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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Lee's trip was a big success.  We had lots of tomatoes and pimentos from 
the garden, and mushrooms were on sale, so we had lasagne.  On Sunday we 
had borshch made with kohlrabi and parsnips for lunch, in addition to 
the usual beets and onions, along with smoked fish from Charleston and 
homemade bread.

After that I really had to focus on finishing the sun porch.  It's 
surprisingly hard to keep 2x4s level while you're nailing them in place, 
when there's no helper to hold them.  A few things went my way, such as 
when I cut one piece of wood only to find out that the remaining waste 
piece was just the right size for something else.  That was good, 
because I had to cut a piece to fit between every pair of rafters with a 
handsaw.  I'm now to the point where I'm plugging up holes here and 
there.  Two out of three doors are still taped shut, and the other is 
kept shut by a piece of wiggle board inserted underneath, which is 
easily manipulated from inside or out.  I'd really like to have the 
second layer of polycarbonate on before Lee comes up for Thanksgiving, 
so we can concentrate on finishing the door latches and door stops, and 
finally seal the panel edges with clear silicone.

We're finally coming up to some perfect berry vine gathering weather, 
and the guinea pig cages need cleaning as well, so I expect to have the 
new compost bin filled to the top by the end of next week.  I've left it 
open to provide a little rain Tuesday.  Unfortunately the upcoming first 
frost on Thursday morning has me wondering what to do for a greenhouse 
heater, but I'll probably end up using the one in the bathroom.  For the 
most part the autumn has been great, with plenty of rain and no 
freezes.  The impact of the first freeze is much more devastating on 
pasture if there hasn't been any rain.  We really need to get some sheep 
in here, thanks to the abundant "second spring".

The late frost also means that I have to plant all the garlic, fava 
beans, parsnips, mustard, flax, and poppies just as soon as the freeze 
makes some beds available.  I've been filling a new bed, but all I 
managed was one since Lee left in summer.  I was happy to use up all the 
bags of cement before they went bad.  If there's no rain today I may 
finish filling it.  I think it's perhaps better that I didn't continue 
with the next bed that's been dug out, since there would then be quite a 
shade wall on the south side of my new akebia vines, which aren't very 
tall yet, and suffered from mildew this summer as it is.  By the way, 
the new bed of green onions is up, and they really look good.

I must say I've never been more disappointed in an election.  It's 
disgusting to hear Kerry blame Bush for the economy, when he jumped at 
every opportunity to move jobs overseas, even voting for bills like 
NAFTA with provisions that were to take effect long after the original 
perpetrator was out of office.  On the other hand, I want to know why so 
many key cabinet figures were chosen from a radical group called the 
Project for a New American Century, and why the war in Iraq (and the 
upcoming wars in Syria and Iran) is taking place exactly according to 
the scenario envisioned by members of the PNAC gallery long before 9-11 
ever happened.  Clearly, the reason there are so many undecided is that 
neither one can even be called an acceptable president, and neither 
represents those of us in the middle, the non-fanatic vote.  I've never 
been so glad I moved here.

It's been a great month in many ways, because I've finally worked out 
solutions to the last key problems I've wondered about.  The most 
important part is my new vapor engine design.  I've gone over every 
part, and there's no doubt it will work.  One problem is that air tends 
to build up on the condenser side, since the vapor pushed through will 
always have some air in it but only condensed propellant enters the 
boiler.  I've solved this problem simply by having an expansion bladder 
attached above the propellant reservoir so that all the air in the 
system can occupy the condenser side without creating any back 
pressure.  Some of you may not have heard the other two features I've 
come up with.  The first is a large containment bladder over the top of 
the hot water tank, so that if a bladder bursts no propellant will be 
lost.  The second is the use of an inexpensive saturated calcium 
chloride solution instead of water, which produces 40% more buoyant 
force on a given size bladder.  Last week I finished the switching 
mechanism, which is just a lever made of 2x4s that pushes down on the 
valve roller cam, turning on the valve, and sticks in place thanks to a 
magnet until a small force pulls upward, causing the magnet to 
disengage, and shutting off the valve.  The next phase is to develop a 
simple prototype that runs on compressed air using just a trash can full 
of water.  We've decided to go with 2 bladders, moving in opposite 
directions, since the valve itself was meant to control 2 pneumatic 
cylinders.  I've found a brilliant way using a counterweight to produce 
different amounts of force on the up stroke and down stroke of the 
manual well pump, without wasting any energy.  Once we've perfected the 
basic unit, we need to perfect the condenser system for recirculating 
the propellant, but for a test boiler we can just use a hot plate.  Once 
all that is in place, we'll actually build the solar reflector and the 
boiler.  I may still go with a boiler more like a flat-panel solar water 
heater.  They're less sensitive to passing clouds, and take less skill 
to make.  Aside from requiring a well house strong enough to support a 
1000-pound tank of liquid on its roof, and a solar water heater to heat 
it, I should be able to build the whole setup for under $500, including 
propellant.

