Freakishly Happy

Hi All!

We started demolition on our school bus this week!
It has been fun and challenging so far. We started taking seats out on
Sunday afternoon. If you look at any of the school bus conversion sites,
they'll tell you that the easiest way to take out seats is to buy an angle
grinder and simply shave off all of the bolts, and you'll get the job done in a
few hours. Never being ones to take the easy way out, we didn't do it
that way. Instead I hopped under the bus with a wrench and held the bolts while
John ratcheted the bolts out from above. Now this sounds much neater and
tidier than it really was. First of all, most (if not all) of the bolts and
nuts were in various states of rust and decomposition. Second, we're in Vermont and it is
winter. Now it wasn't really the cold that was so bad, because you can put
blankets and cardboard down and with enough layers, sitting on ice isn't too
bad. It was on Wednesday when we had a thaw that it really sucked. The
tarp that we put under the bus was a series of puddles and lakes. Things
were going smoothly until I had a momentary freak out from being wet, cold and
hungry. John ended up being a sport and grinding many of the bolts off with his
Dremmel. Honestly though, it wasn't that bad, and I did feel pretty tough
being under the bus, and it felt kinda good to get so greasy and grimy, knowing
that we were starting to build our home.

Today has been a little frustrating, too. We are really trying to make good
conscious and conscientious decisions every step along the way through
this project. Now that the seats are out, our main problem is trying to figure
out what to do with them. I have made probably 20 phone calls in the last
hour trying to figure out what we are going to do with the foam that comes from
the inside of the seats. We'd love to be able to recycle them, but so far it's
been really discouraging. No one in this area does foam recycling- although it
is done in other places all around the country for things like carpet
padding. We're pretty determined though. I've found a place in Massachusetts that might
do it, but the guy said that it's not worth my time or effort. Being the
stubborn and idealistic creature that I am, I am going to call him until he
relents and takes our foam. Even if it is inconvienent, and a huge pain in the
butt, at least it is not going to be rotting in a landfill somewhere from now
until eternity. If anyone else has any good ideas- please let me know!
I've already posted offers for free bus seats on Craigslist and FreeCycle, but
I am willing to accept ideas.

We have also been trying really hard to stick to our New
Year's resolution to not buy anything from China in 2008. This has
proved to be rather interesting. We had to go to 10 different places
before we could find work gloves. Even the products that come from Vermont or New England companies are being manufactured
in Vermont.
In many cases it wasn't on the product tag, we had to flip the gloves inside out
and toward the very top of pinky finger of the glove was a tiny Made in China
label. Now, we're not trying to be high handed about the whole thing.
I always feel like people think that we’re just being crazy when we tell them
that we are trying to go a whole year not buying Chinese products. I just feel does China must increase their
environmental standards, and the conditions and wages of its workers. After the
pet food scare last year, it really hit me that we need to be much more
conscious of what we are buying, whether we are putting it in or on our bodies
or coming in contact with it in a daily basis. Especially now that our country looks like it
could slide into a serious recession. The
president is encouraging us to go out and buy in order to get ourselves out of
this mess- well, going out and buying Chinese products, while the Chinese are
giving us the money to get out of debt in the first place isn’t going to do us
any good. We need to realize that just because something is cheaper doesn’t
mean it’s necessarily better.

Okay, enough of me on my soapbox. If you are at all
interested in ideas like these, and would like to hear them more eloquently put,
go to www.thestoryofstuff.com

John has installed a video camera in the bus to
capture the bus' conversion. We should have a live feed up and running
soon so that you can follow our progress. We will also be posting photos
soon! Keep in touch!

Hi all!

I hope that everyone had a very happy and merry holiday season! And that not too many lumps of coal were doled out this year by St. Nick.

My hours at the store have been scaled back as we prepare to start working on the bus, but unfortunately John's project is taking longer than it should, so I've got a lot of free time on my hands (not that I'm complaining). I've been doing a lot of knitting projects, my niece Hannah being the main benefactress of my work. I've also been reading, hanging out with friends, playing with the dogs, and trying to keep Jorgi from torturing the cat. You know, the hard life. ;p

In comparison, Johnny is still slaving away. He actually decided last Wednesday to go back to Iowa for the remainder of his project- and left the very next morning. He'll be gone until the 17th of January, and hopefully at that point it will be F I N I S H E D! Right now talking to him is a little difficult. He just kind of rambles randomly about engineering concepts that I haven't got a clue about. From the sounds of it his brain is fried.

