Floor and Walls

We took the trailer to Menards to pick up the framing lumber. Road restrictions are in force now so it can't be delivered, oh well, saved me $40. I followed the guys in the Tuscon to run interference in case the trailer lights quit working, which they did. Then the Tuscon died. Just up and died on the way home. I got it restarted but WTHeck! So my car's in the shop, they think it's the fuel pump.Anyway, didn't slow us down!

Next day we get the trailer into the barn to weld some floor supports on it. The floor will extend 6 inches off either side. Roughly the width of the fender.
While dad was working on that I started staining the siding. Pittsburgh paints Dark Mahogany was was overpriced and not the color I want.

Second coat I used Thompson's water sealant in Russet. Better but still not exactly what I want. I'm ok with it though.

Floor is framed!

We used these big honking screws to attach the floor frame to the trailer deck.

I caulked the seams between the boards. The plan is to use spray foam insulation for the whole house so it wasn't important to seal the planking, the insulation will do that.

But we did need to put down some roll aluminum to cover the overhang.

Hey, now we have walls! The end wall is on the right. The one on the floor is my kitchen wall.

The sheeting on the floor is just tacked on. We need to remove it to install plumbing and insulation. There is a 4 inch strip of floor that is permanently attached to the framing along the sides so that we can put the walls up.

Also if you look at the last pic you can see the floor doesn't extend all the way to the end of the trailer. We have 2 feet open. That's where the porch will be. I haven't done any planning on porch materials yet. Just focusing on the house itself.

My First Mortgage...Sort of.

Went to Menard's with mom & dad on Friday, I was expecting that we would just price things out so we'd have an idea of when we could start building.

Well, we got a quote on framing materials, steel roofing (emerald green!), exterior siding (board and batten) and cedar shakes for the dormers and front loft. This would allow us to have it sealed up and give us time to work on the interior whenever we feel like it.

Total $1,762.79. They would give us a $100 discount if we ordered that day. I was feeling kinda bad about that, thinking there's no way I can afford that now, and crap, we just missed out on a good deal.

So we head over to windows and get an estimate on those. Eight windows total $822.97. They're cute colonial windows, low E, vinyl, that will last forever.

I was especially excited that I could get the colonial look for only $3. extra per window. I picked 4 panes, top only. So the top half of the window will have what looks like 4 panes of glass, but the divider is actually set in between the layers of glass so it's easy to clean. I'm thinking, ok, I can do $822. next week.

Mom and dad didn't want to wait. They ordered them for me, put it on their Menard's card. No interest for a year. So I figure, ok I'll just pay them back next week, instead of paying Menard's directly. Then they start discussing going back to order the rest of the materials. Don't know how I feel about that. Even though I will pay them within the year, they still have to make payments on it and I don't want to owe them anymore.

But mom has the brilliant idea of heading over to Home Depot to see if they could beat Menard's price. We spend almost an hour there. The guy could not figure out how to put together a quote and wanted us to come back the next day. In the meantime mom is applying for a Home Depot credit card, which took forever.

By the time we got out of there it was too late to go back to Menard's so we just went home.

Fast forward to the next day. Late in the day we go back to Home Depot to see if we can finally get a quote. No luck again! New guy, but he can't figure out how to put together a quote either.

So we head back to Menard's to order the stuff. The guy gives us a new quote, $1,428.02. WHAAAAT?? That's over $300. less than the quote yesterday! Did he miss something? Nope! Three different sales are going on, one just started that day. Holy cow, I'm glad we didn't order the day before!

So despite odd circumstances and stalling, my complete house exterior is ordered and going to be delivered sometime after the 20th. Grand total (with tax and delivery) of $2,572. I figure I'll have them payed off by June 30th at the latest. Then we can start work on the interior. YESSSSS!

First thing? YES!

Looky what's in the back yard!Tiny house a.k.a the Chateau has it's foundation. I'm so flippin' happy it's obscene.

This should've been in the last post but it's ridiculously difficult to insert a photo in the middle of a post on blogger.com.

Only thing I'm changing to it is the dormers upstairs which are flush with the exterior wall but bring the roof height up to an even 3' 8'' widthwise as well as lengthwise. Also the downstairs bedroom won't be used as a bedroom.

On a side note, my wonderful brothers suggested that to save space I add a trampoline to get up to the loft and a fireman's pole to get down. To which one of them added I could probably make up a lot of money that way and offered to make me a neon light that says 'The Hen's House'.

Thanks guys, I think I'll pass.

Le Chateau

I have a new project in the works. A BIG project.

Based on this tiny house:

Jay Schaffers Tumbleweed. Lusby is the particular model.

This is the photo that stole my heart:

I want to live here. Possibly forever. It may seems strange to some (I am strange to many people) but I've never wanted a big house. I've always been drawn to small efficient spaces that utilize the outdoors as part of the living space. 

My house will of course have a full bathroom. No tub though, I don't like baths, just showers. Our current plan is to hook it up to the septic system but I would love to have black water (poo) and grey water (shower/kitchen water) tanks attached so I can take it on the road like a real RV.
I need a fabulous kitchen of course! Smaller models have the kitchen in a small 6'x4' room but I will build it along one wall in the main 6' 1/2 x 6' 1/2 room. Mini (4 cubic foot) fridge, 2 burner LP stovetop and a sink of course. Planning on a microwave & toaster oven. I hardly ever use the oven anyway, don't think I'll miss it.

Only thing it'll be missing is a washer/dryer. I figure as long as I'm parked on the property it won't be a big deal to walk across the yard to wash my clothes. There is space for some sort of clothes washer if I decide I NEED it in the future.

