Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

If only I had known…Life was about as good as it gets. Dawn was fast approaching as I unzipped the fly on my tent and stepped out into a star-studded sky. Stars were everywhere. Scorpio was just setting on the southwestern horizon and there was just a hint of first light, barely discernible behind the mountains to the east.I had been nudged from my slumber by the distant sound of coyotes

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

Look everyone, when I said in a previous post entitled Up and Coming that I wanted you to send me pictures and stories for my next book Shacking Up, I asked for examples of people who live in low-cost to no-cost housing—by choice. I did not mean fancy, sterile, "eco" housing like this…Why not, you ask? It’s green, eco, smallish and built with all the new, sustainable building materials. It

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

Here the Curmudgeon takes time off from building and writing rants to have a picnic with his wife and sister-in-law. Twilight turns to nightlight, as they share a beautiful evening under the world famous, star-lit, Arizona skies and roast some marshmallows.It’s precious moments like these, when staring into the campfire, that our bodies seem to fall away forgotten, our minds hypnotized by the

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

Give me a break. The end justifies the means? I don’t think so.Image via: Wakeland Housing & Development CorporationLos Vecinos, the first LEED-Certified Platinum, 100% solar-powered affordable housing in San Diego, offer 42-units of state of the art in green housing. The $17.6 million USD project opened its doors today to visitors to welcome the new neighbors, who are already living in the

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

My wife and I took a little road trip this past weekend venturing over to Phoenix to take a tour of Cosanti, a small version of Arcosanti which is located further north where the world famous Paolo Soleri Windbells are made…Cosanti Originals.Our pictures won’t do this place justice but may give you an idea of the rugged concrete construction used by the architect Paolo Soleri in creating some

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

I need YOUR help! There are now about 40 people viewing this site on any given day. Not bad after just one month "on the air" but I would like to make that number g r o W by leaps and bounds.I need YOU to tell me what you want to see, read, and hear…here. I am writing this blog for YOU— so Tell Me…Tell Me!!Post a comment/opinion/rant…I DARE YOU.CAC

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

For all you non-believers out there who have read my book and just can’t imagine that what I said was true—that you can build a house out of dirt and ONLY dirt, and that you don’t always have to have footings—take a look at this…Here I am standing in front of a 3-story, 35-foot tall building made entirely out of dirt. No stabilizer such as cement or emulsion was used, and there’s no straw mixed

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

From the movie Easy RiderThen and now—40 years have passed, but seeing this may remind youof the saying, "The more things change, the more they remain the same."George Hanson (Jack Nicholson): You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it.Billy (Dennis Hopper): Man, everybody got chicken, that’s what happened. Hey, we can’t even get into like, a

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

For quite some time now, I’ve been looking around for examples of what I would call "simple living." I had no idea this would be so hard to find.Plug in the words simple house or simple living into a Google or Yahoo image search and what will you find?Images like these:What generally pops up is not a simple house but a normal, regular house.I guess the word simple has evolved over the years and

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Author: The Cheap-Ass Curmudgeon
Website: http://www.blogger.com/profile/06173374663839965028

NOTE: It is not my intention to use my blog posts to pitch real estate, but this home is so unique and different, I just had to tell you about it. I wouldn’t want you to miss this one if it happened to be "just what you were looking for."I am always complaining about the state of architecture out there. Almost ALL of it is boring, sterile, and boxy. Trying to find something different, unique,

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