Bell Ringing
Ah! The sun sets on another beautiful Appalachian spring day! And here sits I, eating dinner, dodging hummingbird dogfights, and blogging on my laptop like a fool.
My major "accomplishment" today was the installation of the Appalachian Mountain Temple Bell in the garden below the deck.
The folks at Alleghany Arts & Crafts asked me to move it to another location in the store. But, I had already been thinking of bringing it home after a year's stay there. So, I used the request as an excuse.
Now the piece is quite heavy. The bell itself weighs close to a hundred pounds and the frame is all I can lift. So it was lift, carry ten feet, rest, and repeat. Sure enough about half down the hill, I dropped the frame, breaking a critical weld and reinjuring my left wrist. What to do but reweld the joint ... in the woods! I figure I've about used up my fire department Green Stamps and welding in the woods is a sure fire waiting to happen. So I got out the hose and watered the area down before dragging out the welder and gas tank. No fires!
After preparing a foundation for the frame, I revarnished all the wooden pieces before hanging the bell. Now bell hanging is typically a two-person job with a fifth hand coming in handy. But, after an hour of using various leverage techniques with varying degrees of success, the bell was hung and rung.
The project was quite a bit more labor intensive than I had anticipated and the afternoon snooze felt might good.
Why, oh why, can't I just be a couch potato?
My major "accomplishment" today was the installation of the Appalachian Mountain Temple Bell in the garden below the deck.
The folks at Alleghany Arts & Crafts asked me to move it to another location in the store. But, I had already been thinking of bringing it home after a year's stay there. So, I used the request as an excuse.
Now the piece is quite heavy. The bell itself weighs close to a hundred pounds and the frame is all I can lift. So it was lift, carry ten feet, rest, and repeat. Sure enough about half down the hill, I dropped the frame, breaking a critical weld and reinjuring my left wrist. What to do but reweld the joint ... in the woods! I figure I've about used up my fire department Green Stamps and welding in the woods is a sure fire waiting to happen. So I got out the hose and watered the area down before dragging out the welder and gas tank. No fires!
After preparing a foundation for the frame, I revarnished all the wooden pieces before hanging the bell. Now bell hanging is typically a two-person job with a fifth hand coming in handy. But, after an hour of using various leverage techniques with varying degrees of success, the bell was hung and rung.
The project was quite a bit more labor intensive than I had anticipated and the afternoon snooze felt might good.
Why, oh why, can't I just be a couch potato?
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