Buying forest land, implementing solar

[swbluto]

Okay, feeling all sorts of energetic this morning after getting 5-6 hours of sleep, so I got walking about 1000 steps, and come back to bed, and feel this weird pulsing throughout my body. Woke up, getting started, and I noticed I was getting instantly short of breath climbing the little hill upto the main road. Had some honey, and it tasted really good, so I figured I was hypoglycemic. This has happened before, yes, waking up all sorts of short of breath with this weird feeling in my heart, after I went for a treadmill walk after reading online that it would help anxiety, and I woke with tremendous anxiety, then I napped after the walk and then woke up short of breath.

So, it appears for me... hypoglycemia -> short of breath. And, it seems like "proper conditions"+exercise = short of breath. Seems like proper conditions seem to be a combination of "morning time" and "hypoglycemia"; so morning time+hypoglycemia+exercise = short of breath.

Anyway, yesterday night was notable because I had coconut ice cream and I could feel the sugar coursing through me. Such a weird feeling, because I can eat 3 bananas with 80 grams of sugar and not feel the coursing feeling, but just a measly 14G of sugar (According to the package... the package seems... hard to believe on some things.) and I get the coursing feeling.

Anyway, the coconut ice cream tasted pretty good. They said it was "Coconut, water, sugar" and it was creamy, and that confused me, but then I just remembered that coconut fat may very well add to the creaminess. Yes, that was interesting.



So, now I'm interested in making my own coconut+honey+water ice cream treats because it seems possible and that guy's ice cream proved it was delicious. And, I'd much prefer honey to sugar, because I don't get that coursing feeling from honey, but for some reason, I get it from straight sugar.

UPDATE: It's now 11:27 a.m. and the Tenergy electricity provider boom truck was going down my road. I wonder what they're doing? Some service truck was going down this road just earlier...

I half suspect maybe they're installing powerlines for the newly cleared property 75 feet from me. I hope I won't be a problem (I shouldn't?). Anyway, if they're installing powerlines, that makes it a bit easier for me to get electricity installed, but I don't really know if they are or not. But, if they are, that does suggest "This guy" is setting up the property. For himself or to sell, I don't really know...

And, right now today (12:33 p.m.), it is 85F and 40% humidity and it's MUCH NICER to work outside than when it's 85F and 77%. I think the higher humidity has a way of making it seem like you're sweating more because the air won't dry you off as effectively, and it's kind of miserable. I mean, it's perfectly fine if you're just walking or lollygagging outside, but it's kind of miserable when you're lifting 80 pound trees and shoveling clay for more than 10 minutes.

And, this week looks like a fairly dry week. Perfect for work.

And, I need to get a larger hose for siphoning. This narrow water tube kind of sucks, lol (Flow rates are pitiful). I guess the narrow tube is fine for connecting the water supply to my UV filter, since that would be something I can wait on. I wonder if this narrow tube will even connect to my filter? Time to check, I guess. I got it because it was in Amazon's "Frequently bought with this item" list, so I figured it connected, lol.

And, apparently, flights to Europe are cheap this year. I wonder if the USA's travel advisory about widespread terrorism has anything to do with it?

Man, the french are stupid. I guess they are figuring out the price for assimilating anti-western violent demographics into their population.

I'm glad our current president has some common sense in this regard (But, I suspect not as many terrorists are flying into the USA because it costs a LOT more money than taking a trip to Europe by foot/rail/etc., and the vast majority are super poor.)

Anyhoo, yesterday night, brought the coconut ice cream into the RV, against my food policy (I know that pretty much all the insects, especially ants and fruit flies, like sugary liquid things), and I use it to spit out my toothpaste in. What did I find the next morning? A dead cockroach in my cup. Oh, poor thing!

This was the cockroach that sneaked into my RV some 2 months ago at the national forest, and he scared the bejeebus out of me when I saw him dart up my walls, lol. Never could find him, but I did see him once last week just nonchalantly hanging out on my counter. He had that face like, "What's happening?", as I reached for my insect crushing ducttape roll, and he must figured out the answer because he amscrayed out of there, lol. Looks like my toothpaste got him.

