24/7 Chat About Anything

[Sofisintown]

While the West is burning, it's been raining for 5 days straight here.
Today is finally the day it's supposed to let up.

I 've been waiting for this break, to do some stuff for the van outside...
Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[maki2]

I imaegine you could set out a few of you miniature sets and you would have a crowd in no time. Just make sure you maintain social distancing with a table or something.

That is funny but it means you have no idea just how tiny my Tiny village sets are. A set of 8 buildings in one of the micro sizes fits on the length of a standard yellow pencil.  People would walk right on by in a campground without ever noticing it. The link is to a photo of  what an assembled kit sitting on a pencil.
https://i.etsystatic.com/6132632/r/il/513067/1071900382/il_794xN.1071900382_3z47.jpg

 

[bullfrog]

Well I guess you will have to go with the old stand by, just raise the hood of your car and stand there looking at the tiny village something built on your air cleaner! Lol!!! People always stop to see what is going on when they raise their car hood! I always had problems keeping track of my monopoly houses and hotels, I would have to glue those down or I would loose them in 5 minutes!

 

[desert_sailing]

That is funny but it means you have no idea just how tiny my Tiny village sets are. A set of 8 buildings in one of the micro sizes fits on the length of a standard yellow pencil.  People would walk right on by in a campground  without ever noticing it. The link is to a photo of  what an assembled kit sitting on a pencil.
https://i.etsystatic.com/6132632/r/il/513067/1071900382/il_794xN.1071900382_3z47.jpg

Thats pretty cool. What a unique item. Are those predetermined or custom per client?

Are those made with a 3d printer?  Do you hire out for other items?

Super cool... sooo tiny

 

[travelaround]

I love the artistry you put into your tiny, tiny buildings!!

 

[maki2]

Thats pretty cool. What a unique item. Are those predetermined or custom per client?

Are those made with a 3d printer?  Do you hire out for other items?
The
Super 
...

They are only sold in predetermined sets.

They are cut from cardstock on a vinyl cutting machine. The customer assembles them.

I do not hire cut for other people.. That would be very difficult to do while living full time on the road. Too many variables involved such as communicstion, getting materials, doing protoype samples, etc. There are plenty of stick and brick businesses who can handle that work much more efficiently.

Glad to hear you like them.

 

[maki2]

What a pleasant surprise just now, the sound of raindrops falling on my roof. I did not know that it had couded over due to all the smoke. This morning the rising sun looked like a full moon when I saw it through the smoky haze. hopefullt it is more than just a small band of showers passing through a lot more of it than that is needed.

Glad I got my outside chore of washing cutting mats done earlier. Now I am sitting at my desk packaging the kits I cut yesterday while listening to an audio book. Not many RVs left here at the fairgrounds which does happen on Monday morning. Plus of course it is mid September. Happy just sitting warm and cozy inside today taking life one day at a time not trying to think too far ahead other than hanging in the Puget Sound area for at least a few more weeks time.

I had a good sized order come in this morning which was a pleasant thing to wake up to

Last night for the first time while on the road I streamed a movie as I do have a good signal at this location.  hot soup and a movie put me in a very relaxed mood. My life is not currently exciting or adventure filled but it is peaceful.

 

[nature lover]

We are having wonderful wind weather here in Pennsylvania. High today mid 70s low tonight 48. Great weather for sleeping. But I feel terribly guilty enjoying this when you folks out west are losing homes and friends. I was I can do is send good wishes and good thoughts which don’t do much good. God bless all of you folks in the middle of that mess

We have our own mess now just a few miles from me in the city of Lancaster. Yesterday afternoon police were called to a home where a young man was threatening his mother with violence. When the first policeman showed up the man came out of the house charging at the policeman with a large knife. The police shot him to protect himself and a women Who exited the house just before the guy with The knife.Shortly after this riots broke out police cars damaged and policeman taking all sorts of things thrown at them. Now Threats of a lot more violence from the rioters. I know my opinions are politically incorrect these days for some but I think the policeman did it right. An irate man charging at you with a knife, no time to think, not much choice. I’m thankful I am not a policeman. Yes some of them are not good and even worse than that some of them are evil. But I honestly believe that’s a small percentage of the police. What a time we live in. I say don’t defund the police but give more money so that police officials can develop ways and means to identify and weed out the bad ones.

 

[Sofisintown]

...Last night for the first time while on the road I streamed a movie as I do have a good signal at this location.  hot soup and a movie put me in a very relaxed mood. My life is not currently exciting or adventure filled but it is peaceful.

I'm glad you are feeling rested and peaceful, Maki. It looks like more rain is headed your way, and hopefully will clear up the air from all the smoke, and put out the fires.

 

[Sofisintown]

We had good weather yesterday and today (in this town means no rain,) and I got to make some progress with my build.

This is the cabinet that will have the gas tank under and propane stove on top. I will attach a spice rack in the front and shelving at the back of the tall whatsimacallit, the brown separator thingy.

 

[Malamute]

Looks like you are making progress. Looks good.

 

[Qxxx]

The whatsimacallit is what keeps from catching yer bed on fire. That's called proactive planning. I see a little doohickimabob on the door window in pix #3. Do the windows on that van swing open?

