The variousness of it

How many of you live in a mobile home, manufactured home, or trailer?

Most of them are pretty much set up the same, unless you get a custom set-up. Ours is 30 some odd years old. And it has a time keeping itself warm.  Every year I tell Husband that this is the last year I will suffer a winter in this thing. However things creep up, and we have to put off building something new. Our biggest obstacle is that we live in one of the few counties that actually have building codes other than, if I push on it and it doesn't fall, it's all good.  (that and money of course, but that goes with the building code problem)

So what we are doing in the interim  is "customizing" the home. Things like putting in a real floor is quite normal for a trailer house, especially when one falls through it. I've done that, what. . . twice now? But the biggest problem is pipes freezing.

I have something that I think was once suppose to be a dinning room. Or at least a space to but a desk size table into for people to eat on with a cheap lamp type chandelier hanging above it.  A silly little table isn't big enough for the 5 of us, we have tried. And it has the washer and dryer in a closet type thing in the same area.  We have taken the fridge out of it's cubby hole and put it in the dinning area, along with the 2 upright freezers. But the washer is on the north side of the house. Bad Bad Bad. The lines to it freeze every year.

We moved the laundry area to the master bath. Our master bath has been all kinds of things over the years, ever since we removed the brittle plastic garden tub because of a leak and mold. I think creating a laundry room will be the last step. It is 12F now, and the lines didn't freeze! With as much laundry as I have to do between the 5 of us and our various chores resulting in much dirt, dust and oil, this is great! Plus the first time in 10 years that I could do laundry on such a cold day.

But now we have an empty hole in this dinning area. Husband will be putting in a new pantry in it. This helps out greatly, and I will have a place to put all those canning jars!

We have several winter projects we are working on. Maybe with the customization of our own trailer will help give some of you, that are tired too of living in one of these things, a few ideas of your own.

And I would love to hear about your own tailored trailer.

I keep my demons with my friends

Alarm goes off before 530 am.

Tried to wake Large, who decides to yell at me "Don't yell at me!" umm. . . I wasn't yelling. After about 5minutes of hearing this, I start yelling. "If you are not up at the count of 5! You'll get a glass of cold water dumped on you!" I swear I wasn't yelling at him until that moment.

Noticed that the coffee maker isn't working. Find my stove top perk, and discover it's been gutted. Have to use it to heat the water, than pour it over the coffee in the automatic drip that is no longer automatic. And then I find out that for some reason the electric start on the stove isn't working and have to light it manually. (yes, everything is getting power to it)

I walk past the back door, which we leave the doors wide open at night, due to how cool the nights in Kansas get, and found our kitten dead on the porch.

All this before 6am.

This, can you see this? Can you say electrical fire? I know you can. This would be the reason we have no running water and why I have to use a hand pump to get any water. We were lucky that this little bobble doesn't touch anything under the house. However the water that came squirting out of this little device has shorted out the lights in both our bathrooms. We got lucky. Now I know why I smelled burning plastic yesterday morning, and here I just thought our dog Buckets, had pooped in here some where.

Can I just say that I am not looking forward to the rest of this day?

(trying to get medium up now. He wanted up at 6am, but I didn't do that, and now is throwing a hissy fit)

Take Time with a Wounded Hand

Me, materialstic? You Betcha!

Not so much that I gotta have kind, but the I spent years gathering these things, kind. I started in my closets. My husband has more clothes than I do, so that wasn't an issue, but as I went into my bedroom and started pulling books off the shelf, nope, That's Mark Twain have to keep it, I found I had some issues.

I know that many of you are uncluttering your lives, giving away things you really don't use and have no sentimental value. But. . . oh here comes the whining. . . I have to give up just about everything. There is no storage at the farm. I can only take minimal amount of things with me. But what stays and what goes?

I decided it would be easiest to start with the things that we need to actually live. Not the pretties. I have an issue living without books. That won't happen. I, in theory, could leave everything behind and start anew. I don't want to, wait, I need to stomp my feet. I have things that I had since I was a child. The very first teddy Bear I was given the day I was born, I have a hope chest that was my crib when we went to see my grandmother. I think I will fill that hope chest with my memories, my husband's and my children's, and that will be all the pretties I will take. It will be difficult to leave the rest behind, but I have little choice. Emotional this is rather difficult.

