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Baby Bunny Rabbit

During my first lawn mowing of the year (and it’s still officially Winter!), I frightened a tiny rabbit and it ran across the road. As small as it was, I was surprised it could run so fast. Strangely, once it got across the road, it just stopped. I went over to check on it, and even as I approached closely, it stayed right where it was. To my amazement, I was able to pick it up. At that point it got lively again, kicking and scratching. It was so small though, that I was in no danger. I knew Holly wouldn’t be satisfied just to hear this story, and that I would have to show her the rabbit in person. Since Holly was out shopping with Michelle, I put the little critter in a container with lots of grass to keep it comfortable until she got home. I thought it would thrash too much for Holly to be able to hold it herself, but it remained calm long enough for her to ooh and ah, and coo and cuddle it. After this, we let it go in some tall grass behind our property.Hold your mouse over the small images to read a description. Click to see a larger version.

March 12, 2005
Andrew’s First Track Meet

Andrew is running track this year, and it turns out he is best at running distance. He has become one of the best milers in the 7th grade at MMS, and the mile was the race he ran in his first track meet. There were 8 schools competing and with events taking place for 7th grade girls, 7th grade boys, 8th grade girls, and 8th grade boys, the meet went well into the night. Andrew’s mile run was the next to the last event, not starting until around 10pm. Since he’d been standing around and goofing off since the meet’s start at around 3pm, he had had quite a wait. After some instructions from the judges, about nineteen 7th grade boys stepped up to the starting line. Andrew says he had butterflies the size of Thanksgiving turkeys in his stomach, but that didn’t last long once the starter’s gun went off. We think he did pretty well for his first race. He came in right in the middle of the pack, but expects to improve rapidly in coming races.

Getting instructions before the race. (Andrew is on the far left)
Lined up at the starting line and waiting for the gun.
Andrew streaks past during his third lap.

(Unfortunately, my camera battery went dead, so I didn’t get photos of the end of the race.)

March 10, 2005
New Member of the Family

I wanted to say “household”, but Holly insists that our new cat is a member of the family. “Simon” (he’s Siamese, get it?) had been hanging around outside for over a week, sometimes disappearing for a short time, but always turning back up on our doorstep. Well, it looks like we’re going to take him in for good. I would never have guessed that Michelle would accept a stray cat into the house, but this guy is so handsome and has such a fun personality that she just couldn’t resist.

At first, it seemed like Simon’s biggest personality trait would be how affectionate he is, but it soon became apparent that he loves to play. His favorite solo toys are Holly’s elastic ponytail holders. He can flip one of these things into the air with either his mouth or paws, and remain entertained by it for a surprisingly long time. He also likes to play hide and seek, with an emphasis on chasing and being chased. He used to enjoy staring at the mouse pointer moving around on the big movie screen as I would browse the web and read emails. That was until he actually jumped to grab the mouse pointer and tore a few holes in the fabric! He’s not allowed anywhere near the screen now.

February 26, 2005
Holly’s Website Finally Updated!

After over a year of stagnation, Holly has finally updated HollysNotebook.com. Andrew has also done some work on AcesBase.com recently. Check ’em out.

January 2, 2005
Merry Christmas

December 25, 2004
2004 Texas LD Shootout

The Armstrong boys spent the weekend in Houston for the first annual Texas LD Shootout, a long-distance boomerang tournament. Ace and I didn’t expect to be able compete with our lone phenolic LD boomerang, but we knew we’d have some fun. It was amazing to see so many boomerangs fly over 100 meters with a full return. Everyone was super-nice, especially after our only LD boom ended up in two pieces. Roy Dempsey and David Bacque loaned us very nice boomerangs that we were able to achieve personal-best throws with (Ace-69m, me-83m), and I ended up purchasing a super-high-tech model from the tournament champion and new Canadian record holder, Andrew Cross. Hopefully with it, I’ll be joining the 100 Meter Club whenever I can make it to another tournament. Even though Ace was the only junior thrower, he represented himself quite well, and he definitely deserved to be Junior Champion. His pick from the prize table was a very nice “Anaconda” boomerang by Alberto Sabal of Mar del Plata, Argentina. My pick was a neat sport model that maker David Bacque says will go around 60 meters. I gotta find a decent field to try it out.

