tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378296882024-03-12T16:23:58.667-07:00DJ Electric Daddy"He's plugged on, tuned in and dropped out..."MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.comBlogger207125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-68603288566577882422020-03-15T13:14:00.000-07:002020-03-15T13:14:27.960-07:00DIY How To: Vanishing Fountain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAoUrKv3kb-jyxU13V2JFgwiXZ20NVdhLKOv29qgIMd9JYbMthZDnmrLdDK_DNRvmZa5plh7U1G5uS1pY-UnYSzJOjCPsFr_ce_ShaBLXJNM6FhyphenhyphenWRzYoKSGY_nbMp88kYrqq_Ag/s1600/DIY-Vanishing-Fountain-Thumbnail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAoUrKv3kb-jyxU13V2JFgwiXZ20NVdhLKOv29qgIMd9JYbMthZDnmrLdDK_DNRvmZa5plh7U1G5uS1pY-UnYSzJOjCPsFr_ce_ShaBLXJNM6FhyphenhyphenWRzYoKSGY_nbMp88kYrqq_Ag/s640/DIY-Vanishing-Fountain-Thumbnail.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Greetings. And welcome to another Just Do It DIY project. In <a href="https://youtu.be/q558l6Mv8DE" target="_blank">this</a> video I’m going to show you how I created this really cool vanishing fountain. Water features are always a great addition to your landscaping; and a vanishing fountain like this is stylish, compact and ultimately really pleasing to listen to.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">In the video I'll cover the following steps:</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">1.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Assess & Design</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">2.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Materials & Tools</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">3.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Digging the <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">Reservoir</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">4.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Building the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"> Form</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">5.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Lining the <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">Reservoir</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">6.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Installing the Aquablox</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">7.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Installing the Pump</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">9.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Finishing Touches</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Assess & Design</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">For this project we wanted a water feature close to the front porch where we could enjoy the sound of water falling without having to build a huge pond, or fountain or waterfall. We chose a large concrete planter from a landscape supply store to use as our fountain, and to use an </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Aquablox </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">so we could hide the water source underground.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Aquablox is a really cool product. They are strong enough to support the weight of the fountain, are easy to assemble, and maximize your water storage capacity.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Materials & Tools</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">The materials we used in this project were as follows;</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">24" Concrete Planter from a landscape supply store</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Large Aquablox (26" x 16” x 18”)</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">½" Plywood (roughly 3’ x 5’)</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">General Purpose Sand & </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Gravel</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">PVC Pond Liner 10’ x 10'</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Pond Liner Underlay</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> Submersible </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Water Pump</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Vinyl Tubing (roughly 10’)</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">PVC Pipe & Fittings (roughly 3’)</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">6’ Sheet Wire Mesh</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">The tools we used on this project were:</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Electric Hammer with Spade Bit</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Hand Shovel</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Drill, Bits and Drivers</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Circular Saw </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Spray Glue</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">•</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">8” Steel Hand Tamp</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Digging the <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">Reservoir</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">First thing I had to do was dig out a large enough area to create the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">. Using an electric hammer from Harbor Freight made this significantly easier than digging it all out by hand. The pit had to be 30” x 20” x 21” deep. It took about a day to dig out the pit and I saved the dirt in a pile to use as backfill later.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Once the pit was dug out, I leveled the bottom with sand and compacted it until it was flat, using a spirit level to make sure it was even on all sides.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Build </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;"> Form</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">With the pit dug, I had to construct a simple wooden box to form the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"> sides, making sure the interior space was big enough to hold the Aquablox and the pond liner. I cut 4 sides of </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">plywood </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">and quickly nailed them together to form the box that would support the pond-liner. Once constructed, I placed this into the pit, making sure all 4 sides were level.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">With the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"> box in place, I began backfilling with the gravel and dirt I dug out earlier. When the backfill was level with the top of the box I sprinkled some water to pack the dirt in tight before finally topping up as necessary.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Lining the <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; line-height: normal;">Reservoir</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">To produce a water-tight </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"> I used PVC pond liner, available in various sizes from Home Depot. Before I could install it though, I had to lay down some underlayment. This is a thick felt-like material that protects the pond liner from any sharp edges or abrasive material. We definitely want to avoid any leaks in the liner so its a good precaution. You can get this from Home Depot too.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">I measured out the bottom and sides in white pencil on the felt - leaving plenty of overlaps for the corners and over the top edges - and then cut it to size with scissors. I applied spray glue to cover the insides of the box. Then I carefully applied the felt underlay to the box, folding any overlaps into the corners. I cut some extra material to cover the top edges of the corners so all the wood of the box was fully covered with felt.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">I dropped the liner into the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"> trying to keep the corners neat and tidy and making sure the liner is not snagged on anything. The liner is then folded over the top and pinned into place using landscape staples. Excess liner was trimmed away to leave about 2 feet around the top of the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Installing the Aquablox</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">The Aquablox are really easy to assemble. The sides and interior bracing simply snap together, then the top and bottom snap onto them. I wanted to leave an access door to the pump, so I cut the top panel into ¼ and ¾ sections. The fountain is placed off-center over the ¾ section, so this left me enough room at the side to get to the pump.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Installing the Pump</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Before I could install the pump I had to fill the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">reservoir</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"> with water - 32 gallons of it. This took a little while.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">You can buy pump filter housings but instead I used a plastic yoghurt container placed over the pump with a small vent hole to allow water in but keep stones and large debris out.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Next I measured and cut the required length of vinyl tubing, and fed that through the Aquablox, attaching it to the pump at one end. The other end of the tubing is fed up through the drain hole in the fountain.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">To test the pump, I held the tubing up at the required height and set the flow rate on the pump. From my research I knew I needed a pump with a head lift of at least 3’. I found this </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">264 GPM </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">pump at Harbor Freight with a head lift of 5’ so I was pretty sure it would work. Once everything checked out, I </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">set the fountain in place and </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">closed the ¼ section </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">access panel. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Final Details</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">A good short cut to help fill the fountain, and to reduce weight, is to fill it with blocks of polystyrene. This displaces what amounts to a huge volume of water which makes filling the fountain much quicker too. To hold the polystyrene in place I weighed it down with black river rock pebbles.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">The pump came with several fountain heads, but we opted to leave the tubing open and below the surface. This creates a gentle ripple in the top of the fountain, with the sound and motion of the water running down the sides the effect we were after. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">To make sure the surface ripple is centered in the top of the fountain, I devised a rig made out of 1” PVC pipe. The PVC upright is cut to 18” and attached to a 4-way cross fitting. The PVC pipe is inserted over the vinyl tubing until it stands up comfortably. Two 4” stabilizer arms are attached to the cross, which force the upright to remain centered in the fountain. The vinyl tubing is trimmed flush with the top of the PVC. To help hide the PVC pipe I sprayed it black before installing into the fountain.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Finally, I used a sheet of fine wire mesh over the top of the Aquablox to keep gravel and leaves out of the water. The mesh is then covered with decorative stone, like black river rock pebbles, to complete the landscaping design.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Okay that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this landscaping DIY project. Feel free to leave comments with any questions or feedback below. Have fun building water features in your garden. A vanishing fountain using Aquablox is a really rewarding project that you will enjoy for many years. </span></div>
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MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-3545612322784957382019-11-01T10:41:00.001-07:002019-11-01T10:43:11.904-07:00DIY How-to: Concrete Planter<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEx2RLNS_gGg8Tk2Khlw79WFO6TdmUDbv2DcjCpha-Jtj5cBElEtXi-ABCL_rgRCCa5qFMOdEi9ip6sjV8XjnrWNixQ9PmUvrnd7NCv6G_HhnXDNZwx5AjKmlacR1ExJlJHCFtWQ/s1600/Title-Card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEx2RLNS_gGg8Tk2Khlw79WFO6TdmUDbv2DcjCpha-Jtj5cBElEtXi-ABCL_rgRCCa5qFMOdEi9ip6sjV8XjnrWNixQ9PmUvrnd7NCv6G_HhnXDNZwx5AjKmlacR1ExJlJHCFtWQ/s640/Title-Card.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Greetings. And welcome to another DIY project. In <a href="https://youtu.be/wk_C5XwoJj0" target="_blank">this</a> video I show you, very roughly, how we built these cool and rugged concrete planters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">I don’t go into too much detail in the video, its more of an overview of our process, but I have plans and measurements and materials available to download <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12qFKLU2MkD0YOAMU-OGMaCYPN4ipyVzR/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Below are semi-detailed instructions and I cover the following steps:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Assess & Design</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Materials & Tools</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Building the Outer Form</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Building the Inner Form</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Final Preparations</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Mixing the Concrete</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Filling the Form with Concrete</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Removing the Form</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Curing the Concrete</span></li>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Assess & Design</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">So, what was the objective for this project? We wanted something modern and simple, so we went for the square shape. And concrete is such a versatile material; its cheap, it can look old or new, and its fairly easy to work with. Its also heavy so its unlikely to be stolen, so there's that too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">We wanted something fairly large to take up some of the space on the curbside verge, and with some scale to contrast with the rusty pipe arrangement. We settled on a 17” x 17” square by 24” tall with a 2” thick wall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Materials & Tools</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">So lets get started on the build. What you need first, obviously is to buy your materials. You will need;</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood or melamine*</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Some general purpose 1½” screws (I used some leftover deck screws and drywall screws I had lying around)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">140” (about 14’) of 1” x 2” or similar size wood (Again, I used some scrap wood I had leftover)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Some wood glue</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">3” of PVC 1” pipe</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Various scrap wood - 1x2, 2x4 etc</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Shims</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">90° brackets</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">*plywood is cheaper, but can be in quite poor shape. Birch plywood is a much smoother finish but is double the price. Melamine is quite heavy to work with and absorbs water more, so is prone to swelling, but it is very smooth and produces a lovely finish. Its also cheaper than the birch plywood. We opted for ½” birch plywood, but in hindsight I wish we would have used the 3/4"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">The tools we used on this project were:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Table saw</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Circular saw</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">1” barrel saw</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Drill with various bits and drivers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">90° Corner guides</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Hammer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Quick clamps or C-clamps</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">24” Woodworkers clamps</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Small cement mixer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Large plastic masonry tub</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Various trowels and scrapers</span></li>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Build The Outer Form</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">First thing we did was cut the outer form pieces. Again, measurements and plans are in the link in the description, but to summarize we had 2 sides cut to 17” x 24” and 2 sides cut to 18” x 24” which accounted for the overlap on each end. I used some scrap 1x2 wood as a straight edge while cutting with the circular saw.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">With the 4 sides cut I used the corner guides and clamps to assemble the outer form, screwing the sides together at the top and bottom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">For the base, I cut a roughly 24” x 24” square out of the plywood. Using the assembled box as a guide I attached 4 retaining strips on the base to hold the form in shape. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">For the middle bracing, cut 2 strips of 1x2 to 18” and attach to the outer form by drilling pilot holes, counter-sinking and screwing from the inside of the form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">This bracing and the retaining strips are a very important step - especially if you opt for ½” material like we did - as screws alone will not hold the from together under pressure from all the concrete.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Build The Inner Form</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">With the outer form complete, next we cut the pieces for the inner form. As the measurements for these are smaller I was able to use the table saw. Much easier. We had 2 sides cut to 15” x 22” and 2 sides cut to 14” x 22”, again to account for ½” overlap each end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Its important to get the measurements accurate as you want the inner corners to be perfectly square and smooth. Otherwise it makes removing the inner form more difficult. I learned that the hard way, as you will see in the video.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Next we cut 8 corner braces from 1x2 material - roughly about 4” long - with 45° miters on each end. I drilled pilot holes and a deep counter sink, trying not to split the wood. We assembled the inner form using the corner guides and clamps as before, then secured the corner braces to the inside of the form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">For the inner base, I cut a 16” x 16” square out of the plywood, as this would need to fit inside the box. I then marked the center point and drilled a pilot hole. Using the 1” barrel saw I cut a hole in the center of the base for the PVC pipe to fit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">With the PVC pipe cut to size I tapped it into place in the base board, leaving 2” protruding from the bottom. This will ensure the planter has a drain hole, and that the inner form will leave a 2” space to fill with concrete.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">To hold the base in position simply glued a small wooden tab ½” from the bottom of the inner form on each side. For convenience I also added a couple of brackets I had lying around to use as handles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Final Preparations</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Before I begin mixing the concrete I had to prepare the wooden surfaces. To help release the form once the concrete is dry, I used some spray cooking oil on every surface of the inner and outer forms. It’s a lot cheaper than professional concrete release agent and it does a pretty good job. