The Great Van Renovation

Tuesday night I began the great van renovation!

The van is a 1992 Dodge Ram and it was the tour van that Josh used when his band was touring the USA a fews years ago. It's been tucked away in our garage for the past 2.5 years now, going to waste, and harvesting dude funk. (I say this with love)


I knew I had a great task ahead of me when I decided to take on this project, but I had no idea just how nasty men can be when left to their own devices!

Upon cleaning this thing out, I found:

- several french fries
- a sock
- random flannels
- two blankets
- a petrified pizza crust
- used q-tips
- tons of change
- chips
- misc. food wrappers
- toothpicks
- a crap load of scratched cd's
- a cue ball
- random tools
- a brown boot that had "dissapeared"
- 2 cassette tapes
- a box of Sub Pop sampler CD's

The center console in the front of the van was completely covered in an unknown goo. It was so bad that one of the cup holders was full of pennies and all the pennies had grown together into one giant penny.

I spent a few hours vacuuming out the entire van and cleaning off the dashboard and console area. All in all things are actually in much better condition than I had anticipated, but there's still plenty to do!

I've begun ripping out the carpet which was a complete mess. In doing this, I found two nice holes in the floor, both next to the wheel wells. I guess this is where all the water was coming in.




Thankfully, our welder buddy Wes said he'd be willing to help me fix this, but first I need to get a grinder so I can smooth out all the edges. I'm actually really looking forward to this, and I'm hoping to get started sometime early next week.

The long term goal here is to get this baby running and to transform it into our road home. If all goes well, summer 2010 is going to be one monster roadtrip!

PHILLY: A Room-A Loom

HEY PHILLY FRIENDS!

Tonight is First Friday and the one exhibit I'm totally excited about is Julia Sherman's "A Room-A Loom: A Call to Weave". This interactive oversized loom is open for participation, so bring out your scrap fabric, left over yarn, or unwanted clothes and join in!



Show opens at 6:00pm @ The Copy Gallery (319 N. 11th Street). Be there or be square.

For more details, check out:

Julia Sherman
Workspace 2601

Earth Wangs!

As I was leaving work the other night, I noticed these little guys disrupting the mulch next to our parking lot.



These strange and phallac looking mushrooms are known as Mutinus caninus and are part of the Stinkhorn family.

Prior to this encounter, I had only ever seen photos of these things in my mushroom field guides, so you can imagine how excited I was so see them up close and in the flesh.

I'm a little curious about the edibility of these things. Some folks say they've heard stories of people eating them in the 'egg' stage, but for the most part it seems they're considered inedible or of no interest.

Road Teas!

A few days ago, I was reading one of my favorite blogs when I stumbled onto an entry about Masonades.

I was so psyched on this idea that I went out and bought a box of 12 pint size mason jars. I came home, boiled up some water, and pulled out my giant storage of teas.


I ended up making a nice little variety, including wild sweet orange, gypsy earl green, kukicha, and wild berry. I also cut up some lemons and put together a few jars of lemonade for Josh.

I may have a new obsession.

Come Into the Mountains, Dear Friend

I found this little paperback on one of my many thrift store adventures. I was drawn to the cover and the wonderful little poems and illustrations inside. I am such a sucker for hippie dippy 70's poetry books like this.

That Roundhouse

"There is a need for radical changes in the way we plan for, design and build homes, to render them affordable and environmentally sustainable.

The planning system is largely a hangover from feudal attitudes towards land ownership. No towns are sustainable. Most countryside is losing humus, topsoil and biodiversity. Several generations have now grown up in towns and cities, with very few survival skills and little appreciation of our essential connection with the earth and with nature.

I consider these problems to be critical and fundamental. What l and my partner decided to do about it was to build our own eco-home on a farm being run as a sustainable community, using the principles of permaculture to give us a home with a 'one planet' ecological footprint and right livelihood. l also designed the house to be beautiful and comfortable, so that others might be inspired to do likewise.

This roundhouse challenges the false assumption that people are bad for the countryside, and dares you to ask for, and design for yourself, the home you deserve." -- Tony Wrench

For more info on Tony and Jane Faith, please check out their website That Roundhouse or this article from the BBC News.

Eliphante