Testing

I wonder if i can send this straight to the blog

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Rubbish pile

humpy (draft)

woodburning- reducing my footprint? (draft)

In an effort to reduce my environmental impact, I've been looking at heating my house using wood instead of gas or electricity.
Actually, that's a lie. I'm looking at heating using firewood because it feels good to have a fire inside, and because I think it's cheaper. but like all decisions, it includes an environmental aspect, and I'd drop the idea if it was an environmentally bad idea.
In year one, soon after we bought the house, we tried heating using the cute little fireplace in the living room. the previous owner hadn't thought much of it, other than as a decorative feature, so I was cautious when I first tried it. Would it fill the house with smoke? Would it upset a hybernating family of possums or microbats? Would it fail miserably in terms of heating?
As it turns out, the chimney drew the smoke out beautifully, unencumbered by wildlife or old birds nests. We used the Cypress Pine scrap timber we had lying around after renovating, and discovered that it splutters and crackles and sends spearks flying into the lounge room- but it heated the place nicely, and didn't cause the migraines that the LPG gas burning heater did.
Our next step was to buy a cast iron fireplace to hold the sparks in place. an electric fan blew masses of warmth into the house, and a friend delivered a pile of old (unpainted) decking which was destined for the tip. That winter, we were very cosy, and the fireplace paid for itself easily. The fan used a tiny amount of electricity, and we added a timer switch so it squeezed every last bit of warmth into the loungeroom before dying away in the early hours of the morning.




Correct operation: Tips to keep your house warm overnight

•Closing off all air to a fire produces very little heat and a lot of smoke.
•Only turn down the air supply when you have a hot bed of charcoal.
At least half an hour before you go to bed:

•Reload your heater with good quality wood.
•Run it on a high burn rate for 25 minutes.
•Turn the heater down but ensure that a visible flame is maintained.
•Never shut the air flow right down.
•Let the fire burn itself out over night.
Turning the air supply right down does not gain you any advantage, because the wood will only smoulder, creating little heat and a large amount of wood smoke.

Did you know?
To avoid a smouldering fire, consider alternatives to burning overnight. A portable electric heater, appropriate for size of the room being heated, switched on with a timer a short time before you wake will take the chill out of the morning air.
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/air/woodheaters/woodheaters_house_overnight.asp

who are you in this image?

I had a guest speaker come to class today. She started with a neat little exercise- asking students to look a picture of children climbing a tree, and say which one best described where they were at the moment. Some said they were climbing, some said they were reaching down to help others, some had fallen off or crossing over from a different course.
I liked the idea, but the image was pixelly and hard to see- so I spent the rest of the session drawing my own version, added here for you to share.

Escher images versions 2 and 3

Here's version 2.

Seems there's a few software packages out there that can help draw this stuff, but really, cutting and pasting on a computer isn't all that difficult.

I like the way that the pelicans are all in rows, just like when they go flying home of an evening.

I've been playing with Escher images lately. there's a bunch of software out there for people who do this stuff all the time, but it felt more like it would take more time to learn than i wanted to invest. Pencils and cut and paste should do me.

I was aiming to carve this onto an Emu egg, but decided it just didn't do the medium justice. I carved a simple story instead.