Today it dawned like a normal playa day. Little wind and blue skies without smoke from the Rim fire at Yosemite. Here's hoping the have that under better control.
Wednesday was busy with meeting new folks, making old connections and visiting many corners of Black Rock City. I have neighbors from Australia, Belgium, California & Holland. Everyone has a landmark reason to be here and everyone is just plain friendly. Artist, tech specialist, phsychologist, entrempeneur, nanny, info specialist, and more.
I spoke with one woman who is here with her Navy husband who is between deployments. Her life story should be (may yet be) in a book. From uber conservative Christian roots in Missouri to world traveler, running a business in New York, and finding a way to gain higher education, become an ultra volunteer at a neighborhood Bhuddist temple and susequently challenging her parents to willingly see a bigger world, she now deals with a spouse who, like many service people who have seemingly lost touch with non-military America, seems increasingly lost at home. A remarkable woman at age 40.
Still others are attracted by the T@B and, amazingly, either have life stories much like my own or were connected to other T@B owners that I have known.
True to normal form the weather has largely turned to crap. From beautiful walking & biking weather in the morning to building heat and strong, gusty, dusty winds the view from the T@B has gone from blue to yellow-white skies and visibility alternates from many miles to @100 feet with allarming quickness. I made it back from a delightful "Irish Music Siesun" with bagpipes, strings, dulcimers and a wide variety of singers and percussionists (all topped off with free Irish whiskey) just as the winds began.
So now the big test begins for my winter plans at temperature and dust control in the T@B. In playa photos of the T@B you may notice a box on top that looks much like a RV air conditioner. It is actually a cut down Rubbermaid tub with a foam seal (to protect the T@B roof and form a seal against infiltrating dust) mounted upside down to completely cover my combination roof vent and rain cover. The windows can open and lock leaving a 3/8" gap that is filled with a much researched dust filter material. With both windows effectively open and protecting against dust entry I can run the fan in exhaust mode. This provides continuous ventilation of clean air that vents hot air out through the top with or without the fan on. The box on top is fitted with a furnace fliter that allows the circulated air to pass through with the fan running either way. Today it is blowing interior air out. All this elaborate design ensures that the tiny 'swamp cooler' I have will cool the inside of the T@B enough to keep things comfy during a hot dust storm. Like today! So far results are excellent but it took a long while to dissipate the nearly 100 degree heat that had built up before I got home to turn it all on. Still, going from 100 to 84 is a great result!!
Not bad for a retired choral director.
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