Thursday, July 4, 2013

Rebuilding an old rotten window

It is the fourth of July and I am celebrating my independence by attempting to rebuild an old rotten window.
I have carved old some of the old punky wood and wedged in shims and other wooden objects. I bungied the whole thing together and poured in some 2 part epoxy.
Please do not mistake this for a DYI blog from a knowledgeable builder. This is fly-by-the seat-of-the-pants stuff, sort of "this window would have just ended up in the dump anyway" sort of thing.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Thursday, August 19, 2010

My Tiger Hector

 If I had a tiger, I would name him Hector and feed him Turducken  and 
Maggie's Durian Ice Cream...


Sunday, April 4, 2010

Sea Cakes


4 white figs
cardamom pods, seeds removed and chopped
pinch each:
saffron
cinnamon
nutmeg
!/2 cup rolled oats
place these items on a cutting board and cut with a knife until they resemble a coarse meal.
place in bowl
add 1/2 ounce soymilk ( silk- vanilla)
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
mix together and allow to sit for 5 minutes
Drop by the spoonfull onto a sheet greased with olive oil and form into little cakes (about the size of a silver dollar and about 1/2" thick)
Top with finely chopped candied pecans.

Bake in a preheated convections oven for 33 minutes and 33 seconds at 300 degrees.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Condiments and Tofu

 In looking for ways to vary my vegetarian diet; I find myself totally intrigued by two sites that I have come upon recently via stumbleupon (I can't say enough good things about stumble), the  Vegan Feast Kitchen Blog (I have just put up the potted tofu and I am planning on trying the tofu feta next) and the Best Condiments in the World (right now) .
I have been experimenting with baked tofu. The first recipe yielded a substance similar to a vegetarian leather. Interesting, but not really edible.
I have reworked the original and have come up with a much better version. I am off to Harvest Market today, to invest in more tofu for version 3.
When it is truly yummy, I will share my results with you.
Any suggestions?
g


Thursday, February 18, 2010

Why Build My Own Furniture?

Is it the lack of a local IKEA outlet or a general lack of funds? Perhaps it is my need to create, that has fueled this "create to fill the need".

 In this case a tiny room 11 1/2'x 9 1/2'
 with several uses

  1. exercise
  2. living room 
  3. entertaining (Wii)
  4. work station
  5. spare bedroom
  6. roomba barn (cat entertainment)
  7. cat lounge
This tiny house (380 sq. ft) was built in 1937 (may be older and was moved to present location then) probably built of scrap wood carted home from our now defunct mill. Another popular version of this story, is that this was a line house located out on the railroad system (also largely defunct at this time, with the vestiges being our Skunk Train) and was moved here at a later date.

I am trying to create, with almost no budget, and far less in the skill and tool department (mostly borrowed),  furniture that will accomplish the above goals, staying in context with the original structure, perhaps strengthening it  in the process and adding a bit more insulation for warmth and sound (vibration). Decreasing my carbon footprint ya-da ya-da....

At some point I will leave this house and I will not be able to take it with me. Imagine- moving day, no truck, no moving of furniture. Just drive away!

Another reason to build-in the furniture. You know all that gross stuff, that gets under and behind your couch,, that causes you to have to move furniture around in a place so tiny that you can't move it and you can't even fit a vacuum cleaner into clean it up? That's right, I am attempting the near impossible; the wrangling of dust bunnies and their feral offspring.

My time frame 6 months.
Get ready, set go....

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Christmas Lights Fort Bragg, CA 2009

If you have not driven around Fort Bragg and viewed the Christmas lights, I would really recommend it. There are some really cool things going on in people's yards and on their roof tops.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Nanotubes + ink + paper = instant battery

This is so cool. We could have doily batteries,
paper doll batteries, and imagine the "Hot" Valentines we could send out.