Real (old) school

The past few days have been a little slow on the blog side due to some long work days, an uptick in Sarry's computer/internet usage needs, and a resurgence of my aforementioned crow hunting.  I have been spending most of my days building a new canopy for our outdoor stage.  This would be fairly simple except that it needs to be about 15 feet in the air, span a 25 foot wide stage with no center support and be able to withstand the Ukrainian winter winds.

The work has been hard, dirty and hot (it's been into the 80's for a few days now) but I have had the fun of working on a new skill that I desperately wanted to improve - stick welding.  I have dabbled a bit with MIG welding in working on my truck, hanging out with John Day and building a steel lamp that could double as a jack stand for my garage.  MIG involves an automatic gun which dispenses the welding wire while pumping inert gas on the arc point to protect against CO2 contamination.

MIG setups are expensive so here we have a regular stick welder.  This requires a bit more practice and artistry since it is basically just a steel stick held by a pair of jumper cables with silly amounts of electrical energy coursing through it.  I have gotten better at this process since we've doing a lot of it over the past few days.

Here are some shots of my work complete with a view of the actual stage and canopy.  Please be gentle with your comments... I'm just a rookie and it's not as easy as it looks.