The LOTS Project Morning Show

This week on Episode 895 of The LOTS Project Morning Show, I finally get the wood chipper running after replacing the carburetor and changing the oil. We also talk about a new forestry tool that's headed to the property, why real freedom means defending the rights of people you disagree with, and whether self-checkout has quietly trained us to do work that stores used to pay employees to do. As al...

A simple flooring project turned into another lesson in why building your own cabin is never as straightforward as it looks. This week I talk through the latest cabin progress, why weather is becoming the next obstacle, and how one overlooked specification completely changed the timeline. Then we shift gears into a conversation about autonomous vehicles, why I still won't climb into a driverless t...

A camera on a pole doesn't sound like a big deal. Until it becomes a network. Until it follows vehicles across jurisdictions. Until it starts identifying people instead of license plates. And until cities start realizing they may have signed up for something bigger than they expected. In this episode I dig into recent developments surrounding Flock, why some communities are pushing back, and why o...

A chainsaw refusing to cooperate. Trees that still need clearing. A biochar experiment that didn't go exactly as planned. And somehow, all of it led back to a bigger question: are we spending too much time watching the circus while ignoring the things that actually keep our lives running? In this episode, Brian talks through solar field progress, diagnosing and fixing a decade-old Husqvarna, the r...

This week starts with cabin cleanup and a reality every builder eventually faces: everybody has advice and half of it contradicts the other half. I'm getting ready for flooring installation and trying to sort through the endless opinions on subfloor prep, skim coating, underlayment, and what actually matters versus what just costs more money. Then we dive into a surprisingly heated local debate ab...

The cabin hit a major milestone this week. After months of learning, climbing ladders, making mistakes, fixing mistakes, and figuring things out one project at a time, the trim is finally finished and the cabin is officially dried in. That leads into a bigger conversation about learning new skills, solving problems without experts, and why YouTube may be the most valuable trade school ever created...

This episode starts with anniversary week and porch furniture… and somehow ends with steroid-enhanced athletes, collapsing Middle East peace talks, and the political machine steamrolling Thomas Massie. Pretty standard 2026 conversation. We talk about: 10 years married and the journey from Minneapolis suburbs to off-grid Tennessee a huge week of cabin progress porch trim struggles and finally seein...

The cabin officially has sheet metal on all four sides, and now comes the phase where confidence slowly turns into second-guessing your own decisions. This episode gets into: wrapping up the exterior metal work learning construction skills in real time why I already think I may redo part of the porch trim local Tennessee radio a morning host voice that nearly breaks me hantavirus headlines everywh...

Some weeks you make solid progress. Other weeks you realize the real problem isn’t building a cabin… it’s dealing with people. This episode starts with a win—figuring out a scaffolding + ladder setup that actually worked without killing me—and then takes a hard left into one of the most frustrating laundromat trips I’ve had in a long time. From there it spirals into a bigger question: Are things a...

Gas goes up 50 cents in a single day… and nobody really questions it anymore. Meanwhile, headlines are pushing a “backyard chicken problem” based on 34 cases across the entire country. In this episode, we break down both—what’s real, what’s noise, and why it feels like the focus is always in the wrong place. On top of that, real progress on the cabin build: two full sides wrapped in metal, a few m...

You ever notice how the story is always about “safety”… until you actually see how it gets used? This episode starts with real progress—finally getting a full side of the cabin done and figuring out window trim the hard way. Then it shifts into something a lot of people are just starting to notice: AI creeping into vehicles and deciding whether you’re “fit to drive.” It sounds reasonable on the su...

Some weeks you make progress. Some weeks you make progress and realize how much stuff is broken—tools, systems, and people. This one had both. The cabin is finally starting to come together. Metal is going up, problems are getting solved, and things are actually looking like a real structure. At the same time: I managed to smash my thumb repeatedly and send a hammer flying Turned a simple weed eat...

The cabin finally got its first metal on this week… which should have been the big story. Instead, progress got sidelined by literal cannon fire because apparently that’s a normal sentence in Tennessee. In this episode, Brian breaks down the first round of siding installation, mistakes and lessons learned with the metal, unexpected trim issues, and why the new trail-clearing setup may be one of th...

