The "Digital vs. Printed" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at a few stories dealing with the open campus program that has been started in Lancaster County that features three high schools that use digital textbooks.  The courses vary from one school to the next, but students from all three schools may participate and select a program that has been posted by any one of the high schools.  They are bypassing the big textbooks and finding free material to teach the online classes.  Many schools in my county are starting to use digital textbooks.  There is a company in California known as CK-12 that makes traditional textbooks obsolete.  Good or bad?  Well, for many students it takes that huge backpack off their back and gives them more space in their school locker.  The textbook content can be updated more often through the stroke of a few keys on a computer, saving the cost of new textbooks all the time.  The digital textbooks can be interactive with not only student, but parent involvement.  Teachers can check to see if students have been logging on to the Internet to do their homework as well as answer questions that students may have while online.  My concern with the digital textbooks deals with the negative or minus aspects of them.  Who pays for the computers that all the students are going to need to access the online courses.  I'm sure everyone doesn't have a laptop or notepad to use.  Will inter-city schools be able to afford the digital textbooks and laptops?  And, aren't the computers more costly than a traditional textbook?   McGraw-Hill, one of the USA's largest book publishers says that they still have to pay for the rights to use the information no matter if it is online or in print.  They don't have to pay for the printing, binding and shipping of the textbooks, but they still have to pay for their workers to write the programs and continually update the material.  Now, my biggest concern is in the last sentence I wrote.  Both my sons are in the printing business.  They both are pressmen who supervise the running of large web presses that produce printed material.  How safe is their job if more and more schools decide to eliminate traditional textbooks?  Will technology put them on the job-hunting line?  I know that printing will never totally disappear.  Many now read their newspaper online, but there are still a large percentage, including myself, that enjoy sitting in my easy chair while reading the news.  Printed paper legal documents will not vanish too quickly either.  I just read that the local high school newspaper just went online and I wondered to myself what will become of the yearbook.  I just don't see that disappearing.  Having a digital version of the yearbook would make it hard for students to sign it.  And it's quite a bit harder to lose a large yearbook than it is a CD that by the time you want to look up a classmate for your 25th class reunion, the digital format will have changed at least a dozen times.  So, please keep those presses running.  It's my wish for the future of the printing trade.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Gingerbread Fantasy" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Taking my traditional trip to the RLPS Architectural Firm to see their legendary gingerbread display.  For the past couple of years I have posted stories with plenty of photos to give you an idea what it is like to visit a town made out of candy, cookies, pasta, pretzels and plenty of gingerbread.  Reese, Lower, Patrick and Scott resided at the top of the street where I live until this year.  They left their beautiful building at the top of the hill and moved into their new building near the nature preserve on the Oregon Pike.  Granted it is only a five minute drive from my house, but too far to walk as Carol and I always did in the past.  

The interior of the new RLPS building.  Pretty impressive!

I must admit their new digs are spectacular.  I have included one shot of the interior, but after the tons of snow melt with warmer springtime weather, I will post a story showing you what an office should look like.  Amazing!!  For the past 23 years RLPS has sponsored their holiday spectacular that is designed, built and constructed by the employees of the firm.  Most of the architects some up with a house, hotel, villa or accessory to contribute to the cause.  This year's display looks to be about 25 feet long and 15 feet wide, covered with just about every type of sweet you can imagine.  The theme this year, their 24th year, is "Italian Ice."  It reminds me of my visit to Venice which I took years ago.  Around the island they built is an amazing look-alike sea.  The houses, villas, etc. sit atop an outcropping of gingerbread that must be close to 1/2" thick.  What I would've given to have lived on an island such as this.  Places with names such as Scarpe da Giuseppe, Villa al Mare, La Belle Vita Capone's Candy Cave, Casa Caramallo, and my favorite Flurriaro's Ristorante are scattered throughout the island.  Evidently my favorite was also the favorite of many others, since I asked another viewer and was told that Flurriaro's was the top vote getter this year.  My tour guide for the day is the same as it has been in the past.  Jim, a former student of mine in Graphic Arts and Photography, works for RLPS as an architect and has been more than willing to give me a personalized tour of not only the display, but of his new work place.  I mentioned to Jim that I would love to bring my kids and grandkids to visit, but their only time they are open for display showing is the same evening of a family party.  He graciously told me he could come in slightly earlier so we could do both.  So, I plan to make a second trip soon to see the "Italian Ice" under the stars.  Well, time to check out the daytime version of RLPS.  I only hope my photos can do justice to the beautiful and scrumptious display.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them.

