Artist Stretchers - Manspace Projects

Item: Artist stretchers for Daughter #2 in NYC. These two 18"x22"x1" were called in by Amy in preparation for her next showing. Renowned and acclaimed artist Amy Longenecker-Brown can be seen at her gallery affiliation with Monya Rowe Gallery where she recently completed a solo showing.

Amy called in another request so it is off to the Manspace to make some sawdust. There is some rail stock on hand so these will be done today with some saw cuts, clamping and glue.

Here are the finished stretchers ready to go in the morning. Good painting Amy and how about a violin recital in the bargain!

Christmas serving trays - Manspace Projects

Item: Christmas serving trays. Donna has been busy in the art department getting Christmas items ready for the show this weekend. The light bulb went off in my head while getting a marble chaser base ready. Why not fashion a serving tray from one of these. Here is the progression. Chaser base in front and serving tray in back.

So with the same materials and addition of some drawer pulls this is what the art department came back with

Here are the trays at the Christmas(not) fare at the Earth Fare Market at Brier Creek in Raleigh. Daughter #1 did a video of the Whimsy Two holiday items. See it on You Tube!

Squirrel feeder video

Item: A squirrel aggravatot. Here is a video of the squirrel hurler and squirrel slinger in action. All of the squirrels on Broad street and there is only one who comes to play. This little guy enjoys the ride and picks up a few kernels at a time and enjoys them on the perch before going for another spin. Here we go.

Sometimes the critter will ride all the way round until he finds bottom and jump off and with better timing can come to 9:00 and jump nimbly back to the perch for the next go.

Road Trip items - PA

Item: On the visit to PA for Donna's brother Steve Minnich's memorial we passed these.

We also passed the Green Tree cemetery where Dad and Grandma Stauffer were interred in 2009. We passed this barn mural nearby and I remember the threshermen coming to Grandpa Stauffers farm as a kid. We went past the farm on Stauffer Rd. and there is a new crop with peaked roof looking tops on it. About the only thing working the farm is the rooster adjacent to where Grandmother kept a big garden.

Grapes! Wineries are found here and in NC and more and more US locations.

This place opens around Halloween time and is a big attraction in the Leesburg, VA area. All of D.C. has found it's way here and at night there is a stream of headlights on Rt. 7 from here to there.

This is horse country and there are several of my old horse trailer customers here.

The I-95 alternative scenic route brings you to here. Coming and going as we are finds traffic crossing this bridge over the Potomic. Monocacy on the MD side and Lovett VA on the Virginia side. This route takes longer but beats being run over on I-95 and the beltways and D.C. to Richmond Grand Prix.

Manspace Projects - Marble Chaser "Eye Candy.cane"

Item: It is time to replenish the candy cane tube marble roller and maybe in time for the Brier Creek Christmas Holiday festival at the Earth Fare Market in Raleigh.
First we have to be safe and set out the cone warning the lallygaggers, bypassers and bystanders to be especially careful of flying saw dust and unforeseen oaths emanating from the Manspace and that just in time to set the boundaries for early break chair.

This is near to final assembly and some more detail work and cutting here and there and the top magazine rail will come next. Just a little this and that to be completed.

O.K. here is the base painted version after if is tuned and adjusted and working properly and adjudged ready to roll for the wee ones. Next up is the art department. Stay tuned.

So here is what the aye's have it candy cane chaser looks like when the "Art Department" finished with it. Donna's Art decided to add some eye candy and a bit of bling.

Goodbye - M.M.I.

Item: Things just did not work out at M.M.I.. I enjoyed the work and the customers and the challenge. Somehow "Contact Points" did not fit for me. A goal of 30-50 calls a day and two hours talk time is fine if that is all you had to do. Otherwise Contact Points just upset my work flow and got in the way of doing my job. Try telling that to the manager or the corporate suggestion box. Clunky RESULT for order entry and cluttered Sales Force are enough. Programmers delight - users dilemma but enough. We can count! What counts?

So good luck MMI. Thank You for the opportunity.

