Lara's Bootcamp/Wheaton Labs Experience/BRKish

Wow the week really got away from me. Where did it go?!

After my Monday writing, Tuesday through Friday happened... let's see... There were many emails sent and received, a couple meetings related to PEP stuff, a couple other meetings related to Wheaton Labs events, a few lovely fires in the cozy Abbey, lots of lists, a bit of organization, so much more. There were two all-boot activities this week: Junk Pole Fence harvesting and Firewood Gathering. I got to go out for the firewood gathering and it was a wild ride to the top of a very tall mountain to gather fallen trees and pitch them into the trailer. It was really fun to get back to the chainsaw. And on the ride down the mountain, Dez, Erica, and I recorded ourselves chatting and laughing and speaking Spanish.

Matt has cooked several beautiful dinners this week and my belly has been very well-fed and happy. I drew the rune for Joy this week, and I have received it in some very special ways. I visited my plot a couple more times and it has been lovely but certain people (Fred) are encouraging me to take a walk through the lab and make sure I've chosen the one I really want. In any case I'm wondering if anyone wants to help me do the seemingly impossible task of covering a geodesic dome with some dirt. Ha

Today I took a walk around the property with Paul and he pointed to lots of things and we discussed and it was sunny after a rainy night. It was a lovely walk. The boots were all around, doing their boot thing, and what a lovely crisp morning it was.

It's time to go crush Fred in a game of Catan. Goodnight my people and look forward to the weekly recap coming soon to a BRK near you.

Lara Bigotti wrote:...

...In any case I'm wondering if anyone wants to help me do the seemingly impossible task of covering a geodesic dome with some dirt.....

Hi Lara, I have some ideas. One main reason is camouflage; the second is to encourage the use of wofatis which have living roofs  -therefore the code of living roofs....but not totally eliminate other building types which also try to embody energy stacking and water catching ideas.

...with regards to camouflage, start with the main idea of cammo which is to remove hard edges in reflected light.  sooooo....

-start from the top view looking down like a bird to determine how far down your dome your cammo art will need to come from top (this will change with the size of the dome);
-the pattern of your cammo must match the pattern of light and shadows of your surrounding lot;
-take a look at street art that draws 3D shapes which appear real like doors, stairs, benches, etc  (you can do this with the first ?1/5? top portion of the dome).

now for the living roof part.

-there are many types of clinging life:
lichens;
moss;
vines;
....and if you shape your triangles like small dishes which allow water to flow from one triangle to another in a gravity direction (I'd love to bounce ideas and models which allow a geodesic shapes to funnel the water on their skin to a single cistern), you will be able to support life where ever water is

I am confident you can get life and cammo on the skin of geodesic dome....and I could work with you.  At the same time, I'd like you to consider how shape fits function.  Posit for me how you can move air, heat (high and low temp), light and sound in your chosen shape. You may surprise everyone in what you come up with when pressed to show how you'll use the shape to create these functions both internally and externally.

feel free to contact me here or at orin at yawlingrock dot com

Orin Raichart wrote:
Hi Lara, I have some ideas. One main reason is camouflage; the second is to encourage the use of wofatis which have living roofs  -therefore the code of living roofs....but not totally eliminate other building types which also try to embody energy stacking and water catching ideas.

Hi Orin! I've heard so much about you and really hope you'll come to visit us soon. Thank you for replying!

Orin Raichart wrote:
...with regards to camouflage, start with the main idea of cammo which is to remove hard edges in reflected light.  sooooo....

-start from the top view looking down like a bird to determine how far down your dome your cammo art will need to come from top (this will change with the size of the dome);
-the pattern of your cammo must match the pattern of light and shadows of your surrounding lot;

This sounds really cool, I love the idea of designing cammo art. Do you mean with colors, like paints, as a base, and then the living stuff? or just the living stuff?

Orin Raichart wrote:

-take a look at street art that draws 3D shapes which appear real like doors, stairs, benches, etc  (you can do this with the first ?1/5? top portion of the dome).

This is such a cool idea. look at this guy who really nails it
I didn't even consider that for the dome.

Orin Raichart wrote:
now for the living roof part.

