Sarah Koster

Neato! The little round one looks especially cool.
I know it's not the most eco-friendly but you can use resin to stabilize punky wood... but takes some special equipment I think. I get a little frustrated because sometimes my desires to create art objects are not good for the environment.

My brother had a bad experience with an air BnB.... the landlord listed the property on multiple sites and didn't bother to take it down when it was rented. Brother had the place booked a week out and the guy never bothered to contact him, so he had nowhere to stay and had to wait for a refund. It seems like a better deal for the renters than the guests because there's a lot of risk involved when you're traveling and putting up a lot of money in advance.
Anyway it seems to me that the air BnB places don't have much difficulty finding customers.

I like how her method of getting rid of stuff involves showing appreciation for the items that are being discarded or donated. Part of the difficulty in letting go of clutter is the emotional attachment we have to the memories... so this way you're not treating your memories like garbage by letting go of the stuff. It makes it a lot easier and a lot less stressful.

Sounds like a roasted goose might be a good idea for thanksgiving.
Unfortunately social animals will bond with and strive to maintain a bond with other animals that abuse them, even to the point of death. I really think these geese might end up killing some of the ducks if you keep them around. It certainly isn't helping the ducks that are being bullied, very stressful which diminishes their overall health and well-being.

I'm glad I just watched that show about people in Yunnan mountain villages preserving hams yesterday. I'm thinking there's too much moisture and it rotted. They salted the hams and hung them, one in a smokey environment and one without the smoke. Both of them were very attentive to maintaining the right humidity in the rooms where they hang the hams. I think air needs to be able to circulate so that the beneficial fungi can cure the ham and prevent bacterial growth and spoilage. If the moisture is too high it will spoil, but if it's too dry the fungi won't be able to work. They make a crust around the outside of the ham eventually and trap the right amount of moisture inside.

I am not sure if the apparently unaffected hams are okay, but the rotten one I would not trust. It is sadly the eggs, and not the ham, that should be green.

Nicole Alderman wrote:It is the mating pose, and it is done by the youngest duck ladies (they were hatched this summer). They come out of their coop in the morning, and everyone does their flap-their-wings-merrily thing. Then, the duck (away from the drakes with all the other ducks busy, and the geese kind of nearby) just seems to lie down with it's neck stretched out, and the geese come over and start nipping. It's both the boy and girl geese.

It's very odd. It's usually "Ack" our rescue duck (more about Ack here). I'm honestly wondering if there's something more wrong with Ack than just her missing bill. One of the other ducks we got from Ack's previous owner also does the lay-down-with-neck-stretched out thing. All five of the ducks we got from the same place, all have slightly weird skull shapes. The owner said they were peking/runner/cayuga crosses, and all five of the ducklings look distinct, so I wouldn't think there's genetic deformities due to inbreeding, but maybe?

I tried to get a video of them, but they didn't do it again. It seems to happen in the morning. Tomorrow morning, I'll take my camera out.

Here's a picture of Ack with her weird shape--all four of her siblings have the same problem, even if only she and Qua have the messed up beaks. None of my other ducks have been lying down, and none of them have the weird shape of the head. I'll try and take a better picture of the other ducks.

Sometimes with crossbreeds of animals, even though they are able to produce viable offspring the genes may not be totally compatible. I'm not sure since they're all ducks and most domesticated  ducks are descendants of mallards. So it's possible to get deformities from the opposite of inbreeding too.
In my experience fowl will assume mating position when an animal they socialize with intimidates them... like how my chickens would always squat when I approached. Even though I'm not a rooster. I think it's common for them to do this as a submissive display to (hopefully) avoid being the target of aggression.
It is also normal for fowl to kill members of their flock that are sick, injured or deformed. Because of this the geese, which are stronger and more aggressive, may be a danger to the ducks, especially any that stand out as being weaker than the others.

EDIT: So I looked up the different duck breeds and the runners are from a relatively isolated population compared to other ducks (some islands including Bali) and they're shaped pretty differently than other ducks. They stand upright and their heads are shaped differently so I'm guessing that breeding these ducks with other varieties could result in some deformities. I'm totally just guessing.

Drew Gaugler wrote:Good point Sarah.   I'm not hiding anything, I'd email you a pic.  It's just strange to put a picture out for people to focus on when I'm not focused on looks.   I want someone comfortable with and happy with  who they are and not caring what others think.   I'm focused on who a person as a whole.  I guess ask if you want a pic, I'll email.  

I understand what you're saying. Are you looking for a platonic partner? If so, this makes sense. I feel that the means to privately contact (such as email address) is much more personal than a photograph, since it's a means of access, so I'm not willing to share something personal with a stranger on the internet who is unwilling to expose his face publicly. It's a matter of safety for me.
There are scores of men on online dating sites who are purposefully vague and/or withhold basic information for deceitful purposes. They seek to misrepresent themselves or delay exposing themselves so that they have time to sort out what the intended victim is vulnerable to so they can construct their false identity and/or manipulate accordingly. To me any deliberate omission of information commonly used to assess compatibility or interest is in itself deceitful.

