Monster Ideas

First garden

2008-05-06T17:01:00.001-07:00

Its not much, but it's a start!

Super Cross

2008-05-04T13:35:00.001-07:00

Vegas

2008-04-09T14:39:00.001-07:00

Springsteen!!

2008-04-09T10:04:00.001-07:00

Colleen, Heidi, Tim, Jonathan, Sarah, Allison, Chris, Terry, Norine, and I all went the Portland Bruce Springsteen concert together, all courtesy of us! Due to a screw up trying to buy tickets in person and on-line at the same time, we ended up with 12 tickets. We sold two and gave away the rest.

Don and Mavis Poole came up too, and we all stayed at the Holiday Inn about two blocks from the Rose Garden. Great pre and post function fun!

As the picture above shows, we have "great" (hope you can read sarcasm) seat. The Boss is that little pixel in the middle of the picture below the bright lights.

This is my second Bruce concert, and I have to say that the Rising Tour concert Colleen and I went to in Sacramento 4-5 years ago was better. The sound was better, Bruce was a little more charged up, and Patty was there However, an average Springsteen concert is still an evangelical experience.

Procrastinators Eugene Debut!

2008-01-12T14:16:00.001-08:00

Oh man, was this fun or what? Playing rock and roll in the bars again. Lots of friends turned out to watch us open for Aaron's band, The Athiarchists. Most of the people in the bar were not even born the last time I played in a Eugene bar, but they gave us an awesome reception anyway.

Fun stuff!!

Kindle

2007-12-20T10:49:00.001-08:00

Future of books

Eagles

2007-11-29T10:05:00.001-08:00

Water Calculations For Furrer Farms

2007-11-24T22:14:00.000-08:00

Our irrigation well produces 40-50 gallons per minute. It has too much arsenic to drink, but has been able to irrigate about 10 acres of pasture for cattle grazing throughout the summer. Here is a quick calculation of how much water this well actually produces:

So, how much water could be in a pond that would hold rainwater runoff, take in some seasonal creek runoff, and maybe be augmented by the well? Below is the calculation of how much water is in a certain size pond:

Length (ft.) x Width (ft.) x Average Depth (ft.) x 7.5 = volume of water. For example, a if your pond is 4 ft. Long x 8 ft. Wide x 2 ft. avg. depth x 7.5 = 480 gallons. I'll put this in an Instacalc embed soon, but for now, I'll see what a 200' by 200' pond that is 5' average depth has for volume.

200 X 200 X 5 X 7.5 = 1,500,000 gallons. So, it would take about a month to fill with all of the output from the well.

Rainwater catchment from the barn would be about:

80 X 144 = 11,520 ft sq roof area.
.9 efficiency coefficient for metal roofing
3.7" average monthly rainfall in Eugene, OR, USA area.
.6 conversion factor to get gallons
11,520 * .9 * 3.7 * .6 = 23,016 gallons per month.
23,016 * 12 = 276,192 gallons per year.

Wow, not much of a dent in filling the pond.

But, much, much more could be gotten from the seasonal creek. I will have to do some flow analysis to determine just how much water id flowing by the pond site from October to May of each year. I know it is a LOT.

Outdoor Living Space

2007-11-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

It is extremely important to have easy access to outdoor living space. In the Summer, most of our meals are eaten under the cover of our beautiful faux timber framed porch. For the new house we want to repeat and improve upon this space that we have loved for over ten years now.

The dimensions are 20' X 30'. Pavers set in sand have pluses and minuses. They are nice to look at with their earthy feel, but they are difficult to sweep and weeds grow in between the cracks. I like the idea of permeable surface under the grape arbor, but for the new version, going for some kind of polished concrete under the covered area may be better.

This time around we need to make sure to build in electrical outlets as well as a drip irrigation system. Our current version has no irrigation and the electrical was put in as an after-thought, requiring a LOT of work and expense to install.

We want an outdoor wood fired oven, and I have been researching plans for this (another post to follow).

Yeah, Spoiled Kids

2007-11-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Officially, this is Colleen's new vehicle to replace our aging Subaru Outback that has over 180,000 miles. Practically, it is Allison's new car, and Colleen will end up driving the crappy Ford Focus with 100,000 miles.

Beautiful Fall Motorcycle Riding

2007-10-25T12:11:00.001-07:00

I was busy when Dad called and wanted to go riding, but I said yes anyway, and I'm so glad I did. We did a quick 100 miler to Monroe on all back roads. The picture in the middle of the valley is over by Irish Bend on Old River Road.

It was mid October, but the temperature was 73. We have been having rains, so it was not too dry. Awesome!

The Procrastinators World Debut

2007-10-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

In finally got back to playing music again! Don Poole and I have been the foundation of bass and drums since 1979, but have not played together in an "official" band for 25 years. Ken Dutchess has been playing music all of that time in a bunch of bands. We have been practicing about once per week, and finally had our first show at IndieGamesCon on Oct. 10th, 2007.

