My other Job

[BIGNASTY]

Lots of options to consider with remodels, our Daughter is moving here in a few weeks she will live with her brother and wife until we can get to rebuilding the house we bought near Missoula for her that needs work. Of course the first thing is to put on a roof and new windows gut the kitchen and bath's and go to work. Same with the Son's family we are hoping to get them thru the winter they have a foundation and basement built for a house. We use the SIP's construction I dont think that I would build a house any other way they are almost to efficient the R ratings are off the chart and they cost about the same as stick built homes but are 5 times faster to build.

 

[jgillott]

The one we are in right now was originally built right around the turn of the century. My grandparents purchased it when they got married in the early'20's. We did the major remodel in 2005 and added a couple of rooms, reframed the entire 2nd floor, new windows, roof, siding, gutters, new drains and concrete in the basement, service entrance and wiring in the entire house, furnace, etc. The only thing we didn't do was the kitchen since it was really still pretty nice. Just adding insulation and a new furnace cut our heating bill to about 1/4 what it was before. We have all told, less than half in this place of what it would have cost us to buy a small new house. I'm happy with it for the most part, but always something more to do.

 

[BIGNASTY]

The only house that we still have in CA is the one that I had before we got married 36 years ago. When I bought it the realtor told me it was around 40 years old. Had all lath and plaster walls, I rewired it (it had a crawl space) and did the bath's and kitchen, refinish the hardwood floor and paint. It was on 5 acres so I could pull my Pete in the back and work on it. We are hoping that the house prices in So Ca will come up so we can sell it and be done with CA right now we have a Nephew going to school living in it. The sad thing is that if someone buys it they will more than likely tear down the house.

 

[jgillott]

My aunt and uncle and all of my cousins are in northern CA, Sacramento area. I've talked with my cousins quite a bit about their homes and they say exactly what you do. The houses are worth far less than what the purchased them for. I'm not positive how long they have had these current ones, but it has been at least 20 years or more... they are all in their early-mid 50's and married since the mid '80's.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Oh our CA house has been paid for, for many years but I still would like to get as much as I could for it. We have a friend that works in the city she said that there has been inquires about the property. Seems as thou a contractor wants to build apartments and has bought up surrounding land but the city wont let him make a street that wont be exactly across from the other side, they want a 4 way stop not some abortion of an intersection, The contractor would need our property to be able to build.

 

[jgillott]

Oh our CA house has been paid for, for many years but I still would like to get as much as I could for it. We have a friend that works in the city she said that there has been inquires about the property. Seems as thou a contractor wants to build apartments and has bought up surrounding land but the city wont let him make a street that wont be exactly across from the other side, they want a 4 way stop not some abortion of an intersection, The contractor would need our property to be able to build.

In the LA area?

 

[BIGNASTY]

Right on the border of Fontana and Rialto Ca down So calif way the Inland Empire 60miles east of LA

 

[jgillott]

My cousin was in Palm Springs for a number of years. Just moved back to the Sacramento area in the last year. I visited there a couple of times. Can't say that I have the desire to ever live there... ...

 

[BIGNASTY]

Parts of the Palm Springs area are REAL PRICEY!!! during the winter months the wife and I use to go out to that area and have breakfast and ride our bicycles there are places that you can go for miles without a stop.

http://www.tourdepalmsprings.com/Previous-Tour

That's one thing I miss about living here in MT the bike riding season is very short and working out on a indoor bike trainer with a fan on is some how not the same we use to do several Century bike rides a year.

 

[CBari]

Big you mentioned your new wood stove. I guess you got it in the kitchen and the wife is using it now. Just wondering how that turned out and if she had much of a learning curve cooking on it.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Big you mentioned your new wood stove. I guess you got it in the kitchen and the wife is using it now. Just wondering how that turned out and if she had much of a learning curve cooking on it.

The only thing that was a problem and it was a small one really, was getting it in! We had to do some cabinet changes (both upper and lower)

Now that we have been using it the Wife and I really like it. For now we let it do most of the heating of the house before we turn in at night I put a couple of logs in the fire box crack open the stove door and turn down the draft this seems to let the stove radiate the heat without putting any smoke in the house the smoke and fume's go up the chimney now during the rest of the year that you dont need the heat it may be a different thought about leaving it on. I had thought about that when we purchased it and got a two burner propane set up that hangs on the side of the stove figuring that if the stove is not heated and you need to cook something the propane would be faster than to heat up the stove. We grill outside most of the time in the spring/summer/fall wife didnt want it but shes happy we did because it is nice to have instant heat for coffee I turn it on and do my chores she gets up and coffee is done.



As far as using it the Wife didn't have a problem. Its not like a normal oven when she bakes bread (several loafs at a time) she has to rotate the bread pans within the oven because the ones closest to the fire box are naturally done first so that was something she figured out. Also same with the stove top, like a normal stove you have bigger burners and not so big and then small on the wood stove the big burners are directly over the fire box then as you move away from the firebox it get cooler and cooler. She had to figure out where to put things on the stove to let them simmer or cook faster.



Its not that hard for her to figure it out its not that much different than the stoves they used in hunt camp. Just the last couple of years they have had a regular propane stove in hunt camp the girls thought it would be so nice to have one so I thought about it and built a different packsaddle for Earl and hauled it up to camp, same with the propane bottles I built some packsaddles to haul 4 bottles the size of the ones on like Travel Trailers just strapped them on. The mules usually only took back feed for them and feed for the hunters so now they are propane trucks also.



BIG



PS. getting use to walking in the kitchen to talk (seems like we all do) standing around the kitchen bar you just have to watch where you lean, use to be able to lean against the stove NOT THIS ONE!!!

 

[CBari]

Yea I bet it is a little warm to be leaning on it. Does it go through much wood.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Yea I bet it is a little warm to be leaning on it. Does it go through much wood.

If your heating it up YA!! it takes a bit of wood, but once hot it runs pretty efficiently. Problem we have up here is the KIND of wood, Pine is most prevalent and it makes for some big time soot/creosote. With the wood heat stoves I run a chimney sweep thru a couple times a year to keep it down but with this I will do it more often. Looking into getting some kind of Hardwood for the stove only, then I think it will burn REALLY WELL.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Mr CBari



just a morning breakfast item fresh from the oven. Think she has it down ? Those with butter, honey and Cowboy coffee. She has it down pretty good, if this cold weather dont stop soon im going to have to buy some new pants to fit into I need to work to loose some pounds.



She wrote an article for a magazine on how and the recipe from grinding the flour to my eating them

 

[Wayne M.]

What I usually wind up with.

MMMMMM!!! Where's that article???? Lol. The closest to scratch is with bisquick. Lol