Buying forest land, implementing solar

[swbluto]

Views are down and sales/views are also down. I saw other people complaining of this, but I didn't notice because my products were popular "stocking stuffers"(Popular christmas gift, but now I'm starting to notice). Views going down explained by the platform cutting its advertising costs and shifting them onto the sellers (Google ads is expensive, not really justified for most of my items), and sales/views going down because (This is what other people have /really/ started noticing since last october) benicause people are clutching their wallets. Individual consumers reducing spending and the platform cutting spending suggests EVERYONE is cutting spending and the reasons range from the election giving people a fright to the popular media platforms telling everyone there's going to be a recession next year and people actually listening to them and helping them create a self-fulfilling prophecy. With reduced spending across the board, that also means reduced sales which, if sustained enough, could be indicative of a recession. But, in my experience, the trends change from one part of the month to the next, so it may very well reverse by next month once trump takes office and may put everyones mind at ease. Then again, if he DOESN'T do that, it may very well cause a recession. Does Trump scare anyone? It doesn't matter if he scares me, it matters if it scares enough of my customers.

And the best kind of recessionary products to sell are necessities. These are the things that people need to buy and, yes, they can hold off for sometime from buying them (Depending on what it is), but they will "have to" eventually (Let me give you an example, shoes. When my last pair of shoes started failing, it was literally falling part with the sole almost completely separated from the shoe, making walking difficult so I was pretty much forced to reluctantly part with money to buy a new pair of shoes). This kind of buyer may tend to buy cheaper offerings among the offerings[was true for my shoe purchase]. Their are other buyers, like myself, that will buy the quality goods and won't buy at all if they can't afford quality. The least desirable products to sell are ... non-necessities, which, my product sadly is in. But not for long, my new niche is in the necessity category and, by its very nature, is flush with cash so there's probably not a widespread preference for cheap over quality (But, of course, both segments will exist in any market).

 

[DAND214]

Bluto, you talk of views down than why don't you post a link So we can see what you really do. If sales are down you will have more time to clean out you forest and develop your new business.

Start diggun!

dan

 

[swbluto]

Bluto, you talk of views down than why don't you post a link So we can see what you really do. If sales are down you will have more time to clean out you forest and develop your new business.

Start diggun!

dan

I was digging yesterday, though.

Lol, I would be digging today but it's 39 degrees outside and the ground is solid. It was so much easier when the temp was 70 degrees yesterday and I could literally pull the trees out by hand (After clawing around the base of the tree to loosen the soil, and digging it up. And chopping up a few roots here and there.). I could be clearing out the forest towards the back, but it's kind of cold. I prefer temperatures around 50-80 degrees for outside work. So, I vowed to work on business expansion while I'm "relaxing" in this generator provided electric heater heat. The next 2 days are cold, so these are the '20 cold days a year' I was talking about. It's interesting that it seems like these 'cold days' seem to correspond to northward winds, and the warmer days seem to happen when the wind is heading south. I wouldn't normally think that cold air would be coming from the south, and warm air from the north. And before I start my work, I guess I'll grumble on here and still think some more for another hour or two. I guess I just really don't feel like "working" in the first 4-5 hours of the day. Maybe I should eat...

And... yes... thinking about the gas bill making up my 'heat bill'. My generator should last for about 5 hours with the electric heater on. The generator holds about .6 gallons of gas. The average amount of wake time in a day is 14 hours, so that's about 1.8 gallons a day. With gas prices of $2/gallon here, that's about $3.6 per cold day. This compares to my propane, which would've been like $9 per day using the one pound cans. I said hypothetically I would refill, but I haven't got around to that yet, not ever since noticing some ill affects from the propane. But, even then, that would've been $3.4 a day plus all the ill affects of using unvented propane.
=
Anyway, I started using my kettle to boil water for my cocoa. Getting back into the habit, at least for the morning time. Antibacterials during lunch and dinner should be provided by either limes or apple cider vinegar. (Antibacterial herbs, like garlic, can be effective here.) Anyway, found a good use for my Busch Gardens France cup, featuring the Eiffel tower and a glittery Fleur D'Lis and a nice pastel color scheme. Vive la France!

I saw someone on the boards mentioning she can live for $11/night in her RV in the national forest with the declining sales on the platform (An older girl of retiree age). Wow, I feel so lucky, I'm parked on a random street no one uses in the middle of a forest (Okay, it just happens to be in front of my property), and it costs me literally nothing, outside of generator costs (Which she has to pay anyway). I was looking around for "Free places" to stay in the USA, and I wouldn't have in my wildest dreams thought it would be so close to a major metropolitan center. Scab city sounds great and everything (In hindsight, they don't have to suffer violent weather like the midwest/southeast does (Thunderstorms/tornados/etc.), so it IS a better place for mobiles, weather wise. Just happens to be a better place for everyone, so you have the wealthy retirees moving in and setting the rules which, in one way or another, economically excludes the poorer younger generations.), but it's like 200 miles from Phoenix AND Los Angeles. 200 miles from Fry's electronics is an unbearable thought in my mind; it's why I moved from my previous town, lol. (Okay, not the /only/ reason, but a big reason.). I have been here 3 weeks so far, and no one 'official' has /forced/ me to move yet. (Outside the agent chasing someone in the area, but he didn't stick around.) If I tried to do this in a national forest, I almost guarantee the park ranger would be kicking me out at the 2 week mark. (Granted, that probably wouldn't be /as/ true in the less popular forests, but it'd be especially true in the national forests around Houston. The national forests around Houston are nice, since you're only 10-20 miles from Conroe which has pretty much all the shops. There's also 4 different national/state forests around Conroe, so it'd be pretty easy to hop between forests for each two week period. And Lake Conroe, the very popular Houston lake, is so close by. However... heheh... park rule enforcement can be somewhat arbitrary so I wouldn't depend on the 'official rules' saving you from the park ranger despots I've heard about in this area. I think maybe they've grown impatient with the suspected groves of vagabonds camping in their forests, given how nice it is, geographically and climatically. And, I think I just figured out why they removed all the underbrush in the national forests. Maybe it's not "The reason", but maybe they wanted to remove all the hiding spots for all those vagabond encampments. But... maybe it has more to do with forest fire risks.)

Anyway, here's my route on the next grocery trip.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/31984+Tomball+Pkwy,+Pinehurst,+TX+77362/26400+Kuykendahl+Rd,+Tomball,+TX+77375/Indian+Springs+Village+Center/The+Woodlands+Mall,+Lake+Woodlands+Drive,+The+Woodlands,+TX/Deerbrook+Mall,+Humble,+TX/Greenspoint+Mall,+North+Freeway,+Houston,+TX/Willowbrook+Mall,+Willowbrook+Drive,+Houston,+TX/Houston+Premium+Outlets/@30.160541,-95.819665,91612m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x8640b3005b774fe9:0x7edf0a3a8ed215a0!4m52!4m51!1m5!1m1!1s0x8647295616e60ce5:0x68abfae305f95aa3!2m2!1d-95.6524809!2d30.1320766!1m5!1m1!1s0x864731f1ad6ab895:0x63934ce634d78d1b!2m2!1d-95.5479953!2d30.143949!1m5!1m1!1s0x864731b4dd3de17d:0xa9f5cf314d337925!2m2!1d-95.5371847!2d30.1791385!1m5!1m1!1s0x864736ea66bbf6d7:0x7b3321b4a9cecfbb!2m2!1d-95.4553771!2d30.1642284!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640b301d8d317f9:0x8d9b17e738294008!2m2!1d-95.2705407!2d30.0094572!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c9f25d1815b5:0xe78d489595f10bca!2m2!1d-95.4115847!2d29.9454891!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640cddd11b30cbb:0x94402603ca6e8663!2m2!1d-95.5391298!2d29.9601453!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640d5b9963b133b:0xd4db799597b8a71c!2m2!1d-95.7565733!2d29.9970415!2m1!2b1!3e0

Going to visit all the malls in my area, and a patisserie and the year-round fireworks store. And, lol, I was pounding my head wondering how to save this route and directions yesterday night and now I just realized I just had to copy and paste the URL (To a text document... or here, lol.)

