words can be telling so i am watching what i say.

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

  

       Oh how I would like to tell you the full story, but feel I should wait till after the court date and then let you be my judge again, and then we can compare notes. Call it OCD, as I would after today, that is obsessive cannabis disappointment, but something in me wanted me to end the mystery of where Dundee Falls was and I found it, but should have left it alone. Not that it wasn’t anything and everything I had heard about, or the fact I had made several attempts to find it and was unsuccessful each time. Something in me needed to be sated as I slipped away in the afternoon and headed back to the Beach City Wilderness Center armed with more information about the topographical features in the area and where the falls might be, now that the terrain was fresh in my mind.

     My first attempt to find Dundee Falls was limited to the lower sections of the preserve and I took a long hike and was nearly eaten alive with mosquitos buoyed on with ample rainfall and super moist conditions in the swamp. My arms were bleeding from bites as I returned to the car. This in itself was irritating as I have at least 30 cans of OFF with Deet at home I rarely use, as I don’t like to have that oily feeling on my skin. But I also don’t like looking like I have Ebola and I am hemorrhaging through my skin as I did on that short jaunt from the biting of the mosquitos. After surveying the terrain and realizing I would have to be at least a half, to a mile away from the waterfalls at least, I returned to the car.

     On my way in I passed this hawk along the way, and I assumed it had an injured wing. It just sat there on the stump and didn’t move as I pulled the car alongside and talked to him. I wanted so bad to help him but realize it I against state wildlife laws to aid in the rescue of wild animals. I felt sorry for him as I know without his wing he may be forced to die a slow miserable death not being able to hunt any prey. Putting him in my car and taking him home surely was an option, I am glad in hindsight I didn’t undertake. Yet as he sat there I commiserated with him in ways and tried to soothe as if a human would have anything of comfort to say to an injured hawk. A car could have hit him or it may be just a natural accident he had, that affected his wing. I never got out of the car and checked. Some may feel this was wrong of me, but I still didn’t know what to do. Calling a wildlife officer was senseless as I was told when I found a baby doe trapped in a fence and freed it but it had lost its leg in the process, to return it to where I found it and its mother would take care of it. I was advised then it was against the law to harbor saved wild animals and since I had provided them with my name a report would be wrote advising me against keeping the doe in the event I was later found with that animal.

      This is the policy of our state of Ohio, right or wrong I had no choice but to return the fawn to where I found it and released it to go hopping off to see wyle e coyote. I really didn’t see any use contacting them again about an old injured hawk. This all seemed so ironic as I had just posted a picture of a red shouldered hawk identical to this one on the roof of my truck just yesterday. I should have realized at this point that it was fruitless to carry on my search for the elusive Dundee Falls, but still my heavy heart carried on as the hawks memory faded in the dust I left behind as I had one more area I needed to check. Mom and I passed this area yesterday, and it came upon me so quick and for some reason didn’t look right.

    There are no neon signs or in fact any signage at all that indicates where the falls is. Just a sign about the Beach City wildlife preserve. I pulled in and 2 guys were getting ready to enter the area and so I asked if I had the right place and they indicated to me that I had the right spot. I grabbed the essentials and was soon entering the forest area, eager to see what the falls was all about.  The two guys I talked to were informative telling me about what to expect as I headed down into the falls area. From cornfields to tumbled rock landscapes and shaded vistas I was mesmerized by the raw beauty of what I observed as I took pictures feverishly. After a period of time I was finally able to put this one waterfalls area behind me on my list of things to do, or have I yet?

       I enjoyed the solitude of being alone with waterfall sounds and trickling water all around me and just soaked it all in. It is at this point of the story I have to leave everything as it is and you must wait for the rest of the story after I go to court. Kind of like a Paul Harvey thing only without the rest of the story. Nothing serious but pending legal action against me prevents me from saying anything more. It is nothing serious and in my opinion will someday be legal even here in Ohio, but for now I must watch what I say, especially on here. Yet another ironic piece of information though and it is related to that same hawk I had seen before, and that is it had to do with the Division of Game and Wildlife. In fact I informed them of the previous hawk’s situation and that it may have a broken wing and since they were close, should check him out, but as I figured they had more important things to do than aid injured wildlife. Thankfully I didn’t have the hawk with me when I encountered the finest of Game and Wildlife. That would have been another fine.

     Outside of being a fine trap, the area was beautiful or was at one time. Graffiti abounds in the area. I don’t understand the huge phalluses painted on trees as if the artist creating that masterpiece could ever measure up to the enormity of their creation, and if they did women would run from them screaming. Rare in nature do you find vaginas of gargantuan size to accommodate such huge members. I am sure this is a primal scream for something but what?

    Nazi signs adorn the walls also in this area; maybe some time at Auschwitz might curb one of the needs to relive those old memories if they even had one. Again you really need to hand it to the numb chucks that leave their initials and a date on the walls of the valley as I viewed their scribbles, as I worked my way down the falls. Highlights of neon orange paint along with fluorescent green outlines of pot leaves shout out from the shadows of the rock overhangs. You would think that the Division of Wildlife would be interested in curbing these atrocities but instead they have bigger fish to fry. Art is about freedom of expression but when art trumps nature and nature is left in chaos from man’s hands, then we have lowered man to a new low. Kind of hard to jump out of the gutter and get over that bar.

