Youtubing beats blogging

I haven't blogged in quite a while.  Now in the interim I made a pile of videos.  They may be of low interest to my handful of readers but they took a lot of work.  I meant to do a garden update and a project update but shit happens.  The whole youtube video thing took me by massive surprise.  It appears I may have a calling.  Perhaps even a vocation.  I had known that I had a gift for explaining but this goes beyond that.  Folks love my voice.  I had considered it just a sideline.  Who needs a voice when you are explaining to someone that they are too stupid to understand.  Anyone can do that.  But explaining it in a way that they may comprehend is a bit more.  And doing it in a voice they can't ignore?  Perhaps that's meaningful.

I leave it to you my 3 readers to determine.

The challenge of making tutorial videos

I have finally, after a couple months of fiddling, made my first tutorial video.  It's a starting point for a series I have planned for a veteran point of view on how to play Dominions 3.  I started with some less than cooperative software and the foolish idea of doing my voice and the screen capture at the same time.  That is ineffective.  Instead what I found worked was talking while making the screen capture.  Then going back and recording my commentary.  I used the program EZVid which worked very well.  It's not full of features but it's quick and tidy.  I'm no expert so why work with stuff with more than I require.  Pretender Design Spectacle

I may also do some video of the operation of the digger.  I won't do the construction since my shop is still a nightmare and not a quality background.  When it's clean I'll do videos.  That noted, the first digger is built.  It works very well but there are definitely some adjustments to be made in the design.

Serendipity is HARD WORK!

My schedule and project plans just got knocked sideways.  I met a lady who's downsizing her house.  The had a huge yard and garden which sadly I've only seen in pictures.  A senior, she can't keep up anymore and had to move to an apartment and everything must go.  Sadly, the purchaser of her home doesn't want her raised bed gardens.  So we made a deal.  I get the wood and soil and hardware.  She gets my muscle.  Cool idea but it ended up a massive job.  She has 4 beds at 4 ft by 8 ft.  One octagon 4 feet per side.  And a huge diamond.  We started a week ago and got rained out but so far it's 3 truck loads of dirt.  There is no access to the yard with equipment so we are filling garbage cans, carrying them to the truck, rinse repeat.  3 full days work and we've got half done.  Wow.  I'm tired.

Here is the first load.  We were planning very well so just dumped it.  Then we got smarter!  We also got a free planter!  Look at that hilarious beast.  Take a tire still on the wheel, turn it inside out, and cut petals on the edge.








The next load sat in the truck while we prepped the new beds.  I cleaned, brushed and repainted the boards.  Then we laid them out, dug the sod and filled with the new dirt.  Pretty nice improvement in the front boulevard.

And the second front bed in progress.  It's twice as large but we got a lot done so far.












And last, but surely not least, the Sauropot!  With my son's beetle decoration.  I know I know.  That's not a sauropod.  But the name is awesome.

Shop nightmares

My shop is an utter disaster.  I cut out most of the parts for the digger a month ago and things went fine.  Then I began digging in boxes and bins for accessories and layout tools.  Next thing you know I've got crap everywhere and can't find anything when needed.  I broke my bandsaw blade as well and then FINALLY, the weather turned to spring.

So I have put the digger on hold with parts ready to assemble while I plant the garden.  That is going great.  I am doing my vegetables in containers again.  I did 24 hills of potatoes in bag gardens, a huge pot of carrots, 4 kinds of herbs in 10" pots and bought a dozen tomatoe plants.  Last year I was more organized and did my  tomatoes from seedling but with the snow and cold in April I failed to realize the time had arrived.  Still, we should have a good harvest as long as the bucket brigade maintains it's vigilance.  Container gardening produces massively but you have to be Johnny on the Spot with the rainwater or it's a bust.

Design for Kid's Toys

I found a wonderful thing yesterday.  In my file of wood plans outside I spotted "Digger" Pattern on an envelope.  Lo and behold it's the hand drawn plans from the sandbox diggers my dad made for us as kids.  My god we had a hell of a lot of fun with those.  I had completely forgotten that my mom dropped them off for me and thank god I put them in the wood pattern file or I would never have seen them again until the next decennial file cabinet cleanout I do.  I feel like walking through the process of making my son a digger.

Step 1: Model the plans in 3d and make drawings for printing.

Here is a photo of the plans as they stand.  The only dimensions are the thickness of the material.  Yikes.  That's awkward but I got out my handy measuring stick, found an assistant, and off we go.  Turns out, it's pretty simple stuff with most dimensions easy fractions.  Of course, it's in imperial inches.  1970 was long before metric took hold here in Canada.






The modelling was quite straightforward except for a few tricky tangent curves and some blending issues.  Here is the finished 3d model.  I have decided I'll build one exactly as originally designed for the sake of history and then I'll fine tune the design for easier fit, assembly, and material efficiency.  I may also tune it for aesthetics.  I think the digger would look a bit better with the bevels on the legs matching up to the base without a shoulder and other details.  Missing from the model is the string which runs from the bucket to the handle to allow dumping.  Strings are awkward to model in 3d and look realistic.

The next step is to complete drawings for cutting.  I have organized printing them at 1:1 scale to make layout simple.  I'll get them printed on D size (24"x36") bond paper and cut out the patterns.