The Baboon Congress

Trying One On

87 Comments

Today’s guest blog is by Clyde..

I will not be joining you on The Trail today.

Instead I will begin the process of moving our stuff, much too much stuff, to our new home, or as Thoreau described it, pushing my possessions down the road ahead of me. Fortunately it is only a 2.5 mile push from a 1600-square-foot ground-level association home to a 1200-square-foot ground-level apartment. For the next three days I will haul over boxes. Then the pros will haul our furniture on Thursday. “Why are you moving?” everyone asks, since it does not seem like much of a change. Not many seem to like our answers. After all, we are giving up home ownership, the Great American Dream.

Most of our reasons are not worth your time to explain, but one I would like to offer especially to you because I think Babooners, unlike almost everyone else, will understand it. You, see, we want to try on a new life style. I admit it is not much of a change, but it depends on how you, or rather we, look at it. And, alas, it as much of a change as we can manage at this point in our life. For six years we tried living in an association, Efrafa as I have called it on here, which is not as bad as I have hinted, but does not suit us. We imagine a freer life, with a bit more ready cash and predictable expenses and no maintenance responsibilities. My wife, the addicted viewer of HGTV, will have a new blank canvas to decorate.

The real challenge will be for both of us to envision and use this new space and location—plus our money, time, and creativity—to think in new ways about ourselves, our place in church and community, and our limited time on earth.

Thoreau in Walden explained that in his imagination he had owned every farm in the vicinity. He had organized each farm in turn, tilled it, planted it, and harvested it without the bother of actually owning it. Similarly my wife and I have often tried on other life styles in our imagination: renting an apartment in one of those old buildings on Grand Avenue or in Dinkytown, teaching in a rural Alaska village, owning a hobby farm, spending a year living only from a small motor-home and driving North America, flipping houses, or going to seminary together. Because my favorite reading topic is travel books and books about what it is like to live a different kind of life somewhere else, I have in my imagination lived hundreds of lives.

I believe Babooners will understand my explanation because so many of you have deliberately crafted a life style, whether in rural Carlton County, in south Minneapolis, western Dakota, or all the places and ways you live.

My question for you is simple:

What other life styles have you lived in your imagination?

87 thoughts on “Trying One On”

  1. Morning all. Wonderful words, Clyde – thank you.

    When I was young, my family moved a lot. I counted up the schools I attended as a kid and by the time I got to college, I had hit 19. So I didn’t have to use my imagination to get myself to a new place and a new life. I even used one of those moves (9th grade) to change my name, from Sherri to Sherrilee. All this moving and re-inventing is probably why as an adult, I’ve only lived in 2 places and I had to be pried out of the 1st house w/ a crowbar.

    However, I’ve always thought it would be fun to have multiple houses… so I could have a different style in each house. One house would be southwestern… w/ turquoise and rust colors, lots of dreamcatcher and kachina decoration. Another house would have an African theme, dark greens and browns, although no skins or trophies. And then I’d love to have a Frank Lloyd Wright house, w/ low ceilings and windows onto the world and lots of beautiful wooden furniture. I’ve even considered doing one theme in each of the rooms of my house, but except for the dreamcatchers in my bedroom, I’ve never gotten close. It’s “Early American Warehouse” throughout the house.

    Nice to know I’m not the only one who imagines!

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    2. Last night, our largest cat decided that jumping out of the window at the back of the house would land him in a wonderful, new world. Instead, it landed him in mud and deep snow. I don’t know how he made it to the front door, but there he was, cussing at me for my carelessness and for not making it warm and dry outside.

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      5. 20n years ago on the North Shore, our neighbor was changing thew oil in his truck. He pulled the oil collection pan from under the truck, and at that moment his wife said he had a phone call. When he came back out 20 minutes later, there was our cat immersed in the oil. My wife soon headed off to the library. Soon after she got there, in walked one of her favorite patrons, the vet, who told her that cats will do that and the best we could do was let the cat clean herself. The cat was sick for a week or more, but all the oil passed through her system and she survived.