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">I use a putty knife to work the oil into the wood grain, to make sure its really well coated. Just to create a water barrier to stop the wood getting wet from the concrete, as well as helping it release when we remove the form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">I set the base up on two ‘rails' of scrap 2x4. That way I’m sure it’s not sat on an uneven surface. I use a spirit level to make sure the planter is properly level, raising one side of the rails with shims to make any adjustments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Check the bracing is nice and tight, so the form holds together under the weight of all the concrete.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">With the inner form built I just insert it into place. To keep the inner form centered within the outer form, I attach a small section of 2x4 to the inside of each wall of the outer form just using a 1½” screw. I just screw these wedges to the sides and that creates a good spacer to hold the inner form in position, keeping the 2” wall on all sides.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">For additional support to the wood bracing around the middle, I used four long 24” woodworkers clamps to help hold the sides together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Mixing Concrete</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">I can only mix one bag at a time in our mixer, using about a gallon of water per bag. It took a several minutes of churning and some manual labor to get all the dry material at the back of the mixer loose and combined with the water. Getting a good mix is essential to getting strong concrete so I made sure it was not too wet but still well mixed. I mixed a bag at a time, then poured the mixed concrete into a large tub, where my wife would shovel it into the form. I continued to mix the next bag so there was a constant supply of wet concrete ready to pour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Filling the Form with Concrete</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">With the inner form set aside for now, I put a plastic cap from a spray paint can in the middle at the bottom of the form. This is not critical but it helps keep concrete out of the area where the PVC drain hole form will sit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">After transferring the concrete from the mixer into a large plastic tub, we begin shoveling concrete into the bottom of the form until about it’s about 2” deep, making sure to agitate the mixture well into the corners and removing any air bubbles. Then we had to insert the inner form. One of us quickly removed the spray paint cap while the other quickly but carefully slid the inner form into position. We had to wiggle it down into the concrete a bit, but once seated I wedged it tightly between the spacers using the shims.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">We continued to fill the sides the now narrow walls of the form making sure to tap and level the mixture inside the form, packing it tight into all corners and removing any air bubbles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">When the concrete reaches the level of the 2x4 spacers, we removed the 4 screws holding them in place and carefully pulled out all 4 of the spacers. We carry on filling up the form with concrete until it is to the top of the outer form, making sure the bracing and clamps are holding the form together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Once it is full, I used a small trowel to level the top of the planter, smoothing the concrete to a flat finish. I top up or remove excess mixture as necessary, making sure any large aggregate is worked well down below the surface.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">With the hard work done, we covered it with plastic and left it to cure for a day or so to fully cure. In the video, I leave it to cure for 2 days. This allowed the concrete to fully harden, which made it more stable but also made the inner form harder work to remove, as you will see. The first planter we built, I removed the form after 12 hours and the concrete was still quite wet, which made it easier to remove but was still a bit sloppy and fragile on the edges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Removing the Form</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Removing the outer form was easy. The inner form was a bit more of a process. I first remove the inner bracing 45° wedges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Then using a rubber mallet on a bit of scrap wood, I tap out the short-sides first. It can take a little bit of work if the wood swelled or bowed under pressure. And if the corners are not completely smooth and flush, that can make them a bit sticky to get out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">But with a little bit of work, no rushing, and just gently tapping it out, not trying to get it out in one go. They do eventually come loose. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">You can see in the video I had to resort to a little hacksaw and just shave a way enough wood on the edge to tap out the side.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Finally, I used pliers to pull on the handles to release the base. The PVC pipe released with not too much effort and worked its way out then the base was removed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Curing</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">To finish the 7 day wet curing process I hose it down twice a day and cover with plastic to keep it wet for another 5 days. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">After the planter had fully cured we needed to move it to the front of the house. A standard rolling dolly made moving this 250lb planter quite easy, obviously taking good care not to drop and damage all that work. Once set in place we filled with gravel, soil and plants and cracked open a nice cold bottle of grown up soda.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18px;">Okay, I hope this gives you some inspiration, and you were able to follow along. Feel free to contact me with any questions if something is not clear or working out for you. Have fun making custom elements for your garden landscaping. See you next time.</span></div>
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MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-51042507633152907642012-07-26T13:33:00.000-07:002012-08-09T13:44:26.810-07:00Gaige en BleuIt was crazy hair day at Summer Camp, which meant a trip to the beauty supply store for a can of blue spray hair colouring and some Johnny B Super Hold Gel. The result - Gaige en Blue, our little Smurf-like Sprite with craaaaaaazy hair.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7707472222/" title="Gaige-en-bleu by GSM World, on Flickr"><img alt="Gaige-en-bleu" height="340" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8428/7707472222_e4c99cc943_c.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7707472222/" target="_blank">Gaige en Bleu by GSMWorld on Flickr</a>MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-3478472942496145612012-06-30T15:22:00.000-07:002012-08-09T15:34:37.641-07:00A Celebration of Flag Cupcakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Gaige wanted to bake some cupcakes for his classmates on the last day of first grade. He also wanted to decorate them with flags of the world, his current obsession being flags and all. Country, state, county. He knows them all, and the house is littered with paintings and drawings of his renditions of a seemingly random collection of flags. From Antigua and Barbados to Kansas and California.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7749170284/" title="Flag Cakes 01 by GSM World, on Flickr"><img alt="Flag Cakes 01" height="640" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7749170284_248cb828e0_z.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7749170284/" target="_blank">Flag Cakes by GSM World on Flickr</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</span> So being the adventurous types, we shopped for ingredients and baked our cupcakes from scratch; no Betty Crocker boxes here dontcha know. We coated the tops with thick extra white frosting. Then spent several hours cutting shapes of coloured marzipan to create the flags, We even resorted to hijacking the ElectricMommy to assist in the cutting and assembling. All in all, a good creative evenings work.<br />
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<div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7749166394/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Flag Cakes 04 by GSM World, on Flickr"><img alt="Flag Cakes 04" height="212" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8301/7749166394_4eb11e2b42_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7749169184/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Flag Cakes 02 by GSM World, on Flickr"><img alt="Flag Cakes 02" height="212" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8296/7749169184_ec5584fd9a.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
</div>MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-13245905625286985292012-06-29T17:16:00.000-07:002012-08-03T17:29:04.793-07:00A Little Rock n Roll FridayFriday at Summer Camp was Rock Star Day, and the kids had to dress like a rock star. Natch, this was a no-brainer for the DJElectric household. Having worn enough make-up in my day to keep Mabelinne well stocked in lab mice, I was ready to vicariously revisit my glam rocker goth punk youth.<br />
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With a little eye shadow and eye liner, some hair gel, a waistcoat and a Steven Tyler-esque scarf, our little Sprite was transformed into a bone fide Rocker. Sporting a look that was part Jack White, part Alice Cooper the lad wielded his Gibson Thunderbird copy guitar like a pro.
