Remember those math tests where you had to find x?

A house with no windows.

Straight out with it I personally don't like having windows in my home. Is "seeing out" the motive for windows? Can't that be done quite cheaply these days, with outdoor camera's? Or even a periscope if you must.

Oh the Lighting? I just have to have the lighting. Skylights can do that. Better yet, have you ever reflected the light from the sun onto a building or into someone's eyes by tilting a small even broken off piece of a mirror? Ha, you know you have. If not, go, now if the sun is out, take a hand mirror, make the sun ricochet off of it. Now, Can't you lay those out in such a fashion to keep the sun reflected down into your house through a mirrored light tunnel with openings wherever you want?

The breeze? Really? You live somewhere that moderate that you don't need to change the outdoor temperature the majority of the year? Well even then the rest of the year, windows have long been the culprits for reducing the effectiveness of heaters and air conditioners. But with no windows even that occasional fresh air day would be missed. No, Install crankable roof vents like most every camping trailer has, only fix it where you can rotate the lid around so you'd want it round instead of square. That way the lid "catches" the wind and bounces it down into your house.

Oh ya, windows...an escape in a fire. Yes. Also a frequent entry point for criminals there to rob, or worse. An emergency escape door or hatch would do the same thing for you with less risk.

Habit. Well, imagine putting flat screens in a "looks like a window frame" with curtains. opening curtains turns on the lcd monitor and gives you a full camera view of what is out that window, you can change it to look a different way, or change it to play a scene as if that window were looking out over the ocean.

Hail storms...Got any clue how many times the most serious damage was to the windows and then the resulting storm coming through the now busted out window and wiping out your laptop that was setting on the sofa.

Claustrophobic? Use many mirrors, much lighting, and you have more room for very scenic calming paintings. Or have one small porthole by your chair if you must.

But all in all, I give "Windows" a thumbs down.

People Talking Bad About You?

[1:19:27 PM] I asked my 3rd grade daughter, what would you do at school if some girl was spreading rumors about you that made you look bad, what would you do?

she said: I'd ignore her and walk away.

I asked what if they kept doing it every day? She said; I'd spread rumors about them, then they'd learn their lesson.

I said "What about people you met that believe the rumors ? She said I'd tell them it wasn't true and to shut up and I'd ignore them."

I said "But would you be sad and depressed-when so many people came up to you that believed her?

she nodded

I asked.."What would you do to get over that?".

She said, "I'd forget about it"
"and the people that believed her?"
"yes, them too"
Would you be angry about it? "yeah"
Well what do you mean "forget about it"
"I mean I would ignore them her and them, if they talked to me it would be the same as if they hadn't"

Would you forgive them?
"no, if they kept on doing it I wouldn't, if they were trying to stop I would".

I KNOW, RIGHT?

"i know, right?" ...Something they say in some parts of our culture, basically means the same thing as remarking with "exactly!" or "oh that is just so so true".

Thursday Completions

Finally got the brass fitting out of the gas line and plugged it off where it went to the gas refrigerator now in the landfill.

Got the propane tank checked and seated in good and air bled out and the hot water heater going again. That is a welcome relief, easier to keep the place clean and dishes clesn.

Bought a Filter like thing to make the A/C a new air filter, did that and installed it, hopefully that solves the freezing up problems, we'll see.

Unbolted the receptacle from the wall, behind the refrigerator..moved it out and back so the refrigerator can slide in enough for the front feet to be completely on the support board. Still need to reverse the doors..put a screen on the access door, add some insulation to the side and trim it out and finish the trim...before it is "done done"

Still have a challenge of getting the stuff on the bunkbeds sorted and put away or hauled away, and a couple cabinets to empty out and rework tonight.

Looking forward to parenting time this weekend, (thus the push to get things finished up.) Really need a break myself so it should be very laid back.

So much being pushed to the forefront these next few weeks, time to wrap stuff up and move on towards creating more income.

Facebook

All of a sudden this morning instead of automatically logging me in, it is asking for my password. The URL appears correct for login, so i enter my password and get this:

Account Unavailable

Your account is temporarily unavailable due to site maintenance. It should be available again within a few hours. We apologize for the inconvenience.

So I guess I won't be talking to anybody on facebook today LOL.

