Buying forest land, implementing solar

[swbluto]

Current business planning

Keep the current one the way it is.
Use the unharmed one as the risky one. Put risky new venture items here, too.
Use the harmed one for the new venture.

Need to start using existing big platform one for all the legit items. Justify its expense. If expense can't be justified, terminate it.

Now I need to rearrange the equipment on the floorspace to make way for the new equipment. And then install the new equipment and design and make a product. Software development to efficentize various business processes, and then pump out the ads.

 

[mark5]

Bananas for a week costs about $7. (About 36 bananas)
Tomato paste for a week costs about $6.16.
...
After that happened, it seemed like I started noticing irregular heartbeats on my ECG, ...

Could you be seeming to be noticing to be having irregular heartbeat possibly from the potassium in those foods?

 

[swbluto]

Bananas for a week costs about $7. (About 36 bananas)
Tomato paste for a week costs about $6.16.
...
After that happened, it seemed like I started noticing irregular heartbeats on my ECG, ...

Could you be seeming to be noticing to be having irregular heartbeat possibly from the potassium in those foods?

Lol, absurd. Excessive serum potassium from consumption of natural foods is impossible; if you do, it's a sign of kidney failure. However, it is possible to not eat enough sodium, which if in conjunction with a lot of potassium, could cause heartbeat irregularities.

Btw, I'll have you know that the healthiest indigenous people consume around 10,000mg of potassium and 5000mg of sodium a day.

Let's see...

I had about 900mg of sodium today. And about... 5000mg of potassium. Typically I have salty fish, which adds another 600mg of sodium. Maybre I should be consuming a little more sodium, i'll buy it with the spices next visit.

 

[swbluto]

Hearing all the gunshots around me after my neighbor got a gun for christmas makes me think I'll need to be turning my property into a vietnam war zone battlefield like I feared [dangerous locals; but I thought Houston was "doing well", so I thought maybe the locals weren't /that/ bad. At least not as bad as Northern Florida.]. I swear all his shooting has caused the neighbors to start shooting, which now seems to be causing a cacophony of shooting all day. That's so not what I needed, lol. I just wanted to run my business without diverting resources into defense spending.

 

[mark5]

Ok, I'll defer to your expertise. Do you have electrolyte panel results to know for certain?

 

[swbluto]

Ok, I'll defer to your expertise. Do you have electrolyte panel results to know for certain?

My insurance doesn't cover that.

 

[swbluto]

It definitely seems like I see more stars here than back home in the city, but I find it kind of surprising I can't seem to find the arm of the milky way galaxy. It seems like there's possibly too much light pollution being thrown from Conroe to see it, despite it being 17-20 miles away. I don't seem to see much light being thrown from the direction of Tomball/NW Houston. The moon isn't out, so I wouldn't think that'd be an explanation for the brigther sky in the eastern direction.

I'm looking at the light pollution maps, and this area should be darker than any area I've ever been at in the past. On a level of 0-7, this area appears to be a 2. My previous address was a 5, and the lowest area besides that in the past was likely 3-4.

I'm thinking maybe I'll keep one of the really tall trees around on my property (One of the types with a strong trunk; definitely not the local pine trees, the trunks break way too easily.), and then I'll create a perch high up for star gazing. That way I can have a 180 view of the night sky, instead of this 30-45 degree view at the forest floor. Maybe something more like a crow's nest instead of a tree house. It seems like the trees with a white bark have fairly strong trunks (super tough to cut) and I luckily have one that reaches the heavens.

 

[DAND214]

Come on bluto, you can't quit/die know. All we have seen is a few trees. we need to see the trailer, pond, green house and all about the new business venture. been reading this too long to stop now. What would WE do with out our daily story. I think you need to stop reading all about all those symptom stories, you don't have. All you are doing is making you sick.

How did you walk 30 min at a 12deg slope. Treadmill in the trailer?

You keep bringing up the NEW business but won't tell use a thing about it.

Dan

 

[shineon102]

I would assume the new business venture involves his 3-D printer. We will probably never know.

 

[bigmoose]

I saw your mention of pea gravel a while back...I think for driveway/parking. Where I am at we have a clay base, and rain. We strip the topsoil, then lay down 6 inches of #1s and #2s these are limestone rocks about the size of a fist, perhaps a little smaller. Then we top with #57 limestone which is about the size of a big mans thumb that is covered by the nail. If you just put down smaller stuff it gets pushed into the dirt and wasted. It took me 20 years to build up my drive and keep it from just being absorbed by the clay. That is with the large limestone base too!

