Buying forest land, implementing solar

marty said:

swbluto said:

OK, it downpoured and... I'm noticing that the ditch has water backuped on the right and a little water on the left and I can see a little stream flowing to the left across a little gap in the driveway. Yes, I see, there /is/ water flow to this ditch AND going without a culvert would probably lead to flooding on the right side to cross, and if it didn't cross my driveway, it would cross my yard, lol. So, I see a culvert is well advised in this situation, lol. For water collection, all I have to do is clog the culvert and start tapping that dammed water. (No pun intended, lol)

I could go without a culvert, but I would have to dig a trench going around the driveway so that it could flow around the driveway.

Luckily, it's still pretty easy for me to put in a culvert at the moment. And I can afford it. And, I'm thinking a driveway trench probably would have a negative impact on the resale value unlike a culvert. That's one of those "Penny wise, pound foolish" kind of things in the event it gets resold.

And.

Cisco, once it's covered and the dirt packed around it, you'll be surprised at how much it would take to crush the pipe. My brother put two drainage pipes (4" schedule 40 PVC for one and now I've forgotten the name for the other black one of about the same thickness) under his driveway; no more than 3" deep and regularly drove an 18,000 pound truck over them with no problems.

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Yes, I was having the same idea. Just buy some regular smaller sized diameter pipe from home depot. Looks like I'll need three 10 ft. 4" pipes and two 4" pipe connectors. The culvert needs to be like 14-15 ft. wide. near the entrance. Seems like it should be $75. And, to protect the pipes from clogging, put an appropriate screen before the pipes. Periodically clean the screen. Doing that, I could probably get away with 1x 4" 10ft. pipe and 1x 5ft. pipe . The reason why larger pipes are advised is due to leaf clogging, not flow rates. A lot of water can travel awfully fast through a 4" pipe given it's not clogged.

And... I'm starting to think that... I might be thinking too much?

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4 inch pipe. No too small.
U.S. Department of Transportation
RITA | National Transportation Library
Culvert_Use_Installation_&_Sizing
https://ntl.bts.gov/lib/24000/24600/24650/Chapters/J_Ch8_Culvert_Use_Installation_&_Sizing.pdf

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Hello, see this part in that link.

Natural drainages need to have
pipes large enough to pass the expected flow plus
extra capacity to pass debris without plugging

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The reason why culverts are sized the way they are is because they need to pass 8" leaves without clogging. But, if you're like me, you're smart enough to realize you can just put a filter on the culvert (So it doesn't get clogged) and then periodically clean the filter of the leaves and such. Easy, peasy one two threasy. And by "put on a filter", I mean install a screen in the area around the culvert's entrance, not directly on the culvert. You need to have enough "exposed area" in the screen so that enough water can get past the leaves. If the culvert is truly undersized for the rainstorms at hand, what would happen is that a little pond would start to form, but it'd be pretty quickly drained away after the intense parts of the rainstorm passed.

Maybe I'll go with a 6". I don't really know what home depot has in stock.

The issue is that I'm trying to spend as little as possible on the non-investment-items. A culvert doesn't make me money, so it doesn't deserve more money than absolutely necessary. A (high calorie) garden, however, makes me money because it saves me money. You know what they say? A penny saved is a penny earned. The more I grow, the less I have to spend on groceries, the more money in my pocket for the "good shit", whether that's investments or some nice luxury foods that fit within my standards.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll see if they restocked the pink salmon, if not... time to collect ALL THE PINK SALMON FROM ALL THE HEBs! I'm clearing Northern Houston out, lol. It's nice to have a large city like this where doing such a thing is practical; Couldn't do that back in Spokane, lol. No HEBs and barely anyone had Alaskan salmon to begin with. Lots of retirees in that city scooping up all of "the good foods".

Come on! Stop being silly! Get on the phone and get a REAL culvert pipe delivered.

Filter? Yea OK.... and scuba diving equipment for constant filter cleaning during every rain.

Well, I'll let you in on a little secret.

Leaves like to float, right?

Where the screen is going to be installed, just dig a little deeper. This ensures that leaves won't block the flow of water at lower sections of the screen, regardless of the current water level (But, it's especially true at higher water levels).

That's the little secret to a maintenance free culvert that doesn't cost some ungodly amount.

I do see an acceptable culvert located about 45 miles away on craigslist for $100. Posted 4 days ago. There's a chance I might get it delivered, but I have to have cash on hand, not setup for that currently. Yep, I need to get my money moved to a local bank.

Well, I'm finding lots of stores that sell $80 12"x20 ft. culverts, but it seems they're all located around the Great Lakes region. Home depot and Lowe's don't seem to carry them, neither does Tractor Supply. I'm not even sure where to buy these suckers, and I get a feeling the local Ace Hardware advertising them is not offering the best price(They rarely do). Buying it off of Amazon is a joke.

I'm only finding local manufacturers, with no prices listed. "If you have to ask, you can't afford it.", lol. [Not really true by me; I just want to minimize non-investment expenditures so I can maximize my investments.]

Guess I should be making some calls... somehow, I doubt I'll be seeing Great Lakes prices.

Okay, so I investigated eggs. Seems that choline has little association with cancer based on the other choline rich foods (spinach, fish, nuts), so the choline hypothesis is bust. So, I'm looking at another article finding that a large part of the poultry supply has residues of drugs in their system that up cancer risk. Is that was the problem is? The use of dangerous drugs and chemicals in the poultry?

For example:

“The agency said it recently conducted a study of 100 broiler chickens that detected inorganic arsenic at higher levels in the livers of chickens treated with 3-Nitro compared with untreated chickens … Pfizer said sale of 3-Nitro would be stopped by early July in order to allow animal producers to transition to other treatments.” This urgent request by the FDA is surprising in itself as the agency has always maintained that the arsenic in chickens is at such low levels that it is safe for consumption, when meanwhile it has been clinically proven to be extremely toxic to human health, causing an array of neurological defects in developing fetuses and young children…Looks like the FDA finally got the memo, and not a moment too soon!

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This deserves far more investigation, especially since I'm seriously considering buying chickens for their egg laying capabilities.

Well... here's even more hints.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3493787/

The association between egg intake and risk of bladder cancer differed significantly by geographic region, with a 28% reduced risk in Japanese. Our results provided no strong evidence of a significant association of egg consumption with bladder cancer incidence but showed a protective effect in Japanese.

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The fact it's a "local problem", according to this analysis, with the japanese obviously not having a problem (Undoubtedly due to HIGH FOOD STANDARDS, something that's lacking in the USA food supply.) is strongly hinting that American industry is "doing something wrong", and I'm suspecting it's the drugs. Maybe it's something else, but it's obvious the American egg industry is doing something wrong that Japan isn't. So, that's highly suggestive that eggs don't cause cancer, but the industrialized food products in the USA that do. I've noticed I've been unusually wary of American products, and not necessarily because it's from America, but because I don't find American companies having good livestock standards. The 4 stomachs in cows are designed specifically to process grass, not soy and corn. It's the reason why they can live off grass but humans don't. Cows not eating grass is just wrong.

