There'll be Pie in the Sky By and By

Another week, another team project for 52 Projects. This weekend Jane and I went to a local Church family fun day and entered a pie eating contest. No small coincidence that this is something we've both wanted to do for some time because, of course, we are the same. It wasn't a world class pie eating contest, but it was fun and a good way to start competitive eating. Hey, maybe that's my next gig after Ironman Lake Placid!

Jane has a great write up on the 52 Projects main page so I won't force you to read about it over here too. I will post some different pictures though.


My game face



Flashing the P, for Pie. But it's backwards. So much for intimidating the competition.


WINNER!!!!

Playing with Paint Shop Pro

I've mentioned a few times here that I was planning on posting some digital art for 52 Projects some week. Well, this is some week.


With no further adieu...


















These are all from my tree pruning project last week.

Tree Trimming

Tree trimming usually happens in December when spruce and pine get adorned with the beauty of professional sports teams’ licensed merchandise, but I’ve taken a different route. Ok, I am taking a different definition of trimming. More like pruning. Our backyard neighbor has a beautiful flowering fruit tree, probably a Cherry Blossom, that provides beauty and shade to his yard. And our yard. And our back porch. Right up to the back door. I knew late last summer that this tree would need pruning on our side of the fence. It hangs over a small back deck where our grill is, and was beginning to get in the way. I kept meaning to get around to it but this week the thing seemed to explode in bloom over night and completely take over the deck. It was time. In fact, it was 52 Projects time.

I looked into renting one of those telescoping tree pruning saws. First place I called place didn’t carry them. They guy on the phone kind of laughed at the notion of renting them and said there was too much liability. Hmmm. What could possibly go wrong when working overhead with heavy branches near electrical lines? I called another tool rental place and they did rent them, but were out. I guess there are a lot of trees hanging over back decks around here. Undaunted, I set out to buy my own. Though we are renting a house now we will have our own place soon enough and every good homeowner needs a 14 foot telescoping tree pruning saw.

Never having used one before it took me a little bit to realize that the saw blade and the cutting mechanism are separate parts of the tool. The rope hanging down from the business end is for operating the shears, not for operating the saw. Maybe there was something to the notion of not renting these things out.

After some assembly I figured out the not so very complicated mechanism and set out to free the grill from the attack of the Cherry Blossoms. I asked Max if he wanted to help and he was very excited about the notion of cutting things. I told him there would be some manual labor at first and later we’d use a power saw. That really got him going. That brought me to another first for 52 Projects; teaching Max how to use hand saws and power saws safely and effectively. In light of the lack of blood this seems to have been a success.

Here are some before and after pictures

Do, do do, looking out my back door....

Up the down staircase

A view from a yard



Here are some during pictures

We used my reciprocating saw to cut the branches down to manageable bits

Then we stuffed them in the mandatory recyclable yard waste bags

Now we can grill on the back deck without fear of arbor attacks.

(And yes, I did put the snow shovels, rock salt, and tree stand away. Hey, we may still have another frost coming!)

Weekend Wood

This week, for 52 Projects, I decided that I would play with tools. I did not complete anything, rather I've started something.

I've always been fascinated by wood. I love the smell of fresh cut lumber, I like to the look of broken timber, and, as we found out earlier, I have a thing for driftwood. This spring I have seen different types of wood lying around; downed branches, fallen tress, etc. One day I was out running and I saw a log that was in a pile of yard clean up stuff. As I ran by it I could see a face carved in it. By me. All I needed to do was 1) remember where I saw it and go back later with the car 2) learn to carve. Pretty simple eh? We'll see how it all works out but I've started. I got a cheap set of starter carving tools, cut a slab off the log, and started playing. I didn't get too far since we were so busy over the weekend but it's a start. This will be a work in progress but eventually will make it back to 52 Projects.

I look for the light through the pourin' rain

A couple of weeks ago Jane and I went to New York City to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We walked around Times Square, visited Saint Pat's, took in a show and visited Ground Zero. It was a great time and a wonderful way to mark our first year as husband and wife. We both wrote about it for 52 Projects. So what does that have to do with this week's 52 Projects? I'll tell you...

