Crapin Storage

It's is not spring, but it should be.  The weather is warm, warm, warm and summer is months away.  If temperatures keep with this trend, Texas will melt by summer's end.  What better way to spend a warm sunny winter day?  Spring cleaning! Yes, spring cleaning in February.

Many, many years ago I read a quote by Ellen Degeneres on ridding life of clutter.  "One can spring clean or move".  How true her statement is.  Nothing can rid one of their worldly, USELESS possessions than moving.  And having moved about every two or three years since leaving my parents house in 1998, I know this to be the best method for de-cluttering crap.  The problem with this method is there are always items one cannot simple bare to part with.  It is because of this thinking that our crap has been spread out over several places.  Some at my moms, some at his moms, and some at friends houses along the way.  Over the years, these places have dwindled.  Unfortunately, most of this crap was just moved to his dads where it has been sitting in a storage box since moving out of our suburbia house seven years ago.  Sure, the box has been organized and cleaned, removed of clutter and double sets of everything (how many sets of incomplete measuring cups does one really need?), and then piled up with more crap purchased along the way.

Actually, this has been done several times and yet it is still full of crap!  As a matter of fact this was just done last year in April when a hail storm blew holes in the roof and everything had to be sorted, cleaned, and discarded if ruined.

Today, however, today is the DAY all of our combined crap will now be in one location and that location is just outside my door.  Not two cities over, not three hours away, not buried in somebody's back 40 growing trees and is home to a family of raccoons.  Today, all of our crap collected since we started collecting crap will be at home.  Oh, how nice that is to be able to say.  I can already hear the statements: "Honey, can I have the roaster oven from the storage box outside?"  Not that I say things like "honey" nor do I even own a "roaster oven" but it is one of those items people have to have to only be used once a year.  I was trying to make on point, okay.

What is even more important about today's spring cleaning is we are now at a point in our lives where we know where will be in the next ten years.  Hot damn, this means we will be able to de-clutter our lives.  This is a constant struggle for us.  Me, because clutter drives my OCD crazy.  The Planner because it consumes him.  All the time and energy spent on hobbies and activities done only to participate for a few weeks, months, or worse, not at all.  No matter how simply one tries to live, living requires crap.  And crap collects more crap and then one day you realize you are inundated with piles of crap.  Some of which is ever used!  Have I mentioned the roaster oven?

I read a quote once about not being attached to physical possessions allows for more time to follow ones' dream.  Well, my dream for as long as I can remember was to have a few chickens and a garden. Simple right?  Just having the ability to have a few chickens and a garden requires so much CRAP.  Wanna build your own coop from resourced materials? Sweet.  That requires with just the basic of basic materials a saw, a hammer, and some nails.  Do you have any idea how long it takes to build something with just a saw, a hammer, and some nails?  Weeks, months, and years.  By the completion of the chicken coop, if it is ever completed, frustration levels will be so high, chickens will no longer be wanted or desired.  Therefore in efforts to have chickens quickly, because hey we are Americans and we want everything yesterday, the tool list grows and grows.  Now there are tools both corded and cordless, tools with general and multiple use functions, and tools for specific functions. There are tools to cut wire, to cut plastic, and to cut wood.  There are tools for screwing, stapling, and nailing.  There are tools for set up, prep up, and clean up.  There are tools for everything.  What should have been a simple coop for simple non-complex chickens has resulted in more and more CRAP.  Was the crap needed?  Yes, without a doubt.  Will the crap be used elsewhere?  Hopefully.  Is the crap taking control of my life? Yes, and double YES!!!

But as I was saying, just living results in the accumulation of crap.  Case in point: just to write this blog resulted in the purchase of a computer, a cordless mouse, and a soft sided bag for carrying protection.  More crap!   Don't even get me started on the amount of crap purchased, borrowed, and acquired for the usage in building Plan473.  Hello, an entire box was bought just store crap.  Ugh.  So there are days when I look around at all the CRAP and I want to run screaming into the night.  But damn, running requires socks, shoes, shorts, and a shirt.  See, what I mean.  Crap.

But I digress.  In order to free myself from the possessions that are ready to consume me, the Planner and I have decided to only take items this weekend from the storage box that have a foreseeable usage in the next few months.  Not items we would like to use again: hiking sticks and backpacks, crochet needles, books, and thread, and college textbooks and notepads (like I am ever gonna read Calculus II notes again!).  Only usable/useful tools (not the broken pitchfork from 15years ago), kitchen/home supplies (can't wait for the day for a fullsize oven), and fishing/camping gear.  Yet, with these strict stipulations, there was still an entire trailer loaded with crap.

But it is useful crap, or at least that is what I keep telling myself.  But don't worry, even with piles and piles of crap to sort through, argue over, cry over, and inevitably store again because I just could not bare to give away this or that memorabilia, there was time to play.  Once, it was fixed and usable that is.  What better time to fix broken tools than during spring cleaning!

