New Hobby ... Chainmail

I needed a new hobby like I needed a hole in my head. [My Dad used this saying a lot, but it never made sense to be because we already have holes in our heads.] But summer without air conditioning is too hot to knit, my woodworking takes up space we don't have until the remodel is done, and if I don't do something with my hands I go stir-crazy.

A friend was working on chainmail at some cons we both attended, and I was impressed at how cool it was. Finally, in April I took the plunge and ordered some pre-cut rings and pliers from The Ring Lord. They arrived a couple of weeks later (slow shipping from the wilds of Saskatchewan). I started linking the rings together, and I was hooked!

There's a lot more to chainmail (also called maille) than armor and exotic underwear. Using the same methods, one can make some incredible jewelry chains. Working with the rings is like solving a topology puzzle: can this size rings make that chain? How do I fit that ring in there? How can I hold it with the pliers to close the ring? I'm finding it good work for my brain as well as my hands.

I have another order of rings due to arrive soon. And I have a project list:

- a bronze vest, tailored style, for me

- chains to loop around Ocelot's black pants

- backpack zipper pulls in many colors (anodized aluminium) to sell at Climber's school's holiday marketplace

And some other rings to make some jewelry from. Who knows, maybe I'll go into business selling chainmail creations!

Remodeling Catch Up

It's been a while since I wrote about our big remodeling project — or about anything. In this post I'll do a catch up on the house.

When we last left the project, The Merry Men were beginning demolition. They finished that in short order, and began framing the new walls for the new space. At that point, the project came to a crashing halt.

Our architect had applied for the building permit, and we anticipated it would take about a week to go through town hall, gathering the required signatures along the way. Well, it took over a month! The Merry MEn had done everything they could do without a permit, so we were in Limbo (not for the last time).

Eventually the permit came through, and we were back in building mode. In about a week, we had the hole for the new foundation dug, the footings poured, the forms for the foundation set, and the foundation poured. The forms were stripped, the outside of the foundation waterproofed, and we were waiting for the building inspector to sign off on the foundation.

And waiting ... we were out of town, Tom Framer came out several times to check for the inspector's signature on the permit ... nothing. Finally, on Monday he called the town hall — the inspector had come by and approved the foundation, but forgot to sign the permit!

From there, the work proceeded quickly again. At least a lot went on during each work day — but there was so much rain that some days, more time was spent taking down tarps in the morning then replacing them when the mid-afternoon storms rolled in. Eventually, by mid-July, the framing was completed, with Tyvek on the walls and ice shield on the roof. It's a fantastic space, I've been taking a chair out there and reading, enjoying the view.

After putting on lots of bug spray ... we have huge holes where the windows and doors will be. Our architect took his time ordering the windows, and they are slow in arriving. We've been told "they'll be here by the end of the week 3 times now.

So here we sit, waiting for windows. Theoretically, we could begin the rough plumbing, but the plumber is on another job. This is a true-life example of the famous triangle principle: in building, you have 3 elements driving the process: (low) money, (high) quality, and (fast) time, and you may have any two, never all three. We don't have the money, so we decided to sacrifice time ... 

May Day!

My 13 year old daughter, code named Ocelot, joined a Morris dance team, Banbury Cross Morris and Sword last fall. Since Morris dance traditionally welcomes summer, the big performance season is mid to late spring. May Day is traditionally the day Morris teams "dance up the dawn", dancing in downtown Cambridge, MA, USA, at ... yup, dawn.

Last week, Banbury Cross danced at NEFFA, and next weekend they have two gigs: Ginger Ale in downtown Boston and Lilac Sunday at the Arnold Arboretum. If you are in the Boston area, come watch!

Here are some videos of the team from this year's NEFFA.

My House is Coming Apart — and It's Good!

The remodeling saga continues ...

2 weeks ago, the plumber got started on replacing our boiler. We had been given bids from 3 plumbers, and 2 said they could do the job in one day. Hah! It took two plumbers 4 days to install the new boiler, make the plumbing connections, make the electrical connections, install the hot water storage tank, turn the whole thing on, then remove the old boiler. And they still have a full day left, to put in the new oil tank.

And Wednesday night, we got a call from the architect: "the framer wants to get started tomorrow." Tom (and his crew, dubbed the Merry Men, even though Framer is not named Robin) came at 7:30 Thursday and got busy.

And how! I left to walk Climber to school, when I got back at 8:45, they had moved the heavy junk out of the back work area, removed the ground-level deck, and had a fair number of the shingles stripped off. They discovered a concrete patio under the rotten ground-level deck. And by the time they broke for lunch at 10:45, they removed the rest of the shingles (where the addition will be) and the main level deck. An entire dumpster had come, been filled, and gone. The back yard was transformed.

[We were planning on removing the upper deck ourselves, and planned to have friends come and take an entire weekend. The Merry Men did the same work in about an hour. They are worth every penny of their wages.]

The rest of the day was spent in building a temporary wall in the basement (we get the relocated washer and dryer and a bit of storage space, they get the rest) removing back wall trim, and making the opened wall weather-proof.

Today they were back. They gutted their part of the basement, removed the bench seat from the kitchen, stood around while we watched a storage pod being delivered, and still were able to knock off early.

