he only part that wasn't a wonderful adventure was the Luggable Loo toilet. The sound of a flushing toilet still gives me warm fuzzies 16 years later.
I have a friend who inherited a cabin close to the riverbank up north of here — and while the property has a septic system, it is old and there are some issues. Her problem is that new laws require all kinds of monstrous B.S. to install a septic system on your property up there for environmental reasons, and for her to fix whatever was wrong with hers would have cost a fortune in just permits and all the government hassle alone. In fact, because her property was grandfathered in, it is one of the only properties where her cabin is located where you are even ALLOWED to have one.
Most people around her are using composting toilets for the same reason and you need no permit for them, and it is more environmentally friendly. She can use the compost to keep the trees on the property happy etc.
I would assume a scoop or two of sawdust to cover up your "deuce" and taking it out to the "happy trees" (as Bob Ross would say) is better than dragging out a nasty smelling chemical filled "Luggable Loo" whenever you have to drop a "2."
Hang in there. Eventually you will get water. My neighbors gave up after three dry wells dug (in an area reknown for not having good wells) and ended up hauling 400 gallons every day for 10 years. Anything is possible with perseverance.
400 gallons a DAY??? WOW, they must have been REALLY THIRSTY. But they say you should drink lots of water to stay healthy! hahaha…
…the more techologicaly adbanced a prep is, the more likely it is to fail.
Agree 100% — and the more likely it is a "throw away" item vs. something to be fixed. This is why I believe in old vehicles that are reliable vs. a new all-electronic vehicle. I mean, there are SOME vehicles out there RIGHT NOW that the insurance company will TOTAL just because an airbag was deployed because replacing the AIR BAG ALONE would be $20,000 — so vehicles are becoming as disposable as cell phones are.
I personally HATE driving the newer Jeep I bought when my old Cherokee was stolen. It was a bad scenario and we bought the best vehicle for the money and payment etc etc we could get, but I would much rather still have my old Cherokee vs. the new Liberty. I have already had a few electro-doo-dads fail on me that I am really not bothering to replace just yet because they are not mission critical.
I am going to buy a couple of flashlights today for security purposes.
Sounds like a 4D cell Maglight would be a better "security" flashlight than a new fangled LED if you know what I mean!!! There's a reason cops carry them and it has nothing to do with LIGHT… I keep one in my glovebox for the same reason.
My "stepson" has become quite the little homesteader. He's not even two yet and is following me around handing me tools, taking it upon himself to drag stuff to the burn pile, eating like a "big boy", basically just snatching stuff off the grill and munchin' down.
If your son is anything like mine he will LOVE it. I have been taking mine camping since he was less than a year old, and he just loves it. If you tell him we are going camping so he can play in the dirt he is pretty much standing at the door waiting to leave 10 seconds later. I am sure my daughter would have been the same way if I got this into her before she became a "princess" and it was too late.
The FUNNY thing is people (who are stupid) always ask me how difficult it must be to have a little baby out in the woods with you — and frankly what is the difference? It is not as if you need a bathroom for a baby that poops and pees in a diaper for one… And those are the types of concerns people have. I guess they could strap one of those plastic changing tables from the public restrooms to a tree if it would make them feel better about it.
The neighbors came down yesterday, admitted they were just being "nosey." I find it a little odd they came by the day after were heard someone walking around. GF says they seem alright but, I haven't met them and to be honest, don't really think I want to.
Ironic that I would be moving out to the middle of nowhere to get away from having neighbors I can't stand (which describes every single place I've lived in this city in the 18 years I have lived here). Sadly, even moving to a place where my neighbor's house is a corn field away — I am still expecting to not like them. JUST ONCE I would love to have cool neighbors!!!!! JUST ONCE!!!!!
Found out the coyotes are bad in the area, not a surprise, I grew up not too far from where the land is... Not unusual. GF knows to keep a good eye on the baby. Buying a new gun in a week or so, probably just a little .22, but, it's just 'yotes for now.
