1-21-2012-we just po folks

    this is Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens Visit- click on link to visit. and no they are not po folk, we all are in comparison to the seiberlings at their time. stan hywet hall is a nice place to visit on a one tank trip loaded with history. needless to say i think we all secretly wish to have grown up here. in stead  we lived in an old farmhouse along rt.800 as it is called now and rt.8 then. it was my grandpas and grandmas house and they lived in a house trailer beside us. he was a farmer and worked in the woods as we called it. he worked for the forestry service as a supervisor . grandma worked for u.s. ceramic tile corporation and when she retired she had 28 years in at the tile plant as she called it.

     mom was milking six cows by hand , and we had a mean ass bull also. one old cow called sally was especially nice. i was able to start milking her at 5 years old , and would milk straight into the glass from the cow's teat , shooting a stream of milk into a pile of nestles quik in the bottom of a tim glass i would keep in the barn for this purpose alone. i would grab a one legged stool and sit down and grab those big old faucets, and squeeze . a frothy chocolate warm milk was really good when you were able to do it yourself. old sally was a great old Guernsey cow . something you hardly see any more. great butter and cream cows. 

      it wasn't probably the safest way to drink milk from a cow but then again how many times is milk handled before you see it on your table. i am 6 ft. 4 inches and i attribute at least 2 inches to healthy farm food. we didn't have a lo0t but always had something to eat. 

     my first dad had left and this left mom struggling to make ends meet. my brother was gave a shirt that had patchwork print and was nowhere close to being patched , but none the less was representative of one, and some kids  said he was poor and refused to wear it, so he gave it to me. he wasn't going to have anything to do with being poor. this was a term that was new to me and i hardly understood the meaning of it then. when i was old enough to go to school i wore it and proudly i would say, suffering no real percussion's of being poor as my brother was. and one day i was in the hall with my first grade teacher miss armstrong and she introduced me to the second grade teacher, miss dolly, and she said,"this is jims younger brother kevin, you remember Jim don't you miss dolly? his daddy ran off." 

    she says" oh my you poor boy!"and i knew right then i was poor , never knew for sure before, but when miss dolly said it i knew it was true. and i didnt even have the shirt on. what she said in comfort i had taken wrong. not knowing what poor was , as we had lots but not money. i ate a lot of vegetables and plenty of cream of tomato soup , and potato also as well as all kinds of milk . helped churn butter,and bread was always baking in the kitchen. mom made us toys for christmas. we didnt really want for anything. but we were poor. poor in comparison to some peoples standards. when she said i was poor i just jumped to the conclusion that it was so, whatever it was.  

    and we not nearly as poor as a friend of mine who once described her childhood in the bayou in louisiana as a child . she would play on a bicycle that was up on blocks and daydream of visiting people and places she knew. i will include a drawing of that remembrance she had. they lived in a shack and her mom would always dress her neat but it was a hard life , and she had scars. not visible but more of the heart kind. 

1-20-2012

    these are photos of the monticello 3 in coshocton , ohio on what remains of the ohio erie canal. the monticello3 is a replica of the canal boats that used to traverse the canals of ohio between portsmouth, ohio, and cleveland ohio. this happened in the early 1800's  and was the major form of transportation till the trains become more popular and a faster way to move freight and passengers in bulk. this is a great one tank trip loaded with tons of history and historic roscoe village nearby. 

   
           well onto to tonight's story i had planned . and it is my dads last fishing trip. in his later years he was having a harder time getting around , and requiring us as family planning events out for him . he was wanting to go fishing , and that posed some problems. his health was failing as he was getting old and not able to walk well. needed some place with near level access, and under some shade, as he couldn't take heat to well. my friend peggy of rocks and stuff had some riverfront property behind her business allowed me to bring dad down there as she had an area where we had cleaned along the banks in preparation for bringing him down.
        the act of actually getting him there though tedious was well planned including cooler,worms,  fishing poles,  walker , and a cell phone in case i needed to call 911. first i escorted him down to the riverside , and i sat him down in a lawn chair while i assembled the rest of what we needed. i grabbed a cooler and got him something to drink and almost immediately he was taken by my friend and started in a lengthy conversation completely oblivious to me as i continued stringing and baiting poles to get into water. occasionally i would interject in to their conversation inquiring if he needed anything, and the day was warm and the river lazy with good clean water floating lazily by.as they were talking almost immediately dad got a bite on his pole and i said something to him but he had missed it because he was jabber-jawing. so he had a moment if intense watching till he got back onto the conversation and i was really glad that peg was there. she definitely kept him busy. and again he had a bit and again he was to slow to do anything but reel the line in. and then i  baited the hook and cast it out again , all the time watching my line that was beside his and both reels were similar in appearance,and then it came to me that if anybody catches a fish ,dad will. as i will just give him my pole and he would never know the difference. he wasn't paying any attention to fishing anyhow. so no sooner had i decided to do that my pole bent over and i grabbed it real quick and yanked up on the tip not real hard but firmly, set that hook,

