The difference a day makes..

After two days of good progress on the site, today work was at a stand still because of constant rain. Still, I am not too upset by this as the rain filled the pond (in fact filled it to overflowing..). This picture is taken looking back at the point where I took the picture of the pond yesterday. I had to approach from this side as the other is all mud where we have done the dozer work. With any luck this will stay full enough to provide me all of the water I need. So maybe no work done today, but still some progress made. 

The rain also gives me a bit of a chance to revise and rework the house plans given the new information about the specific site I have now that we have cleared it. Not that I need an excuse to work on house plans.. 

More progress

Captain Rob cleared the rest of the site, including where the pond was to go, then built the pond, and at the end of the day began the excavation itself.  As you can see he managed to get about four feet down into the high side of the hill before calling it quits for the day. We've got rain coming in tonight and tomorrow, so we may be on hold again for a time. 

That same rain which will likely keep us from making any more progress ought to help to start filling the new pond which will be the source for all of my water, in conjunction with whatever rain water collection I am able to set up. 

I know that it looks a mess now, but in a year or two the sides will be covered in grass, and this will hopefully be a nice little forest pond. 

PROGRESS!!!

After eight months of delays, of being stagnated and unable to do anything at all to move forward on the homestead, this morning the dry spell was broken. Captain Rob showed up today with the bulldozer and cleared to the site, then cleared the site once I saw the lay of the land and the view and so knew that this was the place to build. He managed to clear a couple of other areas for gardens, and a path down to where he will build the pond which will serve as my water source along with what little rain collection I can do.  

This is a shot of the site itself which is steeper than it appears. The house will sit right at the top of the slope in this picture, with terraced gardens below it.

This is but one of the views to which I will wake every morning. 

A Change in the Weather

The rain finally broke, and today the sun made its first appearance in a week or better.. The ground is still soaked, so no clearing work, but perhaps a few more dry days and we will see the bulldozer make an appearance. 

The clear skies means a colder night, a predicted low of 36F. 

I spotted what I hope is another possible hen of the woods while checking out the pastures. With any luck I will be able to head back tomorrow to try to confirm that identification. 

That is about all there is to report. I spent the day dealing with tech issues and supervising some construction on Rancher Bob's place. 

A very good year..

On the homesteading news, Rancher Bob and I bottled our first vintage today (not counting the two bottles I capped and took with me to Kansas). We netted 14 bottles, or 16 if you count the two 22 oz bottles I took as well. Not bad for a first purely experimental run using only the fruit Bob's vines produced last year. 

We look to be on for at least ten gallons of wine this year, or approximately 36-40 bottles given the fruit we have picked so far. 

The bottles I took with me revealed the best muscadine wine I have ever enjoyed, and a wine which I contend has the complexity and subtlety of fine European wines, while still remaining absolutely true to the muscadine flavor. Though golden in color, the wine has characteristics more often found in bold reds, like Zinfindel or Cabernet, but without some of the more harsh tannic aspects. The wine is still dry, unusual for muscadine wine, but not as astringent as those reds without any loss of complexity. I am even tempted to try to turn it into brandy, though I cannot imagine sacrificing a good deal of wine to end up with a small bit of brandy. Still, I think that the flavors would lend themselves quite well to the endeavor. 

Still very wet here so no work on clearing the site, much less excavation. However it is a good sign that captain Rob called to ask about bringing the bulldozer out to be ready to start should it dry out. This damn excavation which was originally scheduled for February might just happen this year.. 

To those who follow this for that aspect of the blog, I promise more timely updates, pictures, and details once the build begins. 

A bit of Entertainment

Some months ago I picked up a dvd collection of 50 mystery movies, all for under $20, in fact if I recall correctly it was about $12 for the collection brand new.  I mention this because this evening as I was enjoying Basil Rathbone portraying Sherlock Holmes I thought to check the date of that movie, and others in the collection. The dates sounded about right as I read them, as many of these movies are in black and white, but then I did the math only to realize that the oldest are nearly 80 years old! 

