Yeah, you'll see when you take the cast off. The tendons can tighten up really fast for some people. You'll feel like your hand is asleep. Fanning and fisting your hand in a bucket of rice every time you think of it for a couple of weeks will take care of it. The easiest thing to do is leave the bucket next to the toilet and use it every time you use the bathroom.
Riparian's Journal
I'll for sure do that, thanks! Finally a use for that crappy white rice. I assume the tendons are why they recommend the weird hand position for the cast? (wrist 45 degrees, fingers 90). Do you know if it's adviseable to go right back to doing pull ups? Or should I avoid stressing the bone for a few more weeks?
In more ERE-ish news I spent $47 on beets, onions, garlic, eggplants, etc, (ahh, I remember getting a whole bag of fruit and veggies in Cali for like $5..) and turned my thawing box of cabbage and broccoli shoots and turnip greens into 52 jars of vegetable soup. The last batch is in the canner now and then the bones go in. I just had a most excellent breakfast of salty bacon my friends made and I've got a whole cooler of beaver and moose and snow I'm trying to keep cold. I guess it's eat faster or fire up the smoke house soon. I was intending to do extreme IFing (24 hr fast mwf, 16hr other days) for the six weeks of the cast but now the more strategic thing seems to be stuffing my face with meat. Ah, life.
Hi Riparian,
When I first read your journal, I thought you were a guy with a badass lifestyle. And then I clicked your other welcome thread, read about getting knocked up (??) and I thought... WOW! Even more badass!!
Kept reading about your gig and figured out the nature of your videos before you revealed it, even more awesome!!
I checked out your website and find it professional and safe. I imagine the work involved is more complex than run-of-the-mill kim k's video
. If voice is one of the indicators of success in your field, then you must sound super sexy. I remember some girls from my old high school (over a decade ago, sigh hahahaha) who purposefully smoked cigarettes to create sexy, husky voice to the detriment of their lungs' health.
As for investment, for me it's better to invest the majority of your money in the field you are good and familiar with; which in your case is property. While diversification is important, I wouldn't risk too much fund in a foreign asset class just because people tell me to.
Anyway, just wanna drop by and say hi and I think it's also great that in your solitary lifestyle, you still go out of your way to take care of the people you love. More power to you, girl! Cheers.
When I first read your journal, I thought you were a guy with a badass lifestyle. And then I clicked your other welcome thread, read about getting knocked up (??) and I thought... WOW! Even more badass!!
Kept reading about your gig and figured out the nature of your videos before you revealed it, even more awesome!! I checked out your website and find it professional and safe. I imagine the work involved is more complex than run-of-the-mill kim k's video
. If voice is one of the indicators of success in your field, then you must sound super sexy. I remember some girls from my old high school (over a decade ago, sigh hahahaha) who purposefully smoked cigarettes to create sexy, husky voice to the detriment of their lungs' health. As for investment, for me it's better to invest the majority of your money in the field you are good and familiar with; which in your case is property. While diversification is important, I wouldn't risk too much fund in a foreign asset class just because people tell me to.
Anyway, just wanna drop by and say hi
and I think it's also great that in your solitary lifestyle, you still go out of your way to take care of the people you love. More power to you, girl! Cheers.I grow some vegetables. Many don't grow well. I'm not gonna haul manure out here, so I bury compost and fish heads under the garden. This year I'm finally going to make cold frames. It seems what grows the best here is greens, but the native greens are more nutrient rich. Mostly I eat a lot of fish, snowshoe hare, and moose.
This broken hand has me doing lots of thinking, not so much doing. Sorry I'm posting in my journal like a million times this month, but I've been thinking!
I just calculated that my average earning per customer on my mailing list is $6.25. I have 40 of them now, so my goal is to have 100 by tax time next year, bringing my easy $250/month to an easy $625/month. Then it will grow exponentially and I'll be rich! (Assuming 1 video per month at $20.) (Currently I only add them to the mailing list if they buy something, I think I'll keep that up.) That's retirement plan A.
My other goal is to save $10k this year (which is what I've saved the last two years, but then used it to pay off the land and get a truck that'll last forever) both as an emergency fund and towards investing in a rental property.
Another goal is to take food with me when I go work in town instead of buying it there - I don't include that in my accounting because working in town isn't a post ERE thing, but I spend $10/day on food when I'm in town.
