Wednesday, October 15, 2008

So...Wyoming?

Have we settled on a place for our new commune with earthship housing and people we'll all like? I really liked DC's Wyoming idea. We could stake our claims. We could have our own vegetable gardens and we can raise cattle and chickens together. We could harvest our own power and collect our own drinking water. The government couldn't interfere in our lives because we wouldn't need them! (Of course, they might mistake us for a cult and take our children from us, or storm our compound - think FLDS or Waco/Ruby Ridge.) But if we pay our taxes, maybe they'd leave us alone. Then when the Apocolypse hits, we'll all be safe and secure in our obscure little commune in the vast Wyoming wilderness. No one would even have to know we were there. Also, if we lived that far out of civilization, it's likely that when the next (inevitable) plague hits we won't be affected by it. We'll have to have fashion mags though, because I do not want to be stormed by the feds while I'm wearing my prairie dress because my one fashionable outfit is hanging on the line. Can anyone here sew, BTW?

22 comments:

Bruce said...

if we are going off the grid we will need to learn to tan the leather from the cows and use that for clothes. leather is very cool, i dont care who you are.

timpani76 said...

Or we could make clothes out of hemp. Except, I only know how to make curtains. Curtain dress fashions anyone? Curtain robes? Curtain loin cloths?

Dana Cheryl said...

Scarlett O'Hara made a nice dress out of curtains. Of course if we grow hemp we're probably bound to attract authorities. Oh well at least we'll look nice on TV when they raid us.

Although if we do pay our taxes then they might leave us alone. We could get satellite tv, radio, and internet so we would know when the coming apocalypse was approaching.

I think it'd be fun. Oh and I'm sure we could figure out how to tan leather!

Mary said...

ROFL! I'll take a pair of curtain leggings and a curtain hat! Silly people! OF COURSE we'll learn how to weave our own fabric! I suppose we'll need to keep sheep and goats. Ooh! And Angora rabbits! We'll read books about how to make our own dyes and pigments out of nature, and we'll tie-dye everything with it!

We'll also harvest our own clay for making the pottery we'll eat and drink out of. We can use the pigments to draw great designs on them, and in a thousand years when they are excavating our little community, they'll wonder at our advanced knowledge of things like tvs and toothbrushes, which will be depicted on all of our crockery.

Oh yeah and Bruce, you may be in charge of making the leather. I hear it's seriously smelly and disgusting, so if you want leather you'll have to make it.

Ok, really I don't want to drop completely out of society. I like having my luxuries, but I really would in actuality like to be less dependent on society as my only source of food, clothing and power. Some day we could end up like Mad Max or Water World (ok, maybe not exactly like Water World, but Mad Max...), and I don't wanna be caught unprepared in case that does happen.

lizS said...

if we're going to make pottery and such, i have a friend that we should include. she's a ceramics major at siue, AND she and her husband are awesome people. maybe we should recruit people with different skills to our commune. but they would have to pass coolness tests first. of course.

Mary said...

Not a bad idea. We will need people with mad skills to keep our commune alive. We should also make sure we have all the "Good Housekeeping" books so that we are sure to be able to learn how to do everything we don't know how to do.

Unknown said...

Guess I can't come, I repair computers for a living...

Mary said...

Well, your wife and children can come. I'm sure we will need a community accountant. Of course, insurance could be a problem. Well, just write via pony express.

Dana Cheryl said...

I'm allergic to Angora so my contribution with be Cashmere goats. I really like cashmere. It's heavenly. Oh and Alpacas. I know people with Alpacas and I could probably score a few.

I say we invite possible commune members to our blogs. Then we can test their coolness and vote off the ones we done like!

Oh and I have used a spinning wheel before. I also know how to make soap. I was born for commune life! :)

lizS said...

Hey- the only reason I would go would be to get away from fashion mags!

J

Unknown said...

Maybe you guys can get CBS to sponsor a reality show on your project. Then they can hide cameras and luxuries of the real world outside of camera view for the workers to eat and play video games while you guys take water back and forth from the river and devise ways to take the venom out of the kids bites. :)

I just thought of my use in the commune. I can be the guy that writes all the run on sentences...

Mary said...

Rob, you're silly. Actually, part of what makes earthships cool is that you don't have to go to the river to get your water, you collect rainwater and filter it in your own home. Also they use solar and wind power so they can still have computers. I think we actually may need a techie...if you're interested...

Mary said...

And you're right about fashion mags, I actually hate them, but I don't want to be any more unfashionable than I am now...can you imagine?!

Unknown said...

Still have to go to the river for water to wash the clothes I would imagine, and the occasional bathing? Unless you can reclemate all the household rainwater for that as well. :)

What am I talking about, I wear the same pants 14 days in a row, and shower maybe twice a month? :)

Mary said...

Actually you can. All the water is used 4 times, so it goes a LONG way.

Mary said...

These houses have showers and dishwashers and all that great stuff. That's what makes these houses so nice. They finally have the technology available to make it work so that we don't have to give up modern conveniences.

lizS said...

"I am sick of the everlasting Ding Dong about fashion"-
attrib. Brigham Young

J

lizS said...

Why wouldn't you want to get as unfashionable as possible? Those people are unreconstructed imbeciles.

J

Hoba Chi said...

Dana, you sound like you are in the know. What's the street value of an alpaca these days?

Mary said...

John, I don't want to dress like Britney Spears, I just don't want to be wearing a prairie dress when they come to take our children from us, that's all I'm saying. Didn't you read my post? Sheesh!

Eyepoke said...

Who is Britney Spears? One of your disreputable Georgia friends?

Dana Cheryl said...

Erik, the last time I talked to an Alpaca farmer they were going for about $4000 a piece. That was a few years ago so the prices may have dropped. The way I see it they're an asset to any commune. :)