Simple Moments of Great Worth

My 8 year old was motioning for me to come there with her fingers, and saying "Da Dee!" So I went over there and she leaned up and kissed me and told me she loved me. I said "Why do you love me?" She said, "Because you are a great daddy". Then she went back to her show.

A simple moment in time. A treasure to an old mans heart.

The Men Who Stare At Goats

Self Hypnosis is a fun overview of how important self hypnosis is, but it starts out with scenes from "the Men Who Stare At Goats" which in a far extreme of the picture of self hypnosis when carried out to the psychic power level. This was one crazy movie.

A New Day and God's Mercy Starts Fresh

The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!"

Lamentations 3:22-24

Sweet Sweat

Just a drop of sweat dripped from my ear lobe to my neck. After such a long winter of many bone chilling days, it is a welcome heat. Sure I could open the door and cool down a bit but it has been so long since it has been this warm in here that it is a moment to savor.

Since Little Biscuit has been on the computer it left me free to do some postponed chores like the dishes! That in addition to constantly cooking since the kid is at that age the "hungry" button constantly refreshes itself. Hard to believe she is already 70 pounds worth of kid. So all this activity has me warmed up but she's "just right" so another reason to not open up and use the screen door.

Noon already, she's had a bowl of scrambled eggs, two bowls of beans, and a bowl of Rice Krispies and at the moment we've got a movie to watch before trying to get an outdoor activity in before tomorrows rain.

More house work and adventures are waiting on me so....Happy Day Folks.

The Demise of a Senator From Kentucky

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) held up voting on extending unemployments benefits on Friday, meaning an additional 400,000 Americans aren’t getting paid this week. And in the process, two thousand transportation workers lost their jobs because they also get paid through the same bill. This is a bill Bunning plans on voting for anyways.

His response to pleas for sanity? “Tough Shit.” Literally. He said that on the Senate floor. Later he complained about missing a basketball game:

“I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9:00,” he said, “and it’s the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina since they’re the only team that has beat Kentucky this year.”The link that is copied from.

Now while it is not "the congress" evidently but "the senate"..Here is a little diddy that literally millions of people in this country should remember when they fire the man for gross incompetence and revoke his luxurious senator retirement pay:

Kick that Ass out of Kentucky,
and things will be just ducky
the bills will be passed, not stucky,
we'd all be lucky
but the senator from Kentucky
don't give a Plucky
what does he care
he's got a game to watch & it's shame he ain't there
and "there" is "where"
he should have been,
cause what he did,instead
was a greater sin.

Ya...feel free to quote me on that.

Who Should You Take To Church With You?

The "Worthy" or the "Unworthy" ?
Which one are you?

The First Foreign Language

1 Now the whole earth had one language and few words. 2 And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Ba'bel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.Excerpt from Genesis 11

That passage has always fascinated me. I ran onto it again today when I was preparing a condensed study of Abram/Abraham to explain the references Paul makes in "Galatians" to God's covenant with Abraham.

There are many commentators who have taken on interpreting "why" God reacted with this, there could be studies on the brilliance of His actions in terms of "effectiveness". Far too many that can't even make a bug that reproduces, or can't even create a seed that grows into a tree and reproduces...will none the less think themselves wise enough to "judge" God's actions here...but the bottom line is, we can't comprehend the why. We don't know the whole story of what God's plan for man was and how His action here "righted" the course. Yet in terms of "effect" it was brilliantly creative.

Mankind has been on this Earth approximately 7,000 years. If you truly listen to the amazing diversity in comparing Russian to Chinese to Arabic to English...you'll see how powerfully this single day in history changed the entire world of events.

Anyhow...It is definitely an interesting event.

A kid I knew back around 1966

I Missed You

After being gone to a friends birthday party and missing out on last weekend's planned fun...my youngest was smiling and swinging her arms like a silent dance of jubilee a bit ago..and I asked "good show?"..."I've seen it before, I'm just so happy to be back, I've really missed you!" Ahhh, she can't know how she just added a treasure to my heart for me to vault and cherish.

Feb. 15th Has Been Better Than Valentines Day For 26 Years

"Hello, is this here the Sheriff's Office?" "Yes. What can I do for
you?"

