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

BRK #430

Lots of outdoors work today. Cat and I felled both a dead-standing tree for firewood, as well as a green tree for building materials.

Here's Cat doing her first tree-felling...!



We brought the dead-standing logs back to Basecamp. Splitting logs was just what the doctor ordered today.



In the afternoon, it was back up to the Lab to seek out a suitable green tree to eventually use for panels and other building materials. The path we chose to take happened to have a downed tree across it. I grabbed a hatchet and cleared things out. Here's the before and after:





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

BRK #431

Happy Friday to you...!

Kind of a mixed bag today, as I ended up traveling around Missoula in the first half of the day on errands. But hey, guess who has his first-ever Costco membership?



Also sorted out some angle iron for use in the Red Cabin for window quilt support. Here's the long piece of angle iron being cut into smaller sections.



I cleaned-up the jagged ends, and then flattened part of the corners so drilling holes would be easier.





We picked up a Goodwill stash of ceramic bowls and containers to use for plants. Drilling drainage holes in them proved to be too much of a challenge for me, at least today.



So why not use a larger masonry bit?



...Maybe this is why.



Drilling holes in metal pots is easier. Maybe I can find a few of those this weekend.

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

BRK #432

There was some kind of biiiiig sportsball game happening at University of Montana today. I suppose not knowing anything about this until I saw the crowds surrounding the stadium (and their tailgating parties...) means that I'm still not a local. Oh well.

I did fit some bicycling in. This time I went along the Kim Williams Trail, east of the University, and caught a bunch of photos of the imposing mountainside. This makes up the southern border of the trail, and is a couple hundred feet upward at a near-vertical pitch in a number of places.

Until I started along the trail in earnest, there was a lot of fog in town.



It stayed cold all day, but at least most of the fog cleared out thanks to a friendly, brisk breeze. And there was no precipitation.











I stopped by the Missoula County Library to warm up, and finished my December day planner. It's a plain notebook that fits in my pocket, and I use my stamps and inks to create a new one of these for each month. They have 32 pages, so it's perfect for a monthly pocket planner. And I sometimes decorate it when I'm in the mood...



Here's the sunset. It was a cold, good day. I was grateful for the bicycling weather.



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

BRK #433

A wispy Sunday that's flirting with snow flurries. Started up a fire in the Library before we started the 9am Cleaning Blitz.



I took care of another facet of the wood-burned sign project today: "To Be Sanitized" signs for the House's bathroom. I'm hoping to replace all the laminated, printed signs in the house with wood-burned, hand-made versions. Also received approval from Paul to use the plunge router, and remove it from it's table jig to make larger-format signs.

Anyhow, here's the start of today's project. I experimented with the pyrography pen pictured at the right, and I think it was a success. That little guy heats up to 500 degrees C (somewhere north of 930 degrees F)...! Heats up quickly, and is large enough to hold comfortably for longer sessions.



Here are the two signs completed and hanging in the bathroom in their respective areas. Writing smaller has its challenges, but I think with more practice - and experimentation with different burning tips - things will look better over time.



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