So, it's looking like the chicken coop is a go! And my chickens shall eat bugs, it is their natural diet. Plenty of the frockers around here. I should just put down a dish of sugar water or some such. The ants will come, and the chickens will eat them. Annihilating the ants is something I feel cozy with, considering the anxiety/fear they gave me unrelentingly invading my bedroom for 2 days straight and costing me a full $45 in products/gas trying to stop them ($4 worth of vaseline did the trick; the vaseline is now 'falling off' my wheels... I wonder if i'll eventually need to reapply it? It still leaves behind a sticky residue, so I'm thinking it's still effective.). So anything I can do to help annihilate the suckers and keep my chickens fed, is all good in my book, lol.

I wonder if wrapping tape around a tree will kill it?

And, I think I'm going to feed my dog an abundance of eggs and vegetables. Or, maybe, they'll just eat eggs and cheese[Apparently they're strictly carnivores?]. Yes, my dog shall live to 30 years of age. I guess I should just look up the diet of a wolf or coyote; that is the natural diet of a dog.

Coyotes hunt both day and night. They are very opportunistic feeders with a varied diet which includes scavanging the large kills of other animals. Coyotes are basiclyy carnivores but will also eat insects, fruits, berries, and prickly pear cactus.

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Fruits and berries. Hey, that's the natural diet of a human. So what does the typical animal consist of? Protein and fat. So, the dogs natural diet is primarily animal protein and animal fat. I'm assuming they get their energy from fat, primarily. Yes, so I'm thinking... eggs and cheese... maybe some fish... I'd probably just go get a bunch of wild tilapia.

Wolves are carnivores (meat eaters) but they will eat other foods as well. Their diet ranges from big game, such as elk and moose, to earthworms, berries and grasshoppers.

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I'm seeing meat, berries and insects. Much overlap with that of the coyote.

Looking up "My dog ate a cricket"...

Seems to be a fairly widespread "issue", lol.

It's interesting looking at their diets, they don't seem to consume a lot of sodium. I'd be concerned that cheese would have unnaturally high amounts of sodium for dog consumption. The implication for humans is interesting. Perhaps sodium intake is not really natural, beyond whatever is naturally present in vegetables and meat.

And this guy...

Eggs starve dogs and deprive them of healthy stool circulation. Dogs need Dry food and water. Along with the occasional wet food for dogs.

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Nope, don't care what this guy thinks. If this guy thinks the dogs natural diet is highly processed corn/soy/pea based dry deg food, he obviously knows absolutely nothing about 'what's natural' and what's 'good nutrition' (The only thing he knows is "what's cheap", which essentially is whatever the industry dictates to him.). Humans weren't designed to eat processed foods, and dogs certainly werent't!

Based on my food budget rules, this week's grocery expense was capped at $160 so I went "Hog wild", and spent $50, lol.

Anyway, I find it interesting that sometimes I'm craving bananas (Paritcularly in the morning) but other times I'm really craving apples. I think I'm craving apples when my body is craving fructose, and it likes it because the body has been running low on triglycerides (I think my body burns off the triglycerides during the last half of the week when I run out of apples and my other carb sources get low, lol, and then when I get apples again, it's like... "Replenish those triglycerides!", lol.).

I wondered if dogs had triglycerides and yes, I'm assuming they do. If they eat berries, which are high in fructose, they produce triglycerides via their liver which converts to glucose on an as-needed basis. It's interesting, their natural diet. Not seeing really any glucose/sucrose in it, and berries are mostly fructose. So, the dog foods raise their blood sugar levels (Peas are starchy carbs - plenty of glucose), but their natural diet doesn't raise their blood sugar levels hardly at all. If their blood sugar is never raised, that'd suggest they're effectively at 0 risk of developing "metabolic syndrome"/diabetes, which sounds about right for the way they were designed. (Granted, if their food is proportioned correctly, they shouldn't be at risk of developing diabetes to begin with, but it'll likely have some unnatural affect on them in terms of health/longevity. But, they normally do 24 hour fasts every single day, don't they? Feed them once in the morning. I'm sure that puts them at a distinct advantage compared to humans, lol. That is, bacteria colonies don't really persist throughout the week and keep getting 'boosts' with each meal, it's constantly reset every single day.]

Also notable about dogs, their natural diet is very low in both potassium and sodium. Compared to humans, especially native tribal people, vegetables are a very common source of subsistence which are high in potassium so it seems like human's need for additional sodium likely comes from this high consumption of potassium based foods. Of course, it doesn't work as intended when sodium intake remains high while potassium intake nosedives (low vegetable/fruit/legume/bean intake.).

swbluto said:

Based on my food budget rules, this week's grocery expense was capped at $160

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Dang, there's families of 4 living on that. I guess you could ask some of them if dog food is really that good for you.

swbluto said:

Well, I'm finding lots of stores that sell $80 12"x20 ft. culverts, but it seems they're all located around the Great Lakes region. Home depot and Lowe's don't seem to carry them,.

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I put in concrete culverts that I bought from a cement supply place. They were seconds with chips in the end bells. They weighed a TON! I had 5 sections in my 1 ton Ford dump and barely made it home.

Here is a link where you can order one from Lowe's for $199
https://www.lowes.com/pd/ADS-12-in-x-20-ft-Corrugated-Culvert-Pipe/3526582

Perhaps look at an irrigation supplier, or a commercial lumber yard. These things go with home construction. My buddy bought his at a Carter lumber. Don't know if that is regional to my area.

fechter said:

If you can split the trees up the middle you can have one flat surface. Probably too much work though.
Back in the day, you could get WWII surplus aircraft landing mats for next to nothing. Since they're steel, they eventually rust out but OK for temporary. Easy enough to assemble and move. I don't know how much they would cost these days.

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About the food stuff, I've been involved with some research on type 2 diabetes and it's clear to me that we don't have a very good understanding of which foods are actually healthy for us and which ones aren't and how everything works. The bacteria in your gut play a vital role in much of this. There are hundreds of different species of bacteria in your gut and a large percentage of your poop is bacteria. There are good bugs and bad bugs in there. They can release substances which greatly affect how we feel. In general, the good bugs are easier to kill than the bad bugs, so something simple like drinking tap water treated with chlorine or chloramine can alter the ratio of good vs. bad. I run my tap water through a carbon filter to take out the chlorine before I drink it. Heating tap water or leaving it exposed to the air for long enough will also get the chlorine levels down to a reasonable level.

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Chlorine - Thanks for giving me one more thing to worry about. Think that drinking water is important for good health. With me I think I get pulled muscles if I don't drink enough water. Left side, front, lowest rib. Been hurting for about 2 weeks now. Seems to be getting better.

Re: "I run my tap water through a carbon filter" I worry about people with water filters in their kitchens. I worry about contaminated water in the filter. Not much good happens to water at 90 degrees. Think that people who work at water treatment plants are way better at filtering water. On the subject of water. I an a professional water taster. I keep a plastic jar in the refrigerator and refill with water. Plastic jar in the car in the hot sun, not good. Plastic deteriorates. Need to replace the plastic jar once in a while

The wife and I fly to different airports. I drink water during take off and landings so my ears don't get messed up. They don't let ya take water bottles past security so I buy one then refill in in every airport. Buffalo, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, all have excellent water. Florida, California, not so good. Phoenix Arizona you desert people are drinking your own piss.

Swbluto how are you dealing with water for washing stuff? I have a obsession with hot water. Got hot and cold running water everywhere. Humans can get pretty stinky if they don't wash themselves. Wonder if the girl who was chasing you around Micro Center was attracted to your scent?
Body odour and sexual attraction

Best way to get rid of bugs is to clean everything. Water is best solvent for cleaning. Rinse, rinse, rinse! Bugs/ants are attracted to dirt, food, dirty people. I have spent my life renting apartments. To get rid of bugs. First evict the people. Second throw everything away. Third clean the house. Also I see ants where there is a water leak. Water leak from plumbing or rain.