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7487479718/" title="GSM Rock03 by GSM World, on Flickr"><img alt="GSM Rock03" height="800" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7487479718_b1af4714bc_c.jpg" width="532" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7487476290/" title="GSM Rock02 by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7279/7487476290_95ce7b9de6_c.jpg" width="532" height="800" alt="GSM Rock02"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/7487473560/" title="GSM Rock01 by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7487473560_63bf42c777_c.jpg" width="532" height="800" alt="GSM Rock01"></a>
</div>MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-41085546857642108262011-03-31T15:38:00.001-07:002012-08-03T17:28:10.147-07:00Second Trimester Awards : The Sprite A winnerToday was the Kindergarten Awards Day for the second trimester and our little over-achiever took home not one, but two awards certificates.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5578217970/" title="Kindergarten Awards by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5144/5578217970_8be9abda93_z.jpg" width="408" height="640" alt="Kindergarten Awards"></a><br />
The Sprite shows off his awards</div>
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One was for Excellence In Writing and the other was for a Perfect Attendance Record. The first comes as no surprize really, he has been coming along leaps and bounds with reading and writing lately. The second is astounding, compared to recent history. To not miss a single day of school through the winter months, to either sickness or laziness on the part of his parent (IE; me) is an award-worthy achievement indeed.<br />
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Well done son.MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-57358822807869827812011-03-09T23:33:00.001-08:002011-03-31T23:26:06.186-07:00Little League : Phillies T-Ball Opening Day<div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom: 12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5513815853/" title="The Phillies by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5014/5513815853_5d8cfd5dc3_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt=""></a><br /><p><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;">The Phillies <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">on Flickr</a></span></p></div><br /><br /><p>Last weekend saw The Sprite have his first game as a member of The Phillies Little league T-Ball team. This was after the mornings opening ceremony which had every team take the field to present their banners and colors. It was all very exciting, and new to me. Being a Brit, this whole organised youth sport thing is taken far more seriously on this side of the pond. <br /><br /><p>Anyhow, the kids looked great in their bright red uniforms, and they played remarkably well for a bunch of 5-6 year olds who had only 4 practices so far as a team. The other team definitely had the better of the hitting, but luckily at this stage no-one keeps score and the kids are not really paying attention to who is doing better. We have this one kid on our team who is a real gamer, you can tell he's been practicing for this day for years. He's the only kid who can hit the ball clear over the pitchers head past the second baseman. And he has an arm. He can fire that ball from third base like a rocket.</p><br /><br /><p>They're all just out there having fun. Until the attention starts to waver after about 3 innings. They only play for 5 innings in T-Ball and that is clearly enough for these little guys. We have 20 games in the season, 2 per week. Gonna be a lot of fun.</p><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom: 12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5514415122/" title="The K2s by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5218/5514415122_b0c44bdbab_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt=""></a><br /><p><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;">The K2's <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">on Flickr</a></span></p></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom: 12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5513816383/" title="Untitled by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5257/5513816383_4a780340ab_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt=""></a><br /><p><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;">Opening Day Ceremony <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">on Flickr</a></span></p></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom: 12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5513813445/" title="First hit by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5219/5513813445_5d843cf146_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt=""></a><br /><p><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;">First Hit <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">on Flickr</a></span></p></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom: 12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5514408892/" title="Home run jog by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5016/5514408892_13f084e09e_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt=""></a><br /><p><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;">Home run jog <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">on Flickr</a></span></p></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom: 12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5513809561/" title="Battle of wits by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5134/5513809561_4587c7a86b_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt=""></a><br /><p><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;">The battle of wits <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">on Flickr</a></span></p></div><br /><br /><br /><!-- Technorati Tags Start --><br /><p>Technorati Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/fitness" rel="tag">fitness</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/kids" rel="tag">kids</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/baseball" rel="tag">baseball</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/little%20league" rel="tag">little league</a><br /></p><br /><!-- Technorati Tags End -->MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-66406700656579282732011-03-08T23:53:00.001-08:002011-03-31T23:10:52.727-07:00Kindergarten Jog-a-thon 2011<p>Last week The Sprite and his Kindergarten class of 2011 had the annual Jog-a-thon. They had to run laps around the school field for 30 minutes. This was to raise sponsorship for the schools PE dept. as each runner was sponsored by the lap. It was pretty good fun and the kids really got into it. Our jogtastic little runner managed 16 laps. Not bad considering the mornings cloud cover broke and it was close to 80° at 11am when the kids were running.</p><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511053831/" title="At the start line by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/5511053831_5f18e431dc_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt="At the start line"></a><br /><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511053831/">At the start line</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">Flickr</a></p></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511054377/" title="Grinin like a madman by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/5511054377_c1796bb342_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt="Grinin like a madman"></a><br /><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511054377/">Grinin like a madman</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">Flickr</a></p></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511054029/" title="Putting everyting into it by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5013/5511054029_020c1f1250_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt="Putting everyting into it"></a><br /><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511054029/">Putting everyting into it</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">Flickr</a></p></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511653854/" title="All sweaty now"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5172/5511653854_9d7be28580_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt="All sweaty now"></a><br /><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511653854/">All sweaty now</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">Flickr</a></p><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511055135/" title="The finish line by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5299/5511055135_9e848c4c2d_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt="The finish line"></a><br /><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5511055135/">The finish line</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gaige_sebastien/">Flickr</a></p></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><!