Anyway, I have to admit, that cockroach looked a little cuter than an ant, because... he kind of has human facial features.

Anyway, saw mutiple ants today, so I threw out the cup and pulled all the weeds pushing themselves against my RV.

Anyway, I think I'm going to continue working on the backyard later tonight. This morning, I was working on the driveway, but it's a little too hot right now to do that. Maybe I'll continue doing that around 6.

Okay, as of 5:30 p.m., I heard gunfire in what seemed to be the general direction of my neighbors to the left. But, I located the exact source of the gunfire which was somewhere in the woods in front of them, and this didn't sound like a 22LR going off, which is what my neighbor seems to have (In addition to a shotgun) when he's in the woods, presumably hunting. It sounded like a higher pistol caliber, maybe a .38 or .45 or something. So, I wondered who it /really/ was... unless my neighbor bought a new gun... and sure enough, there's a resident along the main road in front of them that could plausibly be the type that would be doing that kind of thing. So, there's two gun users in "the immediate area", I've been solely attributing to my neighbor down the road, lol.

Anyway, indications suggest this person is a poor caucasian. Seems to have "Caucasian cultural symbols" in their yard, like painted hearts on the fence. Don't get me wrong, it's possible these are mexicans, but hearts in the front are definitely a white female kind of thing.

And, I looked online about this issue, and it appears that someone solved it by gaining 10 pounds in weight. Huh, interesting, well... jeez... I swear I'm staying carbed throughout the day, it seems to be "wake up" that way kind of thing... maybe I need a little more fat. I doubt I'm going to get fat off of bananas, lol, and I really don't want to get fat off sugar...

Anyway, they mention that working out worsens it. I just LOL, because building my driveway and clearing out the backyard, it's all "working out", lol. Maybe I need to purposefully eat beyond my hunger to account for the "I'm working out" factor.

Anyway, I kind of like my business, because it gives me potentially much freetime throughout the day to do what I want (As long as it's really close to home). So I can be running my business and working on projects at the same time (Like me working on my driveway/backyard/etc.).

Anyway, just read that Andrew Jackson stood down the "nullifiers" in South Carolina, which said it could ignore federal law. I lol, because South Carolina has that same "anti-government" spirit about it today. Gasoline taxes are the lowest in the country, and they make it incredibly easy to obtain a gun. And, they're pretty racist. Charleston, SC was the only place in the world where I've seen upscale suburban developments prevalently bill themselves as "plantations". The Magnolia Plantation, The Ivy Plantation, etc.

The area is deeply rooted into its slave history and people are openly racist there. Granted, I think they probably are more willing to call whites niggers than blacks because of the obvious backlash, so maybe it just seemed like they were most racist to me. Well, at least they were more openly racist in their humor than the West Coast.

And tonight, I need to get a large tarp to use with the IBC tank, and it looks like sometime tomorrow during the drier hours might be a good time to set it up. (I need to flush it at least a few times to get the current ammonia smell out. I can't be having high concentrations of ammonia in my garden.)

I personally wouldn't have any problems visiting France this year. Sure, I recognize there's a good chance there'd be a terrorist attack somewhere in the Country when I went, but the chance it would be happening in the immediate vicinity of where I would be is pretty infinitesimal. But, the one thing holding me back, is where I'm going to sleep. Because, the trains don't just take you to some motel 6 70 miles outside the city, you're pretty much bound to the city, and I'm assuming hotel rates in Paris are super high. Yeah, so that's what's holding me back, what I'm assuming is the extremely high cost for sleeping.

Oh, well... huh... Airbnb is showing me places for $70/night. I could swing that.... oh gee... I'm getting tempted now, lol...

Except, security. Yep, don't know how I'd go about securing my important crap for a week. Guess maybe I'd rent storage capacity for a month.

I don't think I'd trust my RV sitting there for a week with a padlock on it, would really keep it that secure for that long. It'd be a gamble, that's for sure.

