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helwenNo more fluffy snow, sigh. It's raining today. The car has a coat of snow because thankfully it snowed a few inches first; should make clearing it off tomorrow morning a little easier, having the snow between the car and the ice coating it's getting. Good thing William was able to get that load of wood to the new customer, and also more into the house (separate from the wood already inside, because it has snow on it and needs to dry out). L helped out with that of course, and even I helped a bit.
***
Looking for some positive stuff, I went to check on a tried and true web site, Build It Solar. Various homebuilt projects by a retired airplane product development engineer, Gary, who lives near Bozeman, Montana. I love his stuff! He puts out the photos, diagrams, materials needed, process/methods _AND_, he figures out things like how much energy they produce!
So, I go to the main page, and notice a new button in the menu at the top, for The "Half" Program. Naturally, have to click on it... it's a whole new section of the site where he talks about the things they did to cut their energy use, brought more solar energy online, and cut their CO2 emissions, by at least half.
Be sure to check out the main page though, which has links to all the different things available, including links to different parts of the Half Program further down the page. And he's into more than solar power. There are wind power projects there too.
Some of it's the usual stuff that many folks who can have already done -- insulating, warm window shades, etc. Although some of it may be new to folks reading here. Like using bubble wrap as an extra layer of window insulation, for instance. I did that on the pantry window, but used tape because all I had on hand were small pieces of bubble wrap that weren't going to go together easily. Definitely works, though. Might consider it for a few other windows -- you can't see clearly out of the window but you still get daylight through it. I'd like to be able to see out of some windows, but we certainly don't need to see out of all of them. Hm, I wonder if BJ's has it for cheap... or maybe Staples... (we have the BJ membership through the farm account).
Anyway, back to Build It Solar. He built a solar collector shed that looks really cool. The framework for the solar panels is one of the walls of the shed. They heat the water in the 500 gallon insulated tank inside the shed, which then goes through an insulated underground pipe to the house to heat it (hypocaust system!).
I love hypocaust systems. For the novices, that's water running through pipes in the floor. This makes sense for two reasons 1) heat rises, so start it at the lowest point in the room and 2) people with warm feet feel warmer and are less likely to turn up the thermostat (why I wear fleece slippers and leg warmers on cold days). Hypocaust heating goes back to the Romans, who were very smart people when it came to water - how to use it and how to get it places. Plus they really knew how to build things to last -- something we should be doing now.
The shed is pretty big, so it can be used for other things besides storing the tank. He didn't want the tank taking up space in the house, and figured he might as well get more than one use out of an outside building.
Gary often works on projects with other folks, so keep in mind that if you're thinking about doing some of these projects, that it might be a good idea to get some friends in on them. And maybe start with some of the easier projects, if you don't have a lot of building experience; or get one of your more experienced friends to teach you as you work. Of course something like the bubble wrap project doesn't require much skill :D
On his contact page, Gary lists his email but also links to various forums where people can answer questions if you have any.
***
Was talking the other day with my MIL Marian and SIL Doris about how the plastic that's used for water bottles gets into the water/liquid contents of the bottle -- if you can taste it, you're drinking it. #1 plastic is badly made stuff that's heat sensitive too. Even the Nalgene bottles, which are supposed to be some of the best, may have some questionable plastics in them, so I wanted to go with stainless steel. Couple days ago we came across a stainless steel, insulated thermos. The lining for the cup and the screw in top have plastic, but heat-resistant. The thermos lining is also steel.
Last night we tried it out. L had heated up water in the new teakettle (our very old pot finally wasn't safe to use) and made a couple of cups of tea for us, pouring the remaining water into the thermos. A few hours later we decided we were ready for more tea, and the water was still piping hot! Most excellent news! Now we can have our second cups of tea without using more power. I'd originally been thinking about it as just something useful for when we're hiking or travelling, but thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fitzw's experimentation, we now have another useful home item. He was inspired by our trip to Tibet and China many years ago, where they had marvelous thermoses that kept the water hot enough for tea overnight. (In Tibet they encouraged everyone to drink tea, because they said it helped with acclimatizing to the high altitude).
