While building an alcohol jet pocket stove a couple of years ago, I came across the plans on Zen Stoves for a small, collapsible wood-burning camp stove that can burn anything.  I knew right away that I had to make one.  And then I forgot about it.  Until a couple of weeks ago, when I found the .pdf of the plans hiding away in a dark corner on a long abandoned thumb drive.  I decided to give it a go.

The Little Dandy Wood Stove was designed and built by Nimblewill Nomad, a retired long-distance hiker who has chronicled his travels on the Web.  The first Nimblewill Nomad stove was apparently made out of scraps, and then used for a 9-month, 4400-mile trip up the Eastern Continental Trail from Florida to Main (He even wrote a book about the trip).

To build the stove, I printed out the .pdf plans from the Nimblewill Nomad Web site, and traced them with a Sharpie onto (you will never in a million years guess the material that I used…) the top and bottom case plates of old surplussed CD drives.  I then used tin snips to cut out the pieces, smoothed out any rough edges on the grinder, and sanded the whole thing smooth.  Then we tested it out in the back yard using wood scraps to turn some of the newly-fallen snow into boiling water.  The result?  Boiled water.  And very quickly.

Here are some more pictures:

A new sled for Christmas

Christmas for the children in our house usually consists of hand-made wooden swords and pirate chests, blankets, pajamas, kid-sized tools, and healthy sprinklings of LEGO bricks and Playmobil sets.  This year, I got the kids something a little different: a sled.  (SHH!!! They don’t know yet.  Good thing they can’t read.)  Only problem is that we don’t really have any decent sledding hills around us.  No fear: a made a harness and, once again, I will be the horse.

I can clearly remember standing in line at Waldon Books, some time in 1990, waiting to pay for a purchase.  Right next to the register was a pile of thin books with a big star-shaped “Free” sticker on them.  I remember looking around to get some sense of whether it was really alright to take one of the books, which nobody else seemed to have noticed.  A free book!  Nine at the time, I was an avid reader.  I had already drunk deeply from Hemmingway and Steinbeck, had conquered Tolkien and Donaldson, and was quickly burning my way through the science fiction/fantasy section at our tiny local library.  A new book, especially a free book, was exactly what I needed.  I had found an advance sample copy of the Eye of the World, by someone name Robert Jordan.  Thus began my journey through life with the Wheel of Time.

I have always said that there are some books that change your life.  The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson were like that for me.  If I hadn’t read those books, there is no way that I would be the same person today.  There have been hundreds of books like that in my life.  The Wheel of Time books were different, though.  Robert Jordan’s books didn’t change the course of my life.  They were the course of my life.  I grew up with the Wheel of Time books, greedily finishing a new book in a single evening, and then having to wait years to find out what happened next.  I became a teenager, and then an adult, a husband, and a father, all in the context of the existence of those books.

For obvious reasons, I was as shocked as any of the other millions of Robert Jordan’s fans when the great author died.  I wonder if perhaps, because of my unique long-term relationship with the series, I was let down just a little bit more than many others were (I mean, really, what other 9 year old started reading the series before the first book was even officially released to stores?).  I have heard many complaints about potential commercial motivations behind the direction that has been taken by the publisher and the editor in having the series finished.  I have to say that I am deeply grateful that there were sufficient notes to finish the series, that both the publisher, and the author’s editor (his widow), were able to agree on the selection of Brandon Sanderson to complete the series.  I can’t believe complaints I have read that the series is so long or that it will be another three books to finish.  If the ending is consistent with Robert Jordan had planned, I have no complaints, and am eager to dive in.

This morning I got an e-mail from the library, telling my that the newest book “The Gathering Storm”, the first part in the three-book conclusion being written by Sanderson, was on hold for me.  I walked down to the library during lunch and picked it up.  Tonight I begin down the last segment of a road that began almost twenty years ago.  That began two thirds of my life ago.  Tonight, I begin finishing reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

Vegetarian Zombie Design by *kevinbolk on deviantART

I found another cool drawing on DeviantArt.  This one particularly amuses me as we are getting ready tomorrow to launch our first ever vegan week.  I’ll write more later about vegan week, but wanted to share this really cool vegetarian zombie.  Graaaaiiiinnnsss.  While you are enjoying the undead vegan, check out Zombies! The Living Dead in Literature on iTunesU.

Creative Commons Image, Uploaded on October 24, 2009 by Magnera, http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnera/4039940200/in/photostream/

I have been reading the wonderful Fagles translation of the Odyssey.  There is a line that repeats again and again, somewhat in the role of “meanwhile, back at the ranch,” that speaks of Dawn, with her rose-red fingers.  The arrangement of my daily schedule usually prevents me from from seeing dawn, and the sunrise.  This morning, however, I walked Beanie to school and then continued on to work.  When we left the house, the sky was the most brilliant rosy-red, and I had some sense of what Homer must have been seeing when he wrote of Dawn with her rosy-red fingers.  Feeling very happy, and wanting to share, I explained to Beanie about Dawn, and her rosy fingers pulling back the curtain of night.  Beanie’s response?  “The sky is pink.”  Maybe someday.

Shamisen Hero FTW by ~RedKARASU on deviantART

I was looking for something completely unrelated on DeviantArt, and found this.  I may be one of the few people on the planet that has never played Guitar Hero (being able to play the real thing, I just have never seen the point), but if they made Shamisen Hero, or even better, Sanshin Hero, I’m sure that I’d be hooked.

Ultraman Invitations In-process

With Bobi’s birthday coming up next week, I spent a bunch of hours this evening putting together birthday party invitations.  Bobi wants an Ultraman party.  Fine with us, although none of his friends are going to have any idea what Ultraman is, and it isn’t like we can have the kids watch the show at the party – they wouldn’t understand why it is in Japanese, etc.  But Ultraman it is, anyway.  The kids are going to decorate Ultraman-shaped gingerbread cookies, and will play “pin the tail on the kaiju.”

To make the invitations, I printed the Ultraman drawing from my post about stationary, two to a sheet, and printed all of the party information inside.  I thought it would be a good idea to color each of the invitations by hand, using colored pencils.  Not a good idea.  I should have just colored them in PhotoShop and printed them that way.  I spent almost 5 hours all together.  However, they turned out so nice, that I thought I might make sets of greeting cards or something out of the stationary pages to post here.

Smelled of decomposed feet,
And the stuff that you eat,
When it’s under the street,
Once you’ve passed it.

I tried to climb free,
But you didn’t see
Me,
When you came in and flushed it.

(by jflatnote)