Thursday, March 21, 2013

I Am Still Alive

 
It's been quite some time since my last post, so I guess I'll put something on here even though I still hav'nt done much in the house lately. I do plan to start picking away at things soon. There are several reason why I have chose not to be working on the house and they are as: #1 I am lazy. lol. Well ok, it's more like just burned out. All I've been doing for the last 3 or so years was work, and in my spare time, build on the house. And for 25 years before that, work, work, work. This is the first time in my life, that I could actually do what I want, and not feel guilty about it. Well actually for awhile there, I still did feel guilty about it. I always had guilt if I was having fun. Don't ask me why, cuz I don't know. I've done my time and I want to enjoy life without worrying about stupid things. So I decided to look after some priorities before finishing the house.  Some may think that the house is priority, but no it's not. It is quite liveable at the moment. Education at the moment is priority. As I have mentioned previously, I have been doing some stock trading and investing. Progress has been kind of slow, but I am getting better all the time. There have been times that the more knowledge I have gained, the worse I seemed to do with the trading, but I can say that things are really starting to look more clear all the time. Trading stocks, however, is not an easy money making scheme and nor did I ever think that. But I can honestly say that it is alot harder to succeed at than I thought it would be. I have heard or read many times that most people who enter the markets usually do not succeed. I have also read things like there is a 90% failure rate amongst new traders. I totally plan to be one of the 10% who succeed. It is getting better all the time. I have spent alot of time in front of this computer learning and at times I have also thought, what a waste of time. But, the more time I spend studying and experiencing, the better it gets. When I started driving trucks, it took me years to become a good bush driver. Alot of people who drive trucks, myself included, seem to think they have it all figured out once they get about 4 or 5 years under their belt. What they fail to realize usually is that they are just starting to learn things. When I quit my job in July of 2012, I was still learning new things after 25-30 years of driving or more. So I guess, trading is kind of the same, it takes time, experience, dicipline,  education and the burning desire to succeed. I am making a little money here and there, just not quite as much as I had expected to be at this stage of the game. I am not even a little bit concerend about it though. Life is going pretty darned good for me now. When I started planning to get out to the acerage here and start building my little house, the stock  trading and investing was actually a part of the whole plan, I just chose not to mention it.   
I have mentioned my friend Jo-Anne in previous posts, but at the time, she did'nt know I had a blog and I did'nt want to put her  picture up without her permission. She was a big help when the solar panels went up, and of course she helped out alot with other things. Don't tell anyone, but I think she is trying to break me out of my frugalistic and hermit ways. lol. Just kidding, I think she has learned to accept my ways. I do spend  time with Jo-Anne periodically, usually on the weekends. During the week, I still seem to remain a bit of a hermit. lol. I usually don't have a reason to leave my acerage all week long. I guess I plan it that way.
I took this picture today. It has been quite a snowy winter. All systems are running pretty good. The power, water, heating etc. It all has performed for me alot better than I have expected. At first my honda eu2000i generator was taking taking alot longer to charge things, and did'nt seem to work well with my system, but I eventually found out that it was because of a wiring boo boo in the 4 wire extension cord that plugs into the house. Once I figured that one out, the whole charging system was like day and night. It used to take me 6  hours to charge a days worth of furnace operation. Now I think I can charge 2 days worth in about 3 hours with that little generator. I really don't need one any bigger than that, although, it would'nt hurt to have one a little bigger. The honda is now having a rest though, as the days are getting longer. The last time I used it for the house was Feb 25 2013. It has snowed off and on recently, but the large battery bank can go a few days without a charge, especially if I keep the fire going instead of running the furnace. The last couple of days the solar panels have had me charged right up.  When it snows in this warmer weather, it don't take long for the snow to slide off the panels. It snowed today for a bit, but then it cleared up and the sun began to shine.
I haul my water in two tanks that I just leave on one of my trailers. I haul 1.35 cubic meters in one and 1.25 in the other. This is a total of a little under 600 gallons , I believe. I have been hauling one load per month so far. I do conserve my water, but I know, I could conserve even more if I really wanted too.
Unloading the water into the cistern.
When I installed my pex type water lines to the tub and sink etc, I used 3/4 inch line all the way except for when lines branched off, then I used 1/2. But even though the water lines don't have a very long run, it does waste a fair bit of water while waiting for the hot to strart spewing out. The frugal in me, says to catch that water and use it in the toilet, so that is what I do. It is a whole toilet flush down the drain, if I don't catch that water. Sound like a pain in the arse, but it is all automatic to me now. I could,nt imagine wasteing perfectly good hauled water like that. I am also in the habit of not flushing the toilet each and every time it get used. That is also a minor little issue, although alot of people may think I am a nut case on that one, but I don't care, I think I would feel sorry for you if that is the case.
 
