Power to the Rock Farm!

Just like with you, alot has happened at the Rock Farm since the last post in early November. Here is a brief overview.



On the trip home for Thanksgiving, Waylon (my pickup truck), was unable to avoid a deer running accross the road. Three weeks and $5k later he is as good as new. Not such good news for the deer.




We have had the good fortune to add Charlie to our family. Charlie is a hairy young male of indeterminate lintage and an irrepressible happy personality. He keeps our older dog Lucy on the move all day.






Back at the Farm, the Co-Op got the power poles and lines installed in between and around Christmas and New Years holidays and end of year vacation days. The studio had grid power by early January. A major milestone was reached.







The crew used a rock drilling rig but had to keep switching between auger bits and rock drills since the rock is in layers. By avoiding a straight line from the road to the studio, the overhead lines are not such an eyesore but the extra poles had to be added to the construction cost of the lines.











The apartment walls are up, insulated, wired, and closed in except for the walls containing plumbing. John and I are currently working on the plumbing. Lifting water 100 ft. from the bottom of the road to the studio and house site is the next challenge. We'll do it with solar panels and direct drive pump(s).

In the meantime, we need to create more open garden spaces between the rocks for Sigi to move her extensive collection of plants and bulbs. Spring is on the way with all of the greenery just waiting to bust out. John and I have enjoyed a winter respite from poison ivy and dense undergrowth but it won't last much longer. I never wonder if I'll get bored!

Finally, I've secured the domain name RockFarmStudio.org so I can make the transition from the WetumpkaIronWorks.com over this year. Both will point to the same site for awhile.

Light at the End...

It is a busy time at the Rock Farm and the project is moving right along but it is also fall and the leaves are turning. Among the many different oaks, hickories, and locusts, there are also sugar maples. This time of year the color is astounding.



Many thanks to my nephew Matt and my friend Phil for their hours of work on framing the apartment, building the platform for storage, and constructing the stairs.




To see more photos, go to the link for the Rock Farm Project at the right.

Behind the North Wall

The walls are going up along with the insulation. Here, the north wall is the first completed. If the weather holds, the job should be finished by the middle of this week. After that, we start inside with the apartment construction.


We have completed the power line right of way after alot of heavy labor and serious chainsaw activity. John posed this shot of our reliable Stihl saw after a long day of work.

The Thrill of the Chill

At long last! It is hard to express the joy of the first cool morning after the long hot summer of record breaking temps. John and I laughed at the sensation of goosebumps with the windows of the truck down. What a relief!

With a short few days of prelude of temps in the mid-80's (down from the 106 of July and August), the first cool weather rushed in on us overnight this past Thursday. Sleeping with the window open and wonderful fresh air in the 40's made my whole week.

This is catch up time. Since the fishing lure project I've spent most of my time on the Rock Farm with John, brush cutters, loppers, and chain saws. THe new studio construction is moving along with the pad completed and just this week the slab poured and finished. The metal building parts should arrive by truck early this Monday (tommorrow).

At Last!

Here's Charlie after final painting... He's ready for clear coat.


Here's Willard ("Old School") and he's ready for clear coating.

Charley Becomes a Man of Color

After sanding with 180 'til my fingers were without nails and fast becoming a series of bloody stumps, I decided to ignore advice and simply apply canned automotive primer to see where the glaring problems were. Volia! here is Charley [think "Two and a Half Men"...] ("Clown Lure") before I began the touch up with "icing" product. Real Primer comes tommorrow for Charley and Willard ("Old School").
For some reason it has taken me awhile to forget that these are materials for repairing automobiles and think of it as more experimental modeling technique. With the canned primer, I think I got over trying to repair a car and started to think of just making this piece with whatever tools and techniques are at hand...Sometimes i'm a little slower on the uptake than I imagine myself to be. Duh!

The Surgery Went Well

The Diving Bill Transplant surgery was a success and the patient is back on his hooks and recovering nicely. "Old School" has also had his eyes done following the transplant so that they are now round and hard coated with body filler.

The original diving bill was cut from aluminum but proved too thick for my brake to bend - also too thick for my friend JW's bigger brake. The bill is now thinner and steel - but very nicely formed...

Everything takes Longer than you Expect: It's a Rule

Working on the CWP lures is taking Wa-a-a-a-y Longer than I planned. Cutting and fitting each piece of foam to fit the contour of the blank and then carving the final form and glueing them individually to the blank is slow going. Nevertheless, I'm please with the result. Next is applying the fiberglass resin to the foam to fix it as hardened like the blank. This will require repeated sandings and more carving to get the final shapes right but hopefully it will be worth the effort to the CWP.

The heat has been so intense here (102-106 F) that the resin and hardner mix sets up almost instantly so I've moved the first lure from my studio to my home garage to take advantage of the household A/C and get the temps down around 75-78 F. I'll start with the resin mix in the am.

Pink Fish

The ClownFish Lure under development for the Clean Water Partnership Fund raiser. This is more work than it looks like...Hope they get lots of bucks for these things!

To see more photos visit the CWP Lure Project link on the right of this page.

Keeping up appearances

John taking a break after we've cut and some of the stacked firewood from the trees we had to remove to get the site prepared for pouring the floor of the studio. By now we have six or seven brush piles and lots of wood to split. We are getting a lot of practice with chainsaw, brush cutters, axes, and back muscles!