A new place to call home....Almost

[bigken462]

Well, today, I transported the last load of home furnishings to storage. The place Ive called home for the last 5 years was closed on the 30th. I turn my keys in Saturday morning. I have nothing left in the house but a twin mattress and a TV on a cardboard box. For the first time in 45 years, I'll be officially homeless Saturday morning.

Not all is bad though, while the next 3-4 weeks will not be a ride in the park, whats awaiting me will be copious amount of gardening land and 3450 square feet of living space. While the house does have a 2 car garage that I plan to brew in, I'm a lil curious what I might could pull off in the unfinished basement. I'll still be leasing, but am free to do pretty much what I want so long as it does not detract from the house.

I currently just use one propane burner and really had my eyes on going to a single tier Brutus. Now I'm kinda needing to reconsider and think about electric. I'm a lil curious what kinda of ventilation would be needed for basement brewing. Its about a 1000sqare feet of open space. Set of steps into the house, and another set outside the house. There are a few windows, but I don't recall seeing much else. Since there are two hot water heaters down there, I should not have a problem with water. Sadly I did not think to take a look at drainage.

This post is nothing more than shop talk as I'm board out of my mind in this empty house. I can only imagine what it's going to be like in the 6x12 cargo trailer sitting outside over the next few weeks.

If moving is not ****ty enough, I've been struggling with strep throat and bronchitis over the last week. When it rain, its pours!

At least I still have HBT for entertainment till the satellite gets unpacked.

 

[Pappers_]

You're going to live in the cargo trailer for a few weeks before moving into your home? You've got my best wishes.

 

[Zuljin]

Dibs on the cardboard box.

 

[bigken462]

Yes sir. My plans are to put this twin bed in there, my chest freezer with temp controller to use as a fridge and microwave, TV and computer in the nose on a shelf. It's prewired for 110, and also has a 12 volt marine battery with cargo lighting. I used this for my scuba diving trips to avoid the hotel cost. So long as I have electric hook ups to run a heater, I should be ok.

As they say, no pain, no gain. It's one of the times in life ya just gotta suck it up and do it. Local camp ground charges 22 bucks a night for full hook ups. It'll still involve a flash light and shoes to go take a dump, but I did this for over two years in Iraq with camel spiders fighting for the watering bowl.

Doing it without getting pneumonia might be the hard part. lol

to get to this:

I keep saying it will worth it. lol

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Yes sir. My plans are to put this twin bed in there, my chest freezer with temp controller to use as a fridge and microwave, TV and computer in the nose on a shelf. It's prewired for 110, and also has a 12 volt marine battery with cargo lighting. I used this for my scuba diving trips to avoid the hotel cost. So long as I have electric hook ups to run a heater, I should be ok.

As they say, no pain, no gain. It's one of the times in life ya just gotta suck it up and do it. Local camp ground charges 22 bucks a night for full hook ups. It'll still involve a flash light and shoes to go take a dump, but I did this for almost two years in Iraq with camel spiders fighting for the watering bowl.

Doing it without getting pneumonia might be the hard part. lol

I keep saying it will worth it. lol

Propane heater for the trailer AND CO detector.

I live in trailer at the track for 4 days at a time.

I lived in about 30% more sq ft for 4 years in Iraq.

I camped in the AZ mountains for 4 months when I accidentally got myself kicked out of my college dorm.

You will be fine.

I want your garage.

 

[Paps]

Planet fitness or w/e local gym you have in your area may have low cost 1 month memberships to have access to a warm shower/bathroom at all hours.
Just on the chance you hadn't allready considetred that option.

 

[Inkleg]

All the best! Nice looking place you're moving to.
Remember, we're here as prescribed by your doctor or boredom/beer needs.

 

[bigken462]

I lived in about 30% more sq ft for 4 years in Iraq.

So you know what living in a metal hooch is like too huh? I called Tikrit home for 27 months. Worked at FOB Warhorse for a lil while, but mostly called COB Speicher home. It was only a small FOB when I started.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

So you know what living in a metal hooch is like too huh? I called Tikrit home for 27 months. Worked at FOB Warhorse for a lil while, but mostly called COB Speicher home. It was only a small FOB when I started.

Yep. Built the Iraqi Army Training base at Habaniyah. Worked on the Iraqi Special Forces compound in Al Asad. Both of those were kind of cushy.

