Law of Multiplication Regarding Job Completion

I learned (or re-learned) a valuable lesson over the past two days about estimating the time it takes to do a simple project.  Just a five-minute deal?  Maybe--but usually not!

The clothes hook on my closet door pulled out about six weeks ago.  No problem, think I, as I go round up some of those little anchor posts and put it back in.  Sorry--wrong number!  It lasted about two weeks.  By then the holes had enlarged so I couldn't re-use them.  Next up, a larger hook that would have holes in different places and still cover the other holes.  After a bit of a search (Bed Bath and Beyond was useless), I found just the thing at Home Depot, and the construction of the mounting plate was such that it would spread the stress of hanging up bathrobes better.

Now for the installation, and here's where the five-minute job turned into two days.  A quick read of the directions pointed out that it would be nice to use my drill and cordless screwdriver.  Both were supposedly hidden away on a top shelf in a closet (this is a small house--you use the space you have!).  Finding the drill was easy, but the screwdriver was hidden.  It required a step stool and a complete reorganization of that shelf to see that said screwdriver was nowhere to be found there!  Rats!

Down into the toolbox we go, searching for hammer and manual screwdrivers, which were right where they should be--as was the cordless screwdriver, which shouldn't have been.  Now we're back in business--NOT!  The screwdriver hadn't been used in ages and required charging overnight, so the project is back on hold.

This morning the screwdriver was ready and the drill had the right bit inserted.  Ready to work.  Except the cord on the drill was too short to reach the nearest outlet and the closest extension cord was too flimsy to trust.  Out to the shed for the rolled-up 100 foot heavy-duty cord.  A word to the wise.  If you have one of these long cords, it pays to have both ends accessible so you don't have to unroll 100 feet when all you need is 10 or 15 feet.  It isn't quite as neat a roll job, but it works better.

Five minutes has morphed into much longer, but finally the job is done and the tools stowed neatly where I hope I can remember I've put them next time I need them.  The satisfaction comes in knowing I was able to, as one little grandniece tends to put it, "do it self!"  Next time I'll take the time requirement for a job and multiply it by three or four.  It might come closer to reality.

Renaissance Festival, Part 2, 2012

I love the Renaissance Festival, primarily for the interesting photography subjects that frequent it and are just SO happy to let you take your picture.  After all, what's the point of spending all that money on a very special costume if no one cares enough to want to photograph it?  Some folks go for simple, while others go for rich and beautiful.  I can't vouch for authenticity, but I can appreciate the results.  Here are some of my favorites from Saturday's visit. The first couple was trying to give the impression of woodsman and companion.  The rest were showing off their fancy finery.

Children seem to have so much fun, whether it be gnawing on a turkey leg (usually with some help), getting their hair braided, or blowing bubbles. Some of them even get into climbing the rock wall.  The bubble blower and rock climber are the same person.  She put her heart and soul into all of it!

Face painting isn't just for the children, however.  Some of the most elegant ones I saw were on adults.  I thought this young lady was especially lovely.  It turns out she is newly married and still reflecting that glow.

And probably my favorite one of all was the man who had a cat-like image on his face.  Smoking his pipe so that the smoke partially obscured the handiwork, I was reminded a bit of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland!

So ends my ventures to the Renaissance Festival for the year (unless next weekend's plans go awry, in which case, who knows?)

Happy Birthday, Jake!

Last weekend my grandnephew Jake celebrated his fourth birthday.  Jake is into super heroes now, and his cake reflected it.  The cake, by the way, came from Clay's which makes really wonderful cakes!

When it comes to blowing out the candles, Jake has his own method.  Blowing from far away didn't make sense, so he just got up close and personal with it.  (It didn't help that unintentionally the candles being used were trick candles, so when he blew them out they just relighted themselves until Jake's mom worked her own magic and extinguished them.)

Jake and his guests (mostly his siblings and three cousins) had fun entertaining themselves with pumpkin decorating.  No carving was necessary, and the results were cute!

Jake's family has a new puppy.  Daisy is an adorable lap full of wiggles and fur, and she loves to play tug of war.  Emily was all too willing to oblige.

Cousin Mason was intrigued by both the puppy and the tug of war.