 

[swbluto]

Good advice, thanks. It seems like I'm working with a compact sand base of some sort (Though the local roads are constructed from a red soil base, I'm guessing clay base). I think I'm going to turn my existing clearing into my driveway for now. I was looking at this area "Down the road" because it seems to be slightly more elevated, but they seem to be roughly at the same height past the gulleh and this area doesn't really have the rock/sand in place in the subsoil. I just have to add a little more soil to the gulley to fill it in. It's also further down the road from the train/gunshots/etc., so it's preferred.

A standard 55 gallon trash can is .27 cubic yards. So, 4 trashcans could haul upto 1 cubic yard at a time. I think I'd prefer to haul in the material instead of getting a dumptruck in; it's /very questionable/ if a dump truck could make it down this road. The savings over a dumptruck delivery is questionable (Especially over 10 cubic yards), but I guess I don't have a lot of choices atm.

And, I think a culvert is desireable to prevent the washing away of the driveway. It doesn't seem like the local gulley actually 'flows' or anything, it just largely seems to be an area for the water to collect and stand, so I'm not entirely sure if a culvert is desireable in my situation.

 

[swbluto]

Another benefit of being in a major hub city: Cheap flights!

$700 gets me from here to pretty much anywhere in the world and back. Back home, the minimum cost was like $1200.

When is Bastille day, again? I might want to schedule a trip to Paris around then. Or maybe I'll head to Nice, a terrorist won't attack there twice. But, really, Paris just sounds like the place for Bastille day; it's where the bastille was.

Update: Balls, no less than $1100 during june/july/august. I can tell they make about $500-800 per passenger in profit just due to the fact it's that much cheaper during the "off season".

Also, it's 80 degrees today. In the shade of the forest, it's not that bad at all; kind of feels cool. I'm thinking summer wouldn't be that in the shade (96H during the summer), assuming I get some active ventilation in here.

 

[swbluto]

Visited the walmart in a small town nearby. It's an unusual walmart as it appears they built it 40-50 years ago and never updated it. [I've never seen a walmart like this before] It's also somewhat small, making it fairly easy to walk (Whereas any modern walmart feels like a journey.)

You can walk from one end to the other in this walmart in about 30 seconds, whereas a modern walmart takes about 2 minutes.

You can tell the kind of shoppers of this walmart, because they're completely out of the 99cent items in any category and they have everything else in stock. They actually have almost all the standard items, just 2-3 on the shelf instead of 15-20. I actually think I might prefer this walmart since there's no stoplights/speed-zones getting there (No wasting gas on stops) AND they seem to have everything in stock. The one in Conroe(Wealthy lake city) seems to be out of almost half of everything I'm trying to find.

And, anyway, I told myself "I hate this place" (This neighborhood), and I started laughing. Surefire way to see how I truly feel about something, state the lie and see if I laugh.

And, I told the USPS cashier "I love the sun here", and she replied "You won't during the summer.", lol. [I love the sun here because in the middle of winter, I can feel its warmth during the day. In northern washington, it feels like a mere shadow of its former self and the warmth is never felt.

And, I can tell the local auto parts store isn't the most affordable place. This walmart is. That's kind of weird, the auto parts stores back in norther washington were often price competitive with the department stores (probably because everything was like 5 miles away), doesn't seem to be the case here. The auto stores here in Houston seem to double the prices over this particular walmart. (I paid $8 for some stabil that's $3.84 at this particular walmart) Namebrand auto oil is $18 here vs. $27-32 at the auto parts stores.

 

[swbluto]

http://saclaw.org/wp-content/uploads/sbs-bank-levy.pdf

Step 1: Locate the Judgment Debtor’s Bank Account(s)
If the judgment debtor is someone from whom you’ve received a check, you may already have this
information. Otherwise, you may wish to conduct a Debtor’s Examination.

Oh, so the bank doesn't need a debtor's examination to pursue a levy. It just would need it if it doesn't know where your accounts are. That's good to know.

Anyway, I'm noticing a lot of different young people in this neighborhood. Not necessarily in 'my section', but definitely /down there/. Many don't seem to have cars, judging from the number I see riding on ATVs/walking/bicycles to get to the local gas station / grocery store. Walking is a giveaway, because I know absolutely no one would walk 3 miles unless they didn't have a choice. One of the annoying habits of young people is exploration, and I keep getting 'the explorers' on my block. Which wouldn't be a problem if they didn't insist on me moving from in front of my property because they just want to explore my dead-end block. I ask them where they are trying to go, so I can help them (Because some people believe these roads are passable, but they aren't, so I'm trying to advise them on a viable route.), and they just leave without answering. Uh oh, people cruising the hoods for no particular destination in mind. Perhaps they're just curious... or perhaps they're looking for targets.

