24/7 Chat About Anything

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Do you know what chatting with friends is about. Just hanging around shooting the breeze do to speak? That is what this thread is for. It is a hey how are you doing, what’s up with you kind of place.

Its value is that it is not focused on any particular subject.
Since there isn't a focus of any particular subject, I thought I'd put it here. Among people I'm hanging out with talking about random things. That seems to fit the criteria you put forth.

Hey, I happened upon this cool deal. What do you think? Oh you've moved to a new spot and mailed some things today? Awesome.
 
OK then since you were unable to find the pre existing section for your posting about good finds on vehicles on your own I went ahead and found out where it belongs for you.

The section is under “General Discussion” and it is called “TradingPost” You can ask a moderator to move your post into that section and of course you can set it up in your preferences to follow that thread and get notifications if someone responds to it.

Here is an image snapshot that has the section of the forum setup for it and as you will see it specifically covers exactly what you said you want to do. “Show people deals you see out there on Craig’s list,EBay, etc…”
“Help People Find Their Dream Rigs”
IMG_1023.jpeg
 
My going into town might seem like a boring event to talk about. But to me it is something to celebrate as those orders I am shipping out are buying my groceries and my gas and when I am having a good week even an extra things too 🥳. So I plan to keep right on talking about those trips because that is me is taking time to celebrate living a successful, creative, happy, healthy and independent nomadic life. I am not sitting in a sticks and bricks dreaming about being on the road someday or wondering if I can find a job to make it possible, Or wondering if i can get enough solar power on my roof or what fridge I should buy, or how o find campsites or if I will be lonely. I am instead simply living it full time everyday and maybe that bores you to hear about the fact that it is not constant daily adventure but instead a pretty normal, calm and mostly pleasant life. Lots of people get out here on the road and suffer from boredom but I am not one of those types.
 
Yes, that seemed harsh, especially when the post was only meant to help, and even more so when the volunteer post-police followed it up with a post they seemed themselves to acknowledge might not be to everyone's taste.

If it's gonna be "about anything," it ought to be "about anything." This forum has very few rules, and the criticized post didn't seem to break any of them. Is everyone here sure they want to be called out every time a post of theirs doesn't live up to someone's exacting standards? This place might start to look very different if that happened.
 
Some of you missed the point that the person who posted that “vehicle find”actually wanted to post it elsewhere in a thread about good vehicle sales finds but could not find the place they knew existed and stated that as they could not find that location instead of where they really wanted to put it.

I suggested they get help from a moderator to find the appropriate location they wanted to have it in. Then I even took my own time to track down the location they had previously seen those types of postings placed in. Remember, they themself stated they had really wanted to put it there but just put it here as a AlTERNATIVE since they could not find where on the forum they had previously seen those types of postings placed in.

Please try to read more carefully before trying to make me into a bad guy for trying to help someone. I also do suggest if you are bored with what I post or dislike how I say it just put me on ignore instead of telling me you find my content boring.
 
Last edited:
I am looking forward to this afternoon. I plan to take a tour of the local “Makerspace” which is has open hours on Sunday afternoons for anyone interested in joining or just interested in seeing what a Makerspace is.

The group I am camped with has other people who are also excited about going as a group to visit it. It is not just about tools such as saws and welders or laser cutters and 3D printers and computers with 3D design software on them. There is also a ceramics area with kilns and a pottery wheel. Plus a lot of textile arts going on with useful tools such as sewing machines and a very decent, large floor loom. Of course materials and tools for electronics projects as well.

My interest in joining an makerspace is mostly to do some laser cutting and using the woodshop area making some prototypes for designs for my business.

However I do have a broken thru hole part on a circuit board I need to replace. It is for my antenna booster. I was going to hire it out as I do not have all the tooling resources with me to do a proper job of it. But I would not mind having acess to better tools and guidance of an experienced mentor. I have made a few very basic circuit boards from scratch but not attempted to replace a component on an expensive product. Of course I would have to order the part. I did previously do research to find out the name and type of that part but I have not ordered it.

The long range weather report is showing a trend for temperatures cooling down. That would be normal for this high country region after mid July. It will be nice to get past those few weeks of the summer season in the higher elevations in Arizona where there are temperatures in high 80s and low to mid 90s.

Time to check in at the daily morning coffe gathering. Hope your day is an interesting one. Of course I will also be dropping an order into the mailbox when I head into town! Gas money! The gas prices dropped by 20 cents a gallon here. That was great news!!!!
 
Last edited:
Do you know what chatting with friends is about. Just hanging around shooting the breeze do to speak? That is what this thread is for. It is a hey how are you doing, what’s up with you kind of place.

What it is not it is not is a dumping ground for subjects you do not know where to put to start an ongoing thread about a specific subject of information for.

