Last weekend we had an insane little party with some close friends. To describe it as wild and fun would be a drastic understatement.

Kyle & Tyler on the back with Morgan, Krissa and I on the golf kart. We’ve fit more people and gear on the golf cart then I have in my car. Zippy jumped on after she took the picture. hehe.

Zippy and Morgan made some Jungle Juice based on everclear (and a ton of other liquors) and lots of fruit which blended well with swimming all day, then all night. My grandma n’ grandpa have a big floodlight on their dock which let us hang out in the water until 5.30am. lol. Not counting the day prior, it was a 17 hour party. Needless to say everyone woke up the next afternoon sore. ^_^

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Plants!
I’ve never had much of a green thumb but I’m making an effort to change that this year. With the help of mother nature I have succeeded in starting lots of tomatoes, sunflowers, radishes and watermelons. I started them all inside and finally relocated the last seedlings to their nicely tilled garden. I intend on keeping this “sprout indoors, relocate outside” pattern going in to june. By the end of summer we should have more vegetables then we know what to do with.

Animals
At this point I’m pretty sure our little plot of land qualifies as a hobby farm. I haven’t looked into it but with the addition of hogs and production chickens to our already large list of animals, it’s nothing short of a hobby. We house 3 hogs for the summer which will be butchered in the fall. We’ll most likely keep that cycle going if it’s no more difficult then just feeding them as we have. We also have 11 chicks. We expect to have 6 left after we get rid of the males. We won’t be keeping a rooster. Our 6 laying hens will hopefully provide us with some fresh eggs but as of right now they are still under a heat lamp. Our 6 ferrets are doing great, the 2 horses are looking great (they are still across the street at the Santos’) and the dogs n’ cats are still healthy. Monster (white male cat) looks like he has something wrong with his eyes. If it doesn’t get better we’ll bring em to the vet.

The lake
We got a new canoe! I missed silently gliding through the water on a canoe. Now we just have to get out and trap/kill/shoot some huge snapping turtles and otters. The old heads that live around me keep telling me I need to get out there and see what I can do about bringing back the fish population otherwise it’s just going to keep getting worse. (Note: I’ve been swimming 4 times already this year. It’s great!)

The land
I’m really excited to say that Zippy and I will have all our land/lots paid off by the end of 2009 (early 2010). When we first set out to live in rural Missouri we only had a small 4 acre lot which we intended to build a house on. Rather then doing that we sought out and purchased all the available land touching what we already owned. It’s not a whole lot more but now we are working with over 11 acres. Zippy and I just finished putting up a nice electric fence for the horses on half of it which extends the previous fence zippy put up initially. All in all we are really utilizing every bit of land we have. It’s great and the outlook is only getting better. We will be able to finally build a proper house how we want it on our already established property.

Here is Paddle in Clinton, Missouri working with the election equipment used in the last Presidential Election.

If you receive “Paddle” in the mail. Take a picture of him in a setting unique to your area and put it on the map below. Then send Paddle to someone else who will keep him going! Thanks! Blayne & Phoenix, your next.

Zippy and I really enjoyed helping them setup, prepare and execute their wedding!

Two weeks ago Zippy and I packed up all our gear nicely in the back of the truck along with 1/4 cord of wood, covered it with a tarp, a cargo net and left for Lyssa’s house. This time we didn’t go alone. We brought Lyssa with four of her Wolf hybrid puppies with. I’m not a huge fan of wolf mix dogs but Lyssa’s Wolf/Malamute puppies were really nice to travel with. And of course being puppies they were fun to play with and cute as they come.

Yoda ^_^

We stopped a lot but it was a comfortable trip across Kansas with the pups. We dropped Lyssa off at Jalva’s in Como Colorado n’ swung back over to my brother Matt’s house in Fountain. We scheduled this trip to coincide with Matt’s 2 week leave from Iraq since last time we came out he was over seas. After partying with Matt, Crystal, Amber, Liam and my Dad celebrating Liam’s birthday at Matt’s house for the weekend Zippy and I headed for the Mountains.

