Back from KY.

My plans for driving to KY to avoid traffic put me directly in harm's way for weather, I drove down in a big storm.  I even hit a fallen tree on I80.  The weather on the trip back wasn't better, it was gale force winds and lots of ice. 

 

I did get a few things done while I was down there.  I started sketching out possible bed systems.  It looks like I will have to build my own given that futons don't generally fold well enough.

 

The holidays were pretty nice.  I did get to see the amish light parade this year.  I only got a crappy picture though.    

 

The weather was really nice while I was there, so I did a few survey's of the lot down there.  My Dad's and sisters place will be my "permanent address" while I am on the road.  And since I won't be on the road full time (probably 6-9 months a year), I will be running a furniture business the other few months.  That will require a workshop to build the furniture though, so I was looking for where the best location for that would be.  I would also need a location to park the box truck.  

 

One of the suggestions for the box truck location was over here, but there isn't really enough solar here, it is shaded by the house too much of the day.  

 

One of the nicer spots on the lot is the back corner.  It is one of the drier spots on the lot too.  It is open, not a lot of solar interference, which is nice given that it will likely have to be off-grid, being way too far to wire in.  Getting to it is a problem though.  Going in from my sisters side means walking through soup and all the drainage.  

 

The other option was to come in from my dad's side. This is actually a decent spot for a bridge over the drainage creek.

 

I also looked at whether or not hydro was an option, but I am suspecting there isn't enough flow here.

 

I had considered just upgrading this whole area, replacing the existing shed and covering all the parking and turning the current carport into a workshop.  That would also work.  I am concerned with how much that would cost, but since I wouldn't need a complete off-grid system here it is worth considering since going off-grid electrically is really expensive.  My current plan is to park the box truck on the far side of the carport.   

I went out and did some electrical work at Natalie's mother's barn, so that is at least functional again.  We got to see a gorgeous sunset afterwards.

 

I did scope out a few RV places about custom mattresses (as part of the bed systems noted above).  They are expensive, but not prohibitively so. They had samples, and the comfort collection was the best in my opinion, the Cozy and Caress were too soft and spongy.  The Casual is pretty much what my current mattress is, hard as a rock.  I would add a hinge to the mattress, so it would be 100 more than what is listed here.  I had originally dismissed the single bi-fold mattress because I couldn't find one either online or at any conventional mattress store, but this makes it a possibility again.

 

One of the other big projects was putting in gates.  Dad got Heather a gate for Christmas, and Heather bought the last one for the dog yard.

 

I noticed when we were putting them up that the flies down there were awful.  All the little black specks are flies on the siding trying to warm up. I thought they would all be dead or hibernating by now.

 

Christmas was good.  The dogs may not have enjoyed their clothes, but they enjoyed the attention and treats.

 

Jelly Bean didn't have any clothes.  

 

She did get a cat tree though.  It was a bit big for her, and we ended up making it a bit smaller so it was easier for her to jump up on and it fit by the window better.  

 

One of the things I got was a National Park Map Tracker.  I filled in the ones I have been to.  I still have more to go.

 

After I finished that up, I finished up a bed system design for a bi-fold mattress.  I managed to fit a 75 gallon water tank in there, which is larger than I expected, and honestly makes me wonder if I can just do a 50 gallon fresh and a 25 gallon gray tank, instead of putting the gray tank underneath.  Something to worry about later though.

 

I spent the next few days wearing out the dogs in the nice weather.  It was in the 60s for most of the trip, and even hit 70s a couple of times.  

 

The last thing I did though was start getting the soffit work on the shed done.  I also ran another gallon of paint through the paint sprayer since Heather said she had issues with it last time just to see if it was still working.  It seemed okay, I think it was just too hot when she was painting, and it was starting to dry in the sprayer as she was spraying it.  I went with actual soffit this time and it was soooooooo much faster; I had originally been building the soffit pieces by hand with wire, and to say it was slow going is a major understatement.  So I bought some pre-made soffit vent pieces, and we had them up all the way around in less than a day.  The shed isn't done, it still needs faschia boards and some sealing, but it should hopefully at least be mouse tight now.  Bees can still get in though.   

 

The drive home was very blustery.  I changed the battery in the car while I was down there, so I didn't have any issues with the newfound cold. I stopped at Aunt's and Uncle's for the second part of Christmas.  Pippin enjoyed the wrapping paper.  

 

I got home on New Years Eve.  I got home right at sunset.

 

My mouse total is up to 9 now.

 

I have a lot of things to look at this winter.  Now that the bed design has been finalized, I can start building it.  The kitchenette has been finalized for a while now.  They are still lower priority then the CR-V upgrades though which I will be using in 2026.  I can also start design work on the workshop, so I know how much footprint I need and stuff like that.

Short post - first mice.

I noticed some sounds a couple nights ago, and investigated when I woke up. I found the source of the problem.  It took over two years, but mice have finally found/chewed their way in.

 

I put out traps, and the first round definitely went to the mice.  Two of the three traps were sprung, but no hits, and all three were slicked clean.

 

Round two however went more my way.  Interestingly, they ate the seeds off the peanut butter and left the peanut butter.  The previous night they were completely cleaned to shiny copper.

 

My last lunch of the year the company took us out to a new Hibachi place.  It was quite good, and surprisingly not mind boggling expensive.  It took me a minute to figure out the Japanese soda, you have to snap the punch out of the lid to knock the marble in it.

