Klondike

Last weekend I participated with the young men in the Klondike Derby.  This was my first Klondike, and definately the funnest one I've been to!  Along with great food and good company, there were dog-sled races, orienteering, history lessons, and a seige-engine competition.

Our Troop/Team 125 focused on the construction and use of a Floating-Arm Trebuchet for our seige engine.  With design in hand and a willing leader, the boys built this little number:  



The only preliminary requirement of the competition was to be able to throw a tennis ball.  When we arrived at the firing range, we were challenged to throw snow balls over a bank of snow speedily.  No target...no distance challenge (at least not a challenge for our machine).  While we were not built for speed, we were built for awesomeness. 

The actual competition was to fire 3 shots over one bank, reposition, fire 3 shots over the second bank, and then report.  The boys were not quite satisfied with their final shot, so after finally reporting, they went back and fired a final decent shot.  They were launching snowballs about 100 feet, which was farther than any other machine there.

Getting Muddy

All the time learning, I started working the long tape lines with a little blade...despite having a nice new long blade I'd purchased for this very purpose.  A little despair began to hang over me at the difficulty and size of the task ahead.  Then I remembered that new blade, and ventured to try it out.  I'd never held a long flexible blade like it, but after a few strokes I began to get the feel of it.  Within the time it took me to do that first tape line, the long blade allowed me to do three lines.

Next up:  Sanding!

Basement Progress

 I placed sheetrock all around the walls of the closet and then realized I'd have to go farther with my framing before I could actually finish that closet

You know how it goes...one thing leads to another, and then to the next thing, which leads to more.  Pretty soon I'll be adding another level to the house.  But for now, a little extra framing in the basement is good enough.  My inspector is the kind type, but very detail-minded.

Build Time!

In response to my previous post about pictures:  I finally got around to LOOKING at "all those pictures I took over the holiday" and it turns out that there were only a few horrible representations of Christmas morning.  Consequently, I'm sparing everyone that headache.  Here are some build photos instead:

Last year we built a nice floor in our basement with the intent to continue the overall project as we can.  Now, it seems...we can.  A trip to the big orange box produced this nice pile of goods:

I love building things.  I love, particularly, to build things that people can see and admire.  This project is the first in which I am actually framing and I expect to have a happy wife if I do well.  We're building some storage closets this time.  If all goes well, I'll finish before summer...at which point I'll be able to afford the next pile of goods. 

Yesterday I made Sarah promise not to share how good I am with a hammer.  You know...cause I don't want others to feel inferior.  I'll share just one example of my skillset.  At one location, I used no less than 6 nails before I got one to go in straight.  I'm THAT good!  And because I'm THAT good, it only took me one full day to frame these two 30-inch long walls and install them:

By the way,  that is indeed sheetrock!  In fact, that is the first piece of sheetrock to be installed in this house...ever.  I'm really way more excited about that than I should be.

Look forward to more terrible photos to come!

Lame

Some people have most likely taken notice that we have not posted pictures for a while now.  With the exception of the required holiday shots (Halloween Costumes and with Santa) we have posted very little "content of value".  That's because I am lame. 

You see, we splurged a little in November and bought ourselves a new toy: a camcorder.  We recorded a few gigs worth of footage, and then plugged that camera into our computer.  The footage took up no less than 80% of the free space on our computer's hard drive.  Once it was all loaded onto the computer, I opened up the editor program with great anticipation of posting little clips to the blogosphere.  That's when the monitor all but exploded and left me staring into dark glass.  Yes, glass.  You see, although my computer is ONLY 7 years old, my monitor is definitely older (although how much older I don't know) and is of the CRT persuasion.  I suspect my video card is unable to keep up with the hi-def footage.  I'm looking into upgrading.  A geek at the local Best Buy told me that I must buy a less-than-popular (and thus not sold at Best Buy) video card that can plug into my out-dated computer box.  My computer is inadequate, and thus...I am lame.

Despite these inadequacies, I HAVE been taking a few of those old-fashioned still pictures, so I am not totally excused from not sharing them.  Look forward to a mass explosion of holiday photos soon.  You know...Christmas in mid-January...cause I'm lame.