But, on the flipside, there's plenty of people who leave their RV structures unattended here, and I haven't seen anyone break in yet.

And, I'm definitely not seeing cheap filghts on google's flight thing. I guess maybe the editorials were lying, figures. They do have that tendency.

 

[swbluto]

Okay, the next morning, of 5/03/17, at 10:01 a.m., the same shots as yesterday were heard from the newly discovered resident. It is not a 22LR, it's probably a higher caliber pistol.

Since he's firing his weapon at this particular hour, there's a good likelihood he's unemployed (It's a "9-5 city", moreso than the west coast), but he could also have part time employment at a later hour. But, the idea of an angry unemployed man firing off his weapon fits well given their probable wealth, so my bets on he's unemployed. There could be a couple reasons why someone would be unemployed here 1) Perhaps they simply couldn't find employment (Hard to believe for this city, but it might be possible.). or 2) He doesn't have a vehicle to use to drive to work or 3) Maybe he doesn't want to work? Given the nature of this kind of area, there's a good likelihood for the 2nd possibility.

So, I have an unemployed young male neighbor about .3 miles away by way of the car, .25 miles by way of the bird, possible desparado, possible theft risk. Maybe, maybe not.

I wonder if it'd be financially justified to have a driver to drive people to work here. Seems like it could be financially justified (1 man works for 1/4 of the day, so 2 men could work for 8 hours a day, plus the associated vehicle operational costs.), but maybe not especially so. If it were financially justified, then it would make sense that "the public" would get it started; but given the nature of Texas, they'd let "Private industry" satisfy the demand instead of the state. But, with the diffusion of employers in the area, point to point transport does make the most economic sense, which is what typical car ownership fulfills. It just represents a high hurdle for someone who doesn't already have a job and insignificant savings, tending to wastefully perpetuate unemployment. To the government, it'd represent wasted tax potential and the US government loves them employees.

Okay, I'm looking at the longbows. I'm reading the traditional english longbow were traditional 90-110 lbs force, and the modern ones seem to go upto 55 lbs max. That's lame. The point of the longbow is getting that arrow to travel far distances across the battlefield, something the high draw forces enabled. If I were to get a longbow, it's because I want that arrow to travel far. The only longbow capable of that high pound force on Amazon is the Hungarian recurve type. Furthermore, no one is using the traditional Yew wood.

I guess there's nothing on Amazon like the old types. I'm guessing people want the lower poundage because modern men are weak, but no, I guarantee I'm strong enough because, like my ancient forefathers, my strength is derived from working with the land without external sources of energy.

So, I'm looking for a 100 pound yew longbow. They don't seem to exist, neither on amazon or ebay. I guess I would have to start messaging the ebay providers, see what they can do.

 

[nicobie]

Don't be a fool. Get a compound bow or a cross bow.

 

[DAND214]

Don't be a fool. Get a compound bow or a cross bow.

AGREE! here is a nice small cheap one https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Camou...qid=1493833263&sr=1-19&keywords=bow+and+arrow
Scope, so you can see your neighbor while he is bothering you. Maybe you could shoot the apple off his head or at least knock a branch down on him. That way he will know you are bothering you :lol: :lol: :lol:

Dan

 

[Dauntless]

The advantages of the bow over a crossbow are rate of fire, (MORE per minute, etc.) range,(That longbow could exceed a quarter mile) and in the hands of an accomplished bowman, ACCURACY.

If you're not going to put much effort into it, the comment about not being a fool still stands. But if you undertake this seriously, dude, a longbow. Jn case they succeed at getting close you might want a flail, or even before they get close maybe a medieval siege engine. I'm partial to the trebuchet, both for the kewl name and the look.

 

[Chalo]

Your forefathers' forefathers got by with atlatls and you can too. Or just put your shoulder in it and throw those pointed sticks really hard by hand. Why take the easy route?

 

[Dauntless]

Plus there's always the possibility of a shield which could even be bulletproof and oh man, a BATTLEAXE!

