alternatetheory

of the trials and tribulations of the modern american landscape.

the southeast is hot and humid. what doest his mean to most americans? higher cooling costs. what doest this mean to homesteaders?

(bad news first)
1. ITS FUCKING HOT AND HUMID. (no ac)
2. things rot. use it or lose it.
3. bugs.
4. too much thermal mass in your building equals mold in your building. ventilate, ventilate, ventilate.
5. swamp coolers wont work.

(good news)
6. it'll probably never be a desert. 40 in./yr. is a drought around here.
7. fewer killing frosts. usually. this past easter not withstanding.
8. pretty reliable weather for growing some things. but you can never be quite sure what.

so on the one hand, my little tent house is in near full sun, and it's sweltering.

on the other hand, everything in the shade turns green, and then into slime.

so.

i am all excitement

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Originally uploaded by hellbender

future site of our freakball tarp-and-sweetgum semicylinder kitchen/living room/barn.

am i thrilled? very underthrilled.

must it be done?

yes. it must be done.

progress?

i ordered solar panels, charge controller, etc.

the local solar co. (bigfrogmountain.com) is pretty worthless. they've made it a fucking excruciating process.

the doctor says i have a cold. have? will have? am having? will have had? i'm dubious, and i blame my friends for smoking.

tonight, i look for fungi.

no comment, no title

downloaded the potter, read it in a day, liked it okay, just a eensy bit trite, vigorously tying up every possible loose end, including the freaking longbottom.

in other news, piracy is good for you, steal all you like.

also, my compulsive tendancies include, but are not limited to, fiction, junk food, and bad tv.

mang, stupid anglicanism, why couldn't i have a nice protestant work ethic? i'd get so much more done...

dibble-dop doubts

here we are. edge of america.

frontiers in red-state-ville, shopping at the farmers co-op and making friendly with the army neighbors, commiserating with conservatives about the fall of america.

suddenly i remember why i moved out here. so logan-bogan wouldnt grow up in a concrete nightmare, so he would grow up in community.

but here we are, as isolated as any apartment-dweller - theres no landmarks on the road to community in sight, too much static at home, and it's too dangerous outside. you can't go out and play in brambles and poison ivy, and there's nothing to do but chase the dog and pull ticks.

doubt doubt doubt. sobriety and escaping rampant materialism, getting ungrounded means re-assessing everything, yet again, and look - the simple life. it's still not so simple.

bag of bags - transform!

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Originally uploaded by hellbender

into a huge mess!

but seriously folks - this homesteading shit involves a lot of... stuff. you have to be a total packrat, in order to accumulate the bits and pieces you might need to repair x or y some day, or to build z from scratch... more literally from scratch than is usually meant...

the effective corollary to all this hoarding is - you have to put all that crap somewhere! hence my accidental collection of everything that could contain something else.


i seriously open it up and use it - about every other day.


yeah, i'm convincing myself i'm crazy, too.

BAG OF BAGS

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Originally uploaded by hellbender

cleverly disguised as a simple sack...

no hay palabres

somehow, sitting in my car outside the mountain inn (pool! contintental breakfast! free wireless!) never really inspires me to be all overflowing with content and insight.

one of these days i need to get some toobs to pipe the internet all the way home.

after i get some toobs to pipe water.

and electricity.

but it turns out big frog mountain (the local solar co.) has a catalogue! sure wish they'd mentioned it, say, four months ago, when i started calling with questions... when i finally recieve it, i'll pass final judgement on BFM and their crappy customer service...

in other news GO DOWNLOAD PROMETHEA. mang it will change yo life.

flame and fang

now i carry four blades. my destructive powers increase.

enumeration:
multitool - victorinox, for uses various and multifunction
pocket knife - swat, for any number of uses - i occasionally use it also as hammer or pliers
nippers - felco #7, for small hands - my hands are very moderately sized, and my pruning is frequently close quarters
hand axe - gerber, ultralight, for that extra power needed to take down that bastarding ailanthus.

just thought i'd share.

cheers.

me an' my new best friend

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Originally uploaded by hellbender

stihl fs 90, bike handle bars and the motherlovin BUSHBLADE.

take that, multiflora rose.