A Bit of Nostalgia

Courtesy of Ol' Remus.

Scroll down to "Remus and the Dinosaurs".  Read and enjoy.

My Harley is the closest thing I have to this feeling of raw power.  Every time I go for a ride and slap, not roll, the throttle open I'm reminded how enthralling a mass of churning power like that can be.  During 0 to some number higher than 60, everything else goes away and you can just feel the now.

Some day when I have more time than things to do, I'd like to build a custom bobber out of discarded bits from the local cycle graveyard and a welder.  It's on the todo list.

Simple pleasures.

Random Pandora

Knife Party.  They wrote a track called Internet Friends.

If you like electronic music, you should check it out.  Its a fun commentary on social media.

Multi-Tools: Everything Old Becomes New Again

Sure it's old, but this article on Wired is good for so many reasons.

When the Romans left, the country slipped back into dark times.  ...  At least, though, the cold and rainy nation still has central heating and folding knives, although the latter is now used primarily by gangs of marauding teenagers as they roam the rainy twilight streets in search of old people to stab.

Me Too.

I received my letter(s) in the mail indicating that no, actually, I can't keep my health plan.

Old plan for family = 144 per month.
New plan for family = 254 per month.

Deductible on both is high enough that we'll never use it all up, and so everything for the year will be out of pocket.  In other words, both are catastrophic plans.  It's just that the new plan is slightly less so*.  And I get to pay $1200 a year more for the benefit of having it.

The MNSure website isn't really working yet.  And the "need help?" link ends at a 404.

Less than perfect, indeed.


* = If you ignore the fact that on my previous plan I had 100% coverage after the deductible, whereas now I have an 80/20 copay situation after deductible.  So the financial results of any medical catastrophe will actually be much more, well...  Catastrophic.

Fall Festival

We're on the way out of town again tonight.  Going to head west and north a bit, close up the bees for the winter, and cross our fingers that they make it through.  They've been a bit ...  Don't know quite how to explain it...  UNexcitable lately?  We're concerned the hives are having issues which we aren't catching, but a local veteran keeper is saying they'll be fine.  With the predictions of a long and blustery winter ahead, C3 and I aren't so sure.  Still, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.  We'll have another package of bees on order for this coming spring just in case.  And in the best case scenario we're hoping for, we'll have 3 hives next warm season.

Tonight is the final hurrah here in the city before getting on the road.  The Boy's school is having its annual fall festival tonight.  He's excited for two things:  First, he gets to wear his Mad Hatter costume to the event.  (Which is really very impressive, thanks to his grandmother.)  And second, book fair!  He's been choosing books from the list and his "pre screening" of the fair for about a week now.

Sure am proud of my boy.  I know he'll appreciate the events, games, snacks, etc, etc...  But he's really looking forward to getting some new books.

Bunkhouse Floor

I'm thinking I found the answer to the floor situation in the future bunkhouse up north.  While paging through several other books on alternative building I came across a grouted stone "patio" floor indoors.  Effectively stone laid over packed earth, gravel, and sand much the same as a standard patio, it is then grouted to lock it all in place.  With the porch options coming together and replacing the patio which was planned, there are hundreds of granite paving stones already up there and just looking for a new role.

Maybe this would be up to the expectations of the brother?  And dogs?

The Decor Leaves Nothing to be Desired

View From The Porch: Preparedness...: While things appear to be functioning as normal in the wider world...

Timber Framing and Slip Form Stone Construction

One building method we've been toying with these past few weeks (something C3 has been after for a while) is round log timber framing.  Thanks to the library, I've been reading up on it some as well.

With the supply of black spruce around the cabin, it might be worth looking into for framing materials for the 3 season porch we're planning to add.  Black spruce being of smaller overall diameter than white spruce means it's not sought after for dimensional lumber, but it has similar characteristics as far as construction requirements go.  I expect this is one reason why there are large amounts of black spruce left in the north woods when the white spruce, norway, and white pine have been logged.  I had thought about getting posts from our woods before, and possibly even making black spruce rough cut lumber with the help of a chainsaw attachment.  But round post framing would be a method of construction avoiding the lions share of the bolts and spikes I might have otherwise needed to use to make that happen.  Convenient.

Another building method I've thought about for quite some time is slip form stone building.  With the porch plan perhaps wrapping two sides of the current cabin, we could utilize slip forms to build the L shaped foundation wall.  We need roughly 2-3 feet of height to close off the underside of the cabin due to the slope on which it is sited.  We'd then run the posts up from there.  Stone would be gathered locally, posts would be gathered locally, and we'd have experience with another couple options for our future home.  The roof would lean-to into the side walls of the existing structure, so would likely utilize standard dimensional lumber and steel roofing over the top of that.  We'll have to crunch the numbers, but that is likely the most costly portion of the whole project.  Disregarding opportunity cost, of course!

