So as a small scale builder, doing both speculative remodels or small development new construction headed straight to the real estate market, how else can I gear my products to be built with a better eye to the long term?

My biggest things so far have been to geek out on the building science aspects and try to build the tightest, sturdiest envelope I reasonably can, as well as aiming for no or low maintenance exterior surfaces.

I’ll have to think how to incorporate your points about density of design.  I’d also love to put in the raw infrastructure for making the home pay for itself if I can find a way to do so that isn’t cost prohibitive when I don’t have the buy in of the final buyer.


The great non-state of Spirkonia!


And at that moment I didn’t like either option, cause they didn’t fit “my” character and I stopped playing.


People still use dryer sheets? I don’t think I’ve seen one in ~15 years.


You are doomed to live under the rule of fools. Your interest or lack there of in the affairs of your government is irrelevant.


Whoa! That’s a tiny hand!


Most of this will likely get added to the duck coop bedding or mixed in with the horse compost (we generate about 100yds a year after settling) so by the time it’s being added to our gardens and fields it will have gone through a compost cycle. Some of it will be used un-inoculated as a feed supplement freely available to the ducks.

So I will only have a small amount going into next years seed starting mix that I will need to find a way to inoculate. I’ve been considering finding a way to pump duck pond water through it, if it’s not so fine it will just wash out. I think that is life rich enough to work as an inoculated. But I’m guessing there.


Biochar burn this weekend. I keep wanting to build a retort to handle ongoing construction waste. But that’s a lower priority welding project, meanwhile the wood keeps piling up.

Been doing small burns in the “best biochar kiln” to get a sense of how a burn goes. Stepping it up with a 3’x2’x12’ trench. The small amounts done so far have been awesome in the seed starter and garden this year. Time to up the scale.

Did a property cleanup as we got into fall. 5 14’ dump trailer loads of wood run through a trench burn. Went quick, and burned hot. Less than 4 hours to burn through the lot. Even if I didn’t want the biochar, so much faster to burn that way than the traditional Agricultural burn pile.

Quenched with 3 IBC totes of water. Need to find a good way to bulk crush it, mag sweep for metal and then screed it now.

#grownostr #biochar #permaculture #yamhillvalley

@jackspirko  Jack you jerk, got me started down this biochar path. Now I have a better use for an existing waste stream.
https://m.primal.net/LVid.jpg
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https://m.primal.net/LVij.jpg
https://m.primal.net/LVik.jpg


I moved out of the suburbs to get away from those nosy Karen’s peering through my windows!


You could make it 150 years and I’d still be hard pressed to come up with a national level question fixed by voting.

I vote every moment by how I spend my time and where I direct my attention and resources. Those votes matter. Those votes can move my life and my community.


I went to my pantry to check.

I couldn’t find any chips, protein bars, or protein powder. I found some very stale crackers left over from a coworker at some team builder that took place here. They were from the Asian food store, had nothing noteworthy on their US import label.

My wife occasionally makes cookies, but the jar was empty and it filled me with sadness. I bet there were some insects accidentally ground up in the local flour she uses, but not enough to make the label.

I final found a R&B mix, played it and got crickets, but I had it plugged into the wrong audio jack. Swapped it and the tunes came through…

That’s your list, my house came up short. I’m ok with this.


That is very true. I always have had my preferences and what I purchase reflects them, but I’ve had to do enough work on enough systems I can move between them well enough. The tribal hatred is not needed but people like to belong and be “better” than others. Any more than the occasional jovial joke is uncalled for though.


How many carpenters have you spent time around? My Martinez is far superior to my coworkers Stilletto, if we’re just talking about hammers. If mine is across the room and I borrow his it just feels wrong and I grumble about it. We do kid around about that. Although it pales to our discussion about Makita versus Milwaukee powered tools.


GM All. Time for more digging. Working on doubling the size of my shop to create more storage space for the construction company and some parking below. This will free up the pad of my shop for more homestead projects. Then I’ll just need to free up some time.

