Boss Week

In case anyone was wondering, Putin is still a boss. The link is a news article with video of him driving a big truck into conquered territory. That could be offensive to some. When it comes to Putin, I don't pass judgement on the morality of his actions. I just show him doing things like a boss.

Speaking of bosses, Trump moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Certain people didn't like that. U.S. presidents always promise to move the embassy in an attempt to gain votes, but only Trump actually kept his promise. Because he's a boss.

Ben Bender at ninety-three years old hit a hole-in-one at golf. Because that's what bosses do.

I was able to drop by the county planning office and pick up the paperwork for the cabin. The building permit is going to run from $90 to $280, depending on whether several inspections are included in the $90 fee or whether they're separate. There's no explanation of how it works. I'll have to ask them to clarify later. They gave me a folder of papers showing all kinds of things I need to do and the various rules. My general plan was to do the foundation, walls and roof then work on electrical, wiring, flooring and all those other things later as I was able to afford them. I figured it would take several years at least.

The building permit is for one year. If construction is not finished in that time, a one-year extension can be filed. That's all. The things they want done are too expensive to do in two years on top of the hospital bills I'm still paying off. Part of my plan was doing it without debt. I would have a place to live without having to pay rent, and it would be paid for. Now I'm wondering what to do.

Something I was going to do to save money was mill part of the lumber myself. There are four beams I could do. I was also going to do the siding. Something I wasn't a big fan of was making the flooring. I'd considered it, but it's time-consuming. It takes a long time to cut all that lumber, and for floors it would need to dry 45 to 60 days. I may have to do it anyway. To save time on building, I could do all that before filing the permit. I could also cut some joists for the substructure that goes between the foundation and the flooring. The same size joists go into the ceiling, too, to support the roof. With the disc problem in my back, I'm not sure how I would handle and move all those boards. A big part of the plan was using lifting tools in one location. The trees this stuff would be cut from would be scattered over a wide area.

Making all those things would save money, but it wouldn't be enough to pay for all the things the county wants, although I really need to find out what the absolute minimum is that they would let me do. There might be things I can get away with not doing.

I'm rethinking it a bit and trying to figure out whether it's something I can do while meeting government restrictions.

Have a great weekend.

Cabin 2

Last week I was talking about maybe building a little cabin. An important step for that done is getting my dad's old truck running. This is something I've been wanting to do anyway. With a new battery it cranks up but lacks the power to move. I've been ordering parts to do a tune up on it a little at a time. This week I changed the pcv valve and the spark plugs. It didn't fix it. The next step is changing the fuel filter, which is located underneath the truck and is designed to be changed while the truck is on a lift. Since I can't drive it to a garage, I'm not sure how I'm going to get it changed. I need to raise that side of the truck up, and I don't know if it has enough power to drive onto ramps.

I've been doing tons of research for the cabin. Financially, a pier and beam foundation makes the most sense. Nine to twelve piers at around $60 each would cost in the $600 to $700 range. That's 12" diameter piers on 2' by 2' foundations in three or four rows. Mathematically, nine should work, but I'm wondering about adding an extra row for greater stability.

Like I said last week, I have a disc problem in my back and would need a way to lift heavy things. I've found some tools. The big one is this 1-ton chain hoist. If I could rig up a cable or rope between two trees, it would lift anything I need including 20-foot beams. I'd never have to be trying to hold a long, heavy board while nailing or drilling. Another device is this material dolly for moving plywood and drywall panels. It holds up to 500 pounds. A companion device I might not need is a board lifter. Once the plywood or drywall panel was moved into place, a panel hoist would lift it up wherever I needed it, including up to the ceiling. I could make the ceilings and never have to lift anything except a drill. Same for the roof.

Something else I found was a miniature chainsaw mill. YouTube has videos showing how chainsaw mills work. What this mini device would let me do is make my own lumber. I don't want to make all of it, just certain parts like the beams. They would have to be 20 feet long. The only one I could find online was $97, and I need at least four of them. Too expensive. The mini mill is $25, and I already have a lightweight, electric chainsaw. The mini mill also solves another problem. With the doctor bills from January, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to afford to build even a bare bones structure. It finally occurred to me that I could use the mini mill to make boards like this for the siding. I was going to use cheap, vinyl siding that would cost somewhere around the $650 range, depending on the cabin's size. Making the siding would save enough to be able to buy these tools.

I still don't have it all figured out, but I'm getting closer.

Have a great weekend.

Cabin?

Not far back I mentioned transcription as being a possible side gig I was looking into. There turned out to be a catch. The hourly rates are based on how long the audio files are, not how long it would take to transcribe them. It could end up paying something like five dollars an hour, depending on the job. It could be higher or lower than that. I'm keeping it in mind, but it's on the back burner.

