Self-Reliant Living Newsletters
(Formatted to work with your energy saving monochrome computer monitors)
In the last quarter of the year 2000, I left my city job mainly due to the high pollution in that particular city. I normally only have very mild asthma, but I was getting to the point where not only was my asthma getting severe, I had symptoms of low level carbon monoxide poisoning. After living in our rented house for 9 months, we found out that the exhaust for the furnace was improperly installed, and low levels of carbon monoxide were leaking into the house. I had become so ill, my work was suffering, and I was only getting about 1 hour of sleep a night, if I was lucky.
My husband (now ex-husband) lost his job around that time, and we decided that he would look to more rural areas for new work, to get away from the pollution. Even though we had corrected the carbon monoxide problem, the bad city pollution was preventing me from making a quick recovery. I was still very sick.
My husband went off and found a rural job. We decided to look for property in the vicinity. We found a beautiful 6+ acre property on the rim of a canyon, with 300' feet of river front. We decided to camp out, before we put any money down.
The result was nothing less than miraculous. For the first time in 9 months, I slept like I was in a coma, just me, in the middle of nowhere on a cott, in a sleeping bag, no tent. The next few nights were the same. I felt like a new person, and the medical transformation was incredible. We purchased the property.
Support NEPA Businesses That:
CONTACT : A n d r e a K o s h n i c k, Certified Business Analyst/Site Engineer
W e b M a r k e t i n g @ S u s t a i n a b l e P A . c o m OR ( 5 7 0 ) 3 1 3 - 8 6 9 5
Living on $9000 a year
We decided to build a sustainable, off the grid, household. I then published a web site with self-reliant living links, and information. Much of that information was "recycled" and used on the web site you are now viewing. A highlight of the old web site, was quarterly newsletters that chronicled our progress and adventures in completely self-reliant living, and a very remote area of the desert southwest.
Here is where our newsletters begin. I have changed some of the peoples and place names, in order to preserve privacy. Although I don't publish my name directly on the web (to keep from being spammed to death, and also for privacy), you can always contact me at the phone number or e-mail address above, and I will be happy to share my name and other information with you.
Read on, and enjoy! Notice how much closer and "in tune" with mother nature, we become. Be sure to look for my book that will soon be published about these adventures!
Self - Reliant Newsletter
In case you thought we dropped off the face of the planet...
December 15, 2000
Holiday Greetings!
It is the holidays, and of course, we are still working on the house. I am sorry we have not written, but we have been very busy in the rush to beat winter. We are also experiencing technical difficulties on Internet and phone service. We think the phone issue resolved, but are still working on an Internet solution. Hopefully, this will be complete by the end of the year, and we will be able to send out more e-mail.
Below: Our temporary shelter, the Solar Dome.
The Wilderness House
For those of you who do not know, we built a 20 foot diameter (round) outbuilding, first. Next spring, we will build the 40 foot diameter house.
I laid the foundation using volcanic rock and adobe mortar. The walls are straw-bale reinforced with rebar. The walls are stucco'ed on the outside with adobe made from our native soil. The roof is timber and insulated with cellulose. We have a wood stove, propane heater, propane stove, cellular phone and tower, cabinets, heat, sink, stock tank for a bathtub and the revolutionary "Shit-o-matic" composting toilet designed by yours truly. The original "Recline-o-shit", made of jeep tires over a pit, is still available for use outside, for those wishing a more scenic and natural experience.
The style of the house closely resembles a Mongolian Yurt. The foundation is Norwegian. The adobe and buttresses are Native American. It is difficult to know who started straw bale construction, but I know the Russians were using it for a while.
This method of building is relatively inexpensive, earth-friendly, and easy to put up.
We still have to install running water. We are probably going to do this utilizing a cistern.
Our Enchanted Desert
We did not know when we moved here that we were moving into an Enchanted Desert. We thought we had seen it all. Not here. We called it weird for a while, and then decided it was most like the Enchanted Forest in fairy tales, where animals, trees, etc. talk and where the strangest things happen.
One day, a lizard saw me pouring water, and it ran up to me with its mouth open. So, I gave it water, and it left when it had its fill.
There are plenty of rattlesnakes around here, but we rarely run into them.
One day, I saw Pickles (the cat) cornering something in the straw bales that were protecting our temporary tent living quarters. I figured it was a lizard, and got mad at Pickles for bothering my little friends. Just as I saw the rattle snake, she pounced on it with both front paws. I could not just reach down and lift her off the snake, so I grabbed a rake and raked her off of it. I threw her in the tent, came out to find the rattlesnake was gone. I tried everything, looking for it. It was possible that sounds we heard in the tent the night before, under the flooring tarps, were the snake.
The evening was getting quite dark. I walked back from the building site to the tent, and barely saw, in a nick of time, a rattle snake stretched across the entrance of the tent. I called for my husband, I got the rake, bucket and he put on the potholders. After a "3 Stooges" like chase, I finally pinned the rattle snakes neck to the ground with the handle of the rake. My husband picked it up with the oven mitt, and pit it in a large bucket.