[youtube]wPIzcu6jZPM[/youtube]

 

[swbluto]

Well, I already have a sword (tramotina machete) and a battle axe (FIskars hatchet) and I also have one of those long pointy spear thingies I made from a small fallen oak, and I need a longbow to complete the collection. Plus, what wouldn't be more fun than silently raining arrows on my neighbors yard 1/4 mile away from random positions in the forest? You know, the guy who keeps shooting off his 38 cal pistol at all hours, lol. (I'm just kidding, I've always wanted a proper English longbow. It's all about the range, dude. And, plus, the medieval authenticity.)

I'm in the woods of Houston's humongous Renaissance Festival, so it'd only be appropriate.

Really, I fell in love with the English longbow seeing how they had superior range in Age of Empires: The Age of Kings. What's more awesome than stationing them in a watch tower and hitting enemy positions halfway across the map? :lol:

(Now, that's giving me ideas... lol.)

 

[swbluto]

Okay, so I left at 12 p.m., and came back at around 7 p.m.; went to harbor freight and picked up a farm jack and some vinyl gloves. It turns out they have the cheapest disposable gloves in town. And, I was researching all the toolchests that home deport, walmart and HF had, and I really liked the 4-in-1 toolchest deal that Harbor freight has, so I'm planning on picking them up on next week's grocery visit. I really want a toolchest to keep my tools organized and keep all my air compressor crap organized and small bits organized and whatnot, and the 22",20",16", and 12" 4-in-1 one deal at HF should do that fairly well. My duffle bag just isn't handling the current demands of my van very well, which is where I currently have my tools. The 2-in-1 at walmart looked pretty interesting(It was tall/deep so it fit bulky items fairly easily, like aircompressor hoses), but it was only 18.5" wide, so I have doubt it'd fit my larger tools.

The farmjack has a 9-day warranty, so that means I need to focus all my efforts now on clearing the back and pulling up stumps, since that's what the farmjack is intended for. So, I'm going to have to ignore the driveway for now. It's nice having these "deadlines"; it means I get things done in a timely manner, lol. (Otherwise, I'm putting in an hour day, and just taking it little by little, stretching it over a couple weeks.). So, tomorrow, I'll have to pull out the farmjack and go get some nuts and bits to finish the assembly it'll need for pulling stumps. if it fails after I get the job done, while that might suck, I don't really care too much, because I paid for its ability to clear my yard of the tree roots, since those fuggers would make breaking up and tilling the soil difficult. It's an OK task for something small like a driveway, but the entire backyard... whole nother story. I need a higher level of efficiency.

And, this week was fairly representative of my minimal travel policy. 1 midweek grocery trip, and near-nightly and near-daily trips to the tiny town. I did make an impromptu walmart visit yesterday for the walmart tarp, but I would've grouped it into today's trip had I know I would've immediately taken a trip based on the fact I ran out of dietary fats, and eating pure carbs all day is just unappealing (It's just not that satisfying, plus I don't think it's a good idea.). Anyway, this puts my minimum weekly gas usage at 10 gallons. Considering the average for most people is something like 2 gallons a day in this area, I'm doing pretty good at 60% of that.)

Gee, I can't wait til Kroger's opens up just 12 miles from me. It'll be so nice going grocery shopping and taking out the kayak on the lake the same day, plus, I won't feel the need to travel 25 miles to pick up organic food (Walmart doesn't sell a lot of organic produce, sadly. I think it's important that any skin consumption should be from organic fruits/veggies. Peas are fine none organic since the casing protects it. Same with corn, protected by the husk. And, hypothetically the same with Bananas, but I'm not putting my health at risk for something that makes up 70-80% of my carbs for the day, lol. Plus, the chemicals they use on Bananas can be very dangerous, long outlawed in the USA. What can I say, bananas have a special place in my heart, lol.)

And, cool, just found out I can use left over banana peels to fertilize my garden. Yes, so I need to chop these discarded peels up and mix them in the soil. And, I'll need to start collecting banana peels. I guess only Organic Bananas need apply.

 

[Dauntless]

Instead of raining arrows, you could rain rocks. Or logs. BURNING logs.