"I'm calling to report my neighbor, Virgil Smith. He's drillin' holes
in his farwood and hiding marijuana inside!"
"Thank you very much for the call, sir."

The next day, the Sheriff & his deputies descend on Virgil's house.
They search the shed where the firewood is kept. Using axes, they split
every piece of wood, but find no marijuana. They sneer at Virgil and
leave. The phone rings at Virgil's house. "Hey, Virgil! This here is
Floyd. Did the Sheriff come?" "Yeah!"

"Did they split yer farwood?" "Yep!"

"Happy Birthday, buddy!"

(Who says rednecks aren't real bright?!)

With my oldest daughter turning 26 years OLD today, and it being so very cold out, (still showing 25 degrees)...something like this would have been tempting, but with her husband being on the police force now...Kinda don't think it would have been properly appreciated....so I'm just wishing her a Happy Birthday in my heart.

A Celtic Cross in the hand of an Angel with candle

Had an enjoyable trip to a Flying J store today, picked up this figurine for about $6 that is only about 4.5" tall and 5" wide...but interesting.

Earning God's Love

"While we were yet sinners", "for the unrighteous", "Father, forgive them"

There isn't a soul on this Earth that isn't precious to the Creator. Being loved by God is a demonstrated given. How God-like are you? Jesus spoke plainly when explaining how to recognize those who are His..."you will know them by their love". Loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind...now that is success.

Full Time RV Living- Keeping Warm in the Winter

After doing a little experiment this week, and a tremendous amount of research, this is a summation. As Ustacud pointed out of course "skirting" or "underpinning" is valuable but not the complete eureka.

Much of the heat that is generated by heaters within an RV is lost through the windows. Some of the best ideas included putting weatherstripping around the edge of a piece of "Lexan" or plexi-glass and simply installing "mirror mounts" to make it easy to swivel them open...slide in the "storm window" and swivel them back. This would definitely help block some of the heat loss, (though I'm not sure whether it would be better on the outside or the inside of the camper). I'm also not sure how badly this would create or stimulate mold/mildew. Another idea was to use heat shrink film on the inside, applied with a hair dryer...it was said that it did a great job and the only negative was it took a little elbow-grease and alcohol to get the sticky off the window when getting them ready to open for spring.

Another popular idea is stuffing the roof vents with insulation and an attractive "cover" could be made to snap onto the edges of the roof vent frame to hold the insulation in place and keep the place looking sharp.

Kerosene heaters widely used in Japan and in the olden days here have several problems that make me want to avoid them...

these must be refilled outside, which means on cold winter stretches a daily trek out into the ice and snow to refill it.

Any unvented fuel burning source is going to "breathe" your oxygen supply and give you carbon monoxide in return...which attaches to your hemoglobin more readily than oxygen and leads to your time being spent in a much smaller, more bury-able box.

Unvented fuel burning increases the moisture in your confined space thus leading to a great increase in mold/mildew issues

The risk of fire

Now there are more...and this doesn't count up the "pros" at all of which there are probably equally as many but the first 4 "cons" listed have too high a price tag for me to consider it further.

Catalytic heaters using propane I've heard good things about, though they do require periodic maintenance of the orifices and purging/cleaning out of your propane tank because what makes them so efficient...involves tiny little passages of propane that tend to clog.

Typically in a 30ft. travel trailer I have been able to get by "ok" by getting use to it being around 50 degrees instead of the 65-70 most houses are kept at. That isn't a hard adjustment. I remember in high mountain living as a boy when I would come in so very cold that to warm my hands up, the process began by running cold water out of the tap..which seemed so warm it was painful, then gradually adding warm water. Adapting is a feature God built into our design. That plus, wear a sweater or jacket...save the nudism for warmer seasons. An electric blanket is in my book, as essential as food. I'd gladly live on pinto's and rice as long as it took to save the money for an electric blanket. I also use two 1500 watt space heaters..one in each end of the camper with the middle partition closed (yes I could pull them both to the bedroom area but then the bathroom would be freezing and likely the plumbing as well).

