Interruption of a Project for Cindy

It started out with a piece of wood, a deck board to be precise.  It was to be from an old skid but I didn't have enough left from my last endeavor so I made do.  I ripped it down in length and then routed the edges for the fence look.  Won't do that again, made it hard to paint and draw on.  I cut 18 1/2 x 7/8" dowels and drilled 35 precisely located holes in the edges of the boards.  Using a runner piece from the last skid material I made the cross piece for the hat by splitting it.  I took the pieces out to a tree in the back yard to paint. 

 This is when things turned a little weird.  While walking back to the garage I found my legs very heavy and I was short of breathe.  I told Cindy and we agreed that I should make a doctors appointment, especially since it has been going on for a week or so but not any where near as bad.  Doctors appoint would be 10/21/16.   It was however getting more persistent.  After lunch I went back out to check the paint and touch up anything that needed it.  Just walking about 70' became a big issue.  Cindy came to the garage door and I told her we better go to the hospital, I couldn't wait until Friday.  So off to Kettering Medical Center we went.  I was admitted and ended up have three out of 4 major type of tests ran, all came back clear.  They did not do a cath job on me.  What I did get was this great view.

So we are now at the point of completion. As you can see, it's reversible, pretty neat eh!  Oh, and now I have a new supply of poplar from a skid that my neighbor brought to me.  Much easier to work with.  Now all I need is an idea and a plan of attack.  Oh, I do have a project in the works, one that my daughter is going to assist me with in part.  Also need that neighbor because there is a point of needing a third and maybe a forth hand.  I've been at it for a couple of months now.  I'm not a true scale person with some projects but this one needs to be a bit closer than what I had to work with...basically two pages of here's an idea, go with it.  Oh well.  Happy fall and then you have that frosty guy right behind. 

Fall Is Here and So Is The Rain

As the season changes so does the sky.  Great colors in mornings and evenings as the sun makes its journey across the sky.  Picking up the particles of dust from the dust of taking crops in and the changing of colors in the trees.  Soon these clouds will start to rise and get puffier, not being saturated with rain but rather snow.  The air is changing, we've seen the last of the 90's and now the 80 degree weather, maybe even the 70's.  A good frost is on it's way some where in the near future as the nights turn more to the 30's.

The changes are nice but it would be nicer if it was only a month or so of winter and then split the other three seasons.  Okay winter, lets see what you have for us this year.

Early Fall Colors on the Cacti

Early shot of some cacti.  Back in this blog somewhere, during the spring or early summer months I posted a shot of these plants.  There are actually two more but one has be removed because it didn't like standing up in the make shift pot.  The make shift pot is a piece of truck from a Weeping Cherry tree that I decided was more work than it deserved to keep it nice.  I took the very straight stump and cut about 2' from it the hollowed out a section, drilled some drain holes and filled with dirt.  Any way, the cacti that was very green and appeared to be filled with water has now turned a bright red and with a little help of the early sunrise colors it is even more red.  I like it.  only thing I had to do was make or put the border around it.

I had to be fast as the sun is very fast in the mornings.  Must me a natural early riser.  laugh laugh.

I saw the cloud shadows and the brightness of the sun so I grabbed my 0.3 and 0.6 ND filters and got lucky enough to get this shot.  That's why the window mullion is showing ever so slightly, sorry.

Water Droplets

The top of our grill after a rain.  Look at that wax job.

The Transition From Summer to Autumn

Early morning lighting in the mid-west as the cooler nights set up the morning ground fog in the fields.

Same Balloon

The balloon is the same but the background is different.  There wasn't much of anything but a hot hazy sun coming up that morning just a few days ago.  I started with Lightroom to make a few adjustments.  I didn't realize how bright the background was going to be in the first post as I was concentrating on the flame.  In the second photo the balloon was somewhere in the 45 deg. range or nearly north east.  All I had was a bright blue sky to work with, no texture.  So I did what I wanted to in Lightroom and then moved into On1 Photo10 to add the two different cloud layers.  In this one I even turned the layer about 45 degrees to the right to give some motion to the image.

Morning Silhouettes Looking East

Need I say more?

Back To The Project

Been a little busy lately so I haven't been working on my latest project.  As I asked earlier, can you guess what it is.  Hint.....made of wood.  There were all kinds of parts in one of the posts on this but the actual parts were hidden amongst the spare or left over wood.

In the following pictures there is at least one that might be a give away.  Also in one of the images there is a hint in the background.

Okay, here we go.

