Category Archives: Home Life

Stuff going on in my personal life.

Quote of the day—BioViva Science

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In fiction and the popular imagination the quest for youth is associated with a bevy of unsavory characters: pharaohs, vampires, and Saturday morning villains. Yet the real face of longevity research is us, all of us. All of us who have ever had to watch a friend or family member lose everything to an age-related illness, all of us who have had to sit by while a “natural” process executed an innocent person. What sort of perverse imagination could think anyone deserves to die in this way?

BioViva Science
Email sent on November 11, 2021
[I’ve had many people tell me something to the effect of there being something wrong with wanting to live for much longer than the currently expected lifetimes. The reasons were varied and none were compelling to me. Probably the best was something to the effect that there needed to be “room” for new people with new ideas to prevent a stagnation of civilization and possibly technological advancement.

The worst was rather personal.

As my mother was sliding away with Alzheimer I had a friend cheerfully tell me I should enjoy the natural aging. As that is what she did as her grandfather as his brain failed and he could no longer recognize family and friends or speak coherently.

I didn’t accept her advice then and I don’t now.

There is evidence scientists are close to effective treatments if not outright cures for dementia. With my family history I see this as a race between scientists and time. I have a rather keen interest in this race as my life has a much higher than acceptable risk of being decided by the winner.—Joe]

Underground nuclear bunker

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‘We Live in a 6,000 Square Foot Underground Nuclear Bunker’

The bunker is primarily made up of four large rooms that all have 16.5ft ceilings. As you enter, you reach the smallest room. Then you get to the second biggest room, and turning to the right from there is the largest room. Circling back from there, you come to a smaller room at the back. There is also a mezzanine and a pump room and a small fan room. The first room was originally an office space, the second largest room was the telecommunications equipment room and the largest room was the battery room. That one room is 1,700 square feet.

There is only about 4ft of earth above us, but the whole structure is built with two feet of reinforced concrete, and I have heard that rebar is as thick as a human arm. It’s also electromagnetic pulse (EMP) shielded; the whole structure has a copper mesh around it in case there was an EMP burst, in order to protect the electronics. We have a 3,000lb blast door at the front, a 2,000lb blast door at the back and an escape hatch. The escape hatch leads to a full stairwell that you can go up and leave through. My understanding is that the bunker can withstand a near-miss nuclear explosion. As long as we are not vaporized in the crater, we should be OK.

Interesting, but no thank you. This isn’t for me. I’m not opposed to the heavy doors, EMP shielding, and the four feet of earth is acceptable. I don’t need or want 6,000 square feet to take care of. Nor would I want to have to spend hundreds of thousands to remodel it into something resembling a reasonable floor plan. The escape hatch would be kind of nice though.

My grade school was small

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Back in the days of the dinosaurs schools were much smaller. This is the first through the fourth grade with the one and only teacher:

TeakeanCavendishStudents

I’m the third boy from the left. Verl Presnall, who I mentioned when he died just over a year ago, is the first boy on the left. Second boy from the left, L.J., worked at CCI for decades.

Thanks to cousin Janis, first girl from the left, who posted the picture on Facebook.

Right to Bear Arms

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Via email from Rolf:

Recommended Age Range: 4-12

The Right to Bear Arms is a tool designed to assist parents in teaching children about the Second Amendment and constitutional liberties.  It highlights the time Charisma Cat attempted to take over the forest by using tricks, social shame, and manipulation to convince other animals to give up their teeth and claws.  Only the Bears refuse to surrender their arms.  You can guess what happens next.

I just ordered a copy for a Christmas gift for my grandson.

Son-in-law on Reticule Up Podcast

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John is my son-in-law:

He brings up and talks about Boomershoot.

Bolt action

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I recently received a gift from son-in-law Jacob:

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Yes, it’s a bolt action pen in a nice box.

I’m using it to sign documents associated with guns and explosives.

More deer than people

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Because of the gun range I spent quite a bit of time on my land in Idaho this summer. I saw more deer than people. I’m pretty sure it was the same deer multiple times. They came out of the woods at the same place, ate my crops in the same area of the field, and I’m pretty sure I was recognizing some of them.

Here is a picture of one group of seven (click to enlarge and see there are two next to each other at the upper left) about 250 yards away:

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I saw as many as 14 at one time in this same area. Some of them would come as close as about 25 yards away without much fear as long as I didn’t pay much attention to them.

