Grey's Bootcamp Journal

BRK #36, Day 67
Thursday, October 7

I slept in, knowing I'd be helping to prep Bart's Bunk for the RMH build. When the crew showed up, we brought most of my belongings to either the back of my car or the cob cottage. The mattress will stay safe in the box truck until work on the project is done. Most of the builds that were started first are coming to their conclusions. Phase 2 of RMHJ '21 shall now commence.

BRK #37, Day 68
Friday October 8: Donkey's debut

Hard frost last night. I slept on the couch balcony in the classroom, where Amelia and Sebastian have been spending their nights. I awoke at 4:45 when they began to stir, and got up to start cleaning in the kitchen. My "serve others" program made it easy to do, and the impending return to the Boot schedule made it practical.

After morning infrastructure meeting, I rode with a van full of peeps to the Lab. We toured the Abbey, the greenhouse, and I led a group off to the side to see Bartell's Bunkhouse. Back at Basecamp, Donkey led a group to begin the Forge, and Rodney tested the cob cooktop. I contributed to the bunkhouse build, which got completed and tested in arrakis.

BRK#38, Day 69
Saturday October 9: Bartell's

Today I mostly worked on the heater in Bartell's, with the exception of adding a cap and silicone collar to the heat riser over the outdoor kitchen. I gathered rocks for building the cob bench and loaded the ranger with sand from arrakis to use for insulation. Making the base walls from rock stack and clay mortar was a fun puzzle. Mark helped a lot, and during cleanup time, I drove him to the two plots he'd been eyeing for his deep roots package. After dinner Christina and I went back to work some more and ended up midnight the rock layout a bit.

BRK #39, Day 70
Sunday October 10: Bunkhouse Heater

Helped make a final push to get the system installed in Bart's. Huge thanks to Mark for managing to get the stovepipe to negotiate the exterior wall... Christina fired up the system while I continued taping the many seams of ductor Seuss. The draw was perfect from the get, and the little smoke that sporadically came out the end probably resulted from cooling by wet cob.

I worked a bit late, getting the rock wall to roughly 90% complete. Hope it won't be too hard to cob up the rest of the height to cover the pipe with bench. Then I drove back to the FPH and hopped on a call with the 'rents, later joined by a few others who were finished with supper. Stayed and talked a while, but didn't eat. Got that incentive to get up ¦^]

BRK #40, Days 71 & 72
Monday October 11: Regarding residue

Woke up on the couch balcony at 6:30 and went up to the FPH. A few remaining people from the event left throughout the morning as we started to clean up. Putting the classroom back together, I helped put away chairs and cushions, sweep, wipe chalkboards, tidy outside and carry boxes of food up.

Gardening in the afternoon was much more enjoyable than it would have been in the morning. Watering, grass mulching and harvesting all around. I built another "compost catcher," if that makes any sense. The idea is to build soil under the spans of scaffolding which are not in contact with the hügel.

Tuesday October 12: Autumn Acton
Got up from my bunk at 7:15 after a comfy night of sleep. The morning was frosty cold, and Will, Ajeet and I met with Fred to work on the water pipe project. I drove the tractor to fill in the trench and smooth over the road.

Back at Fred's plot, we planted daffodil bulbs around the saplings he's been cultivating. I got  half a 5 gal bucket's worth done. Tacos this Tuesday were sparse, however the green tomatoes we got from the garden made a nice salsa verde. We talked about strategies for better insulating Cooper Cabin and Red Cabin.

BRK #41, Days 73 & 74
Wednesday, October 13: Friday for us Boots
Slept on the couch, got up early. Fixed the trash bin liner before breakfast. Post-event cleaning continued with magnetic sweeping around the shop and tidying the shop. Sat down for a meeting about the winter ATI test at the Abbey.

Afternoon saw us deep clean the kitchen. I organized the tea shelf and initiated a resetting of the silverware drawer. To wrap things up, we ventured up the volcano to lift lumber for future firewood harvesting. Our work for the week was done, and we were free to revel in the four days off we have ahead.

Thursday, October 14: Caturday comes early
Slept on the dock, just to see if I could. My sleeping pad is a few inches over the width of the desk, but in my sleeping bag, there was no worry about going over the edge. Got my clothes clean and cooked some burger patties for Paul.

Ajeet accompanied me to Bart's Bunk to help get the work site in better order She started up the RMH and chopped fine wood to feed it. I did the feeding as I assessed Erhard needed doing. I moved out unwanted rocks, took out the floor boards, and filled in the shallow grave with the dirt that was excavated for the RMH build. All ready for some creative cob action tomorrow.

BRK #42, Days 75-77

Friday, October 15: Just Cobbin' with Myself

Slept in the bunk room for the first time; it's not for me. Got breakfast and packed a leftover lunch before heading to Bartell's. The dampness from previous days' rain was all around, so I got the fire going to warm and dry a things up inside. I held off from getting down and dirty with the cob bench building until after I had cleaned up and worked outside. Any wet wood which I wanted dry, I stacked between the door and the heater. The garden shed attached to the house was reclaimed and stocked with lumber that was good and dry. It was dark by the time I used up all the cob, having begun to smooth around the wood feed and to the left of the barrel.

