Random Rants

This has been/is/will continue to be a very stressful month for me, particularly with the Asperger/Anxiety issues. So, since this is my blog and I can rant if I want to, I'm going to let off some steam :) These aren't targeted at anyone in particular, they're just things that keep popping up with different folks at different times in different circumstances... I'm probably just really sensitive to it because of my own issues and the way I was brought up.

Raising children -- ok, I don't have kids, never wanted kids, and really can't understand why anyone would have or want them other than prophylactic failure or continuation of the species, so I realize that I really don't have room to comment on parenting. But, there are a few things that bother the living crap out of me and I just can't fathom. 1) If you have them, control them. Basically, consider teaching them and enforcing upon them the general order of a sentry -- quit your post only when properly relieved, conduct yourself in a proper manner at all times and alert the commanding officer when necessary. Seriously, kids need to learn to be quiet/respectful and do what they're told until given other instruction. And learn when it is and is not appropriate to interrupt. How hard is that?! 2) Limits -- have them and enforce them... really! Children should not be allowed to do whatever they want whenever they want no matter what the circumstances. They should learn early that their parents' and visitors' attention are not all for them... when guests are over and/or work is being done, children need to stay quiet and out of the way unless instructed otherwise or there is an emergency (see #1!!). 3) Having kids doesn't mean that one or both parents gets to opt out of doing work and running errands no matter how young the kids are (see #2!!). And neither parent should get stuck minding the kids all the time or expect outsiders to mind them either. If you aren't willing to take care of them, or can't tolerate being around them, then either don't have them or teach them damned manners!

Asking for help -- I realize that we're just a smidge more self-sufficient and counter-dependent than most folks and would probably risk loss of limb/property before deciding we need help, but some common sense should apply if you're going to ask other people to for help... 1) make sure you actually need it first, especially if the person you want helping has a life of their own. 2) If it's an emergency, it's ok to scramble someone else for assistance... but make sure it's a real emergency not just an overreaction. 3) If you have too many "emergencies" too frequently, consider this an indication that you're doing something wrong and have a serious lack of planning/action on your part. Remember -- lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. 4) If you want non-critical assistance, let folks know at least a few days in advance so they can schedule it... at that point, you're on their schedule not the other way around. 5) If you want non-critical assistance, ASK for it... don't just hint at it and hope the other person offers. That's passive-aggressive crap... do that nonsense too often and people who are normally receptive and helpful WILL get pissed off at you. 6) Boils down to: Everyone pitches in for a real critical issue, no advance warning or politeness is expected; ordinary assistance requires planning, politeness and respect of others time. And whatever you do, don't act all weird and pissy if someone calls you on your shit or isn't available to help you... especially not if they've already told you better ways to do whatever it is you're doing. And if you keep screwing up communal stuff, expect people to get irate. If you won't listen and make others lives more difficult, how can expect others to keep helping?

/end rant due to panic attack

(Great. Now where did I put my Valium?!)

Rain, Break Up and Cabin Pics

Well, we got some rain today and it's raining again right now. Definitely amped up the snow melt around the place! Of course, we had to adjust our work schedule today so we could protect everything from getting soaked.

The guys finally dug all our tools out of the remaining snow and got the buried tarp enclosure put back up!

And they installed our first window upstairs because I got ambitious yesterday with 60F and cut out the hole in the house wrap and vapor barrier :)

(Tom hates ladders, so he actually got to hold the window from the inside while G-man played Spider-Man on the ladder outside)


The whole house is wrapped now, we just have to tape up the seams and get the doors & windows properly installed and we can start putting up the T1-11 siding.

(Tom's taken over Willow -- man has never ridden a 4-wheeler before coming here, and now he's tooling around like an old pro LOL)

I got the vapor barrier completely done and taped upstairs yesterday, so whenever we get the 8' drywall hung downstairs (or at least moved downstairs) so it's off the top of the stack, we can start hanging the 12' drywall in the loft.

Ripley really doesn't like it when I'm upstairs because the stairs aren't in yet and she can't get up there.

I did get the downstairs vapor barrier almost finished today... but we ran out with only 12' of the back wall left. DOH!!  Luckily, we can just do the rest of the room and leave a few of the 8' sheets off to the side out of the way to come back to once we go into town and pick up more vapor barrier. The primary thing was to get the east wall done so we could get the cabinets in! Still have to tape downstairs, and install the foam board around the rim joists, but that hopefully won't take too long.

So things are melting around the cabin....

But it's nowhere near as bad as around the tent...

Looks like we're going to get a reprise of Lake Wardle again this year, after all :(

But, hey, we did get a perfect example of frost heave. Remember that ditch we dug last year to drain the lake of melt and rain water we had in front of the tent? Well, it froze this winter and pushed all the soil in that area up... notice the layer of ice beneath the soil!

And one nice thing about living in the middle of nowhere... you can sight in your rifle right in your front yard while you're taking a construction break ;)

Our little cabin, so awesome even the heavens smile down upon it :)

Quick Update on the Cabin Progress

We've been enjoying Tom's company here for the past week and are slowly getting things done at the cabin. Tom's been more than up for hard labor, but I picked up a nasty tummy bug in Fairbanks and am now just getting back to rights. The guys have been keeping busy collecting firewood and running errands, and I've been doing my best to keep everyone fed (even if all I could do was get stuff out and prepped for the actual cooking by someone else).

