Tubes and Wires and Clay and Stain and Varnish

Quite a weekend of activity here in our little corner of the world.

Tim, from T2 Technologies, was finishing up the erthclay walls.

After claiming victory over staining, I found myself, well, staining.

And a thermonuclear device was installed in the basement.

Perhaps some further explanation is in order.

The solar panels on the roof have been waiting for a storage tank to appear and be installed. The stainless steel heat storage tank was manufactured in town, but took just a little longer than expected. But it arrived on Saturday. Here Marc and Jason struggle with the beast, . . .

. . .get it down to the basement,

. . .hook all sorts of pipes, and pumps and wires and meters to it with lots of colorful arrows going various directions, . . .

and pour a glycol mixture into the system . . .

(at least I hope it's glycol)

. . . check to see if it sprung any leaks and then check the readout to see what temperature the panels were producing on a late February hazy afternoon.

90 degrees!

But the real test was going to be today (Sunday) when the stainless steel tank will be filled with water (which retains the heat).

So this morning I got there a little early to do some staining (did I mention that I have been doing some staining and varnishing?) I just can't live without it.

And at about 9:30 the sun was just peeking over the nearby treetops despite the fact that it had been up since about 6:30.

And the westernmost panels were just thawing out,

And by the time we returned (30 minutes later), the temperature gauge read

about 110!!!!!! Marc stopped his pacing and, like a new father, breathed a sigh of relief.

And then the fun started.

I don't know all that this little doodad does, but I know that the power is on and the pump is running.

I think the numbers mean the following:

COL is collector, the temperature in the panels; STO is storage, the temperature in the nuclear, errrr stainless steel tank; PKH means Phukat Kim Han, former Cambodian Prime Minister and PKL was the general who overthrew him in a coup between 51.3 and 63.4 years ago.

So now this corner of the basement looks like something out of Willie Wonka.

All of that learning and attempts at understanding tuckered Emma and me out, so we went out to relax.

Doesn't Emma look relaxed? I didn't think so either.

Did I mention I was staining?

Here I examine the intricacies of opening a jar of something or other, maybe aresenic.

And Tim finished the walls and they look mahvelous. We even talked him into putting his initials on the Sisteen Chapel.

This wall contains the colors of the marsh when the wild rice is ready to pick.

Did you notice the little hints of autumn near the top? Here's a closer look.

The color of the wall and its texture change with the light (and with the camera settings).

And still with the staining.