May 12, 2013

I have switched from a lot of indoor chores to outdoor chores as my garden and landscape are now in full blown growth mode.  We have had a decent amount of rain and some warm temperatures so the lawn needs mowing frequently and I have begun to combat weeds and tackle some pruning chores.  The chipper shredder has already made its first appearance on the driveway.  Some of the cool season vegetables are planted and as usual, as soon as I plant seed for things like beets and carrots, the local raccoons begin digging where I just planted so I had to cover those beds with some plastic netting to keep the raccoons out till the seedlings get a little established.  Same thing happened last year that the raccoons messed up my planting of beet seeds and since last year was so warm, I never got a second chance to re-plant those and ended up with practically nothing.

I have also spent the past week working on the Joliet Library/Museum Star Wars Day event.  On Tuesday I spent practically my entire day off with meetings in that regard.  I also set up a lightsaber display at the Library's display case.  I thought I would not be able to fill the case, but as always, I actually brought too much. 

I also spent a good bit of time making signage for the rest of the display and trying to go over in my mind what will be needed for the Rebel Legion and R2 Builder's display.  I will need a bigger truck than my Jeep to haul all of the stuff home.  I would love to find some old school/industrial lockers for the display and will keep my eyes open, but I don't have a lot of money to waste on that.  I can always find a use for the lockers after the event, so that is something to consider.  I did find one set of lockers on Craig's list, but it was a set of 4 and was pretty large.  I am going to try to find something a little smaller. 

Today I am heading out to spray garlic mustard at my restoration site.  I hope it will be the last time that I have to go out for the year.  I am really tired of spraying gm as I have been doing that for a month already.

May 5, 2013

"May the 4th Be With You"!

Yesterday was Star Wars Day, so of course I had a SW event that I signed up for.  There were a lot of events to choose from yesterday because not only was it the unofficial Star Wars Day, it was also Free Comic Book Day, which is also a "big deal" in geekdom.  I attended a booksigning with the author Jeffrey Brown for the Star Wars book "Vader's Little Princess".  It is a children's book and is a sequel to "Vader and Son".  These books may be children's books but they are hysterical and very well done so it was a no-brainer to attend the booksigning as my May the 4th event.  The event was held on North Lincoln Ave and traffic was absolutely horrible getting there.  Also, there is no parking really on the north side of Chicago so I had to wander around to get a parking place (parking is something we take for granted in the burbs) but finally did squeeze into one.  It is a good thing I grew up in Chicago because I know how to parallel park....lol...lots of people who grew up in the burbs have no idea how to parallel park.  The event co-ordinator asked me to wear my Stormtrooper costume which is one I don't wear often because I am too short.  It was fun to wear that costume for a change.  I was the only Stormtrooper so not as many people seemed to care that I was too short.  Anyway, it was a really nice event. 

We took some photos of us sitting and "reading" the book.  Sitting in TK armor is not easy, but I did sit and the photo came out pretty amusing.











On May 3rd I did another SW event for Channel 7 news Morning Show.  Channel 7 is doing features highlighting various suburbs.  Friday they did Joliet and the Joliet Star Wars Day event was one that they wanted to feature.  We were asked to be part of the "set dressing" for that part of the news report.  We had to get to the Joliet Historical Museum at 4:00 AM and be suited up by 5:00 AM.  I am up every day at 2:00 AM so it was no big deal for me, but it was a little more difficult for the other brave souls who came.  It was pretty wild!  There were marching bands and all sorts of other things besides us....it made for a crazy scene for sure. I brought along my Artoo and ended up leaving him at the Museum because he will be needed there for the upcoming Joliet Library/Historical Museum Star Wars Day anyway, so that will now be one less thing to haul down there on May 21st.  The video is here: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YnsR5nypVk&feature=youtu.be

Last weekend I spent Sunday at C2E2 which is a local comic book and entertainment convention.  I went in Jedi costume to that.  I am not much on Cons and really only went there to help out my Rebel Legion Base with sitting at our fan table and running a game for the kids.  I went in Jedi costume to this event because I knew that there would be more Jedi there besides me.  It was ok....and the day really flew by.  I must have walked 10 miles though as the game we were conducting called for me to be wandering the show floor with stickers and the kids were supposed to find me (and the others) to get one of 4 stickers.  I walked back and forth through McCormick Place (which is huge) for 3 hours.  At least I got my exercise for the day.