One side of the display that shows the beach and buildings.

The display from the other side showing the Hotel de Belle.

This is the large Abbey that was the centerpiece made by quite a few people.

This is called Dolce Casa Sul Lago (Sweet house by the lake)

Another favorite titled Casa Caramallo. 

Check out the pasta on the Villa Farfalle.

This is North Star Villa.

This is the Fish Market located on a small point that juts into the sea.

This is another view of the Fish Market. 

Villa al Mare

Catchy name in Pier One Fishports!

My favorite and the #1 vote-getter called Flurriaro's Ristorante

Close-up view of people sitting at chairs at the Ristorante.

Final photo showing the puffy clouds in the sky and the glossy water around the island.

The "Gold, Frankincense and Many Doubts: Part II" Story

Foreword:  Christmas will be here soon.  How do I know?  Just look around you at all the lights, ornaments and 1/2 price sale signs in windows of stores and businesses.  I've been looking at them for at least a month now.  Starts earlier every year.  Black Friday isn't what it used to be.  Commercialism of Christmas is everywhere.  Happy Holidays signs greet us instead of Merry Christmas.  Santa's appear on roofs of those who have no idea why we celebrate Christmas.  Sad, isn't it?  Why can't we just celebrate Christmas as it was meant to be celebrated; as a simple birthday party for baby Jesus.  Well, for one reason, money rules!  Lucky it only comes once a year.

It was an ordinary day.  Just reading in the paper about a few live outdoor manger scenes in Lancaster County.  All are sponsored by churches with their parishioners playing the parts associated with the manger scene.  All are probably interpretations of Jesus' birth with the baby Jesus in the manger sitting near farm animals in a stable.  Yeah, in Lancaster County I'll bet the animals are real also.  Wow, I can't imagine standing outside in the cold for a few hours while portraying Mary or Joseph.  You really think Jesus was born in Bethlehem on December 25 where the winter month of December has average highs of 14 degrees and average lows of 7 degrees. That poor donkey!  Could the real Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus survive in a manger at the rear of an inn?  Makes you think.  But, it is tradition to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child on December 25th and we all need security with religious dates to make it easier to believe in them.  In a Lancaster newspaper article I read last year around this time of the year titled "When was Jesus Christ born?", Helen Colwell Adams writes about all the "ifs" of December 25.  I found it very interesting so I read more on the subject and will give you some of my interpretations.  The argument for a winter Christmas starts around the 4th century when historians and theologians were celebrating a winter Christmas, but it wasn't until 525 that the year of Jesus' birth was fixed.  That was when Dionysius Exiguus determined Jesus was born 8 days before a New year's day in the year 1 A.D.  Was he right?  Others say that "The Star of Bethlehem" was a comet in 5 B.C. and therefore Jesus was probably born at that time.  Herod the Great is assumed to have died in the spring of 4 B.C. and was alive when Jesus was born, so 4 B.C. is unlikely.  Jesus was also said to have been born two years before King Herod died in the spring of 4 B.C. Taking all this info into account, scholars say that Jesus was born between March 9 and May 4, 5 B.C.  Then other scholars say that Herod died in 3 B.C.  And yet, Luke tells us that Jesus was about 30 years of age when he began his ministry in 29 A.D.  Back up those 30 years and you get 1 B.C.  Right?  Not really because there is no zero year so it would be 2 B.C.  Most early Christian sources do suggest 3 B.C. to 2 B.C. as a reasonable time for his birth.  John the Baptist was said to have been born half a year before Jesus was born and it is said that John was born in the spring of 4 B.C. and Jesus in September of 4 B.C.  Are we really living in 2013 A.D. or 2017 A.D.?  And, how could Jesus have been born in a year with a B.C.?  Doesn't that mean before Christ?  History is hard to determine, but does that really matter anyway.  Many Protestants and Catholics alike become quite emotional when you try to dispel the fact that December 25 is not the true date of Christmas.  I must say, I'm one of them!  So there!  Merry Christmas.  And, I'll see you in church on Christmas Eve, December 24th!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Gold, Frankincense and Many Doubts: Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Decorations for Christmas are almost complete.  Carol and I put the 12' tree in place and made sure all the lights were working.  She decorated it with the couple hundred ornaments we have accumulated during our 46 years of married life while I took our shell collection out of our coffee table and replaced them with Christmas photos taken over the past 46 years.  As I arranged the photos in the two compartments of the table I stopped often, showing a photo to Carol and we would reminisce about it.  

