A Video is worth 57 words!
And yet, I'm going to use some more words.
The two critical components to this flying ghost thing working is tension on the wire, and a light weight ghost. We have jettisoned the idea of the styrofoam skull head as it is just too heavy. So now we have a balloon draped with a light gauzy material. It think the stuff I bought is used for wedding veils.
It seems to be working and I don't have to build an elaborate pulley system to keep the cable from falling off.
In short, K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stan!
I would like to say that I have a whole new respect for the manufacturers of chairlifts.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Major Halloween Project Progress Report #1
What a productive weekend! A hearty pat on the back to Susan and to myself for our diligence and hard work. Wow! We are amazing!
With the pep talk out of the way, let's have a few details to end the self congratulations and let the facts do the writing.
Saturday was hot hot hot. I think we broke a record for the high temperature. It was into the 90's. That's nearly unheard of in Spokane in late September when Fall has just arrived. Activities were packed with me selling coffee at the Farmers Market and then helping my friend Gale with her organizational issues. That pretty much took me all day. Susan had to prepare food for the church potluck the next day and then had to work her catering job until almost tomorrow.
After church on Sunday is when we really went into gear. Susan was mudding, sanding and removing wall paper. I was outside with the Major Halloween Project. While the previous day had been record hot, yesterday was gale-force winds and dust in every crevasse. Plus a little bit o rain. But, I made good progress and solved a couple of problems I was having.
Okay, let's just get into it.
If one was to "Google" Axworthy Flying Ghost, one would come upon the Major Halloween Project to which I am currently undertaking. It is quite an elaborate display involving the basic chair lift concept. You hang a very light weight ghost form the chair lift cable and it flies around your yard. That is the hope anyway. I still have some tweaking to do.
Here is a short video to show where we are at.
Don't make fun of my ghosts. One is a styrofoam skull head that hopefully will become a more elaborate ghost. The other is a napkin. A test ghost. You're looking at a prototype that is still in its infancy.
So there you go! Halloween is 35 days away and I still have a lot of work to do.
With the pep talk out of the way, let's have a few details to end the self congratulations and let the facts do the writing.
Saturday was hot hot hot. I think we broke a record for the high temperature. It was into the 90's. That's nearly unheard of in Spokane in late September when Fall has just arrived. Activities were packed with me selling coffee at the Farmers Market and then helping my friend Gale with her organizational issues. That pretty much took me all day. Susan had to prepare food for the church potluck the next day and then had to work her catering job until almost tomorrow.
After church on Sunday is when we really went into gear. Susan was mudding, sanding and removing wall paper. I was outside with the Major Halloween Project. While the previous day had been record hot, yesterday was gale-force winds and dust in every crevasse. Plus a little bit o rain. But, I made good progress and solved a couple of problems I was having.
Okay, let's just get into it.
If one was to "Google" Axworthy Flying Ghost, one would come upon the Major Halloween Project to which I am currently undertaking. It is quite an elaborate display involving the basic chair lift concept. You hang a very light weight ghost form the chair lift cable and it flies around your yard. That is the hope anyway. I still have some tweaking to do.
Here is a short video to show where we are at.
Don't make fun of my ghosts. One is a styrofoam skull head that hopefully will become a more elaborate ghost. The other is a napkin. A test ghost. You're looking at a prototype that is still in its infancy.
So there you go! Halloween is 35 days away and I still have a lot of work to do.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Satellite Guy
DirecTV is smart. I was all prepared to really lay into the technician when he showed up today to fix the satellite. I have numerous problems with the way they schedule and their subsequent follow up.
But they were smart. They sent out the friendliest looking guy I have ever seen. I could hardly take out my frustrations on him. He was just so friendly, as friendly as he looked.
It took him a while to trace down the problem and he was very thorough...which means I'm happy. But instead of showing up at 2:00 as promised, he arrived at almost 4:00. He had left me a message on my home phone but not my cell, which is the phone I requested they use to contact me. Unfortunately, that directive never made it to Mr. Friendly.
