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Tiny home for less than $500

Scotts Next Adventure, Tiny Home in San JuanHere is one of the tiniest tiny homes I’ve seen to date, coming in at 83 square feet, it’s 8X12 feet, but the high ceiling gives it the feel of a bigger space. Scott is a big guy as you can see in the video, even he feels like this is a roomy situation for him.

I thought he might sleep on his couch, it appears to be a futon style, but his bed is actually a Murphy style bed right above the couch, it stays folded up when not in use, but once folded down, there is plenty of room for Scott to stretch out, and those high ceilings really come in handy here, I’ve seen many tiny homes with nearly no head room when in the loft, this isn’t an issue here.

Scott has a living room space with a couch, a bed above his couch, he even has a kitchen area of sorts built in to the end of the table/desk that runs nearly the length of the front of the house. It’s clear he keeps his clothing hung up in the entryway. What he is missing in the cabin is a bathroom and running water.

Of course being a guy, I suspect he waters the trees when he feels the need, he has an outhouse and shower facility on the property to take care of his other needs.

The home looks like it still needs some finishing touches, especially on the outside, but it’s a good start, and definitely livable, kudos to you Scott for what you have built and how you live.

https://scottsnextadventure.blogspot.com/2015/01/life-in-83-square-feet-my-transforming.html

https://youtu.be/92ppQNuMqeI

Update, it seems that Scott moved out of his tiny home, you can read more about him at his blog (link above).



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March 15, 2016 No Comments

Blog update and family visit

This week has been a really good one, work is picking up after our slow down that happens during the holidays, I got my original work partner back after her hiatus, I’ve enjoyed working with her on our team jobs in merchandising this past couple of weeks. The really nice thing is I don’t have to train anyone new and I know the work will be done right.

The other good news is PB’s long lost brother showed back up in his life, this is a half brother, and blended families often have extra problems, fortunately it seems that much of that is water under the bridge and they are getting to pick up their relationship. Both PB’s brother and his wife came out for a visit this weekend, of course any new visitors to the SkyCastle can be a strain, not because of them, but because the SkyCastle is such a different place, nothing is standard, everything has to be explained, demonstrated and sometimes done for them.

One example of our strangeness is the hot water tap in the kitchen, because it’s an on demand propane water heater, if the hot water is getting too hot, you turn the hot tap on more. It’s counter intuitive, but that’s how it works, then there’s the bathroom, the nearest “flush” toilet is at the neighbor’s house, here you “go” in a bucket, and it’s composted, something not many folk want to deal with.

Turned out they weren’t able to actually get to the property on this trip, so we went to them in town and spent the last 2 days getting to know them. We had a really good time and look forward to future visits. Turns out that she and I have some things in common, art, writing and a major interest in photography. Her iPad ran out of battery and was having trouble charging up, I suspect it had a lot to do with the fact that there is very little to no wifi or phone signal and that runs the battery down on a phone or tablet very quickly. So I used my tablet to take the pictures for them, I’ll be sending the pictures to them soon.

We played tourist, visiting the areas around here, going to the local observatory, eating out a lot, driving the scenic loop, trying not to hit the local wildlife in the process… It was all quite good, but it’s time for them to head back home, and it’s time for us to get back into the rhythm of life.

Hope your weekend went well. Did anything fun or interesting happen?




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March 6, 2016 No Comments

To upgrade, or not to upgrade, that is the Windows question

Privacy, it’s something we all appreciate, those of us who live on the edge of society, ie living off-grid, we really look for ways to stay on the down low. At the same time, many of us want to us modern technology, ie computers, but using modern technology exposes us to the potential to be spied on, by the software companies and from the government.

You know what they say, it’s not being paranoid if they are actually after you, LOL… Who me? Paranoid? Naw… But with this new version of Windows, I was suspicious from the beginning, I’ve worked in the computer industry in the past, I’ve been “in” computers since the latter days of DOS and the beginnings of Windows, I promise you, they have never given this operating system away en masse before, you might get an upgrade to the next version, maybe, if everything was right and the planets all aligned at the right time.

