Column by Hal Walter
Rural Life – October 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
AS THE ASPENS began to turn this year, our woodstove was yanked out in favor of a freestanding propane fireplace stove with a thermostat, blower, 32,000 BTUs, “Ember-Fyre” technology, and who knows what else. How “disco” is that? The point being that 20 years of burning wood to stay warm was proof we are tough enough. Now it’s time to prove we are smart enough.
Autumn is the time of change, and change is good. Golden autumn days with picture-perfect blue skies mean that high winds and low temperatures are just around the corner. Somehow this time of year seems to make what’s to follow seem worth it.
I suppose that having a child has been equated with change. Though it has occurred to me nearly five months after the arrival of our son Harrison that parenthood can also reinforce the need to keep constant those values in life that you feel are truly worth passing on to another generation.
Here are some important things that I want to share with my child … these include a rural lifestyle and existence, independent spirit, the written word, clear skies, working to live rather than living to work, sleeping on the ground occasionally, creativity, connection with the natural world, physical fitness. The latter I have realized to be more important than ever, viewing the daily workout as conditioning for a future in which I must strive to keep up with a person 44 years my junior.
There are some commonly accepted “values” I don’t think are particularly worthwhile for children to learn . . . among these are rush-hour traffic, a down-trodden attitude and wage-slave mentality, homogeneous neighborhoods (today’s suburbs — tomorrow’s slums!), addiction to television and video games, childhood obesity. The list could go on . . .
We recently faced some of these choices when a potential buyer made yet her second offer in one year on our Wet Mountain residence, which I’ve recently decided to rename the “Out There Corrals.” This same person backed out on a purchase last winter, then resurfaced this summer with a cash offer for nearly a quarter-million dollars.
This sort of thing will make you think about what to do next. Ideas run the gamut from taking the money and moving to South America or buying a motorhome and becoming nomads, to the more tame daydream of moving to New Mexico, and then lastly moving nearer to a town, or on the completely unacceptable end, moving into town.
In fact, since having a child I have lost count of how many people have suggested that it’s time to move to town, or flat out asked when we’d be moving to town. When some people learned that we had a contract on the place, it was assumed by many that we would be moving directly to Pueblo, setting up shop in a place down there called El Camino, which despite the name has all of the rural charm of Highlands Ranch south of Denver, complete with its own mini rush hour.
Why Pueblo? Economic reality. For better or for worse, both my wife and I have part-time employment there, she at a community health center and I at the daily newspaper. Despite the high real-estate price tag, Central Colorado — even Custer County — still lags behind in wages. And so we drive for dollars. Both jobs are about an hour’s commute from our Wet Mountain ranchito.
WETMORE IS ABOUT HALFWAY from our place to Pueblo, but frankly there’s nothing available that meets our expectations or fits in our price range. There’s also an area known as Red Creek Ranch that takes in an expansive range of canyons and foothills west of Pueblo. The land is nice, but the water situation there seems problematic, unless you relish drinking something that smells vaguely like rotten eggs. I sort of like the concept of turning on the faucet and having drinkable water, which by the way is not available within city limits either.
I noted that the drive from this Red Creek land into the center of Pueblo saved about 20 minutes each way. It also occurred to me that when I go to Pueblo on a shopping run I spend more time driving in and around town than I do getting to town. I suspect that many people who live in town probably spend more time in a car than I do, just because it seems easy to jump in and drive to the other side of town. Fifteen minutes of driving hither and thither in Pueblo several times daily could easily add up to a trip to the Out There Corrals. Plus there’s the traffic. Recently on a return trip after an evening of copy editing in Pueblo I saw not one single vehicle traveling the highway in either direction between there and here.
Nevertheless, we began to look at land in the Red Creek area when the contract was on the table, and actually were leaning toward purchasing 48 acres there. Meanwhile, our presumptive buyer ordered up a building inspection and an appraisal.
THE APPRAISAL CAME IN $10,000 over the purchase price, which was a nice surprise. On the other hand, the inspection indicated we needed a new roof, a new water heater, and to make a couple of other minor repairs. There was some discussion about all of this, resulting in our suggestion that we’d knock another $3,500 off the price to make up for the problems the inspector found.
To make a long story short, she walked. Again. We wonder if she ever really meant to buy the place or perhaps just thought she’d spend about $600 of her own money to give us a written list of improvements that need to be made, a statement of actual appraised value, and some input to help us take stock of what a good thing we actually have here.
I think perhaps there is the tendency as a new parent, frankly, to freak out. And for those who have chosen an alternative rural lifestyle in the face of the mainstream suburban existence, there is an opening for well-intentioned advice to get in the way of your own clear thinking. With time, say four months, it’s easier to see that no matter how much things have changed, they have also stayed very much the same.
Like having a child, sometimes making changes in your living arrangement means taking stock of what you value, and adjusting your attitude. Perhaps it also means making some needed home improvements and looking at ways to make your life easier while staying where you are.
And thus, the faux woodstove is easier than moving altogether.
Speaking of change, you may have heard rumors that there’s going to be an election early next month. Another thing about parenthood is that it makes you realize choices made now will affect our children far into the future. Ironically, a five-month-old is not allowed to vote even though according to recent public opinion polls he is fully capable of making a better choice than about half the electorate. Lest I digress into the rhetoric so common among those whom author Jim Harrison has called the “croaking shitbirds of politics,” just remember when you go to the polls on Nov. 2 that change is good. Then vote for it.
Hal Walter thus writes from the Wet Mountains when he’s not practicing family values.