Do it yourself

Well there's the dog you were talking about.

Dog? There is a dog in the photo??

Quote: Ayecarumba

I've got a broken pane of glass in a single hung window. The frame is about 60 years old and needs to be replaced, so I suppose this is the time to do it. However, is this a job I should attempt by myself? My fear is that I'll tear a hole in the side of my house, but for some unknown reason, not be able to put in the new window right away. I am also a lot less concerned about the aesthetics of both the inside or outside (it's a bedroom window facing the backyard) than Mrs. Carumba, but my survival instincts are telling me that there is going to be some rough waters to navigate if she isn't pleased by the results.

Call in a contractor, or leave the safe harbor, and set sail? Anyone tried to do this alone?

I've dabbled in windows, and it is said dabbling (as opposed to having "dove into") that makes me a little leery.

None of it looked all that terribly complicated, assuming you have shims handy. That was probably the "hard" part, just shimming it so it was level. But a single window approx 2' x 4' is something I've seen an active drunk running 5' 7" / 150lbs and with no spinal disks do by himself times beyond count. Concerning aesthetics, the interior should be cake. I've a 3" piece of trim around my bay window, and 3" allows for a lot of oops room. My concern would be the exterior as I don't know what you have. Vinyl siding I'm familiar with and it's perfectly easy to disassemble and move out of your way, but changing its dimensions will bring some concerns. If the window's a tick wider the siding itself can be easily trimmed back, but then the rails around the window will be too small. If the window is a tick smaller, then the siding will be too short. Any change to either means a new piece, and unless it's less than a year old or you live above the 30th parallel, you'll never match the color.

I won't give you ye olde "IS NO PROBLEM!" on this, especially because this will put a large hole in your house. As always, I suggest you pull this up on YouTube, as I know you'll find a perfect step by step for this project. Invest the 30min as there's a great chance it'll save you several hundred dollars, and if it's within your abilities, go for it. And if it's not, then you also just saved several hundred by not getting in over your head.

Good luck, and report back!

Thanks Face! The outside is stucco. Currently, there is a wooden sill that will also need to come out, and I have no idea what it is like underneath it. I've got some thinkin' to do on this. Thanks for the youtube tip. I'll check it out.

Quote: Fleastiff

Latest darling of Longform Journalism:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/24/vanlife-the-bohemian-social-media-movement

It's all young people stuff, have an adventure
you'll always remember. In 1960 John Steinbeck
set off in a camper to see the USA and write
about it. He was in his late 50's.

The result was Travels with Charley, that being
his dog. It was a NYT bestseller for years and
assigned reading in school. Problem was, it
turns out he made most of it up. After a few
weeks he realized the people he met were
boring as toast and there was nothing to write
about. He also hated living in the camper.

So he spent most of his time holed up in hotel
rooms making up his travels. His wife would
often fly in and meet him on weekends.

Van life hasn't changed. Go and watch some of
the videos of the couple in this article on Youtube
and tell me that's a life you want. It's a young
persons life with no kids and no mortgage and
no future. No thanks. They're just the new hippies.

Quote: Evenbob

It's a young persons life with no kids and no mortgage and no future. No thanks. They're just the new hippies.

Some of those hippies got rich, some stayed hippies all their lives. When I visited a commune near Seattle, I met some of those aging hippies. I also toured quite a few converted buses equipped with solar panels. Still lots of rice and tie-dyed cotton and incense and sandals,,, stuff like that. Hippies were never extinguished, they just stayed out of sight and out of the headlines. One of the favorite beaches for hippies in California was at the San Onofre reacctor, until they levied a two dollar a day entrance fee. It was a gathering spot for hippie chicks seeking to be companions in vans/buses, then it all shifted to Santa Cruz, CA and Bolinas, CA (no highway signs indicating the way to Bolinas and hippies on the city council freely issuing permits for tree houses). Many hippies settled down to mundane lives such as Alicia Bay Laurel who gave up communes for a paying job. Many of the hippie kids born in communes featuring pot, nudity and free love left communes for more 'normal' lives.

I never realized Travels with Charley was pure utter fiction, probably should have.

I read the Walk Across America books and felt they were authentic. (The walk south and the way west, I think). New York to Portland, OR via New Orleans all of it on foot. There was a follow up on people and restaurants visited enroute.