JUST MADE A SALE! Woohoo, made my gas money for today! :lol: Made my grocery money on Monday for 2 weeks. Now I just need to come up with internet money and private student loan money. Luckily, I have until the middle of february for the student loans and my new businesses developments should be well underway. AND... I just got refunded for a priority shipping label, yay! Normally that would be a non-event, but $5.75 means a lot to me right now, lol. (These cold days cost money, ya know.)

And... now I'm thinking about how I'm going to make my tornado shelter.

I thought about putting it in the ground, but seeing as to how the water table is like 1 foot below ground, I'm thinking it'll just have to be above ground. I wonder if I could start digging up soil and create a dirt berm of some sort, then sticking a pipe in it? I would've designed the culvert as a storm shelter, but I'm thinking that's a bad idea; water is flowing in it during a storm, and it'd probably be icky with bugs and crap. The idea is I'd be listening to the weather channel over the radio, then as soon as I heard "Tornado spotted in ... [my county or any neighboring county]", off to the storm shelter I'd go and I'd remain there until the warning and hazardous storm conditions subsided. It might be nice if I could fit a bed in the storm shelter, just in case it happens at night. I guess I'd have to "bury" a box or some such with a small bed in it.

Anyway, the rule of thumb for predicting sales is..... roughly... the income in the second half of the month will be twice that of the first half of the month (Reason /seems/ to be because people typically clutch their wallets after paying the bills at the top of the month, and typically loosen the purse strings after receiving the second paycheck of the month.). So, it's looking like my monthly sales this month will be AT LEAST $150. Whoo, thank god it might cover bare necessities.

 

[fechter]

For tornado protection, you need something heavy and that can withstand 300+mph debris hits. Cinder blocks with dirt piled around the outside would be one approach. What about a section of pre-cast concrete culvert? Not sure how much those cost, but they are sturdy.

 

[swbluto]

For tornado protection, you need something heavy and that can withstand 300+mph debris hits. Cinder blocks with dirt piled around the outside would be one approach. What about a section of pre-cast concrete culvert? Not sure how much those cost, but they are sturdy.

I like any solutions involving dirt because, beyond annual taxes, that costs nothing more than labor and an unsightly mining pit look, lol. (But, hey, that's the low lying part of the property so I don't intend on using it anyway.)

And I guess that's one way to create a pond! lol. (Did I forget to the mention the water table is one foot below in this area? Literally, dig a hole, and water starts filling one foot below the surface. Its empty when you first dig the hole, but water starts slowly seeping in and fills it up.)

Will have to look into cinder blocks. Would like to keep hermetically sealed (or some such) to keep out bugs. So I'm guessing I'd line the blocks/ground with plastic (Possibly treated plywood underneath for a floor; needs to withstand damp forest floor conditions), then use some kind of rubber (Neoprene foam, maybe) for the 'gasket' along the top of the cinder blocks, and then something heavy/strong and "lockable" for the top (Locking mechanism can be crude; maybe a handle bolted on and a plank of wood.). I wonder if the cinder blocks could be sealed via mortar?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Oldcastle-16-in-x-8-in-x-8-in-Concrete-Block-30161345/100350252

Wowza, these guys are cheap.

[Now I'm starting to wonder what happens to this property in July. If it rained 3" last month and the water level is 1 foot below, where will the water table be when it rains 8" in July? I'm thinking the driveway is going to need height in this area.]

 

[swbluto]

A dog came upon my encampment about 100 yard out and started barking. I was wondering, "Is that a dog down the road barking at me?", and a look out the rear window confirmed it. I was like, "What nerves of steel. That dog thinks it owns this neighborhood because it pissed on a tree here once, but I'm going to show it!"(Btw, yes, I'm a dog whisperer, I intuitively know their intentions.). So, I got my hatchet, started charging it while brandishing and waving my hatchet and yelling like a berserker and that sucker was GONE! lol. So predictable. I don't think he's going to be back anytime soon, because once that dog knows that it's not his "property" anymore, he's not coming back to 'ward off intruders'. I scared a local cat by charging it and I haven't seen it since. (It tripped my security lights shortly after scaring the night previous with its suspected footsteps [though, more likely a dog], so I thought it shouldn't be coming by tripping my security lights because it scared me, lol. Shortly thereafter, my security lights went to crap, turning on every 30 seconds no matter what. It wasn't as "Weather resistant" as suggested.

Anyway, I love how cheaply walmart made their stainless steel tea kettle. It makes it very light in the metal department which means it heats up quickly on my low-wattage electric burner and doesn't waste energy. Energy waste is what I generally try to avoid on my battery system. And, I think I'm going to migrate to something other than lead acid next time, just not sure what yet. My lead acid batteries seem to be declining fast in my particular usage. It just needs to have an operating voltage between 11-16 volts whatever it is (So I can use my 2000 watt inverter).

And, it's interesting, it seems the "successful ones" on the platform have one common advice: When things get slow, they're busy coming up with new ideas to improve their business and constantly coming up with new things. That only makes too much sense.
Busy coming up with ideas to make them even busier means eventually they'll never be unbusy, only busy and busier. :lol:

 

[swbluto]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria#Early_history

Rachel Maines hypothesized that doctors from the classical era until the early 20th century commonly treated hysteria by masturbating female patients to orgasm (termed 'hysterical paroxysm'), and that the inconvenience of this may have driven the early development of and market for the vibrator.

So that one video I found on Youjizz was an accurate historical reenactment. I didn't know... :lol:

And, yes, I will confirm... after downing some apple cider vinegar right after munching on some light-syrup drenched pear slices, sweet and sour definitely go together.

Yes, I'm /finally/ rich again, lol. I think I can buy some brioche, now, lol. But, I do need to buy some oil to change the oil in my vehicle. Priorities, Priorities.

 

[bigmoose]

Your thread is epic! ... so lets see if I have this right... You moved from the pacific northwest to an acre or so of rural land north of Houston for economic reasons and to be closer to Fry's electronics. In your self sufficient motor home you are manufacturing some type of electronic device for sale that is your income stream. Your neighbors are pretty rough and you are living on a wing and a prayer till sales pick up.

Do I have the cliff notes sort of correct? ... I got a bit lost in the early pages getting the overall context of the endeavor.

Edit: Went skimming backwards in the thread, and it looks like you said you are making line drawings of women's faces as an artwork product.

 

[swbluto]

By past neighborhood standards, yes, that is about right. Their digs are /sort of/ better than mine in the sense they have a full trailer home, but... we obviously differ of how 'clean' we keep our property, at least on the main drag. My street actually has neighbors who keep their lawns looking 'clean' and cut and junk vehicles not littering the property. This one guy down the road has a family living out of a $20,000+ RV and he's driving a typical family vehicle, so pretty much looks like normal middle class people to me except they're like me - They like making money (I'm guessing, I presume it from the wife and kids and how 'good' his vehicles look.) and saving it by keeping living expenses low and this area is cheap. (There's a few mexican neighbors here, but that true of Houston in general. I /really/ don't mind the mexican neighbors which make up half the neighborhood, though, since the mexican grocery store goes with it. They go, the town's only grocery store goes. And, Washington's Tri-Cities have neighborhoods that are pretty diverse in that way. It seems to be less common in Houston proper, where there's greater property value stratification among the neighborhoods and the neighboorhoods in Houston tend to be large homogenous developer projects instead of individually built widely varying houses like back home. I'm guessing the trend towards large developer projects rests on... 1) Cheap large-acre properties all over the city/area 2) Cheap illegal labor and 3)Developers flush with cash from buyers flush with money, with the oil/gas companies and refineries pumping lots of money into the local economy. And, a large population probably helps. It's easier to attract 100 would-be residents to your project from a city of 6-million wealthy people than from 400,000 people, 150,000 whom might be considered 'wealthy', comparatively.])

