The Weather and The Weatherman

The weatherman said it was going to be 98 degrees today

and

I am afraid his forecast is correct this time.

water plains: coppers vs steel fleet

We have established the beginnings of two forces:

the steel fleet 

and

the coppers.

the youngest help set rivets and prepare the boats.

water plain attack: steel fleet coming in from open waters

 the copper already had a great patina on them. being exposed to the element should make for some excellent texturing!

water plain defend: the coppers are ready to repel

the steel fleet comes in from open waters to attach in the coppers waters.

Rock displaying on the "water plain"

When we go out hiking or camping we are VERY likely to come back with a rock or two.

these rocks act as sort of a souvenir of the trip, so it seems fitting that we should have a way to present them (at least until they get lost in our landscape). This would also give me a location to organize our collection of "keepers". my other initial goal with this project is to teach the boys about the elements of composition in 3D.

in summary our project is a sort of simplified residential back yard version of a Japanese contemplation rock garden.

the idea is simple: create a large plain of smaller rock that will act as a body of water and then position smaller rocks that will function as small islands.

our scale is very small so i opted for sand as the water. the sand is also easier for picking out debris because it just sits on top versus getting in between the larger pebbles.

to add to the fun, we are making little boats to really help them along in the transition of imaging a large sandbox as a body of water.

back yard rock display with boats

 copper boats vs steel boats, working on our scale

my next step in this project is to see how we can also turn it into a sort of Battle Ship game.

i think a small armada on each side with catapults, like our indoor Crush the Castle game.

back yard rock display with boats

backyard rock display with boats

 the steel from this boat is the binding for railroad tie bails

other materials are bamboo skewers and some scrap cedar.

making boats for backyard rock display

a quick plug for these Milwaukee Markers. these are really holding up well. very good for marking on abused surfaces, metal and wood.

Turkey feather darts, brass steel tip darts and one dedicated buffer

Some years ago a good friend had given me a set of Widdy No1 turkey feather steel tipped darts. 

and

damn if these wooden darts aren't extremely intuitive to throw: supported by the natural feel of the wood and its long tear dropped axisymmetical shape.

the oldest and the youngest boys have started playing darts with me so i thought it was time to make sure they had their own sets to use. "new" players can be rather hard on darts so i thought it was best to get them their own.  stolling along ebay and found a great deal on two sets of Apex No1 turkey feather darts and as a bonus, with them came two old but seemed to be in very good condition brass sets.

widdy turkey feather dart with the blue stripe,
apex turkey feather dart with the red stripe.

when they arrived the turkey feather darts were ready to go

but 

the brass sets could use with a bit of buffing and waxing.

brass steel tipped darts after polishing and waxing

because i always have a buffer set up for action,

i just went to the tool and gave each dart about 1 minute of attention.

the bottom right of the collage shows one of each of the sets polished and the others are still in need.

the left panel shows the darts ready for waxing.

i used johnson paste wax (my main go to wax) on the buffed metal.

ready for action, i do think i broke the sound barrier when i threw them for the first time.

My one key message with this post is to strongly encourage my boys the importance of having at least one dedicated bench top buffer (or a variable speed bench grinder with a buffing wheel on one side) in the house. 

 having this tool always available will dramatically encourage one to initiate a project. at the very least it will increases the speed of starting and finishing any maintenance jobs.

Chronodex week 26 with a fireworks theme and two ridiculous fireworks

For Independence Day we have our daytime fireworks that the boys light off all day long 

and

then there are the bigger works that dad gets to light.

among the fireworks that the boy had were these two absolutely ridiculous ones: 

poo dog and chicken egg.

the cackling youth at the end of the chicken egg works was the youngest.

