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January 13, 2008

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Wood, Grass & Teeth

Bob the Lumberjack

This morning, Bob went out and cut down a few juniper trees. they are about 6-8 inches in diameter and the part he is using is about 8 (+/-) feet tall, he is using them for posts and beams inside the cabin, it is going to strengthen up the cabin considerably, and it will lend a rustic look too, I’ll try to snap a few pix when it is done.

Grass

I have been eyeballing the local grass, it grows in clumps and gets 18-20 inches long, it is quite strong, I have been considering ways I can use it, such as weaving it into mats, baskets & bowls, making wall coverings and window blinds. I will have to look on line to learn more about weaving, but not knowing about something has never stopped me before! ;)

Dentist

Bob had to go into town and go to the dentist, he has a bad molar, the dentist gave him a prescription for antibiotics, he will probably have it pulled, it’s cheaper than fixing it, money isn’t something we have in abundance, he has to go back in early February and will decide then how to proceed. Hopefully we can come up with something between now and then. I had a filling come out just before we moved out here, I went to my Dad’s dentist and he fixed it, I am very happy with his work, I wished he was out here…

Last night was COLD!!! I think it was the coldest night yet, we used a laser thermometer, I tested several surfaces outside, the metal ladder said 9 degrees(!), the ground registered 19 degrees, a few other surfaces registered between 14-19 degrees, that was early in the night, I know it got colder as the night went on, there was a light breeze from time to time, Bob stayed up all night keeping the fire going, we really need to get our big wood stove in the cabin. Fortunately once the sun comes up, the temps raise up into the 50’s, at least it feels that warm in the sunshine, if you get in the shade, you are reminded that it is still winter here.

3 Comments

anon16-rounded-5661787 nanabird said…
Hey look forward to reading your blogs almost like talking to you at Curves. Nothing worse than a bad tooth poor Bob. FYI the Haltom Curves is closing as of this Friday and merging with the Richland Hills store so many ladies are not happy and have resigned the reason she is isn’t making any money at that location. Don’t know what I will do I joined here for convience……You are so lucky to have such a wonderful neighbor and friend so close and so willing to help you out. Hope thing continue to go well for you guys find all your stuff quite interesting keep up
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Lazy Days


The days blend one to the next, most of the time, I have to look at my cell phone to know what day of the week it is, today has been a lazy day, I haven’t even really gotten dressed yet, I just hung around in my long johns, I sleep in these, it keeps me warm at night, and makes it possible to get out of the warm bed in the morning. I need to go out and take care of some dishes, I don’t have a proper way to really do dishes yet, I have a sink, but it isn’t plumbed yet, no running water and no place for the water to go, so for now, I just warm up a container of water, usually on the wood stove, and do the best I can do outside, I also use a little bleach water to sanitize everything too, can’t be too careful. It is a little trouble to do, without a sink and outside, but it does get done, eventually…

Pee jars

We decided to keep our urine separate from the humanure toilet, it is a small deviation from the Jenkins method, he says to do everything in the bucket and don’t worry about it, but we chose to keep the urine separate, mainly do we don’t have to dump the bucket quite as often. We have several empty containers with tight fitting lids, we pee into those, and once a day or every other day, I take them outside and dump them into the compost pile, the nitrogen in the urine is good for the compost, and NO, it doesn’t smell. In fact, I have made the third “deposit” from the bucket into the compost pile, I covered it in a layer of leaves and grass that I raked up, then I tamped it down and it was done, the next thing I do is clean out the bucket, I pour a little water in it, squirt a bit of dish soap, I use a long handled bristle type scrub brush to scrub the bucket, then I pour the soapy water into the compost pile (the soapy water is also good for the compost). I don’t even bother to rinse the bucket, (I do rinse the scrub brush), I set the bucket and the brush in the sun for a couple of days, the sun helps to remove any lingering odors in the plastic. I take a fresh bucket, I place a couple of inches of grass and leaves in the bottom and it goes back inside the house to start again.

Dishes

I just finished doing the dishes, I will sure be glad when I have my sink plumbed, it will not have water right away, but if I can pour water down the drain, it will be a big help :)

When I am at …

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