When I do my dishes, I first collect a whole toilets flush worth of water, while it is getting to the hot stuff.
I did not purchase a propane gas range yet, but I've been getting by without it just fine so far. Once in awhile, but not very often, I use this coleman camp stove for cooking. I do also use my microwave quite frequently. When I make coffee it is usally the instant stuff, and the water is nuked in the microwave. Sometimes though, I have put a coffee pot on the wood stove. I also use my propane bar-b-que on the deck on the nice days.
Most of my cooking in the winter time is done right inside the woodstove though. Using the camp stove with those little green propane bottles is not a very frugal way to go. I could hook the camp stove directly to the gas source I guess, but I just don't see the need for it. I just minimize the usage of it.
This is an example of a full meal cooked in the wood stove. I have cooked just about anything in there such as chicken wings, hamburger patties, hot dog, beef sausage, baked potatoes, etc. All wrapped in tinfoil of course. It works really well for me, and I do it alot. I got this idea when I seen Margy  at powell river books baking potatoes in hers. lol.   
 
 
So anyway, like I say, did'nt accomplish a whole lot on the house lately, but I do hope to get a burst of ambition and start doing some things soon. I hav'nt missed going to work at all. Just loving the freedom. That's what it's all about with me, the freedom.
 
Oh by the way, I had a look one day at my website traffic/visiter counter thingy there, awhile ago, and I noticed that one day (I think in February)  I had an unusually large amount of traffic to my website. Anyone know why that happend? I'm just curious. It's like I was maybe mentioned in an article or possibly on a radio program or something maybe. Well anyway, sorry it took so long for me to post something, I will try and be a little more frequent in the near future, but I'm just not the kind to post about my every day life all the time, even if it is'nt  so boring. lol.
Also thanks for being patient and following my blog. I see some new followers coming in all the time and it sorta makes me think that I should be a little more conciderate and post something once in awhile. It will come sometime. Take care.
 
 

24 comments:

  1. Practice makes perfect - so am glad to hear that you are overcoming the dealer difficulties :)

    Your water issues sound very similar to ours...

    Hmmm, another casual mention of Jo-Anne. I wonder what that means... ;)

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    1. Hi Dani. ya, the trading is getting better all the time, I am enjoying it alot. The water situation is'nt too bad either actually. I gotta haul it, but on the plus side it is good clean water. I guess the Jo-Anne mention means that I have been a little bit less of a hermit lately. lol. Hope things are going good for you guys, I'm gonna have to do some catching up.

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  2. Glad to see you back to posting now and then. We have been reading you for about 3 yrs, since you lived in town in the mobile home.

    I know what you mean about "freedom" from worrying about work. It's like a huge breath of fresh air, that never gets old.

    Ever consider Humanure toilet? No water needed at all and makes garden compost if you handle the "material" properly like the Humanue book says. Check it out on Amazon...(we are not associated with this book)

    Keep 'em coming as you feel the need.

    Bigfoot in TX

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  3. Good to see you again Bigfoot. Life is pretty stressless lately. I like that, really don't miss going to work at all. I have done alot of reading on the humanure toilet before I started my building journey. I'm pretty sure that in order to develope my acerage in Alberta, the installation of a septic system was required, otherwise I may have experimented with something like that. I have even concidered a composting toilet, but now that I have installed a complete sewage treatment system, I really don't think it would be worth the hassle. I'm going to be either packing or hauling water either way, so, I'm kinda liking the system I have. But if I could have developed my place without putting in the septic system, I would have done one or the other maybe, humanure or composting and an outhouse. Boy, I sure don,t miss the outhouse. lol. I had the equipment to build my sewage treatment mound, and access to a truck to haul all the product, soit probably made alot more sense to just go modern day with a sewage system. It will easily pay for itself just in resale value if I ever sell out in the future.

