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bugs
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# Posted: 7 Feb 2011 06:21pm
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This may have been touched on before in other threads but...
What is a "cabin" to people? When does a cabin become just another house and all the inherent issues that go with a second house?
I know some live full time in their "cabins". That is their home. But for the rest of us poor "sods" (to use a British term) where do you draw the line between cabin and second house?
At my lady wife's work there are people that have "cabins" that the chrome refrigerator costs more than our whole little shack and all its contents combined!! Heck the fridge is almost as big as our little shack!!! Some on the forum are/have built cabins bigger and nicer than what we call our "dumpy little house" in the city.
Is a "cabin" a state of mind????? Hmmmmmmmm Where is the single malt to mull over this one in front of the fire place!!!
In my 'umble opinion I think it is a state of mind. It is a place to go to get away from "normal" life what ever that may be. Cooking over an open fire. Having to deal with "poo". Building something for one's self whether it be the cabin or a trail or a "corral sign". Hearing your heart beat. Getting in touch with nature. That may be what a cabin is. "Be it ever so humble" there is no place like the cabin.
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 7 Feb 2011 06:47pm
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my camp/cabin is a 30 min drive from HOME. But i now want to build one larger / NICER than i have now. I use mine for hunting (place to stay while i hunt my farm and nearby hunting lease) and cookouts with friends.
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bobrok
Member
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# Posted: 7 Feb 2011 07:28pm
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when I bought my place it was a deer camp. when my wife hung the curtains it became a cabin <sigh>
I still call it camp to irritate her tho.
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bushbunkie
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# Posted: 7 Feb 2011 08:20pm
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Hey Bugs,
Always a good discussion...Here's what I think:
You know you have a cabin when:
- a five minute sweep with the broom on Sunday night and your ready to go home
- you "expect" to find mice sharing your cabin with you over the winter
- your true friends aren't surprised when you "gush" about your little piece of heaven...because you've been dreaming out loud about it since you were a kid!
- Those who are acquaintances just don't get it...and never will (poor sods, if I may borrow)
- You're sitting around the fire...looking up at the stars...and your kids wonder why you've got such a big smile and your face
- You have your cabin on your screen saver at work
- Your blackberry doesn't get reception...and that's a good thing
- You don't mind lending your cabin to a friend because...what could he break?...and if he does break something you know you can fix it...cause dammit...you built it!
- You fall asleep in your cabin listening to the rain on the roof outside and think this is so cool
- Your wife says you spend too much time on this site!!!
Ha!
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 7 Feb 2011 09:19pm
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Quoting: bushbunkie You have your cabin on your screen saver at work
OH YEAH
Quoting: bushbunkie Your wife says you spend too much time on this site!!!
Hello, I'm Gary ("Hi Gary") and I'm a postaholic....
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Lawnjoky
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 01:03am
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Mine is a fortified compound.
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 01:11am
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Quoting: bugs What is a "cabin" to people? When does a cabin become just another house and all the inherent issues that go with a second house?
There are always "issues". The bigger and more complex you build, the more "issues" you have to deal with. For me, my "trailer cabin" is a place to get away from the rest of the world.. as you said, a state of mind. My property will eventually become my home, but no matter what size house I build it will always be "the cabin"
Quoting: turleyhunter my camp/cabin is a 30 min drive from HOME
I'm also about 30 minutes from my property. My "city house" is close to the city center and the land is about 10 miles past the 'burbs. I can't wait to dump the "city house" so I can build a "not-so-small" cabin that I can call home
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 09:10am
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Quoting: bugs Building something for one's self
I love the thought provoking subjects like this one that appear from time to time on this forum. I think it's a part of my philosophy in being able to have a hand in creating, of which is pleasing to myself and hopefully others.
Another excerpt from my journal;
Very few deeds mark one's existence better than creating something. The musician creates a song, the poet creates prose, the scientist makes discoveries. Joe average slogs to work, making a living.................
