R. Ford

I would go with 1x4's (hardwood would be better than pine, but both have been used historically) and lay them 45 degrees to the joists. My house has all rough cut 1x4's so they are truly 1" thick. Some of them have been there since 1890.

Robert Ray wrote:I don't know when I stopped, opening the car door for my wife.

Never too soon to start back. People look at me like i'm crazy sometimes for it, but I know it would hurt my wife's feelings just a little bit if I quit, even if she would never say so or admit it.

In my rural part of North Carolina, (USA) we still bring food to anyone who lost a loved one or has a major unexpected hospitalization. Our church has a lady who has taken it on herself to coordinate those meals amongst the community folks, and when a need arises, she calls and asks if there is a day we could help out so that they don't get more food at once than they can handle.

One of my favorite customs of days gone by that is somewhat still around, but much less common place than it should be is taking extra veggies and fruits grown to the elderly or shut ins in the community.

One of my favorite Paul Harvey quotes:
"At the end of a dirt road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn't, some neighbor would fill it with too much Zucchini."

An old timer told me this recipe for the absolute best way to eat a carp:

Take large carp and nail it to a board using three nails directly through the body.
Leave it out in the sun for three days.
Remove carp, and eat the board.


I don't necessarily agree with him, because I've had some carp that was pretty good, but i struggle to get myself excited about eating them as long as I have access to catfish, particularly flatheads.

While your exact reaction to cut it all down is my first as well, i have found myself attempting to be a better person and to use kindness where a younger me would have met them at their same level of vitriol and beaten them with experience. I attempt (poorly) to imitate Christ because I am a Christian, but even outside of religion, we can all aspire to be a better version of ourselves. If you know these people, take them a basket of fruit, explain to them that you didn't mean to come off the way you did, but that you had been putting plenty of effort into saving those plants and helping them thrive, with the hope of enjoying some of the fruits of your labor. They may take it and you might make closer friends, or they may slam the door in your face, Either way, you've done more than your fair share to be kind to them, whether they deserve it or not. I'm not familiar with the plants you are referring to, but perhaps you can take some cuttings or suckers and start some new bushes, well away from the public right of way, and if things worked out between you and them, maybe start a few for them as well.

If I get extra ricotta, I always try to make cannoli. Mix the ricotta with powdered sugar and orange zest, with a little bit of vanilla extract. It makes a wonderful filling.

Using the left over heat to dry wood is an interesting idea, but i believe it will be much too difficult to manage if he is making any type of dimensional lumber. Kilns have precise temperature control needs and schedules. Depending on thickness of wood, you could be talking 5 days or up to 8 weeks. Dry the wood too fast and it cups, warps, and splits. Too quickly and mold and fungi become your main issues. Air drying skips most of that worry. If you decide to give it a try, let us know how the project turns out!

Just tossing it out there to you or anyone else. If anyone would like some panels like these sent to them, or even in different thicknesses of plywood (These are 1/4" but I have 1/2" and 3/4" as well) I will gladly send them to them for the cost of shipping to help some fellow permies out. Same goes for 1x4,6,and 8 scraps of kiln dried pine boards. No treatment other than heat.

When i lived in the South Carolina low country, I would eat a single match head every day starting in late march or early April, all the way through thanksgiving. The mosquitos down there drink deet like sailors drink rum, but they wouldn't even land on me. A friend had told me that that is what they did in vietnam, because every MRE came with a pack of matches. I'm sure i was ingesting some nasty extra chemicals as well, but i weighed it against a hundred mosquito bites a day, and happily poisoned myself.  

Concrete cisterns are still very much in use in the mountains of NC. My grandfather's spring fed cistern (built by my great great grandfather) was the only clean water on his little road (9 houses in a holler) for over a week after Helene came through. When it was built it fed 4 houses and a church. Today, the church has been converted to a house, but it still feeds 3 houses, including one newer one and that church house. I also used to run a summer camp that had a giant concrete cistern that fed the whole camp. It was fed by two large deep wells and served a camp of 400 kids plus staff. I can't remember how many gallons it was, but it had an 8" line coming out of it and it was approximately 80 feet in elevation above the highest point of use.