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Barn Swallows

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

The worms sure did come out after the all-day rain on Thursday. I even had some inside the doors at the theater. 

And the Barn Swallows are back! Kelly saw some on Tuesday and they immediately started hauling grass to the nest on top of the wind chimes by our front door. Pretty cool they come back and reuse the old nesting spots. We sure do enjoy hearing them chatter.

No fieldwork done in the last week since it’s been raining. I worked in the shop a bit, and I’ve been doing a lot of prep work for college Commencement next Wednesday. 

Here’s my ‘patch’ for the lighting; the document in the lighting controller that says how each light is addressed so the lighting console knows which light it’s talking to, and so I know which light is which.

 The number in the first column is how I refer to the light. The 5th column is the actual ‘patch’. Those first fixtures are 21 channels each. A channel is a parameter, for example pan, tilt, red, green, blue, intensity, zoom, strobe, ect. and a universe can handle 512 channels. Some lights are only 6 channels. Intensity, red, green, blue, white, amber. All the lights are in universe 1. The first light is address 1. (1:1) It uses 21 channels, so the next lights is also universe 1, address 22. (1:22) Repeat until all the lights are patched. If I have more than 512, I go to the next universe. This Hog console can do 4 universes. Bigger events might have dozens of universes of lighting.

Thursday I was over in the sports center hanging the lights over the stage (which I can’t get too once the stage is in place) and doing a little other prep work.

I meant to get a better picture of the lights, but the genie lift I was using wouldn’t go back up in the air. Huh. Thanks to the training I had back in Seattle in March, I knew enough to check the batteries. Three of the four were low on water. And I heard it’s had some other issues lately. Thank Goodness somebody in charge agreed we better rent another lift just in case. Both the video guys and I will be using lifts for commencement and not having one will be a problem. 

While working on lighting, I heard there was water coming into a back room. The sump pump was working, but water was coming through the floor or something. It wasn’t my concern. 

Friday, I picked up the other rental lights, and it was quiet in the sports center, the batteries have been topped up with water and recharged, and I was able to finish hanging my stuff. It should make Monday an easier day for me. I have more lights on the ground to install, but I can’t do that until the stage is set.

The overheard door to the sports Center has been broken and is scheduled to be replaced Monday. The same day EVERYTHING loads in for commencement; chairs, band equipment, food, staging, ramps, ect. And it all goes back out that door Wednesday night. 

Sounds pretty exciting doesn’t it. Or a cluster. One of the two… 

I sold some straw to the Rochester Fire Department. They add a bale to their practice fires because it makes a good amount of smoke.

Had a good talk as the two of us loaded the trailer. He said some of their ‘turn out’ gear (the typical fireman’s hat, coat, pants, and boots) need to be replaced as it’s nearing end of life. $8000 for one outfit. And the guys have a second pair to wear while the first outfit is being washed and dried after a fire. Takes 8 hours to dry, and they can’t wear if wet as they could get steam burns. The things you learn! 

Creative Writing at the college is almost over. I’ve submitted my poetry project and now the last thing dues is the final portfolio, which are revised versions of things we’ve submitted earlier in the year. When things get slow I’ll just recycle some of them here. 🙂

The chicks are doing good. They’re not afraid of an open door anymore so I have to pay attention while I’m in there filling their water and feed. The dogs are right at the door, so they’re paying attention for me.

I had 55 dozen eggs in April! Zoiks!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CONSTELLATION OR CELESTIAL EVENT?

34 thoughts on “Barn Swallows”

  1. Northern lights. I also like it when the full moon seems huge as it peeks up over the horizon when it is rising. Sun dogs are ominous for cold, but pretty at times.

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      1. Rise and Look Upward, Baboons,

        JacAnon–

        Sleeping under the starts is a magical experience that I hope everyone experiences in life. That said, looking up at the stars causes me to feel like I am reading a Kate Atkinson novel–I feel lost, uncentered and at sea. I can get no foothold to make sense of it all. I wonder how those ancient mariners navigated from the sky. Obviously, they did this. But I cannot conceive of it.

        Ben, I am in awe of what you do with the college events lighting. Who knew how complex that is? The farm and the college job must have the similar processes of balancing tasks and thinking ahead. Like the slow process of turning a ship you are always working and thinking far ahead.

