Thursday,
February 8, 2007 3:13 PM
Lots of busy-ness yesterday and today and tied up with personal
stuff too.
I went to Mexico yesterday and got a haircut, picked up some
antibiotics, and stopped at Walmart with Ed F. It was a get
out of town trip and the lines coming back across into the
US were long.
It
is about 94 miles from my place to here. We got a $4.50
hair cut (each), and they don't do a lot of cleaning and
sweeping or changing combs, so it was real fast! We got
a coupon for a free beer or Margarita handed to us when
we walked in, so we went there and ate lunch, which was
quite good. |
This
is the short line, once you're in the gate at the border
crossing coming back into the USA. There is no border
crossing coming into Mexico, you just walk across. The
line turns around the tree on the right and goes down
along the road. We have already been in line for 20 minutes
when Ed and I reached here. It is hard to see in the small
picture but the door into the building at the head of
the line is the passport door and there is now one to
the left of that for no passport. Current procedure is
that you can walk into Algodones and out without a passport,
however, now you you have to show ID and they type your
name into their computer. I had my passport (preparation
boy) and was able to walk by this entire line to the back
of about 10 people. Since Ed has his car differently organized
(read retarded) he couldn't find his passport so he stayed
in the long line. Of course he was driving. So I waiting
on the American side.
While in Algodones I priced some drugs for friends and
picked up Amoxicillin. It was two for one day on Amoxicillin
- so a sixty tablet bottle of 500 mg Amoxicillin was $3.60
with another free bottle. So $1.80 per bottle.
|
They scanned
my passport and did not ask what was in my purple bag from
the pharmacea, and said "have a good day!" Back
in the USSSAaa!
Two days ago, I tied the bicycle to the top of la Casa
Blanca and removed the rear wheel.
I switched the disk brake and the rear wheel sprocket
set to the new wheel. |
Here is the new wheel on the bike installed. The test
ride revealed a bump, bump, bump feeling. I stopped to
check and then the engine wouldn't start. Frustration! |
Earlier
in the day I headed out on my walk which is up any of
the mountains in the picture here. I have been having
wonderful BG (blood glucose, or blood sugar numbers because
of the exercise- I'm shooting hardly any). So that puts
my lazy ass out the door and steals valuable time when
I could be kibitzing with you!
|
On
the right is part of my sneaker print, and above that
the toe of my hiking boot from various walks. That in
the middle, that's the thing you see. It bothers me. |
|
 |
I had to
get water, the 55 gallon drum was out and had been running for
two days on the 30 gallon tank in the airstream. So off to breakfast
with ED at the Burger King this morning, first to get an update
on Katie, who was feeling poorly and not moving much for two
days, and then to have senior coffee and a Whopper Junior with
cheese, $1.93. Afterwards I went out to the LTVA where the water
is. That is also where the dump station and the biggest garbage
station is. So I was dumping my garbage, and wait - what's that
in front of one of the nine dumpsters. Three batteries. Oh no,
no volt meter with me. So I picked up one and it was too light.
I picked up another and it was too old. Then I picked up the
biggest one and it was JUST RIGHT. Very heavy, which means deep
cycle, lots of lead, expensive. I put it in the truck hoping
that I would get back to my meter and find that it was above
12V or at least above 11.7V to make it worth while to resurrect
it. 12.23 V which means there is probably nothing wrong with
it! Yea!
On the right above is my making a mix of 1/2 cup of distilled
water with 6 teaspoons of ETDA. I managed to squeeze the whole
dose into equally into the 6 cells of the battery above (the
holes are under the top caps - 6 holes for a 12V battery). The
ETDA breaks down sulfation and returns more of the capacity
of the battery to use if it is sulfated a little. Then on to
HF solar panels, where it is right now, doing quite well, thank
you! A zero cost battery (well a couple of dimes worth of ETDA).
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 6:08 PM
I'm a little bummed. I'm struggling with my bicycle and it's
new wheel and I'm frustrated. But that is the nature of technology
and living a life way off center, wait, off grid, yea that's
it. But the jet stove is wunderbar!
 |
Anybody
can build this stove! Try it, you'll love it!
Click here to jump to the my
jetstove page!
Notice the heavy glove. It is filled with paper towels
that are stemming the sliced web between my thumb and
index finger, suffered during a somewhat ludicrous knife
sharpening incident. I think it probably need stitches,
but everything works and I'M BUSY!
