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

BRK #115

It's been a wonderful Saturday. Rain most of last night, which helped put me to sleep, and I woke up to a brisk but not-too-cold morning. Surprisingly though, it seemed to cool off throughout the day and particularly so around noon. Fred was up at my tent helping me start up my tent stove - yep! It's here.

This is a photo of Fred and me seasoning my new stove outdoors (well... outdoors, and outside the tent!).



We installed it (pic down below, but wait for it...), then I took a trip into town. On my way back, it really began to snow with a flurry burst of fat snowflakes that stuck to the car and all the trees. Here are a few photos from around Basecamp.







Started up a fire in the tent stove to test it out. I still require some practice with it to have it hummin' and purrin', but it's on its way.



I'm set for the winter, I think. Paul has invited me in should the cold become too intense, but I'll see how much I can tolerate before I throw in the proverbial towel. Looking forward to the challenge.



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

BRK #116

Looks like I spoke too soon.  Tonight's temps are apparently going to dip down to maybe 14 degrees F overnight, and I don't think I'm ready for that just yet. I'm crashing in the Solarium until this cold spell passes through.

It was a snowy start to the week today, and I've already tested my mettle with snow shoveling a broad, long driveway. A postal delivery still came through, so I suppose we did a good-enough job of it.

Here's a photo of the Lab Pond/animal paddock. We're all curious to see what sorts of tracks might show up in the snow to let us know the kinds of animals out and about, seeking water.



I snapped this photo at the end of the day, looking east. For some reason the view of the snow, the sun reflecting off the clouds, and of course the mountains energized me and lifted my mood. I kept the bigger version of the photo for myself, but here's a smaller-sized version that will actually load on your screen:



Finally: I opted to pickle the last of the radishes growing in Basecamp 1, a hugel berm I was responsible for this past season. We'll see how they taste this coming weekend.



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

BRK #117

Taco Tuesday has arrived. We had a wonderful dinner and discussion this evening, and I'll soon be drifting off to sleep with a full belly and a satisfied mind. Here are a few photos to figure.

The first may seem a bit strange. However, it's another water-insulation project that we finished today. This is the rear wall of Allerton Abbey, and we built a box and filled it with insulation, then pressed it up against a water outlet along the back wall. The trench underneath was filled with earth in an attempt to prevent freezing once water is pumping through it.



Next up, the snow may have fallen and the roads may not be cleared, but boots still have bootin' to do. Here's Doug (our blue pickup truck) with a nice set of new shoes.



Finally: today I learned of an inter-dimensional portal. This simple silicone tube... Cloves of garlic enter one side with their papery skin still intact. However, after rolling the tube gently across a flat surface, the garlic enters a wormhole into another dimension inhabited with tiny elves. The elves gnaw off the garlic skin in a matter of seconds (you can even hear the crinkling of their many gnashing teeth as you do this). After just a moment, the frayed garlic skin is sent back through one end, while a neatly-peeled garlic clove comes out the other.

You may think I'm strange for saying this. However, up until now I was part of the "shake a clove of garlic in a small mason jar" school of garlic peeling. Now, I have only one thing to say: Chew, my elven friends! Chew!!!



Thank you for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BRK #118

Blustery, snowy day today with lots of switching tasks, mainly in coping with the weather.

Here's a photo of Caleb while he and I were installing the snow tires on several rigs. This is Caleb next to the Prius, Paul's main rig. While this isn't the first time I'd changed tires, he and I used lots of tools today that personally I used for the first time.



We had wanted to accomplish a number of different tasks up at the Lab today, but the snow threw a bit of a monkey wrench into things. For example, we needed to bring tools up to the Lab, but this ladder wouldn't fit on the RAV. So Doug was the candidate for me. Problem was... Doug and me weren't the best team for the job. After two attempts to make it up the hill - even with snow tires and the cable-chains, pictured here - I had to reverse half-way up the hill, defeated. I also must confess there were a few "butt-puckering" moments that rattled me a bit and after making it back down in reverse I felt considerable relief... And I apologized to Doug.



Finally: I spent a bit of time on my first batch of "snap together" electricity kit projects. I decided to go through the first five projects, and then summarize my observations. Here's a photo of one of the projects showing a speaker (the red drum-shaped module) that - when supplied with power whenever you flick on the green switch - plays a sound. The sound can be reactivated by tapping that vertical yellow thing on the left-hand side. The interesting thing about this project is the other yellow thing in the circuit: the resistor.



The more powerful the resistor, the quieter the sound would be. I switched out the "100" resistor with the "1K" resistor, and the sound was nearly inaudible.

One of the other ways to introduce resistance is to add in more of these modules. Another project features a spinning motor with a propeller, along with a small lamp. If the lamp isn't connected in the circuit, the motor spins vigorously, to the point that the propeller releases itself from the motor and "takes off" for a brief flight. If you add the two items in a series, the motor spins slower and there's no chance the propeller will fly off. Secondly, if only the light is included in the circuit, it's very bright. When the light and motor are in series in the same circuit, of course the light is dimmer, and actually flickers a bit.

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

BRK #119

A little bit more snow fell last night, so we cleaned that up earlier today as best we could. Prior to the start of the day, however, I visited the big circus tent that I vacated when temperatures dropped into the teens. Things still look okay up there, and nothing has collapsed. Before heading down for boot work today, I knocked the snow off the rain fly to minimize any damage or icing-over. I hope to move back in soon...!



I started experimenting with taking pictures in low light, including this shot of the full moon. Still have plenty of practice to do and experiments to attempt, but this turned out all right. I thought it was very cool to see pretty much a night sky, but with a slight, rosy glow to the clouds as the sun rose in the morning.



Had my first day of practice with the back blade of the tractor today, clearing snow from the parking lot in Arrakis. Not too bad, for my first attempt.



Meanwhile, Grey was busy adding more furniture to the Red Cabin. Now that the rocket mass heater seems to be tamed, we'll be putting the furniture back in there and folks will be bedding down there for the winter in no time, cozy and warm even in the thickest snowstorms.



It's time for indoor activities, including shop renovations. Caleb and I were in there during the first half of the day and tackled minor touch-ups, like this rolling platform for our power tools.



The second half of the day was spent up at the Lab. I plowed the remainder of the roads so that guests and residents could safely travel back and forth between the Lab and Basecamp. Then Grey, Caleb, and I spent time harvesting firewood and building an add-on to the solar panel array by the Pump House.

We wrapped up our day with a special edition of board game night: Paul's Penny Poker! Half a dozen of us - including Paul - played poker variants after enjoying a pasta meal prepared by Grey. It was an excellent, enjoyable evening.

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