Yet, anyone, and I mean anyone that can move their arms, can build a structure. Building a shed is a good adventure. Building a common house is a bit daunting, as codes must be met, and expense is somewhat of an impossible obstacle.
However, a cabin has a romance about it that beckons the soul. True one needs a place that is aesthetically acceptable for such a structure. A treed lot, or an acre or two out away from residences is the desired parcel of land.
They are available, but getting further and further away.
Building materials can be as expensive or affordable as your ability. There are master craftsmen out there that can build a uniquely beautiful structure out of junk and scrap wood. But the rest of us must rely on conventional construction, which sends us to the big box stores. But with a cabin, one only needs the rough materials. The expensive finish work, trim and cabinetry are nonexistent, and, if you stay within true cabin style, it'll be a smallish one-room affair, so materials do not have to be the expense sometimes imagined.
However, the value of it all is not monetary, but a form of fulfillment within one's heart and soul.
Our latest build
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not far from our place, made with salvage materials
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another down the way, a nice tight little cabin'
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Just
Member
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 10:24am
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your art with words and wood is$*(&@ good !!
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bugs
Member
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 11:51am
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Well said bushbunkie and Gary
For us, as for many on the forum, the land and solitude is the key and the cabin is "tool" to enjoy the land.
I have yet to figure out the "resort type" cabin that I alluded to in the original post. Traveling from a city house to stay at a resort cabin surrounded by other city folks, in many cases in closer proximity due to lot sizes, is not my "cup of tea". Different strokes for different folks.... Thankfully.
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bobrok
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 03:46pm
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Gary O: you are a wordsmith. I like it.
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 03:55pm
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I spent a lot of my youth weekends and vacation time living in cow camps. I loved it. For my wife and I the cabin is a change of pace and mindset. Everything is slower, quieter, more relaxing.
Our 'camp' is just a little over 2hrs away from 'home'. We hope over the next 15 yrs as we move toward retirement that we will spend more and more time there. We will probably never fully move there because of the winter snow and remoteness but it could easily become 8-9 mo. of the year.
Right now it is an escape. At some point it will be more like home but much different than our home in the city. It will always be simple/rustic. Allowed luxuries will be running water (gray only), solar electric, gas range and gas fridge with wood heat. No TV but maybe movies on the notebook computer.
We are going to start with a 140sqft. shed and have set a cabin size limit of ~500sqft. We really don't 'need' anything larger. We will do all of the construction and utilities ourselves. I very much enjoy building our place. It suites me much more than my desk job. It will be nice but not fancy. I prefer cow camp to blog cabin.
Gary, I share your sentiments.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 8 Feb 2011 10:05pm
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Quoting: MikeOnBike Gary, I share your sentiments
There's a lot of brothers and sisters on this site.
Subjects like this tend to bring us out of our woodwork.
Now for that single malt.....Bugs, who's pourin'?
Keep a fire
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 09:34am - Edited by: Gary O
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Quoting: Just your art with words and wood is$*(&@ good !!
Quoting: bobrok Gary O: you are a wordsmith. I like it.
Aw, shucks guys, thanks for the kind words, but we're just kindred spirits, and glad bugs gave this subject another kick start, and I was able to pour a bit of fuel to the fire in your innermost beings.
The opposite thinking folks that bugs mentions, just wouldn't get it, and that's OK. Glad there's a place for them too....far away from ours....far far away (keep the revenuers at bay).
Maybe one day we'll all rendezvous somewhere, sip a beverage, and swap tales.
'Til then
Happy Trails
Old guy with a cabin and a woman to share it with, thus the perpetual smile
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Lawnjoky
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 05:18pm
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Why would anyone want to provoke a thought.
Jocko
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bushbunkie
Member
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 08:17pm
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Bugs, Gary O and the rest of this motley cabin dwelling crew,
This is a great thread...nice lead off, Bugs!
Gary O..I totally agree with Just and Bobrok...you are developing a nice little writing style there...do we have a new Farley Mowat in the making? :) you got the "look" going already!!