-- Technorati Tags Start --><br /><p>Technorati Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/kids" rel="tag">kids</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/kindergarten" rel="tag">kindergarten</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/school" rel="tag">school</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/fitness" rel="tag">fitness</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/fundraising" rel="tag">fundraising</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/jogathon" rel="tag">jogathon</a><br /></p><br /><!-- Technorati Tags End -->MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-59943599359758723032011-03-04T15:26:00.001-08:002011-03-04T15:26:38.416-08:00iPrincipal : My Thoughts on Technology in Elementary SchoolA few weeks ago I received a request from the local school district to fill out an <a href="http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2010/Default.aspx">online survey</a> that was focused on the use of technology in our elementary schools. This followed an event at my son's elementary school that was an opportunity for parents to see how the school planned to make use of modern technologies in it's educational curriculum.<br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; background-color:lightgrey; margin:0px; padding:10px; border-style:solid; border-color:grey; border-width:1px; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jantzi/5386412144/" title="iPad Elementary Learners by Fancy Jantzi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5212/5386412144_1a2423f267_z.jpg" width="640" height="401" alt="iPad Elementary Learners" /></a><p>Elementary Learners Using iPads<br /><br />Image courtesy of Fancy Jantzi on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jantzi/5386412144/">Flickr</a>.</p></div><br /><br />The evenings presentations were orchestrated by Ted Lai, the Director of Technology and Media Services for Fullerton School District, who had been guiding several programs that had children as young as Kindergarten and First Grade <a href="http://www.fsd.k12.ca.us/StudentMedia/Fisler_Rap/fisler_rap.html">creating media</a> as part of their education. Of course, this appealed to me immensely. As a media creator myself I totally appreciate the value storytelling has in society, and am very excited kids are getting a chance to discover this for themselves. The fact that they are getting hands on with visual media and the technology used to create it at an early age feels like a bold step forward. It makes me feel grateful to be a part of this community that is enabling this program. I really hope these ideas go somewhere, as the plans outlined sounded a lot like the kind of education I would like my kid to enjoy.<br /><br />The evening was used as part of a fundraiser to provide for technology purchases for the school, and gave parents and kids together a chance to sample some of the tools the school and Ted Lai are aiming to use. We tried iPad's loaded with apps to engage the kids in Math, Animation, Storytelling. Even Angry Birds was demonstrated for its benefit to understanding geometric angles. Then we moved into the lab where the kids were building PowerPoint and Keynote presentations. The presentations were used to display information learned about trees and plants. The aim is for the kids to learn as they play, that they absorb the information almost without them knowing it.<br /><br />Naturally, after the evenings series of presentations I was wildly excited about my sons future at the school and the opportunities he'll have to use creative visual communication as part of his everyday schooling. It set my mind thinking about all the cool things the school could do. And then, the invitation to offer my thoughts on the subject fell into my email inbox. I was asked, if I were Principal, what technology choices would I make. My suggestions I have copied below. It will be interesting to see if any are adopted and what else the school district comes up with. I worry though that educational funding being what it is during this financial malaise if good plans and intentions will come to nought if there is no budget.<br /><br /><div style="padding:1px; background-color:lightgrey;"><blockquote>If I were Principal my suggestions are these. Start a school blog, to open up bi-directional communication between faculty, parents and students. Each class or classroom will have one or two designated 'student journalists' that will have access to login credentials for that week. They are free and encouraged to post pictures, texts, videos, reports about issues they are concerned with, school or otherwise. <br /><br />An open comment system will foster a healthy debate and free thinking community. Each child will have an ID that is linked to them throughout school that they will login to the system with. If any child is reported or caught posting inappropriate or inflammatory or trolling, they will be dealt with the same way discipline is carried out in the offline world; detention, suspension or expulsion. Good digital citizenry can be learned here. <br /><br />The blog would be the hub for an open and transparent communication platform.<br /><br />As Principal I would make my weekly address, via live streaming video, and archived for on-demand consumption. Special events would be covered here, again via live streaming, video archiving, journalistic reports, moderated by parent/teacher team and executed by students. Once a month a live stream video Q&A session would be conducted by me, The Principal, with any parent or student interested. <br /></blockquote><br /></div><br /><br /><div><strong>The survey:</strong><br /><br />http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2010/Default.aspx</div><br /><br /><!-- Technorati Tags Start --><br /><p>Technorati Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/media" rel="tag">media</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/school" rel="tag">school</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/education" rel="tag">education</a><br /></p><br /><!-- Technorati Tags End -->MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-44324534011269946072011-03-03T12:51:00.001-08:002011-03-03T12:51:40.213-08:00The Tale of Brocolli : The Storytellers Journey ContinuesA few weeks ago I <a href="http://djelectricdaddy.blogspot.com/2011/01/signs-of-creativity-storytellers.html">wrote</a> about the tendency for The Sprite to concoct elaborate scenarios in his game play, and his emerging talent of using his creative imagination for storytelling. <br /><br />This tendency has continued to blossom, and the expanded scope of some of his recent storyplay has been really fun to listen too. I'd like to share one such event, it was so imaginative and spontaneous and brilliant.<br /><br />On a recent trip to Laguna Lake, where we often go to take an evening stroll, The Sprite created a new character that had us wondering if our son had taken a bump to the noggin. There is a small bridge that spans a small shallow stream that flows over some rocks and stones. The stream connects the main lake to the series of small ponds that are an integral part of the water filtration system. At that bridge it is pretty routine for us to stop and play <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pooh_sticks">Pooh Sticks</a> for a while, The Sprite using some of the many twigs fallen from the plentiful tree's surrounding the lake. <br /><br />On this day, he found a spray of branches full of leaves that had fallen to the ground. Immediately he picked it up and named her Broccoli. Apparently this was taken as some kind of familial offspring and he felt some paternal need to protect her and nurture her. He played with her for almost an hour, showing Broccoli the different areas of the lake, and talking to the leafy twigs like they were a real person. Everything else outside of this imaginary world was completely invisible to him.<br /><br />Well, needless to say, we had to give Broccoli a ride back to the house where she was promptly given a place of pride in his bedroom. And there she has sat for the past dozen or so weeks, referred to and greeted occasionally as The Sprite goes about his business.