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

BRK #540

It's been a big planting week. It's also been a big clean-up and renovation week. Case in point: here's the stray scrap wood (and a big-ass stump) on the south side of Allerton Abbey this morning:



By 11:30 or so, Trace and I had put a sizeable dent in it.



Here's the wood we removed from the area. After a chat with Paul, we learned that it would likely be most useful as the innards of a hugel berm. The area had also been suggested as a possible GAMCOD site for Boots and guests, so it seems like more things are falling into place to make that happen.



In other news... Let's play a game, eh? Can you find the spider in this picture?



In the event you need it, here's a hint:



This is all in the rear paddock at Basecamp, behind the paddock fence. I did a lot of work restoring this hugel from last year's landslide damage. There are two tiers just about ready for planting now.



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

Mike Haasl wrote:Katie from the PTJ has a source of cheap cedar within an hour or two of WL.  Lemme know if you are interested in their contact info.

Katie had passed me the contact details of the same source before she headed out at the end of the summer. A quick chat with Paul confirmed that it would be cool to grab a price quote for triple-stack cedar shingles for the project, and that's promising. I think it would be much more effective at this point - and Paul agreed - if money was spent in acquiring shingles as opposed to processing our own.

In any case, thanks for the reminder, Mike...! :)

BRK #541

Today was the Missoula Earth Day Parade, and I bicycled past it. Apparently this is a 30-something year tradition and it draws quite a crowd.

This first group had a burlap dragon kind of thing going on, with bicycles integrated into the design.



This group had an underwater-sea theme, complete with waves and a wide variety of sea animals.



I learned from another spectator that "The Bees" have been a long-standing collective, appearing every year for the past several.



I wish I had some better footage, but as it happens I was caught completely unawares. Hopefully this gives you a clue to the crowd gathered there, at the end of the parade route.



There was also a YMCA 5K-10K marathon happening earlier in the morning, and it crossed my usual bicycling route. And then there was the "420 Festival" or whatever it was at the Missoula market pavilion. So it was a busy day in town for lots of folks.

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

BRK #542

One of the projects I'd finished not too long ago was to further protect the fuel tank of Paul's dump truck: The Millenium Falcon. Normally, this wouldn't be a very big deal. However there seems to be a persistent problem with moisture and water finding its way into the fuel tank and then flooding the engine - or at least the fuel filters. Late last year, a mechanic suggested that we cover the fuel sensor port with a rubber cover. I had some spare rubber from a blown-out ebike inner tube, and decided to apply it in an effort to reduce the frequency of water infiltration. Here's the at-risk fuel sensor port:



I cut a section of the inner tube large enough to roughly cover the fuel sensor port. Since both the aluminum fuel tank and the rubber inner tube have smooth surfaces, I opted to score the surface of the inner tube to aid in adhesion. I broke out my "Old Timer" and quickly added a waffle pattern across a large portion of the rubber.



I picked up a canister of "Bulldog Multi-Bond," hedging my bets about something that could bond rubber and aluminum together. Here it is liberally smeared across the rubber.



I pressed the sealent-coated rubber over the fuel tank, pressed it down for a moment or two, and then waited for a week. I checked on it afterward, and it seems like the rubber patch is powerfully-fused to the tank.



The next task is to empty the fuel tank, run the fluids through a diesel filter (a truly magical, money-saving device, in my opinion), then refill the tank. A check of the fuel filters, charging the batteries, and the Falcon ought to be running again.

Meanwhile...on to Sunday, the cleaning blitz, and today's Nest Project.

One of the things I wanted to make is intended for use during our special events. Attendees might remember seeing hastily-scribbled index cards describing the items on the menu, along with descriptors like "vegan," "vegetarian," or "gluten free." I decided that these descriptors are the kind of thing that's rather important for our guests, and I felt like they might appreciate some clear labels.

To start one of these signs, I took a scrap of wood panel about 3 or 4 inches across, used a jar lid for a circle template, and then drew the letters with a pencil.



I want to make at least four of each of these. Today I finished two "vegan" labels and two "gluten free" labels. Things look all right, at this point.



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

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:
One of the things I wanted to make is intended for use during our special events. Attendees might remember seeing hastily-scribbled index cards describing the items on the menu, along with descriptors like "vegan," "vegetarian," or "gluten free." I decided that these descriptors are the kind of thing that's rather important for our guests, and I felt like they might appreciate some clear labels.

To start one of these signs, I took a scrap of wood panel about 3 or 4 inches across, used a jar lid for a circle template, and then drew the letters with a pencil.



I want to make at least four of each of these. Today I finished two "vegan" labels and two "gluten free" labels. Things look all right, at this point.



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

You are a real Label Artist!