I did something really stupid on Sunday while up in Jim Thorpe: I dropped my camera. I brought it with me to take on the trails and as I was taking it out of the car, the strap got caught on something and it pulled the camera right out of my hands. It fell upside down on top of the flash housing.

The most obvious damage occurred to the built-in flash. The little plastic hook that releases the flash and allows it to pop up had broken off, so the flash doesn’t stay down anymore. After checking the camera over I realized there was other damage to the flash that was now keeping it from firing. Thankfully everything else seems ok.

This evening I took apart the flash housing to see what was going on and I realized that the flash is still functioning, but that another plastic component had broken off, keeping a connection from being made. There are two little metal contacts that look like they should be pulled together when the flash pops up. When I do this with a pair of tweezers it does what it’s supposed to and fires. If I want to get this working again I’ll have to figure out a way to get these two contacts touching.

The set of contacts are towards the bottom of the exposed flash housing:

The little rectangular hole here is where the plastic hook should be:

Photos courtesy of my old Nikon 990 that I took out of storage.

We spent this past weekend up in Jim Thorpe for our 6th anniversary. Believe it or not, it was the first time we had been alone for a night without the girls (4+ years). It was well worth it… Neither of us could remember the last time we woke up in bed without a child sprawled out between the two of us.

Saturday we spent our time walking around town, stepping in and out of the shops, and even took a tour of the Asa Packer mansion. – This place had some insane woodworking and carvings all throughout the house. Lunch was had at JT’s Steak & Ale and dinner at a place called Moya. – We recommend both.

That night we ended up staying in a B&B called the Minnie Victoria. Susan, the inn keeper, was such a pleasant host that it made our stay even that more enjoyable. Her house was gorgeous and she made us these delicious little heart-shaped waffles in the morning. How we ended up there was a bit comical… We had reservations at another B&B downtown, but when we got there to check in we were greeted by an individual that my wife uses the anology of Jack Nicholson in The Shining, as a way to describe him. This guy’s creepy factor was through the roof and the inn itself was something left to be desired. We couldn’t run out of that place any faster than we did.

On Sunday we went hiking up and down the rails to trails along the Lehigh River. Here was a small set of falls that we came across:

We also picked up a few loose railroad spikes that were strewn around the old tracks:

I like to fly a flag outside our house during the nicer months and for the past few years we’ve had one up, but it’s taken a beating through the elements. The sun had faded it and worst of all it was torn up beyond belief, because every once in a while the wind would be so bad that it would get itself caught on the roof gutter above it. I finally got around to buying a replacement for it a few weeks ago, but it didn’t seem right to just throw out the old one. I did some reading, and it turns out there’s a proper way to dispose of the American Flag – See Title 4, Chapter 1, Sec 8k of the US Code Colletion. So I did as this mentions; respectfully folded up the flag and burned it in a fire this evening.

Finished up a new painting last week. It’s been a while since I’ve painted, but it felt good to get back into it. This particular piece had been started last year – just never got around to finishing it. Not sure why, but I felt inspired the other night and decided to take a swing at it.

The two pieces of 2×4′s in the center came from a pile of wood my Dad gave me as part of his winemaking equipment. He would stack up these blocks of wood in his wine press as he crushed and pressed the grapes. Some of the red discoloring on them is probably from the grapes.

The painting measure 36″ H x 48″ W. I used a plastering technique I taught myself last summer over top of most of the surface. House paint was used for the colors along with roofing tar around the blocks of wood. Rusty nails protrude from the wood with some copper wire wrapped around a few of them. And the four things in the corners are carriage bolts.

A detail of one of the four carriage bolts:

A detail of the 2×4 blocks:

Another detail of the right side block and the “S” that was on it:

So this morning I thought about my yard’s to-do list, specifically with regards to our lawn. It needs to be aerated… badly. I tend to not bag my lawn clippings and so the thatch that accumulates is pretty thick. I’ve known about these silly shoes you can buy that will help you aerate your lawn but from what I’ve read they don’t have the best of reviews (in regards to their design as well as their use). Regardless, I thought to myself… hey, I think I can make those! And so for the next couple of hours I proceeded to do just that…

1. Grab a pair of old sneakers.
2. Trace the outline of the sneakers onto 1/2″ pressure treated lumber, and cut out the patterns.
3. Align the sneakers with the boards and drill two holes (one in front and one in back) through the bottoms of the shoes and into the wood.
4. Pre-drill a bunch of random holes in the wood, large enough to except 1 1/2″ decking screws.
5. Proceed to drive your screws through the boards.
6. Fasten the shoes to your iron-maiden-like platforms with carriage bolts.
7. Walk in circles around your lawn so that your neighbors think you’re crazy.

Yes, I know… it’s a bit ridiculous. But I laughed out loud at myself this afternoon when I tested them out and that was well worth it.

They seem to go into the ground only about half an inch or so - which hardly does any good - but I hacksawed off the protruding ends of the lag bolts so when I use them again they’ll hopefully go in a little further. I figure I’ll use them every once in a while when I mow the lawn – that way I’ll only sometimes look like nut job while I’m out there. :)