Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Wherever you go, there you are. If you approach everything with a job-like efficiency, you will likely do the same with travel turning it into logistics-management. Logistics with a large time buffer can be much less stressful. Try leaving a very large time buffer between places and activities. Opt...

These are both great skills. Welcome.

Thank you @loutfard and @WRC. We are so stoked to open the doors next weekend. From a WOG perspective, my fitness cluster took a huge hit the past few months. I am looking forward to long exercise sessions and more time with DW on the weekends.

Quick check-in. I am in the middle of (some might say procrastinating) a large ink/watercolor piece for the opening. Darmera Update- Our remodel is complete! https://i.imgur.com/peohrN4.jpeg This is the classroom from two different angles and the back warehouse/studio space. We need to build some dr...

There was a guy who did this from North Carolina to Southern Oregon for the bike classes. The train was delayed at some point in Denver and he got his return trip fully paid for/reimbursed. He did not do the sleeper car which is substantially more expensive.

Raised beds are the way to go if you can. The depth of the soil means you have to water it less. It is off the ground enough to avoid bunnies. Easier on your back. All of the successful gardeners where we live have full sun raised bed gardens with a drip irrigation system. The drip irrigation is not...

thef0x wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 05, 2024 12:40 pm

How much suck is the right amount, is there a sweet spot?

There is a relatively recent book addressing just this topic:
viewtopic.php?p=254179#p254179

Have you ever considered creating a whimsical ornamental garden? I can see how Square Foot Backyard Vegetable Gardening would be totally boring amateur hour compared to what you've done, but gardening in general is almost an infinite field. Thanks @7. I have not considered whimsical gardening, but ...

Ego wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 04, 2024 3:28 pm

I have some experience dealing with two people in this situation...

I know I am preaching to the choir here.

Yeah. These situations are usually horrible for the "visiting scholars" and the knowledge outcomes are incremental at best (Turnip squeezin') as @jacob mentioned earlier.

Are you calling me old? I'll fight you :-D You know a bit more about my academic whereabouts than most people on the forums. It is conceivable that I was missing something, but learning how the cost of my position was 20% salary and 80% overhead led me to suggest [to various bosses] that it might b...

1M for just doing the thinking part of the think tank I agree, but money does not go as far as when you were a postdoc. ;) There would have to be other incentives as not everyone would be coming in with a huge ERE skillbase: https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-advisory-group-recommends-14-00...

No worries @loutfard. I think you should build your own vision. I think that the hardest part is actually the community part which the Stowe Farm community has successfully figured out.

There is an opportunity cost to keeping the skills sharp, but my explorer/curious mind will not let me do otherwise. I am a "master it" scanner in Barbara Sher's words. I have to go where my curiosity leads me. I can come back and brush up on things if I need to. An example: I have grown t...

Expensive indeed, even if this seems to be built to high standards. Also, this would not be how I define ecological. The definition of "ecological" seems to be a very personal one on an axis between the joy of surrounding oneself with nature on the one side, and care for the whole planet ...

Might be too spendy for the ERE crowd, but you already have a working eco-community to join in Western Mass. https://stowefarm.org/house-for-sale-2/. 2 very good friends from my postdoc days live in the community. PM for an intro.

My first word of mouth bike repair customer is coming by tomorrow evening. 2 road bike tune-ups, one will need a drive train replacement based on customer photos. Unloaded gravel ride this morning - PRs down to studio and back: 30:01 down (few seconds, but had to wait at intersection for long time) ...

https://i.imgur.com/elmbubx.png Thank you @theanimal for this great additional explanation. As a follow-up to scott2's observation here is a more detailed answer that expands on @theanimals points in how I am thinking about things. I no longer need to work for money, but money can come to me as a s...

Is this conscious boundary setting, or an automatic habit from when resources were constrained? This is 100% self-imposed because I think it is more interesting. I already played the VC backed start-up game and learned all that I needed to know about how far stupid amounts of capital injection can ...

https://i.imgur.com/RPbXzrm.png # WINS We finished up painting, trim, and classroom set-up (shelves, etc.). I spent this past weekend scrubbing the floors to remove any residual concrete dust and to blend in a few paint spots (silly dog and human tracks). We submitted a $20K grant and I applied to ...

Thanks WRC! The collaboration with @theanimal was really fun. Here is the most recent gallery/studio photo. https://i.imgur.com/4kBvqlN.png Trim is nearly complete! I can only claim sealing the trim and the beam with boiled linseed oil. It darkened the trim a bit, but once you have some light on it,...