Supposed to be nice in Houston today, but some possibility of rain. The week at the BOL was very nice. It warm in the sun, and cool at night. Perfect for campfires and getting out on the water. Not great for getting IN the water, but the kids managed to have a splash-fest anyway.
Between the work and the unfamiliar bed, I’m pretty sore. Kinda late in life to be starting another project like this with a body in the condition mine is in, but sweat equity is the only way to make it work. And hey, now I get to learn about alternative sewage disposal, and I’ll be ahead of the game when city services stop…. Or I’ll dig a slit trench.
Houses are a lot of work. Houses in a distant location are more work. Houses in a distant location that is also rural are a LOT more work.
So, accomplishments so far…
– provide some of own comms infrastructure.
– mop up sewer water.
– paint, and a lot of scraping.
Still to do…
-everything.
Water and food are next while working the other issues, primarily sewage and foundation. For food, I will move some buckets of bulk up there, and some cases of cans. Just enough to get started. I’ll be looking for a chest freezer too.
I’ve already started thinking about rain collection. The gutters need to be redone anyway, so why not have them dump into a collection system? The roof is metal and smooth, relatively clean. Sure there is a whole lake of water, but it’s 40 or more feet lower than the house and the garden. It would be a good idea to have some potable water barrels in place too, in case the lake got contaminated with radiation or a chemical agent. Having some water in tanks would be a good hedge against that. They’d be closer to the house too. And as it happens, I’ve got a couple of tanks that I have empty at the moment. More stuff for the ‘transfer it to the BOL’ list. Oh, and filters. Need more filters.
The BOL will be a long term project, but there is a need to get some short term solutions in place.
Speaking of water filters, there was a BigBerkey in one of the amazon returns auctions locally. It ended up selling for $110. Deals and gear are out there.
Of course, I’m a week behind on every thing here that I was supposed to be doing too. So there is that. Like the title says, stuff to do.
I’m behind in the news, but I’m sure we’re not further from world conflict, economic collapse, and all the troubles of the world. So stack, stack, and restack. You’ll be glad you did.
nick
Up at 6am. 64F with 94%RH.
Light drizzle. Yuck.
n
Potable water from the roof? Even with the modern collection systems that prevent solids from entering the tanks, the water still isn't anything I would want to drink directly. But collecting water is still a sound idea, and if you have tanks sitting around anyway, why not?
Winter seems to be over here, so we closed the valve on our tanks to start collecting. Since then – three weeks now – we've had one light drizzle. Forecast: sunshine for the foreseeable future. Not your typical, rainy Spring. I expect we'll pay for it with a rainy summer, but I'll enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.
I would imagine it is some kind of arms race as more clusters join a mining effort and newer rigs offer better throughput.
Potable water from the roof?
— no, I conflated two ideas into one paragraph. Collecting rainwater for garden and washing, and perhaps drinking with further treatment. Sealed barrels of water on standby for drinking, just like here at home.
n
Well, you could just install a new shower pan, as with any other conversion. When my brother converted ours from a tub to shower, he removed the tub, and rented a jackhammer to deal with the cement around the edges, then added more sand/earth to raise it to the height of the drain flange and level it all out. I can't recall if he needed to use wooden shims as well.
The way yours sounds like it is built, you might even be able to just use leveling compound and install the new shower pan right on top of the current cement floor. But I am not a plumber so don’t know about that.
Fiberglass would probably be fine for ya'll, but I was able to get a steel shower pan at McCoy's, I think.
Ours has a short curb, and I lowered the shower curtain rod, and moved it in slightly, so that the curtain liner sits inside the curb without much effort.
Might wait until after having the septic drained, and see if that solves the problem. That, and have daughters shower in the other bath so they won't leave the curtain out. 😉 Any shower curtain will move water into the flour if it isn't closed properly, even in a tub shower.
Off to the Elvis place today. But first a stop at the Bass Pro Shop, a gigantic pyramid structure close the to Mississippi. I have driven by it many times on I40 on one of our Texas trips. Time to stop and look see.
