! Orin's Boot Camp Pictorials

Cool video of a day in the life.  A tip on the Youtube vids, hold your smartphone in the landscape position when videoing, not straight up and down.  You will get a horizontal film instead of a vertical one.

Stay warm.

BRK Day 29  (one more day before I get to pick an acre!)

Hello Scott, I sorta noticed that already...sometimes I only have one hand available and vertical is the best orientation for one handed manipulation. If you want to send me a head mounted camera, then everything can be in an orientation you like :)

Mateo, Dustin, Josiah, and me went to collect more horizontal wood and junk pole for the filler yesterday.

Here's a view of the Montana Mountains in spring:

BRK Day 30 ( at the end of this day, I will pick an acre!)

uuuuuuh! waking up after a late night with the Abbey Alterton crew.....what happened yesterday???  

Josiah and I cut down some junk poles that had been burnt to death a year or so back....then we cut all that we had that were large enough in their smallest diameter to 13' and distributed amongst the uprights poles.

...now the entire bottom horizontal rail can go on to the uprights....and all the uprights to the northwest of the Abbey have all three horizontal rails so Jennifer and Josiah can put up a temporary fence for their garden this year.

The Tipi rocket mass heater is really hard to keep running right now but Dustin managed to warm most of the bench today  -I really wanted to have him experience a good rocket mass heater; he was game and started the FPH RMH.

....oh, and I got the truck named Doug running again: the alternator's (which is really a generator) belt was loose. Tightened it and then tightened the pivot bolt which wasn't really tight at all.

BRK Day 31  YESSS!!! I have chosen my plot.

Which one?  Wait for it....

Of course everyone wants a lot that's bare land but Ant Village's left over experiments could use a little fixing...
...after looking at some of the not so complete attempts, I decided on the lot which bears the moniker the "Bear Den".

First, I'll modify the Bear Den and change it's name to The Dwarf's Redoubt.

I might get permission to tear down hillbilly mansion: I'll use it's glass, any flat lumber and remove any trash.

Then comes my shit, shower, and bed shed.

Solar south oriented, it will catch its own water and deliver it via gravity feed directly to me...and that's just a start!



Here is the south side of my tinkering acre:

Ant Village: The Dwarf's Redoubt Mod
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A few definitions first:
Dwarf: bearded mostly underground creature good at rock, earth, and metals work.

Redoubt:
1- small defensive fortification {against the winter and hot summer in this case};
2- Reinforcing earthwork or breastwork with a permanent rampart (earthwork I'm certain about, breastwork is always iffy);
3- a protected place of refuge, hidden place, stronghold.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current Goal: Take the Bear Den and turn it into a mouse and waterproof abode with a rocket mass heater.

-redirect creek water into a deep narrow pond to avoid spring flooding;
-Replace stove with rockety type stove;
-Make the roof water proof.

See here for what I'll need!

Here's some pics to fill the weekend! BRK 31 pics and vids



Snow, melt, rain, snow.....as it is in Montana!




And a message from quality control....

Orin

Congrats! So you're aiming to be a Dwarf? Man, don't know if they'll let you in the union - kinda too tall....

What's the mounds of dirt in a sorta straight line showing in the vid? Look like maybe alongside a road, but not sure.


Cheers,
Rufus

Nope, no hopes to become a dwarf and no hopes to get into the Local 137 Dwarf's Union....just an appropriate name for the look, feel, and use of it when I've finished.

I took the vid from the road but I think you mean the straight line off in the distance away from the road I'm standing on....if that's the case, that's another left over experiment carved out by the excavator...I'm addressing one thing at a time and the Dwarf's Redoubt is the first thing.

BRK Day 32
New Boot today: Welcome Catherine!

Went and did some work on the Dwarf's Redoubt yesterday. Wanna see what I did?  Pick a tool and we'll trade!

Here's some pics to recap the past week.

Hi Orin,
as far as I remember I did send hazelnuts and walnuts meant as seeds (not for eating). I understand those are for planting at Wheaton Labs, not at your own plot. I will do my best to get new nuts when it's time for harvesting them and to send those ... but as you know that will not be soon