Sunday, December 20, 2009

Making Pens



After mentioning making pens on Facebook I got several inquiries about what that was about. So I took some photos of finished pens and soon plan to take some video of the process. It is a fun and easy craft that uses wood to make something useful. Of all the hobbies I have had over the years this one is the first that facilitates giving the product to others. I have given several to friends and planned to make a lot for Christmas presents. I was a little stymied by the heat system not getting done as soon as I expected. The room where the lathe is located is now heated and is a pleasure to work in. Yes, I do this in the house!

This kind of got started when I saw kits to make mechanical pencils at Highland Hardware in Atlanta a year ago. Jack likes mechanical pencils and I thought that this would be a good gift for him. I bought the kit and purple heart wood and thought that I could somehow adapt my metal turning lathe for this purpose. So after some research I found a class in pen making at a Woodcraft store in Roanoke. Like Highland Hardware, this is a good place to leave your credit card at home. Many toys for grown ups and those that should be.

The class resulted in my first pen (they wouldn't allow me to make a pencil) and I was hooked. I did not post a photo of that first one, but it came out pretty good. My first project once I got a lathe and the other hundred little things needed was Jack's pencil. It works, but next year I'll have a better one done. Take a look at my latest pens at my picassa website.

The teacher pen in one picture is unique in that it has red ink on one end and blue on the other. It is going to a teacher friend and I better send extra red ink refills!

Anyway, each one comes out better than the last. I have begun making some custom parts on my metal lathe (not in the house) so I am combining the skills into a useful product.

Lesson learned: Giving is better than receiving and making stuff shiney takes a lot of effort. Also, taking pictures of pens is not easy!


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Guess what? Something new!

Well, aside from German class, it has been some time since I took on some new thing, and I have been wanting to learn to make wooden pens on my little lathe. I had attempted to take a class in Roanoke and every date they offered it was on a day I was traveling. But today the planets aligned and I made it!

The class was only 3 hours long and I could not imagine how they could get absolute beginners with no experience turning wood to a finished product in that short time. There were four of us and we all finished a very nice pen. There was a box full of wood pieces and I choose a light colored one.

When I asked the teacher what kind of wood I had, he said it was 'tree wood' as he had no idea what it was. I choose it because of the subtle grain pattern to it that I thought wouold be appropriate for a small surface area like a pen.

Anyway, the class covered safety, lathe parts, proper use of the chisel, design considerations and all the steps needed to make a working pen. We drilled, milled, glued and turned, sanded and finished the pen. I am hooked.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Why do people want to be grandparents?



Those of you who know me (Why else would you be reading this?) realize that I am an only child that never was planning to have kids, which pretty much eliminates the grandchildren part. But kids happened, they were great, but don't ask me to hold someone else's kid.

Once you have a kid, or more than one, you find yourself spending time with other people that have kids, most of whom were not only children and have that "Oh, let me hold him" thing going on inside. Those people really lust after grand kids. I never did. I never asked my kids "When are you going to produce some offspring?" nor did I entertain putting other people up to that kind of thing. I won't even participate in such conversations.

However, I now understand at some level what is going on inside those people. Grand kids are very cool on many levels. First of all they have parents, which means if they make a big noise or do something messy, you just fain stupidity and/or ignorance and hand them back to the parent. This will not go on forever, for eventually the grandkid will be able to understand the words "Lower Volume" and "Clean that up right now," and be more self-maintaining. Mine are not there yet, but I have not yet had to use the lateral handoff. It may come up, so I practice it in my mind.

Since these youngsters will possibly read this drivel in some ancient "Way Back Machine" one day, I won't use names. But I will say that they are so fun and educational.

Take language arts. Sometimes it takes the parent to translate, but sometimes I can make up my own interpretation. Since I don't hear that well I do that with adults as well, so I'm pretty good at it. Then there is the art of getting stuff into perspective. While most people are concerned with health care reform and the real estate market or space shuttles, little ones are concerned with pull-ups and how many pears they can eat. Stuff that they can actually DO something about, though they present similar frustrations.

Another feature is that you can talk to anyone about anything once your little kid introduces you to the complete stranger. Opening doors is easy if you are only 30 inches tall. One little pinch is all it takes - you have their complete attention. Breast feeding is so common now, and gets you great service from waiters. Amazing! My coffee cup is always topped up.

