[Ansteorra] Pyromaniacs Unite!

[Susan McMahill]

Actually, I don't think that the town of Llano is in the Llano Estacado. The L.E. is considerably to the north and west and covers most of the panhandle and the western portion of the state, west of Abilene. The map shown in this wiki article shows it pretty dramatically. The really flat section is the Llano Estacado. Llano means flat or plain. I suspect that the town of Llano is in a flat area of the Edwards Plateau, not the Llano Estacado.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llano_Estacado
 
Lyneya de Grey...whose other passion is geology.
Well-behaved women Seldom make history - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich



> From: nigsdaughter at satx.rr.com> To: ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:07:32 -0600> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Pyromaniacs Unite!> > Please excuse what I am about to say, I am not in the least trying to be > smart but Llano is in Llano County and is located on the Llano river and is > located in the Llano Es....rats, can't spell, it but it is a geological term > about rocks, really ancient rocks.> > I live in San Antonio and to get to Llano from here, I would take I10W to > (I beliieve it is IS16) turn right at the signage that says there be > Fredericksburg and follow said highway to Llano. It, Llano, is in northwest > Texas. It is beautiful and from app. April to May the country side is awash > in Bluebonnets.> > FYI, the folk who live there pronounce their city Lano not Yano.> > Some of the rock formations in the general area are absolutely gorgeous and > just south of Llano is the Texas version of Ayres Rock. It is called > "Enchanted Rock" and it is fun to climb. Almost forgot, Llano is home to , > my geology prof. told us this, the only blue crystal in these parts.> > Hope this helps a bit,> Bertha von Caffei, Bjornsborg> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dr. C. M. Helm-Clark Ph.D." <cat at rocks4brains.com>> To: <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 10:41 PM> Subject: [Ansteorra] Pyromaniacs Unite!> > > > Good evening, gentle cousins,> >> > I can find no fault and certain much to praise in the> > nine days that I have been a subject of this fair> > kingdom. But since these funny flowery phrases are a bit> > of a stretch for me, even on good days, let us now do> > without them and get back to plain speaking:> >> > the hospitality that I and my husband have received> > since we got here (to quote someone I overheard this> > weekend at kingdom A&S) certainly does not suck.> >> > or to put it otherwise:> >> > golly gee wowee!> >> > Having been waylaid...well, maybe not waylaid, per se,> > but definately subject to the undiluted attention of> > a certain laurel from Bryn Gwlad (did I spell that> > right?), it has come to my notice that there may be> > a few other folks around here other than myself who might> > be interested in one of my favorite SCA hobbies: making> > iron, from rocks, in a bloomery, with lots of charcoal> > and lots and lots and lots and lots of FIRE!!!> >> > Bwahahahahahahah!!!!!!> >> > ...ahem, excuse me, cough cough, hack...ok, I'm better> > now, really, I'm fine, really...> >> > as I was saying, lots of fun with reducing flames in a> > early to mid Medieval bloomery furnace built to torture> > innocent little rocks that never hurt anyone or even fleas> > before and turning them into "blooms," which are tortured> > further to make them into wrought iron.> >> > If you have been to Pennsic, you may have seen people> > there who do something like this... The folks who do the> > bloomeries at Pennsic are the folks who taught me (and> > when I can make it to Pennsic, you'll find me down at> > the furnaces, cranking the bellows or mixing cob or> > shovelling charcoal and rocks). I'm still on the learning> > curve in leading my own smelting crew but I get better all> > the time and with good enough advance notice, the experts> > from Pennsic will come and teach and help too if at all> > possible. It's a conspiracy, you see, to get all sorts> > of otherwise untainted SCA folks and turn them into maniac> > metal geeks who gather in the dark of night and play with> > lots and lots of fire...> >> > I'm not advertising for a crew yet (and I already have> > two volunteers without trying...must me a lot of fellow> > metalgeeks hiding down here... ;). However, I do need> > some help. The first thing you need to smelt iron is a> > pile of iron ore. I have an excellent site to collect> > iron ore but it's a two day drive from here... So I have> > been researching potential locations within a reasonable> > drive from Raven's Fort, which is where we are moving to.> > And to that end, I have some questions. First: could> > someone please tell my geographically challenged self where> > Rusk or Cass counties are? And where is LLano? I do know> > where the Guadalupe mountains are, but how long a drive is> > it from Raven's Fort/Stargate to get there?> >> > Last, and this will take some thinking on someone's part,> > is that every bloomery needs a home. A bloomery needs> > about a 40 feet square to be safe. You build them out> > of cob, and sometimes, cob on a willow frame depending on> > your soil, and they are not permanent. They get built,> > fired and then knocked down to recover the iron bloom.> > They have a life of two to four days max. But they need> > a home during their short existence where they won't set> > the world around them on fire or evoke the wrath of the> > homeowner's association or the inner city fire marshal...> > If you think you might have an adequate home for a few> > days for a bloomery and the pyromaniacs who will feed it> > rocks and charcoal, please contemplate if you could possibly> > host such a thing and when it might be possible.> >> > You can find pictures of the bloomery I and a few pyromaniacs> > from Artemisia and An Tir built and fired this last June at:> > http://groups.google.com/group/metalgeeks/files> > There are pictures of the building and firing plus some> > pictures of one of the trips to find and collect the iron> > ore we used in the furnace. This should give you a good idea> > of what's involved. (ok, we cheated, we collected magnetite> > and since we lacked a horde of peasants to dig us an iron mine> > on the plans of Agricola, we used old speaker magnets we dragged> > around behind us on string... ;)> >> > Thank you for your time and attention.> >> > ttfn> > Therasia, metalgeek, new to town> >> >> >> >> >> > _______________________________________________> > Ansteorra mailing list> > Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> > http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org > > _______________________________________________> Ansteorra mailing list> Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org