    I do believe this sand outcropping and cliffs was once a quarry site where large sandstone pieces were drilled and shot with dynamite and hauled off to form a façade on some bank building in Omaha. Evidence of hammer drills on the face of the falls itself lends itself to man’s hands of destruction. This was some time ago and nature does heal its wounds as it will in the graffiti way as time erodes all traces of memories, scratchings and etchings. We can only hope a younger generation will be more vigilant in learning to accept and relish in nature as it is, and enjoy what it has to offer. On the whole I would rate my experience today as a rewarding one, yet something it seems is still amiss. As if my destiny was planned today to take the turn it did. My eyes are open and yours should be also if you plan to visit Dundee Falls. You never know where those pesky Division of Wildlife guys will be hanging out next.

     I also did manage to sand on the wings of the back of the eagle on my totem. I did this before taking off on my little adventure today. All in all I am glad to get that out of my system, as it will be awhile before I revisit this place. Add another hour to the total.

     

link to location:Dundee Falls - Beach City Wildlife Area, Ohio - Waterfalls on Waymarking.com- falls is off camp rd. refer to map.

Dundee Falls -are you there?

Dundee Falls, Don’t Think it Exists!!!

structure is in distance barely visible- Beach City wildlife area.  

     In my error, I described a place in the Beach city wildlife area as Duncan Falls when in fact it was Dundee Falls. Really doesn’t matter as I couldn’t find either one. Mom and I took off on what I thought should be a short jaunt to see Dundee falls as Dundee is just down St. Rt. 62 southwest of Canton , Ohio. Cutting through Zoar, Ohio I encountered construction traffic and decided to avoid that by taking Zoar-Dover rd. to Snyders Crossing into the Wilmot area. The scenery was exquisite and the day was beautiful as we passed farms of Amish and traditional farmers as they toiled in their patchwork fields dotting the landscape. At one point we traversed alongside a sandstone ridge I believe that is the impetus of the force behind the waterfalls at Dundee Falls, but still no official waterfall or even signage to that effect. However we did notice a large sandstone face alongside the railroad tracks where there was a lot of graffiti painted on the rocks and I believe this may be a clue as to the waterfalls location.

Clod and Clodette anxiously waiting for my return from wasted trip

     On three different occasions we scoured the Beach city -Dundee area as well as far south as Sugarcreek , before finally being able to input Dundee falls on my phone, whereupon it directed me back to Beach City wildlife area , and an obscure reference point with no actual parking when it is announced I was there at Dundee falls. I had passed that point at least 2 times before and I knew it was about time to drop back and punt and leave it to another day as Mom was beginning to doubt my locational skills.

      I did notice there was a rather strange structure in the middle of the swamp which appeared to be a foundation for something that previously existed or could easily be a docking receptacle for a UFO or alien spacecraft. You know the swamp gas thing. How UFO’s when seen can always be passed off as being swamp gas. Well imagine you are from an extraterrestrial world and you want to make sure you are not found here on our planet. What better place would there be to erect a docking device than in the middle of the Beach City wildlife area. after all they can hide a waterfalls pretty good there  It only makes sense. The strange thing is not so much I can see it and could imagine no good reason for erecting a foundation in the middle of a swamp, but it is there a four-sided structure 30-50 feet from any shore. It took considerable effort to get what appears to be a 20x20 foot structure in the middle of the swamp. Why is it there and what is it for? It is on Google Earth as I looked it up on my puter after returning home last night while also looking for Dundee Falls. although i coul not find the actual waterfalls, I could find the structure which appears as a square from the air and on images associated with Google Earth.

     Apparently this is the portal for Dundee Falls as it seems the locals are in on the ruse of keeping the mystery of Dundee Falls all for themselves. I even went so far as to stop and ask for directions since women say men never ask for directions, but seeing it was my fourth trip in search of the proverbial Dundee Falls, that I felt I needed a locals advice on how to arrive at my much awaited location, so I even stopped at the local Dundee pub and asked the barmaid who gave me excellent repetitive directions to the fabled spot. Recounting the trip twice for me as she turned me one direction and the next to the end of making sure I understood. Apparently I didn’t, as I even with her expert directions I still came up empty handed.

dundee falls portal from above?

     I must have put on fifty miles just searching for Dundee Falls to no avail, and in the end returned empty handed. I have a pretty good idea as to where it is but still I am not quite sure. Was thinking about heading out today to confirm my suspicions? As to the structure I am clueless and would like to hear from anyone who may know what it is all about. Thought maybe it may have to do with a tower for a utility, either telephone or electricity that has been removed leaving the foundation behind. Or just maybe it may be a portal to a vast underground network of alien extraterrestrials posing as Amish citizens. Imagine that, you probably thought that ring of trail bologna was just good food when it may actually be a tracking device for locating stupid humans cleverly disguised as tourists. And it is all centered in the middle of Beach City swamp or wildlife area. Wow I think I am on to something here. After I solve this mystery I plan on finding the beach at Beach city. Beach City was probably just a convenient typo, a lot more sanitized and acceptable by today’s standards, as since there is no beach and plenty of women then one could infer?

