New digital camera

peanutgreen · #1 12/05/04, 08:14 PM

I got a new digital camera, an early Christmas gift. Here are some pictures of our future homestead that I took today.

http://community.webshots.com/user/peanutgreen2

This is a small house that was built in 1880. We closed on it July 2. The only work we've gotten done so far is cleaning up the yard around the house. We live in Harper County, Kansas. I don't know if you remember, but it made the national news last May when we set a record for the number of tornado touch-downs in one month, so there were a lot of tree limbs to clean up. We have started on the house; we're knocking out all the old plaster walls. The house needs to be levelled, re-wired, and re-plumbed. We also have to have a well and septic systems put in. There are about a billion little things that need to be done, but we'd like to get the house ready to live in and work on the rest when we move out there.

Now, if someone could tell me where the money tree grows....

seedspreader · #2 12/06/04, 12:26 AM

You certainly are rich in buildings and silos...

The one thing I don't envy is all the repairs!

But it looks like they left you alot of cool things!

Alex · #3 12/06/04, 10:54 AM

The out buildings are great, the equipment shed, barn, and all the rest are wonderful. You need to do some work on them, but no rush, after the house.

The house looks good. Why are you tearing down the plaster walls? Why not put other treatment over them, or are you changing the room arrangement - that must be it?

Good Luck.

You need a block of time to get started on it, then just enjoy. Should have a good life there.

All the best.

Alex

Hank - Narita · #4 12/06/04, 09:36 PM

What kind of camera did you get? Did you have to purchase extra pieces? How many optical zoom? Was it easy to use? We are in the market for a camera but want to wait for the holidays to be over. Any recommendations?

peanutgreen · #5 12/10/04, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank - Narita

What kind of camera did you get? Did you have to purchase extra pieces? How many optical zoom? Was it easy to use? We are in the market for a camera but want to wait for the holidays to be over. Any recommendations?

We got a Concord EyeQ from Wal-Mart. It's really easy to use, basically just point and shoot then hook it up to the computer with the USB cord and download the photos. It has 4 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, 6x digital zoom, and some internal memory. You can use an SD card for additional memory. We bought the camera ($159), a small battery charger with rechargeable batteries ($16), and an SD card ($15). I really recommend the rechargeable batteries or you'll go through a lot of the others. I was concerned about buying an off-brand, but I don't see any difference in perfomance from some of the higher-priced ones that we've looked at over the past year. I would recommend one.

peanutgreen · #6 12/10/04, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

The out buildings are great, the equipment shed, barn, and all the rest are wonderful. You need to do some work on them, but no rush, after the house.

The house looks good. Why are you tearing down the plaster walls? Why not put other treatment over them, or are you changing the room arrangement - that must be it?

Good Luck.

You need a block of time to get started on it, then just enjoy. Should have a good life there.

All the best.

Alex

I know lots of people are going back to plaster walls, but these were going to be too hard to save. There were cracks all over since the floors are not longer level, and the plaster itself didn't look to be in the best condition. We felt like it would be easier to remove the plaster so we could re-do all the wiring, put in new insulation, and hang drywall. There would have been more work to try to remove the old insulation (which was a fire hazzard), re-wire, remove several layers of old wallpaper and panelling, fix the cracks, and stop the plaster from crumbling.

Right now, we're trying to find a company to come out and level up the floors. I'm not sure if that will involve working on the foundation, but we can't do much until that gets done. The only other things that we should have to outsource are drilling the well, putting in the septic system, and the electrical inspection. We can do the wiring, but I'm sure we'll have to have it inspected before we can get service. It's going to be a lot of work, but we plan to live there for the rest of lives so it will be worth it. I think we will appreciate the house more having done most of the work ourselves.

Have a great holiday season!