Introducing myself

[glenn kangiser]

Rather than blow the money on the Bigfoot you could just make a similar footing with a wide base and a reinforced concrete post coming out of it.  You could use something like the Sonotube cardboard tubes. The stability would be the same.  The Bigfoot is great where there is a freezing problem as the ice will slide up the plastic.

[Amanda_931]

I haven't been here in months.

The gene that gives you the Manx cat is one that the cats have to have from only one parent.  Otherwise they don't get born or are horribly deformed because of spinal problems.

With the Japanese bobtails, I gather it doesn't matter if the bobtail gene comes from both sides.  I don't know if it's recessive or dominant.  With the Manx, it is dominant, but there are severe problems if it comes from both parents.

(Scottish Fold cats have a similar quality--but they "just" end up with club feet.  The blue merle color in collies and shetland sheepdogs may be the same as well.)

[fourx]

Very interesting read, Amanda. Our Manx, a de-sexed female who is now around 11, has had a severe and  on-going problem with ear mites, despite expensive vet ""solutions"" far in excess of any other cat I have had, and has big problems with fleas, as well-  much more than our other ( two, short-haired common-type) cats. The other two cats have nothing to do with her. ..a little cat racism, perhaps?

[YamaDaiku]

Hi folks,

Just thought I'd give you an update. Im back in Japan after being at sea for 4 1/2 months. We thought we'd be able to start construction of the 1 1/2 story this summer but we're having a little trouble with the paperwork aspect of building in Japan. You might be interested in knowing the quote given to me by a Japanese construction company to build the 20 x 30 place was $175,000. Needless to say we're going to build it ourselves. I anticipate we'll start building after my next sea tour so sometime in Feburary. My wife and I enjoyed so much going through all the pictures and reading all the fantastic conversations. She loves the window seat in Micky's place and the wrap around deck of Navada Mike's place. I've found so many great details in books and magazines as well so it's good that construction has been put off for a time as it will give us time to carefully plan. On ship I had built the house so many times in my mind I was and still am anxious to get started. When Im in the states I usually stay with friends in Washington state near my former residence on Treasure Island on Case Inlet, South Puget Sound. I plan to buy all the windows and doors there and have them shipped over to Japan. I've done that before and even with shipping the price was less than half what I'd pay here. The only worry my wife has is me doing the roof alone. She has suggested if any of you would like a free trip to Japan next spring we would be more than happy to pay for all expenses in return for a couple of weeks framing the roof. I think that would be a lot of fun.

So this summer I'll have to be contented with my honey do list which I had thought to escape. A cedar fence around the front yard to contain my sons. Fixing the roof over kitchen, changing three windows and installing a cyprus floor in two bedrooms. She also wants a four post bed with a canopy. Hopefully I'll be able to throw a kayaking trip in there somewhere and a BBQ or two!

Thanks again for all the great advice! I'll be sure to keep you posted as things develop and seriously if anyone is interested in the trip please let's discuss it!

Rob

[MountainDon]

Hey Rob, long time no see.... I'd been wondering where in the world you were...    

[YamaDaiku]

Hey there Don,

How've you been? My ship was at sea for a while so I couldn't use the net. It's good to be home again. After the cold steal of the ship being back in the lush green countryside is a wonderful charge to the soul.

[MountainDon]

After the cold steel of the ship being back in the lush green countryside is a wonderful charge to the soul.

Must be something like us getting into our mountains from the suburban desert home.

We've spent most of June up there continuing the clearing of fallen and dead and ready to fall trees and changing plans as to where the cabin will be and which way it will face.  :-/  Back home for a few days. No internet connection up there.  :(Some pictures at http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1181361337/0

Off topic... are you a beer guy? Just wondering what brews are like there. I've only had a japanese beer once; Sapphoro, I think it was.

[YamaDaiku]

Don,

Love the pics! It's like you have the living room set up before the house is built! Great stuff. So when do you think you'll build? It looks like a great location. I can see building a deck around a couple of those trees.

Yes I am I guess you could say a pretty big fan of beer. I often say I wish I could bottle that first taste after a hard days work. Nothing like it!! I don't like whiskey or anything like that. Here in Japan I drink a beer called Yebisu. It's a nice malt beer with 5% alcohol made by the Sapporo beer company. Having lived in Washington State I really enjoyed all the micro brews but there isn't much of that over here. Kirin is real popular Japanese beer. The young people here all like to drink Bud though for the life of me I can't understand why. It's $3.50 a can!

