Sunday, October 27, 2024

NH FALL FOLIAGE - PINE NEEDLE BATTLES - 3D PRINTING - JIBBER JABBER - PUMPKIN SILLINESS

 H/T to foxhat


Friends living in Bradford, NH sent these fall foliage photos last week. Photos taken in the morning just days apart. The colors change noticeably as temperatures drop and the season progresses. We do miss the intensity of this part of fall when we lived there. The colors explode. 

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We won the pine needles battle this past week. Well, not the battle but have stemmed the major onslaught for this season. Rain forecast for later this week. Clean-out just in time.




 


Four hours of yard raking and piling out back. We had help. 

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3D PRINTING

After months of wanting to learn how to design, draw and build/print my own designs with a 3D printer, I have finally learned enough of the whole process to prototype my ideas into handheld objects. Redesign, rebuild, redesign, rebuild until the items represent my idea in form, function and strength. It is the design process that helps keep my mind active and fulfills my wanting to build things.

I purchased a Bambu Lab A1 Mini ($199). I am going to write a review soon, but no time now. Suffice it to say that the size, cost and dependability of this little 3D printer is proving to be all that it is represented to be as an introductory tool to this process. 

I came across this story by accident. Take the time to watch it. 

Then this one.  

And this. 

In 2005/06, I was teaching "Project Lead The Way" in NH. The kids who opted for these classes were young geeks and were all miles ahead of me in the classroom as their teacher. If I was at least even with them on any given day and their ability to eat up a curriculum, well, that was a good day. My learning curve with "Inventor" and "Digital Electronics" was vertical.

3D printing was in its infancy for being available to high school classrooms. 3D prints were sand models, brittle to touch, but produced a hand-held product physically representative of a particular design. We had companies show up at the school and demonstrate how 3D printing worked. I was as much a kid in awe of all of this new technology as were any of my students. 

I had one student far ahead of the others in one class. It was all I could to keep him interested and busy while I attended to the whole class. Finally, I handed him a model airplane engine with a few small tools. I told him to take it apart and make a working model we could print the day the 3D printer was scheduled to arrive at our school. He disappeared into the computer at this desk for a couple weeks. A few questions maybe, but you would have thought I had given that student the assignment of a lifetime. His desk was full of model engine parts and on his computer screen soon appeared a fully working model of that engine. Again, the kid in me and all of the other students were in awe of watching that little engine run perfectly in the computer model animation on his screen. 

Here was a model airplane engine that I used flying model airplanes for years now fully reproduced using computer design software. Behind all of the work was a young teenager. 

And, later that month, a full sand 3D printed model of that little engine was prototyped. Good stuff. 

So, to the videos above. This technology has come a long way. 3D printing is changing the world we live in and you and I can sit at our home laptop, think of an idea, draw it along with a few dimensions, reproduce that product in a CAD program, send it to a small home 3D printer and physically hold our ideas in our hand within an hour or so.  So far, in my case, all of my ideas have been re-done and improved. From complete failure to a working model worthy of printing using stronger filaments.

Give a laptop and a 3D printer to your child along with instruction and help and you will open up a world without limitations to his or her ideas. 

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 JIBBER JABBER

I have this week finally deleted some of the net sites I visit. The depth of balonium and lies are far more that I can stomach in the search of learning truths. The wars in the Middle East should keep me awake at night, but what is the truth? Simple truths. All is couched in, well, jibber jabber. 

So, when I hit the bed at night, I push my mind to "tomorrow" here at home. Chores, meals, winter coming, visiting with neighbors and playing house with my wife. We are at no loss of things to do. A cup of afternoon tea, the warm Texas sun and a breeze that puts the cats on their backs soaking up the simplicity of warmth, safe and sound.

So, October is all but history and I would have lost money betting on this October 2024 surprises over last year's. It appears that this month will, too, come and go without the world ending.

November? Who ya gonna call?

Thanks for the visit this week.

PUMPKIN SILLINESS FROM FOXHAT (just in.)



