Monday, August 15, 2011

Argentina Bound!

So, what do these two creatures have in common?

ANDY

TURKEY VULTURE
Give up?  THEY'RE BOTH GOING TO ARGENTINA!

Tonight we went to the church BBQ.  I looked up and saw a TON of turkey vultures swirling around in the sky.  Something like this:


But, I didn't take this photo.  Nonetheless, there were a LOT of turkey vultures up in the sky tonight.  Someone told me that a university professor had told them the vultures are migrating to Argentina now.

That picture at the top of the post (of the vulture, not of Andy) is what they look like up close.  In flight - if you can see them close enough, this is what they look like:




You can tell it's a turkey vulture if it has the white feathers at the bottom of the wings.  It's pretty difficult most of the time to see their faces.  Once when I was doing field work in Colorado, there were two turkey vultures sitting on a fence post.  That was the first time I'd ever seen how really ugly their faces are.  Personally, I'm kind of glad that we don't get to see their faces all that often.  

It's kind of cool, though, to think that these guys are going all the way to Argentina, though.

Andy had to buy a plane ticket to get there, and will be leaving in about a month.  We're all wondering if they're going to be arriving there at the same time. 

Here are some photos I took tonight - trying to at least capture a whole bird in the camera lens... really hoping maybe to get several in the photo at the same time, maybe one would swoop down a little closer, but they were so busy flying into and out of the sky above us.  Possibly hoping to get something good off the grill.







 And here's the dessert that I made - a Red Grape Pie.  I used a recipe for a Ground Cherry Pie; but, since we don't get ground cherries here in Laramie, I tried subbing grapes. 

 
Phil enjoyed it immensely and went back for more.  I think maybe two or three times.  A different kind of vulture.  I think he was taking advantage of the fact that probably most people didn't realize the desserts were all in the house and not outside on the table with the rest of the side dishes.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Right Place - Right Time

This is SO COOL!  I carry my camera around with me just for these moments.  But I can't believe that not only did I have my camera with me, but I was also able to be in a spot where I could see the dial on the camera to turn it to the video position to take the photo!

Do you know what wind turbines look like?  Here's a photo of some in Arlington, Wyoming...

Just about any day that you drive on the interstate or around the truck stop where I was at this time today, you see parts of these wind turbines being hauled to wherever they are going to be hooked up to turn wind energy into electricity.  

Once on the way to church, we saw a truck with a blade making a turn onto the road in front of us getting ready to head back onto the interstate.  It was amazing watching the truck make the turn because the blades on these things are humongous.  I'll have to look up the length.  It is looooooooooooonnnnnnnng.  Here's a link for a place to start in case you want to know more about wind turbines  WIND TURBINE INFO ON WIKIPEDIA

One website I found said the world's largest wind turbine has a "wing span," you might say, of over 400 feet (that is the diameter of all the blades installed on the tower part).  That is pretty huge.  I'm guessing that the ones we see here where we are probably are not quite that BIG; but they're big. 

Anyway,  today I got to be in the right place at the right time to take a photo (quickly because it just happened as I was pulling up to a red traffic light).  


Then while I was sitting there at the light - as if we could go anywhere, anyway, because the truck and blade took up all four lanes of traffic and the shoulders - I was able to video it!  (Maybe I should have turned the radio down - but enjoy the "music" portion of it or turn your volume down or off.  :-) Watch when the truck just completes the turn to get on the on-ramp.  The length of the blade is longer than the width of the road.  This is so cool! 




So, this made my day today and the day isn't even over yet!  The other exciting news is that Phil is finally finishing installation of the remainder of the storm door that he began a few weeks ago. :-)

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Road Trip - Part VI: It's ME!!!! I'm WELDING!!!!!

Phil took a lot of pictures of me welding.  Maybe he didn't think I'd do it and I surprised him!

Everything that gets welded has to lie flat - and be clamped in place so it doesn't move.

Mitch and I inserted the rings between the bars of my first stand, made sure everything was square and everything got clamped in place.


I didn't really want to mess up my stand by welding it myself, but I also didn't want to go away from the weekend and not try welding.  So, I took a few practice moves before actually pulling the trigger on the welding torch.


You can't tell, probably, but I was holding my breath while I was welding.  Notice that Mitch wasn't even there while I was welding at one point!


And you probably can't tell from this photo, either, but Mitch was yelling, "Yeah!  You got it!"

I WELDED!!!!!  I DID IT!!!!!  And my welds came out "OK" - at least most of them.


I did have a few bumps and places that were kind of lumpy, so I had to sand them down.  I'm not a huge fan of sparks, but I braved the sanding power tool thing and did it.  Then I asked Phil to help me clean up what I couldn't get.  He's really GOOD at cleaning up blobby welds!  :-))

And then we measured and clamped the two channel pieces that would hold the glass in place on the stand.  I just don't remember if I welded the two pieces in place, or if Mitch did it. 

And... after finding a suitable piece of metal for my stand, and measuring to make sure it fit in all the right places...


Mitch and I got everything lined up and clamped down so it could be welded. 


Mitch did the welding of the stand for me so that it wouldn't get messed up too badly.  If the support gets messed up, I don't think that is a good thing.


The next piece we worked on was my "Asian theme piece" - the black and red glass piece.  This was an interesting experience...


This was the original layout.  Mitch was going to show us how to make a tripod stand for it.

The first piece we needed to weld was the piece that I call "the frame" - the piece that would hold the glass.  The first time we welded it, we got it put together incorrectly and Mitch had to saw it apart. 


