ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Where are you and where are you going?
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ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Let's try this again.

I have found in the last year or so that there have been more than a few times that I have thought " man that would be cool to share with ERE minded folks " and then had to forget about it because the moment and opportunity had passed. Self-inflicted, of course, but a shame nonetheless.

Privacy concerns fundamentally drove my past issues with my previous contributions, and if anybody needs any clarification please feel free to PM me.



I guess an update is in order.

We have moved into our new home, which we love especially my wife. She will occasionally just exclaim how wonderful everything is and how much she loves the place. I tell her that's good because this the last house she gets, haha. I don't know that I would have the enthusiasm to build another one. But we chose nicer materials and various components such as the doors, trim and cabinets etc. so that the interior would really pop, and it does. It's also a nice floor design with almost no wasted space which leads to greater efficiencies in regards to use and utilities, which makes me happy.

Interestingly, we used spray foam insulation in the entire house including the attic and crawl space. I mention this because if you go to either space, attic or crawl, it is almost like a sound chamber. It is really soothing and calming. I have found myself needing to check on something and end up just sitting in these spaces and thinking deep thoughts for long periods of time. It's the wildest thing.

I continue to work on the grounds with my overall goal to literally make my eight acres into a park. Every day I work on something and right now my main focus is my woods. A previous owner had cleared some of the woods with a bulldozer and left it. Now nature did what nature does and filled that void. Unfortunately, most of your pioneer species aren't really that desirable, and my job is to remove all of it that makes that space unhealthy. I've already eradicated the honeysuckle and wild grape vines, but really the biggest problem is the crowding of the trees that I want to keep. So I create space and add symmetry.

One of the trees I am completely wiping out are the green ash trees. They are dying anyway due to the emerald ash borer. If the tree is over 4 inches wide than these damn bugs infest them. It's incredible what these insects have done in such a short time, and I wonder what they'll do once all the ash trees are gone. Are they just going to die off or will they find a new target?

Back to housing, we sold our old house at the height of the craziness. We listed the house on a Friday evening, and our agent had lined up four families to look at it the next day by that night. Of the four families that toured the home, three made full-price offers and we had it under contract Saturday evening. Insane. And a massive relief as we had horrible neighbors that I was sure would sabotage the whole deal. But no, the whole process went well other than waiting for the buyer to secure a loan which took longer than expected. But we sold it and as the home was paid off we kept all of the proceeds minus the agents fees and used those funds to pay off our construction loan.

With our new house now paid in full, which was my goal, I calculated by doing a lot of the work myself on the house build we increased our net worth by at least $150,000. If I had the stamina, or the need for money I would just build houses. But it takes a toll having to work so much and there is really no need in our situation. Life is good.

I recently returned from Eastern Kentucky where life isn't so good after helping with the flood relief. I went to a small community called Buckhorn where I had a previous affiliation where I helped them get their fire department in order several months ago. I'll have to set up a way to put up photos again as some of these images are remarkable. I think the final tally was 38 people killed and once you see where these people were living you can understand why so many died as everybody lives in a watershed as that is the only flat land available. Add to that fact that a lot of them live in mobile homes then you can see how events unfolded.

It was really refreshing to see how many people were helping out while I was there: everything from fire departments, church groups, Amish groups, and corporations. It was nice to see humanity coming together.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ertyu »

and nothing about the barn cats hahaha

glad to see you back man


2Birds1Stone
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Location: Earth

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Welcome back, looking forward to the journ(al)(ey)

mathiverse
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by mathiverse »

Glad to have you back, ffj!

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Thank you guys for the warm welcome. It means a lot.

@ertyu

Did I tell you I got a new dog? After my old Max died I waited for over a year before I replaced him because it really bothered me when he passed on, but my daughter was relentless trying to find another one to take his place. Finally she found one in a shelter that was acceptable and when we visited he was just perfect.

Now this dog is a coonhound just like my last one. He will hunt and chase squirrels, possums, coons, coyotes, moles, fox, skunks, deer, rabbits, geese flying overhead, and you guessed where I am headed here: cats. He absolutely terrorized those barn cats and within one week of the new dog they all took off.

Now he didn't kill them because they just took off for the woods and I would periodically still see them for a while but they all went back to being feral. One still comes around occasionally but I haven't seen the rest of them for almost a year. The one I named yellow face came by to see me a couple weeks ago and I fed her and petted her but who knows where her siblings have gone.

