I could hear Dukie's uterus pull in under the Tree House and I knew that the girls were back. They had been out overnight and all day.
As to what they had been up to I wasn't sure.
Princess Leah ran up the stairs and gave me a quick kiss. I knew that she had been up to something as she walked me away from the stairs and towards the front of the house. Obviously there was something that I wasn't allowed to see. I could also hear that there were more voices than Dukie and Honoruru but I couldn't work out who it was.
Princess made me a cup of tea and we sat down in the front of the Tree House and watched the late afternoon sun. After she was sure I was happy she said "I am just going down to help Duke and Honoruru clean out the uterus".
I could hear lots of heavy lifting going on downstairs and there were a few spanners being thrown with some of Princess' newly invented swear words leaking out. Honoruru told Princess to keep her language down and Princess replied "Ive been working with tradesmen all my life Honoruru". That was the standard excuse.
After two hours of listening to the carrying's on down below Princess Leah and Dukie came running up the stairs. "Hey lukie we have a present for you" screamed Duke. I walked down and there was the most beautiful new stainless steel still under the Tree House. I was absolutely amazed at the size and I knew we'd be getting 2L an hour of pure spirit from this baby. Being all stainless it would be easier to clean and it even had a digital thermometer for more accurate distilling.
As to what they had been up to I wasn't sure.
Princess Leah ran up the stairs and gave me a quick kiss. I knew that she had been up to something as she walked me away from the stairs and towards the front of the house. Obviously there was something that I wasn't allowed to see. I could also hear that there were more voices than Dukie and Honoruru but I couldn't work out who it was.
Princess made me a cup of tea and we sat down in the front of the Tree House and watched the late afternoon sun. After she was sure I was happy she said "I am just going down to help Duke and Honoruru clean out the uterus".
I could hear lots of heavy lifting going on downstairs and there were a few spanners being thrown with some of Princess' newly invented swear words leaking out. Honoruru told Princess to keep her language down and Princess replied "Ive been working with tradesmen all my life Honoruru". That was the standard excuse.
After two hours of listening to the carrying's on down below Princess Leah and Dukie came running up the stairs. "Hey lukie we have a present for you" screamed Duke. I walked down and there was the most beautiful new stainless steel still under the Tree House. I was absolutely amazed at the size and I knew we'd be getting 2L an hour of pure spirit from this baby. Being all stainless it would be easier to clean and it even had a digital thermometer for more accurate distilling.
"Where did you get this baby from?" I asked incredulously.
"We bought it from the Redneck Trading Post?" said Duke. Obviously the girls hadn't been at Camp Camp at all but were over at RTP sourcing this for me. The banging and clanging and swearing must have been in the setting up of this earlier.
"And look they threw in Betty Joe and Daisy and a rifle and this clay jug thing" said Princess Leah.
I had to admit I didn't even notice Betty Joe and Daisy as I was too busy trying to remember the boiling point of pure pyrethrin. "Oh, hi girls" I said, not wanting to appear disinterested in these scantily clad play things. But please, I had a brand new still with a huge boiler capacity and my mind was going overtime.
I looked at Honoruru and said "this is a good thing but I hope it didn't cost too much."
"It didn't cost too much Lukie as it is a present for you from all of us at the Tree House" she said.
"There will be some fine brews come out of this thing" I said and laughed.
I knew what my next project was immediately. I was going to use this as a prototype for a much bigger version for my new Pyrethrin distillation plant. I could get rid of DDT and all its associated issues. I don't have any issues with my conscience with DDT and human effects- malaria is a far more significant risk than DDT itself- but I was worried about bird populations. I had recently read a paper from the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture that was very old on the efficacy of various pyrethrin isomers on mosquito larvae and I wanted to get it produced here.
Princess Leah had a few hectares of chrysanthemum flowers planted and we needed to be ready to harvest and start extraction in a month or so.
A methodology for extracting pyrethrin from plants using acetonitrile, removing waxes and impurities and then distilling off the acetonitrile, further extraction of pyrethrin through mineral spirits and distillation of the mineral spirits to leave pure pyrethrin had been published 40 years ago and it was old science. It wasn't used widely in agriculture anymore as natural pyrethrin had been replaced by synthetic pyrethroids due to the natural pyrethrin being subject to rapid photolysis and hence loss of efficacy.
All this was going through my mind at once. I just wanted to do something of some good for a change- not bullshit business worrying and other life crap. I raced over to Honoruru, Princess Leah and Dukie and gave them a kiss. I was going to be a chemist again with this still.
As soon as we had Lamb back with us I'd start designing the new, industrial-scale still.
As we were walking up the stairs Princess Leah asked what we should do with Betty Joe and Daisy. I said they should treat them with some dignity and take them back to RTP in the AM.
I asked them if they'd like to stay at the Tree House just for the night as we were having a big jungle curry. They looked quite astounded at the fact we were treating them so well. I think they'd been used and abused before.
We all sat down for dinner and discussed what was happening within the various tribes of the jungle and who we felt needed some medical aid, clean water, education assistance and what we could do. I had just been invited to join the CSIRO "Scientists in Schools" program and maybe I could work with a jungle tribe. Honoruru was already helping 3 tribes with business plans on trading native foods for medicines. Princess Leah and Duke were always helping the locals on various projects. Princess Leah had just erected a fence to keep some wild dogs out of one village.
Betty Joe and Daisy sat and listened and gave us some insight into what was going on out there. I had a feeling these girls would be good value as mates. There is no way we need more in the Tree House but we'd have them over when we could.
As the night settled in we watched some L Word and then crawled into the hammocks.
The next morning we'd blindfold those babes and send them back to RTP.
Goodnight girls.
Lukie
XXXX
Princess Leah had a few hectares of chrysanthemum flowers planted and we needed to be ready to harvest and start extraction in a month or so.
A methodology for extracting pyrethrin from plants using acetonitrile, removing waxes and impurities and then distilling off the acetonitrile, further extraction of pyrethrin through mineral spirits and distillation of the mineral spirits to leave pure pyrethrin had been published 40 years ago and it was old science. It wasn't used widely in agriculture anymore as natural pyrethrin had been replaced by synthetic pyrethroids due to the natural pyrethrin being subject to rapid photolysis and hence loss of efficacy.
All this was going through my mind at once. I just wanted to do something of some good for a change- not bullshit business worrying and other life crap. I raced over to Honoruru, Princess Leah and Dukie and gave them a kiss. I was going to be a chemist again with this still.
As soon as we had Lamb back with us I'd start designing the new, industrial-scale still.
As we were walking up the stairs Princess Leah asked what we should do with Betty Joe and Daisy. I said they should treat them with some dignity and take them back to RTP in the AM.
I asked them if they'd like to stay at the Tree House just for the night as we were having a big jungle curry. They looked quite astounded at the fact we were treating them so well. I think they'd been used and abused before.
We all sat down for dinner and discussed what was happening within the various tribes of the jungle and who we felt needed some medical aid, clean water, education assistance and what we could do. I had just been invited to join the CSIRO "Scientists in Schools" program and maybe I could work with a jungle tribe. Honoruru was already helping 3 tribes with business plans on trading native foods for medicines. Princess Leah and Duke were always helping the locals on various projects. Princess Leah had just erected a fence to keep some wild dogs out of one village.
Betty Joe and Daisy sat and listened and gave us some insight into what was going on out there. I had a feeling these girls would be good value as mates. There is no way we need more in the Tree House but we'd have them over when we could.
As the night settled in we watched some L Word and then crawled into the hammocks.
The next morning we'd blindfold those babes and send them back to RTP.
Goodnight girls.
Lukie
XXXX
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