Here is a picture of a water tank.

Off the grid guy uses water from the roof to fill his water tank.

If you get like that about a dust mite, I can't imagine how you react to this little Texas staple.

Hot water. Oh, the memories, lol.

Yep, no hot water. Haven't had hot water since my last stay in the hotels, about 2 months ago. You don't normally need additional "hot" in this climate, except during the "cold streaks" which normally last 2-3 days. I'm at the tail-end of one right now(40 degrees this morning) and hot water sounds like a dream, lol. Anyway, I'm getting done with work tomorrow, yippee, so friday night/saturday is when I can start getting my driveway and all the projects done. (Wow, rarely am I like 'TGIF', the end of the 'workweek' tends to be random.)

All my water needs are fulfilled by a 7 gallon water jug. Need to wash my dishes, fill the dish with a little water (or get a rag wet), put some soap in, lather, rub, apply and then either rinse and dry or just simply dry. For laundry, I think I'm going to get a hand-operated clothes washer off of amazon or somesuch.

Something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/EasyGo-Washer-Powered-Washing-Machine/dp/B00OTYK3O6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1487264146&sr=8-3&keywords=manual+clothes+washer



Looks maybe I'd get a wringer, too, but I would think just twisting it and hanging it to dry on a clothes line would work?

Anyway, I /know/ that stench is contained in clothes and not the human body. I know this because I didn't wash my uniform for a week or two and my chief started complaining about the stench and told me to wash myself, lol (Which I did), so I definitely know that stench comes from clothes and not the human body. Personal experience tells me that.

Dauntless said:

If you get like that about a dust mite, I can't imagine how you react to this little Texas staple.

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Hey, that looks like the guy I squashed about 2 days ago, lol. I think the vaseline is keeping them at bay, I haven't seen ants nor a creepy crawler in here for 2 days now.

In terms of "bug prevention", it seems like RVs are better suited to that than the traditional permanent structures, since their entry points are limited to two/three points and are possible to block off if you have a suitable way to block them off. Houses just seem like they have holes here, there and yonder and passageways unseen to the attic/gable/garage.

Anyway, it does seem like eating an abundance of potassium rich foods can lead to a relative "sodium deficiency" because sodium will start to taste /really/ good, lol. Once the needs are met, that "savory delicious" taste goes away and just tastes 'salty'. I just noticed that recently this morning, being hungry and not knowing what for - clearly not apples nor nuts. Seems like it was salt.

Anyway, no woe is me events, but it seems like the cardiac events have been picking up in recent days. The symptoms at "the peak of performance" seem like they've become a little too common now. This morning, it manifested as a strange radiating sensation in my entire upperr chest. And, started feeling the chest heaviness while walking just recently. Maybe I should prepare some hot cocoa. (Other oddities noticed recently. A 'sickening feeling' at the exact moment I awake that passes as quickly as I wake up. Some other oddities with my head, like instantaneously passing pressure or something. Someone said that the "sickening feeling" was simply anxiety, and I dismissed it as such, but I'm starting to see that the adrenaline surge at the moment of awakening might possibly induce a passing nausea feeling if there was a sufficiently advanced partial blockage or similar, like an atrophied and/or sufficiently vasoconstricted vessel, or both.)

I was reading recently that blood becomes thicker without enough salt.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-horrible-things-that-happen-if-you-dont-get-enough-1687912304

As their sodium levels continued to drop, they could barely function due to fatigue. Although their vital signs seemed fine, their blood changed, becoming dark and sticky. Now we know that the volunteers were suffering from hyponatremia, a condition caused by consuming too little sodium or too much water.

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"stickier" blood seems like it'd be more likely to lead to clogging. I guess if it was a temporary affect, it wouldn't be an issue, but if it caused an event that damaged heart tissue that further impairs circulation, further repeated events certainly seem like they could lead to more severe consequences, since impaired circulation + stickiness = worse events than simply adequate circulation + stickiness. That high amount of nocturnal chest pain about a week ago possibly could have impaired circulation to some extent, which might help explain the seemingly increasing symptoms now.

Now it's time to look into hyponatremia and CVD, see if there's an association.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26298426

Hyponatremia (<136 mEq/L) and low sodium within the normal range (136-138 mEq/L) showed significantly increased risk of major CVD events and total mortality compared to men within the upper normal range (139-143 mEq/L) after adjustment for a wide range of confounders and traditional risk factors [adjusted HRs 1.55 (1.13,2.12) and 1.40 (1.14,1.72) for major CVD events respectively and 1.30 (1.02,1.66) and 1.30 (1.11,1.53) respectively for total mortality]. Hyponatremia was associated with inflammation, NT-proBNP, low muscle mass and alkaline phosphatase; these factors contributed to the increased total mortality associated with hyponatremia but did not explain the increased risk of CVD events associated with hyponatremia or low normal sodium concentration. Hypernatremia (≥145 mEq/L) was associated with significantly increased risk of CVD events and mortality due to CVD causes.

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Oh, looks like there is. Huh, well, this does seem to coincide with my stopping of eating the rice (Which is where I'd usually add salt in my diet), so low sodium intake in the last week or two seems like the likely culprit. Time to institute regular sampling of the sea salt, to prevent ongoing deficiencies. Seems like you get hypernattremia from not drinking enough water (dehydration)[If you consume too much salt, you get thirsty, lol.], and can cause hyponattremia from drnking too much water and/or not enough salt intake.

Well, that certainly explains why I seem to so easily eat a whole block of cheese in one sitting when I get to the grocery, not enough salt.

The reason why hpnotraemia is associated with inflammation is likely because salt is a bacteria inhibitor. Higher salinity = less bacteria = less immune response = less inflammation.

I think that's what I'm going to do from now on with that 'hunger' feeling.

Test.

1) Salt
2) Sweet (fruit) or fat (peanut, etc.)

Since it seems established now that sodium deficiency is a known problem, the real important thing is to test salt first.

It seems like too many fruits have been suffered because of mistaking that hunger feeling, and I don't necessarily think excess fruit consumption is "good". It doesn't necessarily seem bad... but it seems unnecessary and possibly bad in the context of insufficient sodium.

On the subject of peanuts, these peanuts I got from HEB.

Wow, they listed a lot of different minerals on the nutrition label.

Each serving has...

15% magnesium
10% phosphorus
8% potassium
30% manganese

Remembering that "refeeding" article, they talk about how deficiencies in magnesium/phosphorus/potassium from poor nutrition can cause complications during refeeding, and it's notable that a peanut contains a high amount of all of those [notably, magnesium. Magnesium tends to be rare in most modern foods and magnesium deficiency is pretty widespread in the USA.]. Peanuts just seem so nutritious, protein, fat and the essential minerals. No wonder they taste so good.

I'm personally a fan of peanuts, lol. They're a root vegetable, so like vegetables, they don't waste energy/resources on building a tree, which is probably why they're so much cheaper than the other nuts. They're more productive per given amount of land and they grow faster than nut trees. If one is worried about fungus, I would advise regular consumption of antifungal foods. I'm sure they're out there.

