walking jack, latin and medieval castles

 chanda took some pics of me walking jack today. 

 the snow keeps piling up.

working on her latin . . stellãs saepe specto . . i often watch the stars.

and the beginning of her castle drawing . . castle walls were eight to twelve feet thick, and filled with rubble, a mixture of stones and mortar, between thinner walls of carefully fitted and layered stones. my favorite part has been learning about the garderobes, or the toilets. each castle was equipped with a few small rooms along narrow passages and lit by an arrow loop or tiny window. some extended out over the face of the wall; others were along the inner wall with a long way down to the cesspit, which of course would need to be periodically cleaned out. and what about the toilets that leaned out over the castle wall? were these open to the outside and dependent upon the rain for clean up? i'm also assuming that the ladies had their own garderobe . . 

my next favorite part of the book, or movie, has to do with  the "murder hole." if invaders made it past the drawbridge, a portcullis and inner gate could both be dropped, or slid shut; thus trapping the unwelcome guests beneath a trapdoor in the ceiling from which the castle soldiers could drop burning pitch on top of them.