Buying forest land, implementing solar

[swbluto]

Ever hear of monofilament fishing line ? Makes pretty good trip wire, to signal intrusion. Place it high enough so small animals won't trip it.

Good idea. I could thread it through my neighbors property which may be useful when the bedroom gets built. And, I might get it threaded onto the land in front of me right here which seems to be a common approach for them. I don't really know what to attach the trip wire to, hoping for some affordable readily available off the shelf solution.

And, it looks like this covers the episode (Sweating, nausea, sleepiness):

http://symptomchecker.webmd.com/multiple-symptoms?symptoms=chills%7Cexcessive-sweating%7Cfatigue%7Cnausea-or-vomiting&symptomids=51%7C228%7C98%7C156&locations=66%7C66%7C66%7C20

Generalized anxiety and hypoglycemia. Those can happen together, yes. I was feeling a bit anxious writing that out, so that's not entirely unlikely. My EKG looked fine despite the high BPM, which is why I was not immediately concluding heart problems. Having it pass within 2 minutes of laying down definitely seems predictable of anxiety.

 

[swbluto]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/2668302a-fa72-3013-87bc-a7725a3eb1c4/ss_natural-sugar%C2%A0may-trigger.html

Now, scientists have found that the immune system may be triggered to treat atherosclerosis and possibly other metabolic conditions, including fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes. Studying mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that a natural sugar called trehalose revs up the immune system's cellular housekeeping abilities. These souped-up housecleaners then are able to reduce atherosclerotic plaque that has built up inside arteries.

Oh interesting. What contains trehalose?

https://examine.com/supplements/trehalose/

Trehalose is found mostly as a component of mushrooms in the diet, with limited exposure in the human diet otherwise.

Well, that's curious. I've been buying portabella mushrooms to boost my Vitamin D intake... it looks like it might have other benefits.

Looks like it gets digested in the tract into its constituent glucose molecules according to the paper. Does it get broken down when consumed via mushrooms? It almost seems like mushroom don't get digested the same way as other foods...

Anyway, there's other papers that show mushroom benefits for the heart, so this seems more and more likely.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2916885/

These data provide evidence that dietary mushrooms can inhibit cellular processes such as adhesion molecule expression and ultimate binding of monocytes to the endothelium under pro-inflammatory conditions, which are associated with CVD. As a result, these findings support the notion that dietary mushrooms can be protective against CVD.

So spinach and mushrooms all excellent for health. Coincidentally, it's what that musclar body builder was buying along with plenty of steak. I wonder if that guy consumes any carbs? Because, while there are glucose paths for animal fats, I wouldn't think he consumes enough animal fat (I could be wrong), unless he's buys other groceries some other time (More than likely, I'm thinking.).

Anyway, I think I've been running hypo today, because my bananas weren't as ripe as I thought they were, lol. Apparently yellow bananas doesn't really necessarily mean they're ripe, lol.

So, with what I've learned so far... I'd say the good produce shiznit is...

Spinach
Mushrooms
Watermelons
Tomatos

There's many more besides that are really good (Almost all of them? lol), but those seem to have fairly compelling unique benefits.

 

[swbluto]

Thinking about growing mushrooms here. They seem to grow like gangbusters here. Thinking maybe some morels and psys? Just kidding about the last one, lol.

And, now I'm totally expecting a DEA visit. (Funny how internet text has a way of attracting certain government workers.)

Anyway, I do see that the spores aren't illegal...

 

[swbluto]

Wow, fourth straight day of dreams. This dream was apparently about me hunting down old High School counselor(? Or was it community college), to get the degree I needed to fulfill the requirements for satisfying the bachelor requirements so I could get this bachelors. Apparently I was late to watching a movie, and past attempts to make up for it (I talked to the teacher/counsler/etc.) were futile (You missed it... oh well... You'll have to take the class again, requiring renenrollment and retaking the class /again/.)

Anyway, yes, it was probably my associates degree because I did have a few remaining requirements there.

And, she chuckled and apparently they knew who I was and what I was there for before I even arrived despite it being some 5-6 years since the last time I saw them.

Anyway, they recalled the excuse for missing one of the requirements (Late to watching a movie), and graciously overlooked it and gave me the degree. I updated them on where I was now and, ooo, she could just squeeze my cheeks and say she was so proud of me, lol.

Anyway, I already have my bachelors, so that was an entirely unnecessary dream... but... I think something happened along those lines in the past, I think? Tying up loose ends I've long forgotten, I guess.

(Paranoid i'm tying up loose ends because my body is getting ready for closing the book. )

I was about to say there was another female I met, but then i remembered, she just challenged me being in the class when I was walking through en route to the counselors office. There was something happening before then, not much, and obviously not that significant.

And with this particularly sweet sonaron desert honey, it seems like 1 TSP is the magic amount. 1 TBSP is just too sweet. This honey has a particular sweetness about it that the cheaper duller honeys don't, so it appears I only need 1TSP whereas it'd be 1 TBSP with the HCF honey. (Of course, I was trying to fatten up then, yes.)

