Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

[glenn kangiser]

I understand that they recalled it due to stupid people getting in front of it with the engine running, pulling to get it unstuck,  and cutting themselves.  [ouch]

What part of shut the engine off didn't they understand.  Anyway, from there the ambulance chasers took over and another great product is removed from the market due to unlimited stupidity and the need to make someone else pay for some idiot that should have been removed from the gene pool anyway....

Yes - I do stupid stuff and hurt myself once in a while.  I can realize it was stupid and suffer the consequences.  I get to stay in the gene pool.  Some day they may need some of my offspring to save the world......



Arrrgh... John...

It does have power drive.  Maybe if I just kept it engaged? hmm

[PA-Builder]

Hey Glenn,

Turn that cutter thing up 90 degrees (pointing to the front) and LAPD may be interested in using it for "crowd control"...

I'll get the paperwork for the patent started in the morning.

[glenn kangiser]

You know G., I think you may be on to something there.  How about we collaborate on that.... I want my cut of course.....









OK here's the deal... we add a bagger and a seal-a-meal..... instant MRE's.  No cost except for a bit of gas, rolls of bag material and marketing.. we could split all of the profits.... deal?






[bbq]

[PA-Builder]

Glenn,

Great input !

This is why two heads are (usually) better than one.  You do the design and implementation, and I'll handle the "government" end of things . . . recalling how you sometimes have problems with the authority figures . . . 

[glenn kangiser]

Heads.... two heads... I think we may have to limit them to one at a time, G. as two will likely clog up the blade.   


I'll work on a limiting device..... [idea]

Aside from that, G., yes -- you take care of the dirty work.  Dealing with the government .... especially the Feds is not up my alley. 

[glenn kangiser]

Reading Cyara's blog from the permaculture forum.... I found something I like....

I have to quote Bill Mollison here; not only because it tickled me to read it, but because his point of view in terms of productivity is accurate:

"We should not confuse order and tidiness. Tidiness is something that happens when you have frontal brain damage. You get very tidy. Tidiness is symptomatic of brain damage. Creativity, on the other hand, is symptomatic of a fairly whole brain, and is usually a disordered affair. The tolerance for disorder is one of the very few healthy signs in life. If you can tolerate disorder you are probably healthy. Creativity is seldom tidy.

Tidiness is like the painting of that straight up and down American with his fork and his straight rows. The British garden is a sign of extraordinary tidiness and functional disorder. You can measure it easily, but it doesn't yield much. What we want is creative disorder. I repeat, it is not the number of elements in a system that is important, but the degree of functional organization of those elements – beneficial functions."

[Redoverfarm]

Glenn who are you trying to convince us or Sassy. 

[glenn kangiser]

Myself

[Sassy]

 

[glenn kangiser]

Wow... did that ever get me into trouble....  

I had to go and put the floor in the bedroom area off of the great room.  That will finish the floors on the 0'0" level of the great room, although there will be a root cellar under the bridge behind the circular stair.  The bottom two steps will go away and a straight 2 steps will be in front of the pantry area that is to the right.

Straight back in the left corner behind the post and angle brace post will be a small bedroom under the bridge.  

Bad pix... dust and flash I guess...





This is a continuation of the CBRI light duty concrete floor with the exception that I had compacted this a couple years ago to put in the earth carpet floor, so there are no piers - just jute reinforcing and fibermesh in the concrete stucco type mix.  "We" decided that we liked the clean-ability and durability of the CBRI floor so that is what went there.

See ... it's a good thing I didn't get in too much of a hurry and finish the floor there years ago.... Why am I always right? ...

[Sassy]

   It sure is nice to get another section done, though 

[glenn kangiser]

Thought I would post a pix of this cool little RV cooktop we got.  It may be perfect for a cabin or small house as well.

Our old Wedgewood is a bit slow on heating things up - 1935 technology, so I have been looking for burners or some way to fix it.

I did a search for Magic Chef cooktops and this one came up on Craigslist from Buda, Tx.  On sale for $99 (reg $149 I think) with a piezoelectric lighter and a 9100, and two 7000 BTU burners.  It measures 21 x 21 x 4  1/2" .  They said it is the same one they put in the Airstream RV's.



I got it because it was the same size as the cooking area on the stove, but we have decided to install it in the island cabinet and then the old stove as well as cabinet and cooling space will still all be fully usable.

[glenn kangiser]

I got the gas line plumbed and installed the cooktop in the island today.  I had to go to the hardware store to get the pipe fittings.  



