Escape From the Prison Planet

[DRIVEN]

Looks like I neglected to post pics of the boat update. Engine is done. Floor is done. He's moving on to exterior detailing before doing the carpet.

[DRIVEN]

[wayno]

Snow, people abandon their cars on the freeways when that stuff falls on the ground around here.
I hope you like that stuff as you likely will see it quite often over there.

[DRIVEN]

From what the locals tell me it's not a lot more common than down there. Most of what I posted this morning is already gone. No more in the forecast. Last winter was pretty rare but it gave the area a great water reserve for the summer. I really don't mind the snow around here. It's different than that slippery, soupy mess down there. Winter ain't over yet though. Still plenty of opportunity to pile some up.

[wayno]

I guess I just don't like the way other people drive in snow or just generally, to me they drive like idiots causing accidents, and I am talking about people that are to cautious, if that is how they have to drive they have no business being out there.
I suppose if you do not live in the city things might be better, maybe the people that live in rural areas are smarter than most these city folks.
I have a few customers that came from southern California, they say they moved up here because the traffic was so bad down there, they said people drive to fast down there, I shake my head thinking so you moved up here to cause traffic jams driving too slow here, I do not recall saying that out loud yet.
I have been taking statins again the last 3 days, in the past I have not done well, I am trying half dose of Red Rice Yeast Extract and a full dose of CoQ-10 this time, if I get all weird/strange/negative just tell me to shut up.

[DRIVEN]

You're fine...so far.
They definitely drive faster around here. Speed limit on the 2 lane road in front of my place is 65 and the freeways are 80. Idaho does not fuck around behind the wheel. We're also not subject to any BS hands-free laws either. I guess we can still be trusted to walk and chew gum.

[510freak]

I don't mind the snow, it gets rid of the less than compenant driver's in a hurry.

[wayno]

Unfortunately they drive around here unprepared.

[510freak]

Same up here, and drive to fast for conditions.

[wayno]

And I keep coming back to the same thing, it depends on how prepared you are.
I consider 20mph on a freeway a hazard and they should not be there, if that is how scared they are they should not be behind the wheel, unfortunately these few people make driving dangerous for the rest of us, they cause accidents, if they were not there that guy would not have rearended the guy in back of them and caused gridlock for the rest of us, so I am supposed to settle for gridlock because some person feels that 20mph on the freeway is the only safe speed?
I will drive around you if you drive like that, and I don't care if it is legal or not, I don't want to be part of the consequences in back of somebody like drives like that.

[510freak]

For sure it depends on how prepared someone is, But cannot prepare stupid(drivers) they are clueless to what a vehicle can or cannot do(other than what the sensors tell them) All the bells and whistles have made for dumb drivers, not listening knowing their vehicles.

[DRIVEN]

More minor excavation. More forms. More concrete. More backfill.







I forgot to take any photos after the guy got done with backfilling and contouring. We got a dusting of snow last night so everything just looks white.

[Ni10]

progress coming right along, looking good. See the temps are down around 11 degrees, hope the concrete don't freeze.

[DRIVEN]

Shows 10* right now. We covered everything with plastic and then those blue insulation boards. Better than nothing. Luckily what we poured Friday isn't critical for structure. It was 3 pier pads for the deck support posts that ended up being about 3-4 times bigger than required and then an additional 16" of footing along the original 16" of footing, tied in with rebar, to help support what will be a thickened edge all around the perimeter of the basement slab. Given their purpose and placement, superficial cracks in either wouldn't be a big deal. Still, you're right, we hope it doesn't crack. The builder and I did all the work on this pour and neither of us are concrete guys so it was kind of quick and dirty. Saved some money though. He's been really cool about putting me to work wherever I can be useful.

[DRIVEN]

One more thing. I can't remember if I mentioned earlier or not, my builder is building the same house (minus the basement) for himself right now and the framers are almost done on his. We went over and walked through it on Thursday. Parts of it are exactly how I pictured it and other parts seemed way different than it looks on paper. One thing is really obvious now. It's gonna look gigantic from below.

Yet one more thing I forgot to mention. As we finished up with the pour on friday and the pump truck left, an old Chevy 4x4 came over the hill and parked on the other side of the fence. The guy got out and introduced himself as the neighbor to the north and we chatted for a bit. He doesn't live righht there but occasionally runs some cattle in that pasture. Come to find out, lots of locals are under the impression that I'm building a winery.
I had to let him down easy but he was really glad that at least I wasn't from California.

[wayno]

So did you get much snow there and how cold was it?

[DRIVEN]

We got a light dusting on Saturday and an additional 5" on Christmas eve. It's 18* right now and has been hovering in thge 20s mostly. It'll get into the 30s for the next few days so I expect the snow to start to go away. The highway in front of me is totally bare and travel is normal once I get out of my driveway. There' a state yard between me and town with plows, gravel, de-icer, etc. so I don't have to worry about being snowed in if I can get to the highway
Only some of the side streets have snow on them.
It's just different snow here. Not like that slippery, wet stuff from down there.

[DRIVEN]

The guy should be doing the basement prep in the next couple days and the plumbers are scheduled to do the under-slab prep on the 2nd. Concrete guys will be back shortly after. Then it'll start to look like something.

[Ni10]

got to say this is a million dollar view. Once your house is build and your all settled in, you'll be able to watch it slowly grow as the years go.


so how did the last concrete pour turn out ? Since you guys did the pour last Friday before it got down to 10 degrees, it should have been safe, even better with the plastic and the blue insulation board.

[DRIVEN]

Turned out fine. We didn't do any finish work at all since it was all going to be under fill or more concrete.

You're right about the view. Unfortunately I'm probably not the last one to move in. In fact, on the facing hillside there have been 4 houses built since I bought the place just over a year ago. There is a 50 acre patch below me for sale to be subdivided but I don't expect it to sell any time soon for a number of reasons. I did some inquiry about the neighbor's land just above me but he's asking well over twice what it's worth so I don't expect his horses to be evicted in the near future.