Tom

We visited friends of ours last night.  They are completely off the grid and self-sufficient.  Pretty awesome setup.  It got me re-thinking my plan of action here, and got me to juggling some goals.  All that aside, I have devised a way to get virtually free hot water, using sunshine and/or our woodstove.  I'm hoping to land a side project or 2 which will enable me to purchase a kitchen cookstove and the stove pipe needed for it and our woodstove.  Here's how that all fits together...

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So about a year ago, as part of the house I built a 44'x16' structure resembling a deck.  I say resembling because there are no railings on the deck, and with money so tight with building the house, the sole purpose of the structure was make "permanent scaffolding."  The deck was to get us 10' off the ground so ladders would suffice for getting the siding up. 

Well, now we're in the house and using this deck probably more than we should since it doesn't have railings.  I managed to return roughly $300 worth of materials to Lowe's and received a merchandise credit card.  With our number of munchkins running around, I'm sure we could fill that deck if we just put railings on it and was done with it, but I can't just do something easy...

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Every year for father's day, my one request is to have hard, grueling labor given to me by my children.  Usually it amounts to 3-4 hours of hard work, and me announcing, "It's too hot - let's do something cooler and more fun," and the work ends.  But this father's day, I have my eye set on a "grand" project.  With the departure of our trailer, we're left with, among other things, roughly 60 concrete blocks from the footers which supported the trailer. 

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My wife wanted some nice closet systems in order to avoid the use of dressers and save on space in our bedrooms.  After going to Lowes, I quickly realized that we could either spend a lot of money on particle board, get some metal racks and shelves that I wasn't particularly fond of, or spend the least of the above options and get to work building.  Of course I chose the latter...

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Wow - I had no idea what I was in for! This is taking forever!!! We hope to finish up the 1st floor this week. I was at Lowe's talking to my buddy at the contractor's desk - he said I should get my 3 closest friends to just zip through it in 3-4 days. So I asked him when he was available. :) After running my yap with my buddy at Lowe's, and talking with our drywall finisher, I now have 2 helpers with the hanging of the drywall and for working on the siding! Very good stuff!!!

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