When we went to NY it rained





A lot





For two days




There were heavy winds, torrential rains, flooding, power outages, and all manner of mayhem all over the tri state region. Go ahead, Google it.




After visiting Ground Zero on Sunday we took a walk in Battery Park


Right there in the North Marina on the Hudson River...



We saw the remnants of the storm; a whole bunch of drift wood



We picked up several pieces. So many in fact that we had to grab some umbrella bags (plastic bags used to keep umbrellas from dripping indoors, conveniently located inside the big building right by the marina) to carry away our loot. Funny thing is, I'd never seen these umbrella bags before this trip. Hmmm...



Here's a look at things laid out to dry once we got home.




I know we (I) will have many more projects born out of this haul ,but the first are the City Scape and Lady Liberty we built and Jane wrote about on the main 52 Projects site




And the candle holders I fashioned out of a cylindrical piece of wood



Isolation on the original piece from the pile





Seems like all our pieces this week have candles. Go figure.

It was such an honor and a privileg to be able to work with Jane on this project. I feel like we brought it to life together in so many ways. I first noticed the wood and started collecting pieces. That inspired her to grab a few too. I've always been fascinated by drift wood and flotsam and jetsam and now I have 52 Projects to really get me thinking and creating. I knew I wanted to do "something" with the wood but Jane knew right away that she wanted to build the city scape to commemorate our anniversary but also to honor those who died as a result of the attacks on September 11th. So, she had the idea and the vision but wasn't sure about how to make some things work. That part was easy for me; drill here, screw there, bada boom bada bing - City Scape and Lady Liberty.

The whole process was like the miracle of birth. I had the seed of the idea for using the driftwood to create something. This seed found fertile ground in the womb of her imagination and the city images began to grow in her mind. When the time came to bring them to life I was able to coach her some and pull just a bit to bring them into the light of the world. We really are a great team and I am so excited to see what we do next!


Bonus points for anyone who gets the reference in the post title. And NO GOOGLING!!!

Six Word Saturday

Yea for me; I'm running again.

I've been nursing an Achilles tendon injury since mid January. At one point I went 4 weeks without running which for me seems like forever. I've been running 3-5 times a week since 2005; to go without was torturous. I'm on my way back now, slowly ramping up my mileage, but I had to bail on a half iron distance race I had scheduled in May. I'm going to do an Olympic distance race instead and should be able to train for and complete that one just fine.

Roasting my nuts

This week for 52 Projects I've taken on a culinary challenge; cashew butter. I LOVE cashews and have always wanted to make my own nut butter, so I did. It was pretty easy and there were quite a few "How to's" online.

I wanted to start with raw pieces and roast them myself. My wonderful wife volunteered to pick them up for me as she was making a run to Wegmans and they have a nice bulk section. I wanted 3 cups of raw cashews. She came home with 3 pounds of roasted cashews :) Good thing we like cashews!

She redeemed herself by going to a local nut store, The Head Nut, and got the 3 cups of raw pieces while I was out on a bike ride this morning.

So here's the process:

Get nuts (I swear, it was full!)




Roast them @ 350 for a few minutes until brown (mine went about 9 mins)





Have food processor



Throw them in the food processor and let it do its thing.





Add some extra virgin olive oil as needed for creaminess (I used about 3-4 teaspoons for 3 cups of nuts.



You'll need to keep checking the consistency and scrapping the sides. Mad scientist face is optional.



Put it in an air tight container to keep it fresh



Enjoy!




We spread some on fresh apple pieces using the sunshine plate Jane created. Yummage!





Things I learned:

* Don't put 3 cups of nuts on a single baking sheet. Only put on enough to cover the pan in one layer.

* Make sure to stir the nuts every few minutes while roasting. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

* Let the nuts cool before using the food processor.

* Be patient. Let the processor do its thing. It will take a while and you'll need to scrape the sides often. At first the nuts will just get chopped into bits. Eventually the bits will start to clump. This is when to add the oil, but remember the Brylcreem adds; a little dab'll do ya. Use as little oil as possible to get the consistency you like.

I will be enjoying this project for days to come. Yea for nuts!