LDub, Dr. Martin and my dad as the three Kings.

One of my favorites is a photo of the Three Kings posing by the altar  in our church.  The kings were Dr. Martin, my dad and myself.  We were each wearing outlandish outfits as was the custom for kings to do at the time when Jesus was born.  But, exactly what was that date?  Most assume that it was December 25, eight days before a new year's day in the year 1 A.D.  Many don't agree with that date.  And as for the three Kings ...... many believe it may have been anywhere from two to a dozen or more kings or as they are called elsewhere in the Bible, magi or wise men (Matthew 2: 1-11 refers to "magi from the East").  But, magi were astrologers and counselors to kings.   And, when did the magi really visit the baby Jesus?  Hey, our nativity scene, made by Carol's friend Margaret, has three magi or kings in it, so they must have visited right after Jesus was born.  Matthew 2: 11 says that "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him."  Later in Matthew it says the wise men told King Herod of their plan to visit the little "king" and they never returned, prompting Herod to order all children under two years old killed.  To me that suggests that Jesus wasn't a baby at the time the kings appeared at his doorstep bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Oh yeah, I was always the third king and had to bring the myrrh to the manger.  Know what myrrh is?  It is a gum resin that is used to make incense.  Nice gift for a baby wasn't it.  So, we really haven't determined when the kings-magi-wise men really visited the Christ child, have we?   At times I think all this is hogwash, but I'll go on.  And, how about those shepherds and their flocks in the fields.  In the Bible it says they were watching their flocks in the fields when Jesus was born, but it was the custom to bring the sheep into centrally located pens or corrals as the weather turned colder and the rainy season began, especially at night.  So, would the flocks be in the fields in December?  I think not.  In Luke 2: 1-4 it tells us that Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem to register in a Roman census.  These census' weren't taken in the winter because of the cold temperatures and the roads being in a poor condition.  And,  just where was Jesus born?  

My wife's longtime friend, Marg, made this manger scene
for her years ago.  Hand-made with dough.  Pretty neat!

