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This could be an important event to prepare for. If a massive Coronal Mass Ejection (solar flare) strikes the Earth as is a predicted possibility, electronics could be devastated, along with our entire electrical distribution system. This might be an auspicious time to put some effort into a Faraday Cage or two … and employ them for electronic stuff you value highly. I don’t want to overstate the warning, but I think it prudent to put some time in Friday protecting our electronics and have at least half a plan for a complete grid-down power failure. Hope and Faith are not plans. – Ted – Thank SpaceWeather.com for this warning GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G3): Three and perhaps four CMEs are heading […]
Thanks to California Carnivores from my old neighborhood, I picked up a variety of insect eating plants. Expecting to enjoy their beauties and appreciate the insect population reduction for one summer, I have been pleasantly surprised to get several years from them. This particular bog that lives next to a south facing window in my studio is far exceeding expectations, surviving, growing and even reproducing well. Another bog garden is in its dormant stage now, but will likely be a fine pitcher plant in our laundry room again next spring. A third did not come back last year and will likely need to be refreshed with new purchases next spring. Sundews (Drosera) If an insect ever evolved the brains […]
Today is the biannual celebration of control our overlords wield over details of our lives. They remind us twice a year that even little things are within their power. For absolutely NO GOOD REASON, they send us scurrying around our houses, shops and vehicles resetting every clock and timer therein. It is just a little jab, not like they are starving or poisoning us … with that poke anyway. I am approaching the mark where half of my life will have been spent self-employed. When you do not report for work at a time fixed by others, the annoyance level of biannual clock manipulations is reduced. I get up when I am awake and go to bed when I am […]
Now THAT’s COLD. At Sunrise (8:17), I threw on a wool coat, insulated gloves and boots for a one-minute outdoor job of opening the chicken door so my flock could get out to their heated water reservoir and food supply. Whoops. My young back-saving helper yesterday did not close the double gate into / out of the chicken yard after blowing a foot of snow off their scratching yard. So I did that while I was out there – to keep them in and predators out. By the time I was back inside, my legs were cold through their double layers, my back was cold through its triple layers and my cheeks were genuinely frosty in the non-bearded areas. (Interesting […]
Through the spring, summer, fall, I was prioritizing having our homestead prepared for the snow management season. Strangely, I was simultaneously putting off all those interesting, rewarding projects “that could be done indoors during winter”. We are there. I am there. Meanwhile, that quality time in my wood-heated, well-outfitted cozy shop keeps getting kicked to the curb by mandatory snow management around the castle. The university of hard knocks taught me that snow sheets and drifts allowed to set into glaciers and sheet ice are quite unpleasant around the farm. Some things absolutely MUST be done on their schedule, not mine. Count me in on Montanans For Global Warming… Though I keep missing the meetings because I am either […]
One of the real treats in my life is a heated shop. I have a lovely collection of tools and workspaces enabling me to putter with woodwork, metalwork and a bit of mechanical maintenance. I am not great at any of it, but pretty darn good at solving the little challenges and opportunities life sends my way. I have spent some time turning my Jack-of-all-Trades persona into a way to make an honest living, but only at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Fixer business did not blossom, but my website The Fixer.biz is still kicking around as a place where I document some of my creations and share ideas I have come up with. I wish I […]
A main driver of my life is gaining control of my homestead, estate, working spaces and equipment. After each move from one to another, the list of urgent/critical projects is immediately followed by the crucial, then important and so on until I reach the settled in phase. In each case there is some marker that gives me the feeling I have arrived. Seven years into our Bunkhouse occupancy, I finally hit what I think is that marker. I am comfortable that I know what spaces I want to irrigate, have them relatively easy to wet and no longer have to disconnect hoses, move pipes and reconnect to run my mower around the yard. This evolved irrigation system will be reasonably […]
I am playing that phrase two ways, but mostly talking about the pillow where I rest my head every night. A couple months ago, Mike Lindell, the founder, owner, operator of the hugely successful company MY PILLOW became newsworthy for his open confrontations with the election fraud, and great public support for the massive demonstration surrounding the Freedom Convoys, or Trucker Convoys. My tiny contribution to all of that was to purchase a pillow from them/him. It was a pillow I did not need as I was quite happy with my “relatively new” one I found at Bed, Bath & Beyond a few years ago. It was shapeable to accomodate my various sleeping positions and quite affordable. A few […]
I have no love for meat bees. They invariably figure out that I am meat. I can share my spaces with honey bees of all stripes and persuasions. If I don’t attack them, they don’t attack me. That is the essence of Libertarian relationships. I have employed various tools to minimize the meat bee populations in my area of operation, including baited traps and hired killers. With the leaves gone from our local trees the very large hornet population around here was explained by a mongo nest high in a tree above the corner of our house. The above photo is after application of birdshot and buckshot which I am confident will minimize the population next spring and summer. I […]
For the last few days, the wildfire smoke around here has been rated “UNHEALTHY”. I use the site AirNow to verify. Click the link to see any city. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality and relatives offer this advice: People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure: Avoid strenuous outdoor activities. Keep outdoor activities short. Consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them. Everyone else – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure: Choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard. Shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors. Be active outdoors when air quality is better. […]
We have muck boots for ourselves, family, friends and guests – anyone who happens by to work or play in our chicken yard, creek, snow or mud. Mostly the collection has been standing in the alley between our house and garage. One such friend recently discovered a mouse nest in one of the boots we were loaning out. Turns out more than one boot was thusly violated. Fortunately this particular guest is an earthy guy who was not put off by this violation, but the ICK-factor was something we could not tolerate. My wife sent me links to several boot rack models she wanted so the boots would be unwelcome to mice, keep them dry, visible and ready for […]
I realized an urgent need to find a peaceful place for my head. Knowing I live in one of the great places on Earth, it had to be somewhere around her if I looked. Sure enough, leaning back in my easy chair I saw it right in front of me. The clutter had to go. Hiding right there in plain sight was the studio space I had created as my personal ideal. I had simply allowed myself to move to rapidly from one project to the next without resetting my space to the order and neatness I require. Yesterday I restored it. Then I returned to music and art after a long absence. Lovely. […]
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