-there are many types of clinging life:
lichens;
moss;
vines;
....and if you shape your triangles like small dishes which allow water to flow from one triangle to another in a gravity direction (I'd love to bounce ideas and models which allow a geodesic shapes to funnel the water on their skin to a single cistern), you will be able to support life where ever water is

I love the idea of taking a portion of the dome and making each triangle its own little reservoir, flowing into the next one. What an awesome water feature idea. And if it's traveling through lichens it's almost like purifying it? Except for atmospheric pollution. Regardless, the flow could be directed into different things at the bottom. Like pachinko! I would be concerned about erosion happening, but if it's well planted then I suppose the roots will hold it, in theory. Integrating some sort of trellis into the outside of the structure's triangles for vines to grip would be a thought... maybe on the sides which are steeper.

Orin Raichart wrote:
I am confident you can get life and cammo on the skin of geodesic dome....and I could work with you.  At the same time, I'd like you to consider how shape fits function.  Posit for me how you can move air, heat (high and low temp), light and sound in your chosen shape. You may surprise everyone in what you come up with when pressed to show how you'll use the shape to create these functions both internally and externally.

I think the first thing that came to mind was mirrors. I would love to use mirrors on the interior in a creative way. When I initially thought of the design I figured I'd have one large window wall on the south side, so figuring out how to bounce that light around the structure, and into my potential adjacent structures, would make best use of that natural light...
I have to keep thinking about the air & heat items but it seems like a sphere would be a good candidate for circular airflow somehow.
Same goes for sound. What are you thinking of when you say moving sound?
I'm going to think on this some more this weekend! Stay tuned.
Thanks for the encouragement. Hope to meet you soon.

Last week's recap is finally here! Sorry it took so long!
Sometimes the time really slips away confusingly fast.

Enjoy :)

Lara Bigotti wrote:
This sounds really cool, I love the idea of designing cammo art. Do you mean with colors, like paints, as a base, and then the living stuff? or just the living stuff?

I was considering a combination of colors with patterns and then the living stuff. reason being is that some of the living stuff will change color with the seasons (or if it dies).

Lara Bigotti wrote:
This is such a cool idea. look at this guy who really nails it
I didn't even consider that for the dome.

...the guy who blended in  -nice!

These are done with chalk: illusion art
on cnn's website

Lara Bigotti wrote:
... Regardless, the flow could be directed into different things at the bottom. Like pachinko! I would be concerned about erosion happening, ......Integrating some sort of trellis into the outside of the structure's triangles for vines to grip would be a thought... maybe on the sides which are steeper.

of course the thing I would put at the bottom would be a water cistern  -but it's your structure
...the sides could terminate the water flow at half way down, at the hemisphere, by an encircling hoop to direct the water down.......or vines or vine like structure could funnel the water elsewhere (to a cistern of course :) ) at the hemisphere

as for what stays put would depend on the angle of repose for each triangle....moss, lichens, and clinging vines on the steeper triangles.

I looked up the word pachinko....."pachinko balls are not only the active object but also the bet and the prize"   .....ooooooh this is a triple abstract key use object!!!  just widened my mind from the two bird stone concrete idea to the abstract arena....something now percolating in my subconscious  ...a very useful cognitive tool

Lara Bigotti wrote:
I think the first thing that came to mind was mirrors. I would love to use mirrors on the interior in a creative way. When I initially thought of the design I figured I'd have one large window wall on the south side, so figuring out how to bounce that light around the structure, and into my potential adjacent structures, would make best use of that natural light...
I have to keep thinking about the air & heat items but it seems like a sphere would be a good candidate for circular airflow somehow.

herein lies the fun and the rub....larger design goals shaped by what you've tried, modified/abandoned, and tried anew...I've heard the expression don't believe everything you think....it may be design that works and has art is done by people not afraid to try.....relentlessly.

...one idea is that you could use the angle of the sun, mirrors, and the dome to focus sunlight like a solar trough at any time and "turn it off" at any time...interior would be easiest, exterior might be possible.

Lara Bigotti wrote:
Same goes for sound. What are you thinking of when you say moving sound?

heat, light, and sound are first principle notions and are all three, fundamentally, vibrations. how can I use first principles to attain my design goals of a shelter providing cooking energy, heating energy, cooling methods, water, food storage, etc? might be a question to start with.

