From the monthly archives:

December 2007

A few pix

by Wretha on December 31, 2007 · 0 comments

in WRETHA

I have some pictures (finally!), sorry the quality is not that great, it is from my cell phone, and it takes OK pictures, this will give you an idea of what I get to look at every day. :)

The first 2 are my cabin, it’s a work in progress, we work on it everyday.

This is a beautiful sunset, the pictures do not do it justice.


Bob and Pekoe looking at some deer.

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Winds, winds & more winds

December 31, 2007
Winds, winds & more winds12-28-09Winds, they are big around here, last night we had the strongest winds yet, it made the first night's weather seem like a walk in the park. A couple of gusts must have been 70-80 mph, it really made the cabin feel like it was going to blow over. Fortunately Bob had strengthened the cabin up a bit more, he put in a few more cross braces and the biggest improvement was a heavy cable that he strung up from the windward side. The winds seem to come mostly from the west to east, so he placed this cable from the top of the southwest corner of the cabin going to two different trees, that really ...

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Paper Isn’t Just For Decorating Your Walls

December 28, 2007
Paper Isn’t Just For Decorating Your WallsPaper cannot only beautify your walls but also make it cozier in your home as well. With cellulose insulation you get added warmth and noise reduction. Cellulose insulation is a great way to insulate your entire home. It has a R value on par and exceeding common fiberglass insulation and it remains consistent at a greater temperature range. Which keeps the heat out in the summer, but in in the winter. Loose-fill fiberglass can lose up to half its R-value at 20°F below zero, cellulose insulation performs at a higher R-value at 20°F below than it does at 70°F. According to the findings of tests conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. So that when your insulation needs are highest you ...

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The Land

December 26, 2007
The Land Come on back, Woody

As the off-grid movement battles for recognition of this way of life, it all comes back to land ownership, and the empty building land held by speculators and developers with no thought to the good of society as a whole. As house prices collapse back to where they should have been all along, and the banks look for new ways to take our money, its timely to remember the words of Woody Guthrie's immortal song This Land Is Your Land. Wikipedia says Guthrie was a "first-hand observer of the economic and environmental hardships of the Dust Bowl era, and became known as the Dust Bowl Troubadour".

The Dust Bowl may be coming back very soon.

This Land Is Your Land

This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and me.

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Merry Christmas

December 25, 2007
Merry ChristmasWell, our first Christmas on our property, the day has really been just like all the other days, we have just been working on everything. We got the compost system set up, I spent several hours gathering grass and leaves for the base, if you want to learn more about composting toilets, go here: http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html it's pretty eye opening, and it WORKS! Nothing smells, believe me, I would know it in our small 16x16 cabin! It's just as sanitary and works great as any other system, especially considering we don't have running water.We were invited to our new friend's house for Christmas dinner, everyone here is so nice! We assumed that we would move out here ...

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Lots to report

December 25, 2007
Lots to reportFinally, we made it, we left Irving TX for the last time. We had everything ready to go, our 28 foot trailer was packed, the bug was hooked up to a tow bar, the bug was full of boxes, the wiring on the trailer and the bug (for the tail lights) were hooked up (and working properly). All we had to do was get in the vehicles and go, it was a some time after 1 pm and we heard a crash, I went outside to see what had happened, my husband's son had a car accident right outside, wow, we were minutes from leaving when this happened, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but fortunately everyone involved was ...

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Invention Nation A Show To Catch

December 25, 2007
Invention Nation A Show To CatchChristmas Eve the Science Channel ran an all nighter on their new show Invention Nation. With only six episodes so far it is definitely a statement to the innovative spirit of Americans. Since wrapping presents lasted well into the morning hours, okay the show got our attention so wrapping didn't go that fast, we were able to see the episodes from the beginning. Though we do admit that after midnight retention of what we learned definitely went down. Even with that we still had some interesting things stick in our tired brains. (Did we mention that the children woke us up before 7am). So please forgive us if this if it's a little jumpy we just ...

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Cheap power for all

December 24, 2007
Cheap power for allGalena,Alaska, 2012? Sony invented the personal stereo, but Toshiba (under its Westinghouse division) appears to have gone one better - the personal nuclear reactor. The first is likely to be installed in Galena, Alaska in 2008. Instead of a very small number of very large nuclear power stations, the new 200 kilowatt invention ushers in the age of a very large number of very small nuclear reactors. And that might be a good thing. Or it might be a disaster waiting to strike.

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Help Focus The Nation

December 23, 2007
Help Focus The NationFocus The Nation is a movement that wants to find global warming solutions for America and they want to do it with the help of all Americans. They currently have four programs they are promoting to help America: National Teach-In, Green Democracy, 2% Solution, and Choose Your Future. The National Teach-In is set for January 31, 2008 and is hoping to engage students and citizens alike with their political and decision makers in a dialogue about global warming studies. It is designed to be inclusive of all educational types from K-12 to universities/colleges, also civic organizations, as well as faith organizations. You can get involved by either going to an event or if ...

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