Update: Reading about soil erosion, I started thinking about the process of converting forests into farmland, and I realized that the solution is simple; keep the forests intact and have small pockets of farmland strewn throughout. The trees will keep the winds down which would keep erosion minimized, and further, the leaves/pine needles the trees drop are pretty important for keeping the soil fertile, which would help farmers. So, the solution to soil erosion and nutrient deprivation is fairly simple, use the forests to your advantage.

Just thinking about that, because the front half of my property is leaves/pine needles, which should provide more than enough leaves/needles for years to come, and I'm lucky the surrounding properties haven't been clearcut yet in regards to wind. If I had a larger property, I could more fully implement this scheme, but doesn't really seem as feasible on these smaller properties with how tall these pines get.

 

[nicobie]

FYI Nothing lives under a pine tree.

 

[swbluto]

In my neighborhood, plenty of underbrush (Little oak and pine saplings), grass patches and mushrooms lives under the pines.

 

[swbluto]

Okay, all the smaller trees should be cleared by the end of tonight (Looks like I have 2 more). And assuming I have time to do it tomorrow, the large trees are coming down tomorrow.

I want to remove two trees from my neighbors property. It's just 2 feet over the property line, so I'm thinking it's not a big deal, especially if I hide the evidence, lol. They both have big leafy canopies that project over my yard and it's one thing these leafy trees are good it, it's sucking up all the sun.

Once I get the bedroom built, I want to get into the habit of patrolling the backyard at night. So, I want to put some kind of bait back there for the critters, and then shoot the ones I don't want, lol. (I.e., rats and racoons)

For that to be effective, I'll have to somehow make my trashbags less appealing. The critters don't like keeping the trash in the bags, to my dismay, creating a mess. And, the 40" fence I used doesn't seem to stop them. I'm thinking maybe I can create a tall platform that they can't climb, or maybe I can string a suitable net high off the ground.

Well, I'll fence in the property with the main fence soon enough, and that should keep that problem under wraps. But... do raccoons climb trees? They could just leap onto my property from the branches. I notice the squirrels can. I don't really know if the squirrels are among the culprits, I wouldn't think so?

As to protecting the crops from the critters, well, I guess I'll have to implement something like nets for the ground crops (Tunnels). And I'd probably want nets anyway for the fruit trees, to protect them from the caterpillars. They just love the large luscious leaves the fruit trees have, I've noticed.

Thinking perhaps the ground crops could benefit from vermiculite amendment.

Once diseases start running through, I'm guessing I will be pushed to start building raised beds and then I'd partition to them to quarantine further disease development. That's assuming I get to the point where crop rotation won't be ideal.

The current greenhouse will be used for seed germination, methinks. I don't really know how practical growing tropical crops in the greenhouses are here, I guess I could try experimenting with tomatos in my small greenhouse and if it looks promising, I could implement a tropical greenhouse.

Seems like stale moist warm air has a way of promoting disease development. I think the solution is fresh air movement. But, running colder outside fresh air through the greenhouse during the winter would make it colder, kind of defeating the point, lol. So, I don't fully understand the conventional solutions to that other then vigorously pruning crops and praying at least half with survive, lol.

Update: Okay, tonight, stopped by the local BBQ place because I wanted some fatty damn brisket, lol. This is BBQ country, I should be able to get some right? Lol.

Well, it was 7:50 p.m. and the sign clearly said they would close on Thursday at 8:00 p.m., but... no sign of life anywhere. Doors locked, lights off inside. Well, I guess they just set their hours however they feel like, lol. (I'm guessing they probably took off at 7 since their M-W hours were at 7)

[Background, I was trying to get some fatty brisket from HEB but the cashier conspicuously was avoiding me by finding some other nonessential thing to dilly-dally with, and that's something I don't have patience for, so I put a timer on him: 20 seconds. He didn't say hello by then, /bam/ not getting my business. Granted, I spend enough at HEB as it is and they aren't hurting for my business, lol.]

Ok, so it was off to the taco place tonight. I could tell I wasn't feeling the love for carbs tonight (Grapes didn't taste good and neither did the watermelon), and my guess it that's because my peak effort pulling that tree from the mess of vines was a bit excessive, and that caused the cortisol to shoot and my blood sugar to spike for the day [During the peak pulling forces, I could definitely feel my heart react, reminiscient of palpitations]. Might have difficulty sleeping tonight. Or maybe it was the 2 cans of peas I ate at 1 p.m.... I dunno.

I could definitely tell that my body really liked the mushrooms, chicken and wine though, interestingly enough. It wasn't hard for me to eat all the mushrooms, lol.

The taco place charged me 7.25 for what looks like a pretax amount of 6.30. What gives? 15% tax seems a little unbelievable. I get the sense these people set whatever price they're feeling like, and they feel like I got money to spend, they'll charge more. Sorry, that's the not kind of establishment I like visiting, so I'm going to curtail my visits there. They've done this once before in the distant past, and this is repeat behavior, so I'm cutting them off. I should let them know though, perhaps there's a misunderstanding they may or may not want to correct. They don't seem interested in losing my business...

It's just that... I don't have an alternative source for chicken or eggs or anything.... lol [my protein is limited to the peas and peanuts and the protein absorption from peanuts is dubious. I occasionally have fish.]