      I did manage to do some feather detail on the back of the wings and even rolled the totem over to allow a couple of pics to let you the readers have an idea of how it is going to look. May possibly stand the carving up today alongside the deck on my carving shed. I have some grinding I would like to do before that. Changes in the overall carving will be less dramatic as I am now 98 percent finished carving and I believe I am looking at 17 hours total time in the carving. A little less than 100 per hour if sold at 1600 dollar mark.

sticky business

Ohio -Hard to Beat 

pond sculpture

      Work progressed on the totem despite numerous trips here and there on the farm gathering tools and supplies. At one point I just sat at the edge of the pond after doing a headcount on the ducks and geese to assure all was there, and was reminded how infinitely lucky we are  to live in Ohio. Yeah we can’t breathe our air as its laden with buckets of moisture that is constantly drowning out your sense of smell and if that isn’t enough the oppressive humidity has one oozing buckets of sweat for attempting to do even the littlest of things like just exist, but still the green of late summer mixed with other colors of a palette of beauty, can take your breath away as you sit and observe nature at its fullest, at this time of year. Blossoms and wildlife abounds. This is a carving I did a while back and I believe at this time of year it has given our backyard a special something. Maybe it’s because I carved it , or whatever , just know what I like and I guess it is great to have it in my backyard.

      But like everyone else on a mission, I rarely take that time to just sit down and enjoy nature. I don’t know why as I feel I need to prove my worth at times or just laze on couch and vegetate, and finding time to commune with nature eludes me. When it is cold and nasty I doubt I will want to be out there, so now is the time to find your favorite place in nature or find a new one. In fact I think I am going to go to Duncan Falls over by Wilmot,Ohio today. I believe there is a waterfalls and stream bed I would like to see. A friend of mine from Navarre told me about it and posted pics, so I believe I am going to head over and check it out. Should be a short trip so it will give me some time to sit and observe and explore a new piece of Ohio that has so far eluded me. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to share more information on it. 

red shouldered hawk 

       Yesterday morning I was sitting at my desk and noticed a large bird land on my pickup outside my window looking on to the pond. It was a red shouldered hawk of considerable size. He stayed long enough for me to grab my camera and snap off some hurried pics. As big as he was, I think he would have had a hard time trying to cart away young ducklings as they are quite big at well over a pound in size now. He stayed and surveyed the area and flew off up behind the livestock shed where I believe he was looking for mice to eat.  At first I had thoughts that he may be there to enjoy my ducks and although I did have one duckling appear injured there the night before , with it being so out of it, I moved it to a cage and it just kind laid there sprawled in a death prone position. It responded only barely to any stimulation, yet showed no signs of being injured outside. I gave it water and food and left it alone in the cage, and soon I heard it chirping and was back on its feet almost as fast as it went down. Was strange and is still strange. Maybe a diabetic duck? It spent the night in the cage on my back porch and then Greenie came and retrieved the young duckling to return to the pond, fully reinvigorated. I need to remind myself to not to try and understand ducks as nothing makes sense and yet it all does. They can be the dumbest and the smartest animals at times. We are just somewhere in between. All is well again with the ducks, and this is the reason for the head count I described earlier while enjoying my sit alongside the pond. 

tools i used yesterday to join wings to body. 

     Well I managed to get the wings attached yesterday and they are drying or should be by now. Enough to allow me to go on and finish carving feather detail in back of wings and sand it down and then flip the totem over and see how it has come out. I rarely use any aid to measure or in any way allow me a chance to make my job any easier. A tape measure would have been nice but wasn’t necessary as I have the chainsaw bar if I need a ruler. Sometimes I just reach down to where the cutoffs are and grab a slice of log and use that as a means to see if the notch is large enough to accept the wings. Most of my work is done by eye and experience. It’s not perfect but for the most part the average person would hardly be able to tell the difference. Which truly brings me to the real true definition of an artist, and that is one who recognizes and understands mistakes and how to avoid and fix them better than others. It’s not like we are perfect but instead know what to do when we aren’t so much on top of our game, which makes us a little better than average.  I try to get by without looking for things too much. My lack of organization has me going in circles and at times forgetting what I came for, that just staying the course and getting by allows me to continue on creating, I just make it work.

it is National Dog day and my dog is doing what she does best. watching me. 

     Well the notch I carved on the back of the eagle was large enough and allowed me a chance to position the wings in a way that they should be at right angles to the body of the eagle. My favorite adhesive for joining two pieces of wood in an exterior setting is Gorilla Glue. It is easy to apply and foams up to fill uneven spaces and is a good exterior glue that you can shape easily with a chainsaw and create almost seamless joins with. I thoroughly wet the area down and soaked it in a mulch paper so the glue will adhere better when it is applied. This is per the recommendations of Gorilla glue. I also throw some wood shavings in the foam that creeps up, allowing it to bond in cracks and creating a homogeneous piece of wood that when dry, can be shaved down with the chainsaw and make a seamless bond, hardly distinguishable in its appearance. Without the gluing it would be impossible for me to have wings on a totem here in Ohio. I imagine they may have the trees large enough in western states you could easily have wings to carve out of in one single piece, but here in Ohio it would require you for the most part a joined statue, where the two pieces are fit together. I also inserted dowels and rested the wings on a lip cut into the back of the eagle to rest them upon and prevent detachment. The dowels are glued and set at different angles to prevent a straight pull away of wings. This should make the wings as strong as the rest of the totem.  

