last updated 1.13.26
January 12, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Good day. Got the rear differential cover installed. The mating surface needed a lot of cleaning to get pieces of the old gasket removed from the axle along with the rust and grime around the edges so it took longer than I expected, but it came out nice. The sun was warm and bright in the middle of the day so that made it comfortable. By the time I was done, I decided to work on a few other things here at the home base rather than head off the property. January 13, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Farm eggs for breakfast, checked the columns, had to mix up a small batch of straight cement to strengthen the middle section of the smaller one. It cracked right in half when I was gently sliding the pvc pipe out from inside it which was acting as the inner form. I didn't panic. Put all the pieces back together like a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with a healthy coating of cement to hold it all together, rested it in a piece of its outer cardboard form like a long half-shell and carried it down to missLuna's where it's now drying. Placed the larger column in the burn barrel and started a small fire inside it to complete the curing process. Left it in the barrel to cool after the fire went out and headed into Greenfield to do errands. Called a different computer repair place in Amherst, but they wanted 90 bucks just to look at it so I wrote up a statement of ownership, got it notarized and went to the first repair shop. It only took him a few minutes to get all my files off the laptop and onto a flash drive. He offered to install whatever operating system I wanted on it for another $70, but I just paid him for the data retrieval and bounced. I had my own ideas. I'm ok with paying for a repair when I break something, but when it's part of a systematic attempt to extract money from people I don't like to comply. Headed to the strip mall jungle in Hadley to get the rest of my errands done. Picked up some more vermiculite and a piece of 6 inch pvc pipe which will work better as a form than cardboard sonotube. I still have one more piece to make before I can start putting my new rocket stove together. Grabbed some groceries at tj's and a couple of slices of pizza at whole foods. While I was eating, I used a few of the tricks I learned online a couple of months ago when I first tried fixing the laptop myself. Now that I had all my files off of it, I completely reinstalled windows which erases everything, but when it began a new set-up process and required me to connect to the internet like it did the first time when I bought it last spring and didn't know better forcing me to leave the mountains and the hot spring and drive back down into the little town in the Rockies , I didn't. Instead, I manually bypassed this part of the set-up process using a few keyboard shortcuts and created a "local account" which doesn't require the internet, a microsoft account or a password. I'm typing this on my laptop, right now. Finished the rest of my errands and headed back to the property. Pulled the big column out of the burn barrel and brought it inside with me. It came out great. It's so light! Yet, rigid like the cement version of a styrofoam tube. Might have to watch a movie, tonight. It's been a couple months since I've been able to. I still plan to hold microsoft and the laptop company accountable for their incompetence, but now that I can type again, I've got more important things to focus on. January 1, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Had a nice little reminder this afternoon that I'm not doing enough in the area of making changes. Nothing too major occurred, but the grand canyon still opened right up and down I went. I recovered fine by splitting wood for a couple hours which helped a lot. It happened because I had a little set back with my wood stove project. In doing some research this morning, I learned that I should have soaked the vermiculite in water before adding it to the cement which prevents the vermiculite from absorbing too much water away from the cement when you mix them together. Otherwise, you could end up with dry cement that's too crumbly. Not the end of the world so it shouldn't feel like it is. The only reason realizing that I might have to make the columns over again messed with me was because this required me to ask missLuna if I could store them in her house for a couple days to fully cure. My tiny house neighbor will be back to the property soon so I wanted to get them out of her house, today, thinking that I was almost done. Nope. When being creative and making something new for the first time, I'm well aware of the trial and error process. I've had to take a deep breath and start something over from scratch hundreds of times at this stage in the game. It just comes with the territory. What amplified this common occurrence was that it made me have to rely on another person. I have issues. When and why did I get it into my head that I'm not allowed to ask anyone for help? This is not a healthy way to live. To top things off, I got a call from missButterfly out of the blue this afternoon. She says she wants to talk to me, again, so she can clarify something she said when we last spoke a couple weeks ago. I have no idea what this is nor do I have any interest in finding out. She left a voicemail. I didn't call her back. I can't believe I'm still dealing with this person. I honestly don't know what to do about it. On a lighter note, we got a little snow last night so there was a pretty blanket of white covering everything this morning when I opened the door to go outside. Still psyched about having my dream truck parked out there. The bathroom door I finished making earlier this week came out