Im not sure what the deal is about you not seeing my pics, but i uploaded them with Photobucket if that helps.
So, since my last post I decided that i wanted to improve my survival chances for the next time i entered the nether fortress, and after a little thought decided i needed health potions to recover more quickly from a wither skeleton attack. Unfortunely, I had to get both nether wart and a blaze rod to craft them, so i took my battleaxe, bow and arrows, and chain mail armor and ran in and died from a wither skeleton before i could even see any nether wart.
I had just updated to 4.65, so got to see the update mostly first hand. I spawned at night and needed to find safety as soon as possible, so I punched a tree and ran, searching for a cave and food. I saw a couple of spoilers first hand as i rushed down into a small ravine and dug a hole in the side for the night. i mined around 30 iron as i waited, and when day struck i climbed out collecting food. as the next night approached, i searched for another cave, and as soon as i found one got killed off by a surprise zombie. And again by a creeper after i returned to my corpse.
By then hardcore spawn had reset so i collected food, mined some coal and dug into the ground heading straight for the redstone layer. Along the way i found a mineshaft, which was fortunate since i had run out wood. So i mined iron, blocking all unlit areas from me, grabbed some redstone and ran.
On the way home with my compass, I placed a ton of pointers, showing the path back to my base, and as soon as I got back i geared up with chainmail and an iron sword, ran into the nether to regain my stuff, and died from another wither skeleton.
luckily i found one of my pointers and quickly returned home, this time grabbing only leather armor and an iron sword since i knew i would respawn nearby. I ran in, got lost, found netherwart, and just as i found the path back, got killed yet again by a wither skeleton.
I then came back one last time, using my last iron on full iron armor, 3 milk buckets, and an iron blade, ran in, grabbed my previous corpse, and ran out.
After all that death for 1 item, i decided i would not return to that fortress without full soul-forged steel armor and my newly created health potions, so i built my first automated machine.
This is a slightly modified version of siege wizards Chicken breeding facility.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6595
I also plan on making a wolf poo machine, but don't know how close i can place two wolves together and have them still produce.