The other issue is that we have another big male cat that the dog loves. Now the only sanctuary these barn cats enjoyed was the barn but that big,fat, male cat took over the barn so the poor things couldn't win. So hopefully this doesn't disappoint you but I did what I could as I got them all fixed and gave them an opportunity at life. They would have been euthanized at the shelter.

The cat situation is so bad around here. One of our neighbors left 5 cats behind when they moved here recently. When I called the shelter they said they were not accepting any cats and neither were any shelters in any of the surrounding counties, especially wild cats such as these were. I asked them what I was supposed to do and they had no answer and eventually all 5 of them took off to parts unknown.

Wow, that was a long way to say that the cats are gone.

ertyu
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ertyu »

sad. I was fond of the cats. At least the sale of the house went great, family is happy with the new house and with New Dog. Looking forward to your future updates!

davtheram12
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by davtheram12 »

Glad to have you back ffj!

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Thank you davtheram12 for the support.


@ertyu

Sorry buddy, I feel like I let you down. Those guys were part of my daily routine for so long and I worked so hard to get them to trust me that it was a disappointment for me too.



One of the things that I have been militant about over the last two years is getting rid of stuff and more importantly not accepting more material shit into my life. If you want to learn this discipline then just move from one residence to another! At my old place I had a barn, entire basement, and every closet stuffed full with everything from building materials, hobbies, and extra parts to everything we had ever done as a family for 25 years. As long as you kept the doors closed you just didn't really think about it but man what a chore when it is time to leave.

I literally gave away half of the contents of my old place. We had a fence next to the road and I would haul stuff out and place it under a free sign I had made that was attached to the fence. There were days that I would have 50 feet of stuff just lined up ready to be picked up by anyone who wanted it.

I did this for several reasons: obviously I wanted the stuff gone, I didn't want to have to haul the stuff anywhere, but the most fun part was proving my wife wrong, haha. I would pull something out and she would exclaim " nobody is going to want that! Take it to the dump." She just didn't understand that a free sign is like a magnet and the most I ever had to wait for something to disappear, no matter what the item, was 4 hours. It was the most incredible thing we ever saw and not only that but people would look for us to put stuff out.

The other method I used for the items I did sell was to discount them heavily just to get them gone. I sold a lot of machinery that I just didn't want to move, the whole lot to a guy with the stipulation that he bring the machinery to move the machinery. And the help necessary to move a 1000 pound machine. He brought the machinery and the help, his 12 year old son. :? So I spent the whole day with him specifically doing the job that I had discounted for in the selling price. :x But we got everything loaded and a burden was lifted and I had some cash in my pocket.

Now the stuff that did make it to our new place is still being scrutinized and I still systematically go through boxes and totes and give even more stuff away. And we had a yard sale with the neighbors recently where I pocketed $650.

All this to say it's been very cathartic to get rid of so much unnecessary stuff and I would recommend it if you are like me who always saved stuff for a rainy day. Now I still own many items but they are worth keeping around and quite frankly it will take the rest of my life to either use up or simply use the items I have chosen to keep. And I have been very disciplined about taking more stuff into my life as I just don't want to return to what we were doing in the past. So my goal going forward is to use what I own and get rid of the junk I won't use.

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Seppia
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Seppia »

It’s great to have you back
Thanks for sharing

theanimal
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by theanimal »

What a pleasant surprise! I'm very interested to see the end result of your house and the work you've done on your land.

Riggerjack
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Riggerjack »

Oh. This is a pleasant surprise.

Good to hear your voice again. You were missed.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by SavingWithBabies »

Welcome back! I missed you and wondered how it went with the house build an all. I believe it about the free stuff. I've tried to avoid this compulsion after observing my parents. That was before they decided to move long distance and are now in the middle of that process with 40+ years of accumulations at the start. At a certain point, the things really do own you instead of the other way around unless you take a stand. I've had to face this a little bit with a couple of cross country moves but I still kept some stashes that I need to get rid of soon. Once in a rare while, I wonder where I put something only to realize it was gone a move or two ago. Anyway, didn't mean to turn it into being about me. I'm glad you're back!

ffj
Posts: 376
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@Seppia
Thank you, that means a lot coming from you

@theanimal
I have thought of you several times in the past year, especially when I watch this guy: https://www.youtube.com/c/MrChickadee
Now that I have learned you will become an expert woodworker it makes even more sense. Thank you for the welcome back.

@Rigger
Thank you my friend.

