Biodiesel

I do not love him for his muscles but I love his muscles. Does that make sense? I get so distracted sometimes I realize I am being unhelpful, thankfully he doesnt mind too much that I become a jellyfish, when I tell him its because he is way too good looking and I forget to work because I am busy staring at him and I forget to shut my mouth.


And this little man? Oh my. I know, I am biased. But he is just as good looking! He is cute and strong and just, well his wife will be as lucky as I am. Clearly he is taking a break from all this working here...


And this one? She has her head in the clouds, there is fluff between her ears. She does lawn work in a pretty dress and daddy's hat and sunglasses. She spins on the stool on her break time, and looks woeful very very well, in a way that just breaks your heart for her poor little overheated tiny self! And the head in the clouds? No worries, she is smart as a whip, faster in math than any child of her age I have yet known. And guess what, she can read!!! Oh she has been able to "read words" for a couple of years. But she took off in a chapter book 4 days ago and has read about 7 chapters now, on her own needing very little help.

And she adores her daddy, I pity her husband in some ways. Can he possibly be as good as her daddy? Can he be as strong, and safe, good looking, hard working, funny (well this is arguable), he will have to sing really badly as well. Because Nathalie loves Frank's singing.

Really.... I think I was supposed to hand him something here? But the muscles... So instead I took pictures and stood there looking slightly fluffy and dreamy.

Shameless I am.

We cooked fuel yesterday, this is our biodiesel station. We put up the wood on the walls here, Eric note we are finishing the shop! For christmas, Frank wanted insulation for his shop so we bought it, and put it up. Now we are putting up wood on top, so that its all finished and ready for shelves and cabinets. He really is organizing! I promise. Partly because the mess makes him quite tempermental. We have to work around the mess, we make all of our fuel now.

This is the fuel meister, we bought the system used at a considerable savings, but it was missing a lot of parts. Little parts, connections, hoses, adaptors. Frank is putting a connection on the vent for the methanol barrel here.

"Nathalie do you know that regular kids dont sit and watch their parents make fuel?"

"Yes before we went to the gas station. And right now I would rather that. I want to go to the pool."

"Stop complaining babies. Or I will give you more yard work."

"Is looking pitiful complainin mama? Or no? Because I am goin to sit here and wilt."

The hole isnt big enough here so brought out some big bits and made the hole work.

"When I grow up I am goin to be this cool. Besides, the economy rots mama. I may need to be self sufficient."

"You might be right baby. Plus, its just good stuff to know. And keep carrying that knife, its really safe in the waistband of your pants I am sure."

And yes, you are good looking enough to wear pants on the top of your boots and pull it off. Not many men have that skill. Here we are weighing lye/sodium hydroxide/NAOH after titrating to find out how many grams of lye to use.

Pouring 1/4 of the lye at a time in the fuel meister, then we add 2 gallons of methanol and do this until the entire 560 g of lye is added and 8 gallons of methanol. Then the batch mixes, and then sits. I am learning to make this alone because I will be doing so for a year while Frank is gone.

Pumping the methanol, it is important to use the appropriate pump to do this with or your CNS gets a large kick in the rear, basically? You will become more simple than you were. Its best to just use caution, and when I do this alone I will wear a mask. There wont be an adult to watch/help just in case somethin goes wrong so safety glasses, gloves and a mask will be a must. Plus, I am not that adventurous. Oh, and I am smart and I hate to lose that.

Speaking of adventure, we want a well rounded son. He does do some house work with Nathalie and myself and he is pretty good at it. He is a great cook really, for his age and given the fact that he enjoys burnt food. Vacuuming was on his chore list yesterday and he did the job happily and well, while wearing a climbing harness that he intended to "hoist" himself up into a tree by. Incidently he wasnt able to do so but enjoyed daydreaming about mountain climbing while he worked.

So thats it for now. More later.