Barf-0

How do you entertain a 2 year old child during an airplane flight?
Take the barf bag and create a hand puppet. I called mine "Barf-O".

My daughter loved it and helped me design the puppets features.
I would have Barf-O command everyone within earshot to obey.
People were genuinely amused by the strange spectacle .

It entertained my daughter for approximately 20 minutes.
Well worth the cost.

Rolling along

Time flies when you are up to your neck in duties. Just a regular update until I can get the hang of actually putting good content here.

The balloon launch was great. The loss of the cameras sucked. Our GPS freaked out at 30K feet and the whole package separated during free fall. Crap. Looking to launch again soon.

The last Champoeg event was a super success. I am glad it is the last one I have to work on.
The life and times of our friends and events at this gathering cannot be easily explained or repeated. It was a great 8 years. Whew!

Other interesting duties will be updates when they become interesting. Nice eh?

CountDOWN

Champoeg is less than 9 days away.
I would hope I would have everything done.
This hope is false.

Currently I need to help finish the "big event"
Assemble the films for the fractalSoup FilmFest
Create my "receiving module" for the balloon chase
Collect multiple gadgets to make it all work.
Create "deLuge" and update "Shotski"
Pack the family camping/eating

and
...stop writing in blogs, and goofing off online.

Boost

Current projects I need to complete within a very short timeline:
Golf thing/puppet thing
Balloon activities
Film Fest (re-compile)
Champoeg Events
2 website rebuilds
2 trips needing planning
That thing I lost to unlock the things I need.

Every time I seem to have free time to accomplish these tasks, I just get distracted. And the distractions are usually dumb things that are easily ignored. I really need to finish this stuff in a short time frame, but I don't really see me completing anything until the very last minute. Why do I do that?

Out of Neutral

It is time for me to get this site running to my exact specifications.

I plan on having a live map of my APRS location (good for snowboarding/snowmobiling/ballooning)
I will have updated links to my Paranormal side project.
Links to all the companies/bands that my friends own/run/play in.
Links to all the content I created.
Some Champoeg stuff as well.

I will try not to drop the ball this time. sheesh.

Can't drive 55?

Due to circumstance beyond my control, I was re-introduced to a new way of thought.
I just hate being enlightened without my prior consent!

I drove to Tacoma to retrieve the last of my dad’s furniture. He is moving to a smaller place, and has no room for the house wares that have been in our family for generations. He was going to trash them, and it was no joke. He has no problem downsizing. However, I am a packrat, and needed to save this stuff from the dump.

I drove up there in my little truck and attached a U-Haul trailer to the bumper. I immediately noticed the trailer was a little unstable, bouncing the family heirlooms inside. Not wanting the trailer to bounce, I kept the speed to 55 miles per hour on I-5 from Tacoma to Salem. I also had no radio for entertainment. This is my story.

Do you know how difficult it is to actually drive at 55mph?

The traffic on the freeway was zipping along at 75+mph. ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM! They blasted right by me the whole way. Trucks, Trailers, SUV’s, Busses, Grandmas.. ..all were in a hurry to get somewhere else. Hell, I would be there right with them if not for my heavily loaded vehicle. It was then I noticed things I normally did not see.

It started with two deer on the edge of the road, just inside the forest. Quietly eating the leaves of a bush, they were not fearful of the vehicles speeding just meters from them.
Later I saw what looked like trash, but turned out to be a homeless camp with occupants.

I noticed things along this freeway I have never seen the 100’s of times I have driven it before. It was almost surreal. I had time to watch the clouds roll over the country side, the newly demolished forest just beyond the “green strip”, and that weird building with the thing.. well I cant quite explain it… but it is weird.

I had time think of life and the meaning of my existence. I had 4 hours to drive, so I was able to solve many problems humanity faces today (think Kill-Bots!!). It was refreshing and enlightening in a strange way. With the traffic blasting past me, I was but a inconvenient rolling roadblock to that soccer mom racing to get her double tall latte and the sleep deprived long haul trucker strung out on No-doze.

It was fun. I plan on trying this experiment again when time permits. If you tried this experiment, let me know how it goes. No music, no speeding.. just moseying to your destination. You may solve the world’s problems, or see life in a whole new light.

Just watch for flying birds… flipped from the upset drivers swerving around you.

