My winter home on the Acreage

My new home for the Acreage, winter and summer

I plan on putting this ontop of some skids, insulating the skids, then add in some Durofoam insulation. For now I will heat this using a propane or kerosene heating system until I can get a rocket stove made and make a hole for the pipe.

I will put a tarp over the top, extend it about 4-6 feet in front for a porch, or maybe make a entrance enclosure, there I will have the heater and beside that the bathroom area enclosed.

 

A&W Experience

cashier #300
at drive through..
Kindly explain to this Cashier that when someone says that is everything, that means yes that is all that they want to order at this time.

There is no need to keep asking if I want more things, something on special, then ask how about a drink or how about fries. She asked this question 3 additional times!!!

I drove away from the intercom, she was still asking if I was sure I wanted a drink or fries with that.

At the window she again asked if I wanted a drink! again….
I politely said “when someone says that is all they want do not keep asking them if they want more items.”

This is not the first time it has happened this is about the 10th time…

I also talked to the manager about this on another occasion, who at that time stated it is their policy to ask if you want anything more! I said sure, I understand but only ask ONCE!!!!

Unless I am truly hungry, too tired to drive across to Fast food heaven where they listen to you, and you have a great special on, I will not go back to this place again.

Pathetic customer service,
O and I do not care about the $1 she dropped on the ground as the manager handed me the horseradish package! Do you normally hand people cash back in two goes, why hand over the $5 bill and the .04c then turn, get the $1 and drop it onto the ground after my hand has already come back into the vehicle with the packet??
PATHETIC
PATHETIC
PATHETIC

WOW WHAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE SHOULD BE I GUESS…

Rusty

Rusty is drinking another Coffee, and did I mention it was another coffee? He drinks about 20 per day 🙂

Getting older!!!!

you know your old when… you spend 4 weeks looking for computer cables to find they are in a hidden pocket in your laptop bag! This was about 30 minutes after I bought a new set of cables for the Blackberry and found out I can take out the flash card from the camera and put it into the new laptop, it has a slot for them.. LOL .. old is old…

Misc info.. 🙂

In my cube van, camper/truck I have used Reflectix and DuroFoam as insulation. What a difference. The one back wall that does not have insulation in the walls it quite cold, so yes it does work. That wall is a problem to insulate so I am doing a work around.

In the main living area, I have just put down underpad, and 3 area rugs, the overlap in the middle gives my tooties extra carpet thickness for a bit more insulation, there is less on the sides where there is no overlap, so on the sides there is only 2 layers of though rug.

As I have smoked windows, I took some large clear bubble wrap, folded so the bubbles were inside and stuffed them in the windows. Wow, what a difference in temps. Now I will take them out, tape the edges to keep the layer of air in there as well and re-ensert them into the windows. On the inside I will add a layer of clear plastic or clear plastic sheet, not sure yet which way I will go.

The ceiling has a layer of duroFoam and during the high temps of summer the inside temp dropped from 148 deg Far, to 95 deg Far. There is a section that was curved and I only added in the Refletix there, although similar R rating, there is definitely a difference in temps, I think it has to do with the thickness of the materials used.

I just bought a Big Buddy heater and have not used it yet even though the temps have fallen to 0 deg celius, 32 deg far. With the little Coleman, I have to open the top vent to let the extra heat out, as it is too hot. I also have the room and have put in a portable kerosene heater I picked up from Kijiji.ca similar to craigslist for you Americans.
Pros Kerosene is quiet, does not smell if adjusted properly, or only slight odour that I do not mind.
Kerosene
Cons Expensive fuel, the 5 gal container now costs $20 and will last only 3 days of continuous use at low setting, and will last 4-5 nights / evening combos at low setting and turning it off while I sleep in under the covers. Restarting in the morning while I get breakfast and get dressed, although to be honest I do get up to pee and turn it on, then get back under the covers for a few minutes as it heats up, I am not as young as I used to be!

Propane
Pros, comes in handy portable containers that you just plug the hose into, cost is less per ltr or gal, than kerosene so it will last longer and can be left on during the days for longer as well, when the temps drop to below freezing during the days as well.
Cons, noisy, need to create / find a regulator so I can run my little Coleman heater until the bigger Big Buddy is needed. Right now it only uses the little one gal bottles and is quite expensive to run unless used just to heat up the area quickly and then turned off.

WOW.. not impressed.. LOL…
now I get to see the pics on the computer, looks like the lens on the camera is pouched or dirty from the inside, the photos are almost useless… LOL.. my luck
well here are two anyways.

no cables, no photos

So, I have lost my cables for both my camera and cell phone 😦
no photo uploads, and that makes me sad….

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Well here I sit at my Folks for the Long Weekend. I wish for you a good weekend as well with Family, Friends or just enjoying the happy, beautiful long weekend that is here.