The nice thing was that with all the extra time on my hands, I was able to get a good start on my Major Halloween Project.
More details will follow in posts to come.
But they were smart. They sent out the friendliest looking guy I have ever seen. I could hardly take out my frustrations on him. He was just so friendly, as friendly as he looked.
It took him a while to trace down the problem and he was very thorough...which means I'm happy. But instead of showing up at 2:00 as promised, he arrived at almost 4:00. He had left me a message on my home phone but not my cell, which is the phone I requested they use to contact me. Unfortunately, that directive never made it to Mr. Friendly.
The nice thing was that with all the extra time on my hands, I was able to get a good start on my Major Halloween Project.
More details will follow in posts to come.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Satellite Technology
Two years ago on the Fourth of July, we became viewers of Satellite Television. It has been a satisfactory relationship with nary a problem.
Then, at the end of August, we got the new big screen HiDef Telly and things have gone awry.
We lost satellite signal last Friday night. Up until then it had been working fine since it's installation. I was working on installing a new light switch in the hallway and threw a few circuit breakers to isolate the right circuit. In the course of tripping the breaker, I seemed to have blown out the satellite.
A guy came on Saturday (pretty damn quick response) and got us up and running again but when I came home tonight, it was not getting a signal again.
So I call in and let them know that it is not working and they tell me a Technician can come on Thursday between non and four. Then I hear myself say, "Do you mean to tell me that I will be without TV for two days?!" As if not having a television in the house is a matter of life or death.
Oh my God! Do you mean that my wife and I may have to actually talk to each other?
Then, at the end of August, we got the new big screen HiDef Telly and things have gone awry.
We lost satellite signal last Friday night. Up until then it had been working fine since it's installation. I was working on installing a new light switch in the hallway and threw a few circuit breakers to isolate the right circuit. In the course of tripping the breaker, I seemed to have blown out the satellite.
A guy came on Saturday (pretty damn quick response) and got us up and running again but when I came home tonight, it was not getting a signal again.
So I call in and let them know that it is not working and they tell me a Technician can come on Thursday between non and four. Then I hear myself say, "Do you mean to tell me that I will be without TV for two days?!" As if not having a television in the house is a matter of life or death.
Oh my God! Do you mean that my wife and I may have to actually talk to each other?
After bitching and moaning for a while, it occurred to me to mess with the Digital converter Box that Susan's boss gave to us. I had tried to set it earlier on one of our old TV's without any luck. I decided to try again and the difference this time would be that I would read the instructions.
Wow! That works...reading the instructions. We have over-the-air digital TV. I am still having a problem which I hope to rectify by calling their help line tomorrow. I cannot get channel four, which I know is there and available. I have to find out why the antenna is not finding it when it scans channels.
Channel Four is the local ABC affiliate and if I don't get it, we will be missing the premier of the best comedy on TV right now, Modern Family. That will be disastrous as Susan and I will have to talk...to each other!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Wine Champions
I did a bunch of yard work on Saturday and I'm pretty satisfied with what I got done. Not so much what I got done, but the amount that I got done. There was raking, killing mushrooms, weeding, mowing, cleaning, watering...a whole host of outyard activities.
Susan got herself some new glasses, which took her a good portion of the day. Glasses are expensive. It's as if they consider vision important.
Saturday evening, we went to a birthday party at the home of my former neighbors, Jim and Michelle. Michelle turned 50. It was nice to be back in the old neighborhood and to see my old house. Todd, who bought it, is doing some great stuff with it.
Sunday was the Fourth Annual SpokeFest. I tried looking through the paper this morning to get a report on the number of people that participated. They were expecting 2,000. It looked about 2,000ish. I'm surprised there wasn't a brief article reporting on it.
It was overshadowed by the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attachs on the World Trade Center. You might have heard of it.
There were lots of stories about 9-11 commemorations that took place, both locally and nationally. That took the brunt of the news coverage. There was even a tribute at the start of SpokeFest. A short speech by someone, followed by the longest, drawn out version of the National Anthem in four part harmony I have ever heard.