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    3. I’m thinking hose–from a distance, toss on a very big towel from behind to rub the worst of it off (then run and let him finish the job)

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      1. I don’t think he would like that very much. I’d never hear the end of it. He and the orange cat took care of the problem themselves. They share in one another’s grooming. The little cat just hissed at him, as she always does when he comes in from outside. I guess that he smells funny.

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  2. OT – it was nice to see Babooners last night at the Peter Mayer concert. Barb (& M) from Robbinsdale, Aaron, Beth-Ann, Steve, Donna, Linda, tim – was anybody else there that I didn’t see? The teenager wanted to listen to the newly purchased CD in the car on the way home. But we live too close to St. Joan – by the time we had the wrapper off and into the machine, we only have time for 1/2 a song! Great shout-out for Dale and the blog at the end too!

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      2. good for you for sticking around. hey i was thinking after our diuscussion about the ipad that it is so sensative on the touch screen that that could pose a problem. let me check with apple this week and see what they say

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      3. Wish I could have stuck around, but the teenager was rarin’ to go and I had to be at work this morning at 6!

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    2. It was great to see baboons, hear wonderful music from Peter and Dan Chouinard, and have Sherilee shout out the blog address so concert goers could join us here on the trail.

      If you are new to us because of Peter’s shoutout, welcome. Dale will be back next week. You can hang out with us until his return or look at archival posts and see that Dale on -line is almost as magnificent as Dale on the Morning Show.

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  3. Lovely, Clyde – thank you and good wishes on the pushing. hope everything gets done and you are comfortable soon.
    most of my imaginings of other lifestyles revolved around growing, producing, preparing, serving or teaching about different kinds of food. my favorite imagining was with my late, great friend – we were going to open a soup and bread cafe – call it “Soupçon” and i’d make the soup and she the bread – she was an excellent baker and i’m not obedient enough to be anything but a cook. but the dreaming was more fun than actually getting around to doing. like Thoreau though, i’m kind of lazy and too frugal to try anything with a large amount of risk. but then i come from a line of risk and change-hating Germans that were aghast when my 80 year old Grandma bought a new stove (AT HER AGE!!!!)
    a gracious good morning to You All
    Alba’s kiddos are strong and lively and moving all over the place.

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    1. BiB – the new goat pins (I gave out 9 last night — Beth-Ann even gave one to Peter Mayer!) have one of the new babies on them. I’ll save one for you!

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  4. Great piece, Clyde.

    Spring must be the time for moves and changes-s&h and I spent part of yesterday dismantling a sauna for a friend who is moving from her small 1 bedroom apt. It never even occurred to me you could have a sauna in an apartment, but there it was.

    In my gypsy days, I got to do a lot of living in different places and see what they were like. The one place I made a choice to move to (instead of moving because that is where the job was) is Minnesota. Growing up in Iowa with Minnesota relatives, this was always a personal Jerusalem. After living here as long as I have lived anywhere-it just doesn’t seem “North” enough at this point.

    Those fleece goats on Newfoundland are calling, and it all seems soooooo simple (ok, technically, it is of “moderate” difficulty):

    http://www.ehow.com/how_2104890_raise-angora-goats.html

    Hope all legit Goat Persons find this as humorous as I did. 5 easy steps and only one tip/warning!

    Imagination is a fine and wonderful thing-thanks Clyde!

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    2. Hanging out with Babooners has got me thinking about goat herding, too – but I think I’d follow in the footsteps of BiB and go with dairy goats. I’d like my own cheese source. 🙂

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  5. clyde, this really striles a bell. i have a habit of imagining all day every day. i always have. the comment about owning every farm down the raod and tilling every field is a familiar sentiment to me. i have been the base ball player and the announcer, the musician and the promoter, the songwriter and the sculptor the farmer and the truck driver, the cowboy and the brain surgeon, the designer and the factory worker the dancer and the beach bum the world traveler and the hermit the carpenter and the race car driver, the leader of men the wordsmith of expression the debutant who wakes to decide how to deal with the world today and the shoulder who helps others make it through the day.

    life is full of choices. most people allow their choices to rule them. makeing a choice is often choosing not to do anything else. good for you clyde for making a more freeing choice. best of luck with it. i like the premise.

