I ran out of gas.
Technically my husband ran the car out of gas and neglected to notice the light was on when he parked in our driveway. Then I hopped in my car and ran out of gas before making it to town. There I was, nine months pregnant and stranded on a dirt road in an unfamiliar area. Luckily some random guy was just walking down the road and lived nearby. He brought out a gas can and gave me enough to get to the village.
This is something that we never would have been concerned about in the city. We had six gas stations within two blocks of our home and could coast in on fumes.
But country life is different. Very different.
I need a half tank of gas in the vehicle at all times. We are too far out in the boonies to take any chances.
I need to bring a cooler with to go grocery shopping or else everything refrigerated is thawed/warm before I make it home.
Our neighbors do not want us or our kids all up in their lives. If they wanted to be that chummy with neighbors, they would live in town. We’ve had to adjust for that. The kids are having a harder time with it.
I miss having people to talk to. I may not be a social butterfly, but I am not really a hermit type either. Country life is isolating.
We have a lot of coyote poop. I suppose that isn’t any different from people letting their dogs crap in our city yard.
That sounds like all cons. I should acknowledge some pros!!
We have privacy. I could walk out to the chicken coop to collect eggs buck naked and no one would know.
On that topic, we can let our animals free range. That doesn’t really work in the city. (Although our chickens seem to have no sense of self preservation keeping them from wandering too far.)
We can build barns and sheds! And not worry too much about property lines since we have enough space.
We can become more self sufficient. We have so much space for garden beds and animals. There is enough space for both our tree farm and hobby farm.
There’s less pressure for perfection. I feel like parenting is less competitive out here. Like, there are fewer mommy battles over silly things. If I serve a birthday cake made with gluten-y flour and sugar loaded non-organic frosting, no one bats an eye.
There’s also less pressure on physical appearance. This might be based on lack of access. There is a serious lack of gyms, salons, and clothing stores out here. So working out, getting manicures, and wearing fashionable clothing is less expected. On the one hand, it feels frumpy. On the other, it is kind of freeing to just get on with life instead of analyzing my appearance all the time.
We are adjusting and acclimating. Winter will be interesting. Just getting out of our long driveway in the heavy snow will be a challenge! I’m used to having places to get out to with a stroller in winter, but there is NOTHING out here. I would need to drive over an hour just to push the baby around at a mall. Although I might be spending all my time shoveling pathways to the chicken run through the snow. I’m nervous about the isolation. Eeeep.
If you are home with kids and live in the boonies, how do you get out and not go crazy? Especially when the big snow starts?