One might guess there was so much warfare in the middle ages because the weapons are so much fun. Look at the smile the atlatls put on Chalo's face.

 

[DAND214]

I don't know, you seem to be scared of your neighbors. Just because they shoot guns doesn't mean they are dangerous. One thing for sure, you provoke them, they will return yours and more. You do know Texas is a gun carry state, so guns are popular. I have a few but my state isn't one that allows carry or shooting all over. It is a big problem on the south side of Chicago. I would be concerned if I lived there not so much as your situation. You say you are out in the sticks (forest) as you put it. The more you worry about it the more you will mess you up, even more than you appear to be now.

I have new neighbors and I am trying to meet them instead or being scared that they might have a big gun waiting to shoot me. I will have a another new neighbor right across the street soon as it sells. More at both ends of the block. Have meet one and trying to meet the other. I don't carry my weapons with me as I'm not worried to death that they will me. If they do, I won't have to worry about it I'm more worried riding my bike and getting hurt more than killed. Grow a pair as they say, Meet the neighbors, it makes it better for all!

So now you are working on water retention from rain. You sure have a busy schedule. I guess you will never finish. The driveway has been an ongoing thing for months now, the lake/pond also. You better get going, the YEAR will be over and you will need to start all over again.

Dan

 

[swbluto]

For a drill press, I'm thinking about getting this.

https://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-horsepower-heavy-duty-milling-drilling-machine-33686.html

But, the practical side of me wonders what I would need this larger milling machine for. Because, I really doubt I'm going to plunking down 100s of dollars into a huge steel billet to make a part, ever, so I wonder why I would really need that over this.

https://www.harborfreight.com/two-speed-variable-bench-mill-drill-machine-44991.html

But, on the otherhand, the 4"x16" bed on this vs the 8"x30" on that, does seem like somethings would be impossible. And, it seems that standard mills max out at 10" width, so 8" is pretty much maxing the width envelope for standing milling. So, it seems like the larger one would be more useful in the sense it can modify larger parts; I really doubt I'd be creating parts that large from raw billet, the material would likely be too costly.

And, thinking about it... have I ever needed the ability to modify a large metal part?

I just can't immediately recall the last time I had that need.

 

[swbluto]

I don't know, you seem to be scared of your neighbors. Just because they shoot guns doesn't mean they are dangerous. One thing for sure, you provoke them, they will return yours and more

Gee, you must've missed that part where they came upto encampment about 20 ft. in the bush and started firing while darting back and forth, and the times when they were within 100 feet in the forest and let off a string bullets after I turned off my generator. This isn't simply a matter of "These guys are firing their guns on the sanctity of their own property", they're coming to my neck of the woods and firing them! So, yeah, I'm a little concerned, especially since one well placed shotgun shell could easily take out the entire contents of the RV, lol. Now, if gun deaths were uncommon here, perhaps I wouldn't be too concerned...

BUT...

Did I tell about the gun homicide about 3 miles from me (As the crow flies) just 2 months ago? And, what's notable about that is that there's only like 1000 people who live in these parts. You do the math!

Guns + People firing guns + Recent gun homocides in the immediate area + Neighbors walking 1/4 mile out of their to way to fire right in the vicinity of my property = ???

As I said, these aren't just neighbors enjoying their 2nd amendment rights in their yard. Granted, it's not really an "everyday threat", but it's often enough and the hot violent months are fast approaching.

And, yeah, I think I'm going to be returning the farmjack and then repurchase it when I'm ready to rip out all the stumps.

Getting the fencing installed is kind of a high priority, so I want to work on my driveway, then prioritize clearing out the brush for the post install, and installing the fence.

Anyway, I'm looking at the HF mill right now because I have a 20% coupon for it, but the $150 lift-gate fees would be offputting. I need to see if my PO has a dock (I really doubt it). It seems that Harbor Freight often has a 20% off coupon, but the coupon they gave me is special because it's nowhere to be seen on retailmenot, and the one on retailmenot's website doesn't work for online items(According to one person) whereas mine does. So, I might have to get ahold of HF and see if I could unload there and pick it up from them; Maybe they can do, maybe not; They might need to apply taxes, like Walmart does with their ship-to-store merchandise, whereas no taxes are charged on the HF site when purchased online and delivered to home.

