POST-PILE, or piling on...

Greetings pilers,

I've been meaning to post some initial thoughts for a while... First of all, I'm excited to be part of the nutrient loop experiment and glad that my personal waste can be a part of something other than sewage. A couple of questions that I've been wondering about: First, I store my straw outside and with the last rains, the bale got wet. I'm wondering about mold. If I cover it now, is that going to increase my chances of growing mold? Should I let the hay dry out and then cover it with a tarp? What are others doing for straw storage? One thing I've also found is that the bucket needs to be emptied before I think... You need to give things a little bit of room to drop! Anyone else had funny encounters with clearance problems? Also, I haven't been wetting my sawdust at all. Is that a problem?
One of the things I've noticed in the last couple of weeks, only tangentially related to the nutrient loop, is how shifting habituated behavior (ie, using a bucket rather than the toilet) is such a productive way to be slightly more awake or present. Not to sound too corny... but I've really noticed that catching myself going for the toilet and then reminding myself that I want to use the bucket is an interesting exercise. More soon and pics too!