Goodbye M.M.I. but hello Madison and Jen and Rob. Thank you for your card and thoughts and look out Starbucks. Surprise!

Visitors from Lancaster and Jaurez to Wilson

Item: Visitors from Lancaster County - cousin Tony & Deb came in off of I-95 on a foray that included a stop in WNC and the Blue Ridge and Biltmore. A sight seeing venture in Wilson County at this time of year is the time to find yourself in tall cotton.
We stopped on our Sunday drive and found Vollis Simpson here - a maker to the end. The Wilson Whirlygig Festival originated with Vollis Simpson in mind.

Here is the Simpson home meadow park full of Vollis Simpson apparitions and whirlygig creations. Vollis gave us a glimplse into his store of completed items. Wow!

We also stopped to see and become cotton pickers in Wilson county area.

Cotton harvest is winding down and bales of cotton are showing up at the cotton gin. Cucumbers are coming off he field now with a little help from our friends.

More visitors show up here each morning for cucumber harvests and regresso o M. in winter.

Tomorrow brings another day in the neighborhood.

Lancaster County Funerals in 2009 (so far 3)

Item: Trips to Lancaster County have been early and often in 2009 with failing health of family and finally 3 to date of funerals. I have been putting this off but here is the roll call so far.

Steve Minnich is Donna's youngest family member and his body finally gave way in October. He fought to the end.

Grandma Edit Rheinhold Stauffer passed away just one month shy of 102 and did not want her pace maker maintained and was next in July.

Dad passed away in March and got carried away. Ira Forney Longeneker Jr. and I have a feeling was ready to go to a better place.

So far all of these visits have not been a piece of cake. I suppose it could be worse.

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Perhaps there is a better place.

Visitors - PA Family by way of the train.

Item: 9/16 - 9-20/09 Not so far back in the rear view we had visitors from PA. Family by train included Brother David and Nan and nephew Chris and Ma came to spend a few days in Wilson and we had a great time in late September.

Ma rented a car but we didn't do the scratch on the window. It came that way and we could still go and and it was well worth it. Thanks mom.

A day trip to Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC. This was the first provincial capital in North Carolina and the King payed. The place went to ruin until an effort by a the few to restore the grounds brought it back. The buildings and grounds make for a good destination and the town of New Bern is worth the visit as too.

Dave strolling the promenade of bears in downtown New Bern, NC Home of Pepsi.

Jen had a NC Food Bank activity but returned to join us and Chef Rob pulled together a meal for everyone and we had a good time together. Madison improvised.

As the days filled with activity we found ourselves at Vollis Simpson's whirligig expo at a late hour. Late enough to enjoy the reflected outlines of these creations.

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So this is where we came in but time for departure favors a short hop to Rocky Mount station to get a better returning ticket home.

Friday Foray - Eastern NC Harvest (Corn-Cotton)

Item: The days grow short and time precious for the crop farmers in Eastern NC. Corn has to come off the field and cotton right on the heels of that. Tobacco is done or should be by now. Cucumbers are picked by the hand of the migrant that will return to Mexico for the remains of 2009.

Tobacco is about off the stalk and disced under or bush hogged into fodder. Duty for these machines is done. The corn harvest is in the wind up stages too. These charging menaces will soon retire till 2010.

So let us turn our attention to the cotton fields in Eastern NC.

It is cotton time. If you are going to be a cotton king you will need a few items. Harvesters and cotton haulers to take the fluff from the harvester hopper to the baler. Here is the line up. Harvester or three. Hauler or two. Baler or two. (Also a few support tractors and migrants).

Look. See the four picker heads with vacuum lines running to the hopper to the rear. These rotating heads have high speed spinning conical serrated spindles arranged in a spiral pattern that grab and spin and snatch the cotton out of the boll in a single pass through each row of cotton.

Here the harvester is finished with the crop to the right and auguring for the crop on the left. Farmers say that the cotton harvesters get about 90% of the boll but look. Seems like there may still be a place for a few good Ole cotton pickers probably long gone and here in interred but not forgot.