Luckily for Christmas John got me an amazing weekend get away. Right after he returns, we'll be heading for New Hampshire for a few days at B&Bs. He set everything up, including finding us places to ski and snowshoe, several great restaurants and shops and even an Ani DiFranco concert. I have a rock star for a husband. Hopefully it will allow his brain some relaxation time.

Again, I hope that everyone has a great new year!

he snow has started to pile up here in Vermont, making everything postcard perfect
in time for Christmas.

 John is still feverishly working away on his contracting project. His
schedule includes many late, late nights, fueled by many ots of coffee and his
daily ration of a cookie. 

I am working three days a week at the store, doing my best to drive my
sister crazy. ;)

I've almost got all of my Christmas shopping finished,  which for me is a
first. Normally, I am  feverishly working on gifts until the 24th. 
Well, more like, working feverishly on the 24th to get all of my gifts done.
I'm not very good at this sort of thing.

We haven't really begun work on our bus yet. We're trying to wait until
Johnny gets his contract done. I would hate it if he felt cooped up in the
house while I worked on the bus, and it caused him to not be successful with
his work.  So, we will probably begin deconstruction/ construction in
January.

 I have been trying to do a lot of research about different components
of our bus.  Last week I found a clawfoot bathtub (one of the three things
that made me agree to the bus in the first place), in the newspaper for
$100.  We went and took a look at it in Whitehall, NY,
a town just over the border, 45 minutes from wells.  John and I both had
some reservations buying a used tub, because many of the ones we've seen in
this area have either been covered in rust, or converted into "Mary in a
half-tub."  We pulled into the drive of an older house that had been
converted into an apartment building, and my stomach fell. Upon first sight,
the house left much to be desired, and I was sure the tub wouldn't be what we
were looking for.  The man selling the tub met  us at the house, and
we three walked to the back of the house to view it. And suprisingly the tub
was in excellent shape, teaching me once again that I really need to reserve my
judgement.  The man was really enthusiastic about our project, and an all
around lovely individual.  

Unfotunately, neither of the trucks would start when we set out on that
adventure, so we had to return two days later to pick up the tub. 
Initially we were going to take Owen, the little red Toyota pick-up that our family has had since
the dawn of time.  As we were getting ready to leave for Whitehall, John noticed that the tailgate was
open, and wouldn't close because it was caked with frozen mud. Always quick on
his feet he ran inside and grabbed some chiseling impliments.  Halfway
through the job my father came out to see what we were doing, and when we explained
he told us that we should probably leave the mud where it was, as it was the
only thing holding the tailgate on.  When John asked him if the clawfoot
would fly out the back my father responded that in the invent that we stopped
quickly, the tub would most likely go forward not back. Now let me paint you a
little picture of Owen the red pick-up.  This truck is so rusted, that
it's a gamble  trying to find the gas tank hole through the holes in the
body.  It’s so rusted that Juli, Tim, John and I had a whole conversation on whether
the truck would disintegrate under the weight of the tub. Moreover, my father
doesn’t have the best safety record when it comes to this truck, as a few
months ago when the brake lines went, he spent a few weeks simply down
shifting, and taking corners at 30mph.  So
when he told us that the tub would most likely come forward not back, we
decided that it’d be in the best interest of us staying alive if we chose
another vehicle.

Now on Thursday when we purchased the tub we lifted it to see whether or not we
could pick it up, which we could.  The
man that we purchased it from assured us that he was able to remove it from the
house using only a tarp to slide it across the floor. When we arrived we were
able to once again pick up the tub and slowly inch it over to the back of the
truck. Then we encountered a problem; we had to lift it up and into the bed of
the truck. Now I’m quite a bit shorter than John, and although I could lift the
tub with straight arms, it was quite a feat to raise it the extra six inches
(putting to tub somewhere near my chest) to get it in to the truck.  It took several attempts, and quite a bit of
ingenuity, but after some time, and Johnny almost crushing his foot, we were
able to do it.  

We’ve also been researching different toilet options, and trying to decide
between propane and alcohol stoves, as well as trying to figure out the best
wood stove for our application. 
John has also purchased a webcam that we can use while we were converting so
you all can see what we’re up to.  
We will try to keep the blog updated as we get going more on our project.

Hope all of your are well!