Then again, education in productive, hands on skill sets is worth quite a bit in these days of uncertainty.

So It Goes

Was out of town for an onsite meeting today.  Over lunch, stopped into the local grocery for a deli meal and a sign informed me they had "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" on T bones and Porterhouse.  Now I haven't sprung for a good steak in a long time and at half price these just begged to go on the grill tonight.  I bought 1.  And I got 1.  Each a completely gluttonous 1.5 pounds and thick cut.  Man, I could taste them already.

I put them in the fridge to wait for the return trip home.  Then, when I left, I promptly grabbed a co workers pork chops instead of my porterhouse steaks and drove the 30 miles.  I have a half hog in the freezer from a local farmer, and I am really not sure how to cook 2 inch thick pork chops.  But hey.  Good is good.  I mean it could be worse, right?

As Kurt might say.  "So it goes."

Northward Bound

Counting on a relaxing evening tonight at home before the alarm and an early morning on the road.  Will be dropping the boy with his Mom, grabbing a trailer full of bricks, and shooting for the cabin by afternoon.

Speaking of bricks, sometimes life cuts you a break.  The boy's step Dad did me a huge favor and not only shuffled these two pallets of bricks from the back acreage, but left them loaded on his trailer for me to take north with me.  What was going to be a very long and hot day is instead as easy as dropping the trailer onto the hitch and driving away.  Thanks for that.

Overnight at the cabin with the pup and then back on the road home on Sunday means not much time in the woods.  But, it also means not much worry about packing:

Extra shirt
Sweater
Sidearm
Knife
Hat
Bacon

Check.

See you soon, Dobrze.

Kicking Around in my Bookmarks

And pretty much where I find myself these days.  Too prepared?  I'm going to remedy that.

You Probably Have Too Much Stuff

Lowering the Cost of Living

As part of our 2016 plan, we're starting to concentrate on a home; how we want to build it, maintain it, heat and cool it, and live in it.  We know we're going to be sourcing local materials to bring the square footage cost down and are kicking around earth bag, cord wood, straw bale, and dry stack block construction as options.  A strong desire for thermal mass is leaning the discussion toward one of the earth or block construction methods and earth is winning out over block for its moisture handling properties.

As we lay out the basics of the future homestead, we have real time projects coming together at the cabin which will allow us to test some of the building methods.  One such project is a bunk house for guest overflow during the popular spring and fall seasons.  Being old paper company land, there are quite a few areas which desperately need a thinning.  Plenty of the thinned trees will fall into the 3-6 inch diameter range and once peeled and cured will make great cord wood construction material.  Conveniently, the softer woods are less prone to shrinkage and cracking long term and the majority of the thinned wood will be of the balsam fir variety.  Not really good fire wood due to creosote build up potential, so was just going to go to waste for the most part if no better use was determined.  Rough timeline?

Spring 2014 - thin and peel
Summer 2014 - cure
Fall 2014 - Summer 2015 - bunkhouse construction

I have a good supply of unused, excess, second hand cedar shakes in storage up at the cabin currently.  Been there for years and years just waiting on a purpose, so the bunkhouse will most likely be roofed in cedar.  I really like steel roofing for the low maintenance and fire resistance aspects, but free is a good price. And between the cedar roof, harvested tamarack or spruce timbers for door and window frames, and cord wood walls, the bunkhouse should really fit into the hillside nicely.  Right now I'm thinking the floor will be gravel similar to Dick Proenneke's cabin in the Alaskan wilderness, but we'll see.  Being on the north shore, granite chips should be relatively easy and inexpensive to come by.  Warmer than concrete or elevated wood, would look nice, and we wouldn't even need to sweep the floor on the way out.

And Then There was Order

Or at least, a little less disorder.

Since the move there has been a lot of running.  So many fun things scheduled onto the Todo list that what we all really started to crave was to clean the house.  And that's just what we did.  Moved some major furniture and appliances in the kitchen and finally built shelves in the spare room.  We can now actually prepare and eat food in the kitchen (it really is all about the little things) and have a functional guest bed in the house for company to escape to as required.

Plus that new storage?  It means we can start shuffling the stacks of traffic blocking boxes and bins out of the main areas of the house and tuck them away neatly where they belong.  Both C3 and I are of the opinion that managing our "stuff" at a minimal level is best for all involved, but even the most efficient and minimalist perspective requires storage.  At a certain level it just doesn't make sense to donate and sell anything else.  You really will have to buy it back again later.  We aren't there yet, but you get the idea.