Yes, anyway. I think it's solely because they're trying to take advantage of me hoping I wouldn't notice. Which makes them a thief. Because that's what thieves do - they try to take from you hoping you won't notice. And I don't patronize thieves. It's one thing to play robinhood, it's another to steal from your neighbor.

And to think I was interested in her, lol. That's one way to quickly lose my interest - lose my trust.

Anyway, got some coconut oil I'm going to try with my cocoa. I'm using the cheaper brand this week and I'm going to see if the coconut oil is a cheap way to get that fatty ghiradellia quality cocoa with the cheaper nearly fatless cocoa powders. [They remove the cocoa butter and sell it separately; cocoa butter is some expensive stuff.]. It's not that I'm being cheap with the cocoa powder, I just forgot to get the ghiradelli and all I have is this cheap cocoa powder, lol.

Anyway, while I was drinking earlier tonight... I was wondering why I hadn't seen any drunks on the road here. Going through the set of towns along the highway near Childress , with the number of patrols and the amount of wobbly slow drivers whom I presume were drunk, I assumed getting drunk was a fairly common Texan thing to do, lol. It's among the jokes I've heard about Texas anyway. But, I haven't seen one drunk since moving here. Not entirely sure why not... I guess that drunkness is a disorder of the destitute and people in Houston are generally not destitute, at least not these parts [This is generally a white part of Houston.].

 

[Dauntless]

FYI Nothing lives under a pine tree.

In my neighborhood, plenty of underbrush (Little oak and pine saplings), grass patches and mushrooms lives under the pines.

My experience with pine trees is that the needles get so thick under there, nothing grows. I suppose you could get some pictures of this interesting phenomenon.

As soon as I'm reading ". . . . hunting down old High School counselor" I'm thinking of my own fantasizes of hunting down ANYONE connected to my first high school. I don't quite rank it with hunting NAZI's, but I don't like the idea of them dying without facing justice. I remember several years after I'd escaped was dreaming of being part of the SWAT operation to free my old classmates still being held there against their will, who in real life would have been out by then even if they didn't graduate. Which was the norm, they'd expel people a few weeks before graduation because they weren't good enough to get a diploma from that silly place. I'm just glad I didn't stick around and find out if I'd be one of them. One guy from my carpool never bothered to get to a public school and graduate, another I know at least started at one. The one kid who stabbed the principal and started the wheels of justice turning a little anyway wasn't one of my classmates. . . .

But oh yeah, the idea that they'd issue hunting licenses for the dirtbags from that school. Too many avoided justice. . . .

 

[swbluto]

FYI Nothing lives under a pine tree.

In my neighborhood, plenty of underbrush (Little oak and pine saplings), grass patches and mushrooms lives under the pines.

My experience with pine trees is that the needles get so thick under there, nothing grows. I suppose you could get some pictures of this interesting phenomenon.

As soon as I'm reading ". . . . hunting down old High School counselor" I'm thinking of my own fantasizes of hunting down ANYONE connected to my first high school. I don't quite rank it with hunting NAZI's, but I don't like the idea of them dying without facing justice. I remember several years after I'd escaped was dreaming of being part of the SWAT operation to free my old classmates still being held there against their will, who in real life would have been out by then even if they didn't graduate. Which was the norm, they'd expel people a few weeks before graduation because they weren't good enough to get a diploma from that silly place. I'm just glad I didn't stick around and find out if I'd be one of them. One guy from my carpool never bothered to get to a public school and graduate, another I know at least started at one. The one kid who stabbed the principal and started the wheels of justice turning a little anyway wasn't one of my classmates. . . .

But oh yeah, the idea that they'd issue hunting licenses for the dirtbags from that school. Too many avoided justice. . . .

Oh jeez, that sounds awful. I hope that isn't symptomatic of California's society at large, but my inkling thinks that it might be. Wow, if they did that to me, it'd be straight onto GED testing, as I don't have time for that abuse of power. Stabbing the principal, the almost sounds as bad as me shooting the band teacher in the head, lol. I kid.

 

[The fingers]

When I was in Junior High a kid stabbed the Spanish teacher right in front of the entire class.

 

[swbluto]

I find it funny about Trump, the things I wouldn't want him to accomplish, he seems to be accomplishing, the things I want him to accomplish, he's being stymied all the way and not accomplishing.

For example, repeal dodd-frank (Yikes), dismember the Consumer Protection Bureau (Well, we seemed to be doing fine for decades without it I guess), concentrate all student loan handling into the greediest and most manipulative big-bank-owned wall-street company Navient (Egads, corruption there.), and then taxes... not really going anywhere... the wall... not really going anywhere. Yeah, he seems to be moving forwards on all fronts that benefit the big banks at the expense of the overall economy and consumers, and going nowhere with the things that might have an ounce of benefit to the overall population. Well, supposedly he's been wrestling up more illegals than before, I guess.

And, the big banks were the ones who caused the depths and duration of the Great Recession, so I can't really say I like what Trump seems to be /really/ accomplishing. And, Hillary really wouldn't be any better (Obviously on their payroll). Yeah, so I'm thinking the Big Banks engineered this election so their interests would be served either way.