For an update, I need to apologise as there has been none for quite a while. I have been busy, and just did not feel like updating for a long while, due to some not feeling very good reasons and some Techy issues. Looks like I have lost my cord to download the pics from my Camera and Cell phone again, so.. uhhmmmm no photos again, soo sorry.

Prepping and Winterizing these past few weeks;

My Astro and big truck get about the same or a bit better for the big truck.
Big truck stats;
1988 Ford PowerWagon
7.3 litre Diesel with 3 speed automatic
$1000 found on Kijiji.ca
Ambulance Package; windows, vent, insulation, now this probably had more stuff in it as there are vents on the side which I have filled in for now to keep the wind out.

When I purchased the vehicle it was down near London Ontario drove it back to Bowmanville Ontario, with only using just over a 1/4 of a tank. Rainy day, 401 traffic, fun.

The diesel is better on fuel because it is more efficient and the truck was empty. I probably will never get close to the gross rated weight limit as the front is made into my sleeping/living area.

Winterizing camper got stepped up, pics coming soon.
Picked up some through rugs for the floor to help keep the cold out. I have found that the floor is quite nice with two of them down and at the edges where there is only one, there is a lot of cold air that comes up. So I picked up some under pad which will help with some of those issues as well. The under pad will give me some insulation, add in some extra thickness and save the rugs some, which should allow me to sit there, with only slippers on, instead of winter boots. I picked up 4 heavy through rugs at the Courtice Flee Market, likely I will go back and get some more as well.

I am finishing off the insulation of the ceiling and have found a way to finish off the rear passenger side wall insulation as well without removing the entire wall and door roll up. I will be building a secondary inner wall and access door to the rear this week as well. The secondary wall will provide air proffing and insulation as well as sectioning off the living from the work areas.

The reflectix was used in a section that curved, whereas the Duroflex was used in the flatter areas. Both the Duroflex and Reflectix have very similar R-Ratings, but I am finding there is a big difference in how warm and cold they feel side by side. The Refletix feels much colder than the Duroflex insulated areas, though the material properties of the Refletix make it much better for certain surfaces. Perhaps I will add in another layer there to make it feel warmer, not sure yet.

I bought a used though in the box, never actually used Kerosene heater, this will heat my place until it gets to the more extreme cold and it is better to use Propane heating. I bought a Coleman Big Buddy heater, though I was wanting an Olympian Catalytic by U.S. Products. That one seems to be a bit better and similar pricing.

Bought some knives; K-bar, Dual throwing knives in a sheath with paracord wrapped handles, Kukri knife, along with a decent multi tool! (still looking for a good deal on a Gerber or top of the line Leatherman)

The K-bar rounds out my field and utility knife section, so with my folding locking blade MTech pocket knife, my MTech K-bar, and my Kukris knife selections I now have all the bush knifes that are needed for my type of bush work and Survivalism. I know I know there are a huge amount of nay sayers and arm chair prepper’s and survivalists out there, well good for them. I have been going to the bush for camping, living, military, survival and fun expeditions since the age of 5 yrs old. After living in the bush, and the military time, I am convinced that there are no knives that are stand alone Survival, Prepping or Bush knives. You must have more than one on you. Yes in a pure survival situation if I could only grab 1 (one) knife I would grab either the K-bar or the Kukri knife.

Now if given the chance and the fact that I carry the Locking folding blade all the time, now I have 2. One for gross work, chopping, big work, defence and building. The other knife for the fine work, skinning, utilization and detailing for building, camp projects. With two knives you can survive anywhere, anywhere. If you only have the big knife, the so be it and you try to flint nap some rocks to get a smaller work knife for camp chores and skinning. This flake is very sharp if it is done right, and you need to use a leather wrap or wooden handle so you do not cut yourself with it.

Brrrr baby its cold out there!

Well, the weather is up and down and up and down, last night was way down and windy, did I mention the wind, brrrrr.

So today change of plans, get working more on insulation and making it windless! Bought 4 through rugs for the camper/truck at the flee market this morning. Now to lay them properly, it is cold in the morning, next cheque I get in, will get some more for putting against the wall, that separates the living area from the back area of the truck. (keep the wind and cold out some more) cost $10 per rug, he wanted $20, we haggled a bit >:)

The rugs on the floor are for insulation, so I picked the thickest ones, with the highest wool count that they had. Some do not have any wool, that is the breaks but for only $10 a rug, well I for one am not going to complain too much.

I also picked up a kerosene heater, brand new in box for only $40.. ya me, now to use it and not get so cold at night.. LOL
Ontario weather is now down to O deg most nights and with a wind.. brrr..

Similar to the heater I use, this one is smaller, with a broken globe, so can not be used yet

Bought an older XL Homelight chainsaw, metal not plastic, that was not running took it to the local Chainsaw guy, he fixed it for $50 so for $90 total, I have a chainsaw that will last another 5-10 yrs, not the 2yrs with the new plastic models.