And, yep, fortune is starting to turn right about now [Especially now that I have developed better expense management skills, lol, finding out that managing money/expenses when near 0 dollars requires a different skillset/habits.], so it seems. And, I'm going to be pretty busy coming up with new products so I should be upwards from here.

4 days from now should be 7 straight days of 76H/60L weather. Oh jesus, can't wait. (It's 40 degrees right now)

 

[swbluto]

http://www.ruralhometech.com/RoadDrivewayMaintenance/RoadMaintenanceArticles/StabilizingaMuddyRoad/tabid/102/Default.aspx

Geotextile fabrics can effectively eliminate muddy conditions on a road by keeping gravel surface materials from mixing into the road base as wheel loads push the road surface materials down. Geotextiles provide a modern, low cost, permanent solution and are gaining wide acceptance.

Oh?

[youtube]15PaTXcPYh4[/youtube]

I'm sold, this is what I need for the muddy like clay/sand my subsoil seems to be.

Okay, I think I know what I'm doing now.

Need to remove the topsoil, exposing the clay/sand underneath. Create a relatively leveled soil at this point.

Then I need to lay something like this down. https://www.amazon.com/Mutual-WF200-Fabric-Driveway-Length/dp/B00C1S9GYU/ref=sr_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1483593986&sr=1-3&keywords=geotextile+fabric

Then goes down the 6-12" layer of 3" rock.

Then the 6-12" layer of peabody gravel.

And, that should be all?

What about that DuPont GroundGrid that's supposed to stop gravel migration due to use? Would it be wise to have that so I don't lose gravel overtime over the sides? Maybe I won't be lazy and build wooden retainer walls.

 

[bigmoose]

I wish the geotextile was available 30 years ago when I put in my drive. This winter is rutting again, and spring will be another 10 tons of #57 limestone to level it out and fill in the holes.

 

[Dauntless]

Went skimming backwards in the thread, and it looks like you said you are making line drawings of women's faces as an artwork product.

And the views are down, even though they were popular stocking stuffers.

. . . .I got my hatchet, started charging it while brandishing and waving my hatchet and yelling like a berserker. . . .

And the owner that sent him to sniff around picked you off like a sniper. You need to think a little more about this approach, considering things you've described. What if it was the DEA? Thinking you'd gone Branch Davidian?

Oh, this therapy you're describing is for when a woman has her uterus move down into her foot. Perhaps you'd like Mesmer's approach. Mesmerized indeed comes from him. . . .

 

[swbluto]

Went skimming backwards in the thread, and it looks like you said you are making line drawings of women's faces as an artwork product.

And the views are down, even though they were popular stocking stuffers.

. . . .I got my hatchet, started charging it while brandishing and waving my hatchet and yelling like a berserker. . . .

And the owner that sent him to sniff around picked you off like a sniper. You need to think a little more about this approach, considering things you've described. What if it was the DEA? Thinking you'd gone Branch Davidian?

Yes, it probably wasn't wise to yell. Thankfully, my neighbors seem to be the type that leave others alone (Having that one person who thinks they rule the neighborhood can be a pill), so I don't think it was too consequential. However, brandishing my weapon and charging was a good idea. lol, Dogs and cats often roam the streets here since I'm guessing a few owners here don't believe in fences and they don't want them inside and dear lord, they can't think of roping/chaining them up, so sometimes a few meander my way every now and then. [You could tell nobody was hanging outside today in the 40 degree weather; completely eerily silent (no distant chainsaws, no fireworks, nobody using their hammer, etc.) when its normally not.]

It is interesting. However. I was zeroing in my air rifle earlier in the day, so maybe the dog was a part of some unseen scouting party considering he came my way about an hour later. [I didn't really get it totally zero'd, the forest floor isn't solid enough with the pine needles everywhere. I think the pine needles are from last year or the years before because all the pine trees still seem to have their needles. I'm guessing this has been an unusually warm january here. [Seems to be with these 70+ degree days; historical records tell me its supposed to be, normally, 60H in january.]

I thought that day was a great day to start using my air rifle, since the cold was keeping the bugs at bay. [And, I'm naturally prepared for cold weather considering where i came from so it doesn't really affect me when I man up, lol.] The air rifle might be a good way to keep the roaming dog population in check, lol. (I'm joking, I really don't want owners coming and avenging their doggie.)

 

[The fingers]

You could shoot felt pellets at their rumps to scare them off without hurting them. :wink:

 

[swbluto]

Hehe, true. I have to get close enough and this dog seemed to know the 'right distance' (Faaar away, lol.).

Okay, did the planned trip today. Didn't visit the outdoor mall (Premium outlets) because that's a warm sunny day in the daylight kind of activity, so I intend to go on some other trip.

Google maps is telling me I drove for 3.5 hours and I left at 9 a.m. and was back at 9 p.m., so I was walking/standing (Usually walking) for 8 hours today, lol.

The patisserie didn't have brioche, apparently has to be special ordered and I must call in advance. Le madeliene in "The market" abutting the Woodland Mall seemed to pretend to be some kind of half french bakery and half bar because I saw "patisserie" on a sign inside (But not outside.) and they were using french words for their menu categories, but... lol... definitely no patisserie here, lol. At least not staffed by French people, anyway, lol. My asking for Brioche got blank stares and a "I have never heard of that. What is that?"... oh gosh... they didn't know the national pastry of France, lol. They knew about croissants because the PIllsberry doughboy lets every American know what that is, lol, but totally clueless about the other pastries. Which is odd, considering they seemed to have most of the typical french pastry sweets. So... I'm guessing... the cashier probably doesn't know about French baking like the baker does and I needed to be talking to the baker (A bit different from my hometown, because the cashier(s) WERE the bakers.). Oh well, I'll probably get my brioche from the other patisserie on my next major trip, just need to figure out how to reliably call them. (Skype is flaky on my connection. Lost my cell phone 2 weeks ago, still haven't found it.)

The Trader Joe's I went to was staffed by two cashiers. Wasn't really particularly popular as compared to the Trader Joe's back home. I could actually walk around this trader joe's without bumping into anyone, lol, whereas walking through the trader joe's backhome feels like I'm reliving my middle school days, lol. I think the difference in popularity is explained by the presence of HEB, as HEB is the walmart of the grocery world and they also have /almost/ all of the organic foods (Can't find organic canned spinach... if only I had a refridgerator... a refridgerator will have to wait until I get solar in place.). Back home, trader joe's was the cheaper grocery store of the area (Almost unbelievable, the only cheaper was Costco but then you were buying tons of a single food at a time, lowering the potential variety of food with a given amount of $.) AND it also had primarily organic foods, whereas the other retailers didn't really seem to bother [especially not costco, oddly enough]. The only other stores that bothered were super expensive, like 200-300% markup across the board.

Oh boy, just have some bad acid reflux from the chinese food (Last time I will eat it, I swear. At least the fried rice, way too oily.). Downed a can of spinach and half a can of fish and I'm doing a lot better (Spinach and fish are rich in calcium, the main ingredient of Tums. Spinach also seemed to neutralize acidity quite effectively.).

Anyway. My review of the malls.