Ask a moderator where a good fit for what you want to do is.
If you would have started with the last part it wouldn't have seemed rude, disrespectful, or condescending.
I am not trying to be mean, I just want your thread to get directed to the right audience so as to make it viable and easy to find. A place on the forum where it is not over taking the intentionally casual chat and wide range of topics moving back and forth in members regarding their everyday life, health incident or just an inspirational thought or memory or even hobby interest that is the norm here in this thread. Its value is that it is not focused on any particular subject.
I didn't think it was mean at all. But it wasn't done in a respectful way. I do post on this thread regularly, so I have a good idea of what it's about in my opinion.
OK then since you were unable to find the pre existing section for your posting about good finds on vehicles on your own I went ahead and found out where it belongs for you.

The section is under “General Discussion” and it is called “TradingPost” You can ask a moderator to move your post into that section and of course you can set it up in your preferences to follow that thread and get notifications if someone responds to it.

Here is an image snapshot that has the section of the forum setup for it and as you will see it specifically covers exactly what you said you want to do. “Show people deals you see out there on Craig’s list,EBay, etc…”
“Help People Find Their Dream Rigs”
Again, thank you for finding the forum section. Since I was obviously an idiot for not being able to find it. But of course you could have just directed me there without the rest.
My going into town might seem like a boring event to talk about. But to me it is something to celebrate as those orders I am shipping out are buying my groceries and my gas and when I am having a good week even an extra things too 🥳. So I plan to keep right on talking about those trips because that is me is taking time to celebrate living a successful, creative, happy, healthy and independent nomadic life. I am not sitting in a sticks and bricks dreaming about being on the road someday or wondering if I can find a job to make it possible, Or wondering if i can get enough solar power on my roof or what fridge I should buy, or how o find campsites or if I will be lonely. I am instead simply living it full time everyday and maybe that bores you to hear about the fact that it is not constant daily adventure but instead a pretty normal, calm and mostly pleasant life. Lots of people get out here on the road and suffer from boredom but I am not one of those types.
It doesn't bore me at all. I think it's a great lifestyle with unique challenges and opportunities. I find a lot of your daily posts in this thread interesting.
Some of you missed the point that the person who posted that “vehicle find”actually wanted to post it elsewhere in a thread about good vehicle sales finds but could not find the place they knew existed and stated that as they could not find that location instead of where they really wanted to put it.

I suggested they get help from a moderator to find the appropriate location they wanted to have it in. Then I even took my own time to track down the location they had previously seen those types of postings placed in. Remember, they themself stated they had really wanted to put it there but just put it here as a AlTERNATIVE since they could not find where on the forum they had previously seen those types of postings placed in.

Please try to read more carefully before trying to make me into a bad guy for trying to help someone. I also do suggest if you are bored with what I post or dislike how I say it just put me on ignore instead of telling me you find my content boring.
I think you might need to recheck what you said with your helpful posts. I know what I posted and why. And the helpful parts of your posts were helpful. The rest not so much.

As much as I'm glad to find out the trading post section still exists, I'm disappointed that you felt the need to school me on how this forum works. I was reading this forum for years before I made my account. Which I made a in 2015. So I probably have a decent idea of how it works.

To summarize:
Thank you for locating the forum section for me. For some reason it eluded me when I looked for it.

You didn't hurt my feelings with your posts.

You might consider the language you use when trying to be helpful. Maybe just delete the parts that aren't the helpful part before you post.

I know some have decided to post in my defense. Please don't. It's not needed. My post was in the wrong area which I stated at the time. And I'm happy that there is still a section for that post.
 
Yeah Happy, and don't /you/ tell other people what to post and what not, either. We wouldn't want to get a little pot/kettle thing going here now would we? How 'bout we all get back to some nice relaxed conversation and put the "chat about anything" back in "chat about anything."
 
I do not use “bad” language when I post. If I did the moderators would soon take care of that and remove my post.
 
I do not use “bad” language when I post. If I did the moderators would soon take care of that and remove my post.
Bad language is bad language. I never said you used bad language.

What I said was "If you would have started with the last part it wouldn't have seemed rude, disrespectful, or condescending."

I stand by that.
 
The mods have noticed the recent traffic here but it looks like for the most part, the parties involved have discussed it and worked thru it.

That is the way it should be.

This thread is hugely popular and has a very wide range of topics covered. Unless the forum rules are disregarded in some way, we generally allow a wide latitude of topics, comments and posts.

Can we get past this and continue with the free flow of ideas?

Thanks guys and gals. This is one of the most popular threads here and ya'll are all making that happen by keeping it interesting.
 
