Species, Satellites, and Old Houses

Living off-grid in a yurt is mostly wonderful, at least this time of year.  I know that spending time in such a beautiful place is a luxury not everyone can afford.  So please understand, I’m not complaining.

But I figure I should explain why my blog, twitter, and facebook postings have dropped off over the last few weeks and why I’m not leaving comments for my favorite bloggers or sharing poems with wonderful poets I met during National Poetry Writing Month.

Old House.

I chose to live in this remote place, closer to wilderness, and knew there would be many frustrations.  Right now the biggest headache is trying to keep up with my writing, including some work that brings a modest income.  It’s weighing pretty heavily now with deadlines pressing at the end of this month.

My partner has been dragging his feet on getting a satellite dish, weighing the pros and cons of this company versus that one.  He’s cautious and frugal, and I do love that about him.  His decisions usually turn out well for us.  But meanwhile, the stoop of the old house pictured here is our office (this picture was taken in February.  It doesn’t look quite so bleak this time of year).

Our yurt is a quarter mile away from this homestead.   But the old  phone line (which we are lucky to have) only goes to the house.  To check email or phone messages, I grab my briefcase and pull on my rubber boots (for a bad patch of mud and cow manure on the road) and head off.

At the house, I flick packrat turds off a broken chair, sit down in glaring sun or pouring rain, plug in the modem, and wait and wait and wait some more for the dial-up connection to work.  It’s fine for checking email but bad for working on my blog or downloading information for research.

The experience helps me better understand the challenges rural folks who don’t have broadband face in the internet-dominated world.  And it makes me wonder about the solutions.  What are the social, environmental, economic consequences of delivering high speed internet to more places or having more people work through satellite dishes?

I have no answers now because during this trip to town (where I can work comfortably in the library), I can’t afford to take the time to do the research.  There are too many other things to do.  A satellite dish will be our solution, and I lust after it.  But until we get one, I’m going to quit trying so hard to keep up with my blogging commitments.  My “Species of the Week” series (cross-posted as Biodiversions at the Clade will become more irregular (more like “Species of the Fortnight” but I’m not even promising that).  I’m going to spend less time worrying about not having a satellite dish and more time observing the beauty and activity of plant and animal species all around me.  I’ll take notes and share when I can.