Weekend News, and Soccer: It Begins

A row of golf carts in downtown Put-In-Bay

Put-in-Bay, Ohio
We went to Put-in-Bay, OH over the weekend. I-Had-Never Been-There-Before. In fact, I had never heard of it before Wednesday of last week when J asked about taking a day trip there. The town is on South Bass Island, in the middle of Lake Erie. It’s not too far from Sandusky. The island has a couple of caves that one can tour, a huge monument to Oliver Hazard Perry (who, from what I can tell, single-handedly defeated the entire British Navy using only a salad fork, his left shoe, and a lead pipe), lots of bars and restaurants, and many other attractions. We rented a golf cart to drive around the island, which the kids enjoyed. I was surprised how much I liked the tour of the winery (it was part of the admission to one of the cave tours), given that I rarely drink wine. The kids liked the caves, too, and enjoyed “panning” for minerals at one of the family fun centers. Ask them about it sometime.

One of the “caves” was not a cave in the traditional sense – it was actually a geode. We were standing inside what they claim is the world’s largest geode, a piece of which is at the Smithsonian. (Spain also claims to have the largest geode.) The cave/geode was found when the winery people were drilling for water. If you are claustrophobic, or have a debilitating fear of giant underground crystal formations, I recommend not going on this tour. The other cave, which was across the street, was larger, and Perry and his boys found clear drinking water in it – there was a very nice-looking lake at the bottom of the cave. This water is said to have been a welcome relief for the troops after drinking the water from Lake Erie, which apparently made them sick. Coming in on the ferry, we could easily see how this was possible. This cave had one fairly small room in it whose entrance had a low ceiling dubbed “Headache Rock” by the tour guide, for reasons that would be clear to you if you saw it or hit your head on it.

The day we were there, the Budweiser Clydesdales were on the island, bringing to all peoples a message of peace and quaint beer commercialism. We made sure to be downtown when they arrived, but I was disappointed in the horses. They were pretty and all, but I thought they did tricks and dance routines, or sang songs, or talked like Mr. Ed or something. All they did was walk slowly. This might have passed as entertainment in the old days, but not now. I think they should cash those horses in for a blimp or a boat that jumps off ramps or some monkeys in clown suits. Now that would be fun to watch. Believe it or not, there is a guy who travels with the horses whose job is, in part, to wipe slobber off the horses’ lips. Really. Horse slobber. That probably wasn’t his only job – I’m guessing he also has to pick dirt and roadkill out of the horses’ hooves. Or help sober them up from a long night of drinking Bud out of their trough. This person’s job is a small step up from riding the little golf cart at the rear of the procession, carrying the shovels and pails, but only a small one.


The Budweiser Clydesdales and wagon. Note that the wagon was not put before the horses. (Not shown: Slobber-wiping assistant.)

We did the whole trip in one day, and overall it was a successful outing. It is our understanding that the waterfront turns into a giant party at night, and we could see signs of that reputation being true as we were leaving the main downtown area at about 6:30 pm. Bring Your-Party-Hat if you’re going to Stay-After-Dark in Put-in-Bay.

Soccer and UM Happenings
Soccer practices start again this week, and UM football takes over next weekend with the season opener against UConn (pronounced "Connecticut"). Students move in this week, so it will be back to long lines at the campus ice cream places until spring. And Meijer will be completely full of students buying beanbag chairs, full-length mirrors, and plastic milk crate shelves for a solid week.

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Tigers Win, and People We've Met

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These kids kept standing up and blocking my view of the game.

Tigers Game Recap

We went to the Tigers/Indians game last night in Detroit. None of us had been to Comerica Park before, and it was very nice. The weather was perfect, the food was good, our seats were good, and the Tigers stomped the Indians 6-0. The Tigers, who have not been playing well lately, apparently saved up all their hits for this game, in which they had 16. A tip of the baseball cap to Thomson Reuters, which has an annual outing to the park for employees, and we got two of our tickets free, as well as “fun money” vouchers for food and merchandise. There were fireworks after the game ended, and it was a lot of fun.


The view from our seats

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The “Noah Genda”

During our vacation in Frankfort, we met a retired couple at the Betsie Bay Inn restaurant. They were docked at Betsie Lake, which is in Frankfort, connected to Lake Michigan by a small channel. They told us they were nearing the end of a long boat journey through the US; they have been down rivers, up the Atlantic, and through the Great Lakes. Their boat is called “Noah Genda” (read it out loud for it to make sense.) I Googled their boat name and found a log of their travels on this website. It’s a very interesting trip, and they were very nice people. Their entry about Frankfort is here.

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Home Improvements: The Unplanned Kind

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Lots of fun at our house this week. We discovered that our downstairs toilet has been leaking water into the basement. We’re not sure how long it’s been leaking, but we noticed water dripping out of the furnace ducts earlier this summer and thought it was condensation from the very humid weather. On further inspection, we found it was the toilet, whose drain is directly over the duct.

The plumber told us that the flange, the connector between the toilet and the drain, did not rise up far enough to get a good seal – this is because the person who put in our vinyl floor raised the floor by about ¼”, but did not raise the flange, or suggest we do so. Because of this, the toilet had a minimal connection to the flange. The eventual breakdown of the wax ring on this minimal seal caused water to leak, which soaked the plywood floor and caused it to buckle, which made the leak even worse.