        i  yelled at dad , i said 'here dad you better grab your pole , i think you have a bite on there'. and the fight was on. dad grabbed the pole as he never thought once and shut his mouth as he was going to show me how to land that bad boy. the fish broke water and i could see he was a carp about 2 foot long and a good fight as he belly flopped back into the water. dad looked at me with a big smile on his face. he kept working him  in and finally had him close to the bank but still the fish was not just belly flopping onto the shore with him. so i needed to help him get it up on shore. not having a dip net i grabbed the line and carefully worked him closer to shore and was just reaching down to grab the big boy and he lunged away and snapped the line i was holding , leaving me nothing but air as he flipped and  flopped into the water and swam away hook and all.
       i looked at dad and dad  had this god awful pissed off look on his face as he scolded me .
"now what did you do that for?'
      i looked at him in disbelief knowing it was my pole and my effort that got us this far and still it was never enough for dad. then i laughed and just that quick as old age blesses us he forgot what he was mad about and went back to talking to peg. i was never enough for that guy, but i am alright with that now. because even i have let myself down at times. but this wasnt one. i was content knowing i was taking him home and not the other way around. i have plenty of time to make life right.just have to do it one day at a time.

     1-19-2012- snow visited us again , but we are still under last years amount for same time last year. and below average i would say for sure for this winter. have hardly had any. the cold does do some good as it reduces the amount of insect pests we will have in the coming year. to warm a spring allows for early breeding , and as such will extend the season for the next year.  the heaving due to frost damage is also a beneficial use of cold temperatures to loosen soil structure from repeated freeze thaw cycles. this also reduces the compaction of the soil allowing for air and in particular water to move more freely. 


      second pic is a big old snapping turtle that decided that my fresh plowed field was as good a place as any to lay her eggs. was close to the pond where she came from. i went back to where she was laying eggs but didnt find any . guess i either scared her, or it wasnt the right place. 
    dad once asked me to go along with him over to check the turtle traps. well we are over there in this little green jon boat on this pond next to our farm and and daad has these traps on the pond tied to plastic gallon milk jugs. actually the trap was more a heavy fishing line attached to a steel leader and a huge hook , and usually on this hook he hung a stanky piece of dead meat and then would toss in the water and it would bob around the bottom of the pond till a turtle would latch on to it. that turtle above was big and to put it in perspective its shell from fron to back is probably about 16 inches long. well the one dad and myself were about to get was 24 inches long to almost 30, and its head compared to this one was twice the size and a huge mouth. 

       not knowing how big it was dad starts hauling the line up and pulling down the side of the boat till the water was about to rush over the side swamping us and then i had to scoot over to compensate for the weight to keep the boat from going under . we knew we had a big one. when i saw its head come up thought no way is that thing coming the boat with us. we had him up along side of the boat and i asked dad how he was going to do it . he grabs the dip net and proceeds to wrangle its head and about half its body into the net. he says reach over and grab a hind leg and drag him into the boat. these are old moldy green turtles and i really didn't want to grab him and should have ran when dad said he needed help. anyhow i reached down and was able to grab the shell and flopped him into center of the boat and he was pissed. snapping at the net encircling his head dad says get to shore quick. and it wasn't quick enough for me. from then on if dad went anywhere close to the side of the house where the pond was i made myself scarce. 