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  6. Oh Clyde, what a wonderful question…when I was reading Anais Nin, I wanted to live an artist’s life in Paris. When I read Lawrence Durrell, I wanted his life in Greece and the south of France…ended up being a tourist in each of those places, not enough nerve to stay. I might have had a life in Switzerland if I had felt differently about the man. Considered life in New York City, ended up a ski “bum” in Colorado. Might have stayed in western Washington state if I had liked the weather better. ..Yup, here I am living with a bunch of animals in the same county I grew up in.

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    2. I do a lot of “traveling” in books. Loved traveling to the Southwest with Tony Hillerman, Norway with Jo Nesbo, inside books with Jasper Fforde…currently in England with Jacqueline Winspear (and Maisy Dobbs).

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  7. all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
    declaration of independance

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  8. Good morning to all:

    There are a lot of places and situations that I have considered as places to live in my dreams. A rural homestead in an interesting country setting might seem to be the first choice for me and that would be a good. When I think about what our government is doing, I often think I should move to Canada. Actually I think my first choice would be New York City. I might have trouble finding room for gardening there, but it is an amazing city with all of the live music I like and people of all kinds as well all kinds organzations that interest me. That would be hard to beat even if I had to reduce my gardening activities.

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    1. There is a lovely and aptly named neighborhood in Brooklyn called Carroll Gardens-if you look out the back windows of apartment buildings, you see all these productive green patches and balconies hung with plants-I also think there are a lot of rooftop gardens in NYC-you could do it!

      Me, I need more sky overhead and space around me.

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      1. Okay, Carroll Gardens sounds good, MIG. I guess I think that ultimately rural areas and small towns are the best places to live. Unfortunately, in my opinion, most of the best things are presently in big cities with New York being, perhaps, the best one. However, I will not be moving to New York because I want to be near where my kids are living.

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  9. Great topic Clyde.

    A woman I worked with sold everything she owned and converted every dollar she owned to pesos. She bought a hacienda in some exotic Mexican locale and took up living there, assisted by two maids. She had a choice of being a rich woman in Mexico or a poor woman in the US, and she chose to be rich.

    People often contemplate alternative ways of living, but they are generally timid, considering only small changes. Thoreau, for all his bluster, just camped out on some land owned by his friend Emerson and went on living very much as he had before he built the little cabin. And after about two years living near Walden Pond he came back.

    I’ve recently been considering all sorts of bold changes, including moving near my daughter and grandson (in Portland, OR) or trying to live in my cabin. Sometimes I think I’d like to live on a boat on the Mississippi. I can feel adventurous until I think through the practicalities. Live in the woods with no neighbors? Sure! But I will need electricity, proximity to great public radio, a fast internet connection and a grocery store whose produce isn’t slimy with rot.

    And then, to tell the sad truth, I have to recognize the need to have a good pharmacy nearby, plus a well-run hospital. The nearest hospital to my cabin is 45 miles away. If I had heart trouble, would I survive that trip?

    Considering alternatives can make living in one’s home more agreeable.

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    1. There are people who live on houseboats at Harriet Island year-round. That always seems very appealing to me – you’d be connected to shore power, close to all the amenities of the city. I bet they have wi-fi too. But you’d also have the option of disconnecting the power and heading downriver for a few days – take a little vacation and take the house with you.

      I’d love that, but at the same time, I know that (like Jim and Catherine) I need to have a good-sized patch of earth to feel fully connected to my space. At least for now – that could change.

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      1. Linda, I know someone who used to have a houseboat at Harriet Island and, I gotta say, listening to all her stories about the things that go wrong, especially in the winter, I’m saving all my boating for summer!