great. I pretty much make all my doors from scratch. It's a tiny house thing. I unscrewed a small cabinet door that my father made for the downstairs bar in the house I grew up in and pulled it off its hinges when I was cleaning out the house a few years ago before they tore it down. My father had carved a map of the North and South Rivers in Marshfield on it which included a small "x" marking where our house was located along the river. It, also, has an old fashioned little wooden sailboat mounted to it and a piece of driftwood with a tiny cottage built on it like the one at Damon's Point. I loved looking at the door when I was a kid. I couldn't leave it behind. Now, it's enlayed into the outside of my bathroom door with an antique brass knob that I scored from that carpentry gig I did a couple winters ago. Very happy with it. As far as making changes, I know that my lack of progress in this area is not entirely my fault. I'm up against our whole system which has been composed to keep us all separated from, if not competing with, one another. It is one of the great advantages the powers that be have implemented for themselves. Add my personal abrasion to asking for help and I've got a major challenge ahead, but I still don't have a choice so something needs to be done. I should probably start with fixing my darn laptop because I have a feeling being able to type more efficiently compared to on this tablet is going to be necessary. To speed up the curing process, I cut the outer cardboard form with a utility knife and peeled it off the smaller column this afternoon before putting it in missLuna's house. It didn't look that bad. Pretty hard, not too crumbly. I still might redo them. There going to experience plenty of jarring when my house is rolling down the road. January 2, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Today was a good day. Haven't left the property since Tuesday (it's Friday), but I'm making progress. It's been very cold, but sunny in the mornings and afternoons. It was so cold last night that the pot of water on the stove was already frozen before I went to bed. Walked down to missLuna's this morning and grabbed the larger cement column to check how it was curing. I carefully sliced and peeled the outer cardboard form off it and brought it back to her house to dry some more. They seem to be hardening well. She moved both columns to her living room (where her wood stove keeps the house nice and warm) because she had a bunch of clients, today, so I didn't have to enter from the front door and walk through the room where she "treats" them. All I have to do is open the glass slider at the side of her house, reach in and grab them. Made some minor improvements to the ladder rack I built for the new truck. Happy with that. Getting bundled up and keeping myself busy outside all day works like a charm especially when the sun is so bright. My happiness just spills out of me even though I'm completely alone, but I know that this routine is not a permanent solution. I'm thankful that things are good because this is the best place to make positive change from. What this change is going to look like still remains to be seen. I should leave the property tomorrow and gets some errands done. I'll try to make some headway on fixing the laptop. I've tried several more times recently, but the tactics microsoft is using against its own customers is so disgusting that I don't even want to write about it. I'll figure something out. At the very least, I found a computer repair place that will pull all the documents off of it and save them to a flashdrive for 30 bucks. For 100, they'll fix the laptop so I can use it again, but either way I first have to find a notary and sign a legal document stating that the computer is mine so the computer repair place can't be sued by microsoft, the computer manufacturer or an imaginary previous owner if my laptop was stolen. I brought my receipt with me to the repair shop proving that I bought it brand new, but this wasn't good enough. It's insane. Writing and uploading html code to start a new year for this blog was pretty difficult on a tablet. Ordered a new tonneau cover for my truck so that I can still keep my tools in the bed and out of the weather when the ladder rack is installed. This is all superficial stuff, but I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row. I need to head to Maine and transfer my old registration to this truck, register the motorcycle and modify the registration for the tiny house trailer to a higher gross weight with all the additions I've made to the house since first registering the trailer a couple years ago. I want to be sure I'm 100% legal while traveling. All it would take is some unhappy cop to ruin my day if anything wasn't . These things need to be done in person so I was waiting until after the first of the year to make the 2.5hr trip. January 4, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Headed into the strip mall jungle, yesterday, and got a bunch of errands done. Removed the remaining inner forms for the columns and took them with me so they could sit in a reasonably warm truck all day. I put them in the back seat and strapped them in with the seatbelt like a small child. #m to the l to the r Picked up another bag of vermiculite and tonight it's pre-soaking in a bucket of water. Looked at state park campgrounds in South Carolina and seriously considered loading up the kayak and motorcycle and heading down there for a week to build the rocket stove in weather more conducive to mixing cement, but first I need to drive to Maine and get all my registration tasks done. The 5 hour round trip will give me time to think about it. Tried, but didn't make any progress on fixing my laptop. Microsoft offers no customer service phone number that allows a