Saturday, October 16: Some Gals Love the Mud

Slept on the Megadesk again. There's a reason. After getting the OK from Paul, I set to work gathering stray pieces of lumber to make a deck for my sleeping pad (think a mattress you roll up and bring camping). For now, I intend to sleep on this platform I make which will rest on the ground level. Eventually, I'll find a way to raise it up to be level with the rafter beam, and Bartell's may then  house multiple bunks!

Mags agreed to help me with the cob bench in the afternoon, and Ajeet lept at the opportunity, which was awesome. I loaded the Dugmobile with sand from arrakis, the remainder of the cob from the event, and some wood to burn. We rode up, I showed what all I had done and planned for the cob bench, and they got to work. After I unloaded the sand, I filled the truck bed with buckets, tarpa, stove pipe, scrap and trash that I wanted out. The girls made a great deal of progress and were thoughtful enough to save the last hour of work for me to finish on my own.

Sunday, October 17: My Own Bed to Make

Slept in the library one last time. Forgot about the cleaning blitz, so Dez kindly reminded me. After a hearty brunch, I gathered my belongings in preparation for moving, then got to work on making a base for my bed. The shop got a big heap of sawdust from me trying to square up thirteen 40" lengths of 2x6 which were warped every which way. The design I ripped off from the desk in the library, of course. Some boards ended up being the thickest, so I shimmed the gaps between the boards and the 1x2 braces before fastening with screws. Despite resting on a flat slab of concrete, the top of the deck was still a bit uneven when I flipped it right side up. It'll have to do, and I think it'll do just fine for me.

BRK #43, Day 78

Monday, October 18: Back to Boot Stuff

Last night I stacked boards to make four level feet for the bed deck. Struggled to get that monstrosity inside, and even more of a challenge was getting it into position. Lucked out with how level and stable my platform worked out to be. With heat to keep comfy, I set up the mattress with 5 layers of bedding and finally got my wish. Fell asleep moments after I lied down.

Got up to a cold house, since the heater mass is still mostly wet cob... Too late for breakfast, so I munched cereal in our morning meeting. The smell of burning plastic was strong on the wind, so I helped inside with Mags getting the library shelves better organized. A huge mulch mound was deposited and we moved to gardening.

Finished off leftovers from last Tuesday for lunch. Didn't manage to shake the tiredness that came over me in the morning. I was fortunate enough to get by meeting with Fred and prepping dowels for the gents working on the Solarium. I made breakfast for dinner and headed out shortly after 6.

Back in Bartell's, I got the fire roaring to the point where the cob by the exhaust was letting off steam. The temperature inside  climbed from 47 to 57 with humidity at 65%. Por some boards on the floor so I can walk around better.

BRK #44, Days 79-80

Tuesday, October 19: Space Making Pace Breaking

The first night on my new bed went well, though it took some inner strength to get up in the cold morning. We started by cleaning up the leftover materials from the event, then Me and the new boot, Caleb, took a big load of garbage to the transfer station.
I think we can finally say event cleanup is over. I had Müsli for lunch to make up for lack of breakfast, though the tiredness didn't seem to ebb.

This afternoon I had a little more labor asked of me. I drove Will and Caleb to Fred's plot and resumed my log peeling. Just barely finished in time to get us back for taco prep. I cooked turkey sausage, grated cheese, and made some yummy fried potatoes from the garden. Stuffed myself into a food coma and didn't get up off the couch.

Wednesday, October 20: Winter Prepping

Stirring in the FPH began at 5, but I dozed on and off until 6:45. Had a light breakfast and a hot shower, and felt much better than earlier in the week. I think getting the RMH completed and fully moving into Bartell's will make a big difference in how well I can rest there. Hopefully that happens this weekend. The morning work was mainly putting up firewood. Will, Caleb and I sawed through logs and transported them to the wood racks outside the library.

The first half of the afternoon, we worked on the Solarium. Then, we joined Paul for a meeting to flesh out activities for this upcoming season's half-assed holidays. My suggestion for Christmas Eve was seems like it was a winner. The irony is that I won't be here to participate! I may just have to do my own thing in parallel with Bootcamp on that day while I'm visiting home.

BRK #45, Day 81

Thursday, October 21

Wet, warm autumn morning. We moved mulch onto the garden hügels. I began work on a Ln other compost catcher. During lunchtime, I recorded a couple of podscst snippets with Paul. Those will air on The Survival Podcast as expert council blips.

For the afternoon, Will Caleb and I went to the lab to nudge the water pipe project along. I smoothed road with the tractor, and Will got to man the Rexcavator. Dealing with some back pain, possibly due to my bed deck's imperfections. I'll take a chisel or a hand plane to those problem spots tomorrow, but for tonight, I'm couching it.