Cambodia

Cambodian Travels  --  Trip Reading included:

 Gun for Hire, Confidential Agent and Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene 

and 

Cambodia's Curse by Joel Brinkley

We spent the beginning of our 2015 on the way to Cambodia.  Embarking on New Year's Eve thanks to a cheap ticket and flying out of Minneapolis via Chicago via Incheon (Seoul, South Korea) to final destination Cambodia and it's capital Phnom Penh.

We in fact, did not experience New Year's at all this year, (which I'm considering giving up anyway, it's way too late at night).  We were flying somewhere over Alaska and then crossed the international dateline at 9pm or so.  So we ended up flying into New Year's Day and totally lost out this year.  Oh well, no New Year's Resolution for me, just some airplane food (which was actually pretty good) and some movies, which weren't as good.

These here little guys are the mini dried fish.  I've tried looking up the name but have been stumped.  Closest I can find is possibly Niboshi which can be translated as anchovies.  But I'm not sure if these are.  Salty, chewy and fishy!  If anyone knows, feel free to comment!

My lack of New Year's celebration was all made better when we sleepily got off our plane in Phnom Penh and were given beers for our tuk-tuk ride home.  A tuk-tuk (or remork) is a covered cart pulled by a moto and pictured here (sometimes also known as a mini-bike or motorcycle).  Overall, pretty maneuverable and convenient, especially for an unknown city with difficult traffic.

Here's little taste of tuk-tuk riding.  You can see us zoom past Angkor Wat's main entrance while our driver honks at everything he can.  Now to be clear, he had the fastest tuk-tuk.  You could read the smugness in his face as he passed every other tuk-tuk, car, or cyclist on the road.  He said he'd been a garment factory worker for a long time, then moved to Phnom Penh and bought himself a tuk-tuk because he didn't like working for anyone but himself.  It showed, he could barely tolerate anyone on the same road (and that included either side of it).  Here is tuk-tuk man, his super fast moto, and Angkor Wat in the distance!

If you do ever travel to Cambodia, you should make it a point to see the Temples of Angkor, chances are that's what you'd be doing anyway, but just in case..  They are located in Siem Reap in the northwestern part of Cambodia and are some of the oldest structures built by man.  They are eye-popping.  Detailed carvings, massive sandstone, and nature's slow encroachment all add up to a sense of how puny you and I are!

I won't bore you with too many details, but let's just say we were happy to have a guide for these temples.  Below are various pictures of our first day of temple exploration. 

Angkor Wat

  

Inside Angkor Wat

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm

Banteay Srei

Besides the temples in Cambodia there is alot more to experience.  We saw the darker side of Cambodia's history.  The evil brought by the Khmer Rouge.  Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek were both terrible reminders of evil acts committed by the Khmer Rouge on the Cambodian people and humanity itself.  We spent a day visiting both of these sites. These were both in or near Phnom Penh.

We also spent some lovely beach time on a remote island on the southwestern coast called Koh Rong Sanloem.  It was secluded and quiet.  There was a local fishing community near our bungalows.  We were able to do some snorkeling and beach bumming.  The food was delicious.  Here's the moon shining above the dock.  You see a tiny fishing boat light making it's own light pathway on the water.

Here's a panorama shot from the middle of our dock.  Boats from the mainland would come twice a day to drop off travelers and supplies or take back sunburnt tourists.  We saw a few of those and learned by example.

In our two weeks there we felt very welcomed by locals.  People were almost always friendly and if you knew just a little Khmer, they were always happy to help you piece together the rest.  Probably one of the highlights of my trip was a cooking class day.  We went to the market and gathered ingredients for fish amok and fried spring rolls.  Then we took them back to our classroom, cooked them up, and ate them.  Delicious!  I'll leave you with this final picture of some of the various market goodies in all of their glory.  YUMMM!

New Zealand - Music, Flat Whites, and View after View after View..

It's quite astonishing how blue water can actually be.  You might expect to see water of this color from some deep blue ocean in the tropics, but then again this is the Waikato RIVER.  After traveling for a total of 24 hours between flights, airport waiting, customs, and rental car left side of the road adventures, we pulled into Taupo, NZ.

