Happy Yule from all of us!
alan
Laptop installation script/guide
Having to have access to reinstall my laptop, I’m putting this up. Mirrored Encrypted ZFS configuration.
Verify actual disks by doing ls -l on the $DISK Variable. May switch between reboots.DISK1=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2252E6966FC3DISK2=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2240E671E0D3DISK2=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2252E6966FC3DISK1=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2240E671E0D3
HOST=fafnir
USER=alan
POOL=UbuntuZFS
blkdiscard -f $DISK1
sgdisk --zap-all $DISK1
sgdisk -n1:1M:+127M -t1:EF00 -c1:EFI $DISK1
sgdisk -n2:0:+1920M -t2:8300 -c2:Boot $DISK1
sgdisk -n3:0:+64G -t3:8200 -c3:Swap $DISK1
sgdisk -n4:0:0 -t4:BF00 -c4:Pool $DISK1
sgdisk --print $DISK1
PART1UUID='blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part1'
PART2UUID='blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part2'
blkdiscard -f $DISK2 2>/dev/null
sgdisk --zap-all $DISK2
sgdisk -n1:1M:+127M -t1:EF00 -c1:EFI -u1:$PART1UUID $DISK2
sgdisk -n2:0:+1920M -t2:8300 -c2:Boot -u2:$PART2UUID $DISK2
sgdisk -n3:0:+64G -t3:8200 -c3:Swap -u3:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n4:0:0 -t4:BF00 -c4:POOL -u4:R $DISK2
For a non-mirrored boot configuration. Making the partitions size match to ZFS doesn't complain on the mirror creation.
blkdiscard -f $DISK2 2>/dev/null
sgdisk --zap-all $DISK2
sgdisk -n1:1M:+127M -t1:EF00 -c1:EFI -u1:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n2:0:+1920M -t2:8300 -c2:Boot -u2:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n3:0:+64G -t3:8200 -c3:Swap -u3:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n4:0:0 -t4:BF00 -c4:POOL -u4:R $DISK2
zpool create -o ashift=12 -o autotrim=on \
-O compression=lz4 -O normalization=formD \
-O acltype=posixacl -O xattr=sa -O dnodesize=auto -O atime=off \
-O encryption=aes-256-gcm -O keylocation=prompt -O keyformat=passphrase \
-O canmount=off -O mountpoint=none -R /mnt/install $POOL mirror $DISK1-part4 $DISK2-part4
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/ $POOL/root
zfs mount $POOL/root
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/home $POOL/home
zfs mount $POOL/home
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/home
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/var $POOL/var
zfs mount $POOL/var
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/var
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/var/lib $POOL/var/lib
zfs mount $POOL/var/lib
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/var/lib
replicant data sets are for data that is replicated elsewhere (e.g. Dropbox or Nextcloud) or not desired to be in the home directory
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant $POOL/replicant
zfs mount $POOL/replicant
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant/Dropbox $POOL/replicant/Dropbox
zfs mount $POOL/replicant/Dropbox
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant/Dropbox
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant/Nextcloud $POOL/replicant/Nextcloud
zfs mount $POOL/replicant/Nextcloud
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant/Nextcloud
zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant/storage $POOL/replicant/storage
zfs mount $POOL/replicant/storage
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant/storage
yes | mkfs.ext4 $DISK1-part2
mkdir /mnt/install/boot
mount $DISK1-part2 /mnt/install/boot/
mkfs.msdos -F 32 -n EFI -i 4d65646f $DISK1-part1
mkdir /mnt/install/boot/efi
mount $DISK1-part1 /mnt/install/boot/efi
apt update
apt install --yes debootstrap
debootstrap noble /mnt/install/
echo $HOST > /mnt/install/etc/hostname
sed "s/ubuntu/$HOST/" /etc/hosts > /mnt/install/etc/hosts
cp /etc/netplan/*.yaml /mnt/install/etc/netplan/
mount --rbind /dev /mnt/install/dev
mount --rbind /proc /mnt/install/proc
mount --rbind /sys /mnt/install/sys
chroot /mnt/install /usr/bin/env \
DISK1=$DISK1 DISK2=$DISK2 HOST=$HOST USER=$USER \
bash --login
Inside CHROOT
locale-gen --purge "en_US.UTF-8"
update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=en_US
dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive locales
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime
dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata
apt update
apt install --yes --no-install-recommends \
linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic \
zfs-initramfs \
cryptsetup \
keyutils \
grub-efi-amd64-signed \
shim-signed \
zstd
echo "swap $DISK1-part3 /dev/urandom \
swap,cipher=aes-xts-plain64,size=256,plain" >> /etc/crypttab
echo "swap $DISK2-part3 /dev/urandom \
swap,cipher=aes-xts-plain64,size=256,plain" >> /etc/crypttab
cat /etc/crypttabecho "PARTUUID=$(blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part2) /boot ext4 noatime,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=5s 0 1" >> /etc/fstab
echo "PARTUUID=$(blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part1) \
/boot/efi vfat noatime,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=5s 0 1" >> /etc/fstab
