Las Vegas Wedding

Back in December Karrie and I flew to Las Vegas because her cousin EJ was getting married.  We flew there on Spirit Airlines, later we vowed never to fly on Spirit again if we could help it.  They charged fees for everything, checked bags, carry-on bags and to pick our seats.

We stayed in the Hard Rock Hotel which on the map looked like it was just off the main strip.  It really wasn't and let me just say, it isn't walking distance either.  The free shuttle stops for the night around 8PM so our walk to the strip at 9PM took about 40 minutes.  This is the view of the strip from the Hard Rock parking garage. 

EJ and Heidi got married at one of the chapels between the strip and Freemont strip.  It was close to the space needle and also near where the show Pawn Stars is filmed.

Afterwords we all walked around town.  This was when we were walking around the Freemont Street.  It was really cool there, everything was lit up.

Here's Heidi spinning the big wheel.  Unfortunately i didn't win $1000 like last year.  But we all had fun.

The last night we were back on the strip walking around.  First we went to see the Pirate show at Treasure Island.  Unfortunately it was closed for repairs for the month of December.  So we headed south and saw the fire breathing volcano in front of the Mirage.  Then we hurried down to the Bellagio to see the fountain.

This was Karrie sitting on the wall waiting for the fountain to start.

It was pretty cool but it didn't seem to last as long as normal, they were playing Christmas music too.

After the fountain we went drove to the airport and flew home.

It was fun but a little cold at night.  It was around 45 or 50 degrees there in December.  It would have been a lot better if it were sunny and 80 degrees.

Meteor Shower

A couple of weeks ago there was a meteor shower where i live.  Actually it was two small meteor showers which overlapped for a night.  I've taken some pictures of the night sky before with my Canon camera and the CHDK software.  

• Star Pictures
• Up at the Cottage - Taking out the Docks

Using CHDK i usually set the exposure time between 24 and 40 seconds.  Then i run the intervalometer script which repeatedly takes pictures over several hours.  The good news is that i saw a few meteors.  This picture is probably the best one.  Now this is a compressed photo about 20% of the size and quality of the original.  But you can still see the meteor breaking up as little flecks of light are all around the white line.

The bad news is that where i live i don't see a ton of stars.  If i lived in a more rural area i'm sure i would have seen a bunch more meteors.  The other things i had going against me was where to get a clear view of the sky and the fact that it was really cold in December.  I killed two birds with one stone there, i put the camera on a tripod and set it on top of my garage.  That way i could get a view of the sky without any tree interference and also i could stay warm by operating the camera out of the upstairs window.

Here's a combination of all the photos i took that night.  The rotating lines you see aren't meteors, they are are the stars rotating in the sky.  You could almost see the north star which would be in the bottom right corner, but the roof blocks it.

And here's the video created from those pictures.  Although i forgot to "up" the contrast before i created the video, it looked better on my computer at home but now that i see it on Youtube it looks very washed out and the stars aren't very visible.

Tyvek Backpack

One night while reading Wired Magazine i saw a picture of this:

It's called the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Metro Pack and cost $128.  It's appeal is in that it's light weight, has a large carrying capacity and is waterproof.  So i looked at all the pictures and decided that it wouldn't be too hard to make. 

The best part is that i knew exactly what material they used, Tyvek.  About a year ago i bought a 36" x 150' roll of NovaWrap Tyvek material.  I used it to make a Parafoil Kite and as a waterproof barrier for my Backyard Pond.  It has tons of uses and it's great to have a roll sitting around.

Tyvek is great for several reasons:

• cheap
• light weight
• waterproof yet breathable

I also learned from the previous kite project that there are two good ways to construct things out of Tyvek, tape or sewing.  While making the kite i tried 4 differently types of tape and found that clear packaging tape worked the best.  It seemed like the clear tape was able to adhere "into" the fibers of the Tyvek.  Click on the parafoil kite link above to see more information about the 4 different tapes i tested.