Take technology: There are strollers designed by supercomputers that I can't even figure out how to open. Or was it close? And car seats that I am not sure I could operate myself. I am sure they were a spin-off of some NASA research. I saw one with a flat panel the other day. I would not be surprised to learn that it had mobile broadband and was GPS enabled so you can find the kid if you forget where you left him or her watching the stock market report on Sesame Street. Forget fonics, lets learn reading by text messaging. r u sure?

Some things have not changed much. Burping is still done the same way. Burp rags are still, well, burp rags. And they are still needed mostly when you don't have one in your hand.

Giving a 2 year old a book designed for a 5-10 year old still is not such a good idea. I am not sure it will last 3 more years, but if not, he may be able to use it in some creative way. Trying to read a good book and skipping a page will still get you in trouble. Counting is still the same, starts near one and goes to near ten. Not too hard. Five and six still have wonderful mouth-feel.

I have had the true pleasure to spend a good time with both of the grandkids this summer and it has been a highlight of my life. They are safe with their parents who are amazing for me to watch grow every day. The internet makes it easy to keep up, but to give a little pinch requires a road trip. See you again soon!

What happened to the summer?


This blog is supposed to be about motorcycle rides, and in particular, the annual July trip to someplace. This July I rode exactly ONE day. And that ride was to Mt Airy (Mayberry), NC to eat a PCS (Pork Chop Sandwich) at the Snappy Lunch. Not much more than 100 miles each way.

What took the place of the multi-thousand mile trip on two (or three) wheels was almost 7000 miles in a 2006 Impala - but that doesn't rate blogspace. We did have a wonderful time in Savannah, and then NYC where Ann and I attended a training thing, followed by several days at the Malabar Farm hostel to attend the Vintage Motorcycle Days in Ohio, then back to Florida via another night in Savannah.

Anyway, I am here at home and Ann is in Kansas. Last evening, after a picture perfect day working around the house, the sky filled with clouds at about 6PM and I changed clothes and jumped on my old bike for a ride to a nearby campground in the Jefferson National Forest. It is about 30 miles each way, and most of the ride is on a slow, curvy road that parallels, more or less, a creek. Ideal roads for the old R60. I never went over 60 MPH the whole trip. When I got to the campground turnoff onto a gravel road I got to see a teen-aged bear running (picture found on the web, is not mine, but that was what it looked like) across the road. I had never seen a bear in nature before. He was fast and very beautiful. I rolled off the throttle but never had a chance to get on the brakes (what brakes?) before he was in the woods on the other side of the road. I stopped to look for him, but it was twilight in heavy woods and he (or she) blended right in. I tooled around the roads of the campground where there were only about 4 families set-up and then went back out the same gravel road, this time even slower in case I got the chance to see the bear again. No such luck. However, when I got to the paved road there were about 6 or 7 raccoons running for cover and tripping all over each other. they reminded me of the Keystone Cops. I actually laughed out loud. Again, this was a first for me. I have seen single raccoons, but never a bunch of them together.

The rest of the trip back home was fauna free except for the deer we see almost every time we go up the road to the house.

I am reminded each time I ride that bike how much I enjoy riding it. The odometer rolled through 88888 miles on this trip and I think I am going to treat it to a new seat. The original one is starting to crack after only 40 years. I bet the new one doesn't last that long. Anilia, you keep track of that, OK?

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Savannah pleases all of us


I am sitting in the living room of the apartment we rented for the week and thinking about packing up and leaving in the morning. Everyone who came agrees that this was a great place - both the town and the apartment.

Savannah combines at least two special ingredients that make it a great place to visit. The first is history packaged. Stuff happens everywhere, but in many places the essence of the events are lost as renewal and modernization destroys the artifacts resulting from the lives of the people that shaped that history. Not so with modern day Savannah. Great care has been taken to restore and preserve the buildings and squares of the city. There is surely some tourist trap stuff, but walking a block from it moves one a century back in time. The other ingredient may be the SCAD (Savannah College for Art and Design) students and staff or the fact that real people also live in the historic section. Anyway, it works unlike other historic downtowns I have visited.