#construction #yamhillvalley #homestead #shop

#construction
https://m.primal.net/KNxL.jpg


Uh oh. Don’t jinx it for me.  I just started to date a new person. And of course I’m worried that my NRE is stronger than hers. Which often leads to an imbalance and that sort of “sudden” breakup.


I don’t drink coffee in the morning, but without my shower I’m just groggy. And yes, I was my hair too.

I’d say about 30% of days I’m dirty enough at the end of a manual labor filled day to need another shower in the evening.


Unfortunately, I’m in Oregon. I don’t see such a split benefitting me in the short term. One of the highest concentrations of crazy live 30 miles from me. But I can keep my head down and it could result in increase freedom long term for everyone.


The organization of the UN should be dissolved, or the US?

I’d be in favor of the peaceful dissolution of both, but preferably only if we had some way to ensure the power vacuum they created would not be filled by some stronger more consolidated organization. Let that source of power dissipate and the parasites that feed off of it diminish.


I certainly don’t want you redeemed. The world needs more sinners like you, like us. 😉


Am I supposed to be praying for your redemption, or praying for you to sin with me?


And you never get answers when completing them.  Did I get 2 images presented because I guessed wrong on the first, or because I was randomly selected to perform a second as part of a training sample.


My father was a motorcycle rider and I grew up in a country of mopeds. The distinction of the presence or lack of pedals was an important one. I suppose it might not be to most captcha writers or captcha clickers. (Captchors and captchees?)


Those people look to be on a moped. I’m not sure any of those squares contain any part of a motorcycle.


N’Quack
Quack Street Boys
Mother Quackers


Chicken should be placed head down in a cone!


Isn’t it a white man’s phonetic spelling of an old Indian name, so there are a myriad of acceptable spellings? Also I wouldn’t put it beyond possible that her interns can’t spell.


So ignore those haters and walk your own path.


Also, to continue the analogy, you can pick up cool gear along the way.


Sort of. I manage the server it’s sent and received from but it’s co-located elsewhere. Although now that I have better Internet service then when I moved in, I keep considering moving it home and just running a backup MX elsewhere. If start9 would get us a server side IMAP filtering setup, I’d be all over that. For now it’s not worth the hassle of changing setups.


I see a decomposing pile of value, but it can be a means to an end. The end being more bitcoin.


How do you zap a book author while reading?


I feel sad every time I read someone’s resume. I pick “the best” of them for a phone interview, which makes me sadder still for the state of humanity. I don’t think most of my candidates could bake a cake from a box, with directions.

If you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, you’ll stand out to the right people.


You can delete those things?! I have all my emails, chats, texts since an unbacked up hard drive crash in 2001. That said, if we stopped talking/dating, I’m not reaching back out unless we move in the same circles and build some level of in person friendship again.


I build and remodel houses on spec. This is my retirement. I’ll do it until I physically can’t, then I’ll have to live on my BTC.


I want to enjoy this picture (as directed) but without seeing the hands, what’s to say it’s not more AI generation?


Coindesk headline:

“Craig Wright Assets Frozen by UK Judge to Prevent Him Evading Court Costs”

I hope he kept his assets in BTC to keep them freeze proof

Oh wait … he didn’t.

😂


Nope couldn’t handle people, I’ll stick to fixing houses. But I’ve got a spare hammer if anyone needs to work with their hands.


One cannot expect to reason with a group whose stated goal is your extermination.  Got to keep trying though because what else can you do?


And if you cheat in college, you can hold a political office.


I’ve certainly heard the word, and used it. But I’ve also been polyamorous for 30 years. While in that context it applies to being happy for you romantic partners’ achievements it can apply outside of such relationships.

I can feel compersion for my neighbor who was able to get or do the X they always wanted. I am happy for their happiness, without feeling that their success in anyway impinges upon my ability to succeed.

