Hello Everyone!
The rodent invasion, Moving to the studio, A mattress abandoned, One chilly winter storm after another!
Alright, it has been a while since I have taken the time to spell things out so I best give it a shot before I put it off yet again. Having all too many things 'competing' for my attention of late, has assuredly not helped on the writing front but I am going to have to start making time for it one way or another.
It would be a real challenge to try to recap everything that has gone on over the last many weeks but I will do my best to cover as much as possible without getting too long-winded in the process. Of course that is always easier said than done and especially so given that I enjoy being long-winded in this short attention span world of today!
During my last entry I talked about the vermin having gotten way out of hand and let me just say that ultimately they won in the situation... and effectively drove me out of my camp altogether. The little bastards kept getting into everything (even my food and laundry) and kept getting bolder and bolder in their antics to the point that I started seeing them even during the daytime!
My best solution was to move all my food and other possessions to the studio building but in doing so, it made my day to day life a real hassle because I kept having to hike up and down the hill constantly. Also, once I began getting my more valuable items relocated... I started being more concerned about thieves and that combined with all the other stresses of this place... was heavily impacting my ability to get a decent amount of uninterrupted rest.
Not that I get much better 'rest' staying in the studio given that the road is so close... and there is constant traffic 'day in and day out' but at least it got me away from the rats... and curbed getting overly neurotic about thievery. After sixteen months straight of camping in the tent, I was also long overdue for ending the 'camping phase' of things... even if it meant living in a building that I do not really want to be living in.
There are a lot of reasons for me bearing that sentiment (aside from having even less privacy/seclusion) there is also nowhere to have a dog yard, and living and working inside a building that is not setup is always a damned clustercuss. There are plenty of other reasons but a big one was that the mattress that I had in the tent had to be abandoned due to mold and pests... and sleeping on the floor is downright brutal.
At first I was sleeping on top of my sleeping bag but that was not enough padding... so I folded up some of my emergency blankets to create a wee bit of padding and while it was an improvement it still was not enough. It took me a few weeks before the bruising on my hip bones (from tossing and turning while asleep and laying on my side) really started to get to me... and I finally had an 'aha moment' and ordered three cheap pillows that I could stuff into the sleeping bag to give myself some padding... and essentially turn the sleeping bag into a very narrow mattress.
Another big problem with the building, is that it is incredibly 'stuffy' inside and between the lack of privacy... and all the limestone road dust (billowing off the nearby road due to people driving so fast on it) having all but one window open is not an option. When the building got 'finished out' (had insulation and drywall installed) one of the gable vents got covered... and the insulation in the ceiling was not done with baffling which all compounds the 'stuffiness' even more.
For now my solution has been to install a small exhaust fan over the sole (and very small) gable vent and leaving it on at all times... along with using my blower fan to move the air in the building towards said vent. Neither of those things work all that well on their own (or even combined) and the constant racket of the fans is rather annoying to say the least... but it does make things slightly more bearable.
In the end the solution for that will probably require installing either an air intake vent in the floor or low down on the rear wall... but given how much moisture is under the building I am not going to do either until I solve the moisture problem. What I want to do to solve the latter is add gutters to the entire building, install a French drain on the uphill side (along with a garden bed) and then lay down heavy mil plastic under the building to act as a vapor barrier.
Since the gutters are way too expensive, all that I have done thus far is dig a shallow trench along the uphill side of the building... and create some channels to get as much of the water as possible to flow into that retention area that we created when constructing the flat area that the building now sits upon. The terrain is not really on my side there because near the front of the building the elevation change forces part of the runoff around the front of the building... and ugh it makes quite the mess every time that there has been a heavy rain.
On the downhill side of the building I finally finished my hugel mound terracing project... and built the 'terrace' out a good meter (away from the building) and got it all setup where it forces all the runoff either into the hugel mound... or towards the retention area. I also widened the flat area below the terrace out some and finally created enough room to install my big carport tent... so that I have some storage for building materials and such.
Anyways, the weather has already been turning cold here and most nights (and mornings) I have to stay quite bundled up just to be comfortable. I have repeatedly been tempted to find a way to run one of the heavy gauge extension cords into the building... to run the recirculating oil heater... but honestly, I want to have the electric done properly and not introduce a potential fire hazard into the building.
A few days back, someone ordered me two smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher... and I was super excited when they arrived yesterday because at least it abates some of my fire anxiety. I only installed one smoke detector so far... because I want to install the other one wherever my 'kitchen' area winds up being located at... but I did mount the fire extinguisher on the wall near the door where I can get to it quickly if the need arises.
Hopefully, once I get all the electricity sorted out (for the building) and get a kitchen area setup I can start cooking food more often again... but that is assuredly going to also be contingent on how much water that I have available for both cooking and for cleaning the dishes with afterwards. Given that I am still limping along on whatever water I can afford to buy (and filling the gaps in my supply with rainwater) who knows when that will frigging happen... but it would assuredly cut some of my food expenses down.
Since all the food prices have been rising like crazy, I have been doing my best to not eat all that often... and to squirrel away bags of rice to help rebuild my massively depleted food reserves. I was also going to try to stock up on coffee but it has also become so damned expensive that I gave up on doing that altogether... and to my own great horror... have even considered switching to black tea until I can figure out where to source cheaper coffee from!
The constant stress of finances continues to plague my mind all the time... and the stress from it (and what said stress is doing to me) is worse than I can adequately describe. Part of me wants to get back to writing each day just because the dollar or two that I make from it each day is at least something but truthfully the psychological effects of earning so little... after nearly nine straight years of doing it for a pittance... has even outweighed the therapeutic value that I find in writing.
