2025, Farming Update, Theatre, Uncategorized

More theater than farming

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The weekend farming update from Ben

Not a lot of farming this week. Opening a college play in two weeks so the focus is there. Mostly.

Quite a few years ago when I was younger and full of energy and enthusiasm, I bought some pneumatic brakes and other air powered things for sets at the college. I used them for some fun stuff. Then I didn’t use any of them for a few years, but this show is using an eight-foot octagonal rolling platform and it needs some kind of stop, and I thought this would be a good use for the air brakes. I use a small tank of compressed nitrogen rather than air, because it’s a little more efficient, and the tank lasts a lot longer than my small tank of compressed air. Of course that’s assuming the stage managers remember to turn it off at night so it doesn’t leak down.

Wheels on the platform

The wheels are called “triple throw casters”. Three swivel casters mounted on a plate with a Lazy Susan. It makes things roll easily without forcing the castor to change direction before moving.

Pneumatic brake

It was fun to do and the students think it’s really cool.

I’m building some triangle shaped flats. (walls are called ‘flats’ in theater lingo) and they will be covered with cave paintings.

The show is an original, written by our own artistic director, Jerry, called “Ouch”. It’s about a young cave person, who has new ideas, such as words, or cooking food with fire rather than eating raw, and the elders don’t like all the new ideas. Not a lot of set; some fake rocks and the rolling platform upstage (at the back), and the walls with cave paintings. And shadow puppets for the Mammoth of course.

I spent two days in the lighting catwalks swapping out newer 2015 fixtures for 1980 fixtures. And converting some from incandescent / halogen to LED. The LED lights then need ‘data’ cables to them. The others were just swapping out the old for the new. The reason for that was better light out of the new ones, plus, they’re able to be upgraded to LED if we get money. We’ll see at the end of the year how much money is left. An LED upgrade kit is about $600. A whole new LED fixture is $2000 -$3000. Each. All the fancy stuff gets an address, so the lighting board know which light it’s talking too. That’s called “patching”. Each light gets it’s own number, meaning address. One universe of lighting has 512 addresses. My lightboard can output 4 universes. The first universe goes downstairs to the dimmers. The second universe is up to the catwalks and a lot of stuff up there. Universe 3 goes to the stage, and universe 4 has a Wireless gizmo to control some other lights on stage. This photo shows how many of the 512 addresses are being used in Universe 2.

Almost full

Each parameter of a light takes an address. So intensity, red, green and blue, would be 4 addresses. A light that moves and can do patterns, colors, zoom, and might take 65 addresses. At that rate, 512 doesn’t go far. Something like the Olympics or a rock concert might be using 20 universes of lighting. I know I probably cover this every time I’m working on a show. Sorry for the repetition.

My clipboard cheat sheet

Last Sunday Kelly and I took a drive to see the leaves. We were a little early so there wasn’t a lot of color yet. We started following the Zumbro river at Zumbro Falls and my goal was to drive gravel roads with no traffic. That mostly worked. Down to Hammond, out to Millville, eventually to highway 60 and over to Wabasha, and Nelson for ice cream, then back to Weaver and through Whitewater on that gravel road, Elba to Plainview and back home. It was a nice day for a drive.

Somewhere along the Zumbro

At home I’m trying to finish some stuff before it gets too cold. The plan is to pour concrete the last week of October. I have help lined up. I went to one of those big box stores and spent – I mean SAVED big money the other day. I have most of the concrete tools I need now. If this concrete project works out, and I expect to learn a lot, I plan to do more concrete next summer. I’m going all in! Had a load of gravel delivered as I need more to put underneath the concrete. My brother will help, Padawan will help. (The job he started didn’t last. He says they just told him “This isn’t going to work out.” He told his step-mom “They don’t have any patience.” He hasn’t yet figured out that she and I talk. We were childhood friends and he knows we know each other. She and I get both sides of the stories that way) So, he’ll help cause he’s got nothing else. Son is bringing some friends to help. I was hoping one of them knew something about concrete, but he says they’re just the muscle, not the brains. Shoot. That means I gotta be the brains. And I only know enough to be dangerous. I’ve done a bit of concrete over the years, and I’ve watched some YouTube video’s. And that’s why we’re starting with small slabs.

I got the front wheels put back on that hay rack. Remember after straw, the frame cracked, the tie rods bent, and the wheels were pointing different directions? My nephew, Matt, put it back together, straightened it, and reinforced it. I repacked the front wheel bearings and tightened them, and just need to bolt the box frame back to the wheels. One more thing to check off the list. My farming seems to be happening in the evenings now.

Reinstalled Wheels!

Some days I fix one thing and break two more.

HAVE YOU TOO OFTEN BEEN THE METAPHORICAL BRAINS OR MUSCLE?