One of my favorite parts is when the young lady comes up to ask me if she can help me find anything and I always reply, "Yes, I was wondering if you have 1/2 inch nipples."  


It was extra cool today because when I tried to tease her a bit about it she said, "It's OK.  I'm a pervert so I just take it in stride," then she proceeded to tell me about one of her booboo's in a big box hardware store over the loudspeaker as she was showing me the shelf of all of the various sized nipples.   Gotta love us mountain people, eh.

All is working well - gas lines all tested good.  I like to use the PTFE paste on the fittings.  I put it on the male threads as directed but put just a bit in the female threads also and I never have leaks.

[diyfrank]

Nice looking stove top. I may look into one.

One thing to keep in mind when putting paste in the female, it will push the excess to the inside and could cause contaminates to plug an orifice.

[glenn kangiser]

I'm sure you are correct about that, diyFrank.  I just put a couple little lines about the depth of the thread, so it just makes a small ring around the end of the pipe.  I guess that is not necessary with the taper of the pipe but I just want to see that extra.... [ouch]

[phalynx]

Glenn, you could have asked "Could you show me where your 1/2 nipples are?"  You know you are dealing with an expert if she tells you they are over by the bastard files.

[glenn kangiser]

I was probably lucky to get my question out in any form.  [ouch]

I was NOT scared, Eddie.... only a bit nervous....

I do believe she was a pro though.  

Well - President's day and I was supposed to be working but had to work on the truck and do some other things too,  sooo, I put in two bread boards for Sassy so it is easier for her to cook for me.  

Woops... Oh yeah, I was talking about pipe nipples too.....

[glenn kangiser]

Got the Bush Hog back so took it to the spring to check it out.

Spike loves to chase and eat the water skippers.



He is in the middle pond - the one that fills from the overflow of the main pond.  It is roughly 5'x20'.  The main one is about 15 feet in diameter.

The main pond is a few feet higher than this one.  I did not want to hook them together until I saw if the spring could support two without the ponds going dry in the summer.



The water enters the top pond through a plastic pipe from the springbox uphill.  It was made by the cowboys in the old days I assume to keep the cattle out of the spring.  It will supply water for my steers if I ever get it all fenced.  [ouch]



Here is one standing up near the springbox looking down.  There are three ponds below, but the bottom one is small and generally only fills in the winter.



Flow is about 1/2 gpm in the summer and looks to be around 1 gpm right now.

[Redoverfarm]

I'm jealous.  Look at all the green grass.  Haven't seen grass in over a month or so.  If you want the ponds   bigger Glenn just let the cattle move in. 

[glenn kangiser]

Our greenest year early in a long time, John.

The first rains were good ones and started things off well.  I am considering fencing the ponds and putting a hose fed trough outside the fence to keep the cows out of it.  The spring box area is pretty well protected but I think I will fence it too.  



I discovered it with my metal detector years ago.  The area to the right of the cattails in the second pix above is where the old pre 1890 cabin was.  I have found square nails, an axe head -blacksmith made, a part of a scissors and charcoal there.  I assumed since it is a year round spring there would have been a cabin nearby.

[glenn kangiser]

I failed to post this earlier, but with adding the cooktop to the kitchen, I thought maybe Sassy would need some more space for cooking so I added her some flexible space.  Twin bread boards.  

She uses them every time she cooks now.



One is 15 inches wide - the other is 12 inches.  I ran them through the planer as 1x12's then screwed 1 1/2 inch wide planed strips to the sides of  left one to make it 15".  I had some glue here but lost it so it is just held together with 3" screws.

The left one has an olive oil finish and the right one is water based polyurethane.

Total project time was about 1 hour each.

[Sassy]

It was a wonderful surprise    The stove works great & the bread boards give me a lot more room - I always seemed to be fighting for counter space... 

[Redoverfarm]

It was a wonderful surprise    The stove works great & the bread boards give me a lot more room - I always seemed to be fighting for counter space...  

It's really easy Sassy just tell him to leave until supper is ready.

Nice job Glenn.   

[glenn kangiser]

Please, don't encourage her to hold back my food.

Thanks, John.  That easy simple rustic style - easy for a lazy guy like me, but functional... [ouch]

[glenn kangiser]

Oh yeah.. I found a  large mushroom that was growing at the base of the tree behind the Bush Hog. Looks like a Chicken Mushroom but has gills I think.  Gotta check it out some more.