And a conundrum - should I get high speed Internet? It would cost about $3k to set up. They tell me this is because Alaska's further from outer space. Seriously. Then $100/m. Currently I pay $50-60/m for the slowest Internet in the world, and I also sort of intermittently pay $35/m for unlimited talk text and data on a cell phone. The phone is super convenient. I don't have to waste electricity or run the generator to check email cause the phone does it and it hardly uses any electricity. It lets me sign in and out of phone work easily - like I can literally be out checking my rabbit snares and my phone rings and I sit down on the side of the trail and make $100. So I think the phone is worth keeping.
But I'm not sure if the Internet is worth switching to high speed. It would make it a lot easier to upload videos and advertise them and such. Currently I have to go to someone's house, hope their teenage boy isn't home, etc. And sometimes, like now, I can't cross the river so can't upload videos at all. For a while I was paying someone to do all the uploading for me and that was like $45/per (they have to be uploaded to 3 different places and then associated blog post, mailing list on 2 different platforms, tweet, and ads on 2 sites so it's not fast). But is that worth $3k? And what if I decided to travel and wasn't even using it?
I just calculated that my average earning per customer on my mailing list is $6.25. I have 40 of them now, so my goal is to have 100 by tax time next year, bringing my easy $250/month to an easy $625/month. Then it will grow exponentially and I'll be rich! (Assuming 1 video per month at $20.) (Currently I only add them to the mailing list if they buy something, I think I'll keep that up.) That's retirement plan A.
My other goal is to save $10k this year (which is what I've saved the last two years, but then used it to pay off the land and get a truck that'll last forever) both as an emergency fund and towards investing in a rental property.
Another goal is to take food with me when I go work in town instead of buying it there - I don't include that in my accounting because working in town isn't a post ERE thing, but I spend $10/day on food when I'm in town.
And a conundrum - should I get high speed Internet? It would cost about $3k to set up. They tell me this is because Alaska's further from outer space. Seriously. Then $100/m. Currently I pay $50-60/m for the slowest Internet in the world, and I also sort of intermittently pay $35/m for unlimited talk text and data on a cell phone. The phone is super convenient. I don't have to waste electricity or run the generator to check email cause the phone does it and it hardly uses any electricity. It lets me sign in and out of phone work easily - like I can literally be out checking my rabbit snares and my phone rings and I sit down on the side of the trail and make $100. So I think the phone is worth keeping.
But I'm not sure if the Internet is worth switching to high speed. It would make it a lot easier to upload videos and advertise them and such. Currently I have to go to someone's house, hope their teenage boy isn't home, etc. And sometimes, like now, I can't cross the river so can't upload videos at all. For a while I was paying someone to do all the uploading for me and that was like $45/per (they have to be uploaded to 3 different places and then associated blog post, mailing list on 2 different platforms, tweet, and ads on 2 sites so it's not fast). But is that worth $3k? And what if I decided to travel and wasn't even using it?
Rather than pay that kind of money for a physical cable, I'd just wait for 4G LTE to come around. It might take a couple of years but if you've already got phone with data working out there now, it is just a matter of time.
4G LTE should mean broadband speeds but wireless via your cellphone network. Once it reaches where you live (deployments have begun in major US cities), you should be able to get yourself a small 4G modem that connects to your laptop's USB port or even just hookup your laptop directly to a 4G cellphone and use the data plan you have on the phone.
4G LTE should mean broadband speeds but wireless via your cellphone network. Once it reaches where you live (deployments have begun in major US cities), you should be able to get yourself a small 4G modem that connects to your laptop's USB port or even just hookup your laptop directly to a 4G cellphone and use the data plan you have on the phone.
ktn, that's what I thought about 3G three or four years ago but it's never showed up. They put up a new tower last summer but it seems to be EDGE technology too. I'm within range of a major highway but no cities.
bigato I actually think of it every time someone posts a video that I can't watch or a link to a big site that I can't load and every time I want to make money. The equipment cost is like $2500 and they require that it be installed by a certified tech.
bigato I actually think of it every time someone posts a video that I can't watch or a link to a big site that I can't load and every time I want to make money. The equipment cost is like $2500 and they require that it be installed by a certified tech.
In April I mostly stayed home with my broken hand and made
967 in Internet/ERE income (about 400 passive) (avg 518)
198 progressive refund
Expenses:
Food $47
ins $39.42
Health $169
AT&T $91.26
Friends kick starter $40
Total 386.68 (avg 379)
I'm still working other hustles but I think I can call it semi ere and just stay home in the woods whenever I want now. Or after saving lots of money.