Anyway, we have now participated in all four years of the SpokeFest. Unfortunately, we are not bike people. We did the 9 mile course and even that took it's toll on us. My nether regions went numb by mile 8 and that is not a good feeling.
After a good bike ride, the thing to do is go to the Spokane Interstate Fair. Nothing better than walking around aimlessly for several hours on legs that are already not happy with you.
It took forever but we finally got over to the wine exhibit to see how we did in the judging. We did well!
The Blueberry Wine we made got Reserve Grand Champion. I think that's a runner up. I'm amazed as I do not feel the blueberry is all that good of a wine. It might be good for blueberry, but perhaps, this is why good wine comes from the grape vine and not the blueberry bush.
So...all in all, we are happy with the Better than Fare Fair results.
Susan got herself some new glasses, which took her a good portion of the day. Glasses are expensive. It's as if they consider vision important.
Saturday evening, we went to a birthday party at the home of my former neighbors, Jim and Michelle. Michelle turned 50. It was nice to be back in the old neighborhood and to see my old house. Todd, who bought it, is doing some great stuff with it.
Sunday was the Fourth Annual SpokeFest. I tried looking through the paper this morning to get a report on the number of people that participated. They were expecting 2,000. It looked about 2,000ish. I'm surprised there wasn't a brief article reporting on it.
It was overshadowed by the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attachs on the World Trade Center. You might have heard of it.
There were lots of stories about 9-11 commemorations that took place, both locally and nationally. That took the brunt of the news coverage. There was even a tribute at the start of SpokeFest. A short speech by someone, followed by the longest, drawn out version of the National Anthem in four part harmony I have ever heard.
Anyway, we have now participated in all four years of the SpokeFest. Unfortunately, we are not bike people. We did the 9 mile course and even that took it's toll on us. My nether regions went numb by mile 8 and that is not a good feeling.
After a good bike ride, the thing to do is go to the Spokane Interstate Fair. Nothing better than walking around aimlessly for several hours on legs that are already not happy with you.
It took forever but we finally got over to the wine exhibit to see how we did in the judging. We did well!
The Blueberry Wine we made got Reserve Grand Champion. I think that's a runner up. I'm amazed as I do not feel the blueberry is all that good of a wine. It might be good for blueberry, but perhaps, this is why good wine comes from the grape vine and not the blueberry bush.
We also got a blue ribbon for the Pinot Gris as well as awards for the labels for both wines. Our friend Ellen got a Grand Champion award for her wine label, which was designed by Susan.
So...all in all, we are happy with the Better than Fare Fair results.
Monday, September 05, 2011
Labrador Weekend
The unofficial end of Summer has arrived and moved on but nobody told the sun. The forecast for the next week calls for hot, Hot HOT! I am not complaining. I have no problems with summer hanging around for another month if it so desires. So my musings over not using my air conditioner in the last post are all but null and void.
In the meantime, let's get to my Weekend Roundup, a complete breakdown of the events for Susan and I over the Labor Day THREE-DAY weekend.
We rode our bikes downtown on Friday night to attend "Pigout in the Park. It's Spokane's annual food festival with lots of food and bands and music and food. We ate our fill and made it back home shortly after 9ish.
This was the view from my Coffee Booth at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. I've been working this event for my friend Brian since the start of the summer. I'm there from 8:00 to 1:00. Saturday was not a great day for coffee sales. Even the Iced Coffee was slow.
Fortunately, one o'clock comes eventually and then I'm free for the day. I went home immediately because the DirecTV guy was there installing out Hi-Def system for the new TV. He hit a few snags during the install but was finally able to get everything running to our liking. I still haven't got the VCR integrated into the new system but people are telling me that is old technology. Nonetheless, I plan to hang on to it because it is the last piece of television hardware that I am familiar with.
I returned Brian's van and then I hit the Home Depot to cobble together some things I needed for some planned Sunday projects.
I'm trying to remember what we did on Saturday night but it is not coming to me. I guess we went into a Hi-Def watching overload that completely blanked out my mental receptors.
