If you’d told me that the visitation with my son, an event that happened only every other weekend, would be extended indefinitely, I would’ve jumped with joy. In the end, I wish the circumstances under which they unfolded had never happened.
The clouds were sightless in the clear sky the day Jasmine dropped off my boy, a perfect day to play a little catch in the yard or go fishing at the nearby stock pond. Cyrus bounced out of the car and ran joyously toward me, unaware that his old man was a perpetual fuck up that had broken up the family in the first place. Oh well.
It was a happy day, the birds sang their old nostalgic tunes of a lost Summer in my own childhood. It was warm, not too warm, and the neighborhood was buzzing with excitement as the Spring showers had come to a close. It was as close as it could get to perfect.
The evening light danced against the tree tops, turning a violet hue as dusk began to settle in. Burnt orange water reflected the dying sun as it continued sinking away to nothing. We grabbed our tackle box, the giant beige one my uncle gifted me before he was stolen by cancer, and filled it with the empty, crumpled up bits of plastic that once held bologna sandwiches. As I said, it was a perfect day, very reminiscent of my own childhood.
We’d thrown the fat bluegill back that we had caught, I hadn’t felt like messing with cleaning and cooking them. Instead, dinner would likely be mac n’ cheese with some cut up hot dogs, a staple in my household whether or not Cyrus was visiting. Hopefully I hadn’t run through Oscar Meyer supply.
Home never felt so lonely, the walls never seemed so barren of old family pictures when Cyrus wasn’t around. Sometimes, he only added to the pain. I would never tell him that, though.
Even with the faucet turned all the way up, the water dribbled out and made boiling pasta a very patient game. Cyrus was babbling about some game he was playing on my phone. ‘He’s just a kid’, I thought, and pretended to be interested in whatever the hell he was talking about.
The sun had vanished and the moon was especially bright that night, having slid nearly halfway to its crescendo before dinner was finally done. Cyrus had stolen my phone to the living room, staring at the bright characters absentmindedly as a nondescript Netflix show played in the background.
“Here, buddy, sorry about the wait”, I sat the bowl of neon yellow stuff in front of him, the pink scramble of hotdog jutting out made me feel… a little ashamed? I plopped down next to him and flipped through the various titles on Netflix, most of which I had already seen a couple of times. Cyrus tossed the phone aside and picked at the mess of ‘food’ in the bowl. I can’t remember if he took a bite or not.
“Dad!”, I jumped, reeling from the doze I had fallen in. If Jasmine was here, it would’ve been such a perfect day, such a perfect day. Instead, this is where it all fell apart.
He massaged furiously at his temples, his knees pulled tight against his heaving chest.
“What’s the matter, are you okay?”, I jumped from the couch and got on one knee, putting my hands around his shoulders. I watched helplessly as Cyrus twisted and contorted his body, trying to run away from whatever pain was in his head.
Suddenly he fell still.
I studied him for a while, nearly on the verge of tears as his body had become totally limp. Then, a noise. At first it was quiet, then it grew and grew until it filled the room with totality. It’s hard to describe that noise, almost like a wind turbine if you were up close to it.
From behind the couch, just above my sons head, it peeked at me. Its thick, black fingers ended at sharp, nailess points. Just as I met its eyes, it slithered behind the couch and that’s when Cyrus awoke in a screaming fit.
I jumped awake again, Cyrus sitting next to me as pale as a sheet. His eyes were bulging, glued to the blank TV ahead.
I couldn’t help but check behind the couch, to make sure it wasn’t still there. Then, to my son who was still staring at the nothing on the television. His mouth was hanging open, just enough to allow the continuous stream of drool to fall out.
I ran to the kitchen to grab a paper towel and cleaned the odd amount of drool from his chin. There wasn’t a thermometer in the house but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to tell that he was burning up. A fever, I thought.
I carried the boy to his bedroom, feeling as though I was being watched the entire way, and tucked him into bed. A doctors visit would soon be on the horizon. I returned to the couch in the living room, careful to keep my gaze fixed on the TV and nothing else. Truthfully, I was too afraid to look in the shadowy corners.
That night was filled with nightmares.
The next day I rang Jasmine, letting her know that Cy was sick and needed to go to the doctor. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t have been an issue, but Jas was immunocompromised (she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer a few months before we divorced) and my son would be staying with me for the foreseeable future. I couldn’t complain, I didn’t get to see him nearly enough as it was.
That day was very much the opposite of the previous, the sky was gloomy and spits of rain fell consistently from dawn to nightfall.
The doctor had said that Cyrus had a particularly severe ear infection, but nothing that some antibiotics couldn’t fix. He sent us home with a tube of the stuff, my wallet noticeably lighter.
“Apply some of this twice a day, once in the morning and once before bedtime”, the older gentleman had said. He squeezed my shoulder and smiled, though there seemed to be something else behind his wary eyes.
He stopped me again as I turned to leave.
“Sir…”, he started, though he seemed to study his words carefully, “your son kept mentioning something he called the flumes”.
I shrugged, the only time I had heard the word was in reference to a ravine on the edge of town where we’d all smoke pot in high school. Nothing struck me as odd about it at the time.
“They come from the flumes, those noises, those noises, he kept saying”, the doctor pushed closer, his eyes growing wild. I stepped backward, tugging at Cy’s hand as we left the building wordlessly.
Aside from my busy mind, the car ride home was utterly silent. I could hear my boys heavy, labored breaths all the way from the backseat. ‘Inner ear infection, my ass’, I thought.
After laying Cyrus back down for bed, I fixed him a bowl of instant chicken and noodles and decided to give Jasmine a call. The phone rang endlessly before the robotic voice indicated that the caller wasn’t available. I tried once more but gave up after it rang a few more times. Probably sleeping.
I returned to the couch, deciding to rewatch Nightmare on Elm Street for the fourth or fifth time.
After a while, I decided to put on cable, growing tired of the listless titles on Netflix. I was never too interested in the local news, but today seemed as good as any to catch up on the towns happenings. The Grantfield Gators girls softball team had advanced to sectionals and one of the townsfolk were celebrating their 100th birthday.
A ‘Breaking News’ graphic slid below the frazzled newslady on the television. Wherever she was, it sure looked familiar.
‘Wild dog shits on mayors front yard’, I laughed at my own stupid joke and surely turned as white as Cyrus had the previous night as the lady on the TV continued.
“A local woman was found tied to a tree and disemboweled at the scene. Police are saying various symbols were branded all over the womans body, and the material used to bind her to the Elm tree was ‘of unusual property’”, she continued on for a while but I hadn’t noticed, the air had fallen heavy and that familiar warbling had filled the room again.
Heavy footsteps slammed up the staircase at an otherworldly pace. Up the staircase and towards my sons room.
I ran, I swear I ran as fast as I could but I knew… I knew.
When I got to his room, he was gone, the curtains blowing aimlessly in the wind as the window had been slammed open so hard that the glass had shattered in the panes. The bowl of chicken and noodles sat on the bedside table, untouched.
I tried calling Jasmine again and again and again. Still, no answer.
I wanted to write this, to whoever may be reading, so that you know where to look if I don’t return. I know where my son is, I know where Jasmine is.
The flumes took them, or whatever might be lurking in it.

