Thursday, August 28, 2008

A Killer Clown - Well Sort of



Here is an old Starsky and Hutch with a killer clown and a young Jeff Goldblum.

And I am still playing with the size these things should be.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Three Stooges Experiment.


I am trying to change the size of these things. So let see if this works

My Baby Cat's Daddy


This is Walt and his baby Max. You can see the resemblance. Max is not as harry though but I digress.

Actually I have to go off in left to make this story make some seance. But remember the image above. The image of this wanna be humorist and his feline offspring.

On Monday I was bit by by a pit bull. By the way if you are keeping track this is the left feild part of the story. Keep in mind mr funny guy and his cat. He is the one with the punch line about my terrible pain and suffering.

The dog gave me one good bite in the arm and ran off with his own. By the way if you live on the South Side Slopes and know a young black man who is six foot tall with corn rows and a brown and tan marble colored pit bull. That is the dog that bit me. Stay away he is grumpy. The grumpy thing aplies to to the dog and his negligent owner. He ran away with out giving information about if his dog had it's shot. So friday I will be complaining about how much rabies shots hurt. It will give you something to look forward to.

Oh and I really I looking fo this guy. He is danger to everyone he runs into.

Anway I went to the hospital to get six stiches to put my left bicept back togather. I have mad more stitches at one time so this was nothing. My wife continually through the entire process mae jokes about how good I taste. She hoped that Sally our dog did not find out because she is frequently hungry at night.

After that I want to our regular knitting night from the hospital. Luckly there is still a hospital on the South Side for the moment. The knitting night was filled with lovely comment about my taste. Walt and amy wife tage teamed me with hillarious comment the entire evening. It weas really something to see. By the way not once did either one of them ask if it hurt because they thought it was so funny.

On a side not walt is sitting here as I type this. He said said he assumed it hurt. So apparently rather than being sympathetic he thought he should go strait to ridicule. He is not claiming that laughter is the best medicen. If anyone if keeping that only really works if the injured person is laughing. It doesn't work so well if all his freinds are making fun of him. Just a note for you future Patch Admas out there.

Fast forward to today. I went to my Corps for our regular clown practice. I had to print out some stuff in one of the offices. I sat down and started working at the computer. Little did I know my Captain just got a new dog. Little did I know that dog was sleeping in the office I happened to be in. After i climbed out of the ceiling tile from being scared within an inch of my life/ I noted that it was a baby Scottish Terrier and not a Pitt Bull. So I felt really stupid.

My Captain then came in and explained the dog started me. He thought I was wimp. I explained why I was jumpy. He still thought I was a wimp.

That brings me to clown practice this evening. No one asked if I was alright. The children wanted to see the dog bite. They are too young to see it. So for the entire evening a group of little girl were explaining to me how tough they are. To add insult to injury they were also talking about a cuteness scale.

At the top of the scale at number 1 is kittens. Number two is puppies. Number three is Walt. Take a look at the picture. Walt is the big one without stripes incase your coudn't tell. Not only is he cuter than me. He is number three on the list for cutuest things ever according to our click of little girls in the Clown Brigade. Of course I had to ask. I probably shoudn't have asked. I am 1, 083rd on the list directly behind rather large snails. By the way they beat because they shells and cute antena.

Remeber me telling you this was going to left feild. I am going to bring back right about now. Walt observed that the Pitt Bull only bit me once. I said yeah that is right. He said that he only bit me once because as a clown i taste funny. Ha Ha Ha

As I type this Walt is having a hard time breathing because he is laughing so hard at the story. The truely sad thing is that it is true. This is an average week from my life.

On a serious side I am just fine. The dog didn;t really get a nerve and only hurt one muscle. So there will be nothing wrong with me in a couple weeks.

If you do happen to see that guy or his dog call animal control and tell them it was from the attack and Angelo Street on Monday the 25th on the South Side. They don;t actually have anyone to investigate this so I have to find the guy before they will press charges.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Scary Stuff



This is why we do not show sewing practices. Our people are just too excited about their sewing machines.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More Composition Books

I found 12 more red composition books and none of them are made in China

Monday, August 18, 2008

Good News

I found 9 more red composition books. They were 50 cents a piece and made in Brazil

That is all i have to say

Be safe out there and keep your stickon the ice.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

 Here are some cat under the bed. This is Abigail and her and here three kittens under the bed. Isn't that cute.
 
