Entries Tagged 'Lifelong Learning' ↓

 
As I’ve indicated before, Andy and I love information. Steve has sent our plans to the kitchen design folks, and we have an appointment Tuesday morning to see what our options are given our budget. In the meantime we’ve been doing our homework about the differences between the various countertop options and have been figuring out what we like and don’t like.

We’ve also been learning about other people’s experiences, both in conversations and through the internet, in order to get new ideas and hopefully to avoid some pitfalls. Kaitlin and Torben have been a big help because they remodeled their home not too long ago, and I ordered some “like new” books about kitchens from Amazon for a reasonable price. We’re also using the internet to get details about the various products.

This is a picture of the floor we’ve chosen with two samples of quartz for a countertop.

The colors aren’t quite right, but it does give the general idea.

Andy has also been doing research on ventilation systems for an energy-efficient house. The fellow we were referred to for our kitchen fan has a different definition of a quiet fan than we do. It was so noisy we would probably hesitate to use it. Fortunately Andy found some engineers online that sell a kit that should do what we want. We will no doubt write more about this later.

What about you? What have you been doing/learning lately?

 

 
They uncovered the house slab Friday and it had only one small crack. Steve hasn’t looked at it yet, but he already warned us that hairline cracks are almost possible to avoid and they’re no problem. He says if there’s no flaking (there isn’t) then things should probably fine. He’s planning to go up to look at it sometime this week.

I went up with Andy this afternoon and started marking off the thickness of the walls, where the various rooms are, etc. As you can see from the first picture, it was a glorious day. (A camera can’t capture the feeling of spaciousness, but it’s better than nothing.) We still have a lot more details to decide before the plans are complete, so we’ll be going back to Santa Fe this week to look at kitchen and bathroom sinks and fixtures, etc. We’re also doing a lot of research on the internet and have found the propane refrigerator we’ll probably get. It’s just one step after another, and doing our best to enjoy the process.

What about you? Have you had to deal with any big projects lately? If not, are you glad? If so, are you enjoying the process?

Our shed. For higher resolution click on picture.
 

Our well-covered house pad. For higher resolution click on picture.

 
Joe was originally going up tomorrow to do more work, but they’re predicting more snow with highs around 20° F. for the next two days. Not exactly building weather. We’re hoping this unusually early cold snap won’t hurt the new concrete. Time will tell.

Andy practiced plowing the road yesterday and will probably plow again tomorrow because it will need it. Winter has come!

What about where you are? Cathy and Evan will be dealing with summer instead of winter, of course.

 

For a better picture click here.
 

 
As I mentioned in Thursday’s post they did finish the shed last week and we had a enjoyable and productive visit with Kaitlin and Torben. We still have a lot of detailed planning to do with Steve, hopefully early this week, and with any luck Joe and his crew may pour the concrete slab for the house. There does seem to be a hassle about getting an inspector to come up to approve the shed so we can actually use it, but that’s another matter. Steve says he will work on that.

I’ve also been playing with modern technology. I actually bought an iPod Touch so I could download audiobooks from the library, but that part isn’t working very well. The first thing I was asked to do was to download and install the latest, new-and-improved, operating system for the iPod. That took an hour and a half. Then after several mishaps and downloading the whole thing again, it turns out my problem is the library system works with the older software but not the latest one. They’re working on it.

It was more funny than frustrating. I was already curious about the iPod Touch because Kaitlin and Torben love their iPhones and the iPod is very similar except it uses WiFi instead of my having to pay for a phone plan. (I have no need for a cell phone.) I didn’t mind having an excuse to try it, plus amazon discounted it $100 if I signed up for a year at audible.com. I was curious about that too and am pleased I did it. I used this month’s credit on a biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It’s over 29 hours long and I’ve almost finished it already. So my adventures aren’t all about rebuilding up in the mountains. I’m trying new things and am learning a lot, which always makes me happy.

What about you? Did you try something new/learn anything interesting this week?

For better resolution click here.

 
As I wrote last Thursday, we made a lot of progress last week. The stems walls are now done and Joe plans to go up tomorrow to pack the dirt around the outside of the house as well as level and compact the dirt on the inside. He and his crew will also bend down the rebar and add more to prepare inside of the house for a concrete slab floor. (That area is covered at the moment to keep the ground from freezing.) He hopes to get approval from the building inspector Wednesday so he can, weather permitting, pour the slab the following week.

If the weather cooperates the Tuff Shed crew will start building the shed Tuesday. Again, whatever happens it should be interesting.

Hope things are going well with you. Kaitlin and Torben are coming tomorrow and will fly back Saturday Friday. Do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?