This in no way takes away from these movies, in fact often it adds to them as mysteries are not about the special effects, or the nifty camera or CGI tricks, but rather about the story itself. Certainly these are serving as fine entertainment for those rare occasions when I simply want to watch something rather than read. 

I was struck when I purchased the set, which includes parts by Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, the aforementioned Basil Rathbone, Peter Lorre, Reginald Owen, Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, Glenn Ford, Orson Welles, James Cagney and many others, as to the reasonable price of this collection, but watching it now I am also impressed by the frugality of "recycling" or re-using entertainment. These performances entertained my grandparent's parents, and who knows how many others since then, and now, nearly 80 years later in some cases, I too am enjoying them. Moreover I will enjoy them again in the decades to come, and I sincerely hope that I may pass these along to another who can not only appreciate the historical aspects (London with double decker electric trolleys in front of Big Ben) but also simply enjoy well made and well told stories. 

The actors, the writers, the cameramen, and probably all who worked on the oldest of these have passed away, but the pleasure that they bring to others lives on today on my personal computer, and upon the screens of others who recognized this bargain.  Were these furniture, or cars, they would considered antiques, but these antiques can be enjoyed by all today because some foresighted individuals thought to repackage them today for our enjoyment. Tonight I tip my glass to both the original producers and the creative individuals who "recycled" this material so that it may live on, and the enjoyment of these portrayals may also continue to grow. 

Simply Priceless

 http://www.cagle.com/working/091011/cole.jpg

Still up in the air

I know very well that there are those folks who read my blog who are interested only in the homesteading, home building aspects, which I certainly understand. However at the same time a large part of who I am and how I live includes standing up for the undefended, or the "little gal" who has no voice, usually by simply standing up for what is right.  The discussions of this latter sort while wholly in sinc with the discussions of creating a peaceful, self-sufficient life, are often of no interest and perhaps bothersome to many of the granola crowd (a term I use with affection, fwiw)

So I am trying to figure out how and whether to keep the reflections on issues of philosophical and moral importance separate from those issues of a more practical nature concerning solar showers, and earth sheltered homes. 

For the time being I will try to separate the two between the two blogs, but there will be crossover where independant living is threatened.

Muscadines

Picked what I estimate at about 45-50 pounds of muscadines, which are now residing in the freezer to await their transformation into delicious wine. Should be bottling the last batch any day now, and then beginning the next batch or two. The last batch used about 20 pounds of muscadines, so this batch will hopefully be about ten gallons of perhaps the best wine you've ever had. 

For those not familiar with the humble muscadine, it is a native "fox" grape, usually dismissed as being unsuitable for "true" wine and so is treated like the red headed step child of grapes, deemed to be good only as a table grape (it is infinitely superior to any table grape) or to be treated as suitable for "fruit wines" only. 

All commercial muscadine wines, such as the wines from Post Familie Vineyards, a fine vineyard btw, tend to be sweet wines, nice sweet desert wines, but the wine that Rancher Bob and I, along with the help of some eager yeasts,  created this past year is a rich, full bodied, wine that are far more complex than usual fruit wines. I suspect that it would make a wonderful brandy and/or grappa, though I admit to be hard pressed to ever distill any of this delicious elixir, regardless of legal technicalities. 

I have also enjoyed a few lovely persimmons, a treat that most folks in the US overlook or are completely unaware of. While helping to corral the couple of bulls, the retired massive beast and the young up and coming stud, I stumbled across two wild persimmons, one I knew of but often ignored, and another unknown to me or to Rancher Bob. The latter while being smaller and hidden, holds a good deal of fruit as long as one is not looking to make jam or jellies.. for eating these are delicious provided that you let the frost or other conditions to mellow the astringinent aspects. 