This is another kitten that does not have a name. I want to call her stripe.
 
 This is the boy. I could not get a picture with his eyes open.
We did another car wash. And this one did not go very well. We did it at our corps in Homestead. We did get to use the new car port tent. So that was kind of fun. Here is Apprentice Prelue and a couple of the neighborhood kids helping put up the tent. It was just like being the the circus again. Except the tent was really small. And there were no animals. A couple pigeons. But, nothing that would make this blog.
Here is Cadet Birmage, Apprentice Thurman and Apprentice Wilson waiting for the customers. Actually there was a great deal of waiting for customers. Like I emtntioner earlier this did not go terribly well.
This is the grill stand. It did slowly as well. Still, we had hot dogs and popcorn for the kids. And really the Brigade is all about making kids happy. And if this means hot dogs on a nice summer's day that is close enough. Well despite the fact we didn't do terribly well financially we still have a good time.
This is Carol at the grill. She always likes doing the food. She comes from a family of people that are all about the food. Her mother worked in a restaraunt and her twin brother is a baker. There is no candelstick maker. Like I said they are all about the food.






Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Holy Schlamolies

This is yet another reason I would not survive public school again.I was one of the most annoying students in school. The only thing that I had going for me is that the teachers were unarmed. Well that is going to change in Texas.

This article came over the news wire today.There is probably is not a wire anymore.
I have no idea how the news gets into my computer. For all I know a rather smart squirrel delivers it through a trap door in the back of the computer. And this trap door leads into a small book lines study with a comfortable leather chair. The chair would be at a nice mahogany desk with a computer. There the squirrel, I named Oliver, would types in my daily news.

That is one of the things I do not understand about new computers. They are do small. How can your squirrel type in you information comfortably. That is the main reason I don't have a note book computer. I don't want to abuse my squirrel.

Well any where here is the article I was rambling on about earlier.

Texas school district to let teachers carry guns

Fri Aug 15, 3:32 PM ET

A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States.

The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt.

School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom.

Thweatt said it is a matter of safety.

"We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said. "It's just common sense."

Teachers who wish to bring guns will have to be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas and get crisis training and permission from school officials, he said.

Recent school shootings in the United States have prompted some calls for school officials to allow students and teachers to carry legally concealed weapons into classrooms.

The U.S. Congress once barred guns at schools nationwide, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck the law down, although state and local communities could adopt their own laws. Texas bars guns at schools without the school's permission.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; writing by Bruce Nichols in Houston, editing by Vicki Allen)

Texas school district to let teachers carry guns

Fri Aug 15, 3:32 PM ET

A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States.

The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt.

School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom.

Thweatt said it is a matter of safety.

"We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said. "It's just common sense."

Teachers who wish to bring guns will have to be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas and get crisis training and permission from school officials, he said.

Recent school shootings in the United States have prompted some calls for school officials to allow students and teachers to carry legally concealed weapons into classrooms.

The U.S. Congress once barred guns at schools nationwide, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck the law down, although state and local communities could adopt their own laws. Texas bars guns at schools without the school's permission.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; writing by Bruce Nichols in Houston, editing by Vicki Allen)

Army Clowns 3


Thursday, August 14, 2008

I love Pittsburgh in the Rain

It has been mentioned by a couple of folks that my pictures turn out blurry and are hard to see. To help with this I have read the instruction of the Camera. So any way here goes me trying to take pictures.


Ig do like the rain. I like the rain a lot. It my favorite type of falling thing from the sky. Here is a picture of it raining on wood street.

Here is a blurry picture of a bus arriving. I am not sure how to fix that. Perhaps I should not take the messed up picture in the first place.

Hre is a picture of my hat it is wet. Actually it is not wet at the moment. It has been in my house for several hours so it is probably dry. It was wet in the picture.

This is a picture down a street. I should probably know what the stret it. I think it is fifth avanue. I can not be sure. I do know that the  best place to buy a hat like mine used to be on this street. Now I don't know where you get a hat like mine. I know there is a shop around Penn Yann New York where you can get a hat like mine. There is also a shop in Toronto where I got the first hat like mine. Other than that i don't remeber.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Busy, Busy

Every day for the last couple week I have written out a dozen or so page long hand for The Salvation Navy book. Every other day typing translates this into several typed pages of text. So I have not had much time for blogging. There is also an edition of Yarn N'at and Army Clown that need finished off. So I am not a good citizen of the electronic internet gizmo type community. What can you do.

