Category Archives: Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends, Off Grid Living, Real Estate

Tiny Houses from None Other than Amazon

We all know you can find almost anything on Amazon, but did you know that includes a house? A dive into the online shopping giant shows that they actually have a fairly wide range of kits and prefabricated tiny homes for sale. What could be better than getting the tiny house of your dreams with free shipping?

From basic shipping container homes to rustic cabins, prices range from just over $5,000 to more than $50,000, allowing you to select the kit that fits into your budget. A quick search for “garden house” or “cabin kit” will pull up most options, with these tiny dwellings perfect for guest houses or extra office space if you aren’t looking to permanently downsize.It’s worth noting that many of the kits are sold through third-party vendors, and most will need you to get inventive when it comes to a bathroom and installing insulation, but isn’t improvising part of the fun with a tiny home? You’ll also want to check local building codes, as laws vary state by state about acceptable structures. Once you’ve done your research, it’s just click and go.

Source: Prefabricated Tiny Homes Available for Sale on Amazon

Odds & Ends

The Joy of Spring

This year has been glorious with one of the best wildflower seasons ever. Unfortunately with wildflowers comes pollen, and that semi delirious state when all of those histamines are making your head spin. Which is worse, the allergies or the Benadryl?

Mormon tea grows naturally here in the desert, literally all over. Simmer for 20 minutes, and you have a good tea for colds, allergies, or chest congestion. Please note that it is a stimulant and is not for those with heart conditions or prior to bed.

Here’s something every pollen sufferer will appreciate:

Via Bits and Pieces

Arizona, Odds & Ends

A homeless man wandered into Kingman one day, here’s what happened

For years, the white-bearded man in the red Santa Claus outfit has been a familiar sight around this isolated high-desert town, his habits so routine people take notice when he’s not there.In triple-digit August heat and on frosty January mornings, he pushes an overloaded cart along congested Stockton Hill Road, his companion toy rabbit riding shotgun, trundling unsteadily between his haunts at supermarkets, fast-food joints and coffeehouses.Who is this character, this man in scarlet, people once asked. Is he homeless? Does he have substance or emotional issues? He seemed harmless, because not once did anyone see him stick out his hand to beg, bother or steal.Eventually, some stopped to introduce themselves. James Zyla, as he calls himself, greeted them in a charming British accent uncommon to rural Arizona. His last name, he said, rhymed with sarsaparilla, a lovely word he’d once used in a poem and decided to imitate. For starters, he’d say, he didn’t like the terms “homeless” or “living on the streets,” and much preferred “on the road.”

Source: A homeless man wandered in one day, and this Arizona town adopted him – Los Angeles Times

Odds & Ends

Still Waiting

We’re still waiting for the warmer weather. It’s been a brisk couple of days wind wise, and this morning it was a mere 34 degrees F.

It’s supposed to be warm and in the 70s this weekend, which would be welcome for the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

In life we’re always waiting, sometimes the wait is more noticeable than others, but it’s always something. When we’re young, it’s friends, and then the wait for lovers or spouses. Waiting.

When we’re older, it’s the march of life, family, and career. So many waits (or is it waitings?) Soon we’re waiting for retirement, even death.

Societies also grow and mature, and sometimes the undercurrents of discontent, or the mania of rapid bank fueled economic growth leads to another wait. The wait until the coming crash, or the wait until the rebirth.  Always waiting…

The Coyote waits. Sometimes it’s the rabbit hole, at other times the patient wait for the unwary. We’re always waiting…