Subframes

The Planner and the Kid went to big city #1 for the week to build subframes needed to support the conex boxes.  According to regulations, the floor of the shop must be 18" above base flood elevation of 7' which results in a finished floor height of 4.' above natural grade.  But before any frames could be built, materials were needed.  This above all other steps in the subframe building process was the most infuriating and time-consuming.  Apparently, it was lunch time before they even got to the final designation to build the frames.  Yikes.

Oh well, once there, the work went smoothly and fairly quickly.  What was to have taken all week resulted in only three days worth of work and the boys were back home by Thursday at lunch.  I would say that was a fair turnaround time considering three hours to get there, two hours wait time for materials, and three hours return trip.  Not bad at all. Wish all trips went this well.

Of course, some of the reasons the trip went well was once again the use of the full furnished shop with forklifts, cutting machinery, and help.  The other reason was the Planner being the Planner had all the dimensions for the subframe prepared ahead of time.  This meant once materials were sorted and arranged, cuttings were quickly started.

One of the best tools available for use is this bandsaw.  It can be used to cut materials in many different shapes and sizes and can cut on many different angles.  Cutting perfect 45-degree angles is just a matter of setting up the saw.  Yes, setting the bandsaw up can take some time.  And for some people, learning can seem overwhelming.  But I can attest, it seems more difficult than it is.  Having used the saw myself, once it is done, the jitters experienced seem silly.  With that being said, all I had to do was cut a straight line.  Well, it doesn't matter because I did it myself!

With pieces all cut, assembly was the next step.  With the use of industrial grade saw horses and numerous C-clamps, the subframes were ready for tacking.  No, not welding.  Tacking.  Tacking the subframe together helps to ensure the material does not rack or wrap. And this is exactly what would happen if one just started welding the frame from one end to the other.  By the time the welding reached the far end, the subframe would look like a puzzle piece.

Even once tacked, the subframe should be double and triple checked for level. These steps are repeated again and again after every new section of the frame was added. It is time-consuming? Absolutely.  Is is necessary?  Absolutely.  No questions asked.  Just having the subframe warp an inch will result in the shipping containers not sitting flush.  It would be like sitting at the wonky table at restaurants.  You know the ones I am referring to.  The ones where a stack of sugar packets or napkins have been shoved under a leg in order to keep your tea from sloshing over.  Yes, having the subframe warp would be just like sitting at that wonky table.

But with this, it would be more like the table that has packets of sugar or napkins under two legs in attempts to keep it from rocking left to right and from rocking back and forth all at the same time.  It is a table, not a balance ball.  I am trying to eat, not work on core muscles.  Being I am at a restaurant would also mean I probably do not work on my core muscles to begin with.  No, wait, no probably needed.  I do NOT work on my core muscles.  There I said it.

Another reason, the job went so quickly was the amount of time dedicated in those few short hours.  If you look closely at the far right side of the picture where the level is, you can see the darkness through the opening of the shop doors.  Why you ask was the Planner working at 10:30 at night?  There is no TV, no internet, no wife, no comfortable bed.  Therefore there is work.  The sooner the job gets done, the sooner the Planner and the Kid can come home.

And that is exactly what they did after the four subframes and cross pieces were completed.  The trailer was loaded up, lunch was grabbed at the favorite Mexican food restaurant, and home they came.

Two things were observed upon their arrival.  One the steel which was once a pile when purchased was assembled very OCD characteristics.  Haha, it is rubbing off.  And two, the steel was a beautiful blue color.  One must appreciate raw metal when it can be observed and while it lasts.  My guess, living here in the salt capital of the world, this steel will be rust colored by the end of next week.  Winter mornings are always wet with dew and fog.  With moisture comes salt corrosion.  With corrosion comes the fact that assembly of these subframes and painting needs to happen post haste.  In fact, it should happen tomorrow.  It won't, but it should. And do you know why it won't?  Because tomorrow we are going back to big city #1 and it has nothing to do with the advancement of Plan473.  Hopefully, erection of subframe will continue next week.

Footing #10

From start to finish, in cold and hot weather, with gentle breezes and gale force winds, with and without help from friends, the final footing was poured yesterday.  Who-hoo, ten footings!

Can you believe on this monumental moment only one single picture was taken! ONE!  Oh sure, there was a camera running to capture the whole process but only one still image.  No close ups, no steps of the process, no moment in time.  And, to make matters worse, the only picture was of me attempting to run the skill saw.  Really!

