tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76590632758880733042024-03-05T18:13:45.617-08:00Chronicles of a humpy dwellerThe wide ranging experiences of someone who lives in the Australian bush in a knocked together tin shed with a heap of animals and still manages to hold down a job, study full time and raise a family. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.comBlogger206125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-23001302728207652192017-10-14T14:13:00.002-07:002017-10-14T14:13:52.513-07:00Changing platformsSince many people have been commenting on my posts via Facebook, saying that they are getting inappropriate advertising and pop ups when trying to access my blog, I decided to change platforms. It has been a big decision for me because I have been with Blogger from the start.<br />
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You can access my new blog address at https://chroniclesofahumpydweller.com/<br />
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Thank you to Blogger for years of service and thank you to anyone who reads this far.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-25224205922843882612017-10-05T17:28:00.002-07:002017-10-05T17:29:39.145-07:00Producing peace silk- the moths are emerging<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After only two weeks of cocooning the moths are beginning to emerge. At the point of writing this I have two male moths with many more to come. Males are easy to identify because they have well formed wings and smaller bellies, they also hold their bottoms in the air and flutter their wings regularly to attract females (they make a sort of twerking motion with their bottoms too). At this point I am just trying to keep the remaining worms fed and find a place for the emerging moths, but I did find I couldn't resist processing just two of the now empty cocoons.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the hole in the end of the cocoon made by the emerging moth</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Many more cocoons waiting to be emptied.</td></tr>
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I got so excited that I didn't take photos, so words will have to do.<br />
First I made sure the cocoons were empty by checking for the hole in the end. Then I heated some water on the stove in an old saucepan. I added a teaspoon of my home made laundry gel (more on this recipe at a later date) which is basically pure soap and washing soda with a few drops of eucalyptus oil. The teaspoon was more than enough for my two cocoons, I will add more cocoons to the next lot I process.<br />
I let them simmer on the stove for half an hour (alongside the steaming veges for tea) then turned the heat off and let the water cool until I could reach in and scoop out the mass of silk. The two cocoons turned into a mass of tangled fibre in no time. Next I rinsed this mass under the tap until all the gel was removed and the yellow colouring had left the strands, I also picked out the left over skin and stuff from the cocoons at the same time. I haven't organised a frame to stretch the cocoons onto yet so I just spread the fibre out as best I could and left it on the sink drainer to dry.<br />
When it was dry and a bit fluffy I took the opportunity to admire my first bit of peace silk fibre. Then I wacked the little mass on the carders and carded away for a few minutes until I had a passable rolag.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS27RaKXu1lhD2MCWSnN3bnT17fc_qLU5rrWlN1_P9DvNwRQWlEyNDivbnt3DtArNgGjsEI7alg6fCgsnSMjaYwK2m4LGh689maUf_zQDYM11vhTcc59Ft6AF4tadWll7pMJq4cH5xx_bn/s1600/20171006_093749%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS27RaKXu1lhD2MCWSnN3bnT17fc_qLU5rrWlN1_P9DvNwRQWlEyNDivbnt3DtArNgGjsEI7alg6fCgsnSMjaYwK2m4LGh689maUf_zQDYM11vhTcc59Ft6AF4tadWll7pMJq4cH5xx_bn/s400/20171006_093749%255B1%255D.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first silk rolag</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close up of the fibre</td></tr>
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Of course my moths are now busy mating and laying eggs for next year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQSLWECSuw6jZNGweIbqOkRcaJ3mmFNWZDm3VEAkY_QrNk0QxVCiQaJoJNFUPm_o3HDIG-mHZ478A3KNlh8U_6EY_IogjXGWaI614nKxau-_WLAMJxQ8aEUkyOAeyo_yeQxfHiuRl1_zQ/s1600/20171006_094058%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQSLWECSuw6jZNGweIbqOkRcaJ3mmFNWZDm3VEAkY_QrNk0QxVCiQaJoJNFUPm_o3HDIG-mHZ478A3KNlh8U_6EY_IogjXGWaI614nKxau-_WLAMJxQ8aEUkyOAeyo_yeQxfHiuRl1_zQ/s400/20171006_094058%255B1%255D.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next years silk worms.</td></tr>
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The whole silkworm story is fascinating; from the huge effect silk has had on world trade, politics and even exploration to the interesting fact that there are at least<a href="http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/sericulture/seri_silkworm%20types.html"> three genus of silk moth</a> and not all of them eat mulberries and the many <a href="http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/legend-leizu-and-origins-luxurious-chinese-silk-005475">myths</a> surrounding the discovery and production of silk.<br />
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Here is an <a href="https://festival.si.edu/2002/the-silk-road/the-silk-road-connecting-peoples-and-cultures/smithsonian">interesting article</a> about the effect silk had on world trade in history.<br />
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I am finding this journey of discovery very interesting; silk is an amazingly beautiful fibre and like all fibre sources it requires a bank of specialised skills and knowledge to produce. There is so much more left to learn. Once all my moths have emerged and lay eggs I will be experimenting with processing the cocoons, I might even try to unravel some hatched cocoons in the traditional manner and see why it's not considered to be viable. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-18275593643576616492017-09-28T19:26:00.000-07:002017-09-30T15:08:32.386-07:00Earthbag building experiment- the new bathroom- starting on the wallsSchool holidays are here again, so it's time to attack some of those projects that go on hold while I try to master (or better yet...mistress) the delicate art of teaching. I have managed to become very busy this holidays; taking loads of junk to the dump and working on projects at school, so have not had any time to work on my earthbag walls. This morning I managed to finish half a round (with the reluctant help of my daughter) in an hour.<br />
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My mostly mythical partner was home for a day last weekend and knocked together some 'velcro plates' or cleats, which hold little pieces of wood in the walls to facilitate attachment of door and window frames (or shelves later on). Velcro plates are made by attaching a piece of wood (3 x 1 1/2 inch is good) to a piece of sturdy ply wood about 30 x 30 cm in size and putting nails through the ply plate in both directions. When these are embedded in the wall between earth bags they provide a solid piece of wood in the wall to which frames and stuff can be screwed at a later date.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A velcro plate. You can't see it but there are nails going down into the bag below too.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A velcro plate for the door frame between two layers of bags.</td></tr>
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I have discovered that placing the barbed wire between the layers of bags is a two person job (after flicking myself near the eye with barbed wire) and requires a lot of weights to hold it down while bags are filled for the next layer. The actual bag filling and placing goes very quickly though, and it is not hard work at all. The heat at the moment means that we can only do a few hours of work on the project in the morning and/or afternoon, so it will not be a quick build (damn it).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The barbed wire on the first round of bags, weighed down by whatever was at hand.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A round of bags all tamped down.</td></tr>
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While I am trying to build, life goes on around us. Two days ago one of the chooks hatched some babies. She took one look at them and decided they must be daemon spawn because there was nothing chook about them. Luckily my daughter heard them squeaking and rescued them. We are now the proud foster parents of three ducklings. I must say I am a little disappointed in the narrow-minded attitude of the hen to mixed species families.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New babies.</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-33972385086903231762017-09-17T13:08:00.000-07:002017-09-17T13:08:10.429-07:00This whole ban the burka thing is getting on my goatRecently I was thinking about how loud and vehement people are when they are asked to take a side on the 'Ban the burka' debate; I'm beginning to think that Pauline Hanson's voice is more the result of her choice of topic rather than a natural result of her genetics. I stand on the no side of the debate, a little closer to the centre than extreme though.<br />
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I can see the need to be able to identify people in security situations (like the oft quoted banks and schools situations) but I can also empathise with the wearers of burkas and hijabs, etc. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are asked to take off a piece of clothing and expose a part of your body you have been culturally indoctrinated to believe is sacred and private (your bra and top for instance) and to walk down the street without this piece of clothing, to expose your private parts to the world. I don't know about you, but I would not be comfortable going to the bank topless, but that is exactly what we are telling women they must do if we ban the burka.<br />
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The belief that our breasts are private is not present in every culture; many tribal societies cultural norms do not include covering the breasts (I can hear people saying "Yes, but they are primitive", which leads me to conclude that cultures who require their women to cover more body parts are less primitive, but that's a slippery slope). In our Australian culture we cover our breasts, in the Muslim culture they cover their hair and sometimes their faces, is there actually a difference?<br />
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Many people argue that being forced to cover up is repression of women, an opinion I agree with. However I also believe that being forced to expose yourself is also repression. If we truly want to free Muslim women from repression shouldn't we just give them the choice about whether they wear their traditional clothing or not?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-65808536150573910522017-09-15T18:17:00.000-07:002017-09-15T18:20:29.305-07:00Producing peace silk- from eggs to hankies<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbagBSujqmlTMz2V2ir-zy3B1uDDv3YybFOKXC6nHesRRzZ8UJMuFuvWzcVnOYNwDrgxmdbEvgUxd4wST0ed8UAYXr7Uyozgbg8fQDLLCuTnPoMObcQUTr66FrGkFuFDuOGklzIhMg9em/s1600/20170916_084707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbagBSujqmlTMz2V2ir-zy3B1uDDv3YybFOKXC6nHesRRzZ8UJMuFuvWzcVnOYNwDrgxmdbEvgUxd4wST0ed8UAYXr7Uyozgbg8fQDLLCuTnPoMObcQUTr66FrGkFuFDuOGklzIhMg9em/s400/20170916_084707.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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Lately I have been thinking about learning to spin silk. I bought myself a small lot of beautiful roving and spun it up on my wheel. It was smooth and easy to spin, it produced a gorgeous, lustrous yarn that took the bright orange dye so well it looked almost glowing. So I decided that silk is my new love (when it comes to fibre) and ordered some cheaper silk hankies, because the roving is anything but cheap.<br />
Me being me, I wanted to do the whole process from scratch, not just buy roving and spin it. I want to be the whole machine, not just a cog in it. First I had to find out the details...<br />
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I did my usual <a href="http://www.suekayton.com/Silkworms/raising.htm">research </a>and <a href="http://www.aussiefaunasilkworms.com/care-of-silkworms/">read heaps</a> of books and articles, watched <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xLCSoacVS8">how-to videos</a> and discovered that the beautiful roving I so badly wanted to make came with a price even bigger than money; <a href="http://earthdivasblog.com/2010/04/12/the-short-and-sad-life-of-a-silkworm/">the pupa are boiled alive </a>so they don't damage the cocoons when they emerge as moths.That put me off the whole deal, until I discovered that there is a movement called 'peace silk' who's practitioners let every moth hatch and process the cocoons into silk hankies or slubby (rough) roving.<br />
While the peace silk method does sound better as it doesn't involve boiling babies it does leave me with another quandary; what to do with all those eggs. If every female moth mates and lays up to 500 eggs, then those eggs will either need to be destroyed or given away. I thought long and hard on the subject and decided that letting the moths emerge and lay eggs then destroying the eggs is more ethical as science does not consider eggs as living things (they are considered to be non-living things with the potential for life) although there is a lot of contention about this classification. Maybe this train of thought is just hair splitting, but I have to form an opinion one way or the other in order to proceed. Who knows, a better method may present itself in the future.<br />
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I found a listing on Gum tree for free silkworm eggs so my silkworm adventure began. The eggs came in the mail and as it had been a warm few days they immediately began to hatch. Luckily I had also ordered some silkworm chow (dehydrated mulberry leaf mush) as our mulberry tree was only just beginning to put on leaf. I made up some of the chow and fed the early arrivals.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACq5Wmsdzlt2HOOjlXEXpW4cOtxcR9NLNaZiXpYgHESysbNUiX2HQNoJzIlNSf78Oq__d_UAFXjkTzpYB2_O6zoWYJWjsn7XdF_tAY1V9IZ8GgkfSOcjt_jU_HkLf1C3mKuoeYMHJwoBP/s1600/20170724_102457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACq5Wmsdzlt2HOOjlXEXpW4cOtxcR9NLNaZiXpYgHESysbNUiX2HQNoJzIlNSf78Oq__d_UAFXjkTzpYB2_O6zoWYJWjsn7XdF_tAY1V9IZ8GgkfSOcjt_jU_HkLf1C3mKuoeYMHJwoBP/s400/20170724_102457.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new babies are so tiny they are hard to see.</td></tr>
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They grew fast, eating day and night until they were in danger of exploding out of their little box. When my tree had full leaf I began to feed them real leaves instead of the mush, they loved it and grew even faster. I found that the worms are more active and healthy when they eat leaves. So began a period of feeding twice a day on a big pile of mulberry leaves.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCkrFyvnHx6NGBwmV_QxTVt-YpLMxuZBtc4B6Qakv0mTyQJTxYpHsS257mW7IIPstMILZhPNstpa8y0aNL-IksXk8V0qLB65lXlHqiPuBAO1kiHG4lWnKwLr2U12e5g3uOKHiIEhLTEAP/s1600/20170913_062654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCkrFyvnHx6NGBwmV_QxTVt-YpLMxuZBtc4B6Qakv0mTyQJTxYpHsS257mW7IIPstMILZhPNstpa8y0aNL-IksXk8V0qLB65lXlHqiPuBAO1kiHG4lWnKwLr2U12e5g3uOKHiIEhLTEAP/s400/20170913_062654.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As you can see there are different ages in this lot. The eggs took a total of two weeks to hatch.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEet-cA9HOjORl8lWXNXxtZNVwEhWJ6G_mQe-4x7vDg7uCW1XYIE2c_Jv1B4PQx9AdMldw6DIU3VpfQAQ98jwXV7-ik7m1xo1VkZ0ThrZJAODkP2QeyvVfMptHXdl9488irYIZ3zCI-RFT/s1600/20170916_085030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEet-cA9HOjORl8lWXNXxtZNVwEhWJ6G_mQe-4x7vDg7uCW1XYIE2c_Jv1B4PQx9AdMldw6DIU3VpfQAQ98jwXV7-ik7m1xo1VkZ0ThrZJAODkP2QeyvVfMptHXdl9488irYIZ3zCI-RFT/s400/20170916_085030.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They are voracious eaters</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8viw80rt6NW9gzqwJ3G_81C9_x6R6IykODKkC4xQbCUDEUMerIQGHDJz5XYdMWQjL9L0upzl8INNgxeG9Gh4WsmBVBqGC0z62MJq5p-RmiFlGA3x0XfKHrJEH7k_a0NU3L_n2zg05kYd/s1600/20170916_085312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8viw80rt6NW9gzqwJ3G_81C9_x6R6IykODKkC4xQbCUDEUMerIQGHDJz5XYdMWQjL9L0upzl8INNgxeG9Gh4WsmBVBqGC0z62MJq5p-RmiFlGA3x0XfKHrJEH7k_a0NU3L_n2zg05kYd/s400/20170916_085312.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Just when I was congratulating myself on keeping them all going...disaster struck. Stray cattle ate my mulberry tree down to the bare branches (including a very promising crop of fruit). Which left me begging friends and neighbors for leaves from their trees. Luckily this stage is almost at an end as my poor tree is growing more leaves. The worms eat about a shopping bag full of leaves per day, which is not small amount. I think I will have to plant a few more trees to keep up next year.<br />
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Some worms began making silk about eight weeks after the first hatching, this is a very long time to stay worms and I can only guess at the cause. Apparently the worms should start to spin after four weeks (or there about), but not having enough to eat and or colder weather can slow down the process. Maybe the silkworm chow was not enough for them, or maybe the weather was too cold. Possibly they have been bred to be worms for longer as they are now considered as pets by some people. Either way, they have begun to spin cocoons, so I built a spinning retreat for them.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLNrYRLNybd9zannxvjNFvjoD7RUtmbba2kIl8aDkh-xo3UjtimoAB_3hyphenhyphenaNSnwuIH1jVK8xFaHRuwcLfJnfDnCvJWU_5awjIv121LKtSTslSSUtiWheWl5PZlHZpnGC_6J5HR_P9n_GAY/s1600/20170914_105002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLNrYRLNybd9zannxvjNFvjoD7RUtmbba2kIl8aDkh-xo3UjtimoAB_3hyphenhyphenaNSnwuIH1jVK8xFaHRuwcLfJnfDnCvJWU_5awjIv121LKtSTslSSUtiWheWl5PZlHZpnGC_6J5HR_P9n_GAY/s400/20170914_105002.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My spinning retreat box. The toilet rolls are perfect for worms to spin in.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hQEDvYuOOIHjswx8gnZ7poZvPa7_H7N4CgpY1yghxzzoSblQ4LSLIImmJphKY_hk_vYMh43z0_vFDE-XQQx4C3C96trDMYheNxTitKMEf7_oGGA-WXZb75JJUryaOlo4yOHJyUUAKtVM/s1600/20170914_105018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hQEDvYuOOIHjswx8gnZ7poZvPa7_H7N4CgpY1yghxzzoSblQ4LSLIImmJphKY_hk_vYMh43z0_vFDE-XQQx4C3C96trDMYheNxTitKMEf7_oGGA-WXZb75JJUryaOlo4yOHJyUUAKtVM/s400/20170914_105018.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New residents getting ready to spin.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmn7lwIRQmIj1OFEnGoFvUndWj4ClLV5q9mHWv33jrfSIrcL8AaoFYfiIVFAq10JkiuV75hx7q20dyRPLER9RojDkbVsTbj-UA49ALaA8lMvj53Ip-k6XsLVeFcE6EhXn6QYM6Xyzg8fBA/s1600/20170914_105103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmn7lwIRQmIj1OFEnGoFvUndWj4ClLV5q9mHWv33jrfSIrcL8AaoFYfiIVFAq10JkiuV75hx7q20dyRPLER9RojDkbVsTbj-UA49ALaA8lMvj53Ip-k6XsLVeFcE6EhXn6QYM6Xyzg8fBA/s400/20170914_105103.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One worm decided to spin in an already occupied tube, but it's best not to disturb them once they start to spin.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dGHOR10HVtNlYriNNVMWyhMjrcC9Ghw37HCQng85CmO3xJlFwnmue7UiDXO97cPXofa-FYRF4eZtGG-bot5_Xgx5AybGnclTMoxn1yVVzL-jwMpd1_2mq_dGOTwIWSnqwXT4qW3xE_rY/s1600/20170916_084924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dGHOR10HVtNlYriNNVMWyhMjrcC9Ghw37HCQng85CmO3xJlFwnmue7UiDXO97cPXofa-FYRF4eZtGG-bot5_Xgx5AybGnclTMoxn1yVVzL-jwMpd1_2mq_dGOTwIWSnqwXT4qW3xE_rY/s400/20170916_084924.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see the sheen on the cocoons</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxwwrul1pHoQ4IfYrO4mh6jhOIeeubJh0XwHipW3v3MlI_O_4WT2xqyW79237cW9JBZN9BjT75N3EqDEQxSYDR-l17Xa4ItZ4XfPVCU7YAFVVT82K2pWjHSk6GEOu5njDj_Imtx965aHte/s1600/20170916_084900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxwwrul1pHoQ4IfYrO4mh6jhOIeeubJh0XwHipW3v3MlI_O_4WT2xqyW79237cW9JBZN9BjT75N3EqDEQxSYDR-l17Xa4ItZ4XfPVCU7YAFVVT82K2pWjHSk6GEOu5njDj_Imtx965aHte/s400/20170916_084900.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sheen or glow stays with the yarn</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx21eOno1HR0Ds2ULBagIzsIYvr5SDQNue1NL8V1hDwc2Yvva-3qseaA2Y5yrNOelgADn3kxzdtxfSrGY07qizjaKVg2q6h69KaQTSwt-gaM2NDFGh0eP9P0Y-5okaGVAxzbodrQt_DTtx/s1600/20170916_084707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx21eOno1HR0Ds2ULBagIzsIYvr5SDQNue1NL8V1hDwc2Yvva-3qseaA2Y5yrNOelgADn3kxzdtxfSrGY07qizjaKVg2q6h69KaQTSwt-gaM2NDFGh0eP9P0Y-5okaGVAxzbodrQt_DTtx/s400/20170916_084707.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFzpM2bEGiOexfGMA7XvdBXnVG3qjDhBeGjU2v_47I4SyqjNc02_Ulyvk5W9HuSU8YkkosgRABo4xjyld2MmuHM8EqOPLRCmunv9n2Ak7rAEDoxR0A2x29uVN3FY23T5SNv5tri0nCTFT/s1600/20170916_084948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFzpM2bEGiOexfGMA7XvdBXnVG3qjDhBeGjU2v_47I4SyqjNc02_Ulyvk5W9HuSU8YkkosgRABo4xjyld2MmuHM8EqOPLRCmunv9n2Ak7rAEDoxR0A2x29uVN3FY23T5SNv5tri0nCTFT/s400/20170916_084948.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't know why my worms spin yellow cocoons, but apparently it washes out.</td></tr>
