Outside Decorations 2023

 

Hall floor pictures

 Carpet fix or hide faults?

Dan's New Lights

 

Singer Treadle

Minimal restoration done on circa 1917 Singer treadle machine for NF.

Apple Blossom Time

 It is Sept 7 2023...

 

The Chisel Jersey is blossoming pointlessly.

While the Florina is still trying to ripen.

Chuc

New Tree Update

 The new trees have had differing results.

The Cox was stressed. First thing it did after planting was bloom. In July. At the end of the last heat wave it dropped 90 percent of it's leaves.

I got extra mulch on it right away and increased water. It has now budded out almost as many new leaves as it lost.

The Chisel Jersey has been fine and stable the whole time. It got extra mulch and water too.

Made second batch of Transparent cider today. Good yield. Only three bottles, so a jug of raw juice in the fridge.

Chuck

Cider?

 

One pressing of transparents from the Hopkins. Four litres juice. We put some in the fridge. This is going to be scrumpie if it works.

Chuck

As of Friday the plastic bottle is out gassing every day. Unable to hear any hissing from the glass.  Chuck

New Trees

 Added two bargain trees yesterday. The second is "Cox's Orange Pippin" and the far one is "Chisel Jersey". Will try to keep both alive in the heat.

Rocks?

 

Rocks from our recent trip. Largest are about two kg.

How many do you think are more than "just rocks"?

Chuck

Of the three OT which were possible jade, the smallest and largest were too light. The middle one has SG 2.99 but passes no light. So not jade.

Flag pole changed

 It still wants to furl but looks better.

Pollination is Important

 

The small brown plumlets did not get pollinated and will not develop further.

Chuck

WTF SST?

 Global sea surface temperatures have been high recently. Almost no news about them.

According to the chart at 

https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/

SST are a solid 0.2 C above the old daily record. Sounds small? That is 0.2 C over all ocean surface from 60 S to 60 N.  Last year the temperature tracked about 0.1 C above the two sigma high line. That data set goes back to 1981. Since 2023-apr-1 the trace has been about 5 sigma high.

The world's oceans have been about five standard deviations above the 40 year average for six weeks. Something momentous is going on.

The same site offers another strong clue. Switch to the North Atlantic and look at the color SST map. The bands are nearly horizontal. That is not how they are supposed to look. The gulf stream is nearly invisible. It looks like the AMOC has stopped.

Chuck

Improved Shop Lights

 

Cider Press

 New for 2023...

Start by washing the press parts and hosing down the press. Then clean up your junky apples. Mince or mash them to pommace with chunks under one inch.

Set the jack, lower press block, cookie sheet, lower cutting board in place. Lay out a layer of draining slats.

Set the cheese frame on the slats.

Lay out the press cloth on the frame with corners front and back. Fill the cloth and frame with pommace. Press in gently . It will be two inches thick.

Fold the corners in over he cheese. pull it snug.

Remove the frame. Add a layer of drain slats at 90 degrees from the last layer. Continue to build cheeses until you run out of pommace, cloths, or space.

Add the upper cutting board face down.

Add the upper press block.

Fill the remaining gap with spacers. Position then carefully. It is a five ton press.

Add pressure slowly.

Collect juice at the drain line.

The frame is salvaged fence posts, iron pipe and flanges. The jack has steel plates above and below. It is captive so it will not slip out.The inner press blocks are large cutting boards. The drip tray is a new cookie sheet, modified brass fitting, rubber o ring, vinyl tube and C clip.

The drain slats are English laurel from our yard. The frame is hardwood from the store. It is preferable to soak the slats well so they pick up minimal juice.

Our test press was 1.5 litres of pommace. We got about .75 litre of delicious juice with no sediment. It was scary noisy.

Chuck

 New bandsaw blade and made a rip fence. Resaw of our plum tree aged several years.

Chuck