Yesterday was the second time I have tried to run the saw.  The first time was on footing #1 and it was a disastrous experience.  Board was cut wonky and eyes were watery.  To make matters worse, the board being cut didn't have to be cut straight.  If the 2x4 were cut on an angle it didn't affect the final results. They were just formboards.  Later, I tried again on the plastic boards used to create the chairs for the re-bar mats.  If the chairs were not exactly square it would not affect the structure and integrity of the footing and would not be seen by anyone once concrete was poured on top.  So why did I freak out?  Because, because, because.....I have issues, okay.  "Hello, my name is OCD".  It just HAS to be perfect.  I can tell the Kid "practice makes perfect" but then I expect to run the saw perfectly the first time.  Or even by the second time.  Practice what you preach.  Oh, OCD, why?  Why???

Not including prep time, but from the moment the mixer was turned ON to when it was turned OFF, a footing could be poured in a little over an hour.  Not bad for amateurs.  At what point are you no longer amateurs?  Does having poured 10 footing make you practiced?  Of course, we are not skilled or professional by any means, but can be at least be past beginner? Novice.  Is that the next level of skills?

In order to complete a pour this quickly meant the Planner and the Kid had to have all materials ready and waiting for my arrival.  And let me tell you, with winter daylight hours, it was a mad dash from the office at 4 pm to pour a footing and clean up before dark.  There were a few days when headlamps were being used.

The sheer amount of materials used to pour footings was amazing.  It was not more than the Planner calculated but it was too close for comfort for my taste.  When sand and rocks are being raked together to fill in the last buckets, it just TOO close.  Why add that layer of stress?  Just by an extra 100lbs or so.  Jesh.

Steps for pouring concrete never changed.  Not even tweaked.  Even with the Sailor helping, the process still took the same amount of time.  Having his help allowed duties to rotate.  This meant I didn't have to tamp and fill buckets of rock, the Planner didn't have to fill cement and pour all materials into the mixer, and yes, it allowed the Kid a break from shoveling sand and getting water on hot days.

Yes, having friends help allowed the Kid to play a little more. The kid was a trooper, though.  He hung in with his duties without squawking until footing #8. Then all deals were off.

But hey, he got to put his mark on the deal on footing #8.  Look how big his foot is.  Didn't think it was gonna fit on the footing.  By the end of clean up of footing #8, he was done.

By footing #9, there was the need for constant reminders and the promise of rewards to finish out the footing.  Rewards had to be of high value. Promises of an extra desert... only those of little will power would agree to that.  The Kid, he went for the big guns. "Yes please, I will drive the tractor all by my onesies."  What were we to say, no?  Please, we are not that mean.  Just sometimes.  By the end footing #9, he was nowhere to be found.  His sand would be shoveled (sometimes) and poof he was gone, vanished, nowhere to be seen or heard.

 From footing #1 on Jan 14 to footing #10 on Jan 30, there were cloud cover cool days (perfect),

followed by extremely hot days (wear your sombreros and long sleeve, thin cotton shirts, shorts and boots, and sunscreen.  Lots and lots of ice cold water refills were needed on those days!),

to down right, cold blistery days (and no, not just cold for me either.  Just cold.  Yes, in case you are wondering at the picture, I have on four layers of clothing: tank top, t-shirt, and two thermals.)  This winter has held true to form.  "Welcome to Texas ya'll, today it's 85 and sunny, tomorrow it will be 45 and cloudy."

After ten footings worth of tamping, and tamping, and more freaking tamping, my body was showing some signs of usage. When working, I would have thought my hands would be the first thing to cramp up with the constant rubbing of the re-bar against my palms.  But it wasn't.  It was in my back and arms.  Muscles were tight in places I didn't know there were muscles.  Just look what tamping did to the end of the re-bar.  Once rusty and rough with texture is now shiny and smooth.  That's friction baby!

All in all, it was a fine experience.  Am I ready to pour footings for the house tomorrow?  Hell no!  I might not even be ready in a month.  Will I be willing to pour footings for the house eventually?  Yes.  Just make it two or three months down the road.  No, wait, that won't work because it will be the middle of the summer.  So make it eight or nine months down the road and I will be ready to pour footings again.  Sure, no problem.

Oh, wait I just remembered, there were two pictures taken on the last day of pouring footings. The second picture had nothing to do with the footing process.  But, haha, it has everything to do with a celebratory dinner.  And where else would we celebrate?  Whataburger!!!! It was the Kid's idea.  Honestly.  Ask him.  On a side note, I live with clowns.  They are available for usage anytime and they come cheep.

Water Management System Update

It has been a while since I've posted about the Water Management System.  Went on and on about not having any water and now that I do, not a drop.  Figures, really.  It is easy to rant and rave.  It takes time and effort to report.