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So far the silk making adventure has been fun and very satisfying. Once the cocoons hatch and I can process them the learning will really begin.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-10965283781043610922017-07-15T19:55:00.000-07:002017-07-15T19:56:07.746-07:00Earthbag building experiment- the new bathroom- finishing the foundationThe foundations are VERY close to being finished. My partner called into Tabulam Sand and Gravel on the way home from work and loaded up another tonne of gravel (smaller pieces this time) by torch light and bought it home. I unloaded this lot into the trench, tamped it down and put the tires on top. I filled the tires one at a time with the gravel and leveled them up (they are leveled so that the walls can be built straight up, but I will have to build a few extra layers to level in the other direction).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv53BEUCozaNxwh3HnSDTcPFvGRi2K_SKfMfgCyWdiyxuvKSKn2AitYelXpSYRKwOM0DAK4f9XZhZp3UD6IY2q5WjImJmojAaCmz7-brFKi-w8sW9DZPPghOBd_2YZk7pnOv7JWFUh0cUo/s1600/20170708_113502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv53BEUCozaNxwh3HnSDTcPFvGRi2K_SKfMfgCyWdiyxuvKSKn2AitYelXpSYRKwOM0DAK4f9XZhZp3UD6IY2q5WjImJmojAaCmz7-brFKi-w8sW9DZPPghOBd_2YZk7pnOv7JWFUh0cUo/s400/20170708_113502.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The larger gravel in the trench.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7sQtDnZ92BSBsD7UmGFuyOB1bBUqOvmqkO_-2tnzcnCqrCAteOvfp1GR049XWv-HgwTGGHeEBr94T2n5_ZHmYLy1oiIURAeFPBDfwuuhos_VnVold0Z8Xqaw621eADgPo-LrM6LHUvhT/s1600/20170708_113511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7sQtDnZ92BSBsD7UmGFuyOB1bBUqOvmqkO_-2tnzcnCqrCAteOvfp1GR049XWv-HgwTGGHeEBr94T2n5_ZHmYLy1oiIURAeFPBDfwuuhos_VnVold0Z8Xqaw621eADgPo-LrM6LHUvhT/s400/20170708_113511.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for the next load of gravel.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-kftmUk61Dp9TOhr0DwXev7N2iKWrPHk5lLh1jB_OkAd7u6LV0zwdQ9OXCDnAuCLwB3jd8RU9A0R7VUxSWj_2zLvTx3WUJwAsT2ewAKlZFMkT2wA99mbWrhXAz7U39D3dQhwN7nsXpoN/s1600/20170712_092743.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-kftmUk61Dp9TOhr0DwXev7N2iKWrPHk5lLh1jB_OkAd7u6LV0zwdQ9OXCDnAuCLwB3jd8RU9A0R7VUxSWj_2zLvTx3WUJwAsT2ewAKlZFMkT2wA99mbWrhXAz7U39D3dQhwN7nsXpoN/s400/20170712_092743.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A trailer full of smaller gravel.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWy2QPJSWJQr1qJsxVLPzC9R4_DhQjN_PNZOVJq21O3WictGFp-V_9nsv2_-799yEQ6UUFQ7jKQvYWkZssbHShvM4EdqKLKPEQm06ZwZScasFxLVM3imrLaYVoyJXpFlRgHpAEFPVnicRO/s1600/20170712_093403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWy2QPJSWJQr1qJsxVLPzC9R4_DhQjN_PNZOVJq21O3WictGFp-V_9nsv2_-799yEQ6UUFQ7jKQvYWkZssbHShvM4EdqKLKPEQm06ZwZScasFxLVM3imrLaYVoyJXpFlRgHpAEFPVnicRO/s400/20170712_093403.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A badly exposed photo of the trench...I just thought it looked pretty.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirbulQ9_dtvetJvbbqYn7S6m4WYxTYbZRxxhAWjZTD8meWB_DYBAaKPhfgq3bR6nh8JpLQKfoZhw6IV_s5fE8VOZxh7OiK_BkcPiqwZOgup8DgmRhmOZPhyWeVSQ_CH1s73_HuT4Dgi580/s1600/20170712_135424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirbulQ9_dtvetJvbbqYn7S6m4WYxTYbZRxxhAWjZTD8meWB_DYBAaKPhfgq3bR6nh8JpLQKfoZhw6IV_s5fE8VOZxh7OiK_BkcPiqwZOgup8DgmRhmOZPhyWeVSQ_CH1s73_HuT4Dgi580/s400/20170712_135424.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting to fill the tires with small gravel.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHRZuIpYO2o0QrvZjfcbTgRxXMJ5YF7oTLPHl7YrP8sHnkKSqkCnuZID9JEkFF6R75OxqgObSlIdFQRfbxdshz0mDv7dS8P04Y6lntop4-48OLET2EMxePrkTNqu4w5IMu62IUmSmGxy6/s1600/20170712_135530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHRZuIpYO2o0QrvZjfcbTgRxXMJ5YF7oTLPHl7YrP8sHnkKSqkCnuZID9JEkFF6R75OxqgObSlIdFQRfbxdshz0mDv7dS8P04Y6lntop4-48OLET2EMxePrkTNqu4w5IMu62IUmSmGxy6/s400/20170712_135530.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tires are leveled in one direction, so the walls won't tilt.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY2V9HUOmLSF-XnWtWUJKL4oVm3RlYms8xWjEwa1EoJNohXYjXLybDL_kMixQPe0ul0mZjXV7KIKZ__ysszwcjS0RBE6PYG7k4-cYNHahd1VwyQGcvCVUSh5rRWHHKW7VAukJSOirB1fVd/s1600/20170712_152107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY2V9HUOmLSF-XnWtWUJKL4oVm3RlYms8xWjEwa1EoJNohXYjXLybDL_kMixQPe0ul0mZjXV7KIKZ__ysszwcjS0RBE6PYG7k4-cYNHahd1VwyQGcvCVUSh5rRWHHKW7VAukJSOirB1fVd/s400/20170712_152107.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4qTvEcLoADY9paros_r2CPynSfufMfmimjXTkF2AoYYd8ubYwaaDG7pTZxVGcXkbteTz8wuVbvwVwIoiWo16QjQ7YizHdV5fTAbsawR2pSShiUYyTSUleHUH5A1WVXNgNqUrbB4tnbm9/s1600/20170712_152128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4qTvEcLoADY9paros_r2CPynSfufMfmimjXTkF2AoYYd8ubYwaaDG7pTZxVGcXkbteTz8wuVbvwVwIoiWo16QjQ7YizHdV5fTAbsawR2pSShiUYyTSUleHUH5A1WVXNgNqUrbB4tnbm9/s400/20170712_152128.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Of course we are three wheelbarrows short of finishing the foundation. That's just the way it works.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQLEjeVDiTfHApknk3-EtUInOWsWbGG5ShkipFpIHz-GHNfMAejSzF3mHCLp7cJKYXLL5CYVNVhoG6_pWh-zUMArB4w07r5s0A4rBV04_By0n2egPo0BQLBHJ0fb-J2SLtK38SomGIjgX/s1600/20170712_152153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQLEjeVDiTfHApknk3-EtUInOWsWbGG5ShkipFpIHz-GHNfMAejSzF3mHCLp7cJKYXLL5CYVNVhoG6_pWh-zUMArB4w07r5s0A4rBV04_By0n2egPo0BQLBHJ0fb-J2SLtK38SomGIjgX/s400/20170712_152153.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The doggy building inspectors appear to approve.</td></tr>
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We went to Bunnings and got a door and frame, some materials for making 'velcro plates' to attach doors and windows to (more on these next post) and some plastic to cover the walls until we can render them. Now all I need to do is find the last three wheelbarrows required for the foundation.<br />
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Next time....on to the walls.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-1708191893135763622017-07-09T16:32:00.000-07:002017-07-09T16:32:19.152-07:00Earthbag building experiment- the new bathroom- foundations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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School holidays are here. Sixteen days of restful bliss...excepting the planning of teaching for next term (probably three days), a working bee or two to finish projects at school (two days should do it), visits to various schools to water and maintain my garden (four half days, so two days altogether) and visiting friends and family (two days). In the seven days of restful bliss left after that lot I have decided to build myself a bathroom. I'm not planning on killing myself though...there is a plan in place. I have recently taken to wearing a fitbit (one of those wrist band things that tells you how many steps you've taken today, how many sets of stairs you climbed and how many times you got your heart rate up, for whatever reason), and the recommended number of steps per day is 10,000. So I plan to build each day (that I have to myself) until my fitbit announces that I have done 10,000 steps (which it does by buzzing in a satisfied way while showing star bursts on the screen), then I will relax and do some everyday house work stuff until the next day. That way I can be sure I'm doing the recommended number of steps per day and get a good amount of work done on the bathroom as well.<br />
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Since the <a href="http://gardengoddess246.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/a-kitchen-floor-or-brown-snake-story.html">brown snake incident </a>(about 18 months ago), we have been showering outside with a bucket of warm water and a jug. Two winters of outside showering is enough for me, I want a bathroom.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgncksd1UY5njOz7_ZNqoKrp7nYVoY6yAL__kidk4VJCVUJm0_kdRb_MdiLiSlukAXYG-kf1FAON3vILNn-jUfF4M6V11OYYY4a5go9scxWhZem5OhqIrBEF6peP0yFyGPEIW99RM1fcIr1/s1600/20170701_113813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgncksd1UY5njOz7_ZNqoKrp7nYVoY6yAL__kidk4VJCVUJm0_kdRb_MdiLiSlukAXYG-kf1FAON3vILNn-jUfF4M6V11OYYY4a5go9scxWhZem5OhqIrBEF6peP0yFyGPEIW99RM1fcIr1/s400/20170701_113813.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our outdoor showering area.</td></tr>
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After much discussion and research I decided to have a go at <a href="http://www.themudhome.com/earthbag-building.html">earthbag building</a>. This method involves filling polypropylene feed bags with soil and stacking them into walls with barbed wire between each layer. These walls are then rendered with a mix of clay soil, sand and cow manure to protect them from the sun. In the <a href="https://www.milkwood.net/2011/05/25/diy-earthbag-dome-building-the-foundations/">videos and books</a> this method looks quick and fairly easy, I guess we will see.<br />
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The first step was to find a site. My barely present partner put his foot down and refused to walk up the yard in the dark to shower each night (even though we have been doing just that for 18 months now). Building the bathroom and laundry up hill from the humpy would allow me to gravity feed the water from showering and clothes washing back down to the garden beds, meaning that I don't have to cart buckets of water around the yard every wash day. Building right outside the back door means that we don't have to go outside to shower and we don't have to carry our washing baskets up the yard to the laundry for the once a week washing day. So it was decided to put the bathroom directly outside the back door, conveniently placed for access, but inconvenient for gravity fed watering of the garden.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgcIRvFzxQaKOUU991qHxwRWyc0vxmqH_V1O4uWzGmz8G6a3MMrhxz0GcRTgop-u-ev0UF4A9MUxuq9E73Tr-3zcr6jB4d8rOPdHRIYocTvc77r3mM41MI6FLEMvS64OMpOxG6ozg8vx0/s1600/20170701_112006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgcIRvFzxQaKOUU991qHxwRWyc0vxmqH_V1O4uWzGmz8G6a3MMrhxz0GcRTgop-u-ev0UF4A9MUxuq9E73Tr-3zcr6jB4d8rOPdHRIYocTvc77r3mM41MI6FLEMvS64OMpOxG6ozg8vx0/s400/20170701_112006.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'right outside the back door' area.</td></tr>
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The foundations will be a shallow rubble trench filled with gravel and a layer of tires on top of that (also filled with gravel). I am considering a row of bags filled with gravel on top of the tires just to provide the drainage and protection from wicking moisture that earthbag buildings require (apparently).<br />
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My first, second and third days of holidays were spent digging out the trench, a not-too-arduous job considering the usual digging requirements of foundations. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqErcaVJq-KSsR-2tjnGGl567Tvq2Ul66wcWePHz0Ol5l4mB1d8VA8cQUDLaT6YJ1ATwsDn4kzMIOEkQ0PI72SZd6E-qe9JM-ZLqMsagVNNyeOFIPhQXdW7FGq-gZYi6QonAdVwR3KQC-/s1600/20170701_113634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqErcaVJq-KSsR-2tjnGGl567Tvq2Ul66wcWePHz0Ol5l4mB1d8VA8cQUDLaT6YJ1ATwsDn4kzMIOEkQ0PI72SZd6E-qe9JM-ZLqMsagVNNyeOFIPhQXdW7FGq-gZYi6QonAdVwR3KQC-/s400/20170701_113634.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHnjE_G1ggjOw_saTbZpOS736ndkvE5LUdiT3lTr9GLSF_KJgmCmeLkHdw7YV4oDWBhekWgCEAPSnAFuUv8O8z_aZuaGMuYws72IF5bwoMoFmVIwhsMocEJMYke1fVgAeQVM5ZYs0RMLO/s1600/Message_1498885416141%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHnjE_G1ggjOw_saTbZpOS736ndkvE5LUdiT3lTr9GLSF_KJgmCmeLkHdw7YV4oDWBhekWgCEAPSnAFuUv8O8z_aZuaGMuYws72IF5bwoMoFmVIwhsMocEJMYke1fVgAeQVM5ZYs0RMLO/s400/Message_1498885416141%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fFjoQpL99_yCvj6tfpRiDADNlQOfFtDkhRd_j-8lnESqStP0OGCpPAW0l77g9hx5i3YM0JfIIAWmAqXshGzYPTYmjD55_d24yP00bMf_tLgQz5sDiCKXR-wBjT6NviWkpxp1760jVHwF/s1600/20170701_122414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fFjoQpL99_yCvj6tfpRiDADNlQOfFtDkhRd_j-8lnESqStP0OGCpPAW0l77g9hx5i3YM0JfIIAWmAqXshGzYPTYmjD55_d24yP00bMf_tLgQz5sDiCKXR-wBjT6NviWkpxp1760jVHwF/s400/20170701_122414.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9iObkR4NHXi2qaM9QnGvahLlnetl2DRZz2IPamP0lmWX7lomWIBBlmKxxEIXbkePWXa0-aCTx-mYLW-1rcp0On_HfPGEbkZ9Opf1kPchi4v558DVYEKDZRUOUAkW2XJon7RSjTzFu1TUn/s1600/20170703_143730%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9iObkR4NHXi2qaM9QnGvahLlnetl2DRZz2IPamP0lmWX7lomWIBBlmKxxEIXbkePWXa0-aCTx-mYLW-1rcp0On_HfPGEbkZ9Opf1kPchi4v558DVYEKDZRUOUAkW2XJon7RSjTzFu1TUn/s400/20170703_143730%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As you can see, I had the doggy building inspectors around once or twice.</td></tr>
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Now to source some gravel for the trench and tires...<br />
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On the next available day we (my partner and I) drove down to the conveniently placed Tabulam Sand and Gravel (our local cement depot) and picked up a load of river rocks for the bottom of the foundation trench.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuI84L7pjEQg8Nn8VMA7ytdLTe5hfkcEYMbbw_uLeWb5SDckoNjihv2nbohDsNU5t4Uy7qOaxUu2h2UNP9ezHHSAa7fLyAILHG1paj0wdQA2RgnJORAaXfdukOnuMJY23E1GI9NkH2gVh/s1600/20170707_152131%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuI84L7pjEQg8Nn8VMA7ytdLTe5hfkcEYMbbw_uLeWb5SDckoNjihv2nbohDsNU5t4Uy7qOaxUu2h2UNP9ezHHSAa7fLyAILHG1paj0wdQA2RgnJORAaXfdukOnuMJY23E1GI9NkH2gVh/s400/20170707_152131%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I couldn't believe this was a tonne of rocks.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hI_AvcAZD0GSog3gEEvKGsJWgy0xy7UqfnseR9QfDteGhsycvGXx9cLynw4RAdBsBn2HYfFY8nMPWs63T5fH94p2VZFCDH-ATECih-HO2uQzravDVAbVn1MHOnfrS_4fyHRSVIHWb0Vn/s1600/20170708_113502%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hI_AvcAZD0GSog3gEEvKGsJWgy0xy7UqfnseR9QfDteGhsycvGXx9cLynw4RAdBsBn2HYfFY8nMPWs63T5fH94p2VZFCDH-ATECih-HO2uQzravDVAbVn1MHOnfrS_4fyHRSVIHWb0Vn/s400/20170708_113502%255B1%255D.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I believed it was a tonne of rocks once my partner, daughter and I wheelbarrow-ed and shoveled it into the trench.</td></tr>
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You may notice that my foundation trench is very shallow. At its deepest it is only 25cm deep. Most earthbag sites say that the foundation rubble trench doesn't have to be deep, so I went with that. Also I hate digging so the shallower I could get away with the better. I plan to get another load of smaller gravel to put on top of this load and to fill the tires. That should give a fairly stable base for the wall to be built on.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRh5gAgO-aq2Z2ypfVm14Vl9BILos5zL3d31O_eEznHVqMfz9PfOFPelg6HCR2vFsl_qU1DOYotoRx5acGK0AnpWy-NMVMvbIC80JEGLzCoMMU2gFXgSqEvdw2KLNLULCdJovyQf5BWsdS/s1600/20170708_100715%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRh5gAgO-aq2Z2ypfVm14Vl9BILos5zL3d31O_eEznHVqMfz9PfOFPelg6HCR2vFsl_qU1DOYotoRx5acGK0AnpWy-NMVMvbIC80JEGLzCoMMU2gFXgSqEvdw2KLNLULCdJovyQf5BWsdS/s400/20170708_100715%255B1%255D.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the foundation option we have chosen Its from the book 'Earthbag building' that I conveniently have in my library.</td></tr>
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Hopefully I can arrange another trip with the trailer to pick up some more gravel within the next day or two. I am looking forward to the next stage; filling the bags with soil and tamping them down.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-74025060519820564612017-06-18T16:28:00.000-07:002017-06-18T16:28:30.500-07:00I got my red Ps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I eventually passed the driving test...<br />
After six appointments and five actual driving tests, I finally passed. It was a frightening testament to perseverance (or bare faced stubbornness).<br />
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As anyone who knows me is aware, I am not a good driver; I'm easily distracted by interesting conversations, shiny things beside the road and even the odd profound thought, I am terrible at judging distance and am totally unaware of the width of the vehicle I am driving and I intensely dislike the whole process of driving a car. Despite all these things I finally managed to pass.<br />
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The first test I missed due to writing the time down wrong in my diary (subconsciously avoiding). The second and third tests were with a male tester who was very efficient and professional, I was VERY nervous and talked myself through the entire test (yes..out loud, complete with muttered curses and small EEKs), during this phase I found out that intersections are not my thing.<br />
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I went home and practiced intersections in my head. I drove to work most days which kept me in practice on the road at least. I am actually not bad at driving on country roads and there is very minimal traffic anyway most of the year. On my fourth test I had a female tester, she was very calming and friendly and I was able to pretend that I was just giving a friend a lift somewhere, which calmed my mind somewhat. I still failed (at a damned intersection of course), but I felt I did much better this time.<br />
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The fifth and final test day dawned and I had not driven at all for a week or so, I was at the point of looking for reasons to give up on the whole show. I decided that morning not to care whether I passed or not. I drove into town, drove around the streets a bit (with total disregard for anyone) and went for my test. I walked in and greeted my tester (the same woman as last time) with a friendly smile and off we went. During the test we chatted about dogs, living out of town and our favorite gardens, I was at ease and it felt as if I was just giving a friend a lift again. To my complete surprise I managed to complete the course without hitting anyone or making any huge mistakes.<br />
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The relief at passing was profound and I am left wondering if I can just stay on my red P plates and not have to sit any more tests (I have no need to go faster than 90km/hr and it's best not to add alcohol to any driving attempt anyway). I am now driving myself to work and have managed to fit in one trip to the dump on my way to work. I still don't enjoy the driving at all, it terrifies me and the level of concentration I have to maintain for an extended time is very draining. However I do enjoy getting home before dark (some days I can make this happen) and being able to do small jobs on the way home. The biggest drawback of driving myself and not having to wait for a lift is in my knitting time.<br />
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For years I have managed to get a decent amount of knitting done in the passenger seat of a car, on a bus and at cafes or bus stops. Now my knitting is mostly happening while on playground duty (yes, I can knit without looking) and in the evenings, which is, in turn cutting into my spinning, pottery, weaving and other crafting time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfytsRGYHs4Qd5evjS66Gw_ya7BzjxTR4RAwQCCQfaJffKisM4WqJFC5B7q584gum0QOned2Jiror02uHuQzYHHMDey4gpKzYigyP7ImwmjmT7DJfyz2bqyJK5OdR5dgUecF2VLUlrtN7R/s1600/20170604_165234.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfytsRGYHs4Qd5evjS66Gw_ya7BzjxTR4RAwQCCQfaJffKisM4WqJFC5B7q584gum0QOned2Jiror02uHuQzYHHMDey4gpKzYigyP7ImwmjmT7DJfyz2bqyJK5OdR5dgUecF2VLUlrtN7R/s320/20170604_165234.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I did manage to make a cute little yarn bowl as a gift though.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_YNwHxNJ9W0oNcV8zbLonyrmVZvv6JfXsEkZ4KJSLVZX67XwzCUmltjfm5pT_TiK6RKwvaUelu0ANjYGpKduHdm4SvjBzI1DEZTuoBBdJHiQhqMZRYSwXkzY5kl2nM2cn-VSo9joPsjQ/s1600/20170604_165238.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_YNwHxNJ9W0oNcV8zbLonyrmVZvv6JfXsEkZ4KJSLVZX67XwzCUmltjfm5pT_TiK6RKwvaUelu0ANjYGpKduHdm4SvjBzI1DEZTuoBBdJHiQhqMZRYSwXkzY5kl2nM2cn-VSo9joPsjQ/s320/20170604_165238.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I also made a little gold one to sell.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I took this photo of Mt Lindsay on the way up to Brisbane to pick up my daughter (yes the car was stopped).</td></tr>
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There is still doubt in my mind about whether having a license and driving is worth all the effort and stress it takes to get here, and the inevitable cycle of having a car to get to work and working to support the car. I guess time will tell.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-75802168177122440192017-05-28T18:41:00.000-07:002017-05-28T18:41:08.127-07:00Meet Emu- a new guinea fowl baby<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38bCMXz3Pll6osS6q3ipT-36ATVHD_HQjiuSg4xNmU6heSkPy3A7U9wbo-ipZp_MtL4UTtCtO37f36MhiOuZHrRNx-HYvZTwi_F1t1uQ2PtAI8oRoaO4eeNGTHMy7JNcbIRcLBJKMgw7l/s1600/20170529_111711.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="332" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38bCMXz3Pll6osS6q3ipT-36ATVHD_HQjiuSg4xNmU6heSkPy3A7U9wbo-ipZp_MtL4UTtCtO37f36MhiOuZHrRNx-HYvZTwi_F1t1uQ2PtAI8oRoaO4eeNGTHMy7JNcbIRcLBJKMgw7l/s400/20170529_111711.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of our guinea fowl looking for bugs.</td></tr>