Anyway, as to the microcenter gal. I could tell we were psychological doppelgangers and I was strutting around like I had something good going on [Finding a psychological doppelganger in a store like MicroCenter doesn't seem farfetched. What seems rarer is finding the female version of me, they're rare!]. Her reaction wasn't some "calculated" event, it was far too instantaneous; it was instinct.

I'm finding it notable ever since recovering my salt intake, I've only ate 6 pieces of fruit today and those have been my only carbs. Well, along with 6 servings of peanuts, lol. I guess one doesn't really need that much carbs to feel full and function well. I guess that agrees with the suspicion that hunter-gatherers only ate some 80-100 grams of carbs a day back in the day. [Of course, I'm not counting the carbs in the peanuts and the carrots. That'd probably bring the total carb count upto 150 grams.)

On another note, I've noticed the left side of throat and ear feel sore. Probable infection of some sort, possibly viral. Seems likely involved with the recent cardiac happenings.

Update: The morning after. After 2 doses of red wine yesterday (Some spanish cabernet sauvignon, tastes a bit better than Carl Rossi. Carl rossi seems more appropriate to be drunk with an italianish style meal, it's not really that good as a standalone wine. I think the climate, and possibly soil, of Modesto, CA just isn't geared for the best tasting grapes.), I noticed the soreness in the left side of my throat has diminished significantly. A ha, so it was a bacterial infection, maybe. Anyway, I think I'm going to start eating apples,grapes and blueberries for my carbs for breakfast. Seems like my body likes those a bit more for the morning appetite moreso than bananas, and I also get the impression they're better overall (Assuming you get adequate mineral consumption from other sources, like greenery and nuts.). Apples and nuts go together quite well, I'm suspecting maybe grapes and/or blueberries might also pare well.

Anyway, after recovering from the salt insufficiency, I noticed I slept a full 7-8 hours (12-4 a.m., 5-8:30 a.m.), back to normal from 5.5-6 hours. I had previously noticed that "cardiac events" seemed to correlate with short sleeping periods, and I didn't know that salt might have been the underlying factor. It makes sense. The morning times are still not picture perfect, still feel a bit weird/out-of-it, but I think there's been an improvement, maybe. Maybe I should eat an apple during that 4-5 a.m. wake period.

I noticed that I keep seeing helicopters going from *this* way to *that* way, and they always seem to fly over me. I wondered where all these helicopters were going, and so I tried to find army bases (Couldn't find any), but I did notice something. These guys seem to be flying from Conroe,TX (Lake city in North Houston, many millionaires here) to Austin,TX. Yep, that explains it. "Hey, you want to go to downtown Austin today? Let's take the chopper, it's faster. lol". Anyway, I just thought it was peculiar seeing so many aircraft on a regular basis when I seem to be so far from the city center, but that explains it.

Anyway, I guess I'll be calling the local hardware stores/lumber yards later today and see what they got. And tomorrow, I'll be picking up supplies for the storm shelter and the culvert. Should give that craigslist "barrel place" a call. Then sometime "soon enough", I'll order in the dumptruck delivery of the driveway base. Probably should pick up some rock to repair holes in the road, so I should probably pick up a trash can from (walmart, homedepot, tractor supply); it'd be nice to repair just for me, but I'm thinking it'll be possibly important for the dumptruck guy.

So... list:

1) culvert
2) storm shelter apparatus
3) metal trash can

And where did my billhook go? I've been missing it for 2 weeks now. It's useful for delimbing trees. And, a good tool for personal defense, especially dogs. I have a giant knife, but I think it's wiser to be swinging at dogs instead of stabbing them, and that billhook made for an excellent skull-crusher should the need arise. (i.e., dog's jaw is locked onto your leg. I don't necessarily think a puncture wound is going to dissuade a dog from unlocking his jaw from your leg, but compromising the structural integrity of his skull will give him little choice, lol.)

Anyway, earlier this morning (Around the 4 a.m. wakeup), I was feeling a little bit of chest burning pain in the top-mid center. It felt like it was on the 'surface'(Not under the ribs), and there were no other characteristic symptoms to go with it (nausea,sweating,shortness of breath, etc.), so I dismissed it. Granted, if I had taken into consideration all the symptoms that have happened within the last week or two, perhaps I should've been concerned, but I'm just trying to get on with my life. But, it is hard to deny the probable impact a sodium deficiency could have on causing a cardiac damaging event, which would substantially increase the risk and severity of future events, even after sodium levels return back to normal. I'm so totally not freaking out about that, nope, nope, not me, lol.

Well, if this is what I think it might be, it's probably documented somewhere online under "heart failure". Let's see... how would the search go...

heart failure nocturnal chest burning

Let's see what I find.

Nope, didn't find a thing. Probable spine/rib nerve irritation.

Man, this guy probably didn't enjoy the last moments of his life.

Okay, just got done with the journey today. Got the cuvlert and spotted the appropriate structure for a storm shelter and found a good priced steel trash can from Home Depot. Turns out that Home Depot and Lowe's stock the fruit trees in these parts, and it seems they stock the ones that will grow in this area. The citrus trees (Lime, lemon, orange and
komquat) looked like the most green and luscious fruit trees there. Those and some tropical fruits would definitely give my backyard a very green and luscious feel.

It became kind of obvious to me that Conroe, TX is my "local" home-depot/lowe's connection. It's the "easiest"/"nicest" ones to get to anyway. (Get to drive by a lake, lol.)

But, I can always head into Egypt, TX during an HEB shopping day.

Also stopped by the "Urban Harvest" fruit tree sales. Apparently the trees left are the "leftovers" (Didn't see limes here but I did see a ice cream banana plant.) and the main event is in January. Kind of piddling selection compared to Home depot/Lowes, but there /was/ an ice cream banana plant - that's the banana plant that fast-growing-trees ran out of. Anyway, talked to this one vendor there of fruit trees, and I told him I won't be ready to buy trees until I get my backyard prepared, so I wanted to know if there was a place I could pick it up from, and he declined. Oh man, he's shamed of his property. Jeez, if only he knew what my property currently looked like, lol. [But, that's changing, yes.]

Looks like Home-Depot/Lowes/HEB are the local fruit trees vendors for me at this point. I'll probably import the more tropical ones from online somewhere (Macadamia,etc.).

Limes/Lemons/Oranges from Lowes/HEB, tropical snow peaches from HEB, and then possibly an apple tree. But... I don't know...

Have to call around to find out who vends Banana Ice Cream plants. Got the name of the wholesalers from the urban harvest event (Dave Wilson's nursery and Brazos Citrus), so I have to give them a ring and find out their retailers.

Also, it seems like Lowes or Home depot carries Burpee's seeds at a fairly good price, cheaper than Fedco and HEB. Burpee is one of the popular "mainstream" seed vendors online. Might get my seeds from here, but I want some particular watermelon varieties from Fedco. [This Dallas guy found out that the secret to growing watermelons is that they need an arrangement that allows them access to ample water (I'm kinding of thinking... that makes sense...yes, lol.); for "well drained dry soil", like that of Dallas, that means a depression in the ground. For some place like here, I'm guessing that means they don't need any special treatment, lol. (Maybe I'll need a mound; should look it up. There's plenty of "How to grow X in Houston" online, youtube and the such.)

