Helping hand

Today was a day set aside for Phoebe and grampa. First we had to carefully plan the events of the day. It was decided we would lay some tile first, then do something fun. Phoebe opted to go to her favorite place, the Blue Heron Nature Reserve, with the hope of catching some snakes or at least an American bullfrog. Apparently, (according to Phoebe's research) American Bullfrogs can eat anything they can fit in their mouths.

But first the tile laying. It went well with Phoebe handing me each tile as I worked my way across the floor. That got old in a hurry and so Phoebe became the tile laying expert, viewing the rows of tile from every angle, especially from up on the bridge to make sure everything was right. She declared me an AWESOME tile layer. I told her to be sure to mention that to grandma.

Once Phoebe had been assured everything was perfectly straight she decided she really wanted to help. She correctly reasoned since I was big I could lay the big tiles and she, being smaller, would lay in the small tiles. So that became the new plan. Phoebe, it turns out, is a fabulous tile layer.

We celebrated by sharing a Coca Cola, something Phoebe is only allowed to have on SPECIAL days. We decided that spending the day together was plenty special and qualified for the treat.

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After the tile was laid we journied to the Blue Heron Preserve. The snakes were hiding other places than we looked as were the bullfrogs. But we had a great time exploring while Phoebe told me all she could remember about all sorts of wild animlas and their habitat.

It was a wonderful day in Yarrow.

-grampa dan

Growing a thick and tough skin.

Today we mixed up some Abracabra sculpting epoxy to work on a customer's project. We had a little left over and rather than waste it I spent a little time sculpting the first of the detail on the mechanical fish. I was going for a grundgy, industrial look with plenty of rivets of course. This fish has seen some hard service and is no pristine showboat.

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The mechanical fish is going to come together pretty quick. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan

Let there be (MORE) light!

After three very long days onsite at Whistle Punk Hollow, today was worked at a more leisurely pace. Emails were answered, errands were run and the shop was cleaned. We also worked on some small projects. Just before quitting time I managed a few minutes on the mechanical fish.

I hollowed out the eye sockets and inside of the fish. Ping pong balls (cut in half) proved to be the perfect size for the eyeballs of the fish (portholes) With some powerful LED's inserted inside, these eyes glowed beautifully with a wash of blue also coming out from the open hatch in the top of the sub. While I was hollowing out the space for the eyes I also machined slots for the gills (cooling vents) which will glow red (high tech power source) While I was at it I hollowed out the mouth portal. This intake grill (water intake for cooling the high tech power source and also for collecting under-sea samples) will also glow red. I still have to add the red and green running lights on the top of the fish nose (to be turned on when not in combat mode) and also the powerful searchlight.

How many (POWERFUL) LED's I have added will remain confidential and top secret. (This is a competition after all) I have photographically documented the assembly of each component to be revealed after the deadline if need be. Suffice to say there are now many more LED's in this piece than Doug Haffner's fish. :)

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The fun continues...

-grampa dan