The next morning we headed out and found the Huka Falls.  With Lake Taupo as its source, the river itself is fed with lovely thermal springs.  Jet lag antidote.

Mt. Doom

Music night in Whanganui!  @ the Savage Club.  We enjoyed our brief stay in Whanganui.  From the Musician's Club to a Riverside Bar gig the music scene was hoppin'!  We saw the Hobnail Band based out of Wellington and the Clazzmatic Boogie Orchestra pictured below!

Clazzmatic Boogie Orchestra  -  umm..11 piece band horn driven funk band!

Flat White!

Opunake Beach - West Coast of North Island

Green Lipped Mussels @ the Mussel Pot in Havelock.  Is that Sauvignon Blanc?  Of course it is!

Abel Tasman - North Coast of the South Island.  Think North Shore of Lake Superior, minus the large smooth lake rocks but add golden sand beaches.  Pictured is Anchorage Bay!

Ferry Crossing from North to South Island

Christchurch Cathedral - Here are Before/After Photos from 2011 Earthquake

Cardboard Cathedral - Christchurch  Beautiful rebuilt 'temporary' cathedral designed by Shigeru Ban 

The Re-Start Mall in Christchurch - Shipping Container Shopping Center!!

WINE COUNTRY - Sauvignon Blanc  

These guys were loud!!  I think they were New Zealand cicada's.  It was Jurassic Park.  Have a listen.  The recording didn't do them justice so I embellished upon it..

The New Zealand Fantail  

This little guy followed me around through the underbrush on a hike.  I thought I was close to a nest because it kept flying very close and was fluffing his tail out.  I later learned that he was just taking advantage of me crashing through brush and stirring up dinner for him.  

Pancake Rocks and Blowholes

West Coast of the South Island - This wasn't us..but in order to get to the west coast, you can take Kiwi Rail from Christchurch..  Apparently it snows up in Arthur's Pass!

Party Time!!

(Sorry this is an old old post, that i had forgotten to post!)

Should be dated from back in 2013!

Happy Folkin' New Year had arrived:

Bands for the evening included the White Iron Band doing their own foot stompin' acoustic set starting at 7pm with KFAI House Party.  They were wild!

The May North officially kicked off Happy Folkin' New Year @ 9pm.  Dobro from Chris O'Brien and fiddle from Stephanie McCorkell blended with George McCorkell's guitar pickin' and vocals.  The May North delivered a smooth set with some tunes from their newest album Interstate Lives.

Beg for Justice had it hoppin' at 10pm with mandolin, guitar, fiddle, bass, and banjo.  Jeremy Peterson kept the pace choppin' on his mandolin.  It was a long drive back to Mankato that evening so they made the most of their set and hopefully got a nice new recording to share with the world.

Then it was Folk 'n' Thieves time....

 but you'll have to listen to the recording to get the details on that.  Those guys are just crazy..

Cuttin' Loose

Video time!  Turns out that these days, all you really need is an iPhone.  And maybe some video editing software like iMovie to make yourself a trailer.  We snuck ourselves into an undisclosed alley (our filming studio) in South Minnie.  Snow flurries were just starting to fall; it was cold.  

Dan got himself into my wedding suit jacket and donned Jake's Mad Men hat (Dan doesn't have clothes of his own).  Then pulled out a cigar and mournfully whistled (just like the devil himself)!

And so we provided a sneak peak of the music from our song Wall Street which had recently gotten a shiny new organ part courtesy of the unflappable Jon Schmig.  We had to track Jon separately at his practice setup with the group Dallas Orbiter, but my Focusrite Saffire was more than capable to record his synth.

He played along with our mix probably three times and was set to go.  I was excited to work with him and he talked me into finding an accordion for him.  We procured a loaner from the Hummingbirds and ran him through a few tunes.  The guys liked the new twist.  He would join us for Happy Folkin' New Year despite practicing with us for less than a month!!

From this point on there wasn't much else to do.  We had practice, not much because of Christmas.  I had been in touch with John Peters for quite some time regarding the live recording of Happy Folkin' New Year.  He was ready to go and I knew he'd do a quality job!

The only thing left to do was watch my Badgers lose on New Year's Day, eat sausage and sauerkraut (New Year's tradition in my house) and fold cds up into quaint little paper bag packages.

