[Courses] [Spineful Living, lesson 2: When Nice = Rude]

[Carla Schroder]

On Wednesday 11 April 2007 23:32, Jacinta Richardson wrote:
> It's always good to have a plan for the worst and yours sounds very
> sensible. Part of the problem seems to be miscommunication between him and
> the realtor. Perhaps a calm discussion with him will result in him
> realising that you are not the cause of his problem and then he can take it
> up with the realtor and propane company.

Quite right. I'd also like to suggest that whatever you decide, live with it 
in peace. Sometimes we make decisions we like, sometimes the outcome is not 
what we want, but it's pointless to waste energy on the guilts and regrets. 
Learn from it and move on.

Here is yet another example from mine own endlessly fascinating life: like all 
good Westerners (Western United States) the third most popular hobby, after 
drinking lite beer and spitting, is fighting over water. All the farmland 
here is on flood irrigation from rivers and creeks. Naturally the water is 
over-committed, and there are a sizable number of property owners who just 
aren't happy if they can't irrigate their fields into swampland. Never mind 
that they're wasting three-fourths of the water and damaging their soil, you 
just can't be a Big Tuff Rancher Person if you don't steal and waste water.

I spent my first two years here fighting my upstream neighbors. Those fools 
have nothing better to do that spend their days dreaming up new ways to be 
annoying. Yes, we have a watermaster and recourse against water hogs, but 
it's a full-time job keeping on top of things. Me, I have a life.

So now I rent out my pastures to a neighbor and let him have all the hassles. 
I'm planning to sell the place and move next spring, so that solves my 
short-term hassles. If I were planning to stay I'd sell my ditch water 
rights, dig an irrigation well and set up sprinklers. That costs around 
$4000, but it's more efficient, not wasteful of the water, and less labor. 

Some folks would consider that 'giving up', and that Big Tuff Persons don't 
let themselves be taken advantage of. I think it's a much saner use of my 
time and resources.
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carla Schroder
Linux geek and random computer tamer
check out my Linux Cookbook! 
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/
best book for sysadmins and power users
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~