worm crisis

I had a serious worm compost crisis today. You'll have to excuse the absence of pictures as the trauma made me go straight to work (I guess I'm not a war photographer).

I pulled up the larger bucket containing the worms (or at least the bucket which should have contained worms...) to find ALL the worms in the bottom bucket (which is only for drainage). The night crawlers (which I was worried about putting in there) were all drowned and dead. Their little bodies bloated and full of bubbles. Most of the red worms were on the sides of the bucket trapped between the upper bucket (which all the worms were running from) and the lake of worm urine which the night crawlers dead bodies were floating in. AAAHHHHGG! Sqrl!!! The worms!

Sqrl came running down the stairs and helped (with moral support) as I removed the surviving red worms from the sides of the bucket. I put the survivors back into the top bucket, and took the worms which were in the "tea" at the bottom outside for burial (also allowing missed survivors to escape).

I have been scouring the web for the last several hours to determine the cause of the downward seeking worms. As near as I can figure, they were leaving because I overfed them. By adding too much food too soon, I created a hot environment which I think drove the worms out of the compost to save themselves from being baked. I also believe that my "brilliant" bucket design is too deep and helped to create the hostile environment. Commercial worm bins are always designed with more surface area (often 16 inches square) so the worms are always working on a thin layer of garbage (one site said NEVER more than one inch deep). So, I ordered a proper worm bin from Happy D Ranch. But until that arrives I need to keep a closer eye on the worms. Now I have a thermometer in the compost to measure the the temperature. I also added a little whiting (calcium carbonate) to help keep the pH up. By the end of the week the new bin should arrive... I'll post more when things change.

paste and paper curl

In experimenting with different kinds of paste, I found an interesting thing. Not only does sugar make paste stick to a wider variety of surfaces, it also changes the drying time.

So, here is a picture of a piece that was coated (on its back) with paste that had no sugar. Notice that the curl is in the direction of the pasted side -- meaning that the paste dried before the paper, and thus the shrinkage occurred on that side.Next, is a picture of a piece that was coated (again on the back) with paste which did contain sugar. Note that the curl is going away from the pasted side -- so here the paper dried before the paste.

Now you ask "then there must be a balance then right?" And the answer is, yes there is. I found that paste which contained equal parts flour and sugar did not make the paper curl in either direction (barring the usual warping from getting wet during application). Here's the good recipe so far:

1 part white flour (aka "all purpose")
1 part sugar
4 parts water

Cook until it thickens... and you're good to go.

first big sign comes down

Well, the rain and snow had its way. I guess cardboard is really a dry weather medium.

first big PPP sign up

I posted my first big Pedestrian Propaganda sign -- I have to say it felt bigger before I put it under a real street sign (geeze they're big). A big storm is expected in a day or two, so for now I'm just putting this one up so I can see what happens to it in the rain (remember they are made of cardboard).

Pretty easy to attach -- all these kinds of posts are standardized with holes one inch apart. I just made holes in my cardboard sign so it would match up with the holes in the post, and then attached with aluminum wire.

Worms are here!

Ha ha! The worms have arrived! They arrived in a bag in a box -- they were all huddled together. I am excited to get started with worm composting. My only concern is that I ordered a mix of red worms (Eisenia foetida) and night crawlers (Eisenia hortensis). I'm not sure that the hortensis will be happy in the confinement of a worm bin. But I guess we'll see -- if a year from now I only have foetida in the bin, then I guess the hortensis weren't okay.

Anyway, here's a handful of soon to be compost worms.

And here's a little beetle that stowed away in the worm sack (I put it outside).

You can see the worms searching around the edges of the tray before they went into the composter.


And here is the composter itself. I just used a 5 gallon bucket. I drilled 1/4 inch holes in the bottom for drainage (and to allow migration for stacking in the future), and 1/16 inch holes around the rim and in the lid for ventilation.
I got a lot of info on Washington University's site. And I really recommend going to Composters.com to shop the huge selection of compost products (including general yard maintenance products).

time for big signs

In keeping with my mocking signage... I am making some big signs (actual street-sign size). I just print up four sheets, trim the edges, and paste onto a cardboard backing -- eazy.