I have also been spending a lot of my free time spraying the invasive species garlic mustard in the woods at my prairie restoration site.  Thankfully, the garlic mustard hasn't been as horrendous as the last couple of years so I have been able to walk large areas without having to constantly re-load the spray tank. 

I also have been working in my garden a bit and planting seed for the early season vegetables and working with transplants.  The soil is finally warming up to the point where I can probably think in terms of putting some of the other plants into the ground.  We had some severe rains a couple weeks ago and I flooded from front to back.  It was miserable but the standing water is finally gone.  I just hope that we don't head straight back into another drought like last year.  It seems it is always one extreme or the other around here. 

April 14, 2013

Wow, yet another month has gone by since I posted.  Spring has been reluctant this year to say the least.  Last year at this time we had so many 80 degree days and little rain that I was able to plant a good deal of the vegetable garden already by now.  This year, all I have done outside it toss in some lettuce seeds.  I do have tomato, peppers, and some herb seeds started and today I plan on starting the cucumber seeds.  I don't even have the pump in the water feature as yet.  The trees are just starting to show signs of life and the grass is greening up.

I haven't done much in the way of Star Wars events.  I am kinda taking a vacation from doing events.  The last costume event I did was the Naperville St. Patrick's Day Parade on 3-16-13.  It was really, really cold for the parade and it even snowed a bit, but I suppose it could always be worse.






In the world of sewing, about the only thing I finished was two flags for the Bartlett 4th of July Parade.  Since we are doing a salute/farewell to the "Clone Wars", I decided to make us some Clone Wars era flags to carry in front of the Jedi and Clones for the parade.  Working with sport nylon is always a pain in the ass, and these flags were no different. They look OK from a couple feet away, but don't get too close. 




This year I decided to go to the Forest Preserve District of Will County Volunteer Banquet, something I don't usually do anymore.  It was kind of a chance to hang out with the other volunteers without a chainsaw or tank sprayer in my hands.  It is kind of strange...I have spent the last 20+ years trying to learn about plants, ecosystems, and restoration but I can honestly say that probably the most important thing I do for the District at workdays the last years is operate a chainsaw.  There are very few of us chainsaw operators left, and not much gets done at a lot of workdays without the saws going.  Yesterday I operated chainsaw for a Scout project at Thorn Creek Woods.  I have also been out sawing at HCB as we worked on some really large honeysuckles...these were practically tree sized.  I have also begun the spring task of garlic mustard spraying...never fun. 

I have also been sick the last month....a lot.  As it turns out I have an ulcer....go figure.  I spent 10 days in misery and finally did get in to a doctor.  After 2 weeks on meds, I feel better but keep wondering when the next "bout" will strike.  I have also had teeth problems that have been just driving me crazy.  The up-side to all of the stomach and teeth problems is that I haven't had the desire nor ability to eat much so I feel that I have lost weight.  I guess I will have to put on my Rebel Fleet Trooper pants to really see if I lost weight.  Those were getting a bit tight the last times I wore them.

Today we have a wildflower walk at HCB.  I am looking forward to going out to my site and just enjoying it rather than working there.  Of course, even when I plan to "enjoy", I always let the work to be done that nags at me to sour the experience.  It will also be interesting to see the site in the eyes of someone else-in this case a member of the Illinois Native Plant Society who is leading the walk.

March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  The weather feels like Christmas around here this year.  Last year at this time it was in the 80's.  I am glad that it is not in the 80 degree area as that was a little unsettling to have such warm weather (for long periods of time) in March.  A little moderation would be nice though.  How about some 50 degree days?

Anyway, St. Patricks Day around here means parades.  I did one last weekend...well...almost...and one yesterday.