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It's late in the season for baby anythings, but one of our two (out of ten) female <a href="http://www.poultryhub.org/species/game-birds/guinea-fowl/">guinea fowls</a> decided a month ago that Autumn is a great time to sit on eggs. Silver (the mum) has been diligently sitting on her nest in the useful scrap pile for some time and my daughter has constructed a fence around her and a roof of sorts over her to protect her from being trampled by sheep or eaten by ducks (not a joke; the ducks ate some of her eggs before we built the fence around her). She has only hatched the one baby and remains sitting on the other eggs. We will have to take them away at the end of the week as we suspect that they are infertile and she won't get off the nest until all the eggs are gone.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIdG8BIBOHlKcgRq_pnG42RC5lctUGIRxRI0WC8_8XCWAghUSojAXv3DQ8ywI7A_Kf-4y9zxSCHIW01SNIbpI1vJTty7uggZLdfV7PCf9lSX83Z5kuWblYrxb9SoPyZjI-C8rBg9vwXqH/s1600/20170529_111504_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIdG8BIBOHlKcgRq_pnG42RC5lctUGIRxRI0WC8_8XCWAghUSojAXv3DQ8ywI7A_Kf-4y9zxSCHIW01SNIbpI1vJTty7uggZLdfV7PCf9lSX83Z5kuWblYrxb9SoPyZjI-C8rBg9vwXqH/s400/20170529_111504_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silver on her nest</td></tr>
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We keep guinea fowls for tick control around the humpy (see my previous<a href="http://gardengoddess246.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/using-guinea-fowl-for-tick-and-leech.html"> post</a>) and they do a great job; we have not had to take ticks off the sheep or dogs for years. As guinea fowl live for many years we don't tend to hatch many babies (we don't need to replace them often), but sometimes life just finds a way. Our flock at the moment consists of ten birds; eight males of various ages and two females. Silver (the hen that went clucky) is only four years old and her mate is at least ten years old, proving that love doesn't take account of age. We think the age difference may be why only one egg has hatched. She had many different ages of male to choose from; the males range from two years old right up to ten plus years old. Some sources say that guinea fowl have harems (like chooks) but at our place they tend to prefer having a permanent partner who will hang around the nest site being generally unhelpful while the female sits on the eggs and get very excited when she hatches babies.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlh8PyYsfyckmYMOAvDehmLIoTvYSwCe5quQo4tV_6y_TzJHz54XMBjw4nNPD677RJ2LFKoUNiJo1gg19bKavKE2bhED-D4cKri6Z2azstUCC2Df-TbXX9UKr50YnpjbbulgbUstlMIzoc/s1600/20170529_111721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlh8PyYsfyckmYMOAvDehmLIoTvYSwCe5quQo4tV_6y_TzJHz54XMBjw4nNPD677RJ2LFKoUNiJo1gg19bKavKE2bhED-D4cKri6Z2azstUCC2Df-TbXX9UKr50YnpjbbulgbUstlMIzoc/s400/20170529_111721.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patch, Silver's mate</td></tr>
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Our new baby; Emu was taken away from his mum as soon as he hatched because guinea fowl are terrible mothers. His dad and the other males came to the humpy door as soon as they heard him squeaking, they hung around for a day or so trying to mount a rescue, but eventually decided to give up and go to the pub. Emu lives in a heated box inside at the moment. He eats insectivore mix, ground grains and live termites (collected daily). He is one happy, contented little keet (guinea fowl chick). Unfortunately, guinea fowls are impossible to truly tame; guinea fowl may have been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_guineafowl">domesticated</a> before the humble chook (or jungle fowl) but they haven't evolved into the quiet, biddable fowl that chooks have become (for the most part). Little Emu startles at any movement and shadows on the wall frighten him into a darting, cheeping mass of nerves, he's just a very highly strung bird. My daughter has high hopes of turning him into a sweet, cuddly pet though.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emu eating termites</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emu under his heat lamp</td></tr>
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In other news...<br />
Primrose the Rainbow lorrikeet has been up to her usual tricks and I managed to get a few shots to share.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyvcz4BkxJUEQx75lQp4hi-kf-W33XffOI6D1_s7O9ndiT_qJY8aL3WZ0odGh3hijQsq_ud-SmWOX8zTymcQ0mC_gEKI_sf5Lpd6fPBYbTbMNRpxX-2-7VjKnlscMBDlX6v3s8Ypyvipa/s1600/20170529_094300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyvcz4BkxJUEQx75lQp4hi-kf-W33XffOI6D1_s7O9ndiT_qJY8aL3WZ0odGh3hijQsq_ud-SmWOX8zTymcQ0mC_gEKI_sf5Lpd6fPBYbTbMNRpxX-2-7VjKnlscMBDlX6v3s8Ypyvipa/s400/20170529_094300.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prim playing with a pencil</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0IKyxZZ0bbHjQXNyR-rx-yspr5-xJlX14C_dbmpSqSkTBCY-McricwQgB8X7zY8bb9PP0-oShAGJEj9kJMJ6AVXzvSMOHtI6sU9R1tx23yytdUCzdhQCnywt-flBfp5Lyl5OSp7KkO79_/s1600/18741440_1507004379352225_1786831784_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="111" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0IKyxZZ0bbHjQXNyR-rx-yspr5-xJlX14C_dbmpSqSkTBCY-McricwQgB8X7zY8bb9PP0-oShAGJEj9kJMJ6AVXzvSMOHtI6sU9R1tx23yytdUCzdhQCnywt-flBfp5Lyl5OSp7KkO79_/s320/18741440_1507004379352225_1786831784_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A blurry Prim in a tree on a walk to the front gate. </td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-25934174746627979212017-05-17T15:44:00.000-07:002017-05-17T15:44:31.641-07:00Washing machine garden beds update<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg406F_dwnFCn4aoO5P8khWltQpTRt42Dn7AJKn2hvf1HSDe6sHBB5SzWA-NLILpEIYszfeK8sydvOqzNOSGYgAlJjlMqYaUai_llUVMjD4EvnhtqxiL6sKPz5xCiL044S5UXDUniY5Wo1v/s1600/20170518_082650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg406F_dwnFCn4aoO5P8khWltQpTRt42Dn7AJKn2hvf1HSDe6sHBB5SzWA-NLILpEIYszfeK8sydvOqzNOSGYgAlJjlMqYaUai_llUVMjD4EvnhtqxiL6sKPz5xCiL044S5UXDUniY5Wo1v/s400/20170518_082650.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beds are actually growing vegetables.</td></tr>
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I don't want to crow too loud but the washing machine beds seem to have escaped the notice of ducks, possums and chooks alike. I very carefully don't check on the progress of the little seedlings growing in them while I can see anyone in the yard as all the various life forms seem to take notice of what we humans think is interesting and investigate themselves.<br />
The process for watering or checking is ridiculously clandestine; first I go out the door on the opposite side of the humpy and mess around in the yard for a few seconds, once everybody gets the news that I'm out there and the paparazzi starts to gather I casually drop a handful of grain on the ground and retreat from the ensuing feeding frenzy back inside.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0PDzdKfCwt26DMJI9UqljJkBwgXis0Ry6ItiTa64DYvWHHW8N0ExgkXG3FKhXMG2Gs_iXXkphhLfkaNOOO6-JXp7CZU9pZqfhVruZ38j3XV_u42tTGEDEh_zkHI55ZFyedLMHAbxvATg7/s1600/20170518_082943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0PDzdKfCwt26DMJI9UqljJkBwgXis0Ry6ItiTa64DYvWHHW8N0ExgkXG3FKhXMG2Gs_iXXkphhLfkaNOOO6-JXp7CZU9pZqfhVruZ38j3XV_u42tTGEDEh_zkHI55ZFyedLMHAbxvATg7/s400/20170518_082943.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The paparazzi gathering</td></tr>
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Then I very quietly go out the back door and water, check, feed or whatever I need to do with the beds, all the while keeping my eyes open for visitors. If I see a duck or chook come back around the side of the house I just pretend to be admiring the scenery until they leave.<br />
Why not just lock up the ducks and chooks I hear you ask? Well... the ducks are muscovies and are quite territorial so they chase the possums out of the yard, they patrol all night and all day. They contribute to the safety of the garden without even knowing it. The two chooks left running wild in the yard are delicate in nature (Big; our old rooster is too aged to be in the general population any more and Curly is a special case who just doesn't fit in anywhere else). Also, I sort of enjoy the challenge and the sneaking around.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio3jmXrviDs8VcAo7doZPbLIQ1pB_-2xoPKGSBqmPZBH1BIM_qUAflVDTPUphV-ZeSsgp2n9DJU4eG5JXxj8EqEVZZ6XgnYvb1VL3gm7o0R8Iv7oye5MODduwck1e4R8XU2PJjVSP4cVrs/s1600/20170518_082541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio3jmXrviDs8VcAo7doZPbLIQ1pB_-2xoPKGSBqmPZBH1BIM_qUAflVDTPUphV-ZeSsgp2n9DJU4eG5JXxj8EqEVZZ6XgnYvb1VL3gm7o0R8Iv7oye5MODduwck1e4R8XU2PJjVSP4cVrs/s400/20170518_082541.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Curly; our special needs chook.</td></tr>
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The snow peas, carrots, silverbeet and beetroot in these beds are all doing really well so far, I'm hoping for a full harvest this year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrVPt30FKVkFOUCqZuz5FSIdysCowgJ-qj4f5RyZhntPjbeibdKr3I__L84CNOS2syEuIryYpQ4Ix9zuJXBy85uRQsVmvP2h5QGrmsq0luEMlra4PO1PS1R0_-zRZhf3ee8eXMLG28VL4/s1600/20170518_082637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrVPt30FKVkFOUCqZuz5FSIdysCowgJ-qj4f5RyZhntPjbeibdKr3I__L84CNOS2syEuIryYpQ4Ix9zuJXBy85uRQsVmvP2h5QGrmsq0luEMlra4PO1PS1R0_-zRZhf3ee8eXMLG28VL4/s400/20170518_082637.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carrots and peas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBk748lcgFaWWladCdbU_VBV3XhBPx6LU6hjt-kiYo3szw8GdCgAfooRSCM3yBya-qIop9Y-8dgj_ys-Y8_WHqEt5Zizo5uu20QglAwBXjW4AEahIfhqSuRIExwOvuQza-UWcjcY_vcEYs/s1600/20170518_082633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBk748lcgFaWWladCdbU_VBV3XhBPx6LU6hjt-kiYo3szw8GdCgAfooRSCM3yBya-qIop9Y-8dgj_ys-Y8_WHqEt5Zizo5uu20QglAwBXjW4AEahIfhqSuRIExwOvuQza-UWcjcY_vcEYs/s400/20170518_082633.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silverbeet</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zK4Q0L6EBBsS6Ffzv5wjw4DFilz25pF_Yy7SWSUUGosvOpt6oTg2KqYaolHnR2_I-bPiiukk9cm1-UphDdq2Gr3hyphenhyphenKDMmUT1RrkNHKZko6BkElJ_1rs9BhGFftUd6Pj3g5NAljPG27U1/s1600/20170518_082625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zK4Q0L6EBBsS6Ffzv5wjw4DFilz25pF_Yy7SWSUUGosvOpt6oTg2KqYaolHnR2_I-bPiiukk9cm1-UphDdq2Gr3hyphenhyphenKDMmUT1RrkNHKZko6BkElJ_1rs9BhGFftUd6Pj3g5NAljPG27U1/s400/20170518_082625.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peas, beetroot and lettuce</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwspR-81TNIhPRSosI463_1bmvwueJUN2zgSDlYCOqklHIPk0-VMl-jPhPGs35AQrux_6BFsy9zMrGny2SrY4shTbXVN9J7rumAV2xz64WVbux0WNqFfS7qdkNnPwBsviKtICkh4kiHfB/s1600/20170518_082631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwspR-81TNIhPRSosI463_1bmvwueJUN2zgSDlYCOqklHIPk0-VMl-jPhPGs35AQrux_6BFsy9zMrGny2SrY4shTbXVN9J7rumAV2xz64WVbux0WNqFfS7qdkNnPwBsviKtICkh4kiHfB/s400/20170518_082631.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peas and beetroot</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHrefr7D19wBbsmOhI7rKOpg9UUpJVRINSFcqnyhw1ZhqvZvs1GyAe63W80-EPXKL7jeFnVnKR07ZlIV9zuf1riSqd9HdDAnUHdeafAiOLAxuhh2gUqQdAmYza64zi7WnW6IwPrgVvPZv/s1600/20170518_082641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHrefr7D19wBbsmOhI7rKOpg9UUpJVRINSFcqnyhw1ZhqvZvs1GyAe63W80-EPXKL7jeFnVnKR07ZlIV9zuf1riSqd9HdDAnUHdeafAiOLAxuhh2gUqQdAmYza64zi7WnW6IwPrgVvPZv/s400/20170518_082641.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJisDkEspDm1jT-Y-duI5WNfMr0647K5zgnW3X0RPJdzgAaksT6BGyUi05hmHWZDISU2Q3MC0QppExNQDzcbHWv0rog2R2ydv2FVMI742nJnM4VZZ6Yj8MHtpfX-iOc1QTnoTQWP4RzJ9d/s1600/20170518_082620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJisDkEspDm1jT-Y-duI5WNfMr0647K5zgnW3X0RPJdzgAaksT6BGyUi05hmHWZDISU2Q3MC0QppExNQDzcbHWv0rog2R2ydv2FVMI742nJnM4VZZ6Yj8MHtpfX-iOc1QTnoTQWP4RzJ9d/s400/20170518_082620.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peas and beetroot</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Ym9_bMQTvodIwHHNgYq6vWOE4KDlMmyqxOftPd8Uok2vwPyZ6x6jnju8ipYMjZoe4jpn5eAw1i52dt5Dww6bm_7q01slfq_Me9f7vhQQFCcK_vxdPuPWJnTqSfVoPSLRe9yRhD1KCvDr/s1600/20170518_082617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Ym9_bMQTvodIwHHNgYq6vWOE4KDlMmyqxOftPd8Uok2vwPyZ6x6jnju8ipYMjZoe4jpn5eAw1i52dt5Dww6bm_7q01slfq_Me9f7vhQQFCcK_vxdPuPWJnTqSfVoPSLRe9yRhD1KCvDr/s400/20170518_082617.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce</td></tr>
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I will write a post about our special needs chook; Curly soon. This chook is an interesting case...even for us.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-47749412173642522482017-05-08T16:51:00.000-07:002017-05-08T16:51:09.451-07:00Making a yarn bowlWhat is a yarn bowl? I hear you ask. Well..it's a decorative piece of knitting or crochet equipment whose sole purpose is to stop the yarn ball from running away under the lounge while you work and getting covered in dust bunnies (and who knows what else in my house).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQnyRVj7cESbEu8Yw079AKZhjhtsRRf1AHyktGB4o3ExUXlIncqzvQuXk6nP8Qfw36DDYprmhX62p89V5jnKGChRMlC7V-E_gHbke3Bg31tJZDdBKSxCkB4DbFtmnoXK9KdVrU1vB0inY8/s1600/is.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQnyRVj7cESbEu8Yw079AKZhjhtsRRf1AHyktGB4o3ExUXlIncqzvQuXk6nP8Qfw36DDYprmhX62p89V5jnKGChRMlC7V-E_gHbke3Bg31tJZDdBKSxCkB4DbFtmnoXK9KdVrU1vB0inY8/s320/is.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yarn bowls can be made of anything really; wood, clay, plastic, felt, or any number of other materials. The important thing is that they hold the ball securely inside and have a yarn guide that keeps the yarn from getting really tangled as you pull it through.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgao8dU9AwPqC9kNvYla_BdL5RXd2OAzoHldSeJAyCVNSMoamZ_wNmNfygF60cQcFwXF4B-wlvmR8hyphenhyphenAkxYJKn9o9P-T6-nggr2C9l8DAkCQpg9uw_yvBNNxc9vtGFXPphOXyJJk2x6MiDG/s1600/is.jpg3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgao8dU9AwPqC9kNvYla_BdL5RXd2OAzoHldSeJAyCVNSMoamZ_wNmNfygF60cQcFwXF4B-wlvmR8hyphenhyphenAkxYJKn9o9P-T6-nggr2C9l8DAkCQpg9uw_yvBNNxc9vtGFXPphOXyJJk2x6MiDG/s320/is.jpg3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I pulled these photos of yarn bowls straight from an internet search. Some of them are so pretty. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dnxZT5VQLk5KUNXmjNdufvXTR4lfPNBIibEtosapxugkiZ8XhIKp281W1KSd7B9es_QVsKx6JG4-KCfEJsLGrth37j_Kzbx2lyvpJflDOKMBXqvQLA3EuPnKqr932lkar_TFDxq-C94I/s1600/is.jpg+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dnxZT5VQLk5KUNXmjNdufvXTR4lfPNBIibEtosapxugkiZ8XhIKp281W1KSd7B9es_QVsKx6JG4-KCfEJsLGrth37j_Kzbx2lyvpJflDOKMBXqvQLA3EuPnKqr932lkar_TFDxq-C94I/s1600/is.jpg+1.jpg" /></a></div>
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While not strictly required for knitting or crochet, they do add a touch of class to the whole thing. I love the look of them and can imagine a row of yarn bowls on a shelf, each with it's own little ball or cake of yarn sitting patiently in it while I decide what I will knit today, or sitting on a table beside my chair as I effortlessly and smoothly knit Fair Isle patterns without tangles, snarls or swearing. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_OGPjnOCU6aSLZ2XVKALatM596TLPy8nMLTg9FlomXVMc44xxr11I8MCp4uzbRU4bh2h-7ah8CdiC9m58WlZ9XDSeKssO3BZNm86KzpvueAudXlKwF4Tsb1MV0zTvzrooK_ziA0Wk1KT/s1600/is.jpg+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_OGPjnOCU6aSLZ2XVKALatM596TLPy8nMLTg9FlomXVMc44xxr11I8MCp4uzbRU4bh2h-7ah8CdiC9m58WlZ9XDSeKssO3BZNm86KzpvueAudXlKwF4Tsb1MV0zTvzrooK_ziA0Wk1KT/s320/is.jpg+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The ones with lids have the advantage of being more dust proof I suppose, but there is something about seeing your yarn while you work that is so soothing and satisfying.<br />
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Home made yarn bowls here we come...<br />
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I decided to use what I had in my craft supplies (not really a choice when getting extra materials means driving two hours), I had air dry clay left over from previous projects and it is relatively cheap to buy. Next I needed a template for my bowl (not owning a potting wheel or even knowing how to use one). I found two bowls that might do among my stash.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLG2Xezzac3asjwfCRB5eEiyXrJ_98jLAx9eznSCa3KyiHzRb2cLncB9ro3aI3LJomi52YyMQJalwXPfikm8zuQofz5jDpE1NdrICwA78C83HmYTp4U6i-B4qmBkDr66W5xmtk9KcUw5eF/s1600/20170508_093057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLG2Xezzac3asjwfCRB5eEiyXrJ_98jLAx9eznSCa3KyiHzRb2cLncB9ro3aI3LJomi52YyMQJalwXPfikm8zuQofz5jDpE1NdrICwA78C83HmYTp4U6i-B4qmBkDr66W5xmtk9KcUw5eF/s400/20170508_093057.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Air dry clay from my stash</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8_eYQCO8J4fjKyhwHuVuxJpPnt5lE_3ZLf5cmp0JAQfdKSIr3ou7Sr6gWJpZYexuVJHrNatlwELQi7eLxQLR-0jQZNNih9ky_W9rnoLfKmYVNK6cI5Yfjy4Fx9oYR5gCcSJg3E8AiZIm/s1600/20170508_093124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8_eYQCO8J4fjKyhwHuVuxJpPnt5lE_3ZLf5cmp0JAQfdKSIr3ou7Sr6gWJpZYexuVJHrNatlwELQi7eLxQLR-0jQZNNih9ky_W9rnoLfKmYVNK6cI5Yfjy4Fx9oYR5gCcSJg3E8AiZIm/s400/20170508_093124.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mat, a bowl, a rolling pin, coffee and a water bottle...I'm set</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaCgQV7J7zYb7mVtNiXog7kegfi2c050uEX_aJrsQGGbjzQ2-jUlxFfGsQOzroHN6MeJizsVOI_Qaqusc5DSpROgUyBd8A37gdNjcqjfhhcbZS7-YrqpaaQrFkq0sW73-uBJu4Fi5BRbp/s1600/20170508_093130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaCgQV7J7zYb7mVtNiXog7kegfi2c050uEX_aJrsQGGbjzQ2-jUlxFfGsQOzroHN6MeJizsVOI_Qaqusc5DSpROgUyBd8A37gdNjcqjfhhcbZS7-YrqpaaQrFkq0sW73-uBJu4Fi5BRbp/s400/20170508_093130.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, and a knife for shaping</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbXLxOpkUFiOCt0A05byfS4BlexcZVHzybayP6VOi0Trow87u180FiBMZJnA7K8PNVf6F-yTV12WJeFBr2St8ZNQ5R5waT8oTqQi8xUs1sryK136oZ74J9KJ5lsMxld2aMh_mHputNZK9_/s1600/20170508_093438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbXLxOpkUFiOCt0A05byfS4BlexcZVHzybayP6VOi0Trow87u180FiBMZJnA7K8PNVf6F-yTV12WJeFBr2St8ZNQ5R5waT8oTqQi8xUs1sryK136oZ74J9KJ5lsMxld2aMh_mHputNZK9_/s400/20170508_093438.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cut a chunk off the clay and mush it up until it's soft.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMVrses5qRtH49EIjK69nR8__s9QQ1IgmL8tyY86guX6TuDYP3Tt_Rdtgg21G53_Rm6kmxGp90AJLfRWdZUGItJfra5esfFjfJbNgCwbC6ETSbk6qRYV1f4y5M6PfiaQISMeB4hpaLg44/s1600/20170508_093444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMVrses5qRtH49EIjK69nR8__s9QQ1IgmL8tyY86guX6TuDYP3Tt_Rdtgg21G53_Rm6kmxGp90AJLfRWdZUGItJfra5esfFjfJbNgCwbC6ETSbk6qRYV1f4y5M6PfiaQISMeB4hpaLg44/s400/20170508_093444.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover my chosen bowl with cling wrap</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCt6EUsWy0tzC2msBZm0m10h4JBa85-g0BCVZSzF08dRUhv6_LhFXy0N0jFiy_Viwg0pk1hTR6sTmowzgoykB4Tqe61rkVJOArUhrkVPh0N1hHTipHIU8L0A8FiQrkB3osJBDVGi64O_w/s1600/20170508_094534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCt6EUsWy0tzC2msBZm0m10h4JBa85-g0BCVZSzF08dRUhv6_LhFXy0N0jFiy_Viwg0pk1hTR6sTmowzgoykB4Tqe61rkVJOArUhrkVPh0N1hHTipHIU8L0A8FiQrkB3osJBDVGi64O_w/s400/20170508_094534.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roll the clay out flat with the rolling pin and mold it over the bowl.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfa2dPCfa45Oq3kzm1sHgRPVqO6oCq9p7e2ISgvKA5rb9GX5_SUFlkWMQS5vlMcw15ySTwqTVU2f9rvucSeG2N_QQuczkz-N021troguMsrW0NwRVnXjvpCPwHscf02tqw94eInlCPNtV/s1600/20170508_095614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfa2dPCfa45Oq3kzm1sHgRPVqO6oCq9p7e2ISgvKA5rb9GX5_SUFlkWMQS5vlMcw15ySTwqTVU2f9rvucSeG2N_QQuczkz-N021troguMsrW0NwRVnXjvpCPwHscf02tqw94eInlCPNtV/s400/20170508_095614.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cut the spiral shape into the clay (carefully) and be sure to leave a gap wide enough for yarn to pass through</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNjwJvNU9xa5Rt1n43p-UxmiaduCVm0PxS5WP2VWxqVuC3DRH0Vgcxy8_SCUSTWqkLvg4XEFt37pvrq4ijderG1QCnaRRMdR4Cu5VKBtnKNYFgAePbP1DVcxyvOKzPYWV37aLuJ3XCf6f/s1600/20170508_095626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNjwJvNU9xa5Rt1n43p-UxmiaduCVm0PxS5WP2VWxqVuC3DRH0Vgcxy8_SCUSTWqkLvg4XEFt37pvrq4ijderG1QCnaRRMdR4Cu5VKBtnKNYFgAePbP1DVcxyvOKzPYWV37aLuJ3XCf6f/s400/20170508_095626.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sand the rough edges off the bowl once it's dry, especially the spiral bit</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBJ6DRLkUwRmGVK1tAz-bnsrA2RGrJ2F7L8gZ1UQT0Y-mLurtWQDx7oC0rTyCV_tmV-5jCYSahkX_4moOUifJPtrcuwm7C-nwQ3hXt2ob14uOa1YQHTl8RLs30BjihgCmmeZBIJFjjr6G/s1600/20170508_095632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBJ6DRLkUwRmGVK1tAz-bnsrA2RGrJ2F7L8gZ1UQT0Y-mLurtWQDx7oC0rTyCV_tmV-5jCYSahkX_4moOUifJPtrcuwm7C-nwQ3hXt2ob14uOa1YQHTl8RLs30BjihgCmmeZBIJFjjr6G/s400/20170508_095632.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtoa7pdaPmzJMMmlBnvKXem1pCMsExL28mZQC3NAy4Ptpsr7MV5Vmk32sANuCRLG9pAL21Q4nqo8BpAnuPZPbigkoSSGy2xJ-_XRDJgr3ITrVmkaTVTl3Cyra5-lGz8Pnb_gBKyTFi8K8/s1600/20170508_125817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtoa7pdaPmzJMMmlBnvKXem1pCMsExL28mZQC3NAy4Ptpsr7MV5Vmk32sANuCRLG9pAL21Q4nqo8BpAnuPZPbigkoSSGy2xJ-_XRDJgr3ITrVmkaTVTl3Cyra5-lGz8Pnb_gBKyTFi8K8/s400/20170508_125817.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another possible mold</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQbL9RFuiWKe4ehjBhAk3uCguvP5tx0cAIEOfm9u33LS2rXnJ0O3j6rFvHGtZxozjGIQ58Vt5zMlS2wimqN1qdPVFfoAzL-ghAY7tqn1rPsAlIYasP4PtfRtJGlZCAzvaSPTrlfoMSVZt/s1600/20170508_125945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQbL9RFuiWKe4ehjBhAk3uCguvP5tx0cAIEOfm9u33LS2rXnJ0O3j6rFvHGtZxozjGIQ58Vt5zMlS2wimqN1qdPVFfoAzL-ghAY7tqn1rPsAlIYasP4PtfRtJGlZCAzvaSPTrlfoMSVZt/s400/20170508_125945.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NErfLFhREg5v-OfWqrYUt4D4odrHUtv-6OoPliUnZvJiD6E0B0YR8pWksvvOEitoaJOePrDePUD3HvkmBuCP1DR1gLoEw3GaD-CSzwaEmsSrKErRWlYDaFTnC6KAuz9-gTRt98nwUaBb/s1600/20170508_131300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NErfLFhREg5v-OfWqrYUt4D4odrHUtv-6OoPliUnZvJiD6E0B0YR8pWksvvOEitoaJOePrDePUD3HvkmBuCP1DR1gLoEw3GaD-CSzwaEmsSrKErRWlYDaFTnC6KAuz9-gTRt98nwUaBb/s400/20170508_131300.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I decided to try molding inside this one</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Mp22tB8HQ2mYa5whzGyWzHZjhuV2E1kBZoy9x07THuPwu1x-w0heoZdvoh1OGUdNOFhJg58F6EQ1PIgz91YIQexogxUW-MuwKckAN_fjRn86QYYhrGvKJiHRyf8ZPX8S66OtD3cSuV_U/s1600/20170509_092305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Mp22tB8HQ2mYa5whzGyWzHZjhuV2E1kBZoy9x07THuPwu1x-w0heoZdvoh1OGUdNOFhJg58F6EQ1PIgz91YIQexogxUW-MuwKckAN_fjRn86QYYhrGvKJiHRyf8ZPX8S66OtD3cSuV_U/s400/20170509_092305.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before sanding the bowl down, you can see how rough the spiral is</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIa9i_odl7rep8wCk-bCG0YOc1sZZ2mDt-RSPxfMHVr8kbbl3QkxomEMGjio8Yq03x8vnVokWosvAKu-vNgWeAuW0tklEPvUMzIHid9KYOJ24nPHAmARKbFc-cyRqbhwuaIAqh2pKg4MG/s1600/20170509_092356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIa9i_odl7rep8wCk-bCG0YOc1sZZ2mDt-RSPxfMHVr8kbbl3QkxomEMGjio8Yq03x8vnVokWosvAKu-vNgWeAuW0tklEPvUMzIHid9KYOJ24nPHAmARKbFc-cyRqbhwuaIAqh2pKg4MG/s400/20170509_092356.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Using my new yarn bowls</td></tr>