We found renters that will make you guys proud. There is this family, the father is on disability because of 2 full tours for the Army. He is on meds to make him sleep, one to stop the dreams, and one to manage pain. His wife is a manager at a chian restaurant, and they have 6 kids. These 8 are living in a 2 bedroom apartment. What they pay for that 2 bedroom apartment will get them a 3 bedroom trailer and 3 acres from us. My husband and I have talked already. Before we found this family. We wanted to be able to give another family a chance, and decided not to charge more than mortgage. I would like to charge less than mortgage but that wouldn't be feasible. We are leasing out the back 2 acres to the horse neighbor, but that will knock only a little bit off the rent. The future renter grew up on a small farm, he knows the ins and outs and this will give the family a wonderful opportunity to live independently. I hope.

I have to go now. I have to sort through a life time of acquired goodies, tug at some heart strings and hope it doesn't break. . . to badly.

Me, materialistic? Unfortunately yes.

Winter Project #3

So today's project will go along nicely with the painting I need to do.

Fix this wall.

That would be my bathroom wall. It started as a small hole made from a rabbit, than turned into a larger hole, where I spotted mold, and then grew. I don't have the money to buy more drywall, instead, I have a better idea.

Those of you that live in mobile homes may have had this problem, some eejit puts the toilet paper dispenser into the drywall and not to any of the 2x2's or what ever beams you have in the wall. One good thigh shot, and cussing ensues as the dispenser falls to the floor. Next to the wall in this picture is the same thing, two nice sized holes where the dispenser use to be.

I also lack storage space.

So this weekend, most likely Sunday and Monday, my bathroom will get an overhaul. Instead of replacing the drywall, we will be putting in a shelving unit, towel rack and tp dispenser. Then painting the room.

It should all be done with materials already on hand.

Winter Project #2

I have some rooms to paint. ~gasp~ But it is winter Phelan! You have to open windows so you don't die from the fumes! And you have migraines, how on earth. . .

Well, we are not going to go out and buy the paint. Nope, winter project #2 is making your own natural paint. I have 3 different recipes that we can use.

#1
1 Quart skim milk (room temperature)
1 Once of hydrated lime by weight ( Do not use quick lime)
1 to 2 1/2 pounds of chalk may also be added as a filler.

Stir together milk and lime to form a smooth paste. Add color pigment of your choice and apply with bristle brush. Allow first coat to dry before applying another.

#2
One Gallon Skim Milk
Two Cups Builders Lime (Do NOT use Quick Lime)
One Quart Linseed Oil (the boiled type)
1/2 Cup of Salt
Dye (Color) add in as needed

Mix all ingredients together and strain through a cheesecloth. Use within a day or two.

#3
Powdered Skim Milk
Water
Food Coloring

Mix just enough powder and water to create the consistency of paint. Add food coloring of your choice or make it various herbs and vegetables. Strain through a cheesecloth.

I will be doing #3, because all I have to purchase is the powdered milk. I think I will be doing a sage green for the living room, it should go well with the mobile home fake wood panels.

Pictures to follow.

Winter Project #1

By now most of you already know about the Phelan Box, if not, you must be new and I welcome you to my little part of the world. Those that aren't new and have no idea what I am talking about, where have you been? You are missing the coolest craze evah! Ok, no more about the box, I am going to lecture you today on modual planting. Yes lecture, now sit down and keep quiet, I will take questions at the end, and take notes, there will be a quiz on this later.

Modular planting 101

Welcome, I am your proffesor, Phelan. Don't care how you spell it as long as you pronounce it correctly. (sorry having flashbacks).


What is modular planting, it's a lot like bookshelf plants, but cusotmized for your pleasure. Take a moment and look around the room you are sitting in, notice something?



You in the back with the green hair.



Did you catch that? She was right, what you should be noticing is that the corners of the rooms are not being utilized correctly. Here my dear students is where you will be placing your modules.



Most people do not use their squared or in my case, rectangular homes efficiently when it comes to stuffing as much junk, I mean stuff, into them. There are a lot of hard corners that can be used, ones that get natural light, and those that don't. Building selves into these poorly used corners will help you find a place inside your tiny apartment or lavish home where you thought none existed.