Last Sunday (March 10th) the members of my Star Wars costume group was asked to march in the Southside Irish St. Pat's Day Parade.  We didn't have a lot of members signed up for the parade in the first place, and many of the members who did sign up, didn't show up.  The weather was terrible, it was cold and raining steadily. With only 4 of us present we decided not to actually march as only 4 people in costume would look more than a little pathetic, but we did suit up to the delight of the host family who opened their home for us to change in.  Next year, hopefully, we can get a bigger group as this parade is really a good time.  After we suited up for photos with the family, we did make our way to the parade route to hang out awhile.  I wore my Imperial Gunner costume to give it a "test drive" after installing fans and a hard hat suspension system.  The suspension system worked out really well...the fans...not so much.

Yesterday was the Naperville St. Patrick's Day Parade and the weather was just as bad.  Cold, drizzle, snow, and wind.  I parked my car at the end of the parade and walked the parade route back to the beginning.  It was then hours of stand around and wait in the cold.  That's the thing about parades.  They are fun...but all that waiting around to step off is usually mind numbing.  We were nearer to the front of the parade than we normally are, so that was a good thing.  I wore my Snowspeeder Pilot costume to this one and where I was not too cold for the first hour or so, it did start to get to me and my hands were numb.  But, as with most all parades, it is always worth it.  All you heard from the people along the parade route was "Star Wars"!!  I did get a few - "hey...it's Luke Skywalker"....lol..
at least it seemed that some of the people recognized the costume.

I have been reading a LOT lately.  I saw a trailer for a movie coming out in August called "City of Bones" and found that there was a series of books called "The Mortal Instruments" and "City of Bones" is the first book.  I picked up all 5 books that are currently out and dived through the first three in a little over a week.  Another record for me as each of the books was over 400 pages.  I really liked the story but am taking a break from the series to catch up on another series I am reading called "The Vampire Diaries".   Since I have no television anymore, I do a lot more reading.

Today I will be a slave to the sewing machine as I work on the softcap for my second Endor Commando headgear.  I dread it...but...so what else is new!  I also finished my Hoth Commander costume and it was judged as "informal" because of the color of the gaitered boots...meh...I have enough formal costumes and I knew that mine were the wrong color.  I don't agree that the boots should be gray instead of tan...but that's life.

March 3, 2013

Lack of finances is keeping me home a lot the last couple of weeks, so I am diving in on unfinished projects.  Those unfinished projects include my General Riekeen costume, Bespin Luke pouches and belt, and duplicates of my Endor Commando and Hoth Trench Trooper headgear along with other displays for the Joliet Library Star Wars Day. 

Nothing seems to be going well in the costume department as I have been having no end of trouble with the General Riekeen jacket.  I had to sew huge darts into the back of the jacket and can't get the collar right...I have had the collar off 3 times now and am running out of ideas.  I have the belt buckle done and will probably finish the rank badge today and hope to finish the pants for this costume. 



The pouches that I made out of leather also came out pretty bad.  I need to try to get some better techniques on wetforming leather.  Where the concept works pretty good, the issue is the corners.  I just can't get them "crisp" enough and that contributed to stitching issues and the dying of the belt blank and pouches didn't really go well either.  I will have to re-think my choice of dye for future projects. 



This past Tuesday I had a meeting with the organizers of the Joliet Library Star Wars Day event and things are shaping up.  I did start thinking in terms of display items for the Rebel Base and started working on a couple of those.  I did do some signage for two of the pieces I plan to display and finished those up and am starting to store all of the items for that event into a tub.  I kind of waited too long last year to think about things like that and it showed so this year I am going to work on display pieces a little at a time.


I did do an event last Friday for the winner of the Max Lacewell Foundation Gala auction.  It ended up on a Friday night out in Oswego.  We got some snow that morning and I feared for a really difficult commute to Oswego, but the snow quit early enough and the roads were just messy.  It was an unusual trooping event as it was held at "Bounce Town" in Oswego.  There was so much for the kids to do that we costumed people were kind of just an "afterthought".  But, the family seemed pleased so that is the important thing.


