![]() Yesterday, I worked on 3 different genres of crafts. I fashioned the above spoon from the cherry tree I removed from our front yard. I've started curing the wood for a second, hopefully better one. Then I did some stained glass. Neither picture turned out great but here they are anyway: a geometric sun(?) and a juggling club. Lastly, I finished up a hat I started knitting last year. All this crafting and I still managed to fit in more hours of t.v. than I care to admit. At least I can feel like I accomplished something (even if it is just creating a sliver delivery device). |
Saturday November 14 2009 | File under: misc |
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Friday November 13 2009 | File under: comic |
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Tuesday November 10 2009 | File under: misc |
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![]() Speaking of artisticness, I was thinking today that a good comic would involve having a pumpkin carving itself a la an M.C. Escher drawing or something but I just couldn't really envision how it would go. And even if I envisioned it, actually drawing it would be another story. So instead, I settled on this little gem. Maybe I can sell my pumpkin carving itself idea to a real artist/comic maker. It would be kind of like how after the first few albums, rock stars no longer write their own songs and instead buy them from the no-name little people. I'm a no-name little person. So Dan Piraro*, fork over the dough. |
Thursday November 5 2009 | File under: comic |
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Tuesday November 3 2009 | File under: games, travel |
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Thursday October 29 2009 | File under: comic |
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Tuesday October 27 2009 | File under: transportation, environment |
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![]() I attended the Anacortes event, where there were brainstorming sessions, bitch sessions, a couple of presentations, and a wonderful spread of donated food. Seeing people gathering together to talk about taking action filled me with hope. Hearing someone suggest we turn off the lights and use the natural light of the space filled me with happiness. Knowing that at least one person will walk away from the gathering with the motivation to make some of the changes that we all need to made also make me happy. But the real reason for this post* is to encourage any and all to take a moment to assess your environmental impact and entertain ways in which you can lessen it: turn down the heat, finally get around to organizing a carpool, if it's yellow let it mellow, etc. After all, everyone needs friendly reminders once and a while. Consider this that. |
Sunday October 25 2009 | File under: environment |
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![]() Speaking of text messages, I can receive them now thanks to my google voice account. Texting is a whole other culture of which I never felt a part, but now I'm starting to get it. its gr8! (If you want my fancy phone number so we can be text buddies, e-mail me (or contact me via the contact page)). |
Thursday October 22 2009 | File under: comic |
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![]() Step 1: Harvesting - I first attempted pulling up the whole stalk (or cutting it off low to the ground). To separate the grains from the stalk, I tried whacking the stalks around in a big bucket. A few grains were freed, but the majority stayed on. I ended up having to run my fingers down each stalk to free the grains, much like you get the thyme leaves from the stem. For my second field, I bypassed pulling up the whole stalk and instead just did the seed pinch thing with the stalks still in the ground. Step 2: Separating Seed from Hull - (I know I am using the incorrect terms all over the place here, but hopefully you will still get the point) So when an oat comes off the stalk, it has a papery hull on it. You're not supposed to eat this part. To separate it, I first tried rubbing between my hands (as if you were warming your hands). This worked pretty well, but many seeds still had their hulls, apparently because they were dried out well enough. To remedy this, I put them in the oven for 20 minutes on low heat. This dried them out sufficiently to be able to disengage the seed from the hull, again via the hand warming method. Step 3: Filtering Chaff from Seed - Now that the seeds and hull were not connected, I needed to actually separate them. This is possibly the most ingenious part of the process to me. Since the seeds are a good deal heavier than the papery hulls, a good cross-wind will aid in the separating. I used a fan to keep a constant airflow. After all this processing, I ended up with maybe 2 quarts of oat seed. Thinking about how much effort went into preparing the soil, obtaining and planting the seed, harvesting, and processing, I have a much better appreciation of all grains. I realize, of course, that using a machine to do all the work makes it significantly easier (and arguably more efficient). That said, however, there was a time that combines didn't exist and people did it by hand. In those days, the work equal to a bowl of oatmeal was nothing to sneeze at. Future Step 4: Maybe Another Separating Step? - So now I've got a bunch of seeds. I thought I was done. The seed that is remaining, however, is still in 2 parts, one kind of enveloping the other. I might need to separate those from each other, but I don't know. Future Step 5: Making the Seeds Usable - Most of us are used to oats as rolled oats or steel cut oats for oatmeal. It turns out that rolling oats is really hard (needs a big old machine) and I have no idea what steel cutting is, except maybe just cutting somewhat regularly. I'm thinking that the most accessible way to prepare my oats for my belly is to grind it into oat flour. From there, I'm sure there is something I can come up with. |
Wednesday October 21 2009 | File under: food |
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