Roz gets armored

....please sign it.

I am curious as to who is reading my blog. 650 some odd peeps is all I know..... ;-p

Latest update:

I AM AUTHORIZED!!!!

I am doing it again....

I haven't been in armor since Pennsic. Oh, don't get me wrong, I had a blast at Pennsic. It is just that my life has kind of gotten really weird lately, and fighting was that which gave.

I no longer live in Meridies, the land of my birth. I now reside in the Shire of Sangre del Sol, Trimaris, which is in way south Florida, far away from my friends and family. I took advantage of a great job opportunity to get back into the jewelery business, and now life is great.

And I am getting back on the field. I have been back to fighter practice 2 weeks in a row now, and am feeling great! I suprised our marshal a bit the other night - I made his helm ring. Twice. I don't think he expected that. ;-p I need to make some adjustments to my armor that I noted at Pennsic, so I didn't actually get into armor. He let me use him as a living pell, which to my way of thinking is far better than a stationary one.

Next week, I will actually get back into armor, assuming said adjustments are completed. I may even be able to get some photos up.

Oh, and did I mention that I am the autocrat of my groups upcoming XXX Anniversary event?

I just haven't been posting, since I have been so busy with all of the happenings since Pennsic. I will post, I promise. I will even do a day by day review of my fighting at Pennsic (shouldn't take long, since I only got into armor twice...) and of the things I am working on changing on my kit.

So stay tuned!

Thanks to sff_corgi, I have been syndicated on Live Journal. While I am really not sure exactly what that means, here is the syndication link:

Click HERE to go to the user page of the syndication account. Add this account like you would any other user, and when I actually post here it will come through on your friends page on LJ.

That way, if you don't get enough of me checking by here at blogspot, you can get me in your friends at LJ.

Scary, huh? Never knew I was so popular.... ;-p

But I had a GREAT time!

Yesterday was our Baronial Champs Tourney. I fought in it; yes, it was the *third* time I have been in armor since I started fighting again, and I fought in a round robin tourney. Boy, am I beat...

It wasn't too bad. Not all of our fighters showed up (strangely enough) so I only went 0-5. Yes, I lost five out of five bouts. It was not really all that surprising. At least the guys don't seem to be afraid to hit me any more. No, I was not brutalized, but I did come away with a couple nice bruises, that have made sitting at work a challenge. I was pretty winded by the time the round robin was over (it was raining, it was muggy, and it was damn hot), but still went on and did pickups.

Yes, I needed to re-hang my shield (oh, I forgot to report on the new shield...), which I did Sunday, after the tourney, with Rafael (tanks, buddy). It will work better, I feel certain. I *did* throw blows (Duc Orlando and Sir Loric have both said I throw with authority, and that actually hitting something will come with practice).

I tend to stay just out of range, and let my opponent come to me, which Duc Orlando says is not necessarily the best thing for a new fighter to do. Sir Loric has worked with me more on some shots, and gave me a ton of advise (unfortunately we were not in armor) which I will try to take from my pell work to the field. I was doing well with my blocking (some of the better fighters only got through my defense because by that point, my shield arm was so much lead, but that was in a large part as a result of the mis-hung shield). And I learned the faulds are what protect your butt, not tassets. ;-p

At least the Iron Rose Tourney (Saturday at noon) is divided up into fighters with more than 2 years experience and fighters with less than two years. Maybe I wont be the only goober looking, brand newbie out there. Then there is the Fighting Laurels Prize Tourney Sunday at 1 and the Known World Novices Tourney Sunday at 5. And that will probably be the sum total of my fighting for Pennsic, with the exception of possibly doing pick-ups in the morning the rest of the week.

Alas, my armor is now on it's way to Pennsic, so no more practice before I get there. At least now maybe I will get some sewing and jewelry work done....

// posted by Roz @ 3:24 PM 0 comments

YAHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I did it. I have met the deadline, and am going to be able to fight at Pennsic! On one of the hottest days this summer, with the humidity at least 130% (OK, so it felt that way), Sir Loric came on over to see what I had been up to lately (the last time he saw me I had poisoned myself, but that is another very long story...).

There was a bit of time there that I was beginning to doubt I was going to make the deadline for authorization (for Pennsic, deadline is next week), but Sir Loric, our Marshal - Michael, Lord Rafael, and Lord Ezekiel all seemed to think that my armour is good, my shots are strong, and I don't flinch (although it would probably help if I actually kept my eyes open when I throw a shot... hehe). I had so wanted to fight Oldcastle style, but I think the muscle memory was getting in my way. Maybe it was 15 years since I last fought (more like 22 or so since I was *actively* fighting and training Marines out at 29 Palms to fight), but it seems to be like riding a bicycle. I just could not seem to keep my sword up, back, and cocked--- let alone keeping my shield pointing out in front of me. I kept squaring up, shield foot forward.

But I feel good, great, as a matter of fact. Maybe I will actually fight in Baronial Champs next Sunday too. Hmmm... Here are a few shots from my authorization fight:




































Unfortunately, blogger does not seem to allow movies, so I will have to put it up at www.artisansrow.org/rozauthorizes.mov It may be slow. (I didn't know Ralph was shooting video, let alone audio...) Oops.

I still have many things to finish (rather to adjust), such as:

1. remembering to put the boots back in the armour box after I take them off, before the next practice....
2. Those that know me (and who knew Carlwyn) know that those are not my arms. In truth, I am contemplating changing mine; in the meantime, I am going to make a red shield cover - a different one than I already started in white - (and am getting a nice spiff red surcoat made too...) for Pennsic.
3. I need to continue looking for the Underarmour shirts (maybe I will splurge for the leggings, too), which is going to take a trip into Atlanta, since we do not have a Sports Authority here in Athens. It is unbelievable, but the sporting goods stores here have only the short sleeve ones in stock, and -NO- one seems to have female groin protection).
4. I already took an inch out of the C-belt, and I either need to take another inch out or make a new one (no, I seriously doubt that I have lost two inches off my waist since I made the belt a couple weeks ago). I am leaning towards a new one, out of slightly thicker leather, as this one kind of curls (and really stretches too).
5. I really need to make a new gorget; I am very uncomfortable with the thickness of the padding on the one I got from Vickie, but am loathe to remove the it. Besides, I really like the ones Master Geoffrey makes and feel certain I can make one similar in an evening in the shop.
6. I need to put a basket on the shield, and adjust the straping.
7. I need to move the thigh straps on the legs up about 5 inches, and put in straps at the knees, so that I can loosen the laces around my calves.
8. Straps rather than laces for the elbows would probably be good too.
9. And, I need to adjust the shoulder straps on the breast-plate (they need to be slanted where they attach to the plastic, so they "curve out" a bit). Of course, that will mean redoing the attachment of the spaulders.
10. Oh, and at least one more arming cap, with another inch of padding in the top of the helm to make it sit a bit higher on my head (it tends to "mush down" a bit when I tighten the chin strap, so that I am looking straight into one of the bars).