The woodlands mall is pretty cool, has a diverse array of shops that cover the spectrum, with a pet store that actually sells pets, including dogs. The pug was walking around and put its nose against the glass against my finger and... oh jeez... so adorable. "The market" right outside the mall is pretty cool, too, Tesla had a retail outlet in the area. Also had a Microsoft Store, not too many malls have that [none in my hometown did] - The VR goggles seemed to be pretty popular in the microsoft store, a large crowd surrounding it. The mall also abuts the local river/lake which is pretty neat. Quite a few restaurants in the area, no doubt in connection with the many office building skyscrapers on the nearby lake/river. Has all the standard restaurants you'd see at any upstanding mall. (Like "The cheesecake factory". While I don't know much about their menu, for some reason, I don't think they sell primarily cheesecakes, lol.)

The deerbrook mall. Oh yes, this mall got me. I don't know what it is, but the main hallway feel substantially narrower than standard malls... and the stores are crammed in there... seemed to be a high density mall, counter to the going trend in houston. (WIde open spaces of Houston -> freaking huge malls and department stores, walk-a-thon left and right, lol.) I'm guessing because the mall had retail spaces the size of studio apartments, lol, that lowers the rent appreciably, which seemed to reflect on the fact there were a lot more independent shops here. Like, not a gamestop that sells primarily new games... but a game collector and game enthusiast that sells pretty much everything else, lol. (Apparently they were part of a franchise called "3D games", I have never heard of them. They seemed to act pretty independently of the franchise, I'm guessing they aren't as controlling about the product-offerings&themes like Taco Bell/McDonald's is.). And, they had a used electronics store inside with modern computer equipment. Wow, don't typically see that in a mall. Lots of independents at this particular mall. And, the patrons and shop owners were mostly asian/white, so it had a personally more appealing culture than the other mall I saw. There was also a "ThinkGeek" store in here, never see them anywhere. The rent must be lower here. It just had that high density feel you don't normally see in America and definitely not Houston, lol. The only other high density commercial area of that kind of nature I'm aware of is the French Market, and that's a late 1800s development. (Pike's Place in Seattle is also a high density commercial area with lots of independents, and yes it is very popular there, but the area feels too grungy/shuttered to be appealing to me.)

Greenspoint mall. This is the "diversity" mall. I can tell it's in a black/mexican part of town since that's mainly the patrons here. I first thought it was a "fifties" theme mall on the outside, but I was mistakened. They had a very visible boxing ring right as soon as you entered the main entrance towards the right, and it seemed to be a popular place at night. [don't usually see that at malls] The shops here tended to be unimaginatively named, but I think that's goes with the fact it was a lot of home-grown independent shops from this particular neighborhood. The only personally interesting shops to me were visibly owned by older asian/indian people, and not the two other main races here. The other shops just didn't feel particularly sophisticatedORimaginative in their theming/naming/culture/etc. [There wasn't a lot of typical franchises at this particular mall.]

It's interesting how the "Cajun Shrimp" place offered exactly the same food as the Japanese place as the Chinese food place. They must have all figured out that "Chinese food" sells well, lol.

One corner of this mall had a display of plants with no stores or exits around it. That's a bit weird, dedicating an unused and untraveled distant corner of the mall to a wide array of potted plants no one sees, lol. It was just generally weird seeing an unused corner of the mall like that. Most malls are designed to be fully used, whereas this corner was just sitting there in the distance, with no shops/outlets/exits nearby. Just wasted mall space with plants no one sees, lol.

Willowsbrook mall. It was like any standard mall with the standard brand stores, didn't see many independents here. It was like a "meh" mall to me, because it didn't have the kind of diversity I like, more geared towards fashion/apparel/jewelry/etc. and the retail spaces were expansive and the corridors were wide open, unlike the Deerbrook mall. This mall was the exact opposite of the deerbrook mall in thdis regard. Low density high-square-footage retail environment with wide open spaces, with rent levels so high that presumably only the brands with sufficient brand loyalty in their customer base could afford to rent here. I would suspect there might be a policy against independent shops here, like most of the 'classy malls' much of the girls on yelp seem to adore in this town, but high retail rent levels *might* be the better explanation.

Driving around Houston, I saw a part of town that looked like much of my hometown, it was called Spring, Texas (Suburb of houston). But, it wasn't some expansive underbelly to the Houston area, it was like a small self-contained neighborhood unlike back home... it was generally half the town there. The fact that this "poor area" makes up a mere sliver of the Houston area attests to the wealth levels of this city. What I presume are "the poor" of houston seems to correspond to the middle class back home. And the middle class of Houston corresponds to the upper middle class back home. And the wealthy of Houston are in a class of their own compared to back home. The mansions here are pretty darn huge, my hometown didn't have really anything like that (Maybe a handful of houses were similar... only a mere handful.)

Yep, so Houston is pretty darn cool in the shopping category, just like I knew it would. The Deerbrook mall, the Woodlands mall and the Hong Kong mall in chinatown. Those are some of the most endearing places I've been to so far [though, it's obvious to me that the Hong Kong mall is not frequented by caucasians /ever/, mostly local vietnamnese. Which means it's not the tourist attraction as it is in San Francisco. There's a few particular stores in the Chinatown area that seem popular on Yelp, perhaps I'll visit a few of those stores in another visit.].

 

[swbluto]

Time to do some driveway cost estimates, this is the amount of $$$ I need to save up before greenlighting the project. (I'm not going to risk leaving a driveway job half-finished because I ran out of money.)

Culvert - $250
Geotextile fabric - $90
additional soil - $100 (Soil to add over the culvert)


What kind of cubic yards do I need?

Driveway width = 12' = 4 yards
driveway length = 35' = 12 yards

6" thickness = .5 ft = 1/6 yard

Assuming 50% compression ratio (Volume of decompressed rock vs compressed rock)... a mutiplier of 2...

Amount of uncompressed 3" rock needed in cubic yards = 4 yards * 12 yards * (1/6 yards) * 2[multiplier] = 16 cubic yards

Amount of loose gravel needed (Doesn't need compression, I think?) = 4 yards * 12 yards * (1/6 yards) = 8 cubic yards

About 25 cubic yards of rock. It seems the going price for pea gravel is $230 per 5 yards and $220 per 5 yards for the 3" rock. [Prices from the Home Depot site, not local suppliers.]

3" rock cost = 16 yd^3 * ( $230 / 5 yrd^3) = $736
loose gravel cost = 8 yd^3 * ($220 / 5 yrd ^3) = $352
trash bin cost = $100
various tools cost = $100 (tamper, etc.)
rock transport cost = 70 miles per round trip * ($2/20 miles) * 20 trips = $70


Total project cost estimate = $1800 * 1.08 (tax) = $1944

I'll react to that when it gets a little warmer in here, lol. (My heater cuts out at 1500 watts, so it's only capable of 750 watts. I need the 1500 watts for this 32 degree weather, lol. It's freezing rain outside, apparently a part of "Winter Storm Helena" that's bashing the southeast.)

These guys... http://www.braenstone.com/2014/12/stone-compaction/... suggest a volume multiplier of 1.16 (An extra 1" of stone is suggested to compensate for the compaction), so the 3" rock cost would be $736 * (1.16/2) = $430. So, the total project cost would be roughly $300 cheaper or $1644. With wood barrier to help contain the gravel (estimating $150 for the wood), $1794.

 

[swbluto]

http://www.3dgamescorp.com/history/

3D Games was founded by Ozgur E. Gol of Katy, Texas. The first store was opened in May of 2006.

The company was sold and is now owned by Brian Libby of Farmington, Maine in March of 2013. You can read more about him in the ‘About‘ section.

Oh, interesting, so this franchise was founded in Houston. And the first store was likely in Deerkbrook or Almeda, I don't really know which one. There could be convincing case for either (Almeda is closer to Katy (Katy = W houston, Almeda = SW houston), while the Deerbrook mall seems to be a likely entry point for retail startups.).

