A man should have weapons mounted on walls. This is a requirement of manhood. Failure to do so denies that which makes us men: the capacity for and proper use of selective violence.
However, the type of weapon and the method of display distinctly broadcasts the man’s association with violence. Sword = nerd and probably younger. Yes, I have a sword hanging up in the basement but I also have a history degree so I get a pass. Old family shotgun = appreciation for family history. Bolt-action rifle = appreciation for hunting or precision shooting. AR15 = douchebag.
But what about classic recurve/longbows? Well they’re awesome, of course. But as for storage, the bow is a unique customer. It can’t be stood up in a corner or shoved in the attic. Bad climate control can cause delamination, and improper support can cause warping. Unlike firearms, they’re very particular. Even when not intended to be displayed, they still need even, horizontal support in a low-humidity and low heat environment. And at 4-6′ long, they can take up an awkward amount of wall space. A solution was needed, but internet searches for bow holders tended to favor the compound variety, and anything else proved to be ridiculously overpriced. As usual, I would have to build my own.
…Which really didn’t require all that much imagination. A couple boards and hanging brackets would suffice, since they were going in the basement. Here’s what I came up with:
Complete with pretty wife
Basic and functional, and elegant in its simplicity. At last the bows are now not only properly stored, but also displayed. Manly!
Following the great firewood processing of 2025, I was left with some junk wood remnants: rotten chunks, un-splittable end pieces, wood that absorbed too much mud over the years, etc. So I carefully stacked them into a pile and ended up with a…
No, not a haphazard pile of junk wood. A stumpery!
No really, this is a thing. The great Monty Don – Britain’s most famous master gardener, told me so.
And no, I’m not making this guy up either. The Brits are weird. He’s on Amazon streaming. Look it up.
The premise being, a pile of large chunks of wood can add visual interest to an otherwise over-manicured garden. Maybe, or it might just end up looking like a pile of junk. Which is why I’m attempting to inoculate it with mushroom spores.
I did successfully grow a mushroom patch last year, though the mushrooms themselves weren’t very tasty.
Actually, I find that the snow makes winter less depressing. Snow gives the cold purpose, without which we’re forced to endure damp grass, dormant gardens, and grey skies without purpose. Fortunately, we’re getting lots of snow this year! Yay! Take that, suicide month!
And after an extended weekend of shoveling a Cold Ton, we were left with the material for a proper snow fort, or rather, a quinzhee!
After my recent accomplishment of finally installing bathroom ductwork into proper external vents, I started to reminisce. We will soon hit our 10-year mark in this house, Easement Acres. What began as an American dream turned into a parenthood want: a place for the kid to grow up. And the romanticized homestead activities of decorating and gardening. I wanted a home. I moved a lot myself as a kid, with the longest stint in a Lubbock property – more of a prison, really, with a tiny backyard and a lack of permission to ever venture beyond the privacy fence unescorted. All it needed was some concertina wire to complete the feeling.
But now, with the decade landmark in sight, this will be the longest I have ever lived in one domicile. So I wanted to look back on what I’ve written about in my time here. Or more specifically, what I’ve written about regarding the house itself.
Here’s a chronological list:
2017
Wifi and Ethernet
WFH in my basement setup
Splitting trees removed by BP
Sump pump drainage
Gardening and more trees removed
Rain barrel
Rain barrel #2
Deck staining
Lamppost
Hostile neighbors
Hanging pictures
Basement growing
Electrical outlet install
Putting wire on the fence
New TV stand
Live Christmas tree
2018
Live Christmas tree cleanup
Ring doorbell camera install
Gas leak
New trees planted
Ozone-ing the carpet
Revised basement workstation
Workout equipment acquired
Hallway carpet replaced with laminate
War on dandelions
Property survey
First reel mower
Exploding electrical outlet
Storm door install
Grandfather clock acquired
Basement aquarium acquired
Front porch light install
Dining room carpet replaced with laminate
Fence repair after ice storm
Ethernet patch panel install
2019
Air purifier acquired
Revised basement workstation again
Wired basement desk with ethernet
Backyard Ring camera install
Sump pump drainage upgraded with brick
Lounge carpet replaced with laminate
Foyer tiled
Copper cock added to roof
Rain barrel #3
Sliding backdoor shattered
2020
Sliding backdoor replaced
Second reel mower
Barn star acquired
Wine cellar acquired
Bedroom carpet replaced with laminate
Garage workshop pegboard acquired
Dead spruce trees removed
Retrofitted attic fan install
Neighbor’s plywood palace and city complaint
2021
Wood burner install
Front door lock replaced
Decorative external shutters replaced
Security film installed on garage window
Brick garden edging install
Garden trellis installed to block view of problem neighbor
Additional garage organization
Built the garage door open sensor/indicator
Roomba vacuum acquired
2022
Bathroom fan replacement
Bathroom fan remodel (For some reason, I didn’t post once on this project. I must have been trying to wipe it from my memory).