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      2. One of my favorite books is Harlan Hubbard’s account of living on the Ohio and Mississippi with his wife in a shantyboat. They drifted down these rivers to New Orleans in their home made house boat, with summer stops along the rivers to plant gardens. Later they returned to an isolated spot on the Ohio where they lived in a home made cabin.

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    2. that was one of Steve’s plaints when we (i mostly) was looking at places far out of the urban area of Duluth. “i’ll die on the kitchen floor!” he’d say. and i’d think that there were far worse places to die.

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  10. When I was a kid, I idolized the lifestyle depicted in the TV show “Then Came Bronson”, where a loner on a motorcycle drove from town to town, doing more or less good deeds or helping someone out of a jam of some sort. He might have had a brief romance with a woman, or made friends with a guy, but always moved on to the next town because he didn’t want to (or wasn’t emotionally able to) put down roots anywhere.

    I love the freedom and spontaneity of that idealized lifestyle, living simply, changing course on a whim, meeting new people every other day, seeing the country. To this day, my idea of the perfect vacation is to pack a suitcase, toss a tent and sleeping bag in the trunk, and start driving in a random direction until I get someplace interesting enough to visit for a day.

    To contrast that, my other dream lifestyle is to live in a big city, high rise condo, and spend my free time dining out at fine restaurants, absorbing culture through concerts, jazz clubs, theaters, museums, and other venues, and being energized by the critical mass of humanity found in a big city. Minneapolis/St. Paul would suffice, but Chicago, New York, San Francisco, or someplace similar would work, too.

    My third alter-ego would own 160 acres with woods, a river or lake,and some arable land on which to grow my own produce up north where I could be 99% self-sufficent, only making the obligatory weekly trip into town (probably Grand Marais), where I’d stock up on staples, pick up my mail, and hang out with the locals to catch up on the happenings in town.

    That’s all I’ve got for now. 🙂 I may come with some other alternatives, because after all, don’t most of us have ‘the grass is always greener’ syndrome?

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. i think you and i could enjoy sitting down to a cup of coffee. sounds like it would be an enjoyable conversation. but iguess thats the blogs purpose huh?

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    2. Oh, I remember Then Came Bronson too. (I’m dating myself.) I think it was only on for one season. Then later there was the Kung Fu series where David Carradine played basically the same character sans motorcycle.

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      4. Steve – this bit of info might just push me over the Netflix edge. I have been resisting for years now because I don’t give a hoot about seeing things quickly, but quirky stuff – sign me up.

        I just saw the last of the three movies made from novels by Tony Hillerman. Two of the three were Robert Redford productions – wish they had made more.

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      1. My little town, Cornucopia, is pretty much a Cicely. Unless you are comfortably retired, you have to accept the need to work about four jobs to make ends meet. A fellow in Cornucopia was a potter who also was the local real estate assessor and a carpenter (famous for his doors). And then he owned an antique store that was open in summer. I swear there is some law that says the prettier the landscape the less money there will be in the local economy.

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      2. Speaking for myself (and I am unaminous in that), I would actually rather be working several different careers seasonally than just doing the one 9-5, M-F, rain or shine, as if every day of the year were exactly the same (and all that goes with it-cue: Little Boxes)

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  12. When I was a creative writing student at St. Kate’s, I longed for the bohemian artist’s life–sitting in cafes writing all day, discussing politics, poetry and philosophy all night, living life as performance art, very La Boheme. Unfortunately, I had elderly parents whose health was starting to fail, so the only part of that I really managed was some cafe-sitting. Come to think of it, I live in a duplex in South Minneapolis with writers, artists and a colony of cats, so perhaps I got my wish after a fashion after all! If nothing else, I know where to get good absinthe…

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    2. Sounds grand (and probably, living in S Mpls in the 21st century, you can avoid the suffering from consumption part of the La Boheme lifestyle).

