American Carousel (two posts)

We visited the Denzel American Carousel Museum in Albany yesterday. They are restoring an carousel and making new animals for the ride. It was built in 1909 by the Danzel family. The process for making these works of art take about 2000 manhours each. There is an artist who creates a drawing, then volunteers carve the wood. There are 6 wood carvers with one lead carver and 60 volunteers who also help. It takes 1000 to 1200 hrs to carve and then 400 hrs to paint. After they are painted there is a 5-6 month drying time before they put the clear coat on. They use basswood which has a very tight grain and glue pieces together. They use what they call a coffin style of piecing it together, the one pictures shows how it is hollow in the middle to make them lighter. So far they have 24 done and the carousel will have 56 when done. The building they are in will be tore down in a few years and a new building will be built to house the carousel. The next post shows how much work goes into these.

more carousel pics

The horse is one of the original animals from the carousel, it was made in the late 1800's. The picture of the carousel is the carousel that they are restoring. The other 3 pictures are some of the work the volunteers have done. The frog has been painted but no clear coat has been put on it yet.

We weren't quite done !!

Thought we were done working in the basement but found an area next to the chimney that had dry rot and mold. So we had to remove some drywall on both sides of the wall and cut out the 2x4's. We had to put a masonry sealer on the brick. Replaced the drywall and taped and textured. The pictures below is some of the work we did. Replaced the wood around his garage door due to dry rot, relocated the 3" sewer line and raised it up about 7". By the time we were finished we used about a dozen tubes of caulk, two tubs of drywall mud and a lot of moaning and groaning. We finished yesterday (Tuesday) and we are moving to the coast tomorrow (Thursday). I have been accused of whining by someone who I won't name ( John... Jackie's brother) but we got it done and it was hard work. Plus I like to bitch and moan.

Well, we did it. After 9 days working in the basement the house is now on the market. Pat and Carol want to sell and move to Medfort Oregon area. Albany averages around 45 inches of rain per year, where Medfort is around 15. They are tired of the clouds and rain. For those who don't know I have known Pat since 1961. Next to my sister he is the person I have known the longest. He and I were in grammar school together, then high school. Wednesday we took a day off and drove to the coast. We went to Newport to sight see and look for our next rv park. We are moving there about the 6th of July. The Oregon coast is beautiful and I will be posting more on the area later. We were surprised that the rv parks didn't have any spaces for us to stay a month. A few had spaces for a week. We went to 4 or 5 parks and nothing was available. Plus their monthly rate was averaging $780 plus electricity per month. Holy $#@*!!! The weekly rate was about $200 per week. So we went 12 miles south to Waldport and found a place and they are $400 per month. So it looks like we will become Waldportains. Weather has improved the past few days, sunny and warm, around 80. The forecast for the week is mid to high 70's. Perfect weather. Pepper got a haircut and is doing ok. She trips and falls but has her good days. Oh, today is Sunday but tomorrow I go back to work. Pat has a list of projects. I am beginning to think he is going to work me so hard I won't come back. I keep threatening to hook-up the trailer and leave in the middle of the night. It is funny, I was in Yuma a few months ago and did some drywall work for a friend, then move north to Albany and did drywall work. I am scared to head east, Jackie and I have a lot of relatives that direction.

Some loose ends

Sorry for the lack of posting the past month, as I said it was hard to come up with something when we were just parked at the daughters. We are back on the road and now in Oregon. But 1st some catch up to do. The picture of the beautiful young lady is our #2 granddaughter, it was taken the day of her prom. She did great in high school, 4 yrs band, 4 yrs playing 2 sports (track and tennis) and won 25 medals, 4 yrs FFA as an officer, 4 yrs CSF and a 3.5 gpa. She is off to Humbolt State in August. We attended a Memorial Day service where the high school band played. The cemetery placed the flags which made a nice background for the ceremony.

The picture of the small set of mountains is the Sutter Buttes, which is located near Yuba City Ca. where we were. It is the smallest mountain range in the world. The peak is 2130 feet and it is 10 miles long. The other mountain is Mount Shasta, we took it on the way to Oregon. Ok, caught up. We arrived in Albany on a Thursday and went to work on Friday! We are here visiting an old friend and he is prepping his house to sell. It is an old Victorian and has a full basement. We had to get the basement ready to paint. It has 2 bedrooms and a bath which are done but the rest was in bad need of repair. Spent the next 7 days working down there, everything from plumbing repairs to drywall work. Done. But it about killed us, 2 old men out of shape almost bit off more than we could chew. We are heading to the coast on Wednesday to look around Newport. We plan on heading there around the 8th of July, so we want to look at RV parks. Weather has been damp and cloudy most of our stay but the temp has been around 70 degrees. Not to bad really.

Big Weed Grower Discovered

Not much going on here. There is a burn pile next to our trailer and a plant started to grow out of it. With a little care from me I am now the largest weed grower in Gridley. Hope the " Man " isn't reading is blog or I could be in trouble. The area we are parked in is behind the daughters house. A while back I was going to plant a couple flowers and she said don't be suprised it I find something burined out here. They have over the years buried many cats etc. here. I was a little concerned when I found the three fingers of a glove reaching out of the ground. We attended our Granddaughters high school concert. She is in the school band and plays the flute. The band and choir is about an hour long concert. Our oldest granddaughter and great granddaughter were also there, the little one had fun watching the band. A update on the David Allen Coe show. After the show the business that put the show on approached the band and said how good they did. They were upset at Coe for his lousy show and that he only did about 45 minutes. The club was so impressed with the band that they doubled the bands pay and said they want them back. Also there were people who attended the Coe show that wants them to play for them. One is a big car show and concert and they want their band to headline it. This would be the 1st show they would headline. Weather turned bad last night, lighting and rain. My old bones are complaining but not much we can do. Scotch and vicodin, just what the Doctor ordered.

David Allen Coe

Went to see David Allen Coe on Wednesday, lets just say seeing him in parking lot was the best part of his show. He is 71 and walks with a cane and has lost his showmanship. They had 2 opening bands before him, the 1st was Dry County Drinkers, then Colonel Jimmy and the Blackfish (our son Clint plays in it). The 2 groups play alot around Sacramento and due shows together. Dry County Drinkers were scheduled to play 2nd but don't like to follow Colonel Jimmy, so they switched lineup. Dry County Drinkers are a traditional country band and play well but don't get the crowd excited. Colonel Jimmy and the Blackfish fire up the room. People yell, dance and party when they play. The crowd Wednesday did exactly that. When they came on 2nd the crowd went crazy, as my neice says they are hillbilly headbangers. Clint has self taught himself to play the mandelin and his grandfathers whould have been pround. Jackies dad gave him his 1st guitar and my dad taught him how to play guitar. Both granddad's wanted someone in the family with some musical talent. As for David Allen Coe, he came out and sat in a chair so he was hard to see. He sang alot of Waylon and Willie songs and a few of his. The main reason to see this old fart is the song "You Never Call Me By My Name"!! He sang for about an hour, got up and left without singing that song, he never even sang it, I wonder why he didn't sing, why he didn't sing that damn song. Sorry for that. But he did just get up and leave and the crowd stood there waiting for his to come back and encore or something. That was a $30 ripoff. David Allen Coe you old bastard. But we did have fun. Staying up past midnite though is not something I can get use to again...........Eye surgery went well, now have 20-20 vision in each eye and looks like I don't need glasses. The Doctor said just wait a few weeks and get a eye exam if I want then go from there. Not much else going on. Still plan on leaving here on the 6th of June and head to Oregon.