Our compersion hole in the world is closely tied to the scarcity mindset which makes many jealous of others success rather than finding it uplifting when those around them are achieving their goals. I can only hope that there is some truth to the notion of, “fix the money, fix the world” and that BTC will slowly reintroduce the idea that success anywhere in a community can bring success to everyone in that community.


I am polyamorous because I believe I can love multiple people. Dating is a process to find those people. I am committed to both my partners (of 19 and 8 years). I still go on dates occasionally as I find others intriguing. But I’m also up front about my time, and that I might not be able to share as much time with someone new as when I was single and poly.

But other people have other interpretations of those words which makes communication until you know where someone else is going from so much more important than labels. I don’t assume that someone who is poly, is available to date, nor that they would wish to date any aspect of me (my existing relationships, life choices, appearance, etc.)


It’s a beautiful evening to welcome 4 new additions to the homestead. Mama duck was not pleased with the paparazzi so I only got 2 in the pictures. Several more eggs are still under her, but she was hoarding other eggs after she started sitting so we’ll see what happens.

nostr:npub15879mltlln6k8jy32k6xvagmtqx3zhsndchcey8gjyectwldk88sq5kv0n Jack, you’re a jerk! The Muscovy additions are your fault. Why did I listen to you? It brought my happy chirping ducklings and a smile to my face.

#grownostr #yamhillvalley #permaculture #ducklings #muscovy
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I tried to tie it to money… my half asleep brain read that you started working at a crypto-therapy spot! Makes me wonder what such a place would be.


You can believe it has value, but it is the collective desire for it by others that actually brings it value.


GM ostriches

Beghrir with maple syrup. It’s just wrong. But doesn’t stop me from enjoying brunch as I mix cultures.

#maine #morocco

More traditional served with honey or a nut paste, but I had a hankering for maple syrup this morning. We’re out of milk and I’m never very good making fluffy American pancakes, so I give you Moroccan pancakes.
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Your civilization has discovered vertical gardening. +3 to food production.

It’s a beautiful day but wasn’t it snowing last weekend?

#yamhill #yamhillvalley #gardening #tinktube #emtconduit #grownostr #permaculture

https://m.primal.net/Hixa.jpg


Do you have a traditional furnace? If so you may be able to set up a series of dampers to open a bypass around the main duct and blow air over the miner and then back into the supply when heat is called for and when no heat is needed lose the dampers and run the miner and exhaust the heat elsewhere, garage, attic, outside. Then you could setup the miner to be your stage 1 heat with stage 2 bring your current furnace heat source.


As a landlord, I offer 10% discount on rent paid in BTC. I also offer to walk a tenant through how to source it and pay for it (using Strike, so they never need to own it) Only 1 has taken me up on it, which requires patience with the initially low limits on Strike.

I am required by our charter to pay out income quarterly, so any more of a discount creates more risk of covering a significant 3 month drop. Trying to get all my investors to take a split payout in fiat and BTC to alleviate the need to convert back to fiat to cover. No clean way in Quickbooks to track income in 2 currencies.


I keep looking in this direction. With the cost of electricity in my area, mining for profit is a hard thing to do, but if I’m burning watts for heat anyway, then doing it whilst earning some return makes sense. Now to figure out how to build a miner into a cadet heater housing…


It seems like there are so many red flags in dating these days. And then I wonder are they aware of what they are supporting or are they well intentioned but ignorant? Though when considering the energy I want in my life, does it matter?


The property next door is on the market… maybe you’re what my neighborhood is lacking.


Absolutely.

Five Stars Family Burger in Cornelius, OR. As their tagline says, “Quality over quantity, every time.”


In the last run up to a BTC all time high, I was excited to watch my “investment” grow.

As the price climbs now, the pit in my stomach is instead wondering if I have stacked enough sats and if I’m ready for the price to rise. Have I best taken advantage of the opportunities made available to me to secure my wealth?

Strike sits silently in the background with my hourly DCA. It doesn’t care.