Origami 2013!

The Hard Part..?

Graphics - check

Songs - check

Happy Folkin' New Year date - check

Leeroy Jenkins!!! - check

Record and do it quick.  We went into the day with five songs prepared.  We'd worked out our harmonies, and made a few changes.  Instrumentation was ready to go.

Diamond Jack was also... ready to go:

The TOUGHEST part of recording live is if you or your band is unprepared for recording.  That can be awkward mostly because it becomes a waste of time for you, your band, and a good sound engineer.

We had a couple of things going our way.

1. We had been playing these songs forever - by that I mean about a year.
2. There wasn't much to lose besides the money for recording.
3. We were all pretty excited to be going in and doing a live recording session.
4. We had a good sound engineer.

I had my fill of individual tracking from my first album and I believe it has a place in recorded music, but the Folk 'n' Thieves were going to be live.  There was (and is currently) no other way for us.  Too long to track individuals, not enough money, and there is a liveliness to recording that's done in the moment.  No time to obsess endlessly over parts.

So we set up microphones with Ryan Worthman of RisingSide!  He kept the session energetic and light.  We spent time joking between botched tracks and good takes.  Ryan laughed at Jake's jokes. Played each track once, twice, three times.  When we we all looked up after a take and nodded, we knew we had what we wanted.  Move to the next take.  (That happened most of the time.)

Starting around 10am and finishing around 1pm completely blew my expectations out of the water.  My fingers were raw, but we left the studio feeling pretty proud and excited.  Kicked back at Anchor Fish 'n' Chips (very near the site of Happy Folkin' New Year) for a beer and some burger.  Talked shop.

The brainstorm session was fruitful, a movie trailer with organ... was born.

Cookin' an EP with the Folk 'n' Thieves

Cookin' up the latest EP release from the Folk 'n' Thieves has had its fair share of 'seat of your pants' moments!  Happy Folkin' New Year (as an idea) was on the books since October.  Inspired by a trip to the North Shore for a wedding (aided by whitefish, dandelion wine, cigars, and fresh pressed cider), we dared ourselves to get an EP together before the New Year struck!  No sweat right?

We needed songs (check), a bit of practice (check), a sound engineer, graphics, a venue to release it (check-- 331 Club...yes!!), and a finished product.  Oh...and a band of willing participants.

Start the whole thing out with a band discussion--questions about moving forward.  Could we make the EP happen?  What was the point?  How much $$$?  What bands would share the spoils of Happy Folkin' New Year?  Who would record us?  What's the square root of 8,000,651?  etc.

 --- And the result? ---

Well, one thing's for sure, Folk 'n' Thieves has been a ragtag combination of musicians and songwriters perty much from the beginning.  The structure is loose in terms of who/when performances happen (at least that is the trend).

So naturally, heading into the project, yet sticking to our formula, we lost a member of the band (banjo) and picked up a substitute/potential new member (organ/accordion) later in the project!

At some point, the decision on the EP came down to what many earth shattering decisions in life come down to:            

--------'Why the hell not?!?  (pardon my french) Let's do this!!'--------

     Our graphic man from the get-go, Jeffrey Nelson, had been feeding us great graphics for a time.  We figured we had those in the proverbial grocery bag (read on).

Self-releasing an EP isn't too grand of an idea as long as you can figure out how to get graphics on a cd.  Memorex CD Labels work great. So do nicely folded grocery bags and some sort of graphic/photoshop program.  Me?  I use GIMP.

To be continued...

Poem

September Night

Midnight sounds, distant rumbles
cars pass, spluttering
but an undertone of crickets
and peepers plays on.

A police car, lights
searing, blows through a
stop sign.
The elm doesn't notice.

It feels the press of the pavement
Patches of motor oil oozing down.
Yet it grows on
a shelter for the homeless sparrow

I find little solace
in the sound of
a V6 engine accelerating
from a dead stop.

But a single cricket chirps
within the leaves
of the elm
above my porch.

Pandora and Artist Royalties..

Will rationality win the day when it comes to artist royalties and Pandora?

or….does it all just come down to the:

Let's think outside of the box, Pandora...

Dear Pandora-

   I was sorry to hear that you are lobbying against artists.