So far, I disapprove of his performance, but we'll see where he gets us in a couple years. Maybe he'll advance in areas that actually benefit the population at large. So far, I'm just seeing BIg Bank helping/enabling.

 

[swbluto]

Jeez, 11:40 p.m., moonlit night and I'm trying to find my machete, so I walked to the backyard (Might have put it in one of the stumps and left it) and was shining my flashlight around and that singing I could hear in the distance sounded like it was getting closer, like it was just a couple hundred feet away. Normally, people aren't going around singing this late night in the middle of the forest, so that's a bit creepy, especially when it happens to be right where I"m at, and especially when it seems like he's following my light, lol. I turned off my flashlight real fast and just stood still and eventually the singing trailed off, and then I made my way back to the RV without using the light. And, I still don't know where my machete is, and I could really use it now! Got some creepers in the midst, lol.

A ha, found it. Hidden underneath my seat.

Anyway, standing still isn't really advised here with the mosquitos. But, holy crapoly, random singing voices in the midst with unknown intentions that happen to be near my property. What if I rwas sleeping?

Anyway, normally I would be trusting of people, but quite a few of the people here seem to be hostile and many of them possess guns, so I can't really trust the intentions of a random guy singing in the forest nearby near midnight.

 

[swbluto]

Okay, thinking about adding roof access, but I haven't fully realized what it might look like yet. I'm just thinking is someone blocked off my exit/entrance, I could exit through the roof and pick off the bad guys one by one from the top, lol. I kid, I realize that reality doesn't always mesh with what I might idealize, lol. Just thought, it'd be kind of cool to have roof access for an unencumbered high level view of my surroundings. And I could put the top vent here. Would be good for maintaining an encumbered view of the yard for pest control, and me going up to the top shouldn't alert the animals like going through the front door might. (And, I wouldn't want to shoot through the window because I wouldn't want to expose the room to the mosquitos and I don't feel like punching holes through the screen, lol.)

The does make for questions as to what to put up there for rain protection. Because, previously I was thinking of slanting a tarp until a pitched roof could be put up a later.

There are times when I wished my RV had roof access, which is part of the reason for that. It has this top hatch, but no practical way to climb up out of it.

In the latest design of the complex, I imagined the north wing would have a second floor with a balcony view of the courtyard.

Anyway, I find it interesting that flossing and brushing doesn't seem to quell the right top molar inflammation, but nuking it with a garlic clove seems to do the trick, lol. I would ordinarily think that tooth paste would be nearly as effective as the garlic, but I guess it isn't...

 

[nicobie]

The North Wing?

lol

 

[Harold in CR]

You haven't guessed ?? He's designing a Trump-Ma Hal.

 

[swbluto]

That's right, I'm designing a Trump-Ma Hal. When it's finished, I plan on renting it out to upto 6-8 different tenants. It'll be my retirement income, lol. But, I would have to design a parking lot for something like that... which is doable... but it's an expense.

See, I'm not using the credit markets and instead building up my residence the old fashioned way using accumulated earnings for building funds. That way, I don't have a bank taking my wealth, and I never risk losing my residence to the banks (The county, however, is another story.).

Of course, every empire has had humble(r) beginnings.

While walking in the privacy of my backyard, for some reason, I just feel so horny, lol. I'm thinking it must be how those italian landowners that have an orgy of wives ("the seductive cult"), living on your own property makes you feel dominant. Might just be the trees, sun and privacy.

 

[swbluto]

Someone was telling me that the repubs are in control now, so there's going to be a crash. Always has been that way historically.

I thought about it... And I thought well if the repubs essentially let the big banks do as they wish (Which seems to be what's happening), they're going to try to get consumer debt levels as high as possible to get as much property/assets under their money as possible, and to cause a larger crash in prices, so they can reap an even larger harvest when asset prices crash that much further. "The taller they are, the harder they fall". They strip people of their assets through foreclosure, debt collection lawsuits and attaching assets to the judgment and the like.

What evidence do we have of this happening.

Well, the Fair Isaac Corporation just decided to artificially boost credit scores by taking paid-for collections off the credit report. With this boost in credit scores, a greater swath of people become eligible for consumer loans, and with the reduction of lending standards the banks are going for with the republic government, they're obviously hoping to boost lending.

So, this is definitely setting the stage up for a market crash. But, I don't get the sense that it's "close". It takes a good amount of time for loan money to disperse through the markets as much as they can (Due to Bank Deposit requirements, money must be saved and lent out some 7-10 times before reaching its theoretical maximum money expansion, and the lending-saving cycles take some time in the consumer markets, since mortgages aren't a high frequency loan among home owners.), so by the time the banks essentially get free reign to infiltrate the markets with new money in a couple months, it'll be at least a couple years before consumer markets reach their peaks, I would think. Based on the timing of the last Great Recession, with easing lending requirements in the early 2000s(2001), it took a good 7 years for the mortgage markets to peak and crash in 2008. So, I'd expect the next major crash as a result of the current republican administration to be at least 3 years, and likely somewhere between 5-10 years. There may be smaller recessions between now and then in between.