967 in Internet/ERE income (about 400 passive) (avg 518)
198 progressive refund
Expenses:
Food $47
ins $39.42
Health $169
AT&T $91.26
Friends kick starter $40
Total 386.68 (avg 379)
I'm still working other hustles but I think I can call it semi ere and just stay home in the woods whenever I want now. Or after saving lots of money.
Recipe:
Everything that was thawing (cabbage, greens, etc)
5lb onion
3 clove garlic
3 bunches beets & greens
Ginger
Seaweed
Storage: gosh, this is a problem in my life, but I just built a new shelf in my shed for canning jars, empty and full.
Expiration: I dunno, does stuff ever expire after you can it? I ate some caribou this winter that I canned 5 years ago and it was great.
Everything that was thawing (cabbage, greens, etc)
5lb onion
3 clove garlic
3 bunches beets & greens
Ginger
Seaweed
Storage: gosh, this is a problem in my life, but I just built a new shelf in my shed for canning jars, empty and full.
Expiration: I dunno, does stuff ever expire after you can it? I ate some caribou this winter that I canned 5 years ago and it was great.
May
Semi ERE income:
643 from the internet
200 from hobby biz
843 TOTAL
Expenses:
Outfit 20.98
Books 7.20
Groceries 72.71 (it was olive oil, vinegar, brandy, etc month)
Insurance 34.42
Internet 51
Dog Food 59
Dog Other 83.41
x-ray film 20
Total 348.72
Lower!
I'm having a fit of non-ERE capitalist endeavors and have saved like $3k this month. Does 90% make up for a run of like 30%? *sigh*
My hand is all better, with x-ray verification (via old bush vet and friend in midwifery school for the image and the reading of it, respectively). Total cost: under $30!
I think I'm going to buy this land for $12k. The payments should be like $60? Then I'll either save up and put a cabin on it next summer or maybe figure out financing for a cabin this summer. I could put something up for around $14k that would rent for $400+/m ($600 is what my landlord acquaintance said, but I like lowball unhatched eggs). I could put up a cabin I would feel way better about for more time and more money, but the rent would be about the same.
Semi ERE income:
643 from the internet
200 from hobby biz
843 TOTAL
Expenses:
Outfit 20.98
Books 7.20
Groceries 72.71 (it was olive oil, vinegar, brandy, etc month)
Insurance 34.42
Internet 51
Dog Food 59
Dog Other 83.41
x-ray film 20
Total 348.72
Lower!
I'm having a fit of non-ERE capitalist endeavors and have saved like $3k this month. Does 90% make up for a run of like 30%? *sigh*
My hand is all better, with x-ray verification (via old bush vet and friend in midwifery school for the image and the reading of it, respectively). Total cost: under $30!
I think I'm going to buy this land for $12k. The payments should be like $60? Then I'll either save up and put a cabin on it next summer or maybe figure out financing for a cabin this summer. I could put something up for around $14k that would rent for $400+/m ($600 is what my landlord acquaintance said, but I like lowball unhatched eggs). I could put up a cabin I would feel way better about for more time and more money, but the rent would be about the same.
Oh gosh, it turns out that it's expensive to finance things! My credit union would finance 70% of the value of the property at 8.5% interest with 1200ish in fees upfront. In the end I would be paying like $5k to borrow $8k!
I don't feel like going anywhere, but I guess I foresee a work trip in my future. Maybe next winter. Midwest tour? Australia? Hmmm...
I don't feel like going anywhere, but I guess I foresee a work trip in my future. Maybe next winter. Midwest tour? Australia? Hmmm...
tylerrr, why do you want to know?
June
Semi-ERE income:
Internet - 186.48 (totally passive)
hobby biz - $470 (totally NOT passive, but fun)
I made other moneys too, but not including them cause they're not ERE-ish.
I didn't keep track of expenses, but it was under $400. Except that I went to a doctor (!!) for the first time in 14 years. It was totally non-traumatic compared to all the experiences I've had taking people to doctors. He saved my life from the flesh eating bacteria which I let get out of control so that I could experiment and see how my treatment does on serious infections (uh, whoops) and only charged me $202.
The more I do on one business the less I do on others and then I make less and feel like a failure. I like that when I don't feel like doing one thing there's always other things to pick up, but too much money making is messing up my subsistence lifestyle and making me feel crazy. Is the answer to just go work for a couple months a year at one thing? Or to drop most of the work and just do one thing? Which one?
In at least three ventures I feel like I've built up my reputation/reviews/SEO and would lose value by taking more than a few months off. I'm not sure how all this happened, I was just trying to have a simple life in the woods.