Though I didn’t take as many photos as I’d’ve liked, I have put up a gallery of the pictures I was able to take.

October 18, 2004

Built the Black Velvet Frame

I had read that a black frame with light-absorbing material would increase the apparent contrast of the projector’s picture. It also makes it easier to get the picture to appear perfectly aligned because any part of the picture that is slightly over onto the black frame will be absorbed and disappear.

This frame is made of 1x4s and wrapped in black velvet. The velvet frame is attached to the original frame using homemade 1/4″ plywood braces and brass wood screws.

	Building the black velvet masking frame. It is sized to fit around the existing 96″x54″ screen. I had to measure each board, then carry it downstairs so I could cut it using a miter box.
	The frame is built and ready for the velvet to be applied. The frame pieces aren’t yet connected in any way. I’m just verifying the sizes and angles.
	About to wrap one of the frame pieces with black velvet. Spray adhesive was used. This was a bit of a messy job, but it turned out great. Again, an extra set of hands made things much easier.
	Backside view of the completed screen. Black velvet was wrapped around all frame pieces. 1/4 inch plywood was used for corner and edge braces for connecting this frame to the existing screen frame with brass wood screws.
	Completed screen back up on the wall. With the black frame, the overall screen is larger and I was able to completely cover the window instead of having to use blackout cloth. I have also rewired and evened up the front speakers. I still need to get some proper component shelving. Yes, that is a set of “rabbit ears”. I use them for reception of over-the-air HDTV.

July 31, 2004

Mounted the Surround Speakers

Until now, the rear speakers had been sitting on the floor. Now that they’ve been mounted near the ceiling, the sound is improved tremendously. The wires are still just hanging from the wall and running along the ground. I bought a “snake” for fishing wires through tough-to-reach places, but I haven’t used it yet.

The drapery over the door has been replaced with something to match the planned future decor.

July 24, 2004
Seating Delivered

We bought a set of Palliser black leather recliners. I had tried these out at a large furniture store several weeks ago and had been impressed with how comfortable they were and how well-made they appeared to be. We came across them again at a Billiards and Barstools store. This “Melrose” series might not have been my first choice, but they happened to be on sale at an irresistible price so we took the plunge and ordered them.

When they arrived a few days later, the delivery guys were so impressed with the theater room that they wanted a demo. Being young guys, they were most impressed with “MX Unleashed” running at 1080i on the Xbox.

Previously, the projector was sitting on a cardboard box at just the right height to line up with the bottom of the screen. With these seats in the room, I had to raise the projector up onto a shelf. The height is not correct now, so I have to use the projector’s “keystone correction” to get the picture aligned correctly, otherwise it has a trapezoidal shape (wider at the bottom). This situation is temporary until I can mount the projector on the ceiling. Then it will be upside-down and again aligned properly with the screen and keystone correction can be turned off. I’d like to do this soon, because digital keystone correction degrades the picture. I can’t tell so much for movies or TV, but on the computer screen, it is evident that the fonts aren’t as sharp as they should be.

July 15, 2004

Built the Screen

Phase 1 of the screen was building the wooden frame and stretching the blackout cloth over it. I used 1×3 lumber to keep the frame light. I got the “premium” lumber at Home Depot, but even still I had to pick and choose to get boards that weren’t warped or bowed. I used a miter box to cut the 45 degree angles, then screwed the pieces together with brass wood screws and angle braces. I bought an electric staple gun for stapling the screen material to the frame. Since the cloth was 54″ wide and frame itself was 54″ tall, a bit of stretching was required. An extra set of hands was definitely needed here (Thanks, Michelle!).

	Screen frame under construction. 1×3 lumber was used for the frame.
	Close up of screen frame corner braces. These were fastened on with brass wood screws.
	Completed screen frame, ready for the cloth to be stretched and stapled on. Sorry there are no photos of the stapling job in progress. We were concentrating too hard to remember to take photos.
	Projector’s eye view of the mounted screen. Speakers weren’t spaced properly because I didn’t have long enough speaker wire yet. The wire-frame equipment rack is very temporary. The extra white cloth you see is to black out the window behind the screen.

July 6, 2004