In my house he is in a manger with his mom and dad, animals, an Angel looking down on him with Amahl closeby.  But in real life, was he really in a manger?  Did the holy family really stay in the back of an inn in Bethlehem?  Back then the word "inn" (Greek for "kataluma") meant guest room.  A well known biblical scholar has suggested that Jesus was born at a family's home in the area where animals were kept, where the family may have placed Mary and Joseph because of questions surrounding the legitimacy of Mary's pregnancy.  Well anyway,  Merry Christmas!  Tomorrow I'll attempt to figure out the exact year and day of the exact month that Jesus really was born.  Does it really matter?  Nah! After all, it's Christmas to me!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Exercising the Brain" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with Jack S. as we sat eating lunch with my mom at Moravian Manor in Lititz, PA.  We knew Jack and his wife, Jackie, from church and as he told us about his wife he teared up.  Jackie has been in the Skilled Care unit for the last couple of weeks after her Alzheimers became too much for Jack to handle.  Alzheimers is the most common form of dementia and has no cure.  As it progresses it worsens and eventually will lead to death.  The disease is diagnosed in people over 65 although early-onset Alzheimers can occur much earlier.  It affects 1 in every 85 people around the world.  Some of the early symptoms are just taken for granted, since they are thought to be age-related or things that just happen as we get older.  Not being able to remember recent events is an early symptom, but don't most people tend to forget events?  It can be diagnosed by the use of a brain scan.  There seems to be no cause for the disease, but is associated with plaques and tangles in the brain.  There currently are no treatments that can stop or reverse the progression of the disease.  Mental stimulation, exercise and a balanced diet are said to help arrest the onset of the disease.  Do you read the newspaper regularly, play games, do cross-word puzzles, read books, try to see the differences in two photos were one has been altered, and ……. well you get the idea that you need to keep your brain active.  My neighbor, who tends to send me emails every day that feature jokes, funny stories, and the like, actually sent me a mental stimulation test today that says it is an anti-Alzheimer's exercise.  So, I took it.  Easy to do ….. all you have to do is find faces in drawings that are given to you.  Following are the drawings so you can also try the exercise.  I was able to find the faces in each picture, but if you can't find them, don't feel as if you're doomed.  Some people study the pictures too hard and get fustrated.  Me, well I just scanned them a few times and got farthur away from my computer and shortly after, the faces popped out at me.  These types of excercises are definitely good for your brain.  But doing them just this one time is not enough.  Continue to read and do the other items I mentioned above.  You notice that sitting hour after hour watching TV isn't on the list.  Good luck on the puzzles.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Can you see the baby in this picture?

Can you see the kissing couple?

Can you see the three women?

There's a face in here.  Can you find it?

There are 10 faces in this tree.  Can you find them?

Well, how'd you do?  Could you at least see some of the faces?  Now when I look at the drawings I immediately see the faces as if they etched in my brain.

The " Absolute Last Time I Do This" Story

It was an ordinary day.  And …….. I'm very upset!  Reason:  The stained glass Hawaiian Shirt that I just hung in the window for a photo has a slight crack in it.  The kind of crack that resembles the red dot on the cashmere sweater that George Costanza bought for Elaine in one of the Seinfeld episodes.  You know it's there only because someone told you about it, but you probably wouldn't have seen it otherwise.  No matter how you look at it your eyes go directly to the crack.  I didn't see it, needless to say, or I would have replaced it before I finished the job.  Now that I have it soldered in place and have the edge around the job, I can't just take the piece out and place a new one in its place.  I would have to take the entire border off and it would take a few more hours of work.  Not worth the effort since I already have about 10 hours on the project.  

The making of the Hawaiian Shirt stained glass window panel.

So, what do I do now?  Well, first after I finish this story, I will have to email the customer who ordered it and tell him what has happened and see if he is still interested in the window.  If he no longer wants the window, I will hang in in one of my windows in my dining room.  After all it is really neat!  And, I have decided that I will absolutely no longer make anymore stained glass projects for anyone.  My fingers are a mess with open wounds and my hands are killing me.  Doing hand stained-glass items is extremely hard on you hands, especially if they are as ancient as mine.  I hadn't worked in glass for a few years because of the strain on my hands, but after getting an email asking if I still made the Hawaiian shirts, I got in the mood to do one more.  BIG MISTAKE!  Now I have the chore of informing my customer.  The customer: Gentleman by the name of Wayne L. (no last names will be used).  He asked - Do you still make or have available your stained glass Hawaiian shirts?  If so, please provide a price.  

Completed shirt. After cutting the individual pieces with a
hand glass cutter, grinding the edges, wrapping each piece
with special metal tape, soldering the pieces,making
the channel around the edge of the shirt, soldering hangers,
adding the dark patina, and washing the entire shirt, it is
finally ready for hanging in my dinning room window.

