Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Gmap Pedometer

This may not qualify as a Web 2.0 site, but it is one that I use all the time and since I was showing a student how it worked, it seemed like the perfect blog subject.

Using Gmap Pedometer you enter a zip code to select any location and zoom in on the streets. About a 15 or 16 works well, but if you make a lot of turns the balloons get in the way at 15, but you can zoom in further without losing the route you have started if necessary.

Find the starting point for your walk or run or whatever and click the "Start Recording" button to the left of the map. Double click on the starting point and at each turning point on your walk. You can see how far each leg of your walk is as you click and at the end of the route you will see the total miles walked.

If you walk the same route each day, you can save the map and refer back to it, like this. Since I tend to walk different routes each day, I use this site on a regular basis.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Ready for Spring

Saturday was such a beautiful day that I planted peas in the raised bed I made last year. I hauled two garbage cans of composted silage from the old silo which accounts for the black soil on top. That's one advantage to living on an old dairy, there is a lot of compost available for gardening.

I used scraps of lumber still piled up and built a cold frame on the south side of the house to plant lettuce and spinach and start broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. I'm sure my kids won't eat the Brussels sprouts, but I can hope. I may try to round up another window and build a second one beside this to start more seeds.

Where the concrete and tar are will eventually be creek stone. There are a lot of projects I still haven't finished on the house. The hardest part of laying the stone is actually going out and picking it up and hauling it back home. There aren't any creeks close enough and I don't have a truck.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Two New Baskets

My youngest daughter spent the first part of this week very sick with the flu, so I took several sick days to take care of her and take her to the doctor. While she slept or read, I make a couple baskets.

Debbie had asked me to make a basket for the Midwest Archives Council Silent Auction planned for the April meeting in Louisville. I wanted something classy that said Kentucky. I actually had a different basket picked out, but getting the handle with the horse head cut into it was going to be a problem. In the meantime I ordered a new basketry book from Amazon. Hey, I only needed six dollars to get free shipping.

This book included a pattern for the 2000 Anne Coleman Derby Basket. I had seen this one, but had never made it. Everything I needed was in the loft, so I decided this would work for MAC. It was woven on a 5x10 wooden base with a combination of 1/2" ff reed in the back and 1/4" fo reed in the front. It was woven continuously with 3mm cane on the bottom and the folded over lapel and 4mm cane for the over 2, under 2 twill that makes up most of the basket. The lapel was woven back and forth so that it gradually tapered to a rounded front. After cutting and tucking the spokes the front was soaked well and rolled over. This part was easier said than done. Even when finished I wasn't completely happy with the way the weaving bunched up after it was rolled. Before I send it off for the auction I need to find a horse shaped pin to put on the lapel.

The next basket was a simple laundry basket woven with 3/4" ff reed for the stakes and 5/8" reed for the weavers. For the design in the middle rows I picked up a braid that was in the new book and wove that in 1/4" fo reed. In my typical style I tried to jump ahead without reading the directions exactly, so it took several tries to master the braid, but once I figured it out it was very easy to do. To make the handle and rim stronger, I tucked the stakes to the outside and inside and used 5/8 fo with #6 round filler and 1/4" fo lashing. I had some small pieces of leather left over from the top basket and earlier baskets that I used for handles with Chicago screws to secure the ends. This basket has already been delivered to Toni's new house.

Pretty productive for a couple sick days. Fortunately, my kids do stay pretty healthy most of the time.