He yelled, "I'm going to need you to move!", and he almost sounded like an official with 'authority'. But, if he was the county inspector / tax assessor, he sure didn't introduce himself and he didn't come back with the sheriff (At least not today, lol). Anyway, it's questionable if the sheriff has jurisdiction on private roads, since this particular road is not a county nor city road. It's a HOA road that belongs to a non-existent HOA, and I called the county, and they told me these aren't their roads so it's totally upto me what I wanted to do. Legally, the worst that could happen is that I get sued which ends up with an injunction(court order). Outside the court... well, I suppose other things could happen. It shouldn't get too bad, assuming I'm not working with nonverbal belligerents here.

I think I may have scared him when I ran towards the front of the encampment with lightning speed ferocity. He probably quickly realized I could reach his vehicle in quick order, and he probably didn't want that, lol.

I'm getting good at dashing up/down my road. I can feel the appropriate leg muscles getting stronger, and my dash times shortening. I've been partly doing it for exercise, having recently lacking that, but also because walking from one end of my block to the other /feels/ like it takes 3 minutes. So much faster just to run it. Sometimes I want to check out one end really quickly because it sounds like there's someone shooting a gun in the vicinity and I want to make sure it's not happening in my area (And if so, react accordingly! lol).

 

[marty]

Living in a RV parked on a public road? Might want to start thinking about a driveway?

Re:

And, I think a culvert is desireable to prevent the washing away of the driveway. It doesn't seem like the local gulley actually 'flows' or anything, it just largely seems to be an area for the water to collect and stand, so I'm not entirely sure if a culvert is desireable in my situation.

If you don't put in a pipe you might wind up with a pond.

x
If there is a ditch next to the road, get some advise from the building inspector on how to deal with that. Also call the before you dig phone number to locate underground stuff.
Riveted Galvanized Corrugated Steel Pipe

When I am in a new place and I want to find good contractors here is what I do. Call any contractor and ask where do you buy? [fill in material for project at hand] Example - Where do you buy Galvanized Corrugated Steel Pipe? Call the pipe supply place and ask - Who is a good contractor to install some Galvanized Corrugated Steel Pipe?

Now get digging. Remember you came to Texas to get some exercise. Enough words...... Lets look at pictures.

"Top Soil is Gold" Plants in a forest die and decompose and create good soil. This good soil is on top, hence the name top soil. SAVE the good soil. All those plants you cutting down. SAVE them too. Find a out of the way place and pile up all the brush. In a few years it will decompose.

 

[swbluto]

It's accessible to the public (But it's not owned by the county), but it's effectively a deadend due to multiple roadblocks at all possible exits and I'm parked on the street in front of my property. Normally this wouldn't be an issue back where I used to live, since the road was wide enough to accommodate 3 vehicles, but it's only 1 vehicle wide here. I could park at the nearby intersection, but it appears I don't have leveling jacks so sleeping is hard to come by. I did think of a way to use plywood and blocks to tilt the bed to compensate, but that's a durable good purchase and I'm limiting my spending to food/gas/investment at this particular point in my finances. Need to tightly control spending to boost those cash reserves (More than anything, I need to boost income - the main priority atm). It's not that I refuse to dig/work, it's that I need to buy the soil and put it in place and that's not happening right now, lol, and boosting income is a higher priority. But, for sure, I can get the groundwork ready. Best time of the year for that kind of work.

I could give you a synopsis at the time I purchased the property. Revenue about $2000/month, saving about $1500 a month. A month after I signed the purchase agreement, revenue nosedived to around $500/month, just barely enough to tread water. Busy with getting everything in place and packing and all that, and waiting for my equipment to come in for the new business venture to boost my income (Because I had a strong suspicion $500/month wasn't going to be enough for the costs entailed with property development and 'moving costs' and it looks like I'm right), I was getting started as soon as I left. I'm now setup, finally through with the christmas orders, and ready to get that new business venture started. In the mean time, savings are low due to $2000 in unplanned expenses (required just to setup shop on/near my property) and it'll probably be a month or so before I have something to really work with (In terms of purchasing the soil,gravel and more gravel). It costs money to advertise and purchase raw materials, so I'm not going to see a return on that investment until the produced inventory sells.