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While I don't actually need them to knit, or even to keep my yarn from getting tangled, the little yarn bowls are fun and decorative. I think I will make some more to sell at the markets and on Etsy. Maybe I can add paint to them, or use different coloured clay to make them.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-31550989931773767662017-05-02T01:26:00.001-07:002017-05-02T01:26:37.850-07:00Cleaning out the shed...oh myIt is the end of the school holidays and I have returned to work. As a teacher this time (!!!) instead of a teacher's aide. I'm terrified at the prospect, but that's another story.<br />
As I only have a few days left of 'at home time' I decided not to waste them. I'm going to clean the shed (gasp).<br />
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Some background here; when we moved to our humpy in 2008 we had built a roof to park our caravan under which included an enclosed space in which to store all the stuff not currently in use. We moved our gear in the space of two days as we both had work to go to, so everything was just sort of dumped on the ground in the shed. It's still there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJb90L5Pvc9sumAdjjz_9Kde-Z826w_ke9Rp68-C8shfnaHfhKsdeDJbqI67nXatpZ9jsd7uwh5upKrD9UW41A6M2rn8AaFcFcqvlEzM3XvaQwgJW-hTHl2o4KUy39-imGtklagNjTEbs/s1600/20170419_105408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJb90L5Pvc9sumAdjjz_9Kde-Z826w_ke9Rp68-C8shfnaHfhKsdeDJbqI67nXatpZ9jsd7uwh5upKrD9UW41A6M2rn8AaFcFcqvlEzM3XvaQwgJW-hTHl2o4KUy39-imGtklagNjTEbs/s400/20170419_105408.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The entrance to the shed, all choked up with stuff that just wouldn't fit into the mess any more.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdq6vJaEr8M7gQMAWconoo8ggmqaB1oM6WlJwoFAwJm6WyAqyFEOme6wwUNeB2FUWOsIFNN4BLIfGumXp_ti6bnuocxoHHkb3Ef-JULKB6H4bRWOR_0jg7b56ApMe8Zcd7fqbBRbZjFi3M/s1600/20170419_105423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdq6vJaEr8M7gQMAWconoo8ggmqaB1oM6WlJwoFAwJm6WyAqyFEOme6wwUNeB2FUWOsIFNN4BLIfGumXp_ti6bnuocxoHHkb3Ef-JULKB6H4bRWOR_0jg7b56ApMe8Zcd7fqbBRbZjFi3M/s400/20170419_105423.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside this mess. I know it looks like a hoarder's hideout.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Anything we needed from the shed was dug out and moved into the humpy proper over the years, but there is a LOT of stuff that I obviously haven't missed or needed in there...somewhere. Also, my long suffering (and annoying) partner has stored his tools in the front part of the shed during that time.<br />
<br />
Now I am embarking on a whole new phase of my working life (and getting a car licence as part of that), I decided that it's time to symbolically and literally clean out the clutter. I'm not sure what is in there, but it's time to find out. Most of the contents of the shed will probably go to either the dump or (preferably) to other people's sheds. I have friends who can probably use some of it.<br />
<br />
Day one;<br />
We (my daughter and I) moved everything from in front of the doors and cleared the first little part of the tool section. Of course it decided to rain intermittently so we had to cover everything with tarps and the black snake (I call him Brian) was disturbed by all the deconstruction happening in his winter abode and decided to emerge from the mess, sending my daughter back to the house for a few hours. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgraV161BfFSoXEmJc69IIY728KxnyA3NTZDS9EBpkpjsQ9YN2AUEJVg6c-we-n2TQ5_cb4BMUEc1vdbmScyVSK1Lo0_GPgd2C_6oM6fZUz96jdvhJz1l03M-53alD0eYYS6SALwrnXmGq0/s1600/20170419_120415-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgraV161BfFSoXEmJc69IIY728KxnyA3NTZDS9EBpkpjsQ9YN2AUEJVg6c-we-n2TQ5_cb4BMUEc1vdbmScyVSK1Lo0_GPgd2C_6oM6fZUz96jdvhJz1l03M-53alD0eYYS6SALwrnXmGq0/s400/20170419_120415-0.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It looks much bigger without the junk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfE5ek_A8Sq3SrXzlmroAXvVp3GzctwZHQb39Hse17fNUq4kEWLkfDNL0GWqOjPeXn4F9-q-MgUy30uBBTS7evJ4qdlURUcb58N1zyfdHd-K0waZ83-wZv80my6fcUIJo-lCUyrtkwA3N/s1600/20170419_160921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfE5ek_A8Sq3SrXzlmroAXvVp3GzctwZHQb39Hse17fNUq4kEWLkfDNL0GWqOjPeXn4F9-q-MgUy30uBBTS7evJ4qdlURUcb58N1zyfdHd-K0waZ83-wZv80my6fcUIJo-lCUyrtkwA3N/s400/20170419_160921.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One section all ready for organising</td></tr>
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<br />
Day 2; We continued to dig out archeological finds from the mess; two drills that haven't been used in years, ten complete door locks still in their wrapping, my six crates of Fowlers bottles for preserving food. We put together some of the metal shelves we bought from Bunnings an age ago for just this purpose and began putting things away. The work is frustratingly slow as every box in there is falling to pieces, meaning that I have to pick up things (sometimes tiny things) from the ground and find new containers for them. I am enjoying getting rid of a lot of stuff though. The work continues.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigHYBvvKqxxHU4e3c2Ew6v53rfHvvcRFlsatPW0U2xJqVwvpdvHn7-bhl73oBjNIEpqV2nHPl3k08O8jUajpTzMaspIbMpfjQfAjvejG9959B4hky4be7AgeTdS1rWxCnN9zSjR0wZtRWl/s1600/20170420_121334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigHYBvvKqxxHU4e3c2Ew6v53rfHvvcRFlsatPW0U2xJqVwvpdvHn7-bhl73oBjNIEpqV2nHPl3k08O8jUajpTzMaspIbMpfjQfAjvejG9959B4hky4be7AgeTdS1rWxCnN9zSjR0wZtRWl/s400/20170420_121334.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see some order happening</td></tr>
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<br />
Day 3; My daughter used old coffee jars (the big glass ones) to re-home countless bolts, screws, nails and mysterious bits of metal. Now all we need are some more shelves to put them on. I am returning to work this week so work on the shed will be a lot slower for a while, it will get done though.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4DdC6v62uVPGFTAzYEuWCtQzH3g8Dwu0w2GJqP2E7T0nobXihzpD9-Fb9jlevK3P-YqbBXFbxsLDAgIujnHMvvG-k_qt56p2znKXPHDp7FTY2YFK3bLgJfVqw5GOnG0P4nMIIpsZUj-vp/s1600/20170423_160309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4DdC6v62uVPGFTAzYEuWCtQzH3g8Dwu0w2GJqP2E7T0nobXihzpD9-Fb9jlevK3P-YqbBXFbxsLDAgIujnHMvvG-k_qt56p2znKXPHDp7FTY2YFK3bLgJfVqw5GOnG0P4nMIIpsZUj-vp/s400/20170423_160309.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Things are starting to go back into the shed.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgorzeO7tkBvkG5eOfxazxWScOKX-XOVsbc3c9YXBDWx5cbYNb6ZdisCQgOzdT8C-cS5Yq6FV_6H0_zn60JR_LdZ1i9nGbmPWsb8C6RqvNRbU0DkmnxJ8-ocl2Elt28hIkgYJ1JDzen6CAX/s1600/20170423_113949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgorzeO7tkBvkG5eOfxazxWScOKX-XOVsbc3c9YXBDWx5cbYNb6ZdisCQgOzdT8C-cS5Yq6FV_6H0_zn60JR_LdZ1i9nGbmPWsb8C6RqvNRbU0DkmnxJ8-ocl2Elt28hIkgYJ1JDzen6CAX/s400/20170423_113949.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We put up some brackets to hang things on the wall. That pile of stuff behind my partner is all his to put away.</td></tr>
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Day 5: We continue to work on the shed project...very slowly. We found a couple of old (very dead) fridges that we are using to house my partner's tool collection which keeps all his electrical stuff out of the dust, moisture and marauding rodents. I also found a series of old hurricane lamps that I had been keeping 'just in case'. I decided to put them in the humpy as decoration, and as a backup for lighting (they are still fully functional).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XP1c246HCAF4ZlbG2H3vBxAUra-zubaSelaUkPE5xYlRx0Mjbw7JoCbWoc8MU4C1AjaPg2sjaLIhVVvYF46ppk1mANp_OrDOE64ulN4KJP6DzTWmSRTB9znxcyifNCtY32AL6-0WjvE8/s1600/20170501_181122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XP1c246HCAF4ZlbG2H3vBxAUra-zubaSelaUkPE5xYlRx0Mjbw7JoCbWoc8MU4C1AjaPg2sjaLIhVVvYF46ppk1mANp_OrDOE64ulN4KJP6DzTWmSRTB9znxcyifNCtY32AL6-0WjvE8/s400/20170501_181122.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All lined up</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgADJONcIIBuvLoYwMpuVsnp8D_BVs5qNLeHUyipV1meNBzjyC7ocpooB9E74X3y5AQXAa2LSzsH2JOTqdhdT8enQsfQcWS96fELv9sx-wxDsTFtPlL7QzbIMFnhs2dSQIuP7TOXCTPxh3m/s1600/20170501_181222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgADJONcIIBuvLoYwMpuVsnp8D_BVs5qNLeHUyipV1meNBzjyC7ocpooB9E74X3y5AQXAa2LSzsH2JOTqdhdT8enQsfQcWS96fELv9sx-wxDsTFtPlL7QzbIMFnhs2dSQIuP7TOXCTPxh3m/s400/20170501_181222.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just love old stuff</td></tr>
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<br />
I was hoping to delay this post until the shed was a shining example of organisation and cleanliness, but it now seems that that vision is a fair way in the future so this will become a two part post. It may not seem to be any neater from my photos, but I assure you it is much better. I look forward to the day when the shed is done. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-8020112882653273672017-04-28T20:00:00.001-07:002017-04-28T20:00:48.242-07:00Meet Primrose the Rainbow Lorikeet <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLsuntHt8ijk9ai-_CwRgwCwLcMzEryL3p0zWvRvuA4QgITFGHokkvM0HN_u4XZweRF2yToDu4TMSvNxzIq_Ot-DcYpAZeYSGaFxlnAIqv18y82Oiqj-VPz9CdZejIaoSAYmQ3YnW7o2w/s1600/20170409_123023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLsuntHt8ijk9ai-_CwRgwCwLcMzEryL3p0zWvRvuA4QgITFGHokkvM0HN_u4XZweRF2yToDu4TMSvNxzIq_Ot-DcYpAZeYSGaFxlnAIqv18y82Oiqj-VPz9CdZejIaoSAYmQ3YnW7o2w/s400/20170409_123023.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Primrose, or Prim for short</td></tr>
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Way back in January some time we had a text from a friend who had been approached by someone with a baby bird who needed care. Of course our friend contacted us straight away, because we have become known in our area as the repository of lame ducks, flightless birds and white elephants. Of course we said to bring the baby bird over and we would see what we could do, because we are in fact the repository for all creatures great and small in need of help.<br />
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Our first report said that this baby bird was a rosella, so we emergency bought a huge bag of granivore mix (for seed eating birds like rosellas). Feeling very prepared and organised, we set up a nursery cage with soft fabric as a nest and hot water jars for heat.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtaY3KlWIKN5OwlOjRiXY_sHbNFV5RmTWOB70AH69dl2YCfnI-NLJzSLOSfFkiPuv-FDL8Lqt7YmLF3VqHjii-ySu5R9iij8kFU0kgBK7roR97wLgG2DmQ-SdS9xoJOnuanBzUYRvx96S/s1600/20170128_082535.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtaY3KlWIKN5OwlOjRiXY_sHbNFV5RmTWOB70AH69dl2YCfnI-NLJzSLOSfFkiPuv-FDL8Lqt7YmLF3VqHjii-ySu5R9iij8kFU0kgBK7roR97wLgG2DmQ-SdS9xoJOnuanBzUYRvx96S/s400/20170128_082535.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first sight of Prim</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJgbBf9OIzPbWVLrrzkKndt-Lr-4WaeivWMPgv3d-NNlBxvP6Di6rgAX1BR63BvMVPzw-2PnsBkudZ-I4B1r67q2qQdOY9knxTLvbbNKfJh9XS3KV5NFwm11Wf46vviUP4sooDQ8swANT/s1600/%2527s+rosella+2+-+compressed.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJgbBf9OIzPbWVLrrzkKndt-Lr-4WaeivWMPgv3d-NNlBxvP6Di6rgAX1BR63BvMVPzw-2PnsBkudZ-I4B1r67q2qQdOY9knxTLvbbNKfJh9XS3KV5NFwm11Wf46vviUP4sooDQ8swANT/s400/%2527s+rosella+2+-+compressed.JPG" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what a baby rosella looks like (from a bird raising site)</td></tr>
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When our friend delivered this baby bird in a shoe box, we had a peek inside and felt a lot less prepared; she was obviously a <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Trichoglossus-haematodus">Rainbow lorikeet</a> (the blue head is a dead giveaway), luckily the people who rescued her had been feeding her organic baby food (fruit and vegetable mush) which is fine for either species. If she had been fed granivore mix she would have had a very upset tummy and would possibly have died.<br />
<br />
We had some nectivore mix (for birds that eat nectar and pollen, like lorikeets and honey eaters) in the cupboard for Barry (the Blue faced honey eater) so we fed her that for a few days until we could get some nectivore mix especially for baby birds. She was in very good condition, not dehydrated or thin at all, so her transition to humpy living was relatively easy.<br />
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Apparently she had fallen or been blown from her nest into a mud puddle in a storm, then picked up by a large dog who took her home to his place. The people who rescued her (from their dog) had just put her in a warm box and fed her, so she was still covered in dried mud and dog slobber. We were also worried that the dog may have hurt her, although after two or three days in her rescuer's hands she had not shown any sign of injury. As it turned out she had no injuries. Our first move was to give her a warm bath to remove the mud, which was causing her some irritation, as were her feathers as they grew in.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_26XiM8if43filT-vIBilTQ7gNL4D4knmAaZZ2qBzkJbn3Z_LNg1ma1CiA-R0YShJpGcpheojv5x4tkJFqlhIRnfMazai6H_Akojsx3K_AfrXMtLayrZbX6qqEfX0AB0RkyKeg2fh0Rh/s1600/20170129_110424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_26XiM8if43filT-vIBilTQ7gNL4D4knmAaZZ2qBzkJbn3Z_LNg1ma1CiA-R0YShJpGcpheojv5x4tkJFqlhIRnfMazai6H_Akojsx3K_AfrXMtLayrZbX6qqEfX0AB0RkyKeg2fh0Rh/s400/20170129_110424.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, this is the 'baby in the bath' photo</td></tr>
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It took two baths to remove the majority of the mud and Prim herself groomed the rest off. She was fed and changed just like a baby for weeks after that and just like a baby she cried at night and had to be fed on a four hourly basis. Needless to say nobody in the house got much sleep until she gained enough weight to sleep through the night. Luckily my eldest daughter took on all of the child rearing duties (making Prim a grand daughter I suppose), she feeds her, changes her cage and keeps her amused for hours at a time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6VURwuOMerCEGSnIFiVntFimJQ5QYfX9oaxF5s4QnRY81Wj-yPWE1Il7U3rqciRkqlgfxf__DixXgLmUCiw5bnGrvp87FzT8PfSW9bHdl85OHtiPucE2g4P101dPaI5PNO6-uE-Zo8gA/s1600/20170204_164128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6VURwuOMerCEGSnIFiVntFimJQ5QYfX9oaxF5s4QnRY81Wj-yPWE1Il7U3rqciRkqlgfxf__DixXgLmUCiw5bnGrvp87FzT8PfSW9bHdl85OHtiPucE2g4P101dPaI5PNO6-uE-Zo8gA/s400/20170204_164128.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After a week more of her feathers had come through and she looked like a bird not a dinosaur</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkp-M90kAK_HJ9QP3FpHb-41pyp7To5zQai7bLw5zGiEm8K5r3FFCDmNeKZqK1jqOoQtAFZXEcqbfJjfn0HFjWeu1PDx77xTsrxg5Mt5pKvOK8vXt2NGBJ2Yl_TYlYYkEVVYHwRek8U4b/s1600/20170310_165550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkp-M90kAK_HJ9QP3FpHb-41pyp7To5zQai7bLw5zGiEm8K5r3FFCDmNeKZqK1jqOoQtAFZXEcqbfJjfn0HFjWeu1PDx77xTsrxg5Mt5pKvOK8vXt2NGBJ2Yl_TYlYYkEVVYHwRek8U4b/s400/20170310_165550.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She loves to groom hair</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj65qtHBf5nO8KnbEnR8eKFZ2FfEkJxBOLd8xBPAiwYbGIZX3urV7cGb_z3vUF0NszUMgEkxnwEcBluezs6dRgD59HWYjBDmQr0fcgnNLGr9mV03HYDHV2p9_L1ThELcpSd8hVYjvFnTBHL/s1600/20170328_181451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj65qtHBf5nO8KnbEnR8eKFZ2FfEkJxBOLd8xBPAiwYbGIZX3urV7cGb_z3vUF0NszUMgEkxnwEcBluezs6dRgD59HWYjBDmQr0fcgnNLGr9mV03HYDHV2p9_L1ThELcpSd8hVYjvFnTBHL/s400/20170328_181451.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She loves to groom herself</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCM7hypLsqu_P7EtPYGJtRQs22ABQd1Q73jksBjMgZxxhyaEvLcXFkQrZ3tcjtnUd-FbApGbXyCjFwATSVJLXLhJqiHMjX_OD14dlHcIIuQXAHUxgZTo0OEbERxw3oNdNr7MaaWquCSk-/s1600/20170330_141117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCM7hypLsqu_P7EtPYGJtRQs22ABQd1Q73jksBjMgZxxhyaEvLcXFkQrZ3tcjtnUd-FbApGbXyCjFwATSVJLXLhJqiHMjX_OD14dlHcIIuQXAHUxgZTo0OEbERxw3oNdNr7MaaWquCSk-/s400/20170330_141117.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She sleeps on her back a lot of the time</td></tr>
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Prim is a delight to have around, even if she is a bit naughty. She learned to fly very young and flew out the window into a tall gum tree, where she stayed for two nerve wracking days. She couldn't work out how to fly down and kept calling to us for food but not understanding that we had no way to get to her. Eventually my daughter and I took an extension ladder out to the tree and my daughter climbed up as far as she was able then coaxed Prim into trying to fly to her. Prim launched herself into the air towards my daughter, who leaned out as far as she could from the ladder and snatched Prim from the air, everyone concerned let out a startled squawk and Prim was safe once more. It was decided to clip some of her flight feathers to slow down her development a little. This is not something we usually do as it can be really hard for birds to develop flight muscles if they don't do it young, but she would have starved on her own as she was only just beginning to learn to feed herself.<br />
Prim has become my daughter's closest feathered friend since she lost her galah George last year but we all love her and delight in her antics. She has taken to screaming what sounds like "Up yours!!!" at my partner when he gets home from work (I don't know where she got that from) but she loves him and will make her way across the furniture, floor and sometimes dogs to get to him for a play as soon as he is sitting down. She supervises the cutting up of fruit and vegetables to feed all the birds (galahs, cockatiels, budgies, miners and a crippled finch) in the mornings, bouncing up and down on the shoulder of whoever is doing the cutting and screeching advice. She watches movies with us and loves to snuggle down to snooze in my knitting (all birds love knitting it seems) or in someone's hands. She sings along with music and really love the Hilltop Hoods, but isn't so fond of M&M (I found that strange as she often sounds like she's swearing). The joys of opening your house to creatures in need are many, they make all the work worth while. Prim will be popping up in posts for a while from now on, until she decides it is time to join the wild flocks and find herself a life. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-2887573954712790332017-04-19T16:05:00.001-07:002017-04-19T16:08:56.395-07:00Using old washing machines as garden bedsHere at the humpy we use everything again. My philosophy is to use, reuse, upcycle and hopefully compost anything that can't be of further use. One of the things that pass through our home fairly regularly is washing machines. I don't know why but I am hard on them. We use twin tubs to do our washing as we can save a HUGE amount of water by re-using wash water (and carefully sorting loads from cleanish to filthy) and twin tubs make it easier to bucket the used water out to water the garden. On average a washing machine will last for three years here before having some kind of catastrophic melt down, after which we fix it as best we can or buy another one (usually second hand, explaining the short life span). I have been stock piling the old machines in the yard waiting for inspiration to hit. My daughter was inspired to set them up as garden beds for vegetables recently.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhRcke2CIzZ_92vMKKRUErkY515BOgAd3FKR6cZ3Dzih19Rk0gydLdN3XY7e0F2IZ2NcdTh-3lz6Bt8C9KUjKrkLbcksi5piywkKcOuJ68a0PNWWSWfKwOMjGEI79rFUnMH_8G5SSZcn0/s1600/20170412_083800_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhRcke2CIzZ_92vMKKRUErkY515BOgAd3FKR6cZ3Dzih19Rk0gydLdN3XY7e0F2IZ2NcdTh-3lz6Bt8C9KUjKrkLbcksi5piywkKcOuJ68a0PNWWSWfKwOMjGEI79rFUnMH_8G5SSZcn0/s400/20170412_083800_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three washing machines and three chest freezers equals a lot of growing space</td></tr>