So, we have our assignment for the weekend. We have to pack up the kitchen, dining room and part of the living room, so the Merry Men, with the help of the plumber and electrician can move our stove and sink counter into the living room. At that time, they'll board up the living-dining room opening, and put a door on the front hall - kitchen opening, and take over the entire back half of the house.

My BIQ Talk

Last week, I gave a talk at BIQ Boston, on 2E kids in Public Schools. Though there weren't too many people attending (it was at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, a bit early), it was well received, and several people have asked that I post my handouts. So, here's the outline of the talk, with a few side comments.

For those who are new to my blog, Hello! I started this blog to post all sorts of thoughts, but I am not a blogger at heart — not surprising, as I could never keep a diary when I was little, either. Most of the posts here are related to our in-progress remodel.

2E in Public Schools — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Liz Cademy Pfeffer & Carolyn K
BIQ Boston, April 2009

Introductions
Liz (That's me)
Carolyn K www.hoagiesgifted.org

Definition of 2E
Gifted with some sort of disability
Often, but not always a Learning Disability
Special services &/or accommodations are necessary in school

Stories
(Here, Carolyn and I tell the stories of our 2E daughters, Chetah and Ocelot, and how the public schools did a good job with Ocelot and a phenomenally bad job with Cheetah)

The Law
All children have the right to an evaluation by the school
High IQ or good grades can not be used to avoid a necessary IEP
The Lillie/Felton Letter (This is case law specifying that kids can not be denied a special education evaluation because they are not failing school.)
Every state has laws that schools must follow
Parents are full members of the team
Most actions require parental consent in writing

The Special Education Process
1. “Child Study” Meetings
2. School Evaluation (or optional private evaluation)
3. Qualification Meeting
4. Write the Plan
5. Implement the Plan – Measurable Goals
6. Review Plan annually
7. Re-evaluate every 3 years

Using the Law
Preparations
Document, document, document!
Research:
The Wright's Law website
Your state's special education website
Your school district's policies
How to Ask for an Evaluation
In writing, on paper
Facts only, no emotions

When to Give Up, and What to Do Afterwards, Part 1
Some schools are good, some are bad, and some are just clueless
Some schools are good, but don't have the money to do a good job
By law, lack of money does not allow the school to refuse services

When to Give Up, and What to Do Afterwards, Part 2
Warning Signs You May Have a Bad School
Staff does not know the law, and doesn't care
Staff tries to delay the process
Staff continually “loses” paperwork
Staff agrees verbally, nothing gets done
Or …

When to Give Up, and What to Do Afterwards
What To Do If You Have a Bad School
Give up (listed for completeness only)
Home School
Pay for alternate education
Fight school, student stays at school
Fight for alternate placement

Dozukis and Sunbirds

I should post more often. There. Guilt trip over.

Two words for the day, completely unrelated except in my life.

A Dozuki is a Japanese woodworking saw, intended for cutting the joints that lock two pieces of wood together. Like all Japanese saws, it is frighteningly sharp.


I'm working on my first "real" woodworking project, a Shaker-inspired wall shelf with drawer. (Project plan at: http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/shapely_shaker_shelf/ )I'm at the point where I need to cut the 1/4"plywood for the drawer bottom and back. My husband, the Mad Engineer, has set up a welding station in front of our bandsaw, the best power tool for the job. I tries the hand held jigsaw, but it has a case of palsy and couldn't settle down long enough to even begin the cut. So, in desperation, I got my dozuki out, expecting the 24" long cut to take an hour of push-pull, arm falling off sweaty hard labor.

In 3 minutes, I had a nice, straight cut, all the way through. Including set-up time, the dozuki was faster than the jigsaw. More fun, too.


Now, the next word of the day: Sunbird.

Sunbird is a calendar program, created by the Mozilla project, and available free for all major platforms.

In order to manage my family's busy schedule, I keep a series of Google calendar files, one for each person. For several years, I've been using GCal, an abandoned single-function browser that let me see my Google Calendar web page. But Google changed its log in page, and GCal no longer can get in to my calendars.

I first looked at software to make my own stand alone web page ... but I run Mac OS X 10.4.11, an old version, by choice, and the software won't run on my OS. I found a connector to let iCal, the built-in calendar program synch with Google calendar, but it is clunky, and I don't much like iCal anyway. Eventually, I found Sunbird.



Sunbird looks a lot like Firefox, which makes sense, since they are both Mozilla projects. Like Firefox, there are add-ons and themes to customize the calendars. I added one item that allows invisible two-way communication with my Google calendars. A little bit of color coding, and I'm all set.

Except I seem to be drawn to abandoned software ... Mozilla is planning to abandon Sunbird, for lack of user interest and a shortage of developers. So if you are intrested, wander over to http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/ and download your own copy.

A name is a name?

I've been interviewing various builders and subcontractors, in preparation for our remodel/addition. And I've noticed something interesting.

These guys don't have last names.

They never introduce themselves by last name. They routinely refer to each other by profession. Even our architect (who has been a builder and teacher) falls into this: "Liz, this is Tony the Plumber ... Jeff the Framer ... Paul the Electrician ..."

I feel like I'm living in a medieval English town, where Jeff Framer is hired by Liz Housewife, with Tony Plumber waiting his turn. Paul Electrician certainly wasn't around in 1309, but you get the idea.

We won't even go into why they all have the same middle name as Bullwinkle the Moose.