Friday, June 19, 2009

no place to go but plenty to do...

Had some nice looking light on the old shower stall this morning that I just had to snap. Got about a half inch of rain over the last 24 hours. Just enough to give my desert a nice soak without a lot of runoff. Humid and cloudy for half of the day - then some patches of sun and h0t...but only made it up to 91 today.

Called Chuck this morning to meet the delivery of my generator. It was still drizzln here in the morning and didnt want to chew up my road. Swamped in and happy about it. Perfect excuse to get something done here. Just before I clocked in, I did a phone interview about the Field Lab with an Austrian writer. The piece will be published in the July issue of the Austrian economics and science magazine - Economy. That done - I got to mixin and layin. Finished up setting the first course on all 4 entrances by 5:30PM. Leveled, plumbed, and ready to go - now I get to stack blocks just like I used to as a little kid...

9 comments:

KE5MIL said...

Lookin good John, nice little break in the weather for you. That material on your shower door looks like the same stuff the "Broom Man" in Fort Davis uses to make walking sticks. My wife purchased one the last time we were through there and she likes it a lot: light but real study. I think it's some kind of wild grass or weed down there.
Cheers!
Cliff in San Antonio

John Wells said...

KE

Its a sotol bloom stalk.

czardastx said...

This article was in my local paper (Austin American Statesman) yesterday.

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/2009/06/18/0618humanure.html

I thought I'd share the link as you might find it a good read. It's an interesting read about composting toilets.

On a different note, I really thought The Field Lab would have gotten more rain than you did. T.V. weather radar made it seem like you were getting a lot of rain.

John, you've mentioned Google earth before and being able to see The Field Lab. Any chance you could post some coordinates or another way to find The Field Lab? I've search and searched but have not been able to pin down The Field Lab using Google. I'm sure all of your followers would love to see it from above.

Sorry about deleting my previous post but I posted it without putting everything in it that I wanted to cover.

Paul in Georgetown, TX

John Wells said...

The last satellite photo on GoogleEarth for my area was shot in Aug 2007. The Field Lab won't show up till the next update.

KE5MIL said...

Hey, I just got back from the Grocery Store and on the checkout stand was the Texas Monthly with Ted on the front. Yes Sir, very nice article on page 26, that is, the entire page of 26. Congratulations.

Bob O said...

Gotta love The Nuge...I'll have to read the article online. Glad to see you got a bit of rain.

So, the welder and electricity....I'll have to do some research on this to see what the requirements are and what one needs to do to power a welder...it's been 30+ years since I welded! It'd be nice to find an alternative to a generator.

MrsL said...

Love you shower stall, that's great. Just found your blog, look forward to more inspiring reading - thanks!

MrsL

xx

don said...

Looks good. Why are three containers positioned with the doors inside and one with the doors outside? Why are three of your entry areas cinder blocks projected outward and one is basically flush?

BigTex said...

Just an idea John:
We found a way to make homemade mortart by accident using cow poop, sand, and grass/leaves/and other plants. We had a cow that knocked a whole in the wall and then our goats would get in and eat her food before she got much of it. Well, didn't have any cements, so I got a wheelbarrow and shoveled poop, clay/sand, and weeds together. It smelled horrible, but when dried, I kicked it and nearly broke my toe. It dried very solid and hard and stayed together even through rains. Once we had a severe flood and had to patch some holes, but for the most part it held in a bind and 20 years later is still there.