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She took some timber rounds from the wood pile to use as legs for the new beds, this improves visibility under and around the beds (so we can see when Brian the black snake is around) and also gets the growing area above duck notice height. The washing machines and some stray chest freezers we had laying around were set up on their new legs along one wall of the humpy ready for filling with soil.<br />
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Since I have become obsessed with Hugelkultur I have been experimenting with places to put wood in the garden, this seemed like the perfect time to experiment. We collected heaps of old, half rotted branches from the ground around the humpy (within wheelbarrow distance) and filled the bottoms of the new beds. Then we used compost from the bottom of the chook pen (made from food scraps, straw, cardboard and newspaper all mixed with chook poo) to fill the rest of the beds. We planted peas, silverbeet, carrots and beetroot in the new areas.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawN36sZKMOnEUr9A-ArXsaP5Hvtx8iwOVJ1MdxzBcc1K6ANuVACBRZxypln1TK028EsLfaia-JW8DBofhyPtRvZNu7brXgsJzw15etp_t2cwfjaVvSLoC314uJttF-lZOrZbZctg8UYtM/s1600/20160516_165730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawN36sZKMOnEUr9A-ArXsaP5Hvtx8iwOVJ1MdxzBcc1K6ANuVACBRZxypln1TK028EsLfaia-JW8DBofhyPtRvZNu7brXgsJzw15etp_t2cwfjaVvSLoC314uJttF-lZOrZbZctg8UYtM/s400/20160516_165730.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It looks a mess, but chooks make great compost.</td></tr>
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The peas and beetroot are up and thriving so far.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYLNhPiLtZ6zX3xX1zdZvlgZ1GnjwiQvYnDaV4EgWTL0Yqv6Z0oA7DBxIdsLPWUsUlxEhO5JD31qAiywaj7rahB81laTbNVfQqh2Rf2lzIlH3_E-LPt8CS_7erY9R5k8tFLT9j0n5BlyN1/s1600/20170408_131022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYLNhPiLtZ6zX3xX1zdZvlgZ1GnjwiQvYnDaV4EgWTL0Yqv6Z0oA7DBxIdsLPWUsUlxEhO5JD31qAiywaj7rahB81laTbNVfQqh2Rf2lzIlH3_E-LPt8CS_7erY9R5k8tFLT9j0n5BlyN1/s400/20170408_131022.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tAe_s5bHwIUgOrgauxL_tjmPpqQXaTRWyZdRfivjRnirXe9f14_1ivLgQPvvq2saJE5IoaWexy-8Pbp5Fdb2mmc5hUxAzEHol1LopewKCV-1oz9JqVmjPFt3cU6w9PzbmucN5pCEick4/s1600/20170419_143618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tAe_s5bHwIUgOrgauxL_tjmPpqQXaTRWyZdRfivjRnirXe9f14_1ivLgQPvvq2saJE5IoaWexy-8Pbp5Fdb2mmc5hUxAzEHol1LopewKCV-1oz9JqVmjPFt3cU6w9PzbmucN5pCEick4/s400/20170419_143618.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peas at the back so they can climb the wire trellis against the wall and carrots in the front</td></tr>
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We use pretty much anything that will hold soil to make garden beds here;<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpV1n1gFeTOwDH0ZkEMUVpVflCkeGSO3KlArgJ7SXoYbMGF5XuDXls-slMYDO1uYh_6RtrCjmsTuf8x5q9uySagFk-BW26RntJngY4X_y0aG3qrQNmYXKtbJ7XkH1Le7npyLIvf5GadiGq/s1600/20160804_101305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpV1n1gFeTOwDH0ZkEMUVpVflCkeGSO3KlArgJ7SXoYbMGF5XuDXls-slMYDO1uYh_6RtrCjmsTuf8x5q9uySagFk-BW26RntJngY4X_y0aG3qrQNmYXKtbJ7XkH1Le7npyLIvf5GadiGq/s400/20160804_101305.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old tires</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYykJQSjsRCXSMH3P9L3J8g3qbqCEexTNtVaFLLTH6ZKjA8tnq-kzKdSMTHQZdg1tf24mNlKRjPSvrIeGI3sxqGMWPUP0WlGi_RsTtMPdXZ9-PGd8i4pJ378EVxMrc8pOoRnIIUiIJ799/s1600/20170412_083722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYykJQSjsRCXSMH3P9L3J8g3qbqCEexTNtVaFLLTH6ZKjA8tnq-kzKdSMTHQZdg1tf24mNlKRjPSvrIeGI3sxqGMWPUP0WlGi_RsTtMPdXZ9-PGd8i4pJ378EVxMrc8pOoRnIIUiIJ799/s400/20170412_083722.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanks cut in half</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZQox2bq59c3zC9qJNhCVkS0CXKH43yTtNmqeqQroRuPIdLnyb1imRqLsdjOS4Z8yHAMu-DuMryeZRBYGcVZqt8jZBr10LsKUr87W497HdhCA5BFGCaBIVIJGeJyGcEyea4gWvgz-4dEG/s1600/20160804_100804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZQox2bq59c3zC9qJNhCVkS0CXKH43yTtNmqeqQroRuPIdLnyb1imRqLsdjOS4Z8yHAMu-DuMryeZRBYGcVZqt8jZBr10LsKUr87W497HdhCA5BFGCaBIVIJGeJyGcEyea4gWvgz-4dEG/s400/20160804_100804.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A trailer someone left here too long</td></tr>
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Tell me about how you upcycle your rubbish.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-16449432647961901752017-04-14T16:20:00.000-07:002017-04-14T16:27:49.933-07:00New crayons from old<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have been in a real crafting frenzy this week, it's school holidays and for the first time in almost five years I don't have uni assignments pending. So I am taking this opportunity to make a heap of stuff for my Etsy store and markets, clean out some of the junk from my craft room and just plain enjoy not having to limit my time on craft stuff to get work stuff done.</div>
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When I go back to work (as a teacher this time!!!) I will be back to the daily struggle of trying to find time to do any craft, but for now...let the good times roll.</div>
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Today's offering is making new crayons by melting old ones. I cleaned out the crayon boxes at school and ended up bringing home a bucket full of broken old crayons and pastels. They have been sitting in my craft room for a term or two and today is the day I do something about it.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaeFFkdtiIk4hTDLV04AoHQrmWTq6wvQddBBrBNpd5WYHnIOJAZ9jO4mwU3B8CRUFqqwlNVWxDb6UU-CRvWdQAyKU7j5HCNTSPX1yUNVIKOnfuN0h7nGAmFyWgFX7bx_S2-WuMAtU-ODvi/s1600/20170414_090826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaeFFkdtiIk4hTDLV04AoHQrmWTq6wvQddBBrBNpd5WYHnIOJAZ9jO4mwU3B8CRUFqqwlNVWxDb6UU-CRvWdQAyKU7j5HCNTSPX1yUNVIKOnfuN0h7nGAmFyWgFX7bx_S2-WuMAtU-ODvi/s400/20170414_090826.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of old crayons.</td></tr>
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First the research; </div>
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I found<a href="http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/979355/make-old-crayons-like-new-with-diy-craft"> instructions</a> for melting them directly into ice cube trays.</div>
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How to <a href="http://nourishingjoy.com/how-to-make-crayons/">make crayons</a> from scratch.</div>
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How to<a href="http://www.theottoolbox.com/2014/09/how-to-make-crayon-play-dough-recipe.html"> make play dough</a> using old crayons.</div>
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How to <a href="http://www.brit.co/color-block-candles/">make candles</a> from old crayons.</div>
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How to <a href="http://www.momdot.com/2-ingredient-crayon-lipgloss/">make lip gloss</a> from old crayons.</div>
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There is so much you can do with broken crayons that I started to wish I had more of them. </div>
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First I tried to melt them in a silicone mold to make cute little duck shaped crayons. That's when I discovered that different brands and colours have a different melting point. Some melted and some didn't. So I melted them in a double boiler to avoid the lumpy duck outcome.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHhBDOkehYCI65okVg2Nl32XbED0RFt7tGapboBd8bIz-_7x8_MixAyg6RXwToYOiViejJJLAXiTJCOivoU5Wp16utcipqy0r9KHnj9MFkcAL0s4zEyBwIcogizlakExjJ3VHeID7M2l8/s1600/20170414_090833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHhBDOkehYCI65okVg2Nl32XbED0RFt7tGapboBd8bIz-_7x8_MixAyg6RXwToYOiViejJJLAXiTJCOivoU5Wp16utcipqy0r9KHnj9MFkcAL0s4zEyBwIcogizlakExjJ3VHeID7M2l8/s400/20170414_090833.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some melt faster than others.</td></tr>
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I spooned the melted wax into my duck mold and waited...<br />
The resulting crayons were cute but a bit brittle, so I decided to add a little bit of beeswax to each melt to give the crayons a softer, smoother texture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My duck mold has seen a lot of wax today</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I added grated beeswax to the pot</td></tr>
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That did the trick and the crayons were lovely little coloured ducks. My next refinement was so obvious I completely missed it while perusing all those tutorials; I decided to crush the crayons before plonking them in the double boiler to melt. I put them into a plastic bag and whacked them with a hammer until they were mush. So satisfying, and they melted faster and a lot more evenly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcyLc2lKLNW3EbrnJ1C2MmQPiltZMnXR4_XbzycIQ31YQI4CxxUfHUuwZ_FlQjzX49_-anGjdkEJOq_stBvs9D_Q2lAolEYhIlJixGhe_YHjlKnDOv-xbDCCthstp4rzI_s8ygN-C55-d/s1600/20170414_102957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcyLc2lKLNW3EbrnJ1C2MmQPiltZMnXR4_XbzycIQ31YQI4CxxUfHUuwZ_FlQjzX49_-anGjdkEJOq_stBvs9D_Q2lAolEYhIlJixGhe_YHjlKnDOv-xbDCCthstp4rzI_s8ygN-C55-d/s400/20170414_102957.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My crayon crushing system</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjds16ox24PTQs-EKZS_BTSFnQgQbaylvpyxqwnLZavHBQAvdIVDzcmqm__JSUTHJQ00np_vBLowFVeZGt8C95E4sRMKIwGBLvefgtPdk1p10aFGOmV2tAGgnmSwKvPjUiZpmn3sapEra6G/s1600/20170414_102728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjds16ox24PTQs-EKZS_BTSFnQgQbaylvpyxqwnLZavHBQAvdIVDzcmqm__JSUTHJQ00np_vBLowFVeZGt8C95E4sRMKIwGBLvefgtPdk1p10aFGOmV2tAGgnmSwKvPjUiZpmn3sapEra6G/s400/20170414_102728.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More colours.</td></tr>
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I wiped the pot out between colours, but a lot of staining remained, this made the colour outcome somewhat...exciting and unpredictable. Just the way I like it.<br />
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My end result is some cute, but not really crisp and neat, duck crayons.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIuBkZ91uumthgJN3JWggxUvEl-0sE4UTV0_Yl6oeTJdZZxu7gPo_O6KS84eG-Ukcau8KIk-zteYtjvwhXLdpM5zPes0pbdRTxFfJwj65Orq7gBVdUDntbC8TfAkfhOnrNUYbmbNbasBMB/s1600/20170414_102805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIuBkZ91uumthgJN3JWggxUvEl-0sE4UTV0_Yl6oeTJdZZxu7gPo_O6KS84eG-Ukcau8KIk-zteYtjvwhXLdpM5zPes0pbdRTxFfJwj65Orq7gBVdUDntbC8TfAkfhOnrNUYbmbNbasBMB/s400/20170414_102805.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of my finished ducks. They are fairly neat on one side but very rough on the other.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPr5Btksbg-5593ghvfTspoGlkvBZqnLlHIpr6hpSYJ5eguZzPs7SWsn2D-B21ZDyk3620qOlsmaJNrdhoF3B39TiIZVQzaNHT131Vf8faspo5dOxPMdD1C8__LOsiygDkw1FeTKfOxh0/s1600/20170414_103021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPr5Btksbg-5593ghvfTspoGlkvBZqnLlHIpr6hpSYJ5eguZzPs7SWsn2D-B21ZDyk3620qOlsmaJNrdhoF3B39TiIZVQzaNHT131Vf8faspo5dOxPMdD1C8__LOsiygDkw1FeTKfOxh0/s400/20170414_103021.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But they work.</td></tr>
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I am thinking of making up little packs of recycled crayons for the markets and my Etsy shop. What do you think? I have no idea what to charge for them, given that they are a waste resource, but someone may as well be using them rather than just throwing them in the bin.<br />
I am also thinking that this activity might be fun to do with the kids at school, we could make little hearts for Mother's Day.<br />
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I wonder what else I can make from these old crayons?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-91939912252858986812017-04-13T23:55:00.000-07:002017-04-13T23:55:01.841-07:00Making resin drop spindlesI have been wanting to try molded resin for quite a while now; I see all those gorgeous You Tube videos about embedding wood or flowers or dead butterflies in resin and it gets my creative nature going. So off I went to order some resin online...<br />
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I did the usual internet search for tutorials and such, <a href="http://youturn.tv/resin-n-wood-the-basics/">You Turn TV</a> had the best information and explanations I could find about how to choose, mix and embed items in resin. Armed with this information, my resin kit, a few molds I bought on a whim on Ebay and piles of otherwise useless junk from around the house I set about making some resin stuff...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJ1mPzCPKS3Dqup0SphFenSKRIO-0zIQyHG1NJhc5PCBJ868KFNJCvG-824H_eb85QqA3XylqEw6Kdq_17NA2ZjmOrzWcFyE6oG5-m32za6XF0Z3uF3FeYTknRtUDySRgVwaWXvrviTqv/s1600/20170412_102117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJ1mPzCPKS3Dqup0SphFenSKRIO-0zIQyHG1NJhc5PCBJ868KFNJCvG-824H_eb85QqA3XylqEw6Kdq_17NA2ZjmOrzWcFyE6oG5-m32za6XF0Z3uF3FeYTknRtUDySRgVwaWXvrviTqv/s400/20170412_102117.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The resin and hardener that came in my kit.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9mHTwUI2GIGXFcr_B9u1SaRAegOpL4PsnjCKJnmZHNdaJw0-AOJeANgdbcHxQSxjW2KBn78nvnmY2LR0ry4A7Sb6SQep7v_grJ-KHNm_kOdqxJnkkjs9EV3WnvDaCGH5CVh4O1MS2yQP/s1600/20170412_102133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9mHTwUI2GIGXFcr_B9u1SaRAegOpL4PsnjCKJnmZHNdaJw0-AOJeANgdbcHxQSxjW2KBn78nvnmY2LR0ry4A7Sb6SQep7v_grJ-KHNm_kOdqxJnkkjs9EV3WnvDaCGH5CVh4O1MS2yQP/s400/20170412_102133.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too short pencils, beads and glitter, my test embedding materials.</td></tr>
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Resins all have a two part mixing system; you add a chemical hardener to a resin base to make a liquid which will harden to a solid over time. The time it takes to harden varies wildly due to resin type (there are three main types), brand (many, many brands) the weather (faster setting in hot weather) and quite possibly the way you hold your mouth while mixing it (from my own experiments). My kit said to mix two parts resin with one part hardener, all the kits I looked at had a different ratio or measurement method; some measured by volume, some by weight, the one I bought measured by volume so it was easy to do. Epoxy resin (which is the kit I bought), has a long pot life, meaning
it takes a while to harden once the resin and hardener are mixed
together, this allows me to fuss around with it quite a bit.<br />
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My first step was to find a few molds to hold the resin while it sets. I had a couple of pendent molds and a set of ring molds that I bought on a whim so I dug those out of the overflowing craft room. I also found some round takeaway containers that had formerly held tartar sauce; these little beauties sparked the idea of making spindle whorls because they were exactly the right size and depth. So I now had a project in mind...resin drop spindles.<br />
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Second step was to prepare all the junk to be embedded, I just cut up some pencil stubs and mixed some glitter and stuff. I collect the pencil stubs from work (schools use a huge number of pencils every year and when they are too short to be sharpened again they are thrown out, unless I'm there), the glitter and bits were saved from craft activities I had done with my daughters in the past. I then mixed up my resin and hardener; this took a while as you have to make sure the two are well combined then wait for the bubbles to clear, it took about five minutes to do this part.<br />
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Third step was to pour the resin into the molds with the embeds in them. I made some spindle whorls with pencil stubs, glitter and beads in them.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIpfriiQhThXPYuL2BwlhWuI4epqZikLtl1KMWP3w_dr5QU9zqg84diPGGpyNcYp3l0aflzKG3LoH3cViI3wb_OZIzNsJzk7HSe5vzdJwq3bTt22_DEPAGbdEo8_q2P8PRhB7arjqtny2/s1600/20170412_104355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIpfriiQhThXPYuL2BwlhWuI4epqZikLtl1KMWP3w_dr5QU9zqg84diPGGpyNcYp3l0aflzKG3LoH3cViI3wb_OZIzNsJzk7HSe5vzdJwq3bTt22_DEPAGbdEo8_q2P8PRhB7arjqtny2/s400/20170412_104355.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That is one of the little takeaway pot filled with pencil stubs beside my resin ready to be poured.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoaJxckWO0KiHLaATiA70XwiPX5vyIy6NsIRDgTCsVTd3X8U0uexJ3OXCA93kiaz5L1ztUmBoxUEdyGToX-VJFd9sit2WW7MqJE4OvAt8alcxHvRaCt8C541WfaEj_2N-SJp1YhfUNfqs/s1600/20170412_111808.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoaJxckWO0KiHLaATiA70XwiPX5vyIy6NsIRDgTCsVTd3X8U0uexJ3OXCA93kiaz5L1ztUmBoxUEdyGToX-VJFd9sit2WW7MqJE4OvAt8alcxHvRaCt8C541WfaEj_2N-SJp1YhfUNfqs/s400/20170412_111808.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some filled molds, yes I did spill some resin and make a HUGE mess of the table. The little round things are the ring molds.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEhzUdXwCLfnDO3FnSCCoBpLS-C2l6E1oyptVmx7r7s6kKxDTBJ0rujHE-eABk5KK_f0DUg1-9pQ2pTlDfeyl64JfAr63WzlwCI3iDWB3bbM1lKiQavvxlwffJ9osCxrPJP06Lt8MHs5fI/s1600/20170412_111826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEhzUdXwCLfnDO3FnSCCoBpLS-C2l6E1oyptVmx7r7s6kKxDTBJ0rujHE-eABk5KK_f0DUg1-9pQ2pTlDfeyl64JfAr63WzlwCI3iDWB3bbM1lKiQavvxlwffJ9osCxrPJP06Lt8MHs5fI/s400/20170412_111826.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I tried the bottoms of plastic cups as molds too.</td></tr>
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The next morning....after the resin had all set I took everything out of the molds. Only breaking one whorl in the process. I also scrapped up all the bits of resin left sticking to the table after I spilled one of the molds. It had embedded the newspaper onto the table top (luckily nobody here notices a new scar on the table) but it peeled off eventually. I ended up with three usable whorls, five rings and a couple of pendents.<br />
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I borrowed my partner's drill and drilled some holes in what I thought was the middle of the whorls. As it turns out they are all slightly off center due to my poor measuring skills, but that has worked to my advantage as the finished drop spindles keep spinning for much longer than my more balanced ones (that was a happy accident). I stuck some dowel through the holes and screwed in a tiny little cup hook at the end, I also strung them up with a leader thread so I could test them.<br />
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All the pieces I made had to be sanded down to get rid of any sharp edges or lumpy bits, but it didn't take too long. I just used the sanding attachment on the drill.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-t-Ih55rvfNDQIS9DMEUb4ETvtPNBPRmFx3rHIoFF42UwzfdhU4EqfKasiorlDHtndhijSqhyphenhyphenXOMx7fTHhuywibrGwmeW986Ko14IDcUTj8JK4KMc-heRlsNe4-127DdGy28MWLt-g82/s1600/20170414_150812-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-t-Ih55rvfNDQIS9DMEUb4ETvtPNBPRmFx3rHIoFF42UwzfdhU4EqfKasiorlDHtndhijSqhyphenhyphenXOMx7fTHhuywibrGwmeW986Ko14IDcUTj8JK4KMc-heRlsNe4-127DdGy28MWLt-g82/s400/20170414_150812-0.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drilling a hole in the whorl</td></tr>
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They work really well and look kind of pretty too (at least I think so). I will be selling these little spindles at the next market stall, or maybe on Etsy. Making resin whorls was so much fun I just might include it on my list of permanent craft activities. It uses up all those little bits and pieces of stuff that I seem to collect, like too short pencils and a half cup of mixed glitter. It makes a surprisingly beautiful whorl for a drop spindle and it's a lot of fun...on the down side though, it can make a mess, it's basically plastic and needs constant purchases of resin and hardener. Still...it is a lot of fun.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC9lhnxHIgQmL2KxwzWlznrjqkEpC-yyIC7NFBFD7TARG9yQeFK-HlqSgbj-3MrAN03ZrTbDixjPNy5a53HtwEWEZIk0WrzAuu7yobTuBUAD4MuWXDkaNgXBXWxqys0BAIG4ur-h5PIko2/s1600/20170414_150634-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC9lhnxHIgQmL2KxwzWlznrjqkEpC-yyIC7NFBFD7TARG9yQeFK-HlqSgbj-3MrAN03ZrTbDixjPNy5a53HtwEWEZIk0WrzAuu7yobTuBUAD4MuWXDkaNgXBXWxqys0BAIG4ur-h5PIko2/s400/20170414_150634-0.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihp79bh9i522HVsCi8zsTFGlSj6TVWnW-YbcxQpXwJOzeGbEBITI-M9W75sZX3EwCDQy4yIBp6mLNEvWHKDVCnSQeIPXLLwkE3a5Hk0cCzG6nPKC6vHKbxVkEJvuWTaAtU9joke67AZklY/s1600/20170414_151656-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihp79bh9i522HVsCi8zsTFGlSj6TVWnW-YbcxQpXwJOzeGbEBITI-M9W75sZX3EwCDQy4yIBp6mLNEvWHKDVCnSQeIPXLLwkE3a5Hk0cCzG6nPKC6vHKbxVkEJvuWTaAtU9joke67AZklY/s400/20170414_151656-0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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What do you think?<br />