And I need to remember when to quit. I was so psyched that I didn't want to stop, and got rather overheated. I am home, and have had a shower; all is better now. Well, mostly. I am still on an adrenaline high here. I think the grandkid David and I will go out for ice cream to celebrate.

Til next time~~~

I had forgotten just how much fun that is. Yes, it happened. Roz actually got to put on the whole armor fit, and swing a stick at a live, moving target!

For a while this evening, it seemed as if my fighting debut was going to be postponed, yet again. But the heavens cooperated, and did not open upon us...

Got all the gear on, and of course found several things that need to be adjusted. The c-belt and legs--- the belt stretched so much with the weight of the legs and the legs might just be too long period that the knee cops were 6 inches below my knees. Mike says he has an extra set of legs that are much shorter, and will bring them to practice on Sunday for me to try out, in the interest of authorizing in time.

Additionally, I have decided to remove the side straps from the breast plate, as they are way and are way too hard to fasten for myself. A belt around the whole thing will be plenty to hold it together. Don't know why I thought I needed two straps to close it at the side. ;)

The spaulders I hung right from the leather straps of the breast plate with leather lacing, but that seemed to be rubbing just a bit on the points of my shoulders. I think I need to rivet straps to the spaulders and then rivet the straps to the straps, but am a bit concerned with the rivets doing the same thing.

The gorget is way too thick, with the heavy padding, and I am trying to decide whether I want to just make a new one (it looks really easy compared to the spaulders) or re-pad this one. I will more than likely go with making a whole new one, lined in suede. Sounds like an easy afternoon project.

Michael, our marshal, says that there should be no problem with me authorizing by the 30th. I know the rules of the list, understand the target areas, and most importantly, he said I don't flinch when he hits. Given the difficulty with my legs, we started off doing slow work. We spent 15 minutes going over basic moves, then went at it. I think I surprised him a bit. I actually got through his defense and tagged him a couple of times (as he would have tagged me more that twice, had he actually been throwing with any speed), and he sees no problems with the calibration on my blows.

Anyway, I had a blast. Wish I had done it sooner....

Til next time---

Oh, the trials and tribulations! You may remember that I had been working on the plastic lamellar, but that I changed to a coat of plates, to be able to make everything match up with the other armor. I was working on the coat of plates (took the old thing apart, drilled the holes for the rivets in the extra aluminum plates, made a shell - I hate sewing), just waiting for the jiffy rivets to arrive. Well, silly me, I did not actually measure the thickness of the canvas, the plates, and the covering. Had I done so, I would have known that I needed the medium length, not the short. I now have 1000 nickel plated short quick rivets (Tandy style) that I do not need. I will attempt to exchange them (I am sure it will not be an issue), but time is a factor.

Remember that old Baronial loaner armor I spoke of earlier? Since I had permission to use whatever I needed (I will be making donations to the loaner armor…), I grabbed the plastic chest plate. Here it is in its raw state:














I cut off the bottom of the back (it was really too long) and trimmed the front. The neat thing about the plastic is that if you are very careful, you can mold it using a moderate heat. Showing great versatility, I used my Hot Head glass bead torch, brushing the flame across the surface that I wanted to form. You could possibly use a propane plumbers torch, although the flame may be too intensely focused. I then used my little mini anvil to apply steady pressure to the area I needed to flatten. After allowing it to cool down, the plastic retains the shape (in this case, flat). I had to form the bottom of the breastplate, as well as open the back plate, significantly in some places. L It was still not quite large enough to go around, so I made some trapezoidal plates to go in the sides. I made hinges out of leather, and strapped the whole thing up. Here is the almost finished product:













I believe I will be able to attach my new spaulders to the shoulder straps, but want to get some feedback from the marshals first. I may do straps for them similar to the leather arm harness, so we shall see. In any case, here is the finished breast plate. It needs to be covered (I think) although I may just leave it as is, and never not wear a surcoat. I do feel a bit like a trussed up turkey in the thing, but if I continue (and I had better) to loose weight, I may need to take it in, and it will fit better. Oh, and the leftover pieces got made into groin protection.

Fighter practice, here I come…..

My girth was enough that I did not feel comfortable in the kidney belt/leg suspension system that I got from Vickie, so I ended up making a c-belt. Once I got it thru my skull just what it was supposed to look like (thank you, House Ironrose, for answering yet another seemingly endless round of questions), the manufacturer of it was quite simple. Or it would have been, had one of two things happened first.

One: I needed to have gotten assistance in making the bloody pattern. The old T-shirt and duct tape method worked, but it is really difficult to wrap the tape around myself with steady pressure—let alone marking the pattern and cutting it off. Quite a challenge I do not care to repeat anytime soon.

–OR--

Two: I should have talked to Duchess Elena de Neuham first. When she made hers, she had the presence of mind to use an old pair of worn out jeans. The waistband is in the right spot. The fit is right. Just draw the outline on the jean material to make the pattern and go. No messing with duct tape and scissors. So, if you ever need to make a C-belt, my reccomendation is to find those old jeans.

All I can saw is that leatherwork is way too much like sewing for my taste.

Oh, here is a picture of my completed belt. I haven’t decided if I am going to dye it, leave it natural, or oil it. It will be completely hidden by my surcoat (or the coat of plates), so it doesn’t really matter what it looks like.

OK, I have something cool to show:

I want to take a moment to publicly commend His Excellency, Lord Gwydion BraichHir, O'RhDurhos, the Baron of Bryn Madoc for hosting the open armouring workshops at his home. The past two Thursday evenings, I went up to his shop and produced these lovely 16 gauge Stainless Steel spaulders with my very own hands. I am very proud of them - they came out far better than I had expected, and will now go very nicely with the rest of the kit I have to put together. Don't you agree they are mighty nice?

