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June 30, 2008
Dust in the Wind
Bill and Ted are in Ancient Greece:
Bill: (approaching Socrates) How's it going? I'm Bill, this is Ted. We're from the future.
Socrates: Socrates.
Ted: (whispering to Bill) Now what?
Bill: I dunno. Philosophize with him!
Ted: (clears his throat, to Socrates) "All we are is dust in the wind," dude.
(Socrates gives them a blank stare)
Hard to believe that I didn't think of the Dust in the Wind angle earlier, since I traffic in dust and wind... well, it's mostly been dust over the last couple of weeks. The massive batch of flutes is coming along nicely, and it's too bad that they'll be immediately bundled up and presented to the masses without much of a chance for close analysis, photography and discussion. That's show biz!
Someday I'll figure out a way to harness this manic, wildly productive flutemaking energy even in the absence of a looming show deadline... --r.
June 29, 2008
Coming up for air
Whew! The last few weeks have been intense-- formerly, when facing a *big show* deadline I'd typically futz around up to the proverbial last minute, indulging self-indulgent creativity rather than hard-nosed production until the final crunch. That final crunch was then a blur of multiple fourteen-hour workdays leading straight into the show's opening date-- but no more!
I resolved to reset the crunch calendar this year, shifting the manic-productivity zone two or three weeks earlier. This way, most of the nitty-gritty work should be complete well before opening day, enabling me to enter the fray and confront the public with a much more relaxed, rested and positive attitude.
--And you know what? It's working! What a gorgeous batch of flutes this is, and it's too bad that we probably won't have a chance to photographically catalog them. At this rate I may even return to doing two or three shows a year rather than just one. --r.
June 23, 2008
Uh, Whaaaa?
Oops-- been a mite quiet 'round here of late! We're still plugging away here at the Complex, and two or three dozen embryonic instruments should reach full term around the second week of July. Not that you'll see them featured here: no, these flutes are destined for our sole major meatspace show of the year, running July 11th-13th.
The insistent demands of my two separate gardens also continue to overwhelm-- man, that 20x20 plot in the nearby community garden is a beast! This is the first time I've grown veggies in a 100% full-sun situation, and it'll take another year or two to fully grok the space and get a confident handle on its seasonal rhythms.
The studio is finally fairly functional, but it took a good month to move everything into that much smaller room and make it all work. Still don't have a decent photography space, much less a functional camera -- which is another, longer story -- but we have scant time for frivolous excuses and tale-telling right now, so it's back to the grindstone. --r.
June 17, 2008
Some hard news for a change
GULFPORT, Ill. -- (RB News Service) The rising Mississippi River interrupted travel on two bridges between Iowa and Illinois and threatened thousands of acres of farmland Tuesday. People stacked millions of sandbags near 27 levees the federal government said were in danger of overflowing.
The river blew a massive hole in a levee near the farming community of Gulfport at about 5 a.m., covering at least 5,000 acres of farmland by late Tuesday morning, Henderson County Chief Deputy Donald Seitz said.
"The whole town will be under water," Seitz said, calling the levee break "very devastating" for the small agricultural community near the Illinois-Iowa line. More than 10,000 acres could eventually flood, he said.
The break forced the closure of the Great River Bridge that connects Gulfport to Burlington, Iowa, via U.S. Highway 34. Two people who were working on the levee were rescued by boat, said Henderson County Sheriff Mark Lumbeck.
Three other people were lifted by helicopter from a rooftop, and seven others climbed onto a 4-wheeler and sped down a railroad track as the levee gave way, Lumbeck said.
The town of about 200 remains dry but was evacuated because of concerns about a second levee to the north where seepage was discovered, Lumbeck said. Two residents in the town refused to leave and stayed behind, the sheriff said.
The Illinois governor's office originally reported more than a dozen people had to be rescued by helicopter. But Patti Thompson, a spokeswoman with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, later said the number could not be confirmed and to rely on local officials' accounts.
About 20 miles down the river from Gulfport, the BNSF Railway Co. swing span bridge was closed early Tuesday to car traffic at Fort Madison, Iowa, near the Iowa-Illinois line, Lee County emergency management director Steve Cirinna said. The bridge hadn't closed to trains, BNSF Railway Co. spokesman Steve Forsberg said.
Near the Gulfport, 83-year-old Lois Russell watched the floodwaters that surrounded her home about a mile away. She said she evacuated her home because of flooding in 1965 and again in 1993, and returned each time - but that she wouldn't return again.
