Ignore This Post

I have to post pictures here in order to use them on another site that doesn't store photo data.  I'm trying to explain how you can laminate studs together to support beams, but my descriptions were lacking.  They asked for sketch-ups---they get photos.

Eddie1278

    A friend of mine is studying psychology.  He was talking to me about an assignment where he was supposed to identify a modern manifestation of a classic mental disease process and provide a case history.
    I recommended writing the parallels of chronic internet trolls and psychopathic behavior.  I had the perfect case to study, too---some guy who goes by 'Eddie1278'.  I was first introduced to Eddie on a design/owner builder forum I frequent http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php .  I was encouraging someone to take on their own electrical work, and made the point that it was one of the easiest stages of construction.  Eddie, who is some sort of electrician, took exception to this and after multiple, very kind (I thought) attempts to turn his expertise into something positive, got himself banned.
   This student did an online search and informs me he's been banned from quite a few forums around the 'net.  He was able to identify a pattern----first throwing out some point of authority statement, then picking fights with whoever challenges, quickly calls them a troll, then gets banned.

   There are personality traits that 'trolls' have in common---but first, we should define 'troll'.  This from Wikipedia:   " In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people,^[1] by posting inflammatory,^[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally^[3][4] or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response^[5] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion"
    So back to the personality traits.  It was kind of fun to read these then go back to the trolled discussion to see this personality come out--- Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).

    Here's what I don't know.  Does the internet provide an outlet for these people, and it blows off steam for them?  Or does it just feed trolls so their self importance manifests in daily living? 

    If Ted Kaczinski had internet access, would he have had a place to blow off steam from his tiny cabin  alone in the woods off the grid so he wouldn't have sent off mail bombs?

     I'm guessing internet trolls habitually check search engines for their own names.  If so, 'Eddie1278' might read this....Unfortunately trolls are not capable of knowing they are trolls.

Back To The Project

I sort of backburnered this for awhile, but no more excuses. I got the next tier done for the slipforms for the underground laundry room at the cabin. I had to carry 40 sacks of premix down in there then mix it and use a bucket to pour it in the forms. I had two days to do it but AnnaMarie said if I got it all done in one day we could have a date the next. Great incentive!

Warmest Spot In The Nation

      Patrick's mountain bike team has paired up with some riders from Brawley.  They come up and ride in our mountains in the summer when it's too hot.  Now that it's winter, it's nice to drive an hour down the hill to where it's 45 degrees warmer.  You pay for it by riding in loose sand.

     I'm a little sore today.  We rode 15 miles through these little washes.   Patrick is more sore after failing to properly negotiate a 36" drop....He's got an awesome tire impact scar across his face.  Years of gymnastics training paid off, he rolled through the crash pretty gracefully.  Of course I made him go back and do it successfully as soon as he shook it off.

 

We rode up to this old concrete bunker that used to be a radar mount.  This is where the Blue Angels do their training, and it's an active bombing range just to the south.  Pretty fun day.

 

Most of the nation is in a cold snap right now.  It's 78 degrees here today.  The mountain in the background is La Cienega in Mexico.

Work Hours

Someone that serves on the lake board with me always gives me grief about how much firefighters earn in a year. It's hard to argue that we don't do well, but there are some things the media, when they print our names and incomes, fail to mention-- ---Our retirement is only figured on our base pay, not on overtime. By short staffing, the city saves money on retirements, insurance, and benefits. ---Some of that overtime is voluntary. Much of it is mandatory. I worked 418 hours of mandatory shifts in 2013. ---I was physically at work more than I wasn't at work in 2013.... Compare that to our troops, though. Some earn as little as $17,832 for the year, and get, as I undestand it, about 30 days worth of 'leave' per year. Or How about AnnaMarie? Her pay is essentially zero (this is hard to quantify. She has complete control over our finances and has access to all 'my', technically 'our', income) But she has no real time off, either acting as Mom or Wife or Gardener or Painter or Entertainer or Chauffer or any of a thousand other tasks...

Knott's Revisited

There's a special deal at Knott's Berry Farm for firefighters this time every year. I took McKenna and her friends a few times. Lauren couldn't care less for roller coasters, but Patrick, being Dangerboy, loves them. Since we downscaled from the giant Durango (7 seats) to the Versa (5 seats) we only invited 3 other kids. It was a great group and the park was pretty empty---they never had to wait for a ride and did 36 rides.... I touched bases with them a number of times but pretty much left them alone. I spent my time riding a few rides and researching alternative building methods..

