Sunday night – Townes Van Zandt

June 8, 2014 johncohn Leave a comment

I was pretty grumpy this morning. It was hot , (80,) muggy and buggy.. and that;stard on me. It never needs to be above 60 for me.. Anyway.. I wasn’t sure what to do today… everything looked like a big job.. I decided to tackle a job that was inside. Ny home office was getting to be a pretty crowded tangle of print outs, microprocessors, sensors, dishes and conference trinkets. I decided to get a plow in there and clean it out. I was looking or some grumpy cleaning music and went to one of my old standby’s.. my favorite songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Townes was a singer / songwriter from Houston Tx (where I grew up) who has always been one of my favorites. I got turned on to him when I bought all the cassettes off a record store that was goign out of business back in 1975.. I was lucky enough to see Townes play quite a few times back in Texas.. He even took a hit out of one of my beers at a place called Anderson Faire in Houston.. He was staggering drunk at the time…. He was always drunk or high.. he had a life long struggle with addiction.. He died in 1997 of heart failure at age 52. By that time.. he was relativly poor and unknown, thogu his songs had been recorded by folks liek Willie Nelson. Kris Kristofersons,. Emily lou Harris, Doc Watson..

Anyway.. I wet on YouTube to find some old Townes tracks to do my cleaning and I came across a movie called “Be Hear to Love Me” about Townes life. it was made by a woman named Margaret Brown.. I’d never heard of the movie.. but I put it on as I cleaned. It was so amazing to get the life story of this guy who’s music has inspired me since I was in high school. It was a sad story .. mental illness, alcohol addiction drug addiction, money problems.. but also a story about a guy who was loved by his many friends.. and a guy who loved them back. I had really no idea of the struggles he’d been through.. If’ you’re a Townes fan.. i recommend the movie..

actually. if you’re a Townes fan, please let me know.. I always wonder why my favorite musician of all time is known by so few people.

If you don’t have time for the movie.. I understand.. check out a few of his songs.

here’s ‘If I needed you’

Here’s one of my favorites.. ‘Rake’

i was deeply touched by watching that movie.. and hearing that music again.. That cleared my mood..

which was good.. because we had a busy afternoon. Gabe’s Lacrosse banquet was at 4..

Coach Bucky and Ryan called the players up and said nice things about them all. I was very proud of Gabe !!!!.

the kids gave te coaches than you gift..

then it was over ! This was our last official act as kids sporting parents.. at least until grandkids 🙂 I got pretty choked up. Both Sam and Gabe played lacrossee.. and this sport, this team, these kids and these coaches have become so important to us over the years.. .. thank you all for that !

nite all. note sam

-me

Saturday night – Sugar Rockets !

June 7, 2014 johncohn Leave a comment

We had a beautifully un-programmed day.. Gabe and I took advantage to catch up on some pyrotechnic projects we’d had going . the main one was to build a set of ‘sugar rockets’ .. I used to make these when I was a kid..

The basic idea is to mix sugar (here sorbital, a sugar alcohol used as a sweetener) and potassium nitrate.. aka ‘saltpeter’ .. The recipe we’re using today calls for a pinch of Iron (III) oxide as an acceerant.. which seemed to work well

first step was to mill the chemicals.. (separately .. of course !)..

then mix them, screen them , then screen them again..

Next we pounded

in dry bentonite clay as a nozzle plug

after that came about 3 inches of the sugar/ nitrate mix.. pounded in as well (safe-ish to pound this stuff.. but most oxidizer/fuel blends I wouldn’t pound !)

then another bentonite plug.. as soon as that was done, it was time to drill the nozzle

then it was time to core the fuel, first with a guide, then free form using a 12 inch long 1/4 inch bit fitted with a stop and turned by hand.

then it was ready to go.. we then put in a 6 inch vesco fuse wrapped in tape to allow ignition near the top of the drilled core..

and here’s what happened

beautiful first shot.. we fired 3 more through the day.. all successful ! i’m guessing 400 – 500 feet ? not bad for such a heavy thing ! very satisfying slow burn and rich ‘woooooosh’ sound with great white plume

we found the first rocket buried about 3 inches in the ground.. it was coming down pretty fast !!!

a bit later, soem friends came over for an early celebration of gabes birthday.. we did soem more fire stuff. including two more successful smoke rings.. (will have to wait for folks to send me their movies of those)

Chai didnt like the sound or smell of firestuff.. we found her hiding behind the laundry.. so cute and sad.. so sorry chai baby !

then birthday stuff.. Very nice friends this boy has !

nice night !

ok.. now for sleep

nite all, nite sam

-me

Friday night – schools out , schools out.. teacher let the monkeys out

June 7, 2014 johncohn Leave a comment

Today was Gabe’s last day of high school.. which makes it our families last day of public school.. at least until grandkids. I put a note on gabe like we did on his first day of kindergarten in case he got lost.

. Between the three kids that means 21 years of backpacks, breakfasts and busses…we just did the calculation.. 21 years times 18 days of school – thats 3780 breakfasts.. thats a whole lot of oatmeal… actually, make that 3779.. because neither diane nor i had time to make gabe breakfast today.. he had to wing it for himself.

i had n incredibly busy day..though i was feelign incredibly lazy..

diane pried me away from work aroudn 6 to take a walk alog the river.. the flowers were stll there.. looking very monet like.

just before 9 pm, gabe had n idea of soemthign to make for a freind.. so we all headed down town. Diane met up with deborah. ellen, brit . hannah and nate, while gabe and I wen to use the laser cutter at uvm..

while I was settin up the laser, gabe turned on the light in the 3d printer.. and guess what.. someone was printing a SamStone. How cool is that ??

after finishing our project, gabe made these cool plywood peace igns wiht the laser.. this thing is really amazing !

ok.. more tomorrow.. can’t keep my eyes open now

nite all nite sam

-me

thursday night – dame rockets

June 5, 2014 johncohn Leave a comment

Took my camera on my run today with the girls.. I wanted to capture one on of the great natural events of spring.. the blooming of the phlox.. or ‘dame rockets’ as we call them. two months ago the floor of the rivershore trail was bare sand.. then up came the ferns… then finally the dame rockets. . the woods are full of purple , pink and white.. and the smell is incredible.