Ramblings 3.0…from the edge

Photo by Tricia

Sitting so close to the arctic circle it gets cold up here. Yeah I know an obvious observation but because I am thinking about starting to fill my heating fuel tanks and I just copied some video of the construction of my cabin, a thought crossed my mind. In the lower 48 they make a big deal about the proper way to build homes that will keep the outside weather at bay. Up here we just build them and even at -40 to -50, for the most part, with a good heater they are comfortable.

Out on the edge here, I don’t see any energy star rating on the sides of the cabins. But I do know what it feels like to walk into a cabin at -34…toasty. The cabin I live in only has 4 inch walls and was originally constructed for seasonal use only. True it is loaded with insulation, but we go the extra steps to insure that no cold air crosses the frame’s boundary. On all the houses that I have helped build we have caulked along every seam where the frame meets the plywood, and we have added a heavy plastic sheeting across the frame before we put the wall on. We have insured that every crack around the windows and doors are totally sealed, and we have even insulated the floor joist. The ceiling’s are also packed to spec with insulation, covered with the plastic to seal it and even have an additional layer of reflective insulation.

Up here it’s just common sense to build this way, down there it’s a big deal to get a totally sealed home. Up here we enjoy our winter’s, down there most people get cold when it hits +50. Why wouldn’t home builders in the lower 48 build a tight home? My guess is ‘money’, the money the builders would loose to go the extra mile, and labor. Money because it cost more to add better insulation and it takes more man hours to seal a home properly. The labor they use may be union or an illegal either way those laborer’s have no stake in making sure the home is sealed tight. When you build for yourself you do it right.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United states of America and to the republic for which it stands (*one nation under God*) with liberty and justice for all.

Today on the radio I heard part of a story about one of the networks covering the tennis championships censoring the pledge of allegiance. On live Tv they removed the words ‘one nation under God’. The report said it was because they did not want to offend it’s viewers. The news report said the networks affiliates were swamped with calls from ‘offended’ people because the network censored the pledge.

I just thought it was another proof that our news casters and the networks have no idea what the people of this country are thinking.

All I did was open the door a crack, and don’t you know it, the shit hit dead on. No I am talking about the radio… I decided to put on one of the talk shows I usually listen to and BAM my blood pressure went up 30 points. It seems our elected representatives are still at it, and with only six weeks left till we default on our loans, they still can’t get there act together.

How hard is it to say no more new spending and an across the board 10% cut on EVERYTHING???? You bet that would hit me out here, with social security my only source of income. But it would be a shared pain to start to get our government out of this debit mess and just maybe give our children and grandchildren a stable economy.