Its the Internet and sites such as Patreon that act as Sponsorship Brokers that make the present day vagabond lifestyle economically more sustainable.

Quote: petroglyph

Those vans behind her in the video now have generators, ac, toilets, kitchens etc. For a single person in that situation they are pretty comfortable.

The two things I struggled a bit with were laundry, which they have some pretty decent small combo machines available, and a place for all my paper work. A lot of captains will tear apart one birth and make it a tool shop.

Back to the motor home full time living. I really like the compartments that go clear under the motor home, that are big enough to put a 4 wheeler in or tools, or freezer. Awnings almost double your living space with a big peace of indoor outdoor carpet on the ground.

Full time RV living is getting more popular? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-28/what-americans-spent-most-money-first-quarter

With hox over and racing a good month away (if I'm lucky), I needed something to fill the time slot. So, Garden Pond 2.0.

I wanted a pond for obvious reasons and the area I was simply finished with weeding basically chose the size for me. I've a corner of vinca I wanted to keep, a couple patches of sawgrass that I love, and everything in between was going. How hard could it be?





Much of the prep work involved moving vast amounts of foliage and detritus, as I did not much if any maintenance all last summer. This involved cutting the overgrown vinca with a blade on hands and knees and rolling it up as I went. It actually went much easier than it sounds, but that and removing all the pavers to get all the stray vinca that had taken over and made it scrubby was about a 2 day job. I lucked out though as my childhood best friend has moved just 3 doors down and was present for both days. Catch him a buzz and he'll go for hours, one of those tireless ox types. I made not so much as an outline of the pond and he dug at least half of what you see above, not to mention the removal and tidying of all the paver slop I created. I actually just did a shed ramp for him 3 days ago cuz he can't suss out carpentry, so we got a bit of a brains and brawn type thing going. I love it, been getting a lot more done with a lot less pain.

Anyway, that all was pretty much the easy part. This garden is raised; the dirt within is pure, from-the-bag topsoil. We were just cutting chunks of it by shovel and carrying it out. Under that we have an ancient cliff side, backfilled into a ridge by particulate dropped by the receding glaciers. It's all gravel pit. I suppose it's better than bedrock, or huge, immovable boulders, but it is slave labor to make any headway. I looked upon my creation, saw that it was good, and figured further progress wouldn't be bad. There was still some topsoil to go, and that would take me to the required depth for that section. I just had to dig out a deep end, and the deep end was already partially cleared by the old pond. With no materials on hand and not wanting to dig a sitting pit, I stopped.

I had sort of searched and ballparked a cost, now it was time to put it in action. It got a bit silly as I put zero thought into the prelim search, and had no clue as to size, flow and pressures I'd need, but to make a pond I was not far off. I found what I thought was reasonable to get me to the point of holding water, and then moved on to the "making it pretty while livable" portion. Oh boy.

I slipped big on this one lol. Filters were coming in a >$500. That wasn't crushing, as I can make a filter big as I care for <$100. But that's just for the fish. Then there's the "make it pretty" filter which also serves as the "save your expensive pump" filter. Wasn't expecting that. Then the UV, and wow, that's a lot. I didn't even get to the nickel and dime or the plumbing, checked, and I was already over $1,800. Whoops.

But whatever. I'll piecemeal it, no big deal. I sure as hell wasn't wheelbarrowing Satan's Implementing all that soil back up front. And I'd already rollered it into the pool scar in the back yard, so no turning back. I did better shopping and got the underlay, liner, and pump to get it going for $500.



130lbs and the dude actually jammed it into the doorway. I had to kick it out just to exit the garage. Delivery guys are a$$holes =p

With stuff on hand, it was time to finish the heavy labor. I'd left the swamp bucket to this point as it held my boy's frogs; I scooped them and put them in my aquarium before emptying and ditching the shell. I then looked at its state and knew there was a lot farther to go. Figuring in the thickness of the underlay and the liner, add any folds, add any sunken foliage / fish waste, and especially any tilt in the thing, and I was looking at scant inches of depth on the warm end. And while the old pond sure seemed deep when you fell in it, I might've been 24" max with 2" above ground. I still had a full foot down and who knew how many around to make a proper hole for wintering fish. S#$%.

I started in the warm end, digging to depth I though would suffice. Only had maybe 4" more of the topsoil before I hit rock, and only did a small section before the skeeters forced me out.



