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CleverNickname

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  1. Ha! Yes we bought land in about 2007. Originally 34ac, now up to 75. Unincorporated Mills County, so very few regs. Probably the only real regs are requiring a permit for septic. That wasn't even true until a couple of years later. We built a barndominium - the term didnt really exist then, but that is what it is. It was offgrid, but we got electricity a few years later. We still do rainwater collection. Propane, wood, and electricity for heat. It is a great DIY project. We had a crew pour the slab, and a local rancher and his welding rig did the iron framing. We put up the walls and roof amd everything else. Things get dried in pretty quickly, which means you can sort of build the interior on your own, amd leave building supplies inside pit ofnthe weather and away from minor thieves. We've had stuff stolen, but never a break in. Honor amongst the methheads. Electricity: I built my cabin in the most private and prettiest piece. In retrospect I should have maybe prioritized access and electricity. You gotta have electricity. Maybe solar and batteries will be cost competitive soon. But the reality is the ac sometimes has to run 24/7. Without it, it's basically not habitable when it's hot. So a battrry bank is key if all solar. A big enough system that can run ac all day and still top off the batteries should probably be grid tied so that you are selling them volts. You could run a generator, but that's noisy and can get stolen. Our little Honda 2000 was stolen. One small bedroom inside our cabin is insulated even in the interior ceiling and walls, so that we had a cool place for overnighter even in the summer with our little genny. If you are in the mountains and the summer is nice, and all you need is heat from wood or propane then maybe electric isn't so critical and a small off grid system would be easy. It always made me wonder why rural folks will have a huge spread, but their house is 80 ft off the highway. That's because running utilities is expensive. My original quote from the electric coop to run a pole to my cabin was like 18k. More than the slab and metal building cost itself! That's for like 1100 ft. They only would do 1 "bend" of the line. So figure out where the closest line is. They later changed the cost to be more for the first and last pole, and less for the line in the middle. Thay brought the cost down to like 10k. We pulled the trigger. Call or email the coop- they should be able tontell you basic costs ahead of any survey. They said my neighbor had to approve. So we asked kindly. I'm not sure what I would have done if the neighbor said no. I'd have been screwed. Access: the original 35ac crossed a creek. Now that I bought some more for the same neighbor, I could have avoided that. Not a huge deal, but it does require a truck or realish SUV to drive up to the cabin. Th3 creek floods sometimes, but usually not for a couple of hours. It's a recreational property, I just don't go up when it's that wet. The county now has subdivision regs, for things like the size and access, etc. That would impact resale, if the resale market is looking at cutting things into smaller lots. If you do a metal roof, and you probably will, then rainwater collection is easy. If you pour a slab, pour a couple pads for tanks. Locate them close to the gutter downspout. A single slope roof makes collecting rainwater easier. We wired for both 12v and 110v. To be honest, I think I could have run conduit and just had a spiderbox for electric distribution. It's all in the walls now, but I worry about ever having to chase down problems. Except for septic, Texas regs pretty much don't care about rainwater collection, solar, or in rural areas much of anything for building plans. County folks have never been to my cabin. But we are honest about the tax appraisal and anyway they use satellite photos to estimate buildings.
  2. Back at it it! Looks like I was at 102" back in Sept on the other side. About a foot deeper today. Probably deep enough to add a set. I think it's mostly wide enough. Used our new mule to haul some of the dirt and rocks to some muddle places. Looking down. With the roof, I had to bring a light. What the ground is like... some layers of stone, but mostly partially cemented aggregate.
  3. Meh. I've been distracted by the roof and now building a shed for my side by side. But I did get 3 buckets out on new years day, and it was nice and dry. I may make some progress this weekend, because it may be too cold to pour concrete. also... is tiktok suburban mine lady on my corner?
  4. Question: I have an 8th grader. I guess at some point in next few years we need to do campus tours? What do you do on a tour? Is the summer a bad time to go since there are no srudenrs around? I did UT with minimal backup plans. I'm clueless.
  5. I assumed the anal bead cheating was phony, but maybe it is a real thing?
  6. For my daughter - again, mercenary af - we "bought" her old toys and then donated them. So like a buck or two per plushy, offers for old dolls etc. Worth every damn penny.
