Leo

...and after that, River painted, while I took care of our small garden and harvested the plants in the neighbouring park lot...and dumpster-dove for items to consign. Evidently we had some good sale days, because inside of four days, we went from homeless to homeowners. We were still squatting (living in a tent – and looked pretty much homeless still) but we were squatting on our own land a nice large 64x64 plot of land that jutted into the river meaning that we also had water rights, however the fish that swam past were still part of her Majesty’s Crown, so we still couldn’t fish off our own property...so when it came down to it, we still had to do whatever it took to keep our land from being expropriated for failure to pay taxes. But hey, that’s the looming axe over every homeowners head. Provides plenty of incentive to pay your taxes.

River found that the land only property was all she’d ever wanted. But I still wanted to build a house so that we were out of the elements...and that was going to take some doing. At first it was going to be a small ramshackle shack that we’d live out of, but first of all, to gather together everything that we would need to build that shack was going to be a task in itself. I still had to dumpster-dive because we didn’t have the licenses to fish and sell gemstones, nor would it be easy to poach wild animals and sell those because in order to be official and be able to sell them, we would have to get yet another license to sell protected species...and they expired every year. We would essentially have to be millionaires to be able to afford to own those type of licenses and be able to renew them every year. What a headache and a half to take care of. But at least we’d have an ability to get to the financial stratosphere one of these days.

In any case, life was better than it was before; now that we had our own lot, the police couldn’t evict us from what was essentially our own lot. We could pitch a tent without getting harassed by anyone other than the burglars. What we planted on the old lot would go towards a food surplus for us in the meantime while we built up our finances.

Needless to say we built up our cardio by running everywhere. Which was tough when your stomach was growling to say the least; however we managed to keep aside enough money to feed ourselves at least once a day...and making sure we didn’t do anything stupid to incur fines. At least they hadn’t criminalized dumpster diving yet – fingers crossed they won’t. When we did go swimming, we did so with the prime intention of locating valuables. River managed to find a blue topaz while snorkelling and I found a couple of shells which I dropped pretty darned quickly; didn’t want to get fined if the Dept of Fisheries and Wildlife guys were around.

We had some rainfall which helped a considerable amount since it brought the temperatures down from blistering to tolerable. Unfortunately, a string of thunderstorms spawned a tornado a few counties away and pelted us with hail. That was not fun, nursing bruises from being hit with hailstones – there was a reason for bike helmets...and our tent spawned a couple of holes which we had to promptly patch up with duct-tape; before they ripped even further.

Frankly we came to the realization that we needed some form of transportation other than our feet, since too much time jogging to and fro would end up putting holes in the only pair of shoes that we had; we had sneakers, one pair each and no way to replace them if we did. We’d have to run barefoot. Running into a cow-pie or horse-pie with your bare feet was not on my list of a fun experience. It was about ten times worse odor then stepping in dog-poo...and if you had abrasions on your feet already from running on the hard ground with bare feet, you ran the risk of tetanus (lockjaw) – not fun at all, where your muscles governing how you were able to open and close your mouth locked up making you unable to eat without being fed liquids through a straw jammed between your teeth until the bacteria was fought long enough to be vanquished or you died.

Naturally that wasn’t an experience we were wanting in the slightest, so we opted to make sure that we took care of our shoes and made every trip that we had count. Whether it was dumpster-diving or getting food from the grocery store, we had to calculate just how much wear and tear we were putting on our foot-gear and calculate replacement cost figuring that into how much we were going to end up having to dumpster-dive and sell in hopes that we would be able to make ends meet.

Because it wasn’t just food...it was clothes and shoes. You could manage to do without clothes by wearing the stuff until they were threadbare, but having to go without shoes was a no-no – being able to be mobile was life itself since being able to dumpster-dive meant having to be on our feet. If we were convalescing from an infected foot, we’d starve. On the other hand, wearing clothes until they were transparent from being threadbare brought its own set of problems. Not only was it freezing cold in wintertime, but frankly, the cops would give you a rough time for indecent exposure. Luckily for me, pants took a long time to go threadbare, and would gather holes or rip long before that happened. River on the other hand...stood a big chance of being charged for indecent exposure for a shirt being threadbare.

