I want one.

So I have been sick for the last week and getting nothing done on anything really.

Trolling through clips of Pennsic I find the following cottage on wheels

Now this is truly beautiful. I wouldn't mind something like this.

Welding Class going well. Random Thoughts...

I have been to three of my welding classes, there will be 14 more to go.

Our first test on material in the book is this next Friday. That's a week earlier than what was in the syllabus because we are moving along so well. My instructor (the welding guy from previous posts) seem to think that I'm doing well on the practical portions of the class at least. I think, that he thinks that he's going to turn me into a welder. If I do, it won't be stick welding, my arms are to short.

So I'm doing some sewing and working on a build list this weekend; I'm online to make an update post here, but first I checked my email on yahoo. There on yahoo is this article on living only on social security in a person's old age.  (And I know that it is being published at a time to scare or shock people so close to the U.S. elections Or blame President Obama or the republican nominee, I didn't look that hard to figure it out.)
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tightwire-act-living-only-social-154206642.html

That's not the point: What I got out of it was...

This article is describing my mother and many more like her.
And I started to wonder is this what is in my future too?
I too am living paycheck to paycheck, having only just paid off my student loans, and am working hard to pay off the rest of my debts. I have a small emergency fund in the bank but Social Security and my Teacher Retirement Fund will be all I have when I retire.

So, should I be building a tiny house instead of vardo?
Or, should I make the vardo as large as I can because I may need to live in it one day.
If I make a tiny house I could make it look like a Danish Half Timber affair.

I'm just going to work on the welding class and the base before having to make more important decisions.

Sigh.

100th Post

In honor of the 100th post...

And because I'm still waiting on the welding....

I've signed up at my college for the Introduction to Welding Course.

Because if I can't get the welders at the college to do it for me, I'LL DO IT MYSELF.

Does anyone know where you get a welding helmet, jacket, steel toe boots and gloves.

Size small?

http://www.aws.org/w/a/

UPDATE: First class today... I had the wrong book, the wrong helmet and the wrong gloves...And the first thing out of my professor was... "I knew I wasn't going to get away from that trailer..."

But other than that...Everything is great!

A Door

So I was able to wander into my local-ish Habitat for Humanity Re-Store today.

and I found...

The perfect door for the Vardo!

Yes, I'll have to build a door jam for it, plus purchase hardware, and have an expert to install it...
(I would like it to work correctly, and I'm only at a basic carpentry level if you know what I mean...)

But for the whopping price of $45 plus tax it a deal I couldn't pass up.

The size is 24 X 80.  Yes, that is one foot wide double pane insulated glass right down the middle!

The other side is white and I'll stain the interior you see in this pic with a light wood stain to show off the grain.

But it also means I'll have to figure out exactly what I'll need in my kitchenette area, because at 24 inches wide I may not be able to get cabinets in the Vardo after the door is installed so purchasing them before I am ready might be a nessesity.

I'll be picking it up on Saturday as I had a full load in my truck already on the way home.

200 days til Gulf War and I feel like I'm getting something done, Finally!

UPDATE: 8/25/2012: The door has been picked up from Habitat for Humanity. A shop keeper in town lent me an extra blanket to make sure the door came home in one piece, because he needed a blanket that the Re-Store lent him just the day before, returned.
Life is funny that way.
Off to learn how to rough out frame a door.

Welder's AHOY

The original welder from work is back on campus after summer break!

He has been giving all the information about the build.

Again...

I have explained, that a) the guy he sent me too, dropped the ball and b) didn't send me to anyone who could do the job either.  Next that I was not happy, and that I really wanted to wring someones neck but that I'm not into violence.

So I went over the plans, explaining my slight modification so it will be even easier to do... I need holes for the carriage bolts etc. several times, plus told him that either he helps with the welding and SOON OR he gives me the name of a welder he trust.

He promises that he'll work it into the welding class as the first project.

At this point, I'm not even going for 'done' on the vardo. I'll take it partially built as long as it is fully enclosed and weather tight so I can take it down the highway, I can work on the inside later.

I have only 206 days until Gulf War.

On the good side, I've joined the local SCA chapter* and have someone who has volunteered to share the gas costs to Gulf War in Mississippi. ( If this thing ever gets off the ground.)

*Dragonsfire Tor!

Working the Free Wood.

A picture of the free wood getting cleaned up. The delay was due to work again. I got so discouraged with progress, I went out an bought a 2x4 last week just so I could say I was doing something. I am carving time out of my schedule at this point to work on the Vardo. Plus I can only work on it early in the morning as the temperature outside by noon is a nice toasty 100 to 104 Degrees (that's 37.7 to 40 Celsius).

And just in case you thought free wood is easy...

This is a pic of one of the free pieces, while the photo does not show it well, but the whole 2x4 twists in almost a 45% angle to the left through its entire length. I'll have to find and take the best part of a straight pieces out of it or used it for fire wood. So word of advice, check your 2x4's etc. before you leave the lumberyard.

I'll be checking out another new construction site in town this week for possibly more free wood and at the  the semi closest Habitat for Humanity's Re-Store for more wood 2x4's or 2x6's on Wednesday.

But this gets stalled due to the fundamental problem of welding. All the wood in the world won't get attached to the frame without the holes needed to secure the foundation to the trailer with carriage bolts.  Welding at this point is still in a holding pattern.

224 days to Gulf War...

Off the back burner!

The reason(s) that I put the Vardo on hold.... will continue into the foreseeable future.

So holding off on the project has
a) been of driving me crazy &
b) not going to make a difference to the time space continuum.

Where to restart then becomes the question.

Plans for the (rest of the) weekend.

1. Sort and clean up the wood from the construction site. (Half done at this time...)

2. Take detailed measurements of the trailer & comparing them against the Vardo plans. (And I'm thinking that the plans will have to be tweaked.)

3. Create a tentative building materials list. 

4. Annoy the welders.

5. Still not telling my mother.

Pics of the wood pile tomorrow.

Update: I had to work until late tonight.. pics coming soon.
(And I bought a 2x4 just to say I was doing something.)