It's 760 pounds, so I'd need to figure out a strategy for getting it in and out of my van. Someone commented a good hand truck can do the job of moving it.

And a perfect day to work outside all day. low 70s and 30% humidity. Getting that driveway done TODAY! (At least enough to position the RV; I think I'll park my van in the space in front of my property where my RV currently stands.)

I think I might try position the RV after it completely solidifies and it's rock dry from a week of pure hot sun.

It'd be nice to drive directly on the clay without it sticking to my tires, that way I can do all the maneuvering I'll need to do to it get it just right.

 

[DAND214]

Get to work Swbluto, lots of work out there. I'm out the door, I have much to clean up in my forest also.

I still say, grow a pair. If they wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be typing this BS.

You better get that storage shed up soon, Milling machine, and all of the rest you keep buying will need a real large storage shed to house it all.

Dan

 

[shineon102]

O.K. Just my opinion . What would you think if you were living happily ever after. In your happy home in the 'forest'. Not the best, but have all the necessities , electric,
water , septic. Pretty good life, and no one messing with you............THEN...........Some dude shows up. Not far away. Out of state plates, seems destitute, drags in
old camper parking on the side of the road. Now runs noisy generator 6-8 hors a day , but nothing seems to be done.
. Couple months go by, still looks like homeless guy on the road. Oh and still out of state plates? Whom should be afraid of whom? Get your shit together!
Find someone with a Bobcat and small dump truck. l####### PRIORITY ######### Driveway and base for 'RV' !

 

[Dauntless]

I want to make the point you should think of them as a HAZARD, bullets can fly two miles, etc. May not be out to get you but they can be dangerous. Poachers get onto Mom's land and bullets hit things. Always the concern for who could be looking for something moving assuming there's only deer there. There's been a few confrontations. Then there's the land next door.

And Shine has a point: How do we know you're NOT someone trying to take away their American way of life. . . ?

Perhaps I should find some help in displaying the American Flag for Memorial Day.

 

[swbluto]

Dude, I just added the milling machine to check out with my 20% off coupon and Harbor Freight just delisted it from the site!

Don't tell me they realized their website error after I added it to my cart and used the coupon...

Jeez, now I'm getting tempted to checkout thinking I might not get the opportunity again.

But, fudge me, I just can't. Got bigger higher priority projects that need to go first, like the fence and shed and all that. I don't strictly need the shed, but it'll come in handy by the time I get the mill machine, lol. I'm not really sold on it anyway... can't really come up with a justifiable case for it, other than making metal parts seems like it'd be cool.

Okay, they just reimplemented the link, so it's still there.I have until June 30th to make use of this 20% off coupon, so plenty of time to decide.

 

[DAND214]

Dude, I just added the milling machine to check out with my 20% off coupon and Harbor Freight just delisted it from the site!

Don't tell me they realized their website error after I added it to my cart and used the coupon...

Jeez, now I'm getting tempted to checkout thinking I might not get the opportunity again.

But, fudge me, I just can't. Got bigger higher priority projects that need to go first, like the fence and shed and all that. I don't strictly need the shed, but it'll come in handy by the time I get the mill machine, lol. I'm not really sold on it anyway... can't really come up with a justifiable case for it, other than making metal parts seems like it'd be cool.

Okay, they just reimplemented the link, so it's still there.I have until June 30th to make use of this 20% off coupon, so plenty of time to decide.

You want coupons? Just join there mailing list. I get the monthly catalog and weekly sales. Oh I forgot, you don't have a mailing address.
Did you read that they are special order or made to order? How would you power a 1 1/2 hp mill? Don't believe your small generator would handle it.

On another subject.
Dauntless, please send her here NOW, I will be happy to show her off! Memorial Day and any other day.

