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CleverNickname

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Posts posted by CleverNickname

  1. 5 hours ago, smuggs said:

    Do you anchor the scaffolding into the sides of the shaft in any way? If not are you worried that the increasing weight of the structure, plus the weight of you climbing on it, might cause it to slip and fail in a bad way?

    it all hangs from the top, like a reverse skyscraper. If I added another set, the next set would probably need to be anchored into the sides. I think I could hollow out  niches and cement in some bolts if I had to. 

    But my plan is to try and make it to 20 ft, and then try to concrete it up in lifts (removing sets as I rise up). Once I'm at 20, I might try and go deeper straight down, but more likely I'd start going horizontal. If I didn't concrete up, I would wedge in some supports from the bottom. I think I could source some 48x30 baker scaffolding, and that might work. 

    https://www.idahogeology.org/pub/Bulletins/B-21.pdf

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  2. 2 hours ago, BearSchlong said:

    So what’s the current depth?

    Genuine holy jackhammer, Batman! you de-gloved part of your hand?

    just a gnarly blister across my palm. I was being dramatic. The depth is still around 18 ft or so. 

  3. May and June have been moist. A couple of times I was up and pretty much did nothing but pull out buckets of water and mud. Finally scout camp is over, kodd sports are on hiatus, and weather drying out. Hope to come up weekly the next 6 weeks or so.

    Fan set up, new ryobi spotlight (old crap ebay bulb fell and broke):

    20250621_112544.thumb.jpg.08b1f9c59dcb18cb478fcf8148f45c34.jpg

    Blowing air. A mouse had died and turned into a puddle of mouse. I scraped it into a bucket with a piece of leftover 2x4. I assume that's sufficient decontamination and I won't die of hanta virus maybe.

    The layer I'm at is very f'ing hard. I'm committed to knocking this down level across the whole hole. But 3 more feet of this is daunting. I did the jackhammer without gloves, and degloved some of my hand. Annoying. Rubbed some mouse puddle remains in it for good luck. 

    Big red jackhammer got stuck, so I had to get out the small red jackhammer. Annoying. But I noticed the little jackhammer chipped the rock better. I think I need to sharpen or replace the point of the big jackhammer. About to check Amazon on what a replacement costs. 

    20250622_115710.thumb.jpg.8707c8358a3b45afd8477a45afd2b602.jpg

    Got out about 4.5 buckets in 2 hours of labor. Not great. A good day is 16 buckets. A great day is 24-30. My mask keeps fogging up, too. Might look into prescription sports goggles. 

    20250622_120639.thumb.jpg.97f1e371afa29ec0d49b7672fb859d88.jpg

    20250621_112609.thumb.jpg.51bab1eb16539d42ce440e360d15b08d.jpg

     

    20250621_112609.jpg

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  4. Anyone else hoping to downsize significantly in retirement? I have the ranch/hole, so I can still live my rural junkyard dreams. But a tidy 2/2 condo we can lock and leave sounds delightful. All I want is a washer/dryer, 2 parking spaces, and not hear the neighbors through the wall too much (well, prjmary on main to age in place). The kids can stay in a hotel or VRBO when they visit. Or if they have kids, we will stay in a hotel while they have the place. We can do yearly vacation rentals over the summers. I'll gladly given the kids the equity amd well enjoy the cheaper insurance, taxes, and upkeep. 

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  5. My (teacher) wife may get a huge bonus, and it may put us over the Roth cap. A nice problem to have, I guess. But still annoying. For now we are ramping up 403b/457 savings to adjust MAGI lower. Next year we may just skip Roth IRAs altogether and stuff the 457 Roth option, but I hate it's not in Vanguard. I dislike Empower (employers vendor) a great deal. Normally at our income pre-tax savings is the way to go, but we will have pensions so there might not be a super low post retirement income. We hope we can never touch our Roth savings, and thay would be what we plan to pass down or help kods out of. 

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  6. I'd actually be interested is something like this. My ranch has electric, but no well. I do rainwater collection (1550 gal tank) off about 1000 sq ft of roof. 