Without a doubt one of my favorite places in America is the Frisco/Silverthorn/Dillon area of Colorado. It’s a huge tourist attraction but I wouldn’t mind finding my way out there and not coming back. We spent most of Sunday hanging out with the locals and meeting new people. We partied until long after closing time with the Mexicans at El Toreo in Frisco before crashing out.

Monday was our first day to hit the slopes which worked great with Matt’s schedule so Matt, Crystal, Amber, Liam, Zippy and I all met at Cooper Mountain Ski resort for beers and skiing! I had already been snowboarding by the time Matt and company cought up with us so I quickly got Matt strapped up in my extra snowboard and we hit the lifts. Sadly, I thought we were on a different lift so Matt went down a couple miles of intermediate (blue) areas his first time on a snowboard. After once down we went back to the bar for some liquid courage while Amber, Crystal and Zippy went snowboarding in the practice area / bunny hill. Mountains can be a pretty wild place to learn to snowboard if you don’t take lessons. I’m a great snowboarder but not so great a teacher.

After our first day of fun came to an end and we pulled some little ricer race car out of the Cooper parking lot since it was snowing most of the day, Matt went home and Zippy and I headed off to find some more good local hot spots to entertain ourselves the rest of the evening.

We actually wanted to do some winter camping but most all of the appropriated camping sights in Colorado seem to close in the Winter. This however didn’t stop us. We camped most of the time and signed up for Silverthorne’s recreation center for showers and other amenities. The recreation center in Silverthorne is off the charts with Olympic sized swimming pools, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, Yoga, Gymnastics, and just about everything else you could think a recreation center would offer. It was great. We only stayed in a hotel one night because we wanted a jacuzzi and balcony to facilitate being lazy for a full day.

We spent a day at the Breckenridge ski resort trying out a bunch of their runs that weren’t open the last time we were there. They have a green run that travels 5 miles! Talk about a perfect leisurely trek down a mountain with killer views.

Now for the drum role. VAIL! Vail isn’t just a fluffy name like I previously thought. Vail is without a doubt some of the best snowboarding I have experienced. They have true 360 degree skiing. You can take lifts up and practically get lost coming back down and I’m not sure if it was just a lack of aggressive skiiers but nobody had touched any of the wooded area and the glades in between them. I spent a LOT of my first day in Vail crushing perfect powder.

This is one of my trails through the trees. A picture of perfection.

Untouched.

Zippy dodging trees w/me.

Vail was so awesome that we went back for another day. The second day however Zippy learned to snowboard! We went and bought her some boots and she learned to snowboard in Vail! I have two snowboards but I think Zippy is going to claim the orange one. hehe. She got good quick. I spent the second day in Vail testing my bone strength tearing up black diamonds and double blacks. I however learned one extremely valuable lesson. EVERYONE wants to go down black diamonds and doubles but they go down sideways! They plow snow which turns the hard trails into sheets of ice. I learned the hard way by taking two single blacks straight on. I was in rhythm with the moguls and hauling ass. I would launch off the lips that provided as barriers of blue n’ green trails going across the blacks and land quite a ways down the next black aggressively handling them until I launched off the guard lip to a double black. I cought quite a bit of air before hitting nothing but plowed ice from previous people going down the hill sideways. My board wouldn’t cut into the ice so I hit the ground pretty quick and tumbled half way down the steep hill. I didn’t really feel the damage since my body was buzzing with adrenaline from eating up two blacks prior to falling. It’s an unexplainable rush cutting through moguls, trees, and taking huge air jumps in to black terrain.

It was a perfect last day on the slopes. I will be going back soon.

I’m just throwing up this quick post to note that I’ve been busy as heck lately. Between preparing to take a step back from my job, join a friend to offer business computer technology services, catch up on all the work I need to catch up on, taking a vacation to colorado to hang out with my brother, nephew, sister (in law) and all kinds of other fun stuff, I just haven’t had the free time to get lazy and post.

For all of those family members out there that keep tabs on me via this electronic publishing device I call a blog, you can follow my day to day “what am I doing now” updates on facebook as well as follow the pictures I post daily on my flickr. (Hint: MOM! Join facebook. I saw you on myspace, it’s just a step up from there! hehe) Both of those services allow me to interact from my phone which seems to be the only thing I always have on me when a few free minutes crop up.