Like you, I am lucky that I have a mate that realizes that, at this point in my life and for whatever reason...my cabin keeps me grounded.
I chainsaw, I create, I move big rocks to make a fire pit, and I think about it at work when I try to keep perspective when I've had a rotten day.
I don't even have to be there to take advantage of the leisure experience of thinking about what my next project will be or spending Saturday at the local Habitat Humanity store thinking...hmmm..that shelf would look great over the bunk!
My folks started us off as campers and later cottagers...they always stayed low key and the cottage was always "a project on the go".
The joy was that it was never really finished...which meant ongoing opportunities to gather friends, work hard then eat...and on occasion, drink copious amounts of beer and fall down...ahh youth.
When BUGS alludes to the "other Cabins" that the rich folks have...I see it all the time around where my folks now live..on the lake in their cottage.
Folks buy up all these quaint little places...which drew them to the area in the first place... flatten them and build these $700,000 - million dollar "cottages"...then come the lawn maintenance companies, three personal watercrafts and a ski boat...central air....insurance...headache and stress...I really don't get it.
Why would you buy a place...to get away from the city...then turn it into the city?
Cabin living should be rustic...should be a little bit of work...and when you have your supper at the end of the day...it's because you worked for it...it's because it was "a good day".
OK...nuff about my babbling...can you tell I had a crappy day?
Cheers.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 09:46pm - Edited by: Gary O
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It's tough to figure.
20 yrs ago Cabi3 and I bought a chunk of land in a community called Fishhawk Lake, just out of Mist, which is up the road from Vernonia (my boyhood stomping grounds). A frames and cottages lined the lake. How quaint, we thought. We signed the CCRs (thinking they were designed to keep the riffraff out) and commenced to build.
Then the committee red tagged our shed.
Turns out we were the riffraff.
So I got involved with the committee. It was made up of Drs, senators, and high end professionals, of which for the most part had inherited their folk's places and, as you say bush, were getting ready to raze the old cottages and go upscale. Even to the point of pushing an old gent into selling his place of 40 yrs.
Then they voted to buy a dredge for the lake. BUY IT!
I argued that renting one was the way to go, thus no upkeep.
Well, they bought 'Baby' (another voting session to name it) and discovered dredges have maintenance issues. Imagine that.
Then they needed a covered area to store it.
Then the memeber (resident) dues to pay for it all.
We sold.
Yeah, resort communities are for those that like to drag all their comfort paraphernalia around with them, like Jacob Marley.
And that's a humbug.
Who's pourin' tonight?
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MikeOnBike
Member
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 09:53pm
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Glenmorangie in my cupboard. Looks like there are enough of us here I need to pick up another bottle.
Cheers all!
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 10:04pm
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Where ya been MOB?
Our eastern bretheren are darn near tucked in.
You unseal that jug yet?
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MikeOnBike
Member
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 10:13pm
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Yeah, here take a good pull on that and pass it on.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2011 10:25pm
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A thirst unquenched in the makin' here.
Gotta make a run............... after final Jeopardy
tomorrow, the hair of the dog
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bugs
Member
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:18am - Edited by: bugs
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Great story Gary. I think you summed up why many people are skeptical of the world's gov't's whether it be local or federal no matter what the country. No common sense!!
Laphroaig quarter cask is the beverage of choice here.
(Not to hijack the thread but soon after we bought our property the wife and I put a bounty system in place. The bounties were bottles of single malt or Irish Cream. So if one of us saw a moose the other person would have to buy that person a bottle. The scheme went kind of like this. Moose and elk 1 bottle, lesser cats and wolves 2 bottles, bear 3 bottles and a cougar 4 bottles. Well I think she owes me 10 bottles and I owe her 4 bottles. We did not realize how many moose and elk were in the area. Still waiting to cash in on the bigger prizes. )
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Gary O
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:49am
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Geez, you guys are serious with your single malts;
Glenmorangie
Laphroaig quarter cask
be still my heart
Quoting: bugs Not to hijack the thread
Can one hijack their own thread?