person to speak to an actual human being nor an email address for people to write to. Tried calling a number that an google search provided, but it just turned out to be another scam posing as microsoft. Did reach one automated message that was legitimate offering to text me a link to the proper webpage that fixes log in issues, but it ended up being the same one I've tried dozens of times already with no success. If a person uses this option of having them send a link to your phone, you'll quickly discover that microsoft black lists the phone number you used so if you call back for further assistance an automated message plays that offers no options then disconnects you. Good times. Took the finished columns out of the truck this afternoon, gently placed them in my burn barrel and started a small fire inside them with cardboard and sticks to complete the curing process. I probably won't use them, but it's good practice. I'll make two more tomorrow and let them sit in missLuna's house drying while I drive to Maine. I've thought a lot about getting another dog. It's been years since my last buddy passed away. The major reason I haven't is because I'm not sure if it would be a responsible decision. To own a dog and take care of one properly, a person should have a support system and I don't anymore. Wah. It's about a 15 year commitment and chances are during that time something might come up that may cause me to be indisposed. I could get sick or hurt and brought to the hospital. What would happen to him then? I'd love to have one again, but I'm just trying to be smart about it. Even thought about reaching out to missFlowerchild to create more social contact. I've contemplated hauling my house over to her little "farm" as she calls it for the winter just to have some people in my life. She has her young son and her sister and boyfriend living on the property as well. Her mothers there a lot, too. I've met them all and get a long with them,but I'm looking for friendship, nothing else, so that might be unrealistic regarding missFlowerchild. I'm pretty sure she'd want more. Again, I'm just trying to be responsible. This is why I never hear from her except for a couple short friendly texts around the holidays which I initiate. She feels rejected. I like her as a person and she's a smoke show, but I'm just not into the polyamorous lifestyle. She has plenty of projects I could help her with, but I think it would be selfish of me to propose living in my tiny house over there while not being interested in anything other than friendship. I don't know. I'll be driving right past her town on my way to Maine so I'll give that some thought, too. It may be time to create new connections rather than try to extract more from old ones that didn't work out. I'm going to try to keep documenting my days, as mundane as this is, sort of like how taking one single step over the course of miles and days can add up to a long journey on foot that reaches it's destination. I have a little experience with that. January 5, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Didn't get a lot done, today, but it was still a good day. I need to try to get to sleep earlier. I've been staying up 'til 12 or 1am. This is only because I haven't been getting enough exercise which is often the case in the winter so I'm not physically tired at the end of the day. I still have way too much energy when it's bedtime. I'll need to work on this. I've been sleeping until 9ish as a result and this is a waste of daylight hours. We got a little snow so I cleaned off the panels and the truck, took a nice hot bath, did a couple of little projects and edited last year's blog -lots of typos. Ok, I'll confess. I had a one man dance party, too. Maybe more than one. Oh, and my new tonneau cover arrived so I'll install that in the next couple days so I can put the ladder rack I built back on the truck and leave it on. I've been taking it off everyday when I'm not using it so I can put the old tonneau on to keep the snow out of the bed of the truck and off my tools. Pretty frickin exciting stuff. Tomorrow, I'll do a few errands in Greenfield then try to get a new batch of cement mixed and poured when I get back so it can dry while I head to Maine. I should be able to do both columns. I took notes on how many cups of cement, vermiculite and water each required so now I know how much to mix. The moon's been crazy bright lately. I walk outside at night and can see everything just fine. So peaceful. January 6, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Made the forms for the new columns, mixed and troweled the cement and vermiculite into them, but only had enough for the larger outer column so I carried it down to missLuna's to let it set. I guess soaking the vermiculite in water, first, changed the ratio. Emptied what was left in the bag into a bucket and it's soaking in the loft in my house, right now. The temperature is only getting down to the high 20's tonight so it shouldn't freeze in the house. I'll mix up some more cement, tomorrow, for the inner column. Reusing the round cardboard forms is a little time consuming, but it makes them easier to remove as the cement cures. They just don't hold their shape very well especially after I cut them in sections to peel them off. If I could find some large pvc pipe, that would work a lot better, but none of the building supply box stores around here carry anything bigger than 4". Maybe I'll look around for a commercial plumbing supply store in the area. I'll probably get away with reusing the cardboard tubes this one last time, but if I end up making anymore rigid pvc is the way to go. I used some for the smaller inner column and it worked great. I don't know if I'm going to make it to where I've always dreamed. The mornings are still pretty rough. I