But, now that I'm here, I have a viable fallback plan. There's a small grocery store by with the essentials, and I have my electric bike, so I could just bike to the store (While avoiding all the street dogs along the way. I do have effective implements, however, should they attack. And, I certainly have practice, at least with stationary targets, lol. The bigger concern is the owner, so getting in a dogfight is something I probably want to avoid.). They don't sell the kind of food I want, but If I /really/ wanted to, I could cut my monthly expenses of the food/fuel consumables down to $40-80 per month. No need to take my minivan anywhere for food/fuel (Though, I'd probably want to for fuel.). I'm just betting I can get the new revenue generating by mid-january, and I won't have to use the fallback plan.

 

[swbluto]

Started working on the driveway by removing the topsoil. Didn't know what was the topsoil at first, but quickly figured it out. It's the spongy stuff that doesn't compact well, lol, tends to be dark brown color than a lighter brown color(Tannish/ruddish). Easy to tell by stepping on it, lol.

The Pulaski axe was a pretty ideal tool for the job. The backhoe for topsoil loosening, and the axe for chopping up the stubborn roots that inhibit shoveling.

Anyway, got what I wanted to get done today and my time/work expectations have been adjusted accordingly. I should be able to get a lot done tomorrow. I think I will contribute much of my daylight to physical labor (Probably rest the last hour or two), and then the nightime for business execution/development. Seems like the mosquitos come out at night. It didn't know that the creatures were nocturnal, but I guess it makes sense - vampires appear to be inspired by mosquitoes. They don't seem to be out when the temperatures are below 55-60 or so.

Today is a 55 degree day here. Seems perfect for working in this climate. While 70 degrees doesn't feel "warm" standing outside in the shade, man, you're sweating bullets with the slightest amount of effort. I can see why the south is less productive than the north and generally poorer for it; the slightest amount of effort causes profuse sweating. [Might be why cardiovascular disease is more common the in the south; the excessive sweating deters exertion. It's known if you want an ox to die early from heart disease, let it be a lazy ox and don't use it. I'm guessing that people are not really that much different. Wikipedia states this as the predominant reason for heart failure, but they don't really provide a lot of evidence to support the claim on the page in terms of studies and the such.]

I think the climate of my area is pretty much identical to Austin, TX and not so much like by-the-ocean Houston. Seems like the climate becomes relatively homongeous anywhere from 60-200 miles from the gulf. Seems like by-the-ocean houston enjoys temperatures about 5 degrees higher in cold weather.

Anyway, it seems like properties in this area are selling at a relatively high rate. Out of the 120 or so lots I've walked by, I've seen survey stakes on 3 of them (including mine). Then again, I don't know how long those survey stakes have been there. Maybe years. I checked out the passenger van blocking the intersection, appears it had 04 tags. Implies this thing was put there a decade ago, and it kind of looks like it. I wonder if whoever put it there still lives nearby? Interesting to see the keys were still in the ignition, lol. Seems I would have to put the back wheels on, put it in neutral, and tractor/pull that thing out of the way.



Anyway, while at HEB yesterday to pick up some rice (OH, forgot to pick up other grains. Oh well, next time. As well as some limes, will have to consume the apple cider vinegar instead, bummer. Will carry a checklist next time.), I noticed that the pesticide-laden tomato paste was half the price of the organic tomato paste. While I was tempted by the inorganic tomato paste, I know how much pests and birds love the $h17 out of red tomatos, so I knew those things were doused with pesticides in their lifetime. LIke no doubts about "It might only be a negligible amount.", lol. This is in contrast to organic bananas, which are merely 20% more expensive, as opposed to 100% more expensive. Organic bananas are easy to protect; they wrap the bunch with a thin polythene bag.

And, in the clearing. I noticed that in addition to the stone rubble and cut down trees, I noticed a ring of charred trees to the side of the road. This implies there was a fire here at one time. And, looking at the cut down trees, they appeared charred too. So, it looks like it got cleared because there was a fire here once. Now, what does this stone rubble have to do with anything? I can't really tell. I'm guessing it may've been dumped here at one time and may have nothing to do with the fire. Then again, maybe there was a concrete structure here involved in the fire, so the owner destroyed the concrete structure and littered the ground with the rubble.

 

[swbluto]

Thinking about that guy who came upto my encampment in front of my property, honked his horn, generally appearing like he was IN A HURRY and commanded me, as if he someone with vested authority, "I'm going to need you to MOVE" and didn't stick around to chat. He was out of there FAST.

