Not the kind of reponse I expected

[Andre1969]

Wow, after hearing some of this talk, I'm starting to get the urge to Tivo "Green Acres" on TVLand!

I don't know how much "roughing it" I could take, but I can certainly see the attraction. Plus, if it keeps uninvited guests away, all the better! (yes, I can be antisocial sometimes 8) )

 

[tozz]

Kitty, the house sounds great! And your memories of New England ring true. I lived in Maine during the 1980's and the phone company in the next county over still only supported crank telephones.

 

[TromboneAl]

Andre,

Two of my neighbors have picked up and moved their houses to escape erosion of the cliff by the ocean. One moved across the street, another across and up a block. A lot more doable than I would have expected.

 

[maddythebeagle]

You can always add on to the moved structure if you want. I added a living room on when I rebuilt. Where I am, you need 40 acres for a new house. I dont know how people can afford that much on their housing costs.

 

[Brat]

My husband helped a neighbor remodel a very old building built by the Navy (original construction stout).  It had several issues but good "bones".  The cost to move the building on the site was not high.  A new foundation enabled the owner to assure that the foundation had proper drainage, placement of sewer, water, power and heating was easy.  The side was sloped so a new daylight basement added another 2/3 to the finished square footage. 

If you don't remodel more than 20% of a building at a time in most juristictions code issues don't get complicated.

 

[Andre1969]

If anyone's interested, here's a pic of my house...or, at least a pic of what it looked like about 40 years ago!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/House/12112DL_1965_200dpi.jpg

About the only differences now are that the front porch has been completely closed off, and converted to a small office/walk-in closet. It makes it look ugly from the front, and if I do move it back, I'm going to restore the porch. Also, the little fake-me-out balcony railing across the windows upstairs got taken off years ago, for whatever reason. About a year and a half ago when I was cleaning up, I found it, behind a pile of rotted stockade fencing and other old wood leaning up against a storage building. Needless to say, it was shot.

Here's what it looks like now...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/jgandrew/House/012205_HouseSnow.jpg

With the house being so long and narrow, it shouldn't take much effort at all to move it. It really doesn't have much of a footprint.

 

[Eagle43]

What happened to the '53 Chevy in the first pic? It is a '53 Chevy,right??

 

[Andre1969]

Yeah, I think it's a '53 Chevy. The original pic I scanned that from had a 1965 date on it. By that time, my grandparents had inherited the house from Grandma's aunt and uncle, and they were renting it out. So it belonged to whatever tenant was living there at the time, I guess. I heard my Granddad's sister had a '53 Chevy at one time though, so it might've been hers. She always liked new cars though, so I couldn't imagine her driving something that old in 1965!

But yeah, I guess the '53 sure beats out the Intrepid in the current picture!

 

[farmerEd]

I will not buy a building constructed in the last 10 years unless my husband supervised its construction.  Current building codes do not address moisture protection and too many contractors are building to code when the inspector is looking.  Give me an old house any day.

You are right about that...many houses today are being built like they started building cars 15 or so years ago...as throwaways...build them cheaply, use 'em up, bulldoze them down, and repeat. How many of the house built in the last 5 years will still be standing 150 years from now? Not many I would guess.

 

[TromboneAl]

And be sure to get those three girls in your other album to help you move the house!

 

[JPatrick]

And be sure to get those three girls in your other album to help you move the house!

Oh for shame!!!

 

[Andre1969]

Hey, I don't know them...I swear I don't! I've always had a thing for old Chryslers though, and saw that one on eBay, so I just HAD to save the picture! 8)

 

[JPatrick]

Hey, I don't know them...I swear I don't!  I've always had a thing for old Chryslers though, and saw that one on eBay, so I just HAD to save the picture!   8)

Actually that looks like the crew AAA sent out when I ran out of gas last time. That upgrade to AAA Platinum was worth every penny.

 

[laurence]

I am, for once, speechless.

Oh, but now I know to make sure my photobucket is strictly G-rated when T-Al is around, otherwise he'll find it!

 

[Kitty]

Wow, thanks for the responses. I wish I had the knowledge to send a picture of the farm it does look .....well rural

Now if the back would cooperate and get the appriasal done I would then know where I stand financially.

Ahh, well one step at a time ......easy does it....got to learn to slow down and enjoy life.
Kitty

 

[bruce1]

://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topiNot all parts of the country get enough steady sunshine for photovoltaic arrays

Windpower may also be an option, Kitty.  When I am back to work Tuesday I'll look up some links.

I would go slow with any modernisation. I have an old farmhouse and when I was younger wanted the newest stuff but now sometimes the shack out back looks good and I would keep it simpler now. I have a couple of old gas lights I am going to install again.

When I was young (1950's) we were off the grid until I was nine.  May be again but short days in winter here (S Ontario). I have been followig Nords posts on photovoltaic though.

Hope this works out for you and remember to have fun doing it. 

