Sunday, January 30, 2011

BOOMERS & EARTHSHIPS

When you find your land you might consider building an EARTSHIP.
Defined in Wikipedia;
"An Earthship is a type of passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials. Designed and marketed by Earthship Biotecture of Taos, New Mexico, the homes are primarily constructed to work autonomously and are generally made of earth-filled tires, using thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperature."

This concept can be applies to other areas than Taos and other materials other than rammed-earth tires.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

BOOMERS & Self Reliance & become much more self-sufficient

Without $$$ I keep getting to LAND
then WATER.

I'll come back to this - research!!! ya know.

WHEEEOOO I beginning to feel like WEB BOT and a WEB CRAWLER ~~~~~~ then the Mediterranean !!!! Things are changing - again!!

If you have the money, a lot of LAND can be used and if you can create income. Otherwise you will need to stay in place.

http://seniorark.com/index.htm
Is an interesting site, but there is a lot of redundancy, and their Google Groups has attracted a lot of "raw" and inapropriate posts.

Friday, January 28, 2011

BOOMER COMMUNES AND EARTH SHIPS

Ok Boomers (I prefer that to the "elderly") most of your stories are close to mine. I just got back from the Realtor to "short sell" my house. I still work eight hours a day - on getting another job, or creating a business. Still the "hand writing on the wall" seems clear.
76 million of us were born between 1945 and 1964 and we were tagged “BABY BOOMERS”. There are not as many of us in 2011 and some have done well and some have not.
I do notice that most of us are doing this alone, albeit with a spouse (partner or what-ever).
It seems those of us that fall into the “have not” group need to remember when we cal together to get things done. It seems we need to “commune” together and change society again, if only our part it.
Just a thought BOOMER COMMUNES!!!!
PS ya know the Amish stay together maybe we need to “COME TOGETHER” (seems I have heard that phrase put to music)

We could go to SLAB CITY -NO RENT NO WATER (or limited) no 'lectric (or limited)
and I hear a lot about anarchy???

Thursday, January 27, 2011

ALRIGHT HOW 'BOUT "EARTH SHIPS"?

ALL right to start off;
from http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/QandA/earthshipQandA.htm -
"Michael Reynolds, creator of the Earthship concept, is a world leader in environmental building. He is the author of five books and has 30 years experience designing and building fully self-sufficient homes. The innovative Earthship design combines passive solar heating with thermal mass construction to create buildings that heat and cool themselves without consuming fossil fuels. Earthships create all their own electrical power with sun and wind, collect and treat their own water with integrated water systems. The main building block of the Earthship makes use of one of the worlds most plentiful, and most troublesome “natural resources”, scrap automobile tires. Thousands of Earthships have been built all over the world in the US, Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Japan, South Africa, Honduras and Belgium. Michael's Earthship/Biotecture website provides a wealth of information about his innovative building concepts."

So we are still on the LAND then WATER as the primary (starting out) concerns. I will com back to to my posts as I investigate further.

and from the same site;

BOOMER SQUATTER PLACES SLAB CITY

OMG!!!

Slab City!!!
START - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_City

"Slab City or The Slabs (located at 33°15′32″N 115°27′59″W / 33.25889°N 115.46639°W / 33.25889; -115.46639) is a camp in the Colorado Desert in southeastern California, used by recreational vehicle owners and squatters from across North America. It takes its name from the concrete slabs and pylons that remain from the abandoned World War II Marine barracks Camp Dunlap there. A group of servicemen remained after the base closed, and the place has been inhabited ever since, although the number of residents has declined since the mid 1980s.

Several thousand campers, many of them retired, use the site during the winter months. These "snowbirds" stay only for the winter, before migrating north in the spring to cooler climates. The temperatures during the summer are unforgiving; nonetheless, there is a group of around 150 permanent residents who live in the Slabs all year round. Most of these "Slabbers" subsist on government checks (SSI and Social Security) and have been driven to the Slabs through poverty.

The site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and there is no charge for parking. The camp has no electricity, no running water or other services. Many campers use generators or solar panels to generate electricity. Supplies can be purchased in nearby Niland, California, located about three miles (5 km) to the southwest of Slab City.

Located just east of State Route 111, the entrance to Slab City is easily recognized by the colorful Salvation Mountain, a small hill approximately three stories high which is entirely covered in acrylic paint, concrete and adobe and festooned with Bible verses. It is an ongoing project of over two decades by permanent resident Leonard Knight"

There is land there and you can stake out some - It looks like in the "off season.".
I will probably visit this in another post. (or maybe I will edit this latter) But it is worth looking at this for your self.

I think this strays from my basic thesis.

BOOMER SQUATTER PLACES

We could start with BLM
At http://rvbasics.com/rv-lifestyle/RV-camping-in-BLM-land.html

Steve Gillman says;

"RV camping, or "boondocking" is growing in popularity. In fact, the BLM has begun to establish special areas for longer stays, particularly in Arizona. A permit fee is around $140 now, but this allows you to stay up to six months, and you get pump stations, dumpsters and water. People are living in some of these areas. It's cheaper than paying property taxes or rent for a lot to park on.