On Sunday we went to church and then returned home to begin our respective projects. Susan had to be at work for the catering company at 2:00 so her time was limited.
Her current project is to complete the stenciling in the entryway.
She completed two of four sides. I think it looks fabulous and it really draws your eyes up to the stenciling on the ceiling.
My project for the day was, get through it. I actually had three projects. The easiest one was to anchor the outlet in the entryway and get a nice faceplate on it. Well, I had found a lovely faceplate at the Depot and so I was able to accomplish the easy one in a short span of a profanity laced time period.
Then it was on to the back hall. It is very dark back there and would be ameliorated by an absence of darkness created by a light.
I wanted to place a light similar to this one shown above. We bought that one at the Depot a few years back so I was confident I would be able to get another.
HA!
I finally found one that I thought would work at Lowe's so I was ready to begin the project.
This is the wall in question where the light will go to eliminate the dark.
As one can clearly see, there is already a hole there where a former switch had been. Conveniently, one will also note that the hole has a fish tape line in it ready to pull new wire.
I was very concerned about running the wire and if I would be able to do it by myself. It turns out that running the wire was the easiest part of this install.
After cutting an access hole in the ceiling of the basement room below the hallway, I easily found the old knob and tube wire and fed the new wire in to place.
Then it was just a matter of cutting a hole of the fixture and dropping the wire through the short length to the switch.
All in all, I was happy with the result.
Unfortunately, Susan was not. She doesn't like the light fixture. It looks very similar to the one I was trying to match but that is not the opinion held by the only person who really matters.
A quick note about Norman the fish. I am sure I have referenced him in these pages before. Norman is our goldfish. Susan gave him to me a looooong time ago. He was just a little minnow back then. He has grown over the years and we have had to keep putting him in larger and larger tanks.
Norman has always been a bit neurotic. He is now approaching the end of his life and he is pretty beat up.
We should have flushed him two weeks ago but we just can't bring ourselves to pull the trigger. He is blind as he has had some serious eye issues, He kind of has a curved spine. And he has been beating himself on the rocks at the bottom of the tank which has left him with many open sores. He is not a pretty fish.
He started spending much of his time upside down. That's when the flushing conversations began.
He's still hanging there as of Labor Day and is spending much less time on his back.
Monday was a lazy day around the house. I had to go back to the Depot to focus my needs a bit since my original plan on my next project was not working out.
My next project was to fix the power outlets on the front porch. To make it short, it finally all came together and the power is functioning and available for the front yard.
The Labor Day weekend traditionally ends with the Spokane Symphony Concert at Comstock Park. We gather with family and friends for a picnic and then some great music.
The concert was cancelled last year due to a lack of funding. So we were all very pleased to hear that a local Savings and Loan, Sterling Savings ponied up the money for the next three years.
Here are a couple of shots from the concert. It is a melancholy time for me as it signals the end of summer. Also, I ate some melons and I saw a collie.
Now it is onward towards Autumn.
In the meantime, let's get to my Weekend Roundup, a complete breakdown of the events for Susan and I over the Labor Day THREE-DAY weekend.
We rode our bikes downtown on Friday night to attend "Pigout in the Park. It's Spokane's annual food festival with lots of food and bands and music and food. We ate our fill and made it back home shortly after 9ish.
This was the view from my Coffee Booth at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. I've been working this event for my friend Brian since the start of the summer. I'm there from 8:00 to 1:00. Saturday was not a great day for coffee sales. Even the Iced Coffee was slow.
Fortunately, one o'clock comes eventually and then I'm free for the day. I went home immediately because the DirecTV guy was there installing out Hi-Def system for the new TV. He hit a few snags during the install but was finally able to get everything running to our liking. I still haven't got the VCR integrated into the new system but people are telling me that is old technology. Nonetheless, I plan to hang on to it because it is the last piece of television hardware that I am familiar with.
I returned Brian's van and then I hit the Home Depot to cobble together some things I needed for some planned Sunday projects.
