Torday

Last weekend, I went to the Tor. I fell on the very, very last move of Hell of the Upside Down Sinners (5.12b), but redpointed Anchor Punch (5.12a) yet again, Auto Magic (5.12a) twice, and Power of Eating (5.11d) for the umpteenth time. Slowly but surely, I'm building my fitness by working through the 5.12 jungle at the Owl Tor. Every week I get slaughtered, but whatever doesn't kill you at the Tor makes you... well, you know. In any case, fun was had by all. Elijah got on Atreyu, which he named partly because he likes the Neverending Story, and partly because he knows Phil will think the name is absurd. Micah, back from his travels in Greece, has been reacquainting himself with the Tor over the last month, and is pulling hard as usual.

Per the picture: no, my stomach is not reacting to my breakfast of coffee and Kefir.

The Tea Fire

Most of Montecito, including the grounds of Westmont College, are currently burning. A surprise wildfire, fueled by sundowner winds, swept down the mountainside into the heart of Montecito, and at last count over eighty homes succumbed to the fires. It's bad. A bunch of my friends just lost their homes.

Here's to the shittiest birthday I've ever had.

The Little Giant

It's here.

The ender-of-worlds. The bringer-of-pain. The apparatus del muerto.

Folks, Santa Barbara Forge and Iron would like to welcome a new member to its ever-growing tool family! This week, we finally shipped the Little Giant (blacksmithing power-hammer) into our shop. It weighs over a ton, I should think. I'm insanely excited. For those who don't know what the Little Giant does, here's a short explanation:

-- Utilizing a foot-pedal, the machine engages a wheel which...
-- makes a 50 pound sledge go up...
-- and DOWN
-- then UP
-- and DOWN

And so on and so forth. Basically, the Little Giant takes over much of the tedious—but necessary—hammering in the blacksmithing process. Here's to not having elbow tendonitis when I'm older.

Pics coming soon...