My name is Joey. I’m 24 now and I believe it’s time I share something that's been haunting me for the last 7 years. Things have just gotten to the point I can’t handle it by myself anymore. I need closure. Obviously you read the title in my post here. That I found a journal years ago. Before I get ahead of myself I need to start from the beginning and what's been going on.
I remember when I was a dumb 17 year old kid, long hair and boisterous. I worked at an Arby’s at the time as a manager, this boosted my confidence making a sweet 8.15$ a hour back in 2017. I was also obsessed with the occult and abandoned building hunting. This fit my personality at the time as a rebellious teen making “tons of cash” and the thoughts of being oppressed fresh in my head. However, I still couldn’t afford a car even with “all the money” I had. I was adventurous with my friends nonetheless. One of my closest friends at the time, Austin, was the only one with a car between the 4 of us. Austin, Michael, Ben, and me. We had promised not to talk about it or what we found. With summer coming up and us going into senior territory next year this meant this was the last summer we would enjoy before adulthood. We had to make the most of it this year. I never realized just how memorable those moments would be.
The idea started at one of our classic boy sleepovers. Snacks, video games and the occasional chat about girls or what the Game of the Year will be this time around. Michael was the first to bring up an idea of us going up to a place abandoned he saw while his family was driving through a town up north on the I-15. It has been slightly destroyed with graffiti / outside damage and mostly left abandoned. Michael had said something about it looking like some vagrants had made it their home. Ben, his brother, had confirmed Michaels statements with nothing but a quick smirk and head nod. Vagrants weren’t something we feared as its pretty common place when exploring these places. A quick just looking around usually calmed their minds and they’d leave us alone. Austin usually had a pocket knife or butterfly blade on him, which we found cool at the time but in reality it was probably a way to make him look better for not having a complex personality. He really didn’t need the knife due to the size of him. He was nearly 6 feet tall and a larger guy around 200 something pounds.
Ben had some words while we were chatting about the location and what to do if there were vagrants around. “I mean, I really don’t know if this is something we can do in a day. Even though it was far away, I'm pretty sure it was a 2 or 3 story building.”
“Stop being a little bitch Ben” Michael said afterward.
“I’m just saying…asshole” Ben retorted.
“Dude’s stop bitching and we’ll figure it out when we get there. It’s like an hour and half away and if we leave after lunch we can have most of the day to check it out and see what we can find!” I said after all their bickering. This was the last thing said before we all solidified the plan. Austin always looked like he had something to say but he never did. Instead we assured him we’d pay for dinner and some gas. The next day was spent preparing and getting ready for August 17th, a Wednesday. We took snacks, chips ahoy and potato chips. Waters and some rope. I was the only one that was agile enough to climb and lift myself over ledges and such. This was another boost in my otherwise confident self. It always meant I was first however. This never failed to make me nervous as I had a light fear of the dark. Though the last things we packed were some sleeping bags and blankets just in case what Ben said was true and we’d have to spend the night there. The rest of that night was us talking and playing games. The next night was our adventure of course.
The morning light hit my face from the floor of Michaels room and my joy was unbreakable. I woke all the guys up like a kid excited for christmas morning. They all rolled out of bed and they all began to get ready and showered while I moved quickly to get things into Austin’s car trunk. After about an hour or two I managed to get everything into the car trunk as the guys barely started to pile in. “Dude you haven’t eaten anything yet, you sure you’re ready to go? Need a protein bar or something?” Austin asked me, giving me a look of concern. Something I knew all too well as he was the dad figure of the group. I remember only nodding as I hopped in the back with Ben. Michael always took the front seat shotgun. We never really know why he needed it so badly, he would fight us if Ben or me ever sat there first. We chalked it up to him just being an idiot. The drive was long and boredom set in quick as we started. We stopped at some random Burger King and got some mediocre nuggets and burgers before we hit our destination a half hour later. This was something even today I still miss having. The monotone lull of calm as we drove miles together as brothers more than friends. Low quality music playing in the background relaxing before a big adventure. Haven’t had another since then.
“Yo guys! We’re here.” Austin shouted from the front in a sort of slightly shaky voice.
“Finally, I’ve been so fucking bored since we left.” Michael said with some eagerness in his voice.
“What do you think is inside? Obviously besides the homeless dudes.” Ben said with a devious smirk on his face. Just poking fun at us seeing if Austin would cringe in fear. To which he winced slightly. Never being a fan of confrontation with them.
After we arrived on the highway I-15 we saw what looked like a broken 3 story home. Some notable graffiti and damage was just as Michael and Ben described. This time around the vagrants weren’t either noticeable or at the residence when we got there. It looked like a mansion in size as we approached from the locked car we left on the highway. Large flowering grasses riddled the land around the home. The Utah mountains in clear view with a small pond to the right of the mansion. The closer we got, the more grand the building was. Intricate designs engraved in the wood of the front porch were whittled away by the wind and elements. As we approached the front porch however, we saw something we never expected. It was clean compared to the rest of it. We were so used to cobwebs and satanic graffiti around the outside like what we saw before. Just some basic looking spray paints names on the outside. “Doctor is in” was one in particular we saw and joked about. Other ones we saw on the way in were “Charley X Marley”, “Cher”, “Mikey”. Again, just names lost to time with their memory forever painted on the side of a building. Of course once inside it was nothing like the outside. The outdoors being broken down and shoddy in appearance.The inside was pristine. As if someone had upkeep on the building inside. Immediately the Mormon in Austin yelled out “Guys are we in somebody's house right now? I think we should leave before someone gets home or calls the cops.”
“Dude, nobody lives here. My dad checked online with the housing association stuff. You know the thing with him selling houses and stuff. Said no one lived here and the water, gas and electric have been shut off for like 100 years or something. History wise my dad said that the last guy to live here was a high class loser. Died in 1930 something. So no, dumbass, no one lives here.” Michael said this with a mean gaze towards Austin almost condescending. “Now let's check out the back. I really wanna see that pond.” He finished telling the group.
What we saw was fairly gross. A couple dead geese in the pool that had rotted long ago. Making the water turn a disgusting brown and green mixture. The pond was covered in large vines and the stench of death. As we approached we saw nothing but groups of rat, geese and cat bones surrounding the area. Scattered around like somebody was throwing them around. Seeing what abomination could be created by doing so. We only stood there for a small while before coming back inside. Ben and Austin made audible disgust upon coming back in. As soon as our feet touched the floor we heard footsteps run up the stairs. We all jumped only to be calm within seconds. “Probably that homeless dude we saw earlier.” Ben stated as we all began to head up to approach them. We were all silent as we got up to the 2nd floor. Oddly we didn’t find one on the second floor despite the immediate climb after the footsteps were heard.
The second floor felt off. It was blacked out. We quickly flashed our phone lights and found the floor covered in the area we expected. Cans, bags, chalk drawings, trash and spray paints scattered about. The final thing we saw on the second floor I personally found. Something I'd regret in my later years. A simple locked notebook about the size of an average book with damage to its face and back. Having some chain from face to back. Most likely a lock that was lost to time. No writing was found on either side. “Nice! You think we can sell it to the museum or something?” Ben said. The moment he said this it scared me shitless as I wasn’t prepared for sounds to be made.
“Dude! Fuck you. You scared the absolute shit outta me. Austin, Michael, you wanna go see if that guy is upstairs?” I said as I stood there inspecting the book. They simply looked at me and flipped me off in tandem. I put the book away and stuck it inside my ripped jean pocket. We headed up to the 3rd floor but were met with a door. Surprisingly the door was fairly intact. So much so that even the lock worked. “Motherf-ugh. They locked themselves in.” I knocked hard. “Hey asshole, we're not here to take your house. We just wanna explore.” After about 2 minutes of no reply the door unlocked. I ended up opening the door almost immediately “Thanks dude. We don’t wanna intrude. We’re just adventurous. That was really cool of y-” Before I could finish my sentence the room was completely empty. My brothers were just as silent. The room on the 3rd floor was bright due to the hole we saw earlier in the roof portion of the house. By this time it had been somewhere around 5 PM MST. We happened to stop in the middle of the room as Austin whipped out the knife in case someone were to jump out. “Ok dude. If you happened to hide somewhere like the closet please don’t jump out, we don't wanna hurt you or something.” I was almost screaming this but tried to keep my composure with my voice. So my brothers wouldn’t feel scared. I was sure they were.
Austin crept around the closet with Ben and me as we were prepared to jump if someone attacked. He flew the doors open and as we were ready to jump and grab someone we saw a chute instead. We were more terrified of this than if we just found the person inside. Michael came over and threw a rock he took from the pond area and watched as it fell for what seemed like a few minutes. It was more than 3 floors high for sure. Ben walked off at this point and locked the door so no one could get in. Afterward we started to search the room long into the night. After this Ben was the one to find a key. It didn’t fit any locks or anything from the remaining furnishings and dressers. He kept it in his pocket until later.
Reluctantly we knew we had to get back to the car to at least get our stuff or drive off and go to sleep. All of us talked about renting a motel and coming back the next day. Michael, Austin and Ben were of similar mind so we went to a motel 8. The front desk guy couldn’t have been much older than us. He never even checked id’s or anything. That night we all looked inside the notebook. However the first thing we noticed was that it had a note card glued to the 1st page. We carefully tore it off but we did end up ripping a bit off the 1st page. Opening this was probably the first thing that sparked my unhealthy habit of wanting to search the rest of the house.
“To my love, Dr. Prestine. I can’t feel my legs anymore since the last time we met in your basement. Your love has done so much to improve my life and you send shocks through my body with the way you touch me. I can’t move forward without your love. I know you’re leaving by tomorrow. This is my last letter to you! Please take me with you! I love you and I can’t see you finally leaving this place. After taking care of me for so many years. - Love Evie”
This was something I found amazing! My brothers however, couldn’t give two shits. They fell asleep soon after the reading as we promised each other to see more in the morning. Especially this suspicious basement in the note and the chute. The homeless person we saw sure would leave after the first of daylight. I kept reading all into the night. I could tell Austin was annoyed as we shared the floor of the motel together. The next few pages of the notebook were fantastical and romantic. They ended abruptly. The 1st page we ripped a bit we pieced together early and said something odd to say the least.
“May 19th 1930. Today I purchased this lock and key book to detail my final days. Pneumonia. My father sent over a Doctor to come help me. Father said he met him around the town selling some medicinal herbs from far up north in Oregon. He should be here soon but I don’t believe he can help me. My body is too far gone and everything hurts. The coughing and the blood seem never ending.” The page had already sent me into a heart ache immediately. It could've been the fact that she signed her name and age into the inside of the face. “Evie Jonstan 15” or maybe it was the pain she wrote about. The Page after was a bit afterward but a good read.
“July 2nd 1930. The Doctor has been here for a couple months and the miracle of life has blessed me. In our basement he took me and gave me an elixir that cured me in 2 days. I felt so much better! Only thing I can’t understand is why father makes him watch me overnight. It feels unnecessary now that I'm better. The Doctor must have some love for me. His care is around the clock. The way he stares at me makes my heart skip a beat. I might enjoy the time we have together until its his time to leave.” This entry made me feel odd but understanding of the situation. There's some smaller entries within the first page detailing why she was in the home alone in the first place. “April 13th 1930. Father put me here so I couldn't infect my sister.” These simple lines are usually unnecessary but the first entry sent me. Something sad. I couldn’t imagine being the age I am now, alone. Nothing but the wind as a friend. That would haunt me at night and would be lonely beyond anything I could ever imagine. She must’ve gone through so much pain both emotionally and physically. The 3rd page only brought me in more so.
“January 1st. 1931. You’ve been with me close to 8 months. I’ve been pretending to be sick the whole time. By placing the thermometer under the lamp at night and using salt water as fake sweat. Painting on some paleness for more effects. I’m assured that father would feel so appreciative that you’ve kept me happy. The basement treatments have been more odd but he must love me. He puts me to sleep to get more and more done to fix me! Sometimes I wake up and I hurt. But I would stay doing this everyday just to keep you here to take care of me. If only I could tell you how I feel. The idea of you leaving eventually gives me anxiety and pain.” How could I read this and not feel something drop inside me. It was at this point a fear began taking over as she began to hold him hostage by omission. Staying “sick” to keep someone there, just so you’re not lonely. I still couldn’t blame them as if I were in their shoes I might do the same. This story only got stranger as I realized a few pages were torn out. It was at this point I read one more page and noticed that it was the last in the series.
“December 25th 1936. Yesterday you took me into the basement for our last time. I;ve been touched by you for the last 6 years. Love has truly touched my heart. I’ll be writing a letter to confess my love. Merry Christmas my love. The basement has been the happiest time of my life. Although the sleeping agent gets longer and longer. I know you must be giving me love so that you don’t hurt me when you leave. I see the marks you leave everytime and I think of them all the time I haven't been able to see for some time. You told me it was the medication but you leave my eyes bandaged. I can’t wait for the surprise you promised me! I can’t feel my legs so it must also be part of the effects. My face I'll bring up to you tomorrow. As it feels odd. Numb? Ever since you took my mirror I've been patiently awaiting the reveal you have ready for me. You must have something huge for our anniversary coming. Perhaps that new nose we’d talked about from before. I’m so excited. I love you so much Dr!” This final entry made me pale. What had this Doctor been doing? It was extremely late by this time. My brothers beside me are completely asleep. I stayed awake that night until they got up to go back to the house. I needed to know what happened.
The next day my eyes were sunken. I felt my head move on a swivel every everytime we stopped. But the adventurer inside of me had to know about the basement. As we made our way inside the room felt odd. We all felt the hair on our arms stick up. Austin pulled out his knife immediately. Michael, Ben and I looked around the building and after getting to the stairs. We saw a shadow run up to the second floor. We left it alone this time and heard the sliding of a person down a metal slide. It sent a shudder down our spines. Much of this time we spent inside the group had been silent. Scared to death. Not soon after we found the door to the basement. Boarded heavily. We found it and my body felt sick. We all looked at one another and wondered. How this homeless person got up and down the 90 degree slide. Even the thought of them crawling back up made us all want to run. I somehow managed to convince the group we have numbers. Compared to one of them. We started pretty easily tearing it down. The wood had been rotted for some time. I opened the door and a stench of rot flooded our nostrils.
“I’m gonna fucking puke dude. I’m pretty sure these motherfuckers have been shitting in here.” Austin blurted out unexpectedly.
“Yeah Joey this is just disgusting I think we should leave before we get too far.” Ben said and honestly I should’ve listened. Because I again convinced them to move forward so we could be done and maybe find the rest of the pages. I also assured them early on before we left if we got the rest we might make some money from the discovery.
“Look guys lets just find this guy or whatever the fuck animal this could be and just look around for the pages.” It was then something shook me to my core unfortunately. It was heard in the middle of the room underneath a surgeon's table placed crookedly.
“Give it back…” The voice of an elderly woman echoed through the foul smelling basement. Our flashlights shone through the darkness to reveal jars and vials filled with clotted blood and molds. To our surprise no fecal matter or vomit had been seen. Just clotted moldy blood vials broken and splattered throughout the room. It was then as we shot multiple beams around we saw her. An elderly woman, her face completely disfigured. Her eyes were gone alongside her nose. Her mouth is elongated by slits from each corner from ear to ear held together by loose stitching. Her legs were unsightly. Rotted away. Bones were peeking out from them like they’ve been mistreated and gone for so long. Her arms looked frail but the most disgusting was the two extra appendages attached by the elbow. Moving like they were second nature. From this split second of sight Ben and Michael vomited on the floor and ran.
Austin and I were frozen. Stuck in place and by this time she spoke again in a strange painful rasp “Give it back you fucking filth…” Her breathing became heavy and she began to bleed through the stitching on her mouth. Austin grabbed me hard, So hard I had bruises for weeks. The last thing I remember I threw the journal to her and tried saying her name
“Evie?” The elderly woman looked at me and through the crinkle of her face showed me nothing but anger. She ran towards Austin and me. He stood in front of me and jabbed at the woman. We ran and only heard screaming from within. He left the knife and never turned back. Soon the screaming stopped once we left. I am sure she had died. Me and my group left at such speeds we eventually got pulled over by an officer on I-15. Austin's first ticket. We left after but I could tell the Officer was intrigued by the ghost white teenagers he had pulled over. He asked if we were ok and was sure he followed us back to Michaels house. Our stomachs and eyes were peeled for the next week. Austin was never the same. He became more outgoing and unhinged. He seemed to leave his innocence behind. I don’t think he’ll ever get over the possibility he killed that woman. Michael and Ben weren’t around enough to know what we did. They still can’t ever look at those abandoned places without feeling violently ill. I, however, went back in 2018. I couldn’t find the body or the blood. She wasn’t inside although I looked and poked around. Ben gave me the key the year prior and I kept it. I checked the basement after I began my extensive search and found not only the now bloodied notebook but a drawer that the key fit.The only page that was found inside was horrific. A lost ending page that I have to share with all of you.
“February 15th 1937. Dr.Prestine you brought me flowers. You told me how much you cared about me. I never got to give you my final note. The smell made me feel free. You’ll never leave me again. Our love was forged by God himself. You still insisted that you would leave. I had kept convincing you to stay since Christmas. You told me you’d be back. I found something in our basement that made me upset. A set of underwear. It wasn’t mine. It hurt me a lot Charles. But you won’t leave me. I felt sad to use the basement on you. I turned the valve off when you were going to put me to sleep again. I think I did well. Without my eyes or legs it made it difficult. I know you were upset with me after you woke up. Soon you calmed down and didn’t say much after. It made me sad to know you sleep so much after my surgery with you.
March 22nd 1937. I can’t find the town on my own even though I’m off the medication you had for me. I’ve been cleaning while you sleep. I’ve gotten good at hunting. I hear the animals really well. Some are easier than others. The geese that sleep on the pond have been absolutely delicious! Of course for another night you refused to eat! You’re so silly dear. I love you though. You needed a shower for a while. So I gave you one and you were so hard to move. I washed you but you were running through the mud. So much gunk fell off from you. I put you back in the room and we slept together again. You were so much colder than I was. So I knew you needed my warmth. I love you. I’ve been doing so well. I love you so much my husband. Charles you’ve become my whole world. I wish you were more talkative like before when you’d stand at the foot of my bed and tell me how good I made you feel. I love you Charles.
August 17th 2000. Some robbers came into our dream home. I tried to scare them into leaving but they said they only wanted to explore. I don’t believe them. I kept them running around. They left after searching and tearing our room apart. I was so scared. Charles I knew I had to take care of you. Nothing can separate us. They never checked the bathroom on the second floor where I hid you. The hunting grounds had been disturbed and all of our stuff has been scattered around. I kept this paper and pen in the drawer to write the final days. My heart is becoming tired. Charles It's been so long since you touched me. I’m terrified. The day was spent getting the basement ready for them to come back. Everything was so scrambled and I was so scared. My heart almost couldn’t take it. I will always protect you Charles.
August 18th 2000. The burglars came back. I think they’re here to steal our valuables. They already took my notebook! Charles I can’t believe it. Those hooligans! They’ve taken so much already without ever giving us a break. Let us go back to our quiet life. Charles I love you and I’ll make sure we're safe. They’ll be sorry if they enter our sanctuary in the basement. I’ll make sure they leave.If I have to kill them to save our livelihood I will.
This is it. I really hurt charles. They got me. I love yo charles. I lov you charles. I will cleen and get things redy chelys. Cold. I’m coming to bed charles.”
The last segment bothered me the most. After reading it I left immediately and never came back.It ran my blood cold for years.
“I love you sweetheart. Don’t worry about cleaning up Evie. I left this note for the burglars when they made it back. You should’ve seen Evie before my treatments. She was gorgeous. You could never understand our love. If you need to know where the last pages are. Check the restroom on the second floor. Come find us. I know you’ve been curious. I love you too, stranger. Come see us in the second floor bathroom.”
My curiosity was no longer there. I left and no longer went back. The house was clean. The smell of rot reeked heavily from upstairs. A small puddle started to bubble from the ceiling in the kitchen which I passed to get to the basement. I had no questions about what it could be. I had to tell this story. My brothers Michael, Ben and Austin never speak about what happened that day. Nor do I blame them. Ever since I went back I felt something more sad and horrific. These people were delusional. The Dr. and Evie were forever locked in this house. Did their love come from the Doctor's horrible experiments over countless years or Evies tragic ending where she herself took Charles' ability to leave. This was truly a painful thing to see. Yet somehow beautiful. My mind needs to post this for closure reasons. It’s been 6 years. I’m married. Have 2 cats and have a thriving business! Yet this experience took my sleep away for years. The haunting image of this old woman Evie’s body has forever burned into me. I stay awake at night and tell my wife random bullshit excuses. She has no idea that this happened. If she happens to find it she can read it. Before questions I have to apologize. The Notebook was given to the local Lehi museum and after giving it they never gave us money. They probably threw it out by now. The pictures I had on my Iphone have been lost for a long time. I transferred phones years ago and unfortunately never kept the sim card. I had this written out for years just as a draft. I hope you can forgive me. I can only hope you believe me as well.