The weather has been awful lately.  It snowed just about every day this past week.  We didn't get a lot of snow but it was always flurrying and I don't think we saw the sun at all this past week.  I signed on for the South Side Irish Parade this coming Sunday and hope that the weather will at least moderate a little.

On the entertainment front, I did get to the movies to see "Warm Bodies" and I really enjoyed it.  I finished watching all the DVD's I had for the TV Series Roswell, so I have nothing left to watch at the moment.  I finished another book of "The Vampire Diaries" and now have moved on to "The Mortal Instruments" series.  I am half way done with "City of Bones" and am enjoying it.

Also, I tackled trying to sell my "Action Fleet" collection on E-bay and so far the results are VERY dismal!  All of the auctions currently on e-bay are getting NO traffic.  No bids and no one even watching them.  Two of the auctions end today and I will re-list them with a reduced price if they don't sell.  There are several other auctions that end later in the week and if those don't sell either, I may have to re-think my strategy of putting the items up for sale in lots and just try to sell them one at a time. 

February 19, 2013

The weeks are passing fast...it is now mid February and it seems like I  just took down the Christmas tree and now Lent has started. 

Projects, projects, projects...they seem to be everywhere and multiplying!  I am still working on the leather pouches for Bespin Luke and they are really not coming out as good as I would like.  The whole "wet forming" thing is really a pain and I am having no end of trouble with that.  Actually, I am just having a lot of trouble with the two bottom corners of the pouches as I am finding it difficult to get a nice, square corner.  Lack of that square corner makes stitching the leather difficult also.  I have moved from the single needle method to the double needle method of hand sewing leather and finding that each has a certain advantage.  The real problem now is that I have run out of some supplies and either need to get to Tandy which is a 3 hour (and lots of $$ for gas) round trip or order on-line and have it shipped.  Shipping would probably end up cheaper in the long run BUT some of the items I need like dye and Barge cement can't be shipped if there is a danger of the product freezing.  Suffice it to say that those items can't be shipped at this time of year....so I am kind of stuck in neutral.  I hope to get back to my General Riekeen costume today and I also have to work on completing my second Hoth Hat and second Endor headgear pieces for the Joliet SW Day event.  I need the second set of these headpieces so that one can be on display in the Library and one in the Historical Museum.

On 2-10-13 I attended the armor party in Crystal Lake.  It was a great event as it is always nice to be in a large group of creative people as they are busy with making their costumes.  I kind of really had my nose to the grindstone though as I was determined to get something done.  I did manage to help a couple members with some sewing and work on my leather projects...so...mission accomplished!




On Saturday I volunteered at the "Dick Wunderlich Memorial Workday" and it was kind of a brutal workday.  I started with the chainsaw but found that the 3 chainsaws were getting too far ahead of the herbiciders so I switched to herbiciding.  Wow...what a pain!  Also, there was just no way that we herbiciders could keep up which is bad news as that means that there will be a lot of re-sprouting since we could not find/get to all of that which was cut. 

Can Spring be far off?  I started my pepper plants a couple weeks ago and they are up and on Sunday I started my tomato plants.  At this time of year one always wonders what the next garden season will bring.

I put another lot of Star Wars toys up for auction two weeks ago.  The first round netted nothing...only 2 peoplel watching and no one bid.  It didn't sell so I re-listed it.  This time it sold but for just the minimum.  Where disapppointed again, at least it sold.  Today I hope to pick out the next lot to sell.  Where I had initially decided to sell huge lots, I am thinking I will need to break up those lots as the boxes end up huge and also I think that the size and price of the lots might be intimidating.

February 9,2013

Well, the inability to add photos took all the air out my my so called "blogging".  I feel that maybe I could no longer post photos because I had used up all my space here so I decided to delete the oldest posts from 2009.  Since this is supposed to be my on line journal, I copied all of those 2009 posts into a Word document and saved that. 

Anyway, now to get caught up since it has been a over a month since I posted to the extent of how much I can actually remember.   