@SWB
I felt the need to write about that because it felt so good. I almost shudder when someone offers me something now that they are just clearly wanting to get rid of and not feel bad about it. I have turned down so much stuff in the past two years, including a functioning tractor from my mother-in-law. Ironically, helping people with their house moves is the worst as they will offer you anything if it means they won't have to lift another box. :)

I just spoke with a buddy and he was complaining about his cousin who inherited two houses filled to the brim with her late mothers stuff. Somehow he got wrangled into becoming a property manager for her and she won't make any decisions because she is paralyzed with the mountain of items she has to deal with regarding her mother's belongings. My buddy is slowly going crazy with the situation and it's not even his property.

Thank you for the warm welcome back.



Even though we have lived in our new house for almost a year it's technically not finished. After I finished the interior, and after moving in, I was understandably burned out after all of the work I had completed including getting the old house ready for sale. So I gave myself a "vacation" by working on the grounds instead which to be honest was refreshing as the only decisions I had to make were fairly simple and I got to spend my time outdoors.

So what needs to be done? Well, the interior is completely finished and I mean everything, which was important to me before we moved. I spent too much time on the old house remodeling and having to work around daily life and dust screens and the like that I did not want to do that again. So I made sure I wouldn't have to do any work for many years in the future.

What I lack are 3 things: decorative stone on the foundation, two porches that need to be built, and grade work on the yard. Now, one of the reasons besides cost savings that I did so much work myself is that the phrase "I'll be there in 2 weeks" gets really old when 2 weeks go by and either the contractor ghosts you or they declare " I just need two more weeks" which usually means you will never hear from them again. It's a great way to lose a month's work of progress, or two months, or three. I mention this because it is not through the lack of trying that the house isn't finished.

I just need someone to put the damn stone on the foundation. I can easily build the porches myself, and rent a skid steer and do the grading, but the stone has to go on first or it just complicates everything. I put the scratch coat on the concrete block myself and the stone is sitting on a pallet in the driveway, and I would put the stone on myself but the pattern is throwing me off a little and I would prefer to just buy my way out of this problem. Now I have hired an Amish fellow to do the work and I hope to see him soon. :) But he has already given me the "I just need two more weeks" speech once so we'll see. Now in his favor I did offer him more money to get to my job sooner but he turned it down and honored his original price. He honestly is that busy.

IlliniDave
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by IlliniDave »

Happy to see you back ffj, and glad to hear things are continuing to go well.

I feel your pain on the contracting delays. Up here in the north country its the same kind of story, especially for outdoor work. With a roughly 6-7 month work season everyone is overbooked. I'm in year 3 of waiting to get my piers and footings redone. But I'm feeling a little better. Last time I talked to the contractor he only pushed the start date back 1 week.

Hard to figure why more people aren't getting into the trades. It's good money that doesn't require racking up large debt to qualify for.

Hristo Botev
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Hristo Botev »

Well, shoot; I was so excited to see your name pop up on one of my (exceedingly sporadic) check-ins of "Active Topics" that I actually went through the trouble of tracking down my password for this forum so that I could log back in and say hi.

Good to have you back. I'd of course love to see photos of the house and all the projects you've been working on, but I definitely understand the privacy issue. It was great to see your progress on those various projects over the months; and I'm glad to hear things are going well. You continue to be an inspiration to me as I try and work towards self-sufficiency, baby step by embarrassingly small baby step.

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Hey IlliniDave, Good to hear from you.

Man you can write your own ticket right now if you know how to do anything related to the trades. Everybody is just picking and choosing what they want to fool with, and being a simple handyman is gold at the moment.

I've been retired for eight years now and other than a two week stint at full-time employment (actually a week and three days ;) ), I haven't even remotely considered going back to work. Until now. This fall I may team up with a couple of different guys and get back into the game. One of them I've worked odd jobs with before, and the other is an Amish fellow I've made friends with in the past couple of years. Now we haven't discussed wages but he says he can use me as he is swamped with work, but I'm not going back to work for low pay. I can just strike out on my own if need be.

I think I passed the test with him when I helped his church frame up a mutual friends house. Talk about a bunch of talented and motivated guys getting some work done. What was hilarious was every time I turned around a new Amish guy would sneak behind me and start doing my job. It became downright comical after awhile but man we made some fast progress.



All right, it took a couple of hours but I got my photo sharing system back in place! It's hard to tell a story without good pictures.


