10,000 Page Views

Bleecker Mountain Life is nowhere near as popular as our Drift Away blog, which gets 10,000 page views a month, but 10,000 hits in just a few months is pretty cool, I think, especially because we're not into the fun stuff yet like operating heavy machinery.  If you haven't done so, click the "join this site" button on the left side of the  page, right over here...
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Yesterday Pam went off to register her Miata and to pick up a used mitre saw that I bought from a local Facebook swap shop group.  A 12" Dewalt for $175 is a good deal, I think.  New they sell for $399 at Home Cheapo.

I'm retired and living on a social security check and a mortgage I'm holding.  I have a little stash in the bank, but that has to last us the rest of my lifetime, and with my luck I'll live to be 110, so I have to be careful with it.  I'm going to try to build our Unabomber cabin as inexpensively as I can buying good quality used tools and materials whenever possible.  I started a spreadsheet to track the costs, and I'll keep you updated as we progress.   This is the list thus far.

Item
1954 Ferguson Tractor	2600
generator	1000
mitre saw	175
screen house	200

Total, $3,975.  I posted about the tractor the other day.  The generator was purchased from marina friends Geoff and Linda in Brunswick Georgia.   It's a brand new 15 KW diesel generator with 1/2 hour of run time on it. I'm adding the screen house to our list even though it's at our rental house since we'll move it later.

I got an estimate last night for grading the few acres of land we cleared.  $1,500 a day for two guys, a bulldozer, and some kind of stump puller.  They estimate four days.  Ugh.  I figure the well will be $10,000 or so for 150 feet of drilling.  I'll be meeting with the architect on Thursday morning and I'll be getting a proposal from him too.  The money is vanishing quickly.  Maybe I can get some of that money back by becoming a potato farmer.

The local co-op said they need Adirondack Blue potatoes.  If I plant one acre of them, the yield is 200 to 300 cwt/a (hundred weight per acre).   So 200 cwt/a is 20,000 pounds of potatoes.  At, say $.50 a pound wholesale, that's $10,000.  Of course, I'd have to buy one of these.

Soon I'll start doing much of the work myself, such as digging for the foundation and leech field with the backhoe.  And perhaps building a house.  We'll see.

Back With Friends

Pam and I spent a few years living on our boat Drift Away and cruised down the east coast of the US from Albany NY to Jacksonville FL.  We made many new friends along the way and reconnected with many folks who we've known for many years through Al Gore's Internets.  We've made friendships that I'm sure will last for many years, if not forever.  But they, and we, moved along.  Some headed north on their boats, some headed south, and some are headed to the South Pacific and perhaps around the world.

Moving back home means that we're back with old friends,  most of whom stay put.  That has its advantages, and yesterday was one of those days.  Pam went shopping with her mom and her best old friend Kim.   I cut more brush from along side the house and then offered to help friends Lance and Barb rig their new-to-them Capri 22 sailboat.

Since Pam had three passengers, she took the Kia Sorento.  I don't have my tractor yet, so I was stuck with the Miata.  I guess it was fun to drive.  It handles like its on rails, but you're so low to the ground that 50 MPH feels like 80.  And I found that I'm a little rusty with a manual transmission.

When I arrived at the marina on the Great Sacandaga, it was easy to find Lance and Barb's boat.  There's only a handful of sailboats there.  I arrived just as they did.  The mast was up, but that was it.  So the boom went on, the mainsheet, boom vang, and topping lift.  The main sail was bent on and the downhaul, outhaul, and reefing lines run.  Their jib was at the sailmaker for repair, but it was sunny and warm, and the wind was out of the west at 5 or 6 knots.  It was a perfect day for a novice's first sail.  Let's go!

It was apparent that Lance and Barb had done a lot of reading about sailing basics.  They had most of the lingo down.  If you're not a sailor, the lingo can be baffling.  For example, a sailboat has rope running all over the place, but not a single piece of it is called rope.  There are halyards, rodes, sheets, and lines.  Why?  Because when the skipper barks out a command, it is imperative that the crew knows exactly what he/she means.

"Ease the jib sheet!" is more meaningful than "Ease that rope over there" while pointing.

Yep.  It was a great day.  I had fun, and Pam came back from shopping with a rug with bears on it.

The dogs like the rug because it gets their butts off the cold floor.

Today, Pam is registering the Miata while I wait for the telephone installer to arrive.  We have no mailbox here, so I made a small sign with our number on it to stake out by the road.  I hope his truck is a 4 x 4.  Our driveway is still pretty muddy, and we're forecast for showers today.

