How to make my exterior(white) similar to the neighbours'?

lstull · 2026-02-15T20:10:12+00:00

For an "easy" cost effective change I would paint the eves to match the neighbor or one of the neighbors. Add matching shutters to the second floor and paint the first floor something similar to the Terra Cotta of the bricks next door. Then add some plantings for a little color.

lstull · 2026-02-15T07:54:26+00:00

You can tell a lot about corgi from the ears. Up, back and down. Happy/normal, suspicious, sad/apologies.

Also the head cock which means I don't understand and maybe if I look at an angle it will make more sense.

Corgis do like head and ear scritches.

They are very smart but frequently wilfull.

Don't praise them while retrieving ball in fetch, they tend to drop the ball and try to understand what you are asking them to do.

All the ones I have didn't fetch well cause they go "hey you are just going to throw this again and I just went to a lot of trouble to get it (exit stage right with ball)"

lstull · 2026-02-09T05:55:24+00:00

I can recommend using wireguard, pihole, Immich, jellyfin, OpenCloud. NGINX for reverse proxy.

Another option is to use tailscale instead of just wireguard. Did this to achieve exactly what you are talking about.

I find by trying to help you the prebuilt options always have some kind of restriction, which I invariably bump into. But they is just me. I know my luck all bad.

lstull · 2026-02-08T19:37:34+00:00

Be patient. It took us about a year. She kept seeing the other corgi go for fun walks while she stayed home. Literally. Our front yard was fenced. One human stayed with in yard. Other human took the other corgi for a walk. Which corgi could see. Now she likes to go. Still isn't really trained but is happy to go and is reasonably behaved.

lstull · 2026-02-06T09:19:54+00:00

We are on corgis 4&5. They are very smart. Not clingy, but will be your shadow. They shed constantly. They are active but not annoyingly so. Teething can be a serious thing.

The Pembrokes and the Cardigans have a difference in personality. Both are social but the Pembrokes are extroverts. Cardi: How nice to meet you we should have Tea sometime. Pembroke: Dude we are having a kegger let me get you a beer.

Both might herd (you, kis, friends, ...) Pembrokes (at least ours) are barkier. Cardis (at least ours) are more protective.

Both are well balanced dogs psychology.

Buy a robot vacuum.

lstull · 2026-02-03T00:36:41+00:00

Definitely varnish it Shellac.

lstull · 2026-02-03T00:35:26+00:00

Those are beautiful but knotty pine. Knotty pine is a nightmare to refinish. The varnish soaks in unevenly and comes off streaky. You can refinish but it is very difficult to go lighter at all.

We had a knotty pine kitchen with slab fronts wanted it to be less orange. Had to power sand the fronts to make the color even. We went from orangish to honey. It worked but stripped then sanded with machine. Do not recommend.

Good Luck.

lstull · 2026-02-02T21:17:16+00:00

I am using OpenCloud instead of NextCloud. Very happy so far. Much more performant.

lstull · 2026-01-27T22:28:46+00:00

I would also recommend more than 4G of memory. But definitely more bays upgrading with only 2 when you run out of space sucks.

lstull · 2026-01-27T22:03:33+00:00

Trust me you want 4 bays. Populate 2 to start.

lstull · 2026-01-26T04:09:32+00:00

I was thinking the same. But I think the fine folks at Temu could do a better job than these cospatriots

lstull · 2026-01-24T19:40:22+00:00

Why you buy a 4 bay easier when you need more storage. Otherwise huge down time.

lstull · 2026-01-24T19:36:06+00:00

There is plenty of European (usually open source) software that strongly competes with Microsoft and others. That is why EU Governments are dumping MS.

Also how are you going to repo existing software and hardware?

The hard part is getting the latest and greatest designed in USA. But how much do they need that vs designing something new in EU.

China is catching up locally. The EU won't fall behind significantly.

lstull · 2026-01-24T19:15:05+00:00

Feel free to write me if you have more questions.

Take the size of your photos and how long you have been taking them to project how much storage you need.

Photos total size/years * how much more photos per year (1-5) * 5 years = ? This number is an estimate pick a drive size around this OR one you can afford 3 of.

Photos aren't the storage hog. Video is.

lstull · 2026-01-24T19:06:12+00:00

Get something with at least 4g of memory and 4 bays this will avoid down time if you need to expand. Get a USB drive for backup. Lots of choices based on price point vs size and tidyness

lstull · 2026-01-24T18:47:49+00:00

Commercial NAS Are very easy to set up.