Pedestrian Propaganda -- big time!

long time, no blog

My word it's been a while. Well, we're well situated in our new place in Lansdale, PA. Sqrl and I are painting now (our new day-job). And I'm still plodding ahead with the Pedestrian Propaganda Project.

In some very (VERY) exciting news... I was contacted almost two weeks ago (March 30th) by someone who found the PPP gallery in the colloquial "middle of nowhere" (that interesting building in Texas) -- which, incidentally, was about the last place I actually expected someone to find propaganda (especially considering all the very obvious places I tagged up). This person expressed great interest in acquiring more stuff from the PPP (thank you Ashley). So I put together a PDF file which contains the complete set. With this file, you can simply print up your own signs for your own (non-commercial) purposes (special thanks to CreativeCommons).

I am also going to order all the junk so that we can finally have a real printing studio in the house (silkscreen printing). Now I'll be able to make shirts at last! All very good. All very exciting. I'll post more when I get some pictures.

God Bless America

At the suggestion of my sister, Melanie, I made a video to go with my song, "God Bless America".

Illustration Friday - hide

Pedestrian Propaganda... censored

So, I put up "DIRTY ?" under Michael and Amy's staircase, and the maintenance people... well... they CENSORED me!


I just can't figure why they thought white spray-paint would be a good solution on a wood staircase. (not to mention the fact that all the propaganda is put up with water-soluble glue)

in NC and no stow-away

Well, we're in North Carolina now visiting Michael and Amy (Melissa's brother and sister-in-law). I got a live-catch trap to try to apprehend our mouse stow away. But as you can see, the trap remains unsprung. As best we can figure, it must have jump ship in Arkansas -- but we'll never know for sure.


Near Michael and Amy's apartment, there is a lake (with tons of seagulls).


And we went for a picnic in the local state park

Illustration Friday - gravity

Gravity... or the lack thereof

Welcome to Tennessee

Once again I stopped to see the Tennessee welcome center -- with its giant, bronze statues of BB King and Elvis.Thank you... thank you verymuch

mouse-o-meal

On the plate last night...

a dried cherry
a piece of dried mango
an almond
a slice of zucchini
a piece of fresh apple
a piece of bread

This morning... the cherry and zucchini are still there -- all else is gone

our mouse stow away

So the mouse has made itself comfortable. Last night, we heard it tearing at cardboard. I guess if it didn't want to stick around, it would have jumped ship days ago.

Here's tonight's dinner plate

gallery on Interstate 20

We are forever, forever in Texas. Yesterday, we found an interesting building on Interstate 20.


And so, we did an impromptu show.

Pedestrian Propaganda somewhere in Texas.

forever traveling through texas

Last night we stayed at Big Spring campground



Tonight we are staying in a hotel


... a hotel which has a vending machine in the lobby with... well... interesting (albeit appropriate) contents

in Las Cruces

here we are in Las Cruces, NM

pedestrian propaganda

I've begun placing pedestrian propaganda (this isn't the first, but it's the first stuff I have good pictures of) -- this time in a stairwell of a Super 8 motel in Las Cruces, NM.

mousetrap... sprung

Something I forgot to mention was that we picked up a hitchiker in Quartzite. On the last night we were there, there was tiny grunting and chewing sounds around the place we keep our bread, etc. In the middle of the night (with much complaining) I looked around with a flashlight, and in the bottom of a box, for just a moment, I saw a dark-grey mouse.
This has happened before (on a previous trip). And last time the mouse jumped ship before we left. But not this mouse. So each night since... more tiny grunting and chewing. Well last night I set a trap -- a large plastic container held up in the middle with a stick (precariously balancing the container -- i.e. the trigger), and tied to the stick was a pistachio. Well this morning, the trap was sprung! And the stick... well...it ate the nut, and yet got out. So now, the saga continues.