Farm Vehicles

Pam and I both went off in search of the perfect vehicles for our little farmstead.

Yesterday, I bought this 1954 Massey Ferguson TO30 tractor.  Besides the front end loader, it has a three point hitch with a power take off for accessories.

With this baby, I'll be able to pull stumps, plow fields, cut brush, bale hay, plow snow, and a myriad other farm tasks.

This is what Pam came home with.

I don't know how she expects to pull stumps or mow hay with that.  I think she was swindled.

Did you grow up in the 50s? Book Recommendation.

I'm a baby boomer.  I was born in the 1950s.  It was a wonderful time to be a child, and yet a scary one.  It was wonderful because of the marvel of technology, such as television.   Soon we'd even have flying cars!  But it was scary because of the threat of nuclear holocaust.

If you're a homesteader, living a rural life far removed from many modern conveniences, chances are that you read more than average.  While I do the vast majority of my reading on the internet researching things I'm interested in, I occasionally read books.  You remember those, right?  The original laptop?

An old friend and fellow blogger, Bob of Rensselaer Plateau Life, recommended A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson.  I enjoyed it immensely (thanks Bob!).  Bryson has a captivating, humorous writing style that's easy reading and difficult to put down.  While I suggest you read A Walk In The Woods, if you're a baby boomer I strongly recommend that you read The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.  It's Bryson's memoir of his childhood, appropriately exaggerated and enhanced.  It is laugh out loud funny, especially if you remember bomb shelters, Sky King, and comic book superheroes.

In Bleecker news, the past couple of days was certainly bleak.  Cool and rainy, making doing anything outside miserable.  But I did go outside to address this.

It's the road down into our place.  The puddle isn't the biggest problem here.  Follow the "road" up to where it turns right and climbs steeply.  It's not a road, it's a mud slide.

We had cut many small scrub pines down around the house, so I decided to limb one of the bigger ones and use the branches to lay in the muddiest parts.  We still didn't try to go anywhere yesterday, but we may today.  I arranged to buy an old Vermont Castings Resolute woodstove off a fella on Craig's List and may go pick it up today if I can get out of the driveway.

I also want to go look at this.

It's a 1954 Massy Ferguson TO-30 tractor with a bucket!

It's Getting Bleaker in Bleecker

It's absolutely miserable weather here.  It's 40 degrees right now and raining a slow, tortuous drizzle.  It was much nicer yesterday when it was in the 50s and raining a slow, tortuous drizzle.  We had to get off the mountain and do something.

As soon as we got in cell phone range, Pam called Frontier Communications to arrange for a land line to be installed.  They're coming on Tuesday.

Next was to the Walmarts to pick up some gun oil and cleaning solvent, and then to an antique shop to look for cabin stuff.   Pam bought an old red enamel tea pot for the woodstove.  She then wanted to stop at the local food co-op and so we did.  She talked to the manager about selling produce there.  He said he needs someone to grow asparagus and blue potatoes, so that's now on our farm list.

Next stop, Frank's Gun Shop for .22 bullets.  Believe it or not, like all ammunition, even little bullets like that are in short supply.  Walmart had none.  Frank's limited purchases to two boxes, so that's what I bought.  I'm looking forward to target shooting with it.  I haven't fired that gun in over 40 years.  I used to be a crack shot with it, open sights and all.   I wonder if I can hit anything smaller than a Buick at 50 yards now.

We went to Pour Jim's for lunch, a great little place in Mayfield.  As soon as we walked in, we saw old friends Ed and Jean.  It's nice being back home where we both know so many people.  However, it's also nice that my appearance has changed so much that most people don't recognize me and stop me on the street to ask me computer questions.

We then trotted off to visit old friends Andy and Betty, a quick stop at Washburn's Dairy to look for a used trailer, and then back up the mountain to home.

It was very chilly, so I fired up the woodstove.  Pam sacked out on the couch, and I decided to play old records and clean my .22 Remington bolt action rifle and 20 gauge shotgun.  Yes.  20 gauge, not 12.

My house in Saratoga Springs was burglarized about 33 years ago.  One thing taken was my rifle.  I immediately hied myself to the Jamesway, a regional department store, and bought a single shot 12 gauge shotgun and a box of rifled deer slugs.  The police recovered all my stuff, including my rifle.  The shotgun went to the back of the closet.  To this day, it hasn't been fired.

With all of our moving, I misplaced the 12 gauge deer slugs.  I bought a box of 12 gauge buckshot shells at Walmart.   Because of the theft of guns around here, I thought it would be smart to record the serial numbers of my guns.

Pretty, ain't it?