"It was a good placed to raise my seven kids," she said, crying. "I know I haven't lost anything that feels important because I have a big family."
The federal government predicted that 27 levees could potentially overflow along the river if the weather forecast is on the mark and a massive sandbagging effort fails to raise the level of the levees, according to a map obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
Officials placed millions of sandbags on top of the levees in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri to prevent overflowing. There was no way to predict whether these levees will break, said Ron Fournier, a spokesman with the Army Corps of Engineers in Iowa.
Amtrak service was disrupted between Burlington and St. Paul, Minn., because of the flooding. The disruptions affected the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief and Amtrak Empire Builder routes.
A sandbagging operation at the Oakville Apostolic Church was moved south to the outskirts of Burlington after floodwaters streamed across Iowa Highway 99.
"The church is now an island," said Carly Wagenbach, who was shuttling food to levee workers.
Officials were concerned about spot spots in a levee that protects a drainage area south of Oakville.
"It's outrageous," said Steve Poggemiller. "We're hanging on by a thread - or a sandbag."
Jeff Campbell, a farmer carrying sandbags on his 4-wheeler, said he spotted hogs swimming away from a flooded hog operation near Oakville. They were climbing a levee, poking holes in the plastic that covered it, he said.
One tired pig was lying at the bottom of the levee "like a pink sandbag," Campbell said.
Donna Dubberke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport, Iowa, said the river level would gradually begin to rise again once the flooded areas fill up, but that crest projections could be lowered by several inches.
At Burlington, the crest forecast was lowered to 25.8 feet, down from the earlier projection of 26.1 feet. That was welcome news to volunteers fighting to save a levee north of Burlington.
"Nobody knows how close it was," said Brian Wiegand, 48, of Oakville. "It was by a whisker."
Two more deaths were reported Monday in Iowa, bringing the state's death toll to five.
On Tuesday, there were signs that much of Iowa was starting to return to normalcy: Interstate 80 reopened near Iowa City for the first time in days, with Interstate 380 to the north scheduled to reopen early Tuesday. On the University of Iowa campus, officials began to take stock of the damage.
In Cedar Rapids, where 24,000 people were evacuated when floodwater covered about 1,300 city blocks, more people were being allowed to return to their homes Tuesday.
"The water has continued to recede, so we've moved those barricades in and there's now a large section of the city where residents are allowed to go back in," said Dave Koch, a city spokesman.
On Monday, broken gas lines, sink holes and structural problems caused officials to stop taking residents into homes, said Dave Koch, a city spokesman. Officials hoped to allow residents in soon.
Where floodwaters remained, they were a noxious brew of sewage, farm chemicals and fuel.
LeRoy Lippert, chairman of emergency management and homeland security in nearby Des Moines County, warned people to avoid drinking floodwaters. Mixed in are pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer from Iowa's vast stretches of farmland.
The American Red Cross said Monday its disaster relief fund has been completely spent, and the agency is borrowing money to help flood victims throughout the Midwest.
(Original reporting by Romy Benton, totally NOT ripped off from the Ass* Press)
June 16, 2008
Panic
Tomorrow is Monday, June 16th, which is the designated *panic* date for our Oregon Country Fair preparations. Many embryonic flutes in the pipeline, and the only question is how many of them will be brought to full term by the second weekend of July. The next three weeks would be an excellent time for flute inquiries, since many will be available for consideration over the home stretch. I used to attend a dozen or so big art/craft fairs every year, but no more: the OCF is the only major event remaining on the docket, thank heavens.
I'm much more critically discriminating when recommending instruments over the Internet than in a face-to-face interaction, especially when the meatspace interaction takes place in the context of a chaotic craft fair. Customers who obtain flutes over the 'net get the cream of the crop in most cases, since a customer who can't play-test the goods in person deserves my best shot.
On the other hand, if you show up at a fair booth and are attracted to something that might not be my very best effort, go for it! Actually, I should return to doing do three or four major meatspace shows a year in order to clear out the back-stock.
--Not to imply that we'd sell inferior goods under any circumstances! Nope, even the second-tier flutes are *ahem* sublime works of musical art worthy of any discriminating collector's attention. I discard many flutes in the early stages-- many more than are actually completed. In fact, some of the finished ones I'd carelessly classify as second-rate might even be superior in many respects-- especially for casual beginners or others who aren't attuned to such nitpicky standards. After all, how many of us are seriously invested in playing in the third octave of a bamboo flute?
--r.
