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

BRK #387

What a week...! Today we bid farewell to week-long Boots Syd and Alex. Fare thee well, and come back when you can. We had too much fun this week.

The new pump house at Basecamp was completely buried to protect it during the winter.



This comfrey plant just outside the Willow Bank is simply too massive.



Here are Alex and Syd while practicing with the tractor today. Nice work, folks!





That's all for today. Thanks for reading, and make the most of your weekend...!

BRK #388

A single post this weekend. I drove two folks to the airport at 4:30am plus doing side work in the evenings, so my schedule's been kind of whacked.

Here's the morning after I returned from the airport, Saturday. Still back in time to feed the cats.



Alex and I checked-up on the potatoes Saturday afternoon, and it looks like a batch of the julienne-sliced spuds didn't make it. Maybe blanching with some added lemon juice will help prevent this next time? Either that, or just being more disciplined and on-top of the rocket-boosted dehydrator.



Two of the cats, Stewie (left) and Top G, are having a disagreement.



Finally: my current Nest Labor project is a hose rack for underneath the porch. The first iteration didn't really work out as well as I'd hoped, though I think this is primarily due to the fact that the individual hoses take up more space than I anticipated. These will hold us over for now (and still made of scrap wood!), but I think a review of the design is in order.



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

BRK #389

It was a fancy Monday, with both black tea and coffee to enjoy. Thanks again, Liam! 😄

My first major task of the day was to find a way to repair our ailing vacuum cleaner. After some trouble-shooting, it turns out that this little switch is the problem... Not quite an easy fix, so a replacement is in order (literally).



The rest of the team and I performed some maintenance tasks this morning, as well as packed up our cubed, dehydrated potatoes. I anticipate some delicious, hearty stew during the coming cold season.

In the afternoon, Liam and I visited the Lab for some dead-standing wood hunting. We felled this tree not too far from the roads criss-crossing the Lab, so it wasn't too long a hike.



Although it was a creaky ride, it was also a short one, so the RAV didn't have to deal with this weight for too long.



Finally: it was time to buck, split, and stack everything we cut today, plus several logs leftover from last week. Liam and I are proud of the state of the Lab's Gregorian Woodshed.



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

BRK #390

Happy Taco Tuesday to you...!

We started the day in high spirits. Our goal was to finish the welding job on Rex, the excavator. We're hoping to secure a pin in place so it won't slip out anymore. Here was some of the gear we brought out to the job site at the Lab.



Well, it's not a success just yet. There are two people working in concert: one holds the welding torch and the filler rod (the stuff you melt to add more material to the weld and make it stronger). and the second person holds the washer in place. The washer has a larger diameter than the pin and is welded to the outside of the pin so that the pin can still rotate, but it won't slide out. Here's what it looked like after some progress was made:



Yeah, it's pretty ugly. But it's not for lack of trying. I had to leave for a meeting with Paul, but Dez and Liam stayed on in an effort to secure the partially-welded washer. We'll be back again later this week.



The afternoon was less intense, and more successful. Liam and I received a new seed shipment, and we sowed them in various places for autumn planting. New seeds are always lovely to receive.



When inspecting another cob hat project up at the Love Shack (our tiny cabin at Basecamp), I noticed that a bird's nest had been built not a foot away from the front door, on top of a firewood rack.



Finally: we sowed seeds up at that Lab, and Liam and I decided to ride eBikes over there to finish the job. Here's the one I rode, with the little trailer that could attached to the back.



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