Offhand, is there a liftoff date for when Sophia is planning to vacate WI and head for the nether regions? Maybe early 2024?

(and I see yer reputation is on the mend too, after that unfortunate behavioral lapse).

 

[Sofisintown]

The whatsimacallit is what keeps from catching yer bed on fire. That's called proactive planning. I see a little doohickimabob on the door window in pix #3. Do the windows on that van swing open?

Offhand, is there a liftoff date for when Sophia is planning to vacate WI and head for the nether regions? Maybe early 2024?

Yeah, the windows swing out, but not too far.
The vac point is currently 45 days away. That means that the getaway vehicle has to be ready and the house sold. Wishful thinking on my part is to escape before winter.

 

[Qxxx]

Yeah, the windows swing out, but not too far.

Just enough to setup a little exhaust fan. Everyone needs a bit of exhaust now and then.

 

[Sofisintown]

Just enough to setup a little exhaust fan. Everyone needs a bit of exhaust now and then.

'Xactly. I will not cut holes on my roof.

 

[travelaround]

I have a .. or had? I wonder if my fantastic fan burned in the fire or was it still in the cargo trailer? Mysteries. I'm such a mess.

Today did laundry, went to UPS for my packages on hold here. Went to the Post Office only to be told they had sent everything downriver to Happy Camp a few hours before, because the road to Happy Camp is being opened, but the road from Happy Camp to my burnt out shell of a mobile home is closed still. I'm not going back until that road is open and I was told it might be a couple of weeks still. I suspect they'll open up my little neighborhood a long time before they open the road to my daughter's home which was six miles up the creek.

Anyhow, felt like I got a lot done. Did some shopping. Visited the Red Cross people and chatted with them for a while about what to expect next.

I was happy about this: President Trump visited Sacramento to talk to Gavin Newsom (governor here) about the wildfires all over our state. Well, there was a video with 8 people and the prez, and one of those people was our local county supervisor who told him about Happy Camp... our situation... it made me happy that we were represented in this discussion, and Ray Haupt, the supervisor, was knowledgeable and well-spoken on forestry issues. I was impressed. I can't find the video anywhere except Facebook.. here's the link. Happy Camp is discussed starting at 12:30 in the video, in case you want to hear. https://www.facebook.com/groups/happycampca/permalink/10159391061750955/

My daughter and I talked about moving to the desert. Maybe we don't like trees so much anymore?

 

[Qxxx]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/happycampca/permalink/10159391061750955/

I watched that entire video. In a sense it was a big disappointment. Everyone talking about what a great job everyone was doing, and how there is so much great interaction between state and feds, but at the same time 5,000,000 acres are burning in the west. We're getting creamed out here. A couple of points that did come out:

1. California only owns 3% of the forests, and the feds "own" 60%, and the rest is private ownership. I had no idea so much of the forests had been sold off.
2. CA has spent about $180,000,000 on mitigation at the "forest-urban" interface.
3. people keep harping about climate change.

First off, climate change is irrelevant except in the long term, they need to do vastly more right now today. Secondly, the Feds have obviously been doing a miserable job at mitigation on "their" lands, and similarly for private parties (mostly lumber companies).

Thirdly, and most important, what no one seems to have brought up is they need a federally-mandated Master Plan, plus really significant amount of funding for increased mitigation. Will they ever do it?

 

[Qxxx]

My daughter and I talked about moving to the desert. Maybe we don't like trees so much anymore?

There are many places in the mountain west where one can live that are not in deep forest, or in what is considered to be "classical" desert. There are dozens of places at elevations of 4000-6000' that have relatively mild climates, not too hot in summer and not too cold or snowy in winter. You just have to look. A number exist in AZ, for instance, inbetween the big cities which are too low, and the higher areas like Flagstaff which are cold and get too much snow. When I was getting ready to retire, I spent some time pouring over maps and checking sites like ...
http://www.city-data.com/

 

[Malamute]

I think what Qxxx is trying to say is high desert. I love the high desert country, generally with pinyon and juniper trees, but not generally serious fire country. Im planning on wintering in high desert in Az. Mild winters, occasional snow which melts quickly, often frosty nights and gloriously warm sunny days in winter. Summers can be warm, but not as bad as true low or Sonoran desert.

 

[Qxxx]

Mild winters, occasional snow which melts quickly, often frosty nights and gloriously warm sunny days in winter. Summers can be warm, but not as bad as true low or Sonoran desert.

More or less, yes. The Sonoran Desert is basically the area south of I-10 in SoCal and AZ, and is the really hot stuff. The Mojave Desert is generally the desert area in the same states north of I-10, and is a "bit" higher in elevation, but not that much. Eg, Quartzsite is at 900', and even Bishop CA at 4000' is hot as blazes in the summer. Northern Mojave area.

But the area I'm talking about actually extends all the way north to eastern OR and WA, and eastward to UT, CO, and NM. There are many nice living regions from 4000-6000', if you look around. For that matter, if I were sold on northern CA, I might head down river to the Eureka area, and out of the deep forests.