If the book is any good it will out live me. This blog will proabbly not. And if it does that means there is something wrong with western civilization.

I have even been kicking around another Yarn Many story. I am not sure what the point of that is. Still, is it less presure than the sci fi book. There is less death and destruction at any rate.

I found some more red composition book for fifty cents a piece. So I am really happy about that. Another couple dozen and I will have enough for the next year. 

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A Recent Show

We had a show at Christ Church on Saturday. We were part of an outdoor variety show. Over to the left is the crew we had for the show. You may recognise me in the center. I have been playing around with different hair color. A light blue and a silver rather than gray. I am sure everyone is enthrawled. In the Green is Walt. He went with a blue mouth instead of red as he did for the last show. The blue shows up better. He had a huge mouth. If it were anyone but Walt I would have thought that would be a problem. Still, he has a very gentle way and even as the tallest clown in the Brigade never frightens shildren. This is sometimes and issue for larger clown. My wife is on the other side of me. This was her first show in a while. It is her first clown show since being treated for Cancer. By the way thank you all for your prays she is much better now.
Rounding out our groups is Silly Lilly just in front of me. The newly promoted Kali Wilson is still experimenting with her face. She went with a neat reletively conservitive smile and heart of her cheak. She colored her hair for this show. The hair color bled in the white face because of the wind. She will have to braid her hair is she wants to keep the pink. She did not like the tie half way through the show. I though the plaid tie and stripped shirt was a great combo. Still, she has many good ideas about the type of clown she wants to be. I am sure she will settle on something great. She is cinsidering a heart nose tip. So that will probably change the make up skeme some.This was also her first show in makeup. 
Also having her first show is Alakazi or Danaysia Thurmon. She is the one in the check shirt and paisley suspenders. She loved the suspenders and like her hat as well. The umbilical cord with the large pom pom did her well for her. The extra room in the had was also a good place to whie her hair bun.  She wwent with white face and grotesque smile. She is considering a fairly large nose to finish off her make up. When she first put her faceon a work sheet I was not sure it was going to work out. Actually if I had to guess a face that was not going to work out I would chosen her's. Still, during the show she was dynamite and her face worked well for her. There are no many folks that are al pleased with the face their first time out as she was. I was impressed.
 I was impressed with everything. There was a fairly good crowd and they were a bit nervous about doing balloons. Still once they go into it everything clicked along nicely. I remember new people being nervous about going out in front of group a generation ago. This new group of kids is simply fearless. It is really something to see. It is odd that three or four adults have joined the Brigade that have not worked. out. Still, every kid was champ once that spot light was shined on them. A lot of folks have grim forecasts about the next generation of kids that are coming up. I have yet to see anything that would suggest anything but a bright future for these youngsters. Perhapse we as adults need to stop telling kids what they can't do. At this show these girst were the youngest performers by at least ten years.And of all the act they went and mingled with the audience to give out something.
Of and we did the knife board act that always kills or actually fails to kill. Still my aim with get better with time.
Since were were performing in Homewood we had to drive past tha nimal shelter. And what kid can pass up the opporetunity to see cute critters. Well our could not. So we went in and said hello to all the little pochies and kitties. Be safe our there and keep your stick on the ice.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

I Have Lowered my Price Again


I found a source of fifty cent composition books. I was disapointed that I could only find them in black. So I started gluign red strips of paper to black composition books.

As I did this I realized that my color scheme for the composition books does not really include black books any more.

While at a big box store today I found ahole bunch of colored books. So I bought as many as are useful to my color system.

At one point that was the miscellaneous color. Red was the color of one sci fi series and blue was the color of the other.

The system has now expanded. The two sciencefiction series were merged. So now the blue color was open.

 Red yellow and blue is the notes from our clown meetings. There are a couple of those running around. They were black books that are not being colors. I have no idea why.
 
Blue is now of the clown instructional series I am writting for the clown brigade. That one is going to be a big section. I can't beleive the amount of stuff that clown have to know.

