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your bucket list

Started by billy rubin, March 18, 2020, 03:09:12 PM

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billy rubin

hey

where i live in america i am surrounded by people who don't take this 21st century plague seriously. if we follow on the track laid out by italy, we're going to have a bunch of dead people. maybe me, too. it makes me reflect on what i'm doing here.

and so we come to the bucket lists.

what on yours? what used to be on yours but isn't any more because you've changed?

what was on it that you've accomplished, or still want to?

in no particular order, here are some of mine:

-- live in the country

-- keep bees

-- race a championship motorcyle

-- be able to identify all the trees where i live, and all the small mammals. and the birds, and the herps, and the fish.

-- build a tesla coil

-- learn to hang glide

-- jump out of an airplane

-- become competent in spanish

-- marry the most wonderful woman in the world

-- stay married to her

some of ^^these ive managed to do. some are contnuing projects. some i'm running out of time on.

what's yours?


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Kusa

I've done most everything I wanted to do. I just want to retire in the mountains living in a log cabin by a large stream or river.

billy rubin

well then you should keep bees too.


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Kusa

Quote from: billy rubin on March 18, 2020, 10:08:54 PM
well then you should keep bees too.
What sort of gratification comes with bee keeping?

jumbojak

One cafe fight.

Skydiving.

Learn to dance.

Take up rock climbing.

Make beef Wellington.

Build a house.


"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

billy rubin

Quote from: Kusa on March 19, 2020, 12:01:21 AM
Quote from: billy rubin on March 18, 2020, 10:08:54 PM
well then you should keep bees too.
What sort of gratification comes with bee keeping?

i have been stung three times on the end of my pecker.

the sting is unfortunate, but the swelling is impressive.


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Kusa

Quote from: billy rubin on March 19, 2020, 10:00:05 AM
Quote from: Kusa on March 19, 2020, 12:01:21 AM
Quote from: billy rubin on March 18, 2020, 10:08:54 PM
well then you should keep bees too.
What sort of gratification comes with bee keeping?

i have been stung three times on the end of my pecker.

the sting is unfortunate, but the swelling is impressive.
That doesn't make me want to run out and buy a bee hive. Any other reasons to get started in the bee business?

Kusa

Quote from: jumbojak on March 19, 2020, 02:34:30 AM
One cafe fight.

Skydiving.

Learn to dance.

Take up rock climbing.

Make beef Wellington.

Build a house.
When you say build a house, do you mean that literally?

I build my first house many years ago with the help of my father. We did about 95% of the construction, framing, wiring, plumbing, etc.  It took us two years working 7 days a week to finish a 2400 square ft house. It sounds like fun but I'll never do it again. The upside was I had a decent size house with only $50,000 in it.

Dark Lightning

I put an addition on my previous house. It took me 18 months of weekends, holidays and vacation days. I'll never do it again, though the sweat equity we earned when we sold was nice.

xSilverPhinx

I haven't really given it enough thought to put a list together but I few things I definitely would like to do before I die are:

Travel (especially to Europe, I've never been to Europe...);

Write a fiction book (though I still have a lot to learn before I feel like an even remotely competent writer);

Start and finish a PhD (*sweats nervously*);

Keep a houseplant for a reasonable amount of time without it dying due to neglect (I'm thinking about getting another cactus, those are tough motherfuckers! Hopefully it won't die as well ::) );

I think that's basically it for the moment. :chin:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


jumbojak

Yes, I want to build it myself. I'd like to cut some timber, fire up the sawmill, and start at the beginning. Concrete work would probably get farmed out.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Kusa

Quote from: jumbojak on March 19, 2020, 01:15:02 PM
Yes, I want to build it myself. I'd like to cut some timber, fire up the sawmill, and start at the beginning. Concrete work would probably get farmed out.

The brick part of the foundation was the only thing I had farmed out. I could have done it but it would've add another year probably because I'm not a brick layer.

Now I will say that cutting my own timber sounds like fun. I've never ran a sawmill before.

jumbojak

Running the mill is easy. Getting the logs loaded can be a workout though.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

billy rubin

Quote from: Kusa on March 19, 2020, 12:21:03 PM
That doesn't make me want to run out and buy a bee hive. Any other reasons to get started in the bee business?

well, i made my living with a bee outfit in california for ten years, and i'm looking for a source of additional income here in the eastern united states over the next few years. where i am now, a healthy beehive will make something like 140 pounds of honey per year. varietal is un usual, mostly the best you can get is a spring mix from the trees and a later season wildflower honey from goldenrods and asters. unprocessed raw honey sells at farmers markets for ten bucks a pound or better.

its also possible to do some commercial pollination around here. that was the lion's share of my income in california, where i rented bees to pollinate fruits, vegetables, and seeds. ere there isn't much except the melons down on the ohio river, but there's a significant acreage there for a small beekeeper.

i also made money raising and selling queen bees. that's where most of the money is, but you can't do that in ohio. you have to have pollen in february and good flight weather in march to get the market.

if you have fruit trees or a garden, saturating your area with honeybees will pollinate the stuff that needs insects. that's most of what we eat. i'm mostly vegetarian during a lot of the year, and i'd like to produce more of my own food here at the home ranch. so having the nbees around will increase yields of some of the perennials i already have in the ground.

and bees are also just interesting livestock. they require minimal care, if you stay on top of the diseases and parasites. and they have the capacity to increase quickly. my wife and i started with one hive. th enext year we had 30. the year after that 100-something, then 300, 500, 600, 700, and 800. their behavior is fascinating, and you can't mess with them without learning something every time you open a hive, if youre paying attention.

and something else that is really a plus. i live in the country, way out, with no neighbors. but the hayfield to the north has a nice building site on it, and i don't want to see a house there.  a yard of beehives on the property line is a great way to scare off potential homebuilders. the more the better.

we'll start with the four i've got coming, and see about building up to a hundred or two.


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

billy rubin

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on March 19, 2020, 01:13:43 PM

Keep a houseplant for a reasonable amount of time without it dying due to neglect (I'm thinking about getting another cactus, those are tough motherfuckers! Hopefully it won't die as well ::) );


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_the_Aspidistra_Flying


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."