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Weekend Updatia
Oct. 15th, 2007 08:40 amSaturday, Deb walked in the Race for the Cure - I'm really glad she did that on quite a few levels. She harps on the fact that an 82 year old woman out-competitive-walked her; however Deb far out-competed everyone else in the entire world who sat on their butt and flipped channels during that time span.
That latter group, by the way, included the four of us - during those moments in time. We made up for it later. Rachel chased after Mr. B while Justin and I searched for limbs to try out some new Japanese pruning saws. We made short work of a few dead trees & limbs that my existing saws would have suffered through for longer than it took Deb to do the walk. We also pruned a few live limbs - some suckers that would weaken and endanger the tree if allowed to grow. Quick and clean, they performed very nice and did not rip and tear and make a mess out things like some other saws I've been acquainted with.
Speaking of ripping and tearing, Justin and I practiced our lasso technique, and used it to throw a weighted line over some limbs about 20-30' feet up in the air. The line was divided in the middle by a chainsaw and we took down (and hauled away) maybe a thousand or so pounds of dead wood. The first was certainly for practice - when that tree falls (and there's still 2-3 times as much left above the height of the limb we took down), it won't endanger the house or cars. The second has a lot more that could fall on our house or cars, and is a twin tree, with its equally dead sibling aiming at the neighbor's house and cars. I might be able to get some longer lines - and something to help boost the throwing weight over higher limbs with more accuracy - but I will probably end up calling in an arborist to deal with it.
Sunday, I took the kids to the PA Ren Faire, which you may already have realized if you read the previous Brandonisms post. I picked up a couple pieces of art, but everything else was all about music. Rachel selected a wooden ocarina, Justin a horn (a "blowing horn", to use their technical term), and I picked up a gourd with twin flute-like pipes.
When we sat down waiting for the joust, we noticed another kid with one of the horns, and I tried to get Justin to go to him and tell him how to get a note out of it, but he didn't (I had Mr. B sitting on my lap, so my movement was limited). Just to let any non-horn players in on the secret: you don't just blow air through it like you would a flute or whistle; you need to put your lips together and essentially blow raspberries into it to get it to sound.
When Justin tried them out, the guys running the stand were surprised he hit such clear notes first time out. We teased him a bit about getting multiple notes out of it, especially after we had made fun of the horn players and their definutely-not period-accurate valved instruments ("Valvses? Valvses? We don't need no steeenking valvses!") On the ride home, while we were stuck in I78 Hell, Justin figured out how to use his hand like a French horn player and to change his embouchure to get four other notes out of it, each about a half-step apart. With that, he managed to play parts from The Kraken, several nursery rhymes, and a few other bits and pieces.
Rachel's ocarina is fitted with a cord to wear around her neck ("bling on a string," as per the guy running the stand) so she had it in hand while we were waiting for a table at supper. They were playing old-time country music over the PA, and suddenly she started playing along with the vocal line - and nailing it, with the exception of a few extra notes for ornamentation.
In comparison, on the gourd-thing? We think it will play at least two octaves. The vendor was able to play some nice low notes, and I seemed to hit them in places, but for me it jumps up to a much higher tone. Much practice will be needed. The instrument sounds a bit like a shawm, or maybe a bagpipe chanter, although we're pretty sure there's no reed involved - just the body of the gourd itself, and then the pipes.
That latter group, by the way, included the four of us - during those moments in time. We made up for it later. Rachel chased after Mr. B while Justin and I searched for limbs to try out some new Japanese pruning saws. We made short work of a few dead trees & limbs that my existing saws would have suffered through for longer than it took Deb to do the walk. We also pruned a few live limbs - some suckers that would weaken and endanger the tree if allowed to grow. Quick and clean, they performed very nice and did not rip and tear and make a mess out things like some other saws I've been acquainted with.
Speaking of ripping and tearing, Justin and I practiced our lasso technique, and used it to throw a weighted line over some limbs about 20-30' feet up in the air. The line was divided in the middle by a chainsaw and we took down (and hauled away) maybe a thousand or so pounds of dead wood. The first was certainly for practice - when that tree falls (and there's still 2-3 times as much left above the height of the limb we took down), it won't endanger the house or cars. The second has a lot more that could fall on our house or cars, and is a twin tree, with its equally dead sibling aiming at the neighbor's house and cars. I might be able to get some longer lines - and something to help boost the throwing weight over higher limbs with more accuracy - but I will probably end up calling in an arborist to deal with it.
Sunday, I took the kids to the PA Ren Faire, which you may already have realized if you read the previous Brandonisms post. I picked up a couple pieces of art, but everything else was all about music. Rachel selected a wooden ocarina, Justin a horn (a "blowing horn", to use their technical term), and I picked up a gourd with twin flute-like pipes.
When we sat down waiting for the joust, we noticed another kid with one of the horns, and I tried to get Justin to go to him and tell him how to get a note out of it, but he didn't (I had Mr. B sitting on my lap, so my movement was limited). Just to let any non-horn players in on the secret: you don't just blow air through it like you would a flute or whistle; you need to put your lips together and essentially blow raspberries into it to get it to sound.
When Justin tried them out, the guys running the stand were surprised he hit such clear notes first time out. We teased him a bit about getting multiple notes out of it, especially after we had made fun of the horn players and their definutely-not period-accurate valved instruments ("Valvses? Valvses? We don't need no steeenking valvses!") On the ride home, while we were stuck in I78 Hell, Justin figured out how to use his hand like a French horn player and to change his embouchure to get four other notes out of it, each about a half-step apart. With that, he managed to play parts from The Kraken, several nursery rhymes, and a few other bits and pieces.
Rachel's ocarina is fitted with a cord to wear around her neck ("bling on a string," as per the guy running the stand) so she had it in hand while we were waiting for a table at supper. They were playing old-time country music over the PA, and suddenly she started playing along with the vocal line - and nailing it, with the exception of a few extra notes for ornamentation.
In comparison, on the gourd-thing? We think it will play at least two octaves. The vendor was able to play some nice low notes, and I seemed to hit them in places, but for me it jumps up to a much higher tone. Much practice will be needed. The instrument sounds a bit like a shawm, or maybe a bagpipe chanter, although we're pretty sure there's no reed involved - just the body of the gourd itself, and then the pipes.