This is the red section of books that I am typing in as we speak. Actually I am not typing them in now because I am rambling aimlessly on about the books. That is a knit me that my wife calls my voo doo doll


The green ones are for future Yarn Man stories. Beleive it or not I am writting mmore of those storeies. since the spelling and grammer stink so much I am editing them a bit this time. And the best way I can do this is to write it out long hand first.

Purple is a series of stories group under the title The Last Brigadier. This is about a retired Salvation Army Office who goes from Salvation Army to Salvation Army Corps to help out. This series has been something I have been kicking around for a while.

The yellow books are for recipies. I have not idea why I am saving recipies. I supposed I have in my mind that I will write a cook book some day. I tell  people that my favorite meal is fettuccini alfredo with sauteed crab. The readlity is that is is macaroni and cheese with fried peices of spam in it. So I have not bussiness telling any one how to boil water.


Yeah I have no idea why I am going on about this. It has nothing to do with knitting. Although not I think I need a new color. I have three black knitting note books. I think it needs a color.

Any one that reads this far and posts will get a special mention in the next entry. You should get something out of reeding this foolishness.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

I Have Upped my Price

I am down to my last two Red composition books. For some reason that I cannot fully explain i have a weird color coding system for composition books. The most numerous of these books is the red ones. They are the ones that i write the sci fi stories in. Pictured to the left is one of these books I pulled off the internet.

I write everything into the composition books before I type it in. I find that making myself retype something help me catch a bunch of my spelling and grammer errors. Also I add stuff as a type the composition books into the computer. If I ever do sell a book and make money off it I suppose I could give them to a typist.

This typist would have to be a very special and tolerant person. Maybe if i get really advance I could dicate them to someone and I will never have need of Red Composition Books. My typist would have to be tolerant as well.And they would have to be able to guesse what I am really saying when I put three fs in the work Ohio. I don't know why I did it. That is one of thoise errors I picked up by typing the composition book into the computer.

People that read this blog on a regular basis will see the pitfalls of me typing stuff directly into the computer. If I could edit stuff i would be dangerous. I like to look at my spelling errors as God's way of keeping me from taking over the world.

I will say that the spell checker on blogger had helped out. If put an o and a nine in the word spelling the last paragraph. Well the number 9 I did not spell it out. That would be a mental illness if a spelled numbers in the middle of words.

Pictured to the right is my paragon of organization. Namely a bunch of milk crates that are zip tied together. Anyway in the milk crate is a sample of the composition books i have. They are sitting in a crate with a knit version of me. That is the Lexicon of the books I am working on.

I am rather proud of my organization system. It make not make much sence still it is mine. Anyway I have gone a rather long way with out explaining the title of this entry. Once again long time readers are used to this.

I will not pay more than a dollar for a composition book. I usually buy a bunch of them around back to school time. I am going through them so fast the last two years I have not made it through the year without having to buy new books.

Once upon a time I would buy them four for a dollar and then two for a dollar and so on. I have decided that I can afford to spend a dollar fifty per book. This may not sound Earth shattering. Still it is important to me.

By the way pictured to the left are the composition books for The Salvation Navy.

And If G dub is reading this he sould know that I have named a character after him that is incommand of a fleet. And he does not die in the first book. actually I don't think his character dies in the books. He just goes off and fighter other wars and does other things. I was just typing him into the computer so I thought I would mention it.

Anyway I went looking for red composition books. At the CVS in Oakland they were two dollars so i would not buy them even though they had several and it would have solved my problem.I did finf one for a dollar fifty at the CVS in Down Town. Why the same chain sells the same thing at different costs in the same tow is beyond me. I can only assume they are fleecing the college students who are too busy to comparission shop composition books all over town.

I went to the Officer Max or what ever it is down town and they did not have them in red. Pink, Aquamarine and lavender sure plain old red not a chance. They did have pallet of black. I really did think i should buy a bunch of black books and color them red. In lean times when i could not find red books I have done this.

I have covered black books with red lectrical tape or contat paper. I sure that doing this ups the cost of the book. It is probably not enviromentally sound and is bad for many other reasons. I suppose Ed Bagley Jr would hate me if he knew I existed.

Hmmmm.... I wonder if he googles himself. If he does this might come up. Then he would know me and know my red composition book predicament. Her could tell me about a process to turn black compostion book into enviromentally freindly red ones. Maybe he makes them in his basement and would send me designer ecologically freind composition books. He might hire me typist so I will not waste more composition books.

