Pirate Cannon featured on Attack of the Show

Giant Gargoyle Halloween Display

This is the 9 foot gargoyle in the yard. The cauldron at his feet smokes and uses lighting to simulate flames. The sound effects will be triggered using a wireless motion sensor that will catch everyone within about 150 feet.

The projects are all coming to a close and I'll be posting a lot of instruction sets for those interested.

Pirate Cannon

The cannon is 5 foot long with a 1.5 inch opening for the barrel. It fires pneumatically and the air storage tank and other mechanisms will be hidden by the rack. The intention was to use low pressure air to fire a soft ball across the yard as a kid’s game for the party. I ran out of time and hit a couple of snags so it has become a Halloween piece. I built the guts out of schedule 40 rated pipe, so it will fire at 150 psi max. In other words, with the right projectile it could hit the 300-400 yard range.
The cannon is built from rigid foam insulation and coated with "Foam Coat" a commercial product used primarily on theatrical sets. It proved to be a bit fragile and expensive for the results. I will fiberglass this cannon to stand up to years of use and some occasional abuse. The rack will be finished with foam and carved to look like wood.
If you want to build one, I working on a piece to be published on www.instructables.com and I'll let you know when it's ready.

Fire in the hole!

Potato Cannon for Privateers

Everything is Schedule 40 (pressure rated) and carefully welded. It performs very well and I haven't had a single misfire, just ask the neighbors. For fuel I have found "Static Guard" burns clean. For the next one, I'll start with a larger combustion chamber and add a chamber fan. I may even tackle propane injection.

The chamber is 3 inch to 1.5 inch reducing cleanout wye with a cap on the bottom and the wye. I used a flush bushing to 1.5 inch threaded. The barrel is 36 inches with a male thread adapter. I could have just used a reducer to go from the chamber to the barrel, but I wanted have the ablility to change barrels out.

The wye is useful because I don't really tote the gun around and sitting on my deck shooting stuff into the woods, it's more convenient to load the fuel into the cleanout than from the bottom.

The ignition system is a BBQ replacement unit housed in a 3/4 inch Tee, which I epoxied to the side prior to paint. I used a rotary tool to remove material from the Tee so it fit snugly against the combustion chamber. The wires were finished with spades because I want to move the igniter between projects as I'm experimenting. I used stainless steel bolts threaded through the chamber body creating a 1/4 inch spark gap. After testing the spark, I cut off the bold heads so I could use the wing nuts.

The image is cut from thin sheet aluminum and epoxied to the body.

Happy Birthday Aidan

Aidan's Birthday was fun and I'm pretty sure the kids had a good time. Although the cannon didn't fire as planned, everyhing else worked as intended. My first 3D cake wasn't all it could be, but as with everything else, I learned quite a bit and I have a lot of ideas for next time. I have 5 months to work on Jessica's party. Any ideas?

Doc Gibbs: Cooler than the average bear...

I ran into Doc Gibbs in Chelsea Market after the taping. He was very nice, and patient enough to pose for a couple of pictures. The Gypsy is one of the winners from Green Bay donchaknow.

My Dressing Room Was Small and Had an Off Odor

Taping the Emeril Live Show was an experience I will never forget. The VIP treatment I received left a little to be desired, but overall it was worthwhile.

Emeril's Halloween Special

I'm in New York to tape the Emeril Live show that was postponed. Anyone want to FedEx me a couple of valium? Please.

Time to make the donuts

Trophy Bass on "El Salto"

Sunset in Mexico on "El Salto", fishing with guide Erin Rogers.

Here are the links to the posts Joe made to his site www.ctfisherman.com about TWO trips he made down south to fish with Erin. In Late December 2005 and Early February 2006, both times using my brother as their guide. If you want to fish the world famous trophy bass fishery, with top quality equipment and the only professional American guide on the lake, drop me an email and I'll get you in touch with Erin.

Below are some quotes from Joe's articles:

"Welcome to the site Cord. Here's a link to my first report in late Dec.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/19/t/001615.html

I'll send you some pics as well. I can't say enough about Erin. If he weren't there I'm not sure I'd go back. I'll be seeing him again in May. He's an amazing guy and a great outdoorsman.