But i decided that the best way to make the backpack was to sew the pieces together.  I used a heavy cross stitch with nylon thread to make sure the seams didn't split apart.  Although i did use several small pieces of the clear packaging tape to hold the Tyvek together while i was sewing.

I started like i always do, with lots of drawings.  Here's one of the many sheets i drew up, with ideas and materials i thought about using.  I was trying to work out what buckles to use, if i wanted a waist strap or chest strap and how to attach the straps to the bag. 

I decided that the goal of the backpack was to be small, lightweight and compact.  Therefore i opted not to add a waist strap or chest strap.

I forgot to take pictures at the start of the project.  But the main part of the bag itself was made with the full 36" wide tyvek material folded over on itself, sort of like a tube.  I'm not sure how tall i made it, i just kind of eyeballed where i wanted it to sit on my back and how high it would be at my shoulders.  (taking into account that the top 6" or so would be rolled up and buckled)  But here's what it looked like after i cut the main pieces out and sewed some of them together

 

This is what the bottom of the bag looked like.  It's basically just like wrapping a Christmas present.  I sewed along the entire seam, then folded it over to the center on both sides.  Then i sewed again along each edge of the fold.  It all made for a very strong joint, which is good because the bottom of the bag is where all of the weight of the bag will be focused.  The other nice thing was that it made a flat bottom of the bag.

 

For the shoulder straps i was originally just going to cut some off of an old backpack of mine.  But i decided to try and make shoulder straps of my own.  And i have to say that i'm glad i did, it wasn't really that hard.  Luckily i had some 1/2" foam in the basement, which i used as the core of the shoulder straps.

I used one of the shoulder straps from my old backpacks as a template.  I layed it on the Tyvek and traced out the shape.  I had to cut out 4 pieces from that pattern, front and back for each strap.  The hardest part was sewing the final edge and making sure the foam was pushed in tightly.

 

Referring back to some of the pictures at the original Hyperlite Mountain Gear Metro Pack i knew that i needed an additional piece of Tyvek for support to attach the backpack straps.  If i just sewed the shoulder straps to the single layer of Tyvek it might rip under heavy weight.

 

Here it is just before sewing the straps on.  To make sure they were on securely, i sewed back and forth about 5 times, or until the needle jammed.

At this point it looked pretty good, but i still had some tricky bits left. 

I really liked how simple the top of the original bag was secured.  All it needed was a buckle sewn at either side near the top.

You can see from the first two pictures that the top is rolled up and then these buckles pull in and clip to each other. 

No need for straps or ties, this simple and strong method works great. 

The last step i had to figure out was how i was going to make the straps and buckles, which attach the shoulder straps to the backpack.  Here are the buckles on two of the backpacks i have.  They are made of pretty strong plastic, they have three slots for the straps to loop through.

I decided not to "reinvent the wheel" but i didn't like the original design.  I thought that i could make it work with just one cross bar instead of two.  It would be stronger but it meant that two straps would have to go through the same slot.

I couldn't decide what material to use so i made both.  The two buckles on the left are made out of thick Lexan.  (Plexiglass)  The two on the right are made out of aluminum.  I really liked the plexiglass, it was easy to work with and looked good.  But ultimately i decided to use aluminum.  It was only a tiny bit heavier then the plexiglass but a lot stronger. 

I did round off the four corners and smooth the edges, since my arms would be swaying as i walked and most likely brushing against the buckles.  I used a couple different metal files/rasps and finished with 220 grit sand paper.

Next i looped the straps through and sewed them by hand. 

As you can see these are what transfer the weight from the shoulder straps to the aluminum buckles.  The reason why i made those two little humps with the straps is still a mystery to me.  It's like that on all of my backpacks.  I know that it's suppose to be a place where you can attach things like a compass or water bottle, but i've never actually used them.  Ultimately though i thought that it makes it more professional looking so i copied the design.

This is how the straps attach.  You can kind of see that the slot on the right has two straps going through it.  This is where i changed the design a bit.  Normally the buckle has three slots for the three straps.  But i think this is just as good, if not better. 