I bought, assembled, and have been using a Cedarbrook 4x6' outdoor sauna prebuilt kit for about 1 month now. This post is about the experience and a summary of the sauna.
I used Trumpkins notes, The Art of Sauna Building book, and this subreddit as references before making my sauna decision.
Quick Summary
The Cedarbrook 4x6' outdoor sauna is a great finished product. It meets about 90% of the Trumpkin/Finnish standards and requires 2 people and an intermediate DIY skillset to assemble.
4.0/5.0 stars overall
Decision points
Size:
I was looking for a 2-person sauna and the Cedarbrook 4x6' (interior dimensions) seemed like a good choice. It is their 2nd smallest model.
Company:
I live in the SF Bay Area and there was only one local sauna distributor and they sold Finnleo saunas. The cost of the Finnleo sauna, at about $18,000 through the distributor, was the highest quote that I received. But, the distributor did offer a contractor to assemble the sauna and the electrical install for about $6,000 extra. If you wanted someone else to do all the work, this was the best option I could find. I did reach out to some carpenters and handypeople in the area but no one was interested in assembling a sauna.
At about half the cost I decided to compare the prebuilt saunas. Shipping costs can be significant and around 15-20% of the sauna cost. Quotes can be difficult to obtain beforehand but a good range is $900-2,500. Cedarbrook is based in Washington State and charged $932.
I judged the assembly difficulty based on available videos and each brand's marketing. Cedarbrook has some old videos from the 1980's and seemed easy to moderate in difficulty.
Height:
One concern was the sauna height. This is discussed in the Trumpkin and Finnish standards. 80" is the minimum recommended with a flat ceiling. Cedarbrook defaults to 76" but offers an upgrade to 80" for $171 which I did purchase.
Heater:
Based on my research a 6 kW heater seemed to be the best choice. I opted for the older Polar HMR 60 because I wanted something that was reliable and had a long track record. Cedarbrook does offer more heater brands and options.
Cedarbrook process and issues
Ordering is pretty simple and you can do it online. If you want a different heater or any customization just include it in the notes.
I placed the order in mid-October and I received the shipment at the beginning of April, almost 6 months total vs 3 months estimated on their website. They do not provide any details about the status of your order, other than an order received receipt. I had to email them multiple times for an update to schedule the electrical work.
Cedarbrook contracts out to a local large delivery company once they ship the sauna. The delivery company will then call you to schedule the delivery. One important detail to note for the delivery is that delivery is curbside. This could be a huge issue because all of these saunas are delivered on pallets. You may have to dissemble and move the pieces in front of your house. I got lucky and the delivery driver moved it into my garage. I wouldn't count on this.
The sauna arrived on a double-long pallet with a scrap-wood frame and shrink wrap. It took about 2 hours to dissemble the packing and organize the pieces.
Most of the sauna parts are labeled but the labeling is not precise or on each piece of wood. You have to figure out a lot of the details yourself.
Cedarbrook includes 13 pages of instructions. They are not good and are all paragraphs describing the assembly. They also have some really old and outdated videos on their website. The instructions would have been more useful with detailed pictures.
Assembly
You need hand tools, level, reciprocating saw, jigsaw, shims, various screws, nails, and any inside/outside treatment chemicals. I opted for the preinstalled electrical conduit which I would highly recommend.
Assembly definitely requires 2 people because the wall panels are large and weigh around 100-150 lbs each.
The carpentry skills required are around advanced beginner or intermediate DIY level. You do have to cut some wood pieces to fit, level the base, and correct any mistakes.
I placed the sauna on a cedar deck. I choose not put anything on the floor other than duckboard on the front half of the sauna. Cedarbrook had some strange guidlines on what to place at the bottom of the sauna. For a deck they recommend a plywood base with a vapor barrier on top. But, after researching this subreddit I found that there was no clear answer on needed a barrier on top of a deck. Some people with saunas on decks argue that the deck alone does provide some drainage and airflow without any significant insulation issues. Some people insist on some sort of layer to collect the sweat and water after each sauna session. I opted to start with nothing on top of the deck and see how it goes. Worse case scenario is that I can add a rubber layer in the future if needed.
Assembly was straightforward except for 2 areas. Leveling the 4 base plate pieces of wood took a bit of time and required shims. This is glossed over in the instructions and videos but ends up being really important. The slanted roof was really annoying to assemble. The instructions are confusing and it took a lot of time to install all of the cedar shingles. Cedarbrook offers an older style A-frame roof which I think comes pre-assembled. I would definitely go with that roof instead of the slanted one just because of the assembly difficulty.
Cedarbrook recommended sealing the inside of the sauna with Miracle cover marine and the outside with Seal once nano guard. I tried using a roller but ended up using a brush. I would recommend getting a spray gun.
Time breakdown:
-Pallet breakdown and organizing the parts (1 person) 2 hours
-Sauna assembly except the roof (2 person) 12 hours
-Roof assembly and shingle install (1 person) 4 hours
-Outside and inside sealing (1 person) 4 hours
-Heater install and rock placement (1 person) 1 hour
Cost breakdown