Bruce

 

[haha]

I have a home in the country and many of my neighbors have no utilities in the house. They have plenty of money, just want a more quaint experience. They use the garden hose to shower etc. Some people seem to think there opinion is the only one.

This amazes me. These are people voluntarily living like my Grandfather who was born in 1864 lived? Rural electrification showed up at his farm summer of 1948. He didn't much like it, and by February of 1949 he went ahead and died.

I remember hating the glare of electric lights, after spending many of my summers there with nothing after dark brighter than kerosene lamps. Lights didn't bother me at my parents’ home in the city, but I was accustomed to it there. Still, I am glad I didn't have to go to school with no light to study, no bathroom, nothing but a cold sponge bath on very cold mornings.

Not to mention needing to chase down dinner, then watch it run around headless spurting blood all over.

I wasn't too crazy about outhouses and corn cobs or sears catalog paper either.

Haha

 

[Andre1969]

Hey Kitty, if you have some digital camera pics of your farm and want them posted, you can email them to me and I'll set them up for you. My email's in my profile.

 

[JPatrick]

Quote from: spike on August 10, 2005, 08:06:56 AM
I have a home in the country and many of my neighbors have no utilities in the house. They have plenty of money, just want a more quaint experience. They use the garden hose to shower etc
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little more of the "whats old is new again craze perhaps."

Now if someone can just figure out a way to make that garden hose stay above you so the need to hold it is eliminated - -well then you'd have something!
The experience would be kind of like being outside during a rain "shower."  Nah,,that would be silly.

 

[Eagle43]

This amazes me. These are people voluntarily living like my Grandfather who was born in 1864 lived? Rural electrification showed up at his farm summer of 1948. He didn't much like it, and by February of 1949 he went ahead and died.

I remember hating the glare of electric lights, after spending many of my summers there with nothing after dark brighter than kerosene lamps. Lights didn't bother me at my parents’ home in the city, but I was accustomed to it there. Still, I am glad I didn't have to go to school with no light to study, no bathroom, nothing but a cold sponge bath on very cold mornings.

Not to mention needing to chase down dinner, then watch it run around headless spurting blood all over.

I wasn't too crazy about outhouses and corn cobs or sears catalog paper either.

Haha

Yeah, the good old days sucked. I do remember the chicken, no head. Ugh! And then you had to pluck the smelly carcass! Only did it a couple of times, but that was enough. Gimme KFC anyday.

 

[Dawg52]

Yeah, the good old days sucked.  I do remember the chicken, no head. Ugh!  And then you had to pluck the smelly carcass!  Only did it a couple of times, but that was enough.  Gimme KFC anyday.   

I never plucked any chickens, but I do remember when the first KFC restaurant opened here. (somewhat of a city boy) KFC is good......but I will take my moms good ole southern fried chicken anyday.   

I like your house Andre. I would restore the front porch though. Good luck with it all!

 

[haha]

Yeah, the good old days sucked.  I do remember the chicken, no head. Ugh!  And then you had to pluck the smelly carcass!  Only did it a couple of times, but that was enough.  Gimme KFC anyday.   

Eagle, you know how certain smells really stick with you? New cut hay or freshly plowed bottom land on the good side. But on the evil side, nothing compares to what a chicken smells like after it's been dipped in the boiling cauldron so the pin feathers can be plucked.

Now that was really sickening!

Haha

 

[SteveR]

I toured a Con Agra chicken processing plant once..........live chickens come in on one end of the plant......frozen chicken parts including KFC ones come out the other end.

The smells, sights and sounds sort of stay with you.

I still remember the lung sucking machine.

 

[Patrick]

I still remember the lung sucking machine.   

Lung sucking machine? More info, please.

 

[SteveR]

Patrick,

OK, but remember you asked for more information on the lung sucking machines.

Here goes:

Live chickens are taken from cages and hung up side down (by their feet) on a moving conveyor. The conveyor takes the chickens to the beheading machine... think rotary razor blade from hell.

The beheaded chickens are then dunked in very hot water and move to a room with several rotating cylinders with rubber fingers on them to remove feathers.

Next is the gas flame to burn off and left over feathers.....nice aroma as you can imagine.

Finally we come to the Lung Sucker. It is a beast of a machine that attacks each bird and clamps on to the upper (open part) of the neck and then applies suction to remove the lungs from the birds. They are ejected into a large cart on wheels. (I don't what to know what happens to them).

After the lungs are removed the birds are ready for cutting and this is all a hand operation. Several people at stainless steel work stations will remove a bird from the line and will remove parts from the bird in a certain order by cutting off with very sharp knives. Unwanted parts are sent down a trough to who knows where.

The end result is chicken parts ready for freezing.

Don't ask if you really don't want to know. I saw this 30 years ago and I can still remember it very clearly.

The beef industry is similar but on a much larger scale.

Want to know about feed lots with 250,000 cows eating and pooping? You have never smelled anything like it..... Most are over 2 miles square. That is a lot of poop to clean up. Think bulldozers all day.
Different strokes for different folks.