He would proabble ignor this page. Maybe if I get really lucky he could leave me a rude comment. Althought me appears to be a nice guy when he is being interviewed.

Onto some other randomness. Rachel was looking for pencil cases. Now when ever I go somewhere I think of finding her pencil cases. Here is a plastic one that I found at the officer store that did not have red composition books.

They had a bunch of pencil cases. I beleive she wants to use them for knitting projects, perhpase socks. I suppose that sweaters would be hard to keep in a pencil cases. I also think she wanted clear zipper cases as well. Something soft and not hard like the ones I found. I also found some of these cool looking cases.

I doubt that any of this is helpful. Still I thinking about it enough that I took some pictures. Surely the people at these stores think there is something wrong with me. If they read this blog they would proabbly be certain.

Any be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice. And if don't hear from me Ed Bagley Jr. got me

I am Sorry Walt



Perhaps the Heart is a bit much. Still, it is a manly blue, but I digress. In a recent post I stated he is a smart alec. That is rude and I should not have done it. I am sorry Walt.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

EWWWWWW


Someone should remind me that I hate these things. About once every year or two I buy a bag of pork rinds like an idiot. For some reason I don't remember that I don't like them. So what do I do I buy a bag.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Well Kath New You Have

Hats and Tunes

Still working on hats and the accordion. To make things supper scary i am on my fourth clown hat this month. And The accordion band now has three accordions a drummer and piano player. It is just like a real band only evil, really evil.We are going to offer to play amazing grace during church.
The Salvation Army is having it's family camp at the end of August. At least I think it is. I can't remeber. We should take our instruments. That would be so cool. Well it would be from a certain point of view. And considering that I have a unique point of view that makes it cool.

The book is moving along quickly. I am happy with it's progress.

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

I Want This Pen

I want to find this pen in a normal type store in the Pittsburgh area. It is comfortable and have filled at least one composition book using it. I found one of the bus a month ago. Since then I have refilled it using the insides of other pens.

Perhaps that is a bit nuts. Still, it is what I have been doing. I appears that I have been writting too much the old fashioned way by hand. Anyway I developed a huge callous on my middle finger. And using this pen for the last month it has gone away.

I have looked it up on their web site and I see no way to find it in a store. There are a few places to ordr it online. Still, I don't usually like buying small things on line. I am looking for a pen for pitty's sake. I would prefer not to spend five buck on shipping for a two dollar item.

My only regret is that they do not make it in red. And even if they did I have not been able to find a reasonable way to buy it. I suppose I am a bit off like that, I have to write into the note book in blue. Then I type it into the computer and print it out. Then I correct it in red. And long time reader of this blog know that if I have to edit something that is going to take a good number of red pens.

You know Bic should make a metal version of this pen. Or a version that is not disposable. I would buy that pen. Heck I might even send away for that pen. I will not send away for a plastic pen.

Thank you for your time. And if you are from the Bic Corporation please tell me where you sell your pen in Pittsburgh. I need a couple blue ones and a bunch of red ones when you start making the red ones.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Monday Knitting

As always is was the Sheep and Dinosaur knitting group on Sunday. Just for yuks here is the hat I am working on for Miss Flower the Clown. It is made in the Green and yallow tutufruity red heart something or other.

I can't remember the name of yarn. It was ring around the rosey or something like that. Weird how we still songs about the plague. Maybe the yarn was not named for that song.

This is a random picture of the back of Walt. We were also writing balloon stuff as well. So we had some balloon fun as well.


And this is the Great Train Robery. It is one of my favorite movies that you can now see on the Hulu thing.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

It has been a really busy week or so. All I have been doing in my free time is making vidcasts and typing the books.

Here is a random peice of accordion stuff

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Typing Lots of Typing

The last several days I have been doing is typing and working on The Salvation Navy.

The only knitting I have been doing is at the Monday Group.

There have also been stuff to do with this and that.

Mostly lots of typing. On the up side I watch the Hulu while Type. So I have gone through all the Babylon 5 and most of bones and a bunch of the movies.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Random Stuff

I have been busy with this and that. Mostly i am trying to get all of the first book in The Salvation Navy Series into the computer. I have it written out on a bunch of composition books. If I ever sell this book I will hire a secretary for the next one. It is really better for the rest of civilization if someone does the typing for me.
On the knitting front these are there three clown hats that have been knit thus far. The rolled up thing is a short Long Scarf (only 25 feet). this is the first scarf that I made for standing kettle with the army. Sot it is old and full of mistakes. Still, for practice it is a great little thing. Especially for the kids since it is shorter and easier to handle.