     I have included pics of the procedure and will sometime today continue on with carving. This added another hour to the final time required to carve the totem. I am by no means finished with the carving or the totem in general. So will wait a while longer to tally up the per hour figure, as I am sure I would be depressed. Besides if it was all about how much money I make I would have quit long ago, it is and will always be more than that for me.

     

have wings on and i am flying on carving

Back to Carving on the Totem

  

          If all goes well I should be done with 98 per cent of the carving, leaving only touch ups to do. Currently I have only to finish the backside of the wings with feathers similar to the front making them appear identical regardless of viewing side and iconic and primitive in nature, much the same as primitives would carve with the tools of the time.  Detail on the totem as a whole is probably over done as compared to using tools available to early tribesman, but that is what I do personally as an artist, in the end the totem was never meant to be an exact duplicate of an original totem, instead my interpretation of one according to what I studied.

        I finished taking the bark off the back side of the wings and finished doing most of the carving and notching of the totem, detailing all I can on the main part of the totem. I tried the wings on for fit, and everything looks good so far. Just need to dowel and glue the wings to the main part of the totem and finish sanding the back and doing any more touch up I have to do before turning the totem back over and finish carving and sanding the front side.  

       At the point I finish all the sanding and touch up with the chainsaw I will stand it up alongside my deck, alongside the carving shed and check it over for aesthetic changes from being in a vertical versus horizontal position and see if any changes will be necessary to compliment the overall appearance of the carving. Then I plan on painting the carving. Just kind of giving everyone a heads up as to where I am headed with all of this. Again I am 80 per cent done with the carving and my total time is at 14 hours. At 16 hours my hourly wage will drop below the 100 dollar per hour mark if I was going to try and sell this. I imagine I have over 6 hours’ time left in finishing the carving. My target date is the 20^th of September, when I will have my potlatch party. This is where anyone who desires may come and visit the carving and bless it on its next spiritual journey. That doesn’t mean showing up and taking a leak on it, or bashing it with bottles. Your thoughts should come from within your soul, and remain in your own soul as I could care less as it is done, and I am not going to change anything, or care what others think.  I have done the best I could, and when you have done that, that is about all you can do.

just what you wanted . more duck stuff

Upsetting the Balance

 Crackers and the two new geese

      Mother Nature reminded me of how it goes when adding new members to a family, especially if they are not the same species or say henhouse. Getting acquainted or moving in is always fraught with strife, be it animal or human. With ducks it can be comical especially when one duck was seeing her dreams come true after losing so many nests of eggs , to finally see four young ones getting of size that even they have surpassed in size their dad?  Greenie, my six bucks for a duck, WTF duck.  Can’t believe it, but it doesn’t look like Greenie is the dad as the young ones start to feather out. Besides the size difference as Greenie has not grew much since buying him at auction and I would say that outside of getting a little fatter, he is still the same Greenie. Anyhow Grennie and Whackers were in for a surprise when i upset the apple cart so to speak. 

Greenie, Whackers and the rest of the duck clan

     So early this spring there was a commotion at the pond shortly after getting Greenie and to my amazement was two mallard ducks seemingly appearing out of the wild and landing on the pond and engaging with wings flapping and what else a wagging and apparently bred my female duck. Therefore I didn’t need to spend six bucks for a duck, or the gas it took, not counting the fact that since I last checked I think my time is still worth something, isn’t it anyway?  I guess nature had its own destiny for my ducks in mind. But then I am seeing a green shiny head appearing on the young ducklings. This could be from the mallards and are wild. So why isn’t the ducklings appearing wild. They come within feet of me as I feed them seemingly unconcerned. Seems as much as I learn about ducks, only leads to more questions. Is domesticity an inherited or a learned trait in animals?

      Well back to upsetting nature, I added one old hen, two geese, and another duck, possibly a male drake I believe, to the equation of my fowl feathered friends. After brokering a major deal over some hay with my neighbor I collected my fowl friends and offered them a tractor ride to my farm over the back forty to our pond of ample size compared to their plastic kiddie pool. My neighbor wished to down size and I was looking for new additions to the pond. The two geese were hatched from eggs at her place and both were injured in separate incidences only in a minor way. One has a limp and the other has a wing problem that would prevent it from flying. The geese and the duck appear to be in good shape although young. The white duckling is still larger than the other ducklings here. He seems to be taken in by the geese that protect him at times. He is always following them around.

      They took at once to the water and were soon flopping around and taking baths as my female duck, Whackers, began to see her idyllic world collapse around her as she took to chasing them away from her babies and back over the hill from whence they came, as she wanted no part of them, and their non-sense. Greenie although small in stature stood behind his slutty mate and was willing to catch her back, or at least give her something to trip over when the geese would return fire and she would have to retreat. At one point the geese were attacking the old hen I had in the cage with them pulling her feathers out. She looks a little rough but better now as I rescued her from their onslaught and brought her back to the house. She looks a little pitiful but she is in molt.