Anyway, while driving around Houston (Gosh, I can't stand the highway within a 20-25 mile radius of houston center, at least not on the W/NW side. The stop-and-go environment is silly nuts.), I thought houston looked a lot like Full Metal Jacket depictions of Vietnam, lol, with the long green grass everywhere and the way the architecture looked. Maybe there's a lot of vietnamese shop owners here; I know there's a lot of vietnamese in China Town. Not that the "nice parts" of Houston looked like that, but just about everywhere but the nice parts, lol.

Where is vietnam anyway?

Looks like Hanoi, the capital, is around 21 degrees N. With Houston at 29.5 degrees N, that's very close, so that explains it, lol.

And Tokyo is 35.5 degrees N. Oh, Houston is more 'tropical' than most of Japan (I bet that Japan doesn't get arctic blasts during the winter.). I guess with Japan's 'island' nature, they don't have the kind of winter climate the inner parts of the USA have at 36 degrees N, so that explains the difference.

Anyway... step by step.... What I need to do...

1) Dig up a place to install the culvert. [Btw, if one decides to put a culvert in the van, make sure it's secured down. Someone suddenly stopped, I braked and the culvert turned into a huge missile that slammed into my windshield and gave it a nice spiderweb crack, oh man, lol. Oh well, I didn't buy this vehicle for its resale value, I bought it because of its workhorse/cargo capabilities that should last for at least another 2 years or so.]

2) Install culvert

3) Remove the tree stumps and topsoil for the rest of the driveway (making it a little longer than originally planned).

3)Get a dumptruck delivery of red clay.

4) Create the driveway from the red clay and also create a pad for the shed. [Install RV shortly after]

5) Empty what I have to from the van into the RV (temporarily), get a can and purchase some suitable soil to put onto the red clay base for the shed. (Gravel?) (Or maybe I don't need anything special with the "foundation" kit that comes with the shed. I'll find out eventually.)

6) Buy and install the shed. Start storing in the shed.

6) Get some trash cans and put into the van, with the recovered room in my van.

7) Purchase and place bull/septic(1"-2" stones) rock at the mouth of the culvert to protect against erosion.

8) Purchase crushed-concrete/crushed-granite and install for the driveable portion of the driveway (For parking the van). (I might delay the situating of the RV until here.)


And, the other high priority item that needs to get done soon is the storm shelter. I think I'll crystallize the plans today and hopefully get it executed tomorrow or "soon". Seems like the 66 gallon trash cans suffice and the 96 gallon trash can looks ideal. Also trying to come up with a workable idea for the 8x16" cement blocks. I can imagine putting the cement blocks so that it protects a prone position, but I'm not quite sure what to put inside the void to keep it isolated from the ground/bugs/rotten-leaves/dirt. It doesn't seem like "body buckets" are particularly common, and putting in a bathtub seems kind of ridiculous.

I keep reading about this "Squirrels/birds love the fruit". If my backyard attracts a lot of those suckers, I'm going to have some fun honing in my shooting skills, lol. I've heard laying fishing line across the yard is effective for protecting the chickens from hawks. I've been seeing a few hawks flying around here. It makes sense, since I've seen rabbits jumping around the forest here. I'm thinking hawks hunt rabbits.

I've been eyeballing this airgun shotgun. But, I probably wouldn't want to be using my shotgun in the garden, lol. (But, up in the air, fair game. An effective range of 20 yards though... 60 feet.... back yard is 100 feet long... hmm.... probably want to stick to my rifle. And no "up in the air" pidgeon shooting, I guess. I definitely wouldn't use a regular shotgun in these parts, lol.

Okay, if I were to surmise the main shopping demographics of people in "these parts", I'd guess a combination of medical/guns/cars. Seeing lots of armories, seeing lots of car-repair/detail/paint shops, and plenty of specialized medical facilities (Vision,etc.). I think houston "proper" is a little different. Standard wide array of city stores.

Update: Thought about it, I'll probably just temporarily empty the van into the RV, get a few trashcans and pick up the rocks. The shed will come after I get everything on the property, getting the RV on the property is a somewhat higher priority.

And, still need to figure out that storm shelter. Gahhh... and a thunderstorm coming monday... "A few may be severe", goddamn.

Man, that last tornado storm was /way/ more severe than the typical rainstorm here. The typical one is "pitter patter pitter patter", that was like a constant torrent like a waterfall was falling on my RV or something, lol. And, do I want to bet my phone picks up NOAA weather alerts? lol. I got an app, and it says it "pushes a message thru the messenger" when an alert comes through, lol. No, I want that thing to blare like a foghorn, lol. But, I honestly don't know what it will do, because I haven't tested it out on a real storm. And, I don't really want to test it out should it 'fail' during a serious storm, lol.

The girl interviewed down in SW houston said she got an tornado warning alert on her phone several minutes before the tornado took out her home. I want to make sure I get those alerts before I get a tornado, lol.

Ok, think I have the design down.

It goes like...

-Attach some kind of base at the bottom of the han making sure it is secure.
-Create hole slightly wider than the can.
-Place can inside the hole.
-Lay heavy material surrounding the can down onto the base, thus securing the can in the ground. {Necessary in this area because water will start filling the void, causing the can to lift up.) Perhaps, the material just excavated to create the hole.

So, just need to find a suitable can and a way to attach a base securely to it. I could probably get away with not having a base attached as long as the void is filled in.

Anyway, would probably want to add a vent to the can. And would probably want to ensure water didn't leak in. And, make the lid securable from the inside. Don't want a tornado ripping the lid off and sucking me out, lol. (Not that I think it would, but I don't want to find out, either, lol.)

Now I need to figure out what personal defense firearm I should get.

I think I'm working with hostile neighbors here. Aggressive dog breed choices, aggressive dog leash policy (or lack thereof), aggressive incursions into the immediate area with repeated firearm shooting. Granted, I'm thinking, "Well, maybe he's hunting at dusk. Seems like it's common enough.", but why the hell would he have been venturing into my area 2x, within the span of 3 days, with all the forest out there?

So, debating a defense firearm. Thinking maybe an Ak-47. Or maybe AR-15.

Everytime he lets one loose in the immediate area, get my ak47, empty a clip, and run out towards the back and reload. Sometimes I forget, I'm in Somalia! lol

Oh, 30 round clips. Well, emptying a clip would probably be a little foolish, lol.

Anyway, I found an article that was talking about "The one food you can live indefinitely off of", and they stated milk. Then mammal mlik was a close second.

Ummm... hey... I have an idea... what about egg whites? Because... egg whites are all the nutrition a little birdie gets in the egg, so obviously it's enough to keep it alive. It's a harder connection to justify the same for human consuming it(A bird's nutrient requirements might be different than a mammal's), but I think it's pretty compelling, especially since those people who've lived to 120 or so apparently lived off of raw eggs and chicken, little else. Makes me think eggs have "all that you need" (Well, you could supplement with a little salt.)

Oh, and if the cheese's lack of affect on serum cholesterol wasn't compelling enough to prove that dietary cholesterol doesn't drive serum cholesterol, here's one more study, except it's about eggs, which are high in cholesterol.

The Framingham Study has investigated the effect of host and environmental factors on the development of coronary heart disease since 1949. Serum cholesterol level was determined to the one of the risk factors for coronary heart disease. The nutrient intake, in a subsample of the study population, was determined in 1957. A review of this material has permitted an estimate of egg consumption on each of 912 subjects. The serum cholesterol distribution curves of the subjects according to tertile of egg intake were almost identical, and no relationship between egg intake and coronary heart disease incidence was found. It is concluded that within the range of egg intake of this population differences in egg consumption were unrelated to blood cholesterol level or to coronary heart disease incidence.

