this is my dream right here. my wife and i bought a “fixer upper” with bare dirt in USDA zone 6b/7a, and i dream of doing this. thanks for sharing!

maybe i can incorporate a 501c(3) and run it as an NGO, ha! but, seriously, fair point. i have heard both horror stories (SWAT teams bursting in in the middle of the night, etc) and bore-er stories (ran an exit node for 3 years, nothing ever happened). i guess i’m worried, and that worry maybe implies that i should not do it just yet. Signal proxy might be the way to go.

yes, the instructions are definitely doable - i am just wondering if there are recommended home network hardening steps that one might recommend. honestly, my worry is probably more related to the Tor exit relay. i really want to do one, but i also do not want legal trouble. maybe i’ll start with a bridge, sigh. but thank you! no worry about tone, text is tough.

dang, the bookbinding looks super cool! good for you. i am slowly beginning to investigate a partnership between my workplace (in the IT field, and we do a lot of ewaste recycling) and the local migrant center to provide them with a bunch of machines for things like GED, citizenship study, and communication.

good luck and good powerthrough!

i’d love to see photos!

for myself, i have been an unproductive lump for weeks due to oppressive heat in my part of the world. and also laziness, and internalized pseudo-Protestant work ethic guilt, and other stuff. but i do have some plans. i live in the arid southwest of the USA (well, extreme western Colorado but it’s effectively the arid southwest, climate-wise). i’ve got some potato plants that are growing which have largely been watered via a rain barrel i have set to collect water from our downspout in our backyard. i have three more such rain barrels which i plan to install.

my mother gave me a gift certificate to a local nursery, so we’re going to plant native/xeric bushes and trees on the west side of our house which is currently essentially bare and exposed to late afternoon glaring, hot sun.

we’re adding cellulose insulation to our attic in September, and once the heat has died down a bit we are going to finish covering out front yard in cardboard and mulch, hopefully in time to plant some winter cover crops. we also planted an apple tree last year that has survived the winter and the summer thus far.

lots to do, and little energy to do it with unfortunately. i’m feeling really depressed and shitty about climate stuff right now, which is why i made this post; i’m hoping i can get some secondhand positivity or enthusiasm to help me get going to actually do some of the projects i have in mind.

dang, approximately where in GJ? that’s where i’m located and i’d love to get some inspiration. i see some stuff like that in Fruita sometimes.

100%

oh dang, shutters! i forgot they’re not just decorative.

i might do something similar when we eventually replace everything in our house with electric stuff, but for now we have a gas-powered water heater. i am saving for a full solar installation on our roof, though, which would power everything. solar is the one energy-producer we have here in absolutely wild abundance.

that’s where i saw that video! appreciated.

i’d love to move, but i want to improve where i am while i’m here. we have some plans for trees and sunflowers or amaranth on that side, but i think it’s a “both/and” situation rather than an “either/or” for me.

yes, that actually is my very long term strategy, but the trees are not in place yet. my wife and i had a permaculture analyst suggest plants that produce edible foods for our area, so there are some plans for that and maybe also sunflowers or amaranth to do a natural block. but for today, i’m thinking awnings.

yeah, i’m thinking (tentatively) about trying to get some non-plastic, manually retractable cloth ones. then i can leave them fully extended for the hot-as-balls summer and dial them back for other seasons.

i wanted awning before that video, but that video made me start pricing out my options! ha.

verdict: it was not terribly helpful. gonna try Hugo next. https://gohugo.io/getting-started/quick-start/

https://stripedspatula.com/gallo-pinto/#wprm-recipe-container-7474 was quite tasty when we made it the other night. also https://www.ruchiskitchen.com/vegan-spicy-peanut-noodles/#recipe. both good!

i don’t know if this link is great, but it’s one that i’m going to read and try to follow along with. https://stablepoint.com/blog/how-to-host-your-own-website

to answer my own question, i have planted two rows of potatoes this spring - my first garden that i’ve ever been involved with! and yes, two rows of potatoes is barely a “garden” but it’s a start. i want to grow food i will actually eat, so we planted an apple tree last fall and potatoes this spring. i am hoping to also do a three sisters garden this year, but we’ll see. i also potted a Scotch Bonnet plant that i bought accidentally online while trying to buy actual Scotch Bonnet peppers, ha! this will be great for the Nigerian-style jollof rice i make on weekends, and anything Caribbean inspired that i cook which calls for that specific flavor and heat profile.

i also started a Calibreserver based out of my home server setup, which will be accessible to the neighborhood i live in - i bought a domain name and am learning about what all is necessary to statically host a website. this is the first part of my dream to start being a community sysadmin for my neighborhood, where i can provide resources that are freely available to my neighbors, and we can all add content and features as time, skill, and desire allow.

finally, i have dusted off Laika, my old trusty two-wheeled steed. she belonged to a coworker’s husband who never rode, so i got it for free last fall! I have not historically been a cyclist so I am working towards it. I bought a rack i need to add to the bike, and hope to get some different tires. add in a trailer, and you have a great errand-runner, which is my goal here.