***
I've been weaving a bit on a new scarf. When I'm done maybe I'll finally take pictures of the two newest scarves and also the crane bags. The scarf I'm working on I'm just sort of fooling around with different things. The warp is red(ish), and the weft yarns I'm using are black, silver/light grey, and more of the red. The threading is set up so I can do either herringbone or diamond twill patterns, or tabby. I've been playing with the diamond twill pattern, doing things like only going forward through half the normal pattern before reversing (creates smaller diamonds), alternating weft colors, and combining weft colors. I expect I'll do most of the scarf with the silver weft yarn because it's easier stuff to work with than the other two -- also the contrast between the red and the silver is great. It's kind of fun to play with the weaving, not worry about creating a particular look.
I don't know how much more warp is on the loom as it's been some months since I originally set it up and I can't find my old notes - might be enough for one or two more scarves. After this set's done though, I think I'll set the table loom up with something other than wool. Time for some cotton or silk maybe. And linen, eventually, but I don't think I'm up for that challenge just yet.
I've managed to work one of my PT exercises into winding the yarn onto the bobbins for the shuttles, btw. Which made me think about spinning, since I tend to run my drop-spinning until my hand is over my head... so maybe I'll do some spinning today too, as part of my PT. Just for a few minutes, but it'll still get me further along on my other projects. Hm, maybe the bamboo... less of a challenge in some ways than the wools, because it doesn't have nubby bits or the occasional bit of grass in it. I have this really lovely bamboo that's been colored in green, blue and purple -- just like a peacock feather.
And I should write up a report or two today as well. And somehow, maybe Thursday? I need to get out and shop for small thank-you gifts for the teachers for Saturday. I was hoping to find the asian market in Hadley last week, but we had to go all the way to Amherst instead. I'd really rather not drive to Amherst until Saturday, when we'll be picking up one of our folks to go to Novice Schola. I thought blank notebooks with an asian motif on the covers would be both useful and attractive, and appropriate to this time of year, of course.
***
Novice Schola is on Saturday. My class scheduler, Lady Kathleen, has been marvelous! And of course the Event Steward, Baroness Fiona, is right on top of things, and Luta and Lady Una as well. Our liaison, Lord Detharlion has been keeping us up-to-date on things at the church too, thank goodness. Now we just need the weather to cooperate, so that we can all get to the site and have fun teaching and learning all day!
Novice Schola Event
Novice Schola Class Schedule
***
Looking for some positive stuff, I went to check on a tried and true web site, Build It Solar. Various homebuilt projects by a retired airplane product development engineer, Gary, who lives near Bozeman, Montana. I love his stuff! He puts out the photos, diagrams, materials needed, process/methods _AND_, he figures out things like how much energy they produce!
So, I go to the main page, and notice a new button in the menu at the top, for The "Half" Program. Naturally, have to click on it... it's a whole new section of the site where he talks about the things they did to cut their energy use, brought more solar energy online, and cut their CO2 emissions, by at least half.
Be sure to check out the main page though, which has links to all the different things available, including links to different parts of the Half Program further down the page. And he's into more than solar power. There are wind power projects there too.
Some of it's the usual stuff that many folks who can have already done -- insulating, warm window shades, etc. Although some of it may be new to folks reading here. Like using bubble wrap as an extra layer of window insulation, for instance. I did that on the pantry window, but used tape because all I had on hand were small pieces of bubble wrap that weren't going to go together easily. Definitely works, though. Might consider it for a few other windows -- you can't see clearly out of the window but you still get daylight through it. I'd like to be able to see out of some windows, but we certainly don't need to see out of all of them. Hm, I wonder if BJ's has it for cheap... or maybe Staples... (we have the BJ membership through the farm account).
Anyway, back to Build It Solar. He built a solar collector shed that looks really cool. The framework for the solar panels is one of the walls of the shed. They heat the water in the 500 gallon insulated tank inside the shed, which then goes through an insulated underground pipe to the house to heat it (hypocaust system!).
I love hypocaust systems. For the novices, that's water running through pipes in the floor. This makes sense for two reasons 1) heat rises, so start it at the lowest point in the room and 2) people with warm feet feel warmer and are less likely to turn up the thermostat (why I wear fleece slippers and leg warmers on cold days). Hypocaust heating goes back to the Romans, who were very smart people when it came to water - how to use it and how to get it places. Plus they really knew how to build things to last -- something we should be doing now.