Since this crisis had been averted, we looked for Pickles, wondering if she had run into this snake and gotten sick from a bite. We searched all our living area. My husband took the truck. I finally caught the reflection of light in Pickles eyes, in the field in front of our dwelling. I started toward her and heard the familiar rattling. It was between me and her, and she was standing guard over it. My husband came down the driveway and started yelling at me to grab the cat. I yelled back, "You get her yourself, there is a rattle snake between us and her!"
My husband got the oven mitts, I got the rake and another bucket, and we went to work again, in the dark. This snake was a little more ornery and after much fuss, we tossed him into the bucket with the rake.
We took both snakes for a ride, several miles away, and let them go.
What makes this story even more strange, is the fact that we started to recognize a pattern of when the snakes would show themselves. It was usually within 24 hours of a severe storm, and we had just seen 2 snakes...
It was beautiful outside. I went into the tent, to string up some chili peppers. One half hour later, I went outside to see an extremely well organized super-cell growing over the mountain to our west. I put Honi (the kitten) in the jeep and decided that I was not going to spend this one in the tent.
I ran down to the building site and tried to cover exposed bales. Within minutes, the wind was so severe, that the tarps were violently whipping my face and body. I gave up on the tarps and started throwing scrap bales on top of the good ones. In the time it took me to put up 4 bales, the storm started to throw microburst gusts at me. It felt like someone was body slamming me and I nearly fell to the ground several times.
The storm, now occupied 50% of the sky. It was highly unusual for a storm to move and grow this fast, out here. It was a perfect anvil. Around the center stalk, was a ring of cumulus clouds, that looked like an enormous, organized, nearly perfect ring of cotton. Like what you would see on Santa's hat. Ho Ho Ho. This was not good. This was not normal. I had never seen anything like it in my life.
I looked to the north of the storm, and there was this strange brown and green color reaching from the anvil to the ground. The only time I have ever seen that, was with a tornado cell. But tornados are rare in the mountains...
After nearly being knocked on my butt several times, I decided my safety was in jeopardy and I ran up to the tent. I grabbed Pickles, and threw her into the Jeep. I went back in to the tent and started grabbing some valuables, when a gust of wind hit so hard, it ripped the top of our $850 yurt dome tent, clear off. It also snapped rope tethers and yanked metal stakes out of the ground. Some of the framing remained attached to the tear resistant material. It was flailing wildly in the wind, hitting me across the face. Everything in the round tent, started to fly around in a circle reminding me of that scene in Poltergeist, when they look into the little girls bedroom, and everything is flying around.
I got the hell out, put the rest of the stuff into the Jeep, and looked back one more time, wondering if I had time to salvage anything else. As I looked back, something strange happened. We had made a straw bale wall around the southwest side of the tent, to act as a wind shield. Well the 50 lb. bales started to levitate. Not blow around, not scatter, they started to rise and shake, exposing light in between. Figuring something was not cool, I jumped into the Jeep and started to tear out of the driveway toward town. I followed 4 evenly sized and evenly separated large dust devils, or small tornadoes, down the first part of our road. I picked the shortest path into town, and waited for my husband to come home from work.
I told the powers that be, that I had better see a decent rainbow, after all I had been through. I did. A double, incredible rainbow.
I waved my husband over to the side of the road and said, "Attention K-mart Shoppers. There is a blue light special." (A "blue light special" was a code word we developed in Florida while we were shopping at K-mart. We looked out of K-marts windows and witnessed an intensely violent storm, with an eerie blue glow. So "Blue Light Specials" are an especially violent storm with an eerie blue glow.)
My husband just looked at me in amazement, and we went back. The inside of the tent (expensive, wind resistant up to 40+ mph winds) was completely trashed and wet. The straw bales that had been protecting it, were thrown in every direction, indicating a whirlwind of some sort. We slept in the Jeep that night, through a very stormy night. Actually, we did not sleep. I was so freaked, that it took me several days to remember the whole thing.
The next day we moved into the outbuilding, which consisted of a foundation and 4' walls. Thus, we slept in the ceiling free "observatory" as we laid the remainder of the walls and ceiling. It did not rain much. Once or twice we had to sleep with a tarp over the bed. That was for about a month.
The adventure continues...
Newsletter
Alternative Energy
Self Reliant Living
Sustainable Living
Green Living
Composting Toilets
Adobe Foundation
Adobe
Fishing for Food
Electric Generator
Cellular Antennae
Newsletter - First Quarter 2001
There is never a dull moment around here. As a matter of fact, so much has happened in my last newsletter, I forgot to mention a few things.When we purchased our property last summer, we could not wait to get out of the city. So much so, that we did not care that we had no shelter on our property to live. We first slept on cots, in the middle of our field, letting the starlight put us to sleep.
That got a little windy, so we moved into our cave. It was a partial shelter with a fireplace, propped up into the edge of our canyon wall. It was fun waking to the canyon birds, and watching the bats fly about our heads while we were falling asleep.
Again, it started to get too windy. So, we moved into the back of the pickup truck, with cap. The truck was hard on our backs, because we could only sleep on the cot mats, and not the whole spring supported cot.