RV camping is common in Winter in Arizona. One of the largest gatherings of "boondockers" is in Quartzite. Several hundred thousand people spend at least part of the year in their RVs here. It's near the California border, on Interstate 10, only 20 miles from the Colorado River. Surrounded by BLM lands, Quartzite is famous for gem shows, swap meets, and the multiplying of its population each winter.

If you ask around when you are in the desert southwest, you'll find there are RV communities that form every winter. Some of these temporary towns like "Slab City" in California, have bookstores, grocery vendors, and other businesses run by RVers. Once summer returns, these boondock communities disappear, and reappear again the following winter."

You could go to Quartzite, AZ - 1,900 people / 876 feet above sea level. To me in AZ I would like to be a little higher (no pun!!), but this is getting close.

http://www.desertusa.com/magjan98/stories/opal-Hill-vid.jpg

OH! Yeh!! to one on my first order of absolute needs WATER!! - The report is there is 4(FOUR) inches a year. How much LAND would you need to keep you UNparched?? You may be able to find other sources to water your whiskey.


OH!! YEH!! There are opals around there. --- shades of Coober Pedy!!

http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/coober-pedy-underground-homes.html

Opals are mined in Coober Pedy. As the miners dig they use the opening for living quarters. They get out of the surface heat. But where so they get the WATER?? - I will have into look into that.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

BOOMER LAND

You may want/need to "get off the grid" you will need to get
http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/Mini-Farms.html
.
Like the old man (Daniel Christie)said in "Far and Away" when he and his wife Nora were claiming there "Sooner" land, "Ah, we'll do fine. Pretend we're starting out in life...instead of ending up.".


..............................LAND, LAND, LAND

Considerations'

1. Proximity to markets (to buy, sell, trade)(medical help)
2. Water WATER WATER
3. Shelter (RV, site built...)
4. Tillable land would be the best, but you can create terra preta,[from Wikipedia] "(literally “black earth” in Portuguese) is a type of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soil found in the Amazon Basin. Terra preta owes its name to its very high charcoal content, and was indeed made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil over many years.It is also known as “Amazonian dark earth” or “Indian black earth”." see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta
5. Tools for;
.....A. Building
.....B. Farming
.....C. Cooking
.....D. Cleaning
.....E. Clothing
.....F. Protection (unfortunately)
6. Power can come from;
.....A. Water
.....B. Wind
.....C. Solar
.....D. Bio,
..........a. methane (organic deposition)
..........b. OIL (NOT fossil oils)
................i. olive
...............ii. palm
..............iii. soybean
...............iv. canola
................v. pumpkin seed
...............vi. corn
..............vii. sunflower
.............viii. safflower
...............ix. peanut
................x. grape seed
..............xii. sesame seed
.............xiii. argan
..............xiv. rice bran
...............xv. Many other kinds of vegetable oils
...............vi. Also animal fat (oil)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

BOOMER COMMUNE

Well do we go into BOOMER COMMUNES to distribute living expenses??

What happens when you are laid off at 63 and the the majority of your assets are in real estate in 2011 ?????

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOOOD!!!!

On line income may work, but filtering through the "I made $495,533.89 in two weeks after...." you just need to send me $39.97.

BOOMERS, a commune attitude may be in order again.

Go through some of my posts and let me know!
 http://brokeboomers.blogspot.com/
THNKS

Saturday, January 22, 2011

HOW TO EXIST WITH NO INCOME, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE A BOOMER?

That started it, this will be a little more *(*^&% then my other blogs.

SOME THINGS THAT "BUG" ME.

1. Stop unemployment "INSURANCE" payments
A. Workers AND employers pay the Government to "INSURE" and hedge for unemployment.

2. Stop unemployment "INSURANCE" payments, because we are paying people NOT TO WORK. ????
A. Have you ever been unemployed and had to live on 1/4 of the income you had??

3. Social Security
A. Try living on that!!!!!

4. OK! let's look at the over all;

5. I just stumbled on this at;
http://benbittrolff.blogspot.com/2009/08/unemployment-duration-baby-boomers.html

"The economy has been weak for far longer than you might think. Things went wrong a quite a long time ago and nobody really noticed. The Average Duration of Unemployment (UEMPMEAN) was a quiet, unseen warning beacon that all was not well.

From the 1950's through to the 1970's, it could take you as little as 7.5 weeks to find a new job during the 'boom' periods of an economic cycle. Then something snapped somewhere in the system. From the 1970's onwards it began to take longer and longer to find a new job and a new rising trend was put in place. From recession to recession (grey bars) life became quite a bit tougher.

Between the first (1) and second (2) recessions in the 1970's the time it took to find a job increased a serious 33% from 7.5 weeks to 10 weeks during the BEST OF TIMES. By the time the first recession in the 1980's (3) hit, the average duration of unemployment had jumped about 10% from 10 weeks to about 11 weeks. Here the amplitude of each cycle high and low exploded, maxing out at an astonishing 20 weeks. Almost 10 years later, just prior to the 1990's recession (4) it took about 12 weeks to find a job, a 9% increase. Then by the time the Tech Bubble finally burst in early 2000, it took over 12.5 weeks to find a job.

However, the worst was yet to come."

I have gone through this!! and still am reviewing.