the singin bowl

A couple months back Granny passed away and in proper new age fashion many of her belongings were posted in a private group on face book through photo albums. Family got to go through them and choose what they would like to have. I, of course, was drawn to this cute little 'mortar and pestle'. Once it arrived, it was quickly realized that it was not a mortar and pestle at all but a Tibetan singing bowl.

To make her sing you take the little stick and run it around the outside of the bowl where the ridges are. It is something you either like or really dislike listening to. I happen to like it while the manthing finds it quite annoying. The video is of when I took her to the woods yesterday on my walk about.

around the homestead-the cistern saga continues

Ahhh, we should have known better than to think the cistern project was going to go well the first time around.
After coating the cistern with the sealant, the weather took a turn for the worse. It continued to rain for an entire week and nothing was drying out even with a fan and a heater running in the room. The biggest issue, however, was the seepage from the blocks themselves. It is amazing how much water a cinder block will hold. The water seeping from the blocks made the sealant slide down and puddle and we were again left with bare cinder walls. There were also a couple spots that we decided could use a bit of hydraulic cement too, just in case.Those minor patches were made and then it became a waiting game. MothEr always wins so after a couple of days we realized that time was the only cure for the mess we had created. We decided it was best to just shut the door and forget it.

Finally, on Saturday the cistern was dry and we could fix the messes and give it another good coat of sealant. With warmer temperatures we were sure it would dry before the next round of rains came in. It did, so we gave it one more coat for good measure. By Monday morning everything was dry so the gutters were hooked back in. By last evening the cistern was full and we could turn the water back on to the shack.
We would like to think the cistern project is now a done deal but we can't be entirely sure of it.

silent sunday