The next day was like 86*, so I worked on the pit to stay in the shade. Dig and dig and dig and dig, and I just didn't seem to be making headway. Deep holes are such a bitch. I filled my small trailer until the tires buckled and she sat on her rims, but I just could reach that 3' mark. I got to 32" before the blisters forced my stop.



But I'm on the clock, as hand feeding frogs is a time consuming PITA. I borrowed Mama's Mantis and set on it yesterday. I was tuckered and ailing from a torn shoulder and a tooth that went to hell, but it all mixed with my back and must've overwhelmed the system because I shoveled for four hours. Use the Mantis to churn up a layer, scoop it out. Churn, scoop. Churn, scoop. Over and over for four hours. But in the end, I got my 3' (though not as many square feet of that depth as I wanted), got the warm end to a sufficient depth, and made a shelf for my planned water plants. Digging complete.





Nothing left but to check for rocks and stuff it in.

Unrolling the sheet was surprising. 15' x 25' looks a lot bigger when it's in your face. The underlay wasn't bad, maybe weighed 20lbs - 30lbs. It was a bit of a faff as it's cloth and therefore stuck and snagged to the rough pavers and stiff vinca stems, but at least I could move it. I just pulled it into position over the hole and then climbed in, tamping down into all the corners and folding the material to fit. I got it all packed in nice and readied for the liner.







The liner wasn't as easy. I lined it up along the hole in a roll, not realizing it wasn't a roll but was folded. Instead of a good lay, I had to half unwrap and then drag the sumbitch across. Not easy. Fortunately the sticky rubber didn't peel the underlay with it, so it was just a matter of getting angry. It was likewise difficult to stuff as it'd stretch instead of pulling material down with it. And, of course, it's a right bitch to fold as it's thick rubber. But I got my folds in to where it looked OK and pretty much had nothing left to do but fill it.





Now I just wished it had rained as they promised =p Our reservoir that got destroyed in the flood of '12 just went back on line after years of remediation, and our water bills reflect it. I'm talking more than double. I really don't want to buy 1,300gal, but I'm sick of feeding frogs lol. I ran for some 1" flex tube and set to filling. Took about 20min to get the pump set, and in that time, it had only filled enough to wet the pump. I played with the kid, took the dog for a walk, and wrote all this, and it's a bit passed half way.





I reckon by the time I'm done here, it'll be about full. Looks so far to be pretty level, which based on how I leveled it, I am quite pleased about lol. I'll still need to hit the crick probably twice to bring back enough rock to cover and secure the liner, one big ass trip to the greenhouse for enough water plants to cover this thing, and of course copious trips to the ponds for all manner of critters to stock it.

While we wait... any ideas? Comments? Concerns?

Quote: petroglyph

Full time RV living is getting more popular? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-28/what-americans-spent-most-money-first-quarter

A couple of my friends just did that. They sold their house, upgraded their trailer, and bought a big rig to haul it.

Quote: Dalex64

A couple of my friends just did that. They sold their house, upgraded their trailer, and bought a big rig to haul it.

My FIL got colon cancer and they pulled his 5th wheel into the back of the parking lot at Loma Linda hospital near LA, and stayed in it during treatments. It worked really well. I think the hospital even lets a few of them plug in which is wonderful. There are services which came and pumped out his black and grey water anytime they needed it and brought propane. So the MIL would just roll him in for treatments and back out to the big 5th wheel to relax. Finding a place to stay near any of these major hospitals for a month or two at a time is really cost prohibitive.

I wasn't clever enough to figure out airb&b last year for myself and a friend. I rang up well over 6k in motel bills alone. I would much rather RV it. I kinda like having my stuff with me, knowing where things are etc. More peace in my own digs.

I've spent decades travelling for work, and I just really dislike motel/hotels apt's anymore, or living out of restaurants. RV's definitely have their drawbacks, but when needed, what they provide is hard to beat. I also like boondocking pretty much.

After a while of travelling you meat people and keep in loose touch with them, maybe caravan a bit. Like a social club on wheels with some things in common. IDK, each to their own. I know I don't want to be miserable. I hope your friends really enjoy it.

The house we have now is 3 times the size of what we need or that I want to maintain or heat, cool and pay taxes on? I read an article yesterday about assisted living for old people in RV,s. A place in Texas has a roving nurse, etc. to help people that can't haul easily anymore, and still want their privacy. Kinda cool.