 

[swbluto]

Oh, I found an article that said to place mushroom out under the sun between 10-3 p.m. for 30-60 minutes and it'll produce significantly more vitamin D for consumption. Didn't matter if the mushroom was upside down or right side up, as long as it had sun exposure. Anyway, that's really interesting, as I buy portabellas for specifically that purpose (Vitamin D), so think I'm going to be trying it out.

In the vitamin D deficiency group, I found an article on it and the link with advanced cancers. Apparently Vit D deficiency promotes cancer, just like it promotes heart disease.

This physician with her almighty opinion (Because she worked hard for it, et al... lol, just because you worked hard for your degree doesn't mean you know it all, lol.) informed me sun can give you cancer. I lol'd because I reminded her that a lack of adequate sun exposure and the resulting vitamin D deficiency can give you cancer. You only really have a heightened risk of skin cancer from sun exposure if you don't get adequate spinach or similar green leafy vegetable intake (I forgot the exact reason, but something in there protects the skin from the sun.)

And, it's notable, because I've gotten cumulatively more than 2 hours of sun exposure in the direct sun throughout the day and I've never got a sunburn here. Of course, I think that might be more due to intermittent exposure and not getting exposed for 2 hours straight; I think the skin has repair/maintenance mechanisms that easily take care of more minor exposure events given limited exposure and enough recovery time.

Anyway, I lol at these people who think they know everything when they are simply parroting the mainstream beliefs, which often don't have quite the complete picture, and many times end up encouraging more harm than benefit with their resulting advice. Avoiding the sun is risky, I'm just going to say that.

And, vitamin D is important for bone health. And, for that same reason, vascular health. Want to keep the calcium in the bones and off the arteries.

Update: On another note, I was thinking more about green leafy plant's sun protection, and I just kind of realized something; green leaves absorb sun. Could it be that by eating green leaves, you're injecting sun absorbers all throughout your bloodstream that help suck up some of the sun minimizing damage to your skin? Each skin cell gets supplied by a capillary somewhere. Yeah, it's an interesting thought, and I almost think that's how it works.

Update: As of 8:40 p.m., I've now removed 95% of the trees/branches sitting in the middle of the backyard, so I almost have a fully open backyard now. Woohoo! Tomorrow begins the chainsawing of the big trees and I'm going to work my way up.

Anyway, the gatorade formula of sugar and salt... probably not a bad comination. I was working hard moving the branches earlier, got tired as heck, so I had some salty cheese which was yummy, and that picked me up a little, and then I had 3 bananas, which was also yummy. Within 10 minutes, I was back to normal and ready to go for the next work cycle. And, now that job is pretty much done, just need to chainsaw the big trees down to open up the tree canopy for my garden. Once those come down, I'm focusing on construction, and I'll take care of the trees in the days to come (chopping them up into logs).

Anyway, i lol'd when I saw that my neighbor chainsawed a tree and it fell on his fence today, lol. They made that mistake some time in the past week, I can tell.

See, I was wise enough to not construct anything until the trees to come down were taken down first, I guess they weren't so wise, lol. (It's a minor repair job for them, though, no big deal.)

Update: Went to go get gas. I stopped by the mexican shop to first verify prices, and then ready to confront the ladron(thief) in my newly learned spanish, lol. But, the suspect appeared to flee as soon as I arrived at 9:30, hopped in the white truck with her hubby and child or so it appeared. It'd make sense, she looks like she's in her late 30s/40s. So, I couldn't do the confrontation part. But, I was able to do the "Don't patronize them" part.

I also learned that her name isn't Marie like she told me (I never asked for her name... I asked if she was this other person... which she denied... and she gave me a false name in return... telling me that it WAS her.), because the other employees never heard of this Marie. Granted, perhaps she's giving me false names because she doesn't want to be turned into ICE, lol. Anyhow, yep, I know exactly where they live not that I plan on paying them a visit... I was just wondering how well they were doing as small town entrepreneurs here and it looks like they're doing OK for their age and ethnicity. The husband appears to be the bread winner, so it's unknown how well the shop is actually doing. I don't get the impression it's doing exceptionally well after taking into account expenses and likely profit per item. Anyway, I'm curious about these things because I'm wondering if they /need/ my help or not... because I was helping them... which was costing me money... so I wanted to make sure they actually needed it.

But, anyway, having pseudo-verified she's the owner of the shop and seeing as to how she has a residence with 3 new vehicles in the driveway, it looks to me like they are doing OK and they don't really need my help. And, with her stealing from me, and she being the owner of the shop, I feel pretty justified in not patronizing them anymore. They don't need my help and the shop owner is stealing from me after me buying from them for several months now... Sounds like a "OK to cut ties" kind of situation. It's moved from "Patronize them daily" to "Only go if desired" to "Avoid unless you really want some tacos", lol. Not that I'm concerned about future theft, lol (I'm upto their antics now), just that I don't patronize people who knowingly steals from one of their supporters. I don't support people with bad character. Anyway, yanking of my support is significant, because I'm one of their $200/month customers. Most customers only spend $10-20/month there, visiting once a week for a $5 meal or picking up some beer, so I'm one of their more profitable supporters.