I'm not at the point where I'd consider a romantic relationship with someone I don't find physically attractive. Celibacy is not so bad. Much better than being bamboozled.
I do have pictures listed in my own thread, however photobucket is a jerk and has introduced bandwidth limits and blurs my pictures now. I have yet to address this problem.

One time I started talking to this guy on the internet, he lived nearby and was writing sermons for a church and had built his own tinyhouse and all this stuff that sounded amazing. I thought for sure he was exactly the right person. The photo he sent looked okay, but it was kind of vague. Let me tell you. He didn't look anything like that picture, it was close up and angled to hide what he really looked like. When I told him (the very day we met!) that I didn't want to date him, he became very angry and said I should have told him sooner (the day we met) which was a very frightening situation for me. Fortunately I had a friend who lived nearby who came and got me out of a potentially dangerous situation. So I will be the first one to tell you, that you can easily think (mistakenly) that you know who someone is and that you have feelings for them from talking online, but reality can be completely different. This is a small snippet of the grave mishaps I call my dating experience, which prejudices me strongly against posters who are not as transparent as I'd like them to be. Insisting that you're honest and open without actually exposing yourself (not in the flasher sense) publicly is also a red flag for me.
If you're just not comfortable posting a picture of yourself on the internet, that's fine. It's your right and no one here is going to try to force you. I personally appreciate when people are just straightforward about these things.

Easy solution to not liking selfies, have someone else hold the camera :)
Honestly it is hard to take someone seriously in terms of looking for a romantic partner online without a picture.. it usually means they are hiding something. If someone is really single and not ashamed of their appearance, they usually are willing to share a photo.

G Moffatt wrote:You are about the age of my daughters, and not more messed up. As a Christian you already know the big thing: its not about you. I spent my career getting paid to give advice and am struggling somewhat giving it up. I think you should take up vloging, it is not nearly as hard to learn as Japanese, there are many free and paid courses on line to learn. Stop worrying about how you look seem or feel, get behind the camera. Few are doing much of a vlog on Permaculture, probably because editing video is way down the chore list, So learn to vlog, ghost some Permie group, When you have an income then go to Japan. We know there are Permaculturists in Japan but they are not on youtube, you have a subject, content, audience, and we know there are Americans in Japan making a living vlogging. You are already articulate, but you need a subject. There may even be someone out there in Permi-land who would house and feed you in exchange for doing their vlog, at least for a short term.

Thank you for taking the time to write such lengthy advice. I've never been interested in blogging or making videos so this really isn't my thing, I had a lot of exposure to the filmmaking process and I just don't have any interest in it or in watching other people's either. I think my biggest problem is indecisiveness rather than lack of workable options. It makes more sense to me to work warehouse for a few months (which I can tolerate) and save up, rather than try to force myself to do something I have no interest in and also can't stand doing. For example I'm doing temp work now so if I save up, I can do whatever I want to get the ball rolling in a good direction whether that is japan or just getting my own apartment in the states. I am thinking I should wait to go overseas until I have recovered from PTSD because no matter how fun it is, change is stressful. I don't actually need to learn Japanese so much as finish learning, by adding vocabulary and fluency. Thanks

Dustin Fife wrote:Thanks again for the comments. I don't mind raising the foundation higher, but how does that fix the high water table problem? Also, it seems that a higher foundation would require rebar?

To my (limited and fallible) understanding it's normal for foundations to be in contact with water. What's important is that the foundation be able to bear the load without danger of failure. As long as the wood and living space are kept dry, if you build the foundation properly and with proper drainage so the water isn't stagnating in the crawlspace, it should be okay? Our house has a sump pump to keep it dry, which is definitely not ideal as it regularly requires electricity. I would consider building the cabin on piers because of the grade and water... but I've never built anything so I'm way ignorant. Unfortunately I don't think there's a way to keep your foundation from coming in contact with water? It's just a matter of building it to tolerate those conditions and keep your living space dry. I think you can probably build higher foundations without rebar by making them wider at the base, after reading all that about rebar rusting and destroying the concrete it's embedded in... I would be reluctant to use it.
Anyway if you're still trying to sort out the foundation, do you need to insist on that location? It sounds like a bad spot for a building, if you haven't invested more than time into that spot I'd try to find a better one. A graded hill near a creek is probably going to erode quickly, especially if the soil is disturbed and tree roots are cut and such. I'm afraid your cabin may have the soil crumble out from under the foundation and go plop down the hill.
I had fun reading all the info about building stone and mortar foundations