Anyway. Back to recording land descriptions.

What it is
It’s an electronic Cigarette that provides a hit of nicotine through a propalyn glycol vapor mist. It feels like your smoking as you blow out the vapor and it packs a pretty strong punch of pure nicotine. Even after the very first drag I set it down and went about my business. It instantly satiated my need to smoke. Even if you don’t use the Njoy to curb your tar smoking habit it’s great in the fact that no smoking bans apply to electronic cigarettes. You can smoke in airports, in hotels, your friends car, at work, wherever you want. It has no lingering smell, doesn’t utilize any flame, is much less damaging to your body then normal tar smoking and actually works to immediately curb the need to smoke tar.

How it works
The Njoy is a 3 part product.
* The battery, which looks like the part that would normally be full of tobacco on a normal cigarette.
* The ionizer, which is screwed into the top of the battery and heats the propylene mixture.
* The Cartridge, which slips over the ionizer as the butt of the cigarette and contains the propylene glycol / nicotine mixture.
When you take a drag through the end of the cartridge the air is drawn in through the ionizer where the cartridge meets the battery. It doesn’t come in through the end of the battery like you’d think. Once the ionizer senses air being drawn past it generates a very small amount of heat to turn some of the nicotine mixture into vapor. As you are puffing the end of the battery glows like the cherry on a cigarette.

Is it healthy?
Obviously the real question is “Is Propylene Glycol bad for your lungs?” and nobody technically has a proven answer for that. It’s been tested on mice and they haven’t had any adverse reactions. But rather than acting smart posing that question and looking stupid while inhaling 160mg of tar on top of 2,000 known poisons, let’s actually compare it to cigarettes. One questionable organic chemical + nicotine vs 2,000 known poisons and tar mixed with your nicotine.

Also, when it comes down to health questions since my friend Paul is a health insurance sales person, you are never asked if you consume nicotine. You are always asked if you use tobacco products. This is not a tobacco product and is not smoking. There is nothing in this device but Propylene Glycol and Nicotine. You’re not a smoker.

Don’t get me wrong though, nicotine is bad for you. Nicotine alone is known to increase blood pressure and constrict blood vessels which make your heart work harder. Nicotine is hard on your heart and can cause problems especially with smaller blood vessels that go into the further reaches of your body. If nothing else, the fact that 40 - 60mg of nicotine is lethal should attest to it’s evil.

Is it cost effective?
Yes. I’m using prices based on where I buy Njoy products. I’ve done a little research to find the most competitive pricing along with great support and quick shipping. I’ve got a “where to buy” section below.

Getting started with this product is the only hurdle to over come. Starter Packs include everything you need to get started and considering how well this product works it’s not all that expensive at $70. The starter kit comes with two batteries, one ionizer, and 5 cartridges of regular flavor and varying nicotine levels. After that initial hurdle, everything is quite affordable in comparison.

Cartridges have varying levels of strength from no nicotine at all to high levels of nicotine. Depending on how much you want to smoke purely for the vapor in-hale part of the habit can base how many cartridges you will go through. I smoke a little over a pack a day of ‘light’ cigarettes. For simplicity sake I’ll say they are $4 a pack. According to Erowid, they have .8 to 1mg of nicotine per cigarette. A 10 pack of Njoy cartridges costs $18 and each cartridge has 18mg of nicotine. Each cartridge is roughly one pack or 20 cigarettes worth of nicotine. With 10 packs to a carton we have a rough cost of $18/carton for our cigarettes. If your dumb like me and smoke over priced cigarettes and find yourself buying them by the pack instead of the carton most of the time then there is an immediate savings of $40 - $18 = $22 a carton. Here is where this device runs up on the cost a little bit. I am personally addicted to the physical habit of smoking as is most everyone else so I don’t want to take just one drag on my Njoy and set it down. I tend to want to take a few drags. Each drag on an Njoy high nicotine cartridge is a bit less than a full cigarettes worth of nicotine. In this case I use two cartridges, one with light or no nicotine and another with high nicotine. When I crave a smoke I will take one drag from a high nicotine cartridge and then if I still feel the need to smoke I’ll take a few drags on a low or no nicotine cartridge. I have been going through less than two cartridges a day at this method and unless I’m drinking in which case I chain smoke anyway, I have cut my smoking of tar back by at least 80%. Every day I have used Njoy I have only smoked a couple cigarettes and even then it wasn’t becuase I felt I needed to, it was simply becuase I have approached this device in a “I’ll try it” sort of way. I didn’t buy the Njoy and crush my cigarettes vowing to not smoke again. With that mind set I have to say this is extremely worth trying. I’ll say that again. I did not actively attempt to quit smoking, I simply added Njoy to my day and immediately dropped most of my daily tar intake. If you completely give up smoking tar for Njoy, it will pay for itself in under a month if you don’t lose the parts.