Short drive today, 3.5 hours, to Hendersonville for the night. Grandson's birthday is tomorrow so we will spend the day at the son's house. Then about a 2:00 PM departure for home. About 2.5 hours. It will be good to be back in our own space and bed after two weeks on the road and eight different beds.
Normally I would not have taken the CPAP machine. But it is a new machine, reports via the cell network the usage, the usage must be compliant or Medicare will not pay for the machine. Pain setting up and taking down the machine at each stop plus carrying a gallon jug of distilled water. I have to report to the sleep center in two weeks so my compliance can be certified. Almost makes me want to just purchase my own machine and leave the government out of the entire process.
Ray, so glad that your trip finally got back on track! Sounds like ya'll are having a good time at last.
Rain water is soft and useful for washing.
@Ray Thompson
Bass Pro bought Cabela’s a few years ago. Quality of clothing went down immediately. Why does it happen every freaking time? Willis and Geiger, Eddie Bauer, Cabelas. Good thing I stockpiled jeans and shirts.
Cabela's made most of their money from guns and ammunition. Clothing was a loss leader to drive foot traffic to the stores.
Also, IIRC, the Cabela’s staff in Sidney, NE was decimated after the close of the sale. The store and offices were pretty much it for the town when I stopped about 12 years ago.
Ironically, I’d put the gun selection as being much higher in the Lacey, WA store than at the flagship before the Bass Pro buyout. “Cops” still films in Pierce County, WA.
Wife had to go to KC to tend to her 70 year old dad. He was moving a piece of furniture a couple of weeks ago, dropped it on his big toe, and just about crushed it. Unfortunately, he's a diabetic. So, a crushed toe turned into an infected and necrotic toe that needs amputated. We've all heard of diabetics that go from a toe injury to a toe amputation, to a partial foot amputation, to a foot amputation, to sometimes a knee-down amputation. So, we're hoping it doesn't head in that direction. He's a retired MD and should be taking better care of himself and his sugars.
Yikes.
n
Latest from Frances is that Barbara is working hard, getting stronger, and hopes to be at home on the 25th. She'll have help there but it will surely be nice to be home.
n
@Greg Norton
I don’t know if Cabelas lost money on clothing, broke even, or just expected lower profits.
The staff changes took place at other stores. The nearest store lost decades of sales experience in guns and other skills as well
Net result for me is that I went from spending mid four figures yearly to zip since.
Same as always. Someone walks out with a whole lotta money and that's has to come from somewhere. Usually a fat cat or two gets paid while everyone else pays.
there is huge markup on clothing, and it's an easy sale, basically sells itself.
I'm a member at REI, since the mid 80s, and REI did the same thing, devoting more space to clothing and less to the specialized areas that brought customers in in the first place. IIRC the board made no bones about it when they made the change.
I expect the other 'outdoor' retailers to be similar.
n
– mop up sewer water.
That sounds like the kind of job that I usually get stuck with.
Re: a quick un-curbless shower conversion:
Remove tile if needed. Use pressure treated 2×4. Place in removed tile area. Use waterproof grout and re-tile over the 2×4.
You might be able to find a 2×4 Styrofoam board and use it then tile over it.
Might be 'good enough' until you do the full remodel.
We lost power and most telecom except for the copper line at our house for about three hours today. Cell service was just LTE, and the signal kept going in and out as (guessing) most of the people around me working from home attempted to reestablish connections to the office via the personal hotspot feature on their phones.
I didn't try the hotspot route, but none of the management chains I've worked for in the last two years have done things like monitoring my keystrokes.
@Nick – If Internet is spotty at the BOL, get the ball rolling on copper now. AT&T took six months to get service working properly at our house after the previous owners had Spectrum phone for nearly a decade.
We barely had working copper at the rental around the corner because the previous tenants had four providers through in the space of five years — AT&T broadband is a separate regulated entity from AT&T phone/DSL, plus cable and Dish Network.
