Clouded Leopard

December 22, 2020 at 3:30 am
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Clouded Leopard

Clouded leopard, “the most ancient cat alive today,” as shown on “The Story of Cats — From Asia to Africa.”

Viewable on PBS.org. Unbelievably beautiful and highly skilled cats in Thailand. A wonderful documentary on all breeds of cats, including snow leopards and the biggest of all cats, the Siberian Tiger, which can weigh up to 800-900 pounds.

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Homemade Camper Shell with Copper Roof

December 21, 2020 at 3:30 am
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Homemade Camper Shell With Copper Roof

Ben Bloom was just getting out of the water when I rode by on my bike yesterday. It’s a homemade camper shell with copper roof, and will go in our forthcoming book on rolling homes.

Note: If you know of any unique trailers — anything that rolls that you can sleep in, cook in, and travel in, contact me at lloyd@shelterpub.com.
We’re especially looking for creative rigs that don’t cost $100K(+).

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Masked Bandidos in the Chicken Yard

December 19, 2020 at 3:30 am
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Two young raccoons got into the chicken yard by ripping a hole in rusty chicken wire the other night. Luckily I went out to close in the chickens in their (secure) coop before raccoons got to them. I have a lot of respect for these guys, called in Spanish mapaches (pronounced mah-PAH-chays). Like coyotes, they’re survivors. I’ve patched the roof.

When you live on a piece of land like this, multiple critters are constantly seeking food. In our book The Half-Acre Homestead, I list all these would-be intruders, along with various methods and traps for controlling them.

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Peter Calthorpe Proposes Turning Dying California Strip Malls into Much‑Needed Housing

December 17, 2020 at 12:16 pm

Strip malls are dying, largely due to online sales and, most recently, the Covid crisis. Architect Peter Calthorpe proposes redeveloping this land to provide housing. For example, the roughly 40-mile strip called El Camino Real between San Francisco and San Jose, California — which includes Silicon valley — could be utilized to provide housing in one of the highest-rent areas of the world. Here is Peter’s proposal:

To Solve California’s Housing Crisis, Reinvent the Strip (PDF)

Peter Calthorpe Proposes Turning Dying California Strip Malls Into Much-Needed Housing

Before

After

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Teo Briseño’s Latest Sculptured Bathroom

December 14, 2020 at 1:43 pm

Teo Briseño did the beautiful bathroom in SunRay Kelley’s temple dome at Harbin Hot Springs, near Middletown, California (which unfortunately burned down a few years ago). It’s shown in Builders of the Pacific Coast.

Here’s his most recent creation, a dome bathroom inside a conventional home in Southern California.

Teo Briseno’s Latest Sculptured BathroomHello Lloyd…

Here is most recent work of mine towards living in natural sculptured environments.

This dome is made with natural stone and wood; some is locally harvested and wood was cured for 2½ years.

Thin-shell dome construction of one-inch-thick cement over basalt rebar and mesh without metal, so will not rust, corrode or block natural bio-magnetics between the Earth and ourselves.

Planters are sculpted in wall: they include drip irrigation and recycling water drain to flush toilet.

Carbon-sequestering plasters: made of natural lime plaster, an “Old World” technology — warm, inviting, breathable, and is resistant to bacteria.

The shower is of the finest natural lime plaster, giving a smooth, burnished, monolithic finish called Tadelakt, and sheds water as ancient Moroccan bath houses do.

Offering natural bathrooms for healthy self-care environments…

Bringing the outdoors in … naturally, with ancient building ways.

Brisenoarts.org

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