I have to say I’m more than a bit inspired by Aldo Leopold turning an old chicken coop into a cabin. I know Shed to Cabins are popular nowadays but there are certainly many properties out there with diapolated old barns, primative cabins and other structures that could be renovated into something livable, especially with my low standards. Structures that provide little to the sales price of the land but could provide a good starting point without starting from scratch.
Using an existing building not only would reduce costs but also cuts back on landfill and development of raw land. Yet, it need not be a full modern house if that’s not my goal. Renovating could be a lot of fun, a chance to have some awesome bonfires burning old wood and debris and getting some back fill for other projects. It would be a chance to put the spin on the structure without all this woke green stuff or the vinyl and gypsum board of suburbia.
I might have planned a bigger adventure if the forecast was better but I’m still a bit tired from the week that was and they made it seem like the weather would be much wetter and severe then it has been so far today. Muggy, warm and with thunderstorms around but none has hit locally.
I thought about getting some weed out of my storage, and smoking somewhere at Five Rivers and studying the ripples on the water but I’ll save that for a future weekend. I don’t have to be stoned to enjoy nature. I actually forgot about that, ran into my neighbor on the way out, he was mowing the lawn and leaf blowing the driveway. He offered again to let me use his trash can. I’d rather just save the burnables for my own use and take the compost out to the folks house but I thanked him. He probably thinks my apartment is gross and maybe my trash bin is starting to smell from the compost bucket I need to empty. I just prefer to make fire and dirt over landfill but I’m a dirty hick.
Truth is that I despise lawns, the only good grass is the stuff you smoke and feed to cows. I swear half the summer all you hear is the noise of lawn mowers. Now I get it you don’t want your smoldering garbage burning barrel full of plastic or hog paddock next to your bedroom window, but so much lawn space is a waste. Also maybe not cows or especially donkies and guinea fowl, they can be mad loud. I can’t believe dad just spent $2,500 on a lawn mower. He should have just hired a landscaper at his age. Like that kid who has the business, Let’s Mow Brandon. But then again, I like pets but only the kind you eat.
I kind of wasted the morning, reading and listening to more of Richard Hofstadter’s Anti Intellectualsm in American Life and just hanging out. I got reading about arsenic on the internet after the latest wave of articles about arsenic in rice, especially the healthier brown rice that I often cook with. Truth is that you’d have to eat a lot rice to be impacted by the trace amounts of arsenic in brown rice. After five days of working, taking the bus in and home from work I really had very little desire to do much. Same thing last night, though I ended up listening to the audio book and cleaning the kitchen and bathroom a bit both which needed it.
Maybe I’m just wasting my life away but I just didn’t have any thing I needed to do. For a while yesterday when the forecast improved I thought about doing an overnight at Rennselaerville State Forest but I didn’t really feel up to it after the week. Next week has improved a lot for Memorial Day Weekend though cold, and some models are calling for snow but other say it could be pleasant, cool and breezy which might be good with the black flies. A few rain drops hit my head as I sit out here at Five Rivers. If a thunderstorm rolls through there are the picnic pavilions I can hide under.
I still need to pick up the bike wheel tomorrow, I figured I’ll get it when I’m out going to the folks house. Then when I’m there I can borrow a drill from dad and drill out the wider hole for the shader valve. I could have gone to the woke bike shop today but I didn’t feel like firing up Big Red. Put things back together in the evening and hopefully ride back in on Monday. Maybe do a hike up Blodgett Hill midday. Wednesday and Thursday might be crap for riding in and hopefully Friday if the weather is good I’ll drive in and then leave early for somewhere pleasant next weekend.
I started wearing contacts at age 16. It was told it was better for driving and it greatly improves your vision over glasses. I am quite near-sighted, with vision of around 20/200 without glasses, which would qualify me as legally blind if I couldn’t wear corrective glasses.
Often I would hesitate over a $5,000 optional expense. But compared to a lot of things that cost $5,000, getting LASIK eye correction is a good value, an investment in my future that will most likely save money in the future on glasses and contacts. It also will improve my quality of life by not having to fiddle around with contacts, which can sometimes be quite irrating on rainy days or when my hands aren’t as clean as maybe they should be while up at camp.
In some ways, I am a bit concerned about physically modifying my eye with a laser, but the odds of a quick recovery are quite good based on the data I’ve been reading. My vision has been stable for decades, and I’ve been handing over more and more, year after year for contact lens, glasses and exams. Indeed based on the current cost of contact lens when you factor in inflation, I could fully recover the cost of LASIK within a decade. Without all those scammy refunds or dealing with the woke eye doctor every two years, although I often don’t go that frequently as I re-order contacts online.
In many ways though, I’d rather spend money on something like improving my eyes, rather then some physical product I use up and have dispose of in a few months or years. Something that very well could benefit for me for the rest of my life rather then have a short utility before it’s no longer useful. Good vision is important to so much in life.
but I’ll save that for a future weekend. 
I don’t have to be stoned to enjoy nature. 
I actually forgot about that, ran into my neighbor on the way out, he was mowing the lawn and leaf blowing the driveway. He offered again to let me use his trash can. 
I’d rather just save the burnables 
for my own use and take the compost 
out to the folks house but I thanked him. He probably thinks my apartment is gross and maybe my trash bin is starting to smell from the compost bucket I need to empty. I just prefer to make fire and dirt 
over landfill but I’m a dirty hick. 
, the only good grass is the stuff you smoke and feed to cows. 
I swear half the summer all you hear is the noise of lawn mowers. Now I get it you don’t want your smoldering garbage burning barrel full of plastic or hog paddock next to your bedroom window, but so much lawn space is a waste. Also maybe not cows or especially donkies and guinea fowl, they can be mad loud. 
I can’t believe dad just spent $2,500 on a lawn mower. He should have just hired a landscaper at his age. Like that kid who has the business, Let’s Mow Brandon. But then again, I like pets but only the kind you eat. 
and listening to more of Richard Hofstadter’s Anti Intellectualsm in American Life and just hanging out. I got reading about arsenic on the internet after the latest wave of articles about arsenic in rice, especially the healthier brown rice 
that I often cook with. Truth is that you’d have to eat a lot rice to be impacted by the trace amounts of arsenic in brown rice. After five days of working, taking the bus in and home from work I really had very little desire to do much. Same thing last night, though I ended up listening to the audio book and cleaning the kitchen and bathroom a bit 
both which needed it.
but I just didn’t have any thing I needed to do. For a while yesterday when the forecast improved I thought about doing an overnight at Rennselaerville State Forest 
but I didn’t really feel up to it after the week. Next week has improved a lot for Memorial Day Weekend though cold, 
and some models are calling for snow but other say it could be pleasant, cool and breezy which might be good with the black flies. 
A few rain drops 
hit my head as I sit out here at Five Rivers. If a thunderstorm rolls through 
there are the picnic pavilions I can hide under.
wheel tomorrow, I figured I’ll get it when I’m out going to the folks house. 
Then when I’m there I can borrow a drill from dad and drill out the wider hole for the shader valve. I could have gone to the woke bike shop today but I didn’t feel like firing up Big Red. 
Put things back together in the evening and hopefully ride back in on Monday. Maybe do a hike up Blodgett Hill midday. Wednesday and Thursday might be crap for riding in and hopefully Friday if the weather is good I’ll drive in and then leave early for somewhere pleasant next weekend. 