He had us laughing (in between catching fish) the entire time. He is someone that I felt compelled to stay in touch with. I figured the best way was to go see him as often as I could.lol Welcome aboard"

"...So we arrive at the lake at four P.M the next day and got two hours of fishing in. We were fortunate enough to have the best guide on the lake, an american named Erin Rogers. His skills and knowledge impressed me continually throughout my trip.

So now we have two days of fishing and I'm hopeful for a double digit fish. Unfortunatley it didn't happen this trip. We did manage 53 fish over 7 lbs however and I landed five over nine w/ the biggest going 9.8. The curve to that fish story was that not only did I land the 9.8 but a 4 and change on the same rattle trap. While fighting a 4+lb fish this monster 9.8 comes from nowhere right in front of the boat and hits the fish and rattletrap knocking the fish sideways about a foot. It was probably the most exciting moment of my bass fishing career."

"Our guide Erin Rogers from Pro Bass Adventures again was able to put us on good fish under tough conditions."

Big Bass

This is my brother Erin Rogers. I was having coffee this morning, flipping through channels and found a fishing show about the lake Erin works "El Salto" in Mexico. I did a quick Google search and found a forum post about a fishing trip to "Pro Bass Adventures", the premium outfit Erin works for on the lake.

King Cake

I always get disappointed on Elvis's birthday, because for years I have made him a cake and set him a place at the dinner table and he never shows up. I've been holding onto the hope that all the conspiracy rumors were true and that he was living somewhere in the Midwest in hiding. This year I made a cake with milk chocolate filling and a bittersweet whipped cream frosting.
Maybe Elvis doesn't show because I'm not making his favorite dinner. I've always made a fried peanut butter and nanner sandwich garnished with four vicodin and a big glass of milk. Maybe next year I'll try something different.

Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year

Millie, Mojo (hiding) and the kids wish you a Happy New Year. Mongo not know.

The Reverend Horton Heat

The Reverend Horton Heat
Top Cat's Cincinnati
December 20th, 2005

Brined Turkey with Sage Butter and Maple Glaze

 
 

No pie for you...

 
 

Mongo only pawn, in game of life.

 
 

Huge Metorite found in Kansas

 
 

My favorite girl, not my favorite hat

 


The first of many fashion shows for Jessica. 

The Dog Ate My Homework

I worked for a couple of hours on Sunday, making this mock up of a larger project. Imagine a couple of sails, windows for the galley, and candy decoration and you have a "Gingerbread Pirate Ship". I may have to kill Millie.
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The last game of the season was an invitational at Tomahawk Stadium.
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Japan's Hayabusa Closes in on Asteroid Landing Site

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 03 November 2005
11:28 am ET

Stunning imagery is being returned by Japan?s Hayabusa space probe as it draws closer to its celestial target: asteroid Itokawa.



Now just a few miles distant from the space rock, the spacecraft is poised for an historic attempt to collect and return a specimen to Earth from such an object. Imagery from Hayabusa is being used by Japanese scientists to target potential touchdown sites on the rocky world.



Hayabusa was rocketed into space from Japan?s Kagoshima Space Center on May 9, 2003 and is a project of that country?s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), a space science research division arm of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Hayabusa arrived at its exploration target, near Earth asteroid Itokawa, on September 12, propelled there via ion engines and an Earth swing-by to put the probe on a heading toward Itokawa.
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Click any picture for a closer look

The side of the house, you can see our ghost rig in the background.
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My Jar Jar Costume

Aidan, Jessica, and Dad. What do you think of my costume?
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Our Ghost

I scared some hillbillies with this one. It's a gauze ghost with glowing eyes. The dress is moving, and flowing and the whole thing floats and glows. You can't see the rig, fan, or black light. Next year, I'll control the black light remotely and it will have a small motor to move it up and down. It will appear to float, move and then disappear. My best work, I must say...
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Art Bell would be proud...
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