New York Greetings From Hill-Billy Calvin, AKA Augie

Austintatious said:
Cal, please share photos of your new digs and improvement projects with us if you can. This is a photography forum after all 😀
Click to expand...

Austin,

In this sub-forum one cannot post pictures, but I am kinda thinking of starting a blog about lifestyle.

Pretty much me goofing around like I do here on RFF.

Devil Christian thinks I should use www.Lazy-SlackerCalvin.com as my domain.

Funny thing is that my gal started a blog about 6 years ago and pretty much she became a celeb and she made all this money. She is a Go-Daddy gal and still gets big royalty checks. Imagine walking around Madhattan and seeing your girlfriend spackled all over bus shelters and newstands.

I don't wish being a celeb on anybody. Being in the public eye gets crazy, but that is how I got a free vacation to Madrid (Mad-Rid), got treated as a VIP, and was hosted to lodge in a palace. You can't make this stuff up. It was a if we were Jay-Z and Beyonce.

Then we got another free vacation to Europe that started in Amstedam, Germany, France, and finally Switzerland.

She has over 750K followers.

What could be interesting could be free renovations like a new roof, solar panels or lumber to build out a deck.

Already she might be getting a free lux couch and some home furnishing company wants to offer garden furniture.

"Moo," said the Pig.

Check out www.AccidentalIcon.com. I do most of the photography. Understand that pretty much the shots are kinda right out of the camera with no post. There are some shots of our house. It is a work in progress, but it has great bones.

Interesting geography even though Peekskill is only 40 miles north of NYC. It is the last "Rivertown" in Westchester County. Bear Mountain Bridge is just to the north as I am on the southern fringe of Peekskill. There is Blue Mountain Preserve that is 1500 Acres that is two mountains. Adjoining that is the 200 acre Depue town park.

Due north is the town of Cold Spring and inbetween Cold Spring and Beacon is yet another huge park that includes a mountain and Breakneck Ridge.

Just across the Hudson is the huge Bear Mountain State Park, and if that is not enough there is also Harrimon State Park.

The Hudson river is flanked on both sides by small mountains creating a valley, but the width varies. Around Peekskill they say that the river has a "bay" of sorts and further north on the west bank is West Point where the river gets narrow and provides a military choke point.

Add onto this is that the State of New York is developing what they call Silicone Alley which is basically the lower Hudson Valley south of Albany, the state capitol. IBM BTW is in Po-Kip-SEE.

The housing market is very tight due to limited supply, and already I think I could flip my house for a lot more than we paid.

I see great potential, and because the house is kinda tiny (under 1500 square foot of living space) and because we have about a quarter acre of which includes a second building lot there remains a lot of opportunities.

Building out the garage and expanding its footprint into a detatched workspace I think adds tremendous value. Not that I would ever sell, but this particular property I see as being mucho valuable. It kinda has a strategic and important location.

Back in the 1800's Peekskill was kinda like a Pittsburg of sorts in that it was a steel town that forged iron and was known for its stoves and plows. Unfortunately cheaper sources of iron out west undermined its prosperity.

Peekskill is a "City" in Westchester. Others are Yonkers, White Plains, and New Rochelle.

If you look up and do a search on the "best air quality" you will find Peekskill listed in the first handful of locations. About 4 blocks from my Baby-Victorian is Blue Mountain Preserve which I was told has some of the best technical single track for mountain biking in the northeast. I'm basically in Mountain Bike Heaven.

Kinda funny is that my exit off of Route 9 is the same as "Indian Point." I'm kinda like Homer Simpson because my neighbor is a nuclear power plant. The timing could not be more perfect because Indian Point is scheduled to be decommissioned, and I'm in an evacuation zone.

What do you think will happen to property values when Indian Point gets decommissioned? Also for Westchester County my taxes are crazy low.

E-Ha

Augie
 
Cal,
Now that you're up in the Hudson Valley, you should go up and try riding with the US Army West Point team. You could always join one of the informal rides, of course. Back when I was racing, the West Point team was killer on Philly hills like "the wall" and their cyclocross team was one of the best in the nation, due to their proximity to some excellent hills for training. Good roads, lots of hills, good trails, all-round fitness training, and discipline made the West Point team really competitive.

Phil Forrest
 
Phil_F_NM said:
Cal,
Now that you're up in the Hudson Valley, you should go up and try riding with the US Army West Point team. You could always join one of the informal rides, of course. Back when I was racing, the West Point team was killer on Philly hills like "the wall" and their cyclocross team was one of the best in the nation, due to their proximity to some excellent hills for training. Good roads, lots of hills, good trails, all-round fitness training, and discipline made the West Point team really competitive.

Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

Phil,

When I raced, I got spanked and took a beating like a man.

The results are that I can endure great suffering and have a high threshold of pain.

I contacted my old training partner "Iron Mike." This guy has massive quads like telephone poles. Right now he is retired and in the summer he reported that he does 500 miles a week. Mike is a lot younger than me by about a decade.

I'm pretty sure Mike will be giving me beatings. I don't need the Army to give me a beating. That's what friends are for.

LOL.

Cal
 
CNNY said:
I can confirm that everything Cal said is true! I have seen it all.
I think the blog should be called www.calvinist.tv though.
Click to expand...

Christian,

I know that I preach a bit, but I don't want to be mistaken as religious.

"Pray for Leica to make me a SL2 Monochrom," I say. LOL.

Pretty much the reason to start blogging I guesss is to do what I do best, which is annoy people by being just me. Like I say, "All I'm trying to do is mind my own business..." Then all kinds of weird things start happening to me.

Kinda scary how things can get out of control.

So now I "snookered" "Maggie" into eventually installing a solar array on that rear roof of the house I showed you that seems ideal because it faces due south.

She inquired whether I could install solar panels on my garage, and I told her there was not enough roof surface area.

I lied: there actually could be when I expand the footprint of the garage. "Don't tell "Maggie." Perhaps I can have my own solar charging station for an electric car on the garage. In Sweden they offer free car charging because the batteries on the cars offers support to their electrical grid.

This all started when we had that Tuesday storm. Because of our age Con Ed calls to check in to see if we are alright. We get reminders to charge our computers and cell phones and to have a flashlight handy just in case of an outage.

So Maggie asked about getting a generator, and that's when I not only set the hook, but I gaffed and tail roped her like a Mako Shark.

Some people say I'm a drama queen and that I exaggerate, but this house really inspires me. Any money I see putting into this I think I could easily get back. This house provides vision and I think even though an old house could get pretty close to going off the grid.

I think I will still have an oil bill though. Previous owner used 700 gallons last year. Not bad for an old house.

My neighbor's rearward expansion is really into his own property and he is not annexing public land.

Since I'm "Calzone" of course I have a 50 foot tape measure, so I measured from the three steps that lead to my front door into my back yard, and then into my back-backyard, and my deeded property extends another 26 feet beyond the rear chain link fence.

I certainly will terrace that land. Currently I have about a 6-7 foot level landing beyond the rear chain link fence. I already started cutting brush and am using organic plant matter for landfill.

When I measured the width of the property I got 47 feet, so by default since the minicipality has no sidewalks I get 7x200 feet that I now consider my property. It is doubtful where I live which is basically the edge of the city that there will ever be any sidewalks.

I also started clearing the overgrowth on my dead end. There is actually a guard rail hidden back there. If I totally go Hill-Billy and own 5, 6 or 7 cars I have plenty of parking.

Planning on planting Rasberry bushes near the guardrail because they have thorns. They tend to be in-VACE-ive but I'll make sure my razz-berry bushes grow onto public land.

Don't tell the Mayor or the government in Peekskill.

Cal
 
jsrockit said:
Congratulation Cal... now you can finally store all of your stuff in one location!
Click to expand...

John,

"Don't tell Maggie," but I still have to fully empty my Public Storage, and I have all these guitars and amps stored at two of my friend's houses out on Lawn-Guy-Land.

The basement is pretty full.

It will be really interesting wet printing again. Back decades ago I was a really good printer back in art school. It will be interesting getting back my chops. Then I can really annoy people. LOL.

13 more months and 3 more days until I retire. How cool is that?

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Christian,

I know that I preach a bit, but I don't want to be mistaken as religious.

Cal
Click to expand...

I know what you mean, as I have been fighting the impression that I am religious my whole life. My parents had a weird sense of humor when they called me Christian, but then didn't baptize me. I did go to catholic schools which didn't help the confusion.

I thought it would be funny given that Calvinists (the religeous ones) have a reputation for not being slackers.
 
CNNY said:
I know what you mean, as I have been fighting the impression that I am religious my whole life. My parents had a weird sense of humor when they called me Christian, but then didn't baptize me. I did go to catholic schools which didn't help the confusion.

I thought it would be funny given that Calvinists (the religeous ones) have a reputation for not being slackers.
Click to expand...

Christian,

The name Devil-Christian suits you.

I do have a great work ethic, but not at work.

Also I have a very confused identity already. Basically I am a white boy trapped in an Asian body.

Cal
 
Cal - Congrats!