So we bought a large tent from K-mart. The first night we had it, I left my husband to go to a Chamber of Commerce meeting. I saw violent storms moving in and wondered how the tent would hold up. Well, my husbands legs held the tent up for most of the time I was gone. It was like the fist of God was coming down, from straight on top of the tent, and smashing it into the ground, repeatedly. God yelling, "you dare to try to conquer me with this K-mart tent? I'll show you!" Pound, pound, pound! We bought the tent back the next day for a refund, only after trying everything possible to add extra support to the tent.
Then, we splurged on our Solar Dome Yurt, that was described and photographed in the previous newsletter.
The first night that we moved into the Solar Dome, we went to sleep on our full sized queen bed, quite comfortably. We were asleep for several hours, when we were suddenly, and rudely awakened by the sound of a large prop plane coming toward us. It was so low and close, I thought it was going to crash into us, and we could not see, because we actually had a roof over our heads. We jumped up, not knowing which way to run, away from the sound. We saw the lights pass over our roof, maybe 15 feet above the Solar Dome.
Thus, this military plane was named, "The Phantom Menace." This SOB had a regular route, that several times a month, flew so close, we could throw rocks at it (like cave people).
My husband had put up a 20-foot high lightning rod, on the highest part of our property, and our non-canyon property is pretty flat. I watched the Phantom Menace fly so low, that it had to tilt the wing up at the last second, in order to clear the lightning rod. One day, we came home and saw the tip of the lightning rod was bent.
We were feeling a bit unsafe, and I considered trying to contact someone about this Menace. I did not know where to start, so I put it off.
One day, I was out using the Recline-o-shit™, whose walls were only 2 straw bales high, with no door or ceiling. The Phantom Menace was flying so low; the sound was hidden by the mountain/mesa across the river from us. So, I just sat there upon the Jeep tires, that were poised over the hole, and waved to the person in the window of the plane. They were so close, what else could I do? Do you ever have nightmares about trying to use a toilet, but it is out in the open, where everyone can see? It was a dream come true.
Well, we survived the winter, -25 degree nights, and some windstorms with gusts up to 90 mph. I guess we did a good job on the studio, since it still has a roof and all. We easily maintained a 50-60 degree interior temperature, with the propane heater at its lowest setting. We generally did not turn up the propane heat. If we wanted it warmer, we got the wood stove going. We did not keep putting wood in the stove toward bedtime, however, because it was too hot to sleep at night.
It is getting warm outside again, and we are testing the straw-bale home in the heat. It has been staying 10-15 degrees cooler in the house, than outside. The sun gets terribly hot, but in the shade, it is wonderful.
Here is what is keeping us so comfortable: 18 inch straw bale walls, standard wood roof, shingles, with 6-7 inches of cellulose insulation. Insulation sales people, tried to sell us on getting deeper cellulose insulation. Don't let them fool you, 7 inches was just fine with the straw bale walls, and -25 degrees.
We kept the propane heater on its lowest setting, to be sure that nothing froze. I'm not sure that anything would have, even if we had shut it off. There were one or two nights, where we ran out of propane, and did not know it until we tried to cook the next morning. The straw seemed to hold the heat from the fire, the night before.
We created our own refrigerator, over the winter. We put a PVC pipe through the wall, and into the drain hole of a large cooler. The outside air, cooled our food well. Not that it is getting warmer, we are looking to other inexpensive options. If my invention works out, you will see it listed separately on my web site.
I am also working on a magnetic generator and my husband is working on a solar steam generator. Check back to see how we are doing. We want to make alternative energy affordable for the average person. The average person needs to save money more than the rich people, anyway. I better stop; I'm starting to have a manifesto...
I have not been doing much work on the house, yet, this spring. I have been terribly busy trying to get my business going before the capital runs out. It is getting slowly more profitable, but not quite breaking even yet. I hope to break even in the next month or two.
Other than that, I was too busy to get in any backcountry skiing this year. However, I am making time to learn how to fish. I figure, I live on the river, need to eat, need to save money, so fishing is a good option. What is weird is I never thought I would like it, but I do. I am using a spinning rod with assorted flies and lures. I chose spinning over fly rod, because of the wind here, I felt I needed some weight in order to cast. We have large brown trout, maybe other trout, large pike, large carp and other things.
I caught my first and biggest fish (in 30 years) yesterday, on a spinning fly. It was so big, I tried to hold it in my hand, and my hand could only grasp it half way around. I knew it was not a trout, so I had to unhook, again, for the first time ever. I was gentle, kept the fish in the water, and did not want it to die, if I was not going to eat it. I was sliding down a deep mud bank into the water, while holding the rod in one hand, fish attached, and rummaging through my backpack for gloves, pliers, etc. I finally realized I did not have the pliers with me, so I had to pull the hook by hand. I had to pull the fish out of the water a little, and its eyes started rolling back in its head. I said, "No, please don't die!" as I pushed it back into the water so it could breathe. I finally got the hook out, and made sure the fish could swim before I let it go.
I went back to the house and logged on to the fish identifier and identified it as a Carp. I'm not sure if they are worth eating or not. I don't want to kill one, and not eat it.
My husband has to tighten our cellular antennae, because a large owl likes to use it as a perch, and has loosened it up. We can see the owl, right above our heads, through the sky light. It hoots real loud, but we are used to it and sleep well, anyway. I have to watch the kitty's though...