 "Internet broadcasters led by Pandora are pushing Congress to pass the Internet Radio Fairness Act which could cut related royalties paid to musicians by as much as 85%." (http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/11/125-major-acts-unite-to-oppose-pandora-plan-to-cut-net-radio-royalties.html)   It appears that so-called 'fairness,' doesn't have much to do with this act.  Pandora is set to follow the way of commercial and satellite radio before it.

    Artists continue to be pushed to the back of the line when it comes to fair payment for their music. Whether it was major record labels and commercial radio in the past or Pandora now, bottom lines are driving the decision making of for-profit internet streaming services as they continue to grow.  That's all fine, business is business, but I believe it is important that Pandora works with artists, established and emerging to form an equitable vision for all involved.

   Normally, I would support the streaming of my music and the music of other like-minded musicians, but I also believe in fair pay for my work.  An 85% pay cut, seems steep to me.  Granted, it's nearer to what commercial and satellite radio pay on artist royalties, but that doesn't make it fair for artists.  Many more artists are able to create and make a living out of their music at this point in history than at any other time. Don't take a step back in time where exploiting artistic work in the record industry was the norm.  http://www.negativland.com/news/?page_id=17

   My music is not available on Pandora, and I will continue to see that it stays that way, until Pandora works with artists to support them (like it once did), not exploit them.  It's time for artists and distribution services to work together.  Let's not fall into the same patterns and 'boxes' that artists have been trying to escape from for so long.   

Tim Westergren Founder of Pandora Responds

Hi Neal,

Thanks for taking the time to write. This is an issue I take very personally.

I spent about 15 years of my life trying to make a living as a musician, so I am intimately familiar with the challenge of making ends meet, and I know that the digitization of our industry has made it doubly hard, as the CD has experienced such a steep decline. Supporting musicians is a central mission of Pandora and we pay royalties proudly.

While at a glance Internet radio’s efforts to lower its royalty burden may seem like yet another setback for artists, we don’t believe that’s the case. In addition to a basic issue of fairness, we would contend that a more reasonable royalty for Internet radio will greatly accelerate its growth leading to much larger royalties.

Currently, there is absolutely no question that Internet radio’s growth has been greatly slowed by the unequal royalty burden it shoulders. Those rates have pushed the three largest internet radio companies (AOL, Yahoo, MSN) essentially out of the business, and they have also precluded most broadcasters from entering the market place with any vigor.

We’re not seeking the lowest possible royalty. We want something fair. And to us, fairness means allowing us to be governed by the most prevalent, long-accepted royalty standard (called the 801B standard) that has governed copyright administration for decades. In fact, record labels and songwriters have used and accepted this standard themselves in their own rate-setting processes. We don’t know what the outcome of a new standard would be, but the criteria under that standard strike us, and many before us, as reasonable and balanced.

I hope this helps at least clarify our thinking. We think there is a win-win here, but it requires both sides taking the long view.

Thanks again for writing in.

Cheers,

Tim

Re: Pandora

Tim- 

I really appreciate the reply and your perspective on the problem.  Your response really does mean a lot and you will have my ear in this situation.  I will post your response on my blog and website.  I think it provided a perspective on what you all are facing at Pandora.  I'm am an independent musician and as much as I identify as an artist, I also realize that much of this debate hardly involves me and my non-existent royalties anyway!

I do understand that entities like the RIAA have you backed into a corner with very little room to make a profit or even allow for the expansion of the streaming industry.  I also believe that Pandora provides an amazing service to musicians as a way to be heard and discovered.  My fear is that Pandora or internet streaming services may go the way of big media, something more like Clear Channel, where there is little to no room for the great undiscovered music that is out there, something I fear Clear Channel has no idea even exists.

Your response gives me hope that there are people involved in the Internet streaming business who do listen to the small voices out there.

In the past few months, I've been reading media futurist Gerd Leonhard and yesterday in an attempt to gather more information, I found this YouTube video dated 11/9/12 where Gerd and Tom Davenport of the Guardian talk about the situation Pandora and Spotify are facing.  It really helped me re-form my perspective on the issue.  Thanks for the email reply and I hope you will continue to keep artists and creators in mind as this issue develops!

Thank you, 

Re: Pandora

Thanks, Neal.  Appreciate it. 