I also recently relocated, though out to Long Island.
I know I will eventually have to head back to the office but its probably 6+ months, kicking&screaming.

Have you found yourself doing more landscape photo work yet? Between social distancing since March and spending more time in nature it's been a big change in subject matter for me.

I am planning to move my 13x19" printer and setting up a table for matting/framing/etc work as I finally have an attic office/studio space.

I'm looking at solar as well - keep in mind the tax incentives (which drop annually) take a sharp drop from 2021->2022.. so next year might be the time to do it.
 
CNNY said:
I know what you mean, as I have been fighting the impression that I am religious my whole life. My parents had a weird sense of humor when they called me Christian, but then didn't baptize me. I did go to catholic schools which didn't help the confusion.

I thought it would be funny given that Calvinists (the religeous ones) have a reputation for not being slackers.
Click to expand...

I think we should buy Cal a stuffed tiger named Hobbs...
 
Cal....since you want a generator, I checked..there's a Harbor Freight Tools in White Plains.

Check their website for coupons before buying anything.
 
Cal,

You asked about enlargers.

DII or Beseler 4x5. The Beseler they used to call "Electro Glide in Blue". LOL
The DII I like because of ease of getting junk to put on it whilst hopping it up.
People used to give them away, I was offered three at once at a camera show, and I turned it down! Then I had to pay 50 Bucks each for the three I have now. When laser aligned these are a lot of bang for the buck and as sharp as you can get. Beselar I have never used but that's the other way to do it without spending thousands. Me I am happy that I can enlarge 4x5 and 35mm on side by side machines


My three Omegas:

Darkroom Reno II No 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr
 
Stephen G said:
Cal - Congrats!

I also recently relocated, though out to Long Island.
I know I will eventually have to head back to the office but its probably 6+ months, kicking&screaming.

Have you found yourself doing more landscape photo work yet? Between social distancing since March and spending more time in nature it's been a big change in subject matter for me.

I am planning to move my 13x19" printer and setting up a table for matting/framing/etc work as I finally have an attic office/studio space.

I'm looking at solar as well - keep in mind the tax incentives (which drop annually) take a sharp drop from 2021->2022.. so next year might be the time to do it.
Click to expand...

Stephen,

Biden should make going solar great again. There should be a big green package pending in the near future.

10 Kilowatts is what a typical home consumes as far as electricity goes. To go off the grid you do need a modern super insulated house though for heating.

With Biden the time will come over the next 4 years.

Cal
 
Been busy looking into getting a car.

Yesterday I figure I walked 9 miles as part of my commute. Walked 2.1 miles to the Peekskill train station, an hour an 5 minute train ride to rest, then the walk uptown from Grand Central to my lab on 72d Street behind Sotheby's about 2.5 miles.

On the way home the reverse.

So I'm looking into low milage cars that are still fresh. I'll be test driving a 2015 Audi A4 Quartro with the Premium Plus package that has only 16K miles on the odometer.

I also found two 2017 VW Golf Station Wagens with 4-Motion (all-wheel drive): one has only 8.1K miles; and the other 15,726 miles. The low milage one is a car from Florida.

So for sport and fun I think the Audi with its leather seats has the leg up, but the low milage Golf SW is so close to a brand new car for no money.

Hmmm...

Would be great to buy both. LOL.

So anyone considering Solar, expect President elect Biden to create a tax incentive for us. For me I'll be ready to take that big step.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Stephen,

Biden should make going solar great again. There should be a big green package pending in the near future.

10 Kilowatts is what a typical home consumes as far as electricity goes. To go off the grid you do need a modern super insulated house though for heating.

With Biden the time will come over the next 4 years.

Cal
Click to expand...

Congrats on getting the green light on solar.. I think I'm mostly there too.

I'm hoping Biden extends/improves some of the green incentives.
I got a Tesla before their tax incentives dropped to basically nothing.

So having an EV already, and just dealing with a huge number of oil boiler issues in the first month here.. I'm ready to move to solar + some sort of electric heat lol! 10kW is about the size Tesla Solar/Google estimators have suggested for our electric bill / roof size as well.

For local driving with your own dedicated home charger, you could grab a cheap used Nissan Leaf or Chevy Bolt despite their short range. For commuting, if you aren't planning on road tripping.. it shouldn't matter.
I got a Tesla living in a condo so needed longer range and strong public charging network.

I feel like I'm at the intersection of "This Old House" x "Green Acres" x "Silicon Valley" TV shows.

Are we going to get a photo blog of your home improvement? Or a YouTube channel so you can monetize it??
 
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