The Ski Fairy came and brought me a lovely pair of vintage Nordic skis. They were discovered at the thrift store. I promptly removed the laces from the boots and oiled them up with boot oil. They have a lovely color now, however, the cat stole the laces and even after looking for 30 minutes in our small house I cannot find them anywhere.
I can’t wait for snow now to try these out.
-TM
The last thing I expected to have happen, after moving here, was to find a place that I really liked in less than 2 weeks. I was browsing the real estate listings. I do that fairly often when I have 30 minutes to kill. I noticed an 800 sq foot cabin for sale on 18 acres. We were going to wait until spring to purchase but this place came along and I started to dream of the possibilities of all the building projects and things I would do to make it my own.
I have some solid requirements for the property we purchase. It must have access to internet, because I am a telecommuter. I would like it to have power or access to power and to be in the general area that we are living in now. It must be vacant land, or a small building and hace room to build a new house on. Not be a total dump, be mostly wooded, and that it should have the ability to add a well for water.
In the process of checking this place out I called and talked to a well drilling guy and he looked up existing wells in the area and found 2 in the nearby area. One at 380 feet the other at 90. Well casing was quoted at $48 a foot, so for you non-math people that is a difference in cost of about $20,000. It is a huge cost difference. In a worst case scenario, the well would end up costing about %50 of theTOTALcost of the property. I was very disappointed. Everything else was just about perfect. Location, topography, access to internet, power, and a building that is not just habitable but actually quite nice.
It would be an exaggeration to say I was crushed but I did a lot of legwork on this property, calling banks, telecom company, zoning inspector, well guy and it sucked to think that work was for naught. I realize that I would rather do the work and educate myself and find out before buying it that something was askew, than be stuck with a property that has a flaw.
So here it is. After talking with my wife and the property owners where we are currently living. I realized I don’t really need a well immediately. Millions of people live without running water, many of them in the United States. I mean, we were not going to plumb this cabin anyways, so what is the big deal if we don’t have a well. This represents a massive shift in what I deem to be essential for living. The place we are renting now, does not have running water inside but we have a well. We rarely use the well, we use a composting toilet, wash and bathe with rainwater and fill up 5 gallon jugs at one of the artesian wells in town. It is a bit more work but it is not insane by any means.
Why this place works. It has power on the property already. It has an existing structure making the loan a mortgage and not a loan for land. I have found out that this totally changes the process. Down payments are less, and more banks are willing to talk to you. You see land is just land, banks hate selling foreclosed land more than they hate selling foreclosed properties. There is just too much of it on the market. It is .2 miles from a major highway making it easy for the wife to drive to work, even with a massive snowfall. The existing building with power allows us to live on site and plan the big house. The existing building is well constructed on a concrete slab allowing us to use it as a guest lodging or workshop when we complete the big house. The property is very nicely wooded, and just down the road is about 5,000 acres of county land that borders a national forest. The property has plenty of southern exposure making a natural building very possible as well as renewable energy should we decide to go that route.
This process has been very educational, and self reflective. It is difficult to evaluate what we really want and need. I think I will learn a lot more about myself as I continue to explore myself, the area, and build my little homestead. Hang on folks, this is going to be a very interesting ride. I can’t wait to start to get going on this project, or a different one if that is how it works out.
I helped out a bit doing some greenhouse repair around the homestead this weekend. It was a nice experience. I am really looking to get some more experience with construction related skills as I look forward to building my own place. Helping out around here is a great way of doing that. Stuff gets done that needs to get done and I walk away with a little bit more experience building things.
The bathroom basement of the house we just sold was the largest project I have ever tackled and that really stretched my comfort level. I am hoping to continue to do that as I begin to get settled in here.
Greenhouse with old roof off.
Here is the greenhouse building with the roof off and the new 2×4 pine purlins installed. The old ones were 2×2 cedar and not nearly as strong as the new ones we installed.
Property owner and jobsite foreman keeping everyone in line
The Polycarbonate and battens going up on the new purlins.
The old panels went back up, with a little bit of acrobatics. The seams are covered with 1x 4 cedar battens. The battens have been sealed using an interesting product called butyl tape. It is sort of a caulk tape. It comes on a roll and you lay it out then remove the tape from the other side. Similar to two sided foam tape.