I'm starting to think he was a cop/agent of some sort and he acted like he was in hot pursuit of someone. But, he was in an unmarked vehicle, so that would be a bit confusing. I guess FBI/CIA/DEA might be plausible. I wonder what kind of activity might he be busting in this area?

Illicit hunting/drugs wouldn't surprise me much. Illegal mexicans is another strong possibility. Possibly one of those 'criminal mexican immigrants' that Trump was talking about.

And, it seems like such a peaceful area around here with a relatively few people. I wouldn't think there'd be too many problems. But, all the gunfire down the street... maybe it's not just target practice I've been hearing?

I really don't know what's going on /down there/, however. I thought about checking it out this morning, but I strongly felt like I really didn't want to. Like, it doesn't seem like it'd be a pleasant part of the 'town' to visit, considering all the youngsters I see coming from that direction.

Anyway, I wondered why this street developed all the way upto the neighbor at the end and no further. I think it's just because of the power lines. I think once he installed power to his house, all the lots along the way gained power and people started selling the properties, buying it and moving in. I'm guessing that's why there's no one on this particular street I'm on. I really didn't want to establish power, because I knew I wouldn't be able to afford it immediately - either the land purchase price would've been too high / too-undesireable or the cost to establish power through the install of power poles and laying down lines would've been too much. And, I needed power immediately to run my business. And, solar just sounds like the way to go, once the property gets developed.

And, I tried the 'pizza rice'. Yep, yep, pretty darn good. It definitely needed more cheese and... it was missing that buttery crispiness of regular pizza. Oh well, part of eating boiled foods - that carcinogenic carbonization is something I get to miss out on. And, I get to miss out on the higher diabetes risk associated with dry cooked foods (Likely higher GI, but also because of the Advance Glycation End products that are produced at the higher temperatures dry cooked foods are exposed to. Boiled foods are limited to the boil temperature(100C), usually.).

And, I think I figured out all this shooting to my right. Someone is using these grounds for hunting. When I bought the property, the game warden explictly said "NO HUNTING WITH FIREARMS ALLOWED!"... clearly not all the residents really care. The firearm shots seem to be about 1/4 mile from me. I'm personally very unlikely to get accidentally shot, but still a little unnerving I'm so close to these hunters in what's supposed to be "a residential area".

UPDATE: I looked more into the source of this shooting, and as I got closer to the source, I just realized it was /just/ outside the neighborhood and not in it. I'm glad I got that solved.

Anyway, this area... I'm feeling like a special connection with it. How it seems to be in its own "forestry world" with the sounds of construnciton/development/shooting/etc. just right outside of it, but it looks completely in its natural state as it is within it (At least in /that/ direction. Then again, someone just bought property down there, so that might change soon.). "The forestry neigbhorhood" is like in its own little world.

And, I was looking for a closer place to eat out because I realized that a trip to any of the nearby cities (With the fastfood chains) is like $4 round trip, and I'm trying to curtail my gas bill, so I thought it'd be wise to investigate more practical nearby options. Anyway, found out the gas stations 5 miles away are the only ones that actually had 'warm options'(The gas station in town didn't), but the warm options were the same everywhere "Hunts pizza". What does it use for the fat? Soybean oil ICK. The gas station in town didn't have any warm options at all, just standard "college convenience store" kind of items. (Which is interesting, since there were a lot of young adults at this particular gas station at this time. AFAIK, there isn't a college nearby.)

So I thought I'd try the mexican grocery store in this "town", behold, a mini-mexican restaurant inside. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for! Had some great options too, like tacos, gorditas, tomales with corn-based ingredients. I prefer corn over wheat, so that works out. Way better than "Hunts pizza" with the standard poisonous mass-consumer ingredients. So, there are suitable options in town, just inside a mexican grocery store. Yippee.

[The mexican grocery store is cost competitive with the big guys, they just tend to have limited inventory with... obviously... a mexican bias.]'

Also got some artillery shells. ("Festival balls" according to the package) Never lit one before, but I did tonight. Awesome!

I need to figure out which ones do like a million sparkles. This was like the standard July4th fare that has shoots out like 7 sparkles, the kind they tend to use between the high points.

UPDATE(The morning after);

And, that fireworks stand I was at last night. Wow, they only charged 30% markup. Just about everyone I see online is charging like 100% markup.

https://www.usfireworks.biz/items/dm-0008-6-festivalballs.htm is the only one cheaper that I've seen online. $7.12 vs. $9.99 at the fireworks stand. And, through some youtube lessons yesterday night, I've learned I'm looking for 3"-4" artillery shells. This was a 1.5", so it had that much less sparkle.

