Chris the ant's blathering

So i've been here for 24 days with what feels like not much to show for my effort. I've spent a good chunk of that time working on the berm-shed. Its late in the season ot be planting given that i'll have to biuld a fence to keep out deer and turkeys but I have no way to keep out chipmunks and squirles that have been the problem for Paul this year. That leaves my most productive avenue to be working on shelter. But because of how late it is in the year I will build a spartan shelter for the winter and a wafati for next year.
The Plan for this years shelter is simple dig a hole in the side of the slop with the tracter. Build a roof, cover it with dirt for insolation and then I just need to build a frount wall. Then I just need to build a rocket mass heater inside and I'm good for the winter. Its a basic plan but I hope I can make it though winter and into spring.

Maybe you could trap squirrels and chipmunks for food? Winter peas might work for a crop,small live stock could live in the not so hobbit hole you have described.

Keep plugging away, Chris! We're all rooting for ya!

Maybe I’m just being nervy. Its been pretty smoky here and that making life hard for a person with asthma. But this weekend there is supposed to be a cold front coming through to push out the smoke. That makes the purchase of a jacket I couldn't really afford worth while. On an up note I have acquired an oil barrel for a rocket mass heater that should help deal with any unforeseen cold. But first i'll have to clean it which may be a problem given my resources. I'll just have to remind myself how great sleeping in a warm enclosed space will be.

So I wrote that last paragraph last night and sense then I've both broken and fixed my bike. At this point I think I should just change my name to Bike-scourge: Scourge of bikes. I'm really thinking of making a deal with someone to give me a ride to free cycle so don't have to worry about braking public bikes.

Put a smile on your face, Chris, no matter how temporarily fake, and the rest of you will follow :)

I hope some of this rain we had in Portland comes your way and clears the air. It's hard to work if it's hard to breathe!

Chris Allen wrote:So I wrote that last paragraph last night and sense then I've both broken and fixed my bike. At this point I think I should just change my name to Bike-scourge: Scourge of bikes. I'm really thinking of making a deal with someone to give me a ride to free cycle so don't have to worry about braking public bikes.

You're not the only "Bike-Scorge." My husband has burned through probably 20+ bicycles in his life, at least three in the 8 years I've been married to him. Frames break, tires pop, and other numerous things. There's a reason I've never let him ride my bicycle. We just picked up another bike for him at a garage sale. Here's hoping his bike--and the next one you get/fix--lasts many, many years!

I'm sitting in wafati 0.7 writing this as it rains. Today has been informative thus far. We had a bee expert here and he gave a workshop of bees. We got to see the hive opened up and even taste some still in the comb honey. The ants were each given a packet of little garlic nodules. I took out the biggest ones for individual planting and the rest the were about the size of watermelon seeds I loaded in my slingshot and scattered them and far and wide as I could. I called home to my parents to let them know that I am still alive and kicking. Josh came after the call and asked for help pealing logs. That job lasted only a few minutes until the thunder got overhead and we wisely decided wielding metal implements in a thunderstorm was a bad idea and we beat a hasty retreat. From then on I've been waiting for the rain to subside so I've been reading some comics and now I'm writing this blog.


Next day I spent it looking for already felled lumber that I can carry by myself. If I'm going to move any quantity of lumber I'll need to rig it to a bicycle. I have an idea of wielding a large "u" or "v" onto a pipe that will fit in a bike seat so I can keep the wood over the center of balance of the bike so I can move it faster and more securely. The next major purchase I need to make is a log hauling cart of some king that will hold the wait of the wood so I just have to overcome the inertia or the log. I finally got he hang of cooking rice of the camp stove. Which is tricky given that even the warm setting is enough to boil water. I have to halve the cooking time then kill the heat. I look forward to building my own kitchen to my specifications.

Its the first of September and just as I'm getting ready to post this and I look outside and I see a largish bird shadow. I go out side and there are five vultures circling the red shack that I’m in. I fallow them for a bit until they go over the property edge. I hope that wasn't an omen of anything ominous.

Chris Allen wrote:
Next day I spent it looking for already felled lumber that I can carry by myself. If I'm going to move any quantity of lumber I'll need to rig it to a bicycle. I have an idea of wielding a large "u" or "v" onto a pipe that will fit in a bike seat so I can keep the wood over the center of balance of the bike so I can move it faster and more securely. The next major purchase I need to make is a log hauling cart of some king that will hold the wait of the wood so I just have to overcome the inertia or the log. I finally got he hang of cooking rice of the camp stove. Which is tricky given that even the warm setting is enough to boil water. I have to halve the cooking time then kill the heat. I look forward to building my own kitchen to my specifications.

Chris - sounds like you might be planning on reinventing the wheel here. Haven't people been moving lumber all around the place since Paul first bought the site? Isn't there already some kind of communal log arch for hauling stuff around? If not then there probably should be!

I have a live Patreon

Michael, I have seen pictures of a log arch in Kristies threads and I believe Paul has added the use of it to the "candy" list.

Chris may just want to save his "candy" time ?

CORRECTION: my patreon will require a video before it can be made active.

