Twice now, we have had five people around our table for dinner in our tiny studio apartment. Kelly and Christian have both stayed with us over the weekend a couple of times. All of that worked out really well. This weekend, our apartment manager came around to ask us if we wanted to extend our stay so we signed up for another six months. We do not really know where we will land next. We do not even know when we will be able to make the next changes. Alzheimer’s is like that.
What we do know is that we like to live a downsized existence. The apartment, in spite of its small size, works just great for us. We are close to shopping, work, school and restaurants. We can walk just about everywhere we normally need to go during the week. In addition to that, we have a small, economical car so we do not really use too much gas. Now I have been a good (conservative) Republican as long as I can remember, so I pretty much hate the environment, clean water, clean air and all that sort of thing. It pains me that we have such a small carbon footprint.
Even worse, the plans we have for the next place we get, wherever and whenever that is, have shrunk dramatically. We want to get a small house with as open a floor plan as possible and three small bedrooms, two of which have Murphy beds. What will people think? We are not planning to do this to save the environment–we actually like to live that way. I guess we can do the small stuff by letting people know our garden is definitely not organic and we use real pesticides. And of course we will have a gas burning über-stove. We will have to quit eating granola, too.
Well, these sacrifices are probably worth it. We do not want to lose our redneck friends or hang out with angsty, environmentalist hippie types, but we really like to live small.
Betty Blonde #374 – 12/22/2009
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I am so relieved that you have cleared this up. I was VERY concerned that you and Lorena had gone over to the dark side. Maybe you can find an old-growth coffee table or something as a sign to your guests where you stand. Perhaps you can find a deer head at a red-neck moving sale.
Anon
This is funny. I am republican, take steps to lower my carbon footprint (easy normal things nothing super extreme), and live simply. And for some reason walking most places instead of driving, reusing stuff instead throwing it away, and living in small house not crowded with stuff is just more satisfying to me, saving the planet is just a bonus. I have a friend who told me, “I don’t recycle because I don’t believe in global warming.” I just started shaking my head after heard that, because those two things are unrelated. I don’t believe in global warming, but I do believe in preserving our earths resources and doing the right thing, especially where I live when it is no extra effort and included in my tax dollars.
Bigger doesn’t always mean better quality of living and less is often more. Also, taking small steps for the planet that require little (or sometimes less) effort is for everyone, not just democrats. I don’t care who you and what you believe in, this planet belongs to all of us. It is a good idea to just about how much you are actually using and where to cut back.
But what do I know, maybe I’m wacko.
Hahaha Gene! I am glad I could clear that up. Sadly, I am not a hunter, but the endangered species head mount might be just what the doctor ordered. I am on the look-out. I am sure there is more of that sort of thing over where you are in Montana.
Anon — EXACTLY right! This is exactly my position on all this stuff. The thing is, now that we live in Oregon, whatever we do to try to be responsible in almost every area of our lives is looked on with askance because of our who we are. I love Oregon a lot, but to suggest that North Carolina (we spent the last seven years there) is more tolerant is a wild understatement. The one really cool thing about the move with respect to the environment is that we can now recycle our cans for money and not just a chance to help the planet!