<br /><br /><div style="text-align:center; background-color:lightgrey; margin:0px; padding:10px; border-style:solid; border-color:grey; border-width:1px; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5494702167/" title="Our Leafy Friend Broccoli by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5056/5494702167_c90f552423_z.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt="Our Leafy Friend Broccoli" /></a><p>Our leafy friend Broccoli</p></div><br /><br />"Hey Broccoli, are you okay here...Good. Seeya later"<br /><br />Predictably, Broccoli has a limited life-span, being separated from her parent trunk and limb many days ago. As the leaves have dried and fallen to the floor, it was apparent we had to put Broccoli out to pasture. Very maturely, The Sprite explained how we should take Broccoli back to the lake so she could be with her family. We could find another Broccoli and bring her home with us.<br /><br />So that's where we'll be going this afternoon. To give our guest and friend a leafy funeral. <br /><br />Who knows what's next.MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-53076790931029655802011-03-01T09:39:00.001-08:002011-03-01T09:39:38.996-08:00100 Word Celebration<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaige_sebastien/5489510154/" title="100 Word Celebration by GSM World, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5254/5489510154_fd1a02d2a6_z.jpg" width="458" height="640" alt="100 Word Celebration" /></a><br /><br />The Sprite had a little celebration for passing his 100 Word reading test today. Mommy recognised this achievement with a CONGRATULATIONS balloon and a delicious huge chocolate cupcake. <br /><br />Over the past few weeks he has been tested on several lists of ten words each. List ten makes a hundred, which is the guideline for kindergartners to be reading. But there is no stopping. The lists continue to come home and we continue to learn more sight words - words that are instantly recognisable and dont need to be sounded out<br /><br /><!-- Technorati Tags Start --><br /><p>Technorati Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/kids" rel="tag">kids</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/kindergarten" rel="tag">kindergarten</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/school" rel="tag">school</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/reading" rel="tag">reading</a><br /></p><br /><!-- Technorati Tags End -->MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-14880800662760130992011-02-17T13:25:00.001-08:002011-02-20T02:24:13.270-08:00100 Days of Kindergarten<div class="blip_embed" style="text-align:center"><embed src="http://blip.tv/play/wGCCpO8rAg%2Em4v" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="720" height="435" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></div><div class="blip_description" style=""><br /><br /><p>Today marks the 100th day The Sprite has been in school. To comemorate this epic acheivement the teachers had them prepare a 100 Day presentation for the class. The kids had to collect 100 Things and do a show and tell in front of their classmates. Our little petrol-head predictably chose cars as his 100 Things and ElectricMommy printed out 95 cool NASCARs and HotWheels cars from the internet and The Sprite cut and glued them to a sheet of poster board. We then added 5 real HotWheels cars to the board for effect.Of course, being the designer, I could not let the poster board go simply decorated with printed out cars. I added a yellow and white racing stripe motif to the flourescent orange board, and added a 100 racing number for good measure.</p><br /><p>We then prepped The Sprite on what to say for his presentation, and here he is running through it, trying to remember his words and not get nervous. Well, I managed to stay and watch all the kids do their presentations today and it was very cute. They were all entertaining and had some great 100 Things collections. The Sprite of course had to wait to last, to check out what everyone else was going to do. A leader he is not. But he remembered all his key points and spoke up well.</p><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="blip_formats" style="margin-top: 15px;"><b>Formats available</b>: <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-100DaysOfKindergarten154.mp4">MPEG4 Video (.mp4)</a>, <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-100DaysOfKindergarten390.flv">Flash Video (.flv)</a>, <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-100DaysOfKindergarten244.m4v">MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)</a>, <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-100DaysOfKindergarten709.wmv">Windows Media (.wmv)</a></div><div class="blip_tags" style="margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/cars">cars</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/kids">kids</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/kindergarten">kindergarten</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/hotwheels">hotwheels</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/nascar">nascar</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/lamborghini">lamborghini</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/school">school</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/presentation">presentation</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://blip.tv/topics/view/100days">100days</a></div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-76439380784190501822011-01-25T14:38:00.001-08:002011-01-25T14:38:35.016-08:00T-Mobile : How To Lose A Loyal CustomerWell, dear T-Mobile, after more than 6 years of loyal patronage it's time we parted ways. I used to proudly state how T-Mobile treated their customers fairly and for that good service, some loyalty should be rewarded. When the iPhone was released my excitement was tempered by my sense of loyalty to T-Mo. My reluctance to change carriers spanned the years between then and now. I even went to the length of buying a used 1st Gen iPhone that was jailbroke/unlocked to use with my T-Mo SIM. As newer versions of the iPhione were announced and released I stuck loyalty to T-Mo. As my old 1st Gen phone got more and more beat up I continued to resist the urge to leave the company who had provided fair and honest service, and jump ship to AT&T and a nice new iPhone with a faster processor and better battery life.<br /><br />Over last few years I have noticed more calls getting dropped by T_Mobile. In my home office I cannot even get a signal, I have to step out into the front lawn to make calls or check voicemail for any missed calls. There have been occasions where I missed an important call from a client thanks to the shoddy reception in my office. But still I gave T-Mobile the benefit of the doubt.<br /><br />Then, just last week, in an effort to cut costs, I reduced my plan minutes form the Unlimited minutes $50/month to a more reasonable 500 minutes $30/month. Considering I only use about 200 minutes a month this made perfect sense. At the time the customer service rep was very helpful to assist me in adjusting my plan and having looked at my usage history agreed it was good sense to adjust my plan. At no point was any other service discussed. I also have an unlimited SMS plan and the $10/month unlimited Internet plan.<br /><br />Happy that I had saved myself $20/month I continued on my way believing T-Mo were on my side. Little did i know that behind the scenes where they plotting to sabotage my trust. Looking at Safari waiting to pick up my son from school, I was greeted by a generic login page from T-Mobile asking me to pay $1.99 per MB to use their data service. Confused, I tapped around trying to find any kind of clue to what might be going on. Nothing made sense. <br /><br />So a call to T-Mo Customer Service quickly followed whereby I was informed that the $10/month internet plan was only available to subscribers of the $50/month phone plan. If I wanted unlimited internet I would have to pay $30/month. Yes, simple math. To save $20 on my phone plan I had to spend $30 on internet. I was flabbergasted. How could they do this and get away with it? Does anyone else just blindly accept these shady terms? Is this how a company hopes to reward and hold on to its loyal customers.