  7. Helping the boy put together a traxxas slash kit.
  8. Hell, my daughter was far too mercenary and pragmatic to believe after like kindergarten. I remember she asked me if we would take in grandma's cat if grandma died. I told her yes, and told granny to watch her back.
  9. https://youtu.be/F1JaVe3kXpc?si=ODU3ZMW0r_4sUMoV
  10. Try texasguntrader.com
  11. My daughter does lacrosse. Frankly, they need bodies to fill out a squad. They are always recruiting - not one of those sports where you need to start in the 2nd grade. She likes it, and has done summer camp. Counts as PE in high school. Club sport, but earn that letter jacket, etc.
  12. Vintage RC10s are expensive as hell st the moment! Have you seen the stainless/clear collector kit they have out now? https://www.associatedelectrics.com/teamassociated/cars_and_trucks/RC10CC/Kit/parts_accessories/
  13. Plywood, per suggestion. Also added 3 more purlins. Bought some screen mesh. The "lid" will be a little bit elevated. Hopefully air it out without inviting critters inside. 2024: no more excuses. Diggy hole.
  14. Well... I think it "worked" for a certain definition. But it bowed and pooled between rafters. I'm going to have to put up actual metal panels, or else basically do a plywood deck. Probably in the next couple of weeks. Not this coming week. I'm picking up a kawasaki mule, so ranch toy budget is depleted. But Jan 1 is a whole new year! And I also will build a shed roof for the mule. But at least this canopy made me confident I can that pretty easily.
  15. My understanding of the academic literature on college matching and post-college judgment is that basically 95% of young adults think wherever they went to school was awesome times and somehow miraculously "it was the perfect place for them."
  16. My thought is that those folks have always been with us. Just that 80 years ago there was lots of seasonal ag work with room & board and "back 40" where the weird uncle could go live alone and be their unmedicated selves. Such options don't really exist anymore.
  17. My brother is likely homeless in Austin right now. Not totally sure... sometimes my mother gives him money or pays for an extended stay motel. He is mentally ill (no diagnosis but probably bipolar or schizoid), a drug user, and did 11 years in prison. He had a condo my parents bought him in the 90s. He sold it 3 years ago without telling us, and has pretty much spent down the 90k proceeds (it was a dump). My solution/theory: What this country (and Austin) needs are cheap cinder block single room occupies like the tenements that existed in NYC in the early 20th century. If the rent was ~600 and we just needed to give him money for rent and food, I could swing it on his behalf. I cannot swing $2.5k/mo to keep a roof over his head. He is too obnoxious to live with me or my mom or really any roommate. I'm tempted to find a shack or rv in the country to lease, but he has no car. I could probably convince my mom to buy him a wagon or van or whatever, but a decent one is like $20k and he has no license. He also refuses my free phone. Anyway. It sucks. It is very hard to help some people, especially those who don't really want help.
  18. Escalators are good because when they are broken (and they will be broken) they are just stairs.
  19. New remodel available, South Austin.
  20. Well shit. Ordered a bandit for myself and the traxxas slash kit for the boy. I hope putting together a kit is a good learning experience. I remember my hornet turnbuckles making my thumbs bleed in '89.
  21. Word is that it isn't really a school related thing. Cop just caught a bullet because the neighborhood is rough.
  22. Someone here needs to summarize all the dumb shit that has happened because somebody was pissed off and irrational at/because Texas. The "Alliance" delaying the playoff expansion by 1 year only for it to blow up in their faces is just one of the most recent. (And I'm still mad we never got HS football on the Longhorn Network.)
  23. I had a gmade swwback for a while. Got rid of it. Replaces with 3 1/24 mini crawlers. I regret that. I will say, for those with young kids, crawlers are great. Slow speeds means they wint send a missile into the curb at 30mph. Some newer ones have 2 speed gearing, so there is some potential for a little cutting loose. Thinkin of getting a buggy for the ranch. I could probably make a dirt track and use a scaffold as a riser for the driver. I love building new, but I see a lot of used traxxas bashers and those parts are easy to find.
  24. IIRC he was drunk as hell but sang the right words, save for the 10 mins he disappeared mid set to the general confusion of the band. But he did return, and all in all I'd say it was the full Shane experience. A+
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