That is all assuredly a convoluted mess when it comes to the writing and sharing scenario... and while there is plenty that I could write about each day... I just do not really have the desire to do it. The number one thing that I tell myself pretty much every time the mood strikes me to do any writing is 'why bother' and really it is easier to just shit post elsewhere than spend all the time and effort to spell things out in these entries.
Well, on that note. So long for now. Be well or something.
Several months have now passed by and I have slowly adjusted to living in the building... but alas I have completely trailed off on the writing and never even finished this entry. It has been a nice break from everything though and I have (by and large) been making the best of things as I hunker down for what has been a rather chilly winter.
Although I built in a bed a while back, I never got into the habit of using it... and have continued to sleep with the dogs in their bed. On several nights their extra warmth has made a really big difference... especially when the thermostat in the recirculating oil heater started malfunctioning without me noticing but before burning out altogether.
That was probably the closest to 'panic' that I had felt for quite some time... but after doing some searches online (for the heater model) I discovered that the problem was probably the internal thermostat... and properly fixing it is quite simple. Lacking a new thermostat or the funds to order one I opted to bypass the thermostat altogether and use the wattage controls (switches) to 'roughly' control the temperature.
Which has been working quite well and so far my electric bill has stayed about the same as it was before I modified the heater. I have only had to use the propane heater as supplemental heat... or for when I need to quickly warm the place up after having the door open too long or opening it too often.
Anyways, early on during my stay in the building I also built in a writing desk, some shelving around it for electronics... and lots of shelving in what has become my kitchen area. None of the kitchen setup is really ideal... but I do have the hot plate positioned in front of a window... and just enough pantry space to store stuff where it is easy to get to.
Overall, I have a lot more shelving that needs to be built into the place to create sufficient enough storage... and be able to de-clutter everything. Having the bulk of my possessions in one enclosed area has been nice... but I have yet to actually unpack much of it.
Leading up to the big cold snap (that I am currently three or four days into) I went ahead and charged up all my radios, my cordless tool batteries... and even a few of my twelve volt lead acid batteries. I also tested out that 'vehicle' (DC to DC) Chromebook (USB-C) charger with one of the lead acid batteries... and I am really happy with that investment because it charges my phone super fast... even though it does not seem to produce enough amps to trigger the 'TurboPower' feature like the Chromebook's AC to DC USB-C charger does.
Since I have yet to setup any of the solar panels here, I have not felt much of a rush to get a DC micro-grid setup like I usually do... and every time the grid goes down I wish that I had done it already. For now, I think that I am just going to focus on setting up an uninterruptible power supply for the computer, monitor and the cellular repeater.
Figuring out where to set all that up seems to be the hitch currently because the batteries that I want to use are rather bulky... and per usual I have serious reservations about setting them up in my immediate living space. Ultimately, I might just settle on using one small battery and using the uninterruptible power supply more as a glorified surge protector than a backup system.
The biggest downside to the building (aside from its proximity to the road) is that even with the cellular repeater (and upgrading to a 5G capable phone) I still struggle to get and keep a consistent connection. Just getting the cellular repeater to work inside the building to start with was super tricky (given the distance that the two antennas need to be from each other) and in the end I had to mount the external antenna on that fiberglass pole that I have used before for that very same purpose.
As far as the drinking water scenario goes, I have been getting some water from that public spring when possible... and continuing to get it delivered when I cannot. In regards to the rainwater I have gotten into the habit of putting five gallon buckets under the eaves each time that it rains... and whoa it is so much more convenient to do it that way than hiking downhill to get it from one of the water collection systems.
Okay, several weeks have passed since I added anything else to this entry... and during that time it has pretty much been one long weather event with only a few days of things somewhat thawing out. Amazingly, only the rain-fly on one of the tents got damaged during all the snowstorms... and that was due to the brush (that I was using to remove the snow) getting snagged on the fabric... which instantly went from a tiny tear to a massive rip from the weight of the snow.
The only other thing that seemed to have not fared well is a portion of the 'hugel culture terrace' where I have/had a bunch of saplings in flower pots. From the looks of things a lot of water got into the entire terrace structure... and froze and refroze enough times... to cause a good bit of 'ground heaving' which resulted in huge cracks in the 'thicker' areas and completely 'blew out' the thinner (and most downhill) section.
After all that initial upheaval was over with, the terrace appears to have gotten further compromised by all the runoff water from both the terrace itself... and from the hill above. The end result is that most of the logs (and sticks) that I had buried in that section of the terrace broke their stakes off... and are now angled at far too steep of an angle to sufficiently slow the runoff water down... no matter where it is coming from.
I keep telling myself that 'it is a project for another day' and really it has to be because currently the ground there is still one big block of ice... because it is in the shade of both the building and the big carport tent. That entire scenario has me a bit stumped for an ideal fix... but for now I am just going to reposition the logs, use bigger stakes and try to create better drainage for the runoff water.
It is worth noting, that the weather overall has been pretty intense and for around a week or so the entire neighborhood was more or less frozen in place... and not even the mail was being delivered. It was some pretty odd snow too, because it did not have much water in it and it stayed exactly as it had fallen (like cotton candy) without melting or getting 'crunchy' when walked on.
Going outdoors during that time was really jarring, because the wind seemed to be everywhere all at once on the porch then it would disappear when I went downhill... and then as I went to go back indoors I would get blasted by it again! I swear that the only thing that truly keeps the inside of the building warm when the wind is blowing like that... is a single plastic trash bag held down by two shoes that covers the small crack under the door.
Well, much more time has passed without me adding to this entry. Winter has wound down into spring and I gotta say that I am glad for the change in weather! I am not going to add anything more to this entry so that I will be encouraged to post it this evening when the cellular connectivity is a wee bit better.
I hope that everyone is doing well. Ciao for now.