09.02.2015


I spent a good chunk of the day cutting down trees, bucking trees to size and moving them into a pile for pick up with the tractor. I'm thinking that spending a piece of my sweet, sweet, candy on tractor time my be a good investment because hand transporting wood is using a lot of my time. The day was more or less uneventful. Although at night some of the ants got together and played some "Tales of the Arabian Nights" and though the game didn't end until late we managed to have a good time. Even though the lights kept failing and we ended the game playing with flashlight. It was about 12:30 then it started raining.

09.03.2015


It was raining when i woke up and the rain persisted until 10:30. Jessie was generous enough to give me some chocolate chips to put in my pancakes (they were great). Got a ride down to base camp, download latest Podcasts with Davin in them. Spent the last of my Audible Credits before putting my account on hold until i get a steadier income stream. I got a fiction book in the urban fantasy genre and a Non-fiction about the daily lives of ancient peoples. Then I raided the free shelf in the garage for plates and dishes. I founds some bowls and measuring cups, a good haul. I then looked up Nickle-iron batteries while downloading a few papers on the subject. I did some pricing for solar systems most prepackaged systems are larger then what i need. My focus should probably be on a rocket mass heater before electricity. I checked the ant love thread and saw some the the things that arrived recently will open up my field of possibility. It might rain tomorrow too so let's hope I can get some work in tonight.

Chris The Ant

Squirrel recipes: http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

Tyler Ludens wrote:Squirrel recipes: http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

Nice : )

09.04.2015

Lots of rain and about 50 degree weather. Not a lot of progress but lots of hiding form the rain. But I got to call home and talk with my mother so not all bad.

09.05.2015

More rain and more hiding from rain. In the first break in the weather I cut down and limbed what will be four poles for my shelter. It then got cloudy and I started heading to wofati 0.7 on the way it started raining harder and then hail and then really hail hard. It was a sight to see we head about 20 minutes of torrential poor. For a while there tearing apart the wofati to make a boat before we all drowned seemed like a good idea. We had some sun after that so Even and I played a close game of Carcasson, then it started raining again and I frantically pulled the mat we we're playing on back to the wofati. After that we made lunch and just avoided the rain and cold. Later in the day I experimented with a flat bread and it was not great but it looked good. I might try it again soon with either a baking soda/ baking powder leavening or a longer yeast raise.

I was wondering if you guys had gotten the same rain down there that we did up here. Question never asked but still answered.

09.07.2015

I'm writing this from the public laptop because my old laptop is dead. If i had to use a made up word to describe how dead it is i would say its "Cadaverific." So i might be posting less often until i get myself an other laptop. My writing habit was to write up at the lab when i had some down time and then to post it later to the forums. Good news i should still be about to post pictures as per normal.
Today i started by eating some of yesterday's flat bread it was really nice to be able to just eat a breakfast without cooking and by now i realize that i didn't post yesterdays successful baking experiment. This being without a laptop is throwing me off kilter. I still have my hard drive though so i shouldn't be too off put. I just need to get a "new laptop" and put the old hard drive in and I'm back up and running.

The game cam caught a Chris in the wild!
(please ignore the wrong date/time)

Baking experiment!

So its been a while since I've been able to write either for my blog or creatively. I've been slowly accumulating lumber for my future house. Yesterday I cooked a large loaf of bread in the cast iron skillet and it turned out more like a giant dumpling then a loaf of bread. Some old Yeast was found and the bread did rise so i'm pretty happy at that. Today I taught the new ant Jim how to cut down a tree that was satisfying. I just placed an order through Azure Standard for a 50 lb bag of flower so I should be baking bread well into winter. I Cut a deal with Paul to care for and Maintain the Tipi in exchange for staying in the tipi when it isn't used for guests. I've been researching it by reading the forums here and the two books on tipis that are up at the lab. Now that i have my winter shelter out of the way i can go full boar on making a good long lasting structure. Next step on the structure is to dig out the foundation.

Its been a busy week thus far. I've been thinking about food for the next year. I think my main focus will be on grain. In particular wheat produced with system of wheat intensification.


I was having some truoble with how i would plow and such but i did some more searching and found this: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watchv=HqSzrS6ksUM[/youtube]

Now instead of having to buy something now i know that i only need to make a simple conversion. This might even work for the weeder and leveler.


Also I broke my headphones but with a little bit or research I found that it shouldn't be a hard fix i jest need a soldering iron. My headphones were broke while i was working the excavator but i got a lot of digging done. I got a pond dug and a huggle swail dug and i still have to dig another pond and huggle swail on the other side of my property. At the moment i also have a hole for a house that i'm in the middle of digging with Evan now. All this time I've been listening to lectures Called "The Other Side of History" it features the history of common people in there normal life and it's been enjoyable.

Thanks for the great update, Chris! That bicycle plow is too cool. If you need a hand with those headphones just ask Josh. He's done a little bit of soldering in his day ... he might even have a soldering iron.

Blog post on my new blog

Hope you enjoy.

http://antblather.blogspot.com/2015/09/0920-242015.html

camera, Zoo Town and seeds.

Tractering, A Philosopher and Tear-felt Call Home.

http://antblather.blogspot.com/2015/10/tractering-days-away.html

So I am alive and planning to return. Before I do I need to pay off my debt and getting a vehicle. My outlook for the earliest I can arrive is probably 8 months, due to rate of pay at by job. I'm looking to get a secondary job so speed up the process and maybe get a much needed PDC.