Laffing Horse Crafts

…we’re spending a lot of our time running into brick walls. Or, rather we wish we were because if we were running into brick walls, at least there’d be walls.

The problem arises, once again, from that old nemesis of ours, Time. There just ain’t enough of it…

Do we build a chicken coop? Cut and clean cord wood for the garden cottage? Finish the garden? Clear space for the bees? A sheep barn? Shear the sheep? Shear the llamas? Go get a load of slab? Build more fence panels? Get more construction materials in town?

All of these items take a lot of time and if we devote time to one item, that’s less time to devote to another.

Jeanette and I put as much of this dilemma down on paper as we could think of at one sitting and started to tick off items that we thought were the most important flow chart style… and Lena came along and made most of our planning moot by being logical.

“If we get more slab,” she said, “we could build more fence and finish the chicken coop. Can’t do much else until we have more slab.”

So, we cleared the brush fence out, unloaded the trailer and, after lunch, we’ll be heading down the mountain to the sawmill for another load or two of slab.

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: 2% [?]

As I read over the post that I wrote last night – about the keyboard – I realized that there is a lot more that I should have written. What came out was a basic review of a keyboard and that is not necessarily what I had intended…

Don’t get me wrong, the keyboard is nice… although I’m sure a few of you caught the typos I made – not that I don’t make frequent typos – and will blame said typos on getting used to this keyboard. I might even use that excuse for a couple months.

The bigger picture has to do with buying green… The three Rs… Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… I think maybe there ought to be a fourth R… Rescue!

How does a keyboard lead into this?

When shopping, buy quality – even if it costs a dollar or two more. You’ll use a lot less, waste a lot less when the item you buy lasts a lot longer than a cheap disposable version of the same. If you have to replace the item you bought every six months because you initially bought a cheaper version that didn’t last as long and you throw the broken item away, you’ll end up wasting more and spending more on replacements.

Learn to avoid the hype. This applies to gadgets (and as a gadget guy, this is a hard post to write) and cars. If the computer or other gadget you’re using is doing the job you want it to, don’t replace it. If all you ever use your digital camera for is to post pictures on your blog or to send via email, you don’t need a 6545646 MondoMegaPixel SLR with built in dishwasher. If all you use a computer for is a letter to Gramma once a month, you can use an XT from 1983 and a dot-matrix printer and forgo the new $2000 PC with the Whizbang 79576 Video card and the Belandwhissle 96-bit sound card and the 96″ flat panel display and the spill-proof rubberized keyboard (unless you spill coffee on your old one).

Likewise, if your car is running and not burning oil or leaking fluids and gets reasonable gas mileage – why do you need a new car with… well, whatever feature that convinced you you need a new car.

Be critical of your own thinking and justifications. I am a master at this! I can make up a reason on the fly that will sound good and justify the purchase of almost anything. I know it’s all BS and Jeanette’s learned, but I still catch myself from time to time.. If you have a similar tendency, stop and think about what you’re justifying.

Avoid shopping for shopping’s sake. I like windows (those glass things in the front of a lot of buildings… not necessarily the operating system that has become synonymous with the Blue Screen of Death) as much as the next person… maybe more… but when I go window shopping, it’s for windows.

Consider repairing over replacing. Sometimes something needs fixing and the temptation is to replace it. Don’t. Take pains to be aware of that point of diminishing returns, though. Take those same pains to be aware of your limitations, too. It’s no use trying to replace or repair a carburetor on a  car that’s leaking a quart every 200 miles and burning a quart every 300 miles and gets 3 gallons to the mile. Likewise, it’s no use trying to re-solder a broken connection on a computer motherboard with a stick of match light solder and a Bic lighter.

Trust me on these folks… this is the (unfortunate) voice of experience.

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: unranked [?]

If Salvador Dali had decided to paint keyboards instead of watches and clocks, he would have selected my new keyboard to act as a model.

This is too cool!

It’s a thin membrane keyboard with a feel similar to the feel of a laptop computer keyboard. Short key travel and a little mushy… it’s even mushier than most other mushy keyboards and you’ll see why… but it’s not bad and you get used to it quickly. That thin membrande stye keyboard is then sealed in an eighth-inch double layer of silicone. There is no frame. The keyboard will flop or roll, and can be washed in the sink. It’s translucent and available in several different colors including a glow-in-the-dark-model. The silicone means there’s no support of the keys and they tend to mush to one side or the other rather than going straight down. After a day of typing on it, I actually like it a lot, but I’m still going to have to practice to keep from missing the keys. The keys are spaced right, though… just like a full sized keyboard.