Let us recap the water debacle. I guess one could say it all started when the land was still under the 30 day option period way back in Nov 2015.  The Request for Utilities came back stating not only was water not available, it would cost over $60K to have it brought to the house.  That is almost what the land was purchased for and the land does not come with a monthly maintenance and usage fee.  Ok, well, that is not true either.  It comes with yearly taxes.  Anyhoo, I digress.  Being there was no way $60K was being paid, several well drillers were called with the same result.  Yes, a well could be dug and produce drinkable water at our location because there are live oak trees available.  Apparently, the local farmer's lore states: "live oak trees don't like to get their feet wet".  Meaning, there should not be salt water, just fresh water. With that settled, a well was dug at an approximate cost of $6K.

Knowing ahead of time city water was not available, a well was installed by a local company in September 2016.  These people were and are the nicest folks around.  They were prompt, courteous, and friendly.  From start to finish, the well was installed in less than a week.  What came out of the ground was just beautiful, crystal clear, non-smelling saltwater.  Yup paid good hard earned money for saltwater.

Undeterred, the water was sent to an unbiased, third party lab several cities away at the end of September.  The results that came back three weeks later were staggering and proved the saying "more than meets the eye".  This water had everything in it, including all three minerals for salt.  Ugh.

While waiting for the results of the lab we were still optimistic.  A quote on an RO system was obtained and prices came back anywhere between $15K - $25K.  Of course, this is just the cost of the filtration system and pumps, not the yearly maintenance or filters.  By the end of the first week in October 2016 and after many phone calls to various water witchers, drillers, and local authorities it was decided to let the well runs for several days to see if the water would clear out.  A hole was dug to contain the water so it did not make such a mess.  And guess what?  Remember the farmer's saying about wet feet? Ha!  Little do they know.  Geneticists should come study these trees because salt water is found just three feet below ground surface.   I could become a tree-billionaire.  Hmmm, need to give that some thought.  Three feet.  The hole was collecting water faster than the dirt could be removed safely. This picture above shows the amount of saltwater collected after one night, less than 12 hours.

But the hole was already dug, so the water was pumped out.  Gallons and gallons at a time for hours on end.  Gallons and gallons of saltwater.  After the saltwater seeped back into the ground, the hole was filled in while a new plan was in the works.

IBC totes.  Until a better plan, more reliable, and completely independent solution could be worked out our water was going to be begged, borrowed, and pleaded from various friends.  And that is what we did.  Three IBC totes to be exact.  Less than 1000 gallons.

Did I mention how great the well company was?  Feeling bad about our water issue, a comprise was worked out to drill a second well. Thinking he drilled past the fresh water level into the salt water table he wanted to check.  Couldn't live with himself otherwise.  During the middle of November, he did just that.  The well was dug at a much shallower level of 55' deep and then pulled up the pump until it started to sputter at 32'.  All with the same results: saltwater.  Oh well, had to try, right?  It was at this point when all positive notions were lost.  One can only be kicked so many times before they stay down.

At least there were still friends in fresh water places allowing us to obtain drinkable water.  By the end of November, Plan473 had become our permanent home making it easier to monitor water consumption.  Using less than 30g/day, a 330g tote should last about ten days.  This is great news.  It means obtaining water from these sources will be even farther apart.  Then come the first of  December 2016 and a better resource had become available.  While not independent, it allows us free access to more water than we could ever use.

An unnamed source in town has an RO water system.  For every gallon of city water filtered, one to three gallons of "waste" water is expelled.  The water concentrated with minerals after being filtered through the RO system read at 340mg/l of TDS (total dissolved solids). This "waste" water was still less than EPA regulation of 500mg/l of TDS.  The well water at Plan473 read at 6359mg/l TDS.

First, there was no water and then there was free water being "wasted" while a water management system was created for collecting and storing water.  A platform was built, tanks were purchased and water was collected.

Water collects all day, every day in an unobtrusive manner behind the building of its source.

When filled, an external pump is used to drain in into another tote on the back of the truck.

That tote is then emptied into another tote at home and then into the water management system once the platform was built.

Even though the water was collected and used at various locations around the property, the system was still not complete.  The ball valve for needed at the bottom of the tank was on back order for weeks and weeks.  Ordered sometime in early December, the part finally arrived smack dab during the middle of footing preparation.

Once installed, a flexible water line water attached to buried PVC piping connected the water management system and after months and months of dealing with the Great Water Debacle, Plan473 has a completed water management system.

While this system is not designed for the long term because it still relies SOLELY on the generosity of this source, it has worked very well.  Using around 30 gallons of water a day (50 on days where footing clean up is required) has allowed Plan473 to collect, store, and fill one 3000 gallon water storage tank and 1/2 of another.  The long-term plan is to collect water from every roof source.  At this point, the water management system is still not completely finished.  It needs to be closed in to keep the algae at bay and to help with salt corrosion.  However, that step cannot be completed until the shop is built.  The housing will be built from remaining materials from the combination of conex boxes.  So until then, extra bleach will be used.  Nothing like using chemicals to keep one healthy!