Dan

 

[swbluto]

I do get their coupons in my email, but I don't get special 20% coupons. Haven't seen them anywhere.

Anyway, the locals... yeah, you can tell who the transplants are and who "The locals" are. If I can understand them, they're transplants; if they have too heavy of a background southern twang/slang/wtf, they're local in some capacity. Maybe Louisiana or something, but somewhere close. I can't understand these white rednecks, lol. (I can get the gist of what they're trying to say about 60% of the time.)

The white people in Conroe, whom don't appear to be rednecks, I understand them just fine. But "The locals" in the nearby areas... yeah, what the hell? :lol:

Maybe they are something other than locals, because I'm assuming the majority of locals speak proper english. Maybe they're just simply rednecks.

And...It looks like I just got a 20% off coupon in my email for HF. Well, I guess the coupon I was given wasn't really that special, lol. Just need to be patient and wait for the 20% coupon.

And there's that free electric swatter coupon I was waiting for this weekend, too bad I have no planned trips to conroe. Perhaps I should arrange one...

 

[marty]

 

[marty]

Buying forest land, implementing solar > Search this topic… > shower > Search found 25 matches: +shower
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=shower&t=82223&sf=msgonly
If the shower ever happens? I will be ready with a "animated gif clapping hands"

 

[swbluto]

I need to find my shower tent first. Maybe I'll trying finding it soon. Otherwise, yes, I have everything I need... except towels, lol. Yes, I'll need to get some towels on my next HF visit to return the farmjack.

Anyway, walking on the road during the evening sun (A popular time for the lizards to be hanging on the edges of the road), I came across a 3-4 foot black snake! I had my machete in hand and was trying to catch it, but it slithered into the forest (Machete movement would be impaired in the thick of the forest.). It's kind of amazing how fast these guys move on natural terrain, their visible body shape/appendages wouldn't seem like they could.

Anyway, first witnessing of snakes in the area.

Update: Couldn't find the shower tent in the front. Would like to check the back, but the back hatch stopped opening. Maybe I should check the mechanism - the first time, the problem was because of a busted relay but this time... might be something mechanical, disconnected rod.

Update: Climbed through the back, didn't see an obvious mechanical issue, opened it manually from the inside. Didn't see the shower tent in the back, so maybe it's hiding in the crowded front somewhere. I thought I was pretty thorough, but maybe not thorough enough. I don't recall seeing a shower tent when I pulled all the packages out for stowing them, so it's not likely I stowed it anywhere, but I should check all possible locations where it might have been stowed. Otherwise, if I cant' find it anywhere, it's possible I never received one, but Amazon seems to think I did.

If I can't find the shower tent, I may just make use of my bug screen apparatus, but it's obviously not very effective at keeping flying insects out currently. Will likely need to relocate away from the current trash collection, and weight the bottom to help seal it off from entry so that wind doesn't "open it up". Perhaps I should stake it, but there's no obvious staking mechanisms/loops. And, I'll need that electric bug zapper to clear out the current interlopers.

And, wow, sales have dropped like a rock recently. I think it's usually like this around this time of the week, but rarely have I seen 5 consecutive days without any sales across all my platforms. I peg my spending to last week's income, so as to minimize financial hemmorhaging in the case of a drought, and if the drought is persistent enough and no efforts to recover seem to matter, than the fallback plan gets enacted. Find local employment. But, if such a drought occurs due to a big recession of some sort, then even that might be unfruitful, in which case, it'll be time to stock up on rice and peas, lol (Probably should also store oil and salt...), and ideally I would have those berry trees long planted by then and have my fruit preserve collection well established.

But, would a large recession get going now... that does seem doubtful... It would seem such a thing would tend to occur during fall/winter, that is, "preparing for winter" and then not recovering from that mindset for a long time.

