Playing electrician

Today it was time to play electrician, not my favorite task. I simply don't know that much about it, but with a little trial and error I manage to figure it out.

It took a while to stuff all the batteries into the tight space along with the hydraulic pump and horn. Somehow it all fit in the tight space under the dump box. I sourced a wiring diagram on the internet and then cut the many wires, added the ends and bolted them into place.

The ah-ooh-gah horn was the first accessory to be hooked up and with a little time it worked perfectly. It's the red plastic piece beside the hydraulic pump. The lights proved to be a little more problematic. The two headlights and tailights eventually got wired properly and worked like they should. Even the switch in the dashboard lit up when the lights were clicked on.

I ran out of time before I managed to hook up the electricity to the hydraulic pump but tomorrow the little truck will be ready for a test drive for sure! I'll try and grab some video of the first cruise around our parking lot.

 -grampa dan

What can possibly go wrong?

Some people seriously believe I live a charmed life where each day goes perfectly and nothing could possibly go wrong. The truth is my days are pretty much like everyone elses. In fact, I would argue that my days are filled with more things that go wrong than most others I know. Things go wrong regularly - sometimes horribly and almost always are my fault (although I don't often admit that publicly). I've learned through much experience that the best thing to do when this happens is to have a good laugh, to pick up the pieces and then learn from what didn't go right. 

Last week Jeff Hartman, one of the creators of EnRoute Software, was in my studio for a few days. Jeff has many hours of experience programming routers to do amazing things. But last week he was working on something new, writing code for our relatively new four axis router. We would test out the new code by chucking up a piece of work in the giant lathe and then test running it. At the same time we were creating sample pieces for the MultiCam router manufacturer to use as a sales aid for their machines. I was video taping the test runs to show how great everything was working.

As we pushed the go button on the router this particular time, Jeff asked me if we should perhaps do a test run (in the air) to prove the file. I shook my head... what could possibly go wrong?? We were about to find out...

No real damage was done although it looks serious. With a little tweaking the file ran perfectly the second time we tested it. Life went on after a good laugh!

-grampa dan 

WhistlePunk Hollow concepts

Today, we are proud to announce the start of a new project for this coming year. The ambitious project is an adventure golf to be built in Squamish, British Columbia. For those who are not familiar with our local geography, Squamish is near Whistler, the site of the recent winter Olympics. It is about two hours drive from our place in Yarrow.

Back over a decade ago when we were planning our own Giggle Ridge Adventure Golf, we seriously considered the name WhistlePunk Hollow. A whistle punk was the fellow who worked near the steam donkeys, operating the steam whistle to signal his fellow workers that the steam donkey was about to pull some logs from the woods with cables. The adventure golf was of course to be built with a logging theme. We didn't use the name back then but we sure liked it and filed it away for possible use in the future.

Fast forward to recent weeks...  Our new clients, Janice and Jeff Kirkman from Squamish contacted me to design an adventure golf for their campground. They come from a logging family and wanted the adventure golf to carry this theme. One of the names they suggested was WhistlePunk and we added the Hollow part. Then it was time to begin the design concepts in the proper historical period.

The first drawing was of the primary train feature. I posted the drawing of the locomotive a while ago but here it is again with the logo on the log.

The eighteenth hole will of course feature a steam donkey, the giant wood-fired steam powered machine used to pull the timber from the woods in the days of old.

An old logging truck also had to be a part of the golf, perfect for photo oppotunities for every group to play the course.

There are of course many more drawings and designs. In the next weeks and months I'll show them here as we switch from planning mode to building these latest creations. This is going to be a fun and challenging project!

-grampa dan