We pause for a brief political statement...

Other than an occasional rant against inane building codes, I've tried, with some success, to suppress my political leanings on this blog over the years. My mission for the house blog has been to provide some entertaining, if not sometimes informative, content about our quest to build an off-the-grid timber frame home. What started out as a means of keeping friends and family informed of our house building progress has turned into a chronicle of the house that is likely to live on as long, if not longer, than the house itself. (centuries we hope)

My wife and I love being green, but an incurable condition of rugged individualism motivated our decision to use our own trees for lumber, our own stone for flooring and siding, a 4+ year dose of our own labor, slate (natural, made in USA, with a lifespan of 150+ years) for roofing, a wood gasification boiler for heat, solar panels for electricity, and SIPs for insulation. When looking for building materials free of Kharmatic reprisals and unencumbered by negative moral entanglements, we've always preferred "local" to "sustainable." (the former being less ambiguous and often a truer representation of the latter.)

It's no coincidence that we built this house in Eastern Kentucky either... for it is one of the few places on earth where land is cheap, man has not yet outstripped nature's ability to produce resources, and the government hasn't yet unduly shackled individual pursuits. I feel we're at a precarious point though... land is getting more expensive (or is it that our currency is becoming worthless?), the irrational push to switch from coal to biomass could change our forests forever (a la "The Lorax"), and the federal governtment's push to homogenize America is conspiring to bring onerous building codes and zoning laws to our region. The window is closing... and not for any rational reason.



This is the backdrop for my decision to support Rand Paul for Senate. Please listen to this man speak. If we had 100 Senators as honest and as smart as this man, I feel strongly that our country would once again be on a path to greatness instead of a path of dismal decline. Whether you live in Kentucky (where we are fortunate enough to be able to vote for this man!) or whether you live in California, please consider that it might be in your interest to support this candidate. He has a steep, but by no means insurmountable, hill to climb to overcome the beltway establishment in the primary.