I worked on a bunch of different projects in Janauary that involved leatherworking and also tried to resculpt the Hoth Trench Trooper hat comm.  I worked and finally finished the holster for the Bespin Luke Blaster and then moved on to making the one cylindrical pouch that Luke also wears.  What a pain that pouch turned out to be.  The result was not great, but was at least not truly hideous.  Usually when I complete a project I know exactly how to do it better "next time".  With that cylindrical pouch there was no clear better way to approach it.  Thankfully, I am not planning on doing another one of those!

I had finished the sculpt for the Hoth Trench Trooper hat com and then made a mold of it using Moldstar product instead of Rebound and the mold didn't come out good at all, I ended up throwing it away.  I think I might have used to much sealer and release agent on the sculpt and that goo just kind of stayed there.  I cleaned up the sculpt and tried again and the second mold was only a little better so I had to take the whole thing apart, sand it all again, glue it back together and now that I am ready to try again, I no longer have any mold supplies so I will have to wait with that.

January 20th I had a Star Wars event with just two of us.  The only character the parents wanted at the party for their son was Darth Vader.  I was very fortunate to get one of our Vaders sign up for such a short event.  It took longer to drive over, suit up and suit down than for the actual event, but the parents were happy and we got a check for $100.00 for charity.  I chose to wear my New Republic Jedi costume because it is black and I carried my Count Dooku lightsaber because it was red.  No one was interested in what I was or what I was doing there, but I was mainly there as a handler and to get some photos.








January 26th saw the 20th Annual Frozen Butts workday.  It had looked all week that for the first time in probably over 10 years that we were not going to have any snow on the ground for Frozen Butts.  No snow on the ground means that we would not be able to have brush piles burning during the workday.  A nice bunch of piles burning is kind of a tradition at the FB workday.  Lo and behold, the very night before the workday we got a small coating of snow that was just enough to allow us to light brush piles.  Not only does a burning brush pile add atmosphere to the workday, but we were also able to toss the freshly cut invasives of the day straight into the burning piles and thus eliminating a bunch more piles.  It is so much easier than stacking endless piles.  I had spent a lot of time making a Powerpoint presentation commemorating 20 years of Frozen Butts workdays and planned on showing it at the Pot Luck that follows the workday.  I had everything ready and Renee brought the needed laptop, projector and speakers but didn't have the password to the laptop.  To make a long story short, most people had already gone home by the time we got  that straightened out and so I found out a way to turn the PP into a movie and I posted it on Youtube.  Last time I looked it was view by about 65 people so I know at least someone watched it.  The workday turned out fantastic!  Great weather, great people, and just a plain old good time with LOTS of work getting done also.

I finally got tired of looking at the house a mess of projects strewn over every single horizontal space in the house so since I had either finished or come to a dead end on some of the projects I was working on, I put everything away.  Another thing that I spent many, many hours on in the month of January was re-doing the barricaides for the Imperial Cadet Training game that was used at a couple Star Wars events last year.  The previous barricaides were made of plywood and were very heavy and bulky to carry so I redesigned them using pvc and canvas fabric.  All of that stuff had to be custom made and I painted the canvases too.  I even made custom carrying bags for each of the 3 barricades so that they could be easily carried.

With no television anymore, I continue to try to find cheap ways to view things.  I started watching "True Blood" because I was able to get the first 2 seasons dirt cheap.  WEIRD series....truly weird.  I rented seasons 3 and 4 over a couple weeks from Mokena Video and am now up to date as much as I can be.  Season 5 is due out on DVD but I don't plan on buying it, I will wait till I can rent it.  I am also still struggling through some of the later books of the "Vampire Diaries" and also read another Dan Brown novel that was really good.  On my last trip to Half Price Books (I had a gift card) I was able to pick up all 3 seasons of "Roswell".  I remembered that series and remembered that I liked it and watched it.  One thing became clear though...I might have seen season 1 when it was on the air, but I am now into season 2 and don't think I saw any of those episodes at all. 

Time to get something done!