Don I was at the local lumber yard a couple of days ago and they just got in a supply of a wood called Ipe. I thought it might be nice for a top rail on a cedar fence to contrast the color. It's extremely heavy and I was wondering how it works. Have you ever used it?

Rob

[MountainDon]

I can see building a deck around a couple of those trees.

The young people here all like to drink Bud though for the life of me I can't understand why. It's $3.50 a can!

... supply of a wood called Ipe. ... Have you ever used it?

A tree deck is a possibility, tho' a screened gazebo is likely coming first as an anti-fly mosquito measure.

"Bud" only if there's nothing else.  :'(  it must be the advertising/marketing/it's American

Never used it, or heard of it.   :-/

[glenn kangiser]

Careful, Rob -- you may have half the Countryplans crew over there helping you put the roof on.   I'll have to think about it and see if I can work it out-- no fear of heights here.  

One problem -- with the .gov monitoring my postings in the off topics and rants, I'm afraid I'm in for a full cavity search if I leave the country. :-/  If they will even let me fly.....

[fourx]

Welcome back to dry land, Rob. I'm surrounded by timber mills and it a new wood to me- maybe it's a Japanese type, only seen there?
Don, they had those Cimagegi or whatever they are called fireplaces on special in town yesterday for 99 bucks-I was tempted to get one. Does yours that you have at the building site work OK?

[MountainDon]

Don, they had those Cimagegi or whatever they are called fireplaces on special in town yesterday for 99 bucks-I was tempted to get one. Does yours that you have at the building site work OK?

Chiminea...  

Yes ours works pretty good. After much research and humming and hawing I decided to go with the one we got, not one of the cheapest. No it was one of the more expensive. We got it from

http://www.thebluerooster.com/catalog/index.php?gclid=CPfo6fiO74wCFQYVhgodPW628Q

We got the "Dragonfly" design.

Around here there are many that are made in Mexico from fired clay. I'm told this is a traditional Mexican design. That's bound to grab the hearts of the mindless masses. (Sorry, that's not PC). Not worth the dirt they're made from unless; [A] you never light a fire in them, (a brother of a friend had one split while being used) or you keep them indoors and follow [A].  (someone else had one slowly dissolve into the clay dirt it was made from as it was repeatedly rained upon.) Many of the others I found locally had stamped sheet metal parts that I'm certain, after a number of fires, would suffer burn through. The only cast iron was the fire grate. Mine is cast aluminum alloy (or is it aluminium downunder?), with a cast iron fire grate. There's also a cast iron grilling grate where the lower body meets the upper tapered chimney. Haven't used that so far... too much bother to remove the chimney before it's hot, to bother to cook on it. That's what I have a charcoal grill, as well as a propane grill for, isn't it? I'll never lack for something to cook Bambi's Dad on.

Though the instructions didn't state so, we "burned" it in with several small fires before going for a bigger fire. (My experiences with cast iron stoves was the basis of my reasoning)

My only criticism is that the Chinese (of course, where else would it come from!) skimped on the hinged safety screen. Let's just say the hinge mount was rather imprecise and allowed for a major amount of door sag after a few heat/cool cycles. No amount of bolt tightening would secure the hinge in it's proper place. I welded a piece of strap iron onto the hinge, drilled new holes and all is now well.   Okay, one more thing the spark arrest screen in the chimney top was too coarse for my liking and I added a layer of hardware cloth with finer openings.

[fourx]

Thanks Don. The clay ones have been around here for a while, but this the first alimunium one I have seen.
Anyone tried Singha? It has to be one of the best beers around- it's Thai. And Fosters is the worst.

[YamaDaiku]

Careful, Rob -- you may have half the Countryplans crew over there helping you put the roof on.   I'll have to think about it and see if I can work it out-- no fear of heights here.  

One problem -- with the .gov monitoring my postings in the off topics and rants, I'm afraid I'm in for a full cavity search if I leave the country.   If they will even let me fly.....

Hey Glenn, I think for few bucks we can get you a new passport. Of course you might have to wear a fake mustache and dark sunglasses but I think it will work.

I just looked up ipe as a wood type- it comes from Brazil. It is naturally fire resistant, insect proof, resists rot and decay and weathers to a beautiful silver sheen. However it is so dense that it is not easy to work with. I guess with the right fasteners it would be perfect material for a fence.

[glenn kangiser]

There goes the  rain forest.  Rob's using it to build with. :-/  I have heard of it - but that's about it.  

