Dream.Design.Do
Welcome!
I’ve been taking things apart and mostly getting them back together for many, many years. That curiosity has fueled my career as a software engineer as well as my hobbies creating and recording music and woodworking.
It is also driving my work in fixing up our older house and working on creating a more self reliant lifestyle with permaculture and the beginnings of a detailing business. I hope you get something out of my experiences and I hope to hear from you so I can learn from you as well. Let’s DO life and not just watch it go by.
My take on freedom is that it is the ability to effect our surroundings. That means having the mindset to imagine, the patience to plan, and the skills to transform that vision into reality. But most of all it takes action on our part, even if it is just a small step. There will never be a perfect place or time to start. If you have a curiosity of your world, you are never too young or too old to break things down into steps and mold them to your liking. Taking more control over your environment takes time and effort, but here I go into detail for each of those steps to help equip you with knowledge and inspiration to give you the confidence you need so that you too can feel that freedom.
The Posts
As the summer winds down, we are really enjoying the location of the pool, especially as we finish clearing the high brush that was leftover. We have had one get together of around 30 people (20 of whom camped over) and it worked great.
I put them at an angle. I feel like it is kind of cool, but maybe it just makes me a dork. Based on previous experience, it probably is more the latter, but I am used to that.
I of course think she is just doing it wrong and so try it myself. No water. I switch to the cold tap thinking something is wrong with just the hot water. Uh, nope. No water, period. I begin to panic.
When I was first driving back as a teen, I had no issue in pushing the limit of the tank and never once ran out of gas.
Our word of the year is “Organize”, so it makes sense that I have been reviewing our EDC. From what is in my pockets, to what is in each of our cars, our move to property has made those contents even more important for us than before. Stores are not just around the corner. For today I’ll empty my pockets to share what I carry, and since we are about ready to start being in the office again, I’ll show what I pack.
That meant that you could not stand around the island and have a conversation. Which of course is the main point of having an island! You would have to duck or lean over to see anyone.
I started by seeing what was available to buy and quickly found that unless you have a couple of thousand dollars sitting around, a commercial version was out of reach. Though there are some really cool desks out there, I did not have that kind of money to spend (and this being a DIY/maker type blog) it made sense to build my own.
My wife and I were on day three of rearranging nearly half of our kitchen cabinets (as in taking them down and physically moving them) and as we worked, we kept coming back to a word that we agreed made sense to call our word for the upcoming year…
I feel like all my photos of finished projects are taken in the late evening. It isn't because I feel it is the best time for photos, rather it is because we are usually finishing the project late Sunday evening. Does that happen to you? I mean the projects are getting done and most of the time you would not know the problems that occurred.
The Videos
[H]ere is a quick look of the difference a year made for our property. Plus some bonus footage of me trying my hand at a drone.
The property we bought has what I hope will be my dream shop. Here is the first look at what we got.
Original Music from the EP Test In Progress. Song: Test In Progress
I went overboard with unnecessary walnut, pretty much because I could. And I learned stuff too.
My wife wanted some organization for her scrap booking accessories.
Making my work-space more workable for me.
Lesson - I need replacement parts on hand for the main parts of the generator (carb, gaskets, fuel lines). Don’t risk it, just treat the gas.