Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Project: Fire Pit.

Well, here I go again making projects on the fly with what's available to me. Living off of a dirt, and in the out skirts of civilization. I decided to go over to the near by rock pit and pick out some choice stones. Which I used to create a 3 foot in diameter fire pit by stacking the rocks in a circular fashion. Unfortunately, pictures are not available, but I did take a small video of what it looks like at night. And all it cost me was about 30 minutes of my time once I had all the necessary stones needed for the pit.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Project: Collapsible Bed

Well, a few weeks after I moved into this trailer, I decided that the rear bedroom was going to be my kid's room. My son sleeps on a twin sized bed at his mother's house. My best friend gave me a twin sized mattress but not a box spring. I would lay it down so my son would be able to sleep on it. That was until I was watching an episode of McGyver (spelling?) on Netflix. So I decided to take an idea and create a custom bed frame for my son.

So here's what I started with: a cheapskate budget of $40 and an idea on paper.

I bought some 10 - 2X4's, a box of 3" coarse thread drywall screws, 2 - 4" door hinges,  2 - Carraige bolts/washers/nuts, 1 - 1X2 furring strip.

So I started by measuring out the dimensions of the twin matress, I added the thickness of the 2X4s to the measurements, and I began cutting out the pieces that I would need to get his bed squared away.

Then after all the pieces were cut up, I proceeded to make a frame with them.

After the main bed frame was assembled, I then added the swing out legs and braces for it.
Then it was off to my kid's room, I propped the frame up against the wall so I could get an idea of what it would look like and how high the bed would sit. And to mark the height necesary for the wall mounted braces.










Not only did I miter the corners but I also dadoed the center support into the main support for the bed.









I then reinforced the main bracket with another 2X4 and installed the door hinges.









Then I attached the bed frame, to the wall mounted studs, and I used a jack stand to assist in holding up the frame.









So this is what the bed looks like once it was completely assembled and in the closed position.









I made a video of what the bed's motion looks like. The quality isnt so great, it was taken with my cell phone. But for your viewing pleasure, here it is:

Welcome to Life at the Trailer Park.

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning/afternoon/evening, welcome to my blog concerning my experience living in a trailer park. I know that there are some people out there that grew up in a park and some people that look down at those kinds of people. Heck, I used to be one of the dis-believers of Trailer Park Life. So first off, I'm going to give you some of my back story as to how I ended up at a trailer park in the middle of nowhere in central Florida.

Well it all started in Miami, literally; I was born there, raised, grew up getting geared to living my life in the rat race that is the metropolis which now covers most of what used to be Dade County. Miami, a place for dreams, hopes and schemes or delusions of grandeur. Where Bad Boys 1 & 2, a Fast and Furious sequel, and a slew of other films were made and/or based in Miami. Yes, if you didnt already know the main character in Scarface, is Cuban.

Back to how I ended up here, in 2002, I met my ex-wife well she wasn't my ex-wife back then. She was an amazing woman or so I thought. Well little brain began thinking for big brain, and I moved up to a small podunk town/village called Dade City. When one moves from any city out to the rural countryside. It takes a toll on your sanity, and way of thinking.

I was living with my ex since 2003 until 2010, at which point we had both had enough and our marriage was essentially being flushed down the tubes by both parties involved. In August 2010, I moved into a 1 bedroom duplex and was paying $400, which in comparison to what a one bedroom anything goes for in Miami, was a steal. Then came the reality, I was starting out my adult life, a single parent, living in a one bedroom / one bath home. Having my kids every other weekend, working a swing shift and wondering why I'm struggling to keep my head on straight.

Lease with options, never work, my previous landlord decided not repair the issues with my duplex, so at the end of August 2011. I began packing, jumped on Craig's List and found a slew of one to three bedroom places listed with weekly rates. Which doesn't make any sense in my book, but to each their own. And then after days of looking for a new pad, came a listing for a two bedroom, one bath single wide trailer.

I thought, it beats being homeless and living out of my car at first. I went to see this trailer, it's off of a dirt road, back off of the main drag out in these here parts. The park was kinda run down, the trailer itself sat majestically partially engulfed with trees. The single wide did need a thorough cleaning and needed a tenant. I needed a new place and I moved in.

So I went from living the rat race to living in a trailer on the outskirts of a small podunk town out in the middle of nowhere in Central Florida. This blog was the direct result of brainstorming during washing dishes at 3:30 in the morning whilst having a bad bout of insomnia. I intend on making at least one entry a day, normally towards the end of my day; if I can remember.

Thanks for reading the intro to my blog. I hope you have a great weekend.

- Leo