Mo

     I tried to introduce her to my other two chickens Minnie and Pearl but they instantly attacked the poor old girl and I was forced to let her, spend the night, not in the company of others of her own kind, but instead on the very workbench I am considering transforming into a chicken coop out of as it seems to be its best purpose according to my flock of fowl friends. Minnie and Pearl as I now call them, along with Whackers have used this workbench right outside my back door repeatedly as a safe place to stay, and hatch young as in Whackers’ case. Mo as I am going to call the new old hen, she is doing better and she seems to be adapting well. Mo isn’t hard to catch, so getting her in a safe place at night is easy. Just scoop her up. Why Mo? Cause I kinda like the sound of Mo, Minnie and Pearl for the names of my chickens. Mo in the sense as she needs more feathers, and Mo time, as she looks old here in my land of retired chickens, where they can live out there life going hither and there in search of peace. Scratching out an existence which is what we all do. Some have it a little better, some with ruffled feathers a little worse, but we still all share the same place and time.

Minnie and Pearl crossing the road just because they can 

      Babe has taken to intimidating them all as I think she is honing their survival skills by stalking them. She has never hurt any chickens or rarely attempts to chase them, but instead skulks around uncomfortably behind them warning them there are animals far worse than her so she doesn’t want them to let their guard down. It is funny watching her swim around the pond as the ducks and geese swim to stay out of her reach as I think she likes to play gator for them. Buddy my mom’s dog is keeping his distance from them all, as he is unsure of the geese since they are much larger than he is.

Babe

      A couple of days have passed and Whackers and Greenie have accepted the geese and the new duck. The chickens Mo, Minnie and Pearl are still not together but are aware that their paths must cross at some point. I noticed Mo made it to the garage yesterday and I am sure Minnie and Pearl made a point of watching her, and making sure the pecking order stays intact. Yet still, it seems as if things have quieted down and now I am left wondering if Crackers as I am going to call the new male duck and Whackers may be suitable mates, since Greenie doesn’t appear to have the weenie to make things work. Then I guess that gee it appears I could have saved myself six bucks for a duck that doesn’t give a WTF. The further I go along reminds me of a Dr. Seuss book gone wrong? What will I do? What should I do. As if I knew, as it seems you can only do what you can do, and some things you just have to leave to nature. So I must bid you adieu.

 Buddy

      

halos and wings at half cost, even you can afford to be good once more

Get Your Wings Here !!!!

          Maybe I could get me a new job as a wing carver or possibly just add this to my resume.  I know a lot of angels here on earth that could benefit from the use of a pair of chainsaw carved clunky wings. So what if aerodynamically you are unable to fly , and what if you don’t like the halo I build for you out of a coat hanger painted gold with some cheap dollar store paint. It is still far better than bearing the weight of the carved wooden one. Still just think how you can impress your friends with your new heavenly glow. Sorry can’t do anything about your past but with a little guilt ridden admission of your sins and asking forgiveness of the powers that be, you may be on the path to a new start.

      That is the nice thing about being a chainsaw carving artist. What if you break down alongside the road and you forget your jack at home? Simple just get out your chainsaw and head to the side of the road and lop off a suitably sized tree with one short piece and one long one, and  you have a fulcrum you can put under the corner of the truck and lifting it high enough to change the tire. What if the lug nut is hard to take off?  Well any good chain saw carver will have his cordless drill available, just find a bit large enough to drill a hole 8 inches deep in the end of a 5 foot piece of log about 5 inches in diameter slip it over your jack handle and soon you are stripping threads with the added leverage.  A little MacGyver in you and a vivid imagination can get you out of some sticky situations if you get comfortable with your chainsaw.  Learn to know its limitations and how far you can push it.

     If I was stranded on a deserted tropical island with trees, this is important, and besides having a woman to nag me on, I would want a chainsaw and gas and soon I would have my own little piece of paradise. And if she just won’t quit with the lip exercises, one could always find a suitably sized tree you could carve a one person dugout out of and send her on a trip to find someone who really cares. As you truly find paradise in your Tiki inspired thatch hut as the smoke from your torches waft across the lagoon and you wave at your dearly departed one as she sets sail for her new role as shark bait. You just lounge back in Adirondack inspired lounge chair, with your trusty, faithful, always there carved Fido sitting beside you. You got to love a chainsaw, the possibilities are endless as you wave and motion for her to go on and get saved, and fake tears at her leaving as you pet Fido on the head and tell him to sit.

