Communities

Communities

Mobile living

Mobile living
A few months ago, a long lost friend appeared back in my life, a friend I knew when I was an early teen but lost contact with, all these years later we reunited and picked our friendship right up where we left off. I learned that my friend lived in her van, that does not mean she is “homeless”, she lives this way by choice and actually lives a pretty interesting life. You can read about her here.

Through following her on FaceBook and making friends with her friends on there, people who also live a mobile life, I found a very interesting fellow, Bob Wells, he is an experienced, long term, successful and happy vandweller. After perusing his website, where he shares so much of his experiences to help other people live this life, I had to share him with you. I am so very impressed with him, turns out I’m not the only one impressed with him, he is in a documentary about people who gave up a permanent stick built home, who have gone off the grid, on the road, who travel where they wish, when they wish, the freedom these folk enjoy is beyond words.…

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Communities

On demand water heater

waterheater1

There are a few needs, requirements for life, food, water, shelter, once those basic requirements are met, after that come the things that make life pleasant. When we first moved to our off-grid home, we lived in little more than a box (16X16) with few amenities. Most wouldn’t even consider living this way, but for me, for us it was paradise, living rough was just a small inconvenience, a small road bump on the road of our life.…

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Communities

Fantasy castle on wheels

06When I first saw this, I wondered how interesting this might be, then I watched the video, I’m blown away, so is PB, he was even impressed, and that’s no easy task. …

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Communities

Squeezing the photons

photonssm

Squeezing those photons, that’s what I call it when we don’t have much power. Our solar system is small, and most of the time, it holds us pretty well, we usually have an abundance of sunshine, and as typical in Texas, even on those overcast days, the sun often shines for a while during the day.…

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Communities

How about a shed for a cabin?

shed-cabin

There is a big movement, well maybe it’s a “small” movement :) using sheds for cabins or even your full on home, it’s a good way to have a ready made structure without having to build it yourself from scratch.

LaMar Alexander takes us on a tour of various sized sheds, he explains the pros and cons of each type, and how to improve these simple structures to convert them into something you can live in.…

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Communities

Snow on the Sky Castle

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One of the things I enjoy about the area where we live is we get all kinds of weather, even some extremes, but none of it lasts very long, our winters are mild compared to the rest of the country. We get snow a few times a winter, it’s usually a few inches and doesn’t last very long, it’s just enough to turn all of us into children again.

Last week we had such an event, fortunately I didn’t have to venture out in my vehicle and was able to stay home and enjoy the snow while it lasted. Our biggest “problem” during such times is making sure we have enough wood to burn in the woodstove to keep warm. PB kept us well stocked and kept the Sky Castle toasty warm.…

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Communities

Vince’s not so tiny home

My not-so-tiny house
Vince took a page from LaMar Alexander’s book and videos and built his own semi-small house, by most standards this is a small home,  measuring in at: 640 sq ft, 2 floors 16X16, attic 8X16 at a total cost of around $3500. His property, 7 acres was $5500, he was able to pay that off over the winter and spent the following summer saving his money to put into building his cabin. Much like we did, he was able to find sources of free materials. With the help of his family and friends he was able to get his cabin in the dry in about 2 months, he still has the inside and finish work to do, but I’d say he has done a very good job and will have a wonderful and debt free place to live when it’s completed.
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Communities

Flower pot heater, does it work?

flower pot heater

The last couple of winters have been very hard for those of us living in the USA, the so called “polar vortexes” have come down from above, of course when I was growing up, these were referred to as a cold front, I suppose now they have to make it sound more newsworthy… at any rate, the winters are cold cold cold, many rely on grid power to keep their homes warm, even those who have natural gas, their heating units still rely on electricity to run and circulate the heat. It’s always a good idea to have at least one alternative means of heating your home should the power go out, ideally you should have multiple backup means of heating your home, or at least one room to get you through in the worst case scenario.…

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Communities

500 square feet

500sqft

500 square feet, for some, that’s a decent walk in closet, but not for this couple, Robert Cole and his partner Kelly Casthena, they live there with their black lab, happy as clams. They would have to be, living in such close quarters, any unhappiness would not stay hidden for long.…

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Communities

Kicked my freezer-fridge conversion out

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Not away, but outside, I’m still using it, but with the colder temps and the more overcast days, I decided to let nature work for me instead of against me. A couple of weeks ago, PB moved the chest freezer to fridge conversion out on the front porch, it’s right next to the grill, it seems my front porch is really turning into an outdoor kitchen minus the plumbing.…

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Communities

Deep winter for the Sky Castle

2015-01-01 09.21.47
This is our 8th year living out here, we have fallen into a comfortable routine, the summers have its advantages, longer days, warm weather (cool nights for sleeping), getting more done during the longer daylight hours, but there are downsides, such as the critters, bugs, spiders and other creepy crawlies that are active in the warmer weather.…

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Communities

Vandwelling

02

Modern technology, we have shunned much of it, but sometimes it’s a great thing to have around, the internet, FaceBook and the such, these things allow us to communicate, to keep in touch with, and to find those we lost track of.

In this case, I reached out on FaceBook, searching for a long lost friend, a person I knew back when I was not even a teenager. I found her and discovered she is living a parallel life to us, living off-grid, but her life is mobile, she is a gypsy at heart.…

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