• 4x6 prefab sauna with slant roof and Polar HMR 60 heater $7,237
• Accessories (headrests, stains, thermometer, ect.) $ 560
• Shipping cost $ 932
• Total $8,729

I didn't include the electrical cost because there is so much variability. I did need a 30A breaker installed for the heater and I did get it permitted. A good range for the electrical estimate seems to be $1,000-3,000 nationwide.
Sauna temps

• Starting temp from 50-70F outside usually takes 30 min to reach 180F and 45 min to reach 200F
• I am able to get the temp to 200F without tripping the high heat limiter. For the Polar HMR 60 there are some simple workarounds available if that is an issue

Random details

• Cedarbrook didn't line up the pre-installed electrical conduit runs with the pre-drilled holes in the roof segment. They were off by an 1" probably because 2 different people did the work. Re-drilling was required and luckily we didn't crack the wood
• The Cedarbrook instructions are out of date. Panels were labeled 1,2,3... but the instructions listed A,B,C... It seems like it is a small company and they aren't that interested in changing things
• I had to rearrange the rocks in the heater 3 times because too many rocks caused the high temp limiter to trip and too few rocks left coils exposed
• The sauna has 2 benches but the lower bench is basically useless. It is low and right next to the heater. The upper bench does have enough room for 2 people
• The 4.0/5.0 rating is due to the skills required to assemble the sauna and the mediocre instructions. Based on my research there are saunas that are easier to assemble

Finally, if you haven't purchased a sauna before and are reading through Sauna keep in mind that many of the comments are ridiculous. I ended up overthinking this decision because some people are obsessed with the Finnish standards and Trumpkins notes. Most of the pre-built kits are going to meet 80-90% of the Finnish standards and will be good enough. We just don't have a sauna culture in America and it is almost impossible to get prebuilt kits that meet 100% Finnish standards. Although, that might be changing and Cedarbrook does offer a Trumpkin kit.
I did reach out to a number of people who built saunas on the Sauna who were very helpful. Thanks to anyone who answered my questions.
I'm happy with the finished product and let me know if you any questions!
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Ultimately I ended up using Great Stuff Pond&Stone on aquarium grid, then I pressed the cork bark and preserved moss and other pieces of wood into the foam and let it all set. Then I attached suction cups to the back and placed the entire grid into the tank, which I used with zip ties that I tied onto the back. I have a false bottom also made from aquarium grid, inside the grid I placed filter foam and have a heatethermometer, a filter and a water pump for a water feature (still working out the kinks). (The last photo on this post shows my grid, the filter foam was placed INSIDE the grid instead of outside as photographed, I was just making sure I cut the right size there)
Plants - syngonium, eripiprenum, philodendron, orchid, scindapsus, begonias, sarracenia, monstera, pinguicula, an air plant, maidenhair fern, anthurium, string of turtles and planted in the water is standard dwarf grass and a Java fern that I got as tissue cultures to avoid the whole bladder snail thing haha. Not pictures but added later was callisia repens (looks like a tiny tradescantia) and selaginella uncinata (a crawling fern that behaves like a moss)
Just felt like sharing, probably will re-do the entire thing because I added the water feature later and stuff started falling off. I need more terrain and soil, or I need to maybe remove some of the soil-liking plants but I've had a lot of luck with propagating and hydroponics, I have new growth on almost everything except the pings, sarracenia and maidenhair fern. They aren't dying but they aren't looking particularly happy. Eventually I'll add some isopods, maybe a couple fancy guppies and still undecided on the primary animal which will be an amphibian or reptile that will thrive the best in the tank I made. This is far in the future because I need to do a lot more research about livestock and safe plants (I have a few that are toxic to animals, maybe more than not lol). This project has been brought to you by OCD and ADHD. Never truly deciding what I want, and never being fully satisfied with what I made hhahahah
Anyway, a work in progress. Happy building fellow paludarians! Stay tuned for the next build.