      I did manage to get some carving done adding another 2 hrs. to the total time it has taken for me to carve this totem. I took my medium sized chainsaw and used it to carve the notching for the attachment to the body of the eagle and carved the front side of the wings. I officially removed the last of the bark on the main part of the totem yesterday, I have some detailing to do with my carving saw but I am getting to the point that all that is left is finish sanding and making it work. The back of the wings are still barked but I should have all that off by the end of today. Think I will flip the totem over and attach the wings with glue and dowels. Finish the carving on the back of the wings and stand it up by the corner of my carving shed and secure it in upright position with a strap as I finish painting. I have a ramp on the end of the carving shed that should be good for allowing me to paint and finish the detailing of the totem. I always try to think ahead as to what I might need and the easiest way to do it.

all pics taken with camera phone under low light conditions

      This is the place where I could use some help. Possibly from my shark bait significant other. The totem is getting more delicate and moving it with the tractor sometimes causes damage, just having an extra set of eyes always help avoid damage. I will get by though and if not will fix my mistakes. You can always tell when I am moving carvings as a grumble and an ‘Oh shit’ are sounds that can always be heard above the tractor’s engine noise.

      at this thought and in conclusion i am reminded about the other nice thing about using a chainsaw that I just thought of is that it muffles all noise except engine noise, I cuss and swear as I go along saying oh shit I shouldn’t have cut that nose that short, or maybe a _uck I shouldn’t have cut that deep, or even a way to go dip shit in reference to myself at making yet another mistake. These utterances are excluded from the viewing audiences ears. They think I mean to make those cuts as I continue on making it work.  I always swear to refrain from swearing but sometimes it just slips out of my mouth like greased lightning.  With a chainsaw it doesn’t matter. Damn it I shouldn’t have hit that key. I am out of here.

      

on top of everything , nothing done on carving

No Sleep , So Reading My Writing Should Do It!

unknown but i like it

     I didn't write yesterday as the day just slipped away from me. I had to grade the lane with the tractor and back blade, from the last storm and that took me a good four hours. I also promised myself I was going to weed eat at the end of the lane around the Tin Man  statue. After doing all that i had to get ready to go to the doctor, and after coming out of the doctor around 6 last night , I had to hurry to the drug store to get prescriptions filled. When I arrived back home, the sky was dark already and was offering me no fair chance to carve.

zinnias

     During my appointment, my doctor and I shared a moment where we exchanged pics of flowers, a rather strange moment, but it showed me how simple beauty transcends all society in its rarest form. The imagery of the bright colors contrasted against a dark green canvas of plant life. The Doc explained his passion for dahlias, but lost me at digging them up in the fall to preserve the bulbs. I am looking for less work not more, where as he can afford to have it done for him. I must admit his dahlias are pretty , but not nearly s pretty as my hibiscus or my zinnias, but then again i am partial. It"s not as if i had anything to do with the beauty displayed, besides plant the seeds and take the picture. Still one would have to work hard as an artist to try and capture the beauty of the pics i will provide to you.

hibiscus

     I also want to add a link i find relevant when discussing the whoring of art. A rather rude verb to describe an activity where the artist bends his talent to mass produce dollar bills. Because that certain style of art is popular, irregardless of whether it is related to the actual talent of the artist.  In folk art, in the style I do, you see a lot of that. Some guys only know how to carve bears and that is all they do. After awhile they all look alike. But bears sell. So does toilet paper, mainly because people have to have toilet paper. I grabbed at the toilet paper analogy, literally speaking,  because both are made out of wood, have a definite finished shape much unlike the original piece of wood they come from, one arises from need and other from want.Still does one think toilet paper as art. You can make money with toilet paper, especially if you are sitting in a stall without any. I imagine i would pay anything i have on me, at the time to get some if i needed it bad enough. A poorly carved bear i wouldn't spend so much on, but then again I carve them and if i wanted one bad enough and couldn't carve, then I too would probably buy a bear. But does that make that bear an art object.

zinnia

     I try to do my best at the time I am carving as it's hard to determine which way a carving will go after starting it. But before I start i try to make a plan besides make a cut here and another there. I know of videos you can buy where you can carve a bear in 17 cuts with a chainsaw, and that is what you get. a square boxy looking bear, sometimes cute or happy but still a mass produced bear. In contrast my bears would have around 500 to thousand cuts with the chainsaw before i finally finish.

zinnia

     When do i stop? After I am satisfied i have done the best I can with what I have. When making it all work, no longer enters my mind as I look for things to fix. Then i am done.

      In this paper that I subscribe to: Letters to a young artist -  it talks of an artists passion and how he should act when tasking himself with a project. They need to do what they believe in with passion,although it may not be popular. They need to develop their own style and nuances that makes him or her who they are, and not what society wants us to be. It is hard to be society's vision or eyes if the painter is always crooking his neck to listen to what society says.Some good words are said and quoted in the article , take time to read and hopefully understand what makes art great. 

    In summary, I must say lately my life has limited my ability to carve. I have taken on projects much like the totem for a challenge in the first place. I always love a good challenge. Secondly i have started doing more quality pieces. I am not saying that I won't do the occasional bear or that my previous work was inferior, but I realize I have only so many carvings left in my body and I need to make sure what I do will outlast me. It would be nice to use my talent and leave behind a legacy of something besides a cute lawn ornament. I also plan on doing more art pieces for myself, so folks will have something to view when coming to visit me. I know I could never carve fast enough to make huge amounts of money, or make it the primary source of my income due to my physical limitations, and really don't know why i would need all that money anyhow as it brings along more reasons to detract me from my primary goal and that is to carve. As long as i am comfortable with a roof over my head and have a clear mind, I know I have talent and imagination to make anything happen with almost nothing. A friend Chuck Mabrey, with whom I once worked with from  A.T.I.( Agricultural Technical Institute) , once told me : that if he had anything to work with at all he could perform miracles , as he was use to working with nothing and accomplished much. 