It was a blast. Probably had an audience of about 120 people plus 40 people watching an Internet stream on Ustream.tv. People really seemed to like us, but I think they were being a little kind. I listened to the video streams, and we weren't bad. I'm just not sure about being "good".

Below is an embedded version of the Ustream. In this song, we have a guest singer, Norb, and guitar player, Justin Mette. Sure, there are a few clunkers in there, but I'm sure it sounded better live :)

Here are some photos on my Flickr account. It shows our studio and some photos Magnus Blikstad took at IGC.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefftunn/sets/72157602506509727/detail

Wow, Can This Thing Really Pull This?

2007-10-13T18:10:00.001-07:00

Here we are on our first trip to the Winchester Bay Dunes riding area with the new Road Trek. The motorhome looks kind of spindly here, and I was a little worried about how it would handle the 2,500 pound trailer, Rhino, and Raptor. I needn't have worried, it came through like a champ. It would easily handle 70+ MPH on the freeway, and I routinely cruised 60+ MPH on the back roads. Climbing the Coast Range, it held a steady 50+ MPH on the steepest hill before the tunnel.

It has been years since our family had the time to go riding at the Dunes. We should have kept doing it. Even when it is a busy weekend like this, it is extremely fun. Very family oriented, our group had four kids under 10 years old, plus one twleve, plus Allison. My Dad came over, so our little caravan had three generations of riders in one group.

Coburg Riding

2007-10-07T14:16:00.001-07:00

Jonathan is still trying to kill me:) We went on a little more than 20 mile bike ride today. We started at the Triple Oaks house, so the first mile is "straight up" according to me, "nothing" according to Jon. I'm going with my assessment. From there we fought a headwind to Herman Road. Wind is just as hard as a hill to me.

Coming back on Powerline Road was nice! My best pace is about 17 MPH, but going into the wind was more like 12-13 MPH. With the wind, it was more like 18-19, and Jon was going 20MPH.

This was the second longest bike ride I have ever taken. It may be small steps, at a slow pace compared to real bike riders, but, hey, at least I am doing something!

-Motoman

Furrer Farms Begins

2007-09-29T11:22:00.001-07:00

Colleen and I just closed on a 46 acre farm across from her parent's house on Howe Lane in Creswell, OR, USA. We have already bought and remodeled the old family farm house that Patty and Don currently live in, and had no intentions of needing more property, but this home came up for sale, and we could not resist. The old "Bonnet place" as Colleen and her Dad refer to the property is bordered on two sides by Furrer land holdings, so it made a lot of sense to buy it.

We have always dreamed of living off-grid or at least as energy efficient as possible, and our intentions are to use this place to finally live the dream. We are now in planning stages, but envision solar panels, energy efficient appliances, window coverings, gray water recycling, rain water catchment, wind power, and possibly even harnessing the seasonal creek with micro-hydro. Homes do not need all of this to be environmentally friendly, but I am interested in experimenting with them to show other people how it can work.

The "Furrer Farms" part of the equation will be a fairly large organic farm, food processing, and a commercial kitchen to help people learn about eating great local food.

Lots of plans and dreams. We'll see how reality plays out!

One Dollar Ninkasi???

2007-09-21T17:48:00.001-07:00

A couple old hippie programmers :) are trying to drink all of the Ninkasi before the Starlight Lounge gets smart and starts charging more than one dollar for a pint of the best IPA in Eugene.

Riding Bikes For Fitness

2007-09-20T13:13:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Jon took me on a bike ride UP Fox Hollow road. It is steep. I think he is secretly trying to kill me. Seriously though, riding the bike is getting to be more and more fun. Weight lifting messed up my back, so I can't really do that right now. Bike riding is a lot less impactful.

New Road Trek Motorhome

2007-09-19T00:39:00.001-07:00

Colleen is enjoying our new motor home. This is one of our first rides to shake it down and make sure all of the systems work. All motorhomes have problems, and this one is no exception. So far, the right window will not roll back up and the coach battery seems to be having some problems holding a charge.

Crescent, OR Property For Sale

2004-12-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Nearly three splitable acres in Crescent, OR. Includes a house that needs work, but could be saved.

Creative real estate investors here is your chance! This property will more than double your money if you work it right. It is simply too far from my home and my schedule is too full to take on the work. Property is already in two parcels, so one split is easy (three separate parcels may be achievable). Put in a spectic, roll in a mobile home, and you are looking at rents of at least $600 per month for one parcel. Work witih the current renter, fix up the house a little, and you get rents of at least $400 for the house. That is a total of $1,000 per month in rents for very little investment.

I'm asking $55,000 for this property. I'm willing to talk to creative investors, but don't get carried away. I can carry the contract, and there are any number of ways to make this work. Trades of any kind will be considered.