 

 

Sunday, October 20, 2024

DEHYDRATED CARROTS - YARD BIRDHOUSE - 3D PRINTING - 22" POND YACHT BUILD - HOMEMADE TOMATO SOUP - JIBBER JABBER




We found bags of waffle-cut carrots and entertained ourselves in filling the dehydrator for a day. This morning, the bride is looking for a glass jar container that she know she has, but has yet to find. Surprising that the carrots shrink so much and yet all of the carrot flavor is still locked into each of these small pieces. This will meet our carrot wants this winter.

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FRONT YARD BIRDHOUSE

This is a test pose of the final resting spot for the birdhouse I built for my wife. She likes it. We set a wooden post yesterday and I will have the final mounting completed this coming week. 

My wife does have an eye for things like this. I can build stuff, but get lost in how and where to display. We must have walked around this and viewed from many distances. Gotta say it visually pops. Instantly worth all of the work. 

This is the last place I would have chosen for this bird house location and it proves to be the very best place. Proves my point.

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3D PRINTING

A new 3D printer for me up and running. I will be sharing a review of this printer and the progress of the next 22" Pond Yacht build in the weeks ahead. All of this brings out the kid in me, full tilt!

Hull shape mock up with third and forth iteration(s) of 3D-printed fittings. All prototypes. Nothing like taking an idea and seeing firsthand the good/bad/ugly of a design. Watch for progress in the weeks ahead.

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TOMATO SOUP: SET IT, FORGET IT.


Another test from the bride. Homemade tomato soup. First cups for lunch today. Put parts and pieces in the slow cooker in the morning and easily complete at dinner time. All this meal needs is a large handful of saltine crackers and a toasted cheese sandwich. But you knew that. 

Dad use to put so many saltines in his bowl of tomato soup, that it turned into tomato stew. But it always put a smile on his face. 

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JIBBER JABBER 

If you have not yet seen this, than you may be one of the few who have not. 

Space X Capture 

I was impressed when Elon Musk put his car in space and that it is still out there somewhere doing something. But what he is currently doing with space exploration is beyond words. If you need some hope of the future, here it is. 

Temperatures in east Texas cooling. Days warm and comfortable. Still no rain in the 7 day forecasts. Fracking pine needles now with fallen leaves, but the lawns do not need mowing. Looking for an upside here.

New neighbors from far far away looking for a place that is not cold and filled with snow for months on end. A neighborhood welcoming bag of cookies this week.

October 2024 is marching along. Staying busy with stuff is very helpful.

I appreciate your visit as always.


Sunday, October 13, 2024

HAY FIELDS - PINE NEEDLES - DEHYDRATING VEGGIES - ZUCCHINI RELISH - CAJUN SALMON - JIBBER JABBER

Third hay harvest this season.

Typical east Texas field of hay.

Current solution to moving pine needles. Larger load plus easy dumping. The pine needles are currently still winning.

 

Double load of weekend dehydrating yellow squash and zucchini. Ought to last through a winter of soups and stews.

 

Add two batches of home made zucchini relish (hot water bath). A team effort. She makes the relish, I watch over the hot water bath. We have just 3 jars left so time to fill up that corner of the cupboard. We do enjoy the work and the results. Top off a hot dog, hamburger or baloney sandwich. Small jars: they go fast.

 

Atlantic salmon dinner seasoned with homemade Cajun seasoning. Above leftovers for next day lunch.

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 JIBBER JABBER

Busy week. Not sure how that happens or where the week has gone. 

Evening TV watching has been "The Unit" and will finish up "Citadel: Diana" tonight. After 4 episodes of Citadel Diana, I am still lost in the story. Feels like excess "baloneyum" to me. The hair cut is not getting it done and not much action from the heroine. But with only 6 episodes, we will just finish the series. Not as good as the first Citadel season with Priyanka Chopra. An opinion.

My worldly worries have taken a backseat to chores. The weather has been warm, user-friendly. 

Son has returned home from a couple weeks working storm damage down south. No stories or photos. Said he was full tilt on staying healthy and getting the job(s) done.  Crews were released to go home and/or go to Florida.