June 13, 2008
This is for the birds
11:30 PM, June 12th: just got home from the Complex, where we've finally sorted out the relocation wreckage enough to get some actual work done. Feels good! This morning I lingered for awhile at the Swamp Shack before heading into the Complex to work, since the weather has finally turned toward early-summer norms. Might not last, though: fingers still crossed.
It's a birder's paradise here at the Shack: we live on a riverside surrounded by mixed woods, and the list of local species is long. This morning I took the binoculars across the small creek which empties into the Tualatin river at the corner of our lot and spent some time observing a red-breasted sapsucker nest. These birds are cavity nesters, and the nest in question is pecked into a dead tree just across the creek. It was great sitting twenty feet from the nest and watching the parents visit again and again to shove beakfuls of bugs into the gaping maws of the loudly-cheeping youngsters -- well, I couldn't see the actual feeding, just the parents ducking repeatedly into the nest hole -- but the fledglings should soon be peeking out of the portal in anticipation of their introduction to the wide world, and I'll be there to watch! Good-quality 10x binoculars are da bomb, man.
Where to begin on the bird list? We get occasional bald eagle flybys over the river, and ospreys are our neighbors: in fact, last year we were treated to the 45-minute spectacle of an osprey feasting on a sizable fish in our backyard! (And an osprey flew right by while I was watching the sapsucker nest.) Kingfishers dart about all day with their distinctive rasping calls, and pileated woodpeckers visit from time to time. Redtail hawks and turkey vultures soar high overhead, and great blue herons are regular visitors to the riverside, even entering the yard when the water is high. Of course, Canada geese and ducks of several species swim by with their broods at this time of year. At nightfall, we're regaled by the resonant hoots of great horned owls...
...And that's just pecking at the surface. The feeders we maintain year-round attract innumerable chickadees, juncoes, jays, finches, hummingbirds, sparrows, bushtits, downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, flickers, thrushes, grosbeaks, warblers, towhees and more. (List to be expanded after memory refreshment.)
Practically all paleontologists agree that birds evolved from a certain class of dinosaurs -- note the generalization here, since I'm too lazy to look up citations right now -- so in a sense it's silly to say that dinosaurs "went extinct." Indeed, many of them still walk and fly among us in the contemporary form of birds. Birds rock the ages! -r.
June 11, 2008
Back
At last! I've actually been working on flutes the last two days, after a three-week+ hiatus due to studio-space relocation. The downsizing was even more disruptive than I'd expected, and combined with all the other pressing activities of the season it knocked the fluteworks out of action for the better part of a month.
Only a month to go until the Oregon Country Fair, so it's time to dig in and get serious about production for that event. I'd vowed to prepare long enough in advance to avoid a frenzied, stressful rush in the last pre-fair week or two, so we'll see how that goes in the wake of our long production lapse...
Still don't have all the seasonal garden veggies planted either-- although we've been eating greens and stuff out of the new community garden plot for the last two weeks. It's been unseasonably cool over the last few weeks: so far, June temperatures are running 5 degrees F. lower than average, which is a LOT climatologically speaking. My tomatoes, peppers and squash are severely retarded! That is, they've pretty much been just sitting there passively and not making nearly the normal amount of growth for this time of year. Too bad, since one of the main reasons for securing that full-sun community garden plot was in order to grow warm-weather veggies to better advantage. Oh well, it's bound to warm up eventually.
Time to get back to the blog, too-- report on current flute goings-on soon. I'm not sure whether it's due to economic conditions or whatnot, but for the past two months the flute biz has been mighty slow. Normally I don't have to do much in order to draw sufficient sales to pay the bills, since enough people stumble into this site and eventually figure out how to order a flute at just about the right pace to keep me as busy as I want to be. At this rate I'll have to do some actual, proactive marketing soon!
C'mon people: there are quite a few very nice flutes just sitting around here! Let's get with the program and order a flute! (Unfortunately, a major casualty of the studio downsizing is that I don't have a dedicated photography area and haven't figured out how to replace that yet.)
Back to the Complex now-- catch y'all again tomorrow or the next day. --r.
June 4, 2008
Here we are
Yup, still here in the land of the living, tho you wouldn't have known over the last week or two. Not only has the studio downsizing project obliterated most other time-spending options over that stretch, we've also lost 'net access at the Swamp Shack, so I can't write from home on evenings after each day's dust has settled somewhat.
Should emerge from the worst of the woods in another day or three; I may even be organized enough to do some actual flutework by the end of this week. 'Nother update soon... very soon by recent standards.
--rb
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