At first I thought it was rather funny that Wayne L. would email me instead of calling me on the phone as he usually does when he wants a piece of my artwork. So, I emailed him back with - Hi Wayne L.,   I only have one at the time.  Actually it is my favorite.  I have included a photo of it hanging in my window.  I sell them to dealers for $75.  Let me know. A couple of minutes later he emailed me and said - I will take it, but I would prefer a floral pattern if you make them to order.  If so, what would be the price?  I thought, this is dumb emailing back and forth.  So I called him.  Wayne had no idea what I was talking about.  OK, is someone pulling my leg, as the saying goes.  I reread the original email and then it hit me.  Under the name was Wayne L's address.  This Wayne L. lived in Jacksonville Florida.  So I got on my computer and explained the situation to him.  I could make one, but it wouldn't be for the $75.  My Florida Wayne L. OKed the deal and wrote me a story about how his life has been a continuous episode of mistaken identities.

The "CRACK."  Above the right yellow leaf of the flower, on
the right-hand orange piece of glass, you can see a slight crack
in the bottom left corner.  You have to look very closely, but
it is there.  I have to make the customer aware of it so he
doesn't get upset later with my work.  Click on photo to enlarge.

He had been mistaken for a pro basketball player with the same name and also was told he couldn't use his name when he tried to join the Actors Equity Assoc., since someone else had that name.  He changed his name to Jeremy and began working under that name.  But, since he is also a writer and there are several authors around the world named Jeremy L., he had to go back to using his first, middle and last name.  Then he got a one-time check from the Social Security Administration for back pay and a substantial increase in his monthly disability benefit.  You starting to get the idea how I became confused.  Anyway, the shirt window is finished and I am posting some photos here so Florida Wayne L. can read this story and check out what it looks like. If he is still interested I will have to prepare a package to be sent to Florida.  I just hope the correct Wayne L. gets the package.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "'Tis The Season" Story

It was an ordinary day.  And, boy have times changed.  Talking with a few friends and they tell me that their grandkids are emailing Santa the Web address where he can get their wish lists.  So I go online and find a few places where you can find kid's wish lists.  Places like Amazon, Flipboard and Pinterest all have places where kids can send their wish lists to Santa.  I pulled up Pinterest, since I have an account there, and sure enough, many parents are creating a new pin board where their kids place their wish list so Santa can see it, as well as a few million other users.  Hey good way to get presents from just about anyone, if they would happen to know your street address.  

This child is really tech savvy!!  This came
from the Pinterest Website.

 I posted one of the letters that kids had "pinned" so you can see them.  In Lancaster, PA there is an amusement park called Dutch Wonderland that is owned by Hershey Park in PA, and this year children could enter a contest that they sponsored where their the children make a visit and while there print or write their wish list.  The winner was given a free visit to Dutch Wonderland's Winter Wonderland.  I'm assuming that the family was included in the prize.  The winner was Emily L, age 5 and I have included her  prize winning letter to Santa.  I only hope she gets what she is asking for from Santa.  I can remember when our children as well as our grandchildren made wish lists and took them to with them when we went to visit Santa.  Always made sure Santa kept the list so he would remember what they wanted.  I have three grandchildren ages 11, 8 and 7.  I'm pretty sure that Santa is only a memory for them at this point, but my wife tells me that the oldest still isn't sure about Santa and doesn't want to miss out on the gifts if he really is real.  I have a tough time remembering my memories of Santa, but I'm sure I must have been disappointed when I found out about the jolly old fellow.  I only hope I didn't ruin it for my younger brother who was 5 years my junior.  Well,  I think it's time to share a few letters with you from the Dutch Wonderland contest.  Enjoy!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - remember to click on the letters below to enlarge them.  

This is 5 year-old Emily's winning letter to Santa.

The "The Passing of an Icon" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the death of the brother of a long-ago friend in yesterday's paper.  While I was a student at Millersville State Teachers College in the early 1960s I met Roy Clair while taking a class in wood.  My major was Industrial Arts and I had plans to teach after graduation.  When I first visited the campus I met with an adviser in administration.  He asked what I planned to major in and I told him I always wanted to be a math teacher.  After looking over some paperwork which I assume were my SAT scores, he told me that the only openings they had were in Industrial Arts.  He asked if I would be interested in Industrial Arts and I assured him I would love to teach that, whatever it was.  So today in wood class I was working on a design for a project we had to construct in the class and Roy walked past me and noticed I was designing a stereo unit.  He too was working on a stereo and wanted to know if I wanted to work together and he would help me get the speakers, turntable, tuner and amplifier.  You bet I would love to work with him.  We became good friends during that semester and it was at this time that I found out that he and his brother Gene were starting an audio business.  Not only were the two of them audio entrepreneurs, they were very successful audio entrepreneurs.  Clair Brothers Audio was the name of their business.  