I will post pictures of the rings I am making in another post. I'm trying to figure out how to embed fabric scraps and feathers into rings and bangles.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-62345922272708750732017-04-11T16:32:00.000-07:002017-04-11T16:34:09.526-07:00Our dog packA lot of people have a dog or dogs; where we live most people have at least three. Many years ago I met a man who had a beautiful blue heeler, she was a
young dog at the time and was very friendly. He told us we couldn't pat
or talk to her as she was being trained, so we didn't. He used an
authoritative manner with her and often spoke roughly to her, he never
hit her in our presence and I don't believe he did out of our sight
either. He was very proud of the tricks she could do (sit, lay down,
roll over, climb a ladder, etc), but never praised her for them. She had to stay in the car when at our place because she attacked other dogs. That
blue heeler was later put down (by her owner) because she bit a child.
This was a lesson for me as I had watched her go from a social, friendly
pup to an antisocial, insecure, watchful dog. I know heelers can be
nippy and often have social issues, but I believe her problems were
caused by lack of socialisation and not being secure in her place. I
took this lesson to heart and changed the way we live with our dogs.<br />
We don't 'own' our dogs, they belong to our pack (or we belong to theirs); we all live together and have our roles to play within the family. People are often surprised that our dogs don't fight with each other or cause trouble among the other beings that live in and around our humpy. They assume that we must have a training program and keep the dogs (who are after all predators at heart) under strict control. The truth is far stranger and less exhausting than that; we simply treat them as part of the family (because they are). They are supported by the other members of the family and have the same expectations placed on them, they have to contribute to the well being of our home and they have become used to cross species co-operation. The rules in our humpy apply to everyone and are fairly vague, in general boiling down to the simple phrase 'do what you want as long as it hurts no-one'. We don't make rules about dogs on furniture, they sleep where they want, but they are not allowed to chase any living thing with the intention of harming it. They are confined to the yard unless we are with them, which is a rule designed to keep them safe, however they do come for a wander through the bush when we go walking. They can socialise with anyone who visits the humpy (and I take special note of those they choose to avoid), whatever the species.<br />
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We have three full time dogs and a part time dog in our pack. They are part of our family and help us live busy and fulfilled lives (sometimes by creating the work that makes us busy). They each have interesting life stories (well, interesting to me) which I would like to share.<br />
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First we have Jessica,<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jess...our one obedient dog.</td></tr>
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Jess is a rescue dog...with a twist. One morning, many years ago when my kids were small, my youngest daughter came to me and said she had dreamed we owned a dog who was black with white around the neck, short hair and a white tip on her tail, her name was Jess in the dream. The day after this one of my good friends text me and said that a dog had wandered up her driveway in a terrible state. This dog was very thin, had hair missing and a wound on the back of her head like she had been whacked with a pipe or something. She was looking for a home for this dog, when I told her about my daughter's dream she said that this dog matched the description. Of course we set off to meet her and see if my daughter somehow had the ability to dream things into reality (and if so to implore her to dream up a Lotto win).<br />
When we got out of the car the dog, who was very timid, poked her head out from around a corner. My daughter called softly "Jess?" and Jess trotted over and sat on her feet. After this miracle we naturally took her home, fed her up a bit and treated her head wound. She came with some fairly serious neurosis though.<br />
Jess is a compulsive eater, we think because she was starved at some point in her life (perhaps all of it); she can't go past food and will eat until she is sick, then come back for more. This has led to her becoming very over weight. Before she joined the family we fed our dogs from one central bowl which was kept full at all times. People would ask us why our dogs didn't fight with each other and I would point to countless David Attenborough documentaries about pack feeding habits; in the wild the alpha dogs will eat first followed by the betas then the pups. That's the way our dogs fed...all lined up to wait for their turn at the bowl. After Jess became dangerously overweight we had to change to individual feedings so we could limit her food intake. She also chews wire fences, gets obsessed with individual beings (a guinea fowl was the main one until last year) and is allergic to preservatives in her food (her hair falls out). We love her though and she is the most loyal and best behaved dog in our family.<br />
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Then we have Spot.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spot...the dementia patient.</td></tr>
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He joined us 17 years ago when the people we sold our TV to said they would pay our asking price if we took the last puppy from their litter. We said yes and a tiny bundle of black and white shaking fur arrived the next day. He has been my elder daughter's closest friend for such a long time. In his long life he has been dressed in doll clothes, pushed around in a pram, made to complete obstacle courses and been the companion of many a long walk. Now he is old, he has lost most of his sight, can't hear much and mostly forgets to go out to pee. People sometimes ask me why we keep him in the house when he makes so much mess and needs to be led wherever he goes, which is a lot of extra work. My answer is always; "Would you make your grandfather live outside just because he's a lot of work?". Spot has given us his whole life and I believe he deserves to be loved and treated with respect for the rest of it. He is still always the first to eat and barks at random stuff just like the other dogs even though he has no idea what he is barking at.<br />
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Bandit is the final full time dog in our family.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Believe it or not his parents were both black.</td></tr>
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His family line has been with us since we became a family. My partner thought that buying me a $10 miniature poodle puppy who had been rejected by her mother and had to be fed every two hours with an eye dropper would be a romantic gesture, he was right. Gizmo (as that pup came to be named), grew up and got pregnant to a local Silky terrier named Ambrose and had Pucky who in turn grew up and got herself in trouble with a Chihuahua cross Pomeranian named Chopper (who dug under the laundry foundation to be with her). The result of Pucky and Chopper's union was Busy, who lived with us for 16 years and had one puppy with a friend's dog (after a proper wedding arranged by the kids), that puppy is Bandit. He is the smallest and the loudest of our dogs, he is very sweet about taking Spot out to the toilet; he walks in front of him and leads him out the door then waits for him to be finished and leads him back in.<br />
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Our part time dog is Val, the product of a marriage between Spot and Jess arranged by the kids.<br />
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Jess had 14 pups but we could only afford to keep one. It broke my heart to have to find homes for the other 13 pups, and I often wonder if they are OK. Val is my eldest daughter's dog and lives with her most of the time. She still visits now and then and lives with us when my daughter is working or away. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out in the yard</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These two are good friends.</td></tr>
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Our dog pack works like any pack; we have an alpha male (Spot) who thinks he's in charge and an alpha female (Jess) who is really in charge, we have two betas (Bandit and Val) who just try not to get in trouble. We have no fights and very few behaviour problems (aside from Jess' issues) despite not having a training program or being in total control. What are your dogs to you? family pet, or just plain family.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-6871496217381513642017-04-10T21:55:00.003-07:002017-04-10T21:55:50.958-07:00Dye wool with fungusWe have had a lot of rain recently (and our tanks are full) so of course all the fungal spores in the soil have taken advantage of this and popped up <a href="http://australianfungi.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Pink">mushrooms and shelf fungus</a> everywhere. There is a lot of<a href="http://www.namyco.org/history_mushrooms_for_color.php"> information online </a>about dying wool (and other protein fibres) with fungus, so I decided to have a wander around and see what I could find to experiment with.<br />
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In the bush around our humpy I found many kinds of <a href="http://www.mushroomsforcolor.com/SymposiumMushroomDyes.htm">fungus</a> after just a cursory look; I haven't tried to identify them as I am mostly interested in using them for dye. It's not a great idea to eat mushrooms you aren't able to identify, and I won't do it. I will also be using gloves to process my collected bounty, just in case they prove to be toxic.<br />
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Below is a collection of photos of the fungal and lichen life I found in my little adventure.<br />
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The plan is to dry most of the current harvest for later experimenting. I couldn't resist trying one little experiment though.<br />
I used a lovely brown shelf fungus I found on a dead tree with two tablespoons of washing soda to make an orange/ yellow dye pot. I simmered the pot of water, fungus and washing soda for an hour. Then I plonked in some merino home spun yarn and let it all cool overnight.<br />
After rinsing and drying I ended up with a golden yellowish coloured yarn that my daughter has named 'You dirty sheep', the name doesn't do justice to the colour which is actually quite beautiful. I can't wait to do some more experiments to see what I will get.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhrI0ETNuJhcw8lnPeOsXZhM0VCjs4_83XSAfxJKm_ZgiDPUTVVIZ5ahhIfRtNGMwTBCFokFNZ-t9qNG5sGGKMIVSQEFmm7XHtM__wG8IKyRPbJrrGy_9ctPRRTlDyCLgXPECphhZl0MYp/s1600/20170411_134548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhrI0ETNuJhcw8lnPeOsXZhM0VCjs4_83XSAfxJKm_ZgiDPUTVVIZ5ahhIfRtNGMwTBCFokFNZ-t9qNG5sGGKMIVSQEFmm7XHtM__wG8IKyRPbJrrGy_9ctPRRTlDyCLgXPECphhZl0MYp/s400/20170411_134548.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The little <a href="http://australianfungi.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/48-trametes-versicolor.html">shelf fungus</a> on the left gave the muted golden yellow of this yarn.</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-33500372329405031002017-01-12T13:41:00.000-08:002017-01-12T13:41:30.926-08:00Matching the wine to the fibreRecently while wandering about in Etsy (in a cyber sense), I found a shop that sell <a href="https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/54381359/schacht-matchless-spinning-wheel-cup?ref=shop_home_active_4">wine holders</a> for spinning wheels. I immediately wanted one of course, given that I have recently learned to make wine and I love spinning it seemed a perfect match.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvm5aSlX9ed87dvAUcb2z2PQKMR9m7yLYQ_h9jp9kUwc4O4hhnbzGN61kGIgu_XD2pkbfYuVlwyrt51jVq9iELJ4A2muqAr2uM9wo0uKo3-CIQjSJjN_v-DTi145mnY-MU-_KRRwXLyob/s1600/il_fullxfull.167970989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvm5aSlX9ed87dvAUcb2z2PQKMR9m7yLYQ_h9jp9kUwc4O4hhnbzGN61kGIgu_XD2pkbfYuVlwyrt51jVq9iELJ4A2muqAr2uM9wo0uKo3-CIQjSJjN_v-DTi145mnY-MU-_KRRwXLyob/s400/il_fullxfull.167970989.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know it's not a wine glass, but one would fit in the holder.</td></tr>
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<br />
That started me thinking about matching wines to fibre types. We match wine to our meals, why not other sensory feasts? I thought about it for a while and came up with the following list. You may find it useful if you purchase one of those wine glass holder things for your spinning wheel.<br />
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<a href="http://wine-tasting-reviews.com/wine-types-varieties-grapes/white-wine-faq/white-wine-varities/37-chardonnay-wine-flavor-aroma-characteristics.html">Chardonnay</a>- One of the most common white wines, chardonnay should taste oaky, fruity and have a velvety feel in the mouth. This sounds like good old merino to me. Match your chardonnay glass with some <a href="http://www.feltfine.com.au/collections/solid-merino-tops">hand dyed merino tops</a> for spinning and you have the perfect spinning binge.<br />
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<a href="http://wine-tasting-reviews.com/wine-types-varieties-grapes/red-wine-types/77-pinot-noir-wine-flavor-aroma-characteristics.html">Pinot noir- </a>This is a light red wine which is fairly common, it should be high acid, low tannin and taste of fruits and roses. One of it's defining characteristics is it is hard to make and is very easy to get wrong. This one sounds like cotton to me; both are difficult to get right and require exacting concentration. Spin up some <a href="http://www.cottonclouds.com/shopping/product_info.asp?id=18&cat=Fibers&panelID=6">naturally coloured cotton</a> with a glass of pinot noir and see if I'm right.<br />
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<a href="http://wine-tasting-reviews.com/wine-types-varieties-grapes/red-wine-types/49-syrah-shiraz-wine-flavor-aroma-characteristics.html">Shiraz-</a> This is one of the strong flavoured red wines, it should taste of peppers, cherries and maybe chocolate. It is known as a very long lasting wine as it remains stable and drinkable in a wide variety of conditions. Because it is such a strong, opinionated wine I think it would go well with<a href="https://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/07/longwool-fiber/"> border Leicester </a>wool as both are strong, hard wearing and lustrous.<br />
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<a href="http://wine-tasting-reviews.com/wine-types-varieties-grapes/white-wine-faq/white-wine-varities/46-riesling-wine-flavor-aroma-characteristics.html">Riesling-</a> This light flavoured white wine should taste of fruit and be generally sweet. Riesling is a high acid white wine making it long lasting, meaning it can be aged for a long time and still be drinkable. This quality makes me think of <a href="http://www.petlins.com/shopper/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=223">flax</a> which is spun into the long lasting linen yarn. Linen also improves with age and is both sweet and crisp. <br />
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<a href="http://wine-tasting-reviews.com/wine-types-varieties-grapes/red-wine-types/68-cabernet-sauvignon-wine-flavor-aroma-characteristics.html">Cabernet Sauvignon-</a> This strong flavoured, high alcohol wine is one of the most common reds around, it should taste of vanilla and red currants. It is a very long lived wine and can be aged for centuries. This wine pairs very well with <a href="http://www.risbygrangelongwools.co.uk/lincoln-fleece.html">Lincoln longwool fleece</a> which can also last for centuries in the right conditions. Grab a bottle of cab' sav' and some lincoln longwool fleece and get spinning.<br />
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<a href="http://wine-tasting-reviews.com/wine-types-varieties-grapes/red-wine-types/53-merlot-wine-flavor-aroma-characteristics.html">Merlot-</a> This (relatively) light flavoured red wine is said to have a plum and herb aftertaste. It's low tannin makes it easy and soft to drink. This softness makes me think of silks. Sit down to spin some <a href="http://www.petlins.com/shopper/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=38">silk tops</a> with a nice glass of merlot.<br />
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This is not a complete list of course, there are so many wine types and so many fibre types it could turn into a book, don't even get me started on blends (both wine and fibre). Can you add a wine-fibre pairing to the list? <br />
<span style="color: white;"><strong>CABERNET</strong></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-1165296646794693032017-01-03T17:10:00.000-08:002017-01-03T17:10:24.113-08:00Keeping a happy cow<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FFP5Jo-axYYMj1wHdnXQHgZZQ-r4DBW9vg17lWDMxWJ1M7XOVKjNr7vLVkJmS9I7Jy4zUX_1rtpBWb5_e51-auoSgYn7rNXcLkxzdgJgQCakfwlsCRvSPz7JJfgnZJVSbX2VwmxR2c-j/s1600/XMAS+PHOTOS+%252851%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FFP5Jo-axYYMj1wHdnXQHgZZQ-r4DBW9vg17lWDMxWJ1M7XOVKjNr7vLVkJmS9I7Jy4zUX_1rtpBWb5_e51-auoSgYn7rNXcLkxzdgJgQCakfwlsCRvSPz7JJfgnZJVSbX2VwmxR2c-j/s400/XMAS+PHOTOS+%252851%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Reach; my house cow. She has been gone for many years now, but I still miss her.</td></tr>
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It has been years since I had a house cow...and I still miss her. She was my friend and companion through many misty mornings and rainy afternoons. I have been seeing posts about the cruelty of the dairy industry lately on <a href="https://secure.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/bobby-calf-cruelty/">Facebook</a> and other <a href="http://www.animalliberation.org.au/dairy-cruelty/">social media</a> and while I agree wholeheartedly that the dairy industry is currently very cruel, I do not agree that we need to totally give up dairy foods (if you are lucky enough to be able to digest them). If you want to continue to eat dairy food but want to avoid the cruelty associated with it you have several options;<br />
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(Option A) If you have a few acres and an hour or so a day to spare, you can get your own cow (or goat, sheep or other lactating mammal) and have cruelty free milk, learn to make cheese and yogurt and enjoy the company of a truly amazing friend.<br />
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(Option B) Go dairy free...this is fairly easy, unless you are an avid cheese fan. I use plant milks a lot these days as I like the flavours and I have several friends who are vegan so having them on hand makes catering easier. There are dairy free cheeses and yogurts etc available too.<br />
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(Option C) See if you can source cruelty free dairy products in your local area. There are a few places which produce milk without taking the calves away from the mother or using other cruel practices such as artificial insemination or de-horning. Check out this <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/03/09/3159064.htm">Krishna dairy.</a>..<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ryqhk2IXnE5oQwHPFVYVxZWirF7HZ2RGyg-kC0EznvMxrly8pRKB7qRgvrKvQKSKc8v_2rXcJlndwceMCqFIFPzURP4YcWgHMHrjeRdTXVp7VcGgbac2y7sUvbrhlTs18v6uGSF6cmPa/s1600/XMAS+PHOTOS+%252849%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ryqhk2IXnE5oQwHPFVYVxZWirF7HZ2RGyg-kC0EznvMxrly8pRKB7qRgvrKvQKSKc8v_2rXcJlndwceMCqFIFPzURP4YcWgHMHrjeRdTXVp7VcGgbac2y7sUvbrhlTs18v6uGSF6cmPa/s400/XMAS+PHOTOS+%252849%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I unfortunately can't find my stash of photos showing my dairy cows. The cow in this photo was one I milked for a few years; her name was Beauty.</td></tr>
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Many years ago I wrote an article for Grass Roots magazine about how to keep a happy house cow, I thought I would reproduce it here for your reference (just in case you want to try out option A). I have added a glossary at the bottom for those unfamiliar with farming jargon.<br />
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Bovine Motherhood</div>
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Keeping a milking cow is one of the most satisfying experiences in life in my humble opinion. Not only do they supply milk and keep the grass down, they also supply meat, in the form of calves, manure, food for guinea fowl (mine parade around a seated cow picking off ticks and lice), companionship and endless amusement.</div>