The Castle

The rumors were rampant. The legends were common. The location was identified.

Throughout my high school days, there was a story about the haunted castle in the back roads above Grants Pass. Most everyone knew part of the story, or someone who did. The Castle would always come up in conversations about haunting and ghosts. It was my investigations of the castle that gave me the supernatural scare of my life. Read on

Time has passed, and I am a little fuzzy on the details, so here is the basic story.There was a man and wife who bought a piece of property in the hills above the town. Their dream was to construct a Castle for their daughter. They put their heart and soul into the structure and got the place almost completely finished. It was then tragedy struck.

During the final phase of construction, a fire broke out. The man escaped unhurt. The woman died running down the staircase to escape the flames. Years passed, and stories cropped up of strange lights and sounds emanating from within the castle. Some say she still walks the halls at night, in search of an exit. I had to find out first hand.

I drove a friend and 2 girls in my mom’s VW cabriolet convertible to the road that leads up to the castle. The castle sits in the back of the property, and there is a little dirt road that leads from the street to the front. The grass was tall and unkempt. The only other structure was a decrepit old trailer home. Both sites looked abandoned for years, however looks can be deceiving…

The coast was clear so I drove up the dirt road to the front of the castle. We were a little spooked, but decided get out and look inside the windows. Sure enough, it was a wreck on the inside, and a fire did occur many years earlier. I thought it would be a good idea to head to the back of the castle to find the staircase. There was destruction in every window we looked through, and the legend looked to be very plausible. We saw burnt remnants of furniture, and dusty remains. My friend and the girls were getting really nervous now, but I wouldn’t turn back. I simply must find that staircase!!

As we rounded the last corner on the back side of the castle, I looked through one final window, and found the fabled staircase. The hair on the back on my neck stood up as my imagination painted a picture of a ghostly presence. Did I see a silvery shape descend the staircase, or was it a play of the lighting. What was that weird noise from the room?? I was absolutely transfixed at the scene, and I couldn’t turn away.

I didn’t even notice the gun pointed at my head…

One of the girls saw him before I did and let out a scream. I pulled away from the window and was immediately staring down the barrel of a pistol. On the other side of the pistol was an angry old man, shaking from fear or old age.

As he pointed the gun at me with an unstable hand, he commanded:“YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON MY LAND. LEAVE NOW!”

I followed my instinct and did not ask questions. My thought was that if his hand was shaky, so was his trigger finger. I apologized for our intrusion and led my friends back to the car. The whole time, the old man kept the gun pointed directly at me. Even when we were in the car and leaving, that pistol was leveled at me. Only when we were physically off the property (and out of range) did he return to his shack. Yeah, that was fun

Years later I told my coworker of this weird little story. We decided we would stop by during a business trip to California. I don’t think he believed me.

We drove up the paved street to the front of the property. The grass was just as tall, and the shack was still in front of the Castle. Everything looked abandoned, but I was not going to fall for it this time… I was cautious. I had started driving up the dirt path again when I sensed something was wrong. Deadly wrong! I don’t know how to explain the feeling, but I “saw” something in the grass heading toward us at a rapid velocity.

I immediately threw the car in reverse, and got onto the pavement. The thing in the grass kept coming, so I stomped the gas pedal and hurtled down the road. It matched my speed and followed me to the end of the property. I was shaken. I still don’t know why.

So, a couple years later, I told my roommate these little weird stories, and we decided to investigate. The old man surely wouldn’t recognize me, so we decided on a different approach. We used the patented “friendly curious passerby tourist” approach. It was flawless.

We drove to the property where the grass was still tall and the shack was still deteriorating. However the Castle looked like some work had been done. So in a friendly manner, drove right to the old shack and called out for help.

A lady in her mid to late thirties came out of the shack in response to our voices. I asked her about the Castle and if it would be ok for me and my roommate to take pictures. She seemed compliant and said yes.

She couldn’t join us as she was taking care of her elderly father inside the shack. She said he had built it many years ago, but then her mother died and he lost interest. She didn’t give too many details, but I knew exactly the real story now. He and his wife built the castle for her. When her mother died in that horrible fire, he became embittered to everyone and anything.

So, after we got her blessing, we went to take pictures of the Castle. We were looking for “orbs” to verify the ghost story. We took many pix and did not see anything unusual. This was a pity. However, here is where the story gets a little weird.

