Midwinter calling, day 14

Shock

The tests to use lab ovens to temper or anneal glass have gone 'okayish' and took some time before I realised exactly how I had to heat it up and slowly cool it. Several failures that led to broken glass, but I have collected it to melt and reuse, and at least it entertained Ciara and Alith. But I seem to have managed to temper a couple of glass plates, and Ciara thought it was interesting that the glass shattered instead of breaking into normal shards. As long as I stay below the point where it starts to deform at about 550-600 degrees according to the thermometer, and let it cool down overnight where one burner is turned off and the guards gradually lower the other, it seems work. So my current plan is to make sure the oven is through hot and at about 500-520C and keep it there a couple of hours with the glass in before I turn it off, and after a couple of hours lower the second burner, and open it up the next day when it is still is a bit hot. Then I can have the glass in the air without anything seeming to happen.

I have put four small pieces of glass tubes and two glass plates that started at slightly different temperatures as a test in an empty ceramic pot for battery cells, which I placed in the south window so the glass will be exposed to some sun and night cooling cycles. We'll see if any of them burst as time goes by. There will be mercury in thermometers so I want to be sure.

I also make some polished glass plates for future eye protection in my workshop, and for forging and lab work etc. If they are cracked, glass shards is likely hurt the eye, but tempered glass shards are not as sharp as the shards of ordinary glass, and something that crack tempered glass would probably have crushed the eye if the glasses weren't there. A sturdy frame that absorb shock would also protect the eyes. As I see it, sparks and other things are a bigger and recurring problem, than glass broken in an accident.

I build parts for two radios at the same time, so I can learn and improve my craft more easily, and actually try the radios properly against each other. Well, it's more correct to say 'we'. I have a lot of help.

The calibration of both transmitter and receiver filters and coils is annoying but must be done. Thankfully I can use both the frequency standard and a mobile phone that constantly plays music and not use an amplified transmitter signal. It's not just about getting some parts right, but everything right and about the same frequency range. Even Jane helps me by sitting and shouting from my office after I have given her clear instructions, and I make a small adjustment afterwards, and Caecilia is again the repeater in the middle. However, I can adjust the receiver myself, and Jane is quite happy to avoid listening and shouting. Yes, it's important, but boring and annoying. Kari often silently looks on, although I give her brief explanations of what I do and why.

Most of the work is to build components modules and make it practical and manageable. So much time is spent to take it apart. Do some small work. Put it back together. Test. Change or continue. Take apart. Do some small work. Repeat. Had I been at home and used bought components, switches and connectors, I would probably have built it in a day. Or just done the same but with a proper soldering station, tools and test equipment over a long weekend, and that would includes 3D printed boxes or manufactured metal boxes. Because it would be easier than making them out of wood like here.

It might be frustrating, boring and a lot of sore fingers, and a some blood. But honestly? I love this and the satisfaction of when it is properly done and work. Unfortunately, there is a severely limited amount of times I will be able to do this for the rest of my life. No new components. But I also know that as long as I can focus and become fascinated about something else, it will not be a real problem - there is a reason that I have a lot of hobbies. It's only a matter of time before I build watches with bimetallic rotating balance spring and balance wheel, and complications such as sound, date and so on. It's annoying that the staff and guards don't have a good clock. I should make a few pendulum clocks. Right. I'm building radios.

Sometimes it's annoying to be interrupted during a building crunch, but in the long rung it's good, and I need interruptions for other things than food and toilet breaks. I'm grateful that the guards make sure to give me weapons training and that Ciara and Caecilia try to make me relax through more sexy methods. Every one of my women seems to appreciate when I go down on them, and it's damn satisfying to be able to turn someone I love or really care about into a happy drooling relaxed contented body. It annoys me a bit that sex is now such a big part of my everyday life, because it sometimes feels more like work or a duty than something that I do for love or pleasure, but usually it is a nice break. There isn't much else to spend a lot of time on here.

However, I have basically stopped going down on them when they are half lying on the table in front of me in the office or workshop, because we have lost balance and tipped over on to the floor a couple of times. It's not fun to bang my head and the sex abruptly stop, even if it then sometimes continued on the floor after kissing and making sure we're okay. Getting a concussion from sex is just... bad. And I would never hear the end of it from Jane. The sofa in the workshop has seen quite a lot of use and its pillows and cushions are practical. Hell, there is even a rolled up big thick sleeping pelt, which will probably never be sleep on, but has already seen use. I assume Caecilia is the reason for it being there, as Caecilia have her own version of 'Learn. Adapt. Move on'.

The more expensive sleeping pelts that we have bought have a clever design. A large square or slightly isoceles trapezoid thick sleeping pelt, which has either loops or oblong sticks attached to three sides, so it is possible to thread the stick through the loop and thus create a sleeping bag with a bit of overlap. A bonus is that two sleeping pelts can be connected together and you get a sleeping bag for two people, or three if you really squeeze together or use more pelts. The thicker and more luxurious sleeping pelts we have are not small or easy to take along, but most importantly it fulfills its function, especially during a cold winter. Many people use the same sleeping pelt in their bed, or it is the only bed they have as they sleep on the floors in the longhouses.

In order for me to relax and to make Ciara feel more appreciated, we had a nice evening, inspired by the day when I proposed to Iselin with a bath and lots of soap, massage and candles, followed by more than an hour of just cuddling. Ciara really likes to cuddle, but it gives me time to think, and it is nice.

I don't know when Kari will recover. The others have noticed something has happened to her, but Kari just say she needs to think about something, and I have asked them to let her be. However, Kari have talked a bit with Jane about it and other things, because Jane came and asked what she could say to Kari. But Jane confirmed that as far as she knows, I didn't lie, and the distances and other things are probably correct since I am a bloody nerd, and Iselin asked her similar questions. Jane pointed out the Maldives on the globe to Kari where she had been - after I told Jane where it actually is - and where Jane MMS'd pictures to her mother, and the timestamp when her mother answered. Kari may not be able to read the text, or really understand the time, but she understood it's like writing a message on a piece of paper and handing it over. Jane confirmed that they were lost because they used GPS, and Jane was reluctant to admit that I did not become lost because of course I had backup plans. Several maps and compasses. Jane is annoyed that I could demonstrably make a compass with what I brought along, while Tom missed he had one on his bloody wrist.

Nowadays I usually wear the Fenix smartwatch and have set it so I have a pedometer, height and barometer diagram on the watch face. Kari had a pleased little smug smile when I showed her the small compass needle in the bottom of the fire starter. All my sambos and guards will get their own small North Arrow. It is good to have and can literally be hidden in a seam on their clothes.