Back in the days when I maintained foreclosed homes, I saw these installed in basements all over Philly. They never had the outer can, just the grinders, so I left them there. I finally broke down and bought one, and couldn’t possibly be happier.
Continue reading “Sometimes it’s the little things”Last year I bought a utility trailer. Mostly because I was tired of putting Yurt bits on the roof of the Excursion. But also because I knew I was going to need to haul things I didn’t want inside my baby.
Today, I needed to hail a cubic yard of gravel, but the open sided utility trailer was just the wrong tool for the job.
Birthday present for the wife this year is a space for working and sitting and storing tools and materials for the veggie garden. *
It’s a wee space, but it has room for all the bits & bobs she keeps in the garden.
In addition to storage, she has a bit of a work space and a place to sit so she can commune with her plants.
Continue reading “Garden Storage & Workspace (Phase 1)”In which I attempt to correct the poor decisions made 50 years ago by the lowest bidding electrician; five years ago by a corner cutting house flipper; and ease the unease of a 9-year-old boy; all with an overly complicated hardware and software solution.
Continue reading “Re-lamping the upstairs hallway.”Four years in this house and the plan for the vegetable garden is finalized. (I think. The wife might not be settled yet.)
Five raised beds surrounding a garden shed / work space. But now we outgrew the irrigation system that I threw together when we were prepping to be out of town for two weeks and she didn’t want the garden to die.
I’m a gas utility worker by trade, so I’m used to working with valves and fittings, but water isn’t something I deal with on a regular basis.
(part 2 of my ongoing coffee series)
The French press is probably the way I make coffee at camp most frequently. And surveying my friends’ campsites it seems to be the most popular with them as well.
Continue reading “Camp Coffee (French Style)”Simple but labor intensive, I told my wife she only gets one of these per year. We decided on dry stacked concrete blocks for the beds the winter after we bought the new house.
Slept in the Poler for two separate nights now. Both cold nights, one in heavy winds, one still.
I’ve been on a lifelong journey to find the best way to make coffee at camp. And like all things in life, it’s the art of balancing comprises to find the thing that’s best for you.
This is the first backpacking stove I ever bought (Spring 2001, probably). And my first liquid fuel Coleman appliance. I had a fuel leak below the valve, so it’s time for a rebuild.
Modern Anachronist 