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                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2011 December 11  to 2012 February 3

Last night the minimum temperature dropped to almost 9º below zero. While I am writing this, on Friday, 3 February at 11:30, the temperature inside is 19ºC, outside 4º below zero. A lot  of the heating comes directly from the incoming sun rays, as the last time I fired the woodstove was about 20 hours ago.
I am wondering: why do not more people use this incredibly cheap, simple and efficient way of building a house?

My guess is: it is too cheap to be of commercial value. The only person who benefits from it is the 'consumer' and that is something that doesn't seem to fit in the general way of thinking. Another important factor that might explain the lack of interest is that people in general are not inclined to believe in simple solutions. We are brainwashed with the importance of specialists, of experts and professionals who come up with their sophisticated methods. But their sophistication is very much driven by the desire to make us dependent on them.

 

The morning after the first severe frost this winter.
'Frisona' is a regular visitor again, we even spotted some of her offspring.
3 Feb 9:58

Frisona and Camarero at breakfast time.
4 Feb 9:52

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Mid-winter is not a season with a lot of things going on in wild and plant life. It seems that pure physical aspects are taking over, especially those related to water, snow and ice. Below a visual account of some of those aspects in the zone, especially focused on the interaction of cobweb and frost.

The photo here on the right needs some explaining in the sense that I really can't give any: a very unusual stalactite formed during the melting and posterior freezing of water in the filter pond. Inside the stalactite there is no branch of any herb as you might have expected. Perhaps it has something to do with very unusual drafts of air in this stone niche.
Last year, around the same time, I reported a nice stalagmite in the same niche.

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Wild rose leaves.
13 Jan 11:16

Cobweb with frost.
13 Jan 11:41

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In the beginning of December last year we made our yearly round of nest boxes, inspecting and cleaning them out. Most boxes had been used, with the exception of the converted mice nest boxes which are apparently really too small. Because of their difficult access we didn't open the owl boxes but presume that they have not been used so far. We assumed the same for the open 'balcony' type of nest box intended for a robin but we found a complete nice nest inside. It's a pity we didn't detect the bird in question last spring. It seems that robins are not much in a habit of using nest boxes in  Spain (as opposed to robins in central Europe).

Nest of a robin (?), taken out from its box.
11 Dec 9:50

introduction
floristic catalogue
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gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-
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>> 2012 Mar 17
<< 2011 Nov  9