 

[DAND214]

Just what could you possibly have, that they had to steal it?

So how big are those big trees your gonna saw down and make logs from? Make logs and you can use them to build your new Trump ma hal. Are you considering a swimming pool with a golf course as well.

So how is that clay driveway doing today?

Dan

 

[swbluto]

I have spending money. With almost non-existent living expenses (Save food and gas), I have a bit of that and she can sense it. So she purposefully overcharged when the transaction amount wasn't the same normal amount as always because I was getting 2 bags of peanuts this time.

One looks like it's 60 years old, there's one in the way back I don't intend on cutting down that's 100 years old. I'd estimate 20" diameter for the former, and 30" diameter for the latter. The other pine trees I'm taking down are between 10-14" diameter.

Clay driveway is doing fine, the crevices a little deeper than normal.

And, in other news, a large flated truck woke me up at 6:12 a.m. and it looked like he intended on following all the way through to the end. Methinks he's the repo man considering his equipment and the hour. I wonder who's getting repo'd? If it's my neighbors down at the end because their drug production has been impacted by their own paranoia, well...

I sure hope they don't take it out on anyone but themselves, lol.

They have 4 families living there, so I can't really surmise who might be getting repo'd. Could be any of the non-drug guys, which I'm assuming is at least a few of them. It seems like the 20-somethings living there are working the drug scene.

I had a habit of getting secured asset loans in my early 20s (car loans, home loans, etc.; just kidding about the last one, lol.), but I quickly realized that the secured loan scene was a scam. First the financial companies go at you from the loan angle, and then they go at you via the insurance angle ("Full insurance"). The big banks own all these wall street companies that comprise like 80% of the loan/insurance markets, so they're really taking what they can from you. I didn't really fully understand the insurance/lending relationship back then, but I fully understand it now. So, now I'm of the type that refuses to get a secured asset loan. They try to tack on all these services/fees/etc. that make it more pricy, especially over the longterm, sapping your longterm net worth. Anyway, so I own all my assets outright now. Of course, that does make for some compromises (No 2600 sq.ft. house in my 20s, oh no, lol.), but it's called delayed gratification. I win in the end.

Granted, there are exceptionally high earners that can get all these secured asset loans and quickly pay them off... but that does tend be the exception rather than the norm. And, I wouldn't say that most high earners are quickly paying off their secured asset loans... some are. My parents did, and they fully paid for their house in 2 years after taking on the mortgage. Of course, it's hard to overlook their $150k income in figuring out how that happened, lol. It also took them to reading a book by Anita Bell to "See the light".

 

[Harold in CR]

20" and 30" diameter are pretty good sized trees. You don't mean circumference do you ? If that diameter is correct, you have a bunch of lumber capabilities in them.

 

[swbluto]

20" and 30" diameter are pretty good sized trees. You don't mean circumference do you ? If that diameter is correct, you have a bunch of lumber capabilities in them.

I do mean diameter, and I know this because they're about 4" larger than my 16" chainsaw, lol. I tried going at it with my axe but i found that the axe didn't make a 30 degree angle easy. It starts off at 60 degrees, and it seems like you can't change the angle because the axe just deflects, lol, and 60 degree makes for a LOT of wood I'd have to axe out. Thinking maybe 2 weeks of effort, lol. (I'm just going to chainsaw carve it out, I hope it works, lol.)

I'm going to start in an hour or so. I feel like I have to "warm up" to the idea right now because this morning started a little rough.

And, I was supposed to attach the wires to the rear hatch wiring so I can connect my 24v-to-12v coverter this morning, but I had to get groceries. I unexpectedly mowed through the bananas rather quickly yesterday, probably due to the heruclean levels of effort moving that entire pile of small trees, saplings and branches, lol. It's a little bit too warm now with the sun beating down on the van to do the install. 8 a.m. would've been perfect.

 

[DAND214]

Yep, I know what a 30" tree looks like. Had a Willow that was about 48", most of it came down by itself. Still had to cut it up. latest was a Maple and that was the smallest at about 20", so I know what a tree looks like.

dan

 

[swbluto]

Yep, I know what a 30" tree looks like. Had a Willow that was about 48", most of it came down by itself. Still had to cut it up. latest was a Maple and that was the smallest at about 20", so I know what a tree looks like.

dan

I take it you weren't the first property owner of this property? I can imagine that the original would've taken down all the saplings, leaving the large guys left. It's what my neighbor did when he cleared out the property.

Granted, I know back in Washington, an underbrush thick full of tree saplings was unheard off, instead you just had tall ponderosa pines everywhere (Here, we have loblolly pines. They tend to keep the branches at the top and lose the bottom branches.). So I suppose there could be properties with only large trees on it... maybe.

The area around the great lakes is/was naturally very thick in forests, yes.

And wow, I'm just noticing this thin green strip going through the southeast forests starting at the bottom of illinois and heading all the way to new orleans. I found that a little unusual, and it turns out it was areas that have been deforested to make farmland irrigated by the Missippi river. Wow, that's a pretty noticeable impact that the USA has had on its forests, clearly visible by satellite. Light green - grassland; dark green - forests.