    He could make a wrench fit any nut with just a screwdriver, when we didnt have the right wrench. He was the master of common sense and a good mentor. He knew how to make it work , and when it comes to my art I intend to do the same. Please read the attachment. when I decided i couldn't sleep the words hit home to me and reassured my path. Hopefully if any would be carvers or artists are out there are reading my blog,  then they should consider what they are trying to say, if they are sincere about promoting their own art. 

rainy days and Wednesdays are just fine with me

It Didn’t Just Rain Last Night it Poured

    

     The National Weather Service put the total amount of rain at around four inches but I would say in our neck of the woods, it was closer to five. It destroyed our lane but I as clueless till I drove out this evening with Mom and saw how it rutted the lane in places I haven’t seen for a while. In the midst of the rain, I went out to open the door  last night  and just see how bad it was at one point during a lull in the rain. When George bolted past me and landed in the yard. George is my cat and not always the brightest light on the street. Most cats would stand at the door and even with the slightest hint of moisture would turn around and head for the cat pan. Not George.  After repeated attempts to coax him inside he snubbed me and started heading around the corner into darkness and wet. I just figured he would surely come inside in the morning making it much easier, than me putting on my shoes and wandering around in dark calling, “Kitty,  Kitty, come here so I can break your neck.”

     Well I just turned around and was finally able to get to sleep and more rain came. And soon it was morning, and I don’t believe the rain quit all night except when George went out for his walkabout, and then it was only briefly. My first order of business was seeing if George was ready to come in.  I went to the door and it was still sprinkling and yelled for George. A blob of long wet hair and two pissed off eyes greeted me hastily, and quickly scurried of to his perch under the bench, to start the long arduous process of drying himself out and giving bath at same time. A few sniffles and a puff ball of fur later greeted me the last time I walked through the door this evening. I offered him the open door but he seemed in no hurry to leave the comforts of my fine domicile after last night. In fact it may be awhile before he tries it again.

my favorite colors in chainsaws

     I managed to cut the slab with my large chainsaw and only took me about 2 hours or two tankfuls of gas. First I had to sharpen the chain. For this I use a Harbor Freight 16.95 special, chainsaw chain grinder, which comes set with angle in one direction. The other two pitches or angles are easily achieved by adjustments on the grinder. It has saved me a ton of time and produces good sharp chain uniformly sharpened and set to right angle. I have even figured out how to cut the rakes with this same grinder allowing one to have sharp chains all the time. I used to swear by hand filing but have gave it up for this chain grinder. It has some flex especially if you try and hog the cut, all this will do is distort the cut and reduce the effectiveness of the sharpening.  This can be expected from the best chainsaw chain grinders, but I would say all in all, in affordability this unit surpasses all, and still produces good cutting chains. For some projects I like a good sharp chain especially where I am hogging material. But for fine cutting I like my carving chainsaw just a little dull, forcing me to take material off slowly rather than just slice and grab as a sharp chain does.

i can hear my teeth grinding

      My Stihl Farm Boss has a 20 inch bar, but I could have easily used a 24 or 36 for this job of slabbing, either one of these saws is the saw I need to get my hands on. So if you want a good size carving then buy me an Echo with a 36 inch bar, then we might be able to talk, or possibly carve a turkey and it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet. Pardon the puns. So it took me two passes at the huge pine log I choose for the wings of the eagle on the totem. The process of slabbing is quite simple and that is to draw the straightest line you can with a chainsaw cut from one end to the other. They have planes you can buy as well chainsaw support brackets that will allow you to slab, or saw wood lengthwise in a much neater fashion. This is not necessary as I am going to hollow the wood out of most of the uneven parts anyhow. No one will ever see it, so don’t tell anyone ok. It seems as if there are a lot of things you can use as an aide to help you do the job faster or neater, but then again, I doubt if you have been to my shop.

chainsaw chain grinder

slab, little one is almost a foot and half wide

     This reminds me I still haven’t found my air blow gun for blowing the dust and wood chips out of the chainsaws. I have a lot of stuff that seems to get organized by where I last left it or used it. So if I had all those fancy tools like Bob Villa, or others I wouldn’t know where I left them all anyhow and would spend hours searching for those tools going  around in circles dragging my bum leg in the dust of the woodchips at my feet mumbling. Looking like the tired old hands of a church steeple clock arm, spinning in circles, watching time fly by, and wandering why I am not getting the carving done. So one tool does it all and mostly it is the chainsaw. Second is the grinder and third is the drill. With these 3 tools and a of course a chainsaw and chainsaw chain grinder, one could easily achieve pro carver status in days. Come on folks a little imagination wouldn’t hurt here either.