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  13. When I was much younger I thought the life of a farmer would be great, with peace and routine and no uncertainty. I didn’t think then about prices and weather and government policy. The life of an Oxford don still appeals to me, with the fantasy of quiet, scholarly pursuits, researching in the Bodleian library. I never imagined myself in western ND, but here I am. I know my husband never imagined a life for himself in which he would play his cello as well as blues harmonica in an Native American gospel group. Last night they played at a wake in Twin Buttes, a small reservation town. Soon they go back to Pine Ridge to play at the dedication of a Dream Center built by the local Baptist minister. Speaking of imagined lives, my husband recently submitted some DNA samples to do some ancestry searching. We suspect some very interesting (non-caucasian) results from his mother’s side. I hope his family will be ready for the news when it arrives.

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  14. I like going to the St. Paul Art Crawl. The art is interesting to look at, but if it’s a loft that someone lives in, I think I spend more time looking at the living space and trying on the idea of living downtown and learning to paint or weave. The lofts have a certain self-contained appeal.

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  15. As a kid, my best friend and I were pretty convinced that we needed to find a funky old house/apartment like Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda lived in…we both knew that I was bound to be Rhoda in that particular set up. Since then I have variously dreamed of being a set designer in NYC (preferably for the Metropolitan Opera), a model maker in Hollywood (working at Industrial Light and Magic is still a dream), an archaeologist working in many distant lands where I would live in a tent and wear hiking boots and khaki, and a writer in a cabin on the North Shore of Lake Superior (near Grand Marais).

    Being a Minnesota Norwegian Lutheran at a genetic level, I am, however, mostly a homebody and not ultimately very adventuresome. At the same time, I have been content, for the most part, with where and who I am, so not much need for adventures beyond a few daydreams.

    Hope the move goes smoothly Clyde – and hope the new digs provide what you seek.

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    1. Working for Wingnut Productions and living in New Zealand has it’s appeal….. (I know, I know, the earthquake)

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    2. My best girlfriend lives kitty-corner to the Mary Tyler Moore house, so I see it on a regular basis. For many years it was getting seriously run-down, but about 4 years ago, it was sold to someone who put some real work/money into it and it looks glorious these days. But that upper floor space looks big enough to maybe house a large dog, but not a whole apartment, even if it’s a studio!

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  16. One of my closest friends pulled out of her conventional life in South Minneapolis and moved down to extreme SE Minnesota in that crazy coulee country right near the Mississippi. The land there is so messy she couldn’t even get MPR. She and her husband built a crude cabin in the side of a hill that looked south over a perfect little valley with a tiny creek running through it. They became bird watchers who thrilled to the wild turkeys in the hills and all the rainbow-hued warblers living nearby.

    Their home had electricity but no running water, so they had a biffy and brought water in with buckets. In winter they heated with a wood stove. Their home was not much more than a big deer shack, and it cost them almost nothing to live down there.

    And that was the point. They were not rich, but living so cheaply allowed them to write checks to hundreds of deserving organizations. They worked for Habitat for Humanity each summer. I looked in my friend’s checkbook once. She had written checks to 46 different good causes (Indian colleges, Democratic politicians, the History Society, Amnesty, etc).

    My friend just celebrated her 88th birthday in an assisted living facility near Spring Park. She can no longer tote firewood and water. Her time of living among the birds and writing checks like a wealthy philanthropist was the adventure of her life.

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  17. I am not much of a dreamer so am content to be stuck in the mud unless there is a “Good ” reason to move. Like VS I moved a lot as a child. 12 Different addresses by 4th grade. From then on I lived in DC, went to college in Boston, and grad school in NYC. In the last 30 years I have lived in 2 spots in the Twin Cities and am not fantasizing about moving except when I listen to the weather forecast for more snow and cold this week. Clyde has gotten me thinking that I should broaden my horizons.

