Quote:
Originally Posted by 8gv
When one is young and not yet in need of repair, doing this sort of thing makes sense. As one gets a little "long in the tooth" and has had a few repairs, a calculation must be made. With only a finite quantity of "body capital" remaining, one must consider how much of it should be expended on chores. Put down the ax or maul and save your body for things that bring you pleasure!
|
Perhaps it's time for an explanation. I don't have a lot of choice about the massive amount of hard physical labor I do on my property, given that Franklin has had an opioid crisis for something like a decade now. There are no healthy, affordable young workers in this town. I've hired people who turned out to be addicts. One of them, a heroin addict, robbed me four times before I figured out what he was doing. Addicts are totally unreliable. They're either several hours late or don't show up at all.
You often hear about the impact of drug addiction on families. You never hear about the impact on the community, especially on senior citizens who lose their access to the normal network of affordable home maintenance workers. My property has lost value because of this. It took me four years to find someone to replace rotten siding. I've been trying to find an exterior painter for that long too. I gave up on addicted yard workers and do all of the mowing, brush cutting, raking, snow shoveling, and ditch digging myself on my two acres. I'm 70, in case you were wondering.
It has not always been like this. Before the opioid epidemic, a simple Craigslist ad would yield 10 skilled, affordable, clean-cut applicants I could choose from. Today, a Craigslist ad still brings in 10 responses, but every single one of them has an easily traceable criminal record. The crimes are not small---things like beating someone with a baseball bat over a drug deal gone bad and preying on innocent people.
So now you know why I'm constantly posting questions here about home maintenance, my car, ways to save on utilities, how to make a good fire in a woodstove, etc. Were it not for the excellent information and advice I've received here, my house probably would have collapsed by now, my car would be dead in the driveway, and I would be at the mercy of Eversource and Consolidated Communications.
Franklin is in the Lakes Region, you know. This picture I've painted is the other face of the Lakes Region that doesn't usually get discussed in this forum. When I bought a house in this town, I had no idea what kind of place I was moving to. I only knew that I saved quite a bit of money by buying north of Concord.
To your point, 8gv, I love the Lakes Region and Winnipesaukee and I try to spend as much time as possible biking, hiking, kayaking, and exploring the back roads here. Also previously downhill skiing and I may try that again this winter. I've lived in the Lakes Region for 28 years and feel blessed to be surrounded by so much beauty and so many opportunities for recreation. The reality at the moment is that I have to split wood to have heat this winter. Prosthetic shoulders are fabulous (hips too), but they tend to loosen up with excessive use involving blunt force. If a prosthesis breaks, it can break the surrounding bone also because it's made of ceramic and titanium. Then there's nothing left to attach a new prosthesis to. Still, I've made my way through a half a cord of some mystery hardwood and a bunch of pine kindling cut from large slabs with a 6 lb maul and an axe. It's the rebellious maple that has me stumped.
Nuf said. I'm sorry to have exceeded my reasonable airtime. I need to go roll some logs downhill.