#stacksats #preservewealth #bitcoin


Unless you’re near PDX, I’d have a hard time collecting said lemon. Guess my mouth will stay salivating a while longer. Enjoy! 🤤


Well damn, didn’t mean to propose you have an allergic reaction.

Best I take it off your hands. How many sats for your lemon? My mouth is still salivating over the thought of fish. I should probably see about breakfast.


It means you should have fried fish for dinner tonight.


Everyone comes to education on different topics in their own time, but the immediate condemnation from your date without understanding would have turned me off. I'm thankful to have one partner fully in support of BTC. My other partner is freedom minded in  some aspects, but has a mental hurdle with money not insured by FDIC. She is not ready for that level of freedom yet but also not dismissive in the same tone. I'll count myself lucky. Good luck to you!


I want to heat a cargo trailer to keep my supplies from freezing, maybe make it warm enough to work in. It’s got to be electric to be left on and unattended. If I'm just burning watts, perhaps I should put them to good use at the same time and mine some bitcoin.

Anyone have recommendations for a mining rig for such a purpose? I probably have 3000 Watts to play with, but I also need the abilty to ramp down when running my compressor. Is there a setup that can sense power demand and throttle back before the circuit breaker trips?
(circuit breakers being thermally driven, I know there is some time lag there).

#bitcoin #mining


Do you watch NFL football? Not Fuckin' Likely


As with any education people come to it in their own time. Keep cool and stack on, but don't stop providing info


I want some of that 3¢/kWh power! Any Chinese investors want to set up a collocation facility? My power rates are at 17¢/kWh and slated for an 18% increase!


For my business, I need a way to pay various bills either via ACH or mailed check that will cover a bill denoted in USD but settle out of my BTC stash. Then I could reduce dependency on my business bank account while still paying suppliers that only take USD.


Civil disobedience from everyone. Do what is moral in a free and fair exchange and let the IRS go screw. This is the only remaining avenue left to free individuals.


Imagine thinking the pervasive and insidious tyranny we live under should be accepted without struggle because it could be worse.


First blower door test. How did that result happen?!? That’s Passive House level! Certainly well above my target of “better than we used to build”

This is our 2nd new construction using Zip-R sheathing and trying to build an air-tight enclosure. It is our first blower door test except trying it on our own homes. 7ACH on the 1990s construction, 17ACH on the 1912 house. I’ve double checked the volume numbers of 36723 cuft which is the biggest determiner of the ACH number. We were blowing 350 CFM to hit our 50PA so we do seem on the right order.

Caveats to the test. We sealed all duct penetrations at the exterior duct terminus (makeup air, laundry, HRV). Not all of these are hooked up yet so the eventual dampers may not have been ready. Once HVAC rough-in is complete we will retest and sealing the interior of laundry vents or undampered fresh air intakes. But otherwise allow air leakage through exterior connected ducting to occur.

Also electrical and hose bibb penetrations are not yet complete.

This is monopoly framing. Fully encapsulated crawl and attic space.

18 sq in. Equivalent hole @ 4 Pa.

#newconstruction #construction #generalcontractor #investorlab #realestateinvestor #keepthecraftalive #yamhillvalley #framing #buildingscience #blowerdoor #carltonoregon #passivehouse
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“Debt-fueled mass consumption is as much a normal part of capitalism as asphyxiation is a normal part of respiration.” — Saifedean Ammous

What a mess Keynes has made of our world.  Adjust your time preference and restore valuing things other than consumption in your own life.

Seemed like a timely quote to come across in my reading tonight. Merry Christmas.


Now imagine adjusting it to the M3!


What bugs me is that Hollywood guns make a noise when you point them. Sometimes it’s a slide being racked without anyone touching it, sometimes it’s just a click, but it’s rarely silent.


From the Oregon Dept. of Justice today: “A new Oregon requirement … takes effect on January 1, 2024. … We will send additional information about how you can begin complying with the new law in the spring of 2024.”

