Elm flowers are out in full force at the moment. They're not the most distinctive trees, and somewhat under threat. I noticed these in a car park a few days ago, then driving down Stanford Avenue, saw that the whole road was lined with them.
One of the downsides to owning a cat is occasionally this. Fortunately, it's pretty infrequent. This baby wood mouse was a tiny little thing, and still alive, no visible breakages. I wasn't sure what to do, as it was still suckling, and eyes were closed. This would mean feeding every two hours or so, which left me in a bit of a pickle.
A lovely day out in the woods yesterday making a beer heated entirely with stones. This is I think the fifth time we've brewed in the woods. The first 3 or so times we were direct heating over the flames, only last time my friend suggested we try the old method of using stones. They work like a dream, no nasty soot or smoke to worry about, pretty good temp control. We didn't get up to a rolling boil, but got pretty close to it.
One person's trash and all that. Dumped @dualit_ltd toaster find. It took a few hours to strip and clean, some lessons learnt, but it's a more or less working toaster now. Dualit are a legacy UK brand who build their toasters to be repaired, maintained and to last a lifetime. Funnily enough, they are assembled just up from me in Crawley.
I'm appreciating a long black from the espresso machine this last week or so. It's basically a short Americano, as a flat white is to a latte. This has come from Down Under, as the flat white did. I find the espresso over a bit too quickly, and the Americano can be a little weak, so this is a perfect middle ground. Lightly roasted, natural process and Colombian beans can sometimes be a little acidic, so the extra dilution takes the edge off that a little.
Kratky method hydroponic watercress. It's very easy to get sucked into internet rabbit holes, some you find are deeper than others. Hydroponic growing is one of those deep ones that I think appeals to a certain type of "technical solutions" person. Fortunately, I didn't have to go too deep for this project. Bernard Kratky was a researcher at the university of Hawaii, and he developed a low tech hydroponic growing system that didn't require any electricity or moving parts.