Item one

Item two, background hint

Item three  

Coming Out of The Mist

This is a TR3 and is very rough.  Inside is in need of a total make over.  Not sure how hard it is to find parts for these cars today as they aren't the popular ones.  More sought after models have a lot of new aftermarket parts available but I guess if you know your cars of this era and make you would know what is interchangeable as well.  The TR4, 6 and 250 are literally the same car in body parts etc.

I took this picture on the fly so the original car looks like it is running downhill.  Didn't like that so I tweaked it and then decided to make it look like it was coming out of a fog and driving out of the printed picture.  There are people standing next to it and there is another Triumph parked next to it.

Back To The Healey

This is just about the mirrors that are mounted as far forward on the fenders as possible.  I took two shots for no other reason than to play around with spotting blur and clear in these iconic mirror sets.

What Does A Barn Find Look Like

According to the owner, this Triumph TR6 was worse looking when found.  He had to rebuild the engine and transmission.  It is still very rough but it did sound great as he pulled it in.  It was a semi local car being from Mechanicsburg, OH.  It must have been the ugly duckling as you can see the row behind it, starting with the blue one with the hood up, are all better looking TR4's, 6's or 250's which are pretty much the same body style.

The Austin Healey 100

This is the 100, made in the early to mid 50's.  It is the forerunner of the infamous 3000 and even more sought after MK III.  I didn't see the owner so I don't have much info on it but it was definitely a beauty.  Convertible only and the wind screen did fold up and down, there's a hand lever on both sides.  Also, notice the turn signal located at the top of the steering wheel center hub.

A Police Car That Triumphs

I went to the British Car Show today, hadn't been for a couple of years and found this gentleman.  Quite the character but very friendly and informative at the same time.  This is all his work and I must say it looks good.

I will be putting more cars up later.  I just couldn't resist putting this one out there.  One thing about a car guy....ask about their ride and they will talk.  First guy we talked to, my neighbor went with me, bent our ear for about 30 minutes all while he kept detailing his Triumph 250, the upgraded TR4.

Jag's, Triumph's, Mini's (old and new), MG's, Sunbeam's (Tigers and Alpines) plus a few that slipped in of the "other makes".

I also learned that there is a one of the kind in the country British Transportation Museum in Dayton so now there is a Porsche museum and a Packard museum as well.

Sunset

The end of a hot day.

Color

This is the original color image of the transformed black and white post.   I would have kept or posted this before had the Cardinal stayed on the peak of the roof, the white spot where many of birds have sat and chirped and left their calling cards.

A Digression From the Project

A couple of mornings ago I kept hearing a bird that was somewhat unfamiliar.  I ran to the window and threw open the sash and what to my wondering eyes did appear but a Cardinal.  Well, it was dressed in a red suit.  Anyway, I tried to get my camera to get a shot of it but I was too late, however, I did better than that I think.  The moon was still up and this was between 9 and 10 AM.  Considering the heat and humidity it was very clear.  So I take a couple of shots and today I started to work with them just to see what I could come up with.

In my opinion this came out pretty good.  I really had to do nothing to it as the DOF (depth of field) was perfect, blurred roof as I focused on the moon.  Clarity of the moon was even better when done this way.  You make up you mind, opinions are just that, opinions and yours will be just a correct as mine.

All editing was done in On1 Photo10 with just the text and file type which was done in PS CC

Second Posting of Project Sxxxxxxx

Okay, second hint is in the name but there are some pictures as well.  My good 'ole brother said I was missing some parts in the first post so here are a few more neatly, well kind of, stacked.  In the picture are some actual parts about 50% completed while some are totally done.  They are in the majority.

In one of pictures I will show how I made it with ingenuity on my part.  I made a vertical lathe using a drill press.  Typically a lathe has a part chucked up on one end and then a holding point on the other to keep the part steady.  In this case it was all about taking ones time and moving slowly.

After cutting the rough cut with on a table saw I then cut the head off a deck screw, drill a hole in the piece so it wouldn't split and chucked it up in the drill press.  Starting at the lowest speed, about 590 rpm, I carefully cut the sides down to size and smoothness while holding different types of files.  As it smoothed out I increased the speed to the maximum of 3050rpm.
More pieces for the brother to deal with;-)))

Drill press in stopped position.  Notice dust....notice files

Spinning, spinning, spinning.  Room lighting, high ISO, lowest f-stop and you get the chuck key holes visible with noticeable motion as well as the round thing a ma jig.....hint, not a wheel.

Last shot for now.  There is no motion, I just blurred the surrounding area allowing me to highlight the round thing a ma jig.  Key part of the puzzle with a lot of detail in it when completed.