Another advantage of the long weekend at home was some time to sit down and do some leatherwork.  Alpha was completed and found wanting, so the beta version of a travel cribbage card case is done.  I think a final revision is in the cards, so to speak, but for right now I'm looking forward to some test time with friends. 

And that just goes so well with whiskey.

On Government Surveillance

The criminal need not worry.  Departments associated with completed crime lack funding and the media.  In the modern era, money is focused on rooting out crime which has not yet been committed.  Those with the most exposure are those who don't yet know they are planning to do anything wrong.

Social and Personal Morality

Been awfully quiet around here as we all try to get resettled into some form of normal after the move and before the snows restrict outside projects.  Still, getting away for four days with some friends and family to the cabin for a late summer escape.  Conveniently, the Perseid meteor shower maxes during our stay in the woods.  I foresee some time staring up at the stars and contemplating the bigger things.

In the meantime, this turned up in my inbox today.  To my way of thinking, murder is just a very severe form of theft and social morality can actually be slimmed down to just that single basic point.  However, it is an interesting issue to think about.  Come to the cabin some time.  We'll watch the stars and talk about it:

Sadly, the word “morality” often causes confusion. Some will say that “you cannot legislate morality,” yet everyone approves of legislation against moral wrongs like theft and murder. This confusion is a cultural problem which must be fixed. We will be more effective if we can teach our neighbors to distinguish between ...

Social Morality & Personal Morality

Some moral principles govern how we treat each other. This is “ social morality .” It includes standards like ...

• The Golden Rule: Respect the conscience of others, as you desire them to respect your conscience.
• The Zero Aggression Principle: Don’t tread on others.

These standards lead to laws against assaults, murder, fraud, and theft. Nearly everyone supports these rules. And even the worst dissenters still agree to some extent...

In contrast to this are moral principles that govern how we treat ourselves ...

• What we ingest
• How we worship
• What we wear
• How we have sex

There’s far less agreement about this kind of morality. It’s highly personal. So we call it “ personal morality .”

Here’s the crucial point...

To impose your personal morality on others requires you to initiate force against them. You must tread on their personal conscience. Doing this violates social morality.

Some may consider this a good trade, but...

• What you can do to others, others can do to you.
• When you give politicians the power to impose personal morality, the morality they prefer to impose will RARELY be yours.
• This is your choice: Do you want the law to enforce social morality, or someone’s version of personal morality? It cannot do both.
• If you choose to permit politicians to enforce personal morality, then you will need to violate social morality, by treading on others. But ...
• If you restrict law and coercion to the enforcement of social morality, then you will still retain the right to use persuasion to promote your personal values.

 

--Perry Willis

Life Eternal or Eternal Life

[Their singing] must surely be luring all the snakes and ringtail cats and kit foxes and coyotes and great horned owls toward the scene of their happiness.

What then?  A few of the little amphibians will continue their metamorphosis by way of the nerves and tissues of one of the higher animals, in which process the joy of the one becomes the contentment of the second.  Nothing is lost, except an indvidual consciousness here and there, a trivial perhaps even illusory phoenomenon.  The rest survive, mate, multiply, burrow, estivate, dream, and rise again.  The rains will come, the potholes shall be filled.  Again.  And again.  And again.

-- Edward Abbey "Desert Solitaire"
 

It's the Little Things

We picked up our mattress last night, forced it up the stairs in this 100 year old house built before people were size normal, and installed it on the new frame waiting in the bedroom.  I woke up feeling like I hadn't even laid down.  Shoulders not sore, no crick in my neck, and no stiff back when I tried to sit up.  Who knew?  I expect this won't last, but I'm going to truly focus on enjoying it while I can.

Also, box springs are for the birds.  I am convinced they ruin the quality of a good mattress.  Slatted frames are where it is at.

A Little Bit of Everything

Move complete.  Mostly.

Relocated to the big city (again) for a few years while building up a nest egg and pulling together a plan to get out into the country once and for all.  2016.  Here we go!

Major milestones:
The boy learned to ride a 2 wheel bicycle and for the first time has a neighbor boy his age to play with at any time.  After a long and somewhat stressful wait, he's also been accepted into one of the two schools we applied for.

This past couple weeks has been spent getting items unboxed and somewhat situated.  Being able to earn is a good thing, and now that this capability is back in place, focus shifted to the birds.  The chicks are now chickens and about 1 or 2 months from laying eggs.  With the summer heat settling in for the long haul it was time to get them out into a cooler run area.  C3 designed an 8x6 roofed enclosure which is now about 85% complete.  Roof panel fastening and the door built and hung and we're in business.  The chickens outside has replaced reading and television for the past few days.

