"DO More, With LESS"

[BillyAlabama]

I just can’t imagine what I would do if I had to pay taxes like most of you on all your buildings etc…Brings a Lynyrd Skynyrd song to mind.

[BillyAlabama]

Finished the pavilion today. Ended up being one 50" piece short on metal. Had to make one out of a piece of snap lock, but it worked out ok.

Jakob is excited. He got his go-kart going last night.

Jesse ready for work, But tired of being his sister’s photography muse.

[BillSchiller]

Any roof over 3’ off the ground here, gets taxed. Even if it’s a roof to cover the wood pile.
Including this, I found out the hard way.

[Jeff]

Here your allowed one movable building as long as it is not over 12 X 12. Any roof needs a permit and tax review. Wheels under a roof are exempt.

[BillyAlabama]

What!!? Insane…I’m glad you’re still able to discover your freedom that way Bill.

[JO_Olsson]

I agree with Billy. That’s insane. Rules and regulations know no limits.
In Swedish rural areas you can build anything smaller than your house without a permit. If you live in heavily populated areas you’re still allowed to build any separate building of 25 m2, 4 m tall without a permit. (17x17, 13 ft tall)
Doesn’t affect tax either since there’s already a fixed maximum property tax of $750 a year. Sometimes you can get away even sheaper since lower property taxes are based on the product of living space area and reasent market prices in your area. I’ve never heard of anyone beeing visited by a tax man or a building inspector. But I do get a visit from the fire hazard inspector every other year to look at the chimney, kitchen wood stove and basement wood boiler.

[BillyAlabama]

Finally got the side metal on the teaching pavilion today —in the rain.

Bottle lights working well with the sides closed in.

Got a start on the little garden shed from post 79

[SteveUnruh]

On DOing More, With LESS even quite large “systems” such as Koen Van Looken put in-my-humble-opinion do qualify.
It is all about getting the maximized benefits from the least inputs.

An extreme opposite example of forced accelerated enthrophy: 1/4 mile dragster burn-offs. Lots of smoke and noise for that energy release. Some entertained. But . . .
can you eat the results - no.
will it cloth you from extremes - no.
will it even warm you on cold nights - no.

On this DOW site Wayne Kieth has put up pictures of his previous made up field mower asseblies behind his larger J.D. deisel engined tractor. Amazing. Three wide shaft driven “brush-hog” decks.
He IS actually DOing More for LESS.
All IC engines give the best work produced for fuel put in heavy loaded down at ~75% of their maximum power rating.
Mr Wayne is getting his pasture/hay field weeds mowed on the least possible bought out fuel for that peice of equipment. His time DOing savings lets him go cut wood, build/adavnce and operate his wood gasifier powers. Fun-stuff.
Ha! Ha! He has even posted up now that he has a much smaller IHC woodfueled tractor he often just spends more time with it doing his, doings.

Regards
J-I-C Steve Unruh

[SteveUnruh]

Now on my own gardening doing-more, with less . . .
I am falling too far behind on the between rows and between plats weedings.
Supposed to be wifie’s job. Her one hip and both knees now worn out and paining her greatly. I tell her to take a pick of one of these for surgery.MY stoop labor is down planting. Then later some down harvesting. Once down, huts much for me on the getting ups.

My two new to me stand-up weeding tools are inspired out of a could different old English gardening books. Cannot get the old toold that they show.
So . . . . substitutes ? ?
Luster Leaf brand “Whinged Weeder”;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDR_n8r8nhU
Hey! This works slick. I keep mine unsharpend to protect the desirebles.

Now for close in very selective weeding I am STANDING UPRIGHT using this Gama hoe:

Long Handle Nejiri Gama Hoe

I actually made up my long handles versoin for a local got short handle head I inserted into a new hickory long handle.
$18. + $15. + $1.50 of JB two part epoxy.
This one I do keep very sharp on the staright front side. Well blunted on the curved back side for stems safety.

Slick system now.
Ha! Still have to sweat some. Good for the heart/circulation health. Good excuse to drink a bit of the very good regional hefewiesen.

Regards
J-I-C Steve Unruh

[KristijanL]

Just came in from a nice afternoon of swinging the good old hoe. Ours are a bit differe thugh, pointy round at the edge. Usefull for everything from seeding to harvest. I like them sharp, but a bit (dont know the right expression) toothy. It bites in the weed, extracting it but not cutting off!

I find it most satisfying when working on a garden, fueled with food provided with that garden. So was today, wife and l prepared a strong stew with all we culd find on the garden. Potatoes, green beans, peas, blackeyed peas, carrots, challotes, garlic, cabbage and a back of a old broiler hen produced a stew fit for angels, and the bestthing is l didnt buy anything but salt and pepper

[don_mannes]

Can’t beat the combination of all those flavors!

[BillyAlabama]

Steve, not totally sure what you had in mind when you started this thread, maybe this fits in here…Thanks to our insanely materialistic and ludicrously wasteful society we got this stove going today. Got it for the cost of the fuel to haul it home from someone’s driveway. I guess they just wanted a prettier stove.
We will have to by a 1/2 x 3/4 pipe adapter and two of the grates on the top are cracked. Will have to braze one and build the other new. Or may just make 2 new.

Hooked up a tank today and checked it out. Everything works fine. One burner needs air inlet adjustment.

Now for my wife’s favorite past time/hobby------moving furniture and reorganizing the house. I think it’s going in the summer kitchen. The shuffle continues.

Also, I like the looks of that Nejiri Gama hoe.

[BillyAlabama]

We have a saying here “if one knows how, he can shave with a shovel”.