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Management of house cows is a tricky, much discussed subject (like climate change or the best way to peg out jeans) but surprisingly easy. All you need to do is keep in mind the needs of your cow. By needs I mean the emotional or psychological needs rather than physical. There have been many wonderful books and articles written on the physical needs of cattle already; Keeping a house cow by Jim Wilson is one of my favorites.<br />
Cows are motherly creatures; they live to fuss over a new calf, so don't deprive them of it. When your cow <b>calves</b> leave them alone for a week. This gives them the chance to get to know each other and gives the <b>colostrum</b> a chance to clear. Then <b>bring them both in</b>, she might be a bit reluctant to share her baby at first, food will help though. If your cow has been handled quietly and calmly she will eventually allow you to handle her calf too.<br />
Most cows will have more than enough milk for you and the calf. Sometimes you can milk the cow while the calf runs around you both, I usually do this for the first two weeks, I just take out my bucket, stool and some hay, plonk them down by the cow and away I go. As the calf gets older you will have to lock it up for part of each day.</div>
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I have found that locking the calf up in the morning and milking in the afternoon works for me, but the other way around will work too, it just depends on whether you are a night owl or a morning person. Either way allow room for the calf to run and play and pasture for grazing in the calf pen. I leave our calf in the mesh lined cow paddock beside the house and turn the cow out to the larger part of the property to graze, that way I can keep an eye on the little...darling. I run a daycare center for my cows; they go off to graze while I watch the kids. Cattle in herds do this naturally, one or two cows can often be seen minding a mob of calves, sometimes an old bull will fill in too, while the mothers graze over the hill. Older daughters will help look after calves too, if you keep a <b>heifer</b> calf off your cow, she will take on some of the care of future calves.</div>
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While you milk, talk or sing to your cow. This may sound silly, but I've found it really does help to calm them, especially singing nursery rhythms. Maybe they are too busy giggling to worry about you playing with their udder, the rest of the family certainly are. Always remember to leave some milk for the calf after you milk, sucking of teats by the calf after you milk prevents<b> mastitis</b> and stimulates greater milk production.<br />
It also helps to have two cows <b>in calf</b> six months apart, so you can leave the cow to feed her calf at six months and still milk the other one. When your second cow is ready to milk you can simply swap them over, it is simplest to have them all running together. There is no need to fuss over <b>weaning</b>, most cows will wean their calves themselves about a month before they calve again, of course there is always the exception to the rule. Some cows like to keep their calves tied to their apron strings by feeding them into adulthood (they are so human) you may have to intervene here.</div>
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It seems to be a common misconception that you need to get 10-15 litres a day from your cow. Unless you have a huge family, or make cheese every day, you don't need that much, just take what you need. Cows will regulate their milk production to meet the demand, so the more you take the more she makes, but you will have to feed her more to keep her in good shape while she does it.</div>
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Using this method you can go away for a holiday or skip days, just leave the calf with the cow while you are away. I have left my cow out for a month, bought her back in and milked four litres off her the first day. Mostly the yield will drop, but it can be built back up within a few days with extra feeding and regular milking.</div>
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Cows also need company, of the bovine kind if possible. If you only have room for one cow and have no cow keeping neighbors, then maybe a goat would fit. Cows will make friends with almost anything and a goat is a good substitute as you can milk her while your cow is dried off. If the old girl is quiet you can go out and sit near her. Cows give off such a calm vibe they can soothe a troubled mind almost instantly. She will come to regard you as a kind of honorary calf, and as such as part of the herd.</div>
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This method probably sounds a bit erratic, but I assure you it has worked for me for eight years now. I have had no mastitis, fat calves and both I and my cows are happy. So good luck keeping a house cow, just remember; it's fun. </div>
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<b>Glossary</b></div>
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<b>Calves- </b>Calving refers to the process of giving birth<b> </b>for a cow.<b> </b>Also the plural of calf.<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Colostrum- </b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colostrum">Colostrum</a> is the substances all mammals produce immediately after giving birth which conveys immunity to disease and concentrated sugars, minerals and vitamins to the young. If calves don't get colostrum they will be thin, sickly and not unlike famine victims for their entire life.</div>
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<b>Bring them both in</b>- A phrase<b> </b>meaning to bring the animals closer to the main base of operations in order to handle them.<b> </b>Not related to spy craft in any way.<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Heifer</b>- A juvenile female bovine, or a teenage cow. Often seen to be overly concerned with grooming and the activities of the bull in the next paddock.</div>
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<b>Mastitis</b>- A <a href="http://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Animal-management/Mastitis/What-is-Mastitis.aspx">bacterial infection</a> in the udder, causing pain, swelling, pus and general crankiness in the cow and any other mammal unlucky enough to suffer from it.</div>
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<b>In calf</b>- Sort of like 'with child'. Farmers refer to a cow as being 'in calf' when she is pregnant, even though the calf is in her.</div>
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<b>Weaning</b>- When the calf is persuaded it doesn't need to feed from the mother any more. Usually cows will begin to wean their babies by moving away when they try to feed, if the calf doesn't get the hint she may try gently butting her calf with her head when they try to feed. If the calf is particularly persistent (or dim witted) she may kick him/her in the head every time they try to feed. If nothing else works I have seen cows outright attack their teen offspring to get the idea across.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-65845814487797377022016-10-26T14:18:00.000-07:002016-10-26T14:18:26.873-07:00Learning to make wine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over the last three months or so I have been learning to make wine. Several people have expressed the opinion that my timing is not great; given that I am learning to drive at the same time. You don't have to worry yet though...wine making is a long, slow process.<br />
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Having always been interested in the process of fermented foods (or transformation in any guise really) I began by learning to make sourdough bread. This led to thinking about how wine is really just rotten fruit water (that tastes good) and how amazing that is. After a lot of reading on the internet and a visit to the local library I was ready to get fermenting.<br />
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Wine makers seem to range from those who elevate the process to an <a href="https://winemakermag.com/your-first-wine-from-fresh-grapes">art or a scienc</a>e to those who accidentally left some juice out and found it had <a href="http://jinksto.com/blog/?page_id=405">miraculously become wine</a> by the time they got around to cleaning the kitchen. I figured that since we have been <a href="http://vinepair.com/wine-colonized-world-wine-history/">making the stuff</a> for the last 6000 years or so, you probably don't need to build a lab to do it.<br />
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My first batch was apple cider, made from store bought apple juice (so I
could get an understanding of the process). A demijohn (big glass
bottle), some yeast, Campden tablets and a bung/airlock were duly ordered from an online
shop and when they arrived I began the learning journey.<br />
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I didn't photograph that first batch (or the honey mead and the blueberry wine that came after) so I thought I would show you the process with a new batch (and because putting a new batch together is just so exciting I will take any excuse to make more wine). This batch is made from store bought juice again, I used grape juice with a little bit of apple thrown in for flavour.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggigyJS7P7CedBh5APUfm_xiaVoT-N1XIAXUhlmAtI7QMxE9Bn-1-JqkNxgEHKczWMytThFmSJtI8Q3eO3HnqxCRsPuwLKGWwOExhIEz4Fgle8GwkTxNdWCAqLEb7LpQRy4kHtv9fGeXwU/s1600/20161023_124136%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggigyJS7P7CedBh5APUfm_xiaVoT-N1XIAXUhlmAtI7QMxE9Bn-1-JqkNxgEHKczWMytThFmSJtI8Q3eO3HnqxCRsPuwLKGWwOExhIEz4Fgle8GwkTxNdWCAqLEb7LpQRy4kHtv9fGeXwU/s320/20161023_124136%255B1%255D.jpg" width="179" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK30ry1FbStrcJzMR3rtFCfzuHPkX-s2NYyGnLknqBeYXZs7FZdFaF-UBm9eazfbE2YQT4xiMPRG9IhQeQNb0QAlFfkudzrwbB0uoaRsUmVKAPYa6Tmcwm8HZjgZz2H1i9UJ-S5Dy7H2mb/s1600/20161023_124127%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK30ry1FbStrcJzMR3rtFCfzuHPkX-s2NYyGnLknqBeYXZs7FZdFaF-UBm9eazfbE2YQT4xiMPRG9IhQeQNb0QAlFfkudzrwbB0uoaRsUmVKAPYa6Tmcwm8HZjgZz2H1i9UJ-S5Dy7H2mb/s320/20161023_124127%255B1%255D.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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The only immutable law in wine making is that everything (and I mean everything) has to be clean and sterile. I made up a sink full of sterilizing fluid by crushing two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campden_tablet">Campden tablets</a> and dissolving them in water. I was a little worried about using sodium metabisulfite (which is a sulfur based material) in our system as anything designed to kill yeasts and bacteria will affect the health of soil and water. However the risks are very low when using it as infrequently as I do.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I didn't take a photo of the sink (you all know what that looks like). This is my beaten up pack of Campden tablets.</td></tr>
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After everything is sterilized (equipment, counter tops, hands, stray pets) it is time to <a href="http://www.winegrowers.info/wine_making/Yeast.htm">activate the yeast.</a> This is just a matter of mixing the yeast with warm water and fruit juice in a cup and putting it somewhere it won't get spilled. Wine yeast is sold in neat little sachets containing dehydrated powder. When the yeast is mixed with liquid it starts to wake up and look for food, just what you want in a yeast.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My neat little yeast sachet and a bowl of apple juice and water.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the yeast when it is first mixed into the juice.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwOrdrD2UOx6Zny-CGwn-lyxZi1xE1L-W_6s0_jjCHnmT3ybpX-c-HhN0oDzOgOsaOQYAya5NxAXL947jsCIZHB3jZVWhZ4SSGxh2fpdeZcaG9SMfgXT00RAQ2NDo724LnTghd83n0kPo/s1600/20161023_132607%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwOrdrD2UOx6Zny-CGwn-lyxZi1xE1L-W_6s0_jjCHnmT3ybpX-c-HhN0oDzOgOsaOQYAya5NxAXL947jsCIZHB3jZVWhZ4SSGxh2fpdeZcaG9SMfgXT00RAQ2NDo724LnTghd83n0kPo/s400/20161023_132607%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the yeast after about half an hour. Some is missing because I forgot to take a photo before beginning to pour it into the juice.</td></tr>
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<br />Next the juice (or fruit mush) is mixed with sugar in a pot on the stove, I used five cups of sugar in this batch. I heated the juice gently and stirred (not so gently) to dissolve all the sugar. When all the sugar was dissolved I poured the lot into a sterilized demijohn, added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient (don't ask me what that is, the books said I needed it) and popped on an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMrZ0shnsgE">airlock and bung</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvMlCZlMZh6hh1qHAPmSWDPsGeaozRkaou3HotxCaecOopmBBdHZZBwWWXAxVMqPuPG2OJJbTS6ZSKwiiTHdEgKRcBjEPa3Wy2GNLxf7y8nm1jpDhCr15n3dNd924y-7JQPFZa4rYzLgZ/s1600/20161023_132603%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvMlCZlMZh6hh1qHAPmSWDPsGeaozRkaou3HotxCaecOopmBBdHZZBwWWXAxVMqPuPG2OJJbTS6ZSKwiiTHdEgKRcBjEPa3Wy2GNLxf7y8nm1jpDhCr15n3dNd924y-7JQPFZa4rYzLgZ/s400/20161023_132603%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaks for itself really.</td></tr>
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Most web sites recommend taking a specific gravity reading with a hydrometer before you pour in the yeast. I bought a hydrometer to do just that, then forgot to use it. Next time I will definitely do this though as it apparently gives you a better idea of how alcoholic the final product is. I guess for now I will have to rely on the tipsy test (you know...how many glasses does it take to make you tipsy).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinkxisWm3nI3x_8v6VBHPbiwGCWNWyZB7qhWl8oE-LJldXX1YPwDJ6LEVGs14aLLDMpyvWO-yTGjEs2kywsNY1-odvB9n_2KigGuPM7Qf0NKhhNga3kYTjT6YqbTYkU9yzkh04ktS4bVck/s1600/20160806_100616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinkxisWm3nI3x_8v6VBHPbiwGCWNWyZB7qhWl8oE-LJldXX1YPwDJ6LEVGs14aLLDMpyvWO-yTGjEs2kywsNY1-odvB9n_2KigGuPM7Qf0NKhhNga3kYTjT6YqbTYkU9yzkh04ktS4bVck/s400/20160806_100616.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The airlock and bung are the funny bits at the top of the big bottle. Airlocks let gas escape but don't let gas in.</td></tr>
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The general idea is to wait until the bubbling stops (between days and weeks) then rack the wine into a clean, sterile demijohn with a new sterilized airlock leaving behind the dead yeast (called lees) which forms a sludge in the bottom. I use a food grade hose (sterilized of course) to siphon out the good wine but leave the lees behind. The wine is left in this demijohn for another month or two until it is clear (apparently you should be able to read through the bottle) then bottled and stored for a further few months or years. After all that you can open a bottle and have a taste.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the batch, bubbling away producing alcohol.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQF_mgDVmMW6Mu3SvKQi_HKDI3JJ-Vi66jAcpnaJ6Oas93_PTd9Et8vmkOGiBYW9s-GoC1EPPOe5kZU7Jv-zr8LHhM7ne3HME9IZUD1NTVXM2TX1UljIeDKZpzMat6l374CQmUp7JDjOB/s1600/20160925_174404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQF_mgDVmMW6Mu3SvKQi_HKDI3JJ-Vi66jAcpnaJ6Oas93_PTd9Et8vmkOGiBYW9s-GoC1EPPOe5kZU7Jv-zr8LHhM7ne3HME9IZUD1NTVXM2TX1UljIeDKZpzMat6l374CQmUp7JDjOB/s400/20160925_174404.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first batch of apple cider. I started it three months ago and opened my first bottle with a friend a week or so ago.</td></tr>
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As you can see, the process of making wine is long and slow. The fact that it has taken so long to make and involved so much sterilizing, washing and general fiddling makes every bottle special. If someone gives you a bottle of home made wine they must really like you.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-35668016588123661882016-09-28T14:24:00.003-07:002016-09-28T14:31:06.343-07:00Learning to drive - Uh oh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLipTi7ShvV-y2mqBbTvGyXdXGa_QmBsDPfhqXkBL-ntJ87D89PUrpOJcOg5mQE2saYxdbxavvoypFYKQg1deNcHoyQTUkq2jMXT6IlPRNhW9-BOQmVtJxNdiXEBUAsbOvafjbVei78m-t/s1600/20160805_074846_HDR%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLipTi7ShvV-y2mqBbTvGyXdXGa_QmBsDPfhqXkBL-ntJ87D89PUrpOJcOg5mQE2saYxdbxavvoypFYKQg1deNcHoyQTUkq2jMXT6IlPRNhW9-BOQmVtJxNdiXEBUAsbOvafjbVei78m-t/s400/20160805_074846_HDR%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As I am on the brink of becoming a teacher, I have had to learn to drive. Teachers need to be able to come to school early and stay late. I have always been against learning to drive; I'm not good at it and not being good at it can kill people (you can see my point). However, as it is now a necessity I have bought myself a little car (after much scrimping and saving) and got my Learner's permit.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3P-8tJQK9Ibwb9voR3qJwuEBHwEouJP1si5nuQVU5qb8fW9AeC5kItemp9erC3Wo_1cXdf28STldLn1GWhAxpbeaXdkFBb1agRU0tQPdKD8aTmkqnWbYMn3y8Sy5Q17nvga72dwVbJUJU/s1600/20160805_071316%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3P-8tJQK9Ibwb9voR3qJwuEBHwEouJP1si5nuQVU5qb8fW9AeC5kItemp9erC3Wo_1cXdf28STldLn1GWhAxpbeaXdkFBb1agRU0tQPdKD8aTmkqnWbYMn3y8Sy5Q17nvga72dwVbJUJU/s400/20160805_071316%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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So far I have learned that I will probably never enjoy driving, cars cost a lot and partners should not be allowed to give driving advice;<br />
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<b>Enjoying driving (or not)</b>; Surely the piloting of multiple tonnes of metal and glass powered by semi controlled explosions in unpredictable circumstances where the risk of injury or death is ever present is not a relaxing pursuit? In fact it may even qualify as an extreme sport, reserved for adrenaline junkies and those with a death wish. Many people have told me they find driving relaxing, but I'm not one of them. For the first three and a half weeks I had a constant head ache as I would drive to the local town to catch the bus to work (while my partner took my fuel efficient car to work). Driving in the morning resulted in sweaty palms and tense muscles (hence the head ache). Now I am slightly more relaxed and the head aches have passed but I am still very nervous and do not enjoy the responsibility.<br />
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<b>Cars cost a lot; </b>The little car I bought is twenty years old and had never been out of town. It must have been a surprise to have to go back to work in the retirement years. So far the shock absorbers (which were original) and two tires have had to be replaced. This is an expensive exercise. Having two cars also means we have two registrations, two insurances and more fuel. All so I can get to work, where I will need to earn more and work longer hours to afford the car that gets me to work (small pointless circles).<br />
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<b>Partner/driving instructor; </b>While my partner is a very patient man (well...he would have to be wouldn't he), he has some major flaws as a driving instructor. Firstly there is his non-verbal nature; he doesn't instruct much and uses body language instead, for example he indicates my closeness to the outside edge of the road by lifting his left leg slightly and leaning towards me. This has obvious disadvantages; I can't always be aware of his body language and piloting the car at the same time.<br />
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Secondly, he has a habit of fiddling with the buttons on my side of the car. It is very disconcerting to have the windscreen wipers flicked on while you are driving or the overdrive button pressed unexpectedly. I have now confined his area of influence to the stereo and the air conditioning while I am driving.<br />
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Thirdly, the car has become a cold war between us. Kev' likes my little car, it's good to drive, fuel efficient and reliable (mostly) so he wants to drive it all the time. His car is at the car hospital with undiagnosed pains in the fuel system and has been there for two months. Kev' shows no signs of picking it up any time soon. His work gear takes up the back seat of my car and the multitude of tools in the back is growing. He is staking his territory. To counteract this I have installed a square, dangly car scent that is so feminine it even smells pink, put on CWA and Wiccan bumper stickers and left the fairy sticker and little horns on the logo that the car came with. I am thinking of naming the car Io as my daughter says it should have a cow's name (being a Toyota) and suggested either Hathor or Daisy. <a href="http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/Zeus's_Lovers/Io/io.html">Io</a> is a much better choice as she was a Greek girl who found herself unexpectedly turned into a demi god and she traveled a lot.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfDUtOCZoMn7DBxlNX1_IkHaaRe2RYdlbTE7C3wdPD-MlcOOTmDf6vf5ZYMI-vY9xru4r9X3dAsWfETY6PzjNWZHquQl6fN8wqWL_A2jIFyWu5KMHqsq42ZiG9nOSaHz_L60jFnPmtiwQB/s1600/20160926_074224%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfDUtOCZoMn7DBxlNX1_IkHaaRe2RYdlbTE7C3wdPD-MlcOOTmDf6vf5ZYMI-vY9xru4r9X3dAsWfETY6PzjNWZHquQl6fN8wqWL_A2jIFyWu5KMHqsq42ZiG9nOSaHz_L60jFnPmtiwQB/s400/20160926_074224%255B1%255D.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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I am glad to be learning a new skill, even one that I don't enjoy. I do wish that it wasn't a requirement of my working life though. <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-8767229615052882372016-09-21T19:21:00.001-07:002016-09-21T19:21:05.658-07:00Making papercrete - Yet another way to use rubbish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over this winter I have noticed a breeze blowing through the gap in our lounge room floor; the difference in height between the tyre floor and the pavers. This sneaky little breeze makes my feet cold while I spin (and I'm obviously metamorphosing into a cranky old lady) so I decided to try to block off this gap.</div>