Well, looks like the wholesale pricing at this website is $73/15 -> $4.86 per unit. Okay, I guess the fireworks stand charged 100% markup, it's just that everybody online is charging 200% markup.

Oh, interesting, it appears that 3" artillery shells requires a license in most places, at least in Indiana.

http://www.boomtownfireworks.com/products/3-inch-assorted-shells/

Class B items are not available for sale online nor for pickup at Boom Town Fireworks store. Boom Town Fireworks does not sell Class B. Class B (1.3g) case lots are available for pickup in LaPorte IN through Fireworks of Indiana LLC, to those who have placed an order 48 hrs in advance and have provided BATF type 54 license as well as conform to their radius guidelines. Please call Fireworks of Indiana LLC at 1-219-781-7751 or 1-219-808-6195 for more information.

I remember seeing 3" shells at the fireworks stand last night, so I guess Texas doesn't care. And, it looks like those guys were an operation off of TNT fireworks (Saw them online).

And, that's pretty cool. A year round fireworks store in town. AFAIK, there was nothing like that back home.

 

[swbluto]

And, that's pretty cool. A year round fireworks store in town. AFAIK, there was nothing like that back home.

Let's see... what does this place have that back home didn't?

-A year round fireworks store
-A NASA day-long event center
-Fry's Electronics
-Zoo
-Aquarium
-A major airport hub
-A freaking huge renaissance faire place that lasts 2 months

I'm sure there's more, this city is so huge with so much commerce, I'm sure I've just scratched the surface. As far as what this place /doesn't/ have that back home did? Lol, can't think of anything. (WELL... okay, I haven't been able to find a nearby "huge theme park". I'm not really sure where the closest one is, google doesn't seem to be much help in this matter. Back where I used to live, the closest one was 50 miles away which seems like a laughable distance for Houston. Well, just checked out "http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/themeparks/texas/" and it appears the 'large themeparks' with at least 3 rollercoasters are in San Antonia and Fort Worth/Dallas (One is 200 miles away, the other is 210 miles away). The largest themepark in the vicinity of Houston is some Galveston Island boardwalk attraction with one real roller coaster. Which is pretty cool, I'll admit... Possibly even better than a traditional large theme park.)

They told me I'd be running back as soon as I possibly could... but... with the practically "no heating required' winter so far... I'm not so sure, lol. [Also, I couldn't really afford living there atm. Especially not after the bankers started going after my assets, which in Washington, is open season. The auto exemption is $2000 and I can guarantee just about every used car worth having will have a retail value higher than that, pretty much forcing one to sell the car. The places I could afford back home would've definitely required a car. I actually have options here, being relatively close to a minimally functional town. It has mail, gas, food, and basic auto fluids/etc. in the gas station. The only thing I haven't really found in town, yet, is dispensed water. I mean, yes, they sell bottled water but dispensed water is way more cost effective. Well, hopefully, I'll get my rain water collection and distillation going soon enough. A low urgency kind of item, since culligan water is relatively easy to get currently.]

I have a feeling I might need air conditioning... I'll see how far shade and bug screens can get me, lol.

And, I can pretty much do what I want here... I can shoot my air rifles, launch fireworks and do whatever pretty much with impunity. [There are limits... burn bans during droughts and all that. But, hehe, I think my old city was a perma-burn-ban kind of place anyhow, lol.]

There are definitely more bugs here, and a greater variety of bugs than I remember seeing anywhere. It seems like they don't bug me as much now that I've adequately sealed up the RV with generous amounts of plastic and gorilla tape. I can tell this will be useful come the warmer parts of the year.

Anyway, got the holes dug around the trees, and I was going to use my chainsaw to cut below the ground (fill it in with sand later, etc.; the subsoil appears to be sand.). I also took everything out of the back of the van, and sifted through it to find key items, so I have what I need to continue on with my new business venture.

Once I chainsaw those particular trees out of the way, it's pretty much a cakewalk from there to clearing the rest of the necessary vegetation for a driveway, except for this one largish tree. But, if my dig/chainsaw method proves suitable, that tree doesn't stand a chance, it's going below in less than an hour. Did I mention how useful that pulaski axe was for exposing the base of the tree? The backhoe for removing/digging up dirt, and the axe for chopping up any offending roots that stand in the way of going deeper.