 

I've been needing to move for a long time. My ideal house would be some kind of Victorian with awesome finishes. Not being rich, I've been looking into another possibility. What if I could build something like a cabin? I call it a cabin. It would be a small house kind of like a tiny house but bigger. I decided to see how much it would cost for the bare minimum.

This week I created a spreadsheet and started putting materials costs into it. I can type in the dimensions of the cabin, and it calculates the cost of the roof, foundation, walls, etc., and adds them up. Some of it is surprisingly cheap. I have two columns. One calculates for a one-story and the other for two. It's looking like I can build something in the 500 square foot(46.45sq m) range for somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,500. The spreadsheet is only an estimate and still needs tweaking.

Keep in mind that's a bare minimum cost for something the size of a small apartment. That's for a foundation, sub flooring, exterior walls and a roof. It wouldn't include water, electricity, insulation, drywall, plumbing, wiring and all the things like lights, light switches, flooring, sinks, appliances, etc. It also wouldn't include the cost of a building permit. I need to visit the office in my county that processes those and see how much it would cost to get one. The internet tells me it's between $100 and $1,500 and is usually based on the cost of the project. I'm pretty sure I'm at the bottom end of the spectrum. :)

I'd mostly be working on it myself in the evening. There's a problem. I have disc problem in my back. I can't be lifting heavy things like boards and beams. I would have to rig up a system of ropes and pulleys and a counterweight to lift things for me. The build sites I have available have trees, so that shouldn't be too hard.

If this gets past the planning stage, I'd put it on YouTube. It would start within the next few weeks. The plan would be to build the minimum and add the finishes over time. Where I live, if you generate your own electricity, the electric company has to pay your for the extra. A solar farm is a must. No electric bill, plus they'd be paying me to finish the cabin.

Have a great weekend.

Why All the Demand?

Since early last year, I've been tracking the prices of used Nissan Leafs in case things turned around and I was able to get one. I thought that with the 2018 model coming out, the cost of the old ones would plummet due to all the trade-ins. Instead, prices went up and kept going up. The years I was looking at were 2015 and newer for the SL model. They went from around $9,000 to $13,000, although I've seen a couple in the 12Ks lately.

The SL is top of the line. If I was getting a used car, it may as well be the fancy one, right? Right. It was a good thought. But the price rise had me confused. I couldn't figure it out. Why would an "obsolete" version of the Leaf keep getting more expensive? Especially with the Model 3 coming out and all the other electric cars. It didn't make sense. Where was all this demand coming from? It seemed crazy.

I may have figured it out. At the least I have a theory that makes sense. I've also been tracking Tesla to see when they go bankrupt. I mean if not when. They could still turn things around, right? Yeah, sure. :) I saw a story the other day about mass Model 3 reservation cancellations. Tesla won't release the numbers, but apparently, many, many people who reserved a Model 3 have cancelled and gotten their deposits back. Aha, that would explain the demand on the Leaf SL. I don't know if that's the reason for the price rise, but it would make sense to me that some of those people would be buying Leafs, perhaps while waiting for another brand of electric car to hit the market. It would also kind of make sense that some of the reservation holders would be buying something cheap to tide them over until their Model 3s ship, which could be a very long time, if ever.

Of course, some of the demand might be due to the new popularity of electric cars. A cheap Leaf would be a decent entry vehicle or a decent second car to test out the whole electric car thing. Something else I wonder about is the poor range of the 2018 Leaf. It's around 150 miles per charge instead of the 200+ it needed to be. Maybe not that many people are trading in the old Leafs, when it feels like a step backward compared to the Bolt or Model 3. For commuting to work, 150 is fine, but to be a main car, I'd want well over 200 miles. And that's not really enough compared to a gas car that gets 350 miles per tank, but it would work. The 2019 Leafs are supposed to have 200+ miles of range. Maybe the trade-ins will occur then. It's stuff to think about.

So, why 2015 and newer when the older Leafs are around $6,000? In 2015 Nissan switched to a more energy efficient heating/cooling system. The ones in the old Leafs use way too much electricity. A lot of people weren't using the heater in the winter, because of it. That doesn't work for me.

Have a great weekend.

Whose Side Are They On?

The Branch Davidian standoff in Waco. I remember that. It was a wake-up call for the American people. Before that, in a hostage situation standard procedure was to wait it out. Not that time. The government made the decision to massacre its own citizens, even hostages. It was shocking. I knew immediately that the "leaders" in Washington no longer cared about the American people. That was the moment I knew beyond any doubt the government is not on our side. Democrat Bill Clinton was the president. Not surprising that a democrat with a long trail of mysterious deaths(The video at the top is unrelated.) in his footsteps would authorize an attack against our own. Republicans are pro-life after all. Not that they're much better, but when they massacre people, it seems to be bad guys who need killing.