 

This is definitely the last post before the holidays, since I am leaving this afternoon for Aunt's and Uncles, and won't be back until the new year.  I have done a little bit of work on trying to fix the bed situation, but nothing finalized yet.  Most of the rest of the week has been getting ready for the trip and cleaning out the CR-V

Frigid week,

This time of year I don't do much during the week, mostly just some cleanup and other stuff.  I did go and pick up the fixed tractor tire on Monday.  Ouch.  

Tuesday I went and checked on the tote of dirt I got from Uncle Jim, since it could still be generating its own heat and it is in a plastic container.  It was literally frozen into a single solid brick.  

 

It might have been because it was rather chilly outside though.  A nice frosty -7 Tuesday morning.

 

We had our Christmas potluck last week too.  I made ziti.  I made it in the crock pot and then just used the keep warm setting on the crock pot to keep it warm.  It worked, and the crock pot didn't crack in the oven, so it is something I might do going forward.

 

Late in the week, the first shipment from the new meal plan came in.   It was packaged quite well, and still very frozen despite being left outside most of the day.  

 

I got two weeks worth roughly.  It filled my little fridge.

 

I also rearranged the second room and folded up the futon.  I intend to use it to make a mockup of the box truck.

 

The weekend was kind of annoying.  It wasn't supposed to snow at all, but each day from Wednesday on I woke up to this.  This is why I quickly go from "snow is pretty" to "snow sucks, winter is getting old" now.  I literally lost the entire weekend because of snow that wasn't supposed to exist, since I am not pulling out my table saw and jackery when it is snowing.  Surprisingly I haven't had any troubles with the driveway, though the CR-V has greatly exceeded expectations with regard to its snow performance.  It is far superior to the truck to be honest, and doesn't even spin going up and down.  The truck I have to put it in 4WD and lock the diff, and it still spins going up and down.  And the truck has more aggressive tires on it, and several hundred pounds of weight in the back.  Too bad the CR-V doesn't start under 20 degrees.  I will be getting a new battery soon though.

 

I did get the tire put on the tractor and clear the edge of the road.  It is scraped down (other than the unplanned weekend snow) so there isn't a pile there anymore.  I tried to drive it up the hill for the carport work.  It made it, but it was on the edge of sliding down.  

 

I also finally got around to replacing the fill valve in the toilet.

  

 

It turned out most of the brown was silt and sediment, none of which should be passing through the filter, but at least most of it washed right out of the bowl. 

 

I replaced the seat too with a not-as-cold one.  If anyone wants the old one, it is in perfectly fine condition.

  

Afterwards I went and helped Anx with some shelving in his garage on Saturday.

 

Sunday snowed again (shocker).  I went and got all my Christmas presents and stuff ready, and started emptying out the car.

 

I also started to lay out the other room.  Just as a reminder, this is the floorplan.

 

It looks tight.  It also looks like I might have to find a new futon, one that folds better.  

 

This will probably be the last update before Christmas.   

Dull Snowy weekend.

Another week that was pretty quiet.  Friday I worked from home, so I had a little time to get stuff done during the day.  I got the tire taken off the tractor.  It turns out it doesn't use a standard lug, so my 4 way didn't fit, but thankfully I had the socket and a breaker bar, it is a 19mm.  

 

It turns out nobody keeps tractor tires in stock.  The Kubota dealer doesn't do any tires.  They sent me to a place in Westminster VT that didn't have any.  So I went to Bob's.  He didn't have any either, but could get one Monday, so I should have a new tire either today or tomorrow morning at the latest.  Those little tires are expensive, they are 100 bucks. 

 

While I was out trying to find tires, I went and picked up Heather's bike.  It admittedly wasn't cheap to replace the shifter that I broke when I tried to adjust it, but oh well.  The bike will be coming down at Christmas.   

 

Saturday I just didn't do much.  I did discover a new problem.  The switch that turns off the water in my toilet has failed.  It never turns off, but the float switch goes up and down.  That looks kind of grody for having a whole house filter too, which is something I still need to get looked at.  

 

Sunday I was getting restless, so I went out and did some shoveling.  I found a bunch of deer tracks in the back yard.

 

My goal was to get the CR-V free.  On my way down to the end of the driveway, I noticed some green in the driveway.  The only thing that has gone up and down the driveway at this point was the truck, so perhaps I will need to keep a closer eye on the coolant levels.

 

The turkeys have been very active down by the road. 

 

The rest of the driveway has settled enough for the CR-V, so it was only down by the road that needed to be cleared.  It took a while, and it actually peeled up better than I expected.

 

The rest of the driveway is still pretty rough, but not bad enough for me to care.  Everything I own can drive over it.  The CR-V didn't even spin driving up, despite the less aggressive tires.

 

It didn't want to start since I still haven't replaced the battery, but it did and I got it cleared off.  I took a trip into Keene since I was out of milk.  I didn't get to Home Depot for stuff for the toilet since it was Sunday and they closed early, but oh well.  My regular shopping trip is tonight.  

 

Annoyingly the back wiper on the car tore itself apart, and the auto parts store was already closed.  Another stop for tonight, though I might have a spare that I got with the car, I will have to double check. 

 

The other thing that I did was that I finally signed up for the next attempt at a meal service.  This time I went with Clean Eatz.  They are a cheaper one, but they are all frozen, so hopefully there will be less issues with shipping.  They also aren't a subscription, you just buy them when you need them, which is nicer.  But I got two weeks for less than a single week of Factor, albeit with a 30% intro coupon.  I of course had to try their Mac N Cheese set.