All is not perfect, though…even with the practice… I’m used to my Mac keyboard and the extra keys is has on it for Mac purposes… like ejecting the CD and controlling the volume. As this is a PC keyboard, the command, er, Windows and option, um, alt keys are reversed and there’s a useless menu button. It is a USB keyboard, though and my Mac recognized it right away and the F12key acts as an eject key and the power and sleep keys work as expected. I just have to use the mouse or the volume control on my external speakers. For those considering a keyboard like this, but using a PC with a PS/2 port, don’t worry… it comes with a PS/2 adapter. Because it’s flat, it’s probably not as ergonomic as it should be, but figure I can build a slant board to put it on.

Dot the positives offset the negatives? I think so…

From techy Stuff

But, why on Earth did I get this keyboard? I mean, we’re trying to go green. We’re trying to homestead. We’re a little short on cash after the move and need to buy building materials. How did I ever justify buying a new goofy looking keyboard?

I spilled coffee on my old one.

I think this turned out as a good thing… no, really… Here’s why.

Buying a virtually indestructible keyboard means I may never have to buy a keyboard again… no more waste in the landfill. It also means I won’t get angry when I spill – or when the cat knocks a cuppa over – on my keyboard. I didn’t spend a lot, either… the keyboard was just $13 with the shipping included!

Oh, yeah, and it looks cool

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: unranked [?]

Due to a large volume of requests, I have finally sat down and done what I should have done in the beginning… I just didn’t know that the beginning was the beginning if you know what I mean.

I’ve written a brochure about my TriLooms.

You can access it here. It is a 1.4 MB, print ready PDF file. Feel free to read it on the screen or print out a copy for yourself and all your friends.

If the link above doesn’t work for you, try copy/pasting this: http://www.laffing-horse.com/learntodocs/triloom brochure.pdf

Have fun weaving!

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: unranked [?]

Jeanette has a game she likes to play… not really a game, I suppose… more of a conversation starter. She likes to ask people what’s the ONE item – modern convenience – you could not live without.

The answers she gets are really interesting. Most people shoot high… microwave ovens, cellular phones, computers, internet. Jeanette aims a little lower… she likes having hot running water to shower in.

I cannot answer the question. Oh, I can spout off something one day… but it’ll be different the next day.

I have my computer right here in front of me and it has a 24-7 connection to the internet. When I’m away from my computer, I usually have a Palm in my pocket… there’s another Palm with a keyboard in Midas. I am quite sure we could not do the things we do without the computer. Maybe we could, but it would be agonizingly slow… imagine waiting a week for a response to anything. Sure would build a person’s patience levels back up. As it is, I have a hard time waiting a day for a response to an email. If it takes more than five minutes waiting on a reply to an instant message, I figure the other person is ignoring me. Isn’t that why they’re call instant? The internet and my computer is my bestest friend!

When I’m on the road and I want to let people know how I’m doing, I reach for a cell phone. Imagine having to hunt through towns hither thither and yon to find a pay phone. In fact, while completing this move from Colorado to Arkansas I was stopped at a gas station in Dodge City, Kansas and a poor guy was trying to use the pay phone in sub-zero conditions and the coin slot was frozen… even when you can find ‘em it’s likely that they won’t work. The cell phone is my bestest friend!

I make looms and crochet hooks and knitting needles and spinning wheels. I could make them completely with hand tools, but I’d have to charge for my time and I am thinking I wouldn’t sell as many if I had to sell them at $3456897 each. Of course, if I could just sell one at that price, I might think a bit differently. Any takers? Power tools make all the difference in the world when it comes to making the things I am making. Power tools are my bestest friend!

We’re working on a cordwood building. I could cut all the trees with a handsaw. No, really, I could… but we’d be without shelter for several years and my arms would put Schwarzenegger to shame, I’m sure. The chainsaw is my bestest friend!

We can travel from point A to point B on horseback or in a buggy. The trip from here to Mountain View would only take a day. However, there’s too much to do to take a full day off to run into town. Our vehicles are our bestest friends!

Then, later in the day, when I start feeling gritty and I know I’m starting to be a bit fragrant, the shower is my bestest friend!

In spite of all of this, I find as I grow older I really don’t like technology. It took technology to teach me that… it took our current situation to teach me that…

What we have here is a complete sphere… a circle… no beginning and no ending in any direction. It’s also a neat little catch-22.