May you walk in beauty...
Newsletter
Alternative Energy
Self Reliant Living
Sustainable Living
Green Living
Composting Toilets
Adobe Foundation
Adobe
Fishing for Food
Electric Generator
Cellular Antennae
Newsletter - Second Quarter 2001
I know I am really late getting this one out, but I swear, I have a good excuse! It seems that I have run into technical difficulties with web hosting providers and to make a very long story short, I had to do a lot of work, to get the web site where I wanted it, before I announced the newest release.
Announcing the newest release of the Long Shadows Trading Wildlife Photography web page! There have been some noticeable and major changes to the site. Of course, we are using a new web host. Our home page has been changed, to be more search engine friendly. Responding to supply and demand, we have removed most of our Native American Jewelry Consignments, and added over 50 new photographs. We are now offering post cards, greeting cards, and custom invitations in addition to frame-able prints. Purchasing is made easier, with our new shopping cart feature. Please view our new photos, relax, and take a trip somewhere far away...
We have added Flea Market Items, which are miscellaneous new and used goods. Our auction information page, includes all the positive feedback we have been getting from our E-Bay customers. Lastly, take a look at our Fun Stuff, listed under the Flea Market link. It is a brain teaser, well worth the click. If you like it, please forward that page link on to a friend. I think they will enjoy it, and I will enjoy the web traffic!
As I have been sampling the market, I have decided to drop my local delivery paper Want Ad. Instead, I am beefing up my Internet Marketing offerings. It seems small business owners in the area are very interested in web advertising, web pages, etc.
On the home front, things are still progressing quite slowly on the completion of the studio. However, I have more pictures and information on building using straw bale, rocks, adobe, etc.
You may be disappointed to find out that we are selling our property and studio. The construction part of things is becoming too much for us both with the business and physically. We are going to finish off the studio, but not build a house. We are going find something already built or easy to assemble to live in. As my Dad said, "You are starting to wear out." (physically). I guess I'm not as young as I used to be!
The good news is, we are going to continue the quest for Self-Reliant Living and continue to share our adventures and inventions with you. My husband still wants to build his steam generator and other things. The husband is finishing off blueprints for our straw-yurt studio, which we will soon make available on our Self-Reliant Living web page.
When I was still doing my Want Ad route, I stopped up at a Phillips 66 gas station. There was this small kitty trying to force its way in the convenience store. It was obviously very hungry and stray. When I went back outside, I called it and it came running to me (oh no). It was affectionate. We were looking for a worthy mouser, so I asked if it belonged to anyone. The store manager graciously loaned me a crate to take the cat home in. I figured, okay, here is our outside stray mouser. Its better for him than living in a dumpster!
As you can tell from the pictures, Phillip (as in Phillips 66) does not live outside and mouse. He's had enough of the outside, and just wants to cuddle up at night. He was a mess when I bought him home, but I wormed him, washed him (never again), trimmed his claws, fed him high nutrition kitten food, supplemented the food with vitamin C, and acidophilus. I allowed him 3 weeks to recover from his ordeal and then, I got him neutered. It took a while to litter box train him, but he does real good now. However, his table and garbage can manners still need to be worked on. He would rather drink water out of mud holes outside, than clean artesian water in his bowl.
Coming soon... what will we do after we sell their property and house? I will be adding over 75 new photos in the next few months, and adding more area guides. As much as I think I am going to get a little further from the computer keyboard, it looks like I am going to be continuing the web page thing.
May you walk in beauty...
Newsletter
Alternative Energy
Self Reliant Living
Sustainable Living
Green Living
Composting Toilets
Adobe Foundation
Adobe
Fishing for Food
Electric Generator
Cellular Antennae
Newsletter - Third Quarter 2001
Several weeks ago, I was wondering what I would put in my next newsletter. Not much had changed. That was, until the morning of September 11, 2001.
That morning, we slept in until about 7:00am MST. It was my husband's only week of vacation this year, so we indulged ourselves in relaxation. It was a beautiful, clear, uncommonly quiet morning. It felt good to be alive. We decided to go into town, and buy a new set of tires for the Jeep. We would put the worn, but still usable Jeep tires, onto the truck, so we started to drive into town, in separate vehicles.
I did not have the radio on, in the Jeep. I was driving down our dusty dirt road, happily admiring the beautiful clarity and mountain shadows of the early morning sun. Everything was so quiet and peaceful, I felt very calm and relaxed. I could not see my husband and his truck in the dust cloud behind me. Suddenly, his truck was almost on top of me, swerving violently from side to side, blaring his horn. I figured, that maybe I had a flat or something, and he was trying to signal me. So I calmly pulled over to the side of the road.
My husbands face was contorted in a way I had never seen. I rolled down my window and he shouted, "The World Trade Center Towers have been destroyed! We are under attack!"
I cannot describe what I felt next. I guess initially, my jaw dropped and the wave of a cold shutter was interrupted by my disbelief. I asked him, what radio station he was listening to. He said, "All of them are saying the same thing!" I went numb, as I turned on my radio and was instantly informed of the carnage. I told my husband, "Let's continue to town and get your one tire fixed, in case we need the truck to help get us out of here. We won't spend the money to buy the new set of tires today!"