The shed is pretty big, so it can be used for other things besides storing the tank. He didn't want the tank taking up space in the house, and figured he might as well get more than one use out of an outside building.
Gary often works on projects with other folks, so keep in mind that if you're thinking about doing some of these projects, that it might be a good idea to get some friends in on them. And maybe start with some of the easier projects, if you don't have a lot of building experience; or get one of your more experienced friends to teach you as you work. Of course something like the bubble wrap project doesn't require much skill :D
On his contact page, Gary lists his email but also links to various forums where people can answer questions if you have any.
***
Was talking the other day with my MIL Marian and SIL Doris about how the plastic that's used for water bottles gets into the water/liquid contents of the bottle -- if you can taste it, you're drinking it. #1 plastic is badly made stuff that's heat sensitive too. Even the Nalgene bottles, which are supposed to be some of the best, may have some questionable plastics in them, so I wanted to go with stainless steel. Couple days ago we came across a stainless steel, insulated thermos. The lining for the cup and the screw in top have plastic, but heat-resistant. The thermos lining is also steel.
Last night we tried it out. L had heated up water in the new teakettle (our very old pot finally wasn't safe to use) and made a couple of cups of tea for us, pouring the remaining water into the thermos. A few hours later we decided we were ready for more tea, and the water was still piping hot! Most excellent news! Now we can have our second cups of tea without using more power. I'd originally been thinking about it as just something useful for when we're hiking or travelling, but thanks to
fitzw's experimentation, we now have another useful home item. He was inspired by our trip to Tibet and China many years ago, where they had marvelous thermoses that kept the water hot enough for tea overnight. (In Tibet they encouraged everyone to drink tea, because they said it helped with acclimatizing to the high altitude).***
I've been weaving a bit on a new scarf. When I'm done maybe I'll finally take pictures of the two newest scarves and also the crane bags. The scarf I'm working on I'm just sort of fooling around with different things. The warp is red(ish), and the weft yarns I'm using are black, silver/light grey, and more of the red. The threading is set up so I can do either herringbone or diamond twill patterns, or tabby. I've been playing with the diamond twill pattern, doing things like only going forward through half the normal pattern before reversing (creates smaller diamonds), alternating weft colors, and combining weft colors. I expect I'll do most of the scarf with the silver weft yarn because it's easier stuff to work with than the other two -- also the contrast between the red and the silver is great. It's kind of fun to play with the weaving, not worry about creating a particular look.
I don't know how much more warp is on the loom as it's been some months since I originally set it up and I can't find my old notes - might be enough for one or two more scarves. After this set's done though, I think I'll set the table loom up with something other than wool. Time for some cotton or silk maybe. And linen, eventually, but I don't think I'm up for that challenge just yet.
I've managed to work one of my PT exercises into winding the yarn onto the bobbins for the shuttles, btw. Which made me think about spinning, since I tend to run my drop-spinning until my hand is over my head... so maybe I'll do some spinning today too, as part of my PT. Just for a few minutes, but it'll still get me further along on my other projects. Hm, maybe the bamboo... less of a challenge in some ways than the wools, because it doesn't have nubby bits or the occasional bit of grass in it. I have this really lovely bamboo that's been colored in green, blue and purple -- just like a peacock feather.
And I should write up a report or two today as well. And somehow, maybe Thursday? I need to get out and shop for small thank-you gifts for the teachers for Saturday. I was hoping to find the asian market in Hadley last week, but we had to go all the way to Amherst instead. I'd really rather not drive to Amherst until Saturday, when we'll be picking up one of our folks to go to Novice Schola. I thought blank notebooks with an asian motif on the covers would be both useful and attractive, and appropriate to this time of year, of course.
***
Novice Schola is on Saturday. My class scheduler, Lady Kathleen, has been marvelous! And of course the Event Steward, Baroness Fiona, is right on top of things, and Luta and Lady Una as well. Our liaison, Lord Detharlion has been keeping us up-to-date on things at the church too, thank goodness. Now we just need the weather to cooperate, so that we can all get to the site and have fun teaching and learning all day!
Novice Schola Event
Novice Schola Class Schedule