Reading through old posts:

That must be the secret to the mustache. I need to get a razor sharp shovel. LOL

This is an important distinction. Doing with less sometimes involves technology, even advanced tech. A good example is the internet… I’ve repaired old things, learned obscure skills, avoided mistakes etc. that I would otherwise (offline) have to devote my life to seeking out. Another example, paying down Caesar obligations by writing computer code for yuppies… but from your country farmstead, after the cow is milked and garden weeded. I can do MORE to oblige the taxman with LESS time and effort using a computer, than with a shovel. Technology can be made the servant, not the master.

Chris, I missed some of what you mentioned here in the first paragraph the first time through, probably cause I was caught up thinking about the latter ones.
I really like this quote.
Makes me think of internet buying. So many of our appliances we got free or really cheap because they were broken or in the scrap yard and just needed a valve or a belt or something like that… Would not have been able to save the thousands of dollars (not buying them new) if it weren’t for the ease of finding the parts to fix them. It seems unreal what information you can find on the web. Not to mention mis-information I guess.
On the other side, I know people so wrapped up in the I Tech that they have no time for a “simple” life. It’s all about who’s the master.

So many of the people in the circles we’ve traveled in the past several years have not been able to make the distinction you do here. And unfortunately for them they are stuck in an “old way is good way” extreme mentality. I think your approach is sound. Bible: “Let your moderation be known to all men.”

[BillyAlabama]

Hey Kristijan, Do most Slovenians speak English as well as Slovene?. Your mentioning of living there made me notice a big hole in my geographical/sociological knowledge so with the rain, I have been studying a little about your country. I was curious if they speak English like you, or mostly not.

[KristijanL]

Hi Billy

Well, the newer generation (~1975 and younger) do all speek at least basic English. Allso basic German and Serbian/Croatian.
The real poliglotes are north European countrys. I think l read a vhile back that 90% of Swedish people, thats old and young, speak English. JO might confirm.
A WAG here wuld be 50%.

[JO_Olsson]

English was made a mandatory subject in school in the 50s which means most 75 year old and younger speak basic English here. That 90% is probably close. No one uses English as an everyday language but the younger generations of course pick up a lot via internet.
I guess you could say I belong to the middle generation that still grew up without internet. We learned most of our English from Zeb Macahan, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis. We always used subtitle translation and original voices on TV. I guess our English is about as good as a precocious US 7 year old.

[Jeff]

Billy, how do you handle the holes in used metal roofing ? ? Patch it or try to reuse the old holes ?

Dad and I was milling around a junkyard yesterday and came across some used metal roofing. Was looking for tanks to build a new boiler with and will need some roofing.

Thanks !

[BillyAlabama]

Both, frame to match your old holes is best. If not, I just use a roof sealant caulk. My favorites are “Tite Bond” and “Solar Seal”. Tight bond is more like a rubber. Great for “building” filler for big holes. Can be applied in wet conditions. Also has pretty high temp specs.
Tight Bond is greasier, takes the sun better without cracking over time, and can be molded after application with wet hand. Won’t apply in wet conditions.
Either one can be bought in color to match most metal specs.
As far as I know, TiteBond doesn’t come in “clear”. Only Solar Seal.

Application: depends on how much aesthetics mean to you. I usually just make a small dollop on each hole about the size of a dime or less.
If we are fixing a mistake on a barn to sell or somewhere that we don’t want it to be noticed…then we make sure the metal is flat with no slivers. put a big glob on the back side of the metal and let is ooze through to the front, let it set up to stiff (over night usually), and then carefully take a new razor blade and cut it cleanly at the surface of the metal. Then a dab of touch-up paint to “blend” it with the surrounding paint. That takes a lot of time though. So, here at the house, I just live with the looks, try to use old metal where it won’t be noticed, or just take satisfaction in knowing that you saved a couple thousand dollars on metal for that project.

We’ve used a lot of products on roofing. Never found any others that I recommend.

Also, I have no experience with cold weather situations. Our concerns are always heat not cold and freezing. May need to check out these products on that end of the scale too where you are.

[BillyAlabama]

Every Swede I ever met in all my travels spoke enough English to communicate quite well. My Swedish is extremely limited, but probably slightly better than most Americans (doesn’t mean much). My wife’s family is 100% Swedish descent. Every year at Christmas time they get out the Swedish Bible and read Luke chapter 2 in Swedish. Old aunt Karin was born in Sweden. Came here in 1912. She tried to teach us some, but not much stuck. It’s a hard language (from my perspective) That woman never said a bad word about anyone. She remembered both world wars, and all the others since. I remember the only words she spoke on 9/11 as we watched the news, “Oh no, not again.” I wish some of us younger folks could learn more from people like that.

[SteveUnruh]

Hello KristijanL.
Catching notches in the edge of a cutting blade is called “toothing”.
I just finshed up ~100 lineal feet of corn rows in-tight, up-close weeding this morning. I think you are correct. An old 1970’s gardening book I have also recommends file toothing hoe edges to “catch & pull” weeds too.
I will modify mine now before next use.

I gave this same pair of weeders I linked to, to my oldest sister at a family get together last evening. Older, she has even a worse back than me.
Now I wished I had modified, toothed hers too.
Next visit.
Ha! She is 30 miles away across our county from me. Down out of my classed A1 can-hardly garden growing zone in a oats, wheat, corn, class 6 very favorable growing zone. 7 zone changes in just this 30 miles.
Atlas maps, and your pictures I see that your area must have severe micro-climates variations too.

Regards
J-I-C Steve Unruh