Click to expand...

See, no relationship between cholesterol consumed and cholesterol levels(serum cholesterol).

What was cholesterol caused by?

Well... let's see... I thought I knew this not too long ago... but I think I have two different theories on this now.

-The liver produces cholesterol as an end byproduct of galactose/fructose metabolism.
-Bacteria drives LDL cholesterol levels, and thus cholesterol.

So, to figure out which one was the likely candidate... I googled apples and cholesterol.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23271615

he intervention significantly affected serum total and LDL-cholesterol. Trends towards a lower serum LDL-concentration were observed after whole apple (6.7%), pomace (7.9%) and cloudy juice (2.2%) intake. On the other hand, LDL-cholesterol concentrations increased by 6.9% with clear juice compared to whole apples and pomace. There was no effect on HDL-cholesterol, TAG, weight, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, inflammation (hs-CRP), composition of the gut microbiota or markers of glucose metabolism (insulin, IGF1 and IGFBP3).

Click to expand...

This result strongly suggests that bacteria, not necessarily fructose consumption from whole fruits(But definitely consumption from processed foods, including juices), drives LDL cholesterol. If bacteria causes liver disease... and the liver produces cholesterol... I wonder... if the bacteria somehow causes the liver to produce LDL cholesterol? I don't know how, but it seems plausible.

This research also suggests that whatever "whole apple" they used in this research had strong antibacterial properties.

To get my sodium intake normal again, I decided to eat 2 cans of vegetables a day, about 2000 mg of sodium. I picked up a bunch of libby french green beans for 60 cents each (I cleared them out), a steal.

The idea that bacteria causes heart disease and liver disease just seems so straightforward. Bacteria causes disease, right? That's like the definition of disease, I think.

Seems these guys are starting to figure out that bacteria causes diabetes. Granted, they haven't figured out the bacteria->immune system->cortisol->diabetes connection like I have, but they

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170217161013.htm

The community of microorganisms that resides in the gut, known as the microbiome, has been shown to work in tandem with the genes of a host organism to regulate insulin secretion, a key variable in the onset of the metabolic disease diabetes.

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They figure it's some complicated mystery of genes/insulin-regulation interplay they just have to apply their genius superbrains to figure out... when the truth is much simpler.

And, am I just about to pull an einstein quote? lol.

Einstein said:

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Click to expand...

I see what she means in that song, "A brotherhood of man" and "the institution". That collection of men/women who act as the 'gatekeepers' to opportunities such as, what is ultimately, wealth and power. The 'bouncers' in those various realms, whatever they may be.

Under the wealth category, we have income opportunities and property. Under the power category, we have positions of leadership and instruments of power.

And, I just saw two ants, looks like they're back. Reinspected the area, removing the objects that were touching the RV. Seems like the front of the right wheel washed off under the rainstorms, so I reapplied the vaseline that had fallen off. The rest of the wheels had intact vaseline, yippee. Need to get some more vaseline later today, and I was just at walmart 3x earlier today, lol.

Anyway, installed the culvert, ready for the red clay delivery for the driveway. It's going to thunderstorm tomorrow morning, so probably going to get a delayed a day or two. So far, not seeing a tornado watch, so that's good news... I think? lol. Got the would be tornado shelter, need to designate a place to dig and start digging.

I'm seeing a "flash food" watch, though, suggesting it's "severe" so I dunno.

Man, Ants, Tornados and Hunters getting routinely a wee bit close to my RV. There sure if a $H17 ton of threats here I've never had before. I almost feel like Texas is like what they say about Austalia; everything is trying to kill you, lol.

Wow, 3 ants so far. 2 fire ants and 1 big black ant. I think I'm going to get some more vaseline... I wonder if this stuff "dries out"? I swear it was pretty effective for at least the first 3 days after I applied it.

It's interesting that ants seem to be, by far, the earliest inspects I see breach my defenses. Makes me think they spend alot of time "probing the boundaries", unlike other insects. Seems like I saw that behavior in that electric fence ant youtube video. Constantly probing different parts of the electric 'fence'.

Culvert - What material is it made from? Diameter? Length?

marty said:

Culvert - What material is it made from? Diameter? Length?

Click to expand...

A sufficient material with sufficient diameter and length. It's working like a champ so far, might need to dig some parts a little deeper.

Hmmm... I'm reading the local laws... and it appears all the firearm shooting around here is illegal.

I wonder if I should call the cops? I would feel better about calling the cops if I was on my property. One less thing to get potentially hassled about.

Here's the law...

it is hereby ordered that the discharge of firearms on lots that are 10 acres or smaller that are located in the unincorporated areas of /this/ county, in a subdivision, is hereby prohibited.

Click to expand...

I would just talk to him face/face, but the fact he has a gun, knowingly violates laws in using it and clearly uses it to communicate aggression, tells me he's probably the kind of guy I should call the cops on.If it was a matter that involved something other than aggressively using instruments of death, I would probably talk to him first.
to
Edit: Going to push getting the bed into the van and sleeping there. Despite all measures to contain the bug populations inside the RV by blocking their entry via vaseline, I seem to be fighting a losing battle. This RV is now officially designated as a "Work RV" and getting it converted into temporary storage is commencing soon (But not tonight, I just have to brave the idea there's more than the ten ants in here that I've already squashed. Seeing baby ants too... eeeks.... does that mean they're setting up a colony inside my RV? I think I've discovered the location of the colony - under the floorboards. Seems like that's where they are all going/coming from, all in one particular location.).

Think I'm going to get the shed to sleep/work in. There are some nice looking wooden sheds that can be had with some paint. RV will be mostly storage/work. With the simpilcity of a shed, it seems like it should be easy to keep the bugs out with minimal effort.

swbluto said:

marty said:

Culvert - What material is it made from? Diameter? Length?

Click to expand...

A sufficient material with sufficient diameter and length. It's working like a champ so far, might need to dig some parts a little deeper.

Hmmm... I'm reading the local laws... and it appears all the firearm shooting around here is illegal.

I wonder if I should call the cops? I would feel better about calling the cops if I was on my property. One less thing to get potentially hassled about.

Here's the law...

it is hereby ordered that the discharge of firearms on lots that are 10 acres or smaller that are located in the unincorporated areas of /this/ county, in a subdivision, is hereby prohibited.

Click to expand...

I would just talk to him face/face, but the fact he has a gun, knowingly violates laws in using it and clearly uses it to communicate aggression, tells me he's probably the kind of guy I should call the cops on.If it was a matter that involved something other than aggressively using instruments of death, I would probably talk to him first.

Click to expand...

Don't suppose you would post some pictures, would you?
Marty, it's a couple plastic drink straws, I'll bet.

You know if you file a report against your Newburgh he will find out and hunt you down. Not a good idea. You might call and say that there is a lot of gun shots in the area and am worries for the kids. That might work.

I want some pictures of that paradise you are living in.

Dan

DAND214 said:

You know if you file a report against your Newburgh he will find out and hunt you down. Not a good idea.

Click to expand...

So you're suggesting the only way to address the hostile dogs is to take them out?