What a great weekend! I have to say, this was the best Fourth so far with David. I thought he was going to flip out with the fireworks! Couldn't get him to leave, not even when the fireworks were over, because Mother Nature decided to provide her own light show.

I have borrowed this nifty, cool digital camera from Jessie, and am able to post pictures of my projects, among other things.... . This is my grandson David--- isn't he a cutie?

This was a productive weekend. I made a couple of things (non-armour, but that is ok on occasion), one in the wood shop, the other in the jewelry studio......

Every dead Queen deserves a cool squire's belt (particularity if she is a squire). With the upcoming natal day of one of our favorite dead queens quickly approaching, the Muse struck (and She cannot be ignored...). The rose mount is now finished. The picture really doesn't do it justice (the closeup function doesn't *really* work for jewelry). I am using a mostly non-period methods of production on this project. I pierced out the roses from a sheet of 14 gauge brass with my saw, and used files and my flex shaft to shape the two pieces, which I then soldered together. The hole in the center is for the rivet. I have made a rubber mold, and have begun shooting waxes. I will use lost wax casting to cast the 35+ roses and the buckle and belt tip in Sterling silver.

When giving a gift, the presentation plays a large part in the enjoyment of the giving. I just happen to know that this paricular dead queen does not have (or did not appear to have) a nice jewelry case for her SCA jewelry. Using ye old trusty six-board box pattern, I constructed this box out of Red Oak. The boards themselves were fairly inexpensive at Home Depot, in the cut craft board section. Actually already had the wood on hand, from a previous project, else this might not have gotten done... The overall dimensions of the box are 8"Wx8"Tx5.5"D

Note: when you need to get the right color on something, but don't have the person nearby, DMC floss works great....

Well, lets see, where did I leave off?

Teri and Vickie came up to the Bryn Madoc fighter practice, to off-load some of Carlwyn's armour. I am now the proud owner of an almost complete 14th century harness. I will post pictures as soon as I get them taken.

From Teri:

A Pig Face Basinet. The helmet was just about covered in stickers (and I did not get before pictures). It is very nice Stainless, with an optional bar visor. Getting the stickers off was a bear, and in the interest of ongoing maintenance, I put a brushed finish on it, using a green Scotch Bright pad, and some mink oil I had in the leather box. I want to try and pick up a riveted camail for it at Pennsic, but that is just about at the bottom of my priorities at this point.




Complete Leg Harness. The legs are a very nice set of stainless/aluminum. The knees themselves are Stainless, but the demi-greaves and the cuisses (is that right?) are aluminum. They were pretty banged up and scratched, so I have put the brush finish on them also.



A nice aluminum heater shield. It has Carlwyn's arms on it (which I cannot bear to paint over), so I am making a cover for it, which I will paint with my own arms. Gwyd had some light weight hose, which I am using to replace the old green hose. It is a bear to slide on. There are some bad spots on the edge that I need to bang out, so that the hose will go on the rest of it.

From Vickie:

A pair of mild steel half gauntlets. These were also showing wear and tear, so they were also brush finished. They needed the leather straps replaced (they had stretched), and some of the brass rivets are ready to blow, but should get me through the Tourney. I will make sure I also have my repair kit on hand.

Kidney protection. A pretty substantial belt, made of black drum plastic. It has the attachments for the legs, but in truth it is still a bit small for me. While I have lost 40 pounds since Gulf Wars, I may not have lost enough weight by the tourney for it to fit. I will more than likely have to make a C-belt.

Leather arms. These are a bit short, and need work to make them wearable for me. I may go with a quilted gambeson, with arming points rather than these arms. Only time will tell.





A gorget. The cuibolli gorget died (shattered/broke in half while demonstrating how sturdy it was), and this stainless one saves the day. Just a bit tight, but if I re-do the padding it should work quite well (it is quite thick).




You will notice that chest protection is conspicuous by its absence. I have the plastic lamellar (I unfortunately need another 200 plates) but that is totally unsuited for the rest of the armour. The pile of Baronial loaner gear ended up at my house when our tenant moved out (I did not even know, it was down in the lower shed). I spoke with the Baron, and he said to pull out whatever I can use. Aside from the ton of pads with plastic guards, most of the stuff is in pretty bad shape. There are some plastic chiropractic braces (chest and back) that might do for breast protection. One set is just about the right size. There is also a coat of plates, that the material has totally rotted. This I am remaking into a coat for myself. It was not large enough (I am seeing a trend here), but I have some aluminum plates that I can augment with, to make it large enough.

I think that is it. A complete kit. YAH!!!

I will get better about posting, I promise.

Lets see…. I finally started my helmet with Ingelri. Let me start off by saying that Ingelri has been very helpful in getting in my quest for the Coppergate style helm. He even ordered the really cool book on the find. That book has scale drawings of the original, plus a plethora of other pretty spiff (and sure to turn heads…) helmets.

So, on Sunday the 11th I finally got into the shop. Ingelri already had a pattern made, to his head, so we just added a bit (OK, no comments from the peanut gallery, but my head is and inch and a half bigger than his…) to accommodate my noggin. Unfortunately, that was not enough, not to be able to get any padding in too…. So, the first piece of loner gear I will be donating will be done soon…

Wonder why I never published this, or the other posts? Who knows?

Oh, good golly!!! From the looks of this blog, I haven’t been doing a thing for three weeks, and nothing could be further than the truth….

The week of May16th, I concentrated mostly on woodworking projects. What does wood have to do with armoring? Well, not a whole lot, to be honest. I built my pell out behind the shop, and I hauled out the camping gear to repair/refurbish anything that needed it. Being cheap, for the pell, I used scrounged materials. Since I was working on the tent poles (I made a couple new ones, and re-painted everything else) I ended up with several 2x4s extra. I laminated them together (ok, I just screwed them together, but the screws weigh almost as much as the wood….), and sunk the whole thing into a two-foot deep hole. I just happened to have all of these bags of Quick-crete (note to self: when you start buying stuff for a project, make sure you can get all of the stuff you need to do the project. I have always wanted to do the cobblestone path thing, using concrete and a form – which is not sold any more, at least not here in Athens….). Anyway, I now have a 7-foot tall post in my yard, wrapped in a ton of insulation that was laying in the storage shed, then finished off with carpet. Not very elegant, but hey--- it works.

Well, I guess it will work. I still haven’t been able to get up with Loric to learn some basic moves. I am reluctant to start hitting the thing, because I do not want to use bad form. I think it would be bad if I practice something a lot, only to find out it is a bad habit…..