We got back into our vehicles, my jaw remained dropped, as I listened to the details. They were just starting to report on the Pentagon crash and were informing us that no one knew where Air Force One was, and that there were potentially more high-jacked jumbo jets in the sky. The closer we got to town, the more removed from my body I felt. My husband and & I each individually devised our survival plan along the way.
Although I still have flashes of denial, "Did that really happen?", our immediate response, at the time, was to prepare for war. I went to the bank, got cash and stocked up on fuel while my husband got the truck tire fixed. We fueled up the truck, and bought the Jeep home. We then went back into town, bought extra fuel, fuel cans, food, provisions, propane, ammunition and additional supplies. After we were sure we were well provided for, we went home and turned on the television for the first time.
I probably watched the World Trade Centers crash, burn and collapse 100 times. I still can't believe it. I guess some of my disbelief stems from the fact that I grew up with the World Trade Centers. The first one was built when I was 7 years old, we were taught about it at school, and some of the classes even went on class trips there. I don't remember the New York City skyline before that. We lived close enough to NYC to go there many times, and saw the familiar Twin Towers of the skyline hundreds of times from New Jersey. My husband lived for 28 years in a New Jersey house that very clearly overlooked the NYC skyline from only 15 miles away. It was a landmark, a point of reference, and an unconscious point of comfort. They were strong, tall and almost invincible.
When I got older, I was sent to lower Manhattan, dozens of times on business. I walked past the World Trade Centers, always looking up (like a tourist), dozens of times. They were my point of reference, and always near where I was going. I always took the now, non-existent, Path Train, to the World Trade Centers. I had been inside them several times. I even turned down a job at about the 50th floor in Tower 2. My reason at the time, was that, even though it would be a large raise, most of the raise would disappear in taxes and commuting costs. As a side note, I was also a concerned, that these buildings could someday be a target, because of their high visibility and kill potential. That was around 1987.
The one thing I did not like about NYC, was the crowds. It did frighten me to be in such large crowds because of the high kill and stampede potential. I had been to many crowded events, and always thought the same thing.
Shortly after my husband & I met, in 1989, we decided to get married. Shortly after that, we decided to move to Colorado. New Jersey was becoming crowded, and it made us increasingly uncomfortable. When we were asked why we wanted to leave the area, we explained how we liked the wide open, great outdoors, and lack of crowds. Additionally, I said, "When the shit hits the fan, I don't want to be anywhere near New York City. I want to be as far away as possible." I speculated that the bridges & tunnels could be blown or NYC could be a prime nuclear target. I had nightmares about seeing the World Trade Centers broken in half, smoking. People laughed at me and called me paranoid.
In the early 1990's, we lived in Littleton Colorado, during the World Trade Center bombings. It did not surprise me at all. I had expected that much. Then came Desert Storm. I read my first Tom Clancy novel, "The Sum of all Fears." It was about a terrorist nuclear attack on Denver's Mile High Stadium. We decided we still lived too close to a population center, and moved into the mountains in 1992.
After being captivated by Tom Clancy's "The Sum of all Fears", I read all his other books. I was half way done reading his most current, "The Bear and the Dragon" when September 11, 2001 came along. I was afraid to read the rest of the book. Tom Clancy's books were no longer entertaining, they were real.
Since then, I have recovered, somewhat, and decided that it is better to be informed, than ignorant and frightened. At least if we are informed, we have a better idea of what to do in case of an emergency. Tom Clancy is a VERY well informed author who writes suspenseful, political, spy, war, terrorism scenario books. His books are very real and well researched. So I am now intent on finishing Tom Clancy's latest book. He is so on the money, I want to see and be prepared for what happens next. Here are my recommendations of his books, for entertainment, scaring the hell out of yourself, and becoming informed about potential threats. If you read these books, be sure to read them in order. They are easier to follow, because each one takes up where the previous left off:
The makings of a terrorist nuclear attack on the United States.
The makings of a terrorist suicide jumbo jet attack on the United States.
Some of what the United States is probably doing now to combat terrorism.
The makings of a terrorist biological weapon attack on the United States.
I'm not done with this one yet, but so far it is exposing potential political implications relating to our foreign policy and war on terrorism.
I'm not going to go into all of what my husband & I have experienced, because I am sure you are feeling pretty much the same: a huge sense of loss, denial, anger, rage, vengeance, retribution, pain, helplessness, hopelessness, sadness, depression and acceptance. We have lost people that we knew and worked with. We also have many family and friends that have lost people in this inexcusable act.
Not one person who was killed, deserved to die that way. Not one of us who has felt such deep pain, deserves the pain we are feeling. This was an evil, inhuman, un-godly action. We need to draw a line between what is acceptable and what is not. September 11, 2001 is unacceptable.
In addition to mass murder, a psychological weapon of mass sickness was used against the survivors, us. The psychological weapon is called "Terrorism" or "Fear."
As of gun restrictions and gun law... I don't think I need to go any further. Educate and protect yourselves and family. Who would dare invade a country with a superior military and arms in every home? See our other self-reliant links, for information on protecting yourself and family against all kinds of trouble.
