!!!!!!!!!!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

BEL #679

Happy Taco Tuesday to you...!!!

Ben and I worked at filling in the mudslide today. Here's what it looked like after another 90-minute chunk of the afternoon spent there:



Chris had been assigned to finishing the processing of the rest of the plums we harvested yesterday. We'll take these pits and plant them in November for Appleseed Day.



Over at Allerton Abbey, I spotted my first praying mantis of the year...! Took me long enough to spot one.



Speaking of spotting, I spied a trio of kitties over at the Swede-ified Sauna and Cooper Cabin today. I dropped off some cat food, then made the call. One of them actually came over and ate some of it! I think they live with their mother over at the Boneyard.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #680

Didn't have an opportunity to work on the mudslide site today, so that will be on the agenda for tomorrow. It's actually raining now, as I type, and I'm curious to see how our efforts hold up to some precipitation.

Meanwhile, we did some preliminary measurements and placement for the upgraded site for the sawmill. We're planning to relocate Leviathan (the solar power station), the sawmill, and the skiddable lumber shed, used to dry new planks and boards. Ben, Chris, and I paced things out and set out markers to help us visualize the final placements and to ensure that things would fit well enough.



We'll be using these posts as semi-permanent supports for the legs of the sawmill frame. They're actually not far from the site, having been salvaged from the structure we've called "Skeleton 2" in the past. It's former site is located right next door to the proposed site for the sawmill.



Also in the first part of the day, we visited Allerton Abbey for some gardening. One of the new developments from earlier this year I'm most pleased with would be the various pecan tree nurseries we'd set up inside the perimeter. I'd say there are still close to 20 pecan trees still surviving, spread over 4 or 5 small spots like this one. We'll batten down the hatches before the first frost, and see if they survive into next Spring.



Finally: Black Spark has been following me around quite a bit these past few days... Too bad that right now she smells like she's been sprayed by a skunk. But she's a great cat and a hard-workin' mama, seriously.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #681

It's Thursday, and that means I'm posting a Wheaton Labs GAMCOD update...! Here it is:



Thanks for reading/watching, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #682

First to report: looks like our mudslide repairs withstood a full day of steady rain. We'll keep moving forward with this general idea to complete the upper portion.



Next up: this was a fun project that the rest of the team and I completed between various maintenance tasks we took care of yesterday and today. It started off as a rainy-day project, and transformed into something respectable and a structure for the cats we can be proud of.

We built a new cat house for the cats living up at the Lab. We're not sure where it will go just yet, but we do know there are several kittens that will need a warmer place to sleep at night up there right now, so with that in mind we came up and agreed upon this design.



Key points include two entrances (which was recommended in various pieces of info we uncovered during research), interior walls that separate the sleeping area from the entrances so there's a place safe from intruders, a sloped roof to help shed precipitation, and although it's not pictured we installed insulation on the walls and roof so that heat will be more easily retained. We'll have a removable roof so it's easy to add and remove blankets and other layers for warmth. Doors are six inches wide, which ought to accommodate most expectant mothers so they can use the cat house as a nursery.

Chris and I fabricated the main housing structure, while Ben focused on the roof. Here's Ben adding the ship-lapped panels to the roof.



He later fitted the roof on the house with a bit of trial and error, fine-tuning things with the oscillating saw.



Here's Chris using that oscillating saw to trim panels on the walls of the house.



Knowing that we'd be adding blankets and padding to the main center area, Chris later added insulation to the walls and roof with the help of a discarded sleeping bag. Here's the work in process:



Between the three of us, it was finished in about four hours, or half a day's Booting. And for a ground-based structure, I'd say that this is one of the best I'd seen, here or elsewhere. The roof has a coat of linseed oil and it's currently drying down at the Classroom. We'll take it up to the Lab on Monday and pick a more permanent spot for the cats to enjoy. Photos of that will follow.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #683

Pedaling around Missoula, waiting to hear back from the tire place regarding some new footwear for Roy, our daily hauler rig.

I must admit, I am envious. I mean, lookit the size of those pumpkins...!



Just around the corner from the Crockett & Bowie Club building, along the Clark Fork River and footpath, is a massive tree of some kind, with red fruit on it. It's easily over 50 feet tall.



Here's a closer look at those berries. I imagine that if they were edible, they'd be long gone by now. Either that, or this weekend was a bumper crop and I'd just missed it last weekend while resting at the same spot.



Meanwhile, across from the rail yard not far from the pizza shop I visit for their happy hour, there's been a new mural installed.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!