Reminds me of my mom's house where I grew up. Seems like everyone everywhere are having coyote problems these days. You see, where I grew up there were NO coyotes, and I never saw one in my entire life up there, and neither had anyone in my family. All of a sudden a few years ago they started popping up EVERYWHERE. They have attacked people's animals where my mom lives — and now that everyone has started picking them off with rifles whenever they come around, they are finding "DEP" game commission tags tagged to the ears of these things, while the DEP DENIES their EXISTENCE. Everyone I know up there keeps a rifle on hand now and are afraid to let the little ones play outside because of this. You can sit on my mom's porch and watch gangs of them working their way across the fields as we sit there picking them off with rifles etc. I would suggest something bigger than a .22 if you are trying to pick them off from across a field.
At the rate everyone is shooting them (according to my family) it should not be long before they are extinct again, regardless of how many the lying DEP introduce into the area.
The baby's appetite has improved 4 fold. I think it's a combination of being a little healthier already, running in the yard all day beats the hell out of walking around a 12x13 hotel room, and different enviroment. He also was waaaaay more energy.
I bet he sleeps better too! The girl I am dating has a son one year older than mine, and when they are playing together they never want to go to bed at a reasonable hour, so now we MAKE THEM run around non-stop for an hour or two in the evening until they just drop and are ready for bed, and they don't even get up in the middle of the night when we do that.
Got a sturdier grate for boiling water. The little grate on the grill wasn't handling the extended high temps too well. Four cinder blocks and voila, perfect for bath water.
I took all the baking racks out of an oven that broke on me recently for the same purpose (extra just in case grills). You can ALWAYS find free ovens listed on Craigslist or whatever on the curb, or just see them outside on garbage day. It would totally be worth grabbing them for that purpose, but I have seen people use all kinds of things as a "grill" before including chain link fence, and even a shopping cart turned on its side.
Water is the biggest deal. We're fine without any electricity. In fact, the GF told me this weekend she "doesn't care if we get the power on." She's enjoying the lack of distraction, increased "family time" and, I'm sure, the fact that i'm not yelling at the t.v. nonstop telling people what kind of idiots they are.
DEFINITELY. Water is always the biggest issue whenever we go camping even. That is my primary concern for whatever "bug out" land I ever get my hands on.
You could easily set up a catchment system with a TARP and those 5 gallon buckets to get them filled quickly in a rainstorm. Just think about how much rain streams off of your tarp if you ever set one up on a camping trip to sit underneath. A few lengths of Paracord, a tarp set up with a "funnel" to force all of the water into a bucket (or series of buckets) and you should be able to get several gallons in a rain event. Much cleaner than whatever you would get off the roof of a building with all of the chemicals involved. I would much rather filter "tarp-bucket" water than "nasty chemical rainbow slick covered roof water" any day.
I am glad I am not the only one who yells at the TV when I see an idiot (which is pretty much every time I turn the stupid thing on).
Tried to rig some sort of external antenna for the cell phones last night but, alas... Any ideas?
I am not sure what they have for modern phones, but I know a lot of people in Alaska who have high range antennas for their phones for the same reason. I never got to try one out on my phone at the time because the adapters were not the same, but today most phones use a micro USB and I would be shocked if there was NOT some sort of high-range antenna available for the iPhone or Android phones. I am going to google it when I am done reading this thread.
And forget the electric coffeepot. I started making my ex (before he was my ex) coffee on the woodstove and it was easier, and he preferred it. Said it tasted like REAL coffee. $29.
YUCK!!! FORGET THE PERCOLATOR!!!!
A percolator re-gurgitates your water over the coffee grounds over and over again, and it basically ruins good coffee. A French Press is not only EASIER to brew (put in grounds, dump in boiling water, allow to steep, press screen down before drinking) — but it TASTES 1,000 times better.
In fact, coffee snobs like me will tell you a french press is the BEST way to drink coffee, much better tasting than an auto-drip because it keeps the essential oils etc from the beans intact. Takes up no counter space, and even REI sells some PRETTY BAD ASS aluminum french presses that have storage compartments for extra grounds. I always take mine backpacking with me even though my friends tell me I am silly (until they taste the coffee it makes).
But regardless, that sounds like an AWESOME adventure. I am one of the jealous ones among the crowd here. AND it is good to see people who are essentially starting from almost NOTHING and just nickel-and-diming their way into this lifestyle and doing it as they go vs. someone who is all gung-ho and has enough money to essentially build their ultimate "bunker / retreat" while spending a fortune on it, since most of us don't have that kind of money to spend!
OH WOW, I never noticed there are 3 more pages to this thread until now!