So helpful, we’ll tell you how to comply 5 months after the law takes effect.  Why bother? Just take your new law print it out on tissue paper on a 4” roll and we’ll use it for all its worth!

I should add TP to my shopping list…


BlackSheepRehab

Agorist, Builder, & homesteader hiding out in the Willamette valley with my small poly tribe


I just had to troubleshoot a tenants unit. It was spinning in high but not in low. And the control panel I suspect as being the culprit is of course no longer available. So I guess it’s time for a new one.


I left my engineering desk job for real estate. I love building stuff so am a bags on builder everyday but working for myself; either to keep as a rental or sell after construction. Started in remodeling but am now doing new construction. Loving it, while growing a portfolio and taking enough income to be comfortable.

Thinking about being more of a lender in the next 7-10 years when my current development projects run out and my body asks to not be a carpenter daily. Not there yet.


I feel your pain while also being insulated from it. My work is almost all on spec, and the retail market on houses keeps rising given the huge demand and the challenges Oregon keeps putting in the path of development. So I’m able to absorb most cost increases without affecting my bottom line, it just gets past on to the end home buyer.

But skilled labor is typically less skilled and yet 25% more than it was 3 years ago. And of course subcontractors costs keep going up. I’m not a big enough GC to use a sub more than twice a year typically, so never feel I have enough pull to argue their pricing. Plus I’d rather have 1 or 2 I trust to price me fairly than to constantly be chasing the lowest bid.

If I can’t budget the price I’d rather reduce scope than try to crush someone else’s margins. But I get most GCs can’t operate that way and so are going to demand you absorb those costs internally.


You’re not in Oregon are you? I’ve got a bunch of flat work needed on my current job. We do our own form work before framing, so I know what’s happening to material and labor costs, but I don’t have the skills to make it look good on the flat.


We are the carbon they wish to sequester.


Took the gator out to the back field and spent 10 min picking the plums I could reach from the ground. I could bring a ladder back, or spend more time, but do I need a bigger haul for 2023?

Time for some lamb and plum couscous for dinner, some for munching on and the rest to turn into prunes. Also, have I mentioned my jobsite in Carlton has a plum tree?  Been munching everyday.

#foodforest #permaculture #yamhillcounty #yamhillvalley #homesteadlife #grownostr

Poor Felix got attacked by a blackberry in his mane. https://image.nostr.build/b032e8533d80b8dc0026299c93f3addb8862ce7f9b2d315037607bb332112bad.jpg https://image.nostr.build/7d0d5b9c5504bb29578630f3050c17c6290cfd8873ed9bb372816d2ac627cb2b.jpg https://image.nostr.build/ea498ec08d6d28b6fd22c3a369ce7b2fe5fff692ee849e4baa2bd9eb5e2ee8e0.jpg


I could keep bond paper safe, but to convert back out of it to pay my employees or to show proof of funds in order to purchase a new property, I’d still need an institution to go through.

I was hoping there was a list someone had put together of banks or credit unions that were in a more solid position. Since they are really all just mini branches of the Fed buying US Treasury notes when told too, I imagine all of them will feel that crunch at some point or another. Still I had hope some were “better” and that someone had done some digging to learn that. Banking is not my area of expertise.


So, as I expect we’ll see many banks fold up, where should I keep a chunk of fiat for the next 2-12 months?

I’m about to sell a house I flipped so getting a chunk of US Space credits >$250k. This will be used as operating capital for my business and then to purchase some new remodel project when I come across one. Is there a way to tell if a bank is more solvent than another? Even if the government covers all depositors (or I split between banks to stay within FDIC limits) if I’m in a bank when it goes, I fear there will be a period my funds are inaccessible as it gets bailed out. Because my time preference on this is measured in months but I’m not sure how many months, I’m concerned about the volatility of BTC to keep if all there (not to mention, I’m not even sure where to do a transfer that large in and out of BTC)