1-18-2012-   Cleveland urban farm creates jobs for people with disabilities

www.youtube.com- this is a link to a video regrding an ohio state university project in cooperation with stanard farms to provide employment to individuals with disabilities and at same time teach urban farming practices to these individuals allowing them to be more self sufficient. it is a win-win situation for all parties involved. another benefit is a homegrown vegetable farm market operating in the middle of winter providing fresh produce to grocery stores locallly. this reduces the need for trucking and wasting of fuel to bring products to where it will ultimately be consumed.

     in the first pictures are sunflowers i had grown  from same so called hybrid seeds i used year after year in fact this year was the third year in a row i had used seed saved from the year before. sometimes i think they tell you seed is hybrid and in fact it is not. i grew some huge flowers ranking in the 14-16inch diameter size. and all were very healthy. one thing i do as i have  done this year is to add  compost i had made over the winter from manure i had taken from the barn the previous winter. the compost is aged thirty days and allowed to heat up and is turned over in thirty days, and repeated for 2 more turnings completely stirring the pile allowing the compost to break down completely. then i mix the compost with topsoil and sand to allow drainage of water through soil and combine it into a raised bed set into my hillside out side the door to my house. these were salvaged boards someone brought home and laid around the farm . they will last and by then i may replace with logs or such. i can raise enough in this small bed to take care of myself and it is easier to weed since i bunch all the plants up . and i don't have to reach to my toes to weed . i can almost reach backside of garden by hand. 

    after back filling with compost and placing pea gravel in bottom of raised bed i planted it with my plants as seen above then mulched with straw to hold moisture and keep weeds down. it was easier to pull weeds when ground had moisture in it. and it seemed to keep pests away for most part also. i was real pleased with the way things grew the first year but know this year will make a big difference. want to do the same with raspberries  and blackberries in rows like this along hillside. making it easier to pick and maintain the berries. this is the plan but will have to see how much i can get done. 

      1-17-2012- this blog isn't all about me and is on the contrary can be all about you. let me know what you would like to see. any feedback would be appreciated. any comments you would like to direct to me personally. i can be reached at kdavis3051a@gmail.com. tonight is about an exceptional local artist and sculptor who specializes in bronze and is only a one tank trip away. located in zanesville ohio , alan cottril galleries is a great one tank trip away from us in northeast ohio. i have included his website address for address, hours , and relatively cheap admission of 2dollars per person for an hour and half of eyecandy. you will ooooooo  -and ahhhhh , over individual sculptures with exceptional detail. in the picture below click on image and look at guy on corner of building. didnt realize he was there till i got home and down loaded pics. i thought he could have dropped out of sky . i was totally oblivious as i was looking at everything else but the corner of building. i was like a kid in a candy store.Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio

        this is a vault he has designed for he and his wife in later life to be used when they reach their demise, his sculpting tools reside forever in his pocket. mine might be cremation and add my ashes to the fire of a couple of chainsaw carvings. just cant see taking up anymore space than i have to. somebody might need it to stand on someday. 8 trillion and counting. 63 people born every minute of every day. and growing. where is it going to end?

      this is just a small sample of what you can see. he is a very successful artist, and well renowned. i am in envy of that studio, and leaves me with something to aspire to. guess i will have to add one more thing on bucket list. the trouble is the bucket keeps getting bigger and harder to carry as i get older. maybe i should just stop , turn the bucket over and spill everything out, then sit on the bucket and figure out just what is really need to carry with me. but then again dreams got me this far, so maybe i will still hold onto a few as go on from here.

1-16-2012, and all is well . today i am going to talk some about selling your chainsaw carvings . i will be talking directly to the buyer and the seller as to what should be expected when buying or selling carvings.now there is those that do and those that don't. if you cant do it then let someone who can do and support him.
chainsaw carving is a specialized art form combining mechanical skills and artistic skills i an effort to produce an art statement. and at the same time you are immortalizing a piece of wood  that could have easily passed for firewood. years are taken to produce the logs that make up some these carvings and we are just preserving a piece and making its life as a tree and hereafter multipurpose.