I have to say I had to deal with some nostalgia. We sure had some fun back in the day, and though I wouldn't trade where I'm at for the world, I got that 'can never go back' feeling. That might have been part of my motivation to take Patrick and friends out of school for the day for the 2 1/2 hour drive (with no traffic) so maybe he could get a taste of it.

I'm Not Gay, But I Do Love Rainbows

I'll have to get pictures of it now that it's decorated. AnnaMarie recruited me to cut down one of the many feral western red cedars on our property and lug it to her cottage for her Christmas tree. Somehow the act of bringing it indoors made it double in size, and I had to bring it back out to take the bottom 18" off it so the angel wouldn't concuss on the ceiling. That's when this sunset rainbow appeared...Actually I had a much more vibrant picture but didn't save it properly...Same with the unicorns that appeared.

Just Need Paint and an Outtage

Got the generator box all finished. It really is quiet and runs cool. It's about as loud as the fridge inside the cottage. Plumbed to propane so the gas won't ever go bad. The roof is hinged in case the electric start fails and you have to pull start the thing. The exhaust is a water heater flue pipe wrapped in glass wool insulation then wrapped in aluminum high temp tape. I re-did the exhaust, it's double walled pipe going through the wall and extending out 12"---I was worried about exhaust heat so close to the fascia.

Sound In, Heat Out

The challenge is keeping the sound in and the heat out. I made an adapter coming off the muffler so I could channel the exhaust out of the box. I suppose I could get a better pic of how the adapter attaches; I wrapped the elbow with high temp aluminum tape for insulation and to keep the elbow from sliding around. The interior is all lined with foam board. The walls that face the house, have the studs turned sideways--that way there's room for insulation and sound transferring lumber doesn't go all the way through the wall.

Then, outside the foam board, there's a layer of fiberglass insulation. Even before putting all the vents in and roof on, it runs much quieter with a little sound barrier between the generator and the house. I walked AnnaMarie through the start-up procedure for the first time---she's able to manage it fine

A three inch duct will take the exhaust out. My adapter isn't a tight fit, I didn't want to create a backpressure issue (but I think 3" pipe for a short run won't be a problem)

Power Foundation

So the base is done. I like the effect of the concrete that was poured against the bubblewrap. Some of the cells filled with concrete, but if I ever did this somewhere that shows, I think I could be gentle enough so that wouldn't happen. I got the texture I wanted to absorb sound at least. I ran the generator. The transfer switch seems to work well, and I was able to power everything in the cottage. There's a slight flicker in the lights when you start up something with a motor, like the range hood or garbage disposal.

Generator Base

Just before I left for a week in Catalina with patrick's 8th grade class I got the base poured. I had to resist the temptation to strip the forms before I left--the concrete was still pretty green. You can see the sewer pipe elbows that will draw cool air in below the unit. I wrapped the inside of the forms with bubblewrap---the idea is walls with more surface area will absorb more sound than flat walls. We will see.

Talkin' 'Bout My Generator

Here's the trench.  I want everything nice and hidden.  There's this dark olive green pipe dope I've had great success with for the joints; I'll admit that getting threads started on 10' pipe isn't easy.

It seemed like I was going way too small with the wires from the generator, especially after wrestling with 6 AWG.  THe tables assure me 10 AWG is plenty for the short run and voltage I'm feeding.  Good thing, too---pulling that wire was hard.

Here's the form so far.  It still needs to be leveled and the rebar/anchor bolts pre-set.  I've got 1800 pounds of concrete mix in the back of my truck all ready to mix but I had to quit to get to Patrick's soccer game.  If it doesn't rain in the next 6 days while I'm working a 144 hour shift, it'll be fine.  Then I have to build the actual housing which should be simple

Projected Projects Project

Well, nature bats last.  We had some flashfloods last week---over a foot of rain.  It channeled down the trench for the power, and filled the future laundry room with some very rich soil.  It's not too bad really and my tenants are going to dig it out and use the soil elsewhere.

   It's a reminder that winter is coming.  This project will get backburnered a bit while I take care of some pre-winter projects----gathering firewood is one.  The other is the generator project.

 AnnaMarie's cottage was built to accept a small generator as backup power.  We get power outtages all the time--hot weather, windy weather, snow.  I finally found the generator I wanted---5,000 watts continuous, CARB compliant, electric start, dual fuel, 240v.  I'm plumbing it to the house propane cylinder which, if full, will provide about three weeks worth of fuel.  That should get us through anything.  I want it easy enough that if I'm gone AnnaMarie can just turn a key and flip a switch.  It was more complicated than I thought---geting the correct inlet pressure through the correct size pipes and all.