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  4. Great to see ya Mark! Sounds like everything is going well for you. You DO deserve time to goof off and not feel guilty about it.
    Thanks for the update! :)

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  5. Great to see you too Jeanie. Thanks for that, I agree with you yet again Jeanie, I think everyone deserves to have some fun in their life without the guilt. It does take some people time to get used to the whole idea though, sometimes. lol. It's all good Jeanie.

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  6. In February your blog was shared on Homestead survival's page on Facebook. That is how I found out about your blog.

    In a few short days I read about a few years of your life. Interesting and inspiring I have to say. Wish I could afford to do something similar.

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    1. Thanks for that information Jamoley. I had a quick peek, but could'nt find anything there yet. I will look some more. You know, the hardest part of doing this, is making the decision to just do it, and I guess just getting past the being different from the normal ways of living. I'm so glad I decided to go against what everyone else thinks is so normal. I don't even know why anyone would want to be so normal. Although, I guess when you look at alot the youngster these days, I don't even know what normal really is anyway. lol. Anyway, never know, someday this could very well be the norm whether people want it or not. Who knows?

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  7. They posted it on Feb 11. I wasn't able to see it on the facebook page when I just searched for it. But the post is visible on their actual webpage blog. Just type the name of your blog into the search field (right side of their page midscreen)..

    Here's a link:

    http://thehomesteadsurvival.com/mans-adventure-building-grid-home-step-step/#.UU4ZcTeyLyA

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    1. Thanks again Jamoley, that was quite helpful. Makes me feel like some kind of a celebrity or something. lol.

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  8. Well in a sense I guess you are. Your blog helps to show people all over the world a different way of living and thinking. We don't need to conform to what everyone else "thinks" is normal.

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  9. Glad you're back and doing OK. Missed ya! A friend of mine says......"Normal is a setting on the dryer." Stay well and keep in touch.

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    1. Thanks Sharon. My dryer only has one setting, (hang), but my washer has a normal setting I guess. I will keep in tough Sharon.

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  10. I'm glad to hear you're doing well! Was very happy to see your post in my feed, I happened upon your blog a couple of months ago. I read the whole thing from start to finish and was disappointed when I reached the end! Looking forward to hearing more of your story :)

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    1. Thanks Christa, glad you enjoyed the blog so far. Stick around, I'll try to keep you posted on things as they happen.

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  11. YEAAAAAAAAA! You'rrrrrrrrrrre Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!! lol Good to see you! You know... I'd be interested in seeing a post on how deep your snow is (got a ruler?), how you make / prepare some of those meals... where you put them in/on the stove, etc. Even the most mundane tasks are blog worthy. You don't, however, need to share with us any further details of your flushables. lol One of my friends used to say, "if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down." That there's all we really need to know, right? lol P.S. Loved the visit to Ontario.

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  12. Good to see you too Lynnanne. Well I don't want to go boring anyone with things, but I will see what I can come up with to put on here. Apparently I "am" doing the toilet thing the correct way, kinda glad to know that. Ok, enough on that subject then. Glad the Ontario was good for you, you've seen things in Canada that I hav'nt seen yet. I'm going there sometime, and I do hope it is in this lifetime. We'll see ya later. Take care.

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  13. I'm hoping to make another trip on August to the Wolf Howl.... in some big ol' park up there. :)

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    1. Not really sure what the Wolf Howl is, but it sounds like fun. lol. I'll have to google that one I guess.

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  14. One thing we don't have to frugal about is water, as you know. But drinking water we either have to haul or boil. But I have a system of old coffee pots (minus the baskets) rotating between the woodstove and propane stove. Once they are good and hot I give them a final two minute blast with the propane just to make sure it is ready for drinking. I have a friend that says the same thing as Lynnanne. We don't want to overload our composting toilet with too much moisture, so we still use Mr. Pee Bucket on the deck and haul it up the hill for disposal. Everyone works out systems that fit their needs even if they sound strange to others. - Margy (p.s. Thanks for the mention.)

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    1. I like your water system Margy. It's kind of fun figuring out efficient things to do for a system. I one time put some thought into the composting toilet thing, but I think I probably required a septic system anyway. I know things probably do sound pretty strange to some people, but I quite enjoy giving them all something to talk about. lol.

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