Burra Maluca

out to pasture
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since Apr 03, 2010
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Biography
Burra is a hermit and a dreamer. Also autistic, and terribly burned out. I live near the bottom of a mountain in Portugal with my partner, my welsh sheepdog, and with my son living close by. I spend my days trying to find the best way to spend my spoons and wishing I had more energy to spend in the garden.
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Recent posts by Burra Maluca

The second of the Skye Dragon eggs seems to be hatching...



Unfortunately she flew off the moment she was out and we haven't found her again yet. I'm sure she'll show up again before long so we can find out who she is and what we can learn from her...
12 hours ago

paul wheaton wrote:Does this mean the two of you are making a trip to montana soon?  :)


Alas I fear not, for various reasons. Budget, health, and political situations aren't really conducive to such things. Tempting though, very tempting. It's been over a decade since I was there, but I think I have to accept it was the trip of a lifetime.

By pure coincidence I made a post about a Tesla only yesterday - here. Serendipity and all that...
13 hours ago
Oh now that truck soon got my other half's attention. I don't think either of us were expecting that sort of truck!

13 hours ago
I have to admit, I'm falling in love with my Instant Pot.

It does everything my beloved slow-cookers do plus so much more. And the pot is lighter and far less fragile, so hopefully it won't crack after a decade or two. Though I have a feeling the electronics won't last as long as the simple wiring on a slow-cooker.
17 hours ago
One of the most popular songs ever sung in Wales is about the value of a pure heart being above that of gold or pearls.

It was originally written as a hymn but is regularly sung at every school, pub, back-street and rugby match in Wales and is spreading steadily around the globe.



Translation of first verse and chorus

I do not ask for a luxurious life,
The world’s gold or its fine pearls,
I ask for a happy heart,
A truthful heart, a pure heart.

Chorus:
A Pure Heart, that’s full of goodness,
Fairer than the delicate Lily:
Only a pure heart can sing,
Sing the day and sing the night.


And in the original Welsh...

Nid wy'n gofyn bywyd moethus,
Aur y byd na'i berlau mân:
Gofyn wyf am galon hapus,
Calon onest, calon lân.

Chorus:
Calon lân yn llawn daioni,
Tecach yw na'r lili dlos:
Dim ond calon lân all ganu
Canu'r dydd a chanu'r nos.


And this is the way it should be sung of course - at a rugby match!

1 day ago
Just for interest, here's my electric and electronic free summertime cooling and entertainment system.

It consists of a silk bedspread, a mister, a fan, a pink dragon full of mischief and ideas, and a recorder. Which is her latest idea...



The cooling is supplemented by paying very close attention to interior and exterior temperatures and closing the windows then the temperature outside is within a degree of room temperature. The blinds are also closed on the west side of the house in the afternoon. Then we open all the windows up again the moment the temperature outside drops to the same as it is inside. Even if the temperature is exactly the same, it still feels better for having more air-flow and it means we catch the very first wafts of cool air as they happen.

So far we have NOT been tempted by air-conditioning, but we do allow ourselves to adapt to the heat as much as possible. The heat here is dry heat though, not humid. Which I think makes a difference!

Of course we do cheat a bit as the only reason we know the outdoor temperature is that one of our very close neighbours has a weather-station which uploads data to weather underground every minute or so which we then check online.
1 day ago
I've always been fascinated by how we all seem to see the things we're most interested in, and interpret them according to our own experiences. A bit of a case of seeing things not how they are, but how we are.

Here's an example of a typical conversation with my other half while driving somewhere new...

"What's that?"

"Looks like a Tesla..."

"No I meant the ginormous dragony sculpture in the middle of the roundabout. Or is it a phoenix rising from the ashes?"

"Dunno. Never saw it."

"Oh well, I never the saw the Tesla either..."

"Oh it was just a normal model S, nothing extraordinary..."




Turns out it's Icarus' Dialogue with the Sun.

Still looks more like a dragon to me...

Original photo and more info here.

1 day ago
I'm learning to make quick one-pot lunches in the instant pot.

Today I had spaghetti with lamb's quarters, pork scraps, creamy sauce and a bit of parmesan.
1 day ago
There seems to be a bit of blurry line separating 'electric' and 'electronic'.  

My little electric fan just has an on-off switch so I'm keeping that. The 'new' washing machine has electronics, though my previous one didn't. But for me, it would be a toss up between my laptop and my phone. My laptop would probably win because I use it as my way of communicating with the world and keeping in touch with people, but the phone is also my camera, my audio-book player at night, and my emergency help-line. I suspect there are ways to make emergency phone calls via the laptop though, and probably ways to make it play audiobooks at night without the screen on too. I think I'll keep my laptop!

For my other half, I think he'd be lost without transport. I thought his car would be safe, as it's a 1981 model, but it does have some electronic in it according to google.

The Citroën CX features several notable electronic innovations, including electric windows on all four doors, a semi-automatic gearbox, and transistorized electronic ignition. Additionally, it was equipped with speed-sensitive DIRAVI fully-powered steering for enhanced driving control.



Personally, I don't think electric windows count as electronic - it's just a motor and a switch.

Apparently ours doesn't have a semi-automatic gearbox. It's fully manual.

The transistorized electronic ignition doesn't apply to ours as it's diesel.

Our power steering is mechanical and hydraulic, no electronics in it.

So he can keep the car - woohoo!

Oh, and the radio, but we don't use that. Still has a rather stretched cassette in the player too of someone singing fado but it's never used. For the purposes of this exercise, I guess we just take it out.

There's also a cigarette lighter (it is a bit old...) but not only is it not used, it doesn't have electronics. It's just a push switch to a heating element with a springy thing that spits it out again.


2 days ago
Lamb's quarters!

Only I call it fat hen, and the local name is espinafre selvagem or wild spinach.

The whole place was covered with the stuff when we bought it as the previous owner devoutly ploughed the whole place up for fire safety reasons. It's not so abundant now, but I've discovered it doesn't need disturbed ground, it needs clear ground. I make sure to always allow some to seed in the veggie beds so that any weeds that appear have a good chance of being fat hen, then I use it as a cover crop while waiting for seedlings of 'real' veggies to be planted out. I also tend to lay a bit of landscape fabric or similar out on a suitable patch of ground over the winter to clear it then pull it back in the spring to allow a dedicated fat hen patch to spontaneously appear. At this point I'm not sure it counts as either wild or weed...
2 days ago