The week of the 23rd I was preparing for TMT – Trimarian Memorial Tourney. I was not too keen of the idea of going to an event in another kingdom by myself, but I am very glad that I did. I highly recommend visiting neighboring kingdoms if it is at all possible from where you live. It was very interesting comparing and contrasting the way things are done between my home and Trimaris. Sometimes it is very subtle, sometimes not at all. I also got the chance to witness their HUGE Crown List (HE Yoan was fighting--- ostensibly, this was the reason I was going in the first place). I also had volunteered to cook for Count Yoan and Countess Eorann’s household. (Her Excellency is Caitlin’s sister, whom I have enjoyed hanging out with at Gulf Wars). They weren’t expecting too many folks from their household, and I already had lamb for 20 people. So, I invited Duchess Elena and several of her guests, too. I met some really great people --- my thanks to Her Excellency and Her Grace for introducing me around --- and I plan to go back and visit again very soon (Trimarian XXth Year is Labor Day weekend). The Crown List was awesome! HRM had not required letters of intent; and I don’t know if that was a factor, but they had over 35 fighters in the List!! I have never witnessed such a large Crown List. The fighting was very clean, and there were many acts of chivalry on the field that day. I also managed to lace up two rows of lamellar backwards, which I was not going to change/fix, but did anyway….

Last week, the week of the 30th was a short week. Monday was a travel day from Trimaris (only 7 hours if you were wondering). As I said, I finished off the lamellar plates that I had in my possesion (although that wasn’t until Sunday). I did my research on the tunic I am going to use for fighting, drafted my pattern, and got it cut out and partially assembled. I am trying to decide if I want to do any embellishments on it or not. It is white linen (so that I can bleach it as needed), and I am not sure if I want to spend the time doing the decorative stuff on it in any case. Have I mentioned that I hate sewing? I also carved a Viking pommel out of wood, to use as a master for sand-casting. I am afraid the thing is going to weigh a ton (especially once I get the cross-guard done, too), but considering the dimensional requirements for being able to use it on the field….. I do think it is going to look to cool though.

If you made it through this post, I am amazed. I have been trying to keep the entries down to a paragraph or two, and kind of blew it when I went and didn’t post for so long. I will try to be better….. ;-p

// posted by Roz @ 11:05 AM 0 comments

• Metal pommel and cross-guards. Mandrake armory sells a Viking style cross guard for $40 (no matter brass, pewter or aluminum) and the pommels for $20. I know these I have the technology to make, so why not? Boy, do they look good.
• Sun Shade. We roasted at H&H. I have my tent fly, and all the poles needed to rig a shade, so why did we roast? Silly me. UPDATE: I re-worked my tent fly into a sunshade very similar to what we were talking about making. Price: $6.45 for another 12' 2x6, which I ripped in half to create the cross poles. Worked great yesterday at Crown List.
• Tables. Easily transportable tables. Period would be nice. Unfortunately, I think I will end up having to compromise with 14th Century sawhorse tables, since no one has come up with documented Viking stuff. I guess it is 14th Century alter-persona time……

Here is a good step-by-step pictorial: http://www.arador.com/construction/spangenconstruc1a.html

More good info:

http://www.missouri.edu/~rls555/SCA/research/helms/helms.htm Halvgrimr's Viking/PreViking Helm Presentation/Webpage

http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/armor/NormanHelmet/top_index.htm Titled “Making a Norman Helm” but it actually has some good shop tips.

http://stores.ebay.com/Poor-Boy-Blacksmith-Tools Poor Boy BlacksmithTools (an eBay shop)

Plastic lamellar. Ugh.

The brown ones pass the 10 foot rule (they look like leather if you squint). I ordered two bags of the “Auk” plates over the weekend, they were shipped on Monday, and arrived Thursday. The only issue I have with them is the little sharp points from where the plastic is injected. It isn’t a big deal to use an Xacto to scrape it off, which I heartily recommend doing. I was sitting on the couch in shorts, lacing them up. My thigh felt a little strange, and that was when I noticed how scratched it was. So, already having 120 of them laced, I scraped them. All David could say was “wow, coooo.” Hehe And, in the course of one evening (about 3 hours of work) I already have the 200 laced up. That was with figuring out how to do it. I anticipate that it will go much more quickly now that I have the hang of it. Time to order more.
Did I mention this is getting expensive? Anyone need any jewelry? ;-P

I want a Coppergate style Spangenhelm. And I am cheap, and broke.

I priced out steel Tuesday at Lowe's. I believe I can use the 18x24" sheet and get most of a helm, and it costs just $17.00. OK, so that might be a little more expensive than buying it as one huge 4x8' sheet, but at least it is available locally, and is of a manageable size. I am fairly certain I can cut it out with a jig saw, and drill the holes with the hand drill. I just need to find a source for the metal rivets. The steel is 16g, which is passable. I am going to do brass inset plates (over the top of the steel ones) so that should add enough thickness to the steel insets after it is thinned out. I have ordered my rivets from R. J. Leahy Company http://www.rjleahy.com/ (they were shipped Tuesday). I have bid on a Whitney punch (there were several very reasonably priced) on eBay. I will be cutting out and beginning dishing on Sunday.....

Val is going to make the gauntlets. He is really into leather working, and I am not going to turn down any help. Here is the pattern he is going to use: http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/gauntlet_clang/ .

The "base" glove is going to be the mylec gloves. You can see the gloves here: http://www.mylec.com/590-3.htm Lot's of SCA folks use them, they're basically just a leather glove with padding on the cuff, back of the hand, and tops of the fingers. Then cuirboulli over the top of those to make them legal without basket hilts. They will be way cool. I do wish I had looked at the website before I ordered the plastic lamellar. They have a chest protection rig that has integral shoulders and arms for $50 or so- which is what I paid for 1/3 of the number of lamella plates I anticipate needing. Since I am only doing the plastic lamellar to get onto the field ASAP, I would have preferred the other. Oh well. On the plus side, the lamellar looks better, and I can always sell or give away the rig one I make my cuirboulli lamellar.

// posted by Roz @ 1:19 PM 0 comments

During the course of the chat with Val at H&H, I came to some (what should have been) obvious conclusions:

If I am actually getting authorized for Pennsic, I need my armor together now. Not next month (or the month after, for that matter). I have just a little over two months to be completely ready to fight in the tourney, and that would include training. I had to agree with Val that if I tried to get the “perfect” kit, I might never get on the field. He is absolutely correct. So, it’s compromise time.

