The last two are from a campsite on Lake Eaton, in the Adirondacks. I met Lowell there when he was coming back from a trip to Toronto. I built shelves in the front of the trailer and bought some foam for the mattress. I also installed some 12V lights and a shelf towards the back. In the rear I installed a microwave and some more lights. In the second photo I am making pasta...

Our campsite was right on the lake - very pretty. The next day we visited the nearby Adirondack Museum. It was a very nice place with lots of different exhibits including this private rail car:

There are still some issues with the camper, like how to lift it off the trailer and, as I discovered this evening, some leaks I hadn't noticed before.

We had a deck party last Monday featuring seitan kabobs.

Last weekend in the Catskills Debbie & I went to Gaby's Cafe in Ellenville for dinner. They make the guacamole at the table for you. Good Mexican fare.

We also went out in the canoe and saw a blue heron on the lake.

Lowell & I went to Five Rivers the other day and found two beautiful birds to shoot. The first one looks like an egret of some kind:

This weekend Rebecca drove down with me to the Catskills and we all (with Debbie and her parents) went to a winery and had dinner at Rock da Pasta in New Paltz. My kind of place!

Plywood covers the base and is the floor of the camper.

The space under the floor has room for two water tanks and some storage.

I found a company that makes water tanks that were the right size (7in tall) and ordered one 30 gal. freshwater tank and one 30 gal. holding tank. Here is some of the plumbing details for each.

Following the classic teardrop design, there is a sink and counter with storage in the back.

Unlike the classic teardrop design, I decided to make the front more box-like to add some room. To make the front more aerodynamic I decided to make it rounded. This made things a bit more complex. Lots of custom cuts and shapes...

The exterior is covered in a fiberglass-reinforced plastic. I used stock storm windows on the side and for the door.

I installed a standard vent with a fan on the top.

The rear cover was a challenge and turned out to be pretty heavy. Lowell helped out.

The door was made out of 3/4 in plywood and the window.

Finally, Lowell helped me put a 135 watt solar panel on the roof.

I really struggled to get it ready for Solarfest and it wasn't really finished when we put a futon mattress in it and took off for VT.

Debbie & I had a good time and I finished some things when we arrived, like hooking up the solar charge controller, inverter etc. to the battery. It rained a bit on Friday night which was good as this let me know where the trailer leaked. Fortunately, it didn't rain any more and we had a sunny two days at Solarfest.

Solarfest was fun, a good mix of music, workshops, vendors and food. Debbie ran into an old friend from college.

The light show Friday night was great and the sunset Saturday night was amazing. Bill McKibben spoke Saturday afternoon.

Some photos taken in the last two months:

The Moon and Venus

Ducks at Five Rivers

Our roses

Me with Rebecca & Chris

Had a nice visit with Dave and Kathie last month. I hadn't been out to Ohio in quite a while.

This is what happens when you go outside to take photos after your camera has been in the cold AC air inside. I spent some time trying to get the lens clear but decided to just go with it and the effect was interesting.

The garden started out fine but I planted too early and a lot of plants died due to adverse weather.

Still the garden looks OK now.

We have been eating a lot of chard and it's really good.

We have a new little face around the house. Her name is Ninji or cookie or something, we can't seem to decide. She is three and is very bright and lively. She loves to have her face scratched. She is already intimidating the Meep - not hard to do, though.

The Meep is spending less time under my mom's bed and more time on it.

My latest project is a small camper that will fit on my utility trailer. Still in progress. More photos later.

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As seen on the NY Times web site:

The mountain exploded early in the morning and the ash took several hours to arrive in Spokane so we had some time to prepare. I covered my beloved beetle, Felix.

The sky did lighten a bit and I even went out to collect some ash (which I still have).

Local officials really had no idea how to react. People had all kinds of crazy ideas about what the ash would do. In the end it was not that bad where we were. Some places got a lot more and that could take down gutters and cause other damage. It was heavy - it's volcanic glass, very finely pulverized.

In the summer of 1998 I visited the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and that was pretty cool. It's still really barren around the mountain. In the foreground below there was a pretty hefty tree, snapped off like a matchstick by the force of the blast.

The next day Ali's mom, brother and family stopped over.

The deck seems to have come through the winter quite well. There was no issue with the floating deck design - it stayed level and flat.

I made some soil blocks this year to start seeds in the greenhouse. They seem to be working so far but I haven't transplanted anything yet.

Our magnolia tree still looks beautiful even if it's missing some parts.

My latest project is setting up a telescope pier in my yard. I had something like this in Epping - a base made from an old chimney. I attended the NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) and picked up a new equatorial mount for my telescope. I also picked up an imaging Newtonian but more about that later.

The first step was to make some adapter plates so I could attach my new mount to the pier. They sell these things but they are expensive and I did buy all those machines last year... I wound up using some aluminum plates that I salvaged from an ancient sequencing machine. The woodworking tools actually did a good job on the aluminum.

I decided to put the pier just behind the deck. It isn't the ideal location in terms of trees but it's convenient. I dug down about 3.5-4 feet and got some rebar and cement mix. Some old steel fencing added to the structure.

I used the plastic case from one of the old water filter canisters to make a form. I also found some slate that was at the back of the yard and brought it to the pier location to make a base.

I ran an extension cord over to the pier and set up a 12v power supply. I also made a wooden platform at the top. You can see the adapter plates in place here.

Here is the new mount in place.

I can't let it get wet and don't want to take it off and on all the time - which would defeat the whole idea of having it in a fixed location - so I had to make a little house for the whole set up.

Can't wait to try it out!

Congratulations to Rebecca & Ali on their new house! They are now proud homeowners in Ayer MA:

Here Smudgey is helping Debbie study for finals:

The Meep is still hiding under beds - we believe he must have been abused to be so afraid. He does come out to see Smudgey but she has little patience for him...

More photos are on my Facebook page. Don't worry, you don't have to join to view them. I have been posting photos up here on my blog and on Facebook.

Here's an image that I had posted on Facebook but it might look better here (images can be larger):

Here's a link to a much larger image taken by a big scope - VISTA's infrared view of the Orion Nebula.

We just returned from a short cruise to the Bahamas from Miami in celebration of Debbie's parents' 50th wedding anniversary.

If you want to see some of the pictures I took snorkeling visit my photo blog.

The duck had a good time as you might imagine...

After the cruise we had dinner with Carol and Art and Zinnia.

Again there are additional photos on my Facebook page.

Here are some shots from a walk we took yesterday at Five Rivers:

We really enjoy that place and it's only a few miles away.

Lastly, I attached the basketball backboard & hoop to the pole I put up last fall. Debbie & I shot some hoops this weekend.

This is a state highway with a 45mph speed limit! We made it home and were very happy to be in bed instead of digging our cars out of a ditch. This morning it was clear that we had been dumped on. I measured 18" and it was still snowing. Just up the road they got 27" plus. Our beautiful magnolia tree was damaged by the heavy snow and lost a large branch.

Still, this year hasn't been too bad. Lots of storms hit just south of us. I guess it was our turn.