!! In the quiet hours of the bootcamp grind, I found myself: Esteban's Bootcamp Experience

B.E.L. Post # 284

Woke up to a beautiful morning, but I wasn't feeling all that great. I think I might have caught that little bug that's been going around with some of the boots. Dan, whom I'm bunking with in the solarium, was sick recently too, so I guess it's making its rounds.

I grabbed some breakfast and then went back to bed for a little while. After getting up again, Jesse and I headed over to the Abbey to feed the cats. We brought the empty cat food container back to basecamp, filled it up, and I spent a little time irrigating before calling it quits and going back to rest for a bit.

Around the time Stephen got back to basecamp, I got up again, loaded the cat food, and Jesse and I took it back over to the Abbey. Afterwards, we cleaned up the front of the classroom by bringing the picnic table and cob oven back inside.

That was pretty much it for me today. I took it easy for the rest of the day and spent some time relaxing with my dog. Hopefully this bug passes soon and I'll be back to my usual self tomorrow!

B.E.L. Post # 285

I slept in a bit this morning, but thankfully I was feeling much better. I took my little doggo for a walk before joining everyone for the cleaning blitz, which was actually quite pleasant and delightful.

After the cleaning blitz, Sam and I fueled up Roy and headed out to the Lab to feed the cats. While we were there, we felled two trees to harvest materials for the house paddock. Before heading back, I also loaded up some of the leftover big woody bits from the recent mulch pile at the Abbey.

Back at Basecamp, I spent some time cleaning up in front of the classroom/shop and spreading the woody organic matter over the bermshed. I also moved the odd bits and bobs of woody material from the firewood rack just to the left of the shop door and brought them inside the shop. They'll come in handy soon enough, since Dan runs the shop's RMH in the mornings and evenings.

After that, I took it easy for the rest of the evening. It was nice to be feeling better and get a few things done without pushing myself too hard.

One suggestion for the wood burned signs...  The best way I've found to burn the words in is to start by routering them out deeply with a half round router bit or V bit.  Then use the oxy acetylene torch to make a small flame.  If you don't have experience with the torch, a little youtubing should be enough to get it working good enough for this.  Be sure to turn the gas off when you're done :)

That torch is very hot and precise, so you can burn the letters without scorching the surface of the sign much. Then a pass or two thru the planer cleans it up great for oil.  Check out the sign in the back corner of the classroom (the private one).  That was made using this method.

B.E.L. Post # 286

This morning we split off into three teams. Eric and Sam were on tractor duty, working on building up the east berm, while Leo, Dan, Stevie, and Jules headed off to work on the house paddock. I was on Stephen's team with Jesse.

We started off by filling up seven drip jugs. Five of them were brought up to Raspberry Rock to set up and irrigate, while the other two came with us to Cooper Cabin, where Jesse watered two trees. Meanwhile, Stephen was working out in front of the Abbey, and I got the RMH going at Cooper Cabin.

After letting the RMH run for about an hour, we headed over to the Abbey to feed the cats. Once the kitties were taken care of, we made our way over to the Cooper Cabin gate to take measurements for building a new one. We also took some notes on what needed to be done to bring the other two gates back up to spec after some comedy had happened with them. 😆

After that, we loaded up the six pieces of logs from the two trees I felled yesterday and brought them back to Basecamp for the fencing crew to use.

After lunch, Jesse, Sam, Eric, and I headed back to Cooper Cabin. Jesse went inside to clean up the cabin while Eric, Sam, and I worked on some chop-and-drop around the entrance, cleaning things up and making the area look nice and delightful.

Around four o'clock, we headed back to Basecamp. I stopped by the shop to grab the sawdust bin and topped off the steel drum inside the house paddock, just to the right of the rear staircase entrance to the Fisher Price House.

Once that was done, I grabbed an empty wooden crate and started cutting up some scrappy wood to length before splitting it and filling the crate.

And that was pretty much my day! A little bit of everything, from watering trees and keeping the RMH going to helping out with the gates, hauling logs for the fencing crew, and making some more kindling. Always nice to keep things moving along and get a few different things taken care of throughout the day.

B.E.L. Post # 287

This morning I started the day on Stephen's team with Jesse. We headed to the shop to gather some tools and supplies for two tasks. The first was installing a curtain at the willow feeder at Cooper Cabin, and the second was working on the closing system for the ant village gate at the Abbey.

Once we had everything we needed, we headed over to Cooper Cabin. I got the fire going for the RMH while Stephen and Jesse worked on installing the curtain at the willow feeder.

After that, we made our way to the Abbey and got straight to work on the ant village gate. I grabbed a shovel and a hoe and started clearing away the soil outside the gate to make sure there was plenty of clearance underneath the frame so it wouldn't catch on anything when opening and closing. Meanwhile, Stephen and Jesse were up on the ladder installing a pulley system for the closing mechanism. We also swapped out the counterweight for a slightly heavier log.

Once we finished up, we headed back to basecamp, put our tools away, and had some lunch.

After lunch, I headed back out to Cooper Cabin, this time with Dan and Jesse. While Jesse cleaned the inside of the cabin, Dan and I continued working on chop and drop around the outside. We made some great progress, starting along the walkway by the little parking entrance and working our way down the trail leading up to the front of the cabin.

After a productive afternoon, we headed back to Basecamp and started getting things ready for Taco Tuesday!