OH... google maps is suggesting it started out in the high falutin Galleria mall, but that's closed now and there's a branch in the Almeda mall (SE houston mall). So the original 3D Games store started off in the Galleria and is now closed(or moved, more than likely moved to a lower rent mall. The almeda mall sounds like a likely candidate, given it seems to be a mexican part of the city.).

Well, I suppose I could be planning my next mall investigations, focusing more on the southern Houston area.

OK, here's my tentative route for the next trip whenever that's going to be. (Likely not soon.)

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Katy+Mills/West+Oaks+Mall,+Houston,+TX/First+Colony+Mall,+Southwest+Freeway,+Sugar+Land,+TX/PlazAmericas,+Bellaire+Blvd+%23+201,+Houston,+TX/The+Galleria,+Westheimer+Road,+Houston,+TX/Northwest+Mall,+Hempstead+Road,+Houston,+TX/Pearland+Town+Center,+West+Broadway+Street,+Pearland,+TX/Almeda+Mall,+Houston,+TX/Baybrook+Mall,+Baybrook+Mall+Drive,+Friendswood,+TX/@29.6776434,-95.7575285,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m56!4m55!1m5!1m1!1s0x864126a18b05bbd7:0x2e4e7b12682157d1!2m2!1d-95.80937!2d29.775746!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640de9e7effccd1:0x79f11d3b26fdd48a!2m2!1d-95.648291!2d29.7321381!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640e6bc65c4c97d:0x821e149cb0c85cb6!2m2!1d-95.6255043!2d29.5912733!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c2598e9f4d0b:0xc92403db804e6b08!2m2!1d-95.5158048!2d29.7076149!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c16eeef3bdd1:0x7e03fa20d63c5caf!2m2!1d-95.4634342!2d29.7391955!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c6ec8184f9d5:0xba53786e6fd3b8d3!2m2!1d-95.4540624!2d29.7992024!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640ecd2a9b84a59:0x65f0526a58b00d99!2m2!1d-95.3939319!2d29.5541593!1m5!1m1!1s0x86409761765e2c8b:0x9807b7de80d34859!2m2!1d-95.22943!2d29.621444!1m5!1m1!1s0x86409b7a73b5fd39:0x36fe8c252ee7711e!2m2!1d-95.1481783!2d29.541913!3e0


REVISED:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Houston+Premium+Outlets,+Hempstead+Road,+Cypress,+TX/Katy+Mills/West+Oaks+Mall,+Houston,+TX/First+Colony+Mall,+Southwest+Freeway,+Sugar+Land,+TX/Pearland+Town+Center,+West+Broadway+Street,+Pearland,+TX/Baybrook+Mall,+Baybrook+Mall+Drive,+Friendswood,+TX/Almeda+Mall,+Houston,+TX/PlazAmericas,+Bellaire+Blvd+%23+201,+Houston,+TX/The+Galleria,+Westheimer+Road,+Houston,+TX/Northwest+Mall,+Hempstead+Road,+Houston,+TX/@29.7585318,-95.7553983,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m64!4m63!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640d5b9963b133b:0xd4db799597b8a71c!2m2!1d-95.7565733!2d29.9970415!1m5!1m1!1s0x864126a18b05bbd7:0x2e4e7b12682157d1!2m2!1d-95.80937!2d29.775746!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640de9e7effccd1:0x79f11d3b26fdd48a!2m2!1d-95.648291!2d29.7321381!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640e6bc65c4c97d:0x821e149cb0c85cb6!2m2!1d-95.6255043!2d29.5912733!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640ecd2a9b84a59:0x65f0526a58b00d99!2m2!1d-95.3939319!2d29.5541593!1m5!1m1!1s0x86409b7a73b5fd39:0x36fe8c252ee7711e!2m2!1d-95.1481783!2d29.541913!1m5!1m1!1s0x86409761765e2c8b:0x9807b7de80d34859!2m2!1d-95.22943!2d29.621444!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c2598e9f4d0b:0xc92403db804e6b08!2m2!1d-95.5158048!2d29.7076149!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c16eeef3bdd1:0x7e03fa20d63c5caf!2m2!1d-95.4634342!2d29.7391955!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c6ec8184f9d5:0xba53786e6fd3b8d3!2m2!1d-95.4540624!2d29.7992024!2m1!2b1!3e0

SEMI-FINAL (Added The Shops):

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Katy+Mills/West+Oaks+Mall,+Houston,+TX/First+Colony+Mall/Pearland+Town+Center/Baybrook+Mall/Almeda+Mall,+Houston,+TX/Downtown+at+the+Shops+at+Houston+Center+%7C+Kelsey-Seybold+Clinic/PlazAmericas/The+Galleria/Northwest+Mall/@29.6540811,-95.756086,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m64!4m63!1m5!1m1!1s0x864126a18b05bbd7:0x2e4e7b12682157d1!2m2!1d-95.80937!2d29.775746!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640de9e7effccd1:0x79f11d3b26fdd48a!2m2!1d-95.648291!2d29.7321381!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640e6bc65c4c97d:0x821e149cb0c85cb6!2m2!1d-95.6255043!2d29.5912733!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640ecd2a9b84a59:0x65f0526a58b00d99!2m2!1d-95.3939319!2d29.5541593!1m5!1m1!1s0x86409b7a73b5fd39:0x36fe8c252ee7711e!2m2!1d-95.1481783!2d29.541913!1m5!1m1!1s0x86409761765e2c8b:0x9807b7de80d34859!2m2!1d-95.22943!2d29.621444!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640bf3b561a0ed3:0xdbeae9b84250c1ef!2m2!1d-95.3626406!2d29.7549739!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c2598e9f4d0b:0xc92403db804e6b08!2m2!1d-95.5158048!2d29.7076149!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c16eeef3bdd1:0x7e03fa20d63c5caf!2m2!1d-95.4634342!2d29.7391955!1m5!1m1!1s0x8640c6ec8184f9d5:0xba53786e6fd3b8d3!2m2!1d-95.4540624!2d29.7992024!2m1!2b1!3e0


If I'm lucky, I might spot Brioche in one of these malls, lol. And, boy, I can tell I consumed something 'awful' yesterday (It's a tossup between the chinese food and ice cream.). I'm tooting and it stinks. I did eat a bit of sugar yesterday between the 'pain du chocolat', the sesame/orange chicken and the ice cream, and that could certainly contribute to bacteria in the digestive tract which may lead to gas. I noticed that one time I ate a bunch of black beans (Day 2 of adding black beans to my diet), I was having some pretty intense cardiac symptoms the morning after (Only viable explanation, I'm not a person that gets anxiety from eating food; if anything, it relieves it.). Beans are known to contribute to gas, and gas is caused by bacteria, and bacteria causes most of the well-known vascular/heart problems, so it's very plausible that beans may have contributed to the extremely unusual and pretty concerning cardiac symptoms that morning by way of intestinal bacteria (Bacteria ferments the starches in the beans).

It seems doubtful to me that limes/apple-cider vinegar does much to prevent bacteria in deeper in the gut...since that's what I consumed after all my meals/sugary foods... I guess perhaps if something soaks up the antibacterial(bread, etc.), it might be effective deeper in the gut. (I.e., the French drinking wine with bread.)

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/04/28/306544406/got-gas-it-could-mean-you-ve-got-healthy-gut-microbes

"If we didn't feed them carbohydrates, it would be harder for them to live in our gut."