Not sure if my first attempt at posting this worked. I'll try posting pictures separately.
Some were interested in knowing my process for making badmotivator barrel clones. I have found it helpful to see how others do things in all the distilling processes so I'm happy to explain my process. WARNING this will be a long post. I think the small details are very important and wish i had known some when getting started. I am by no means an expert but it seems to work for me. There is definitely room for improvement. I didn't really have any woodworking experience before trying this so had to learn a lot and acquire several pieces of equipment. Its a balance between trying to get by with what you have and biting the bullet and buying a new piece of equipment.
I'm sure most know this but its worth saying that I did not invent this idea. This idea was created by Ben Quady who tragically lost his life last summer. He started a company building these barrels known as badmotivator barrels. His good friend is now running the company. I strongly suggest going to https://badmotivatorbarrels.com/. They have perfected making these barrels.
Everything that I have learned about building these barrels before starting the process was gathered at the following places:
1). https://badmotivatorbarrels.com/ has instructional videos on how to make the barrels. Ben seemed very passionate about teaching others to build their own barrels.
2). https://youtube.com/@badmotivatorbarrels2273?si=XAuOMUGXQMqQqkT_. Ben posted some great short clips of every step of the process. A lot of these videos are from his early days building the barrels with more primitive equipment.
3). https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60032. I would recommend reading the entire thread. You can see how Ben evolved his ideas over the years 4). Stillit on YouTube has a couple of good interviews with both Ben and Christopher who mention some great pointers on making the barrels. There is also an episode where Jesse goes to Ben's workshop and Ben walks through every step of the process.
I found it helpful to go back and re look at these periodically throughout learning to make the barrels as I would often pick up new things I didn't notice before.
My steps are as follows. There will be extra detail in some areas that i wish i would have known. The can is an 8.25 quart baine marie that i get on amazon. The diameter is about 8". Something to remember when doing this is things dont have to be perfect as the wood will swell and make up for small imperfections. My mindset is try and make it as perfect as possible knowing that there will always be some imperfections. As Ben said " i like to ask the wood to do as little as possibe":
1). Acquire seasoned quater sawn white American oak. Very important the that the wood has been seasoned outside for years. You could also use oak from a previously used barrel if you are going for a used oak taste profile. I buy the wood from badmotivator barrels which is very good wood. The dimensions of the wood they sell work out well for creating the barrel head and limiting waste. Dimensions are about 9" long 3-1/8" wide and about 1" thick.
2). Toast the wood. I use a jointer to flatten one side. This allows you to get the weathered wood off and also ensures the wood lays flat on the griddle. I use an electric griddle set at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for various times as laid out on the badmo website. The longer you toast the more cupped the board becomes. I use an infrared thermometer to dial in the temp to 400 because the Temps on the dial were wildly inaccurate.
3). Making flat edges: I use dowels to join the pieces. It would probably be easier to use a router table and a tongue and groove bit to join them but I don't have a router or router table so I'm using dowels for now. I run the non toasted face through the jointer again as the wood is now warped from the heat and needs to be flat. I then run one edge across the jointer to make a square edge. I use a small engineering square to ensure a square edge has been achieved. Because the one side is cupped if you look at a cross section of the wood it's thicker on the edge of the stave. It's important that the edge of the board is flat. Really the only way you can do this is with a jointer. There are other ways to make a jointed edge like with a router table or table saw jig but the flat face you are referencing off for that cut is not flat at all because of the warping from the toasting. This flat face really does need to be flat for accuracy and a jointer is really the only way to do this. The middle stave will need to have to flat edges so I run the other edge of one of the staves through the table saw to square up the edge. The other edges of the other staves dont need to he square as they will be cut off in the circle cut.
4). Drilling dowel holes: I lay down the 3 staves how I want them to be oriented. Because the stave is cupped on the toasted side of the stave is thicker than the other. I position the thicker side of the stave towards the outside to maximize wood surface contact with the stainless steel can. I made a cardboard circle I lay over the staves and make lines where I want the dowels to go. I use 2 dowels per joint. I use 1/4" dowels that are 1.5" in length. I use a cheap doweling jig and a 1/4" brad point drill bit with a stop collar a little deeper than half the length of the dowel (0.75"). The jig is supposed to find the center of the board and drill the dowel hole there but because the board is warped and not the same width along the length of the board the use of the jig needs to be altered a little. This is the most finicky part of the process for me. On the two perimeter boards I use the jig as intended as the exact position of the holes isn't super important, it's only important that the holes on the other board match these holes as perfect as possible. To do this I put a piece of tape across the holes and mark the center with a hole I make with a nail. I clamp the pieces together so that the jointed faces are even. The toasted side will be uneven because of the warping. I then peel the tape up and tape the ends to the other board. Then unclamp the pieces and the hole I made in the tape should be pretty close to the exact position as the hole I made in the other board. You are effectively transferring the position of the center of the hole to the other board. I then mark the wood with a nail through the hole in the tape and remove the tape. Now you have to drill the holes. Because this hole will not be in the center of the board you can't really use the clamp function of the dowel jig. I put the drill bit through the centering sleeve of the jig so the Brad point goes right into the hole I made with the nail. As long as you firmly hold the flat surface of the jig against the flat edge of the board you should drill a perpendicular hole to the face and the Brad tip should prevent the bit from walking. This seems to work pretty good most of the time. Sometimes the dowel holes are slightly off but not off enough to prevent the boards from going together.
5). Waxing and joining the staves: I tap the dowels in the holes. I melt wax in a double boiler configuration. I got a small cheap aluminum bowl at goodwill I put the wax in and fill a small pot up with water and float the small bowl in the water and heat up the water on the stove. Apparently you can burn bees wax if you heat it with direct flame. I then paint on a thin layer of wax on the edge of the board. You probably only need to do this on one face of the board. I then use a heat gun to melt the wax on the face just to make the wax more uniform. You probably don't need to do this step. Now it's time to press the staves together. The wax should be kind of soft when you do this which is another reason to heat up the wax with a heat gun. Join the staves together by hand with maybe just a couple light taps with a hammer to make sure they are together. Then I use two cheap harbour freight bar clamps to squeeze the crap out of them. This squeezes excess wax out between the staves you can scrape off. I leave it clamped for 10 minutes or so before loosening. The wax will seal any small gaps that may be present. In my case the imperfections would come from the dowel hole process not being perfect because when I dry fit them together they are perfect.
6). Cutting the round: I again use the cardboard circle cutout to find where I want the center of the circle to be. I mark this with a small nail hole on the toasted side of the staves. I use a cheap band saw and a circle cutting jig I built to cut the rough round. You could probably use a jig saw to cut the rough circle as precision on this step isn't important. The important thing is it's pretty round and a little bigger than the final round. The exact diameter and slight taper will be achieved at the next step. The jig I made for both the band saw and disc sander is a piece of mdf with a T track. I use a shelf pin for the centering pin. I cut the shelf pin down so it wasn't as long, wanted to drill as short of a hole as possible into the wood. The 13/64 drill bit fits the shelf pin perfectly. I cut the round at a diameter between 8" and 8.25".
7). Sanding the final diameter with slight taper: In my mind this is a crucial step and don't know of any other work around for doing it. Precision is important in order to get a uniform tight fit around the can. I use a 12" disc sander with a jig modeled after one of Ben's early jigs seen in his videos. It allows you to sneak up on a very precise diameter. It's also nice, but maybe not 100% necessary, to have a table that can tilt so you can match the small taper of the can. The cans have a very slight taper to them. I put the can on the table and change the angle of the table until the wall of the can is flush against the sander. Having this taper will allow for max contact of wood with the can and make sinking the head into the can easier. You want the round to be able to just barely sink down into the can. I would error on slightly to big over slightly to small. I made a mark on the jig where I found the exact right position but I'm paranoid about making it to small so I still usually start slight bigger and sneak up on my mark. It's as simple as spinning the round until the stopper us hitting the side of the jig around the entire circle. Because the surface you are spinning on is warped from toasting the spinning probably isn't completely uniform but that doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference.
8). Cutting the bung and spigot holes. There are several ways you could do this. I have elected to use a stainless steel spigot and a stainless steel hex bolt for the fill hole. The stainless steel spigot is 16mm and the bolt I use is 5/8. It's best to find these bolts locally as the shipping from these online marine boat stores is way more expensive than the bolt. The cost of the bolt us around $3. I chose 5/8 because that's the smallest size I could fit my funnel into. I use a 15mm forstner bit to drill both holes. I use a cheap drill press to do this. A cool trick to prevent tear out on the backside of the hole is to drill down just far enough so the tip of the forstner bit comes out the other side and then flip it over and fit the tip directly in the hole to finish it off. When threading in the bolt and spigot it's important that you try and thread them in straight as it is possible to thread it in and make a slightly different hole than you drilled. I use a socket and a drill to put the bolt in and that works really well and haven't had the issue of the bolt not threading directly with the hole. The spigot is more difficult. Badmo has some sort of socket with a slot that fits over the spigot handle so a drill can be used to thread it in. I have not been able to find that socket or make one so I have been doing it by hand and a wrench. It's not hard to thread it in in a way that doesn't follow the hole and it digs in and shaves off the side of the hole as you thread it in. It's not impossible to thread it in square you just need to be a little more careful. You can always add a little bees wax to the threads to create a type of gasket if you are worried.
Charring the barrel head: I cut out a circle in a piece of sheet metal that is slightly smaller than the barrel head. This acts as a shield to prevent the flame from wrapping around the edge of the barrel round. It's important to prevent the flame from hitting the edge that contacts the stainless. I use a propane weed torch to char it.
9). Sinking the round: Apply a layer of wax around the edge of the round to help seal it when you hit it in. I'm still working on the best way to do this. Badmo has it down to a science with a pneumatic press. Ben has a good video on YouTube that shows how to hit it in with a block of wood which is what I have been doing. I use a normal weighted hammer. I tried using a heavier 3lb hammer but that seemed too powerful. You want to try and hit it in as even as possible on all sides with the block of wood spanning staves to distribute forces when possible. You don't want one side to sink down much further than another side because it's difficult to recover and even it out. I made one round just slightly too small so it sunk down further than I would like. This isn't a huge deal you just lose a little volume you can fill the can with.
10). Leak test and swelling the wood. I fill the can 3/4 full with warm water and place it upside down and wait to see what leaks. There has always been some amount of leaking where the wood meets the stainless in a spot ir two. I have never had leaking between the staves. The leaks usually stop within a day, sometimes within an hour. The one that I made slightly too small had a persistent leak. I applied a small ball of wax over the leak and melted it with a heat gun and flipped it over again to test it. The leak moved slightly over from where I had put the wax so I heated more wax over that spot and that did the trick.
11). Final fill: Fill the barrel up with final product. I usually fill with a known amount of water first to see how much volume fits as that changes a little depending on how deep the round is sunk. When I fire in the bolt for the final time I add some bees wax on the threads to make a gasket just in case.
I have a bunch of badmo barrels now, most were purchased. The oldest one is nearing 2 years. The results are so much better than anything I have aged in glass I have been transferring all the stuff I have in glass into barrels. Should be interesting to see how things develop in a barrel that have already been aging for quite sometime in glass. But yeah I basically think aging in glass at this point is a waste of time based on my results.
12). Nailing the head: As badmotivator does I put 3 nails into the barrel head through the stainless in case pressure builds up in high heat events and pushes the head out. I use a small bunch to make the hole in the stainless and use a 17 gauge wire nail that is 7/8 long. I do measure how far the head is past the lip and make a mark so I don't miss the barrel head with my nail.
Jigs that I made (see pictures): -Band saw jig: I used a piece of mdf. To make the jig square to the blade you need to use the miter slot. Unfortunately my cheap band saw has a non standard miter slot size with tabs that only fits the miter bar that is used on the crapy miter gauge it came with. I took the miter bar off the miter gauge and put it on my jig and that actually works pretty well. There are a few good videos on YouTube on how to make circle cutting jigs for the band saw. I like the one that uses a T track. You use a router to cut a slot perpendicular to the blade that the T track fits in. You then put the T track in upside down and secure it to the mdf with a T track bolt and tightening knob. I then drilled a hole in the Ttrack for the shelf pin and glued it in. Important to try and make the pin as close to perpendicular to the T track as possible. I also put a piece of mdf on one side of the jig to act as a stopper against the band saw table
-disk sanding jig (see pictures): Made in a similar way to the band saw jig with MDF and T track. You want a disk sander or sanding belt that has a miter slot on the table. The key to this jig is the radius stopper that allows you to make a very precise diameter. It's difficult to put this in writing and is best understood by the pictures. I'm sure there are way better ways to make this jig. This is probably the most important part of the process and taking extra time to get this set up correctly is worth it.
List of my tools, many can be found for cheap on facebook marketplace:
-Wahuda Tools Jointer - 6-inch Benchtop Wood Jointer, Spiral Cutterhead Portable Jointer w/Cast Iron Tables & 4-Sided Carbide Tips & 10amp motor, Woodworking Tools for All Wood Types (50160CC-WHD) https://a.co/d/h3mP9YR
-Limited-time deal: DEWALT (DWE7491RS) 10-Inch Table Saw, 32-1/2-Inch Rip Capacity, Yellow/Black/Silver https://a.co/d/c2Uonyl
-WEN 4208T 2.3-Amp 8-Inch 5-Speed Cast Iron Benchtop Drill Press,Black/Orange https://a.co/d/hDdPizR
-WEN 65812 12-Inch Benchtop Disc Sander with Miter Gauge and Dust Collection System https://a.co/d/gblUE6E
-https://www.harborfreight.com/collections/woodworking/clamps/36-in-aluminum-bar-clamp-60539.html
AUTOTOOLHOME Self Centering Doweling Jig Dowel Jig Kit Drill Jig for Straight Holes Wood Joiner 6 Drill Guide Bushings Set Woodworking Power Tool Accessory Jigs https://a.co/d/iLFcogW