I really wanted to do the cuirboulli lamellar, but that is just not going to happen in time. So, doing a little more research, I found http://www.plasticlammelar.com/. Now, good reader, before you freak out, this is not the end of the world. While it isn’t a perfect solution, it is less expensive than the metal plates (which are out of stock in any case) and will get me on the field the fastest. I ordered them yesterday, and got an email that they were shipped today. Free shipping, too. :-)

Spent a wonderful day Saturday, relaxing and chatting with Val, Fiora, and Maeva at Heroes and Heroines. It was really nice to sit back and do nothing. Nice change of pace to not be running around like a mad woman.

It was equally nice just watching the fighting. Amazing thing, that. I haven't been interested on what is going on in the field in ages and ages. ;-p None of us had brought a pavilion (more on that later) so we borrowed a bit of shade from the Chirugeons. We saw several armor styles that I think I am going to incorporate into my kit. Rather, we saw styles of helms or body armor that fit the "mood" of my kit.

Val and I had a nice chat about our relationship, and although we haven’t done anything official, he (and by extension thru him, Fiora) are now members of my household. We are not going to do the Laurel/Apprentice thing at this point, and we really aren’t sure what to call it, but it is a household relationship of some sort. Suffice it to say that we are both sure we can learn from each other. Isn’t that what it is all about anyway?

OK then, I said I have learned a lot since I have started this particular journey. I feel like I need to make a list:

• 43 isn’t old, let alone dead.
• Lamellar is really cool body armor. It can be made of metal or cuirbolli. Or Plastic.
• The water in a vase of roses is very cold when used in a baptism at 3am.
• Cuirbolli will also work for elbows and hands, and if you can figure out how to do it, can be much cheaper than buying them made of steel.
• It is much cheaper to make things yourself than to buy them.
• Corollary: It is only less expensive to make things yourself if you have the knowledge, skill, and a ready source of materials than it is to buy the thing.
• Do not pick the wood to make your forms in the rain. Especially if the wood is wet. Disappointment is sure to follow.
• Heralds do not like slot-machine heraldry (already known). The Norse did not use heraldry much if at all….
• If you boil leather too long, when it is totally dry, it breaks easily. Very Easily (glad I wasn’t wearing the gorget when it broke in half.
• Gesso is (or used to be) a white pigment mixed with rabbit skin glue. One puts it over whatever surface one is painting, where it essentially acts as a primer/sealer. On boards, one can sand it or leave it rough.
• Gouache is essentially opaque water color (sometimes called "designer's colors"). Used to paint scrolls, for instance.
• Tempera is essentially what all paintings were done in prior to the invention of oil paint. It is the pigment of your choice mixed with egg yolk as a binder. It produces a very bright finish, but you have to use it quickly (rather like acrylic).

More to come, I am sure…..

No, I didn't get out and actually start working with the shield. I made a trip to Michael’s (the craft store) and picked up gesso and tempera paint. Yes, gesso- not gouache. I have to say, this whole getting armored thing has really been….. enlightening. I have learned a plethora of things since I started working on getting armed. More on that in another post--- I was talking about shields.

As previously stated, I am following the Sir Galan Schol method of shield preparation. I dug out the shield blank that he cut out for me ages ago (I have to talk to him to find out what kind of wood it is), but I can say it is ¼ or not much more. As I recall, it was not cheap, so it must be something besides pine plywood. Much better than pine plywood. Anyway, I cleaned up the scrapes and dings and such. I applied my first coat of gesso this evening, and have to wait 24 hours until I can sand it to do the second layer. Then I can start the shield decoration, of which I am still unsure. Unsure what I am going to use as the decoration, that is. Since the Norsefolk didn’t generally use heraldry as we think about it, I am for sure not going to use my current, totally non-period arms. Did I mention there is a possible name change in the works too?

I’ll keep you posted. ;p

Maeva (my foster apprentice*) and I were talking about getting and staying motivated, on this long hard path to getting armored and authorized. Well, one of the things that we decided was it would be cool if we could get an email when one of us posts to our blogs. Caitlin and I had been talking about just that--- and if I can figure out how to use my news reader at work, I would go with RSS (that way, anyone who wanted to keep up with us could “subscribe” to our blogs, but I can’t figure out how to do that either….).

Anyway, since I own www.artisansrow.org and actually use only about 1% of the features to host the Artisan’s Row website, I thought I would give this a whirl. What I did was set up a mailing list on the artisansrow.org domain. I am setting my blog to that address. In theory, when I post this message, an email will go to that address, which will get forwarded to those of us who want to know about such posts. We will have to see if it works. (Note: some of the folks got the email, but the formatting was winky. I didn't get the mail at all...)
If it does work, I will set up a subscribe email address, so that any of our friends who want to can also subscribe. Sound like a plan??

* Maeva is Mistress Caitlin of Enniskillen’s apprentice, who I will be fostering once Caitlin moves to Atlantia. Boo hoo.)

Trying to figure out this whole gouache and tempera paint thing Sir Galan was telling me about for painting lasting shields. It has been forever and a day since he cut out the shield blank for me, and about that long since he gave me the instructions on what to do with it.....

As I recall (and he and I spoke briefly at Dreamstone...) he said to put down 3 or 4 coats of gouache (however you spell it), sanding in between each coat, to get a very smooth surface to paint on. Then, tempera paints to do the design, then several coats of varnish. He also told me about using rawhide dog bones rather than hose to do the edge. He has a great suspension system, which again if I am recalling correctly, is also period.

Of course, I have to decide on what to paint on the shield. I have registered Arms (registered in 1982 Gules, on a pale embattled between in chief an Irish harp and a Scottish thistle argent, in base a horse's head couped gules) but it is not just un-registerable today, it is totally un-period for my evolving persona, and my spiff new armor.

Am kind of leaning toward something simply geometric. I really need to do some research on what kind of painting would be appropriate for Isle of Lewis in approximately 1005 (I think that is where I am going to settle my persona there). There is another great group of folks- those of the Norse list- that are a wealth of knowledge. I think I will go ask there. ;p

There is a really great article on a grave find from the Isle of Lewis that is motivating me to move my persona there. Go check out the article "A Viking burial from Kneep, Uig, Isle of Lewis"

David got into the scissors Friday at school--- made a nice mess of his hair, he did. I have no complaints with the teacher, since she has done such a phenomenal job with him. But still…. So David got his first “real” haircut Friday evening. He looks like a cute little Marine. Believe it or not, that was not really my idea, but the girl was having a bit of a problem cleaning up the mess that he had made of it. So, his hair is a regulation 0" to 3" (he doesn't have to worry about his mustache going past his mouth yet....)

