Author: iopadmin

  • Thistle and The Bear on Hens

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    Thistle and The Bear talk about a few of the facets of urban living with chickens. Links from the podcast: BackyardChickens.com is a great resource, as is Backyard Poultry Magazine. Dan’s Boots and Saddles is the local feed store where we acquired our chicks and buy our chicken food. Thanks to our musicians, Keytronic.

  • Thistle and The Bear on Ritual in Our Lives

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    Thistle and The Bear talk about important rituals, like a daily cup of tea. How rituals  are important to us, and why.

  • Thistle and The Bear on Bread

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    Thistle and The Bear podcast about bread.

  • Lawn Irrigation in the Desert

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    In central New Mexico there is not enough rainfall to grow a lawn. Water is precious—and expensive. A responsible homeowner maintains his lawn with no more water than required. But how much is required? You can calculate the amount. Guide H-504 from the New Mexico State University cooperative extension How to Water Your Lawn shows…

  • Very Bad Food

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    Thistle and The Bear discuss share their worst culinary creations in history. Music courtesy of Keytronic licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Spoken word licensed under Creative Commons Non-commercial Attribution 3.0

  • My Daughter’s Nightstand

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    This week I finished a cabinet carpentry project started after Thanksgiving in 2014. It was a stretch of my skills, the first time building a project with full panel construction, where all the panels were solid wood. Except for the bottom of the drawer, the entire structure is made of solid wood. To control cost,…

  • Dip Pen Dry Time

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    For my recommended pen nib (the Speedball B-5) and either of my recommended inks (Rapidograph 3084-F or Reeves and Poole), the drying time appears to be 5 minutes. In these tests I first wrote, and then wiped left-to-right after the marked delay. Both were fine after 5 minutes. The Reeves and Poole 30 minute smear…

  • Dip Pens for the Backs of Photos

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    Quick Recommendation Speedball B-5 nib Rapidraw 3084-F or Reeves & Poole India Ink The best solution I have found for writing on the back of plastic-coated photos, like those from Costco or most modern developers, is drafting ink. It would seem the inks are usually archival even though the paper is not. The writing is…

  • The Electric Henhouse

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    This spring three lovely chicks joined our family, Betty, Penny, and Ginger. Ginger discovered her inner rooster in due time, and was rehomed—we are not zoned for the crowing half of the species. To protect the birds from freezing during our winter travels, and to let them out at the sunrise, they have been housed…

  • 3D-Printer and Your Coffee Grinder

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    Two weeks ago I acquired a 3D printer; specifically the Printrbot Simple Metal Kit and, after some warranty help, it’s printing well. The first thing I printed was the fan shroud for the 3D printer itself, as recommended by Printrbot, but the next things were for my own design. I printed a set of three…