But that's better than the time I cut my thigh with my
dive knife while sitting in my grass hut and day dreaming
what I should have done to a shark that scared me earlier
in the day - yep I was waving the knife around - take
that you shark- and well, oops. All my knives are sharp,
can't say the same for me. |
Tuesday,
February 6, 2007 6:55 AM
Hey chicklets - ixwebhosting - my webhost for this website
is having lots of problems today. If you get an error, just
wait a bit and try again. They are working on it, I hope.
It came back up totally about 10am and I'm able to work again.
Here's a link I'm going to add to the preparation section.
It's a Norwegian guy who actually builds all sorts of snares,
bows, traps - it is distinctly different and interesting (to
me). He is here!
Marcy, I
Bonobo, in her blog today, after the medical part, has
a lot to say about religion. I have stayed away from three
main areas in my daily musings with you; politics, guns, and
religion. I have been working, mentally, on an essay about
memes, and the most potent, visible, long lasting, best example
memes are all religions. I'm interested in how we can manipulate
the memes that are already programmed into us in order to
allow us to become more open, creative, inventive, flexible
for the big waves that are coming. But the big ones, survival,
guns, killing people, killing people in the name of religion,
they are not straw men, they are big rocks in the road of
our future. I don't know how to approach them without giving
the problems power. They all have fear attached and each of
us becomes an little nuts (who me?) when afraid. I'm thinking
about that, but meanwhile I'll keep chipping on the small
things of use, beauty, and interest that strike my fancy.
I'm off on my walk, but first a note to everyone who I owe
petroglyph disks to - I picked up new disks last week and
I'm burning the CD's today. I'll have them in the mail tomorrow.
Also, I'll have the jet stove photos and text and some thoughts
about how best to use these stoves later today.
Thank you for the letters that make me think!
Monday,
February 5, 2007 6:36 AM
Good morning chickies! I'm working on the jet stove pictures
and then I'm off for a hike but ONLY after I have some coffee
brewed on my new little jet stove! But here's the part I forgot
when I set up the stove last night before dark. I forgot that
it is cold out there and I don't want to get out of my warm
covers to go light it. Jeez, I'm a wimp.
It will be hot today, getting near 80F, so I'll be tanning
as I work around camp. I've several small problems, and some
fun too. Gary has asked me to go to Solar Bills in Q and check
the photowatt panel prices, and I'm headed there after lunch.
OK, I'll get up and light the stove.
 |
Left: the first cut.
Above the first test. You can see why it's called an L
stove. Other names are jet stove and elbow. |
This morning, firing up the jet stove and making the coffee
that I'm sipping as I write. Yea, that's what I'm talkin'
about! |
The jet stove
is very easy to light, easy to make, and I can already see a
few tweaks and additions that I will do today. - "I'm talking
PROGRESS people, I'm talking DRY LAND!" - Dennis Hopper,
Waterworld.
Sunday,
February 4, 2007 8:22 PM
Meme has been on my mind recently (this morning in fact). I've
been thinking about our knee jerk responses, which are the ones
we will have to deal with in ourselves and others in times of
stress. Where do these come from and how to we reprogram ourselves
to be better at building our new world and future? I through
this out now only because it ties back to identity (which was
a hot topic for some of you recently), and I plan to think more
and look deeper in the near future. Meanwhile here
is a link to learn about memes so that you can call me on
my shit when I get too far adrift.
I was successful in building a very nice jet stove that took
only twenty minutes and then cooked my lunch on it. I spent
another fifteen minutes photographing the process and will have
those pictures in a separate page tomorrow. Also I have completed
the review of the MIDGE stove that Ed and I built yesterday.
You can finish looking at the pictures and read
my opinion here.
Sunday, February 4, 2007 9:39 AM
Good morning Vietnam! (Robin Williams). Is it sunny in the desert
today. Yes it is and I'm on a roll. Nice hike in the morning.
Great blood sugar numbers even without a shot of insulin. I'm
starting to push myself on the walks, to climb harder and get
to the gasping stage (death) and just back off a smidgen. Speaking
of sMIDGE, I'm adding the text to that page
(click here) to complete the gasifier review. After that
I'm designing and building a L stove, also called and elbow
stove, or a jet stove (because of the sound). Of
course there will be pictures.
I had too much fun yesterday, and my hands show it with numerous
cuts. I'm going to go slower on this today, but one of the cans
is beef stew and I hope to cook it on the completed stove by
2pm. Party on my plucky friends.
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