[Ask the Gulch] Where do I apply to move there?
Posted by edkbaker 4 years, 10 months ago to Ask the Gulch
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In 2009, the lamestream media was reporting that the 'economy was rebounding'. A large company took the bait and made me an offer. I took it. 6 months later, one of my sales managers that stayed with the company told me sales were down 72 percent. A close call.
I pulled up a map from a night sat photo of the US and identified several "dark" spots (few ground lights).
I settled on a dark spot in Texas.It met my criteria of low population, no state income tax, conservative, and rural minded folks. Add to that pleasant weather, ample rain fall, and ground water. I ended up buying 700 acres of "in the middle of nowhere" heavily wooded land.
I have been working diligently for a decade now to prep for the crap coming down the pike we see today. My ranch has 20000 square feet under roof of improvements, 7 solar powered water wells, 30000 watts of installed solar power, our own gas well for a 22.5k gas powered generator, 5 small wind turbines, and 6 ponds stocked with catfish, crappie, and channel cat. We garden, we grow our own hopps to make beer, have a vineyard for wine, fruit trees, and a hundred head of cattle and dairy goats in cleared pastures. We raise and incubate chickens and guineas. Deer, turkey, and wild hawgs abound.
My brother and his bride have a standing offer from me to move to Texas with us. I could use the help, since it is only me, my bride, and a legal Honduran.
My other requirement, if necessary, from my brother, is, "can you pull a trigger".
2009 saw an 8x business increase for me for one year. The industries providing freight-rail with iron castings and production design service suffered serious setbacks. I was small, nimble and creative. I managed zero debt in 6 months and filled in a few manufacturing weak points with the rest of the cash flow. As of January....I quit, moved 300 miles away, brought a bunch of my "toys" with me and spent this fall preserving the harvest. My blood pressure is down 20 points and I'm happy!
Keep a low profile and prosper.
Commander, you magnificent bastard, you read my book!
(I just love Patton quotes).
Keeping a low profile is key. Being ostentatious will bite one hard in this age of envy. My ranch hq is a mile from the nearest dirt road and my ranch entry. I drive into town for feed and supplies with an old truck. I am not showy. And rumours abound amongst the locals that that crazy war vet has mined his road with explosives and guided missles.
My halloween trick or treaters traffic is zip. Of course, the crappy road in and two key code gates aint't exactly inviting. I built a garage at the front gate for deliveries.
UPS/Fedex drivers are gratefull.
Commander is an honorary bestowed among peers, as is Captain within my sailing acquaintance.
I was stationed at Reese AFB in the late 80's..Lubbock. I spent my time with ranchers more than anyone else...toward San Angelo and just off the caprock. Hunting Javelina with a revolver is interesting when on one's knees in the scrub. When accepted within the multi-generational Texans....you are golden.
I wonder if my buddy Wayne is still around there...just in case you really need those rockets. Wayne was a Nam POW for over 30 months, a little "touched" and one of the sanest human beings I have ever encountered. He made himself a promise upon returning stateside; that he would "play" the rest of his life. Well...that manifested in chase for hot air balloons around the SW, a bounty hunt licensure and a Class A weapons license...just for fun...
The thought of meeting Patton...I've a comparable personality. Met Chuck Yeager in 76 at a Change of Command, Beeville NAS...had not a clue as I was 13 at the time. Accompanied my uncle to the ceremony...I really don't think many folk get to see such magnitude of gold braid and hear such "stories"...you know...the one's that never happened....
And so...a toast. Exitstageright, you magnificent son of a bitch!
....in keepin with the situation....
Goodness. A Galt's Gulch reunion.
I taught classes at TTU. My good friend Rick Husband got his engineering degree there. Him and I launched model rockets as kids in Amarillo Texas. We crashed one into a 2 story house. The owners wife came out and chastised us as being ner do well's. Flash forward, when they renamed the Amarillo airport to the Rick Husband International Airport after Rick and his crew burned in his space shuttle. I was on the presentation stage with the family. This little ole lady came up and apologized for calling me and Rick ner do well's in front of the crowd..