I sewed the other end of the straps to the bottom of the bag by hand.  Again i made sure that they were securely attached since they would be carying all of the weight.

And that's it, the backpack was done.  It ended up taking just a few days to make.  Mainly because i had to buy the white plastic buckles and i was designing the details as i went along.  If i had to make another one from start to finish it would take about 4 hours.  Cutting, drilling and filing the aluminum buckles did take some time though, so it might be a little longer. 

Here i am wearing the backpack.  I put my sleeping bag in the backpack, nothing heavy.  It was fairly comfortable but i did notice the small bit of folding horizontally where the shoulder straps attach.  I didn't think it was a big deal though.  You can also see the seam i sewed running up the back.

Here it is from the side.

I had to keep reminding myself that whole point of this backpack is to be light weight and compact.  It's not going to replace my big camping backpack.  It doesn't need all the side pockets, waist straps, zippers and things.

This is what it looks like all folded up.  It's super compact and would be a great thing to put in your trunk or to take with you as a spare bag on a trip.

I haven't tested it yet, but it should be somewhat waterproof, probably more like water resistant.  I mean if you fell in a river while wearing it i suspect that water will get in through the top and some of the seams.  But if you wear it while it's raining i don't see why anything will get wet.

I may end up making some other bags, probably not backpacks though.  Just simple, smaller bags with the same buckles at the top.

Animal in the Backyard at Night

A while back Karrie bought me a trail camera, also known as a deer cam.  In simple terms it's a camera that you mount on something, like a tree, pointing toward an area you want to watch.  When the motion sensors detect movement it will take a picture.  There are also infrared lights that will flash at night to take pictures in the dark. It uses infrared because a normal flash will scare away animals and they might not pass by again.

The cam that Karrie got me is a really nice one, it takes pictures and videos.  You can change several of the settings depending on what you want it to do.  

• Active just during the day, just at night or 24 hours. 
• Photos or videos
• High, med or low quality
• variable delay between shots

I first decided to test it out up north in the Huron National Forest.  So i walked way back into the woods and put it on a tree near an active deer trail. Here it is set up on the tree.  The top circle is the camera lens, surrounded by the infrared LED flash.  The white center circle is the motion sensor.  It has lights on either side that will flash red or green to let you know that it took a picture.  The green screen at the bottom is where you change the settings.  Underneath is the battery and control compartment, it's waterproof and also holds the SD card.

The bad thing was that i was only at the cottage for the weekend so the camera was only set up for 24 hours.  During that time nothing went in front of the camera and it didn't take any pictures.  I didn't want to leave it there for a month, i was afraid someone would take it, so i took it down. 

Anyway here were some other pictures i took of the small pond back in the woods.

I think i used the homemade ND filter on this one.

When i got home i decided to set it up in the backyard.  I put some cheeseballs in front of the camera to use as bait.  Here's a squirrel that passed by.  You can see at the bottom that it took the picture at 3:47PM.

The next morning i noticed all the cheeseballs were gone.  When i looked at the pictures i saw this.  Whatever it was came by at 9:35PM.  I thought it might have been a cat or raccoon or something.

So the next night i set it up in the back corner of the yard.  But this time i set the camera to video mode.

http://youtu.be/ihOWV3UePkY

Sorry for the weird video quality.  It looks fine on my computer but when i upload the trail cam video's to youtube it gets that strange pink and blue lines on the bottom.

Anyways at 11PM at night an opossum walked in front of the camera.  In fact that same animal came by at 11PM, midnight, 2AM and 4AM.  It must like cheeseballs as much as me.

It's really fun setting up the camera and then discovering what walks by at night.  I can't wait to set it up at the cottage again to try and find out what time animals pass by a certain area.  For example, there may be a heavily traveled deer trail in a particular area and you might think it would be a great spot to hunt.  But then when you set up a deer cam you might see that the deer only walk through there at 2AM.  And it might turn out to only be small doe's.  

The trail camera is kind of like a spy cam for the woods.  It will let you know who, what, where and when somethings passing by.