good afternoon, tributes, and welcome back to Stories of Panem! As usual, I am your host Colt, and I hope you all are having a great day. Before we begin, I would like to thank Christan Blanco, the original writer of "Tales of the Hunger Games," and Lauren from Panem, reborn, to which these tales are inspired by. Likewise, if you guys are ready to dive into this year's games, let's go.109 tributes (145)District 1: Roland and ChristinaDistrict 2: Lawrence and HerminiaDistrict 3: Unknown boy, unknown girlDistrict 4: Pompei, CarisaDistrict 5: Stolas and LunaDistrict 6: Sprig and SashaDistrict 7: Aspin and DollyDistrict 8: Carl and VelmaDistrict 9: Valentino (Day 2), DahliaDistrict 10: Gavin and KrystalDistrict 11: Aaron and SageDistrict 12: Unknown boy, unknown girlDistrict 14: Lordo LeadoraDue to the short but sweet end to last year's games, Quintin Van Rush made the long but comedic journey throughout the districts. He arrived within District 6 in the early evening and was greeted by the newly elected Mayor Carnival, giving him a firm handshake before taking Quintin on a tour. Even at the end of the tour, Aj introduced Quintin to Irene Al Fayed, the former representative of the district. She kissed Quintin on the cheek before filling him in on her games, now formally known as the “78th Horror of 23 Innocents.” After finishing the story of her games, Quintin smirked, saying, “Rascus would be so proud of you, Ma'am, for how far you’ve come.”Irene grinned before Aj wheeled her away as Quintin followed to the reaping square. The putrid black-caddered youths walked in with the peacekeepers soon following from behind. Quintin was welcomed to the stage moments later after Aj gave his mayoral speech.Quintin grinned before whisking away to the female reaping bowl. He looked the district's ladies up and down before picking out the name of 14-year-old Sasha Hallow. Camila and Silca Italy swarmed the cameras until a rather disgusting girl with a “melted expression" was spotted in the square. Her red hair appeared to be wilted, and her black dress had been nothing but rags. When her name was called, Sasha threw up. As Quintin replied, “Hurry up,” similar to his grandmother when she had reaped the tributes of the 85th games in District 7, Sasha clutched her mouth as two peacekeepers aided her up to the stage. However, as she tried to shake Quintin’s hand, he recoiled as his scarlet suit was covered in Sasha’s “throw-up.” However, as Sasha tried to take another tablet of morphine, peacekeepers shoved her to the right side of Quintin as he recoiled, shouting about his suit that had been “ruined by the puker,” much to the amusement of Capitol citizens.Quintin soon recomposed himself before walking to the male reaping bowl. Only clasping the top of the bowl, he read it aloud to be 17-year-old Sprig Divine. An equally hideous black-caddered creature was spotted further back in the lineup. Aj sighed, apparently realizing the fact he may have a tough year mentoring. Sprig was spotted in the back of the 17-year-old youths. As he made his way to the stage, Camila gasped over Sprig’s orange hair and chiseled features, causing Silca to laugh, replying to Camila to not “get her hopes up.” Once Sprig got to the stage, he shook Quintin’s hand before he and Sasha were announced as this year's tributes for District 6, and the pair from 6 were then ushered into the Hall of Justice as Quintin made the journey to District 8 with his entourage.Sasha was visited by her elderly mother and her elder brother Carlson. As per usual in a District 6 family meeting, her mother and brother didn't seem to care seeing their daughtesister leaving. However, before the peacekeepers hushed her out, her mother tossed her an unidentified cartridge, which was later defined as a mini robot by Camila. As for Sprig, he was not visited by anyone, partly due to the fact he was a war orphan. One tear fell from his eye as he then walked to the train as the pair from 6 began the journey to the Capitol.Sprig introduced himself to Sasha as she gave a half-hearted grin before looking out the window. Sprig soon walked and toured the bar carriage as he poured himself a “Liberation McCain” into a wine flask. As he sipped casually from this beverage, Sprig casually looked to his left, seeing his mentor. Sprig yelped as Aj laughed, saying, “I appreciate the surliness, but put it away for now.”Sasha also yelped seeing their mentor as well before the pair were brought to the couch. Aj took out two morphine thermometer detectors. Unfortunately, as both Sasha and Sprig’s thermometers blurred red, Aj frowned before bringing Sasha to her own carriage, giving her a morphine antidote. She soon ran to a garbage can as Aj lightly nudged her to her own room.After locking the door, Sprig turned to Aj asking him, “Can I take it out now?” Aj soon read Sprig’s temperature before grilling, asking, “Are you trying to get clean or are the morphine prices high again?” Sprig grinned, muttering, “Withdrawal and the prices.”Aj sighed before tossing him an antidote. Sprig frowned and shouted no way in hell he’d take it. Aj grinned, saying, “You’ll thank me later.” Little did his tributes know Aj was testing them to see which one of them would “crack.” As he and both of the commentators predicted, Spring came out first. Aj grinned, saying, “You ready now.” Sprig nodded before he dragged a nearby trash can with him, listening to Aj talk about the upcoming week. However, as Aj ended his lecture, they heard an odd laugh sound from Sasha’s carriage. As Sprig went to grab more food, another laugh sounded.Aj soon excused himself from the table before looking on in surprise, seeing Sasha dumping 2 vials of morphine into her mouth as her little robot friend passed her more of the substances. Aj scowled at Sasha before taking out his pistol and shooting the little robot. Sasha hollered at Aj, screaming that he had just shot the only thing who was there for her, tackling him to the ground and clawing at his face. Peacekeepers soon rushed in, ripping Sasha off of Aj. He frowned before walking to the nearby window. After staring at his face, he frowned, seeing his scratched-up face, frowning, saying, “Now I look like a torn-up balloon,” much to the amusement of Capitol citizens.As Aj walked back to the dining table, he casually asked, “So, want to redo the lecture?”Sprig frowned before feeling relieved as the train for the Capitol soon rolled into the station, Aj was immediately swarmed by his fans and admirers. “Shoo shoo.” He repeated this several times until most of the Capitol's attention was brought to Sprig and the “Wet Rat,” the new nickname for Sasha.Sprig soon chuckled, seeing many Capitol ladies swoon over his buff physique and good looks, especially for the fact that Sprig was from District 6. However, Sasha was not in the Capitol’s good books. As she tripped over a violet poodle, the poodle bit Sasha in response, Aj hurriedly took her out of the tight situation before thanking the Capitol for their time before bringing Sasha and Sprig to the limousine as it began its journey to the accommodation tower. The pair’s new appointed stylist, Veronica Mayberry, greeted the pair. “Where's Euclid?” Veronica replied with “He retired, didn't he tell you?” Aj frowned before introducing his tributes to Veronica. Veronica grinned before bringing them to the table displaying her outfit plans.The pair soon looked at each other in disbelief seeing the motorcycle-themed outfits. However, before the pair could say anything further, Veronica stopped them before saying, “Don't worry, you won't actually look like cars.” Sprig chuckled before Veronica's stylist team quickly took the pair's measurements before the outfits were made. The pair marveled at their outfits in the typical District 6 stupor. Aj soon turned on Capital TV as he directed his tributes to the reaping in District 2 taking place.Mayor Gladstone welcomed Quintin to his rival career district before bringing him on a brief tour of the district. Many keen-eyed viewers in the Capitol noticed Quin whispering to one of his entourage members, “Is that it?” causing him and the nearby members to laugh as well. Mayor Gladstone soon brought Quintin up to the reaping square as the merry golden youths ran and skipped to the square jittering with excitement.Mayor Gladstone muttered to himself as Jade Heath, victor of the 106th games, watched from afar. Twelve males and eighteen ladies volunteered to take their luck at the games.At the Salt Lake Arena, four groups of four ladies grouped together. However, due to this, these girls unfortunately fell apart, leading to Delilah Zircon and Herminia Gold. When these girls saw each other, Delilah ripped the two remaining bracelets Herminia had. Luckily for Herminia, as Delilah tried to rip her final bracelet off, Herminia kicked Delilah in the head. As she fell unconscious, Herminia grinned before rather quietly tearing Delilah’s final bracelet off. After Delilah was announced to be eliminated, Herminia flipped her light brown hair back before grinning happily at the camera. Camilia gasped at Herminia’s stunning gold dress and long hair. As for the guys, 18-year-old Philosopher Dalton was proven to be a Capitol favorite edged small P in the fallen volunteers' arms. As he soon declared himself to be the victor of these games, Silca sniggered, replying, “Look behind you.” Philosopher was soon ambushed by Lawrence Auguestiene, the last remaining male volunteer. After a rather competitive fistfight, Lawrence grabbed his foe's knife before slicing the final necklace off of Philosopher. As Lawrence grinned, most of the Capitol shouted that “Philosopher was robbed.” However, Silca soon redirected their attention to Lawrence’s marble physique, then leading most of the Capitol ladies to swoon.As Lawrence and Herminia were bathed and groomed, they were then brought out to the Hall of Justice as the excited District 2 crowd huddled around. As Quintin announced Herminia and Lawrence as this year's tributes for District 2, the crowd cheered out in glee as Herminia then introduced herself to Lawrence. He smiled and took her hand as the pair roared in triumph. After a brief meeting with their families and friends, the pair boarded their train to make the short journey to the Capitol.The pair’s mentor Jade clapped good-naturedly when seeing the pair, saying, “I’m impressed already.” Herminia and Lawrence grinned before following their mentor to the dining hall as she displayed the reapings in District 1 with Roland and Christina’s talent demonstrations being shown.“So are the 4s out of the picture, or are they allowed in the pack?”Jade seemed rather surprised hearing this from Lawrence before nodding, saying, “If the training scores are decent enough.”When Herminia saw the display of Christina, she laughed, saying that “The girls are afraid of flies, and she’s a career.” Jade chuckled before replying, “Careful now, that may be a false front for her.”Herminia and Lawrence nodded before Jade asked for bloodbath strategies. After hearing rather mediocre responses, Jade smiled and said, “Try something new, a new weapon, or the skill you favor.”As the three rewatched the reapings, the train for District 2 then arrived in the Capitol. The pair from 2 were given cascades of fanfare as Herminia and Lawrence disembarked with even more cheers followed as Jade, their mentor, disembarked.However, due to the train arriving rather late, the pair from 2 still did not fail to disappoint the Capitol citizens. Jade thanked the Capitol for their time before quickly ushering the pair to the accommodation building.“My first victor.”“Picey.”Jade embraced Picey as the pair had a good old catch up before Picey’s stylist team took the pair's measurements. Lawrence complained rather annoyingly to Jade before she grew annoyed walking right to Lawrence before slapping him across the face.“Wanna listen to them now so we're not here all day.”Herminia chuckled as Lawrence nodded ghostly looking forward as Picey brought her tributes to their outfits. Golden regal peacekeepers outfits with long glowing gold togas flying down. The pair eagerly put on their outfits before Jade gasped, saying how beautiful “they looked.” Pricey seconded that before bringing their tributes down to the parade waiting hall.The pair were quickly approached by Roland and Christina both from 1. Unfortunately, Herminia grew quickly annoyed with Roland as he nearly spat at Lawrence while talking. Lawrence looked back at Herminia giving her a sympathetic smile before the careers confirmed their alliance. As for the pair from 6, they boarded their train, Aj frowned seeing Sasha's bloodshot eyes.“How in Christ did you get more of that damned stuff?”Sasha grinned before Aj sighed before dusting debris off of Spring's outfit before telling him, “Just smile and nod.” Veronica and Aj wished the pair luck as the parade call soon sounded as all the tributes boarded their carriages. Immediately the pair from 2 were given cascades of cheers as Herminia and Lawrence waved at the audience being tossed many flowers and chocolates nearly being drowned at the end with all of these gifts. Nico Anderson commented that the pair's outfits were decent enough but “not like previous years of successful outfits.” However, their pair from 6 encountered a slight problem as Stolas and Luna, both from 5s member-powered themed outfits, nearlyset the pair from 6s outfits on fire. Sasha yelped before Stolas looked back and mouthed “sorry sorry.” Sprig soon rubbed the now-frantic horses. Luckily for the pair, the horses soon calmed down much to the amusement of the Capitol citizens.Camilia gasped at seeing the pair's outfits as Nico then replied their outfits were “out of the ordinary but interesting.” At the end of the parade, President Mcaine did his usual speech of the importance of the revival of Panem and the importance of the games before welcoming Nico Anderson to the stage. He congratulated most of the stylists on a job well done before crowning the pair from 8 the title of Anderson Fashions best-dressed.After the parade was over, both of the pairs from 2 and 6 had similar conversations with their mentors telling them to rest up for the 2 days of training that would follow.Apollo Price soon greeted the 26 tributes; he warned them to not cause any “funny business.”The careers quickly regrouped, looking toward the pair from 4, 15-year-old Carisa, and 14-year-old Pompei. However, as the pair from 4 asked the careers if they were all going to practice together, Roland laughed before Carisa shooed them away much to the amusement and confusion of the pair from 2.The four of them did not fear to show other tributes their strength; Lawrence even shot an arrow nearly over the head of Dahlia from 9. As she yelped, Herminia laughed before Lawrence looked up seeing Jade giving him a guilty grin.However, on the secondary day, the careers scouted out Gavin from 10 and Krystal from 10. Lawrence approached the pair and asked if they’d like to spar. Krystal immediately fled, causing Christina and Herminia to snigger. As Gavin agreed, Lawrence and Gavin sparred. Due to Gavin never touching a sword a day in his life, he was easily beat 17-1. However, in an odd stance of tribute comradery, he helped up Gavin before patting him on the back. For the remainder of day 2, Herminia, Lawrence, and the 1s spent the remainder of the day alternating between the sword station, knife station, and the archery stations.With the pair from 6 on the other hand, Sprig and Sasha were both approached by Stolas and Luna, both apologizing for the parade accident. They accepted her apology before suggesting that they work in the knife station. The pair worked rather well in the station, greatly pleasing Aj and Regina Hamilton, the mentor for District 5, nodding encouragingly at the alliance.At the end of the 2nd day, the tributes were brought to the training assessors. Lawrence was early in the lineup. He hurled many swords and knives into the training dummies before doing a triple backflip into the splits causing ripples of shock and laughter to sound in the assessment hall before they congratulated and dismissed him.Herminia also kept the assessors interested at high level as she performed an archery display, shooting many arrows; however, as many of the assessors took cover, their fear turned from fear to amazement as Herminia looked at her finished performance, the arrows formed President Mcaine himself. Many of the assessors gingerly clapped as Herminia bowed, high-fiving Lawrence. Later on in the middle of the lineup, Sprig was welcomed. Unfortunately, both he and Sasha had rather pitiful displays with Sprig failing a camouflage display and Sasha accidentally dropped a knife on her foot causing the assessors to laugh.Within the late evening, Camilia’s live show turned on as many of the tributes brought their tributes to the TVs. As Camilia then read the scores, Lawrence from 2, Herminia from 2, Roland from 1 scored an 11. Much to the annoyance of Christina, she scored a 9 alongside Carisa from 4. In the middle of the pack, Sprig scored a 6 alongside Dolly from 7 and Velma from 8. And at the bottom of the pack, Luna from 5 and Sasha from 6 scored a 2.Jade congratulated her tributes on a job well done before prepping them on interview questions casually reminding them to smile more and to “Have some fun.” However, Aj was livid with Sasha in particular, asking her if she “really cared about returning to her family.” Sasha screamed that she “Never had any real family.” However, as their argument raged further, Veronica stepped in before giving Sprig and Sasha their uniforms for the interviews.Camilia eagerly welcomed the Capitol audience twirling around in her sailor suit before eagerly chatting away with the audience before welcoming the pair from 1. After the pair from 1s overly flirtatious responses to Camilia and the audiences, Herminia was welcomed to the stage. She was adorned in a golden dress with a laurel wreath that nicely complemented her long autumn hair. The pair hugged before the interview went underway. As per usual of the typical District 2 fashion, Herminia went down favorably with the Capitol even when Camilia congratulated her on winning her volunteer games Herminia replied that she “Never went to a training academy and just got lucky.” Camilia and the audience gasped before applying Herminia on her courage.Herminia laughed to herself before Camilia asked if Herminia “Fancied anyone in her pack.” Herminia let out a guilty grin before saying, “You’ll find out soon,” before winking much to the amusement of the citizens in the studios, exuding charisma and charm as he greeted Camilia and the audience with a winning smile. His golden suit shimmered under the studio lights, accentuating his athletic build. Camilia wasted no time in gawking over his charisma and the career alliance. He proceeded to share anecdotes from his district and even cracked a few jokes about his past girlfriend and the training academies, eliciting laughter from both Camilia and the viewers. Camilia then asked Lawrence if he was the boy one of the career girls “Fancied.” He winked before replying, “Maybe.” Camellia chuckled before wishing him luck in the games. He roared in triumph before bowing as he was cheered off stage.Sprig was welcomed later on in the interview being adorned in a gray suit with an orange tie. Camilia gasped at the outfit spring was wearing unfortunately he was quite dull. Even though he stared dimly at Camilia until he was eventually shooed off the stage. Sasha’s interview was rather dull. But as Camelia mentioned the morphling robot incident on the train. She soon grabbed her silver headpiece accessory and pointed it to Camilia rather rudely saying, “Your sailor suit looks like a 4-year-old brat threw up on it.” As the Capitol citizens jeered and threw tomatoes at Sasha Camellia literally had to “Bite her lip before saying anything stupid.”After the rather uneventful interview of Lordo from 14 game makers, Monty was welcomed to the stage. Cyrus was adorned in a gray jumpsuit with a sailor's hat on which nicely complemented his ebony hair. After a brief comedic battering session with Cyrus, Camilia nagged him for a hint. him for a hint. Rather surprisingly Cyrus replied that the arena would be “aesthetically pleasing than ever before.” Curious sounds of intrigue crossed the citizens in the stage before game maker Monty thanked the capital for their time. Camilia then also ended the interviews there wishing the tributes luck for the upcoming games.
The following night that followed featured the usual distressed voices of the stressed and strong ones trying to comfort the weak leading most mentors and tributes to have not a lot of sleep. The next day the tributes were brought to the arena’s holding room. Peacekeepers brought in the tribute outfits a dark blue shirt breathable shorts with sneakers with their district color and number.
Picey visited Lawrence. She did not stay long just making him more presentable for the games. Once she finished this task she wished him luck before she left his holding room.
Jade soon visited Herminia wishing her the best of luck however before she went into her tube Jade gave her a strong embrace. Herminia softened as Jade spoke “I can use a buddy with mentoring and got a special feeling about the two of you.” Herminia grinned replying “Victory will be back to where it belongs.” Jade chuckled, replying “That's the spirit.” Herminia grinned before walking into her tube before waving to Jade as it soon rose into the arena.
It was no surprise that Sasha was not visited by anyone. She annoyingly stomped around in a annoying huff apparently to the cameras she was muttering “Don't have the robot now i'm doomed now i'm doomed.”
After Sprig dressed he was surprised to see that Aj did not show up to visit however as the peacekeeper soon walked in and read Sprig a note Aj wrote for him. “I don't have that much faith for the two of you but you're one of the special few that I have my faith on to win good luck kid from AJ.” Sprig allowed a tear to fall from his eye before walking into his tube as it soon arose into the arena.