Little else of note, other than hearing a bit of good news that the mighty Rob should be bringing the dozer out to the site this week, despite the terrible rainy weather... This means that there is a chance of getting the site cleared in a week or more.. Then perhaps I can site the house and just maybe get the god damned hold dug for the house.. 

Can you tell that I am very tired of waiting??

 

To the Nobel Committee:

While I imagine all seems very peaceful when you are high as a kite, don't you think that making decisions of such magnitude should be postponed until you sober up?

The first and foremost criterion for granting any award is for the recipient to have taken SOME action, secondarily those actions should be positive. So far on the issue of peace, your awardee has done nothing more than increase the efforts of his predecessor. Surely we can all recognize that this is neither peaceful nor worthy of any admiration. 

So enjoy  your recreational activities, but save important decisions to those times when you might be clear headed. 

Thanks. 

Back on site/ computers yet again.

I made it back to the hills safely yesterday. I am trying to take it easy today, though I do have a great deal to do. There are muscadines to pick, malabar spinach to put up, fish to catch before it gets too cold for them, as well as setting up the Systemax computer that is now fixed. For some reason they felt it necessary to wipe the hard drive, thus removing my partition and other OS, in order to re-install XP. As a result, I first need to set up XP and all of the programs I need on it, then repartition the drive and install the good OS (Linux) for everyday use.  Following that will be the installation of all of the programs used under linux.. I suspect that I won't do it all in a day so this will be an ongoing effort over the next few days. 

On the upside I confirmed 3g connectivity on the site so I can go ahead with my plans to use that for internet service rather than satellite resulting in quite a bit of savings. 

Hitting the road again.

Tomorrow I head out back to the hills, with the promise of a soon start to the clearing of the house site. I have stocked up on essentials and items unavailable locally so I should be set once I get back. The weather is turning chilly again, and it will have been 11 months since I first arrived on site with the intention of building my own home there. All of the work that has been done was completed by February of this year, and since that time I have been struggling to get Rob out to do the digging and leveling that is beyond the scope of what I want to tackle by hand.

Assuming that the work gets done in the near future, as I sincerely hope that it will, then I have to make a decision as to spend another winter in the caravan or to seek out paying jobs in other places so I can travel, see friends, and make enough money to cover the additional expenses and of course restock the house fund which has been diminished by the long delays.

Maybe the weather will hold out and I will be able to get the posts and roof up.. Regardless it will be good to finally once again be making progress towards creating this homestead.

?

With the paying jobs done as of today, I am left only with two tasks. The first is to plant some ornamental annuals for my mother, and the other is to decide whether to address the relationships that a couple of individuals have chosen to sever near as I can tell for no good reason whatsoever.

The planting will be cathartic. I look forward to some design and working in the soil.

The other I don't get. I don't get the games. I don't get the lies. I don't get the devaluing individuals who have been very important to your life. These I will have to just ponder further, and hope that something becomes clear. In the meantime I am appreciating the dear friendships which have lasted, and which bring joy to my life.

Light at the end of the Tunnel

I know it has been a while since I posted, and I have no excuse. There is little of interest (to me) to report of the time in KS as the jobs are uninteresting simple maintenance jobs. Replace siding and paint, in one case. Replace siding and sheet goods in another.. and paint a fence in the third. Nothing creative, nothing which provided any challenge aside from fighting the weather.

The current plan is to return on Tuesday to the hills, where it sounds like I might just be able to get some progress in clearing the new site, finally. I've spent much of the last day drawing up preliminary plans for the new site, as it is sufficiently different as to make me abandon the original plans as unworkable. Out of this has come what appears to be a "V" shaped house, which allows for privacy, efficient use of materials, and still give a very open feel to what will be a modest home. I am still looking at about 800 ft sq, with a 100 ft sq loft, which for one person is quite expansive. Even for two, should that come to pass, there is plenty of room for different interests and activities inside the house. That said, this house is going to be designed so as to encourage me to spend more time outside. The uphill patio is a separate room accessible only from the house, yet retains the privacy of any room in the house. Of course the garden will be a refuge for me, and I hope to continue to spend time walking the hills.