echo "/dev/mapper/swap none swap defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
cat /etc/fstab/etc/init.d/cryptdisks restart && sleep 5
swapon -a
echo "vm.swappiness=10" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
echo "vm.min_free_kbytes=1048576" >> /etc/sysctl.confecho "fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 524288" >> /etc/sysctl.confHandleLidSwitch=ignore" >> /etc/systemd/logind.conf
echo "
update-initramfs -c -k all
update-grub
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=Ubuntu \
--recheck --no-floppy
We need to install the Desktop first to be able to add the repo:
apt install ubuntu-desktop
Add a couple essential tools:add-apt-repository universeadd-apt-repository restricted
add-apt-repository multiverse
apt update
bash-completion \
nano \
curl \
gparted \
smartmontools \
sanoid \
plocateapt dist-upgrade --yesmkdir /etc/sanoid
wget -O /etc/sanoid/sanoid.defaults.conf https://github.com/jimsalterjrs/sanoid/blob/master/sanoid.defaults.conf
wget -O /etc/sanoid/sanoid.conf https://github.com/jimsalterjrs/sanoid/blob/master/sanoid.conf
adduser --disabled-password --gecos '' $USER
usermod -a -G adm,cdrom,dip,lpadmin,plugdev,sudo $USER
echo "$USER ALL=NOPASSWD:ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/$USER
passwd $USER
wget -O- http://packages.medo64.com/keys/medo64.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/medo64.asc
echo "deb http://packages.medo64.com/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medo64.list
apt update
apt install -y syncbootpart
syncbootpart
dd if=$DISK1-part1 of=$DISK2-part1
dd if=$DISK1-part2 of=$DISK2-part2
update-grub
exit
Out of CHROOT
sync
umount /mnt/install/boot/efi
umount /mnt/install/boot
mount | grep -v zfs | tac | awk '/\/mnt/ {print $3}' | xargs -i{} umount -lf {}
zpool export -a
rebootPost install setup:
wget -O dropbox.deb https://www.dropbox.com/download?dl=packages/ubuntu/dropbox_2025.05.20_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i dropbox.deb
rm dropbox.deb
wget -O vivaldi.deb https://downloads.vivaldi.com/stable/vivaldi-stable_7.5.3735.62-1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i vivaldi.deb
rm vivaldi.deb
wget -O ~/Appimages/nextcloud.AppImage https://download.nextcloud.com/desktop/releases/Linux/Nextcloud-3.17.0-x86_64.AppImage
chmod +x ~/Appimages/nextcloud.AppImage
After recovering the .ssh folder, runssh-addto import identities.
Signal Messenger:
wget -O- https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg;
cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
# 2. Add our repository to your list of repositories:
echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main' |\
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list
# 3. Update your package database and install Signal:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktop
#Mattermost Desktop
curl -fsS -o- https://deb.packages.mattermost.com/setup-repo.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt install mattermost-desktop
SuperMicro IMPI View
IMPI View
https://www.supermicro.com/en/support/resources/downloadcenter/smsdownload?category=IPMI
Master PDF:
Dungeon Draft
Wonder Draft
Zoom
sudo apt install keepassxc evolution vlc gimp imagemagick nautilus-nextcloud nautilus-image-converter plocate libfuse2
Nomachine
https://www.nomachine.com
Fix wireplumber issue:
sudo apt install libcamera-ipa pipewire-libcamera
Summer Update!
It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!
In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.
Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.
My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.
Randal is very busy, taking a call here.
Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.
Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.
The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.
Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.
I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.
Presents on the lanai.
New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.
January brought more cold days.
We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.
More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!
February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.
Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.
Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.
March brought the goats!
March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.
Arya and Evan work on their cars.
Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.
Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.
The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!
April
April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.
Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.
Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!
Goats doing Goat things.
Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!
Baby goats!
Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats
We added a couple goslings to our collection!
Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.
More boxes await!
Randal helps with the chicken feed!
Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.
June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.
A visit to the lake with family!
Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.
Chickens and Geese all grown up!
The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.
It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.
Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.
Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!
And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!
Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.
I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.
We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!
Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.
Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.
We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!
Summer Update!
It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!
In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.
Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.
My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.
Randal is very busy, taking a call here.
Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.
Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.
The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.
Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.
I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.
Presents on the lanai.
New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.
January brought more cold days.
We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.
More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!
February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.
Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.
Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.
March brought the goats!
March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.
Arya and Evan work on their cars.
Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.
Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.
The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!
April
April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.
Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.
Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!
Goats doing Goat things.
Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!
Baby goats!
Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats
We added a couple goslings to our collection!
Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.
More boxes await!
Randal helps with the chicken feed!
Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.
June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.
A visit to the lake with family!
Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.
Chickens and Geese all grown up!
The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.
It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.
Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.
Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!
And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!
Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.
I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.
We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!
Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.
Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.
We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!
Summer Update!
It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!
In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.
Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.
My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.
Randal is very busy, taking a call here.
Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.
Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.
The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.
Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.
I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.
Presents on the lanai.
New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.
January brought more cold days.
We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.
More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!
February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.
Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.
Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.
March brought the goats!
March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.
Arya and Evan work on their cars.
Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.
Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.
The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!
April
April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.
Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.
Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!
Goats doing Goat things.
Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!
Baby goats!
Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats
We added a couple goslings to our collection!
Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.
More boxes await!
Randal helps with the chicken feed!
Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.
June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.
A visit to the lake with family!
Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.
Chickens and Geese all grown up!
The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.
It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.
Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.
Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!
And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!
Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.
I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.
We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!
Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.
Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.
We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!
Summer Update!
It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!
In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.
Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.
My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.
Randal is very busy, taking a call here.
Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.
Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.
The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.
Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.
I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.
Presents on the lanai.
New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.
January brought more cold days.
We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.
More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!
February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.
Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.
Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.
March brought the goats!
March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.
Arya and Evan work on their cars.
Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.
Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.
The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!
April
April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.
Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.
Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!
Goats doing Goat things.
Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!
Baby goats!
Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats
We added a couple goslings to our collection!
Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.
More boxes await!
Randal helps with the chicken feed!
Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.
June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.
A visit to the lake with family!
Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.
Chickens and Geese all grown up!
The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.
It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.
Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.
Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!
And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!
Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.
I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.
We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!
Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.
Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.
We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!
Summer Update!
It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!
In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.
Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.
My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.
Randal is very busy, taking a call here.
Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.
Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.
The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.
Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.
I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.
Presents on the lanai.
New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.
January brought more cold days.
We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.
More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!
February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.
Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.
Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.
March brought the goats!
March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.
Arya and Evan work on their cars.
Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.
Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.
The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!
April
April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.
Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.
Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!
Goats doing Goat things.
Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!
Baby goats!
Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats
We added a couple goslings to our collection!
Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.
More boxes await!
Randal helps with the chicken feed!
Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.
June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.
A visit to the lake with family!
Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.
Chickens and Geese all grown up!
The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.
It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.
Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.
Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!
And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!
Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.
I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.
We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!
Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.
Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.
We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!
Summer Update!
It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!
In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.
Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.
My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.
Randal is very busy, taking a call here.
Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.
Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.
The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.
Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.
I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.
Presents on the lanai.
New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.
January brought more cold days.
We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.
More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!
February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.
Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.
Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.
March brought the goats!
March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.
Arya and Evan work on their cars.
Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.
Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.
The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!
April
April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.
Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.
Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!
Goats doing Goat things.
Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!
Baby goats!
Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats
We added a couple goslings to our collection!
Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.
More boxes await!
Randal helps with the chicken feed!
Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.
June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.
A visit to the lake with family!
Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.
Chickens and Geese all grown up!
The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.
It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.
Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.
Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!
And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!
Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.
I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.
We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!
Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.
Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.
We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!
Summer Update!
It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!
In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.
Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.
My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.
Randal is very busy, taking a call here.
Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.
Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.
The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.
Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.
I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.
Presents on the lanai.
New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.
January brought more cold days.
We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.
More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!
February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.
Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.
Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.
March brought the goats!
March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.
Arya and Evan work on their cars.
Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.
Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.
The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!
April
April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.
Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.
Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!
Goats doing Goat things.
Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!
Baby goats!
Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats
We added a couple goslings to our collection!
Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.
More boxes await!
Randal helps with the chicken feed!
Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.
June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.
A visit to the lake with family!
Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.
Chickens and Geese all grown up!
The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.
It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.
Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.
Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!
And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!
Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.
I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.
We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!
Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.
Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.
We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!