The cabin didn’t move forward this week—and not for any of the reasons you’d expect. A simple mistake stalled the build, which turned into one of those weeks where you realize how fragile progress actually is. At the same time, I had one of the best customer service experiences I’ve had in years… which shouldn’t be rare, but somehow is. And then there’s the bigger question: We’re spending billions...

The cabin took another step forward this week. Metal is ordered. That should feel like a clean win, except the water tank deal disappeared almost immediately, so now the plan shifts again. From there, this episode goes where it naturally had to go: Flock cameras, license plate readers, AI policing, and why people should stop pretending these systems only get used on the “right” targets. The story...

This episode has a common theme, even if it doesn’t look like it at first. The cabin is moving forward, but in the least glamorous way possible—door installs, bad hardware out of the box, measuring trim, planning metal, figuring tank pads, and trying to think three steps ahead so today’s shortcut doesn’t become tomorrow’s headache. It’s the kind of progress that doesn’t photograph well but matters...

The deck is done. The storms are here. And somehow the news cycle got even dumber. In this episode, I talk through the latest cabin progress after finally finishing the back deck, stairs, and railing, including the mistakes that will probably annoy me every time I look at it. I also get into what Tennessee spring weather feels like when you’re living in a camper, tornado warnings are rolling throu...

This week the cabin actually moved forward, which felt nice for a change. I get into the deck progress, the next steps on the build, and why Kori and I finally pulled the trigger on a trailer after getting tired of fighting material runs, deliveries, borrowed equipment, and general project friction. It should make future work a whole lot easier — assuming I can get the driveway situation sorted ou...

This one’s three threads that all connect in the same annoying way: systems break… and you either adapt or pay later. First: cabin update. We knocked out all 10 windows, built shallow stairs for big dogs and bad hips, and I learned (again) that battery tools have feelings… and those feelings are “nope.” Bonus: I’m officially done buying lumber at Lowe’s. Second: Bitcoin for normal people. If you’v...

In Episode 876 of The LOTS Project Morning Show , Brian checks in with real-world progress (cabin work), real-world costs (a surprise tariff bill), and the real-world circus (aliens/UAPs hitting the headlines again right when other stories get spicy). What’s inside: Cabin update: redoing house wrap, finishing window prep, and planning temporary steps Wood stove parts from Canada… delivered first,...

In Episode 875 of The LOTS Project Morning Show (Feb 16, 2026): Brian shares progress on the Tennessee cabin build after weather delays, including window installs and deck planning. Then we break down the Ring Super Bowl commercial and what it signals about AI surveillance, neighborhood camera networks, and cloud-linked monitoring systems. We also talk about: Why the Olympics are no longer freely...

In Episode 874 of The LOTS Project Morning Show (2/9/2026), Brian breaks down the real-world aftermath of the ice storm at the cabin property (including minor solar panel damage), explains why federal disaster rules can accidentally kill local cleanup side hustles, reviews the Imalent GR35 PE flashlight (white light + green laser + UV), and closes with the latest round of Epstein file chaos —and w...

Episode 873 is a real-world breakdown of riding out a West Tennessee ice storm while living in an RV—what Brian did to prep, what failed (hello, cracked hoses), what worked (water storage, propane generator strategy, comms), and what changes he’s planning before the next storm—especially with the cabin/property plans in mind. He also opens with quick commentary on the recent Bitcoin drop and silve...

In Episode 872 of The LOTS Project Morning Show , Brian shares real-world updates from the cabin, including door installation progress, winter prep, and upcoming weather concerns. He also talks through a personal banking scare that highlights how dependent we’ve become on centralized systems, observations from daily dog walks along the county road, and follow-ups on both a propane regulator repair...

Episode 871 kicks off with a cabin build update after a weekend of bad weather, mud, and making progress anyway — plus the reality of juggling two-person build tasks when life and work schedules get in the way. Then we get into a local small-town story: a gas station attempted break-in that blew up across every Facebook group in the region… and ended with three suspects apprehended — all minors ....