There were also other parts of my field deer visited but this was where I saw them most frequently.

Of course there is Wi-Fi

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Earlier this evening I finished installing and testing the solar powered Wi-Fi for my gun range:

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I’m paying for 6Mpbs/3Mpbs and SpeedTest.net says this is what I’m getting from a server in Seattle at 9:30 PM and two Wi-Fi hops from my router which is a half mile away:

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I’m pleased with the result.

Range construction is complete

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The range proper is complete. I have some grass to plant and a few other niceties to finish up but it is entirely functional now.

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The shooting box is at 15 yards.

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This is from about 35 yards.

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The pavers protect the washed river rock and drain tile directly underneath from dirt.

I need to get some target stands for USPSA paper and steel targets and a full set of Steel Challenge targets. That probably won’t happen until next year.

Minor range update

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Barb hasn’t had a chance to visit my gun range and made a comment about the size being somewhat small. I parked my car in it and put some targets in the berm for scale so she could get a better idea of the scale:

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She has revised her view of the size.

The tile inside the range and more gravel was installed yesterday and the washed river rock was put over the tile today.

Today I made two trips into town to pick up some concrete pavers to cover the gravel over the tile to prevent the dirt from plugging up the gravel and tile line. As the dirt from the berm starts to cross the paver line I will “rehabilitated” the berm.

The range still needs some more gravel but that should be completed tomorrow. Then it will be done!

I now need to invite Mike B. over. I told him about my project last winter and I promised to invite him over when it was done.

Update: The picture below is from across the road looking up range at the retaining wall for the berm. This is the reason for higher blocks on the left side than the right:

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Large trucks would be visible from the range if the extra blocks were not present.

Range construction update

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Last Saturday I said I expected the range to be completed by the end of this week or early next week. I was on site yesterday and it only lacked rock and gravel which are being put down today (and possibly Monday).

Below are the latest pictures.

Continue reading →

The castle wall

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Yesterday someone pointed out the walls for my current home project look a lot like castle walls. He was correct. And from certain angles this is especially true:

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I expect the project to be completed by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week. When it is done I’ll supply more pictures.

Eagle Scout fundraiser

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The daughter of a long time Boomershooter has a daughter working on her Eagle Scout project and needs some money to complete it.

Here is her GoFundMe pitch:

Hello, everyone! My name is Elysia, and I’m a Scout from Troop 498. I want to be the first female Scout from my Troop.

For my Eagle Project, I want to build a eagle-perching pole on Eagle Island in Eagle Lake. A previous Eagle Scout put a pole on the island for our local eagles to perch on. It was there for many years, but it was made from a fallen tree, and eventually it rotted, and it fell during a winter wind storm. The community has wanted to replace it with something better, but there are a lot of projects they want to do, and not a lot of people that want to take charge. They were very happy when I said I wanted to do this!

My plan is to get a 35-foot aluminum flagpole and mount it in a concrete foundation on the island. At the top, I will put a lightweight triangular perching structure to replace the usual ball at the top of the flagpole. I will build the perching structure out of aluminum pipe and aluminum sheets, welded together into support arms, with some hardwood dowels for the eagles to actually perch on.

The flagpole is the most expensive part of the whole project at about $3750, but we need a pole like that because:

  • We need to transport the flagpole to the island by rowboat, and it comes in two 75-lb pieces. Wood utility poles would be too heavy to transport, even if they float.
  • The island is only 20-feet in diameter, so the pole needs to be light enough for a few people to lift it into the foundation socket without heavy equipment
  • Wood will eventually rot away, but we’re using only aluminum pole, aluminum screws and aluminum parts for the perch, so we won’t get galvanic corrosion between different metals.
  • The pole is rated for 60mph winds with a flag on it, so that should stand up to windstorms even with the perch at the top
  • It should be strong enough for 12-lb eagles to land on, but too wobbly for them to try to build a nest on it.

I hope to build the concrete foundation for the flagpole in August while the weather is dry and the lake is low. Then I’ll get the aluminum parts together to build the perch assembly, and some of the volunteers from my troop know some Boeing engineers with the right kind of equipment to weld aluminum. (I have my Welding merit badge, but welding aluminum is not like welding steel!)

