Dave Burton's Boot Adventures at Wheaton Labs and Basecamp

Good morning! I'm starting the day off making a nice cup of tea!

Day 51







I worked on crocheting my beanie hat more this morning!



I think it was a pretty day today!



We screwed in a sign this morning! We tried to screw in a second sign, but we had a good deal more trouble trying to get that one in!\





Jaqi, Jen, and Ashley planted a berm, and then, we emptied the tank in Judy the Fire Truck to water the berm!





Jaqi and Ashley did some tool sharpening!





Josiah worked on building wooden stairs for Allerton Abbey.



Austin installed a new door handle on Allerton Abbey, and he worked on leveling the cobb between the deadmen logs in the Abbey.



Ashley did some finish plaster above a door in Allerton Abbey!



Jen and Austin turned over sand to help it dry.



Jaqi did some awesome excavator work today around the Abbey and at the pond behind Allerton Abbey!



For today, I was doing mostly whitewashing. I am kinda the designated whitewashing person, because other people think that I do a very nice job of the whitewashing. I do think doing a good job of whitewashing with limewash requires a lot of patience and focus, which is something I have learned over many years.



During the afternoon, I operated the rocket cooktop, and I was able to get it to run so hot and so rockety that the fire lit up the second shoebox in the double-shoebox design!!!







Just look at how hot and fast I got the rocket cooktop to go! I think it's pretty awesome! It was throwing out lots of heat!



The ram's horn look nice, and I love how great this log coated in fire looks!



Look at how the second shoebox has fire rushing into it! I like how strongly the rocket cooktop glows!





It's alive!!! This makes me so happy! I really like it when I get the rocket cooktop going like this!

Good morning! Jocelyn made some wonderful scones last night at Taco Tuesday and wonderful overnight breakfast rice for this morning!

Day 52



I started off the morning by making tea and playing with Ferd the Gray Cat! Ferd has stopped being so skittish and now kinda walks up to people and demands to be petted and played with!









I spent most of today whitewashing and operating the rocket cooktop! This is a look at the whitewashed room of Allerton Abbey after I have removed the tape from the third wall!







And here's another look at how hot and fast I can get the rocket cooktop!







Ashley did a whole bunch of things today! She applied finish plaster, learned how to sharpen a chainsaw, dug part of a drainage ditch, and hand-mixed some finish cobb plaster!

Applying finish plaster!





Digging a drainage ditch!





This is Jaqi teaching Jen and Ashley how to sharpen a chainsaw!







This is Jaqi and Ashley handmixing finish cobb plaster!





There was much digging at the back porch of ALlerton Abbey to improve drainage!



And Josiah worked on the excavator a lot! jaqi did a lot of different things today!

Ferd wanted me to pet them again! Ferd and Gert like to fight for attention and petting, so, I have to separate them when I am petting both of them (one cat with each hand)!





Jocelyn made some wonderful ramen for dinner today! It was made pretty spicy, which is awesome! And cucumber salad was made to accompany it!



I think today was rather beautiful!

Good morning! I like the blues that I saw this morning in the sky!

Day 53







Ashley operated the rocket cooktop today and cooked eggs and potatoes on it!





I thought Austin and Jen were pretty goofy when they were mixing finish cobb plaster!





Fred worked on applying finish cobb plaster onto the first cobb floor that we worked on in Allerton Abbey!



I worked on doing whitewash touchups in the whitewashed room of Allerton Abbey, and then, I did a lot of cleaning of surfaces in Allerton Abbey.

Ashley built a beautiful retaining wall around an apple tree at Allerton Abbey!



Coco was so sweet at lunch today! She made muffins for us and warmed up leftovers of the ramen soups!



Jen and I sharpened bark spuds today!





This is a bark spud that I worked on!



Jaqi made a wonderful sign for inside of The Shop!



Fred showed us how to sharpen chisels and knives!



I sharpened a chisel, and made a BB submission for sharpening a chisel!



I sharpened a knife and made a BB submission for sharpening a knife!



Ashley boiled a gallon of water with a rocket stove!





I saw Austin working on repairing a window, and I heard that Josiah did some tractor work!

Good morning! I had left my laundry out to dry yesterday, but it rained. So, I'm hoping my laundry will actually get to dry out today.

Day 54

This is a look at the morning naturescape at Basecamp for Wheaton Labs.







They appear to be doing prescribed burns in the area, so, instead of actual fog coating the mountains, it's a lot of smoke.



We worked together to setup the Gin Poles on the tractor for the bermshed work, and then, we split into teams for bermshed work and junkpole fence work. The Jen Poles were setup on the tractor, so that we would have something that would function as a miniature crane to lift logs up into place for building a cell in the bermshed.







This is a look at the starting of the work on the bermshed. Ashley, Jen, Ron, and Josiah worked on the bermshed.





I thought it was kind of neat to see the Gin Poles being used to lift and move logs.



Fred, Austin, Jaqi, and I limbed trees and collected logs for building rock jacks and making a junk pole fence. Most of our time was spent collecting materials and moving materials into the place where we are going to do the construction.





We tried to dig post holes into the bedrock at Basecamp, and, as expected, we hit rock quickly and were unable to dig further down. So, we did indeed need to work on rock jacks and not fence posts.



We collected wood, poles, and rocks to start working on building rock jacks and making a junk pole fence.

Good morning! My laundry dried yesterday, thankfully! I went on a hike this morning to scout out good trees, preferably dead-standing or obviously sick and struggling trees, that I could use to make something out of!

Day 55







Jocelyn and Josiah made clafouti for breakfast for everyone, and Jocelyn also made eggs and greens!



I think the clafoutis were quite pretty and tasty!



This is the little plate I made for myself of clafoutis, eggs and greens, and my fermented bean paste with some mayo!



After breakfast, we cut some logs and chopped firewood for nest labor! Belle arrived yesterday, and she decided to join us for firewood cutting and collection!







I thought the are that we collected firewood from was pretty!



Then, we chopped a lot of firewood!







Josiah, Austin, and I did most of the firewood splitting! I thought it was fun and kinda challenging!





Look at the firewood that we split! Jen helped us with stacking the firewood!



I cut a few dead-standing and severely struggling trees to use for making a trellis. I will be peeling and sanding the trees later. I cut these trees from alongside Volcano Road and near the tent pads at Basecamp.





These are a few more pictures of the tree cutting and moving of trees into a place to work on them.

Good afternoon! I did a little work on getting the thin logs I'm going to use to make a trellis look nicer! I also went  hiking today! I'm enjoying the snow!

Day 56

This is a morning naturescape from at Basecamp!









These are the logs that I had peeled! I tried  to make them smoother today, but it didn't quite work. I'm thinking I'll go for a more rustic practical and pretty look.



This is a naturescape from hiking along Volcano Road at basecamp!







By the end of the day, the snow seemed to be pretty thoroughly melted. I don't know why, but I kinda ached a lot today. It may have been from the wood chopping and splitting yesterday.



I put one new post into the fence trellis, and I put up three new cross poles on the trellis! It's still got a lot more work to do, so, I will be going on another hike to harvest junkpole trees to use.



I set some garbanzo beans to soak for twenty-four hours. Then, I will be cooking them on low for twenty-four hours starting tomorrow evening. After that I will turn them into fermented humus and/or falafels.