But that is all in the future. My current time has been spent doing these mundane jobs which will help to pay for the build, and trying to understand why what I consider to be the most basic elements of any relationship, from friend to lover, are seemingly absence in perhaps our modern culture, but if not that then in a few individuals I know from the midwest. Rather than go into that now, I am going to focus on the future, and hope that at some point I will figure out what the heck is going on. Still it is times like this that I wish that I had continued my work in psychology while I was still studying philosophy...

So I see light at the end of this long and boring midwest tunnel, and I hope to finally get started on the actual build in the coming weeks. I won't be able to close the house in before winter, so I might be traveling for work again, but at least I will have made a start.

So if you have paying work for a designer, remodeler, builder, or philosopher, shoot me a line and let's see if I can turn your house into your dream home..

Back to work

With the bug/virus/flu retreating today I immediately returned to working on the siding job I am on. Completed the siding repairs today, caulked all of the new siding, and much of the old, leaving tomorrow to finish caulking, pick up paint, and prime all bare wood to be ready for the start of painting on Friday, if the weather cooperates.

Obviously I am feeling better, in fact better than I have since I arrived here. I truly hope to make some good progress so that I can complete this job close to on time, take up the next two smaller jobs, and get back to my own build site in the eternal hope of getting some work done on clearing the area and excavating for the house.

I did receive a bit of good news today: my newest laptop will be arriving back at the build site on Friday. Though I won't be there to enjoy it, it gives me a pleasant feeling knowing that there is at least one computer I own which is functioning properly. I do have to put in a good word here again for Systemax computers. Even though they said that they could not see the shadow on the screen (no idea how it could have been missed) they sent the computer along to the vendor who immediately replaced the screen and sent it back to Systemax. They received the computer today, and shipped it out to me today as well. Other than a bit of frustration as I tried to explain how they could best see this rather obvious shadow, the entire exerience was what I am coming to expect from Systemax, which is to say that it went as all business interactions should.

If you need a new computer, particularly a laptop, I strongly recommend going with Systemax for the quality of their products, the options they offer, the price, and perhaps most importantly the customer service. This is a company which still understands that customer service is what counts.

Standing tall

It seems very often that whenever you take a principled position, someone (or several someone's) will claim that you are not willing to accept the consequences, or that you do not really mean it. Well today I have the opportunity to prove such naysayers wrong yet again.

Having read a fair amount about all of the H1N1 virus, I have come to the conclusion that most doctors have come to as well, that this is mostly hype and political posturing. Get people good and scared and you can do whatever you want to them..

So all along I have said that the best prevention is simply taking care of yourself. I have done this as well as I ever do, which is say less than I like, but better than average.

Secondly, if you get afflicted with the flu, get lots of liquids, take what meds you can, and rest. No difference this time around, hoopla or not.

Well while I cannot say for certain that it is the flu, today I have been very achy, sick to my stomach, and feel as though I have the flu.

Did I panic and go rushing to the nearest hospital to infect everyone else?

Did I blame everyone else and demand that the thugs with badges (government) force others to take care of me?

Did I demand that everyone else make certain that I get healthy again?

Nope.. I have had a few bowls of broth (flavored with mushrooms and jalapenos the latter for their flavor but also their healing properties). Been drinking juice and water, and took some generic dayquil to relieve the symptoms as best as it may. Tonight I will take generic nyquil so I can sleep and allow my body to heal itself.

I still feel terrible, but contrary to the predictions of the naysayers I am standing tall, even if it is from a prone position in bed..

Obligation NOT to vote

For many years now I have actively chosen to refrain from voting in any governmental election. I am not apathetic, quite the opposite, but rather I understand the immorality of voting for rulers. The trigger for this decision was the wonderful essay by Wendy McElroy Why I Would not Vote Against Hitler.