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  18. Good Luck on the move Clyde!
    Don’t push too hard…

    It’s fun to imagine different lifestyles and to wonder about it…

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  19. Our daughters still talk about how they were convinced in their youth that they would be moving to a houseboat on Harriet Island, a yacht based off the coast of Florida, a farm with miniature donkeys, an earth-sheltered geodesic dome in the woods, someplace where it’s warm in the winter, and any number of other “alternative” lifestyles. In fact, we lived in one suburban house from the time our oldest daughter was still a preschooler until 28 years later when we empty-nesters moved to a small urban condo. To-date, none of us, including the sons-in-law, has lived outside about a 25 mile patch ranging from Saint Paul to Lakeville, but the dreams go on. We have perfected “Bloom where you’re planted.” and I’m grateful to be blooming near where my grandchildren are planted.

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  20. This is great, Clyde, love the question.

    I have a trait that kind of drove Husband wild at first, but now he just pretends he doesn’t hear. First time anywhere, be it someone’s house or a new town on a road trip, I start imagining what it would be like to live there. I want to live everywhere (well, almost). When we were house hunting it got pretty crazy, because I could see us living in every place we looked at, and would say “Ooh, yes, this one.” On our travels, I’ve now committed to retiring in Kona, Hawaii; Asheville, NC; Port Townsend, WA; Noonan, GA; Boulder area, CO; Santa Fe, NM; and of course San Francisco – not necessarily in that order. And yet we get back home and I can’t really imagine leaving, so I imagine all kinds of different add-ons and remodels of this place, maybe turning it into a duplex, etc. Ah, love the fantasies.

    So I’ve been pretty much drooling while reading all the places and lifestyles you’ve all read OR imagined.

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  21. There is a lovely film that runs on PBS stations around here frequently, “Atchafalaya Houseboat.” In the 1970s two friends, Calvin and Gwen, created a houseboat and stuck it deep in what I think is the Okeefenokee Swamp. They lived there several years. By accident, their lives were documented and now there is a book and this film to show what that alternative life would be like. When you listen to Gwen reflecting on her life you see the value in her taking a chance on this unusual life–cut off almost totally from conventional society–and you see the logic of its ending.

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    2. I think I saw that once, Steve, and again, I was in love. When I first visited “Husband’s Winona” with him in 1979, got to see some of the boathouses (as they’re called there). Talk about compact.

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  22. I also have fantasies of living Off the Grid, and have fallen in love with a couple of places in N. Calif. But most of my favorites have electricity, running water, and a composting toilet.

    Clyde, I hope after you’ve settled in for a few weeks or months, you’ll let us know how you like this new place and lifestyle. And I wish you help with the heaviest of the million boxes.

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  23. I thought you Baboons would have many fantasy lives.
    Today went quite well. Our realtor came to help and brought a college kid, right when I was giving out. One more trip with the U-Haul truck tomorrow.

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  24. Greetings! It’s been really fun to read all the responses to this great question. I don’t have a whole lot of imagination — I just want to live like a multi-millionaire. Spend lots of money, give away tons more money, spontaneously give money or cars to needy folks, enjoy going to the theatre often, take in orchestra concerts, surround myself with beautiful art and a breathtaking house like a geodesic dome — I’ve been fascinated by those since high school. Travel to a few exotic places — I’m not that good at traveling. I could volunteer and do things I want instead of having to work. A rich life blessed with fine culture.

    OT – I just went to my 16-yr old’s band concert tonight — wow! I forget how powerful it is to listen to live music — even if they’re not professional. They always play an interesting mix of music, including Nessum Dorma. I cried during the whole song and kept hearing Luciano Pavarotti singing it in my head. Even though I arrived at the concert tired, I could feel my face smiling from ear to ear while I listened and whooped at the end of most numbers, totally energized. Although I feel like I’m the only person that feels that way at a HS band concert. It was sort of a peak moment, just really enjoying and digging the music (even if it was far from perfect), and feeling uplifted by the whole energy of it. Do other baboons feel that way during live performances?

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    1. Joanne, we sometimes go to the high school musicals that are staged in our area. I don’t know a soul in the cast or crowd at this point, but I am always in tears by halfway through the first act. There’s just so much heart in the kids’ performances.

      Last night Peter Mayer also brought me to tears a couple of times. So glad I got to see it, and it was a real bonus to have other Baboons there too.

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