And just took the generator to back and the pain in my right forehead started to throb a little and started feeling a little pressure in my chest for about 5 seconds. It seems like the effort-induced cardiac phenomenon has been picking up since yesterday, and yesterday is when my sleep started getting affected by that creeper, and then the repo man this morning. I get the sense that people are getting more active with it being warmer outside, which in various ways, seems to be depriving me of sleep. :x (If I were on my property, there'd probably be less opportunity for that; i.e., repo guy driving by wouldn't wake me up, I think.)

I just hope it's temporary and non-serious and not indicative of something progressive and really serious, lol.

I still got at least 5 hours of sleep, though (I think), so I wouldn't think it'd be too problematic normally. Think maybe the hardwork might be taking its toll. ?

Update: Just took an hour nap, feeling a little better. Can still feel that slight subgrade headache that feels like not enough sleep. Someone drove by in a silver camry hybrid and she was looking for the owner of a chihuahua. Don't know anyone who owns a chihuahua here, but the 4 mexican families at the corner might! lol. I've never seen it personally, but maybe they don't let it mingle outside with the large aggressive dogs they have.

Anyway, putting the mushrooms under the sun for an hour... they definitely tasted better. Can't say I "tasted the vitamin D" as I don't know what vitamin D tastes like, lol, but it did have a taste reminsicient of sun-drenched skin sweat, so maybe that 'taste' was the vitamin D.

Going to start chainsawing soon. Think I got about much sleep as I'm going to get.

And, I noticed a common theme in music videos. It seems when there's a falling out with lovers, as in Calvin Harris's "Sweet Nothing" and Lily Allen's "Smile", the girl's enlist a gang of guys to beat up their ex-boyfriends. Or, somehow, they end up getting beat up by a gang of guys for some reason. I hope that doesn't happen that often in real life. Thinking it might just be them fantasizing ("Wouldn't it be nice if my ex just had a bunch of gangbangers just beat the sh17 out of him?", lol.), lol.

 

[swbluto]

Started chainsawing at 2:30; drenching in sweat by the end of the first tree. One hardwood oak tree down, some 10-15 more to go. Feels like the hardwoods are harder to cut, requiring some manly force on the chainsaw. I'm hoping I can get more than one down by the time I start to drench the next time. Man, it's such a pain when the chain jumps off the bar, requires complete disassembly and reassembly which takes a good 2-3 minutes. I found my 4 pound sledgehammer useful for knocking the wedge out. I could feel it getting loose, but not quite cut off, so I just banged it until it popped out.

Seeing the repo guy going back this morning and hearing gunshots closeby this afternoon, I took some precautions and carried my rifle with me. Oddly enough, the shooting stopped soon after I walked outside with my rifle. I swear these guys are maintaining some kind of visual on me somehow, but I'm thinking it might be coincidence. I suspect they either have a camera pointed down the road from their property (possible) or someone installed a camera in this gap infront of my RV that one night when someone was jumping back and forth there and I'm guessing was shooting off a pistol (Possible, the logistics seem unlikely. How would they be powering it?).

I'm thinking I could get me a $450 basic AR-15 from the Academy sports store, but there are higher priority projects and the threat level while being appreciably higher than what I assume is 99% of America (I swear this is what South Chicago sounds like), doesn't seem especially high. I'm not sensing an imminent threat. I sense that people here are trying to intimidate each other, but no one actually does anything. Regardless, I do have standard nightly cautions. Lights off, windows blocked off, door locked. The front window is widely exposed, but a person would have to be standing /right in front/ of my RV on my driveway, and it doesn't seem like the people here have the cajones to do something like that. I think I scare them enough just by me walking around with my machete; I don't do it to scare my neighbors, but I think it's had that affect, lol. (I do it just in case I see that wild pitbull again, and he's feeling really hungry, lol.) I think they get the sense if they got near my RV, I'd pop out and hack them to pieces, lol.

Update 3:50 p.m., two more oak trees down. Looking at getting 2 large pines down next. Backyard is starting to turn into a maze, lol.

Anyhoo, I see that the birds liked jumping in the branches among the large trees in my backyard. Oh, that's so cool, it's too bad I'm taking them down, lol. (I still have trees in the front they can hop around on, they just really seemed to really like the wide open back, probably because they could easily see the insects on the ground below.)

I think they'll be using the trees near the perimeter, so I'm sure I'll get ample opportunity to see them.

Update: 4:50 p.m. - one large pine tree down. Wow, that one couldn't be predicted. Looked like it was going straight up with a little lean north, and so I was standing west of it with the cut facing in the north direction, and then the centerpiece broke when I was making the back cut and it started falling west! I moved /real/ fast, lol, to avoid getting hit. Thankfully, its falling pretty slowly initially giving ample time to move out of the way.

It did "gobble up" the chainsaw, which I let go of, but the chainsaw survived.