Image

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As mentioned upthread, I worked down in Eastern Kentucky for flood relief and here's a few of the pictures I shot. Myself and a buddy had to wade through the debris at the school and force doors ( I literally took a chain saw and cut the doors out of their frames) to get to sensitive records and cash they had locked away. We had several teachers and the school nurse meet us and point to where we had to go and what to look for, but every document we pulled out was soaking wet and covered in mud. I don't know if they were able to ultimately save anything but I was happy to help.

Speaking of the school nurse this is her handing this young lady a prized possession. You are about to hear a warm and distinctly Eastern Kentucky accented story: https://www.wkyt.com/2022/08/15/story-g ... attention/

And here is a good video of the overall destruction. I only worked in a very small region of the total affected area. This video gives you an idea how many people were hit hard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XNL4bV ... 8g&index=1





One of the threats that I made in my previous journal was that I was going to make two Youtube channels, one on rope rescue and one on how to grow gourmet mushrooms. Well, I've started and I'm almost too embarrassed to share it with you guys but I know that some of you are interested in these topics and although the presentation is a bit amateurish I think I have some good techniques to share. So far I've gotten over 300 views, 8 subs, and 6 likes. You have to start somewhere. ;) Now I've only started the rope channel to see how this experiment goes and I only have 6 videos so far but I hope to get better. And the initial videos are on rescue knots; I'll be branching out soon to more complicated aspects of rope rescue.

So, check it out if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-EHHI ... nge5tGiZzQ

@Hristo
Your post popped up while I was typing all of this above. Thank you for the kind words. All of this reaching out by everyone has almost overwhelmed me and made me think what a dumbass I was for leaving before.

davtheram12
Posts: 230
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by davtheram12 »

ffj wrote:
Thu Aug 25, 2022 1:39 pm
All of this reaching out by everyone has almost overwhelmed me and made me think what a dumbass I was for leaving before.
Don't beat yourself up too much ffj. I think many of us on this forum are very understanding. These past two years have been challenging (to say the least) and taking a step back is never a bad thing. I echo others sentiment and I am just happy to read your updates. They are very entertaining and inspiring *thumbs up.

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@dtr12
Thank you. But it's too much, everybody stop. It's bothers that just by making that request that it looks like I'm fishing for more. I'm not, stop. Love you guys but it makes me uncomfortable.



Image

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This has been one of my summer projects. I tried to hire it out but after the 4th contractor bailed on me " I'll be there in a couple of weeks" I just decided to do it myself, once again saving a ton of money when I didn't even care, haha.

The property I own is part of a larger pre-existing farm with drainage issues. Not as a farm per se, but as a subdivision with several homes on it, yes. When it rains heavily water backs up in several places simply because it's drainage path is clogged with grass and vegetation which slows the rate it can move. One of the beauties of being retired is that you get to work for other people for free. :D

I've put in over a 1000 feet of drainage tiles, and fixed a major problem with a pond's overflow with the majority of the work on other peoples land. I won't go into specifics as to why they can't do or hire the work themselves, but suffice it to say if I didn't get it done then it wouldn't get done, and if it doesn't get done, then it could severely affect my property in the future. Namely a pond with a severely eroded overflow that sits higher than my property. The thought of a million gallons of pond water rushing onto my place was unsettling so I am fixing it.

I dug most of the trenches with a large ditch witch which easily accommodated a 4 inch pipe and while I was at it I also put long drain lines on each of my gutter downspouts on the house. That required a bit of finesse as the grade wasn't as steep as the other drain lines but they all work well so I'm happy.


While I had the machine I extended my water line another 500 feet to my garden so that I could water my plants. It didn't really matter this year because all of my plants did rather poorly. My garden spot is new and there is clearly something wrong with the soil. I need to get some more chickens and just pen them over the garden spot and feed them copious amounts of plant matter to get the soil where it needs to be for growing. In the meantime, I need to get the soil tested to see what's up. The soil I am using for the garden is basically scraped off topsoil from the house build so I thought I was good. It makes me miss my old garden spot at the old house.

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Sclass
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Sclass »

Oh wow. I thought you were gone for good.

Welcome back. In your absence I finally got enough courage to teach myself rope ascension and rappelling during the pandemic. I only worked my way up to a few feet but I believe the same techniques could get me higher if I didn’t chicken out. I also made a spider web of safety lines across my roof as I climbed around and repaired tiles - also influenced by you. I was thinking about you the whole time as I tied the knots and inched my way up the rope. It was a blast. Something I always wanted to do as a kid.

Reminds me I got to get up there and trim a branch rubbing on the house.

Anyhow looking forward to hearing about your projects on your new place.

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