If you have not already guessed, we are no longer selling our home. We have no desire to travel during these uncertain times, especially to places of large population. Our house is the ultimate survivalist bunker. We are currently making it more comfortable for future threats. We have provisions, survival gear, plans, escape routes, solar operated electronics/ radios, security devices and more. We have an unlimited supply of fish, game and water.
Our self-reliant living web page is receiving a large number of hits,
lately. I have worked hard the past few weeks, to get as much
information out there as possible, including survivalist info,
self-reliant living, fire-arms, hunting, self-defense and more. I
have added a new book to our Self-Reliant Living Resources web site.
I own and have read this book. I highly recommend it:
Please take a look at our Self-Reliant Living Resources. We have added a whole informational area, links, books, etc., on terrorism, biological weapons, chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, surviving a terrorist attack, every day self-defense, defense in a terrorist situation, many new links to self-reliant living information, survivalist information, alternative energy (including fuel cells), alternative transportation, do-it-yourself help tips and books, and much more.
On a lighter, note...For those wishing for self-reliant, alternative building tips, and a break from reality...
Since my husband & I have decided to stay put in our house for a while, we are starting to do major work on it again. We had postponed work for a while, when we were thinking of selling, so we are kind-of behind, as winter closes in. We are just finishing up on the majority of outer adobe work. We should have a better seal, than last winter, which was quite drafty between the straw bales.
We just put in a floor. We had been living on the ground, with outdoor carpet, for the last year. The foundation, was raised around us, and was also drafty where it met the bales. We cleared out the house, and went to a local gravel company. We got a lot of scrap rock and gravel very cheap.
We started with insulating, porous lava rock, to fill in the deeper areas of the foundation, in the house. Then, we put finer marble gravel and finally marble sand, to smooth everything out. Instead of having a step, coming in the door, we built a ramp with the marble sand. This is quite comfortable and nice. The sand and gravel pack very hard.
On top of that, we put a thin layer of cushiony, fire-resistant cellulose insulation directly on top of the marble sand. Next, was a layer of heavy plastic. Finally, we went to the dumpster, behind the local carpet store, and found large, new Berber carpet remnants. We laid these on top of the plastic and moved all our furniture back in. Ergonomically, the sand, insulated padding and soft carpet are very easy on the feet. There is not the shock of a hard floor beneath bare feet. This unique floor supports heavy furniture very well, without making indentations. The key, is to get everything laid down completely, including the carpet, before walking around on it. This was a VERY cheap floor to put in.
For high traffic areas, we laid down plastic runners to help protect the carpet, since there will be heavy traffic in a small area.
We are currently bringing our kitchen sink back in the kitchen for the winter. We did have it outside, in our circular, straw bale sitting area, for the summer. Summers are so mild, we did not mind going outside to wash the dishes and use the sink. It has been getting down to freezing the past few nights, so it is time to bring in the sink.
Since we put in the floor, we have rearranged a lot and put in more storage. Our small space is being better utilized. We keep buying Rubber-Maid cabinets and drawers. They are light weight, portable and movable. We can move them if we change our minds.
The cabinets are easy to mount up on the walls. We run 24" thread rod through each of the four corners, anchoring the thread rod with a wing nut, reachable from the inside of the cabinet. We hammer the thread rod through the straw bale until it shows through the outside. Then, we put a large washer and nut on the outside, and tighten them until the cabinet is firmly attached to the wall. This is standard straw bale cabinet mounting. However, we are keeping our cabinets as light as possible with using Rubber-Maid, instead of heavy wood. They do the same job.
We have had our share of bio-waste episodes with our previous composting toilet and incinerator experience. I don't want to bother with such stinky experiments any more. So, we are putting a sit-down urinal inside the house. For #2, one must go outside to our good old reliable, original, one and only, Recline-O-Shit™. It consists of two side-by side holes dug into the ground with 3 tiers of old auto tires poised above one hole. We have built a circular straw bale structure around the tires. We have put stakes inside the building to hold toilet paper. We also have an adequate supply of reading materials in the building, for those wishing for an inexpensive continuing education. We do not throw toilet paper into the toilet, we have a small garbage can for that.
The gray water from the kitchen sink, just runs outside of the house about 20 feet onto the ground. We do not pour anything toxic or caustic down the kitchen sink. There is a small oasis of plants outside, where we had the water running out previously. I think next year, I may put a small garden, out where the sink water runs.
We are using a stock tank, for a bath tub. They are cheap, sturdy, and deeper than most bath tubs. We have a bit more work to do on that, but it will work the same as the sink, with water running away from the house and into a garden. It will be positioned behind our wood stove, for warmth and potential water heating.
***
Pickles the Fire Cat, has been renamed "Pickles the Rattlesnake Killer." Want to take an educated guess why?
***
Last year, my most beloved pet, buddy and Spirit Brother, Bandit the cat, took a one way walk into our canyon. The canyon intensely called to him, from the first minute he saw it. He was older, sickly and returned to the comfort of Mother Earth, deep within the canyon.
