Ben's new friends...

Nice visit today from off grid homestead photographer Erik Baier and art director Agi Klausz.  73,85,53,0,B

Rescue

About as exciting as it gets out here...freeing a lizard from a garbage can of range feed. 78,89,68,0,W

southern exposure...

I think it is time for this view to change...80,92,52,0,W

How to spoil your steer...

Ben loves to start off his Monday with breakfast in bed.  76,87,49,0,B

FYI...

This is NOT how one acknowledges the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

if I had a nickle...

...for every Field Lab visitor...  Just got a great deal on Ebay for this old parking meter.  I'm gonna be RICH!  77,85,49,0,B

cutting parts

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some assembly required

Woke up this morning to the sounds of a Toxostoma curvirostre on the greenhouse roof.  Been 6 years since I have noticed one coming in for a visit.  Been planning the rack for my additional solar panels.  I'm not quite up to chopping another hole in the rock so I am just going to build a really heavy rack that won't flip over in the wind.  Got some free steel from Stilt House Ben to do the job.  69,76,51,0,B

The early days...

Back in the beginning... 78,93,68,0,W

the eagles have landed...

Just received an order of 2016 silver eagles that were on sale for $16.95.  This is the 30th year that the government has been pumping them out.  Their price has gone up a dollar since I ordered but then again so has the price of silver.  It is still a handsome coin at a good price.  The website says Limit 10 but you can do multiple orders.  The US Mint sold 47,000,000 of these last year...a record since they started minting them in 1986.  Got me to thinking about the next offering from The Field Lab Mint... 78,92,48,0,B

woller

So far we have only had .14" of rain this year but when Javier came in for dinner yesterday, he obviously had found some mud to woller in... 68,79,38,0,B

Ancient Corinth

Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC.  The site of Corinth was occupied from at least as early as 6500 BC.   

2 Corinthians 

13 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

2 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

4 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

6 But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

7 Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.

8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

9 For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.

10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.

11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

12 Greet one another with an holy kiss.

13 All the saints salute you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Sallie and Paul

Stilt house Ben finally brought his parents out to meet me...Sallie and Paul.  Ben doesn't use a computer so he gets updates from my blog from his mother who has followed it for years.  Ben also got a chance to bond with Chupa for the first time (Ben was the guy who brought Carl out to me years ago).  58,66,44,0,B

tease

...some of my tanks are a little thirsty...77,88,55,0,B

springy

Flipped my mattress today and found a years worth of energy bar wrappers that had tucked themselves around it.  It's a little early but I fired up Pepino today...still works like a charm chilling down the hut from 84° to 77°.  If my heat tolerance is still low, I may eventually fire up the AC unit I bought last year.  78,87,53,0,B

no roosters were harmed...

Added a winch crank to make adjusting the oven a little easier.  Cooked up 3 chicken breasts, 2 potatoes, and a bunch of carrots.  77,90,55,0,C

new solar oven record

Popped my new cast iron pizza pan in the over today for a test and got the inside up to 480°...and I got nuthin' to cook in there today!  75,86,51,0,B

three amigos

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letters from prison...

Ephesians 3:14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

It's not just pizza...

...it's my first solar oven pizza.  70,86,45,0,W

no reflecto

Quick late day test without the reflector.  59,70,52,0,B

reflecto

Reflector is ready to go...the oven will cook again as soon as the weather turns.

Gearing up for a new welding project.  56,66,61,0,W

storm bust

Looks like our first potential rainstorm of the year is a bust...just got a trickle out of it.  Discovered that mylar and water don't mix.  Half a roll that got left outside for most of a year was ruined.  Had plenty left over to cut the pieces I need for the new reflector surfaces.  58,65,53, .10",B

ready for some rain

Got the oven window cleaned up and put back together.  Stripped off the old mylar on the reflector, waterproofed the outside of it, and beefed up the bottom corners with some diy "L" brackets.

All stocked up to hunker down for our first good chance of rain. 

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New Field Lab Bunny: 2016 Edition

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a work in progress

Just like the construction of The Field Lab...and the healing of a broken leg...my walk with Christ is all about patience for a work in progress - in a culture that does not appreciate process but only longs for conclusion.  Ecclesiastes 3:9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.  He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

Time to do the dishes...

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Science Friday

thermal transpiration

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glassworks

Started working on cleaning the oven window...homemade double pane of two 1/4" thick slabs of tempered glass with a 3/4" air gap in between them.  I have to say that the aluminum tape that fixes the panes in place holds up really well to high heat and weather.  67,89,57,0,B

weathered...

Found a gallon of waterproofing sealant when I was cleaning up the greenhouse.  Figured I'd slap a couple of coats on the solar oven rather than replace the exterior surfaces  Except for the face of the door which I did replace, the OSB has held up pretty well considering it has been out in the elements for so long..  83,90,48,0,B

a new tip to tip...

Been 15 months since I have cuddled with Ben out in the pen.  I have been a little apprehensive to start again since he is quite a bit bigger now.  Finally ventured out and discovered he still loves me as much as he did 300 pounds ago.  Catching him during a cud chewing session when he is down works just fine since he is sort of in a trance.  Not quite up to running away from him yet if he is up and about out there - he used to like to chase me.  He even let me get a new horn measurement... 65 1/8" - and was able to get some overdue hoof clipping done.  His horns have curved up a lot since December 2014.  73,96,54,0,B