Broken chest freezer turned into a root cellar
Clematis planted on garden trellis
Easement Acres name formalized
2023
Garden Ring camera install
Deck string lights upgraded
Built deck gate
Built backyard trellis
2024
Removed unnecessary bathroom light fixture
New couch acquired
New HVAC
Mosquito wars
Easement Acres signage
Hurricane damage
Bench vise acquired
2025
Bathroom grips install
New oven acquired
More trees planted
Zombie door
Ox yoke hung
New roof
Built firewood holder
2026
Attic bathroom ventilation ductwork install
Conclusion
A lot of work has been done here on Easement Acres! It’s definitely more than my parents had ever done to their home. I think the difference lies with the generation gap. My home was never a given. There was a lot of doubt we’d ever get to have one at all! So every day is a new opportunity to, again, partake in the ultimate hobby! It’s not simply a place to live.
I like breathing. I wasn’t exactly consulted in the design of terrestrial animalia metabolic function, but breathing is a required component in the process of oxidizing hydrocarbons for cellular energy nonetheless. So it would follow that such a necessary and constant action should be made somewhat pleasant, right?
Why then does laziness and cheapness persist to make the process unpleasant? Why as a people would we not choose to band together and make air quality a priority? (Beyond the obvious monetary implications, that is.)
I complained about this when I originally discovered the bathroom fans exhausted into nowhere. Actually, I discovered one fan. The other fan I would later find to be buried completely under insulation. Both fans vented to the attic. Both lacked hoses. And one was covered. Not very effective.
The one fan I could find I attached to a flexible duct line and routed it to the top of the attic, but with no exterior vent hookup, I instead retrofitted a rotary fan onto a passive vent in order to vent the whole attic. It sort of worked, but eventually the fan rusted and seized. Back to square one.
The next phase of the saga revealed the hidden location of fan #2 when what I assumed was the master bathroom fan turned out to be the guest bathroom fan when I ripped it out of the ceiling to figure out why it wasn’t ventilating. Peering down from the attic into the wrong bathroom was an unpleasant surprise. I finally located the master bathroom fan by shoving a wire up beside it and having Liz wiggle it while I scanned the attic for movement.
Both fans got replaced with ducts added. But again, with no external connection point, they vented into the attic for several years, awaiting a proper solution. Eventually, the proper solution came with the new roof. The installers, being very accommodating, added external vents for me – one for each bathroom and one for a future kitchen vent hood project. Huzzah. I triumphantly scampered up to the attic to finally connect the hoses, and was greeted by the sight of a square hole under the vents. Apparently, they’re universal external vents, meant to be fitted with connectors, but not including them by default. Damn. Had I known that, I would have fitted connectors to the old roof’s passive vents, which probably would have been a net gain even though I’d be sacrificing full attic venting capacity. Oh well. At least now I can do it proper.
And the internet told me that this is a very normal scenario, with the easy fix recommending bolting on vent collars and filling the gaps with that heat-resistant foil dryer vent tape. And go figure – that worked just fine. Duct work, unlike plumbing, is surprisingly imprecise. Tape, is part of the standard toolkit.
I should have taken some more “before” pics, but I was choking in the dust and trying to wrap this decade-long project up ASAP. But here’s what it looks like inside:
Here’s the guest bathroom fan. I had the foresight to install a 120CFM beast, even though the size of the bathroom only needed an 80. But with a shared bathroom for anyone visiting, expeditious air evacuation is of paramount priority:
And a final shot of both ducts connected! At last!
Side note: with no shingles on a metal roof, the attic ceiling isn’t studded with thousands of skull perforators. I can safely stand up higher than I ever dared before! The only blood shed on this project was from the sharp metal edges on the collars.