This is a Remington Scoremaster Model 511.  According to the stamps on the barrel, it was made in 1952.  This gun is almost as old as I am.  It's held up much better, though.  There's no serial number stamped on it because of it's age.

I next checked the shotgun.  I was amazed to see "20 Gauge" clearly stamped on the barrel.  I just never looked at this gun closely.  This is a sissy gun, not a manly gun like a 12 gauge.  I'd return it if I could find the receipt and if Jamesway was still in business.  Oh well, no big deal I guess.  We'd only use it to frighten off bears and coyotes and such.  I suppose it will either make a big enough bang to frighten off the bears and coyotes, or it will make them stop whatever they're doing to roll on the ground and laugh hysterically.

I was listening to Jimmie Rodgers while putting a new coat of linseed oil on the gun stocks.  He's no doubt one of the best pop singers of all time.  What a voice.  If you don't recall Jimmie, here's a few examples for you.

Jimmie Rodgers - A Singer Silenced

Magic Jack - FAIL!

I'm an ex-computer guy.  I thought I was pretty savvy on most things technical, and fairly good at sorting out things I'm not familiar with.  Not.

We installed Hughes Net gen4 satellite internet service.  The basic package is 10 MbPS download speed, 1 MbPS upload.  It's not as fast as cable, but it seems to work fine for our use.

I checked out Magic Jack as a solution to our lack of telephone service.  The only requirements on the package are high speed internet and a telephone.  Checking their website, they require 128 KbPS upload speeds.  Our Hughes Net is seven times that speed.  So I bought it.

In the interest of saving you time and me aggravation in repeating the story, Magic Jack does NOT work with any kind of satellite internet service.  Cable and DSL internet is a continuous stream of packets of data.  There is a latency in the bursts of packets sent to and from satellites that makes VOIP (voice over IP) unusable, creating "static".

While on the Magic Jack tech support chat page, I made sure to vent all my frustrations on the support guy.  I think his name was Peggie.  I used words like "fraudulent" and "deceptive", and phrases such as "a waste of my time".  I asked questions such as "If Magic Jack doesn't work with satellite internet services, why not put this information on the package?  And on your website's home page?".  I got no groveling response from Peggie, nor an apology.

So Magic Jack goes back to Walmart, and I'll have to contact my local telephone company to see about running a phone line in here.  That will be, I'm sure, even more aggravating.  At least I have to wait until at least Tuesday because of the holiday.  And of course, checking their website, I can't email them for new service.  I have to call them.  On what?

Memorial Day weekend here in upstate New York is always a gamble.  Today, the working folks lost.

5-Day Forecast for Bleecker, New York

Today: Rain, High: 56 F, Low: 46 F

Tomorrow: Rain, High: 49 F, Low: 40 F

Sunday: Showers, High: 52 F, Low: 41 F

Monday: Partly Cloudy, High: 68 F, Low: 42 F

Tuesday: Partly Cloudy, High: 72 F, Low: 51 F

And Now We Have Telephone, With No Phone Lines

Yesterday, I wrote about how we bought Hughes Net satellite service for our internet.  So far it's worked great.  Next we needed to figure out how to get a telephone in here.  Our cell phones have no bars and only work off the mountain.

While I was at the Walmarts, I picked up Magic Jack.   The package is very vague about how it connects and works, but once I opened the package, the instructions were clear and easy.   So easy, as a matter of fact, that it installed itself.

To use Magic Jack, you must have high speed internet and a router connected to your modem.  To install Magic Jack, you also need a computer connected to the internet.

First, you plug the Magic Jack connection gizmo into a USB port.  The software boots itself up and installs the device.  It then brings up an installation window where you enter your name and address.  You can pick your own telephone number for $3 or let Magic Jack do it for you.  I went wild and let MJ do it.   That was it.  Done.

I then unplugged the USB device from my laptop and plugged it into my UPS battery backup using an adapter (included), and ran a cat 5 ethernet cable (included) from the USB device directly to the router.   Finished.

Yes, it is that easy.  Oh, and don't believe some of the internet stuff you might read about how MJ won't work well with satellite because the upload speed is too slow.  That may have been true a couple of years ago, but Hughes Net is more than fast enough.

Speaking of speed, I ran a test on SpeedTest.net.   We're running at 10.29 MbPS download, .8 upload.  That's plenty fast for us, since I don't play games online.

Magic Jack cost $70, and includes the first year's service.  Each year after that costs $29.95.  You can discount that to $19.95 if you buy five years at a time.  I didn't do that.  At my age, I don't buy green bananas let alone pay for five years of something.