About me:

  • My cultural background is Peruvian, Texan, English, and Cantonese, and my dad is a US Veteran.
  • The Hamlin Robinson School is the best school for kids with dyslexia and language development difficulties. They really helped me! I hope they can help someone you know.
  • I am learning American Sign Language, and I hope I can earn my Translator patch soon.
  • I help my grandma at the Shelton Community Lifeline, when I can. If we raise more money than we need for this project, and my local community agrees, I want to use any extra to help the homeless shelter.

After my $50 donation she has 3,920 of her $4,500 goal. Can you guys push her over the top? Donate here.

The number of the beast

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On a recent drive to Idaho I had just finished listening to the audible book version of Heinlein’s The Number of the Beast* when I saw this:

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* Did you know he also wrote an alternate universe version of this book, which is about alternate universes?

Sign of the times

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On June 28th a nearby weather station posted a record shattering 114.6F.

Barb and I saw this on our morning walk on July 2nd:

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Close up:

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Most people in the Seattle area didn’t have A/C in their homes. Even multi-million dollar homes.

That is changing.

Sign of the times

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There is more than a little truth in this:

HerHimSelfSustaining

Quote of the day—Kim

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Gun powder and sunshine make me nostalgic.

Kim
April 29, 2021
[Daughter Kim was at the Boomershoot staff dinner last night. At the table with us were Tim and T.J.

Tim told a story about his mom making homemade bread and he didn’t really appreciate and realize big of a deal it was that she did that. When he was young he didn’t want to eat it because he wanted bread just like the other kids at school had. When he was in the last couple years of high school he liked it because it tasted so good. His mom died on the same day he graduated from high school. Because he was still young and wasn’t fully aware of how special that homemade bread was he had never told her that he appreciated it.

Kim then asked me, “Do you remember how when I was young you would take me to the matches at the Lewiston Pistol Club?”

“Uhh… yeah.”

“Well, now, gun powder and sunshine make me nostalgic. I told someone at work about this and they said I need to tell you. I hadn’t done it yet. Tim’s story reminded of that.”

There was a bit of a pause and then T.J. said, “She’s a keeper.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sam Jacobs

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Today’s colleges are little more than indoctrination factories for the foot soldiers of a cadre of militants intensely hostile toward Western civilization and the American way of life. We should be mindful about salvaging whatever we can from them while aggressively kneecapping their ability to brainwash our children and attack our freedoms.

Sam Jacobs
American Education: Child Indoctrination, Struggle Sessions and Debt Slavery
[This article resonated rather strongly with me. Last Saturday daughter Jaime told of the indoctrination being done on my 2nd grader grandson. It’s close to horrifying and short of home schooling there doesn’t seem to be a solution. She has complained up through the ranks as far as the school board where it appears they are simply ignoring her.

I would be incline to retreat to my underground bunker (I wish!) in Idaho with my children and their kids and wait out the collapse of civilization. But the communists always hunt you down and take your possessions, if not your life, in the name of equality/fairness/whatever-excuse. So the options are becoming more limited with each passing month.—Joe]

Idaho is number 2

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Washington hasn’t pushed me out yet but Idaho has a strong pull:

Best States for Gun Owners (2020)

Top 5 – Best Gun-Friendly States

1. Arizona
2. Idaho
3. Alaska
4. Kansas
5. Oklahoma

In part, we have Idaho Firearms Alliance and Mike Brown to thank for this.

Washington is number 38.

Snowmageddon 2021

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The sky has been sort of teasing us with a few snowflakes for several days. Then, last night, it got serious. By about 6:30 PM there was an accumulation of ten inches in our backyard.

Here is the view of the front of the house after I finished shoveling about 4:30 this afternoon. Barb started the work about 10:30 AM and I had a couple inches to remove from the stairs, sidewalk, and part of the driveway which had accumulated since she did her share.

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So far it looks similar to Snowmageddon 2017 and just a few days later in the month than then.

We are thankful it is nothing like Snowpocalypse 2019.which gave us over 16 inches of snow and nearly canceled our wedding. Interestingly that storm was almost exactly the same days in February as this year.

We’re thinking maybe we should spend the middle weeks of February in Hawaii on the odd number years from now on.

Update 2/14/2021: Barb “played snowplow” this morning and cleaned the driveway and sidewalk again:

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We have now essentially run out of room to put the snow. I’m glad it’s supposed to warm up today and continue with above freezing temperatures through the next few days.