Morel mushroom coming up between the stones on the patio.  so weird, as the patio is so new, and wouldn't seem to have any of the conditions they talk about for morels.  Now that it's foggy and wet again, I'll have to do some 'shroom hunting.

Shoes and Food

So, a couple years ago I bought these shoes at goodwill to mix cob with (it must have been during the cold part of the year and my feet were hurting). I just pulled them out from under the yurt, and they still had mud on them:

A bit of elbow grease and a bunch of actual grease and they are ready to go.  I love rescuing old stuff.

And, you can get get a lot of baking done in the earth oven while you're cleaning shoes:

Made a Trap

Well, I thought I could make a video to demonstrate this, but it would seem my simplistic editor on my laptop isn't all that great.  Still, I did post it to youtube. Check it out here:

and here's a few more still shots. The trigger stick:

 The trigger stick actually holding the door handle open:

 and the view of the door, with the closing latch at the bottom.  Notice the brick on the door adds speed to the closing.

Edit/Update:  I'm not making this *because* I want to catch something to eat (unlike what I say in the video) it's that I've been seeing evidence of varmits around the house and I want them gone.  I went out late the other night and just out of the corner of my eye I saw some bushy tailed thing take off. 

First Day of Spring

I set up a bunch of seeds to get started in my mini-greenhouse:

A few of the seed-saved tomatoes from last year have already started

Ongoing Repairs

The earth oven has been a trooper for quite some time (has it really been 6 years since it was made?) In all the expanding with the heating and cooling, as well as baking the moisture out of it, it's needed repairs a couple times. Today was another time.  I was able to pick out the chunk above the door with my finger.

So, a bit of mud and sand later, and we have a new upper lip for the dragon. The divot in there is to hold the chimney pipe during firing, which I find works very well to reduce smoke.

and this machete has been a challenge ever since it got up here.  I've made probably 5 handles for it, and the latest one is always my favorite.  However, because of the short blade, the handles I make extend beyond the 'tang' of the handle, and always end up splitting from the huge forces of hitting stuff over and over.  This time I glued the split and did a wrapping job with some nylon cord, but it won't last too long.  

 I could make just a short little handle that has the metal all the way through, but that cuts down on the reach (of course) and the blade is too wide to fit comfortably in my hand.. which would mean grinding it down to fit, a huge project. 

productivity

Well, someone is producing something around here... 

Busy Bees and Upgraded Cart

I added a chicken wire 'floor' to the old steel framed cart, which continues to help me drag firewood and brush out of the woods.  This photo is all the wood I used to fire up the earth oven for 3 hours and cook goat shanks in the dutch oven.  

And, as the spring sun warms up the area in front of the house, the mason bees are back and thriving.  They don't make honey, but they do a good job spreading pollen around.  Here's one coming out of the 'house' hole I built for them and we have on the windowsill: 

Wash and Wood

This is a little less than what one tank of fuel on the chainsaw can cut.  One tank is about all I have the energy to do anyway, as it's usually about climbing around in the woods to get it done.

So, now that we're washing more laundry (diapers) [and that I'm the one doing it] I notice that sometimes the washer dies half way through due to a short tripping the GFI plud we have it in.  This load, I decided to monitor it, so I moved the washer out to the edge of the deck (after it had blown the fuse) and saw that there is a leak -probably from the door seal- that splashes water all around the lower insides. 

Now, besides wanting to beat up the designer who put the motor and the sensitive electronics *below* the container that potentially leaks, I decided what the motor needed was a little shelter.  Once again, vinegar jugs to the rescue.  I cut the bottom off and slit up the side and slipped it over the motor:

 Here's a shot from the back of the machine, where you can see the motor attached the the belt that moves the container. You can just see an edge of the vinegar jug.  Once I did this, the thing ran fine.  Of course, I can do this rather than fix the leak because our machine is outside, where spills don't matter.  

Spring in my step

hello my name is Tys and I wear crocs.  Actually, fancy leather topped crocs and just around the property as a sort of 'garden clog' but they are in fact, crocs.   A while back the stitching started coming undone on one of them, so the other day I finally got around to sewing it back up. I used dental floss, which worked perfectly. The stitching could look a little cleaner, but I didn't want to spend too much effort getting the old threads out of the holes, possibly screwing up the leather more. 

 The almond tree closest to the house is blooming pretty much at full-tilt now... I hope there's more rain this spring, but I also hope it comes down softly so as to not pound the blossoms off. 

Baby Innovations

With only a few minutes here and there to get something done, I did manage to come up with a swing for the baby:  tied to the leg of the desk in the loft, the big basket swings pretty well through the kitchen. I had to create a sort of trench for the baby so she wouldn't flop from one side to the other and stay on her back, but other than that, this old basket from Grandma Chieko works pretty well with a new hazel stick handle.

and, while not exactly innovation, I thought I'd show off our diaper changing area: the nice antique dresser with a pad on it (gotten through a friend who got it on freecycle!) next to the window (with the wipe on the sill).  The dirty diaper bucket is outside the window, easy to get to since the ground isn't that far down.  

and, check this out: I saw a picture of someone re-starting their lettuce nubs so I gave it a shot.  These are egg cups, so you can get the size, but it's quite surprising to see growth right out of the rind I was going to throw away. I hope we can get some nice baby lettuce out of this experiment.

New Member of the Team!

 Well, the reason productivity has gone down around here has finally arrived.  The newest member of the team on the Journey is in and healthy at 7lb 9oz.  We're settling in and getting used to all this:

Melissa's work on the bassinet that was handed down to us from our sister-in-law is working perfectly (in fact, better than we figured, as it's very light, and we can move it around the house easily, depending on where we are:

We're feeling extremely lucky to be a part of such a wonderful thing.

and the house is now become even more of a home.