You can buy premade corner shelves or, join me in Winter project #1 and build one or two. Rod's Wood Working Shop as free plans on building your own corner shelf. What he is lacking in his plans is how to turn it into a planter.


You need white paint, reflective white paint. You do not need to cover the entire shelf in white, only the underside of the shelves, this is where you will mount your lights. You can use specialty lights, like gro bulbs, or a mix of fluorescent and iridescent lighting. Keep your lighting at least 8 inches from your plants, and use a timer to give them the correct amount of light.



Use whatever wood you have on hand.






There you have your first winter project. Now go out and make me proud.

A House for the Homestead?

Things often start off innocent enough, like reading through your local rural paper.

For sale Farm house
must be moved
$4,500 Inman

Inman is only a 30 minute drive, so I called on it. The woman I spoke to informed me that another couple was interested nd they had already brought out housemovers to look at it. The house is 1 1/2 stories with the 2 only bedrooms upstairs. This home would not be big enough for us.

Out of curiosity I searched the Internet and found another house, not too far from us for $1,000. I emailed the man and was informed it had just sold. This 100 year old farm house did have 3 bedrooms, but is not in the best condition.

I found one other house listed in Kansas. Built in 1908, it is listed as having 3 bedrooms. I called the gentleman selling it. He seemed very relaxed and not in a big hurry to sell. I told him we were interested in looking at the house, he informed me to go on over, it would be unlocked. The reason the door was unlocked, is because it is missing.

We walked about the house, admiring the remaining wood work and flooring. All original to the 99 year old house.

The kitchen is small, but that is to be expected as part of the kitchen was renovated to add a bathroom without adding onto the house.

As we looked around with our parents {my parents and my husband's} my mother informed me that what was called the living room, was originally the master bedroom. My husband and I smiled because we were thinking about turning it into the master bedroom. We are also discussing turning the attic into a bedroom. This would make the house a 5 bedroom home, but we don't need that many bedrooms. One of the rooms is right off the bathroom and kitchen, this is were all the plumbing is. This side room we think would be the best place for a utility {washer/dryer, hot water heater} and office.

The house still contains most of the original hardware
and built in bookshelves

And a wonderful surprise hiding behind a curtain in the master bedroom aka living room

Frosted glass!

I have a call out to housemovers for an estimate.

More photos can be seen here.

I have bad timing

I will have a house full of people on Saturday. Marina {Tales from a Texas Farm Wife} being one of them. And my house is a wreck.

I didn't need to pull up the carpet in the living room.

But the hallway is almost done.

The flooring I picked up at a Farm Auction.

Good news, my truck is running again. Woohoo for men that are Jacks of all trades!

My tomatoes have gone crazy. I will have to give some away so they don't all go bad.

Flooring

There was a sagging spot in the middle of our hallway. We pulled up the carpet and found this.

A large hole. The floor had caved in.

I put my best men on it.

But only one was allowed to use the power tools.

As the flooring was cut, we discovered the cause of all the problems. The furnace was leaking, and ready to fall through. We ended up replacing half the hallway, and securing the furnace.

We put down plywood instead of replacing it with particle board. We also discovered that some one before us had replaced the floor. Why they didn't put down plywood I will never know. The replacement floor was done with everything we already had on hand.

Nothing was bought in town.

Next step is to put down the hard wood flooring that we got at auction.

Fox Soil Cooling

Remember the giant gray fox that was eating my chickens? A neighbor thinks that it wasn't a fox I saw. His buddy dumped a greyhound poodle looking dog at his house, huge, fluffy and gray. He informed us that he thinks that it was this dog that I saw. The other day he brought us 12 pullets to replace some of the missing birds, and he is bring over one of his bannies to sit. He couldn't get his friend to pick the dog up, the guy wouldn't even return his phone calls, so now the dog has a heated fence, and no more birds have gone missing. I like this guy.

We have a long weekend ahead of us. We are getting top soil from my mother, and will be tearing up the floor of my house. I don't want to fall through it again.

Even with the air conditioner running, it is still a little too warm in the house. And I am not canning right now. Hopefully the weather men are correct, and it will be cooling off and raining soon.

I wonder how many odd google searches I will get with this title.

