Hey y'all,
Happy winter solstice! And welcome to issue #2 of my personal newsletter. If you missed the first one, you can read a little bit about why I'm writing these over here.
Since moving to the mountains, I've found myself falling into a familiar pattern around this time of year. In early November, we get a few hints of snow, the aspens start to turn colors lighting up the valleys with color, and the mosquitos finally die off. It's a wonderful time to be outside during the day. As the temperatures drop, it means it's time to start using the wood stove at the cabin and enjoying a good book in the evening. It's one of my favorite times of year. But the falling temperatures also serve as a warning of the work to be done. In the middle of winter the ranch lies under around ten feet of standing snow twelve miles past the last plowed road. That means all the projects need to get wrapped up, equipment put away, pipes drained, and Christmas trees harvested before there's too much snow to make it in with a car. Pretty soon it's feeling like there's no time at all to finish the things that need doing and I'm wishing for the snow to hold off just one more month.
This fall brought an extra dose of adventure: a controlled burn turned wildfire 3 miles from the ranch
Inevitably, the things that need doing get done (or don't). The projects wrapped up. The equipment put away. The snow piles up. And my own personal season clicks over into Winter mode. For me, Winter brings with it climbing mountains in the snow, sliding down them on snowboards, clearing of driveways, and planning for the year ahead. A new season, a new cadence to life, a new set of adventures on the horizon.
And you know? It feels good to look forward to a new season.
A few years ago, I started working on a personal document to lay out some life goals and where I want to be spending my energy. I titled it The Plan So Far, and every two weeks I go back and edit it to reflect my current trajectory in life. Right near the top I have a list of things I'd like to achieve:
- [x] Build a Great Product
- [x] Lifetime Financial Freedom
- [ ] Design a Forest Retreat (Leaping Daisy)
- [ ] Build a Cabin
- [ ] Invest/partner in a local business
- [ ] Design a House
- [ ] Raise Some Meat
For as long as I can remember, I've always been fascinated with building stuff. For much of my life, that energy was poured into software. Long before I started working in the software field professionally, I designed & built dozens of apps myself. It's how I learned how to build software, but it's also where I got the itch to build something I'd be proud of for the rest of my life.
I'm still pretty shocked at how quickly I was able to check that first one off, but it certainly satisfied any kind of itch I had to build software. These days my mind is a lot more focused on building physical things. And top of that list is Leaping Daisy, or as I usually call it: The Ranch.
The Ranch
I've spent the past four years thinking about what I want to do with the ranch, and after digging a lot of holes, I'm getting a clearer picture of what I'm after. The thing I keep coming back to is that while the ranch is an exceptionally beautiful place to be, it's also the perfect playground for building stuff. Endless timber, clay lined stream beds, sunshine to power our tools, fields of grass for fiber, and plenty of land to experiment on.
A beetle-kill log we felled this year for future milling
Most of the buildings on the land right now come from resources harvested on the land. The old cabin is made of hand-hewn logs felled right where the cabin lays today. The woodshed is roundwood framing covered in corrugated roofing. The barn is alaskan-milled post & beam from trees on the land. Where possible, I'd like to keep future buildings true to this theme.
The old cabin
In a couple of weeks, Jess & I are headed to Maine to take a week-long timber framing post & beam class. We'll learn how to use large timbers and traditional wood joinery to put together post & beam buildings. This summer, I'm planning on buying a bandsaw mill for the ranch which will allow us to make our own lumber from the trees on the land.
Post & Beam
A portable bandsaw mill
But there's one more ingredient I need to build a bunch of cool stuff: people. And this is how I've been thinking about what I want the ranch to be. I want it to be a place where you can come out for a couple weeks every year, immerse yourself in nature, learn a little about forestry, and build some stuff with materials from the land. Maybe that's a yoga platform, a mountain bike trail, a pizza oven, or just a nice little bench.
What's the CCC's motto? Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions--and more! I suspect it'll be something like that. Except I also think a lot of people enjoy this kind of stuff like I do. The hope is that over time, we'll be able to build a rad little forest retreat far away from civilization.