Yeah, that's what I kind of thought too. Probably not a good idea to become a /real/ target. But, there's like 10 neighbors who can hear him in close proximity, so it'd be a guessing game, for sure. He has a very characteristic pattern. He goes somewhere... and lets off a string of bullets... only once for the night.

Think I might plant 3 sound recorders somewhere with timetamping on them, and then do some triangulation work to find his favorite locations. Don't really know if it'd help, but it might help police.

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/mexico-city-is-a-parched-and-sinking-capital/

Guzmán’s family earns $600 a month. Family members ultimately have to spend more than 10 percent of that income on water, enough to yield about 10 gallons per person per day. The average resident in a wealthy Mexico City neighborhood to the west, nearer the reservoirs, consumes 100 gallons per day, experts note. The wealthy resident pays one-tenth what Guzmán does.

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And meanwhile, I'm using 1 gallon of water per day, lol. Washing must take up a lot of water.

I'm guessing the big difference is that they're paying 4/10th of a cent for a gallon of water, and I'm paying 35 cents per gallon. So, I'm motivated to keep the water consumption down. [Just recently found out that the Woodlands Mall Glacier water dispenser is 25 cents/gallon. Doesn't matter to me, too far away for regular use. And, it appears Tomball,TX has the lowest gas prices in the area. Recently $1.89, whereas my HEB is $1.97/gallon, and the local gas stations in my immediate area are anywhere from $2.05-$2.15.]

Looks like this is "flash flood" rain, and it appears the lower lying parts of my property have flooded. Yep, I'll make a note not to put my shed there, lol. I'm going to investigate the property later today to see what areas are vulnerable to flooding. I'm hoping the backyard isn't vulnerable... that's where I intend to have my crops, lol.

Update: Just checked. Doesn't look like the majority of the backyard is vulnerable to flooding. The parts that are (Fringes of the area), I'm guessing can get filled in with some kind of well-draining soil of some sort. if it's in the "patch', then with kind of appropriate well-draining organic soil.

And, my culvert has been working like a champ in the recent flash flood rain. Definitely need to put a filter/screen on the entrance, should be pretty easy.

Anyway, the guy who's been shooting a pistol in the local area, I'm pretty sure is an illegal. He's one of the two young males that his sister was telling him what to do in Spanish, cluing me into the fact they didn't understand my English, but they really understood her Spanish, so there's a high likelihood he's an illegal and he has a pistol, too, and he's using it in a hostile manner. How many federal laws does that mean he's breaking? Illegal alien laws, gun laws, county laws.... who should I call? ICE, county police or the game warden?

I'm pretty sure at least one of them is legal (Likely gramps, the property owner), otherwise, I have no idea how they'd register property in their name. So, if I did call in ICE, I'm pretty sure some of the family members would remain behind, might not bode well for 'neighborly relations', but his illegal shooting isn't either!

So, he's breaking county law, so that'd be a misdemeanor. And, that would put him on the list of priority deportations.... probably not... I think they're only going after established criminals right now, aren't they? When are they going to step it up to misdemeanors? Well... he is violating a federal law (Gun ownership laws? Operation laws?)... so that's a bit more serious than a misdemeanor.


http://www.voanews.com/a/draft-memos-expand-scope-of-immigrants-targeted-for-deportation/3730697.html

Instead, migrants who have been charged with crimes but not convicted would be prioritized for deportation. The guidance also allows ICE agents wide discretion in deciding who to deport and considers anyone in the United States illegally to be subject to deportation.

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Not really convinced police would charge him with a crime (More likely get a warning), but if ICE was on the spot, maybe they'd use their "wide discretion" to the neighborhood's benefit.

Okay, found a great idea online. Use lemon scented furniture polish. Use vaseline to keep the f'ers from climbing up, use repelling scents (Or other repellants) at their entrances to keep them from entering. Seems like that duo is the 2 part combo I need for this environment! An RV in the middle of woods in the warmer parts of Texas, a double/triple whammy. Seems like this particular species of ant yesterday night is active at night.

And, it looks like someone stole my neighbor's tarp. Either that or it blew off in a recent wind storm (But if it blew off, I didn't see it anywhere, not even entangled in the nearby trees which is where I would expect it). Yep, so as I suspected, thieving is a high activity here. The local post office had a sign posted saying that the blue collection box was broken into feb 15/16th, so I know I'm living among thieves here. Kind of goes hand in hand with poverty. Spokane had rampant theft problems, so I know of this relationship. I think the difference between spokane/here, is that spokane's thieves were more emboldened. Here, something has to be left alone for at least a couple days before it gets targeted for theft (The tarp had been sitting there for 3 weeks or so). In Spokane, they'd steal it from your front yard while you're sitting on the front porch! lol (I'm not really poor and I'm not really a thief. Not exactly that desperate. I might look poor, but that's only because I have my $$$ in so many different buckets, business equipment taking up the majority of it. Back where I lived, owning your own land, property, vehicle, and your own business at my age, wasn't exactly the definition of poverty. Poverty was not being able to afford a bus ticket, lol. Unlike Texas, everyone in Spokane could get food stamps if they applied, regardless of age/sex/etc.)

So, this girl didn't wash for 6 weeks. The results?

The results showed that although there were up to 5,000 times more bacteria in each of the areas tested, levels were surprisingly still within what are deemed to be 'normal' parameters for a human being.
More importantly, there were no signs of any sinister bacteria such as E.coli or streptococcus, meaning Nicky's health was not being put at risk by not washing.

Click to expand...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-477378/Six-weeks-wash-The-soapless-experiment.html#ixzz4ZHhbQQZN

Yep, no problem. Just don't touch your face, lol.

My dad used to live in Colbert. He always wanted us to move up there with him, but I was dedicated to taking care of Mom in his absence. He's still got a brass name plaque on the bar at the Officers Club at Fairchild AFB.

Cool, I'm pretty sure I've seen the entrance to the Officer's Club at Fairchild AFB once. [Father's former airforce; now IT manager.]

Anyway... I noticed these holes forming at the bottom of my toes and wondered what it was...

http://www.pittedkeratolysis.com/

Pitted keratolysis, also known as keratolysis sulcata, is a bacterial infection of the soles of the feet or, less commonly, the palms of the hands. Pitted keratolysis is easily identified by its shallow, crater-like pits. It is generally caused by coryneform bacteria, though several other strains of bacteria have been discovered in the lesions, including Micrococcus sedentarius, Actinomyces keratolytica and Dermatophilus congolensis.

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Oh, dogs, there's a reason why I've prioritized washing the feet. Mostly to prevent athlete's foot and now there's this. Feet are just one of those things that just need to be washed frequently. If I were to surmise anything... I'd guess that this is a logical consequence of wearing shoes. If I were barefooted, the feet would stay exposed to the outside air, and wouldn't provide the warm, dark, moist environment that bacteria love, so, yes, should wash my feet frequently to account for the unnatural wearing of shoes,lol.

And... i'm suspecting the neighbor came close to my property and sounded off warning shots [Or perhaps he was hunting wabbits. They do seem to come out at dusk.] did so because he could hear my tinny 1000 watt generator. Ironically, the 2000 watt generator is notably quieter; perhaps the doubled weight absorbs more vibration/noise?