She's Baaaack.
Theresa Ghilarducci always resurfaces in the meda when the Dems are about to lose major power in the midterms due to the wildly unpopular antics of a new liberal President.
1994. 2010. And now 2022.
I consider it a good sign, even if she's spouting nonsense. At least Pelosi had the sense not to have Ghilarducci up on Capitol Hill testifying about the "fair" retirement scheme the Dems have been dreaming about for 30 years, where the 401(k) plans and private pensions get traded for T-bills.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/professor-americans-should-eat-lentils-let-their-pets-die-cope-inflation
We drove to Arlington, TX today for a three day gig. As soon as we were out of SA, daughter texted the power went out at the house. My Mac Mini server UPS survived and I was able to log in to check it. Rainy the whole way to Arlington. Siri said it was OK to stay on 35 the whole way. Smooth sailing except for one crash which cost us about 10 minutes due to rubber necking.
Mr. Nick, Arlo (Netgear) makes a wireless camera that uses phone networks if you need surveillance at the BOL. Pricey, but an option if you need something.
Houses are a lot of work. Houses in a distant location are more work. Houses in a distant location that is also rural are a LOT more work.
I finally got my first estimate on building a mother in law house behind my garage on my 1.2 acres. So far the process has been about eight months as the contractors are incredibly busy around here. Someplace where our daughter can live and get a little bit of the drama out of the house. I am thinking a two bedroom, two bathroom, kitchen with freestanding gas stove and oven, eating area, living area, closets. Fully ADA. Probably 30 foot by 50 foot, 1,500 ft2. So anyway, the building estimate is $200 to $300K. Wow, that is a lot of cash.
Plus I would like to build an 40 foot by 20 foot RV garage with a 12 foot wide by 14 foot tall door. The estimate is $100K to $200K. Double Wow.
Nick: the Wyze cameras include remote monitoring and alerting, as long as there is the interwebs at your house – they use a wireless connection plus USB-type power.
Wyze also has a home monitoring service at additional cost. But you can start with indoor (USB powered) and outdoor (battery, lasts for a couple month) cameras at a pretty low cost.
Movement detection, sound detection includes fire detector alarms.
Requires an app on your phone to view and set up. Has worked mostly well for me over the years.
"Dem Nightmare: What if the War Ends Before November?" by Ann Coulter
https://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2022/03/16/dem-nightmare-what-if-the-war-ends-before-november-n2604665
"Democrats flung open the border to illegal alien murderers, drug dealers, gang members and welfare recipients."
"Democratic district attorneys have turned city after city into feces-smeared murdertopias that make Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" look like "The Sound of Music.""
"These days, the left's main casus belli is teaching little kids about anal sex, transgenders and the inherent evil of white people."
Ann Coulter always sees the good in people.
Turns out there is the exact thing I need…
https://www.amazon.com/Collapsible-Shower-Threshold-Barrier-Retention/dp/B07Y2ZPQ3P?tag=ttgnet-20
I guess I'm not the first after all, and my googlefu is weak today. My wife found it.
Just beat D2 three times in a row at Backgammon. I feel so much better than when we play chess 😉
n
If you go to the trouble of putting in a pressure system to feed collected water to the washing machine and/or showers, it might be worth feeding it to the toilets, too. I'm toying with plans to do that. Partly I'm hoping to get rid of the brown rust (I think it is from iron) deposits in our toilet bowls. I guess using grey water to flush the toilets would be even better, but that would require a separate pressure system.
That looks very useful. It probably has a limited service life, but it is probably at least a few years. At that price, you could replace it quite a few times without approaching the cost of replacing the shower pan.
you could replace it quite a few times without approaching the cost of replacing the shower pan.
— a quick and dirty fix is still a fix… 🙂
n
I just had a illegal user using a hacked version of my software in Ukraine. Obviously the hackers are not participating in the defense of the country.
