2015

Oscars 2015

qeldoq — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 02:26:58 +0000

Once again, the animated movie provided us with the best options for costumes. This year, it was The Lego Movie. We played Wyldstyle and Emmett, the two lead characters. I bought a pack of hair extensions to go into the same wig that Stephen had worn as Snape a few years earlier. And some ribbon to sew onto a hooded velour jacket. Stephen bought an inexpensive hard hat and hi-vis vest and pants. We switched our usual roles, and I ran the camera while Stephen did the interviews. We had a blast, and most folks didn’t recognize me at all!

Harem Pants

qeldoq — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 07:17:31 +0000

I purchased a great jacket from J. Peterman at the holidays last year. And I wanted to make a complete costume around this jacket. I thought that some harem pants and a shell would work well.

After searching the internet, I found this video:

Key points: You only need 3 measurements to draft the pattern for the pants, plus your waist for the waistband. You only need 4 seams (both legs, crotch and waistband) plus 2 short hems.
Measurements: Waist to Ankle. Ankle/Heel circumference. Inseam.
Fabric needed: 2x (Waist to Ankle + 8-12″), +8″ for waistband

Tips:

angle the ankle end a bit, or you will have it all bunched right at the ankle because it won’t come up the calf at all.
if you have a long rise, add more length at the top (waist measurement to top)
although the pants are symmetrical front to back, if you are using a waistband, you can either attach it with a shorter rise in the front, or create a shaped waistband with more length on the back
if you are making an gathered waistband using elastic, consider using “sport elastic” with a drawstring

Here’s the final outfit

Erland & Angelena’s Wedding

qeldoq — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 07:10:35 +0000

Our friends Erland and Angelena were married last weekend. Stephen was the officiant, and I was one of the photographers. Attendees were encouraged to dress up in Renaissance or other costumes.

I wore the J.Peterman jacket and harem pants (see that post). Stephen wore the frock coat I made for the Snape costume. And the bride and groom were dressed as a Queen and King of England.
Photos here

I had to take down the gallery plug-in because it caused a problem. 10/22/2015

Drip Irrigation conversion

qeldoq — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 07:51:28 +0000

With California’s drought continuing through its 4th year now, we are all being asked to conserve water and cut our usage by 20-30% from a couple of years ago. One of the biggest areas of usage for most folks is landscape irrigation (i.e., sprinklers).
When we did the landscape revision in 2008, we weren’t really thinking about this and everything put in was a spray head. There was some duplication in areas, although not a lot. And, of course, we now have mature plants, which don’t need as much water. So we’ve combined 5 spray circuits into 2 drip circuits. It’s been interesting learning about the tools and options out there.

We have a mixture of Rainbird’s 1800 heads and Unispray heads. The Unisprays are mostly in areas where we wanted a really short throw (2′ or so). I didn’t want to have to dig up all of these sprinkler heads, so was happy to learn that Rainbird makes caps for the 1800 heads (part# 1800CAPOFF), although they are often hard to find. Most stores geared towards retail customers won’t even know that they exist. Unfortunately, they don’t make caps for the Unispray heads. Nor do they make “blank” nozzles that don’t actually deliver water when under pressure. Rainbird also makes some nice drip conversion pieces and sets, with “Easy Fit” connections. More on this below.

My limiting factor was which sprinkler heads I could cap off. I started with just reducing the number on one circuit by capping half. Then I went to a circuit where we only had a couple of plants left (and no plans to replace the others), just to reduce the volume used when watering. And then I thought it would make more sense to convert to drip. Our local Orchard Supply Hardware store had the Rainbird conversion kit (RCKIT1PK), and we had some leftover parts from when we first bought the house, so I figured it would be easy. It mostly was. I converted one circuit along the fence, with the star jasmine and some other shrubs. The biggest problem was finding the 1800 heads, buried now under leaves and ground cover that had blown up to the fence line. I capped all of those heads, except the one that I put the conversion on. It worked well. And then I realized that it would be easier to extend that line to cover the entire fence and I wouldn’t have to worry about how to cap off the Unisprays – I could just turn off that entire circuit. I did the same thing around the side and back of the house, which converted three spray circuits into one drip circuit.

Now to figure out what to do with the “back 40” area, which is three more circuits. Some of the plants there are looking pretty over-grown, so we may replant to something a bit more drought-tolerant and switch to drip at the same time.

Rainbird Easy-Fit Connectors – a mini-review:

These include straight, elbow and T connectors, as well as 1/2″ and 3/4″ adapters (male and female, designed to screw on to the kit or onto the end of a pipe), and a Flush Cap adapter.

You can easily slide your 1/2″ hose onto the connectors. The nice thing here is that you are basically wedging the hose between two layers, so the increased pressure when there is water in the pipe actually helps to keep the connection tight and leak-proof. But you can also take it all back apart as you wish.

However, the adapters “click” into place and cannot be easily removed. This does not seem to be what they had intended (especially given the flush cap adapter). Perhaps there is a separate sort of tool that is needed to be able to separate the parts, but if so, it’s not something they have information about on their website. Basically, you need something that will slip down between the adapter and the connector wall that will push apart the two pieces so you can pull them apart.

The kit is relatively easy to find, which includes the replacement body (which you don’t have to use), the filter, a T connector and the 1/2″ female adapter (MDCF50FPT). The rest of the pieces are available through Rainbird, some on-line retailers, and some commercial landscape supply stores.