Sleeping is in the loft which runs the width of the trailer (8') and 6' long. The original design is 3'8'' at the peak and follows the slope down, but we're putting in dormers on either side which will make it much roomier.

You can see a storage loft on the far side. We're extending that as well, right over the porch. So it will be bigger than the photo.

Here's an inspiration pic. The cedar shakes are so lovely. I'm thinking of putting them over the exterior porch overhang and the side dormers.

Here are my drafts, they are to scale (yay me!) This one is my favorite style:
The front view is not to scale. I don't know how to do that with perspective. But it does give you an idea of style.
Here's a second style, front view is to scale, off center is not:
It will also have a small side room (6'x4') Don't quite know what I'm doing with it yet...dressing room? Library? Tv room?

I need 2 nice recliners so Katie (or guest) and I can watch tv/movies and drink wine. I'm not compromising on that. Just don't know how I'm going to fit the in there, it is a truly tiny house. I may need to substitute one of the recliners for a small chair futon so I can take a guest and go road tripping.

We'll see. First things first!

Mad Scientists...

.. are the best kind of scientists!

And he was the best and maddest of them all.

Nikola Tesla

Never heard of him? You're not alone, but you should be. The AC motor, the basic devices of systems of wireless communication a.k.a. the radio, robotics, devices for x-rays, devices for charged particle beams (Ray guns!), the bladeless turbine, and VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft are among his 300 patents.

So why have so few people heard about him? Three words... Edison was evil. Yep the famous inventor Thomas Edison stole his inventions, slandered him, and along with Westinghouse conned him out of a huge sum of money. You want to learn about Edison? Look up the first execution by electric chair. I guarantee you will never see him the same way.

Nuff about that, here's some cool stuff Tesla did:

This is the first photograph ever taken by phosphorescent light. The face is Tesla's and the source of light is one of his phosphorescent bulbs. Keep in mind this is 50 years before florescent lamps come into use. January 1894.

April 1895. The high voltage high frequency current is being passed through the human body to bring the lamp to incandescence. Yes that is Samuel Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain who is holding the loop over the resonating coil. He and Tesla used to hang out, how cool is that?! Tesla is in the background.

1898. Tesla holds a highly evacuated, gas filled tube, powered by one of his high frequency oscillator units. The one amp tube operated without any connection to wires. Wireless energy was one of his special interests. Imagine what our world would be like if he had the funding that was promised and was able to pursue it.

May 5 1899. In this experiment, Tesla's body is charged to a high potential by means of a coil responsive to the waves transmitted to it from a distant oscillator. A long glass tube waved in his hand is lit by the electrical charges conveyed to it through his body.

Mad? Yes. Brilliant? Absolutely!

Go learn about him. GO NOW!

Winter Cometh

Finally!

It's been in the 50s for the last month. No snow, no ice to skate on, all brown and boring.

But Saturday night we got snow! Just barely enough to cover the grass but it's better than nothing. Of course the chickens disagree. All except Chaaya who seems to be immune to the cold. Oh well, deal with it chickens!

The high today was around 18 F but even so I saw some dummy on lake Independence with his fish house tilted into the lake on one end. Yeah, turns out one cold day doesn't mean you can take a 200 pound fish house out on the lake. But that happens every year no matter how cold the weather, someone isn't paying attention and picks the wrong spot.

Gorgeous sunset today and my kitten sleeping on the pillow behind me. Think I'm going to make some cocoa and start going through the seed catalogs. Life is good.

The Kobayashi Maru

Points to you if you know what the title refers to. The unwinnable test on Star Trek that Kirk beat by cheating (sort of). Also:

This adorable kitten.

Found on a busy road, suffering from pneumonia, malnutrition and ear mites. This kitten was in an unwinnable situation. Just after getting on antibiotics it went downhill fast.

It was the weekend so we called the emergency vet. They said all they could do is put the kitten on oxygen and get x-rays done and it would cost $1000. a night minimum. Keep in mind we had had the kitten for 5 days at this point. I was already very attached, but a grand a night?? Just not even possible. I was a mess. The kitten can hardly breathe. Can't lay down, can't eat because every time her head goes down she can't breathe at all. What do we do?

Pick up some canisters of oxygen at the hardware store.

We propped the kitty carrier up and rolled up towels so she could rest with her head up so she could breathe, and piped the oxygen on super low into the carrier. A canister lasted about 45 minutes. We did 5 canisters in the first 24 hours. In between treatments I'd give her eye droppers of KMR and pedialyte. In the first day she hardly moved and I was not at all sure she'd make it. Believe me, I did not sleep. It was agonizing.

By the next day I felt like there was improvement, she was lapping more out of the eyedropper and seemed to breathe a little better. Another 24 hours of oxygen and milk/Pedialyte. By Monday she was eating again and we were both able to get a good night's sleep. This lucky, lucky baby cheated death yet again!

A trip to the vet after the last round of antibiotics (20 days total!) and we found out it's a girl! This whole time we thought it was a boy kitten. I'll admit it, I went right out and bought a pretty grey collar with a pink flower and bow on it. So her name is Kobayashi Maru, just Maru for short.

As for giving her up, no way. Not after what I went through to keep her alive. The other kitties will just have to deal with it!

Dec. 24 update: Izzy is dealing just fine but I couldn't deal with Katie's disappointed over the name. She says it just reminds her of Kobe (an awesome restaurant) and she hates it. So after nearly a month without a name. We settled on....Lucy. Honestly I think it fits her better and she already answers to it.