Update: Wow, the rabbit population must be booming. Saw one in plain daylight "hiding" in the brush by the road, saw another one yesterday night when I was turning off the generator, and something darted from my trash to udnerneath the IBC tank. Took a look, oh look, a rabbit is underneath my IBC tank! Anyway, cute little buggers... BUT... they might just eat my veggies, so I'll obviously need to fence in the gardens, lol. And, I need to get a fence suitable for snakes for the bunny/chicken perimeter. As to hawks, I might just stretch a net across the sky around the RV. Putting a net around the entire backyard... hmmm... yeah, 100 ft by 75 ft... I'm not really sure

 

[swbluto]

Oh, nice. A flight from Houston to New Orleans is $90. Considering that a 900 mile round trip would cost me $100 in gas, that sounds like a bargain. So, if I ever need to get to New Orleans (For, say, the french market), flying is one viable way. Heck, I'd say that's probably true of any of the major cities along the gulf coast compared to my van. Now I just need to find those morning departure, night return flights, don't know if they exist at that price range.

No return flights after 7 p.m. and before midnight, oh that's a bummer. It'd be kind of nice just entering at the top of the morning and returning at the end of the day to enjoy a full day at the French Market.

And what is with this loud bird chirping at 11 P.M.? This has happened a few times.

 

[Chalo]

And what is with this loud bird chirping at 11 P.M.? This has happened a few times.

Mockingbirds get a little cuckoo this time of year. One of them is running through his repertory outside my house as I write this at half past one in the morning.

 

[swbluto]

And what is with this loud bird chirping at 11 P.M.? This has happened a few times.

Mockingbirds get a little cuckoo this time of year. One of them is running through his repertory outside my house as I write this at half past one in the morning.

Oh, yeah, that's exactly it. Found a youtube video of someone with the exact same complaint and it sounded just like it. They do have quite a repertoire.

[youtube]4vJcbp4hsFs[/youtube]

Research has shown that mockingbird males, like songbirds everywhere, sing to attract mates and to advertise territorial boundaries during the day but unlike most birds, they also sing at night for hours on end during the spring and summer. I was lucky enough to have one choose to sing right outside my bedroom window. They sound like a car alarm going off all night long. I hope this one finds a mate soon so he will shut up.

It's interesting the diversity of birds down here. Definitely did not see red jays, blue birds and mockingbirds back in Spokane, WA. I was actually a bit perplexed why it seemed like there was no birds there, except for the seagulls at the highschool parking lot feasting off lunch leftovers, even during the summer, there wasn't really any birds I could find.

Well, actually, I take that back. I did occasionally see black crows that would caw. The birds down here definitely sound a bit more melodic. It's interesting I don't really remember seeing black crows down here; the black birds I've seen I think are probably mockingbirds. Those dominance of the blackcrows up there made me a bit paranoid; I preferred sand pipers and toucans myself, but those were notably absent that far up. It gave the area a facade of death, and my neighbors were succumbing to mortal diseases, kind of affirming my suspicions. (Granted, I could probably pin his issue to excessive refined carb consyumption + too sedentary + unemployed + age, which some of that may or may not be related to the crows or the reason why they're prevalent there.)

Anyway, yesterday was pretty fab. Finally found this song and who would've thought calvin harris would've made it(Although, I personally /really/ doubt he came up with the lyrics.). Got the grammy awards for Dance Music the year it was made.

And, I solved some previously intractable problems and got my workers back to work. That probably had a lot to do with it.

Getting called king and having girls hitting on me, that might have something to do with it.

[youtube]17ozSeGw-fY[/youtube]

Starts shortly after 0:52.

Also found Calvin Harris's 'flashback', which also had some sweet melodies.

It's interesting how his style changed from the early years (2009) to modern(post 2012). It's like his music became more... emotional and intense ... which is probably why they're more popular than his earlier ones. But... I think that's primarily because he's casting all these other musical talents, whose voices are more emotional, not that Harris himself is, lol. Well, he had the wisdom in recognizing the combination of the best talents of everyone; I think his success has a lot to do with running a great business, putting people are where they do their best work. But, maybe the zeitgeist of 2009/2010 was depressing... the depths of the worldwide great recession... But... that doesn't make a lot of sense, because usually (The more successful) businesses/independents tend do their best work during the worst of times.