I have that land under contract now... payments of $130/month (starting next month) with a balloon sometime in the next five years. I found out that I might be able to get a loan for the kind of cabin I want to build from a credit union. An advantage would be that I could probably roll the land price into the loan and have low payments. On the other hand, I've seen a few cheap cabins ($1-5k) on craigslist that just need moved, so I think I might just put in a driveway and gravel pad and wait and see if I can snatch up one of those cabins.
How much emergency cash do y'all keep on hand? How much should I not put into this project?
Looking forward:
I'm travelling for the next couple weeks (mostly fun, but work along the way will more than pay for it) so dealing with life and money and real estate will resume in August.
Anyone interesting wanna meet up in pdx?
June
Semi-ERE income:
Internet - 186.48 (totally passive)
hobby biz - $470 (totally NOT passive, but fun)
I made other moneys too, but not including them cause they're not ERE-ish.
I didn't keep track of expenses, but it was under $400. Except that I went to a doctor (!!) for the first time in 14 years. It was totally non-traumatic compared to all the experiences I've had taking people to doctors. He saved my life from the flesh eating bacteria which I let get out of control so that I could experiment and see how my treatment does on serious infections (uh, whoops) and only charged me $202.
The more I do on one business the less I do on others and then I make less and feel like a failure. I like that when I don't feel like doing one thing there's always other things to pick up, but too much money making is messing up my subsistence lifestyle and making me feel crazy. Is the answer to just go work for a couple months a year at one thing? Or to drop most of the work and just do one thing? Which one?
In at least three ventures I feel like I've built up my reputation/reviews/SEO and would lose value by taking more than a few months off. I'm not sure how all this happened, I was just trying to have a simple life in the woods.
I have that land under contract now... payments of $130/month (starting next month) with a balloon sometime in the next five years. I found out that I might be able to get a loan for the kind of cabin I want to build from a credit union. An advantage would be that I could probably roll the land price into the loan and have low payments. On the other hand, I've seen a few cheap cabins ($1-5k) on craigslist that just need moved, so I think I might just put in a driveway and gravel pad and wait and see if I can snatch up one of those cabins.
How much emergency cash do y'all keep on hand? How much should I not put into this project?
Looking forward:
I'm travelling for the next couple weeks (mostly fun, but work along the way will more than pay for it) so dealing with life and money and real estate will resume in August.
Anyone interesting wanna meet up in pdx?
So. I travelled. I saw old friends, made new friends, had spiritual renewal and personal growth, made arm wrestling porn, overpriced myself out of making any money in most of the places I went to and then made close to $2k in a 22 hour layover on my way home.
I caught 76 fish in 5 days and gave 20 or so away and smoked and canned the rest. I ate from the garden, put a roof on the woodshed, expanded the smoke house, canned berries, and sawed and chopped wood for winter.
Now I'm in town at the beginning of a 24 hour homecare shift. I'm scheduled for 70 hours in 4 days and then I'm going to visit another elder and investigate the possibility of a new home care gig and changing my life up a bit.
I'm going to send the IRS a thousand dollars next month. Really. I keep forgetting/skipping my quarterly payments, but not this time.
I caught 76 fish in 5 days and gave 20 or so away and smoked and canned the rest. I ate from the garden, put a roof on the woodshed, expanded the smoke house, canned berries, and sawed and chopped wood for winter.
Now I'm in town at the beginning of a 24 hour homecare shift. I'm scheduled for 70 hours in 4 days and then I'm going to visit another elder and investigate the possibility of a new home care gig and changing my life up a bit.
I'm going to send the IRS a thousand dollars next month. Really. I keep forgetting/skipping my quarterly payments, but not this time.
@ riparian
Cool stuff! If I were you I'd investigate digging a lower floor for the cabin - it will be great for storage of foodstuffs and potentially much cheaper to heat/cool if you decide to live down there. While you might need some pillars / posts to hold up your floor (which would be more expensive than just a dirt floor I guess ...
There are lots of books on earth houses and since I think they are awesome, I'm pointing you in that direction ...
Cheers!
Cool stuff! If I were you I'd investigate digging a lower floor for the cabin - it will be great for storage of foodstuffs and potentially much cheaper to heat/cool if you decide to live down there. While you might need some pillars / posts to hold up your floor (which would be more expensive than just a dirt floor I guess ...
There are lots of books on earth houses and since I think they are awesome, I'm pointing you in that direction ...
Cheers!