
prices have soared, even though the initial
"back -to -the -land" movement of the
sixties has vanished.
For those who can't get up the courage
or can't find the money there's always
dreaming. Magazines are just full of
stories on people who have found
"independence" on a few acres of scrub
land purchased for a song. Well first off
that song has a pretty high melody in these
parts if you've tried to buy a few scrub
acres lately. Secondly getting away from it
all isn't as easy as it seems.
I can dream along with those articles too,
even though I've already made one step
along the way by getting a place and a few
acres in the country. A step toward
independence though it's not. Now I'm
dependent on the mortgage company for
the next 20 years if I live that long.
I'm also dependent on the fuel company
(boy am 1 ever) and Ontario Hydro. Every
time the fuel truck pulls in to unload a few
thousand gallons ( at five cents more a
gallon since the last time he was here or I
open a Hydro bill atter first making sure
I'm sitting on a strong chair) 1 find myself
browsing through one of those magazines
40 Village Squire, October 1979
that promises independence.
1 was doing it the other day. There they
were all those nice stories about people
who'd been able to tell the fuel company to
drown in their 60 -cent -a -gallon fuel oil and
told the hydro company where to stick their
hot lines. Ah the wonder of it all.
One of the popular ways of escape has
been solar 'heating. Just think of it,
capturing all that free heat from the sun.
No worry about prices going up. The Arabs
can't cut off our sunlight because we move
our embassy in Israel. Complete freedom.
But there's a catch. Several really. First
off, we live in a big two story. 80 -year old
house built before people even dreamed
about solar heating. before they even
dreamed about an oil -fired central heating
system for that matter. It's not the kind of
place where solar heating is too applicable.
Even if it was. our house is surrounded by
huge old spruce and maple trees so the sun
doesn't shine into the yard too much. You
could cut the trees I suppose but if you did
then the house would be unprotected from
the wind which can blow right through the
bricks out here in the snowbelt.
The other big independence vehicle is
the wood stove. I'm not in love with them
because I grew up with the wood stove. I
remember the hungry, dirty, beasts that
everyone was so happy to get rid of. I
remember the cold mornings. Besides,
wood stoves need wood. Buying wr,od costs
more money every day. The only wood on
our land are those maple and spruce that
might keep us going for one winter if we
didn't freeze from the wind that swept
through the house because there were no
trees to protect it.
Ah the wind. Inspiration. At least that
damned wind should be good for
something. An article on wind power.
That's it. I read the article with
enthusiasm. Harness the wind and at least
get rid of the hydro bill. There were case
histories of people who'd done it. They'd
had to do without a lot of the conveniences
but for the sake of independence surely
that could be done. There was the cost,
about $5000 but that wasn't the biggest
deterent for me. What did it was the
description of the systems. This one was 32
volts DC instead of 110 AC whatever that
means. The guy converted a refrigerator to
run on 32 volts instead of 120. There was
an inverter, whatever that is, that turns the
power from DC to AC to run some other
appliance. Volts, watts, ohms, AC, DC,
this is ridiculous. I'm doing well to change
a light bulb. If I can keep the water pump
running I think I'm a genius. How could I
ever hope to keep my own power company
running. I'd probably electrocute myself
even if I did get it running.
Ontario Hydro, it looks like you've got a
.customer for life.
You are invited to an
exhibition and sale
of spinning &
weaving
at
THE
RIVER MILL
BENMILLER, ONTARIO
[5 MILES EAST OF
GODERICHI
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10
10 A.M.-8P.M.
AND
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11
12 NOON - 6 P.M.
Sponsored by the Huron Tract
Spinners & Weavers Guild
[members from Huron, Bruce &
Perth Counties]
Demonstrations
of various types
of spinning, nature
dying & weaving
Handmade Christmas
gifts.
FOR ALL YOUR
INDOOR AND OUTDOOR
GARDENING SUPPLIES
AND LANDSCAPING NEEDS
APT'S
LANDSCAPINB
Nursery and Garden Centre
Open 7 days a week
Monday thru Saturday
till dark;
Sunday 12 to 6.
Seeding
Sodding
& Shrubs
Everything for your lawn
or garden.
Bennett St., Goderich
524=9126