Gene Clair

Gene was a few years older than Roy and when Gene graduated from Penn State York Campus he became an electrician.  A few years later, while working in the Foreign Language lab at Franklin and Marshall College, he was asked to set up the sound system for a visiting musical group, The Four Seasons.  Gene and Roy did the sound system and the group was so impressed that they took Gene and Roy on tour with them.  I'm not sure if Roy ever graduated from school, but what the heck.  He didn't have too!!  Clair Brothers began doing the sound systems for bands such as Elton John, The Moody Blues and Michael Jackson, to name a few.  They traveled the world while I taught Industrial Arts in Lancaster County.  Yeah, what luck!!  Well, today's paper reported that Walter Eugene "Gene" Clair died December 3rd.  He was born in and was a life-long resident of Lititz, PA. Also in today's paper was a photo of Elton John at the bottom of one of the pages and I started reading.  Said that legendary singer Elton John, at a concert in New York, dedicated his classic hit, "Your Song," to Gene Clair.  Wow!  As he sat at his piano he said he wanted to dedicate the song to someone --- when I started out years and years ago, the first sound company I ever had was Clair Brothers, and they're still my sound company after 44 years.  "In honor of that company, Gene Clair passed away today … … Gene, you were a genius.  Thank you for everything.  Travel safely."  The moment was posted on YouTube at http://bit.ly/1hGN38A.  Check it out.  Roy, my condolences to you and your family for the loss of a great brother and friend.  And, thanks for your help in wood shop years ago.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Christmas Card List" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Christmas will be arriving in no time and the decorating, cookie baking, present buying and wrapping as well as the card sending will shortly be history.  Well, yesterday my wife decided that it was time to address our greeting cards for Christmas.  How did that custom get started anyway?  Not sure and I don't intend to "Google" it.  Won't change our plans anyway.  We have a list from past years that will serve as our card receivers for this year plus a few new ones to be added.  Carol asked me where I may have put the cards that we bought for this Christmas and I told her I would retrieve them.  Few minutes later I walked into the family room and told her, "I have no idea where they might be. I guess we didn't buy any this year," She responded with, "I thought we bought them at Old Salt on the boardwalk in Ocean City when we were on vacation with the kids."  No such luck.  

Card I made in 1979.  It was a linoleum block
print that my kids colored after I printed them.

I told here that we have enough left-over cards from the 46 previous years that we sent cards, so why not use them?  "Someone might recognize the card and wonder why we sent them the same one as we did before," she said.  Likely to happen?  I think not!  Anyway, we hopped in the car to buy Christmas cards. Drove five miles in heavy traffic, found a box of 24 that we fussed over, but finally bought.  "Will that be enough to cover our list including the new names?" I asked her.  "If not, we'll drop some off the list," she returned.  So, home we went and revised our list for the umpteenth time.  "We didn't get a card from her the last couple of years so we'll take her off the list.  

This card was silkscreened.
I printed it in 1983.

I don't even know if she lives at the same place anymore," she tells me.  "Why do we send cards to the kids and relatives that we will see on Christmas Day?" I ask.  Now, I can see if it features a photo of the two of us or something special that we made, but just a store-bought card?  I guess I should be in favor of everyone sending Christmas cards to everyone they know, since both my boys are in the printing trade and it might help preserve their jobs, but how many people read every card they get in the mail at Christmas?  Don't you open the card and after seeing it is a boxed Christmas card, just look at the name of the sender and put it in your pile of Christmas cards or hang it with a clip on the greens that you have placed on your stair rail.  I do!  

This card was printed on the offset press.
It was our Christmas card in 1984.  My
children colored the tree.  We no longer
live in this house, but did for 29 years.