Now suddenly, they want everyone to upgrade to the newest version of Windows, for free, just like that. I have resisted, for a couple of reasons, I know for a fact that I will lose my free version of Microsoft Office Starter and I use that suite on a weekly basis, I haven’t found anything that does exactly what I need it to do, yet… The other thing is I have an older version of Photohop and I don’t know if it will come through unscathed, the rest of my programs I believe will be OK or I’m not worried about losing them.

So back to the”free” upgrade, I have found over the years that free is never free, there are always strings, and in this case, one of those really big strings goes directly to your privacy, or rather lack of privacy. I’m sure that many of you have committed to the upgrade, and that’s fine, I hope you did some research before the upgrade and took measures to protect yourself.

Some folk do not care one way or the other. For me, I assume that everything I do online is being tracked by someone, or several someones, bottom line for me is I don’t do anything in the privacy of my browser that I wouldn’t want the world to see. I have to trust that my financial data is secure, I do my best to protect my finances, but there is always the risk.

The big issue is the fact that many of the software companies we trust may or may not have our best interests in mind, and that goes double (triple?) for the government. I did find a video explaining the security/privacy issues with Windows 10, and even better explains how to disable the spying parts of Windows that are turned on by default.

It’s a longer video, but well worth the time, watch it, bookmark it, …

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March 2, 2016 1 Comment
Communities

Gravel vac Bobbage

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I seriously considered using a title that said something like “my hubby sucks”, but honestly I don’t need to hype what he does, he is a Macgyver’s Macgyver! I quit doubting the things he says he is going to do, I just listen, put aside my skepticism and wait for the magic to happen. We like to call it Bobbage :)

As you may or may not know, PB uses concrete (soilcrete) for building around here, Portland cement is inexpensive, read cheap, all he has to add is the gravel and water, we have an abundant supply of gravel that restocks itself each time we get a good rain, the problem is the location of this gravel is at the bottom of the creek bed, down at the front part of the property, and “down” is the key word here.

In the past, he has used 5 gallon buckets to haul the gravel, on occasion we have bartered with neighbors and friends to get the use of earth moving equipment, but that doesn’t happen very often, and since he’s put in the bridge, it’s near impossible to drive down into the creek to load up on gravel.

PB began working out a way he could vacuum the gravel to the upper part of the property, he used an old shop vac, a metal 55 gallon drum, the sidewall of a tire and a long piece of 3 inch black poly pipe along with some duct tape to seal things up. It’s quiet, it’s efficient, it’s quick and it works great. Here is a video, actually 4 quick videos showing the gravel vac in action, along with some pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnjG-ZmtxGQgGH4sFFDxoxKuXUh6XRiEX

 

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February 28, 2016 No Comments

Humor, off-grid

Living off-grid, much of our entertainment is self generated, in other words, we crack ourselves up :) A couple of days ago, this conversation could be heard at the SkyCastle

PB: What is the stuff they make down pillows and blankets from?
Me:… uhhh, down?
PB: No, the material?
Me: Ohhh, I think it’s called ticking…
PB: Yes, I need some clothes made from ticking…
Me: Hahaha, your clothes are ticking…
PB:… but then I couldn’t fly on an airplane…
LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Guess you had to have been there… :)

So today I did a search for “off-grid hacks” on YouTube, this video was in the first few that showed up, it’s quite amusing as well as informative. It’s “10 things we wished we had known before going off-grid”, they are quite cute with their deadpan faces explaining what some might think of as obvious, though honestly I think these would be “mistakes” many of us would make. My short list of “what I wish we had done differently” will be listed below the video, below…
https://youtu.be/-9JF7Zifc-M

I agree about carrying water is the worst, maybe not the complete worst, not having water would be worse, it’s what we did the first few months (carrying water) so I can completely understand where they are coming from. Another thing I wish we had known before is how we were going to ultimately use the space inside the SkyCastle. Of course when we first started, we had one room, 16’X16′, it was our everything room, we made the best of the space we had, but I would have liked to better plan the layout instead of it growing so organically.

I wish we could have planned on the storage of our future building materials, we got things here and there, mostly things people were throwing away, over the years it has grown like a weed, we have stacks of this and that here and there, it could be neater.