I'm trying to remember what we did on Saturday night but it is not coming to me. I guess we went into a Hi-Def watching overload that completely blanked out my mental receptors.
On Sunday we went to church and then returned home to begin our respective projects. Susan had to be at work for the catering company at 2:00 so her time was limited.
Her current project is to complete the stenciling in the entryway.
She completed two of four sides. I think it looks fabulous and it really draws your eyes up to the stenciling on the ceiling.
My project for the day was, get through it. I actually had three projects. The easiest one was to anchor the outlet in the entryway and get a nice faceplate on it. Well, I had found a lovely faceplate at the Depot and so I was able to accomplish the easy one in a short span of a profanity laced time period.
Then it was on to the back hall. It is very dark back there and would be ameliorated by an absence of darkness created by a light.
I wanted to place a light similar to this one shown above. We bought that one at the Depot a few years back so I was confident I would be able to get another.
HA!
I finally found one that I thought would work at Lowe's so I was ready to begin the project.
This is the wall in question where the light will go to eliminate the dark.
As one can clearly see, there is already a hole there where a former switch had been. Conveniently, one will also note that the hole has a fish tape line in it ready to pull new wire.
I was very concerned about running the wire and if I would be able to do it by myself. It turns out that running the wire was the easiest part of this install.
After cutting an access hole in the ceiling of the basement room below the hallway, I easily found the old knob and tube wire and fed the new wire in to place.
Then it was just a matter of cutting a hole of the fixture and dropping the wire through the short length to the switch.
All in all, I was happy with the result.
Unfortunately, Susan was not. She doesn't like the light fixture. It looks very similar to the one I was trying to match but that is not the opinion held by the only person who really matters.
A quick note about Norman the fish. I am sure I have referenced him in these pages before. Norman is our goldfish. Susan gave him to me a looooong time ago. He was just a little minnow back then. He has grown over the years and we have had to keep putting him in larger and larger tanks.
Norman has always been a bit neurotic. He is now approaching the end of his life and he is pretty beat up.
We should have flushed him two weeks ago but we just can't bring ourselves to pull the trigger. He is blind as he has had some serious eye issues, He kind of has a curved spine. And he has been beating himself on the rocks at the bottom of the tank which has left him with many open sores. He is not a pretty fish.
He started spending much of his time upside down. That's when the flushing conversations began.
He's still hanging there as of Labor Day and is spending much less time on his back.
Monday was a lazy day around the house. I had to go back to the Depot to focus my needs a bit since my original plan on my next project was not working out.
My next project was to fix the power outlets on the front porch. To make it short, it finally all came together and the power is functioning and available for the front yard.
The Labor Day weekend traditionally ends with the Spokane Symphony Concert at Comstock Park. We gather with family and friends for a picnic and then some great music.
The concert was cancelled last year due to a lack of funding. So we were all very pleased to hear that a local Savings and Loan, Sterling Savings ponied up the money for the next three years.
Here are a couple of shots from the concert. It is a melancholy time for me as it signals the end of summer. Also, I ate some melons and I saw a collie.
Now it is onward towards Autumn.
Friday, September 02, 2011
September is Here
You can tell it's September as the sun is gone by eight and I haven't had the air conditioner going at night for the last two evenings. In fact, we had our first significant rainfall in over a month on Wednesday night. That gave me a night off from watering, which
I have been doing a particularly crappy job of.
Now we are coming into the Labrador Weekend, which means lots of activities and projects. It is in fact, the start of our Fall Home Remodeling Season Marathon. Nothing in particular is planned. It's just nice to give it a name. Makes it seem like we have a plan.
I'm not going to go into now. I'll report after the fact.
Have a GREAT Labor Day!
I have been doing a particularly crappy job of.
Now we are coming into the Labrador Weekend, which means lots of activities and projects. It is in fact, the start of our Fall Home Remodeling Season Marathon. Nothing in particular is planned. It's just nice to give it a name. Makes it seem like we have a plan.
I'm not going to go into now. I'll report after the fact.
Have a GREAT Labor Day!
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