Bikes, corn and home

Linda, the keeper of Raven's Roads is having a show and tell. What a biker! She walks around with a sign that says "SHOW ME YOUR. . . Bike!" Ha! She's not that kind of biker, so get that one out of your head. Got a motorcycle you want to show and tell? I brought mine in today.

On the homesteading front, my corn is burnt up. I watered and cared for it, yet it still didn't want to make it. This is the first time I have messed up on corn, and I don't know what I did wrong. There is a place a few miles from here that sells sweet corn, I will have to head there and by corn to can for the winter.

I fell through the floor of the laundry room on Saturday. I am tired of living this way. And am angry that credit scores are our only source of credit worthiness. I guess it is time I told you the story, I am sure some of you older readers are wondering why we haven't built our home yet.

We pay a company through our mortgage lender to watch our credit, they are to tell us when something negative has been placed on it. They didn't. We assumed everything was fine, and tried to push through our loan for the new house. Our credit score was too low and we were denied. What!?! So I looked it up. One bank marked us as a bad debt because we paid off a loan before it matured. So I fought it. It was only removed from one of the credit companies, not the others. But this didn't matter because we don't have credit cards and have paid off all our loans before maturity. This keeps are credit rating low. We stupidly thought that if we had no debt, that it would look good to lenders, everything was paid off in a timely manner. Nope, no go. So unless someone reading has $100,000US to loan me, it will be awhile until we can build our credit rating up to get a bank loan. Now we have to fix what is wrong with this house and hope for the best, like a plane landing on it for the insurance.

Muggy Work

They claimed it was in the 90'sF (32C) yesterday. It didn't feel like it, maybe it was the cooling breeze that was almost constant. One thing I know for sure is that it was very humid. It was raining in areas around us, but never did it rain here. We could do with some more rain.

I weeded the garden yesterday. My hands turning orange from the dyed leather of my gloves. And my husband and I tackled one side of the barn. Not literally that would have hurt a bit. We noticed that we are collecting junk there that is not reusable, such as televisions. In the 11 years that my husband and I have been together we have never purchased a tv. other people will replace their outdated view screens, and give them to us. Most of them are late 80's, but we do have one with a tube. When did they stop using those tubes? We will use the tv until it gives out, and usually it will only be a day or two before some one else shows up with their old television. We never go out of our way to tell people that our tv died, they either come over and see, or it is mentioned in casual conversation. We really don't fret over the loss of one. But now we have several junked ones out near the barn, something needs to be done with them.

We spent most of the morning separating the reusable from the non reusable, metal scrap from out right junk. The tv's seem to be the only out right junk we have in that area. We need to find a place to take them, for either new life, or in the case of the wooden console one, a permanent grave.

We have a nice large stack of decorative bricks border for flower gardens. I pulled them out from in front of the house, the previous owners had them placed in the way. I didn't want to get rid of them, but my husband insisted we either find a use for them now, or give them to some one else. I wanted to use them for the medieval kitchen garden that we were going to plant next year. Instead we loaded them in the truck and moved them out into the orchard. They are now surrounding the trees, where they will be able to contain the mulch, and thus keep the soil moist.

We moved old lawn tractors {that will be parted}, and project motorcycles. Broken fans and BBQ grills. We have enough scrap metal to justify a run to the scrap yard, and we are still finding items that the previous owners left. We are trying to get things not only uncluttered and looking a tad better, but preparing the barn for the donkey, and other livestock. It is so easy just to put things aside for later, but if you don't watch it, it will build up on you.

3 chicks died yesterday, just dropped dead. They are in the house now, still in the rabbit hutch. Not the dead ones. We fear the heat might have had something to do with it. They are a noisy bunch, but seem happy.

We ended the day with a dip in the horse trough and decorating my husband's face. Simple things that can keep you laughing.

And it looks like I am in the running for the Bestest blog of the Year. I was bestest Blog of the day back in October. You can go vote for me, or any other blog you see there that you prefer at Blankest Blank. If you register, your vote will count 3 times. The contest will run until August 6th.

Good Luck to everyone in the running!

A white trash pictorial (or an eclectic yard)

NO, no pictures of pregnant women in tube tops with open cans of natty lite.

First, I would like to clarify things about my husband. He prefers to work on old school bikes, but he does work on brand spankin' new ones. Here is a picture from yesterday, It is a 1989 H-D. I know a little blurry, but he wouldn't pose for it.