30 thoughts on “More theater than farming”

  1. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I am the brains of this outfit these days which can be a mixed bag. I now often get my own way, but it comes with responsibility. I made the #NoKings sign this week for the protest today. I got to have the signage on it I wanted without any negotiations since husband does not really care. He just wants to be there and express his displeasure with He Who Must Not Be Named. Oh,wait, that is Harry Potter, not my real life. Oops. Darth Vader…no that is Star Wars. Snidely Whiplash? Nope, that is Dudley Do-Right. There are many villians out there! We are going for the one we have now.

    AnyHoo, the sign has frogs, Ala Portland, and it specifies that I/we are unpaid protesters. I am rarely the muscle around here, but husband’s PCA who is becoming one of the family, often is the muscle here.

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  2. Since Husband has carpal tunnel and arthritis in both wrists and hands, I am frequently the fingers of the operation. I am a better strategist when it comes to packing. Husband gets mad at me when I try to lift heavy things and move boxes.

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      1. i had that done twice . third time the told me it was my back pinching nerves and they did back(neck) surgery. each helped. mayo is just a hop skip and a jump away now.

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  3. Ben, your knowledge sets and skill sets never cease to amaze me.

    I can be the brains, but I also prefer just doing. Set me a task and I can go for it. This was self knowledge that I wish I’d had earlier in life. It would’ve saved me a lot of miserable time volunteering for committees and boards.

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  5. Some similar stuff to what Jacque said is happening around our house, but Husband is still the go-to for certain projects and tasks, often around garden and garage chores.

    I like to think I am the Brains of any selected endeavor, but am frequently reminded of what other good brains can come up with. May have more later…

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  6. The Ed.M. degree that I got from Rutgers in 1981 was, ostensibly, in Labor Union Education. I learned them that I do better when I tell myself ahead of hand that I will be labor, and not management. That doesn’t mean that I can’t have ideas, but that I should not expect them to be taken into account when whoever is “management” makes the decision.

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  7. im often the brain but not being able to be the muscle sll the time is a problem because muscle is so neccessary . good for you on concrete all inness. so is the trowel on s stick or with knee pads or both? i had s friend who was a concrete assistant and simply added stuff if it got too cold to keep ot from freezing snd messing up the set of the mixture. looking forward to hearing about it.
    love the pneumatic brakes. and the hay wagon fix. farming teaches cool skills.
    thoughts are with clyde and sandra.
    peace

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      1. She is now on her twelve day without food or drink, her sixth day of being unresponsive. This with a history of strokes and TIAs. I am holding up just fine.

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  8. Good morning! I’ve been both brains and brawn. I’m not good at either. I have ideas, a limited amount of knowledge, capable hands, poor eyesight, and a weak back. I can work well with a group. I had to be the brains when I was working as a nurse in a group home. Most of the time I was the only licensed person working. That was challenging when it came to the supervisor who did not have a nursing background. Once she understood that what I knew was important and had value, and that she didn’t know everything, things became steadier. I had to be the brawn when I was on the Rock Bend committee. Most of that brawn came in the form of cooking large quantities of food, storing it safely, and transporting it to the festival, then setting up the backstage food area for musicians and volunteers. Musicians and volunteers were there all day for two to four days and we fed them. They ate and drank a lot. It was really hard work.

    I was out dressed as a frog at the No Kings rally in Northfield yesterday. There were a lot of people. I’m no good at estimating crowds, (how is that done, anyway?) so I have no idea how many were there. I’d guess more than a thousand. It was completely peaceful, but noisy and fun. It was a lovely day to be outside, and the mood was friendly and happy.

    We do not hate America. We are not terrorists. We were not paid. We were there because we love America, and we’re extremely concerned about the direction the administration is taking it. The First Amendment guarantees our right to peacefully gather and express our concerns. I don’t have to tell you these things, but it seems to need to be said – a lot. And loudly. America was born to differences in ideology. That’s who we are. The continuing conversation about what it means to be American is our life-force as a country. Repression is anti-American.

    I didn’t even see any police, although I’m sure they were around somewhere. I couldn’t see very well underneath my froggy hood.

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      1. I think a person should be stationed outside the door at Emmer’s office so that when he goes in or goes out, he can see someone spit on the ground in rric recognition of him

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    2. I’m just so glad to know you were a Frog at the N K Rally.
      We had a police presence (saw a car or two parked on the fringes), but that’s all. There was one protester with a nasty t-shirt about LGBTQ people and a Charlie Kirk flag, trying to stir up trouble…

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  9. we did the Chicago protest downtown that looped around in front of the Trump tower at grant park with my seven-year-old grandson. He wanted to make a sign so my daughter brought along construction paper and a felt tip marker. His sign said liberty. My daughter told him that Trump is stupid is being disrespectful and not a nice way to let someone know that you don’t agree with them. I think she was a little taken aback when she saw what he saw in the way of signs when we got to the protest and saw her chatting and gesturing with the crowd.

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