September 29, 2001, I was outside, holding my new "Woobie Cat", Phil, who has gotten huge! He suddenly looked toward the canyon. I turned and saw a small face, emerging from the depths of Mother Earths Canyon, running eagerly toward me.
Her eyes are deeper blue than the pictures. We believe she is Tonkinese. Her markings are very symmetrical. She has brown tick markings on her back. She is a chocolate point sable, her fur is extremely soft, like a mink. She has nearly perfectly matched white boots on each foot.
After Bandit left us, I looked for a Tonkinese, but was not satisfied with the pricing and breeders I went to. That is why I ended up going to the animal shelter and getting Honi, she was a lot healthier. Well, this one is a bit undernourished, but otherwise appears quite healthy and in good spirits, and she was FREE, delivered from Wildcat Canyon.
We like to think that Bandits' Spirit led her to our house. It is quite the kitty miracle, how a beautiful Tonkinese came to live at our house, crossed a desert to our house (15 miles to nowhere) in the middle of "Jack Nowhere" lava desert, where mountain lions, lynx, bobcats, rattlesnakes, bears, coyotes and wolverines are our next door neighbors. We thought maybe someone dropped her off, but she has been on her own for a while, judging from her initial wildness and astute hunting skills. There have not been any vacationers around since the terrorist bombing and no one has reported a lost kitten. We can't figure out the human element. So, it makes most sense to believe that the loving Spirit of Bandit and Mother Earths' Canyon led her here. She probably lived off the abundance of the Canyon, until she was brought forth to our loving home. She is a gift of love. I have dreams that my deceased Grandma B., Grandpa N., and Grandpa B. watch over us in a good way. Perhaps they helped guide Misty.
I also believe that just maybe, Misty is a gift of Hope.
God Bless America. Our prayers are with you all.
Newsletter
Alternative Energy
Self Reliant Living
Sustainable Living
Green Living
Composting Toilets
Adobe Foundation
Adobe
Fishing for Food
Electric Generator
Cellular Antennae
Hello, friends, relatives and neighbors! It is time for the quarterly, exciting, energy efficient, frugal and sometimes humorous newsletter! We wish you the best in your corner of the world. It is really important that you are aware of energy issues that the media does not cover. I know it is difficult to find the time to read, we don't always have time, but, we care about you and want you to be aware. Of course, we saved the humorous parts and pictures for last, so keep reading...
My husband and I have been discussing much about alternative energy, lately. All the media attention has been going toward how we can combat terrorism, wage war on Al-Queda, get revenge, etc. One very serious aspect of all of this, is grossly ignored: Why are we in the Middle East in the first place? Although one can come up with a variety of reasons, OIL is the biggest reason.
OIL is the primary reason our country, technology and transportation have boomed in the last 100 years. 100 years ago, we did not consume oil the way we do now. Our commerce, transportation, trains, trucks, shipping, airplanes, home heating, automobiles, buses, motorcycles, power plants, city water pressure, communications, shipping, satellites, space exploration, and more all run on oil based fuels.
What if oil production were to run out or stop tomorrow?
How would big businesses get their products to you?
How much would it cost to get their products to you?
How much would they raise the prices of their products to compensate for the extra fuel costs?
How about the shipment of food?
How would food get to your supermarket?
How much of the price of food would increase to compensate for higher shipping costs?
So we create hybrid electric vehicles. Tiny little vehicles. Not trucks, not trains, not planes. And these tiny, little vehicles still use gas (oil) for half their fuel. The other half is electric. Where do we get electric? Plug the car into the magic outlet in the wall. You pay a lot for this electric. The electric comes from a power plant. So, the power plant, nuclear, coal, oil or gas, has to use more fuel, to fuel your fuel efficient electric vehicle.
Yeah, I am being a wise guy, but a realistic one.
So, maybe an electric car will at least cut back on pollution. Or will it? Plug it into the wall, and grab some energy from the nearest nuclear or coal powered power plant, and now your non-polluting car is creating more nuclear waste, or extremely dirty coal emissions into the atmosphere. Oil is almost better.
Any vehicle that you plug into an outlet, that goes to the nearest power plant, is dumb. It pollutes more than oil and still consumes just as much energy, it is just removed from your immediate attention.
If we are going to build vehicles, they need to be fully independent of the electrical grid using one of the following: solar, wind, magnetic, hydrogen, etc. Otherwise, we are just postponing the inevitable for a few years more, and polluting more in the process.
What if oil production were to run out or stop tomorrow and there was not enough electric to compensate? (cont.)
How about the pressurization, filterization and purification of your city water supply?
How about your city sewer? Where would it go without pumps?
How would farmers irrigate without their electric irrigation systems?
How about your oil heat in your home and/or business?
Would you get a wood stove?
How long could you and your neighbors cut down trees in your neighborhood, before there were none left?
What would people in cities without trees do for fire fuel?
If everyone starts burning wood and garbage, what will that do to the air quality in your area?
So we build more coal fired electric plants. How long does the coal supply hold out considering that it now has to cover all the bases that oil used to cover?
Coal electric plants are horrible polluters. What will our air quality be like with more coal plants?
Coal electric plants would only be a bandage, not something to permanently fix the problem. It also creates other problems.