Last edited:
Trip to the COCO-Op maker space cancelled due to some of the people feeling not so great today. It is the weekend and yesterday what must be a bunch of locals decided to put on a weekend event if bring out their dirt bikes to race just South of us where the strong afternoon winds blew the dust right into our campsite. Of course the noise was loud as well. Some of the folks here have asthma and other breathing issues. Luckily all I got out of it was a mild sinus headache. No big deal we will be in this area of Northern Arizona off and on all summer and every Sunday afternoon is open house day.

One thing I cannot easily do in my little mobile workshop is laser cut thicker materials as I do not have space for a powerful laser or room to carry one around. Plus I do not travel with a big generator. So one thing I would do at a makerspace I might join just for a few months in the summer is take time to create some inventory. Just small kits that could fit into a small box and ship affordably. These images below are of a kit I used to produce and sell while at my sticks and bricks workshop in Seattle where I had access to a nice laser cutter. The underlying structure is double thick Matt board so that those deep window sills look just right. The depth adds “life” to delight the eye. The roof is thatched with natural flax fiber which has a nice golden color to it and works well for this small scale. Note the penney and a standards size fine dressmakers pin shown for scale reference. This has an actual model scale of 1:144. It is popular among people who have grownup dollhouses which are done in 1:12 scale. So basically that smaller scale is used to create dollhouses that go into dollhouses. Might sound silly but it is a big business segment of hobbies and actually pretty good for a nomadic lifestyle business income if you enjoy making small objects. A small desktop workbench area and some model making tools can fit into even a minivan. Some people even create oil, acrylic and water color paintings in that 1:12 size. Easy shipping, low cost for materials and very good profit if you have the interest and talent for such work. Stop and visit the “Miniature Time Machine” museum in Tucson Arizona if you have any interest in seeing some very fine artisan made pieces. Seeing is understanding that this is not just a children’s toys and hobbies situation. There are serious collectors who pay top prices for very small things and there are nation wide as well as international shows all year long.
IMG_1025.jpegIMG_1026.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Wow I read that and was focused on the first picture until you mentioned the reference in size for the second pic. It looks so much bigger in the first one, which does show the detail when it's blown up a little. It's laser the only way to make those cuts? Or just the best way?
 
1000000187.jpgA few weeks ago this was dry brown sand, now the water is high and booking right along. It /feels/ plenty wild and free -- so weird to think there's somebody somewhere north of here just turning the spigot off and on...
 
I am looking forward to this afternoon. I plan to take a tour of the local “Makerspace” which is has open hours on Sunday afternoons for anyone interested in joining or just interested in seeing what a Makerspace is.
What do they charge to use the Makerspace or join the group?
 
Do you know what chatting with friends is about. Just hanging around shooting the breeze do to speak? That is what this thread is for. It is a hey how are you doing, what’s up with you kind of place.

What it is not it is not is a dumping ground for subjects you do not know where to put to start an ongoing thread about a specific subject of information for.

Ask a moderator where a good fit for what you want to do is. They can help you find the best location and even move your posting there as well as deleting my response to what you posted once it’s best location has been established.

I am not trying to be mean, I just want your thread to get directed to the right audience so as to make it viable and easy to find. A place on the forum where it is not over taking the intentionally casual chat and wide range of topics moving back and forth in members regarding their everyday life, health incident or just an inspirational thought or memory or even hobby interest that is the norm here in this thread. Its value is that it is not focused on any particular subject.
Meany
 
This was the brand and style of shoes I had to wear to school pretty much until I went into high school. Then I got penny loafers. They just did not have any other wide width options for girls. Although my foot got forced into too tight shoes for church on Sunday. Obviously I hated going to church because of that pain and therefore also did not like dressing up to go out. In summertime I wore rubber thong sandals when out and about as the pavement was blistering hot. But at home I went barefoot as often as possible when on the grass in the yard or in the house.
View attachment 34109
I remember those shoes
 
What do they charge to use the Makerspace or join the group?
The website states the monthly fee for an individual is $50. But until I go there and take a tour and have conversations about membership what is posted on the website and Facebook page is the extent of my actual knowledge of this group.

I have toured other makerspaces in Washington State. They are interesting. Some have grown considerably over the years in terms of the size of space and quality of the equipment. A few that I toured did not last more than a couple of years. But if you want to see the website of a makerspace that has grown up to be a phenomenal facility, so much do they were able to design and build own facility, then click on this link and explore what they have to offer.
https://bainbridgebarn.org/
Of course I am very fond of Bainbridge Island and enjoyed living there and owning a house there. But that predates the founding of makerspace on the island, but I had put together my own woodworking shop room at my home so I did not need a makerspace. But I was put onto the Bainbridge Arts Council. I knew nothing about that as I never even asked to join the group. One day I was just told to show up at a meeting and told I was a member 😂
 
Last edited:
Top