We have a home.

Not much to say other than we were successful in our bid and now have the privilege of making monthly mortgage payments on a 10 acre lot in Oklahoma. However as long as we make those payments on time (and we plan on paying as much more as we can afford with each payment) it's ours to do with as we see fit.

My Prize

I recently won a contest over at Back Yard Farming that was a $60.00 gift certificate for CSN stores. I looked at a lot of things and finally decided that you can never go wrong with cast iron cookware. Here is what was delivered to the house today.

5qt dutch oven.
3qt saucepan with lid.
10" square frying pan.
12" frying pan.
dinner bell.

This all had free shipping and I could have gotten everything but the dutch oven and not paid a cent. However I decided to add on twelve dollars myself and get it all. Not a bad little gift for reading a blog. Hopefully I'll get to 500 followers myself one day and can return the favor.

-mike

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO-klahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

Yes folks, while I hope talking about it early doesn't jinx it, it looks like Oklahoma just might be where we end up homesteading. We found 10 acres of land between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. It is mainly wooded with some flat, some sloping terrain and part of that flat is at the top of a hill. (Can you say wind generator?) No water or power at the site and the last 1/4 mile is county maintained dirt road. Some would see these as negatives, but I see them as selling points.

My wife and daughter are willing to go pretty much wherever I want to take them and my wife in particular is more that ready to get away from the "American Dream ©" That is a home and mortgage that you spend your lifetime slaving away making others rich just so you can rent your home from the bank while they let you believe you actually own it. (deep breath) That is really a subject for The Tinfoil Fedora so I'll leave that one alone.

What we really want is somewhere that is away from most people, yet close enough to be able to find part time work to help get things setup and ready. This land would cost us only $100.00 per month for 20 years, but can be paid off anytime so the goal is to have the majority of it done by the end of the year. I have somewhat of a plan to have a job there before we move that involves Walmart stock work and a transfer to one of the seven stores in the general area. That way we're not limited to just what we can save when we head out, and frankly I think it'll be June or July of 2012 before we head there because I don't really relish the idea of setting up things and getting ourselves established in the middle of winter.

The real question would be is there enough timber on the land of sufficient size to build a log cabin from? Or maybe mill it into traditional lumber to build anything from. From the pictures it looks like there might be a small stream but we don't know if it's a seasonal thing from the snow. If not there is always trying for a well and or rain water capture. For heating and cooking we want to use wood and solar, supplemented by propane when needed. Power of course would be a combination of solar and wind supplemented by a generator. I'm a fan of the humanure method of sanitation, but the wife isn't convinced yet. There are always septic tanks as long as it doesn't contaminate the ground water. 

The only real caveat would be internet access. This of course is a must have and would need to be either satellite ($$$) cellular ($$$ and data caps) or figuring out a wireless system. I'm sure that at least for the initial setup we'll be using cellular and just have to watch how much time we spend on it. The best bet would be find a homeowner with high speed (preferably on a hill) and setup a couple of directional relay antennas and run it that way.

We should know by the end of the week if this is going to happen so keep your finger crossed.

Shaving Time and Saving Cash

Well, I just took another step towards getting away from what society considers "normal" and am setting myself up to save some serious cash.

In my lifetime of shaving I've gone from using cheap twin blade razors up to a Gillette mach something that has five blades and vibrates. To date I have found nothing that will keep me looking clean shaven later in the day. One answer of course is to not shave and have a beard. Unfortunately with my current employer, that is not an option. They will send you home or to the bathroom to shave if it looks bad.

Today however I picked up a few things to try something I read on the internet. (And we all know if it's on the internet it's a) true and b) a good idea right?) I bought a straight razor that holds half of a double edged blade along with a brush, some soap, and of course a styptic pencil for when I slice my throat open.

Funny thing is although it wasn't perfect, I can see with a little practice how this will be a great way to shave. At the time of this posting, the areas where I did a good job still look like I just shaved. I do have to say the styptic pencil was a good idea and yes, it stings a bit when you use it. I wasn't able to find the soap I want to use locally so will have to order it online. Overall though it looks like this will be a nice way to save some money and eventually I hope to buy a regular strait razor which will mean I don't even need to buy any blades.

The costs were 8.99 for the razor, 2.29 for 5 blades. That will give you 3~4 shaves per side per blade so overall it comes out to about .06 cents per shave. Of course, once I find the brand of blade that works the best for me I can buy them in bulk and save even more. You also shave the same way you would with a regular strait razor so if I decide to make that leap it'll be that much easier.