So wrongheaded. Why do these people assume that gas is a sign that bacteria is helping us? The fact that people/animals living on primarily low/no-carb raw-egg diets (A diet, based on this guys statement and just knowing that raw albumin is an extremely powerful antibacterial, that I would assume leaves little room for bacteria in the gut.) often live 1.8-2x as long as those on the standard carb-based diets is telling.

btw... bacteria doesn't really live off of 'carbohydrates' per se. It doesn't live off of glucose nor glucose-based-starches (Pretty much all the grains), mostly sucrose/fructose/xylose/etc. (Sugars).

Btw, it might seem kind of obvious when I type this... but bacteria exclusively causes stench. So, if ones farts stink, I guarantee that bacteria is causing the stench. It's why rotten foods are widely disliked and stink (Because rotten foods are foods that have been taken over by bacteria.). it's why poop stinks, it's things that haven't been cleaned stink. In the natural world, stench=bacteria.

Blood "sugar"(serum glucose) does contribute to infections, however, it's why diabetics are particularly compromised in this regard. I'm not exactly sure how serum glucose 'aids' bacteria (Since bacteria doesn't metabolize glucose), but I'm guessing it might impair the immune system somehow. Do diabetics have compromised immune systems? This seems like it should be easy to find out.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10575137

Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) have infections more often than those without DM. The course of the infections is also more complicated in this patient group. One of the possible causes of this increased prevalence of infections is defects in immunity. Besides some decreased cellular responses in vitro, no disturbances in adaptive immunity in diabetic patients have been described. Different disturbances (low complement factor 4, decreased cytokine response after stimulation) in humoral innate immunity have been described in diabetic patients. However, the clinical relevance of these findings is not clear. Concerning cellular innate immunity most studies show decreased functions (chemotaxis, phagocytosis, killing) of diabetic polymorphonuclear cells and diabetic monocytes/macrophages compared to cells of controls. In general, a better regulation of the DM leads to an improvement of these cellular functions. Furthermore, some microorganisms become more virulent in a high glucose environment. Another mechanism which can lead to the increased prevalence of infections in diabetic patients is an increased adherence of microorganisms to diabetic compared to nondiabetic cells. This has been described for Candida albicans. Possibly the carbohydrate composition of the receptor plays a role in this phenomenon.

some microorganisms become more virulent in a high glucose environment

Interesting, I wonder how that happens? I wonder if it aids in the ability of the bacteria to move around (Thicker blood may be easier to 'corkscrew' through, which is how much bacteria travels through liquid mediums). Higher blood sugar levels might decrease local oxygen levels (it displaces the oxygten), which may have a virulency-increasing affect on anaerobic bacteria. This seems like it could be the case with Malignant Otitis Externa, which is caused by anaerobic bacteria and is usually only seen in diabetics.

 

[Harold in CR]

Check for local/custom sawmills in your general area. Should be plenty of Live Oak. It will outlast you.

 

[swbluto]

I'm thinking I should have just bit the bullet and bought some desert land in West Texas, lol. I don't think you need to construct a driveway to drive on your property there. I wonder if that's why I see a lot of RVs in the desert or so it seems. Little in the way of tempestuous weather, no need to do anything special (extra cost) to drive on your property. The major downside is there's no major cities in the nearby area almost everywhere I've seen in texas. I felt like I was striking the jackpot finding a property within 5 miles of a barely functional town. There might be good opportunities in other states, like Arizona.

I really do want to get this farm thingy going, though, so when the weather warms up, I'll be dedicating my time (After clearing what I need to for the driveway) to creating the path and properly removing all the trees from the soil in the back. I will definitely be taking advantage of the days right after a good rain for tree removal (Especially easy, then). I guess, eventually, I might start to contemplate alternatives to parking an RV on the property. Where to park the van will still be a question needing answering. I just don't know what the alternatives might look like. What immediately comes to mind doesn't look appealing at all but... could explain what I've seen on satellite imagery down the road.

As far as the longterm potential of this property... haven't experienced June yet with its 8" of rain... but so far, it's looking like a pretty good property. It's reasonably close to Houston, it's reasonably close to the lake, the area isn't that bad at all. The abundant trees provides shade and wind protection, which protects me from the hot sun and the cold winds. It's usually pretty peaceful and treesy. The trains don't bother my sleep at all. They only come somewhere between 10-11 p.m. like once every 3 days, and once I fall asleep, I never really wake up. Never been awakened by a train, not yet anyway. I actually enjoy it, if only I could use it in the way I was intending as quickly as I was hoping, lol. The negatives to this area might be the amount of angry young people living in the southern end and the occasional night filled with mexican music, often during holidays. I can feel their anger, in their aggressiveness as they drive. Tells me they are more than likely "not doing well", "stressed (probably financially, maybe the local train waking them up...)",etc. I'm not really that stressed because my bills aren't really that high and I'm doing fine in that regard. I'm currently not paying THE MAN what they want, for as long as I can, because that only makes me poorer and them unrightfully richer. One of such men kindly let me know that if I had a history of not paying them what they want as often as they want, they'd raise my bill to compensate. "SCOUNDRELS" I thought, I will never pay you as long as I can! Well, OK, some instances of THE MAN is justified in some ways... but it's abused in America... but still... it feels rather good not paying THE MAN, remembering how stressed I've felt doing so for much of my life so far. I fully own my property, fully own my vehicle, fully own all my business equipment, I own everything I need currently to operate my business and sustain a livelihood. That's kind of nice.

Anyway, I like that today is supposed to be /the worst cold day/ of the year. Tells me it's only getting better from today, nice. Someone was saying in walmart "I want to move to florida." and someone responded "You can live anywhere you want.", and I thought "Dude, just suck it up, this is only for like 2 days."... I remember back home how it was like for 3 months straight, lol. I personally wouldn't want to live in Florida because it's more desperate there than Houston. I thought maybe it's because they heavily restrict industry being a "retirement state", but tend to be liberal with their business rules so I don't really know. I just think it's odd they don't have any major refinery presence there despite their location in relation to the eastern seaboard and they are not lacking humidity/heat, at least in certain parts, so I've assumed it was because the laws make it unprofitable/unable for the refineries to setup there, being a "retirement/vacation" state. Seems like it'd agree with the desperation towards the northern area, though that might have more to do with proximity to the historic African slave population in the Georgia/North-Florida/Alabama area and their descendents whom many stuck around. More that then assumed laws against industry.

Ok, this confirms there are NO refineries in florida. I'm assuming there's laws against them.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pnp_cap1_dcu_SFL_a.htm

And the number of refineries keeps increasing in Texas. Texas must be picking up the others states increasing 'slack'(restrictive laws). Oh well, more refining dollars for Texas! (i..e., Houston/Corpus Christi. Mostly Houston, since that's where the refinery owners/maintenance/services/equipment-providers/etc. companies reside.)

Oh yeah, my intuition in thinking the forest is a good place to be in the summers here seems to be right on. [Well, and the fact 80 degree days do not, in fact, feel like 80 degrees in the forest, more like 70]

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/news/release/forest-temperature-influence-latitude

South of 45 degrees, maximum daytime temperatures in forested lands were lower than over nearby open land, but forest nighttime minimum temperatures were still higher. South of 35 degrees, approximately the southern border of Tennessee, the overall effect was reversed, with forests cooler than open land.
Forests represent one of the most extensive land use types, covering approximately 30 percent of the terrestrial surface. “This study makes it clear that at least in southern latitudes, there are important climatic benefits for maintaining or increasing forest cover,”

 

[marty]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria#Early_history

Rachel Maines hypothesized that doctors from the classical era until the early 20th century commonly treated hysteria by masturbating female patients to orgasm (termed 'hysterical paroxysm'), and that the inconvenience of this may have driven the early development of and market for the vibrator.

So that one video I found on Youjizz was an accurate historical reenactment. I didn't know... :lol:

And, yes, I will confirm... after downing some apple cider vinegar right after munching on some light-syrup drenched pear slices, sweet and sour definitely go together.

