Prepping for Comic-Con

We're about two months out from the San Diego Comic-Con.

This will be the biggest convention of the year for us.

Julie and I have started working on additional projects for the art show.

I would like to get a couple more rockets made and fired. I'll try to do the throwing this weekend, to get it into the firing cycle.
I'm also working on some ray guns. My first two ray guns sold at Arisia and LunaCon. I'm working on a new series, a steampunk/sailpunk design, with flintlocks. The first one started as a derringer lighter I picked up at a garage sale. I disassembled the piece, tossed the non-working lighter bits, made a few modifications with a hacksaw and drill, and have braised a brass washer and nut to the inside of the shortened barrel. I have a threaded brass rod screwed into the nut that will pass through rubber stopper, a set of lenticular beads, short pieces of tubing, and attach to the base of a small brass candlestick. I still need to find a couple of small brass beads, one for the sight, and the other for the business end of the ray gun. I could also use a small lamp finial for the business end.

Bad Hands

I've been having problems with my hands and feet . in the last few months.

It starts as a stiffness in the joints, then rapidly progresses to swelling and general mobility.

It started in the left hand, lasted for a few days, transferred to the right, lasted for a few days, dropped into my right foot, then reversed course through my hands.

Some times, like this last weekend, I have full mobility of both hands. There was a little stiffness in the left, but I was able to attempt a series of projects (which lead to dismal failures, all interconnected, but none traced to a lack of mobility).

By Sunday evening, my left hand went from stiff, to swollen, to alarmingly painful. The fingers were also cold to the touch.

The worst part was that I couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in, since the only way to make the hand stop hurting was to dangle it strait down from my shoulder. I sat in a kitchen chair for most of the night, and got a couple of hours sleep.

Saw my doctor Monday morning, got a shot for the pain and swelling, and a specialist in the afternoon.

Yesterday, I ran over to a clinic after some morning meetings, where they drew six vials of blood for various tests.

There is so much that I want to do this Summer getting projects ready for shows, as well as jobs around the house, and I can't do it without both hands.

RIP - Slurpy the Lizard 2005-2007

Golden Compass Daemon