Picked up a 6 month supply of pork from our friendly local farmer in there somewhere, as well.  It's been so busy the days and weeks are kinda' bluring, but we had chops last night and they were GOOD.  Only problem is I should have requested 3 chops per package instead of 2.  They really are that good.  Thanks Three Willows Farm!

The grill should be getting a fair workout over the next several months or until the snow flies, and I'm looking forward to having some time to relax and take part.  Moving to the metro area has it's downsides for sure, but also quite a few upsides; the most important of which are friends and family just a few minutes away.  Looking forward to visiting and having visitors a lot over the next 3 years...

...and also getting the bed set up so we can stop sleeping on a futon mattress!

Thank You

Dobrze
1999 - 2013

You taught me more than I had any right to learn from you.  You showed me how to be someone other than a stupid kid, despite the heat you often took for it.  You showed me what it meant to make the most of everything, what life is supposed to be about, and how an uncomfortable situation can turn with just a shift in perspective or a cold nose and warm ears looking for attention.

No more leashes or fences.  You have the wisdom of years, hips younger than the youngest puppy, and a world to explore.  I can't keep up with you, but don't slow down.  I have that last shared turn in the road firmly in my mind and I will follow and find you when the time comes; when my duties here are complete.  Being out in front, you make even this certainty something to look forward to.

Know you changed the world, Dobrze.  I'll be appreciating you and all you brought into my life for the rest of it.

Run.

Movin' on Up...

 

Back before the great exodus, our bees needed an upgrade to their living quarters.

With a little smoke, things get under way.

We have one hive of Carniolans and one hive of Italians.  Both started with 2 hive bodies.  The Carniolans are known for their quick ramp up in the Spring, which is holding true for us so far.  Over half of their second hive body was already filled with comb and so we decided to add another body to each of the two hives to avoid potential swarming as much as possible.  It'll be interesting to see how summer temps impact their run.  We are assuming that the steadily chugging Italians will catch up soon enough.  This is a picture of one of the top hive bodies. Amazing work, ladies.

 

We couldn't have asked for better comb alignment on the top bars.

Although the feeders had been empty for a couple weeks after the dandelions and fruit trees flowered, the bees were still intent on trying to find more syrup there.  As a result, there were a lot of bees working their way around behind the protective screening of the feeders and they were a real pain to get out.  C3, with a generous display of willpower and persistence, managed to get every bee out of both feeders with only a very few casualties.

All in all, the whole process was over almost before we realized it and the bees are now housed in an even more deluxe apartment in the sky.

I haven't owned bees very long, but the longer I have them the longer I wonder why I've not had them for longer.  They just work and store and prepare.  Past the initial investment in hives, supplies, and tools they keep on giving with very little for expectations in return.  They are beautiful to watch, increase yields of plant life within several miles of home, and create honey.  All by just going about their business and taking up all of 10 square feet of otherwise unproductive land in the backyard.

Carry on!

Back in the World

 

As always, both good to be back and wishing the stay could have been longer.  So many points of interest and life altering events, just trying to think and get some ideas into a comprehensible format for now.

Thanks for continuing to stop in.

The Moons Aligned

A chance for a couple weekends and the entire week in between at the cabin?  I'm in.  Postings to resume shortly after.

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

Thoreau wrote that.

My world is too caught up in the idea of currency being the indicator of a person's standard of living.  The number of digits in an annual income being a bar which clearly determines who is and who isn't wealthy or impoverished.   As though being wealthy and being financially secure are interchangeable descriptions for the same state of being.  The Standard of Living.  The term itself is borderline appalling.

My most finite resource is time.  Life.  It's being spent constantly, regardless of results or progress.  With poor planning, much of life ebbs away without any meaningful progress toward happiness.  Toward wealth.

Happiness is wealth.  The price of happiness is the amount of life you exchange for it.  Every heartbeat spent comparing opportunity costs against theoretical future return on investment inflates the final cost of happiness and reduces the likelihood of successful acquisition.  Everything else is getting more costly by the second. By the heartbeat.

Shake it off.  Start doing.

The Next Step

Once upon a time I had a four year plan which came to fruition with 8 spectacular months in the north woods building a cabin.  One of the most memorable moments came along when I literally couldn't remember what day of the week it was.  Time passed differently for my dog and I, marked primarily by the arrival and departure of friends and family and the changes in the mountain ash.