So, lets build more nuclear power plants. Lets give terrorists more targets. Lets store more nuclear waste in the mountains somewhere.
How about we send the tractor trailer that is carrying the nuclear waste, on a route, down your street or near your house?
How about we send a train load of nuclear waste through your town 10 times a day?
What if Grandma gets her car stuck in the train tracks? (This happened a lot when we lived in Florida, so I'm not being funny.)
What happens to a town near a derailment? Would the people ever be able to move back home, or would they have to wait, 50, 100 or more years for the radioactivity to clear out?
Could the radioactivity leach into the water supply, rivers, clouds?
The Middle Eastern Oil Study
When I was in high school, as an honors student, I was asked to join the debate team. The key topic that year was Oil verses Alternative Energy. Fortunately, I was on the pro-Alternative Energy team. I don't think I could have possibly argued otherwise.
Back in my high school days, the education we received in high school was equivalent to the college education students are getting now. It was very intense and comprehensive. When we were asked to do a study, it was not by reading an article or two, we did heavy research through a number of resources. Here is the bottom line of what we found out in our study:
Based on our study in 1979, there was approximately 50 years left to the Middle Eastern oil supply, if oil was to continue to be consumed at the then current rate. However, more than 20 years later, there are many more cars on the road, many more people in the world, many more countries becoming industrialized that were not before. So now, in 2002, if we consumed oil at the 1979 rate, we now have 27 years left of Middle Eastern oil. When we did the original study, we did not take into consideration our current, 2002, oil consumption, population and industrialization rate. How many years would this extra oil consumption take off our 27 years? Scary? Should we shave another 7 years off? Lets say 20 years left?
Since September 11, 2001, the Middle East has been pumping out more oil than ever, to keep oil prices down and to help keep our economy going. Why help us? Because they are very rich and have invested billions in the US economy, that's why. So, they pump out extra gas, the gas prices drop, we get giddy, drive more, consume more. What kind of impact does this have on the Middle Eastern oil supplies?
The Arabs have a lot of investments in the USA. What are they investing in? I have heard several polls recently, and this is the latest: 90% of Arabs (all classes, non-extremist, and extremist) support Osama Bin Lauden. This is really scary: What if they are investing in some USA stock, that will skyrocket when the oil runs out? Then, the supporters of Osama Bin Laden own our USA companies and get even richer... Is there a way to watch their investments, to see if we can surmise how much they are not telling us about their oil supplies?
Low gas prices are producing a false sense of security.
If we are not prepared for the oil fields running dry,
Osama will be laughing when our society is
forced back into the stone age.
Oil is like death.
Every day, we are one step closer to the oil running out.
It could be tomorrow, it could be in 30 years.
It is inevitable.
We know it is going to happen.
Most people choose not to think about it.
There are no alternatives to death.
There are alternatives to oil.
Well, now that I have scared the heck out of myself, here is some lighter information on what we have been up to...
I am still actively working on web pages and EBay. I am making home made products to sell on EBay, especially cat stuff.
Although work on the house slows down in the winter, the weather here has been fabulous! It is like April weather. We are having 40 degrees at night, which is a Spring-Summer temperature. This time last year, we were having -25 to 0 every night! We have built storage sheds and are in the process of trying to store our stuff as neatly as possible. My husband has done a lot of the back work, because my lower back has been bothering me for about a month now. My back has improved a lot, the last few days, here is what I did to help fix it (don't try this yourself without the approval of your physician, chiropractor and psychoanalyst):
1) Pull over to the side of an icy road, but not too far, because there is a 3 foot ditch along side.
2) Make sure that you are high in the mountains, by yourself, without another living soul around.
3) Get your camera, get out of the Jeep, and take a few pictures.
4) Get back into the Jeep, put it in drive, and watch in horror as the Jeep moves sideways into the ditch, instead of forward.
5) Put the Jeep into 4x4 low, and try to get it out, sinking deeper into the hole until your back wheel is almost off the ground, spinning in the air.
6) You have 10 minutes to catch your spouse at work. Run to the only payphone, dump $3 in quarters into a payphone that does not work, make sure you swear a lot, raise your blood pressure and turn red.
7) Try to flag the rare car down, and swear when they "peel out" to get away from you.
8) Notice that the sun is setting in the sky, and make the decision that you are not spending the night in the mountains, in the cold, alone.
9) Get chains out of the trunk.
10) Get army shovel out of trunk.
11) Notice that the ditch tapers and gets shallow about 50 feet in front of where you are stuck.
12) Struggle with chains, intermittently trying the gas, spinning the wheels, and moving 2 feet forward, before you must again dig aggressively, swearing, angry, to move the vehicle another 2 feet.
13) Repeat step 12 for an hour.
14) Reward yourself with a Starburst for getting the Jeep out, and head home, exhausted.
15) Your back pain should be almost cleared up. Mines better. If not, you will be crippled or dead at this point.
(C) Copyright December 2008 - All Rights Reserved
All text and photography on this web site are the property of the web site owner, and cannot be used without expressed written permission. Thank you.
W e b m a r k e t i n g @ S u s t a i n a b l e p a . c o m
(5 7 0) 3 1 3 - 8 6 9 5