Heat Sink

Over the course of the last few weeks most of our efforts have been directed at the construction of the HEAT SINK. This bad boy has gone through many stages, the most recent of which was widespread pebble and stone washing, which is about as much fun as it sounds. But as it was Parsley and I doing it there was roars of laughter, clay catapulting and one liners that would've made Bob Monkhouse jealous. My favourite lines were 'If you know what a noise sounds like you can hear it.' (Parsley), 'Ew, you're kicking shit in my face,' (Parsley) and 'Get in your pit you pig!' (Parsley). I took to screaming COTTON TRADERS alternating between a Texan twang and a silver spoon upper class lilt. This will take too long to explain and is as insular a joke as you could expect to find. Just know we found it hilarious. Cakeatonne didn't!

Just why were we cleaning millions of pebbles? Well in Parsley's infinite wisdom we were removing layers of crud (mostly orange clay) as this would impede the flow of air round the pebbles and stones once they were in the sink. At first I sneered and jeered at the idea but the amount of slop we sloshed off in the course of a few days was pretty substantial. We were all over the place - at the back of the garden in the yard area; over by the apple trees; in the centre of the garden where there's always a lovely wildflower collection in Summer - always spraying with the hose and shaking the crap off in a riddle (a true garden implement not a brain teaser). I was carrying trugs of sludge water around like an ape and pouring it off onto hedges, anywhere that wasn't already SOAKED. The mess that was left behind we called FLOP. I will discuss this horrid substance in a separate blog because it's worth it.

Last Friday we put the heat sink together and lowered it into the hole in the solardome. Various experiments were made to see whether the air was flowing through the pipes properly. In the final instance we took a hair dryer and blasted it down the pipes and that worked a big cakey dream! We then started to lob in all the clean(ish) stones and pebbles we had accrued over the last few weeks. Eventually Parsley will fill the rest of the hole with water filled coke bottles. As it stands at the moment we are approx 1/4 of the way to filling the cage. See below for the sequence of crazy events that doth a heat sink make.

Fix a Pear Tree, Dig a Hole

Happy 2012 followers and non followers of G Unit alike! There has been a distinct yawning hiatus since our last entry, way back in September 2011. Plenty has taken place between then and now, so I am on catchup / ketchup.

In open defiance of the cold (it has been mild until now) we have been hitting the garden like it's Spring. First port of call was the pear tree which has been listing like Michael Jackson in Smooth Criminal. Cakeatonne and I took it in turns to push it into an upright position whilst we slipped pieces of timber in place, supported by stakes. The surrounding area was a battleground of oozy mud, so we were slipping around and swearing like Jack Tars. Tipping soil from a nearby bag we levelled (somewhat badly) the area around the roots and then splashed on some grass sods. Nothing like the careful planning of Parsley, but she was at work.

Fair pear! 

This week we have been putting in the extra work on a heat sink in the solardome. I'm not going to go into the science of this bad boy but it will be amazing once its done. All I know is how to dig a hole, and even then I need supervision! We've made good progress, through the many layers of soil, from guinness black at the top, through to dusty grey and orange clay. Sparks have been flying - literally. Using the grub and mattock (fast becoming a favourite tool) Cake and I were bashing hoards of rocks and pebbles, getting ever deeper. There were some absolute classic quotes: 

Oregano: 'C'wor getting out of this hole is proving to be more difficult than I thought. If I'm not careful, I'm gonna split my kipper, and I don't EVEN HAVE ONE!'

Parsley: 'Eww don't say that, can't you say I split my YOM KIPPUR?'

Oregano; 'Yeeeeeah! YOM KIPPUR YOM KIPPUR!'

Parsley: 'Dig all the brown away and slam it in the John Barrowman (wheelbarrow).'

Cakeatonne with a meat thermometer in his hand: 'Leave it out or I'll take the TEMPERATURE OF YOUR BAMO!'

How we laughed.

It was interesting to see how much warmer it was below the surface. Above / top level it was 0.5 C. At the bottom of the 'pit' it was a seasonable 6 C. This bodes well for the sink.  

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Editor's note: We are soon going to implement some changes, so keep your eyes peeled!