We ate a great meal at the Olde Pink House as well as at Harris Baking Company, the Gryphon Tea Room and in our own dining room. We shopped at Parker's Market, a 24 hour gourmet gas station/purveyor of food and wine and whatever you might need. We went to a concert in the park at noon one day, walked a lot every day, took the 90 minute Oglethorpe tour, Anilia and Ann got pedicures and overall just had a relaxing, layed-back time. And did I mention that the food was really good?

Pat (a classmate from high school) and Dorothy from the eastern most part of Virginia came as did Lisa and Joel from Atlanta and daughter Anilia and 10 week old grandson Emerson. Sorry you didn't make it. Maybe for my 70th birthday....


Monday, July 6, 2009

Good times are here!


There is some hope for a motorcycle related experience here in Savannah. I could rent a Vespa, but probably not...

We have, at last arrived. After almost 2000 miles of driving, I am happy to report that I am writing this from the lovely living room of the Suites on Lafayette, 1st floor with Anilia and Ann at my side. Emerson is in bed after a 4-handed bath and dreaming good, southern thoughts.

On the way down we had a good experience in Orangeburg, SC which I planned as a stop to avoid Emerson having to spend too many hours in the car seat. Anyway, we were all impressed by how nice everyone was and how pleasant normal race relations appeared to us. We paid a short visit to Edisto Memorial Gardens in Orangeburg, a flower (and more) garden maintained by the city and many volunteers, I'd guess. It was a huge project with lots more to see and do than we had time or energy to do as the sun set. We also had a good time at a restaurant that had nothing vegetarian on the menu, but made it work for Anilia.

This morning's drive to Savannah was only 2 hours and we arrived well before noon. We spent some time walking around and eating, of course, while we waited for our apartment to be readied.
Lafayette square is right outside our window and we spent time just sitting in the shade there feeling the breeze and the spray from the fountain. We also spent some (air conditioned) time in the cathedral which had a large pipe organ that had silver pipes even for the lower ranks which I thought were usually wooden.

From what little I have seen so far Savannah is a great destination, and in the next few days I'll share what we learn with those of you that have not yet been here. The apartment rental in the historic area also seems great. I'll have more pics of that as the week progresses. That bath photo is in the kitchen which was site of our dinner preparation this evening.
A good start to the week. Pat, my old friend from high-school, and his wife Dorothy, drove all the way down from Virginia and we will be getting together in the morning for a day of laughing.

Then my sister and brother-in-law will arrive about 3pm and the joy will continue with a Southern (read as fried) dinner at Paul Dean's place. We may not need to eat again for a week!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Savannah Location booked!

In my "Planning for the Summer Ride" post I chose Savannah Georgia as the place and now I have choosen the location and booked it.

I have decided on the place for the Savannah birthday event. We will be there at about noon on July 6th until about noon on Friday July 10th. If you want to come, let us know. We welcome all of our friends who can make it, for an hour or a day or longer. If this space is half as nice as it looks it will be great.

Just over a month to go!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Interesting Youtube movie

I have spent two weeks using an Apple iPod Touch. I returned it to its rightful owner today. I am, however, convinced that this is the best mobile device I have ever used and I have looked at a lot of them. If AT&T had good coverage here I'd have an iPhone, but for now, I'll settle for the touch.

While playing around with the youtube app on the touch, I ran across "World Builder." Not much I can say about it other than to say it interested me on several levels.

Let me know what you think - it is about ten minutes long.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

History ....


I was eleven years old in 1960, living in a soviet-style high-rise housing development in Newark, N.J. and in 5th or 6th grade. For some reason, I got involved in presidential politics and became fascinated with the guy who everyone said could never be elected because he was Catholic - and too young.

I had no idea what Catholic had to do with it, but people said "He'd follow orders from the Pope," or that he'd make the White House a religious place and other stuff that made no sense to me. In fact, I still don't understand it. A lot of things in that election remind me of the current situation. Nixon, like Bush-the-junior, turned me off on some gut level. JFK gave me a feeling of hopefulness and I wanted to do whatever I could to get him elected. Heck, I knew a Catholic girl at school and she was cool, so why not? Never mind, here is what happened.