A New Project.....Guess What It Is

Okay, it's kind of that time for me to ask the question.....what is it?  I have a picture of the parts that I will be using as I believe I have everything precut.  Now I need to detail them to size and shape as needed, the hard part.  So, with patience on everyones part, I will post a little as I go along.  Two people already know but they won't say anything.  I've never done anything like this before so here's hoping.

On A Misty Morning

Looking for breakfast in the early morning hours this Heron paitiently watches for a ripple on the water.  A sign that a meal might be at hand.

After The Rains The Sun Will Shine

It was a gloomy day Saturday as some much needed rain showed up as forecasted.  Not as much as it could have been  or was forecasted to be.  In this area and on this weekend there is a Strawberry Festival in Troy, OH that runs the whole weekend.  It was suppose to start raining around noon but it didn't start until much later which was good for the people, the tents that were up everywhere and the shortcakes and donuts that were made.  When it did rain it was steady and quite hard at some points in time.

And then it stopped and presented a sky that had clouds, color and a still very bright sun.

Cacti In A Log

If a tree or bush gets out of control or unmanageable what do you do?  We had one in a front bed, a Weeping Cherry that had to be trimmed at least twice a year.  The top was growing and the branches just kept getting longer and longer to the point that it was interfering with the plants below.  So, what do you do but have it removed and a very slow growing pine put in its place.

What I did do however was to have the head or branching part and the roots cut off, saving the center trunk section.  Wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until I figured I could cut it down, cut part of it out and make a planter out of it.  It could become the center piece of a table on the deck.

I let the thing dry out in the basement, soaping the ends so that they wouldn't split too much as they dried.  They split and it wasn't dried out much almost 8 months later.  I cut it down to a 24" piece then I placed it on my drill press and used my largest Forstner bit to drill over lapping holes.  I used a tool that has a cutter that oscillates to put deep straight cuts where I had market it for the rectangular hole. The bit got hot creating steam that was actually very hot momentarily as it cut.  The wood was still very moist and would clog the bit sometimes if I tried to go too fast.  I ended up doing this procedure twice to get the depth I wanted.  I may take one more cut this winter to get more dirt space.

After getting the bottom flat I brushed on some stain to try to seal the wood and I used a paste wax on the ends and the bark to just give it some protection. We went to Lowe's and bought 4 cacti, something I had no experience with other than hens and chickens of which I really had no experience with in reality.  Oh, and the feet are a 1" piece cut in 1/2 and notched into the underside of the log.

The end result is this.  Finished this about 2 weeks ago and so far they seem to be doing okay.  The red bloom is new and it looks like there may be more coming.

Planting Time

It doesn't matter what day it is to a farmer.  If work needs done, a field plowed or a crop planted that's the priority.  So on Mother's Day this field that sits not 600 feet from us had several tractors come through it.  The first tractor came through with a harrow on it then another tractor came in with a disc harrow behind it.  The first was to break the ground and weeds that had started and the next was to pulverize the soil and weeds to a more fine texture.  These two rigs were followed by a tractor pulling the planters.  They carry the seed and fertilizer.  In this picture he's pulling the disc harrow through the field.

Here he is planting corn for this year.  Last year was soybeans.

You can't really tell here but the guy in the black shirt is old enough to drive on the road, i.e.. the pickup truck and the other two individuals are very young, maybe his brothers.  They drove the rigs here, did the work and I assume the older brother brought them something to eat.  He runs along in-front of them as they traverse the roads in the area.  The planter rig was over the hill in another field at this point. They were done so they ate and moved on to the next field.  All this on Mother's Day.  It rained right after they left giving their seed a starting chance.

The New Generation Is Arriving

Do we call these newbies Millennials since they were born after the year 2000 and they will reach adulthood within a few months?  Naw, we'll just call them ducks. They started out with 10 but are now down to 4.  Not sure if the local hawk is getting them or a turtle that makes the pond its home.  I only say that because someone told me that a snapping turtle was found in the road and placed in the pond and I've heard that they will pull small ducks or geese under.  I've never looked into that story.  At any rate, here they are and I'm pretty sure the last 4 will make it as they have tripled in size.

New Family Moved In

Well, it's spring and we officially have a new family that has moved in.  With mother there are 11 but that soon changes.  Maybe it's the hawk that is visiting on a regular basis or maybe it's the turtle.  I believe the turtle is a box turtle but a neighbor told me she found a snapping turtle so she put it in the pond.  At any rate, as of today we only have 4 ducklings.