As we returned to our vehicle the lady re-emerged from the shack… no longer in her regular clothes, but in a string bikini. She came out and started talking to us. She became really close and personal, and I swear she was flaunting herself in front of us. My roommate just reminded me that her boobs were really weird. I can’t remember why.

So… we bid her farewell, and headed down the road. That place may not have any supernatural forces, but it definitely is unusual. Anybody want to join me for a 4th investigation?

I am SURE something weird will happen. It always does.

200K for Artie

My truck has just passed the 200,000 mile mark. I have driven all but about 30 of those miles, and have accumulated many memorable events during this time.

It was my first new vehicle I have ever owned. Dad helped me pay for it, as my other vehicle was very close to death (I recently almost killed it). I have loved this truck ever since. The best story about my truck happened the first week I owned it. It’s pretty intense, but 100% true. Read on.

The first week I owned this truck, I took my girlfriend on a trip through N. California to Shasta Lake, then to Crescent City. It was earlier in my youth where I knew about a 20 year old abandoned housing site, where only the decaying roads remain (map). It’s located on a lonely beach just north of Crescent City, CA.

Wanting to camp alone, I drove us to the farthest corner of the complex of empty streets, only seeing a creepy RV a mile past. I drove to the very end of the road and accidentally drove over the pavement into the sand. Thinking I could roll down to the wet sand and drive my truck out, I descended down the sandy hill towards the ocean and immediately sunk the truck up to the doors in loose sand. We got out and with the tide coming in; I knew I only had a couple hours to free the vehicle before it succumbed to the ocean waves. We jumped out and tried to free my little truck with the tire jack. It did not work. Cell phones were not common at the time. No one knew where we were, it was midnight, and we needed to get help fast.

I remembered the RV we passed to get to our spot, and taking a chance, we walked toward the vehicle. As we walked on the deteriorating pavement, my girlfriend informs me she left her shoes behind. We were so far from the truck now, I gave her mine. We walked the remaining distance to the RV without a flashlight. All the way my feet were being cut up by the exposed aggregate, but we pressed on.

When we finally reached the grease stained RV, it was tattered and lifeless. We approached the vehicle with much trepidation, something just didn’t feel right. There was no other choice. I had to try to make contact with anyone who could help. Approaching the vehicle, I knocked at the door and waited.

Nothing. I knocked again, still nothing. It was dead. We waited a few minutes and still no life from the RV. It was when we turned to leave did I see the tightly drawn curtains split apart, and a pale white face stared at us from within. That spooked us.

The face stared at us for what seemed like hours, but eventually the door unlocked and creaked open. From the darkened doorway the voice called out “What do you want with me?” I replied “My truck is stuck in the sand at the end of the road, could you help us out?”

It was then the weathered old woman in her 60’s poked her head out of the darkness and said “You are in a lot of trouble, more than you realize.” I could feel the wave of fear from my girlfriend. She wasn’t taking this so well, so I decided to press the old woman for answers. I asked her for an explanation. I got one.

She proceeded to tell us that there has been a recent string of murders in the area. Evidently somebody stumbled upon some bodies and notified the police. She said that local law enforcement thought it might be the work of some locals. She even said she had been shot at recently, and that was the reason for her reluctance to answer her door.

My girlfriend and I were completely freaked at this time, and I asked the old woman if she could help us. She made the suggestion that we walk a mile further to a friend’s house and shout at the building, but to avoid the dogs he keeps on the property. I pointed to my now badly bloodied feet and said that I could not go much further, as the pain was too much.

Reluctantly, she agreed to go for help. The RV started with a creak and moan, but thankfully it started. As she was leaving, she warned us to be very cautious of our situation. After her murderous story, we weren’t about to let our guard down.

We returned to the high point of the hill I previously drove down, and got a good vantage spot of the complex of roadways stretching beyond us. The fog set in with a light drizzle to keep us very soaked. We sat on a log and waited for our savior to return.

An anxious hour or so had passed, and we finally saw headlights in the distance. I was relieved to know that the old woman had kept her promise and was returning to help. I did think it was odd that the vehicle was moving at a high rate of speed. As the lights fast approached, we noticed immediately that they were different from those on the RV. What vehicle was this? The cops? The sheriff? The local killer??

