Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1113)

5 months ago

Hello Everyone!

Slightly off track, Skewing a sleep cycle, Small systems explorations, Smatterings of rain & Sealing the berm!

Some days things are just going to get off track and today turned out to be one of those days... which is why I am a bit late to get to doing the writing for this evening. I have been 'here' ever since the sun set over the horizon... and all that I have done is slurp my espresso (with my last scoop of ice cream in it) and tinker around on the computer.

Last night I wound up zoning out on several projects and skewed my sleep cycle a good bit... before forcing myself awake early in the day and diving back into some coding experiments. It is kind of funny because I went through this entire gambit of various small operating systems... and landed right back where I started with my current implementation being the smallest.

The big downside to that is that it is very bare bones... meaning any useful functionality would need to be build into it... which I think that given its simplicity that should not be all that hard. There were a wide variety of systems (that I tested) which actually worked... so there are other options. Again though, the overall 'footprint' is small enough to fit in eight Hive blockchain blocks or roughly 334.5 kB on disk...which is tiny. As a side note I also have a version that uses eighteen blocks which is more robust... and even has some tools and games built into it.

Anyways, I better not start rambling about technology overly much and just say that I have been enjoying the new hobby a lot... even if the learning curve keeps me up late! Thankfully, I seldom find it frustrating until I 'do everything right' and some 'mysterious component' just fails to work the way that it is supposed to... resulting in me taking a break from things until I can approach it from a new angle.

On a different note, the weather stayed pretty much the same as it was yesterday (this entire time) and the bulk of that storm passed this area by altogether. At some point it rained rather heavy but from the looks of things outside (this morning) it could not have lasted very long.

Given how dry everything had been for so long around here... all these little 'smatterings' of rain sure are welcome... and I would not want to see what the conditions would be if it had not rained as it has. It was not just that everything was 'dry' but it was also cold (so there was no or very low humidity) and the way the wind kept gusting for a few days there... it was all spelling for bad fire weather ahead.

So yeah, any and all rain is welcome in the face of such conditions especially when large thunderstorms (at the edges of things) are involved. Then there is of course the hunting season 'weekend warrior' party folks... and the recreational folks. Not to mention it all being during the holiday season... which just adds more hazard during super dry conditions... especially if fireworks and such are involved.

All of which is fine and dandy, but sometimes I wish that it would either rain or not... and 'get it over with' instead of simply 'looming' about and keeping me cooped up indoors. Of course if I really wanted to get out in the mucky and slippery conditions in an effort to get something done... would it really be a good use of my time and effort... or can I challenge my mind and tinker with technology... and that ever be as fulfilling... seems to be the question.

Eventually very late in the afternoon I did get outdoors for a short while to do the routine chores... and I even remembered to work on that berm more while I was out there. After racking my brain on where to get good clay from... I was finally like... doh the entire fire pit is dug into a bank of clay to form the pit.

In short, I relieved some of the inner bank of the pit... and only created thin 'slices' of clay (with the flat-head shovel) which I then tossed along the edge of that log which forms the berm. Once I got going on it the leaves (that create the bulk of the berm) began to sink and create a nice barrier under the log... which is all that I needed to achieve for now.

One thing is for sure... is that... it is going to take a lot more clay, a lot more topsoil and a lot more 'attention' to get that berm to the point where I will be happy with it. If by late spring it has not become 'part of the earth' there... then I am going to remove it altogether... so that it does not become a place for snakes or vermin to hide or even worse start living in it.

Well, on that note I think that I am going to get on to the editing and posting portion of my evening. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice time.