In case your wondering I have not finished/given up on the shed. It's been a bit cold and rainy, weather that's not conducive plastering. I built some exterior shelves on the back (north side) of the building. I'm planning to use the shelving to stack lumber. Reasoning for this placement is as follows: Sunlight can cause timber to warp. Sunlight exposure will be pretty minimal on the north side. The north side is the least visible side of the building. The north side actually faces our neighbors shed which I chalk up as a win-win.  Attaching the verticals to the deadmen. Attaching the horizontals to the verticals. Attaching long horizontals to the short horizontals Attaching more verticals to the long horizontals.    

So, if anyone is wondering what I'm doing on my mancation while Jean is in the UK... Someone has to save humanity Way to go Dispatcher and Quarantine Specialist!

A Justin Bieber calendar: The gift that keeps giving for a full year. Taking a ride on the new transformer ice chest. I don't think that's how it works fellas. White Elephant time! Prepare to have your expectations lowered. A Magnum condiment dispenser I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots [of ketchup] or only five'? Well to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, i kind of lost track myself. But being that this is a Magnum Condiment Dispenser, the most powerful condiment dispenser in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, punk? Everyone's a winner with White Elephant. That's why we have the rule that you have to take your gift home with you.

Nothing gets me in the Christmas spirit like terrorists in the Nakatomi building and high adventure in the world of finance

A freeze finally took out the pepper plants on our balcony. Even so, I had already harvested more than we could reasonably imbibe. Rather, than let them spoil in the fridge I'm making a go at fermentatation. An assortment of poblano, cayenne and tabasco peppers. For reference, the tabasco peppers are the smallest ones. I typically would use two or three to get a dish to more than adequate spiciness. Hence our issue with using them up. Packing everything tightly into a jar with a couple of gloves of garlic. Submerging the peppers with salty water and using a plastic bag filled with water to keep the peppers from floating to the top. After a couple of months I'll decant them into a blender and hopefully make kind of  a sriracha sauce.

Every year First Baptist Church  in the town of Burnet does a recreation/reenactment of the Bethlehem during the time of Christ's birth. Some friends from our church invited us to go this year. I have say we were well impressed. At the blacksmith's shop with real fire. In the synagogue Jean in the market Real, live camels! For the first Main Street Bethlehem events they used sheets painted to look like stone walls for the structures. Over the years they've built out a city block with real stone. 

Starting out the Christmas season at the Zilker Tree lighting

Shredded Paper The exterior plaster work is drawing to a close. Well, for now at least. We'll see how it looks after the rain storm next week. But for now, it's looking pretty good. I'm still struggling a bit with cracking. I've been playing with different ratios of sand clay and straw over the past month. My newest experiment uses shredded paper rather than straw. The paper fibers are significantly smaller and seem to blend more evenly. With some mixing the paper disappears and the plaster ends up smooth and creamy. Also, the plaster dries slower which should help prevent cracking. I'm not sure if the slower dry time is a result of the paper or cooler temperatures. I let the shredded paper soak for a few minutes before adding it the clay-sand mixture. With a little mixing it dissolves completely. In this close up of the plaster you can see the tiny paper fibers. Part of the reason cow manure was a component of traditional cob is all the little plant...

Homestead Heritage is an agrarian and craft based intentional Christian community located in Waco, Texas (about 100 miles north of Austin). For over 25 years they've hosted a craft fair the weekend of Thanksgiving. In addition to selling wares the community residents lead a plethora of crafting, gardening, building and animal husbandry demonstrations and lectures. We learned about sheepdogs and sheep herding, making herb-infused skin & lip balms, relief wood carving, throwing and firing Raku pottery, barn raising, lacto-fermentation, soil restoration, composting and soap making. It was busy day. Sheep herding demonstration. This dog is corralling the sheep in the pen.  Wood relief carving of a pumpkin. Turning pottery on a wheel. Raku pottery fired with horse hair. Barn raising demonstration Raising the first section of the barn. Jean and a calf! Making cold-process soap