      Slabbing a piece off a log is a hard job and requires patience, but in the end I grabbed a couple of hatchets because of their wedge shaped heads and inserted one in the log and tapped on the other hatchet driving the first one deeper into the cut splitting the log apart easily. I spent the rest of the time getting the mid-size chainsaw prepared and sharpened for tomorrow as I begin to detail the wings and finish the carving on totem hopefully. There is still a lot to do. Even after I carve the wing form out I have to check the wing’s alignment on the totem. This could take me a couple of days to get to the point I dowel and glue the wings on. I included a pic of my chainsaws as well, a pic of my chainsaw grinder from Harbor Freight.

    I think I am up to 12 hours in time carving, and still I am not done. Maybe close to 65 percent complete. So I am down to 133 / hour at the 1600 dollars for a carving like this. Normally on simpler carvings I charge 50/ ft. So a 12 footer should be around 600 if it was simple. Getting logs this size and of this quality is expensive. As well the complexity of the carving and multiple figures, as well as external wings and a full paint job, still would consider it a deal at 1600. Just trying to keep a running tab so you as a reader may understand the price structure better, and understand what it takes to make a carving like this one.  

just a walk on the beach.

Sorry Long Weekend!!!!

     It was a beautiful day to enjoy the Lake Erie waterside and beach although I didn’t swim. Looked a little cold with the white caps of about 2-4 foot waves pounding the beach knowing full well the water may be warm but you would freeze  your ass off coming out. I have been to Edgewater Park before when it was not so nice, but this time I must say it was an exceptionally well managed beach in the heart of Cleveland. Very clean, even around the edges as I call them, fringe areas that catch trash like the boulders on the break walls. We had to search for a clean seat to sit on the fishing pier though, that wasn’t stained with night crawler droppings or who knows what. But we did find one not being used and sat and just enjoyed the sun for a while.

     We took a walk to the top of Edgewater Park and viewed Lake Erie from up high, and we were entranced by the aroma of the air as a certain nautical scent overwhelmed and cooled us in its heavenly breeze.  After a brisk walk back to the car and driving around in circles looking for a place to park and finally being able to start up the GPS to take us to the Cleveland Art Museum. As we arrived there I was totally amazed by this place. It is vast and has valuable collections dating 5000 years ago or more, of art historical objects. Space is limited by the vast displays they have available. I would give a full day to just viewing the museum and it is free. Paintings, as well examples of furniture  describing where paint comes from were all included  and only a part of the tutorial I received in the exhibits I saw.

     Took some time off for personal reasons but jumped back in the swing of things this afternoon. I did manage to get some carving done on the totem and I am nearing that point where I will have all the bark off the backside and have it incorporated into the totem as I extend some of the figures three dimensionally, giving the carving depth to define the caricatures I have evolved. I also took all the limbs off the piece I am going to slab the wings out of. Plan on screwing the board into the log to use a guide, or straight edge when I decide to slab the log, but my largest chainsaw acts like it needed a sharpening so I postponed till tomorrow so I can sharpen the chain. I have done slabs like this before and it can be time consuming with mixed results. I am looking to trim a pretty good size hunk off. Spent another 2 hours working and accomplished a fair amount and can say I am pretty close to being finished with the chainsaw on the head of the native at the bottom. Still needs sanded.

     Anyhow will include pics of totem of course and look forward to tomorrow. 

Last Post Till Next Monday

fish and bear head 

      So today I managed to work another tank of gas through the chainsaw, an echo of yesterday, all the while moving closer to my finishing the sculpture by an alleged date of Sept 20^th. Complete with paint and sealed ready to be delivered the next day to my client hopefully. It is an Ohio potlatch party and will take place in evening at the greenhouse. It is basically a bonfire , BYOB, BYOB, and bring your own chair, will have benches of boards available. I pretty much don’t provide anything but a great place to have a bonfire, music and a totem with a lot of pretty plants to look at and a pond to view. The reason I said BYOB twice is that I was inferring to bring your own babe or boyfriend, and the other was bring your own booze. Other words could easily substitute and other situations might arise, but whatever the combination, please come, and have a good time. The potlatch is the official transfer of a totem to the intended, and is done in ceremony of a party. I am doing it so those who have followed my blog and want to see the finished totem in person will have a chance to view it before it is transferred.  A time to get together and enjoy the surroundings and conversation over an open fire and I must remind you that this will be no buckeye burning man festival yet. Although I might sacrifice an old bear sculpture.

     Hopefully I am giving myself enough time to allow this to happen. Taking time off to visit Cleveland to attend an Art Fair at Edgewater Park  and also to view Cleveland Art Museum for my first time , and have been excited about seeing it since I talked to my psychiatrist and he suggested my going there may be therapeutic , I’m heading straight for the Picasso’s. Nothing like some mind bending.  In the end he suggested a lot of things, but I think he is just picky.

    I was able to roll the log over and do more detail on the other fish and scaled the body of the fish with the chainsaw. These are done laying the chainsaw at an angle when making the cuts. Almost using the side of the tip instead of the width of the chain as if it is just being sat on a piece of wood, this allows for a slope to be placed in the wood and sometimes defines the edges better. You try to blend the lines in the form you are trying to bring out of the wood. Once you are finished a quick hit with the grinder and they appear much more realistic and pleasing to the eye. Other finishing work is being down to the rear of the statue. Also I am making preparations to slab the wing piece. Have a good weekend will be back Monday.

   

eagle