So there I was, yesterday evening, kind of annoyed with the mess David had made in the den. Using my most stern voice, I said, "I want these toys cleaned up. NOW."

The little devil comes to attention and says "Sir, yes sir."

Too much TV? Must be, because *I* certainly didn't teach him that. I about fell off the couch--- almost hurt myself trying to suppress the laughter that was ready to shoot out.

Finally, some progress.

I figured since the felting failed rather dismally the other evening, that I would try something a bit different. Using the same technology as for the planned cuirboulli for the lamellar, I actually made a gorget. I need one in any case, so it wasn’t really a wasted effort, and it did give me a chance (on a much smaller scale) to make sure that I have the process down.

I made a pattern out of poster board, which I cut out to test on my neck for fit. Then I added about a half inch all the way around to allow for the leather shrinkage. I forgot to pick up a thermometer to test the water, so I used the boiling water guess as best you can method. Seems to have worked…

I did forget to allow for padding, but I am hoping that I won’t need to allow for much. (If I do, anyone with a smaller than 16.5” neck need a nice cuirboulli gorget?)

I will take the thng to the demo tomorrow, and the guys can tell me if it will pass or not. It probably won’t be totally dry, but that is ok.

Oh, and Her Grace Melisande has replied to my request to carry a favor in the Iron Rose tourney “You betcha! I would be thrilled and delighted to support you on the field.” I just have received word that The Pennsic 34 Iron Rose Tournament has been scheduled for August 13th (Saturday) at 12noon, and will be held on the main battlefield. This means I have to rearrange my travel plans a bit, but that should be ok too.

Mess. A huge mess.... At least the kitchen counter is really clean, as is half of the floor.

I have watched (and even participated in) felt making. I have read a couple-three articles on the subject. I have raised the sheep (and goats), I have sheared, I have cleaned nasty wool and I have dyed- both Rit and natural, but for the life of me, I cannot seem to make felt. Like a lot of things that look just too easy, this isn't.

I don't know what I am doing wrong. The wool I carded the other evening was a mixture of raw and dyed--- some of it with Rit and some with natural dye stuff. I hope that this is the reason the felt didn't work. I have this really lumpy non-square piece of half-felted wool mess.

I am pretty sure that the karakul wool works for felting (at least that is what I have always heard) while the cashmere will not. I will start over again once I shear Bubba over the weekend. I really wanted to have the felt rectangles so that I could do the leather right over the top of it.

Well, those of you that really know me (and love me, although considering how much you harass me...) know that I cannot spell for crap. While I can edit other people's work for grammar and spelling mistakes (no comments from the peanut gallery) I have a hard time reading and catching my own mistakes...

So, I am going to go take some more dugs and play with the times on my wool carders, and finish making some felt since it is a beautiful evening, and I have two more hours until dark.

Luv yas too, Caitlin. ;p

Well, I started feeling better tonight, so I thought I would get back to work.

So I made felt. OK, so I started to make felt. I had a display I made up of several different samples of wool for an A+S competition some time ago, that it was time to do something else with. I now have a 19 qt tubby full of wool bats, ready to make into felt.

Yes, felt is related to armoring. Remember earlier I mentioned those leather finger gauntlets? And the helm padding made out of felt? I am the cheap one here, so I am going to make my own felt rather than try to locate and buy the harness felt....

I participated in a bit of the felting a couple years ago at Artisan's Row with Mistress Derbhail, but have yet to really get into the felting on my own. The first step (after shearing the sheep and cleaning the raw wool) is to card the wool. I bought a nice set of Ashford cards at Pennsic a couple years ago, and actually had to get them out of the box and put them together last night. Wool cards look like the dog brushes that have the little metel tines on them, but are a bit larger. You use the cards to comb the fibers out, to get them all aligned into a single direction.

I will post a link here to some class notes that Mistress Derbhail uses to teach felting. I am going to develop a "Felting for Fighters" class to teach at events, once I decide what in particular is the "must know" stuff for fighters when it comes to felting. Just think, if you make your own felt for armor padding, you never again will have to search for an Art/Sci entry for those dual lists (the ones that you need an Art/Sci entry to enter....).

I recomend taking care of things before they get out of hand....

I have had some dental work that has needed to be done for a long time. Unfortunately, I thought it was more important to take care of some other things first. Big mistake. Had oral surgery on Monday, and have been pretty much out of it since then.

At least the drugs were good. If you like drugs, I imagine.

Hopefully, everything will be back to normal by Monday, and I will be able to get back on the program....

// posted by Roz @ 12:49 PM 0 comments

What an absolutely beautiful day today. Must have been pushing 70 or so, and the sun was shining. Got an early start, but I didn't get a chance to work on any of the armor.

As I feared, there is a huge crack in the form for the arm guards. I really don't think it is going to effect the functionality of the thing, I should have taken better care though. Maybe I will run and get another 4x4 and carve another to display at Kingdom A+S, along with the rest of the completed armor (assuming I actually get anything done by then. At the rate I am going, I am going to be lucky to get any of it done in time to even authorize before Pennsic. That could put a definite crimp in my plan.

I did, however, get the Dreamstone XXVI token carved today, and about 25 of them cast. Only 175 more to go..... I am having a bit of issue getting the writing to cast, but I had so much help from David that I really couldn't concentrate enough to figure out the problem. I am sure I will get it figured out tomorrow.

I also got the tourney fence loaded on my trailer for Dreamstone. Only took me a little over an hour, but I may never bend at the waist again. At least I don't have to feel guilty about not working out today. hehe So, what is this fence thing?