<br /><br />The line of BS the rep fed me was that certain plans were only available to certain customers. I told her I refused to be strong-armed into buying minutes I don't need just to get the internet I do need. I told her in no uncertain terms that its just zeros and ones. Its just data. Its not like the internet plan will not work on the network if the phone plan is not active. T-Mobile can pass data around however they wish. What it comes down to is pure price gouging and manipulation to ensure they get $70/month out of their customers regardless of the services they need or want. That, to me, is shady, underhanded and not the way to treat loyal customers. <br /><br />As customers, we should be able to pick and choose what services we need a la carte so we pay for no more or less than we want. If I want more internet than phone minutes, I should not be penalized or forced to a different tier than a user who might want more minutes and not much internet. Carriers in the US have had their way for too long, with secret data caps, data plans unlimited in label only, questionable pricing structures. I long for the time when a rogue upstart company enters the playing field to upstage the rotten mainstays of cellular providers. I long for Skype to release a phone that uses their system over a satellite network free from cell providers. I long for a la carte plans where we can choose exactly the services we want with fair and open pricing structures.<br /><br />I know moving to AT&T will likely be no better. But at least I will have a phone that is up to date, responds quickly, has a better camera. I will also be on a network where I can count on the coverage being reliable. My wife, Danielle, has been on AT&T with her iPhone since they were first released. She has reception just fine. In fact last summer when our family travelled up to Northern California for vacation, Danielle routinely had 3+ bars where I had none. I went practically the entire vacation with spotty (at very very best) cell signal. <br /><br />So, thanks for the service while it lasted. You are no longer any better than AT&T which was once your most appealing characteristic.<br /><br /><!-- Technorati Tags Start --><br /><p>Technorati Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/cellular" rel="tag">cellular</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/T-Mobile" rel="tag">T-Mobile</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/AT&T" rel="tag">AT&T</a><br /></p><br /><!-- Technorati Tags End -->MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-57097984251409625522011-01-18T16:40:00.000-08:002011-01-19T16:41:05.239-08:00Signs of Creativity : The Storytellers JourneyThe Sprite has shown signes of creativity since he was able to move and talk. Lately he has displayed an increased level of conceptual creativity, making up highly elaborate stories and scenarios. He has always had a strong creative streak, look at who his parents are, two artists, so its only natural. Painting, playing piano, singing, writing. Making up stories seems to be at the root of much of this energy. I myself was an avid storyteller as a child. I had a legal hard cover pad of lined paper that I filled with stories about characters I invented; chubby ghost, spiders, posinis fish. Also characters were based on books I had at the time; Hectors House, Andy Pandy, Bill & Ben. My imagination was running riot over the pages of that notebook. I'm hoping it is still in the attic of the home I grew up in, safely covered in cobwebs, and not lost to the landfill somewhere.<br /><br />In the past, bathnight games involved Sesame Street character Bernie - an amalgam of Bert and Ernie - was hitching a ride on the friendly shark (represented by a wooden handled loufer). The shark would take Bernie on aride all over the wall, up and down the bath. And oh the antics they would get up to together.<br /><br />The boy has always been obsessed with cars, specifically NASCAR. Who knows why. But over the past year or three he has amassed quite an impressive garage. He'll arrange all the cars on the grid and enact elaborate race theatrics where each driver has a personality and vociferously argues with the other drivers. He is like the Director of a huge blockbuster movie acted out on the living room floor.<br /><br />He has been playing the piano for a while now, which makes us very happy. Before he started lessons, he'd play around on the old player piano in our living room, turn around to face an imaginary audience and ask "I want all you guys to sing, okay" He'll proceed to bash on the keys of the horribly out-of-tune antique piano making up a horribly out-of-tune ditty. I can only hope the guys singing along in The Sprite's head were in better tune.<br /><br />His drawings have taken on an increased level of detail, both visually and conceptually. Simple stick figures are now taking on depth and dimension. Colors are being explored fully. And every picture now contains an incredibly detailed backstory. No longer are Mummy and Daddy and Himself standing in a white void on the page. Now we are coming down from a mountain after school to stay at a hotel with a ghost in each room while eagles float under a black sky before the storm.<br /><br />The most interesting story The Sprite has concocted involves another life he apparently lived. This ultimately revolves around his 'old house', a place where he used to live with his other parents and a sibling in 1840. Apparently the house was shot up by 'the bad guys' and it burned to the ground, but not before our little hero was able to save his family. We could be talking about something as innocuous as a pair of shoes, and that will trigger a long diatribe of how he used to have a pair of those shoes, at his old house. The funny thing is the story has remained extremely consistent for well over a year. Maybe two. The details get added and modified occasionally, obviously to accommodate whatever the current circumstances triggering the anecdote. But the foundations of his story have not wavered one bit. He'll recount the tale over again without faltering or missing a detail. For a while we wondered if he was reincarnated and having some kind of spectral flashbacks. Was kinda freaky. However I'm sure its all just manifestations of a highly creative mind at play.<br /><br />Most artists are storytellers; musicians, poets, writers, painters or filmmakers all telling stories. Whether The Sprites behaviour is anything beyond normal child's imagination remains to be seen, time will tell. But you can guarantee ElectricMommy and I will nurture and encourage every aspect of his creative dreaming and storytelling every step of the way.<br /><br /><br /><br /><!-- Technorati Tags Start --><br /><p>Technorati Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/creativity" rel="tag">creativity</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/storytelling" rel="tag">storytelling</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/kids" rel="tag">kids</a><br /></p><br /><!-- Technorati Tags End -->MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-5024994434419090182010-12-19T09:08:00.001-08:002010-12-19T09:08:11.125-08:00VLOMO2010-Day25-Thanksgiving<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4549670&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4549670"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day25Thanksgiving171.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549670(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day25Thanksgiving171.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day25Thanksgiving171.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549670(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moments are a snapshot montage from The Big Turkey Day here in the US of A</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-33983261286974438622010-12-19T09:07:00.001-08:002010-12-19T09:07:11.154-08:00VLOMO2010-Day26-Desert Explorations<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4549701&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4549701"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day26DesertExplorations467.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549701(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day26DesertExplorations467.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day26DesertExplorations467.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549701(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moment was spent fooling around exploring the California desert outside of Quartzsite, CA. With the family looking for a way to burn off some post-turkey day calories we rounded up a convoy of 4x4 wheelers and took it out to the dirt.</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-34308322148905354892010-12-19T09:06:00.003-08:002010-12-19T09:06:41.114-08:00VLOMO2010-Day27-Shoe Wall<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4549735&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4549735"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day27ShoeWall903.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549735(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day27ShoeWall903.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day27ShoeWall903.