I harvested 'Hall's Hardy' almond by shaking the branches over some 
sheets.  The fruits weren't too rain-soaked yet, so it was not too messy 
to remove the pits.  I ended up with a big shopping bag full of nuts, 
and each one has a kernel, even if it doesn't rattle.  I dried them in 
the oven on the dough-rise feature (I dried a few prunes the same way 
this year).  I used them to make an almond paste with honey and butter, 
and I was surprised at the intense flavor.  It made a nice sandwich.  
I've decided to make some almond-filled turnovers with a forgotten 
package of frozen puff pastry dough for Thanksgiving.  I wish I'd 
ordered a dozen more trees from Bear Creek Nursery while they were still 
around.

I'm really hoping we can get serious and plant some more walnuts in the 
little bottom land we have.  They inhibit berry vines, but not grasses, 
so I really hold out hope for them.  I know of two or more places where 
walnuts are succeeding locally, so I don't know why we're depending on 
the few seedling walnuts we now have.

I've decided to acquire some goslings.  I learned that goose is used in
Italy to make kosher versions of salame and pepperoni.  They call it the
poor man's pig.  They have an expression, "in brodo d'oca" (in goose
broth): a little like "duck soup" I guess.  One specialty salame is made
using the neck skin of the goose as a casing.  Well, I have it all
worked out, with chicken hens raising goslings, which eat mostly grass,
and using the casings from a lamb for pepperoni.  It was easy to find a
recipe, flavored with garlic, anise, hot and sweet peppers, and red
wine.  I have a book on sausage making that gives strict ranges for
temperature and humidity in the drying room (which has only a single
vent leading straight up to the roof).  Our late fall temperatures are
perfect, but I fear that there's too much humidity here, especially when
it rains.  So I've decided to experiment with a primitive dehumidifier
made with economical borax.  If you bake borax in the oven, it dries out
and becomes a great desiccant.  They use it in taxidermy and for drying
flowers.  The borax pack would hang on the wall next to the pepperoni,
and may need changing daily.  It's no trouble to save up used borax
packs and bake them all at once at night when we need heat anyway, and
store the cooled packs in plastic bags until needed.  Tonight I devised
a way to add color-changing granules to the borax so you know when it
needs changing, just like expensive silica gel.  First I tried adding a
dash of cobalt chloride solution (the weather indicator compound which 
can be made just by treating cobalt carbonate from the pottery supply 
with ordinary muriatic acid) directly to the borax.  I noticed it
became slightly lavender right away, and even when it dried it was still
a light violet, rather than blue as I expected.  I wondered if the borax
had reacted with some of the cobalt to form cobalt borate.  Later I
found out that this compound is indeed a boring purple color that
doesn't change with humidity, and sure enough that explains the color.
I realize now that if I'd made hot _saturated_ cobalt chloride solution
and sprayed it onto cold dry borax, then the result would have been
better, since no borax would have dissolved, but I still can't count on
the cobalt and borate never mixing over the long haul.  So I decided to
make some "indicator granules" just by tinting some ground up perlite 
with cobalt chloride solution and adding the resulting blue granules
to the borax.  The granules will change from blue to pink and back
again dependably, when mixed with borax powder, because cobalt and
borate ions will never meet in solution.  So for a while today the
central question revolved around cobalt borate, whether it exists and
what color its crystals are.  Thank God for the Internet, because that
compound isn't in the CRC Handbook.  I've also noticed that when a
little water is added to the dried borax, the powder heats up
dramatically as the chemical reaction takes place.  Of course, during
sausage drying this small amount of heat is released gradually as the
borax pack absorbs water from the air, and won't have much effect,
except maybe only to even out the temperature during the colder and more
humid nighttime hours.  I think I'll try some simple experiments with an
old wooden cabinet and a humidity gauge, maybe using some moist clay
"sausages" instead of the real thing, to see if I can keep the humidity
in the right range.  I'm still open to suggestions for what to pack the
borax in.  I guess it's all right to bake cardboard or cloth at a low
temperature, but if I insist on nonflammable as well as cheap, light,
porous, and strong, then I can't think of many options.

Here's to a fine November, a reverent Veterans' Day, and a happy 
Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the show this Tuesday, and hope for a tie, so that 
John Edwards will be elected.  He's probably a crook too, but at least 
he's not a nut.

Bill