That Was The Weekend That Was
I now know whether it's possible to OD on blacksmithing. Yes, apparently 16 hours out of 48 is way past my limit. This past weekend was Maker Faire at the Buffalo Museum of Science. My blacksmith club was asked to appear. We set up outside because we were literally playing with fire. :) Terry brought his pickup truck full of stuff and set up his forge and anvil. The other Dave brought his pickup stuff full of stuff and set up his forge and anvil. Bob towed a trailer behind his car and set up his forge and anvil I drive a compact car. I managed to get my anvil in it and realizing I probably wouldn't be able to do hot work, grabbed my chainmail to do cold work. Every one set up, we covered the table in toys and everyone went to work on their forges ignoring the fair goers. So, I grabbed my mail, a chair and took a seat at the table and talked to people for eight straight hours. I made half of a keychain all day. I also let kids try on a coif and hauberk. I probably got photographed more than the other three combined. There's photos on Facebook, I'll transfer them here when I get home. The coif and hauberk are going to need repair, they were taken on and off so much.
I don't know what the criteria is for being a 'maker'. There were multiple children's groups that let kids make robots, dinosaurs, robot dinosaurs, etc out of junk and recycle. There was high school shop teacher who made BattleBots (The show is coming back in Sept.!) I asked him what it costs to get into this. "Well that one cost about $6K, this only was only about $5K" Don't think I'll be doing it anytime soon, even though building a robot is on my bucket list. There were groups that did quilts, felting, knitting, just about any hobby you can think of. Scout troops built model rockets. One kid built a lego robot that solves rubic cubes. Which means it had robotic vision. The exhibit next to us outdoors was a guy who built his own airhorn. It weighs 3 tons, it has its own trailer, it can be heard over 7 miles (We were 100 yards away, fortunately we had ear-plugs) and could be programmed to play the Star Spangled Banner, Close Encounters Theme, Saints Go Marching In, etc. When I did a quick tour of the place, I half expected to fill a notebook of things I wanted to try later. The only thing I wanted to try later was building a marble machine. A bit disappointing.
Sunday was second Sunday and traditionally blacksmith Sunday, However for the last three years, we've held our meeting the week after Mother's Day. This year, they decided to hold it anyway. The smallest meeting I can recall, ten people. Peter gave a class on making locks. That was the only reason I didn't skip. This was a class I was interested in. Post class, no one had the energy to do anything. Everyone who went to the demo was short on sleep. Only one forge of four was even lit. People left before lunch. I didn't even stay for iron in the hat. So, nearly two days of blacksmithing and I did nearly nothing. Prior to to the event, I marked all my tools with green and white to keep them separate from everyone else. I've been gradually collecting and swapping tools, I didn't realize how many I've actually acquired at this point.
Sunday was also Mother's Day. After finishing nearly four hours early, we went to see mom at the nursing home. She had asked for potato pancakes for Mother's Day. Fortunately, Scharf's German Restaurant had them available for takeout. I went to high school with the owner. He's holding our re-union later this summer. Problem is, he and I both subtract our graduation year from the current year and get this number that can't possibly be right. :) Mother loved the meal and we left her enough for dinner the next day. We spent most of the day there.
I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday. My personal vision of hell is lined with dentist chairs. When we moved here, we used a dentist on Central Ave. I needed to have several teeth worked on, but they kept putting it off. When Aspen Dental opened, we changed to them. I had to have two of those teeth pulled because they could no longer be saved. Tuesday I was supposed to have the start of a crown. This is something I have been trying to get a dentist to do for literally the last two years! The dentist launched into her lecture about how bad the tooth was and why didn't I take care of it earlier and hit just about every trigger word I have. I ripped into her. I apologized at my wife's request. Now, I have another appointment later this month to have the work done that little miss tooth fairy didn't want to do. And I have to use a sick day to do it, because only the idiot is available after I'm out of work. Hopefully, I'll get someone who knows what they're doing and didn't flunk Bedside Manner 101. And why the hell couldn't she have done her idiot spiel before I paid for the visit and got the novacaine?
I'm having dinner at home for the first time since Friday. And I'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I'm getting tired of buying my meals from restaurants and food trucks.
I don't know what the criteria is for being a 'maker'. There were multiple children's groups that let kids make robots, dinosaurs, robot dinosaurs, etc out of junk and recycle. There was high school shop teacher who made BattleBots (The show is coming back in Sept.!) I asked him what it costs to get into this. "Well that one cost about $6K, this only was only about $5K" Don't think I'll be doing it anytime soon, even though building a robot is on my bucket list. There were groups that did quilts, felting, knitting, just about any hobby you can think of. Scout troops built model rockets. One kid built a lego robot that solves rubic cubes. Which means it had robotic vision. The exhibit next to us outdoors was a guy who built his own airhorn. It weighs 3 tons, it has its own trailer, it can be heard over 7 miles (We were 100 yards away, fortunately we had ear-plugs) and could be programmed to play the Star Spangled Banner, Close Encounters Theme, Saints Go Marching In, etc. When I did a quick tour of the place, I half expected to fill a notebook of things I wanted to try later. The only thing I wanted to try later was building a marble machine. A bit disappointing.
Sunday was second Sunday and traditionally blacksmith Sunday, However for the last three years, we've held our meeting the week after Mother's Day. This year, they decided to hold it anyway. The smallest meeting I can recall, ten people. Peter gave a class on making locks. That was the only reason I didn't skip. This was a class I was interested in. Post class, no one had the energy to do anything. Everyone who went to the demo was short on sleep. Only one forge of four was even lit. People left before lunch. I didn't even stay for iron in the hat. So, nearly two days of blacksmithing and I did nearly nothing. Prior to to the event, I marked all my tools with green and white to keep them separate from everyone else. I've been gradually collecting and swapping tools, I didn't realize how many I've actually acquired at this point.
Sunday was also Mother's Day. After finishing nearly four hours early, we went to see mom at the nursing home. She had asked for potato pancakes for Mother's Day. Fortunately, Scharf's German Restaurant had them available for takeout. I went to high school with the owner. He's holding our re-union later this summer. Problem is, he and I both subtract our graduation year from the current year and get this number that can't possibly be right. :) Mother loved the meal and we left her enough for dinner the next day. We spent most of the day there.
I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday. My personal vision of hell is lined with dentist chairs. When we moved here, we used a dentist on Central Ave. I needed to have several teeth worked on, but they kept putting it off. When Aspen Dental opened, we changed to them. I had to have two of those teeth pulled because they could no longer be saved. Tuesday I was supposed to have the start of a crown. This is something I have been trying to get a dentist to do for literally the last two years! The dentist launched into her lecture about how bad the tooth was and why didn't I take care of it earlier and hit just about every trigger word I have. I ripped into her. I apologized at my wife's request. Now, I have another appointment later this month to have the work done that little miss tooth fairy didn't want to do. And I have to use a sick day to do it, because only the idiot is available after I'm out of work. Hopefully, I'll get someone who knows what they're doing and didn't flunk Bedside Manner 101. And why the hell couldn't she have done her idiot spiel before I paid for the visit and got the novacaine?
I'm having dinner at home for the first time since Friday. And I'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I'm getting tired of buying my meals from restaurants and food trucks.