All posts by warren

Fencing

April 12, 2012HouseHousewarren

We had a sleep-over for Abigail’s birthday a few weeks ago. We were talking about what we had to do to prepare and the first thing Abigail said is, “Can we clean up outside? Can we start with the fence? It looks trashy!” Well, she had a point. We bought this house 6 or so years ago and the fence was a wreck then. It had stupid English ivy growing all over it and that stuff sucks. I mean, it sucks the life out of anything it touches. I despise the miserable stuff. Oops…sorry…off topic.

Old picket fence — Isn't that old fence a beauty?

Anyhow, so back to the fence. We looked sideways at the old fence and it fell down…well, the parts that didn’t just disintegrate fell over the hill. Emily hoisted 3 new fence panels into the van all by herself (don’t ask…she was most seriously displeased with the lack of attention from the worthless staff at our local home improvement store). I dug a lot of post holes when I put up the fence for the bee yard. It doesn’t get any better with time, my friends. I once again used the auger which is a man-killer. Post hole diggers kill also, it just goes faster with the auger and this project was no different.

A post hole! — Auger hole...to the center of the earth!

So, we got the new fence up and the party went off without a hitch. I don’t think that a single 9 year old noticed that we had a new fence in place. I don’t think my neighbors cared much about my new fence. Honestly, I sort of don’t care much about the new fence either. The good news is that we now have a new place to air out shoes or hang laundry to dry. I am so glad Abigail suggested this new fence so we won’t look trashy!

In the black!

April 7, 2012Awesome, Family, ThoughtsAwesome, Family, Thoughtswarren

Isaac started taking Tae kwon do a little over 2 years ago (I looked back at that picture of him when he started…*sniff, sniff* where is my baby?) and I had pretty mixed emotions about the whole deal. I mean, taking your kid to a class where they learn how to fight, and I mean seriously fight…it just sort of seems messed up to me…or at least it did. Isaac took his black belt test today and passed beautifully. He has mastered his forms and knows many good kicks. He had to break a number of boards and spar with several other students. He really demonstrated that his skills are well defined and that his training has paid off. As I watched him spar the other students, I saw Isaac take some hits and land some hits. In both cases though, he handled it. He’s not just a little kid any more. He handled a challenge, he overcame a little pain and he fought hard and with determination. He’s become such a different (and better) young man than when he started TKD.

Getting ready for the taekwondo black belt test — Getting ready...

I think the thing that made me most proud today was how he handled himself and his nerves. Of course it is a big deal to test for the black belt. What he didn’t fully know is the degree to which he was to be quizzed on everything. The instructors asked him all sorts of questions on all sorts of topics and he really made me proud. He answered with thoughtful, complete answers that were more mature than I ever expected.

Taekwondo board breaking — Getting ready to break boards

Quizzed for black belt test — Grandmaster preparing to quiz Isaac

Teaching a kid to fight is one way to look at learning TKD. I think the more important view is that TKD teaches a young man how to handle himself in many situations. I think this whole process taught me something too. My son is growing up and I am learning just how exciting it is to watch my little boy grow into a young man. *sniff sniff*

Where are you spaceman?

April 5, 2012Thoughts, TinkeringTechnology, Tinkeringwarren

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that I passed my technician class HAM radio test. It took me a few weeks to get my call sign and ticket (my paper license) but I am now on the air. While waiting on the FCC to issue my license, I researched radios and decided on getting a Handi-talkie (aka HT). Basically, it is a hand-held radio that is a typical beginner radio. I ordered a Wouxon KG-UVD1P which translates to the cheapest radio that had fairly good reviews (There is your Chinese lesson for the day).

That’s my new radio…yes, it’s on a new beehive

It took awhile to figure out what I was doing with this radio but a lot of that was really just learning how HAM radio in general works. I had to research PL tones and offsets and repeaters and then figure out how to translate that to my radio. Luckily Wouxon provides free software to assist in programming the radio from a computer…if you buy their $15 cable. It was a bargain I soon found out!

So, I have been talking to (and listening to) lots of local folks on the local repeater. A repeater is a system that “listens” on a particular frequency and re-broadcasts the signals it receives. My HT can only transmit over a fairly limited distance, especially in these WV hills. The frequency band in which I am licensed to transmit typically only works with 50 miles or so max. As I advance, I will get licensed to talk at the frequencies that people use when they communicate globally, but for now I must communicate through the repeater…mostly.

I was listening on the repeater the other night when “they” announced that the International Space Station would be passing overhead between 6:06 and 6:12 am today. My HT does ok with its stock antenna but I figured I would need to beef things up if I was going to hear the astronauts, many of whom are licensed HAMs. I searched around online and found plans to make a j-pole antenna tuned for the 2-meter radio band in which I am licensed and in which the ISS would possibly be communicating.