You're right that a flawed royalty system could have the exact consequence you've described. 

Hopefully rationality will rule the day.

Parting it out, piecing it together.

Home recording just got a whole lot easier. Couple of days ago a friend of mine mentioned a sale that was taking place at Best Buy, so i figured I'd go check it out and see what there was to see. I had been looking at getting a recording interface for my computer and had priced out a couple over the past year. On top of that I was armed with a few extra bucks. Lo and Behold the Focusrite Saffire Pro 24. It was on the upper end of my price range but definitely something that if I saw, I would probably buy. It was available at a price discount, so I snatched it up.

I have now been busy breaking it in on our piano at home. I've been working on finalizing a couple of piano parts for the album and have used it to do some playback and practicing. Alittle something about interfaces. I don't know gobs about them, but here's a brief description. Interfaces allow recording in real time. With an interface hooked up to a computer (in this case a firewire connection) a musician can play an instrument and hear that instrument in their headphones with a mix that has already been recorded. If you've recorded with Garageband, (at least with the older version I use) you'll notice some lag time while the computer records and plays back what is already been recorded. Interfaces help alleviate this slow down and the computer can busy itself with plugins and other important stuff like updating you on your friend's Facebook status while you record.

These pictures are us recording with a couple of mics we have laying around at home. An SM 58 and a Blue Encore. Not particularly great for nuanced recording, but enough for us to get the part solidified. Amanda was busy working on her part for Old Man and the Sea here. It turned out amazingly well. Just a week or so ago we recorded it in one evening with our producer's set up and a box or two of Jakeenos pizzas and obviously, a glass of wine!

Big Bad Mike!

As a part of the Artist Initiative Grant-- I wrote a community aspect into the proposal (Thank you Minnesota State Arts Board!!). The idea was to share music with a Minnesota community. I chose to work with youth from the Urban Arts Academy. These youth are going to help record some songs on the upcoming album! Many thanks to local South Minneapolis photographer Bruce Silcox for the photos in this Blog Post!

What a treat it has been!! Working with kids on music can be alot of fun. You do have to be flexible and ready to go with the flow if the mood changes. Doubtlessly, youth in today's world are looking for cool trendy music. What better way to get them excited about music than through.. Big Bad John..right?!? Have a listen.

Big Bad John

Well maybe not. When I played it for a couple of the youth, i was worried.. One of the kids was like.. 'oh, it's kinda like country rap.' As soon as the word 'country' escaped the lips, I thought I was done for. Country music can get a pretty bad 'rap' (no pun intended) in some circles. I'm not denying Taylor Swift is popular.. But when you say, 'Taylor Swift', half the kids in the room will perk up..and the other half usually go "Lame!!" If you've never heard of her.. check it out. 50/50 chance you might love it? Regardless though, country music evokes alot of strong, often heart-felt emotion in young people today.

I wasn't totally downcast though. 'Rap' had come out in the same sentence as country, so I thought..well we might be on to something here. And who can deny that 'rap' is cool. Isn't rap the essence of cool? Kids like it right? ..I can't really rap, but I thought I could at least try to country rap.

Now alittle more backstory is necessary here. Big Bad John was composed by Dean and Roy Acuff and made famous by Jimmy Dean. My father-in-law, Phill Stoelb, wanted to re-write the song for a retiring co-worker by the name of Mike. He re-wrote the lyrics for the song, to fit the original Big Bad John arrangement. He wanted me to record the re-written song so it could be played as a surprise at Mike's retirement party.

I thought it sounded like a great idea. Here I could work with the kids on some rhythms, and some singing. It would work as a warm up for them. Get them accustomed and ready to record other songs on the album coming out in May. (One of those is currently in the works as we speak!!) We made tambourines from bottle caps and wood scraps. We learned about microphone safety and sensitivity. We also played to a metronome so we were on rhythm. And the youth joyfully chanted 'Big Bad Mike!!' for the microphone. The photo above is an earlier class we did on inspiration and instrument making (cigar box guitars) with the Re-Use Band Project.

Now if you are interested in hearing this conglomeration of sound, you should travel to this link.