Here is the hauler coming from the harvester. It will dump into the baler and press the cotton into a transportable unit.

Here is what all the fuss is about. Bale upon bale of cotton. Hundreds will be at the area cotton gins directly.

Day is done and with it a respite. Tomorrow brings more frenzy in the fields.

Eye - See

Item: Advanced stages of diminishing sight. Here is the repository of magnify eye sight helpers found at 806 Broad St.
These things are also found in pairs or treys around the house in other various and sundry strategic locations. Also found in both sides of the beetle it sort of bugs me at-er-a-while as is spoken in Wiltson. There are about 12 or 10 categories of use for these. You name it there is a pair for every requirement and fashion statement.
Glasses were attempted. Even contact lenses. These beat all.

Say, while we are on the subject, keep looking for the finished "Red Ribbon" marble chaser which is about to roll out of the Manspace.

My "New Post" or - a Primo Sign Locale

Item: Here is my latest post - picture "Your sign here"! The best and maybe the only spot in town and a good sign that others agree.

Friday Foray - Doug's Place - cotton country

Item: I'm always struck by the apparent fraternity at "Doug's" place at the end of Shine Rd. and Fort Run dog leg. The F.D. is nearby. There is an incessant stream of in and out customer traffic but many a time in passing Doug's there is a line three and four deep vehicles parked one behind the other and sometimes half dozen of these side by side can be observed.

On this Friday evening the cooker is going and the smell of good grilling reaches the road. Some are walking up the road to get here. Others are already congregating at the picnic tables out side and under roof.

We are certainly in tall cotton all around here and in the North Carolina hinterlands "Down East" nearby Doug's place and a might neighborly too in these parts.

Ye old "Ideal Barber Shop"

Item: My new barber and his shop are a throw back to an old style barber shop in town (except for the big screen).

This one goes back a long way and Ernie is from the old school and a big heart. Ask anything about the goings on in the area and he will know. Life does not happen in a vacuum though and his daughter and her hubby live in Bentonville, AK where he is an HPE at you know where. Ernie is a flyboy for his own part.

This shop is found on the corner in La Grange, NC on the square and you can walk in any time and still get the shave behind the neck with the straight razor

Speaking of flying, here is where the painting that Amy did in 2001 of the infamous US Coast Guard to the rescue of itself in Prince Edwards Islands, CA which I was a part of in my Coastie days.

Manspace Projects - Office shelf unit

Item: A shelf for my newly arranged office space. Donna accompanied me to my new job office work space to lend some architectural and design advice along with some Feng Shui know how. Things worked out nicely and with a quick look about the building and grounds and the nearby thrift shops it became apparent that I could just as well build a shelf unit to taste. So it was off to the Manspace to make some sawdust and hubbub and a book shelf.

First is some set up and maybe a safety cone to keep out onlookers, bystanders and lallygaggers.

Begin with the base and top and add the center shelf.

There is some miscellaneous molding in the overhead so here may be a good place to put it.

About done here after the addition of some backstop bars on the back of the shelf.

Redwood stain is in reserve so that will be the color of choice. Hope it looks O.K. in the cubicle.

Not bad for a days work and fits the space to a T.

Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park, Scotland Neck, NC

Item: A waterfowl and Eco viewing area in Northeast N.C.. The Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck is a nice day trip and peaceful getaway from the Metro.

Scotland Neck is the typical small North Carolina town and this one has parking down the center of Main street. There is hotel in town for the stay over.

Here is the layout of the various theme areas for the park.

You already know something is foul about the park when you see the ducks wearing blue nail polish on their beaks.

Not just birds here but Butterfly's in the picnic area where we saw this Monarch.

Beware those Crown Herons that seem glad to come see you. He got hold of Donna's finger!

An inside display at the restrooms show some colorful but poisonous Dart Frogs and a Bee hive cutaway and some carnivorous flowers. The path is gravel so sandals are not so great and the layout is in a figure 8 that takes you inside the theme defined areas that are net covered and fenced. Here are some friendly waterfowl.

You can see the Toucan along with other exotic birds and some noisy Maccaws among em.