I went to the local democratic party headquarters office which, in our poor community, was in a vacant storefront with a few light bulbs hanging from the ceiling to better hide the lack of paint. The other volunteers did not seem to know what they were doing, but I offered to do anything they had for me to do. They thought about it and had me stuff letters into envelopes for about three days after school. It must have been September. The second week I went in they asked if I'd go around and get local businesses to put a poster in their window. Who was going to refuse a 11 year old kid? I got rid of all the posters the first day. They were a little surprised as they expected that to keep me busy for a week or two.

So they then had me go door to door in those high rise buildings. That lasted for the rest of the campaign season. I'd ring the doorbell, offer them a flyer and ask if they ever voted before. If they said no, I'd ask them if they were registered in Newark (most of the people in this place were transient) and told them where to go to register and what to bring with them. Thinking back they must have thought it strange that this little kid was doing this kind of work. I remember everyone being nice and I got lots of offers of drinks, cookies, etc. I accepted, you know, just to be polite. I must have gained 20 pounds. It was great.

Fast forward to election night, listening to returns all night on WABC radio in New York. No instant results in those days, but I guess they used exit polls or something. In our state the results were very close, but JFK won by less than one percent of the popular vote. What matters is that he won the electoral college vote and became the president. I think that most people look back upon those days and remember him as a good thing for the US. I certainly do.

It was a time of 'making history' just as Obama is doing. There are a lot of other things going on that are similar as well. Kennedy had Vietnam, the Cuba missle crisis and enemies in high places. Obama has the wars, the emergence of Russia and the economy. He gives me a feeling of hopefulness, just like JFK. Let us hope that Obama lives a long, effective life as president and after his eight years as president are served. They are sure going to be trying times.

What does all this have to do with motorcycles? While living at Ivy Hill Apartments I found what turned out to be a Harley Davidson transmission in the parking lot. Having no place to work and no tools, I be-friended a local gas station owner, and got to take it apart at his place and with his help. That gas station owner, Tony Giordino, became a mentor, my first 'employer' and good friend. All things work together...

I never did see what was wrong with that tranny, but it was cool to take it apart.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Life is like a box of chocolates ...

Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get. ...

After spending some time looking at maps, thinking about which bike I want to ride and in general daydreaming about July, I have decided to spend my 60th birthday in a place I have never been, but wanted to visit for over 20 years.

Savannah, GA

All the times we have passed that way have either been part of a mad dash to Florida, or the ride home to Virginia. Something I read decades ago was set in Savannah and from that seed, a vision of the historic part of the city has grown. I am ready to enjoy it. Lets see, a walking town (plus one), great food (plus two), more great food (donuts - plus three), history (plus four), architecture (plus five) and high temperature and humidity (minus 0.5). Sounds good to me.

So the plan at this moment is to spend July 6-10 there, or something like that. We are planning to rent a timeshare in the historic area if any family or friends want to join us for part or all of that time. If no-one joins us we will stay at a B&B or historic hotel.

We will be coming from Baton Rouge celebrating Kent's second birthday and continuing back home for me to begin the motorcycle part of the July trip. Most likely we will be in a car as the train is too complicated to get to all these places. But who knows what will happen.

The motorcycle part is now down to either the East coast of Md, Virginia and North Carolina visiting friends (Pat, lock your doors!) or Birmingham, Alabama where I will visit Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and the Birmingham Civil Rights district. I met the museum director on the train last year and he promised me a good time. I bet there is some great food there as well as interesting friends I haven't met yet.

Then on to Vintage Motorcycle Days and either camping or staying at the hostel. Rumor has it that this might be the last year of this event :( I'll try to visit the AMA museum, get my hair cut in Newark, OH and eat the "walleye special" at the bar & grill across the street from the barber shop. I am sure that I will volunteer for the museum at VMD again this year, it was great fun to help out last year. Anyone want to join us there? July 23-26. Money back if you don't like it.

Let me know if you can fit into the plans in any way.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

What I've done

I got this from Erica's blog and while I have no idea where she got this list, I have done a few of them. Not the scary ones, like bungee jumping.

Copy this list into your own blog, then bold or italicize the things you've done. Here's mine:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I think it can be just as interesting to see the things that aren't italicized. Intriguing list. I feel the need to travel more now. Link to yours if you end up posting it!