The plumber had more bad news: when the house was built, the builders put a floor joist directly under the spot where the toilet drain was supposed to be. To get around this, the plumber carved out a notch in the joist (not allowed by code) and installed a funnel-like adapter to the flange to allow the water to move a few inches to the side, then go down into the rest of the drain. Even a non-plumber like me can see this is not a very good setup. The plumber and carpenter are getting around this by installing a toilet that has a 10” rough-in instead of the standard 12”, which will give them a straight drain without any funnels and without having to cut into floor supports. I’m sorry the people who built the house and plumbed it did not have the patience or skill to see what they were doing was against code and reason.

The floor was replaced by the carpenter, and we had enough vinyl flooring left from the original installation that he could cover the new floor. The plumber installed a new drain and toilet, so now we’re all set again with a bathroom that works and a floor that isn’t rotting.

Next step: Cleaning out the ducts that had toilet water dripping on them. I think a blowtorch is in order, but it’s possible that a member of the duct-cleaning trade will have other options available.

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Ann Arbor Journal article about the LEGO competition

M's picture was in today's AA Journal newspaper, and it's also in the picture slideshow on their website with the story.

The reporter talked to him quite a bit at the competition, and I think that was his first media interview.

LEGO Competition Results and What Don's Reading

M and his awesome LEGO creation

LEGOs!
M won a medal at this year's LEGO competition, sponsored by the Ann Arbor Public Library. His scene featured a large boat, a dock, some divers and even some LED lights illuminating the interior of the boat. He won for "Best Architectural or Engineering" project. Congratulations!

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A couple of book reports from the "Breezy Summer Reading" library list...

Book 1
First up is "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. This is a biography of a doctor and humanitarian aid worker named Paul Farmer, whose primary work was on TB in Haiti. He also helped put programs in place in Peru and Russia.

One of the most impressive things about him and his group, Partners in Health, was how they brought the cost of TB medicines down. They lobbied the World Health Organization to put certain TB drugs on their preferred list of drugs, which was encouragement to pharmaceutical companies to produce generics for those drugs. The cost of treatment for a patient dropped dramatically - in one case, from $1,500 to only $150, and in another case, from $95 to 95 cents.

Book 2: The Second Book
The next book, and yes, I've been tearing through them lately, is Blind Descent, the story of two teams of people looking for the deepest caves on earth. If you think the people who climb Mt. Everest are crazy, you don't know these deep cavers. They are truly insane. If you like the idea of crawling through spaces no bigger than yourself for hundreds of feet, sleeping suspended from ropes with deafening waterfalls next to you, or scuba diving into black waters when you have no idea where the waters even go, or whether you'll get trapped, then this kind of exploring is definitely for you. And also you need to have your head checked. My hat is off to these people who have the guts to quite literally enter caves, pools of water, or other cracks knowing they might not return, and that no one would be able to save them.

I think would have enjoyed this book a little more if the author had accompanied them on their trips, which I don't think he did. He just learned about it by talking to many people and reading other books. Even if he had just gone to their base camps or done a little sump diving (read the book) I would have felt closer to the action.

At any rate, I'm not walking into any cave that doesn't have a gift shop by the parking lot, near where the buses drop off the tourists.

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We harvested some veggies from the garden today - some tomatoes and a pepper. Yummy! We're learning a lot, and not exactly getting the results we were hoping for, but we're not doing too badly for our first time.

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Electronics Project Update

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The boys and I worked on this small electronics project over the past few days. We bought it at the Maker Faire. The Cornfield Electronics site has a link to a neat “how to solder” PDF that we used. I was surprised how easily the kids picked up soldering – they did almost perfect joints every time.


M solders a component to the board.


K takes a break from concentrating on soldering to mug for the camera.


The finished product. It works by changing the LED (in the tall white tube) different colors as you move your hand over it.

I suppose some parents would be horrified to see an 8-year old handling a soldering iron, but we didn't have any mishaps. To ensure that everything went smoothly, I hired the cats to watch and make sure everything was up to OSHA standards for safety and cleanliness.

Our next project will be a larger project, a light-chasing “mouse” we bought at the Faire.

They got the “Dangerous” electronics set for Christmas, and we will soon open that and do some of the projects in it.

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From Ann Arbor to Frankfort to Detroit

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Frankfort's public beach rotates away from the sun's light as onlookers watch, helpless to stop it.

The sun has set on our latest summer excursion to Frankfort. We had a great time, with great weather, great food, and we met some interesting people. We logged many hours on the beach and went on a very relaxing canoe trip north of Frankfort. The canoe trip ended at an inlet to Lake Michigan, and we walked up to the lake while stone hunting - there were gazillions of flat, smooth stones for the kids to use for skipping practice.

On Saturday, we met Grandma and Grandpa B at the Maker Faire at Henry Ford Museum. The rain held off long enough for us to visit the "Learn to Solder" tent, ride a 6-person circular bicycle from Cirque Amongus, and watch the life-sized Mousetrap Rube Goldberg setup, which is based on the Mousetrap board game. There were plenty of other oddball and fun exhibits as well.

Before we left, we purchased some inexpensive starter circuit board sets that the boys and I will assemble in the coming days and weeks. They both left asking when their next opportunity to solder would be, and I'd hate for them to lose that enthusiasm about it.

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