Take a look at this picture of TRM Meridies, at Fall Crown List last year (where they became the Heirs),

or this picture of Duc Orlando and Lord Stephen at Dreamstone XXV:

or this picture of the field at Dreamstone XXV (Do you know these fighters? Please tell me who they are...):

I highly reccomend this beautiful addition to your group. The plans origionally came from Earl Daffydd of Clan Oldcastle, Atlantia. My barony, the Barony of Bryn Madoc (spearheaded by your truly and the lovely Mistress Caitlin), built this fence for the twenty-fifth annaversary of our signature event, Dreamstone. Cost us (2004 in Athens GA) about $400 total for 400 linerar feet, including the uprights. Your group might be able to do with less, but we generally have to run four rings for Dreamstone. The fence has also seen service at Meridian Fall Crown List last year, and is loaded and ready for Dreamstone XXVI next weekend. Transportation can be a bear (I have a 4x8 flat-bed trailer that it fits perfectly on) and of course, storage. And, something we had not really considered--- after three uses, the fence needs a fresh coat of paint. All in all, it is a very worthy investment.

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sister Sabre of Enlightened Compassion.

Get yours.

Hmmmm, what's yours?

I should have known better. I finished the form for the bazubands . I started carving it Wednesday night, after scrounging the 4x4 out in the rain. Like I said, I should have known better, because now I have these horrid little cracks in it. The cracks wont hurt the functionality at all, especially since the thing is going to get wet again, but heck. Now I can't (or rather wont) enter it into A+S as part of a "from the ground up" entry. Oh well. Did I mention I am making felt? Remember way back when (at least a week or so ago, hehe), on the Ironrose list, Master Ekkehardt said to use harness felt to line the different pieces of armor (including the helmet- peeyu). When I asked about harness felt, we got into a bit of a discussion about what it was and where to get it. Then it occurred to me--- BUBBA!! We have the resources sitting right out there in the pasture. So, last night I started cleaning last years shearing. Bubba, if you don't know, is a Karakul sheep. Karakul is the wool that is mainly used to manufacture Persian rugs. It will work wonderfully. But boy, does it stink. Next weekend is Dreamstone, but the weekend after (April 30) is my official sheep and goat shearing day. Weeeee.....

Bummer.I should have moved on the lamellar plates sooner (dang pouch is WAY too light just now-- money, you can always make more but it does take time). White Mountain Armoury is out of plates, and there is no telling when they will be back in stock.Time to go to plan B.I have been doing even more research on cuirboulli, for the gloves and for elbow and knee protection. Duke Cariadoc has two excellent articles online on his hypothesis on how cuirboulli was made in period. The first, titled The Perfect Armor was published around 1991, and has several ideas and patterns of things to make, as well as instructions on the process using wax.The second, The Perfect Armor Improved: Water Hardened Leather, was published more recently. Most folks use wax to harden the leather, but why would it be called cuirboulli?? He points out that the period term for hardened leather is "cuirboulli," which translates as "boiled (or cooked) leather." That is not the natural way of describing the wax hardening process. Indeed, I have to agree with him on that.But these articles have opened my eyes to a couple other things. There is no reason to not cut the lamella out of leather, and use the water hardening process. We already have a stash of 8 oz leather (which he says will shrink up to about 10oz during the process) for gloves and stuff. Once we cut out the big pieces, we will have tons of scraps big enough for the lamella.I think this is really going to work for us. I can see several advantages to using all leather, except for the helm. Lighter weight, it should breath a bit better, and we can make all of the pieces ourselves. I can see that we are going to have to be careful when we get finished fighting for the day... leather, being organic, is going to mold if the conditions are right. So, we are going to have to make sure that conditions are never "right". heheThat article also includes instructions on how to make bazubands - arm/elbow protection. Master Geoffrey carries these, and the ones he has are very well made, it is just that at $140 a pair..... I am going to have to figure out a way to make more money, or at least more money faster. And I think I can make them besides.I started carving the positive form pattern out of a 4x4 tonight. I started out by gouging a negative form, but darn it, the 4x4 didn't have enough circumference for my forearm (a bazuband made in that form might fit David, for another couple weeks anyway). At least, once I get one bazuband done I will have the negative form to use for the others.

Did I mention the folks on the Ironrose list are great?

I have discovered an inexpensive way to get my hand protection-- heavy leather/felt finger gauntlets. Master Ekkehardt wears them for all his forms - combat archery, siege, pole, sword and shield, framea and shield, etc.... He gave pretty detailed instructions on the list (I will ask if I can publish the instructions, or maybe once I start constructing them I will post it all here, with pictures and everything.

The Meridian standards say that hardened 8 oz leather is considered rigid material, so I am pretty sure these will pass muster, as long as I harden the leather. Time to research cuirboulli.....

Ya see, there was this really way cool dude named Duke Gyrth Oldcastle. Many folks probably know Gyrth, or have heard of his style of fighting. I became acquainted with him through my friend Mistress Caitlin (one way cool chikadee, by the way). She is a member of a sept of Clan Oldcastle. Since I needed a place to stay at Pennsic a couple years ago, she said I should camp with Oldcastle. What a GREAT group of folks. I always wanted a household like that....

Anyway, Duke Gyrth, rest his soul, was the patriarch of Oldcastle. Last year at Pennsic, he agreed to train me if I got my kit together. Unfortunately, I did not get my kit together in time, because last winter, His Grace passed from this place to a better one. I feel motivated to dedicate my first entry into the Ironrose list at Pennsic to his memory. I hope that Her Grace, Melisande, allows me to carry a token on the field, so that all may see the great respect I hold for her, and for His Grace.

Shhhh. Don't tell her, I haven't had the chance to ask her yet.

What a, ummm, memorable experience the whole thing was....

I like having a plan, and sticking to it. I plan my schedules with plenty of time in advance, to work out details or any kinks that can occur, and generally even have a back-up plan. Derbail and Calaija, my sponsors wanted me to not freak out, or make myself ill planning the elevation day. They wanted to do it all, as a gift to me, for all of my work in the past, etc. Against my better judgment, I said ok, that I would relax, and not worry about things. I really did try to stay out of everyone's hair, to let them do their thing. Really, I did.

My good friends Caitlin and Angharad were doing the food. Caitlin was also doing my garb (yay, new clothes!!) I asked questions about the food and the garb. I asked Derbail and Calaija about the ceremony; I had a great deal of input, which I liked, and I was told the person who had written it would be making copies in binders for the actual "event". Another of my friends wanted to have a nice scroll done, since it was 15 years before I got my AoA scroll, my GoA scroll looked like a first grader had done it, and my other three scrolls had not been too swell either. I kept getting told all was well and under control.....