Toward that end, I spent this summer on some bigger infrastructure projects. I hired out a crew to fix up the road — widening the road, smoothing out the surface, and rebuilding the steep, sharp turn we had getting out. Depending on your background, you might say the road is really nice now or a complete piece of shit. It's still a dirt road, and dirt roads are dirty. But so long as you've got a Civic-or-better level car, you should make it down there no problem. No guarantees on your lowered Model 3 though.
Chuck's dozer
Old road on the left, new road on the right
I spent most of my effort finishing up the solar shed — a little self-contained building for solar panels, electronics, a weather station, and the satellite internet equipment. Previous to this, I'd only done minor electric work around the house so it was interesting to learn more about solar power systems and more serious electrical work. It still needs work, but I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to charge batteries without a generator screaming along.
Solar shed exterior
Charge controller, inverter, batteries, and shutoffs
I also spent some time cleaning up the bath house, kicking the squirrels out, ripping out the old plumbing, and installing a composting toilet. Early next year we should have a comfy, squirrel-proof indoor room to take a dump or enjoy a hot shower.
The new composting toilet in its temporary location
To recap: fresh water, indoor poopin', electricity, internet (enough to get by), and a road big enough to get big trucks & equipment down.
I hope you'll think about coming on out this summer. I don't really know what it'll be like, but I can guarantee it'll be beautiful. This year will be sort of a beta run. Maybe we'll just end up playing with the sawmill. Maybe we'll just have some campfires and swim in the creek. I'm planning on having it around my birthday (July 17), which also coincides with peak wildflower season, and the new moon on July 20 (the ranch is one of the darkest places on earth — darker than Death Valley). I'll let you know more when I figure out more.
There's a reason we call it Leaping Daisy
The Truck
Outside of the ranch, the other thing I've spent a bunch of effort on is my 4Runner. Last year I bought my first new car ever (heck, the first less-than-a-decade-old car I've ever owned) and the first thing I did was start to tear it apart. It's actually why I picked the 4Runner — you can get an aftermarket part for just about anything, and pretty much any mechanic can work on them. After years of owning VW's, I can't tell you how nice to be able to walk into an auto store and get a replacement part.
Stock 4Runner
Not so stock 4Runner
At this point it's my dream "get anywhere and camp in comfort" mobile. For the curious, here's the full list of mods:
- Icon Stage 2 Lift, TRD Wheels, and Cooper ST/Maxx tires
- C4 Fabrication Lo Pro Bumper with Warn VR 12-S winch
- C4 Fabrication Overland Rear Bumper
- Rago Fabrication MOLLE panels on back windows
- FrontRunner Slimline II Roof Rack
- MaxxTraxx Roof Rack Mount
- Stainless Steel Picnic Table Under-Rack Mounted
- SwitchPro for aftermarket light controls
- OEMAudio+ Speaker Replacement
MOLLE Panels for tools, recovery gear, and emergency supplies
If anything, the 4Runner kind of cemented in my head that I kind of like to build my own things. My dream car isn't one fresh off the factory line. It's one that I can pick apart and customize to my liking.
That's really why I've always been so obsessed with building stuff. Everyone's context is different, everyone has slightly different needs and wants, meanwhile the world is moving toward mass-production and world-wide centralization. Many of my friends are driving the exact same Model 3 with the exact same iPhone 11 Pro in their pocket, the exact same Mack Weldon underwear on, and opening up the exact same Blue Apron box for dinner for tonight. But when I learn how to build stuff, I can build exactly what I want, just for me. Even if it's wrong.
The 4Runner out in Moab
Onwards
That's about it for what I've been building lately. Not so much software, a little more physical. As always, I'd love to hear from you. What have you been building lately? What kind of things would you be interested in doing or building out at the ranch?
For the next issue I'm hoping to expand a bit more about how I'm thinking about the investing side of my learning/building/investing view on life.
Stay warm,
Kyle