When it got close enough we were able to identify it as a jacked up 4X4 vehicle. Was this the murderous locals the old woman warned us about? We were too scared to move from our log. The 4X4 rounded the last corner and stopped right in front of us. It stopped for a good 10-15 seconds, the occupants staring at us from behind tinted windows. Without any indication, the vehicle then lurched off down the hill toward my sand trapped truck.

I got the courage to get up from our log and look over the hill towards my truck. The 4X4 was spinning circles around it. Around and around and around, flipping sand everywhere, taunting me to approach.

“Today is the day I die, but I will be damned that I give up without a fight.“ This was my thought as I started my descent toward the now stopped 4X4, knowing that I was soon to be a dead man. The 4X4 revved the engine, but did not move. “What the hell am I doing?” I thought as I walked down the sandy hill.

This guy is acting way too unusual to be normal. There is something wrong, and I am walking right into it. I wanted to turn back up the hill and recover my girlfriend who was now hiding behind the log. Too late now, I must face this challenge without fear. Fear indeed.

As I passed my truck and approached the 4X4, the tinted window finally rolled down. It was dark and I couldn’t see the details, but I could tell that there were 3 men inside. What the hell did they want from me?

The driver spoke “The cops are coming, but they aint getting you out”.

Not sure if this was a direct threat to me, I decided it was in my best interest to strike a commonality with these locals. Luckily, my friend and I had dated a couple girls from the town, and I immediately spouted these names to prove to these potential killers that I had a local connection, and murdering me would be bad. Well, it was all I could think of at the time..

“Do you guys know Kim —— or Carla —–?? We are good friends, and I was hoping to see them here soon with their boyfriends. They said to meet them here and it looks like I got stuck.”
He responded “Yeah, I heard of them, but it makes no difference, the Sheriff is coming and he won’t get you out.” I meekly asked why and he continued “The sheriff has a Ford Bronco and a 20 foot length of chain. Your little truck is too far down the hill to be fully recovered by them. We heard them on our police scanner”

HOLY CRAP! These weren’t the killers and we weren’t going to die! I was both happy and sad because my truck was going to be destroyed by the ocean anyway. Shit! That is when I saw the Sheriffs Bronco coming over the hill and down to us.

Sure enough, they had a crappy little chain that would have proven useless in extracting my truck. That is when the 4X4 driver piped up and said he would recover my truck with his winch. Why he waited to say anything is beyond me.

The three guys hooked up my little truck to the winch system while the Sheriff, his partner and I went back up the hill. They gave my girlfriend a blanket and let her sit in the back of the Bronco to be shielded from the poor weather conditions. Then the three of us watched the truck extraction from the log. It was then I heard the most freakish thing in my life…

As the three of us stood by the log, the Sheriff said to his partner…
“Do you smell that??”
“I sure do”
“That is rotting flesh; there is a decomposing body around here”

My thought was JESUS!! This log my girlfriend and I had been sitting on, for at least an hour is apparently a couple feet from the dropping off location of the local killer. How could this night get any worse?!?

Then for some reason, I followed the officers as they searched the dune grass for a dead body. It was the most surreal moment I have ever experienced. What the hell would I do if I saw a dead decomposing body. I would probably go mental.

We searched for a bit and the partner finally found the source of the stench.. A rotting dead seagull carcass. How the hell did these guys smell this little thing is beyond me, but I have an idea.

So, my truck was finally recovered, I gave the guys my last $40, and I installed wiring to the creepy ladies RV (she turned out to be pretty cool with a very interesting life). This was the 2nd time I almost destroyed a vehicle in 3 weeks by the ocean, with the same girlfriend, and we were exhausted. We eventually got to a ramshackle hotel and crashed for the night.

Telling this story still gives me the creeps because it all happened.So, here is the video you all have been waiting for..PROOF

Why do I call my truck Artie? I name every vehicle I own, and the initials to my Red Truck are RT. Say RT phonetically and you get the name.