We finished all the vapor barrier and taping upstairs today, and the guys started the vapor barrier downstairs while I cleaned up the loft. It's amazing how big the space looks again now that the tools are all packed away and the scraps are out on the pile. With any luck, we'll finish the vapor barrier and taping downstairs, then get the foamboard cut and installed along the rim joist and header beam so we can start the drywall on this week. Having a third set of hands, and a helper at least 6" taller than me, should make getting those 12' sections of sheet rock onto the gambrel ceiling upstairs much easier. Ideally, we'd use a lift to install the ceiling, but I couldn't find one for rent in town while I was in and they didn't know when it would be back in for re-let... oh well, such is life when you live remote.

Of course, the 12' drywall is on the bottom of the pile, so we'll probably have to start with the 8' sections downstairs first just to be able to get at them. Figure if we're going to move them anyway, we might as well move them straight onto the walls ;)  It'll be good practice for the harder task up in the loft. I'm really not looking forward to hanging drywall on the ceiling, it's probably one of my least favorite construction tasks. But at least once all the drywalling is done, I can get to one of my favorite tasks... painting. I know lots of folks hate painting, but I find it extremely peaceful and meditative... well, as long as I'm left alone to zone out and "git'er dun". Too bad I still need to tape and float all the seams first. I don't hate mudding, but it's not my best skill. Just hope the walls don't look like a 2nd-grader went crazy with the playdough ROFL

The temps have been high enough that we should be able to install the sill membranes for the doors and windows with a good chance they'll stick. So, we'll probably get those in before we start on the drywall, that way we can do a good job foaming and caulking around the jambs, and then just do a drywall return rather than messing around trying to do custom woodwork to extend the jambs since our walls are double the thickness of the average wall. We'll be putting in solid wood sills because Ripley is sure to trash them in short order looking out the windows doing her doggy thing if we don't. Sills are easy, but I seriously don't want to mess around with jamb extensions and case mouldings when drywall returns are so much easier and don't collect as much dust LOL (ya'll dust your trim mould regularly, right?!).

I promise to take pictures tomorrow!! I even have the camera lying on my clothes so I won't forget it again. Not really much to see at this point, but I know you all always appreciate the photos :)

Ah, the Joys of "helping" people

Ok so after a little mail exchange today with one of our followers, who apparently is a little upset that we haven't responded to them personally since, oh I dunno mid December (I mean hell 3 weeks is an eternity right...?), here's Gungnir's rules for helping out with advice for those who want to try to follow in our metaphoric footsteps or just want to know how we did something.

1. We will respond as our schedules will allow, we offer advice for free, we are real people with real lives this isn't a reality show and we're not getting paid for it. That means that sometimes we're not able, willing or even motivated enough to provide you with a timely service (that's timely according you your timeline not ours). If you'd like a timely service them please feel free to contact with a consulting company of which there are many for your questions, often these companies will charge a fee, but as they say you get what you pay for.
2. Do not whinge, demand, act entitled, or be disrespectful, you asked for our help, we did not ask to help you out. Any of these acts will likely cause me to either delay or completely ignore any subsequent contact. If you respond with some kind of negative mail I will respond with perhaps good advice that may help you adjust to life in Alaska (if you ever get here) you a free to ignore this advice, however we are not so different to most Alaskans, so if you do choose to ignore this advice then you may later find that Alaska is not the place for you. Most important advice I ever give is that in Alaska, unless you set a date, people who agree to help will help when their schedule allows (this means when they feel like it). Don't have a hissy fit if you haven't set a date you want the help by, and you blow past that date, that just makes the person who agreed to help to retract the offer, and flip the bozo bit. Independence is highly respected here, go get some if you don't have some already.
   
3. Follow the blog and postings that are made, often you will see hints and tips explaining what we're doing, or our current status, that will give you an idea as to our immediate priorities and any possible delays. Bear in mind there is always fuel and water to haul, and wood to split on top of anything else that you're seeing.
   
4. Winter is not the best time to ask for assistance, we currently use about 1/3-1/2 cord of wood a week that needs splitting for heating, not doing this is not an option in less than a day our living space will be at ambient temperature, so even when we're sick, tired, and have no light this is happening (more than once I've had to split a 1/8 cord at 9:00pm and 30 below because something got us home late). It's tedious and a grind, and it can make us a little cranky. It's necessary however, because without doing it, we would at times never get the generator running so we could get the truck running, and that's assuming that the temperature is high enough so that we are not at risk of dying by being at that sustained temperature. Next year may be different, we'll let you know.
   
5. If you have a deadline, then let us know. For 10 years prior to this my work environment was based around deadlines, if there is no deadline, then I'll get around to it when it's convenient, which may mean that other priorities are put first, including the less enjoyable priorities of taking the poop buckets to our pile or the more enjoyable such as sighting in a rifle or getting some plinking or just sleeping in may be prioritized far ahead of your current burning issue.
6. Be prepared to look at your problem from our situation, we are trying to build a house in a place where the road is a mile away, that road leads roughly 135 miles to the nearest real civilization as people in the lower 48 know it. We have done nearly all of what we have by ourselves, everything here was brought in by us, from the lumber for the house to the gas for the generators. There have been no vacations, time off is what we have after we've done the chores, or going to watch a game in the NFL playoffs at a friends in Manley. There are no weekends here, no schedule except chores.
   
7. Your emergency is not my priority.
   

So after all of that, if you still want our help and advice, then please feel free to contact us, either as a comment, or in private. Since this is the first person that we've helped who responded in this way (strangely no one else has complained) I figure that it might be a good idea to post my ground rules. As a by the way, if you offer help to us, those same rules apply to us. At least one of our readers knows this, he offered to come help out this summer, and for one reason or another it didn't come about (you know who you are ;P) no problems at all we appreciate the offer and will accept it wholeheartedly when their situation is such that they can deliver on their offer.