On another day, Daisy came with the family to visit the grandparents, and she was practicing being a good pup while wearing her Halloween costume.  She's going to be a ladybug.

While the children were visiting the grandparents, we took on a couple of craft projects.  Abby is just getting old enough to join in the fun.

 Elizabeth, Jake, and Ava are old hands at it, but Jake was willing to have a bit of help from Auntie Em.

 Emily was very proud of her door hanger.  Ava is an excellent overseer for projects by the younger ones.

 Ava also got into the decoration of the smaller pumpkins and was very pleased with her creations.

Even children with lots of energy wind down, and then it's handy to have a mother's lap for rest and soothing.

A boost from dad was welcome, too!

It was a great trip!

Renaissance Festival in Maryland 2012

I love to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  The opportunities (and challenges) for photography are many and varied.  This year it was a little harder to go.  The friend with whom I indulged in a friendly competition to find different subjects for photos passed away this summer.  So John, some of these photos I took just for you.  John had a quirky sense of humor, so the first of these shots were for him.

John would have noticed the boat on the hat long before I did. 

 John and Joy, his wife, were always on the lookout for interesting places to buy different types of chocolate.  This stand is new this year.  John would have just had to have one of the chocolate skulls or centipedes, whether he actually ate them or not.

 Now I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even SEE the hands on this one until I got home and got the pictures downloaded into the camera.  John wouldn't have been so blind.  I was intrigued with the headdress.

The fellow on the "horse" has a variety of strange costumes; the horse is one of the smaller ones.  John was always on the lookout for him and his flights of fancy.

 

I'm not sure which caught John's  fancy more, the metalwork creations or the people creating them (and occasionally modelling them).  The supply of wares is strong this year.

Children are more in line with what I look for--interesting expressions and costumes.  I call this one my pensive princess.

This young lady is amazingly agile, especially since she is so high in the air. 

I loved the face paint job on these two children, and apparently they did, too, although one was busily adding adornment to enhance her look. 

I'm hoping to make one more trip to the festival before it ends later this month.  It tends to be much more comfortable this time of year than when it opens in late August!

Fourth of July Week

The  weekend before the Fourth of July we had a huge storm blow through here with major damage to power lines, trees, etc.  Power was out at my place for over two days, and I was lucky to get it back then.  Since the temperatures were in the high nineties, my sister suggested I come up to PA a couple of days early.  They had power, and the whole Haber tribe were going to be in the area.  I had planned to be there just before the Fourth for a couple of days, but since my house was uninhabitable (I don't do 95 degrees in the house well), I gratefully accepted.

As always, we had a great time together.  The swimming pool stayed busy, and the children (all seven of them) got along very well.  The contingent from Maine doesn't get down very often, but all the children always act as though they had just seen each other the day before and get on with it.

One of the crafts we did was to make puppets (crafts are my "thing" with the children). The older girls made sock puppets and the younger children made bag puppets (with a good bit of help).  Here are Elizabeth, Kaylan and Ava with the sock puppets followed by Jack with his lion and Jake with his bluebird.

At that point I thought we were through with the activity.  Silly me!  The older girls decided they needed to put on a play with the puppets and went off into a huddle where they wrote a script, named the puppets, drew scenes to change, made up a song to go with it, and informed me I was to be narrator.  Bear in mind that the girls are 8, 7, and 6 years old.  Of course I went along with it, and when the boys wanted to do the puppet show, too, they were graciously permitted to roar and tweet on cue.  All the household adults were commanded to participate as the audience, and here was the result:

You get a side view, and not a very good one, because I was trying to take pictures, direct the performance, and serve as narrator.  The whole thing was viewed by doting parents and grandparents (and Auntie Em, of course) as a rollicking success.

In my childhood one of my favorite books was The Secret Garden.  Kaylan was reading it and she told the others, so the older girls formed a Secret Garden Club.  They scooted off where the little folk couln't find them, planted seeds in pots, and wrote in journals.  I was allowed to photograph the event because I admitted to reading (many times) the book in question and loving it.

The older girls do a lot of dress-up activities using scarves and such furnished by their grandmother, but Elizabeth is the one who loves to model for me and has definite ideas about the poses I should capture.

