Thekla McDaniels

Good information, Clara.  Thanks

Would the tipping of the gnomon make the hour markings accurate year round? Or just create uniformity in the rate of movement of the shadow?

All this thinking has made me wonder about my assumptions!

Hi Jack,
Good to have you on the team!

OK, I don’t already have a physical sun dial, but think I would like one.

These instructions seem overly complicated to me.  And maybe not so accurate.

I live in Colorado, about 38 plus a fraction degrees latitude.

In the winter the sun shines from the south.  In the summer mornings and evenings, the sun shines on the north end of the house, shines from the north into north facing windows. Is that heretical?  I have been observing this for many years.  If I had a sundial, wouldn’t it be working during all daylight hours, unless it was shaded?

Couldn’t I put a pin of some kind in the earth, pointing north, or plumb & vertical.

Then observe the shadow and mark it about mid day every day?  When the shadow cast is the smallest, wouldn’t that be noon, local solar time.  And there I could make a permanent physical mark.

Now here’s something I find interesting, according to a random internet article, the Romans had “daylight savings time”.  The sundial had permanent marks, dividing the day into a specific number of hours, probably 12.  The article stated that in the summer, the hours passed more slowly than in the winter.  But I don’t know about that either.  From my home, I gaze on distant horizons both east and west. I can easily observe that the sun doesn’t rise or set in the same place every day.  Probably the number of degrees change between solstice and solstice is related to my latitude.  But how could the location of the shadow on the sundial remain constant at sunrise and sunset each day… so until further explanations are presented, for me that shoots the theory of Roman DST .

I will need to make myself a sundial, make observations and adjustments until I understand these variables and how they interact before I can answer my own questions.

I just have this funny picture in my head of modern individuals following instructions on their computers to construct a stone age tool. 🤣🤣🤣

I assume we moderns are as capable as primitives.  Same planet and star in same relation to each other…  We differ only in our motivations to measure and mark the passage of time.

And upon reflection, I realize I DO have a sundial here.  Some former owners installed a basketball hoop and backboard on a pole out in the driveway.  Very likely it’s plumb.  I can check it with my level.  All I need to do is begin marking until I can discover when the sun is “directly overhead“.  Then, I will know how far off sun time our local clocks are.  But I don’t think the local powers that be will make any adjustments based on my sundial, and I am about 5 miles west of town, so town would not be on the same time as me anyway.🤣

I’m am not a fan of daylight savings time.  “Hate it with a passion hotter than the sun.”  I am SO GLAD I don’t have to coerce my circadian rhythms into the clock changes.

Much empathy to those who do!

And hair (from people eating organic diet and not using gallons and gallons of hair care products)- wool- feathers etc.

I attended a lecture last week, about soil health and composting.  The speaker recommended composting dead animals and other forms of “meat” because of the form of nitrogen contained.  

Another thing he mentioned was using a blower and perforated pipe instead of turning the pile.  He mentioned a blower from an old swamp cooler or old furnace.  He said run the blower 15 minutes 2 or three times a day and your compost turning days are over.

The pile still heats up, which from the standpoint of weed seeds and disease organisms is desirable IMO.

My goats used to like choke cherries. It wasn’t their only feed, they had more than 20 acres of pasture and there were choke cherries in the mixed Woodland that was also available to them. They sought it out when they wanted it.  They liked the fruit too!

Great reminder of the value of black locust!  Thank you.

Does anyone have any input about box elders or manitoba maples?
They are mentioned on a post in today’s dailyish as rain makers. They provide habitat for a bacterium that enhances precipitation.  I was astonished.  

And to share a learning experience I had recently with coppicing/pollarding large willow trees:  it didn’t work!

Two mature trees, well established.  I thought all I had to do was cut major branches off while the tree was dormant.  I had a crew of professional arborists do it for me.  I had a LOT of grasshoppers last year.  Could they really have eaten a whole year’s production?  They ate the sprouts as they emerged, and tried to grow.  Late in the season the trees did make a few slender twigs, with a few leaves, but I don’t think that it was anywhere near what it will take for the trees to make adequate leaf to support the tree this year.  If anyone has any ideas what besides a plague of grasshoppers could have contributed, could there be a new thread on that topic, with a link posted here?  Many thanks.

Apologies, it is a little off topic, but seems like valuable information for people interested in coppicing and pollarding.  It never occurred to me that I might be endangering the survival of the trees.

It’s dark right now, but I can post a photo tomorrow of my project one year after cutting.

Use for non- bird eggs:

Back in early1985 I fertilized one of my own eggs in the usual way, incubated in almost all year, and, just before Halloween, brought forth my beloved and incredible daughter.

I liked the outcome so well I did it again a few years later and got a son.  

Best possible use for eggs, IMO🤣

Something else I need to mention about joy here in “Paul’s living room”.

Years ago a man had a dream.  That dream became permies.com.  It’s open to all, it’s free and there are hardly any rules, just be nice, plus some house keeping details.

That Paul dreamed his dream, and was able to attain it through “blood sweat and tears” (figuratively if not literally, because I was not there beside him and I do not “know” ) has changed lives.

The idea that you had this idea, Paul, and gave enough effort to it to accomplish it, that brings me joy.

Thank you!

Linen makes a very strong warp string.

I have woven rag rugs on cotton warp, but cotton fails much sooner than linen.

You can find linen warp (string) sold with other weaving supplies, whether on line or locally.  Weavers are very particular about fiber that goes into their projects.  It should not be any trouble at all to get all natural fiber.