Close-up of my j-pole antenna — All these pipes have to be just the right length

I bought copper and connectors and a candy bar and worked on my new antenna. I even used the metric system! Anyhow, late last night in the dark, I was outside soldering copper pipe to be ready. I hooked my radio to the new antenna and tested it last night and everything seemed to work well. I could hear locals talking loud and clear.

The alarm went off at 5:45 am so I hustled outside, plugged in to my new antenna and listened…and listened…and listened. Finally at 6:20 I gave up. I was pretty bummed…mainly because of all of the sleep I missed but I am still pleased that I was able to build a nice and portable j-pole antenna. So, if you see a handsome bald man wandering the streets of Charleston looking to the sky, calling out to spacemen, it is definitely not me…do not make eye contact…take shelter immediately!

Mah baby turned 9!

April 3, 2012Awesome, FamilyAwesome, Familywarren

My baby girl turned 9 today. How can that be?! It was just yesterday she was born! Of course, it was just yesterday I was 18 too so I guess I have blinked! Anyhow, to celebrate, we went out to eat with family tonight. Emily asked Abigail where she wanted to go for her party. We figured she would pick any number of places but we never expected she would say she wanted to eat at the Mexican restaurant where we often eat. You see, what makes it especially funny is that she always orders a hotdog or a hamburger…at the Mexican restaurant.

Well, a bunch of us ate together and Abigail had a great time! She sat at the head of the table and absolutely absorbed every smile and laugh from our group! She was in her element at the center of attention. Just as she was finishing up her ~~french~~ Mexican fries, the wait-staff brought her fried ice cream and a big sombrero. She didn’t know, as they sang her a birthday song, that she would get a nose full of whipped cream, a Mexican restaurant tradition.

For her birthday, Abigail wanted folks to donate money to relief efforts for the recent tornadoes in Kentucky. We sort of poked around a little though to see what else she wanted. I figured she would pick a new book or maybe some clothes…nope. She wanted wood files. That’s right – my little girl wanted wood-working tools that she has seen me use. Heck, I was happy to oblige…she got wood rasps for her 9th birthday!

After we got home tonight, she was just a delight. She danced around and laughed and said, “this was a splendid day!” That’s my baby girl…growing up so well!

Splitting up and moving

March 31, 2012BeesBees, Honeybeeswarren

It’s a little earlier than when I usually split bee colonies but this year, since we had little in the way of winter, the bees are really booming and desperately needed to be split. Bees typically start to bring in increasing amounts of nectar which stimulates the queen to lay more eggs and eventually the brood nest becomes so full of bees that some of the bees leave. That’s how a swarm is born. For beekeepers,swarms are not exactly ideal. I don’t always mind if my bees swarm so long as I can find the swarm and catch it. Too often though, swarms happen when folks aren’t watching and then half a hive of bees is lost.

Anyhow, I usually make splits to hopefully prevent natural swarms. To make a split, I simply take 3-6 frames of bees, eggs, honey and pollen from one hive and put them into a new hive box. The bees (apparently) feel as if they have swarmed and with the newly opened space, they are free to go on about their business as a properly sized hive. I usually make splits a few weeks from now but the hives at the house were bursting at the seams and had swarm cells. Swarm cells are the hive’s preparation to make a new queen to replace the queen that leaves when the bees swarm.

Bees eating honey from burr comb in the hive

I have had excellent luck preventing swarms by timing my splits just right so I expect that this season will see no swarms from my hives. I have high hopes of getting calls from the city, however, to retrieve swarms from other people’s hives!

The bees were very docile as I split the colony

In addition to making splits this week, I also moved most of my remaining hives from the city out to our place in the country. Moving bees is a wild prospect. Emily and I woke up at dawn’s crack (actually, before dawn) to cover the hives in bedsheets to keep the bees inside for the most part. We laid down a sheet for each hive and then moved each hive onto the sheet. I gathered the sheet around the hive boxes and duct taped them to the side of the hive boxes. Emily then threw another sheet on the top and taped it down as well. For the most part, that kept the bees inside the “netting” and allowed us to move them safely.

Looking down into the hive. Notice the white pupa with purple eyes

We had to prepare the hives before dawn to make sure that all of the bees were inside the hives when we closed them up. The hives are quickly gaining weight this time of year so lifting them is quite an adventure. Emily was a great help and all hives arrived safe and sound! Sometimes splitting up and moving can be a pretty good deal!

More info about my bees and beekeeping

Bullets vs. hard drives

March 28, 2012AwesomeAwesomewarren

Did you ever wonder what would happen when a bullet passes through different things? I have always enjoyed shooting a random pumpkin or a tv. Just fyi…a pumpkin makes an excellent display when shot with a proper shotgun. A tv is far more dull than I expected. I suppose that shooting a plugged-in-and-running tv might be interesting but I digress.

Anyhow, guns are awesome things…in both good and bad ways. I truly enjoy target shooting…that’s one of the good-awesome aspects of shooting. So, a friend of mine at work often heads to the shooting range with me at lunch. This week, Emily came along with us too. She wanted to shoot her Valentine’s day gun (and you thought I wasn’t a romantic).