A fireworks themed week for the chronodex leading up to Friday's Independence Day.

for two days i had just a bit of extra time to make a VERY short video on the chronodex. adding a motion picture element to the final product is quite rewarding.

ground flower chronodex

smoke bomb chronodex

strobe light chronodex

chonodex 6 no 7.6.2014

Chronodex week 21 and 22 and the Okoboji trip

this year's summers vacation was centered around the oldest son's soccer tournament. 

leaving nebraska through the north omaha mormon bridge. always a good start to leave the state in nebraska rush hour.

mormon bridge and nebraska rush hour

there is a small amusement park in okoboji and was perfect for introducing the boys to their first roller coaster and log rides. 

okoboji log ride

the roller coaster was particularly fun because it was a wooden one.

really wish i had taken video of them on their first ride. 

also they were on their first ferris wheel.  

okoboji ferris wheel

chronodex showing the new esterbrook cord clips 

chronodex 5.25.2014 and esterbrook cord clip

had to ship some tools so i was filling out some thought rockets and that let to making a thought rocket chronodex. 

rocket ship chronodex 5.30.2014

"V"ictory chronodex 6.1.2014

triple "V"ictory chronodex 6.2.2014

red ribbon chronodex 6.3.2014

crap, running out of time, need to get to work.

Round 2 of sickness and 106 temperature

What the hell is it with everyone getting sick one week, then one week back to health and then the next week comes another round.

starting monday night the youngest son started coming down with a fever,

then tuesday late afternoon he jumps to 106! 

an immediate trip to the emergency room was in order.

in the end there were no infections or crazy illness, just a super flu bug.

i must say that our Children's hospital was amazing. very friendly and MUCH less stressful than an adult emergency department. there was not the flood of trauma that comes with the "adult" emergency departments. He received excellent attention.

the longer we sat there, about 4 hours, the better we felt about his condition. we were getting test results and x-rays back. this plus fever reducer cut his temp and he was always very bright eyed and clear headed. around this time my mind eased up and then there was one thought that kept passing my mind:

if the phone outlet was a bright yellow, this room counter could of pulled off a real 

2001 Space Odyssey color scheme. i thought about removing some of the yellow medical fixtures behind the hospital bed (and put in the photo), but didn't think that would go over so well. 

they looked pretty fixed to the wall.

hospital phone almost pulling off a 2001 Space Odyssey color scheme.

taking care of the sick ones means that we are certainly doomed

and 

doomed we are: wifey and i are on day day 2 of sick.

Grandmother's soap

The soap options from a grandmother's bathroom:

grandmother soap is guaranteed to get you 25% cleaner.
the shell shaped varieties up the cleaning potential to 26%.

although i have a choice of fragrant surfactants, i am almost afraid to choose either. last thing i want to do is be disrespectful and muck up her sink.

i may go with the neither approach. i am pretty sure that being male allows me to exercise this option.

or

maybe i will wash my hands, then i will wash the soap. 

(that should do the trick)

Bale with cat skin and free range running

A visit out to father's means the boys run untethered.

bales of hay act as elevated running platforms. jumping from one to one.

as long as they don't go tearing into them it is good.

i don't dictate on free range movement

but

every now and then they do need a second set of eyes.

this particular moment involved reminding the youngest to watch out for the 1/4 cat skin that had fallen off of the top of the bale.

at least one fox has been thinning out the cat population.

some days before the fox took this cat to the top of the bale for some dining privacy.

now the cat serves as another jumping obstacle on free range bale running.

Hot shot

Lochlann the deadeye.

he is so good, his shots make fire!

Graduation season

Congratulations ERIN!!

school's colors carnation given to wifey from her niece on h.s. graduation.

526 total miles (to get there and back) and one incredible niece graduating high school later.

A funeral in the country

Today was cold and windy,

typical beginning to the "spring".

a cowboy funeral for my uncle:

young ones peeking out at me whilst taking the photo.

Pro bowler

The youngest turned 5 today and bowling was on his mind.

everyone had a great time!

started off with a power spare

continued to have fun.

and as it goes, all good times must come to an end.

Just add marshmallow

The night time temperatures have been averaging in the mid 40's and in this next coming up into the 30's.

any excuse for more fire.

the boys win.

Bratwurst

Bratwurst, spaten & coffee.

temperature was below 70 degrees and we enjoyed the outdoors most of the day.

the boys slept good.