So you've picked a shape out of love for it, if you want, consider first principles. In a hemisphere or round ball, you could face the wall and whisper your quietest whisper....on the other side of the diameter I, facing the wall, would hear you with clarity, as if your lips were near my ear.   hmmm.....does that rule out a bedroom across from the kitchen?  the living room? the bath room?  I dunno, it's your structure.  ...also can this fact be used for things not thought of?

I've noticed that the air forces radar facilities have hemispherical shapes; I also know you can clean clothes with ultrasound....without knowing, I doubt this use....but the use of incoming vibration from a 360 degree horizon might be worth looking into

Lara Bigotti wrote:
Thanks for the encouragement. Hope to meet you soon.

Hopefully I can bring a small bag of encouragement, a window of clarity, and a cookie jar of methods to avoid losing sight of the end goal despite all internal and external pressures for your perusal.

btw your video style is intriguing

This song is stuck in my head right now! We watched another episode tonight. When Paul found out I had never seen "the best show of all time" he informed me that if one is very good in life, one receives the subsequent seasons of Firefly when they die. One of my favorite bits so far was this one....

...where's the yoke?! haha

Today is Friday! We started it off in the best way...... Physics Friday! Dez and I met in the library for our second session. We decided to begin Physics Friday when I mentioned that my physics education was seriously lacking, and that I felt this was a gaping hole in my educational history. I feel like I'm always wondering things that I could know if I'd studied more physics. So, I bring a real life question to the table so we can talk it through for 15-20 minutes every Friday. And today was really cool. The question I brought was about the pressure system created by the Rocket Mass Heater: why do the flames so vigorously travel toward the exit? His answer was twofold. But then we really dove into it. We ended up talking about space and time. It was extremely mentally stimulating for 7am. And invigorating.

And after that I gave a recap of the talent show last night! I had such a good time watching everyone share their talents or passions. Especially excellent was.... everything. Matt's animated storytelling. Daniel's self-defense demonstration. Erica and Eddie dancing together. Erica tap dancing! Kyle showing us proper running form, and referencing one of my favorite books, Born to Run. Fred's beautiful singing... I gave a kanji lesson and then taught everyone how to fold an origami crane. Their creations were so unique. We all felt very cultured by the end. Culture night success!

After the morning meeting, Nine and I took Doug to the mechanic (again) and then she accompanied me on the weekly run to pick up fresh farm eggs. I had a great time catching up with her as I haven't gotten to spend much one-on-one time with her, especially recently. Work and community has felt sort of overwhelming recently and I think it's a common feeling right now (hence my recent absence from the BRK). I had time to send a few emails before Paul and I began a long discussion about frustrating things which carried us all the way to 12:30, halfway through lunch without realizing it!

The afternoon meeting found everyone in high spirits. Paul pushed the boots to finish the Loveshack today and they went into the afternoon with bright, positive energy to get the thing done. It was pretty cool to soak up those vibes. But then they were off, out of the library and into their tasks. And I turned to office things and more meetings.

I am hoping to accomplish many things this weekend, as usual. But I do not have to go into town, which is incredible. Especially because even though I just got new tires put on, and they were perfect and amazing, the heavy snow from the winter took a toll on the Lab roads, and my tires are now imbalanced once again, and shaking violently. So I get to stick around this weekend! Speaking of cars, Fred taught me how to change my oil filter this week. It was quite an adventure as we didn't have the appropriate size wrench to do it. ​I feel so empowered by this new knowledge.

I completed four days of a cleanse this week, and that's all I had in me for now. But I think doing some mini-detoxes, as opposed to the longer ones I usually do, can be a good option. I'm feeling much better; overcame my caffeine withdrawal, and the dark circles under my eyes are gone, and my digestion improved. So that will have to do for now. I'm not selling these things, I swear, I've just been doing them for a few years... so if you're interested, it's the Designs for Health brand "Vegecleanse Plus" detox/cleanse. I usually do the 14 day ones but sometimes 21 days is called for. They're expensive, but they're definitely worth the money to me.

Enjoy pics! Bed! Goodnight all.

Hi Lara what a surprise it was when i opened the tune that was running through your head and found out it was a Sonny Rhodes tune. So I quickly went to my music collection to see which album it was on and found it wasn't on any of them. Thank you for a new song by Sonny but now it's stuck in my head. I know you like your music so maybe check out the track Blue Diamond by Sonny it's uplifting and catchy and you can sing along to it t IG #churtsalbumcovers Have a great weekend. 😎🎷🎼