For a host of reasons, not too long after, I found myself in central Minnesota working for a small company doing everything from circuit board maintenance to database administration.  In a company like ours, with a head count of 6 at the time, there were a lot of daily functions which needed to get done by whoever could make it happen.  On the job training.  Having a hat rack in each office, as our owner might say.  Oddly, I'm now the most senior employee under the owners themselves and all that on the job training has really paid off.

A couple years ago the situation got particularly difficult for my son and I.  With the both of us working harder than ever, our bank account kept going further into the red despite what I would consider a favorable foundation.  It became obvious we had to change things up.  And out of that change came a lot of very good things.  Living the dream is what I've called it.  And the next step in that dream is a new plan.  It started this past spring with the bees.  It continues this June with a consolidation of households.  And beyond that a search and what I hope might be a final relocation to the ever-more-difficult-to-find land of the free.  The exact form of which to be determined.

Much of this process will be a continuing change in mindset and reevaluation of priorities.  A real decision to make the most of the less than perfect.  To live a true and moral and good life now and into the future.  Being wealthy outside the scope of what the rest of the world tells us that scope should be.  And, to a certain extent, finding happiness beyond the safety nets instead of being trapped by them.

Slowing Down

8 years ago this summer, I sold out of the system.  Sold the house.  Quit the job.  Cashed in the pension.  Found and bought 80 acres of isolation in northern Minnesota.  Swamp county is what it is.  The kind of land that isn't going to be encroached on any time in the near future.  Or ever.  Hopefully.  The kind of land where you don't get weekend visitors unless they mistake your woods road for a 4 wheeler trail.  The "Dead End" at the minimum maintenance road between the driveway and the real hiway pretty much resolved the latter problem.  There are times when I debate taking down that blasted sign when I'm about 2 miles in on snow shoes and wishing the crotch deep snow was at least somewhat settled.  Snowmobiles are good for that, at least.  But once the gear is unpacked, the silence makes it all worth while.

The intent was to make a living out there in the sticks, as well.  Training for wildland firefighting completed, however, I wasn't able to pin down an organization to work for.  Even with money pouring out of the federal and state governments like it was, and is, being paid to work hard out in the wild places isn't a simple proposition.  Funds for work like that are the first to dry up, it would seem.  I keep hoping something will work out there, but it's been a long time.  Life has a way of moving on with or without you.  Lately, keeping up just hasn't made it onto the bucket list.

I haven't been out of the system completely between then and now, but I made that decision 8 years ago, I believe it was the right one, and I'm working back toward the ideal.  Luckily, falling behind can often be just as good as arriving.  You get to see things.

 

 

 

Real World Resupply



The disrespected dandelion.

Most years I don't get too worked up about the dandelion.  I'm not really a lawn person, beyond keeping the visible green spaces short enough to ward off the neighbors and law, and the chickens like the leaves and flowers in spring.  Probably because they haven't had any gourmet greens with a kick since the snow flew back in late October.  Surviving instead on boring pellet feed and whatever comes out of the kitchen while wishing they had something other than two feet of snow to scratch around in.  At any rate, that changed this year with the arrival of these little ladies.




 

 

We've been filling the hive top feeders with a simple syrup mixture and Honey B Healthy for the past month.  Having just installed the bees this spring, they didn't have any stores to see them through the season change.  It's been a long winter in Minnesota and many of those mornings I was pleased just to hear the hum of living groups of bees inside our pair of warre hives when making the rounds.  As soon as the poplar trees started realizing it might actually stay warm long enough to bud, the bees were out and coming back loaded with so much pollen flight seemed surprising.  While out tinkering on the vehicles a worker landed next to me, panted for a minute or two of recovery, and then continued on her way back.  I still can't recognize the Italian vs. Carniolan, but she was one of ours.  And that feels good.

 

Two days ago my boy came in with two dandelions for Grandma.  The ONLY two dandelions that had bloomed thus far (we went out and looked for more).  Today they are all over the yard and I'm glad to see them.  I'm sure the local bee population is even more enthused.  It's finally spring and things are coming around just fine.

The key is at 5:50.  Redefine wealth.

"When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home." —Chief Aupumut

 

"Dayton thanks leaders for 'political courage' before signing gay marriage bill."  -- St. Cloud Times

To me it feels like the equivalent of a golf clap when your brain damaged cat finally figures out that there is a whole REAL world outside the window.  While you know deep down that it's a passing awareness, and soon you'll be working even harder to convince him all over again.

Happiness mixed with aching fatigue and the expectation of more of the same to come.

Leaders.  Words don't mean what they are supposed to mean, any longer.