And, yes, shade seems to be a highly desireable commodity here. Thankfully, I have much of it in the forms of trees, and I could easily stretch out tarp between trees for more effective shading. I think the temperature in the forest is actually cooler than the surface temperatures that the weather guy measures; when it's 80 according to the weather site, it definitely doesn't feel 80 degrees 'warm' in the forest. But, I'll have to check my van next time to be sure (Has a built in thermometer).

 

[The fingers]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...-s-first-surf-park-opens-in-Texas-9960118.php
When it warms up you can try the new surf park. 8)

 

[Dauntless]

http://traffic.outbrain.com/network/redir?p=nj0fBPQ1rYLERIp54nOIuYF3BPhiSOHwaqBFdvVUOr-hIpYx1u22VY7tTwS8bZqmYl1iNYgtX2tah9fhnSmwyzboyTUpO3rHVQvNWJ3NgGaklx1r0q5Mw5fHSIg_oVSyWeL-4mV19tYTsAH45KCFRxxboB8rnZxSN-9xyKOH8ztaEN7kP2fBw1SGwSZ2IdRfCZ5pw7hcInPcWycxAneQRd1MkrzcapS__4sk13VdiNrflgnNDmOKmQHHp4iMTFwxSXq8TByCosM4OaCuoVkLK4hgEquTmf8P7oywslXx4CjY-7oqr5lpWDsQSghJ4AhiY9oq5olY6PHurZ6cq3QTTzro5mdUr3qPDayKk9ImXshbYPLQpqkq6ftJH0LnVsKqdzRgZSu4RP9vjvPkiWboevyGITcaSa8ERzoUTYi6clkW3_bLyuXgaY2-99A4kRwiCarWr6WgiOFwEYI7c5eTABZWm2Azt50JObWo9lEmpbrQ4FSBxZ4j-slvbtCmHaGZ4zSqUseusV1kWs6xFgyhQ3p4-cHSSniKCdDnZQa0czVEjN9N-spebjkK924Dq3XVB8Bg8D2ZTjui9c5ihKXOyBnERlKugwdvYyjlQZwGkrKWjpYXBX9LbYHeYVZ4xyK18uc8g7oDIxdI0LUldzzo7g&c=e006c6ee&v=3

 

[swbluto]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...-s-first-surf-park-opens-in-Texas-9960118.php
When it warms up you can try the new surf park. 8)

Cool, it's in Austin. I think I would rather drive to South of Galveston or Matagorda; a bit closer and cheaper. ($90/hour, yikes. Surely only a cost effective solution for people who live in Austin and drive V8 trucks, lol.)

Never been a surfer, but I see there's opportunity to learn here. I just don't have the motivation to learn how to surf? Doesn't seem that appealing.

 

[swbluto]

I thought I figured out what the topsoil was, until it rained heavily yesterday night (Thunderstorm rolled through) and what I thought was "sand" was slopping around just by me stepping on it. Uhoh... am I supposed to dig even further down?

That's quite the dropoff/hole I'm going to create if its even deeper than that.

Makes me wonder if that's why this part of the forest was generally avoided. But, they created this road here somehow right in the middle of it, so it's obviously possible to create a driveway with the right knowhow and materials. I'm just lacking both rightnow, lol.

In other news, sidewall seems to be cracking (Been stationary for 3 weeks), time to move. Thinking moving the tires every 2 weeks might be a good guideline. A sudden "got to replace the tire" expense is not what I want right now, lol.

Update: Pineapple slices is the missing ingredient to pizza rice, lol. I guess some granulated garlic probably wouldn't hurt. (This guy recommends it over garlic powder.)

 

[swbluto]

Oh, THAT'S WHY there's no huge theme park in the immediate vicinity of Houston. It's because...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags_AstroWorld

AstroWorld was permanently closed by the Six Flags Corporation after its final day of operations on October 30, 2005. It was demolished between October 30, 2005 and the first half of 2006 (although parts of WaterWorld were being demolished prior to the final operating day at AstroWorld).

...There USED to be one. Oh man, I missed out. I guess I'm a decade too late.

Oh, well, it appears SixFlags operates(err operated) a water park in the area. It's now owned by ...CNL Financial Group... and called Wet'n'Wild SplashTown.

With the purported sweltering heat of Houston's summers, I guess I could see a waterpark being measurably more successful than a themepark. But, I personally think it's pretty rotten since it seems like they sold the park to redeem the value of the land, because apparently it was so valuable. It seems like what happened with Nuke School; it used to be located outside of Orlando, FL but it later moved to Charleston,SC after some deal with local developers presumably as orlando's property values were skyrocketing in the 90s. Now the city no longer has a themepark because they saw the land as an attractive property to sell to raise cash. And, 2005 was pretty near the height of the American real estate market, so that would make sense.