Think about it…

If we didn’t have the internet, we wouldn’t have our online presence which pays most of the bills. Without a way to pay most of the bills, we couldn’t live up here… we’d have to be in town close to jobs to pay the bills. If I were working a ‘real’ job, I wouldn’t need the power tools or the internet because I wouldn’t have the time to work a ‘real’ job and take care of handcrafting things. If I didn’t have the vehicles, we’d have to live in town, also, but then we wouldn’t be traveling to shows, either. If we weren’t traveling to shows, we’d not need the cell phones.

See? It’s all interdependent.

As I think about this, I look around me (not here inside, mind you) and see the ecology of the area and realize that it’s all interdependent, too. I wonder if my power tools and chainsaws and hot water and cell phones and computer and internet are having too much of an impact on the local flora and fauna…

If I were to lose any one of the things I value, I could continue, but it would hurt and make life a lot more difficult.

As I change the area we are homesteading, are we taking away too much?

I get tempted to throw it all away and go hide in a cave and be a hermit… a true luddite eschewing all things technological. But, then I think I’d want a club, and a fire, and hot water, and hand tools, and…

So I am left with a series of choices, as are we all in one way or another. I choose to be a technological luddite and do the things I am doing, but I’m going to try to walk softly as I do it…

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: unranked [?]

Initially, I wanted to make looms in 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 sizes.

A mistake led me to make a 5 foot loom – I measured once and cut twice… always get that confused… mental dyslexia!

Fixing that mistake led the 18″ looms… I figured if I could use the mis-cut wood in a loom, it wasn’t a mistake, it was fate
You all know by now that I play on the name of my loom makin’ endeavor to name my looms. Turns out I’ll never run out of names: Breed of Horses. Every time I mention that, Jeanette points out that two of my looms aren’t named after breeds, they’re names after colors of horses. See, I got that many more ways to name ‘em.

The 1 foot TriLooms are the Mini and the Overo depending on the finish.

The 18″ TriLoom is the Pinto… it only comes in the SE flavor.

The 2 foot TriLooms are the Shetland and the Tobiano.

The 3 foot TriLooms are the Paso Fino and the Zebroni.

The 5 foot TriLoom is a Morgan.

The 6 foot TriLoom is a Palomino.

The 7 foot TriLoom is a Mustang.

The 7-6-5-4-3+ foot modular TriLoom is the Andalusian.

Today, due to demand, I am introducing the Sorraia 4 foot TriLoom:

The back of the Sorraia 4′ TriLoom. From Sorraia

The front of the Sorraia 4′ TriLoom. From Sorraia

Detail of the hook slot. From Sorraia

Detail of the hand-carved weaving hook. From Sorraia

This particular loom is crafted from solid oak! It’s purty even if I must say so myself.

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: unranked [?]

We now have a wall!

OK, so it’s not really a wall… I mean, really… It’s about four- to five-feet high and 15-feet long and it’s not mortared together, but it’s an obstacle I have to look over or go around. That counts, right? That’s progress, right?

Meanwhile, Elena’s now helping with the sawing as we dug out a 14″ electric chainsaw for her to work with.

Electric? Yes, folk, electric! Today, while we weren’t looking, the power company came, approved everything we put in and connected the cables. We have power! …or I could sing “I got the power!” but then people would throw stuff at me and boo…

Jeanette managed to fence in the garden area, too.

So much more, but it’s late and I’ll write the rest tomorrow…

Goodnight.

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: unranked [?]

We spent the last three days divided up between some different tasks. We didn’t fall, but I still think you ought to keep that whole ‘united we stand’ thing in their li’l book of sayings ’cause it weren’t easy.

Thursday, Jeanette got up and completed most of the chorin’ while I languished in bed wishing I had coffee, more motivation, more time to sleep, or all of the above. Since none of the aforementioned items seemed forthcoming, I went ahead and got up and helped Jeanette finish chores. With Elena’s help, we finished chores and headed to the shop.

Timing was important here! It was important to get up early and do chores quickly as Jeanette and Elena were heading to town to set up our display and booth so we could vend at the 45th Annual Arkansas Folk Festival. They wanted to leave at 8 a.m. We almost made it… they left at 8:30 a.m.

Timing has never been our strong suit.

The plan was that on Thursday and Friday, they would vend while I made stock and finished orders and did afternoon chores. Saturday, Jen and I would vend while Lena worked around the farm and did afternoon chores.

That part went off without a hitch! I got a lot of looms finished and did afternoon chores and they did vend… some… Saturday, Lena got panels built and brush cleared and chores done and we did vend… a bit more, anyways…

Turns out that the festival really doesn’t get off the ground until after parade on Saturday. Well, you live and learn…

Still, it was quite worthwhile. We got out there and met people and let ‘em know we were in the area. If our history at events is any indication, it’ll generate a lot of interest on down the road.