know keeping myself busy with projects during the day isn't the answer. They will help me accomplish what I'm trying to do and it feels awesome when I complete one, but they aren't going to improve my overall life. I said that after I found a decent truck I'd have no more excuses for postponing making changes, but I seemed to have tricked myself into building this stove before I do anything else justifying it by the fact that it's winter and a warm fire would be so much better than a propane furnace. Old habits die hard. January 7, 2026, Turners Falls, Massachusetts Forced myself to get up early, mixed and poured the inner column, cleaned up the mess and put tools away, headed out to do some errands and now I'm parked by the river in Turners not quite ready to go home. I've got to come up with a way to find other people who want to do more than just go along with an unsustainable system. I looked at volunteering at the hospital in Greenfield, but they said I need to be vaccinated. If I don't agree with what our system is doing to us and our planet, maybe I'm not going to find the solution within this system. Duh. January 9, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Got all my registration stuff done in Maine, yesterday. Now, I can ride the motorcycle on the road if I want. Great time of year for it. Didn't make any plans to head south and didn't reach out to missFlowerchild as I passed by her town. I'm loving this break from the very cold weather we were having. The ironic part is that I turn on the heat more when it's milder like today because it requires less propane to keep the house warm. I'm a fool. Whatever. At least, I permitted myself to be comfortable for a change. Farm pancakes for breakfast. Farm chicken for dinner. Walked down to missLuna's this morning and checked the cement columns for the stove and they're still curing. Removed the inner cardboard on the larger one to open it up to the air. The smaller column still felt soft so I left the cardboard on it for another day. Installed the new tonneau cover on the truck. It's going to take some customization in order to still have a ladder rack as well. It's a little wider than the tonneau I had on my last truck so I had to notch out the rails where they were covering the four rectangular holes along the top edge of the bed that every truck has because that's where the rack drops in. Anyways, I'll finish it tomorrow. I don't watch the news, but it was hard not to come across the video footage of what happened in Minneapolis on Wednesday. I saw it last night. Didn't get much sleep. The incident, and there have been plenty of others in recent years, was so disturbing that I don't know how a person is supposed to go about their day and not be affected by it. One thing to keep in mind, possibly above everything else, is that it happened because people are losing control, first of their thoughts and emotions and then second of their actions. Someone is no longer alive because of this. Her death was not a result of self-defense. She was trying to get away. All the man who fired his gun had to do was step to the side. Even if she was disobeying the law by not cooperating with the agents, they could have simply gotten her license plate number, found out where she lived, given her a ticket or even arrested her at a later time. They didn't have to kill her. She was a soccer mom, not a terrorist. Was she wrong for driving away? That is up for debate, but what isn't is the use of deadly force. January 10, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts Worked on the tonneau cover and ladder rack all day. Had to fabricate some additional brackets. You can make lots of hardware from a scrap metal pile with a grinder, a hammer and a big vice. Got it all done and happy with it. Forced myself to go out seeing as it was a weekend night. I often forget what day it is, but my attempt was uneventful. I tried. To know surprise, what happened in Minnesota is still bothering me along with some questionable behavior of our current president and administration. I'm not political and I don't take sides especially when both parties are acting out of justified unhappiness , but a few years ago, I thought of an idea on one way to strengthen the sense of community in our country, yet I haven't done much to further it since then. These most recent events have pushed me to start doing something. January 11, 2026, Montague, Massachusetts It was mild and sunny, today. Got a lot done. The second batch of columns are looking good. Peeled the cardboard off both of them and stuck 'em back in missLuna's to finish drying. Started replacing the rear differential cover on my new truck. This was something that I knew it needed when the guy sold it to me. It's not a difficult job and he had already bought the new cover and gasket; just hadn't gotten around to doing it. It can get a little messy because you have to drain all the gear oil out of the rear axle first. There's 14 bolts holding the cover on and some of them turned out to be very rusty. I was lucky to get them all off so I wasn't going to put the really bad ones back on. Got bundled up, fired up the motorcycle and road into Greenfield to buy all new bolts at the auto parts store. It was almost dark when I got back so I decided rather than rush I'll put it all back together, tomorrow. It felt good to know that I have a second vehicle if I ever need one and it wasn't too cold for January, granted I look like the pillsbury dough boy with all the layers I had on. Tomorrow's Monday so I'll head into town and resolve my laptop situation one way or another because I've got a lot of writing to do. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are the product of the author's imagination and are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. |