Today I read another such essay, this time by Alex R. Knight III on the obligation not to vote.

Both of these lead to that "How did I ever think otherwise" moment when you see clearly that which was always right in front of you, but never recognized.

Here is an off the cuff addition of my own:

We are morally obligated never to initiate violence or coercion against any other moral agent (person). Basically, we cannot morally steal, cause pain, physically harm, enslave, or otherwise harm another. Pretty simple and uncontraversial.

Government is merely that entity which claims to have the legitimate authority to engage in exactly those sorts of actions.

Government cannot even exist without engaging in those sorts of actions. If we have the power and ability to disobey, then the entity in question is not a government but rather at best some sort of advisory board.

Since we do in fact have a government which claims ownership over us, that is to say the right to dictate our peaceful actions and take without permission our property (in the form of wages, as well as any real property we may own), the issue of any such advisory board is moot.

So to voting.. voting is simply lending the illusion of legitimacy to the use of force against innocent non-aggressing others. With every vote, with every action taken supporting government you are not merely consenting to any and all harms which may come to you via that government, but you are also consenting to all harms to all others. While you may irrationally consent to harm to yourself, as I noted earlier, you do not have the moral authority or the right to consent to harm to others.

Show basic respect for others, show some compassion for others, show that you respect right action and simply stop supporting harm to others: Stop voting.

More computer woes

I have been fighting the thinkpad to keep it working well enough until I get the Systemax back, but it seems that have lost that fight. This morning the thinkpad decided that it cannot boot, claiming a stuck key, but no stuck key can be found. Needless to say this is quite frustrating. The Dell is still iffy with its memory problems, and I lack any wireless card for it so at best it is a paperweight as well. It will be a couple more days before the data plan turns on, so I am stuck currently on a borrowed machine, which is inconvenient to use.

And people wonder why I have luddite leanings...

Fininshed The Faded Sun trilogy by C.J. Cherryh, one of the rare wonderful story tellers. I first thought this to be a pale reflection of the Foreigner series by her, but in the end this is entirely its own and a story I hated to see end, a feeling I attribute to great story tellers.

Dinner was another garden feast of mixed squashes, garlic, and fresh herbs.. delicious..

Work progresses slowly due to weather and four legged complications. Still, I made some progress today after the rains quit.

Still experiencing computer issues, and phone issues, but I am adopting a bit of a view that they are all magic and there is not enough eye of newt in the mix currently.. or some such missing ingredient. There seems to be no rational explanation to the computer problems, and dealing with AT&T customer service is more difficult than communing with the dead via seance.. Perhaps I can rationalize some lesson to be learned here.. or perhaps this will tip the scales and turn me into a pure luddite.. (reminds me.. I saw an interesting hulu show called something like foodie luddite.. I will try to post a link later.. )

link: http://www.hulu.com/watch/85508/gourmets-diary-of-a-foodie-the-hungry-luddite?c=Food-and-Leisure#s-p2-so-i0

Practical and Effective Health Care Reform is off the table

Borrowed in whole from WendyMcelroy.com:

------------------

Since the Big O* is giving a speech tonight to try to sell his health care plan, and will doubtless regurgitate some blather about being open to all options, I thought I'd list for the record at least nine options for health care reform that are "off the table," and will never be allowed on the table...or even in the room:

1. Ending medical licensing.
2. Ending employer tax deduction for medical insurance; or better yet,
3. Providing a personal tax deduction for all medical expenses.
4. Ending patent protection for pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
5. Ending all regulation of drugs and supplements.
6. Ending Medicare.
7. Ending Medicaid.
8. "Fee for service" for routine medical services.
9. Tort reform.


* Obama. But to Canadians, "the Big O" has a special connotation of government extravagance, incompetence, and cost overruns: the 1976 Olympic Stadium.

---------------------------