So, my friend and I work at an IT business. We are both involved in developing software but we often get old or crashed computers in that are headed for the big website in the sky. We always recycle every bit of equipment that comes in. Part of that includes destroying the hard drives to protect any information that might be on them. Eventually, every hard drive gets shredded in a super cool shredder machine that eats them like a paper shredder chews stupid credit card offers.

Anyhow, that gives us an opportunity to pre-destroy the hard drives via bullet. We took two hard drives to the range the other day and shot them with a bunch of different guns. The one that surprised me most was the 38 caliber bullet. If you look carefully, you can see how it ricocheted off of the hard drive face. I couldn’t believe it! How could a bullet not pass through a simple hard drive?! One bullet splattered on impact. Why oh why 38 are you so weak?

Bullets through a hard drive — 45 through the top left, .223 through the bottom right and beside the splattered 38

We stepped it up a bit with other calibers and had great success with the 45 caliber and the .223 (typical assault rifle ammo). I knew those bullets would penetrate but I was incredibly surprised about the 38.

So friends, if you ever find your self in possession of a hard drive that simply needs to be shot, I can heartily recommend only calibers larger than the pitiful 38!

Up North

March 28, 2012Family, FunFamily, Funwarren

A week or so ago, we went to PA to celebrate my Grandpa’s 98th birthday. That was fun and we got into all sorts of things…

We opened some late Christmas presents

We unloaded 3 tons of wood pellets for my parents’ pellet stove

Isaac even helped

but definitely needed a break!

We climbed trees

Played some football

Had a great party with Grandpa

98th birthday party for Grandpa — Cake is good no matter how old you are!

There were leprechauns

We hunted Easter eggs…full of money!

We verified that Isaac is growing and hide-and-seek isn’t as easy as it used to be

So, although it wasn’t nearly as green up there, spring was about to hit and we had a really great time! When we stay home, we never seem to be able to do so many things on a weekend. We needed a break after the short vacation!

Need a job? Take a number…

March 26, 2012FunFunnywarren

So I mentioned in the last post that we took a trip to PA to celebrate my Grandpa’s 98th birthday. It’s a bit of a trip – 6 hours or so and we never leave until after work. That puts us in pretty late. We always stop at a particular truck-stop right as we get off of the interstate and start the hour and a half trip through the dark and windy roads to Tionesta. Needless to say, we are sometimes a little goofy at that point so you can only imagine the hooting and carrying on we did when I saw the job application for the truck-stop. I guess you take a number and you’re hired.

I’d say it’s a pretty tough place to work so maybe the only way they can get enough people to staff the place is to take absolutely anyone who can pull a ticket. I don’t know but I have to tell you, I still chuckle when I look at this picture!

And that’s how you send off a mortgage

March 21, 2012Awesome, FamilyAwesome, Familywarren

My parents bought the house they are in awhile ago. I was not born in that house but it is the only house I ever knew as a kid. So, like many folks, they paid for it month after month for what seems like an eternity. Just in the last few months they made their final payment and are now mortgage free.

Shooting a 45! Check out the ejected shell!

We were in PA for a party (more on that another day) and had a little time to hang out with an old friend. You see, my brother was also in for this party so it was a pretty cool opportunity to hang out with a guy that we have both known since for as long as we can remember. Jefé(as we will call him here…to protect the innocent) has been a great friend, especially so to my brother. They went to school together since kindergarten (I went with Jefé’s sister since we were in kindergarten).

Shooting a 44 magnum — Jefé shooting a 44 magnum...get ready...

Anyhow, Jefé found himself in possession of a small cannon. Yes, a literal cannon. My parents had their paid-off mortgage papers, we had access to a cannon…do you see where this is going? Isaac, my brother and I spent the day target shooting with Jefé, so the cannon as grand finale was a perfect end to the day. Right after dark, Jefé loaded the cannon with powder and my Mom stuffed the mortgage down into the muzzle.

Mom putting the mortgage into the cannon

We stood around anxiously waiting for the fuse to burn down. It was only a few seconds but the excitement we all shared was so awesome! The cannon fired sending flames and smoke and the remnants of the mortgage flying through the air. The mortgage had met its match and lost!

;

Click here for a sideways video of the cannon (my software to rotate it properly is messed up…but you will get the idea!)

I can’t wait until my mortgage is paid off. The few seconds of excitement blowing Mom and Dad’s away was so much fun. I am sure they are relieved and proud and relieved. Honestly, every bank should be required to supply a cannon to folks when they pay off their mortgage. There is such celebration when you sign on for a mortgage but the best part usually goes by without even a mention. Not me dear friends…a cannon will be a part of many important celebrations in my life!

(By the way, shooting a cannon is incredibly dangerous so DO NOT try it on your own! You can’t pay off your mortgage if you’re dead!)

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!