On something unrelated entirely what is with the Numa Numa stuff on the you tube. I had no idea that kind of thing existed. Perhaps I should be paying more attention to fads and trends. If I get someone to type for me then I will waste more time looking for stuff like that.

I suppose one could become famous by doing weird stuff on the internet. If that is true then where is my fame. I can wonder off on a strange tangent no one cares about better than anyone I know. Perhaps there are people that care about that Numa Numa thing. Maybe that is the different I have to do something interesting that people care about.

Well that sounds like a great deal of effort. Perhaps I will just keep going on about random unimportant things.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Do I know who Jimmy Shand is? Oh do I.

I love Jimmy Shand. And how many people have some one write a song anoud them. This is especially rare in the music world. And it does not count if you wrote it about yourself. That just makes you a burk. Does Fifty Cent have a song about him, No. Madona, Prince, Sting, Lawrence Welk, No No No and No.

Amadeus Mozart, Bach and Jimmy Shand do.



By the besides the Pennsylvania Polka this is my Favorite Polk ala Jimmy Himself



And Just to be out there.



Just a bit of Trivia Jimmy has more pieces of Music to his name than the Beatles and Elvis put together. Few people other than Robert Burns himself have done more to save traditional Scottish Music than Jimmy.

If could play the button accordion I would buy a Shand Morino. This is the same accordion that Jimmy played. Jimmy didn't like the accordions of his time and had one built to his specification. Hohner still makes it today.

Jimmy passed away a few years ago. Still he left us legacy of music that few can equal.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Hello Kitty

It is 3:30 AM my cat is looking at me like I should be asleep. By the way this is Marska. You can tell because you have she has two eyes.

Look at me taking a shot at the cat. Anyway eleven Chapter of the Salvation Navy have been typed in.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Don't Leave You Accordion in a Hot Car - Trainwreck Edition

Did you know that the insides of an accordion are usually held together with Bee's Wax. By the way the only way to be an ubber nerd is to play the Accordion. So of course I have taken this instrument up.

If your Accodion is making a rateling sound and many of the keys do not make a sound this is a problem. It means that the metal reeds on the inside have fallen off the inside of the Accodion. I of course know this because I took apart out broken accordion. The wind chest gizmo thing on the button side with the metal reeds that had fallen off.
And YouTube was to the rescue again. This is a clip from a discovery chanel show. I forget the name of the show but they show you how stuff is made.


With this clip, a sodering iron and a quick trip to the hardware store I was able to get the keyboard sideof this device working again. The case is warped in servaral places making it leak air in several places. This apparently is bad for the operation of one of these things.


This is the prettiest of the accodions we have amassed. It has more notes than the Hohner that I use and has a softer sweeter sound. Since most of the reeds have fallen off the button side it will take me a while to get it working again. I also need to find some straps to wear this instrument since it did not come with them.

In my regular You Tube Hunting I found Wolfgang Thobae. He has several of the Hallmarks of a good accordion player. First he does not look at the Keys. Second he is able to play both sets of keys on his instrument. Third he can read sheet music and play at the same time. And fourth he does not have the notes written on the keys of his accordion.

As an added bonus he is playing a larger and new Hohner accodion like the one that I use. This give me hope for my eventual upgrade when I know what I am doing.

Moon River


Scarborough Fair


Good By Yellow Brick Road


Knights in White Satin


House of the Rising Sun


Just for I have to mention the most famous American Accodion Players. Of course this is Weird Al Yankovik.





If you have watcvhed all these videos you have won the wated time aware for the week.Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

More AYBS

Since people actually commented when I stuck on of these up I am going to put another up. John Inman playing multiple rolls what is not to like.





