Hi there. Ron here. Over Memorial Day weekend we took the kids to Mt. P to visit their cousins. We took them to the park and we also took them to Dow Gardens. I have several photos of both adventures.
Visiting the park
Visiting Dow Gardens
I think my favorite photo from the gardens is this one:
This was taken by Brianna. She has an interesting point of view, and I'm always surprised and pleased when she handles the camera.
I've been working on a new workbench. My old one is gigantic and it doesn't really suite my needs. My new one is collapsable. Here it is:
It folds down, like this:
Minor design issue: it's heavy as hell. I cannot move it without really struggling. I didn't account for that in my design. I don't want to put locking casters on it because 1) I want to put adjustable feet on the bottom and 2) casters have low surface contact, which means less friction, which means the thing has the potential to slide all over the place. I also want to avoid buying special hardware just for this. Any suggestions?
You been up to anything?
Hi. Over the weekend I made marking knife out of a broken blade from a handheld wallboard saw. I ground the teeth off it, removed the black coating, ground a bevel on one side at the end, and put it through a regular sharpening regime. I then took a small scrap piece of maple and used my backsaw to cut a slit down the middle. I used some epoxy to affix the blade to this handle, then I sanded everything down. Want to see?
I'm changing a bit of my workbench design. Don't worry. There will be images of that as well soon.
Not much else has happened, I don't believe. How are you?
We held a birthday party for Brianna and a few of her friends. It was pretty fun. I made up some games and forced the kids to play them. Here they are:
Dry Feet
This game is like musical chairs. Except it's played outdoors. And there's no music. Because I can't afford to put a fancy stereo system on my deck. I called it dry feet because it had been raining. Me am so smrt!
You need:
Paper plates
Nails
Setup:
Count how many kids you have playing. Count that many plates minus one. For the math challenged, here is an example: if 7 kids are playing, get 6 plates. If 6 kids are playing, get 5 plates. If 1 kid is playing, then take a reflective pause and contemplate the reason nobody showed up to his or her party.
Place a nail in the middle of each plate. Scatter the plates randomly in the yard using the nail to anchor it to the ground. Be sure to put one or two in very remote locations. This makes it more fun. For the observer.
Game play:
Make the kids run around in an insane, sugar-induced frenzy. When you shout "DRY FEET" the kids need to make a mad dash to the paper plates. The sad, sad kid that is not standing on a paper plate is "out". He or she gets to say "DRY FEET" for the next round, and also gets to choose which paper plate gets removed from the yard. Make sure he understands that he is out and cannot participate, because this causes no end to the confusion when two kids are left next round without a plate.
Play continues until there is one kid left standing on the last paper plate. That kid is the winner. Let the fist fights begin.
Meteor shower
This game is entertainment for the adults.
You need:
Tin foil
Candy
Very small, candy sized pieces of wood
Bags in which the candies can be collected.
Setup:
Wrap the candy and wood in small, individual pieces of foil. I cut up a 1/2" x 3/4" piece of pine into 1" lengths on my table saw using my homemade miter sled and a stop block, because it made me feel awesome and superfluous.
Game play:
Explain to the kids that there is a meteor shower, but these meteors are special because they have surprises inside. Tell them that when the shower starts, they need to run out and collect the meteors.
Begin throwing the foil wrapped surprises into the yard. Watch them run maniacally to grab the surprises. "Accidentally" hit them once in a while, for good measure.
Play continues until all the surprises are picked up. Now tell them to open it up and see what they got. Be sure to have a slight grin when the kids realize that half of it is just useless pieces of wood. That way they know that you know you are a stupid jerk that uses party games to amuse himself.
How've you been?