Before that I managed the maintenance at Diywaniyah (Camp Echo) for the Polish led Coalition forces and the decommissioning of Babylon after the DFAC bombing. I may or may not have had something to do with construction of the listening post at Camp Delta (Al Kut near the Iranian border) for the Romania and Latvian intelligence guys (which may or may not have had other people listening). That last one was a hole made worse by the only way in or out...via Polish helicopter.

Edit: Bucca was the worst, though. Got called in after the detainees burned their camp to the ground. That was not fun setting up replacement housing surrounded by about 4500 pissed off locals held without trial. All this protected by mostly Air force guards.

 

[bigken462]

Yep. Built the Iraqi Army Training base at Habaniyah. Worked on the Iraqi Special Forces compound in Al Asad. Both of those were kind of cushy.

Before that I managed the maintenance at Diywaniyah (Camp Echo) for the Polish led Coalition forces and the decommissioning of Babylon after the DFAC bombing. I may or may not have had something to do with construction of the listening post at Camp Delta (Al Kut near the Iranian border) for the Romania and Latvian intelligence guys (which may or may not have had other people listening). That last one was a hole made worse by the only way in or out...via Polish helicopter.

I was a medic in the 05-07 era. Shared some good times and bad. Nothing worse than being shacked up with 20 stinking other men in a tent separated with nothing more than a clothes line. At least everyone smelled the same. lol

I think the worst part was the dang suckit trucks pumping the tanks every day right beside my hooch. If the damn country didn't smell bad enough already, the smoke from the burn pits wafted the crap right in your face.

Speicher was a good base with a pretty decent PX and food court. In the early days, it was from the back of a conex that was trucked in. Our DFAC took a few hits from a RPG and burnt the tent down so we were stuck eating old MRE's for a month or fighting the long lines at the food courts.I never thought I would miss eating the Turks highly spiced food, but I did then. By the time I got home, I could digest cold steel. lol

Remember these guys? They were the real terrorist. lol

 

[Jimbodaman]

I'm sure you could squeeze in a brew day while living at the camp ground. Good Ole Camp fire porter.

 

[bigken462]

Lol, at the first sight of the wort chiller, there would be 10 cop cars pull up. The first 5 would think I'm baking meth, the other 5 would think I'm making moonshine.

I could always tell them I'm casting for the Discovery Moonshine show and waiting on the camera guys to get back to camp. In the meantime, sit down and enjoy a homebrew. lol

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I was a medic in the 05-07 era. Shared some good times and bad. Nothing worse than being shacked up with 20 stinking other men in a tent separated with nothing more than a clothes line. At least everyone smelled the same. lol

I think the worst part was the dang suckit trucks pumping the tanks every day right beside my hooch. If the damn country didn't smell bad enough already, the smoke from the burn pits wafted the crap right in your face.

Speicher was a good base with a pretty decent PX and food court. In the early days, it was from the back of a conex that was trucked in. Our DFAC took a few hits from a RPG and burnt the tent down so we were stuck eating old MRE's for a month or fighting the long lines at the food courts.I never thought I would miss eating the Turks highly spiced food, but I did then. By the time I got home, I could digest cold steel. lol

Remember these guys? They were the real terrorist. lol

I was a heavily "cleared" construction manager, DoD trained contracts manager, and ersatz electrical inspector. I got whored out all over he DLA and other DoD agencies.

Remember this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009M6W5UQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I do not want to know the damage to my kidneys from that crap.

Lots of good memories and stories and few bad ones you only share with those who have been there. As a contractor I usually had a wall of Marines or Army between me and the bad guys but there were still situations you don't tell mom about (Ramadi...well, everything about Ramadi). Had a few hairy transitions from base to base, too.

My renter is a Army Medic that managed to avoid both Middle East Theaters and is now using his post-911 to get a cert in Massage Therapy. 26 years effective and he going to working in a Chiropractors office.

 

[bigken462]

I wonder what our Home Brewing community would think about the "near beer" they sold on base?

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I wonder what our Home Brewing community would think about the "near beer" they sold on base?

It was not even near to beer. Only the Klausthauler we occasionally got tasted anything like beer.

I may or may not have spent a lot of time with the coalition forces enjoying other adult beverages in spite of GO #1. I did do a 3-week assessment of the Basrah DoS compound and enjoyed more than my fair share of Guiness.

Funny story. I hitched a ride on an Aussie helo from the Green Zone back to VBC. It was Pilot, CoPilot and 76 cases of Victoria Bitter.

 

[bigken462]

Camp Taylor is taking shape. Now, if I just had some Blackhawks flying over it would feel like home. Lol

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