My name is Rick McEwen and this is my personal blog. The primary purpose of the blog is to document my quest for a simple and sustainable lifestyle.

About Me

I live and work along the Wasatch Mountain Range in Utah. I'm employed as a software developer and primarily develop applications for the insurance industry. My hobbies include skiing, sports, woodworking, golf, and computing.

About the Blog

This blog will primarily contain details of various projects related to my goal of retiring or semi-retiring in the next few years and living in an off-grid cabin on land near the Uintah mountains. I plan to document the process, including purchasing land, building the cabin, and eventually living in the cabin.

Qualifications

I'm handy. I can build things. I'm not a contractor but I have some limited experience in residential construction, HVAC, electrical wiring, and plumbing. I like tools and have a lot of them. I tend to try to do things the right way, in a quality manner. Plus, it's amazing what you can learn from books or on the internets these days.

Philosophy

I'm not a nut. My desire to live off-grid in a rural area is not motivated by politics or ideology. I'm not trying to stick it to "the man" or practice any form of civil disobedience. My goal is not to establish a stronghold in the face of some impending economic collapse or doomsday scenario. I don't plan to live without money, access to civilization, or paying taxes.

I do place a high value on personal freedom and privacy and must admit that these values influence my decisions regarding where and how to live. But these beliefs are ancillary to my primary goals.

My objective is simply to be able to live in a manner in which my time is largely my own, in a location I can appreciate, in a fashion which makes me happy. This blog will attempt to describe my efforts to make this dream an eventual reality.