The dog run chicken coop that the goats have managed to drag things into and split apart the old dog house. I swear they are just like children.

The goat play ground which they have managed to take down, again.

Old tire for a tree guard

cattle fencing for the grapes

Motorcycle crate used as a wind block {it worked wonderfully last Wednesday when we had 40 mph sustained winds}

The fridge with the feed

It was getting dark out when I remembered that the Fool had asked for pictures. And it is raining now. Soon I will go out and take more photos for you viewing {giggling, distasteful gasps} pleasure.

IT'S ALIVE!

My bantams arrived this morning, all alive and all healthy. I am thrilled, but not very prepared. I thought they would be here tomorrow. Oops. They are hanging out with the ducks, keeping cozy.

Faren {no profile to link to} left a comment informing me that there was a local place to get some of my must needed goodies. Fuller Family Farms, I need to head that way sometime this week. Maybe I should tell the KSmilkmaid I'm stopping by. Thanks again, Faren!

And it looks like you have chosen for me to make a vegetable based soaps. Poll is open for one more day. I need to get on that one soon so it will be ready for the first of next month. {need to get the camera working again}

We have been speaking with John over at Centennial log homes. We decided to only buy the material package and build it ourselves. It will take a little longer, but the price has come down {between alterations and labor} $35,000US.

A better day

I am happy to report that we have decided to go with Centennial Log homes. We are working with them on customizing our home. And the best part is, if we decide to allow them to completely build the home for us, it falls well within our budget.

So far our sales rep has been attentive and more than just a little helpful. To this point our experience with this company has been positive. Actually all the dealers we have spoken with have been wonderful, but there is just something about this one my husband likes.

The Company is out of St. Louis. In March they have a free DIY Log Home work shop, which we will be attending. If you are in the area {or in driving distance} I suggest checking it out. If you go maybe we can have lunch together.

Katie, thank you for the wonderful card!

Father update; he has been removed from the vent and is talking to us. We have to wait a few days to see how his lungs are doing. If they are well enough he will be able to have the open heart surgery. One hurdle down, several more chronic illnesses to go.

Housing Info

By popular demand {or the amount of people that come here looking for the info} I will condense the underground and dome home housing info I have looked at.

Living Underground;

• Underground Housing {book}
• Earth Sheltered Technology, Inc
• Performance Building Systems, Inc

Dome homes can also be sunk, just ask your sales rep. for details;

• Info at Dome Kits
• Geodesic Domes
• Spherical Design Engineers
• Spherical Steel Structures
• Spherical Building Services
• Spherical Prefab Structures
• Spherical Geodesic Structures
• Spherical Fiberglass Designs

This is not an endorsement by the blog author, just helpful links for you to get started. What you do with this info is up to you.

If you have any dome or underground home links or have dealt with any of the above and wish to tell us about your experinces, please leave a reply or e-mail me.

Steve at Spherical Structures emailed me, there is a
yahoo group for earth shelters 

I have talked to a rep of Info at Dome Kits. He was very helpful.

Baby it's cold outside

Those of you that were interested in the DVD "America: Freedom to Fascism." That I raffled off last month, and didn't win, The Fool over on Shouting in the Dark is re-raffling it off. Click here, and put your name in the hat.

Our water line froze up yesterday. So instead of laundry, I braided some more. It's an ugly thing, but my first go at it, meaning once done, I will suck it up and post a picture. Be gentle.

I talked at great lengths with a Canadian log house supplier. Living in the middle of a prairie, I do not have access to the logs required to build a home and so we are talking with various kit home companies. We got into the discussion of septic systems and he informed me of something called BioCycle. I hadn't ran across this one yet, and he sent me a link to their website. It is the same concept as the grey water system, but it recycles black water as well. I am hesitant on anything that deals with black water. But it seems to be a better alternative to a lagoon {which we already have} or a septic tank.

For those of you requesting the bread recipe, I will get that up for you later today.

It's bubble bursting time

I have stated my position about comprise in a twelve year old girl tantrum way. That, I regret to inform you, does not work. No matter how much you wish to pretend that it did work when you were twelve, it doesn't have the same effect when you are 29. The reaction one gets from the attended fiter, is one of mirth, and if you don't watch it, it will turn into anger.

