#150

Hello, all!
Here’s the link to our art. You may recognize a witch from before that has been relisted due to a non-paying bidder.


Our daughter has a lot on her plate, and we’re seeing less and less of her as she rushes to rehearsals, meetings, and work. But this week she also had a physics project to complete for school in which she and her partner had to design and build a contraption that would shoot a golf ball at least 20 feet. Each team gets three shots to try and get the ball closest to a target placed by their teacher. I’m not sure what the winner gets, but let’s hope it’s at least an A. Her partner wanted to build a catapult, but was eventually swayed by our daughter’s insistence that they build her design. Unfortunately, the physics in her head were not the same as the physics of the real world, and the design had to be abandoned after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. . .with an emphasis on tears. So on the final weekend of the project, with her partner out of town, the two of us began building what I continuously referred to as “basically a slingshot.” As you can see from the pictures she formally gave it that name.


You can adjust the firing direction from left to right, and you can adjust the tension of the elastic bands.

Once her presentation is done at school, we’re naturally thinking of trying some flaming projectiles. What’s the worst that could happen?

-Dylan

#149

Hello, friends!
Here’s the art…


The search for our daughter’s first car has ended, and victory is mine! I found this old Volvo wagon in near mint condition. Here’s a picture of her with it.

These old Volvo wagons are tanks. If I could mount a machinegun turret, I’d do it. It would give defensive driving a whole new meaning.
Jo has a meeting with the kid’s principal this week. They’re discussing her teaching art there at the school in a free lance type arrangement. Nothing is set yet, but she’s hoping to get out of the house and interact with some people for a change. Since we both work at home, I’m the only company she has…and she tells me I’m as exciting to be around as a tree. I guess I don’t talk much. There are actually a lot of interesting conversations going on here, but they’re all in my head. I need to remember to use my mouth for more than just making random sound effects. Poor Jo.

-Dylan

#148

Hello, drivers.
Here’s our week’s work…



I’ve got cars on the brain this week. Our daughter is 16, and just days away from getting her license. I’ve been trying to find a used car for her all week, but it’s been frustrating so far. I’ve been using Craigslist to look for an automatic Volvo Wagon in my price range. That narrows the search down quite a bit, but most of them are found a good two hours away in Portland. I went with my brother-in-law, Andrew, the other day to the same Volvo shop where I bought my last car. The car I had my eye on from Craigslist was up on the lift when we arrived. Apparently, they had advertised it before tending to it’s growing list of ailments. The owner of the shop was just as I remembered him, minus the “Members Only” jacket he sported last December. Andrew and I walked around the corner and went bowling at a place the owner recommended while we waited. I’m convinced that my right arm is longer than my left now as a result. We could have bowled all week, and that car still wouldn’t have been finished, so we returned to the coast with the same number of wheels that we left with. I’ll try again tomorrow. I have an appointment to see a guy named Rocky that refers to his Volvo Wagon as “she.” Let’s hope she’s a looker.

-Dylan

#147

Hello there.
Here’s the art…

School is finally back in session here on the Oregon coast, so Jo and the kids get up now at the crack of dawn to prepare for the day. I’ve only been in bed for a couple of hours at that point, so it hasn’t effected my sleeping schedule at all. I’m up early enough to pick them up from school anyway. When we all have dinner together, that’s really my lunch, and I have my third meal of the day late at night. You night owls out there know what I’m talking about. I wonder if I moved 6 time zones away if I’d be transformed into a morning person. Not likely.

-Dylan

#146

Yellow dare.
Ow ewe bean?
Ears dart…


Sorry, I meant “Hello there. How’ve you been? Here’s the art.” Sometimes I type with an accent.
Jo and I are still working on a lot of Halloween-themed pieces, you may have noticed. Halloween was one of my favorite holidays as a kid. When else can a twelve-year-old strap his knife to his boot and walk around town with a BB gun without causing alarm? That made me sound a little creepy, but the fact is that I was a soldier for most Halloweens. The last time I went trick-or-treating was when I was fourteen. I don’t remember what I went as, but my friend went as a rag. He was a little off, but genuinely a good person, and was always coming up with strange ideas like his costume. Unfortunately, his homemade rag costume looked a lot like a Klansman’s robe and hood. . .something our innocent eyes had overlooked. We had quite a few porch lights turned off on us that evening, and it was a memorable end to my trick-or-treating career.

-Dylan