2018 Wrapup

You know it's been awhile when you hesitate to recall your own blog address. Fear not, enough neurons were still firing to get me here. Now if I can manage enough mental muscle to form a coherent thought....

So how have things gone the last 14 months? Well, for one, busy. Unlike 2017's planned break, 2018 was a time of both planning and execution. Call it a 'Setup Year'. The biggest news was getting the Knit Hut off the ground and closed in. The late spring pushed back ground-breaking, but we persevered, getting trees and brush cleared, the foundation set, steel beams anchored and platform built and insulated by the end of June. As I write this, the walls are being painted, I've got half the flooring installed, the power and communications have been trenched in and connected, and the last obstacle will be siding and metal trim. We'll ignore the month delay in getting the special order slider and front windows that had family exclaiming "that's all you've done?". 

Continuing the construction theme, I hired the septic company to connect up CS3, though I did have to rent an excavator and hire our concrete drilling to get the plumbing at the building ready for connection. In tandem, I also trenched, excavated, and ran poly tubing to distribute power from CS3 out to the drive-in area, as well as get a waterline run for eventual connection to the Pump House. I managed to manually excavate from CS3, to the Blazer, and over to the burn pile before my daily rental was up. And that was enough, because the yard may never be the same. From there I had a boring contractor come out to complete the job. And I'm still waiting for them to follow through. 

No matter, the drywall job was completed as promised by IWS (though once again I'm convinced hanging drywall and cutting around boxes should be left to non-professionals). It worked out, with only minimal damage to the new sliding door, and only small holes to patch ourselves after the pros left. 

48 hours from now, I may be in an 8-foot trench. Though hopefully not. That's right, yet another contractor that specializes in earth moving will be descending on The Lodge this Friday to start digging the 80' long trenches for our geothermal slinkies we've been building. Once buried, these will act as underground heat exchangers for a heat pump we wrestled into The Lodge recently. Using a small ice-fishing augor and a hand drill, I dug out the dirt connecting holes in the slab to bored openings through the concrete wall on the west side of the building. If we can manage to run the poly lines up and in without kinking, it will then be a matter of calculating what I need to select a pump for max efficiency, pressure and flow. Initial research shows I have my work cut out for myself. I had hoped to have heat in The Lodge proper before the year was out, but a month of rain pushed the majority of contractors' schedules well into FY19.

With only one month left in the year, the final item on the task list is getting the steel siding and trim ordered for the Knit Hut, and getting installation underway. In the spring I'll focus on the side deck and railing and things will be complete.

And what of the FIRE movement I've been running on about? 

Well, the big news is that DW pulled the plug. I'm on a OMY cycle and have revealed my date to a grand total of 2 people. We stuck to our plan for 2018 and should finish the year on target. And of course just when I had the tax system "figured out", it all goes and changes for this year. 

However, this is a good reminder that right now is the perfect time to take stock of where you're at and where you want to be. Once the ink dries on those W2's, Uncle Sam will have his cut, so a few back of the envelope calculations and online contribution adjustments in the next 30 days will help prevent post-tax erosion. For those that front-load their tax advantaged accounts, the recent market downtown is a good example of why you shouldn't do that (unless you know you're getting canned). 

In the same vein, while adding to my stash of dry powder, it's the cost-intensive projects I'd like to have off the books before a major lifestyle change (hence, the Setup Year). Next year will be concrete in front of and around CS3 (I can hardly wait for that $$ quote). And building the link between the Annex and CS3, thus answering the question of why it's called The Annex. This will be a large car port with steel framing and excavated footings in a similar style to provide shelter from the clearcoat-killing sun attacking outdoor vehicles and equipment. To say nothing of a little hail protection. Now, how to keep it low and long, yet still have one stall high enough to accommodate the Shasta for when it's out of storage, that's the question. I'll save that for 2019. 

Plenty to focus on right now to get to where I want to be.

September 2017

September Already?

Time sure flies, yet this has been a fairly relaxed year (by design). Instead of breaking ground on something new, it was time for finesse and completion. The prairie has gotten off to a good start without requirements of mowing like last year and we’ve seen lots of interesting flowers pop up depending on the time of season. We had rock brought in to top the stretch of lane from the tracks to the Lodge, and later on the curve that was starting to wash out on the west of the tracks. The tractor came in handy for smoothing those sections and moving material around and I’ve been keeping the weeds down with the sprayer.

The solar array has been working flawlessly since it went online last July and has cut our electric bill significantly; paying us during the summer months which offsets our internet cost. In fact, the savings is on par with the estimated payback schedule.

3.5 tons of cooling was installed last month in CS3 to provide climate control for the ‘artifacts’ upstairs. With storage of film, records and tapes, radios of bakelite and thermoplastics and wooden TV’s, this was sorely needed. And with the plan to spend a good part of my future days upstairs working and tinkering, I’ll be able to do so without sweating onto my soldering iron. This has already been a boon for working downstairs as we’ve had some hot, but very humid, late summer days where being able to work on a car without sweat stinging your eyes as oil runs down your arms is much appreciated.

Back on the ‘summer of improvement’ idea, the Suburban has gotten some attention the last few months with a new headliner, a transmission cooler, a sport tach and cleanup of the inside of the instrument panel and some other maintenance performed. We ran it hard pulling with the Shasta with A/C blowing on max and outside temps soaring for the 7 hour drive to southern MO, then adding a vintage refrigerator to the cargo for its return trip! With cooler weather, it hummed right along for a much shorter trip to Wisconsin recently, then onward without the trailer to Oshkosh, only to re-visit the state a week later…this time to Milwaukee. I suspect a trans filter and fluid change may be in its future. And the valve stem seals should be done at some point.