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549735(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moment comes from the strange iconic monument on California Highway 62 known as show wall. Here, travelers passing through the desert stop and hang a shoe, or other item, on the fence surrounding the burned out foundation of an old building.</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-66562294496816143972010-12-19T09:06:00.001-08:002010-12-19T09:06:11.171-08:00VLOMO2010-Day28-Tanker Train<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4549774&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4549774"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day28TankerTrain660.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549774(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day28TankerTrain660.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day28TankerTrain660.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549774(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moment was found yesterday. Once more along California Highway 62 on route back to Fullerton from Havasu, we stopped at the railroad siding where a large number of tankers are parked. I'm fascinated with the railroad, the engineering feat of constructing these immense vehicles, the massive cast iron components, always makes for interesting photographic subject matter</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-11633513395070958312010-12-19T09:05:00.001-08:002010-12-19T09:05:11.270-08:00VLOMO2010-Day29-Unboxing Danica<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4549799&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4549799"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day29UnboxingDanica839.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549799(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day29UnboxingDanica839.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day29UnboxingDanica839.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549799(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moment is brought to you by Hot Wheels and Danica Patrick. The story goes like this. Some months ago The Sprite and I were in Costco where we saw a really cool large scale Ferrari R/C car for $30. Determined to own said item to add to his Jay Leno-esque car collection The Sprite set about saving his allowance. Weeks passed and when he finally reached the appropriate amount of savings we went back to Costco to make his purchase. Sadly once there we found all trace of the Ferrari was gone, they had sold their entire stock of that car. Not to be deterred we head home and to the power of Google and the Internet. After 3-4 hours of searching for large Ferrari cars in the $30 price range The Sprite had made his online purchase. Only now he was getting a Danica Patrick Indy car. Why? Who knows. We've never watched Indy racing, he has no idea who Ms Patrick is. But who am I to deny the boy to invite the lovely (and extremely fast) young lady into our house. After several days of waiting and asking when Danica will arrive, the box finally showed up on our doorstep...</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-44376475303114119032010-12-19T09:04:00.001-08:002010-12-19T09:04:41.574-08:00VLOMO2010-Day30-Last Day Rant<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4549821&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4549821"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day30LastDayRant884.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549821(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day30LastDayRant884.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day30LastDayRant884.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549821(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moment was found walking the streets of Fullerton where I encountered three lovely ladies who gave me cause to rant.<br />And thus ends the thirty days of VLOMO 2010. I can go back to a normal lifestyle once more. Thanks to all who watched and especially to those who played along and took part in the ongoing experiment that is Video Blogging Month. See you next year.</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-90477032777892377562010-11-24T10:25:00.001-08:002010-11-24T10:25:49.738-08:00VLOMO2010-Day23-Recall The Chips<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4444371&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4444371"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day23RecallTheChips785.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4444371(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day23RecallTheChips785.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day23RecallTheChips785.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4444371(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moment finds me ranting about SunChips and a noisy packet.</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-85125126236330656882010-11-24T10:17:00.001-08:002010-11-24T10:17:19.607-08:00VLOMO2010-Day22-Marbles<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4444337&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4444337"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day22Marbles742.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4444337(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day22Marbles742.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day22Marbles742.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4444337(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moment finds me losing my grip. Work, family, holidays, and the pressure of keeping up with VLOMO are taking their toll on my sanity. Have you seen my marbles?</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-10452037940930234422010-11-24T10:07:00.001-08:002010-11-24T10:07:50.224-08:00VLOMO2010-Day21-For No Man<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4444292&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4444292"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day21ForNoMan751.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4444292(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day21ForNoMan751.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day21ForNoMan751.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4444292(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">VLOMO stops for no man. Todays VLOMO moment is pretty much filler, just trying to keep up with the game.</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-3606694621553790032010-11-24T09:09:00.000-08:002011-02-20T02:18:23.000-08:00VLOMO2010-Day24-Arizona Bound<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4549658&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4549658"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day24ArizonaBound629.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549658(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day24ArizonaBound629.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day24ArizonaBound629.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4549658(); return false;">Click to Play</a><br /> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Todays VLOMO moments were spent on the California freeways 91, 60, 1-10, 62 and Arizona Route 95. Our annual pilgrimage out to Lake Havasu City for the family Thanksgiving gathering. This has been the downfall of my VLOMO productivity in years past. I'm determined to shoot every day and edit when I return. We shall see.</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37829688.post-50262845755419474702010-11-24T00:40:00.001-08:002010-11-24T00:40:19.216-08:00VLOMO2010-Day20-El Destructo<center> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=4442492&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_4442492"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day20ElDestructo283.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4442492(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day20ElDestructo283.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click to Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Madmac66-VLOMO2010Day20ElDestructo283.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_4442492(); return false;">Click to Play</a> </div> </center><div class="blip_description">Sometimes The Sprite likes to spend his days off playing Gran Tourismo on the Playstation all day. Others, like today, he prefers to remove his trousers and destroy our house in his under-garments. While I was busy in the office, I could hear all kinds of cacophony out in the living room. When I finally went to investigate, this is what I saw.</div><br />MadMac66http://www.blogger.com/profile/12439458248225251991noreply@blogger.com0