JQR's secret city - Filed under 'tents'

Biking, running, literature, music, photographs, and the North Wind

Avid cyclist and reader, Jonathan is no longer having adventures in his secret city. Instead he is spending the first couple weeks of his paid vacation back home in his native archipelago, New York City, with his girlfriend and three cats. Current distractions include listening to The Selecter, Trost, and Louis Jordan, among others.

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Filed under

tents

February 11, 2009

The "R - House," Hesco living!

via hesco.com

This doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look great, either. In my experience the problem with the Hesco as an interior wall is that it transmits dust. This R-house technique (see the cited website for more pictures) looks like it has the roof sealed somehow to the top of the walls.

I can't tell from the pictures how this is a big improvement over a tent. There's more insulation, but it's easier to aircondition or heat a tent. For flood control it's more economical to build a big wall around multiple tents.

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Filed under // architecture disasters Hescos tents

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February 10, 2009

Mini Maelstrom

It's not a doozy of a dust storm today, just a little one, the kind of
atmospheric event that makes folks wearing facemasks look kind of
foolish. The wind was coming from the south in the morning but over
lunch switched to the north. Boreas, my antagonist! You're back, and
bearing grit and sand!

The first two pictures are of the lightposts outside the tent area.
Careful comparison will show you that it's getting worse out. The next
four pictures are more Secret City scenery in the midst of the
mini-maelstrom: the back of the tent, the road down to the lake, the
main drag (and my way back from the old office), and a pyramid on the
corner of 5th and F.

Click here to download:

Mini_Maelstrom.zip (297 KB)

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Filed under // architecture atmosphere Boreas dust storm North Wind photographs pyramids sandstorm scenery streetlights streetscapes tents

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February 9, 2009

Simple luxuries

Since I moved to the tent,
I've been enjoying the latest in luxury accouterments: a bidet.
Actually, my choice of bidets, since every one of the seven toilets in
each of the two toilet-trailers has one installed and working. The
tincans I used to live in had one bidet installed in one trailer, and
that one was disabled shortly after I had discovered it.

Note for self: next time someone suggests spending a couple months
down in a secret city somewhere, make sure the bidet is installed and
working before agreeing.

Here's the device in action (not in full glory, mind you, just action).

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Filed under // bidet hygiene luxury tents videos

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February 5, 2009

Sunset from last night

I like how the second picture is a little blurry; the shadows on top
of the tents are nice compared to the sunset and the blazing lights
from the secret city's mini downtown.

Click here to download:

Sunset_from_last_night.zip (268 KB)

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Filed under // dusk photographs sunset tents

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February 3, 2009

Biomorphic tent, my new temporary home

This is the end of the tent I'm living in now that I'm back in Secret
City. The tent is some kind of synthetic inside and foam has been
sprayed on the outside either for insulation or for this cool
biomorphic, secret-headquarters effect.

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Filed under // biomorphism housing insulation lodging photographs tents

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January 30, 2009

More angry sunsets

I like those rays of dust that emanate from the sun in the first picture.
Best thing about the sunsets down here is that they are so
complicated, with all kinds of different colors and cloud formations.
The second picture I took about 10 minutes after the first.

Click here to download:

More_angry_sunsets.zip (367 KB)

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Filed under // atmosphere clouds dust photographs sunset tents

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January 30, 2009

Moving on again, now at secret village no. 3

This one has smaller tents but still nice sunsets, plus an unexpected
lightning storm today. I spent the night at the airport pretty much,
yo-yoing back and forth between my tent and the lounge (a five-minute
walk), hoping to find a spare seat on a flight back to my original
Secret City.

Finally after having lain down at eleven, then gotten up at 1:21 am.,
back to bed at 3:30 am, and back up at 5:09 am, at nine the madness
ceased; they put the flight schedule out for today and thankfully (!?)
there were no flights out, so I could go back to bed and sleep to
noon. I had it all made up nice, with a blanket over the mattress and
my sleeping bag nicely laid out on top. It was perfect for the
lightning storm; nothing better than lying lazily in bed at 11:45,
thinking about going to lunch, and listening to thunderclaps outside.