Wooden Washtub Bass

A few years ago I was in New York for the annual Book Expo America and one evening ran across the Baby Soda Jazz Band playing in the Washington Square park. Not only were they great, but the bass player, who turned out to be Peter Ford, had a homemade wooden bass with an amazing sound. (I played the washtub bass in high school and college.) I corresponded with Peter for a while and finally got him to sell me the parts for one of his basses. I just put it together a few weeks ago and is it fun! I'm not getting any work done! That's a broomstick handle, a 1/8" nylon string, and the black sound board is a piece of a Samsonite hard suitcase.
Photo yesterday by Lew Lewandowski
Here's the Baby Soda Jazz band playing Muskrat Ramble, and you can see Peter playing the bass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au9dW9a0B4o

Floating Garden in British Columbia

Margy and Wayne Lutz have a floating cabin and garden on a lake in British Columbia, Canada. On their blog, Margy writes:
How Does Your Garden Grow? — With purple sage, red potatoes, and green lettuce all in a row. The heart of my garden is my float. It was designed and built by my good friend John. Cedar logs provide the buoyancy needed to keep four 3 X 10 raised beds above the waterline. On the bottom of the beds is a heavy cloth called mill felt. It is porous, but very strong. Frequent watering is needed in the warm summer months, so John installed a solar powered water pump and hose for me."
-http://powellriverbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-does-your-garden-grow.html

Two Shipping Container Conversions

One is a sod-roof guest cottage at an artists' retreat in Scotland. The other, "Muvbox," is a solar-powered restaurant in Montreal that closes up every night, and takes 2 minutes to unfold at the touch of a button each morning.
-http://gliving.com/tag/shipping-containers/

The Shepheardes Calendar

Image from Images from The Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume I. The Shepheardes Calendar. Designed and engraved on wood by Hilda Quick, based on the woodcuts in the original editions printed in quarto by Hugh Singleton in 1579.
-http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Renwick-Spenser/

Launching a Boat/Unclear on Concept

This was this guy's first boat and he was taking it to the lake, but he wasn't sure how to launch a boat off a ramp. However, he figured it couldn't be that difficult to do, so he stopped by his Union office for advice, and they just told him..."Don't let the trailer get too deep in the water when you're launching your boat." Well later on, he couldn't understand what they meant by that, as he just could barely get his trailer in the water!
-From: http://nickvt.blogspot.com/

Navy's New 50 MPH Tri-hull Combat Ship

"The design for Independence (LCS 2) is based on a proven high-speed trimaran (Benchijigua Express) hull built by Austal (Henderson, Australia). The 127-meter surface combatant design calls for a crew of 40 sailors, while the trimaran hull should enable the ship to reach sustainable speeds of nearly 50 knots (60 mph; 90 km/h) and range as far as 10,000 nautical miles (20,000 km)." -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Independence_(LCS-2)

Raccoon Kills 3 Chickens

We have a little flock of bantams. The rooster here is an Auracana. We forgot to close the door to the chicken yard last week and the raccoon got 3 chickens, including one of my favorites, the little Silver Sebright with the beautiful black and white feathers shown here. OK, I'm like live and let live with many of the critters that constantly patrol our homestead, but this is a puniishable offense. I tried catching the coon in my biggest Havahart trap, but it wasn't large enough, so I just ordered the largest Havahart, 42" long, and I plan on having roast raccoon.

Maori Jade Pendant

Jade pendant from New Zealand Maori artist Thomas Ratima at Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I bought a pendant there over a year ago and have had it on ever since. This is a wonderful gallery, carrying the work of three cultures: the First Nations tribes of the Pacific Northwest, the Inuit of Alaska, and the Maori of New Zealand. I highly recommend visiting it if you're ever in Vancouver. The art on display is stunning. Their website is here.

Graphic of 2010

Architect Rich Storek created this using the app nVeil (son of Telefire).

Lloyd Pic for Korean Interview

A few months ago I got this email from our agent in Korea: "Dosol told me that nation-wide TV broadcasting company would like to contact you for an interview. They are going to make a programme about you." I did the interview and sent them this photo taken here in December ('09). Dosol is the Korean publisher that is translating our Builders of the Pacific Coast. Koreans are about to get a look at builders in British Columbia!
Photo by Lew Lewandowski

Mexican Street Art

I just looked at these two objects on my window sill. Mexican artistict brilliance with found objects. The little sea-shell guy doing a wheelie, and the ingenious motorcycle made out of spark plugs, old ball bearings, distributor points, just rusty shit getting thrown out.
Ain't they got soul?
My kinda art!

Mystery Mushrooms

What a year for mushrooms! These were by the side of the road yesterday. Don't know what they are but I'm don't believe they're inedible.

I've been gathering candy caps in the woods and putting them on a kitchen shelf in bamboo baskets to dry. The whole rooms smells like maple syrup (which is what candy caps smell like when dry).

World's Best Pocket Camera

Last week I got an email from Pepe Alvarez titled "Awesome Camera," and he was right. I've been carrying a Canon Powershot G10 in my fanny pack for over a year now and it's a wonderful camera. (I shot most of the 2000+shots on a recent European trip with the G10.) Well, the new Canon S90 is indeed awesome and sounds a whole step up from the G10 (and G11). It's smaller, lighter, has a f2(!) lens. Plus the 10 MP is better for my purposes than the 14 MP of the G10 (bigger isn't always better). Check it out at: http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/s90.htm
Also, see why Mark McCluskey of wired.com says: "The S90 is the best compact camera I've ever used." - http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_canon_s90

Low Energy Cooling Tower Designs

http://constructionblog.org/low-energy-cooling-tower-designs

Free Plans for 700 Sq. Ft. Cabin With Solar Panels

http://www.freegreen.com/Free-House-Plan-Overview/19/The-Cabin.aspx

Western Scrub-jay in Garden

This jay flew down into the garden a few days ago. They're like the coyotes of the bird world: adaptable, tough, mischievous—and smart.

Go to the post page…

"…For the last decade, Zac Freeman has been saving pieces of household junk that would one day become a part of his masterfully intriguing art collection. He wanted to give his two dimensional portraits three dimensional value by using glue to meld everything from bottle caps, nails and old keyboard pieces onto a board to create faces that can only be seen from a distance.…"

From: http://www.home-designing.com/2010/10/recyled-art-zac-freeman

Zac's website: http://www.zacfree-
manart.com/artwork.html