Cost Breakdown. Here is a quick cost breakdown from where I buy my Njoy products becuase I tend to lose things and obviously the whole cost has to be taken into consideration. I can lose quite a few pieces before Njoy comes even close to costing the same as smoking tar. All these prices are the final “at your door” cost. Doesn’t even require gas/diesel/fuel to go pick em up. ^_^

$70 - 1x Starter Kit - 5x Njoy cartridges, 2x Njoy battery, 1x Njoy ionizer, 1x Njoy battery charger.
$18 - 1x Pack of Cartridges - 10 Njoy cartridges (any flavor, any nicotine level)
$20 - 1x Ionizer
$19 - 1x Njoy battery pack (rechargeable)

Once I found out how well this worked I bought a couple extra Ionizers and a few packs of cartridges. On top of a couple regular flavor packs I even got a sample pack of all the flavors they offer so I could try the Vanilla, Strawberry, Apple, and Menthol flavors they offer. I have to say that the flavor packs, although mild in taste, are quite good and just as effective as the regular cigarette flavor.

Where to buy
Ebay no longer allows the sale of Electronic Smoking devices.

After doing a bit of research I have found the best place to purchase Njoy products is from the Ebay Seller NjoyFreedom. This seller ships very fast and cannot be beat when it comes to answering questions and communicating. I’ve asked a lot of questions and bought a few items from his store now and every time we interact I get more impressed at how great it is to work with him. The fact NjoyFreedom also has the best prices for immediate purchase on all their Njoy products just makes it all that much better. I almost forgot, this guy provides all of his products at the best deals and charges nothing for shipping. I have no idea how he does it but this is for sure the place I buy all my Njoy products. If you don’t do ebay but want the savings, I would just email the guy, he’s already helped me get a few things I couldn’t find on ebay.

Alfred Guastello
NjoyFreedom Ebay Store

How I would suggest getting started.
Get a starter kit from Alfred and a pack of cartridges similar to what you smoke now ($90 shipped). Charge your batteries once you get them and take a drag once in a while. I don’t suggest smoking a cartridge as if it were a single cigarette unless you get the light or no nicotine cartridges. Just use it for a drag or two here and there. If nothing else, buy the starter pack and bring everything to work. Curb your need to take a smoke break by taking a puff on your Njoy instead. Now Paul is suggesting I see how little effort it would take to completely switch to Njoy as my only source of nicotine. I’ll let you know how it goes. I hope this post gets at least one person to try it out. It’s not the be-all end-all of smoking but it sure as heck is by far the most convenient way to immediately cut back on smoking tar. I guarantee that I will have these with me until I quit smoking tar. Being able to ’smoke’ and inhale nicotine vapor in a non smoking venue alone is quite the convenience.

Although it’s less expensive & easier to purchase from Alfred, here is the Njoy official product website.

A couple weekends ago I gathered up a bunch of the extra wood I’ve collected from the lumber mill ( good pieces they throw away that I get while collecting fire wood) and auctions. I started building an 8′ x 8′ platform that I would later install on stilts over the edge of the hill in my yard to begin the whole “building on a hill” process. Garf & I finished putting the floor boards on the deck Saturday so we decided to pick a spot on the hill to place it.