 What is it about stairs that draws children to them?  I call these the stair-step cousins.

Emily and Abby were often there.  Abby, as the youngest, just did her thing, while Emily often stuck as tightly to Ava as she could (and Ava was happy about it). 

Here's Abby sporting her happy smile.

Emily tends to be very self-contained and entertains herself very well.  She does like it, however, when she uses the toy phone to have someone (pretend to) answer it.

It was hot and the pool was very popular.  Jack and Jake had a lot of fun together in the water.

And both of them took great pleasure in drenching their dads.

The three older girls all swim very well.  Elizabeth has come a long way since last year and is a very proficient swimmer.

Emily thinks about swimming but didn't want older people to help. When Ava took over the instruction, Emily was as happy as a clam and did very well!  Ava is a loving and encouraging teacher.

No Fourth would be complete without fireworks, but since the really younger children (4 years old and younger) don't like loud noises, the fireworks we had were minimalist.  It was enough.  The children sat on the driveway and watched as Uncle Len set off the fireworks, giving their opinions about each one by the expressions on their faces.

As always, I had a wonderful time.  It left me with happy memories to tide me over when I got home to a non-functioning heat pump that has only recently been restored to health.

Kudos and Brickbats

Brickbats to the jackass who decided it would be fun to use my credit card for his or her purchases.  Kudos to the credit card company, which was onto it before the deed was an hour old.  I got a call from fraud alert and we verified valid charges and barred the couple of "not mine" entries almost immediately.  I have no idea where the culprit got the card number.  The card is still in my possession and I keep (and shred after validating) all credit card receipts.  A replacement card will be issued, but that means that a couple of charges that are regular and automatic needed notification of the change.  A pox on people who would rather steal than work for their money.

Annapolis Dockside Adventure

Baltimore is celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812  and the attack on Ft. McHenry with one mega-celebration.  There are over 40 tall ships from all over the world scattered all around the Baltimore Harbor area.  Ft. McHenry has many special events and there are more events scattered over the general area.  The Blue Angels performed today and will do so again tomorrow.  I really wanted to go, but the reality of a healing but gimpy hip limits the length of time I am comfortable walking or just standing around, and I don't want to undo the good that has been happening.  So....

I compromised and went to Annapolis where only one tall ship is docked.  I figured at least I could get close enough to that one to try some pictures.  From the time I got there I had some nice surprises.  Between me and the Bounty (the ship that is docked there) was a Corvette show, with some really classy vehicles.  One of the license plates said it all.

 Here are a couple of my favorites:

Shiny, aren't they?  And the engines were as clean as a whistle.  After all, this was a competition, and cleanliness counted.

On to the Bounty, which is a replica of said ship and was created for use in the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty".  She has three masts, but one of them had communications gear on it, which I considered an anachronism and decided to ignore.  I was fascinated by the number of lines it takes to handle the sails and all that go with it.

By some judicious maneuvering onto a side pier I'm not sure I was supposed to be traversing (but there were no signs saying "don't") I got a fairly decent angle of the masthead.

 

The ship has a long, lean look from the front.

At one point there were canoeists paddling around her for a better look, and they probably had the best look of any of us. 

Just as I was deciding I was ready to move on to some errands, someone said, "Oh, look at the heron!"  There on the little pier behind me was a black-crowned night heron, a bird for which I had spent a considerable amount of time at Chincoteague searching in vain back in May.  Right there--up close and personal!

I know they nest in the area, but not downtown!  What on earth was it doing among all the people and boat traffic.  And honestly, I wouldn't want to eat anything that lives in the waters around the dock.  Yuck!  His destination became apparent when he flew over to MY pier.  Just as I was refocusing for a closer shot, a man who was crabbing yelled "Shoo!'', and off it flew!  The bird was heading for crabs the man had caught and had stowed in a bucket on the pier.  The night heron had to look elsewhere for brunch.

The trip was fun, it was just the right length, and I had side experiences I wasn't expecting.  Very satisfactory.  I'll wait till the Blue Angels fly over the Naval Academy again to watch them and be glad not to have had to fight the throngs I saw on TV tonight!