Broken Ground - Neal Swanger's Song of the Soul

That will take you right there.. this is a 50 minute interview with Northern Spirit Radio and host Mark Helpsmeet. We discussed some of my recent projects, including the Folk 'n' Thieves, the Broken Ground EP and Big Bad Mike with the Re-Use Band. If you just want to hear from the Re-use Band, you'll have to fast forward the interview to just about the end. It's well worth it. you'll get a few more details about the song in the interview itself.

Our current song project with the youth involves a bully named Billy. He eats red hot cheese puffs and he has big original feet. His favorite target to pick on??? (at least currently)-->> Little Francis. Poor Little Francis.. :( Well, I don't want to give away much more. Besides the youth are helping to write this song and frankly, i don't think i have permission from them to speak about it on the record... They were very concerned about their rights to Big Bad Mike! It is a strong-hearted up and coming generation!!!

In Pie and Other Unrelated News..

Chances are that you've got a cooking blog that you follow now and again. I'll start by saying don't follow mine. You may end up with indigestion... But here's a recent experiment that could have turned out tragic for the squashes involved. Looks like they came through it okay though.

I had some leftover squash filling and pie dough so I poured it into the little cups and made mini pies. I also used a butter crust recipe. That was all that was in the house and nowadays I've found that I can google any random assortment of ingredients and come up with some recipe that has at the very least some well taken photographs to make it look good... like this!!

On Friday I sent out some EPs to some local radio stations.. There are a couple in the Twin Cities and also just outside of and in Wisconsin that I put on the list. I sent out five to start and as I find out about more, I'll keep sending them out. If you hear any music let me know!

I have been in the recording studio with other musicians now for the past couple of weeks. Work continues on the album. It is coming together and the more layers we get, the more exciting it is to see it start to coalesce.

Well if you've made it this far.. speaking of coalescing, new music and all with a new group!! Folk 'n' Thieves is just starting to get off the ground in Minneapolis, but we've already had a few Farmer's Market shows and gigs..and we've been warmly received. We're still working on getting some decent recordings up, but if you want to take a sneak listen..you can have at it here.

Indian Lake, New York

It's hard to explain, but easier to understand if you have your own place of retreat. Indian Lake has become that for me. Often blanketed in mist and always surrounded by the old and rugged Adirondack mountains, for the past four years I can't help but feel a certain lack of bustle and hustle when I'm sitting on the beach with a chosen book or watching a storm blow up and across the lake from the southwestern mountain ridges.

Every year, the lake seems unchanged and every year it goes through it's own, sometimes drastic, cycle of 'feelings' during the week and often each day. Morning is calm and misty. The water can almost be glass. Droplets will literally form and stay on the surface of the water from paddle splashes and then slowly disappear as the lake absorbs each one back into itself.

Mid-morning into the afternoon the wind will pick up, generally out of the south and blow down the lake. Swimming at this time is wild fun. Often, to keep your head above water, you have to be glancing at what's coming with the next wave. You can end up with a mouthful of lake water or with a good deal of sloshing in one of your ears.

Evenings, it's back to glass. Water skiers paradise and well..perhaps an after dinner cigar in the kayak. Bobbing out on the lake, the water warmed throughout the day, one can't help but feel they're in a giant bathtub, with the steep mountainsides circling around.

My pictures can't do it justice. Really you have to see the Adirondacks for yourself to get the full experience. The Adirondack Park is about 6.1 million acres. Roughly half of the park is owned by private landholders, the other half by the state. Building new structures in the park is strictly controlled. A landowner can really only build on the structures already on their property. This has kept the park from exploding in lakefront buildings and in general kept it 'forever wild.' But at the same time, much of the park's small towns are dotted with dilapidated buildings and closed businesses. Sometimes, tourist season can come and go awfully fast and if an business owner can't make what they need during those three months, there's alot of scraping by come late winter.

It's hard not to look forward to some lake time every year. This year was especially worth it. My summer has been very busy with earning the rent and getting some artwork done for the upcoming album. Before I left I was also able to record some vocal tracks, so it has been a busy summer. Now that I'm back from the lake, I do miss it, but not terribly. It doesn't change in my head, and I know that if another year goes well I'll be sitting on the same Twin Coves beach in August next year.