Thank goodness we have a mayor working on this issue, lol.

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/city-life/07-06-16-a-new-astroworld-mayor-turner-vows-to-bring-amusement-park-to-houston-1/

A new AstroWorld? Mayor Turner vows to bring amusement park to Houston

And the local hubbub in the comments sections suggests Hermann park is one of the best destinations in Houston. The Museum of Natural Science (Dinosaur fossils) and Zoo right nearby.

Now this is where to find out more about Houston's cultural landmarks.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g56003-Activities-Houston_Texas.html#ATTRACTION_SORT_WRAPPER

A holocaust museum? Count me in! Hopefully not just jewish propaganda... lol... (more than likely is.)

I thought it was funny when the taiwan highschool recently had assembled a nazi rally with a cardboard panzer. They didn't really explain it very well WHY they did it, but I can tell you why. It's because nazis are prominently featured in japanese anime (With none of the jewish guilt strings attached), and these taiwanese were more than likely copying some anime. Jewish propaganda hasn't exactly made inroads into Taiwanese society as it has in American society, so that easily explains the difference in 'acceptability' as far as its taboo nature in American society. Our jewish masters love to propagandize their plight while raping their sympathizers, whether they know it or not. (Though, honestly... that seems to be true of most suppressed ethnic groups. At least that's the opinion I've formed after seeing this earlier today...)

 

[swbluto]

Removed the major trees on the first half of the driveway. Easy peasy, just dig right around the base about 6-12 inches down, then start pushing and pulling the tree trunk (I left 4 feet above ground, better leverage. The real season is because I didn't want to bend down to chop it with my axe, lol.) until the base starts breaking and, eventually, it lets go. Might have to chop off a few unyielding roots to release it, but it yielded fast. The ground was still a bit muddy from the thunderstorm the night before last, so that probably helped. It's SUNNY DAYS here, getting to 72 degrees today. Quickly getting to the point where all required vegetation has been removed, I'm resting now (Those 3 trees killed me, lol. Well, caused a palpitation anyway, lol.). Will continue in a couple hours.

Looks like there's a patisserie near HEB, woohoo.

To curtail the gas bill, I'm thinking I'll buy 2 week supplies from HEB (25 miles away), then weekly resupplies from the local grocery (13 miles away) [Mainly, the fresh fruit/vegetables like bananas, avacados, etc.]. I could stretch out the HEB visit even longer, but I want to have a good excuse to head into town just in case I want to... you know... visit a patisserie or mall, lol. Going out to eat nights will definitely have to be the local mexican grocery. Makes no sense to spend $4 in gas to buy $4-5 in food from the fast food restaraunt, when $8-9 will buy me a feast of good healthy food from the local mexican grocery.

I want to get a brioche because it looked rather tasty at Walmart, but I don't want one filled with mass-consumer crap [Like soybean oil. Brioche needs to be made with butter.]. And, brioche was the actual word used in the oft repeated quote "Let them eat cake!". (As said in the days leading to the French Revolution, it was actually, "let them eat brioche!". And, brioche isn't really a cake, lol. And, I could be wrong, but I think French Royalty actually had cake back then? Maybe not. Got to check out the history of cake, lol.

Seems I'm right.

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/the-history-of-icing-frosting/

In the 16th century, a French chef baked the first frosted, multi-layered cake, and the most lasting use for icing was born. A one-layer cake does not need icing in the same way that many layers use frosting to hold the entire cake together.

)

Update: I'm looking at my property and woah boy, this tree on my property is freaking huge. Boy, I won the huge tree lottery, lol. I'm looking at all the other trees in this neighborhood, and I can't spot anything similarly massive within like 7 properties of mine, lol. I can tell I was destined for this property, because that tree is going to have a high up crow's nest for stargazing, yes it will.

Update: I was digging a hole on my property and it actually seems like the subsoil is sand, while the 'subsoil' right next to the road is some kind of muddy clay stuff of some sort. I'm not sure how far I'll have to dig to reach sand in the area right next to the road. That'd be awful if it was below the water table (Water table appears to be 1 foot below the ground on my property; dig a hole, water starts to fill it about 1 foot below. Makes me wonder if that's a viable source of water, a hole on my property, lol.). I'm thinking I might have to completely remove it all and fill it with sand, and create a "sand bridge" to my property.