Finally in Hendersonville. Plans here are not going to happen because son has scheduled other activities for tomorrow. Said he did not know we were coming tomorrow. No big loss. We were returning Saturday so will just skip tomorrow.
Spent several hours at Graceland. Better than I thought it would be with the tour. iPads given to everyone with pictures that could be moved around and audio for each room. Only the lower floor and the grounds were open to visitors. Upstairs was closed off as they probably don't want the toilet on which Elvis passed to be viewed.
Also spent about an hour in the Bass Pro Shop. Very interesting building. Bought a few things, mostly gifts for the grandson. There is a hotel in the building, who knew? Would be an interesting place to spend a couple of nights if one has a spare $500.00. Yikes!
Also went through an animal safari, drive through variety. Interesting. Have seen signs before so decided to do it this time. Animals begged at the vehicle window for food, which almost everyone had. We had a small bucket until a zebra ripped it from my hands. Grabbed the edge of the bucket and yanked quickly. Obviously a learned behavior. Impossible to maintain a grip on the bucket.
Staying in Hendersonville is OK. I could not have made the drive the rest of the way home. That three more hours on top of a busy day would have been too much. As it is I am dogged tired now.
Liability issue with the stairs more likely.
My Elvis fanatic sister-in-law says that the family still uses the upstairs occasionally.
Of course, she also believes that she saw The King still alive and peeking out an upstairs window on her last tour of the house.
Of course, she also believes that she saw The King still alive and peeking out an upstairs window on her last tour of the house.
Bubba Ho-Tep
No word if Black JFK was with The King looking out the window.
Leaving Downtown Dallas the other night, heading back to our hotel after dinner, I inadvertently drove the Kennedy limo route, not realizing it until I saw the tourists on the grassy knoll — still there at nearly 10 PM — as I drove over the infamous X on the pavement.
Service at the restaurant was slooooow. I’ll refrain from mentioning the name of the place, but it was the only negative dinner experience of the trip.
I doubt that. Part of the tour involved going down stairs into the basement, then back up stairs.
We're supposed to get some really bad weather tonight. Tornadoes, rain, cold, etc.
Currently 72F and still.
And I'm headed to bed. Lots of driving tomorrow and I don't want to fall asleep.
n
"A 1986 dystopian Russian novel basically predicted Vladimir Putin"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-1986-dystopian-russian-novel-basically-predicted-vladimir-putin/ar-AAVjwxz
"In 1986, near the end of the Soviet Union, a Russian satirical novelist tried to imagine the future of his homeland. He envisioned a head of state who had risen through the ranks of the KGB, used a war to cement his power, elevated his former security colleagues into positions of influence, claimed to derive authority from the Russian Orthodox Church and ruled Russia for decades."
"In other words, he predicted Vladimir Putin."
"The writer was Vladimir Voinovich, and his novel was “Moscow 2042,” a dystopic satire about a man who takes a journey into the next century."
Looks like I missed this book.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
Everything east of I35 is getting pounded tonight as the dry line crosses the state.
Round Rock was hammered this afternoon/evening. Things got pretty wild around our house ~ 8 PM.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/severe-weather-brings-hail-strong-winds-to-central-texas
That is very wise. A friend of mine once commented that he would stop for a nap, or to switch drivers, at the first sign of drowsiness. He did that even if he was only ten minutes from his destination. I once saw the other side of that coin when another friend was driving, and drifted off the road when he nodded off. I was napping in the passenger seat. He clipped a road marker sign in an area with wide flat shoulders, so the only damage was scratched paint. It took some good luck for us to get off so easily.
A friend of mine once commented that he would stop for a nap, or to switch drivers, at the first sign of drowsiness. He did that even if he was only ten minutes from his destination.
When I used to drive long distances, I found I always got sleepy about 1-1/2 to 2 hours into the drive. Just from boredom, I guess. Anyway, I would power through maybe 1/2 hour of drowsiness, and get into some kind of mental zone where I could continue for hours with nothing but brief breaks to fill the car and empty the bladder.
Those were younger days – might not work any more…