      understanding your chainsaw and using it to its full advantage will extend the use of the saw and make it more economical to you as an artist. as i have said before it would take nothing to spend easily 500 dollars to buy all the equipment you need to properly learn how to chainsaw carve. and this is to only let you stand in your backyard and play with the chainsaw. i wouldn't head out to the fairs or invite your neighbor have a couple of beers and carve something. some may differ but alcohol never has a place with chainsaw carving, anytime it is better to wait till you are done carving and there is plenty of time to sit in awe of your newly created work. i will not go on about the use of alcohol or anything that effects your ability to carve safely. it is just common sense. something we all need but seldom use. the saw needs to be sharp and maintained to keep chain tight and the bar in good shape. sawdust and oil needs cleaned and blew off chainsaw with small portable air compressor. blowing air across the fins of the engine blowing all chips off daily. gas and oil kept clean and shake your gas jug to keep your oil and gas mixed. having all the safety equipment and ear protection is important. also a computer and access to internet and being able to down load prints for reference. if you are going to be in busieness , then cards and internet .com site may be helpful . all this takes money and time. at the minimum log time average i feel you have at least 10 dollars per foot in just the basic back yard set up. dont get in to deep till you test the water. but 10/foot  should cover your basic expense.

    now on top of this is your time and what is that worth? you have a fair idea of how good you are artistically.if you are working another part time job besides your regular job then you would have to have at least 15/ hour. and personally if you have ever had to have a tree trimmer come out and trim trees , i really dont think 30 an hour would be to much out of line as that is the least i would charge for cutting up firewood if i was to do that. i can cut a cord per hour of firewood if in a pile. that is going for 130per cord now for the same time. i feel 30 is a fair price based just on actual time spent carving. and how this relates to the 10per foot mechanical fee is that it takes about an hour to fine  carve a foot of log bringing your costs to 40per foot. and because no one ever sells their lowest price first would ask 50 per foot to carve. so a 3 foot carving would be approximately 150 dollars. this is based on wood and finishing and other factors. aand if you really think you are exceptional as a carver then no one will know unless they are able to buy a carving. i have gave away several carvings and have had some stolen , and this is what helps  acarver gain recognition in his or her area.try to give a carving to a friend yearly as a  way of thanking them for supporting you in your endeavor. these efforts always reward themselves in long run. cutting your price to move a bear to an elderly person stuck in an apartment . good deeds are always good advertising. donate to charities to establish yourself . or donate for a raffle is another way of selling and advertising. in the pic above i was donating my time to a local township historical society. it wasn't so much for the business at this time as i have quit carving with a chainsaw for most part, and now i am considering other artistic pursuits agreeable with a bad back. i have a lot more time in each individual carving and would have to ask to much for one that i have suspended selling of wood sculptures at this time. i will have on display all stock i have and can viewed anytime by arranging ahead. you can contact me through the comments section or email me at kdavis3051a@gmail.com.
     as buyers you now have an idea after going through the calculations of where you might want to start your negotiations. questions you might need to ask or think about.
       1. is that an inside or outside carving? inside carving may or may not be sealed . if a carving is dry and then taken into a dry environment it is not to bad in term's of cracking. but if you have a high moisture carving and you take it into a dry environment it can virtually blow apart.
       2. how dry and flawless is the wood it is made of? pine, oak, wild cherry, apple would be good but seldom used , are some of the common trees carved in this area. avoid water maple, or elm as these trees are high in water content and problems with the wood will likely occur more often.
       3. inquire as to the carvers experience and watch him carve if he will?
       4. is he a known carver?
       5. is the carving sealed ?
       6. inspect the carving and assure there are no insects or structural flaws. ( knots and small cracks are common . large cracks indicate rapid drying from cutting of green wood and this is not good)
       7. think about how the carving will fit into your home environment and if it fits.
       8. although most carvings sold are impulse buys , try to avoid this behavior.
 n  hopefully if both you and the carver are armed with the same information , then you will understand why he has to charge what he does. he wants to sell you a carving and should be forthright in his attempts. if you are unsure dont buy. i never pressured anyone into buying and it is usually buyer beware when purchasing carvings from most carvers. its yours when you take it home. good carvers will try to make right misrepresented items on their behalf but there is no return for something you took home and suddenly don't like the next day. support your local carver and hopefully he will transform your urban and rural neighborhood.

