Okay, ages ago I wrote a long and poetic piece about life, the Universe, land, love and connection and put it on Green Singles. I developed several good pen-pals and even had a couple of actual human visits. If you're a woman who enjoys long writing and uncommon words, I can send it to you or maybe it's still up on their website under "thuja plicata".
But seeing as how Paul Wheaton is right over the hill from me, I'm going to make this a "cut-to-the-chase" highly localized ad, hoping to find a good local woman, or at least one who is presently unrooted but would like to sink her roots into the soil somewhere.
In that old ad, I said I was a "man-land package". The past decade has proven that that is more true than I was even willing to admit. I'm not going anywhere. I have 160 acres of forested land in North Idaho, with 3 creeks, 1 cedar that survived the 1910 fire, and some basic attempts at the usual off-grid garden/cabin/water/solar stuff. Mostly I live in town at this point, where I have old buildings because I like old stuff. Spent 15 years doing the local planning, zoning and historic preservation commission, still involved with one historical mining museum group, will always prefer the old stuff over the new. All my best stuff seems to be handed down, mostly from dead men I once knew. I'm not Ted Kyzinsky when it comes to tech. Tech is handy. Tech is why I don't have to earn my bread by the sweat of my brow, like in the bible. I'm an electronics engineer by trade, in fact. But I prefer old tools, old materials, and old trucks. Probably old people too, in most cases. Still have a land-line phone so you can't text me, but I get email and FB messages at home and at the office.
I do voice phone when I'm in town (no electronic communication on my land). I do email very well. I don't do text messaging except very basic messages on Facebook. I've never really grocked the "INFP" thing, so I can't answer that question, but I haven't argued with people who tell me I'm probably on the "autism spectrum". I've definitely embraced my inner nerd. That said, really meaningful relationships are THE most important thing in life at this point. I have most of the "stuff". I live in a good place. I'm healthy (but I'm also not Jack LaLane).
Ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, though, I've cherished deep connections, even if it's just an hour-long conversation with a stranger (but better if it's more than that) more than any movie, show, toy, or canned recreational experience. If we can have a really good talk, that the absolute best thing out of the day, or maybe even the year. That's where this "personals ad" gets backwards from my previous ones. I'm looking for someone local. "Local" in North Idaho means within a few hours drive time. I realize this isn't Seattle or Portland where people can do lunch with a different person each day. My town is small enough that everybody already knows everybody here. That has its good points and its bad points, of course. I will put my real email and real phone in here, if Paul's system will allow it. I'm not highly paranoid about hackers and scammers. Phone is 208.752.1840 (land line, no texts). Email (for now) is
public@slatecreekengineering.com. That's the email I use so I can change it if it starts collecting too much spam. If you get a reply from me, it will be from my personal address. I don't really have a big company, but I do have my own domain name from years ago.
I'm not rich. I can't offer anybody European vacations, fancy cars, or a thoroughbred horse. I don't even have a place for a horse (yes, it's 160 acres, but most of it is as steep as a cow's face and deep in snow for half the year). I can promise honesty, and I'm really trying not to be so brutal about it. I have all the usual handyman and nerd skills in terms of carpentry, road building, electronic circuit design and repair, machine shop work, cabinetmaking, building mechanical systems (including solar), and a 19th-century amateur's skill at chemistry. Almost everything interests me except spectator sports and pop culture. I couldn't care less about the scandalous or inspiring lives of any celebrity. I meddle in politics and I certainly have opinions, but I'm not going to get Shanghaied into running for mayor again, even though the older I get the more I think that local politics are more important than national politics. If somebody wants to argue about Trump with me (for or against) they better have some really interesting ideas because that is not any sort of passion of mine. I can honestly say I've never hated anybody and I don't aim to develop that skill. I suppose this is the place to say, since I'm listing the negatives, that I don't have a criminal record, never been in a fist-fight, don't owe child support, don't watch TV (unless you count YouTube or downloaded movies), and have no interest in recreational drugs other than really good apple cider (never store-bought), which is a rare treat. I'm a very boring date to anyone who wants to smoke a bowl and watch TV together. I also haven't cut my hair since I was 24, and it hasn't fallen out on its own either. It can be handy when it's cold and windy in the winter. I suppose these days it's necessary to say I'm straight. I really do like most gay folks, because (stereotypically) they tend to be artists and/or well-read, but the old-school reality is I like women better in "that way".
I'm deliberately not listing what I'm "looking for" in a partner except that they have to be within a manageable physical distance or be genuinely willing to move to such. As far as all the checkboxes that the dating sites have (do people really care about all that or is it just easy to code into an algorithm?) I find that in real life I've always been surprised that who I hit off with doesn't really look much like any fantasy description I'd put into the dating site. Even if I found myself some "arm candy", I don't get invited to the kind of parties where I could show her off. I will say that contra dancing would be a big plus, though. That's my main organized social activity. Missoula and Moscow both have good dances. Others in the area are fair to middling. That also gives you some idea how far I'm willing to drive for a bit of social life.
I think that's probably enough text for now. It would be fun to get an email or call from someone, and if we don't hate each other, visit in person at some point.
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and David...for those who cant get onto Greensingles, a bit more of an age hint might be a good thing...and even if you were 200 I know you would still have the spark of life, with a broad interest in all sorts of things 