Later in 2009, when swine flu appeared, Vice President Biden suggested staying out of crowded places like buses and airplanes, which is standard procedure for any flu much less something like swine flu. He was immediately attacked by fellow Democrats for fear mongering. I saw CNN's official doctor going ballistic over what Biden had recommended, which to this day is standard procedure. CNN was fake news even back then. They made Biden change his advice. The decision was also made not to close the borders, another sign the government didn't care about the lives of the American people. They were willing to let a pandemic burn through the populace. They were willing to sacrifice us all. Democrats in general don't seem to care about human life.

Some people talk about a revolution to clean out Washington. I tend to think the time for that was in 2008, when all the "too big to fail" stuff was going on. If nobody was willing to do anything about that, when will they be ready? When it's too late. That's when. By the time the revolution comes, it will be too late. 2008 was the right moment. The government is ready for it now.

Kind of hard hitting this week. There may be too much truth in this one

The thermometer has been all over the place lately.

Monday 50F(10C)

Wednesday 84F(28.9C)

Friday 66F(18.9C)

Nevertheless, I was able to make good underwear choices.

And I didn't see any more vampires at Walmart. :)

Have a great weekend.

The Recurring Struggle

Have you ever danced with a doctor in the pale moonlight? #DoctorsAreDevils

I was at Walmart again this week and saw the bloodmobile I mentioned previously. In that post I jokingly said they were vampires, because they were appearing on overcast days and such. Then I explained about the blood shortage in the summer and that they were collecting for that. This time I thought to take a picture. The bloodmobile looks like this.

I deliberately included the sky in the picture. Notice that it was another overcast day. Maybe they really are vampires, and they're using the summer blood shortage as a cover for their activities. That would be very clever of them, wouldn't it?

So, this hasn't been a good year. I've mentioned the hospital visits before. Things still haven't turned around. Lately, I've been struggling with something else, something a lot of people struggle with. I hesitate to bring up another problem, when so many other people are going through worse things. But I feel like I need to get it off my chest. Sometimes, expressing things that bother us helps to ease the burdens with which we struggle.

It's springtime. It's the time when I struggle to know whether to wear warm or cool underwear. In the summer and winter it's easy. Cool for summer, warm for winter. This spring has been unusually difficult due to the wild temperature fluctuations. One day it can be in the 50s(10C+). Another it can be in the 60s(15.56C+) or 70s(21.1C+). The forecast is often inaccurate. I don't like to sweat. Even a few degrees can make a difference in comfort levels as can rainy or windy conditions. Compounding my struggle are nighttime temperatures. If the temperature is borderline during the day but cold at night, the choice is obvious. Go with warm. But what if it's a windy day around 63F(17.2C) but not quite so cool at night? I could go with warm or cool. Unless the forecast is off. Or the wind stops. What if that 63F day is sunny? Sun makes a huge difference. It can change everything, making a chilly, shivery day warm and sweaty. For the most part, I've been able to weather the storm and make good choices, but some days the forecast hasn't been the best. The silver lining is knowing that summer is near. The struggle will end soon. Until autumn.

Have a great weekend.

Fun Hockey Story

I ran across a feel good, hockey story this week about an emergency backup goalie who got to play in the NHL. I don't watch hockey, so I didn't know how this worked. It works thusly. The emergency backup goalie is a guy who isn't on a team and doesn't play in the NHL. He lives in the area and is available if either team loses all its goalies, which almost never happens. The story is about Scott Foster, who plays amateur hockey. His regular job is as an accountant. He played hockey in college and never stopped playing even though he didn't go pro.

Scott Foster got to play for the Chicago Blackhawks for the last 14:01 minutes of a game and blocked seven shots. The other team never scored on him. It's a great story. Not only did he get a chance to play professional sports, he did well at it. He got to live the dream and be awesome doing it. Hero. His post-game interview was funny, too.

In other news I've pretty much written off the panels I was going to use for a YouTube backdrop. They still smell. Someone on Facebook recommended using a sheet. That reminds me. Last week I mentioned my fake friends on Facebook. I didn't mean everyone. I meant the fake ones only. If you're a reader from Facebook, I didn't mean you. I was talking about the people who have never read a single blog post. So, the sheet idea is interesting, especially if it's a blanket instead. A blanket would help dampen echoes and save money on soundproof panels. Another thing I might do it buy a panel of sheetrock and paint it. I could put wallpaper on it later if that was interesting to me.

I still have not come up with a solution to the cover for AoE. I need to do something and soon.

I've stepped up my game on the French front. I've been putting more work into it to reach some kind of level of fluency. One of the YouTube channels I've created would be a French channel where I would teach English as a way to practice my French. But I need to expand my vocabulary first and go more in depth with verb tenses and trivial rules.

I also learned that the B2 test I mentioned the other day would qualify me to teach French. It's possible I could be a substitute French teacher at a local high school. It's an idea.

Have a great weekend.