!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chris' Bootcamp Experience Log

Tina Wolf wrote:

C Simpson wrote:I wanted to see if folks out there have any recommendations on how to start keeping bees. ...

The trick is sifting through all the "books" as you figure out how you want to keep bees. Personally, they are pollinators to me. So, I don't rob the honey. I took a class that included installing a nuc in a new hive. They froze to death the first winter. "Keeping Bees With a Smile" by Fyodor Lazutin showed me how to build my own horizontal hive with 4" thick insulated walls to protect them from the elements. My bees survived a zone 5 freeze for days and thrive here in 105+ degree humid weather here in Texas. I hope you and your bees thrive!

Thank you!  I'm enchanted by the idea of raising Mayan stingless bees, but am confronted by the reality of the undertaking.  I'm hoping I can learn directly from the modern day descendants of the Maya so that I can help to preserve their cultural traditions.

Paul was very kind to lend me the book "Song of Increase" by Jacqueline Freeman.  It also has many resources listed in an appendix.

Thank you for your reply!

[b]Friday, August 30, 2024:  PART 1

This is most likely going to end up being two or three posts.  What a day!

The first half of the day was spent finishing the hydrant near Cooper Cabin, which was a success.  More on this in a bit.

Before leaving for that, we set up sprinklers at base camp to saturate the hugels there.

After we finished the hydrant backfilling we went back to Allerton Abbey for tree care and gardening, but we had very low water pressure.

We went back and forth to the well-house several times, and the pressure was still pretty low.  In the process of replacing the hydrant, the cistern also got pretty low.  Stephen suspects that had at least something to do with the lower pressure.  

We watered as best as we could with what we had.

When we arrived back at base camp, I noticed a package on the porch of the red cabin.  It was the fuel filter for Judy (big red truck).  I knew that the washer part was supposed to arrive that day as well, so Paul tracked it and found out that it was in the mailbox.

That was the first half of the day.  We started on a project that tested both of us after lunch.....

To be continued!!!

Friday, August 30, 2024: PART DEUX

After lunch, we decided to start tackling the washing machine.  Both the bearing and seal kit as well as the drain pump with motor had arrived this week.

We had disassembled it the other day to see if we could clear any problems with the tub draining and throwing error codes.

We disassembled it for the second time in preparation for the job ahead.

The drain pump was pretty easy and straightforward to replace.  It is located behind the kick plate on the front of the machine.  It is a much more in-depth repair to deal with the bearing and seal replacement!!

We managed to get the tub out and disassembled.  We had a bit of time getting the old bearings knocked out and put back in (more on this in the next post).

We reassembled the tub and discovered that the inner tub part had seized up.  At this point, it was 5:30 and Stephen decided that we would tackle it on Sunday for nest labor.

I readily agreed, as I was wiped out!!!  Much more detail and photos coming up in another post.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!!

Have an excellent day!

Saturday, August 31, 2024

I had a great day off today.  I was able to chill and work on my Google UX Design certification, as well as read some more of the current Star Wars trilogy that I am working my way through (the Darth Bane Series).

I had some of the huckleberries that were generously left for us from a previous SEPPer as well.

I was also able to chat with a SEPPer who arrived early Friday morning for the Labor Day weekend.  Awesome guy!  We discussed what draws him back to Wheaton Labs again and again, and we settled on the fact that it is mostly the cool people here!

More of y'all should join us

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, September 1, 2024

A new month has arrived!

I can't believe it's been right at 30 days since I got here.

Today's nest labor is brought to you by LG and their wonderful washing machines

Stephen and I worked on the washing machine after a later than normal cleaning blitz.  Stephen, Paul and SEPPer Clay were recording a podcast earlier in the day.

After working late on the washing machine on Friday evening, the tub locked up a bit after everything was put together.  We discovered that we needed to seat the bearings a little more deeply on the shaft for it to spin.

We succeeded in getting that accomplished with some pieces of wood and lots of hammering!

After that was all together, we reassembled the washing machine and were elated that it seemed to be running better than before we fixed it!

Fast forward about 20 minutes later, and we discovered that the same error code returned again.

It seems like Paul will have to get a new unit if we can't figure it out!

Such a bummer

Thanks for reading, and have a great Labor Day!!

I'm betting the vintage washing machine will work forever! I'm also betting that there's something wrong in the electronics of the modern washing machine and parts aren't available.

Hubby is trying very hard to keep our 35 year old machine working because he's sure any new one won't work for so long!

Jay Angler wrote:I'm betting the vintage washing machine will work forever! I'm also betting that there's something wrong in the electronics of the modern washing machine and parts aren't available.

Hubby is trying very hard to keep our 35 year old machine working because he's sure any new one won't work for so long!

Yes it will!

And yes, I do dislike that most modern machines are seemingly built to be disposable :(

Happy Saturday, all!! It's been a while since I've posted.

I'm going to try to get in the habit of posting more often, so I don't have to catch up for the week on Saturday

It's been a productive week, as you will see as I review the week over the next posts.

Stay tuned, Monday's activities coming up soon!

Thanks for reading!

Monday, September 2, 2024 morning (Labor Day)

Labor Day started as usual with starting a sprinkler at base camp, followed by heading up to the lab to sprinkle some alfalfa pellets to enrich the soil for heavy feeders.  I put some near the pumpkins in front of the Abbey in hopes that it produces more pumpkins

We followed up at base camp by moving the sprinkler around before setting off to Missoula to pick up boot Ben!
Ben
Pics of the activity this morning are below!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the rest of the details from this very productive week!

Monday, September 2, 2024 afternoon

As I mentioned before, Stephen and I left to pick up Ben at the airport in the afternoon.  We got some more watering done around base camp, then headed to Missoula to pick up returning boot Ben at the airport.

Ben hit the ground running with us in the afternoon as we took care of the game cams around the lab.  We had a bit of a laugh as we encountered 4 turkeys that kept going back and forth along the fence by the pond area, seemingly lost and panicking.  I felt bad for them tbh, but they finally remembered they could fly and escaped their doom!

After we finished up doing that, we planted some cover crop (wandering dude and clover and other stuff I can't remember) near the pump house to help with erosion.  We also threw out some more alfalfa pellets to enrich the soil here.

We then headed back to base camp to do some more watering and get ready to go to town to eat at Jasper's (the place with the huckleberry milkshakes!!!).  Thank you for dinner, Stephen!!

We had fun seeing the "free" trout aquarium and FINALLY getting huckleberry milkshakes.  They were indeed delicious, and they seem to sell a TON of them there.  Almost everyone we saw had one in hand as they were leaving LOL.

Hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!!