So my experiment was this...if I fired up the central heating unit...how long would a propane tank (not the 20 pound BBQ size but the 30-35 pound (guestimation) last if I just set my thermostat on 65 and used both space heaters. The answer? A $22 fill-up on the first...ran empty during the night on the 5th. But there was one flaw in the plan...one of my ceramic heaters shorted out when i mistakenly left it set on high and THEN plugged it in, instead of it being off when i plugged it in. So this thwarted my experiment just a little. I left the central heating unit (thermostat controlled) "on" the entire time. And I don't have the skirting, I don't have the roof vents blocked, I don't have the storm windows...yet. So my heating cost was basically $5 a day.

I'm headed back to the propane place today to refill, and picking up an oil-filled radiator like heater, and picking up some insulation for the roof vents. Really have too many projects and other expenses right now to go for the underpinning and storm windows at this time...besides I have fleece "throws" covering the windows inside and really don't feel too much cold air coming in them...(though i do feel a significant amount of cold air transferred through the door...even though it seems water tight, it isn't air tight).

Campers have to be kept light weight so there isn't much chance of good R-value in the walls...at least economically speaking. Maybe some of that high dollar ceramic coating could be painted inside and out but the last time I bought some of that it was about $100 a gallon delivered. Besides...my older brother reminded me that functionality and attractiveness of modifications shouldn't leave out the "oasis" appeal of warm tones, plants, etc...

This is the completion of my 5th month in this small space living and I absolutely love it. There are articles all over the internet on ideas and advice by "full-timers" from which I've gleaned a lot of wise advice of things to do and things not to do. This past week I've begun modifying the "office" area...removed one of those horridly uncomfortable kitchen booths and replaced it with an office chair. Made a sink cover to convert my double sink to a single whenever I need to double my counter space. (Without that panel I have a 12" wide counter space..now I have 28).

So this week while I continue creating this awesome office work station, including hopefully adding some very pretty and moisture/temperature blocking curtains on this dumbly over sized window (functional by both temperature control and protecting my new lcd monitor-tv combo that should arrive this next week) and contributing to the beauty and enhancing the "oh wow it is so refreshing to walk in the door" feeling.
Unless it gets below 55 degrees in here, the new experiment involves moderate but not ridiculously frugal use of the central heat..mainly just to take the chill off in the mornings...and using the oil radiator heater and the 1500 watt fan forced heater. If things go smoothly I may even be able to find the curtains and mount them. (Yet since the decorating "theme" I'm looking for hasn't fully evolved in my mind yet so the curtain selection may be time consuming and head scratching).

The experiment was pretty valid for outside temperatures ranging from around 25 up to 45 because during the week I used no propane on the stove, and though i did try to use the hot water heater...it has some problems and is slated for modification to electric or outright replacement. So the propane expense was 96% central heating. (I even soap tested the fittings to make sure when I hooked it up there was no leaking around the tank fittings).

In the future hopefully I'll be able to buy a "lot" in a rural community that allows campers and have a large propane tank set so I can buy the whole winter's worth during the summer before the evil people jack the prices for winter. That plus the underpinning (and I'm considering enclosing a little extra boxed in area with that insulation board to use my 35000 btu free standing propane heater to actually "heat" the air under the camper)..but alas..time, money, money, money, time, eventually though...I do love these challenges.

I have vivid memories of my childhood toilet sitting time where much pondering was done...on how a person could live just fine in a space the size of the spacious bathroom we had. Minuscule space living has fascinated and attracted me as far back as I can remember. But this is my beginning year, and I'm loving it. Daylight is wasting so I'm off to the propane place, hopeful they are open, then on to pick up my replacement heater...and curtain shopping.

Full Time RV Living ....More Counter Space

BEFORE:


AFTER (BUT BEFORE COVERING THE PANEL WITH CONTACT PAPER):



The office modification pictures will have to wait. Oh yeah, I need to pick up some better contact paper for the sink panel today...the stuff I used was old that I had in storage and didn't stick well, though most contact paper these days stick-ability is horrible...so maybe add some contact cement to my shopping list. Much to do.

Interesting Discussion

The ceiling height inside the camper is 78 inches. (6'6).
The Air temperature outside is 28 degrees (F)
The temperature on the floor was 44 degrees.
The temperature on the ceiling was 80 degrees.
The temperature about 14" down from the ceiling was 72 degrees.