It was storming and a very nasty night on Friday. The vigil was scheduled to start at 7:30, but at that point there were not that many folks on-site, including Caitlin. Caitlin did not get back into town until late Friday, and by the time she got on-site, I was nearly a beside myself. As it turned out, she had arranged to borrow suitable clothing from a couple of different folks. I was really grateful, as I thought it looked smashing.

We got underway around 9:30 (so Caitlin had time to get the food set out and for more folks to arrive on-site). By 1:30, I had had enough, and thankfully my very dear friend Thorkatla (and one of my most vocal non-peer sponsors) came in, and said she was the last one waiting to come and speak to me. We chatted, then moved a cot into the vigil tent so that I could sleep there, because that tent was drier than the one I had been planning on sleeping in. Unfortunately it took us too long to set up the bed. Despite the fact that Caitlin, Irina, Derbail and Calaija had already closed the main tent down, another 6 people showed up. It was almost 3:00 before I was able to say goodbye to them.

So, I finally got in bed. Notice, I did *not* say that I was able to get to sleep. By this time, it was really raining, and the wind was really blowing. I lay on this too narrow cot, freezing my bottom off, just waiting for the whole tent to come crashing down on my head in the high winds. Caitlin had brought me a beautiful bouquet of red and white roses (they were supposed to bring out my girly side...). She put them on the table for me in the vigil tent. Thorkatla had convinced me to shove the cot up against the tablecloth, to limit the airflow under the cot (there were also some other little hangy things the rest of the way around). As I said, it was very windy, and the whole tent was shaking. The table was near to, but not right against, the tent wall. My cot has right against the table. So, some time between 3:30 and 6:30, I was baptized again, this time with rose water rather than holy water. (Does that make me an honorary lady of the rosewater?)

I was freezing, and just gave up on sleeping. I went into the hall, to try and get warm. The cooks were already started on breakfast, so I just sat there, trying to get warm. Court (and the elevation) was scheduled for 9:00am. Folks started trickling in, and by 8:00am, friends, who were busily trying to calm my nerves, surrounded me. You have to understand, I don't think I rattle easily (despite some people saying that I do--- maybe they are right). But, understand, I hardly slept the night before, and I had not brought any clothes with me. The borrowed vigil clothing had to be returned, as the owners were planning on wearing them Saturday. And Caitlin had left site to go home (after she closed the tent down), to finish up the last bits on the elevation clothes she was making for me. By 8:45, I was really going nuts. Thankfully, Caitlin arrived right about then with the new clothes (they looked perfect, by the way) and helped me get dressed. We got back into the hall in plenty of time to sit and wait for the Crown.

That was when I found out that the copies of the ceremony had not yet arrived. Irina and Derbhail were scribbling on a sheet of paper to try and re-create the ceremony. Thankfully, another ceremony was happening that morning, so they were able to grab one of those copies and make the appropriate changes. Yes, we had ONE copy of an altered ceremony. Not the beautiful ceremony that had written in advance, but it was ok. Court progressed, the other elevation happened. As they were doing the huggy thing, HRM asked if anyone else had a script that they might like to share. Derbail ran up with the script, and we were shortly "on".

The rest was kind of un-eventful--- comparatively speaking, at least. The Crown worked well with one script, and I was able to remember the appropriate responses. Those peers who spoke for me nearly undid me, they said such nice things. Duc Orlando spoke for the Royal Peers, my good friend Christina spoke for the Pelicans, Loric spoke for the Chivalry, and my sponsors, Calaigha and Derbail spoke for the Laurels. I was able to swear my fealty without prompting, and without too much of a quiver in my voice. I take fealty very seriously, and I have always said if you cannot give fealty without prompting, you probably shouldn't be swearing it. I was very moved in that I was swearing for the first time as a peer. Quite a heady experience. The queen placed the medallion around my neck, the king stepped back and commented that it looked "right" and should please all of those members of the populace who had been writing them, as well as the Order.

Then, the Crown following the borrowed script, instructed the herald to read the scroll--- which had not been finished. Nor had anything been placed in the herald's folder. Poor guy got a very stricken look, flipping thru the scroll case. I quietly said "Fake the scroll". The King did not catch that, and looked expectantly at the herald. I repeated the fake the scroll line, at which point the herald looks up, looks at me (I said it again), smiles, and said "Well, congratulations." The populace laughed, and the king told me to get up and greet my new order... all 35 of them.

I greeted Mistress Rosemunde with a "Hello, Mistress Roz" and she replied "Hello, Mistress Roz. Just remember, you are still The Younger." hehehe

And then it was done.

Whew.

Well, while I love White Mountain's work, the $425 for a cuirass my size. I just can't do that now. But, he does have the plates available separately on a sliding scale from fifty to forty cents each, depending on the quantity purchased. Maeva was wanting to get into fighting.... I think I will bug her. ;p

I don't expect I will actually be doing much this weekend--- gonna be kind of busy. It seems the Order of the Laurel has recommended to Their Meridian Majesties that I be inducted to the order, and it is happening this weekend at Coronation. I will post all the details later.

Well then.....

Picked up the treadmill from Angharad yesterday. I love it, and so does David.

Joined the House Ironrose Yahoogroup today. This is a cool group of folks, with tons of knowledge. The blurb for the Yahoogroup says "A discussion group and online community for female fighters in the SCA and their supporters." There are both men and women on the list--- if you would like to join, send an email to HouseIronrose-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and ask for an invite.

There had been some discussion on scale armor, but I kind of like the looks of lamellar for body armor, so I asked. Boy, ask a question, get tons of answers. Broinnfinn suggested White Mountain Armor and sent a link to a picture of her fighting in hers. It looks stunning. I am going to go that way, I think.

Gulf Wars was just last week, and I met (and got reacquainted with) many very cool folks who reminded me that just because I am over 40 doesn't mean I am dead--- or even 2/3 of the way there.

I am inspired. Maybe even a little crazy....

It is way past time for me to get back in shape and healthy, and what better way to do it than to get back into heavy fighting again? I need to lose a significant amount of weight anyway, and make pretty much all new armor. I am sure at this point that none of the armor that I had the last time I got armored up (has it really been 15 years?!? Pretty darn close...) will pass inspection, and this is assuming that it is even serviceable.

And so the journey begins. Irina and Angharad have been trying to get me to join the Eowyn Challenge, and while I really don't plan to join that, I am going to start walking. Went out and bought myself a pedometer, and Angharad has a treadmill she wants to give to me. I live on a highway without a sidewalk, so there is no place for me to walk. It will be so much better than just sitting there.