Thor is passed out, curled up on the couch. Probably because I let the woodstove go crazy and heat the house to about 90 degrees. Had to open the window. I was trying to cook a roast in the oven and put a bit too much wood in.
Passed the Recertification exam with a score of 98% and 96%. I am free to take apart all Apple Computer products for another year!
I have had my eyes on a getting a fountain pen for quite a while. I have been more interested in writing lately and I seem to have a fascination with doing that writing with both a computer and handwritten. I was bored one night and decided to do some research on fountain pens, how to use them and which models are affordable. Then I was sucked into the internet vortex and spent a few hours wandering around looking at amazingly written paragraphs of script, YouTube Videos on different pens, and countless reviews of pens.
A nice site I found is titled Beginner’s Guide to Fountain Pens, the pen that jumped out at me from these reviews was the Lamy Safari. This pen seemed like a great starter pen because it is a utility pen, all function with a simple and reserved design. It comes in many colors, takes cartridges or a converter to used bottled ink. Retailing for about $30 this pen is very affordable.
Lamy Safari
Last night we played some new games. Munchkin Zombies and Zombie Fluxx. I have played Munchkin Zombies, with friends, in the past and it was a blast. All of them are gamers, though, and my two partners for these games were not.
I have a soft spot for zombies. Those lovingly dumb and scary zombies never cease to amuse me. Games, TV, Movies, if they have zombies in them, I am interested.
Both of these games were great fun. Having played the original Munchkin with my gamer friends, and enjoying it, Munchkin Zombies was pretty simple to learn and play. Liking the Munchkin system, adding zombies was a total plus.
My partners tonight, who had never played Munchkin before and never played role-playing games, the experience was quite different. The play seemed restricted, and I found myself explaining things that would be familiar to a role-playing gamer. Also I noticed that this frustrated my non-gaming partners a lot. They got the hang of it by the second game but both said the game made them angry. That seems fair, Munchkin really does a great job at mocking role-playing games so it seems fair that the humer is lost with non-gamers. Continue reading
I am not sure how many people still write thank you notes for gifts much less write them by hand any more? I had always never felt much of a desire to write them or receive them. That is until I became fascinated with fountain pens and handwriting. I am pretty sure that this desire comes from my determination and fascination to do things “old ways”.
This fountain pen is a Pilot Varsity disposable pen that I borrowed from a friend, who also happens to have a fetish for fountain pens. His fetish is much more expensive than mine at this point. I have yet to actually purchase one of my own but I have narrowed the options a bit and am looking forward to taking a trip to the pen shop. Yes, we actually still have a pen shop in this city. It will be a fun day. I have a post in the works on some of the pens I am looking at and will finish it shortly.
I liken my fascination to these pens to other things in my life that require a ritual. Making coffee, or tea, in my house is always whole bean and loose leaf. Both require a ritual of preparation that enhances the pleasure for me. I get the sensations of grinding the beans, and smelling them, not to mention a far superior cup of coffee or tea. Another similarity is preparing food, most meals here are lovingly crafted from whole ingredients, again requiring preparation.
I think that the act of taking out paper, inking a pen, and then writing, slowly because the words take much longer to form this way than typing, completes the act. It provides sensations that are not present with a computer which spits out perfect type every time. These thank you letters are unique, crafted by me solely for the recipient. This lets them know that I really appreciated their gift with a little bit of my time and creativity.
Everyone should try sending a handwritten letter or note to someone. It will really brighten their day and yours by writing it.
For Halloween this year I did my best Wilford Brimley impression. For you younger folks may not recognize this icon of television and movies. He was on the Walton’s TV show, a terrible show that resulted in the phrase “Good night John-Boy” that is used ad-naseum. His best known movie role being in Cocoon. He has has developed a hilarious cult following due to his LIberty Medical and Quaker Oats commercial advertisements. A picture of Brimley is below.
The Man Himself - Wilford Brimley
Hundreds of Video Remixes from Brimley’s Commercials have been posted on you-tube. My two personal favorites are posted below.