This coming week I am hopeful that I can 3D print my first designed model sail boat part. A small step, but a giant step in the learning of CAD design and 3D printing. So much to learn that my head fills up much faster than my ability to tie it all together. 

Have a good week. Thanks for the visit.


 


Sunday, October 6, 2024

TO FLY 57 YEARS LATER - OCTOBER SURPRISE - SQUIRREL MODE -JIBBER JABBER


 
 
B-25 RESTING ON THE FLIGHT LINE
 
I commented to wife how small the B-25 is. Looking at photos and flight videos of these old twin engine airplanes, I thought them to be much bigger. But they are not. And the history that flows from this plane while standing next to it can be felt.

UH-1H HUEY  This helicopter flew in Vietnam, had been shot down several times, was brought home and restored.

Flying a UH-1H Huey, 57 years later.

Old men like to talk, tell stories and this old man could write a book here on my/our visit to the Mid-America Flight Museum last weekend. I will do my best to be short.

I have for all of these years wanted to get in a Huey one more time and fly. Hover, take off, turn, climb, approach to a landing and hover. I always knew I could still fly, but had no illusions of having the same touch I did at 20 years old. But I could fly if given the chance.  

And that chance happened by accident, last weekend. 

When my wife and I arrived at the museum/airport, we were picked up and taken to the open hangers and museum. Sitting there on the apron were a Huey Cobra, UH-1H Huey lift helicopter and a Hughes OH-6, LOH. That moment put a lump in my throat and touched a place in my heart and soul that I cannot cover here.  That moment was bright and alive and I was again the kid walking the flight lines of Army Helicopter flight school and 500 Vietnam combat missions.

(I will briefly say here that the politics of that war, tearing apart of our nation in the 60's never played in me then. Even to this day, knowing more of history of that era, the rights, wrongs, politics do not play.

I  flew for the boys on the ground. They called for aerial support and we flew to them. Never once did I ever worry about anything other than getting to their location, making contact with a forward observer, identifying their threat and expelling the armament load of two Huey gunships to eliminate that threat.)

A fellow was calling out and making a list of folks who wanted a ride the Huey. I told him I did and wanted to sit in the pilot seat. He took my name and said I would be "pilot" on flight #2. He asked for my wife's name and she was put in the jump seat between the pilot and co-pilot seats. Not only was I going to get to fly, but my wife was going to get a ride with her veteran husband, an Army helicopter pilot. 

We were loaded, buckled in along with 8 other passengers. The pilot climbed in, shook by hand and started the helicopter. The feelings and sounds have long been subdued inside me, but came alive in an instant. The vertical bump of that turning rotor system (the Huey bounce), then spooled up to flight rpm. The pilot said that he was going to pick up the helicopter, fly to a high hover in the middle of the runway and then "give the helicopter to me." And he did.

There it was, that moment I have been longing for for 57 years. Rusty, but ok. Not that fine-tuned young pilot, but this old pilot did have a hold of a Huey again and was doing fine. 

The pilot talked me into forward flight and to climb to a 100/200 feet. I was searching for the forward flight attitude. It took a little coaxing, a helpful push forward on the cyclic, but the helicopter was mine. I could feel "it" coming back. "It" was there, but 57 years rusty. 

We flew an oval course over a lake, a large field with a large building in it, then towards two twin silos and finally back to a left downwind, descending left turn base leg and final circling to final approach. "Head to the center of the field" and I was working on that approach to a high hover. The pilot told me to hold the hover. For a minute I got to try to bring back every ounce of skill I once had to hold a perfect hover. I was close, held steady but wanted so to ask for a few more take offs and approaches. The kid in me was not satisfied. "I can feel it. I want more, just a few more trips around the pattern" I told myself. 

After that minute of hovering, the pilot said "I have the helicopter."  I raised my hands up from the cyclic and collective. Just like that it was over. 

After landing and idle down, the pilot reached over, shook my hand and said he would fly with me anytime. 


Today, these old war birds rest inside a hanger with their own special place, together and representative of helicopter history at its finest. To this day, these birds are still active in the service and in civilian aviation. 