Since most of the time, I stunk too badly (from dumpster diving); it fell to River to go into the grocery store and see what she could cache from the limited funds that we had. And frankly most of the time all we could do was get a few bananas or something that was equally inexpensive. On a rare occasion we were able to get some fish...which would fill us up and the bones we used as fertilizer for our plants. The apple trees grew up pretty quickly which let us have some snacks to munch on. Banana plants would have to be later when we had a high enough ability to plant more complicated plants.

Also every so often, a lot inspector would drop by and cite lots for unsightly garbage which meant that stuff that we dumpster-dove for we had to either sell right off the bat to a passerby, consign at the consignment store or dump off behind a bush or something; just so that it couldn’t be tied to us. Because if it could be tied to us, then it became a problem that would result in a ticket and well, we knew we couldn’t afford to get fined.

River and I would sometimes jog home from our collecting activities. Sometimes I’d meet her outside the grocery store and we’d run home. Frankly running behind her was often the highlight of my day. Hey, just because we’re living like a couple of hobos doesn’t mean one doesn’t get urges.

...and when we got home, we’d roast our fish...and make sure that we ate well (well, what did you think I was going to say?)...and watered the plants (no...that’s not a euphemism).

Next morning we’d start all over again; another day, same as the first. But what brought us a consolation was that now we were working towards our own property, rather than squatting on some plot of land from which we could be evicted from by force and that was nice to know for a change. And thus we just kept working at what we could.

River was more than happy to have the opportunity to paint while I dumpster dove and did what I had to do to bring in more simoleons. And eventually, the paintings she produced would more than pay for what we needed as the popularity for her paintings took off. Somehow we managed to buy paints for her at the very least to ensure that the quality of paintings she produced were good, since using fruit juices to stain canvas wasn’t a great way to produce paintings that would last in terms of longevity. It was certainly not unheard of, it just didn’t work out too well for making great paintings.

As I dumpster-dove, I starting learning what would sell and what wouldn’t; the cheap stuff, I ditched as soon as I found them or sold them off to passers-by. While the bigger items that I found like dressers and other furniture were taken to the consignment store – those things sold via consignment rather well after a bit of spiffing up (maybe a bit of dusting; wiping down with a damp cloth and then going over it with furniture polish and it was as nice as new. Then we’d get plenty from it. In fact, selling a book-case was what put us over the money required to buy the lot that we now owned; that the cops would no longer be able to move us off since we owned it free and clear title.

But building a house required building permits as well. The township of Appaloosa Plains didn’t mind a shack to store tools in, but if we were going to live in it, it had to meet the specifications for a house. Even a single room with kitchen...had to have electric and plumbing as well as permits for foundation work and framing even if your toilet and shower were going to be outside...at least for the beginning and all the fixtures for a bathroom had to at least be roughed in before they would give us the Occupation Permit which meant that we had to have a bathroom, even if it was just empty for now. All this could run into the §3200 range just to permit your home and that was before even breaking ground.

All these permits...to be paid as the house broke ground and in order.

Foundation §250.00
Septic §300.00
Framing §400.00
Electrical §450.00
Plumbing §450.00
Final Inspection §1500
Occupation Permit §1500 (meaning that the city will allow us to move in).

Gotta love the city and all their requirements in order for us to have a chance to make a life for ourselves. We’d probably be working ourselves to death just trying to make ends meet...and every extension to the house meant yet another pile of permits to be paid for.

But if it kept us out of the cold this winter...so much the better. And I was quite willing to make sure that my beloved wife had shelter out of the cold, no matter what the cost. In fact, I’d spend every cent we owned just for my wife to be able to be out of the cold and in warm shelter when winter came. Any husband worth their salt would do the same. If one didn’t care to protect the woman one professed to love, then why be in a relationship to begin with? So I didn’t care about my own safety, but River’s safety was paramount in my mind.