Update: 5:38 p.m. - the other large pine tree is halfway down; it landed in the branches of another tree in the backyard so it didn't quite touch the ground, and I'm not going to take that tree down until this tree is off of it (Don't want it fall on me, lol), so I'm having a little problem right now that might take some time to figure out. I tried pushing the tree off its stump, which it cleanly broke off, but it would not budge with the sledgehammer, my pulaski axe nor me pushing it with all my strength, so I'm thinking I'm cut it somehow. The problem with the chainsaw is that somewhere past halfway thru, the tree will start to pinch the chainsaw making it inoperable and with a large tree like this, the chainsaw could also become unremovable.

Now I'm starting to wonder if that's what those tree wedges are for; keep the tree from pinching the chainsaw.

So, I'm thinking I might have some time ahead trying to axe this tree apart. Luckily, it was a few inches shorter than my chainsaw, so it'll be a little easier to use my axe than on the 20" tree.

Just recently been getting that right ear vascular tinnitus. Can tell the workload and stress is inducing it. And the subgrade headache is coming back a little.

The primary possibilities for the right carotid is either artery dissection or carotid stenosis. I don't really know which one is likelier... symptoms would manifest pretty similarly since they have the same physical affect in terms of reducing the lumen (The area of the unblocked part of the vessel at the obstruction). I just happen to have an ongoing right molar irritation with some kind of gum pocket that I've been treating with light flossing and garlic, that leads me to suspect stenosis. And, it almost seems possible that this gumline has been affecting my heart as well since they seemed to be connected this morning. Right lobe pain immediately prior to 5 seconds of chest pressure right after carrying the 50 pound generator some 100 feet.

Symptoms of this right ear phenomenon (Vascular tinnitus) happened about 9 months ago, so it's persisting. If it kept doing this for 3 years, I would highly suspect stenosis, as the artery dissection should be healed by then.

Anyway, if this is true, then ... I don't have the equipment to know how severe my case is... if I'd be a candidate for carotid endarterectomy, then my survival odds are not looking particularly fantastic. I don't remember the exact statistics, but I think the 10 year survival rate was something like 40%? The author concluded it was so low because the stenosis indicated extensive underlying arthersclerosis and if they didn't succumb to stroke, they often succumbed to other vascular deaths. (He didn't mention what kind... but I'm thinking heart issues is not particularly unlikely given how common it seems to be in America.)

When I'm walking around and thinking I have impending heart issues, I first notice how energetic I am and quickly dismiss the idea. I know that's not an entirely realistic assessment, but it seems like fatigue, especially the inexplicable kind, would tend to precede issues.

And to think, I had this right molar dental procedure just 5 years ago that lead to this gumline irritation soon after. It's effects are preceding rather quickly...

To think the dentist put me at risk of stroke seems somewhat unusual, but it's not entirely unexpected. Surgery is well noted to increase vascular complications by introduction of bacteria, and this bacterial risk is a pretty common one. Usually it manifests in infection, when it does manifest, but dental procedures seem like they could result in increased rates in some cases assuming the mouth is one major source of arthersclerotic plaques. I don't have particularly strong evidence, but I know strep mutans DNA is found in plaques althroughout the vessels, and strep mutans lives in the teeth, so it doesn't seem unlikely. Strep mutans feeds directly off sucrose, as well as the simple sugars (glucose,fructose). I don't get the impression it feeds off of starches, unless it gets stuck between the teeth and amylase breaks the starch down into glucose. It seems like refined starches (Bread, tacos, etc.) get stuck between the teeth much easier than fibrous starches (sweet potatos and the like), as the refined starch just packs into the gum pocket of mine.

It's an open question is fruit sugars feeds the strep mutans. My inkling is that excess fruit sugars could, as I definitely have irritation after eating bananas all day. My excess consumption of fruits might not be a good idea. Vegetable starches (peas, sweet potatos,etc.) seem like possibly a better source of carbs for my particular situation. And this seems to be true universally; chickpeas and sweet potatos underly the substinence starches of the longest living cultures globally. I don't think eating bananas is bad, per se, but only eating bananas for carbs could be a problem in terms of balance. They're just such an easy source of carbs though...

Please don't remind me that laziness is one of Dante's deadly sins... lol

Wow, pulled out the rifle and the shooting stopped immediately and I haven't heard anything for the last 4 hours. It might just be coincidence...

I'm just feeling pooped... I don't want to start axing tonight, lol.

I guess I'll start tomorrow morning.

Okay, just ate some salty peas and LET'S GET TO AXING! lol.

Amazing what kind of affect salt has.

I can see why the Romans prized it so much; it kept the army's strength up.

Okay, got started. And started getting drenching sweat. Wow, about 1/4th way through. Only 2 more days of this and I'll be through! lol

I think I might just give up at some point and use my chainsaw. I think I'd use my chainsaw from below so that it doesn't pinch...

That sounds like a good idea...

And somehow I got some sticky pine sap on my hands... hmmm... smells good. I wonder if pine sap is nutritious to eat? Seems to be that things that smell good are nutritious. And, I know people eat maple sap.

Seems that pine needles contain a lot of vitamin C. Interesting, so do citrus fruits.

Anyway, not quite clearcut, but appears to be a good antiseptic. Might be a good flavor additive and it can help sanitize foods.

I'm just wondering if it contains sugar. Appears "sugar pine trees" do.