I gotta admit, I had a problem suppressing tears.
My "reality" stopped for a moment when I saw Challenger disintegrate. Walking through my squadron I'd meet eyes with unspoken resolve after that incident; Zero Defect, 100% mission capable, the indoctrination of the newer Airmen to the seriousness of every detail. I've spoken with over 50 guys and gals in aircraft logistics since. With unilateral resolve: All of "them" (the pilots and crew) are of a possessive Our's.
Years later I worked building assembly and machining fixtures for a company in Minneapolis, Tolerance Masters, on behalf of Sunstrand, who was building some sort of "mixing" valves for the shuttle. I was so happy to think I had a miniscule part of that endeavor......and then it was shattered.
My condolences for your troubles. My congratulations on your well spent relationship with Commander Husband.
And I think you'll understand when I express: Thanks for the gut-punch, it keeps me grounded.
We can share more later. I'm off to commit a neighborliness!
I missed a critical opportunity to report on a "potential" the October before the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. My friend Jim and I were driving under the bridge and noticed the rack and pinion expansion on the SW quarter was in an extended position (back quarter of the length) with the overnight ambient temps around 35F. Clear evidence in hindsight of "stretched" superstructure. I had crossed the bridge twice the morning of collapse and by 1600 was out on Lake Superior from Houghton, in transit to start the Trans-Superior sailboat race. We put in at Grands Marais next morning to get some lunch and provisions and saw the news feed. My Neighbor, Dave, was one of the first responders as he had just started shift at Metal Matic adjacent the North pier.
The collapse was the responsibility of Minneapolis, Hennepin Co and Minnesota. It was designed and built before the massive amounts of salt were used to clear roadways...and I told this to the defense attorneys of the engineering firm who were prosecuted. Bureaucracy again.
An irony of the situation is that Jim (above), whom could not "disclose" at the time, and did so years later, was a cell coordinator for the FBI investigating rail, power and other infrastructural mishaps on the potential of terroristic activities. However, he was able to get my, and his October account into affidavit with the bureau.
If an "Interpretive" was to precede The US Constitution stating personal liabilities to the extent of held "estate" in the event of malfeasance, I think we would live under far better circumstance. Oliver W.Holmes dissent in Lochner v New York basically smashed the Dec of Independence as such.
Love it here in TX
BTW, I also make my own beer, and occasionally some harder stuff for special occasions. As my grandmother told me on the farm in the 1950's, "Unless you can't follow simple directions, anything made with your own hands always tastes better than store-bought."
You are also correct in your assumption of ag exemptions.Taxes on 700 acres with improvements would be prohibitive. But my personal domicile is a small fraction of the overall ranch operations.
My livestock are worth more than they realize..
IE, don't let the system defeat you. Use the system against them.
Don't let the bastards get ya down.
If you live there my friend, you are tuffer than I am.
I know you have trees. And damn proud of both of them!
big grin feeling yore pain....
BTW, they did have trees, paper shell pecans trees that my grandfather planted along the irrigation ditches so they were watered every time we irrigated the fields. We also raised some sheep who would pepper the irrigation ditches when they ran them. When my sister and I were kids, we'd swim in the ditches with the "sheep pellets" and pecans floating around us and not think anything of it. So we developed good immune systems which has kept both of us still going strong.
I'll be willing to help you explore the Wis region and I think you'll get plenty of invitations to explore the areas other "Gulchers" live within.
You'll have plenty of responses to this post over the next few days.....I know this from history here.
You can expect this response, and probably from the same members.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mELRq...
Choose as you will. Land is going US$500/acre but is part of a larger 10,000 acre parcel which is being offered as an entire package. Steep, yes, but well away from everything. See the post titled "The Gulch is still there".
Add this monster to reasons we need a literal Gulch.
If you leftists would re-write history, as you have done so frequently to enslave the productive, and guarantee that leaving such a perverted "society" via secession will not be persecuted by military action, we will be delighted to leave and take all the other productive freedom-loving individualists with us.
May you enjoy eternally drowning in your equality of outcome societal bile.
All I can say is
"he better pack a lunch".