    I have a rural electric coop with a minimum monthly charge. Even with a fridge constantly running, my bill often does exceeds the minimum. I think I'd prioritize (1) low low maintenance; (2) cost efficiency. Basically I'd leave it running at the ranch cabin when I'm not there, and capture the drainage like my existing rainwater system. I don't need filtering or UV. I can spike with bleach. I think anything below 1kwh per day is basically free for me. 

    Another thought is a pure 12v system than can run direct on whatever cheap panels I can scrounge up. 

    Even 2 gallons a day would be pretty cool, if the price was right. A little 100 or 200 gallon tank would be easy to set up, and I could find a use for it.

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  7. Did I want to fuck around with a wet hole? A dirty, wet hole. That was the question. 

    20250426_094658.thumb.jpg.b4a90f75bdb86b54ac570ec895d6bda3.jpg

    I did. Scooped about 10 gallons of water and muck out. Got out the big boy tool, and started jackhammering away at that dirty dirty wet hole. Penetration was hard, but I was able to get about 8 inches deep. Hopefully such that if more rain somehow migrates down it will gather in one wet sport, rather than across the whole hole. Once I get down a bu5 in one spot, it's easier to widen. 

    20250426_111205.thumb.jpg.bbb9e370f8eb0960d4d9d258e24a1528.jpg

    I moved some spare plywood amd metal panels around. Hopefully that will help channel water away. Maybe one day I'll sort of French drain or trench around to better divert surface runoff. I really want to concrete all the way from the bottom up, and pour a good sloped pad. Really manage the water better. Might be fun to make it a little storage hut, with a trap door. 

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  8. Sometimes there are crickets and 

    2 hours ago, miguelito said:

    I think you would have mentioned it, but have you had any critters fall in there and couldn't get out?  Bugs, furry beasts, sneks, whatever. 

    Sometimes there are crickets. And tiny frogs that maybe eat crickets. And one time I found a snakeskin shef from a snake who probably eats frogs. But I think I have it sealed better now, and that doesn't seem to happen much. I'm always worried some dumbass deer is gonna fall in and die. But if I leave the plywood on, it gets too humid. 

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  9. Went up last night.

    20250418_204738.thumb.jpg.9d8de9136fa59f94be0b74c5e2d61298.jpg

    Ran the extensi9n cord and got things ready for the morning. Wall needed trimming. 

    20250419_072859.thumb.jpg.84b190bc1bc62bc287c5c276476f681d.jpg

    spreader it:

    20250419_085656.thumb.jpg.22aa08f805e6eb89e7af4cdb35de31b5.jpg

    other side:

    20250419_085700.thumb.jpg.18c237bd0b7f5e0e91705f2e22888c89.jpg

    Dangling noodle. Happens. While I was in the hole is started storming. I figured, safe place to be. Byt the plywood cover caught some flow of the roof and channeled right on my head. You can see it in the first photo. Ugh. So that was it for today. Got out maybe 7 buckets. I need to around and raise the lowest level by abiut 3 inches but it was kinda wet so I left it for now.

    20250419_085647.jpg

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  10. 7 hours ago, TKthunder2 said:

    Wife and kids are at a hotel where multiple other neighbors are also staying. Men are taking turns posting watch. Got my house boarded up best we can. Insurance adjuster comes by tomorrow and hope to get movers out by end of the week. Still looking for a rental in the area.

    will it be a total loss? Old Mr Johnsons house is a total loss.

  11. 32 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

    It keeps him occupied and out of her hair. She probably looks forward to him disappearing down there. 

    The boy likes hanging out with me at the ranch. As long as I don't spend too much on the hole, she is okay with it. Not so much as a fan of me going alone all day, if the kids are keeping her busy, which is fair. But all in all it may he cheaper than golf, and less time consuming too.

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  12. 1 hour ago, Spaulding Smails said:

    What, if anything are you doing to keep the hole plumb / square?  Looks like you're doing a good job maintaining dimension, but are you doing anything to keep everything straight?  Does it even matter?

    Not much and probably not enough. Generally the threaded rod wants to hang down. But if it does wander, not that much. I'll clean up maybe later when (if) I dod concrete.

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