Water Bottle Rockets

This summer has been a fun one. Lots of time spent at our local Lake Nokomis Beach. Although water quality isn't what it should be here in the Twin Cities Lakes this year, it has been nearly impossible to stay cool without going for a dip in the lake. HOWEVER...there are other ways...

Recently I taught a class for some kids as part of a summer camp at Leonardo's Basement. The course title was "3,2,1 Water Blastoff!!!." The above rocket was made by the assistant in the class. As you can imagine, it was alot of fun and I found a pretty cheap and easy way to get wet. A PVC water bottle rocket launcher powered by a bicycle pump is not hard to build at all and cheap. I'd say you could find some things in your tool box at home. The rest you can buy for under $20. It comes apart in two easy to carry parts like so:

Here's list of materials you'll probably find at home. You can also go to the link at the bottom of the list if you need more explanation. Just click on Materials List and you'll be all set to go. Here's mine.

List at Home
-Duct tape
-2 two litre bottles
-candle
-hacksaw
-bike pump
-marker
- 3 feet of rope (strong shoelace works)
-drill with 1/2 inch drill bit and a smaller sized bit to fit the twine or shoelace
-tape measure
-scissors


Materials at the store:
-1/2 inch PVC schedule 40 pipe - 10ft section--this fit in the Buick, but you can cut it at 4ft at the store
-short piece of 1 1/2 inch PVC (2 inches long)
-1/2 inch slip tee connector
-2 pieces 1/2 inch slip end caps
- 1/2 inch slip and internal thread
- 1/2 inch slip and external thread
- roll of teflon tape (plumbers tape)
- PVC primer (don't need to have this, but i used it anyway)
- PVC cement
- hose clamp that opens to at least 1 inch
- 8 plastic zip ties
- tire valve from O'Reilly's or auto parts store of your choice. You don't need the expensive threaded kind and you want the thin kind if they offer more than one type.
- you can get a tire pressure gauge if you want


In building my rocket launcher I found the videos at this link very helpful. Same spot i got the materials list from. The videos are very well done and easy to understand so I'm not going to go into too much depth explaining the instructions. The site is very thorough.

Basically you are going to be cutting up the PVC tubing into specific lengths with the hacksaw. You'll be drilling a 1/2 inch hole in one of the end caps to put your tire valve into. Then you'll be gluing your parts together.

Next you've got to create a bump in the pipe so your water bottle rocket will stick on the pipe without leaking. This is probably one of the trickier spots. You've got to melt the pipe with the candle at a specific length to form the bump. There are other ways (o-rings) to make the seal air tight, but this is probably the most effective.

Then you've got to build your trigger mechanism using duct tape, zip ties, shoelace, and the small piece of 1 1/2 inch pipe.

You'll have to line that up with the bump in the pipe you created and tighten it down with the hose clamp. After that you build your safety spring with one of the two liter bottles. Attach one piece of leftover piping to keep that from sliding down, set up your trigger, slide on the remaining 1/2 full 2 litre bottle of water, fix the trigger, pump and let 'er rip!!!

Racking Strawberry Wine

Hot Summer Week. Good thing there's lots of berry farms to go picking at on the weekend. Today we headed out to Blueridge Farm in Western Wisconsin to pick some blueberries. Then off to the Garden Diva for raspberries. They didn't weigh us when we went in or left, so we weren't charged for anything we ate. My shirt was stained with blueberries when I left..guilty as charged.

Earlier in the summer we picked some fresh strawberries..You can see the result of that in the glass carboy next to the blueberries and raspberries. We're looking forward to some strawberry wine this winter if all goes well.

Today I spent about 30 minutes racking the wine from one container, (a five gallon glass carboy) into another container. Right now we're working on the wine's clarity. By transferring the wine from container to container over a the course of a month, I'll be able to allow much of the particulate to settle to the bottom and with each siphoning make the wine just a little clearer.

All you need is a bit of plastic tubing and a racking cane. I have tried to do the mouth siphon technique..and failed. So i fill the plastic tubing with some of the sanitized water and then plug it up and hook it on to the racking cane. That was enough to get the siphoning started.

We'll let the wine sit for another week, probably rack it one more time and bottle it. We'll crack a bottle in six months I imagine..January. Who knows what the world outside will look like then.