 

 
Last Thursday and Friday the road to and from the mountains was closed by semi trucks that rolled over. A company from Colorado was hauling away cars destroyed by the Las Conchas fire last summer, and apparently some of the drivers weren’t used to hairpin turns. Out of four truckloads two made it, two did not. (Both drivers are fine.)

We weren’t affected by the 5+ hour closure Thursday because we went to Santa Fe. But Friday Andy was stopped shortly after the accident occurred. He waited about an hour, and when it was obvious he wouldn’t be allowed through for several more hours he decided to drive home the long way…a three-hour trip. It was raining but he decided if he had to do it over he would simply have parked the car and walked the 5-6 miles home. Not the least because he triggered the 7-pm rule. If he isn’t home by 7 pm and hasn’t called I’m supposed to organize a search party.

He had tried to phone but his cell-phone battery was dead. So when he arrived at about 7:30 I was on the porch waiting for Beate and Tim to pick me up to go up and start looking for him. (They’re our closest summertime neighbors up there. They’re still here because they took a sabbatical to replant and rebuild.)
 

Their new cabin, taken from our property.
 

Beate in their kitchen/living room.

 
Needless to say I wish they lived here full time. Some of the sweetest words I’ve ever heard was when Beate said, “It will take us 15 minutes to get there, but wait on the porch. We’re coming to pick you up.”

Have you ever had neighbors like that?

 
As I’ve mentioned before, Google and the internet has been invaluable the past few months. First to get information for documenting the value of our losses for insurance, more recently for getting information about materials for the new structure.

Now I’m done with that for a while and am curious about how effective the overhangs Steve (our architect/project coordinator) is proposing will be. Our first house was designed for passive solar, so we spent a lot of time looking at sun position and calculating how much sun would come in the windows in summer and winter. When I mentioned to Andy that I was going to try to do the same for the new design, he pointed out our solar book was one of the casualties of the fire. No problem, I said, I’ll bet I can find something on the internet.

Sure enough, a website called SunEarthTools.com not only has the formulas I need to calculate the sun position as a function of time for our latitude and longitude, it also does some of the calculations for me. I’ll still have to review some basic trigonometry when I take the overhangs into account, but the site will save me a lot of time. I do love the internet!

What about you?

The burned area is still closed to the general public because of the danger from flash flooding, falling rocks and trees, etc., but landowners have access as long as they have their key and signed paperwork with them. So Andy has to escort the contractor and workmen in and out every time they go up. (Yes, that is a nuisance!)

One morning a couple of weeks ago getting in took even longer than usual. The place was swarming with law enforcement officials, part of an interagency task force that included the National Park Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, a New Mexico State Police SWAT team, the New Mexico National Guard, the Santa Fe National Forest, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, the Los Alamos Police and Fire Departments, and a Special Events and Tactic Team made up of park personnel from eight different states. So it wasn’t just a matter of opening the gate and going in, Andy had to show his paperwork and everyone had to show their identification.

Why? Because when a helicopter was flying over Bandelier National Monument to check for the effects of flash flooding, the the pilot saw a blue tarp on one of the rugged slopes. The people who went in to investigate found a sophisticated marijuana farm containing about 9000 plants with a street value estimated to be about $9 million. As far as I can tell they didn’t catch the people involved in spite of all their efforts. They did dismantle the farm and will be on the lookout for more drug growing in the future.

Again, who says life in the sticks is dull?

Are there any interesting stories from your neck of the woods?

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One thing I’ve tried to do in life is to get my ego out of the way, live my values and not worry about what other people think. I thought I was starting to learn how to do this, but a recent study implies it’s not a matter of experience, it’s that a part of my brain is starting to deteriorate. Whatever. That works for me too.

What about you? Do you find it easier to get your ego out of the way and to ignore the judgments of other people as you get older?

 
I took the background picture last Thursday afternoon after the snow storm. And early this morning, as the year switched to 2011, it was about zero degrees Fahrenheit outside. It only warmed up to about 20 during the day so it was a great time to stay inside and play with my computer.

Next Spring we will probably drive to see Kaitlin, Torben, Sammy, Boomer and Hass. In the past I would have used Microsoft Streets and Trips on a PC to compare various routes, but we’ve now switched to Macs. It turns out that’s not a problem, both MapQuest and Google Maps will do the job.
 
Here are the three routes Google Maps suggested (I superimposed them on the same image and added the driving times):
 

 
And here are the three routes MapQuest suggested:
 

No two suggested routes are the same and the estimated times aren’t that different, so we have a wide choice.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been playing with. What about you? Have you made any plans/played with any ideas for 2011?