I also wish we could have planned on the out buildings better, things that were suppose to be temporary end up being more permanent that first planned, this is mentioned in the video about temporary things becoming permanent, that is so true, so don’t build something in a place where you might wish it wasn’t…

I think of the things we brought with us when we first moved out here, we tried to anticipate what things we might not be able to get out here, it’s funny to look back on that, what goes through my mind is “what were we thinking?”, things like empty jars and bottles (with lids), plastic grocery bags, yes grocery bags, we weren’t planning on buying much from the store and figured we could use those extra bags for other things…

Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it :) I certainly don’t regret anything about our life, …

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February 25, 2016 No Comments
Communities

Spring is near

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Spring is just around the corner, I am noticing the oak trees, which keep their leaves all winter long, are beginning to turn, they fall off and are replaced in very short order. Most other locations, the leaves turn in fall/autumn, but not our oak trees. I am also noticing the other trees, which have lost their leaves are starting to bud, just little bumps on the branches right now, but will soon bust out into a riot of bright green leaves.

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Another sign of spring is the days are getting longer, something I appreciate, I find I can get more done during the daylight, when it gets dark, I just want to crawl in bed and relax.

I am looking forward to the green grass and spring flowers, I love taking pictures as I drive all over west Texas doing merchandising, I get to see some very pretty country, much of it is harsh and hard, but there is a beauty if you are willing to look. I am building up a portfolio of pictures I can use for making cards, (greeting and post cards), mainly to sell to the tourists who pass through on vacation, also to sell to the locals who wish to see something pretty all year long.

The SkyCastle is growing, slowly, but still moving along. PB has been working on the room under the house, we are built on a hillside, so the front of the ground floor room is tall, but as it goes back, the “floor” slopes up, so PB has been digging out the floor, one section at a time, then pouring concrete walls to support the back of the house. Once it’s complete, it will be our bedroom, it will be partially underground with thick concrete walls, there will be two doors but no windows. The idea is to have a protected space that is easy to heat in winter, and stays cool in summer. It will also free up the room we use as a bedroom now, we can use it as a dining room or perhaps even another bedroom when we have overnight guests.

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The other project around here is the lawn tractor, PB is working on making it a half track vehicle, it will be better able to get up and down the steep and rocky terrain, and to help preserve the land. Regular tires tend to dig ruts in the dirt, smoother tires can’t get a good hold, and aggressive tires tear up what they go over. You can see the teaser article about this here: https://off-grid.net/56795-2/.

A couple of weeks ago, PB hurt his knee on a ladder, the hardest part about this injury was keeping him off that leg, he wants to work, he needs to do chores, but every time he used that leg, it hurt, a lot. It is healing now, …

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February 21, 2016 No Comments
Communities

Is it too late?

toolate

What are your skills? Everyone has something they can do and do well, something that you enjoy doing, hopefully you are making your living doing it.

If TEOTWAWKI were to happen, assuming you have your food, water, shelter and other necessities taken care of, (you do, don’t you?), if we were to go back to a life like yesteryear, what could you contribute to your society? Unfortunately, all too many are skilled in spending money, or using technologic gadgets, that just will not get it if the power were to go out for an extended amount of time.

For me, I know how to cook from scratch, I can cook on a woodstove, I am familiar with our local plantlife for medicinal purposes. I can also cut hair, it’s funny that in the olden days, barbers were also the local medicine folk, you went to the barber to get minor, and sometimes major medical help.

I am well practiced at living in more primitive ways, choosing to live this way on purpose. PB is well versed at taking junk and turning it into useful things, he has a knowledge of electricity, gas (propane and other cooking & heating gas), engine repair, welding, building, he is an all around handy man.

Between the two of us, we have the skills to survive and the things we don’t have or can’t do, we can barter our skills with other people who have skills we don’t have. You don’t have to know how to do everything, but the more skills you do have, the better off you will be, both in this life, and in a potentially radically different world.

A neighbor and friend up the street is versed in leathercraft, another friend is a plumber, yet another is an EMT so can take care of medical issues, our small community is far ahead of many other towns because of the diverse knowledge and we all know each other.

As I asked in the title, is it too late? If you are reading this and you are still upright & breathing, it’s not too late, figure out what you are good at, what you enjoy doing, and learn more about it, get some practical experience, figure out what sorts of things that might be handy to know and do it.