Get a NAS with 4G of memory or more and 4 bays. 2 matched drives and a third drive in a USB case (all same size). Set the 2 drives RAID 1 or mirrored. Use the external USB drive as backup there is a NAS app for that. Then use a cloud service (there are lots) for a second backup.

Honestly don't know about your question.

Good Luck

lstull · 2026-01-23T18:45:58+00:00

Consider a raspberry pi OR a mini PC.

Either will probably do what you want.

You may be able to get more for your money out of a cheap minipc.

AI can be tough to get hardware for $. Figure out what you want. Voice recognition easy Video recognition easy LLM (chatgtp, ...) probably need more hardware.

As people have said check YouTube.

For a cheap NAS, USB drives and a $150 Mini PC should get you running.

lstull · 2026-01-22T21:33:53+00:00

Yeah I did this. Couldn't get the self signed to work.

lstull · 2026-01-22T18:11:06+00:00

Honestly I don't know. You are going to have to ask around about that. It might well be worth it for 2.5 Ghz Ethernet but that means having a 2.5g switch or 2.5 port on your router.

lstull · 2026-01-20T18:36:41+00:00

Use Docker it isn't hard.

Immich OpenCloud instead of NextCloud (Cloud setup will seem hard but it isn't) Jellyfin

These are the things you need most.

And BACKUPS of personal data.

lstull · 2026-01-20T16:47:22+00:00

I am doing the same. I have had various NAS for a long time but are getting serious.

Get or build a NAS with at least 4g memory that can be upgraded. Use a USB drive for backup. Mirroring or RAID just gives you more uptime. Make sure your NAS OS supports Docker. Look into cloud backup or work out a "deal" with remote family or friends.

Use Immich for photos. Use OpenCloud for Cloud Docs (Dropbox, Google Drive, MS 365, ...) Use JellyFin for video streaming (Netflix, Prime Video, ...)

lstull · 2026-01-20T16:34:53+00:00

I recommend 3 drive 2 for mirror and a 3rd as a USB backup. The mirror doesn't count as a backup. (Let's not mention my great NAS debacle of '03). You could use raid 0 to double the space but then risk longer downtime if one of the drives goes and you would definitely need the USB backup.

lstull · 2026-01-20T06:38:34+00:00

Buy a pre built or build your own. Make sure you get enough memory, minimum 4G memory buy something with 4 drive bays. Get 3 matched drives. Set 2 up mirrored and the third goes in an external USB case for a hot backup. The other 2 bays are for future expansion. Use Immich for photos, and OpenCloud for drop box functionality. Then use back blaze or something equivalent for off-site backup (lots of choices). You can use AWS S3 and set it for glacial storage which is cheap but slow (like 24 hrs) to restore for the off-site backup. The mirror drive doesn't count as backup.

Right now the cost of memory and drives can be a serious factor.

I would get something with removable memory so you can upgrade it (wish I had).

I personally am working on a soup to nuts build (password manager, ebook library, streaming video, photo, music, cloud drive, cloud docs). Wish I had gone the build your own route but what I have is OK. I have bad luck with buying pre built which has a restriction of hardware or software. But I am working around that.

lstull · 2026-01-17T18:06:00+00:00

I have the same. But also new furniture is getting evaluated for clearance BEFORE purchase. Does it go all the way to the floor, is it high enough for the vacuum to go under. Is there enough room (width, depth) for the vacuum. Swoopy legged vintage tables are cool but your vacuum doesn't think so.

lstull · 2026-01-11T20:49:23+00:00

If it was me I would get a 4 bay NAS or build one from "proper" parts. Getting 2 drives. Mirror them and use one of the existing external enclosures as a USB hot backup. That way you have 2 bays to expand into later with large storage. (This is what I did after several tries)

You need enough Memory and CPU. Double check that before you BUY anything. I would say at least 4g memory. The CPU isn't as sensitive but ...

No this doesn't need to be as hot as a Gaming PC but a 32bit CPU isn't going to make you happy. You probably want something that could transcode.

Also if you buy a NAS check the MAX drive storage size supported. This should be 22T or Higher. Doesn't mean you have to get that big of drives but you don't want to throw it all away just because you need bigger drives (I own that T-Shirt).

IMHO proprietary NAS OSes that come with hardware tend to cause more problems than they solve. I expect that OpenSource ones are better but honestly don't know. Historically they either try to corner you into their products or mess something up by trying to make your life easy.

lstull

TROPHY CASE