Bill Schell's "BeachWeb" for August 2012            made-with-Nvu-t.png

NEWs for the Old Amongst you!

Well - there are MANY MANY MANY "things" that happen to one's body and soul as one ages.   And like MANY MANY MANY people I prefer to ignore these ails of age, and I prefer to attempt to believe 'they will go away'...  Alas, further aging has proven (beyond ANY SHADOW OF ANY DOUBT that Aging is inevitable, and it is painful, not for sissies, and further it DOES REQUIRE some bodily enhancement of certain things.

For MONTHS (years perhaps) I had attempted to stave-off the feeling that this was happening to MY BODY, and attempted, (IN VAIN, I might add!) to believe "It could NOT HAPPEN HERE!!!"...    I FINALLY, though, after trying one thing and another  (and another (and yet another)) settled upon this opportunity to attempt to save my body from aging.

It does NOT bring-back YOUTH, but it makes aging palatable.  Click here for a view...

LPgas.tank.dig1.jpg
Ms. May wants a new (pottery) kiln, so we are making an effort to get that done... The above pictures were taken on Thursday, 2 August, while our contractor installed the BIG LP-gas tank and some piping.   The contractor will return, on Monday, and fill-in the holes, then return, again, after we build the kiln, and get the burners installed, to finish the piping...  The whole project is probably 3-5 months and will take about 1,600 bricks (about 4 1/2 tons!)...   In theory it will consume 'about' 80-100 gallons of LP gas per firing...


LPgas.tanktop.jpg
Here's the 'control-panel' and 'connection-centrer' for the 250 gallon LP-gas tank.



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AND - here's the 'permit' - inspection-signature that 'enables' us to keep going.  YES - we did get a permit and though it took 'some time' and 'some money' we are glad we did this.  In the 'grand scheme of things' it was not a long time to wait and it was not a 'lot' of money, so it was probably worth it for the 'long haul.  the Inspector showed up within about 24 hours of the contractor calling him and he was both very nice and the same inspector that had done our concrete slab and the roof we'd done about 4-5 years ago... ...


kiln.layout.v11.jpg
This is a 'rough' idea of what the kiln will look-like, on the concrete slab we already have and  underneath the roof we already have, the 'rough' direction of the lens in this shot is 'about' north-east. Our garage / shop / May's studio is to the immediate left in this picture.


kiln.v24.jpg
and this is a bit-bigger image of the kiln, alone, not underneath the roof... - EVENTUALLY, of course, we will build the kiln from the 'refractory brick' (noted above) and it will NOT have the fancy-colors and such of these (Rhino3D CAD based images)...



This is from 'Hunger Games' (the movie (and book)) that is due-out on DVD on 18 August... - read more below...

KE1.jpg

AND - here's a picture of actress Ms. Jennifer Lawrence as the character 'Katniss Everdeen', in the movie adaptation of "The Hunger Games".  You may have heard of this book (and the other two in the "Hunger Games Trilogy" by author Suzanne Collins).  The books (and the movie(s)) have basically swept the world.

This is, apparently,  so I've read, the highest grossing film of all time with a female heroine (Katniss is supposed to be 16 years old in the first book / film, and then 17 years old in the following two books / movies).   It also had, apparently one of the highest-grossing opening weekends, in terms of box-office-take.

I'm not often 'really taken in' by a series of books / movies, but this whole story-line and the two books and the way the author writes (and I've just finished another of her books) is quite exceptional.

I highly recommend this author / series...

Though the whole concept of "The Hunger Games" is exceedingly depressing and violent (a bunch of teens fighting til the death (the last person left alive, 'wins')), this author (and I'm guessing the movie which I have not seen) makes the murder, mayhem, and blood very very minor in the story, and what comes through (for me at least) is the way the characters THINK about what they are doing (and not doing) and what they feel in this obviously very artificial (for teens) environment into which they have been put.   I suspect that there is something 'magical' about the way Suzanne Collins writes and why it appeals to a LOT of adults as well as to teens. She takes what is basically a repugnant subject-matter and makes it both interesting and not nearly as bloodthirsty and cruel as it sounds at first glance...

Suzanne Collins (the author) has another series of books "The Underland Series" and I've now finished three of the books in that 'series'.  These are more for pre-teens, but the concepts of (in this case VERY) young-people making life & death decisions, and the adults relying on them to make CORRECT decisions and what they are THINKING is still there... - VERY GOOD books, very astute author.

As an actress, Jennifer Lawrence has been in a couple of other movies, and excelled, also, in them.  They are, though, of a similar story-nature, in that they pitt very young girls in situations of extreme stress and adult-responsibility...     The two movies are 'Winter's Bone' where she plays a teen who is attempting to find her disappeared drug-addled father so that the courts will not take their home.  She also acts (along with other, more well-known females)  in 'The Burning Plain' where, again, as a teen, she accidentally kills her mother, the 'undercurrents' and her relationship with the son of the man her mother was killed-with are a sub-plot that is very interesting.  This lady is definitely an actress to watch...




This Month's interesting link:  IF you really (REALLY) want to learn something new and interesting?  try-out-this-link

And - yet one more 'interesting-link':  try-out-this-link

AND _ one more 'interesting-picture': try-out-this-link


Archived BeachWeb monthly (and other) site(s):   Click here for a list of the archived months


updated: 19:42 p.m.   p.m. (USA-EDT)  Thursday, 10 October 2013;  by: Mr._Bill on the Apple Macintosh 'Mac Mini' - revID:  1d