Another Slip Up

     Ready to start pouring the first slip form.  All the forms are ready; first step is getting materials in place.  I really prefer to make my own concrete but on a slope it's hard to get the sand, gravel and cement in place so I'm using readymix stuff and just adding a little extra cement.  It's 112 steps from my old truck to the pallet there.  For some reason the first sacks are full of styrofoam beads and the last ones, though exactly the same dimensions, are full of lead shot.

    Here's the slip form.  The rebar is in place and the forms are lined with plastic for a smooth finish.  This is the threshold, and the rough opening for the steel door is 34" wide so I have a 34" board holding things in place.  The continuous pour extends well past the doorway to prevent water leakage.  You can see the stub end of a carriage bolt stuck through the form----those will be set in concrete and give me something to secure the doorframe with later.  Here's a better picture from the other side---

 

 So now you're looking inside the form just pre-pour.  That bolt will be well embedded in the concrete.  I'll put one every 24".

 

Here's a yard of concrete, mixed in my mixer, wheelbarrowed over, and dumped in the form one shovel at a time--along with much tamping and vibrating the form in the hopes of having no voids or honeycombing.  The plastic lining really helps the concrete slide into place.  It'll also make stripping the form easier.

 

 The first pour is the easiest.  The next one I'll have to lift the shovel up higher---doesn't sound like a big deal, but it makes a difference.  Then the next pour gets more complex with the forming because I will be past the outer soil form and have to build an outer wooden one and support it; but, I'll be able to pour from above which will make things easier.

More Floor Pour

   Ready to pour the floor.  A vapor barrier is down but it has a gap over the french drain---vapor barriers work both directions, and I want water to be able to drain down.  This IS a laundry room after all.

AnnaMarie came to keep me company for awhile, and was productive being creative with acorn caps.

Here's the floor all poured.  Next will be building the slip forms.

Slip Form

It's been awhile since I've updated things---I've been stuck at work a lot so progress has been slow....The hand digging is mostly done so got the rough plumbing and french drain in.

Next is a bunch of gravel.  Since this is all below grade I want a really easy path for water to naturally drain away.  The white pipe is a perforated pipe with this long sock thing over it to keep it from silting up over time.

Then build the forms and set in all the rebar to get ready for concrete

  After that it's time for some concrete.  WHen I get back up there I'll strip the forms, add the rebar to the middle part and pour the floor.

If Wyeth Painted Pictures Of FireFighters

I'm Shedding

Here's a quick building update for the cabin's outbuilding.  It's basically a 12x12 shed with a walk-in basement which will become the laundry room, with room for an extra fridge (The cabin just has an under the counter fridge )

By digging out a sloping entrance tot he subterrainean room, it'll be easy to handle drainage.  Also---by having completely independent entrances for the shed and laundry below, interior stairs are eliminated.  They take up lots and lots of space and the slope is steep enough to allow it. 

All hand dug.  Work has been crazy busy---I've spent more hours at work than not so far this year--Mostly by choice, some by mandate.  So thankful the cottage was completed before work needed more

What Legislation Can and Can't Do

   leg·is·la·tion (l j -sl sh n). n. 1. The act or process of legislating; lawmaking. 2. A proposed or enacted law or group of laws.


     Legislation can fund a defense department.  It can build roads, it can set up rules for business and trade.

    It cannot change what marriage is.  It can pass laws seeking a public acceptance of, and to legitimize,   some relationships----but it isn't the legislature that ever formed the bond between a man and a woman.  That institution way predates any government system or current religion.

   It can protect the rights of parents.  It can protect and respect life and human dignity.

   Legislation cannot change when life begins.  It can be warped and twisted for the sake of convenience, but a unique organism is a unique organism, and if a single celled anything was found by a Mars probe, everyone would be calling it 'life'...

   Legislation cannot mandate prosperity.  It can re-distribute, but legislated re-distribution is such a counterincentive to productivity, it overall brings prosperity down.  Best to just stay out of the way.

   Legislation cannot change the weather.  It can impose carbon credits, punish corporations for being too successful, and remove a nation's competitive edge---but no amount of legislation will change the weather. 

      But they'll still try.

Laundry/Studio Project

   Here's an update of the latest project.  Our tenants at the cabin need a laundry room---when I designed and built it there was no intention for it to be a full time residence---what it lacks is ample storage, laundry, and a full sized fridge.
   Outbuildings are limited to 12' height and 120 square feet floor area.  My plan is to build the laundry underground with the entrance cut into the slope; the studio will be above.  It's built on a 4:1 slope, which I'm taking advantage of by having an upper entrance for the studio and a lower entrance for the laundry--no space wasted for interior stairs.
    It's slow going just because I've had to be at work so much.  McKenna's home from college and between summer stuff and her internship at the lake has been coming over to help dig