Because of a few factors, we will not be able to do the decahome, and because of finance and the risk debt ratio, the house can not be a complete berm. My compromise is a slightly more traditional home {think dead wood log home} with a small footprint. This home shall be easily resalable so that some day in the future we can sell, move out of this county, and find a place without building codes. Then we will have our dream home.

I was informed that I should never allow people to tell me that I can not build my dream home. And believe me when I say, I have tried everything. The biggest problem is that we have to go through a lender, and construction loans are not an easy thing to obtain. So far the lender that told me it is cheaper to go out than up has the best deal {low interest and such} Another problem is that building green is expensive. Don't let the sales men fool you with this talk of "initial cost are more, but you will save in the long run" However true this may be, it doesn't help when you only have so much to spend on the initial. So our home will not be as green as it could be, but we are going to try our hardest to be as green as we can afford at this moment. Too bad I don't have a popular blog, then maybe I could convince some of these green dealers to give me a price break.

So, now think Little House when you think of our home, at least for now. Who knows what other road blocks will be set down in front of us. A dead standing timber home can be bermed, we are still looking at the Rastra system {just got their DVD in the mail} solar, greywater, wood burning stove {no furnace} and deconstruction companies.

The Green Home Guide

I don't know

I think I have crashed. I am exhausted, and really don't feel like doing much at this time.

There is just too many things going on right now, and it's frustrating.

When did everything fall on my shoulders? Oh, that's right, when I decided to try my hand at homesteading. I forgot.

My Aunt says I'm stubborn

My husband keeps throwing around this word, compromise.

compromise >noun 1 an agreement reached by each side making concessions. 2 an intermediate state between conflicting opinions, reached by mutual concession. >verb 1 settle a dispute by mutual concession. 2 expediently accept standards that are lower than is desirable. 3 bring into disrepute or danger by indiscreet or reckless behavior.
-DERIVATIVES compromiser >noun.
-ORIGIN Old French compromis, from Latin compromittere, from promittere 'promise'

At this point, definition number 3 is where I am, in compromising. Maybe because of the fact that none of this feels like a compromise but more of a dictatorship, and no, it's not coming from my husband.

Unfortunately we are not in a position to pay cash for our new home. We have to find a lender. We could wait and save, and pay for it all ourselves, but we are currently in a mobile home that is literally falling apart. We fear it will not make it out another year. We have come to a point where we have to have a new dwelling, and there is no way I will buy a new trailer.

We have just spoken to our first choice in lenders. I am not a happy camper. I could compromise and scale down the house to 1,600 sq ft as this lender wants us to. All 6 of us are living in 1,300 sq ft now. What's another 300 sq ft to stretch our legs? The thing is, I only want at minimum, 1,800 sq ft, and at that, it would make it a small home. This lender claims that building a single level is cheaper then a two level house. Why then, when one goes to a small home architect, they encourage you to go with two levels to add a little more space, and the fact that from all the research I have done, building up is cheaper than building only a single level? You use the same amount of wall material, yet less roofing. Here is where I become very stubborn.

I have less than a month to prove to this first lender that I can build my dream house for less than what they think we can. One problem is going green is more expensive than using the standard building methods. One plus is, while this lender wants subcontractor bids on all the work we plan on doing ourselves, we have family and close friends that are subcontractors, we will be getting our bids from them.

But what of the materials? My husband and I were talking about the ICF systems vs concrete form and pour when the first mason called to place his bid. We told him what we are hoping for, and he is currently working on a proposal. {talk about timing} I am waiting for 2 more local contractors to call.

Greywater will not be a problem, it is a inexpensive way to irrigate. But I do need to get bids from plumbers and electricians {we know an electrician, we will need to ask around for a licenced plumber, you have a buddy?} We have contacted metal truss companies, we will need to contact timber. and so forth. {what's this we stuff? This is on me}

I have a lot of work to do in a very short time. And on top of that, talk to different lenders, maybe someone will have a better deal for us. This lender is offering us more money than we thought we would get, but are poo pooing on our wants. I really thought that this amount of money would get a good sized home. We live in Kansas, living expenses, building materials and so forth, are cheaper than most places, including our neighboring states.

Let's hope I can pull this off. Ha! Me stubborn? nah.