If the card features a family portraiture I will look at the card to see if I can name all the members of the family.  The stack of cards, all addressed and stamped, sit on the kitchen counter ready for mailing.  What used to cost us 5 cents to mail 46 years ago, now costs us 46 cents.  The quantity has diminished and the quality of the Christmas card has decreased, but at least the members of our greeting card list will still know that we are thinking of them during the season that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.  And, if you didn't get a card from LDub and my wife, it's not that we don't like you, it's probably because we ran out of cards and my wife won't let me use some of my really neat old cards. My guess is your last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet!  Hey, Merry Christmas anyway!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - remember to click on the cards to get a better view of them.

The "A Friend named Calvin ….. or is it Jerry: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Picking up where I left off yesterday when I reported on my trip to Flury Foundry in Lancaster, PA.  My tour guide was a high school classmate of mine named Calvin.  That was until today when I found out that everyone calls him Jerry.  Boy, it must be ages since I last saw Calvin because I had no idea that his nickname was Jerry.  He told me the nickname goes way back to his childhood.  He is a junior and since his day is called Calvin, he got the nickname of Jerry.  Anyway,  yesterday I gave you a brief history of the foundry that Jerry owns with a start as to how they cast their foundry pieces.  Today I would like to give you some insight into how they prepare their sand for casting as well as how the Roberts Sinto machine prepares flasks for pouring.  I will give you the information by way of photographs, since it is easier for me to do and probably easier for you to understand.  

Sand is needed for every casting procedure.  The preliminary batch gets mixed in a speed mullor which is controlled by this computer.  The image on the screen is the mullor and you can see exactly what is taking place and how much time has elapsed and how much time is remaining in the mixing procedure.  The sand is mixed with pre-mix during this procedure and will eventually be mixed with either clay, a binder, release agent or oil depending on which machine is using the sand or which casting procedure is being completed. 

This bag of additives is added in the machine pictured next. 

The Speedmullor which mixes the ingredients and is controlled by the computerized panel.

Inside the mullor the ingredients are being mixed. 

Jerry and his employee Rob are examining the operation of the computer on the Speedmullor.

The Roberts Sinto unit is a computerized molding unit.  The flasks (metal devices that hold the sand for casting) are placed in position and the machine pulls them into position.  The pattern of the item that is being cast is pulled between them and sand is injected into both the bottom and top of the flask.  After all compression of the sand is finished, the flask is placed on a conveyor which will take it to the pouring area for casting.

This shows the bottom half of the flask after it has been packed with sand.  The pattern has been removed and you can now see what the casting will look like after it has been cast in metal.

This is the area where the metal is heated until it is liquefied.   

These are bronze ingots that will melt at 1750 degrees.  Bronze is composed of copper and zinc.  The ingots are placed in the crucible that is usually silicon carbide. 

Here foundry pourer Ed is removing the dross from the molten metal.

Ed is preparing to load the crucible into the pouring bail that will carry the hot molten metal to the conveyor that holds the flasks.

He uses an overhead transportation system for moving the crucible.  Notice the ventilation mask and gloves that are needed. 

Sitting on the conveyor are the molds that have been molded on the Robert Sinto machine.  Ed is preparing to pour the molten metal into the spue opening on the top of the sand.  The metal will flow through a series of gates into the area that was created by the pattern.  

Pouring the metal!  Remember it is at least 1750 degrees at this point.

The molds on the right will be taken apart and the sand and casting will be placed next to it to proceed to the next step.

Here are the casting along with the sand that was used to make it.  It travels on this conveyer that shakes the items so the sand will break apart to be used again and the casting can go to it's next phase.

Here Luis, under heavy protection, cuts the casting off the gating system.

This worker is grinding any imperfections off of the casting.  The buyer of the product will take it from this stage and machine it to the specific dimensions that they need.

Photo of Jason on the left and Jerry as then stand in front of the Roberts Sinto machine.  Jerry is the owner of Flury Foundry and will eventually pass it on to his his nephew Jason.