https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRRiS5wUtmk
And, finally, a little Dobby….
Hah!
I’ve owned 3 VW buses….and know how much work they take.
You have to maintain them…..you have to repair them.
I’m nostalgic for my vans.
But….I don’t see the appeal of setting yourself up in a trendy vehicle, no matter how cool the poptop or the little kitchen, if it’s going to break down so often.
Other than the vehicle being REALLY PRETTY COOL, it’s hard to figure….
You know, though…..watching this video made me remember that, as far as I know, there isn’t a big community centered around the Ford E-350.
No matter how cool a converted Econoline is, I don’t know that people look on the internet trying to find you.
This is a good video, and it does touch on the realities of breakdowns and crowded conditions….and even travelling with children.
It’s a good video.
But, man!! Those old Volkswagen vans bust down a lot….but….again, but….some of my most hilarious memories are about trying to keep my van on the road.
Maybe all the breakdowns are the salt and pepper in a life?
Maybe they’re the hot sauce?
Spicy breakdowns.
What?
Do I think that I’m going to cram a family of 6 in one of these and wake up on some strange coast together anytime soon?
What?!!
I’m certainly not going anywhere all by myself….that’s not how I roll.
So….we need something either really efficient….or really big.
Hmmmmmmm.
And….I need some big blocks of vacation time.
I don’t think that the postal system provides time for their drivers to take a sabbatical.
At least, I’ve never heard anyone in the postal system use the word “sabbatical” before.
The thing about all this “van stuff”, like the tiny home movement, is that it’s so trendy that I can’t believe it.
What’s the only thing that wouldn’t be trendy? Shopping at Walmart? Driving a Prius? Eating cheap hot dogs? What wouldn’t be trendy? What wouldn’t be….
Kind of hard to say.
Sooner or later, all the cool stuff seems to get trendy.
Getting a van and tricking it out for sleeping in, whether it’s trendy or not, sounds kind of cool to me, though.
How many coyotes does it take to make a sound like that?!
That’s not a riddle.
It’s a question.
Crazy loud multiple coyotes outside my window somewhere.
Oh, well….outside is better than inside when it comes to coyotes.
Here’s another video.
I usually post a video when I run out of time in the morning….my “window” between going to work and getting up (that’s in reverse order, of course) is small sometimes….so I post a video.
Sometimes it’s hard to ponder anything deeper than how to turn on the computer and get on YouTube.
Good morning!
PS I wonder how far I could fly a drone?
It’s hard to get out to Idaho….but, if the range was good, maybe I could make my own video from North Carolina?
Does it work like that?
Would I need a pilot’s license?
How many coyotes make a sound like that?
Here’s a big spoiler alert:
There’s a spoiler coming…..and….here it is: This guy, Ralph Edwards, is a homesteader who lived up in the British Columbia area….way back in the bush.
He wanted to find a way to travel to and from his very remote homestead….and spent 10 years figuring out how to build a plane to do it in, but gave up when he discovered that there was going to be too much government red tape to accomplish that….so…..
HE PUT A BACKPACK ON HIS EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER, GAVE HER 3000 DOLLARS, AND SENT HER HIKING OUT TO THE CITY….WHERE SHE’D NEVER BEEN BEFORE….WHERE SHE TOOK FLYING LESSONS, BOUGHT A PLANE, AND FLEW IT BACK TO THE HOMESTEAD!!
Of course, when she got back, he kind of usurped the whole situation and took over most of the flying….when he got his pilots license in his 60’s.
That’s amazing to me.
I love these homesteading videos.
It’s a crazy hard life….but it looks like a good one.
Man….eighteen years old?
There’s a story….heading to the city to buy a plane.
Wow.
I saw the fish and chips….and wondered where you’d go to get something that looked that good?
It turns out, this fellow’s tour is taking place in Suffolk, UK.
It’s nice around here….but, you know? In his video, I didn’t see any giant monster trucks with confederate flags pounding down on a lone cyclist.
I saw fish and chips….and beautiful countryside.
Oh, well….to each his own. Every man can’t have the paradise of little boys in giant trucks chasing them down….flying the colors of the rebel flag behind them.
This is a good time lapse video….showing a day of good touring in a place that looks like it was made for touring.
Bikes!!
Sometimes, if it’s on YouTube, you can almost take it for granted that the information is correct.
“IT’S ON THE TEEVEE!! IT’S GOTTA BE TRUE!!”
Right?
I was looking for a brake repair video this morning, just to refresh my knowledge about how to do the job, and I came across one where the guy said that he’d just learned how to do it and that he’d made the video so that other people wouldn’t have the same problems with the job that he’d had.
Man.
There are a lot of videos on YouTube.