I didn’t get many pictures due to my phones struggle with lighting but the view from the edge of the deck is fantastic. It looks down over the lake and after we knock out a couple evil locust trees it’ll get even better. I’m going to try and dig a couple holes for the stilts and fill them with concrete so Garf and I can put the real legs under the platform next weekend. We’ve got the hill side of the platform sitting on breeze blocks held back with 4′ metal spikes pounded into the ground and drilled to the frame. This is all relatively temporary as I’m going to add some rock and concrete to the hill side to form steps which will also act as a strong base to the whole operation. This little platform is just the start to what will hopefully be a very cool deck surrounding an enclosed room.

Here’s Garf sitting on the mocked up deck. Not real safe but with the base anchored as heavily as we have it the darn thing already feels sturdy enough to bounce around on. It’ll just get better when we get the real feet under it instead of those little sticks we have holding it in place.

I’m not a very skilled builder but I love to build things so getting this monster in place after we built it was interesting. It was light enough for two guys to pick up (it’s only 8′ x 8′) but getting it mocked up, level, and in place over the hill was a trick. The whole thing only fell on me once! After struggling like cave men before the wheel came along our light bulbs eventually came on and we used leverage to easily stand the monster up while we set some screws in the 2×4’s that hold it in place now.

Here’s a sun light infused picture from the other side.

So far the whole project has cost about $8 in screws since we have collected the wood over time for free or $3 piles at auctions. I can’t quite tell yet if that’s going to be a good or bad thing. I assume after we put some walls up, put a roof on it and build a deck around it that it should stay pretty sturdy so long as there is no leaks in the walls or roof thus keeping the wood dry.

This project is pretty darn fun. It’s also going to answer a couple questions. First, is it really stupid to use scrap wood to build a permanent structure and second, should I hire professional help next time I try building something I don’t want to fall a part.

Due to the platform only being mocked up I didn’t really want to stand on the edge of it to take a picture so here’s one standing on the land edge. My G1 has light infusion issues. ^_^

Now imagine this shot from a bit further out over the hill with those nasty killer locust trees removed and some nice fruit trees planted in the valley there. Add another 8′ deck extending out beyond it’s current edge and WHALA! Perfection. hehe

Trix, Nitro & Bubba. Here is a cool ferret photo set zippy has on Flickr.

Right now we have four very friendly, awesome ferrets.
Trix: Born December 2005 - Currently the only silver wuzz we have. The most cuddly, calm, laid back, cool being. Interacts well and gets along with nearly all other species of animal that doesn’t attack em. (except small rabbits). If put in a shoe locker Trix will remove the liner in all reachable shoes and hide them. Along with all the socks. If he gets lost, he’ll run to a dog squeaker toy, Guaranteed.

Nitro: Born February 2006 - Used to be called “Mega Bite-ro”. He’s now just as calm and laid back as Trix but he used to be a bit fiesty. I think Julz put em in his place.

Julz: Born January 2007 - This little girl is the youngest by far. Zippy bought her late last year on the way back from election support. She’s the most energetic, exciteable, bouncy little ferret we have. She’s not dominant but put Nitro in his place when she got big enough wrestle back. [Need more pictures]

Spaz: Spaz is the latest addition to the family yet the oldest ferret we have. He spent the first 4 years of his life with our friend Kevin who loves ferrets but moved into a home where he couldn’t accommodate the little bugger anymore so we adopted him. He’s very social and interacts with people well. He however doesn’t like any of the treats all the other ferrets love. [Need more pictures]

Zippy and I have only had ferrets for 4 years now but we have remained consistent with the food, treats, and our socializing practice which has, thus far, provided us with a litter of very cool buddies we couldn’t consider parting with.
We feed them a steady diet of as much Marshall Premium Ferret Diet Food as they can eat. We let them run around our house and socialize with us and the other animals for a couple hours a day. When we put them away we give them 8 in 1 FerretVite Vitamin as a healthy treat before going back in the cage. It’s more like a treat to them then anything.

I think two more will be awesome. Especially Midori & Dozer.