Yes, I'm /finally/ rich again, lol. I think I can buy some brioche, now, lol. But, I do need to buy some oil to change the oil in my vehicle. Priorities, Priorities.

 

[marty]

Time to do some driveway cost estimates, this is the amount of $$$ I need to save up before greenlighting the project. (I'm not going to risk leaving a driveway job half-finished because I ran out of money.)

Culvert - $250
Geotextile fabric - $90
additional soil - $100 (Soil to add over the culvert)


What kind of cubic yards do I need?

Driveway width = 12' = 4 yards
driveway length = 35' = 12 yards

6" thickness = .5 ft = 1/6 yard

Assuming 50% compression ratio (Volume of decompressed rock vs compressed rock)... a mutiplier of 2...

Amount of uncompressed 3" rock needed in cubic yards = 4 yards * 12 yards * (1/6 yards) * 2[multiplier] = 16 cubic yards

Amount of loose gravel needed (Doesn't need compression, I think?) = 4 yards * 12 yards * (1/6 yards) = 8 cubic yards

About 25 cubic yards of rock. It seems the going price for pea gravel is $230 per 5 yards and $220 per 5 yards for the 3" rock. [Prices from the Home Depot site, not local suppliers.]

3" rock cost = 16 yd^3 * ( $230 / 5 yrd^3) = $736
loose gravel cost = 8 yd^3 * ($220 / 5 yrd ^3) = $352
trash bin cost = $100
various tools cost = $100 (tamper, etc.)
rock transport cost = 70 miles per round trip * ($2/20 miles) * 20 trips = $70


Total project cost estimate = $1800 * 1.08 (tax) = $1944

I'll react to that when it gets a little warmer in here, lol. (My heater cuts out at 1500 watts, so it's only capable of 750 watts. I need the 1500 watts for this 32 degree weather, lol. It's freezing rain outside, apparently a part of "Winter Storm Helena" that's bashing the southeast.)

These guys... http://www.braenstone.com/2014/12/stone-compaction/... suggest a volume multiplier of 1.16 (An extra 1" of stone is suggested to compensate for the compaction), so the 3" rock cost would be $736 * (1.16/2) = $430. So, the total project cost would be roughly $300 cheaper or $1644. With wood barrier to help contain the gravel (estimating $150 for the wood), $1794.

Get the area for the driveway all cleared out. Hide the good top soil. Mark driveway outline with stakes. Hire a guy with a dump truck, trailer, and some type of equipment to move stone. Transporting tons of stone in garbage cans is a bad idea. Sorry for the bad idea. Good place to find the guy with a dump truck, trailer, and some type of equipment to move stone, might be Craigslist? Do all the shovel and raking labor yourself.

Another what is probably a bad idea. Plastic soda crates. Holds 8 - 2 liter soda bottles. Free when ya buy 8 - 2 liter soda bottles.

If there is a way to return these crates to Pepsi or Coke? I have no knowledge? NOTE - SODA POP IS POISON. VERY BAD FOR HEALTH. DO NOT DRINK IT!

If you look around ya might find a mountain of plastic soda crates and some one happy to have you take them all. Dig down about 6 inches, layout plastic soda crates like bricks, open side up, fill with soil, no cost driveway is done. To get a idea of what I am thinking, Please see Google search:
gravel honeycomb grid

 

[bigmoose]

Some thoughts about your driveway. Here the county puts the culvert in for free in the roadside ditch. Might want to check that out. The county put in a metal culvert at the road, then I had a creek 300 feet in. I put in two sections of 24 inch concrete pipe and filled around it with clay. I learned the hard way when the cement trucks came in to pour the footer and floor that they extruded the clay around my concrete culvert. I had to dig it up, reset the two concrete pipes then put #57 limestone around it. It has been rock solid for 30 years.

On hauling rock. I had the bright idea to do that with a trailer and a 1/2 ton Chevy Tahoe. It cost me the transmission and the rear differential. I did like 20 trips when putting in curtain drains around my property. There is nothing like a 1 ton dump truck for hauling stone and dirt. Don't even try to do it yourself. Just order in a Tandem load of what ever you need. If they can get the truck over the geotextile they can "tailgate" the stone out. Basically set the rear dump door at 4 inches or so and drive as they dump. It spreads pretty good. At least you don't have a big pile to spread out.

Finally if you but it a garbage can at a time, you won't get a decent price. Even a ton at a time is high. Your best price is on a Tandem axle dump load.

Good luck! I remember those days well. ... too darn old now to ever do it again.

 

[marty]

Any Civil engineers here? What ya think about Marty's plastic driveway idea?

After thinking about it. What would go wrong is the plastic crates will shift around and possibly break. How about 2 layers of plastic crates? Dig down about 12 inches. Soil fabric at this point might be a good idea? Fabric will separate the mud from your shoes. First layer of crates perpendicular to driveway and staggered like bricks. Fill with soil. Use the time method to pack soil into crates. A few months of rain, weather, worms, and soil will compact. Repeat with second layer of crates. Put this top layer the same direction as driveway.

Another thought about driveways and building houses. Normal procedure is to start with big stones, build the house, finish the driveway, in that order. Reason is that every truck that comes to the job weighs more then the last truck. Concrete trucks weigh the most. All these heavy trucks will destroy most any driveway.

 

[swbluto]

For now, I don't think I'm going to be focusing on the driveway. I'm just going to veg right next to my property until someone forces me to move (What I've been doing so far, lol). Once I save up the required dough, I'll entertain building the driveway.

And... this property is not under county control. It's supposed to be part of a HOA and the county is completely hands off. Meaning, I'm not really subject to their rules in regard to construction restrictions/etc. and I can do whatever I want to do with it. Also means no county freebies. (They don't really give away free culverts anyway, they do however provide a free dirt fill for the culvert. But, not for my property, the county is hands off in my neighborhood thanks to some HOA/county agreement. So, no free culverts and no free dirt fills for me.)

Saw how the highway crew sprayed some concrete onto the dirt supporting the highway overpass and I thought that was kind of neat. Makes me wonder if I could just spray some concrete on this kind-of-muddy-like clay/sand subsoil and give me some terra firma/solid-ground to work with, lol. That's the one thing that gives me concern, is how easily I sink into that subsoil when wet. If I sink into it, I know darn sure my vehicle would, lol. And, I read reports of just laying down geotextile fabric won't work well for mud after a hard rain according to that one guy; apparently does for "soft soil", but not muddy mud. Apparently he sank upto the transaxles. So I'm wondering how exactly that could be firmed up a little bit. I'm assuming that if I compacted a 6" layer of 3" rocks ontop of the geotextile fabric, it would distribute the weight of the vehicle's tires onto the subsoil below, and it shouldn't sink (because it's being distributed widely enough), but I don't know if I'm making some poor assumption there. I'm thinking I might have to poor some more solid dirt over the subsoil to gain some height and firm it up the surface little bit. Maybe lime. How easily it gets that 'muddiness' after a good rain concerns me...

 

[swbluto]

Okay, yesterday was cold(22F) and I was thinking to myself... "I can save $8 in gas with generator/heating costs by doing this intended mall trip TODAY, and I know I'm eventually going to do it anyway". So I did it.