That’s what they do.
Here’s a different one that looked pretty good.
I pick up tips from these good videos…and it’s a lot less offensive than hanging over the mechanic’s shoulder while he’s working.
It’s amazing how much different information is out there, though.
If I figure something out….even a little….does it make me an expert?
I think that I better put a disclaimer on my whole life if I’m going to operate like that.
Another excellent Kirsten Dirksen video….this time about an old cement factory that has been reworked and given new life.
How many buildings are out there that could be rehabbed and turned into something useful and beautiful?
Of course, it takes a lot of vision and hard work…and a lot of money….to do something on this scale, but you could take something small like a house and turn it into something pretty nice.
It’s all beautiful….and hopeful….to see this reuse.
Everything old doesn’t have to just rot into the ground.
Here’s the description of the structures from the YouTube site….
When architect Ricardo Bofill discovered an abandoned cement factory outside Barcelona, he was inspired to give the place a new life. After two years of work he turned 30 silos, 4,000 meters of underground galleries and a 105 meter smoke stack into his home and the offices of his Taller de Arquitectura (notable works include Les Halles and the Christian Dior headquarters in Paris, Shisheido building Tokyo, JP Morgan skyscraper Chicago and the Shangri-La Hotel Beijing).
The transformation of factory to home office was a process of destruction. Destroying 22 of the 30 silos, Bofill searched for hidden forms in the abandoned buildings. The process was “like a work of sculpture in concrete.”
Today, “La Fabrica” (The Factory) is a monument to adaptive reuse, a castle of Brutalist architecture, and enduring proof that Bofill could turn “the most ugly thing” into something beautiful.
The silos, which once held concrete, now house architects and overnight guests. Underground passageways, now daylighted with huge skylights, connect a labyrinth of laboratories (including one for 3D modeling), archive space and even an employee kitchen.
The most spectacular space is ““La Catedral” (The Cathedral) which earns it’s name with its 10-meter-high ceilings and concrete relics from its industrial past. It’s now used for meetings, exhibitions and concerts. Bofill’s own home sits above La Catedral with it’s own impressive, high-ceilinged space called “Sala Cúbica” (“cubed hall”).
The work is vivid proof of the idea that function can follow form. “Many people say that something has to look like what it does and it’s not necessary,” explains Jean-Pierre Carniaux, partner at Taller de Arquitectura for 4 decades. “You know instead of being full of gravel it’s full of architects.”
Taller de Arquitectura: http://www.ricardobofill.com
Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/…
Our two-year-came up to Jenny the other day, flexing hard, showing off her physique.
“FEEL MY MUSTARD!!” she yelled.
Man….that’s the kind of enthusiasm I like to see….
“Feel my mustard!!”
Hah!!
She’s a funny little thing.
I got the Mail Jeep back yesterday.
They had to replace the fuel pump twice….the first part was no good.
That’s a bad situation to be without your mail vehicle….but a co-worker lent me her Jeep and made it all better.
Good to have things approaching normal again.
When my son started school, one of his “teachers” suggested that we teach him to use a keyboard because she didn’t have any confidence that he’d ever learn to write with a pencil.
He was little and hyper and had a lot of things going on in his world and she couldn’t see his potential.
We, and I’m looking for the most gentle of words here….let’s see….oh!! …”demurred”….we demurred…and the following year, after a lot of work, and, what his hero of a teacher described as “crocodile tears”, Isaac was a writer.
It’s hard for a little guy to sit and do the painful things like holding a pencil against a piece of paper, trying to make sense of motionlessness for the sake of communication, learning to make the loops and straight lines that allow us to understand what someone else is thinking.
When you waited until you were between 4 and 5 to start talking, sitting and holding a pencil is the worst kind of torture.
That’s hard….physically hard….but he did it.
Tonight, Isaac graduates from high school.
I never had any doubts that we’d see this day.
It’s funny how all that goes.
Things could have taken a different turn if we were willing to listen to some of the “experts” who’ve given advice and prescriptions along the way.
Things could have been different.
It hasn’t really stopped being a “hold your pencil against the paper” kind of discomfort….but, really, it’s like that for all of us.
Growing up is uncomfortable.
Joni Mitchell had an album a while back called “Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm”….seeing the chalk on the stoop and the drawing that the little guys did made me think of it again after a bunch of years.
We have these moments that are important, like a graduation, and then we move on to the next chapter.
It’s all just marks before the rain….a pretty picture that time washes away and turns into memories.
It’s a big deal, what’s happening tonight.
I’m proud of my son for a lot of reasons.
He’s worked hard….harder than a lot of people to figure all this stuff out.
Tonight he graduates from high school.
Man.
I saw that one coming a long time ago.