Meanwhile, we got to meet several local spinners and weavers. On the one side of our booth was a fellow woodworker with some real nice pieces – both rustic and classic – and we got to talk tools and stains and woods for a while. The other side housed a young miss with a unique touchless massage machine and a desire to learn to weave.

Later on, who should walk into our booth but Cynthia and Gus… two fellow Foxians (Foxites?) who had heard of us and we had heard of them, but had not yet had an opportunity meet. We spent an hour or so chatting and are going to go see their cordwood house soon. We’re also gonna chat about geeky stuff and organic gardens and cooking! This should be fun!

This wouldn’t have merited and post, but I had just finished listening to a conversation across the way between two folk – not eavesdropping… beggin’ your pardon, but there weren’t any eaves… just being aware of my surroundings – that apparently lived within a block or so of each other and only knew each other by the vehicles they drove. “So you’re the Dodge on Suchandsuch Lane? Hi, I’m the Buick!” Of course, proper introductions followed, but as they did I remarked to Jen that it was odd that people could live that close and not know one another any better than that.

Minutes later, I got my comeuppance… here we are, a mile or so away from Cynthia and Gus… folk with very similar interests and we don’t know them either. I could make the excuse that we just got here and we’ve been busy… and that’s true, but our door hasn’t had a welcome sign put in it either.

If you’re reading this here, and you’re curious and in the area and don’t see a welcome sign in the door, ignore what you don’t see and knock anyways… the dogs’ll bark, but that’s about it and the place is a mess, but we can put on some coffee or tea and chat for a bit…

---

It’s a habit of mine to write a post and have Jen look it over before I publish it. This time, she pointed out that by the time people read this and it sinks in, we might be gone again to one show or another. I agreed with here and thought I’d add a link to our calendar page so folks can see when we’re about and when we’re not: Show Calendar.

And, while I was adding that link, my computer blinked, telling me I had a new email from Cynthia with an invite… do you believe in coincidence? Synchronicity?

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: 3% [?]

I’m a member of a lot of online email list groups… mostly Yahoo based, mostly fiber arts or computer or homesteading based. It is to these lists I go when I run into a wall and need advice. There’s a lot of brainpower out there and I’d be a fool not to use it.

After all, in spite of what I told my father when I was 14, I don’t know it all. I didn’t then and I’m learning just how much more I don’t know every day!

So my latest dilemma is, well, it’s a rather prickly subject… briers and brambles.

It’s not that I don’t like ‘em. I mean, they provide fruit (blackberries) and greens (young cat brier shoots and leaves) and shade and flowers (wild rose) and greenery and a margin of protection… no burglar is going to try to get into a house that’s surrounded by these three!

However, for all the positive things they offer, they also provide me with a lot of scratches and snagged clothing and they’re &^%&*(% on fleeces. They’re also thick. And I mean thick! Think of all those old movies wherein the intrepid explorer is hacking his way through the jungle with a machete presumably in search of a distressed maiden, a lost city of gold or Dr. Livingston… Got that? Now add half- to one- inch thorns to every one of those vines. Make them a little tougher and springier so that the machete just kinda makes them bounce into you. That’s our forest and there ain’t no city of gold just behind the next curtain of creepers. The only maiden you’ll likely find in distress is saying “Baaaaa Baaaaaa” cause she’s so wound up in the stuff she’s actually suspended and can’t touch the ground (true story, that). Not sure about any one named Livingston up here, but I think we may have found Hoffa…

But I digress.

I wrote to these groups – several different ones – and told them of my dilemma. Without fail, and with very few variations, the answer was the same: Goats!

Goats I got! Goats that read the same lists I do are a bit harder to come by. My goats read the “eat the hay piled in the stack and let the humans clear out that nasty stuff so you can get to the grass underneath” list.

Still, in the course of getting ready for the Garden Cottage and creating the horse paddock, we’ve managed to clear about an acre of the stuff.

It has one last favorable characteristic not mentioned above. It burns great!

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: unranked [?]

Sort of…

I read about a new service this morning and had to go and check it out. It’s called Scrapblog. It appears to be a photoblog on steroids or a Powerpoint (Shame on me! I’m a Mac user, not a Microsoft user. I should have said Keynote… but would anyone have known what I was talking about?) presentation online.

The Scrapblog I put together took a while as I had to load the photos from Flickr and then drag and drop them into a template which I then published. The results are rather nice, though, don’t you think?

Don't have a need for a broom, crochet hook or triloom, but you still appreciate what I'm doing here? How about buying me a cup of coffee?

Popularity: 1% [?]