Hello Chicago, I have a problem I hope you can help me with. The TLDR is that I rent an art studio and my landlord sees no issue with my studio being 65 degrees OR LESS since December 11th. I have brought this issue to their attention multiple times. The problem is that they have had technicians out to look at the heater three, maybe even four times so they no longer believe that it isn't functioning properly.
The first HVAC visit was a total bust, I wasn't informed when that person came and I don't know what the technician did but nothing changed, they forgot to confirm with me that the temperature had improved and I was out of town a lot for the holidays.
The second technician who came January 5th found that the first had missed a malfunctioning part. The heater worked until about Jan 17th when I informed management that it was again in the low 60's in my studio.
On Jan 23 I took the time to write out in detail what was happening with the heater (running for an hour, then short-cycling, eventually just STOPS and never blowing hot air, just kinda warm) and offered to make myself available to recount these observations to the next technician. They agreed it would be helpful and scheduled the HVAC person to come. Now here is where it gets fun.
On Jan 24th I sat in my 63 degree studio for hours, because I never got a call to schedule my meeting with the technician. Instead the maintenance man unlocked my studio door without knocking and when I said "excuse me you can't just open this door" he shut it in my face. Wanting my heat fixed I decided to ignore this and walked out in to the hallway to talk to the HVAC person who was now walking away from me. The management had sent one of their family members to talk to the technician. He moved the location of the thermostat and left, never talking to me or checking that warm air was coming out of my vents. I stupidly believed that he fixed the actual heater. I had to leave town for a few days.
On February 7th it was 60 degrees in my studio at 1pm. The thermostat was set at 75. I informed management and they told me that the THERMOSTAT was working and it would "take time for your studio to warm up", because they turn the heat down to 65 at night (sometimes they turn it off completely and don't turn it back on). I responded my studio has not been warmer than 65 degrees since early December and they need to compensate me or let me out of my lease. 10 days later they offered to schedule a meeting between me and the landlord, but I had to leave town and wouldn't be available till this week. They have not responded since the 16th. I really don't want to move and I don't have the energy for court. It is now February 26th. It is 62 degrees outside and 63 degrees in my studio.
Pertinent information:

• The thermostat is not in my studio, it is openly accessible in the hall and not in a lock box. I spent an entire day noting the time the heater started and stopped, each time also checking the thermostat's settings, and the temperature in my studio.
• I have a digital thermometer mounted to the wall with a date and time stamp on it that I have been taking pictures of every day I'm in the studio. It is located more than 3 feet off the floor and more than 3 feet from an exterior wall or window.
• I have informed them three times since the supposed 4th visit by the HVAC technician who "confirmed the thermostat was working" that my studio temperature is less that 65 degrees even with the heat turned up to 80 and after running for 6 hours.
• I have researched the Chicago Heat Ordinance and it mostly applies to residential buildings but also to "work spaces". It states that they are required to keep my space at 68 degrees "when occupied", but this is a 24 hour access building. I could not find a minimum temperature for when a non-residential space is not occupied.
• I have checked my lease and the LESSOR (landlord) "shall maintain the building and its structural and mechanical systems in full compliance with all applicable City of Chicago building and zoning codes"

What do I do next? If I ever get a meeting with this guy should I hand him a stack of papers with his violations highlighted? Do I stop paying rent? Should I file a complaint with the city now or wait for this supposed meeting? Should I send the landlord a bill of prorated back rent for all the days I have documented that the studio was less that 68 degrees?
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I grew up in the far north of the USA,in an area where most people have Finnish heritage. Our house was built by ethnic Finns and had a sauna (picture 3; original stove replaced). It was a good size but I learned later it was somewhat underpowered. Aside from enjoying the heat it was a good place to hang out with girlfriends when my parents were home.
Many moons later, I got into cold plunging and realized a sauna would fit nicely with one of those. I’m fairly handy and frugal, and put together the cold plunge, kit sauna and an outdoor shower over a few months. The setup was revolutionary for me. Love it.
My Charlie Brown sauna is a Chinese kit I got with a great deal. It has a 6 kW Harvia stove. It came with no instructions, too many chairs and not enough roof shingles. My feet were too cold. Thanks to the sub I raised the bench and started experimenting with the ventilation. I poured clear epoxy on the floor (not appreciated on this sub, but it worked great). I did some polyurethane foam in the lower walls. The thermometer easily reads 190 F now. The steam is killer if wanted. I use it daily, and continue to think of ways to further improve it until I’m ready to build my own in a few years.
The next improvements I’m considering are a wood door with window vs the glass one, and changing the bench base so I can push my mini-bench below it. Any other thoughts, other than burning it down or reporting it to the local cultural police, are appreciated.

Hey folks. If I didn't shave my head I'd be tearing my hair out over this. First, let me put the printer and filament details down:

• Printer: Ender 3 S1, pro firmware from Github, controlled by Octoprint. 0.4 stock nozzle and hot end
  
• Enclosure: I have the Creality enclosure
  
• Bed: I have the stock bed, with the stock sheet and I also have a PEI smooth sheet. I have the issue with both.
  
• Slicer: OrcaSlicer. 0.2mm layer height, 15mm/s first layer speed. As of today with the test print (details below) I set the first layer width to 0.5mm vs my default 0.45.
  
• Filament: Duramic PLA+. Running 205 on the hotend, 70 on the bed for the first layer and 55 after that. Cooling fan off for the first layer, then it starts ramping up on the second layer. I've added the gcode for the firmware to use the AML. I've run the filament through my filament dryer, and it feeds from the top of the enclosure
  

The issue: On the outer edges of the build plate, on the right side and bottom right corner mostly, I have adhesion issues. The squish and stick seems to be fine on the whole rest of the bed, it's just those areas that it does not want to stick to on the first layer. I discovered this when i was trying to print a Mutliboard tile, as I want to try that system out. So, looking at https://imgur.com/OLsfz2X and https://imgur.com/qy7cyFM you can see that a lot of the print seems to have decent squish, but then on the right side just doesn't want to stick. These prints were with a slightly lower bed temp, and before I had calibrated flow and changed first layer width.
What I've done so far: redone the bed leveling using both the touch sensor and paper under the nozzle. Feels like I've got it right? I did a flow test with a hollow cube, found that I needed to up the ratio. Checked my extruder steps - marked the filament, and ran the extruder to double check it's pulling the right amount. This morning, I added a small piece of masking tape under the effected area. Then I turned the printer back on, heated the bed back up and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then I trammed it, ran the mesh leveling in Octoprint, and printed some test squares, pictures below.
Squares: https://imgur.com/Nj1n7XV
Bottom right: https://imgur.com/0HMcW3m
Top right: https://imgur.com/jVvfbX4
So going by that vs the bed leveling guide pic that I've seen on here, my Z offset is a little low for the bottom of the print area. But, it seems to be fine for the rest of the squares.
What I haven't done: figure out a way to verify the bed is heating evenly. Can I use a digital food thermometer to probe spots on the bed? Is that accurate enough?
All pics: https://imgur.com/a/YTHZwCn
Summary: print not sticking on outer edge. First pics in link above show that issue. Subsequent pics of the squares show the changes I've made thus far.
Bottom line: does anyone have any recommendations on what to do next? I want to be able to print some multiboard tiles or honeycomb walls for organization, but to print the larger ones I need to be able to use the whole bed.

TLDR: It’s 18°C in my apartment, is it normal/legal? What else can I do about this? Can I ask for rent reduction?
At the end of November as it started to get colder I started to feel really cold at my home, in December I told my landlord to look into it, he sent someone who is responsible for the heating in the whole building and this guy just used a laser thermometer on the walls and floors, told me they are about 18-20°C and that’s completely fine and said goodbye. Couple days later I decided to buy a thermo/hygrometer because mold was starting to develop on the ceilings, that’s when I started taking pictures about the room temperature which was usually around 18°C and informed the landlord about the mold. A day later the same guy was sent to me, again with the laser, looked around and he said he will try to turn on the heating a little bit more, but he can’t do much. A week goes by and he had to come again because temperatures were still the same, this time he comes with another guy who apparently had to air out the floor heating system and they assure me that now with some time I will be calling them to turn the heating lower, because they also give it a little bit more power and it’s going to be sooo warm, they also told me that the people living below me have already complained because of the heat they have, but it’s going to take some time for my flat to warm up. It did not happen. Now I have no idea what the f is going on with our heating… I asked my neighbor and they have the same problem. It’s -5°C outside and I have 18°C in the livingroom probably around 16 in my bedroom (haven’t measured yet but it’s 100% colder) and maybe around 20 in the bathroom, that’s where I can feel that the floor is a little bit warmer but definitely not warm enough. Now I will inform the landlord again but I have a feeling nothing will change.I moved here last summer so this is my first winter in this apartment. Sorry for the long story I thought it might help with some answers. So the questions:
What can I do? What should I do? Can I ask for rent reduction? Does anybody have similar experiences? Is 18°C room temperature completely fine?