This argument has been around and still begs the question. What would chairs look like if humans knees worked the other way. The answer may be here. There would be no need for chairs or beds. Sit and sleep like a Flamingo. Breeding a Flamingo is tricky here. The Flamingo needs to have a lot of other Flamingo's around and not having enough here is no problem. Mirrors are used in the building where an egg is on the nest. Of course at the end of the day or at the half way point time out, here is where to be. On the porch.

Non-Dr. remedy - RX for leg cramps

Item: Forget doctoring and try this.

With persistent leg cramps this RX caught my attention from time to time so I gave it a trial run and found it to work. Ivory soap is named in these stories but a big cake from France that Rob and Jen got for us did the job.

The idea is to place the bar of soap under the sheets but for my part putting the soap directly under the affected area worked just fine.

Relief in the AM was welcome too.

Visit Wilson, NC

Visit Wilson and if you are coming to Wilson, NC on the train and seeking lodging nearby the station just walk west on Nash Street. Wilson has free W.I.F.I. in the downtown area.

Let's check the rooms at the Heart of Wilson Hotel on West Nash St. Looks like the pool should be around here somewhere.

Outside room and you can bring your own BBQ grill.

Room 117 - best in house??? only $45.00 per night. TV + Microfridge + hotel bathroom.

The Whitehead St. Whitehead Inn B & B is directly across from the old Heart of Wilson. If you enjoy the B&B experience this is it. Wine tasting Fri. Sat. eve and breakfast in the AM.

The Barefoot/Riley House and two other cottages were part of the A.C.C. College housing for teaching staff. Barton College campus displaced this complex.

Bedroom of Patricia room + Small bath/shower. S-M-T-W-T @ $100.00 F-S @ $120.00

Sitting room at the front of the Barefoot Riley house.

Davis room four poster. Rates are S-M-T-W-T @ $125.00 and F-S @ $145.00

Davis room - north wall. Bathroom around the corner hall with small shower.

Sitting room downstairs in the Main house. Computer in the hall and W.I.F.I. throughout.

Firday Foray - Chicken farming - yard birds

Item: Fried chicken and the South are synonymous and raising them on the farm and in the yard is customary. These yard birds keep down the insects and a good rooster can help you rise and shine. Someone got one in Wilson and that rooster starts honking away at first light and keeps it up till the hot sunshine silences the trumpeting.

Poultry consumption is growing per capita and worldwide and the U.A.E. consumed 647,000 tons last year. For diners eating out poultry is 52% of entrees. So here is a home free range chicken farming plan you could use at your house. There is grove of great oak trees for shade grown yard birds and chicken coops to keep the foxes out at night.

I suppose these are for the birds too.

Friday Foray - Encounters on the NC rural ByWays

Item: Rise and Shine. It's time to get on the motor route to my new job in eastern NC known as "Down East" where the big acreage crop farmers operate. Here in Shine, NC they are already up and off to work, fields, and school.

Look! School is in and the bus stops here on a magnet school vocational program that has been kept active here in NC and from Florida to to the Canadian fields as well for an age.

These studious and earnest migrants learn fast and will surely be outstanding in their fields.

Beware motorway encounters while in the harvest season. These mechanical ogres are to be found ranging freely around any corner in rural NC and down east.

Farms that have thousands of acres need to get more done on the first pass. The Amish working Lancaster County work one mule, get one row, make a dollar and live a full life. Here it would take them a lot longer.

One is not enough to harvest cotton in NC - "Down East" Jason, NC eatery. Stop here for some BBQ. Notice the sign "Under New Management" to the right of the entrance door. Makes a body wonder what the old management did to hold this corner for casual diners.

Another good gathering place is here on US 70 where the home grown produce and the bus full of field hands gather to cool off under the big tent and get some fresh groceries. This spot under the big tent is always busy day and night when you can still shop and pay-go in the Honor-Box.

Some of our feathered friends gather here in the bird houses fashioned from guards. These are purple martin digs. Seems like rural NC has more visual stimulation than the others. Maybe knot.