joeware - never stop exploring...

I raised a flag pole just in time for Flag Day…
 

I still have quite a few rocks to put down as you can see. I will surround the whole flag pole with them and then put some nice soil over the top of it and then plant wild flower seeds. [...]

I keep getting pings about putting up more house pics. I finally posted some more up through February. I will put more up at some point in the future.
Those who were watching the progress will note that the progress markedly decreased after I moved into the house and suffered my Carbon Monoxide issues. [...]

Well I did a lot of cleanup around the yard, got a lot of sore muscles, nice sunburn which my Filipino blood has turned to tan now and had several beautiful bonfires…. Some people go camping, I go to my back yard, play all day, and then sleep in my nice pillowtop mattress bed. [...]

This looks interesting…
http://www.zoysiafarms.com/mag

I took this shot after doing the cleanup work last Saturday/Sunday. It is about 650 feet back from the road (350 from the house) and the property goes back about another 1000 feet behind where I took the picture and all you can hear are birds and frogs and fish jumping in the pond. The [...]

Call me weird but I actually like Dandelions, never got why people were so “out to get them”. I think they are really pretty. Our neighborhood was just covered in them the last few weeks well except for the neighbor across the street, I think they spray something to kill them off. They actually looked [...]

I spent most of today in the rain trying to pick stuff up around the back yard where I am reclaiming the “yard” from the “woods”. I am greatly hampered by piles of crap that are just randomly stacked up around back there. In the end I will likely spend hundreds of hours cleaning up [...]

I need to get some photos but I have started repatriating[1] my yard. I started mowing out around the pond where I could which hasn’t been mowed in some time. For some reason the former owners dug out some of the pond and just stacked the dirt up around the pond making it impossible to [...]

Got a special request for some more pics and so here you go. Excuse the poor formatting, I am trying to work with Trouble on my lap, when I am in the office on the computer she won’t stay off my lap, don’t understand it, very fickle, any other time she will only sit within [...]

Here is a quick pic of what my home theatre is looking like. You will note the distinct lack of living room furniture except for my previously mentioned giant lovesac bean bag. Yes, no living room furniture yet. The set I wanted was discontinued when I ordered everything else and still haven’t found anything else I [...]

Ok, I have had a bit of time to do some downloading with my new Comcast High Speed connection, compared to (Wide Open West) WOW, it is pretty bad. I don’t even need speed tests to show it because it is that noticeable. Anyway the speed tests could be bad for comparison as Comcast could [...]

So myself, the chinchillas (CFO and Directory of Research of joeware), and Trouble the cat (President/CEO of joeware) have moved into the new house last Saturday which I alternately call, the new house, the villa, or the farm. I am still searching for the right name for it. Of course, everything is a mess right [...]

For comparison… It is very odd jumping between the two houses…
The more time I spend at the new house, the more I don’t want to come back to the old house. It is so peaceful out there.

I took and posted some more house pics that I took on Tuesday after I closed…
http://www.joeware.net/housepics

Well I was a landowner before I guess, though 3/4 acre though doesn’t compare to ~12 acres. I walked around the “back” yard taking pictures and trying to find the property lines and the next thing you know it is couple hours later and I was lost. I eventually found the path again and made it back [...]

I am getting hit with lots of emails about the new “ranch”. I need to come up with a good nickname for it. My old house was called the “Blu House” (sic) even though I made it white, originally it was blue. Sort of like a blue-hair (built in 1939, that works). The new place is [...]

Sorry these pics should have been posted a while ago…

Then you want my Mortgage friend.
Brandy Belcher with Quicken Loans / Rock Financial.
If you are looking to buy a home, refi a home, whatever, call her, she will make your life good. Absolutely amazing. I am pretty sure she can finance you regardless of where you are, not just in Michigan. Outstanding personality as well.
I had [...]

I have been wanting a deck on the back of the house now for about 5 years and have been actually in a position[1] to build one but putting it off for one busy reason or another for 2 years. I finally realized that I wasn’t going to be be able to build it myself [...]

Finally pics from the work on did on the garage lights that was mentioned in this blog entry http://blog.joeware.net/2006/08/10/517/
 
Before:

 
After:

If you have 10 or more acres in Macomb or Oakland county (SE Michigan) that has trees and grass and maybe a stream or a pond drop me an email with info on the location and what you want for it. I am poking around but is seems hard to find a comprehensive list.
I intend [...]

The task for the last couple of nights was to change out the crappy looking fake gold old fashioned “porch lights” on either side of the large garage door the cars go through (contrasted with the small side garage door that persons go through). I had some nice newer motion sensor 100 watt halogen light fixtures that I wanted [...]

So the 10 yards of dirt I had previously gotten turned into 20 yards of dirt and when it was all said and done i probably could have used yet another 20 yards. After using shovels and wheelbarrows for a couple of yards I said this isn’t going to work and ran down and rented [...]

As I spin down from yet another meaningless hectic month I have come to the conclusion that this simple country red-neck hick boy[1] has had enough.
As much fun as it is to run around with your hair on fire and having no time to spend on exactly what you want to spend it on [...]

Previously I mentioned I was looking at the Deltech homes which are these prefab Round houses. I got their literature and a video from them and am even more interested.
The more I think about it though, the more I think I want to move most of the house underground to take advantage of [...]

I have been thinking a lot about what my next house should look like as well as where it should be, etc…
My main requirements are lots of space, I can’t actually see (nor hear) a neighbor, high speed / broadband (preferably 4Mbs+), natural gas (but also have wood burning capability), “on the grid” (but [...]

And here is the view of the house after its facelift from the backyard. Yeah, not much you can see from there. I love my backyard. The pile of concrete blocks is rearranged when I need a fire pit. Upright they are easier to mow around.

Oh yeah, note I added a new category for [...]

After some of the previous blog entries and comments I have also gotten some offline comments basically saying “Are you rebuilding your house?”. Well kind of, yeah, I have been. I will try to post some pics occasionally of some of the work. One of the larger transformations occurred when I had the peak of [...]

There was a comment directly on the blog entry about my wallpapering my ceiling as well as about 11 or 12 “are you nuts?” emails.
Anyway, the response is that yes I am nuts, but that is completely beside the point. This is a special vinyl wallpaper and it is sealed with paint after [...]

Phew!
I mean there is a little cleanup left but all of the heavy work is done and the tools are put away.
It was actually mostly done Saturday but I just put the tools and excess tiles away today.
Now to work on some patch work and some paint and wallpapering parts of the [...]

Its official, I don’t understand people.
I am working on the tiling the kitchen floor in my house which was built in 1939. The thing I don’t understand is that as I rip up the crappy Pergo(t) flooring that was in place, I expect to see the main structural part of the floor. Why do I [...]