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  4. tell us ben how you did lighting back in the day or have lighting boards and computers always been the tools that orchestrate for you

    if you in egg heaven and have spares let me know

    I’ll make a run 

    your eggs make life better

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    1. Well Kids, back in the old days…everything required more physical effort. I started doing lighting in 1980 in high school. We had a pretty fancy lightboard for the time. It had a “five preset bank” off to one side, so a person would set all the lights over there on one of the presets, then the board operator pushed a button for which preset, and moved some small levers to fade up whatever was set on that preset. It took a lot more paperwork to keep track of what was on what channel. The area lit down there is channel 1, the area lit middle is area 2, the area lit over there is area 3 and so on. The stage might need 8 or 12 or 20 areas (channels) to cover the full stage. Then back lights or specials or the lamp on the table or whatever else was needed were more channels.

      Before the ‘preset’ boards, the actual controls were on the dimmers and it was a big mechanical lever. I used one of them at the civic center in town in about 1987 before it was replaced. It took 2 or three people to operate those. They were large, they took effort to move. They could lock together so you could move several at once, it just depended what was going on. They were called ‘piano boards’.

      The first computer lightboard on broadway was for Chorus Line in 1975.

      One of the ‘old timers’ complaints these days is that there are too many lights used. Back then, everything was harder so you had to make more specific choices. Every light meant something. These days, especially with LED and the fact power isn’t an issue, it’s easy to hang lights all over. I agree with that to a point. Just saw a show that was probably too much. But the average audience member just see’s “all the fancy lighting”.

      It used to be the board operator needed the skills because they controlled all the fade times and smoothness. Now it’s the programmer telling the console what to do. (and the designer telling the programmer what he wants. Sometimes, just about always here, the designer IS the programmer.) Not to slight the board operator, they still need to know when to push the button, and DON’T DOUBLE CLICK.

      A lot has changed. The basic concept of design hasn’t, just the tools and ways to get there. I am pretty lucky that I managed to hit both sides. Change happens so fast, it’s hard to keep up.

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  6. I am writing from my laptop which allows me to “like” on WP. I will see if I show up as me today. I also notice that when I reply on my iPad it now shows up under someone else’s reply. It is kind of hard to believe that a platform can be this dysfunctional. JacAnon

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    1. OT: Hey Wes, Jim Wallis the Theologian/Social Activist from Georgetown U and Sojournors has a new book. You might enjoy it–and soothe your sore heart about You-Know-Who.

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  8. On May 4th, Danes worldwide put lit candles in their windows in celebration of German occupation of Denmark during WWII.

    It also happens to be the anniversary of my first cancer diagnosis in 1995. I remember it because it coincides with the above observance. I’m grateful to still be here.

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    2. Major oops! In celebration of the END of German occupation. They were not happy with the five year occupation during the war.

      And thanks, Jacque – I’m assuming the anonymous comment is yours.

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  9. You all know I’m an eclipse gal. I also really like the Eagle Bebula. Its “pillars” were a favorite of my dad and that kind of rubbed off on me a little as well.

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  10. A cloudless night sky, when viewed from a dark place without a lot of light pollution, is a magical thing. The North Shore of Lake Superior offers some ideal vantage spots for stargazing. I imagine that Krista’s timeshare is one of those places.

    I have seen the Northern Lights only a handful of times, and they can be truly awe inspiring. Seeing them over Lake Superior would really be something to behold.

    Years ago, we were on a road trip with a couple visiting from Denmark. We spent one night in a cabin on Ely Lake near Eveleth. After enjoying a late dinner of grilled chicken in the rustic cabin, we descended the steep staircase in the dark to the lake below with four glasses and a bottle of Champagne. As we were sitting on the dock, dangling our feet in the water and sipping Champagne, the Northern Lights appeared and put on an hour-long display of dancing colors. Our visitors had never seen the Northern Lights before; it was one of the highlights of their one and only visit to the US. What a perfect end to a perfect day.

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      1. It was. We have spent lots of nights in that cabin, and other cabins all over the Iron Range, and seen the Northern Lights only four or five times over many years. It was incredibly lucky that our friends got to see them on the one night they were there.

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  11. I’m never in the right place at the right time for eclipses or meteor showers or northern lights. A full moon, though, is a sort of egalitarian celestial event. Everyone can go out and look at the full moon. Maybe not every full moon – some nights are cloudy. But there are usually eight or ten fabulous full moons you can see from anywhere in a typical year.

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  12. I’ve told before about our Full Moon group here – whenever it’s clear enough, we go to the Wagon Bridge (on Latch Island in main channel the river) and for moonrise on the Full Moon.

    I didn’t even know about Northen lights till coming to Minnesota, and have only seen them once, and pretty faint at that. I hope to see them more dramatically some time.

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