Andy Warhol

"Land really is the best art." - Andy Warhol

Hot Water Issue

We just replaced the PEX tubing inside our solar water heating panels.

When we remodeled the two panels that Abe's dad had found in the junk, we used PEX pipe. It is a lot cheaper than copper and much easier to install. The setup worked well, heating water consistently to 125 degrees.

[flickr set=72157625107002735 photo=6 shift=59]

However, on two separate occasions, the PEX split. The first time, we replaced the pipe, and made some adjustments to our design. It worked fine for a long time, but then recently split again. I guess it just gets too hot in there.

So we have now bit the bullet and replaced the PEX with copper tubing. It is more costly, and you have to be very careful not to kink it when making the required curves, but we got it finished and back up in place in half a day. In fact, we got it done so fast, we didn't get a chance to take photos!

Hopefully, that will now last.

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Hot Water Issue

Quail Loss

All our quail are now gone, taken by a predator while we were away.

With the ability to sit and hatch their own young almost entirely bred out of domestic quail, our group of hens was extra special. They lived in the garden, keeping bugs at bay without destroying plants. We had three hens that hatched chicks. It was a real joy to be able to watch them all from inside our big, south-facing windows.

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However, while we were away on one of our recent trips, they all disappeared. There were signs (including feathers) that a large predator (like a dog or coyote) had gotten into the garden, and hunted them down. A friend of ours would come up to check on things and top up feeders. He said he saw a couple of dogs there a few times, eating from our dog feeder. We have seen them since we've been back, but not on our property. They are the most likely suspects, as I doubt our male dog, Sam, would tolerate coyotes so close.

We plan to get more quail in the Spring, to see if we can replicate our breeding successes. In the meantime, we have had one very hopeful sighting: the other day, we saw one of the females. She was in the garden, drinking water and wandering around, and she then flew off. So we're hoping that at least some got away and are not too far off.

Quail Loss

Pumpkins

We cut up one of our pumpkins for Halloween this year.

[flickr set=72157633274104207 photo=6]

[flickr set=72157649048980766 photo=15702422492 size=small align=right hspace=10 vspace=10]

I don't normally like to cut up pumpkins, as it constitutes a fair amount of wasted food. But Abe wanted to do one for the boys, now that they're getting bigger and can appreciate it. It came out really cool and they loved it, especially getting to light the candles and see it glow.

We got a lot of big squash this year. I use them throughout winter. When I cut one up, I usually take out a cup or two to make pie and then make the rest into something like squash candy. It's a treat we all love.

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Pumpkins

Hot Water Issue

We just replaced the PEX tubing inside our solar water heating panels.

When we remodeled the two panels that Abe's dad had found in the junk, we used PEX pipe. It is a lot cheaper than copper and much easier to install. The setup worked well, heating water consistently to 125 degrees.

[flickr set=72157625107002735 photo=6 shift=59]

However, on two separate occasions, the PEX split. The first time, we replaced the pipe, and made some adjustments to our design. It worked fine for a long time, but then recently split again. I guess it just gets too hot in there.

So we have now bit the bullet and replaced the PEX with copper tubing. It is more costly, and you have to be very careful not to kink it when making the required curves, but we got it finished and back up in place in half a day. In fact, we got it done so fast, we didn't get a chance to take photos!

Hopefully, that will now last.

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Hot Water Issue

Albert Einstein

"We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us." - Albert Einstein

David Icke

"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut, that held its ground." - David Icke

Quail Loss

All our quail are now gone, taken by a predator while we were away.

With the ability to sit and hatch their own young almost entirely bred out of domestic quail, our group of hens was extra special. They lived in the garden, keeping bugs at bay without destroying plants. We had three hens that hatched chicks. It was a real joy to be able to watch them all from inside our big, south-facing windows.

{loadposition adsense}

However, while we were away on one of our recent trips, they all disappeared. There were signs (including feathers) that a large predator (like a dog or coyote) had gotten into the garden, and hunted them down. A friend of ours would come up to check on things and top up feeders. He said he saw a couple of dogs there a few times, eating from our dog feeder. We have seen them since we've been back, but not on our property. They are the most likely suspects, as I doubt our male dog, Sam, would tolerate coyotes so close.

We plan to get more quail in the Spring, to see if we can replicate our breeding successes. In the meantime, we have had one very hopeful sighting: the other day, we saw one of the females. She was in the garden, drinking water and wandering around, and she then flew off. So we're hoping that at least some got away and are not too far off.

Quail Loss

Pat Buckley

"I can find God in nature, in animals, in birds and the environment." - Pat Buckley

Henry Morton Stanley

"The sky lovingly smiles on the earth and her children." - Henry Morton Stanley

John Lubbock

"Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven." - John Lubbock

Leonardo da Vinci

"Water is the driving force of all nature." - Leonardo da Vinci

Pumpkins

We cut up one of our pumpkins for Halloween this year.

[flickr set=72157649048980766 photo=15702422492 size=small align=right hspace=10 vspace=10]

I don't normally like to cut up pumpkins, as it constitutes a fair amount of wasted food. But Abe wanted to do one for the boys, now that they're getting bigger and can appreciate it. It came out really cool and they loved it, especially getting to light the candles and see it glow.

We got a lot of big squash this year. I use them throughout winter. When I cut one up, I usually take out a cup or two to make pie and then make the rest into something like squash candy. It's a treat we all love.

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Pumpkins

Marcus Aurelius

"That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees." - Marcus Aurelius

Hal Borland

"Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence." - Hal Borland

R. Buckminster Fuller

"The most important thing about Spaceship Earth - an instruction book didn't come with it." - R. Buckminster Fuller

John Burroughs

"How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days." - John Burroughs

Marilyn French

"Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains." - Marilyn French

Pamela Hansford Johnson

"The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire." - Pamela Hansford Johnson

Albert Camus

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus

Charles Lindbergh

"In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia." - Charles Lindbergh

George Bernard Shaw

"The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there." - George Bernard Shaw

Charles Dudley Warner

"What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it." - Charles Dudley Warner

William Blake

"The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship." - William Blake

John Muir

"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!" - John Muir

Frank Lloyd Wright

"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Loren Eiseley

"One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star." - Loren Eiseley

Samuel Butler

"Self-preservation is the first law of nature." - Samuel Butler

Hippocrates

"Everything in excess is opposed to nature." - Hippocrates

Henry David Thoreau

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." - Henry David Thoreau

Don Marquis

"Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." - Don Marquis

Omar N. Bradley

"Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship." - Omar N. Bradley

Henry Fielding

"All nature wears one universal grin." - Henry Fielding

Francis Bacon

"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." - Francis Bacon

November'14

November'14 -

Jacques Yves Cousteau

"The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it." - Jacques Yves Cousteau

October'14

October'14 -

Antoine Lavoisier

"I consider nature a vast chemical laboratory in which all kinds of composition and decompositions are formed." - Antoine Lavoisier

October'14

October'14 -