Sunny Day In Muscatine.

 They predicted rain/snow....90%!    We must have lucked out because the weather was close to perfect for a pleasant 10.5 mile run.   Cheryl even added on the 3.5 miles over her usual distance  because of the optimum conditions.

   Currently,  the clouds have returned and that "30% chance" is looking more likely.  I'm hoping the rain/snow holds off totally or simply passes us by all together.

Loading the barges

The trucks lined up to unload

So what is there to say about Muscatine that has not already been blogged about?   Well,   No train.   The barges and grain trucks were in full swing today.   With the wind being minimal, the barges did not hang around for photos as they did in Davenport.   But the river looked calm and had receded a bit.  As did most of the snow on the trails.


Other than that,   we returned home and I have been experimenting with some versions of Origami Koi.

First I wanted to see if I could create scales without actually folding the paper.   Folded scales quickly begin to look like crap if there are too many layers of the thicker paper.

I liked how things looked...so I tried adding a second layer of scales.  I still had to figure out where the folds went without messing with the parts of the fish that do not have scales.

Third attempt...with larger paper this time.   (20") I added too many folds this time.   But it each attempt seems to look a little better.

Latest attempt

Today's attempt!   I reversed the head and fins.  I may see how this looks with larger paper.   Hopefully I will be able to incorporate all of these revelations together in one final finished fish...and it won't take over three hours....  We shall see.

I like this one.   Time to refine it and repeat.

Tomorrow, we head back to the Twin Cities for the Hot Dash.










And then we begin our plan for the Big Boston.   Cheryl is beginning to get scared a little.   Mostly on the travel situation.   We have never taken a train before, so it will be an adventure and a nail-biter at the same time.   I can't wait!

This Week In Origami...

I know I have not posted much during the week, but that does not mean that I have not been busy.   Well,  sort of.... I try to keep the larger projects to the weekends.  But during the week,  if I have any energy after working at ACT,  I try to fold at least a few easy projects to "stay in shape" as they say.  A co-worker gave me some paper made from recycled coffee filters so I had to give it a try.  I folded a few simple cranes in various poses to see how the paper handled wet folding.  I liked it!  But the small sheet size will ultimately limit what I can fold with it.  But for the basic simple designs, it should work well!
Then there was Valentines day!  I folded a few roses for the ladies in our group.   I had a few left over, so Cheryl suggested that I offer the remainders to the men......Er.   That was rather uncomfortable and awkward.  I don't know that it needs to be said,  but apparently,  females do not see the innate problem with men giving other men flowers.  So, for the few female readers that may stumble upon this blog,  I will share the ground rules for acceptable male to male contact.   One:  Shaking hands.  

This is the only form acceptable when greeting a stranger...and you only need to do it once!  After the initial greeting, a wave will be sufficient for the remainder of the engagement.  The only other acceptable male contact I can think of is in the army on the battle field pulling a comrade out of a burning vehicle or into a foxhole during a artillery barrage!  Everything else is, at best, frowned upon.   Men do not hug, braid each others hair, soap each other up in the shower.  So....don't ask us to give flowers to male co-workers and think that is "precious"!


Other than that,  I have been working on a few larger items for the weekend, but none of them are completed as of the writing of this post.   A Bulldog and a simple Dragon are in the works, as well as another ancient dragon. Hopefully I will have them completed by Tuesday and will have better pictures to show off.

  In the mean time,  A couple of things:  One:  a sleeping cat!  And two,  a fork the defies gravity!  It was one of those moments where something unexpected happens and you simple have to take a picture because you don't see something like that everyday.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend! 

Origami Pegasus. The full metal!

I tried out my new paper tonight and I seem to have found some of it's limitations. Its great in that it folds well and is very difficult to rip. It has the consistency of paper money. BUT it folds about as well in that it is thick for finer creasing. Ah well. It was fun to work with. As with other fabric paper, it still gradually unfolds. My guess is that I should stick to easier models. I'll need to find either thinner metallic paper for those complex ones. In other news, Cheryl and I finished the complete series and movie finale of the FULL METAL ALCHEMIST! Cheryl is quite addicted. Lucky break for me since she does not like Anime as much as I do. With this series, she has become a fan! ( as in the crazy FANATIC /Trekkie type.) she bought the disks and music and posters! It IS a great anime series that you can totally immerse yourself in. I would highly recommend it to any and all anime fans. You will laugh and cry!

Origami paper from Japan!

We could only find one elongated seat tonight, so I was limited to carving only two seats. I'll have to wait till the stores get resupplied. But the exciting news is that my WASHI paper arrived from Japan today! I'm so excited! I can't wait to try it out! Washi paper is hand made paper that is used by many origami pros. I have not made up my mind if I want to use it all on one project, or divide it up into several. Its rather large, and my small 6 inch sheets limit the number of complex models I can try. Cheryl also threw in some Hello Kitty paper for me. I'm not sure how it will fold either. Can't wait to try it!