I suppose I could smash the chip in the passport --- probably get the exam for sure then.  I think I may be allergic to rubber gloves.    What a dilemma.  :-/

I could say I was one of The Blues Brothers in that outfit, eh?

[PEG688]

Ipe as you have found is a good exterior wood , commonly used for deck here in CONUS. Hard on / to machine , dulls blades and bits . It's more $$ than Red Cedar but is comperable in $$ to Trex and other composite "fake "  wood. It will be hard to nail on to the top of a fence , pre drill and screw .

 Mtn. D do you have to get over "sea legs" when you go from the Mtns to the desert??  

I'd guess when you say 4 1/2 months at sea you mean with port stops ?? The few merchant marines I've know never or rarely got off the boat in port as that was when they had the most to do , as in off load / relaod cargo.

On the beer subject I think Thialand had about the best beer , can't recall the name It was close to dbl. digit Achohol content , and pretty cheap at the time .


Welcome back to the hard eh    

[glenn kangiser]

The sea legs problem comes when you go from low elevation to high - lack of oxygen at higher elevation - so you get sleepy as you get higher until you become acclimatized.  MountainDon is pretty high already though.

[MountainDon]

The sea legs problem comes when you go from low elevation to high - lack of oxygen at higher elevation - so you get sleepy as you get higher until you become acclimatized.  MountainDon is pretty high already though.

Visitors from back home, mean elevation 760 feet, get whacked when they visit here, It can take a couple weeks acclimatization time. I don't notice too much change going back and forth between here (5400 ft) and the mountains (8700).

The adjustment comes in with temperature. Up in the mtns the lows have been around 55 - 60 in the evening/overnight. The mtn highs have gotten to 85 for about an hour or two in the afternoon. Even then if a few clouds blow over you can watch the temp drop some.

Down here in the high desert the lows get down to the low 60's with yesterday's official high 97, 100 in places.

[glenn kangiser]

Cold here last night - got down to 70 during the night - Brrrrrrr. :-/

[MountainDon]

Re: Ipe wood.

I ran across this when looking for something else

http://www.ipe-deck.com/

[YamaDaiku]

I'd guess when you say 4 1/2 months at sea you mean with port stops ?? The few merchant marines I've know never or rarely got off the boat in port as that was when they had the most to do , as in off load / relaod cargo.  

Hey Peg, This is true. If I do get a chance to go ashore in port I may only get a couple of hours at a time. As far as the sea legs go I've only experienced it when I worked on a small fishing boat. We hit port and as soon as I stepped on the dock I fell down! Very weird feeling when you so used to making constant adjustments. On the large ships we simply don't adjust as much to stand straight.  That beer in Thailand is pretty good but I can't think of the name either. I'll tell you the worst beer I ever had was in Egypt. It's called Stella and I swear it had enough formaldehyde in it to embalm an elephant! Nasty stuff and brother what a headache the next day.

I've given up on the Ipe. I started thinking about what it took to get it to this small lumber yard in Japan and realized buying it would only create a demand, better to use local stuff. More often than not things don't become clear to me in a flash. With me it's more like a clearing fog. Add a few beers to my naturally snail like quickness and that fog becomes thick indeed!  

[Amanda_931]

good idea on the local wood.

Especially if it's a pain to work with.

(Clearing fog is how my mind is apt to work too)

[YamaDaiku]

Hey folks,

Geez where do I start? First problem is the largest sized 2x lumber sold over here is 12 ft. With that in mind how do construct the ceiling joist without supporting beams underneath? I want to use the same floorplan as sold with the plan and I wanted to have a full ceiling for the loft.  I am going to search a few lumber yards to see if I can have the ceiling joist specially cut. There has to be a way.

I thought I would post a few pics of my main house and explain some of the work my wife and I have done so far. I'll post them this weekend.

Have fun!
Rob

[glenn kangiser]

I'm sure you can find a plan for a bolt together truss that will be able to use the short lumber.  We have a Hostel up here that did that - no problem.  I don't know if you have codes or engineering to deal with there.

Reading again it could present a problem in the loft area.  Could work on some of the rest though? :-?

[Amanda_931]

does truss-joist design allow for splices?  This brand might be available in Japan

http://www.tjm.com/index.cfm

Looks like it does have plenty of splices in this brand:

http://www.ilevel.com/floors/default.aspx

But I'm not sure about home-built versions of these.