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Enter the idea of papercrete; I have newspaper in abundance so it seemed a natural progression to mix up some papercrete and plug the gap with it. <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/I-Love-Papercrete/">Papercrete</a> is made by mixing newspaper soaked in water with concrete. The similarity between the recommended procedure and what I did ends there.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the gap I hope to fill. In addition to a sneaky breeze this gap also lets in antechinus, snakes and allows dropped cutlery to escape into the wild.</td></tr>
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The recommended procedure says to soak the paper in a tow mixer designed to shred the softened paper and mix in the cement. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVD28tbWTxiBCm-3Rj2JR26moZHHAd_IcrXJuLIPN_SOZLrXpqIIb7Sie7e9DHZHtWF1o4mftfwfO9i2U3If3UEjh96Qp1P6a-DaZUZW_oe_UiHUaUldZAoViYar4xvmknnyOeJjAKiKq/s1600/20160922_112146%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVD28tbWTxiBCm-3Rj2JR26moZHHAd_IcrXJuLIPN_SOZLrXpqIIb7Sie7e9DHZHtWF1o4mftfwfO9i2U3If3UEjh96Qp1P6a-DaZUZW_oe_UiHUaUldZAoViYar4xvmknnyOeJjAKiKq/s400/20160922_112146%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I shredded my paper...well ripped it up small, and soaked it in water in a bucket</td></tr>
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I was only doing a small test patch to see if it will work so I began by tearing up a bucket full of newspaper. The paper soaked for a week so it was good and soft.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZsg1MHGuwXJvduSYz3kupry0AEowBt82VR0hJgo_3nj6QmMTFIfct_CUL0w5vbuzcrLH6hZauvZxRBth9-5wqYz4oC3VbP1GrEUud_POGjMaNlSfxTLlJ-dInmpI0hZ2y5ucAaKRvJTl/s1600/20160922_112150%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZsg1MHGuwXJvduSYz3kupry0AEowBt82VR0hJgo_3nj6QmMTFIfct_CUL0w5vbuzcrLH6hZauvZxRBth9-5wqYz4oC3VbP1GrEUud_POGjMaNlSfxTLlJ-dInmpI0hZ2y5ucAaKRvJTl/s400/20160922_112150%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I used a half bag of cement mix I had in the shed.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgQhRz_vbjXj0r69vK5mRE3bCOoyzGYwZfd8TbPGd6ou3EHQqhAl2YOYhS0GUxPmD_b3IR32eOWDXe443RUQUQZ4RQf3iaBSB6sYpF6Wg20pNF2LWWSUtgSACDZWFmz_yQkPitq_3bvvU/s1600/20160922_112440%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgQhRz_vbjXj0r69vK5mRE3bCOoyzGYwZfd8TbPGd6ou3EHQqhAl2YOYhS0GUxPmD_b3IR32eOWDXe443RUQUQZ4RQf3iaBSB6sYpF6Wg20pNF2LWWSUtgSACDZWFmz_yQkPitq_3bvvU/s400/20160922_112440%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I added the whole half bag of cement...forgetting to pour off the extra water.</td></tr>
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I mixed the lot into a sloppy slurry and began to pack it into the gap. The bucket full of goop went further than I thought it would, but it is still very rough and I think it will crack when it dries.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFKuNOyRyu0EcLTkMVE_hrurpt5L0BDCWkHUmlMr1VgseTqLjUMffyEDVXBfrYi2YUTENz7RnpDvYU_HmLcxRbL4YtJLqqORIqxqwbNYL7brjFoWKMZuGLliHSA6ZberpLrazWde4DwIr/s1600/20160922_113912%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFKuNOyRyu0EcLTkMVE_hrurpt5L0BDCWkHUmlMr1VgseTqLjUMffyEDVXBfrYi2YUTENz7RnpDvYU_HmLcxRbL4YtJLqqORIqxqwbNYL7brjFoWKMZuGLliHSA6ZberpLrazWde4DwIr/s400/20160922_113912%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The filled up gap</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpeJDu6VxGYJNE6M1a3gqKHSudXs6gIseRBVzRbNbfYL-Z2w502ZaEoyhXLQh3No7mGd4D7NrgeWROTOx0apcgHklZDcA0MZA9TAif0qyq4pTAnbAl9dwJZ3jBUWT926ox6s0k4PtwF2OX/s1600/20160922_113901%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpeJDu6VxGYJNE6M1a3gqKHSudXs6gIseRBVzRbNbfYL-Z2w502ZaEoyhXLQh3No7mGd4D7NrgeWROTOx0apcgHklZDcA0MZA9TAif0qyq4pTAnbAl9dwJZ3jBUWT926ox6s0k4PtwF2OX/s400/20160922_113901%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As you can see it's rough.</td></tr>
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While this was a very quick and dirty experiment I can see a lot of potential for this building material. If the papercrete holds in this gap I am thinking of using it to fill the gaps and cracks around doors and windows. I might even go as far as building a tow mixer to make HUGE batches as I am lucky enough to have access to almost unlimited newspaper.<br />
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In other news...I went on a little field trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Brisbane last weekend and found this amazing piece there. It reminds me of the tumors that grow on really old gum trees.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIDSIELueBkFLTZcrWOCIRKN287421dv0B1CbC7Sw5Q7HMSGiPV0mJuiY3GwVvWaQl2sxaa2CRZDxD0xo5DJasd3Mn6_tVnRU9DhRUxVckY_ZgEkH7KPX_LGu4u6r27a5dLbW3Rax8pql/s1600/20160918_122306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIDSIELueBkFLTZcrWOCIRKN287421dv0B1CbC7Sw5Q7HMSGiPV0mJuiY3GwVvWaQl2sxaa2CRZDxD0xo5DJasd3Mn6_tVnRU9DhRUxVckY_ZgEkH7KPX_LGu4u6r27a5dLbW3Rax8pql/s640/20160918_122306.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-28849947789360099612016-07-23T16:04:00.000-07:002016-07-23T16:04:00.919-07:00The fire wood cycle at the humpy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO82c05QVc3EYFmrsBC0kXRq0dA64MOvU1Bw6hB2yaIn237_izjG9A7Z2ijsPx1JyXU42D5Kv0wcR_cIfA9d0KQzllzFQmpm9nyGd0edrCcihyphenhyphenU9VEMayGlr_NHXRYRJ7i8hddPRdGoVI/s1600/20160716_162659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO82c05QVc3EYFmrsBC0kXRq0dA64MOvU1Bw6hB2yaIn237_izjG9A7Z2ijsPx1JyXU42D5Kv0wcR_cIfA9d0KQzllzFQmpm9nyGd0edrCcihyphenhyphenU9VEMayGlr_NHXRYRJ7i8hddPRdGoVI/s400/20160716_162659.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our cooking stove and house and water heater. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Sitting by the fire on a cold winter's night is so pleasant isn't it? I love to sit and knit or spin by the fire when the day's work is done. Our stove is a third hand wood heater we inherited from my partner's parents during a shed clean up. It had fallen off the back of a truck (literally, not figuratively) and had a crack in the corner. We took it home, got a new flue piece made up (by a local engineering genius) and put it in the humpy. That was five or six years ago, it has never given us any trouble and if fed right stays alight from about June until September.<br />
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The fire gives us heat for our home, hot water from the eternal boiler on the top of it and a stove to cook on. All it asks in return is a steady flow of wood. We are lucky to own enough land to supply our firewood needs, in fact harvesting wood in the form of fallen branches and logs is part of our fire safety plan.<br />
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Fallen branches and dead trees are a bit of a fire hazard close to the humpy. Sparks from piles of burning wood can drift into the humpy via a multitude of gaps and holes, setting the whole place alight. The usual solution is to burn off; set sections of land alight and control the burn, removing fuel from the area. To me it always seemed sort of counter-intuitive to say to yourself "Hmm, that looks like it might burn....could be dangerous....I'd better set it alight", not to mention the multitude of small reptiles coming out of<a href="http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2016/07/switching-off-hibernation-in-australia"> torpor</a> and the tiny birds with nests in the grass who have their first batch of babies for the year in the early spring (when most people burn off). Our solution is to collect as much of this fuel as we can as fire wood within a 50 meter (about 50 meter) radius of the humpy. We don't collect wood from the whole property as a lot of birds and animals use fallen branches and logs as homes. In fact the<a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/animals/BushStonecurlew.htm"> Bush Stone Curlew</a> has been driven almost to extinction by people who are too neat as they use tangles of fallen branches to nest in and their breeding has dropped due to lack of nesting sites and cover for foraging.<br />
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Anyone who lives in the bush will tell you that wood lying on the ground will absorb water and not burn well and that a lot of types of wood (tree species) are no good for firewood. This is unfortunately true, the usual solution is to fell a standing dead tree. Large dead trees, and sometimes small ones too, are generally homes to possums, gliders, birds and insects so we try not to cut down standing trees very often. However, because the wood we gather from the ground is sometimes damp or does not burn hot enough, we sometimes cut down small standing dead trees to mix with it. We choose very small standing trees and check them for life as best we can before cutting them down.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTSud_NYZ4xk-1sOnKsaFrxrskk0YWgA9XmFb6WbnvgR_BnRbkRlE8K6ZUSSu-2WlzJt7sKCFSNrG1fpG3EMYQWeIXH6SlDS1y2pNSwsFp8-ck81cwxv-HXecpNlk4lb0LRDTczPaMamK/s1600/20160716_154843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTSud_NYZ4xk-1sOnKsaFrxrskk0YWgA9XmFb6WbnvgR_BnRbkRlE8K6ZUSSu-2WlzJt7sKCFSNrG1fpG3EMYQWeIXH6SlDS1y2pNSwsFp8-ck81cwxv-HXecpNlk4lb0LRDTczPaMamK/s400/20160716_154843.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutting down a small dead tree</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfIBy9wMUFrxUOyG7q8YwI0fxWPShgmKZZrvLhtAN1gBHBA0IhI7kd57DZgPvvnt_9PZEEOrFQBKVNaLDTpIoXq0cwN2IZILEsDMhtwyavPwOct9TvkKjYrLxV_BbplTOba9542gHFsi8/s1600/20160716_155019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfIBy9wMUFrxUOyG7q8YwI0fxWPShgmKZZrvLhtAN1gBHBA0IhI7kd57DZgPvvnt_9PZEEOrFQBKVNaLDTpIoXq0cwN2IZILEsDMhtwyavPwOct9TvkKjYrLxV_BbplTOba9542gHFsi8/s400/20160716_155019.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutting the tree up into chunks or rounds</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKPgd4jCcOxMC5EZrnGiL8glrk2rmpg3duatJmU3yM9MsBt6rtEgpf-ABoOZ-sq-A7FZOLeLzAYHtNXedwkdW5QNE3B9XEndLsObI3DDm4UmHZyvp7UlengknrhQaz5PLycZ2g7bOWkGT/s1600/20160716_161157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKPgd4jCcOxMC5EZrnGiL8glrk2rmpg3duatJmU3yM9MsBt6rtEgpf-ABoOZ-sq-A7FZOLeLzAYHtNXedwkdW5QNE3B9XEndLsObI3DDm4UmHZyvp7UlengknrhQaz5PLycZ2g7bOWkGT/s400/20160716_161157.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We bring it all home in the trusty farm trailer</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1VXkDCw4n7gDbixZ9Xxi_Upgv0cYPdSTMwdqsIhavDHuUNTD5XHCVScVBKeW5zvpTcwFaRa61FPKxGkExfJgF63rLNjCbnSe4RMjeA9afKpvCReIwFZI3K0Rf_be5u4q3OhCVsUNKtWtm/s1600/20160716_161519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1VXkDCw4n7gDbixZ9Xxi_Upgv0cYPdSTMwdqsIhavDHuUNTD5XHCVScVBKeW5zvpTcwFaRa61FPKxGkExfJgF63rLNjCbnSe4RMjeA9afKpvCReIwFZI3K0Rf_be5u4q3OhCVsUNKtWtm/s400/20160716_161519.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then wheelbarrow it to the house</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqfeaYW8yXHln6cGoQwZ2Sh7famarWZr2C0irb9xg91EXtljmeoZSjq71BZzRvK2HjXePo_iLHIMYJ6PKYtKMiAwxKeWNSyLe6mzHC39viksGolRVfOuyk3vt6OCjCpVtbwlcjqusLgzk/s1600/20160716_162645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqfeaYW8yXHln6cGoQwZ2Sh7famarWZr2C0irb9xg91EXtljmeoZSjq71BZzRvK2HjXePo_iLHIMYJ6PKYtKMiAwxKeWNSyLe6mzHC39viksGolRVfOuyk3vt6OCjCpVtbwlcjqusLgzk/s400/20160716_162645.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and stack it by the fire</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKsFs__LmsqSLhFX1YuPyd-t8YCvF1V6RS4uekugr91dBJHIFsdaAAHSwt4kjphCR3XdxJEn6qG-Bm_IwENnnF-jJs1FZPNnwU7J96iEOgklO2sAudBL3F9kKC-_w7XJJgqInoJX7OWo2/s1600/20160508_180408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKsFs__LmsqSLhFX1YuPyd-t8YCvF1V6RS4uekugr91dBJHIFsdaAAHSwt4kjphCR3XdxJEn6qG-Bm_IwENnnF-jJs1FZPNnwU7J96iEOgklO2sAudBL3F9kKC-_w7XJJgqInoJX7OWo2/s400/20160508_180408.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All to keep the dogs warm</td></tr>
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While collecting firewood may seem like a simple weekly task, it actually has a lot of considerations attached to it (for us at least). We try not to disrupt the ecosystem of our property while carrying out our daily life, we try to minimise the dangers inherent in living in the bush and we try to make the best use of our resources. These concerns are sometimes in conflict and compromises have to be made. Do you collect firewood? What are your considerations?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16182408012625352004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7659063275888073304.post-9438953864037584712016-07-08T18:28:00.000-07:002016-07-08T18:32:07.643-07:00Upcycling old tiles into wall art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coffee, craft and off colour jokes.</td></tr>
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A while ago my dad bought down a pile of old mismatched tiles he had found while cleaning out his shed. These little beauties sat on the useful pile for a few months waiting to become something. Yesterday inspiration hit... the girls are home for a visit and we were having a craft day...fueled by ill-advised internet searches (damned Pinterest). We made Popsicle stick bracelets,tile wall art and did some applique.<br />
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The wall tiles were so easy and so much fun. I don't usually make decorative things; I prefer making useful items, but my daughters convinced me. I must say the process was easy and very satisfying. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7avw2-1NXFUCbHU-rY7CPjLvQ1H5HSgLZqvL7eNpaA7xFb0qJNPLVd_zuRhdjJ1KIe16AmshUwv-HIdZZY7-68S3Yc14IGltK2eM62QPcEkOct7c_zINV9hje-Yno5eEwwzR6lswNhsC/s1600/20160708_135545%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7avw2-1NXFUCbHU-rY7CPjLvQ1H5HSgLZqvL7eNpaA7xFb0qJNPLVd_zuRhdjJ1KIe16AmshUwv-HIdZZY7-68S3Yc14IGltK2eM62QPcEkOct7c_zINV9hje-Yno5eEwwzR6lswNhsC/s400/20160708_135545%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three of my finished tiles</td></tr>
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First we found a<a href="http://www.crunchybetty.com/diy-picture-tiles-you-will-never-buy-a-photo-frame-again"> tutorial that we understood</a>; The Crunchy Betty blog is written in easy to understand language (just follow the link). Then we dug around and found all the essential ingredients we needed;<br />
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tiles<br />
photos and/or diagrams<br />
Mod Podge<br />
foam applicators<br />
Spray on varnish<br />
felt sheets<br />
hot glue gun and glue<br />
Super glue<br />
picture hanging hooks <br />
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I didn't take any photos of the ingredients gathering, but the list isn't long.<br />
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Then we spread out some newspaper and painted Mod Podge onto our tiles. This step required making a new pot of coffee and telling off colour jokes (just to keep things interesting). We glued our pictures onto the tiles; one of my daughters had to re-glue hers as it wasn't exactly straight and she couldn't live with it. The next step was to wait for the first layer of Mod Podge to dry clear...so we started decorating some Paddlepop stick bracelets we had made previously (ADHD is rampant in my family).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBp4u3Jn4rzXE_YGV1jXYlRs0W37khCssidNDS1EN7eiYVGswhiLFZkIA7YgKnRkZuPUM9luBrBjAehcX7vG9foDWFsyExRy50US07vhEMhTP4D_0eIh7fJmG7onBm10ioOi3Y-CQFDVCi/s1600/20160708_101055%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBp4u3Jn4rzXE_YGV1jXYlRs0W37khCssidNDS1EN7eiYVGswhiLFZkIA7YgKnRkZuPUM9luBrBjAehcX7vG9foDWFsyExRy50US07vhEMhTP4D_0eIh7fJmG7onBm10ioOi3Y-CQFDVCi/s400/20160708_101055%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spreading out our first layer</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibAXuD-HMIR14HnNv0c8E9euj0HXi_2C5Qx0GiYasD7q4jjah2_kV-_NfJ1fYJDAIZJC0tmj3G0J7uNukPpPaiW8X_LM_7-Byxpnxpw9nO-HW7yolKPMUgzxtG9czQebuiQTbtI1OO_HC9/s1600/20160708_115612%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibAXuD-HMIR14HnNv0c8E9euj0HXi_2C5Qx0GiYasD7q4jjah2_kV-_NfJ1fYJDAIZJC0tmj3G0J7uNukPpPaiW8X_LM_7-Byxpnxpw9nO-HW7yolKPMUgzxtG9czQebuiQTbtI1OO_HC9/s400/20160708_115612%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Decorating our bracelets<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaCvPGucFFDscBnPosJua9N1SaoAOkqBv3giOzHFWkvbU_C-OZfKnSZeZva3_6rCTlLV1NCR9FHGQOiwuRCJATyc9n5gKzIyFCH2aNrbudi57zarNH9gYEbNYyM2ZXSvcpzNdny5Qoopg/s1600/20160708_113539%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaCvPGucFFDscBnPosJua9N1SaoAOkqBv3giOzHFWkvbU_C-OZfKnSZeZva3_6rCTlLV1NCR9FHGQOiwuRCJATyc9n5gKzIyFCH2aNrbudi57zarNH9gYEbNYyM2ZXSvcpzNdny5Qoopg/s400/20160708_113539%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This fox design is burned into the wood with an old soldering iron.</td></tr>
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As an aside....we soaked our Paddlepop sticks in vinegar for about 15 minutes then bent them into coffee cups (as in <a href="https://au.pinterest.com/pin/23362491795089807/">this photo</a>) and left them to dry by the fire. When they were dry we took them out and decorated them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3XK5targCHEZTOK1pgArUVKzZqE_tLip0E4vg8GDrVI4TSxZG5Rf45F98WoqaTBwWTkdcf6Q2yPR2OVFGgzbBxxeUvTCOwbZLDUEwuTMH8u5WAagmkcEZVr_NVxj255rFjVtkB8LoAgV/s1600/20160708_101815%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3XK5targCHEZTOK1pgArUVKzZqE_tLip0E4vg8GDrVI4TSxZG5Rf45F98WoqaTBwWTkdcf6Q2yPR2OVFGgzbBxxeUvTCOwbZLDUEwuTMH8u5WAagmkcEZVr_NVxj255rFjVtkB8LoAgV/s400/20160708_101815%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tiles with the pictures glued down and the second coat of Mod Podge on</td></tr>
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We coated our tiles with Mod Podge a total of three times, waited for them to dry between each coat, then sprayed some varnish over the top. We put the tiles in the sun to dry for an hour or so and did a spot of sewing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEN09RY2mciPez0UYo0oeW6CeWzyGTnZm5KbR_K_-zMlT99Q9BR3-QhVJJ-8YgSFn6MmFUc5XwJL7b0prN35haY5zOmIylFXgBVpT4XbYST1Oml07gS90CQtIsZDHO-7H_r2INoqxpXzz/s1600/20160708_185456%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEN09RY2mciPez0UYo0oeW6CeWzyGTnZm5KbR_K_-zMlT99Q9BR3-QhVJJ-8YgSFn6MmFUc5XwJL7b0prN35haY5zOmIylFXgBVpT4XbYST1Oml07gS90CQtIsZDHO-7H_r2INoqxpXzz/s400/20160708_185456%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An applique blanket as an ode to my eldest daughter's favourite TV show.</td></tr>
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As a finishing touch we super glued some picture hooks to our tiles and covered the backs with felt squares (hot glued on).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFve-tAYh1nA8G03UxDMGIw5Dqd1ZFwWnmtEoTI_D8EEME3Ty73o8xqIw7Rti_7NN7Nw8oTKJq_r1yLAkXFk5P1URuqTHq3NEhM4CegYkAFRU37cYmy8gAVVqIQGtGDjy0vVAKKVKWsY_M/s1600/20160708_134904%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFve-tAYh1nA8G03UxDMGIw5Dqd1ZFwWnmtEoTI_D8EEME3Ty73o8xqIw7Rti_7NN7Nw8oTKJq_r1yLAkXFk5P1URuqTHq3NEhM4CegYkAFRU37cYmy8gAVVqIQGtGDjy0vVAKKVKWsY_M/s400/20160708_134904%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super glue will hold the little hook things on the tiles...we hope</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixCPzRgXtr5aaZKnyAD0Wjxu89F1vIlVRtFZqDipHyboh7qjVa3ynfweM907Ecm3lCUctJbyjKujPGAUx-ZhPmE89ILQXScbOcWgtLTV5puNov-XRFNQmzAt73GXsW3pFtfcUzsG8ui3o/s1600/20160708_134858%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixCPzRgXtr5aaZKnyAD0Wjxu89F1vIlVRtFZqDipHyboh7qjVa3ynfweM907Ecm3lCUctJbyjKujPGAUx-ZhPmE89ILQXScbOcWgtLTV5puNov-XRFNQmzAt73GXsW3pFtfcUzsG8ui3o/s320/20160708_134858%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Felt squares glued to the back finished off our tiles.</td></tr>
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Our craft day was a lot of fun and we learned a couple of new things;<br />
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Don't allow free roaming birds on the craft table when using Mod Podge (Barry was very interested) and;<br />
Get your pictures straight the first time (or you have to reprint them).<br />
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Now I have to make a wall to hang my new tiles on.<br />
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