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February 16, 2016 No Comments
Communities

Half track, full genius

The last couple of weeks, PB has been watching lots of track wheel vehicle videos on YouTube, I just thought he was on another rabbit trail, he travels those quite often, and sometimes something really interesting comes of it.

Let me backtrack just a bit, about 3 years ago, we were gifted an old (but still working) Craftsman lawn tractor, a very small tractor with 4 wheels, it has been sitting in our shed waiting to become useful.

PB wants to turn it into a half-track to make it easier to get up and down the hill and do as little damage to the land as possible. Here is a mock up of what he plans to do. More to come :)
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Here is a video showing what someone else did
https://youtu.be/jQs25GH-hTw




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February 12, 2016 2 Comments

High end tiny house

Most of the tiny homes I have seen are built on a tight budget, this one was built with more high end features in mind, it looks fantastic, coming in at around $77,000, it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

I love the stairs in this one, and the loft, it just looks very comfortable and well built. Jeff Hobbs has taken his skills a cabinet maker and boat builder to make this tiny home a masterpiece of beauty and efficiency.

https://youtu.be/CELFsKLkKbI




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February 10, 2016 No Comments
Communities

Would you live in a yurt?

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In the next town over from where I live, quite close, nearly in town, there is a yurt on a hillside, I don’t know who owns it or if anyone even lives there, but it looks interesting, if nothing else because it’s different.

A yurt is a semi-permanent tent structure, round, with a slightly cone shaped dome top. They are usually made of canvas, are roomy but there is only one room inside, unless you add some sort of walls inside to divide up the spaces like they did in the second video below. They are usually insulated so you can live in them year round. I wonder how long the canvas holds up though, and the plastic sheeting windows, I suspect at some point the covering would need to be replaced.

Never the less, they look quite interesting and would make a fun living place. Have you even stayed in a yurt? If so, let me know what you think of them below.

Here are 3 videos showcasing yurt life, enjoy.
https://youtu.be/CKG2LKYCb6g

https://youtu.be/RmlcxdGgK9A

https://youtu.be/5BMJQeaXHtM




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February 6, 2016 2 Comments

Three things this week

First thing, as I sit here tonight, sipping herbal tea that tastes like a sugar cookie, it’s quite a different night from last night, for one thing, it’s quiet, all I hear is the hum from the inverter fan and the clicking of my fingers on the keyboard.

Last night, the wind blew, it blew really hard, at some points I wondered how the roof would stay attached. I’m certain we had gusts of near 70 MPH, as I lay in bed watching videos on my tablet, it was loud enough outside that I had trouble hearing the tablet’s tiny speakers. PB was under the SkyCastle, I heard a loud crash on the roof of the bedroom. It sounded big and it sounded as if it broke up into pieces when it hit. We never did figure out what it was, there was no visible damage the next morning and nothing laying around that looked like it could be the thing that hit the roof.

It’s difficult for us to have a fire in the wood stove when it’s that windy, the wind tends to blow the smoke back into the house, fortunately it was a rather warm night, well warmish, I had the windows open but was wearing my cold weather nightwear, 2 layers, thermal underwear and flannel PJs. This morning we discovered new items in the yard, things that blew in from the neighbor’s properties, I found out that some of my neighbor’s didn’t fare as well as we did, one lost a carport, another lost their trampoline. Yet another neighbor wrote on Facebook about how we can’t leave things out like ladders leaning against the building or anything else that can become airborne.

We are supposed to have another couple of high wind days coming up, it hasn’t hit yet, but there are fire dangers because of the wind and how dry it is, a spark is all it would take and we could be in real trouble.

Second thing, work has been picking up, as promised after the first of the year, our bigger merchandising projects are starting to show up. I had been trying to find someone to take one of the two farther towns I travel to each week, Presidio. We have hired several folk over a period of time but none of them seem to work out for very long, this seems to be the type of work you either love or hate.

I learned that the lady who used to work with me expressed an interest in coming back, she wanted Presidio, that is perfect, I can happily hand that town over to her, there will be no training time and no worries about her ability to do the work, it’s a win-win situation. She will either start this week or the following week.

The third and final thing that has happened …

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January 31, 2016 No Comments