So I wondered about this... And found...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2155149/Man-kills-neighbor-complaining-noise-neighbors-wifes-party-says-self-defense.html

Teacher shot dead over loud music at his wife's birthday party: Father gunned down on his lawn by neighbour who was complaining about noise

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So, if your neighbor can hear you, there's a risk they'll shoot you dead. That's kind of amazing, didn't think that was the trend. Notably, this incident happened within 40 miles from here, so this might be the wrong area of the country to be making noise, lol. [I've decided to not use the 1000 watt generator until i get on my property and get the appropriate muffling apparatus on it.]

Although... I'm entertaining the setting up of my property like a vietnam era battlefield and then blast europop music at full volume every night. I'll be waiting for him... lol.

So, I need a fence... then I need some kind of motion detectors that feed into the central monitoring station. And perimeter lights. And perimeter cameras. I think that's about it as far as detecting/preventing intruders. That would seem a little extreme for protecting a vegetable garden, lol, but I think it might be appropriate for this area. [I'll probably have area lights[turned off at night]]

How about using those big horn speakers and playing the sound of a M-16 full auto burst?

Fences tend to be expensive. You could do a cheap one by planting posts and stringing wire between them and posting "danger - electric fence" signs on them. Actually, with good insulators, you could make a cheap sensing circuit that would detect when anybody (or thing) touched the wire.

fechter said:

How about using those big horn speakers and playing the sound of a M-16 full auto burst?

Fences tend to be expensive. You could do a cheap one by planting posts and stringing wire between them and posting "danger - electric fence" signs on them. Actually, with good insulators, you could make a cheap sensing circuit that would detect when anybody (or thing) touched the wire.

Click to expand...

Oh, smart. I actually wanted to get a 6' high game fence, it's about $1.25 per foot, so 500 sq ft = $600. I do like your idea of the cheap fence detectors, yes. I wanted to get the game fence primarily to keep the foxes and other chicken predators out, but it would be nice if it also deterred intruders/thieves. I see evidence of these predators at night because I wake up to find a giant hole in my trash bags that looks like it was chomped out by an animal, lol. That would also keep them from making giant holes in my trash bags. (I still have no idea where the local dump is, I'm hoping to find out very shortly after I move onto my property and get suitable storage arranged.)

Anyway, removing the tree stumps today. I'm hoping to get at least one of the "Big ones" out today. The roots, which prevent digging below the sand line, are monstrous, and so I'm finding my subgoal every time I go back to continue is "Remove 2 roots", lol. Once I remove the roots, I can dig below the sand-line and get my chainsaw and cut that sucker down.

Anyway, been recently getting a recurring ache in what I assume is the ulnar nerve (Seems to go between the fourth and fifth finger) in the left side of my left hand (in the palm); can't seem to elicit the pain by palpating the nerve/tendon, though I can feel the nerve/tendon structure. I'm thinking it's either of cardiac origin or cervical nerve irritation origin. I have evidence for either possibility (The historical case evidence for cardiac is strong, and the fact eating a pineapple seemed to ameliorate it (Though, there could be other factors at play, like movement), while the evidence for cervical nerve is based solely on the fact my neck feels sore on the less side around c6/c7 when I push on it, lol. And, I suppose there's some historical case evidence there, too, but not as recent.). Statistically, I guess the cervical origin hypothesis is more compelling, but my risk*severity calculation puts possibly excessive concern on the other possibility, lol.

Actually... yes... the historical case evidence for cardiac seems to be exceptionally strong when I consider recent peak performance phenomenon (left arm going numb, upper chest shudder/weirdness,etc.). Just the fact my neck feels sore in the seemingly appropriate area is distracting. If I were to guess a possible etiology, it would probably be atrophy by inadequate nutrition in combination with other minor factors. Yes, this does seem to correspond to another paper which found that the young male adult death rate has ticked up in recent years due to increased drug use and alcohol abuse... but the author also mentioned inadequate diet. The thought of dying when I feel so young and physically capable just seems kind of unreal, but I know it happens. (Specifically, not enough starch/salt consumption. I'm just guessing based on the fact that almost all societies subsisted off some kind of starch, whether a grass seed starch or a vegetable starch. But did hunter gatherers consume starches? That's a good question, don't know. Almost doesn't seem like it, but if the tribes of new quinea and okinawa and the ancient mayans historically did, I don't see what would've stopped them.)

I actually do wonder what role being in this RV might have. I saw someone else comment that their 62 year old husband suffered a fatal heart attack after seeing the 3rd trailer they were looking to purchase (For retirement, I'm guessing.), and I just wonder if trailer+male = health problems. Maybe 62 year old male + seeing 3rd trailer = 29 year old male + living in RV for 2 months? lol. That seems like quite a leap, but I wonder.

Actually, now I'm wondering if the peanuts have something to do with it. Notably, I consumed a whole jar of peanut butter in one day the first day I had noticeable problems, and peanut consumption has been high ever since (7-10 servings a day). I was reading about "accidental poisonings"(They alluded to alcohol), and I noticed that an article on the diet of hunter-gatherers mention they consumed a little of a wide variety of food groups to minimize the risk of poisoning. I was eating a peanut and I noticed that it had "white fuzzy" stuff on the exposed peanut much like on the case of the pineapple I saw a week ago, and I've seen this white fuzzy stuff (I believe) before growing off of droppings. Is this the aflatoxins they were talking about? Anyway, that particular peanut had a tangy taste to it, so then I'm now wondering if these "toxins" become problematic at high levels of consumption in the short-term? Yeah, so I think I'm going to start cutting back on the peanut consumption and up my starch intake. Maybe this is part of the reason why it's recommended to limit daily nut consumption to a handful - toxins.


http://sciencenordic.com/stone-age-hunters-liked-their-carbs

“We have found seeds of wild grasses, aquatic plants and root vegetables, all of which have formed part of the hunters’ diet. Especially after an unsuccessful hunt, they had to go out and dig up roots.”

Click to expand...

So, yes, just like the okinawans (Sweet potatos) - they subsisted off of root vegetables. If their hunt was limited to spears, I'm guessing they probably had quite a few days of unsuccessful hunting. (I've seen plenty of wild rabbits recently. If I carried a PCP semi-automatic pistol, I'm guessing I could snag a rabbit every other day or so. I could carry my rifle, but that's kind of cumbersome for 'the chance' I might come across a rabbit. And, it appears semi-auto pcps don't exist, yet. Awww, what? They don't even have a revolver mechanism of some sort? Well, I guess PCP is a little different - the pellet needs to inserted into the chamber and does need to be 'closed' (Or so it appears), but why couldn't the trigger actuate that? Maybe that's too much force for the trigger.)

And, based on Selena Gomez's "Come & Get it" and Katy Perry's "Dark Horse", it would seem that once you have sex with a girl, she becomes neurochemically addicted and cannot let go - It's FOREVER, "no takebacks", "Can't change your mind"(according to the lyrics). Well, this squares off just finely with evolutionary theory - girls carry most of the risk/cost in raising a child, and raising a child can be a full-time job, so it's their (evolutionary) duty to secure future resources for their offspring from their mate, and this mechanism seems to dovetail quite nicely with that fact. And, I noticed there was no mention of "Your one and only", suggesting that this mechanism doesn't preclude polygamy, which is why it probably exists in those societies where conditions are favorable to it (i.e., a society where only a few males have excess resources for offspring.).

And, limes are antifungal according to http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964830507001746. So, decrease nut intake, increase lime and starch intake. I know red-wine is antifungal (Is it the hydrogen sulfite?), but I don't know where it is. I've lost my red wine, lol.