Mitch added the clips to the "frame" because tacking thin metal to thick metal is tricky.  Better for him to do it - he has a lot of welding experience!  But I did a lot of the welding on this stand myself.  Yes, I'm pretty proud of it.  :-)


We accidentally put the frame backwards on the stand; but after thinking about it for a minute, I decided it should just be left that way.  After all, whether it's Chinese or Japanese - or whatever language - don't they write from right to left?  Maybe it should be backwards?


So, here it is - it just needs to be painted.

And Phil took this really fun video of me working on it.  :-)


In case you can't understand what I said, or if by chance you don't have sound on your computer (or if it's turned down so no one can hear you watching it at work), at the end I said, "That's a lot of clamping for just two little things."  Yes.  There is a LOT of clamping that has to be done!

Time was running out, though, for our class.  With only 20 minutes left, I begged Mitch to help with welding on the thin little leaves for my Kachina piece.


This is what it's supposed to look like when welded together.  Mitch did weld just the headdress part for me, and I am so eager to get our own welding equipment or ask someone we know who welds to let me finish the rest of my projects!  But we really do want our own welding equipment.  :-)


This is the piece - "The Natives Are Restless" - that, at my pace, would probably take two more days to finish!  I've wanted to have some kind of stand for it for a long time... I made the pieces in 2008!

Here is the group of people working in the class this weekend... It's sort of like the Phil and Cat show with the pieces shown in the photo.  Everyone except Shannon - who is holding the "B" and "S" pieces - is holding something that Phil and I made.  Debbie had already packed hers away in her car.


I'm holding the Kachina headdress.  Phil (in front) is holding his piece with my glass piece in it.  Mitch is holding my red and black piece.  Shannon is holding the "B" and "S" which will one day be installed on her mailbox, I believe.  And Debbie is holding my little V-channel stand with a thick yellow piece I made in it.

Gosh we had a good time!  I can hardly wait to get our own welding equipment!  :-)

Road Trip Part V: Metalworking - DAY TWO!!! Phil's project!!!

This was the second - and last - day of our metalworking class.  I'd come up with a couple of other designs the night before, so got to work putting those together while Phil and Debbie were welding.

Debbie finished her design from Day One:  A piece to use for her garden in Reno.




Phil kept working on his only design.  I got better photos on Day Two to show you the process.



Mitch helped Phil set things up, then Phil did the welding (I think he did most of it, but Mitch probably did some). 



We think this may have been the photo of when Phil welded his piece to the steel work table.




Here's a photo of some of Phil's welds.  I think he needed to sand down some of the blobby welds in the bottom of the photo.


Here is where Phil welded one of his clips to hold the glass in the stand.


And here is where he was lining up the welding torch to weld more parts of the stand.

Here Phil and Mitch hold up Phil's project with the glass in it to see if it will hold OK.  The base of the stand isn't on it in this photo, but I'll show you a photo of that later.

So that this post isn't too long, I'm going to show you my welding experience next!

Road Trip - Part IV: METALWORKING CLASS! DAY ONE!!!!!

This is it!  This is what we drove all those miles to California to do!  We're taking the Metalworking Class at Sundance Glass Studio in Paradise, California today!  Wooooo-hoooo!  We are EXCITED!

There was so much to learn the first day.   Fabrication.  Cutting wires and metal pieces.  Doing some test welds just to learn about MIG welding, how to hold the welding torch, seeing through the welding mask.

For me, it was kind of scary using power tools because Phil hardly ever lets me use power tools.  Heck.  He hardly even ever lets me use a hammer, let alone power tools!

But, I got a few photos of Phil through the red plastic curtains around the welding area.  It's pretty hard to see through the curtain! 
Phil is setting up something in there to weld.



Our instructor, Mitch, is in this one - helping Phil set things up...



And here they are actually welding something.

Welp, if I ever wanted to weld anything, I need to fabricate what I was going to make.  So, I spent the rest of the time getting busy learning how to measure, and then how to use the huge radial saw thing to cut my steel rods.  And there was a special wire bending tool that I was trying to learn to use to make my signature "squiggles" out of metal.  I used a huge wheel thing to make some large curved wires for one of my pieces.

So by the end of the day, this is what I ended up with...


This was the beginning layout for my "red and black" piece (which hasn't got a title yet).  The plan was to attach another piece in the back to make a tripod type stand for it.


And a tentative layout for my "The Natives Are Restless" double pattern bar piece.

By the end of the day I wasn't sure if I felt a little better about being able to actually handle the cutting and designing of my pieces; but the sanding and welding part of making display stands for my art glass pieces, I wasn't sure.  I was feeling a little discouraged because Phil was already starting to weld his first piece and I was still just creating pieces.  Maybe he would end up being the welder and I'd be the creator.  I just didn't know.

I spent some time that night coming up with some other designs to work on if I got the time, and I tried to get Phil to come up with designs; but he was having a hard time with it.  

We went out for Mexican food at a recommended restaurant. While waiting for our meals at the restaurant, I looked over at the wall and saw a welded plant pot holder that reminded me of a project that Shannon was working on in the glass - something with a sun in it.  So, I took a photo of it for her.  





I thought it was interesting, too, that someone took the time to paint a Christmas cactus on a pole in the room. I've never seen a pole with such a painting on it before.

Phil and I spent some time talking about the class and what we were learning.  I realized that, at the rate I was already going and how much fun I was having putting stands together, I was definitely going to have to learn to do my own welding if I was ever going to be able to keep up with my designing and production of things.  I already had too many projects going for Phil to finish - and he doesn't have time to do everything.

I made up my mind.  Welding couldn't be any harder than learning to decorate cakes.  So I was just going to have to do it even though I wasn't sure I wanted to have all those sparks flying around at me.  It was scary, but I had to do it.