We’re also learning about the limits of the Shasta. The week I took off of work last year to focus on upgrades has paid dividends on convenience and reliability and I took some time to document them here to help others: http://www.linearlook.com/shasta/shasta.html  One of the biggest limitations is in liquid holding capacity. IIRC, 25 gallons of fresh water, 12 gal of gray and 5 gal of black. Fresh water isn’t terrible, the biggest consumer is showering (a Navy shower helps) and worst case you could refill from a 5 gal tote. But 12 of gray* and 5 black is almost laughable (the published figures, of course, are quite different). I shelled out a few bucks last week for a 14 gallon tank I plan to mount up under the rear of the trailer (have to practice my ABS welding skills) which I figure, along with judicial valve placement, will allow for accommodating either holding need in the future. The rear dinette modification meant that we never even set the front bed up as a table on this last trip, and was a nice place to have breakfast and a cup of coffee when you’re not quite ready to greet the fire ring.

*to stem graywater accumulation, I installed an outdoor shower on the right rear which is handy for several uses, but not always practical depending on the shape of the campsite and your proximity to others. The other major advance is a hotwater bypass control. You flip a switch and the hot water lines are flushed of their cold water (which returns to the tank), so when you fire up the sink or shower, you get almost instant hot water without waste.

I had been looking forward to July and the trip up north in 2017, but consider that month a loss. I was fighting poison ivy the days leading up to the trip, which not only meant constant pain, irritation and loss of focus on other things, but resulted in two clinic visits and a trip to the e-room back in CF. I essentially couldn’t do anything productive the entire month and sequestered myself to the air conditioned bedroom and a car with A/C for commuting (the plow truck, actually). It wasn’t until August that things calmed down. Glad to be over that, but I suspect only the minorest of irritations will cause a relapse.

One other thing I’ve been trying to do this year has been spend more time with friends. Time is a precious commodity and at this stage of our lives, will only become more scarce for those our age as people settle down, focus on their careers, have children, etc. The trip this past spring with Micah, Don and Cam was a welcome break to the monotony, and we got to see cars I haven’t laid eyes on in years. A certain trip to the High Life Lounge and an IMAX presentation of Dunkirk was also quite memorable. Now if we could only manage a bonfire this year.

A Gap

One nice thing about the company I work for are the extra-days off during the Xmas break. I managed to parlay this into 12 consecutive days this year (including weekends). I can count on one hand the number of times I left the house. Which is just the way I like it…except for this year, the cold really got to me.

This little break in the year is typically when I’m most productive. In the days before electricity and windows at the Lodge, I’d get up early at the apartment, fill my thermos and head out to work for the day..as long as the temps were in the 20’s or so. I could warm my hands on a small kerosene heater, but that was about it. I drywalled the downstairs this way, built the kitchen and island, built the first gen garage doors, even worked on siding from the picker. Later, along with insulated walls and heat, this break became the perfect time for indoor work. There was one break where I completed the bamboo ceiling sections in CS3, and cut, stained and installed all the window trim for the 40+ linear feet of windows. Some years, this break has been the perfect time for Relay Computer work. Hand assembling boards with thousands of solder joints. Grueling work, taking around 6 hours per board, if I recall, which is why it took multiple seasons to complete all six.

But this year was different. Sure, I knocked out the annual tasks, like taking all the glassware down in the dining area, cleaning the works and re-arranging. Cleaning and organizing downstairs CS3. Getting the DD stove back to 100% operation. And other yawn-worthy things. As much as I wanted to knock out a little Relay Comp work, the bites were too big. I did manage to assemble and load the firmware on ‘the LittleGP-30’ computer (Google it). Oh, and started building a steel cart for the RR Mark V. That is, before I managed to sun-burn my face from errant welding UV. December in the Midwest and I was applying aloe and dealing with peeling skin for a day or two...without the backstory of laying on a tropical beach.

Before I knew it, the days had passed (much more rapidly than expected) and I found myself back at work. Heck, I was almost glad to roll back in to a place with steady heat and dual monitors. This tells me I’m getting soft, nay, complacent. A bit of Stockholm syndrome, perhaps. With a finite amount of time on this planet, with the knowledge that it could be cut short tomorrow, there is simply no excuse to sit behind the desk of a passion-less job for 8 hours a day while the body atrophies. Don’t get me wrong, I (currently) don’t hate my job. But I do twinge when I think about the energy and creative spark I once had, fade so significantly. 

When I was a kid, if you had asked me to visualize a prototypical 'adult', I would have conjured up images of people my parents' age, going to work, paying the bills, buying groceries, but also being rather boring. Especially when you'd compare that mental image against pictures of them you'd find in a photo album taken 10, maybe 15 years earlier ("really? that's you!?"). I realize now it's not the growing up that causes this shift. It's the compromising. I've met many 30 year olds that are going on 60 (I plead the 5th). And spry young 70 year-olds that are living life to the fullest. Sure, frame of mind is part of it, but the image in that frame is shaped by the day-to-day.

The litmus test is, would I do this job 40 hours a week if there were no pay? If not, what would you want to do for zero pay that took the majority of the day, every day, for decades? If you can answer that question, then that’s the job to seek; the pay is merely a perk to keep the lights and heat on at home. If you can’t answer the question now, then when? Hopefully before your assets have become liabilities.