First stop, Katy Mills. First impression of the Katy area was a lot of middle class homes in developer projects, especially grouped up near the highway. Katy Mills itself was fairly large and pretty open. The ceiling heights were 40 feet - I personally like lower ceilings, feels more cozy. The structure was a giant corrugated steel structure and they didn't really do anything to hide the corrugated steel in the ceiling. That just feels "cheap" to me (And, I know it IS cheap, which is why they do it. I'm of the opinion, it's better to do something well than to do it excessively(In size). There was a wide array of stores here, not a whole bunch of independents, many large retail spaces. They had a few interesting stores here, like segway rentals with a segway obstacle course inside. Generally not a place I would frequent willingly. Seems like it was a poor contender with the Grapevine Mills in Dallas. They did have a Bass Pro Shop here, which was pretty cool to have as an anchor. Definitely got the feeling there was a lot of fishing here, but I get the sense that's the domain of the Bass Pro Shops, lol. They had a large waterpark outside the mall which was pretty cool and they had giant colorful structures at the various entrances, in much the sameway as grapveine mills. The color theming felt more flamboyant here than the Grapevine mills in Dallas.

Second stop, west oaks mall. Not a popular mall and mostly blacks/mexicans here. Could explain Macy's leaving this mall. Kind of small, but the decorations were rather nice in a wooden/rustic kind of way, kind of felt like a cozy log cabin feeling. I personally liked the theming and structure, especially as compared to Katy mills. There were independents here, but not a lot in the way of technology/games like deerbrooks.

Third stop, First Colony in sugarland. This was definitely a popular mall. Thinkgeek and Gamestop were situated right across from each other, here (Important, because you can sell your games to GameStop and redeem your gamestop credit at Thinkgeek, which has a lot of interesting novelties and collectibles.). I could tell west oaks wasn't popular precisely because this one was, lol. There were also a lot of blacks/mexicans here with a few caucasians. That was interesting to me because I always thought that the sugarland master community was a bunch of caucasian people, and I think they still are, but not apparently not at the 'sugarland mall'. This wasn't the mall I remember visiting 6 years ago in sugarland. I tried finding /that/ mall but I couldn't immediately find it. That mall was different because there was a water feature near the entrance. [Looking around and still not finding anything (Can't find any other cheesecake factories in the area, which was definitely at the mall I visited 6 years ago], it's very possible they removed the water feature during expansion.] They had a town center, but it suffered in the same way as at the Woodlands mall, it was disconnected from the main mall and was separated by a busy street. It also wasn't really as interesting and more detached than the woodlands mall "Town center". Not a lot of independents here, but there were a few interesting stores here. Not as dominated by fashion/jewelry as some malls in the region.

Fourth stop, Pearland town center. Not a mall and just a collection of shops along a street. Didn't have a whole lot of shops here and nothing particularly notable about them, AFAIK. Mostly restaurants. I'm seeing Le Madeleine here as well as at the other malls (It's the "fake" patisserie, not really staffed/operated by french people so they don't really know of the /real/ French dishes. Like Brioche.)

Saw Pollo Tropical down here, seemed like a pretty cool carribean style fast-food type of restaurant. Will probably check it out one of these days.

FIfth stop, Baybrook mall. Wow, this mall is something. There was REI, Dick's sporting goods and "Field and Stream" store all next to each other. As well as a Total Wine store that's being constructed (They have some of the hard to find wines from the various brands.). This place knew how to integrate the "town center" with the main mall, as it was connected right next to the mall. The landscaping here was excellent, with good use of greenspace and tropical plants. This mall was definitely a Caucasian mall (made up 80% of the patrons), so I'm assuming Pearland is where the white people live, lol. This mall had the microsoft store and... oh... the brookstone store. The only mall in Houston that has the brookstone store. I always liked the Brookstone after having seen it once in Florida, bunch of interesting gadgets, puzzles, technology, novelties and geeky/cool things like that. Things like a fold up electric razor scooter. Obviously not a practical device in Houston, lol, but a pretty interesting device regardless (Especially interesting for areas that are well serviced by Metro systems, like much of the West Coast, since this kind of scooter is easy to take onto buses, trains, planes,etc without problems. Definitely not Houston, and not the sunbelt in general.) The houses in this area were especially large; not necessarily sophisticated but definitely large. I swore the ceilings on the houses in much of the neighborhoods here vaulted up like 30/40 feet. It's not a mall that "speaks to me", per se (Like the deerkbrook mall does), but a pretty well themed mall with a lot of interesting stores. Not a lot of independents here.

Sixth stop, Almeda mall. A bit small and not very popular. Didn't see much theming. Mostly blacks.

Plazamericas. Situated in the downtown, the parking lot looks a bit seedy, especially at night. Walking in, though, it was definitely interesting. Didn't have a lot of geeky/cool stores here, but it did have a lot of independent stores. On the bottom floor were english stores and the top floor were spanish stores and it was easily the most frequented area of the mall, especially by, lol, mexicans. The stores on the mexican floor were especially entrepreneurial, with a wide array of services/goods offered by the various shop owners and they had a ton of different specialties. The "el mercado"(The market) section was kind of interesting, was a bunch of tiny stalls where vendors crammed all their goods in and it was almost entirely mexican. I could tell the rent in this 'market' was probably cheap. There was a wide array of good across the board and it just felt lively. I mean, to a white american like me, it feels a little cheap, but this is what I imagine a traditional "street market" to look like. (The caucasian "street markets" I've seen, at least in Seattle, don't seem to have the same kind of diversity/"life" to them.). They also had a variety of mexican food/restaurants on the second floor, and much of that food looked /so much/ healthier than traditional mall restaurant food. And, they had a pet vendor in El Mercado (Puppies and kittens) - only other mall with a real-life-pet store is in The Woodlands. So plazamericas was definitely "independents central". Not a lot of brands here.

The Galleria. Supposed to be the "high note" of the malls in Houston, and it was definitely popular, but it felt like any ordinary downtown mall to me. It was notable in the sense it had three floors, lol (And I was thinking multiple floor malls was a hometown specialty, lol.). It had the microsoft store and all the pretentious NYC stores one can think of, but the theming of the mall just didn't seem... particularly distinct... or detectable (Like, say, that of the Baybrook mall. I mean, of course, after ignoring the 3-story tall christmas tree in the center.). It felt like a downtown office building with stores rather than offices and a giant atrium in the center with a food court. It didn't really feel upscale to me (At least not compared to the upscale malls I've seen in Seattle), the people/stores there seemed like they were /trying/ to be upscale in terms of dress/style but it wasn't really convincing ("sophistication"/"refinement" doesn't seem to be Houston's strongsuit.), but maybe the preponderance of black/mexican patrons here had that affect. I don't know. If you want sophistication/elegant-theming, it appears the memorial malls have that covered (Coincidentally, a favorite among the girls on Yelp.). Not a lot of independents here, mostly brands and especially clothing/jewelry/cosmetics/etc.

Northwest mall. Definitely a bit small and outdated. It had a rather large antique store here (Which was closed when i was there), and a bunch of organizations/chapters here. (Such as the "Cherokee History Museum"(?), and the "Model Railroad club". Oh, interesting, the only other place where I've seen a model railroad club store was in The Citadel mall in Charleston,SC. Coincidentally, I saw The Citadel Mall on TV once, part of a movie.) Much of the stores were basic stores and felt, not really of a brand, kind of garish. Not really the same kind of budding entrepreneurial one finds in Plazamericas.

So my favorite malls in this area are....

Deerbrook mall.
Woodlands mall.
Baybrook mall.

And, as much as I don't like the stores I see in the Memorial mall (mostly clothing/fashion/etc.), I must admit I do like it's sense of style/theme, lol. It makes good use of color contrasts, like ones I've always adored (Like black/white), and doesn't have a 'cheap' feel like the Katy Mills. Has a sense of elegance/refinement, like much of the neighborhoods in the Memorial area. They are not necessarily the largest homes (Like that in the pearland/SW houston suburbs), but definitely seem to be the most refined.

Got an email back from the Tesla store guy (Tesla store at the Woodlands Mall Town Square). The 14kwh powerwall is $5500 and then $1500 for labor/install. I personally just want the cells, lol. It'd make a solar only system fairly practical.