Monday, June 30, 2008

Monday Group and Rolling Tote

Fun times were had at the Yarn N'At. We did another episode of Yarn N'At. It is such an entertaining episode we stuck it together this evening. This is Rachel having fun at the Dinosaur and Sheep Group. I think she is having fun. Maybe that is not a fun having face. At least she has a balloon Turtle. Really there is little else to life other than balloon turtles. So if you life is not what you want it to be be ask yourself. Do I have a balloon turtle. If the answer is no then that is why you are unhappy.If you come to our group we will make you a turtle that will make you happy.
I did drag out the old rolling tote again. The thing has seen better days. It's wheels wore out and the feet that hold it out in the front have also worn out.
This is what the underside looks like not. It has a bit of wood for the feet now. And there are new wheels in the back. I know you are impressed. I certainly am.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

New Layout Sort of

I have finally broken down and switched my blog over to the new layout thing. It will take me a few day to replace everything with this new system. OPn the up side I should have a gizmo that works with all the searchy explorer type things

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Practice Practice Practice.

It was another exciting evening of practice at The Steel Valley Corps in Homestead. You can't see it in all of the pictures but this is juggling practice. Since I am taking the pictures there are none of me juggling. I should probably take the video thing of people juggling. It would be more interesting than the pictures. Amazing that we are going into out third year and have no video of us juggling.

This is my wife juggling. You can't see the balls because they are over her head.
This is Sergeant K and he is blurry because I am a bad photographer.
Sergeant Chasko is doing very well at this. Cadet Harris was also doing very week at juggling. She has only been juggling for a week or so and she is up to three balls. This is impressive in the juggling world.



And just for it's random torture value here is my progress on the accordion. After this you will think I should have taken Juggling video and not the accordion. This is going to be last segment in the Army Clowns video.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

3 in the Morning

At three in the morning after much typing one needs a good laugh.





Saturday, June 21, 2008

Train Wreck Edition - Clowns and Jpop

Great fun has been had this week at the Vacation Bible School. Of course teaching all of the Children about Jesus was the main event this week. Still, on a personal level there is what some might think a smaller story. Never the less it is a terribly important day for two of the Apprentice Clowns of the brigade. Apprentice Kisielnicki and Prioleau had their first shows in make up today.

Here they are on a balloon detail in out parking lot. In the Brigade Kisielnicki is ranked third in ballon and Prioleau is ranked 4th. That is fairly impressive considering they have not even been in the Brigade a year yet.



Here is Apprentice Prioleau just after getting her makeup on. She still needs a nose but she is well on her way to having her face.

We are working on the second edition of Army Clowns. We have a lot more stuff this time around. It should be a better episode all around. The last of the stuff that is going to be filmed or taped or what every you do with a digital camera will be done this sunday.

Yeah there was no good reason for this. On the Punk Rock Knit Girls group in The Ravelry I mentioned something about the Cotton Candy Helmet and how to make one. Anyway sitting around after the Vacation Bible School Party we were filming some stuff for the next episode of Clown Army. And well this is what we like to call D roll. In television the stuff that rarely makes it on the air is B Roll. Since no one watches this stuff we figure it is C Roll. And this thing because it is so out there it should probably be D Roll.


I have been thinking that I need to learn Japanese. Long time viewer will know my musical tastes are strange to say the least. To be fair they are all over the map.

Oh and before I go on about Japaneese music I found this in the You Tube.

Ah that was wonderful and it is proof there are geekyeer people out there than me. Ah back to the Jpop. Morning Musume has had out some new songs. Here are a few with some random comments from me.

They always have really spiffy unforms and costumes. These silver jobs should be the next Salvation Army Uniform. I have better write the General right away.

They look a bit angry in this one. Maybe they are unhappy about the silly yellow outfits. It I had a nickel every time I was convinced to dance around with yellow feathers in my hair. I suppose they weren’t always yellow.

This one is the newer generation of the Morning Mussume with their pets. I suppose it was bring you dog to work day or something. You see if I spoke Japanese I would understand the dog thing.

And here they are with castanets. I can’t play the castanets. I am not even sure I can spell it. I can spell cowbell and bag pipe. To bad there is not Chris Walken Joke to be make here.

I haven’t the slightest clue what is happening here. This is definitely one of the songs where I need to find the version with subtitles. It is a catchy tune. Still, they have a star ship and creepy microphones. And try and find the space borne Buddha. And they stole a Miranda Class star ship from Star Trek. Wow that makes me the biggest nerd ever.

If Marki Mark can act then Morning Musume can rap. It is a bit scarry. This fighting style is also being taught to all Japanese girls living near foreign military installations. Sorry too soon, it have been a few years.


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