You're the captain of this nautical rope, sir bugs. We're just the mates following your lead(s)...........
Yes, a game to perpetuate our vices. I like it!
WC fields
"I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy"
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2011 12:28pm - Edited by: CabinBuilder
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Quoting: bushbunkie I really don't get it. Why would you buy a place...to get away from the city...then turn it into the city?
Totally agree.
Cheers to all!
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bobrok
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:10pm
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Quoting: bushbunkie Folks buy up all these quaint little places...which drew them to the area in the first place
No doubt that is true in certain parts of the country, but in NY my experience has been that with the proximity and ease of travel from metro NYC to upstate, coupled with wealth and comparatively inexpensive costs to buy/build there is a virtual run on property buying by downstate people. My camp sits roughly in the geographic middle of the ADK Park and I can *honestly* say that I see as many NYC and NJ (especially NJ!!!) license plates as I do local ones. I do agree the draw to the 'quaint little places' exists, but from what I see the intent of these folks from the beginning is to bring everything with them including the power toys and satellite dishes. It's just a 2nd home to them, not necessarily an 'escape' in the sense that they are fleeing home base. Yes, there are many, many downstate transplants who have permanently moved upstate to a simpler life, but by far these people have money to spend and spend they will.
Now, we've talked about the Catskills on other threads. This area is a mere hour or two drive from Manhattan...heck, people come up for the day to take a ride!
Last week I saw a show on HGTV about a NYC couple who bought a "weekend cabin" in the Catskills and proceeded to improve it by adding a wraparound deck, hot tub, inground pool, etc, etc, and the show didn't even have time to go into the inside modifications.
At the last minute they realized that the wife's parents were flying in from London for a visit, so they quick-called their contractor and had him build a 3-car garage so they could hide some of the building materials and make the place presentable. WHAT???
I am a simple person who doesn't require much to make himself happy. When I see this extravagance I have to ask "why"? But its all perception, I guess. What floats your boat...Some may say I have too much.
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bushbunkie
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2011 07:28pm
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Scotch...a gift from the Gods...my choice....Oban single malt...god I love when my scottish relatives come to visit!
Looks like cabins ain't the only thing that brings us together!
Another good perspective, bobrok...which begs the age old question...When is enough, enough?
My turn to pour...keep writing...I'll keep reading
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Gary O
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2011 08:59pm - Edited by: Gary O
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Quoting: bushbunkie ...When is enough, enough?
If I find myself yarding thru things to find other things, then it's time to part company with stuff.
"Whoever dies with the most toys wins" (?)
"It's the latest" (?)
"Are you going to wear that to the party?" (?)
"720dp? you need 1080dp" (?)
Not I
I'm gettin' myself into somma that Wabi-Sabi mojo.......
right afer I get that Binford 2000 turbo snow blower......
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Timberjack
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# Posted: 11 Feb 2011 08:15am
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We are all God's children and as such were all made differently. What is an escape to one is not necessarily an escape to the next. I prefer not to judge or belittle the poor sap who doesn't understand my views on the subject of solitude or the serenity of cabin life lest I be judged in return.
Having said that, I personally like to think of our cabin as a place I can go to enjoy the relative silence, view the wildlife and fellowship with friends and family. I prefer to be on the grid so we can have reliable lights, heat/ac (ever been to MS in the summer?), and water. A comfortable cabin with a few amenities means no less to its owner than does that of a plywood box with coleman stove and hurricane lamp to its owner. We are all kindred spirits, some just view our world a little differently.
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 11 Feb 2011 08:23am
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Timber jack----good post............and so true.....MS is like GA........HOT as hades here in june,july,august and sept...............i like my AC at my cabin.
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bobrok
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# Posted: 11 Feb 2011 08:38am
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I was truly berated and condescended to on another forum recently for mentioning religious belief as a perspective from which to look at one's place in life. Thank you, Timberjack, for your post, and for helping to restore my faith that not everyone in the world is intellectually enlightened so much so that they can use science to discount the existence of a Supreme Being.
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