Balloon Horizontal Dampening

During the conversation on possible experiments on the LPSU balloon launch, several ideas were discussed. One particular puzzle was how to keep the payload from swinging underneath the balloon envelope. During the assent, the balloon and payload are subject to crosswinds at different velocities. Due to the large surface size and light weight, the balloon is more susceptible to horizontal movement than the payload. (Image A) This will cause an uneven applied force, causing a pendulum effect to the entire vehicle. (Image B)

A swivel and boom/gyro idea was proposed during the meeting. Afterwards, I was thinking of the movements involved, and how best to equalize the uneven forces. Thinking of how rockets and missiles use fin technology to keep a true course during flight, I wondered if a similar idea can be used to dampen the load under a balloon in free flight.

It was immediately clear that if fins were applied, the uneven wind would likely cause the system to rotate, possibly at a rapid rate. This would cause chaotic forces on the system, as well as potential for a premature severing of the load string. What I finally decided upon was a “Lampshade Dampener”. (Image C) The outer skin would be rounded lightweight material that would have minimal rotating due to wind forces. On the inside, there would be an elastic shock absorbing system to cushion the load string from the rapid balloon movement. The Lampshade would provide an added surface for the wind to push against in the same direction as the balloon travel, further softening the rapid movement to the load.

At the base of the balloon would hang a swivel. The lampshade and load string would be attached to this swivel. Inside the lampshade would be a small tube that would be held in the center by elastic lines attached to the inside walls of the lampshade. The load string would be threaded through this tube and continue to the payload. (Image D).

With the lampshade system in place, it would help equalize the horizontal forces (red arrows) caused by wind (blue arrows). When the balloon and lampshade are exposed to horizontal air, the horizontal and lift forces of the balloon will cause the load string to move about in the lampshade. Since the lampshade is under the same forces, it will also head in the same direction as the balloon. Inside, the load string will pull from side to side, with the elastic resisting the movement. After a short period, it is assumed the opposing horizontal forces will negate each other and “dampen” the movement to the payload. The idea seemed simple enough that I constructed a mockup model using a pop bottle, straw, rubber bands, fishing line, and a valentines day balloon. I think it looks great!

A couple of notes to consider: At high altitude, the temperature is in the subfreezing range. Does elastic respond well under such conditions? Alternatives??

As a second use, Reflective Mylar can be attached to the lampshade for a radar reflector.

Sun Flower

I have been thinking of High Altitude experiments for almost a year. During that time I have come up with a fairly easy experiment that is light weight, and may introduce many people into the exciting world of space exploration and experimentation. It starts with a mammoth sunflower I had in my front yard.

There have been many seeds sent to the edge of space to calculate what occurs when exposed to the extremely harsh conditions at high altitudes. The problem is that the origin of the seeds are not known. Purchased packets contain different seeds from different plants, possibly different regions, making a controlled experiment a challenge.

That is when I realized my sunflower is the perfect plant for the job.

1. ALL seeds collected originate from one plant.
2. ALL seeds are treated in same fashion.
3. My 12' diameter Sunflower had hundreds of seeds, making experimental duplication possible.
4. Sunflower seed husks are durable and tough, and will likely enable seed survival.
5. Seeds can be marked on the husk to identify control and experimental units.
   
   So, in the fall of 2006, I harvested the seeds from my sunflower, dried and separated into two containers. Last night, I had acquired the perfect container for seed exposure and put the experiment together in the late hours of the night.
   The proposed container is a shatter proof plastic tube with two end caps. Another plastic tube has been cut down the center line to help hold the seeds in place.

The cut tube is rolled tight so it can fit inside the external tube. When the seeds are placed in between the two tubes, they will be held tightly to the external wall for full UV exposure.

I decided to use a rubber band to temporarily hold the inner tube to the correct diameter as I loaded the seeds into position. The whole process took about 30 minutes.

Finished product. Seeds are held tightly to the outer tube.

If the tube was just filled, the seeds in the center would not receive proper UV exposure, and considered extra weight. The inner tube method ensures all "space seeds" get equal exposure time, as well as saving on weight of the experiment.

End caps are attached and foam introduced to ensure tight packing of the seed layer. The total experiment weighs ounces, and should be durable enough for any hard landing often experienced by returning payloads.

It is my hope that a camera can document this experiment at high altitude. It would be my intent to place a Geocache either at the launch location, or landing location. This photograph would be used as "Wow Factor" to entice geocachers or anyone with a GPS to find this container and obtain 1 control seed and 1 experimental seed for experiments on their on properties. With any data they provide me, I will then post on the web for further excitement of space exploration.