1-16-2012-click on image to display larger-bearcarving 4

   you have finished your carving and are ready to sign it now that all cutting is done. your initials are fine, date if you like , dont try to write a book and something with flair as you are proud of your work. one other thing i should mention is to remember to not have any areas not drain . if they don't drain and instead pocket water then this is an area for rot to start. finishes should be considered for all carvings irregardless of whether they are inside or outside carvings. unfinished exterior surfaces of carvings will dry contracting the fibers in the wood till it tears a crack. just need to do what you can to protect your carvings. whether you are the carver or the buyer , i will try to let you know what it takes to finish and maintain your bear or carving so that it will last and always be cherished.

   one the reasons i like the pine is it takes an edge well as i describe it. you can get sharp detail in your wood. one reason it is soft to carve, letting the chainsaw slice its way through the wood even when sawing  radius's. this is important as no carving has all straight lines . well you will get hairy cuts and these can easily be sanded down with sandpaper or using a grinder . this will knock off the fine splinters. another way is to burn off the splinters with a torch leaving the exterior of the bear a dark color. the splinters disappear as it burns up and chars the wood. this actually is supposed to seal the wood ,burning the open ends of the wood fiber closed . indians did something of the same kind to seal dugout canoes in primitive times. also it is supposed to harden the exterior of the wood. combined with lessening the finishing steps , burning is a quicker method. but that depends on what your overall finished product is .

     some people opt to finish their carving by painting it w/ a variety of different finishes, including artist oils , stains , acrylics, and spray paint cans. to pick one method over another is hard but is more subject to what the artists prefer to work in. i feel using artist oils is more historically correct and would lend it self to helping preserve the sculpture. stains also do this but still requires shading to make it more recognizable as to what is intended  by the sculpture. acrylics are water based and can be easier and have less v. o. c.'s ( volatile organic compounds. or they have harmful vapors and should only be applied open ventilated ares. like the looks of acrylics on wood. but it does hide the hood. stains and oil paints can be thinned to making washes allowing the grain to come out. this is important artistic statement . you will have less with acrylics.  and paint cans also can be applied to heavy blocking out the grain. i imagine when used properly would be useful in a quick sense. may notbe able to blend for specific colors like you can with artist oils. but no reason you couldnt combine the two.
   i use black artist oil with stain , or colors to shade the carving when necessary. it really brings a carving to life adding colors. it is like painting a 3 dimensional painting. combined with good carving will produce museum quality pieces.
  last you need to seal your carving in or protect it from the elements as they say. even pieces placed indoors need to be sealed. and bringing a green carving in side to a dry environment can be damaging to your carving. another reason for only using dry wood to begin with. severe cracking will result from uneven drying warping and twisting the carving. hardly ever carve on anything that hasn't dried for at least a year. evidence of bug infestation can and should be dealt with prior to sealing. take your carving to your fire pit when there is no fire and spray completely with pesticide to prevent transfer of bugs to another site. bugs dropping out of log will end up in your fire pit and a good fire will finish them off. the future owner of the carving will appreciate the effort. i usually take off areas of infestation while carving preventing their transfer also.
    for sealing i use spar urethane , -marine grade. should only come in exterior application. and i use matte finish as it makes the colors you use more vibrant and shows detail clearer , as the gloss will reflect light and impair your ability to see clearly. im sure there are others out there that will debate that . but this my feeling. read the forums and become informed . would try and make sure everything is exterior finish even if you intend to have the carving inside. you really need one good coat to seal exterior of carving. i hand brush starting at top of carving and working down to base , looking up and wiping runs as i go.  one good coat should last a year and then you need to re-coat as it shows exposure.and only as it needs it after that. there are a wide variety of sealing varnishes and lacquers and you have to decide what is best for you.
    finally if you set a carving outside set him on that stump you wanted ground out , as people will not know whether it is attached or not. also if placing directly on the ground then place him on top of a stone or on bricks and not directly on the ground. an inch or two in the air makes a big difference in reducing rot in an outside carving. make sure inside carvings are pest free before bringing in your house. and finally speaking of pests be careful who you allow to help you . i caught james displaying irregular workplace behavior to one of my carvings and took the last shot. and i thought he was helping me because he was a good friend. yeah right.