I have video in the making marrying this past weekend flight along with old super 8 video I took in 1967 and 1969. I am adding music of the era. I just need time to finish it properly. 

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I cannot turn from this month, what is happening and all the negative prospects from media outlets. To think we are going to make it through this month and November, unscathed, is head-in-the-sand thinking. A personal opinion. 

The hurricane that ran through the southeast is in the news. What to believe? Who to believe? What is my gut telling me? My lying eyes? Rabbit holes everywhere I turn. Add the longshoreman's strike shutting down the ports for a few days only to come back to work Friday with some wage increases and the strike postponed to mid-January. Does not "feel" good. 

The longshoreman's strike had our attention for a couple days. I was thinking long term given the history of dockworkers' strikes. Powerful union and they are not folks to mess with. Facts of life. These folks can shut down the good ol' USA in a heartbeat and the longer it goes on, the longer it takes to come back to "normal." So that is postponed. 

The southeast hurricane is surfacing surprises for me. Never, ever thought that services to hurricane victims would be denied from any agency or governing bodies. That people like us on the ground and trying to serve are being threatened by governing agencies from doing so is beyond horrifying. If this is indeed the case, then "Houston, we have a problem." 

New hurricane forecast to hit Tampa and mid-Florida later this week. If there is any good news here, the governor of Florida is on top of these kinds of emergencies, folks have time to prepare and I doubt that the governor will turn down civilian help if offered. I believe recovery will be in high gear for these folks after the storm passes.

Lineman son has been in SC for 10 days now on storm duty. We talk briefly every morning. He still sounds good, strong, and taking one day at a time. Said this morning that another crew from New England arrived yesterday and that he had time to visit with old friends and get caught up with current events. This father just wants to know his boy is OK. Safe. Sound.  He said that his crew and the other crews are strong teams working hard and together. Great news. "We turned the power back on dad!" Pride in his voice.

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SQUIRREL MODE

Seasons and "times they are a changin'." 

Every year, when we find high quality and fresh zucchini and yellow squash, we take time to dehydrate a batch or two. Using a slicer to get even cuts, they are laid on racks and dehydrated for about 10 hours. Let set in a bowl for a couple days, turning and then set into airtight glass container. This year, we are going into winter with double batches for soups and stews.

JIBBER JABBER

With all of the jibber jabber reporting, the constant hint of nuclear exchange looms larger than ever in my lifetime. But it is just anther elephant in an already crowded room of elephants. Folks are quiet. 

I was surprised to find these still available. One box lasts one adult 10 days. If you do not have these on hand for everyone in your immediate family, order now. You can also find them on the shelves at pharmacies/wally world/Amazon. They will disappear in an instant so get them while you can.

There are sites on the net that also give good, easy reading of what to do in a nuclear event. If you have not done your homework, then you have not done your homework. 

Did you buy toilet paper last week when the dock strike started? If you did, then you have learned how fast basics will run out. You acted on what you learned. Good for you. 

Water? Food for the family for how long? Waste management? Protection? Learn all you can now and being as ready as you can. 

And oh yeah, the folks showing up at your doorstep expecting you to take care of them? Go ahead, say "NO" like you will when they are at your door. What is your reason?

What will you do when there is no internet, no phone service and no way to call friends or family. Day after day after day? Just asking.

Thanks for the visit.

A-1 Skyraider


This photo was taken in 1967 at the Phan Thiet air field. We were stationed there for a couple months and when I was not flying, I was near the runway with my camera. Every kind of fixed wing and helicipoter was always on an approach or taking off. 

We flew a couple mission with the Airforce Skyraiders. They would make a strafing run and we would follow with a pass using rockets and doors gunners. Then circle and watch these pilots make another diving run with guns and bombs. We had the best front row seats watching these planes in action. They were beautiful on the ground and in the air. 

The plane above was taxxing for take off. The sound and feel of those big radial engines working is breath taking. I was in awe of those planes and pilots and still am. 

Side note: The Phan Thiet air port was located parallel and close to the coast line. I always marveled at the beautiful white sand beaches right next to that airport. I often thought of how out of place all of that was in war time.