Now my older brother and I discussed this tonight and debated some different possibilities.

1. The hot air must be escaping through the roof or else it would build up and eventually reach much closer to the floor.

2. The roof was holding fine since it was above the comfort zone there, it was just a matter of underpinning the camper and maybe beefing up the insulation on the bottom to slow the cold air coming in.

3. A low speed fan pointed at the ceiling might help force the hot air back down.

4. The windows which are closer to the ceiling than the floor but not by much...seemed to be a source of the cold coming in.

With a whopping 36 degree temperature difference in a mere 78 inches it is an interesting thought. Sure if I put in skirting on the camper and even an underside insulation job that would slow the cold air from coming in so unchanged...but, with that much heat at the top wouldn't it be simple enough to lower that 80 and raise the 44 at the same time with better circulating air?

So many variables.

Low Pulse Rate

Even though "athletic" definitely doesn't define me, as a rule my pulse is in the 40's and that prompted me several years ago to pressure my doctor to start me on thyroid medication. The blood tests that check a person's TSH registered me at almost a 5 and according to old school thinking that was "normal". Since then they've researched it and something like 98% of the people with what was considered "normal" thyroid function by all other tests...scored below 3. It doesn't seem like much but it makes a big difference in a person's energy level, breathing and overall health. Since then my pulse rate runs in the higher 40's and I've seen it up to almost 60. It was interesting researching Low Pulse Rate Hopefully this year I'll get started back on a daily vigorous exercise routine and start researching how to use the pulse rate to gauge the intensity of the exercise for maximum efficiency because as it is I tend to think "ah man this is working hard enough".

Get the coats back out

Started to go for a walk but it is about 34 degrees with a bit of a 7mph breeze to it...now the weather channel says it is supposed to get up to 56 but that is obviously later and it comes with double or triple the wind speed...so that means either bundle up and walk now or go back to bed and walk later (which wouldn't hurt since the bed has only had a claim on me for a couple hours. Hmmm.

A Yucky Church

Well for quite awhile now I've been wanting to attend this newer church in town to find out what it was all about. Today I did. The music was so horrifically loud that even with my hearing aids turned OFF, thereby acting as ear "plugs"...it was painful.

Though they never got to the "sermon" part..or perhaps after a mere 30 minutes I none-the-less left too soon, but it was predominately a bad experience.

Now I'm not a feminist by any stretch of the imagination but they evidently just ignored passages like 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 and 1 Timothy chapter 2..(I'm not singling out the verse on that chapter you'd just have to read it for yourself).

So is this what we do these days? Just "ignore"? Personally I've heard some fantastic women speakers...the verses aren't there because of ability or inability. Why would that be in the Bible? Well the why isn't always explained, but in this particular case it actually is. Nope, I'm not going to reveal it, if you want to know you'd have to read it for yourself.

It was disappointing this morning though, I left before the pain coming into my head thru my ears became permanent. Yuck. As much as I love God, and as much as I enjoy the fellowship of a variety of Christians...it was a yucky experience.

Helen Keller Days

Ever since I forgot to take my hearing aids out before a shower my hearing is not working yet. Now since taking out my contacts that have been in a month or two or so, and letting my eyes heal these past 5 days...and not remembering where my glasses are, I've just been hobbling along in blissful ignorance. With the temperature finally giving us a break though, I do have running water again and that even by itself is enough to make me happy.

Out the Window

Out my window is a day of sunshine, nice crispy blue sky, trees stripped bare of leaves with the last season change. Something in the beauty of the day is yanking on my heart strings and like a young boy in school awaiting the final bell...I perch at the window sill in anticipation of the invisible frostbite capable temperatures raising to above freezing tomorrow if the weather forecast be right. Can't see the cold out that window, but even just touching the glass is enough for a complete education in that specific field. I don't see the cold, but I believe, oh I do believe....Happy winter day to all.

Advice or Criticism

Often times they are mistaken. There is a big difference between the two. There are similarities between the two. Sometimes one is mistaken for the other because of the speaker...sometimes it is because of the one doing the receiving. In some ways criticism intended can be advice received. In some ways advice intended is criticism received. The result of either can be invaluable or devastating. If I had more time right now that would be an interesting word study.