How to Make a Rope.

 See that good looking cowboy down below? That is my Uncle Skip making a rope. Uncle Skip lived in Oklahoma since before I was born. He'd come up to Indiana occasionally when I was growing up and 15 or so years ago, it may have been before, he found an antique rope maker and Skip started making rope.

He didn't just make rope for fun. No, he built up a traveling rope demonstration. He'd been all over with his ropes; Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Indiana and Michigan....and surely more that I don't know of.  

Uncle Skip passed away almost five years ago but one of the shows he'd been doing for years was the Chuck wagon Gathering and Children's Cowboy Festival at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City every Memorial Day weekend. Skip started a family tradition of rope making that his grandson is still keeping alive. His grandson, Charlie, is The Rope maker now. This past weekend Mountain Man, DR, the kids and I met Charlie and a whole passel of our cousins at the Chuck Wagon Gathering to help make rope.

In the back is my cousin's husband David. The rope maker with the sunglasses on is their son Charlie supervising his son, Little David, making rope. I admit, I got a bit sentimental that first day because I can't associate many times when I made rope growing up without Uncle Skip. We had a great time but it felt like something was missing without him.

Wanna know how you make a rope? Well, aren't you lucky...I just happen to have pictures to share! lol

First, you have to get excited! This is Charlie's sister, Katie. Doesn't she look excited to make rope for the next two days, 6 hours straight? Yep, she's just a bit crazy like that.

First you need a rope maker...and don't ask where you can buy one like this. The man who made them for Uncle Skip has retired and doesn't them anymore. Everybody this weekend seemed to want to know where they could get a rope maker! Anyone out there have a machinist shop? Well, I have a project for you...rope makers are in demand.

Okay, so you take two spools of baling twine and you tie the ends together and hook that knot together at place it around the lower left hook. Mountain Man was crazy enough to drive 6 plus hours to come make rope all weekend. Yeah, he's a bit crazy like that too.

Next you walk down to another hook and loop it around. Uncle Skip fixed the hook up to a box with weights that slide on a sawhorse. You can make a rope  with someone holding the hook, and make it as long as you want, but in this way there is one less person needed and a lot less work.

You walk back and forth hooking the baling twine until all three hooks on the rope maker are full. Then you tie off the baling twine and find a young able bodied cranker. Kids are great for this part!!

Here's Little Charlie, always a cheerful volunteer. As he cranks clockwise the rope maker the hooks spin and four twines, on each hook, twist together.

Then after each section of four twines twist together the tension builds up and twists together all the sections. Mountain Man holds a rope wrench to keep the three sections apart, so they don't get tangled, and stay twisting with an even amount of tension. What you don't see is the weights being pulled forwardon the sawhorses, keeping the twists tight, as the rope twists together.

When the rope is twisted completely it is tied off with masking tape and cut off the rope maker end and unhooked from the other end.

Then (fire! the fun part!) because the baling twine is plastic a propane torch is used to melt the raw ends together. The hot end is dipped in a bucket of water and....then...gggrrr...I don't have a picture of this....but a Hondo knot is put in the end with the tape. Then you can make a lasso from your rope.

Now multiply that by four.

Four rope makers cranking, eight people walking around and back and forth, in 90 degree heat, with propane torches, for six hours or so.

Add a line of sweaty little kids waiting for up to an hour (in the sun!) to make their own rope. Kids are crazy like that aren't they? Sounds miserable doesn't it?

Well...I admit...we were all pretty tuckered out by the end of the day but we are already looking forward and planning to go back next year!! Yep, we're a bit crazy like that too.

The Chuck wagon Gathering was awesome! There was so much more than making rope. There was about a dozen chuck wagons cooking over an open fire for two days, pony rides, horseshoe pitching, a Texas longhorn to sit on, Annie Oakley doing trick shooting, and of course the museum!! I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I would have liked but I am so glad we went and sure hope this year goes quickly so we can do it again.

Now...do you need a rope?

Or better yet, do you need someone to come give a rope making demonstration. Let me know!! I'm pretty sure I can hook you up.

A Pastel Christmas gift for my western fan.

My art corner has been negelected lately. With the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving and Christmas I've found myself short on time to do much drawing.

However I was able to get this drawing done before my computer went loony and had to get worked on.

This drawing is a Christmas gift for my grandpa. I think if Grandpa could he'd probably move out west with me. It never fails, everytime I walk into his house the western channel is on television. The grandkids and grandpa have many times "come to talks" about which station the television should be on. According to my grandpa if it isn't a western it isn't worth watching. This drawing isn't anything fancy or greatly symbolic. It's just a drawing I did for a man I love dearly because I know it's something he'll enjoy.

P.S. - Family, keep it a secret for me for just a couple more weeks...thanks!

Is this ART??

The other day I was kidless for a couple hours. I KNOW!!! Can you believe it?? Being kidless never happens. Anyway, I decided to do something I would NEVER do with my kids. Go to an antique store.

I love antique stores! I love how crowded things are. I love the dusty smell. I love the piles that you have to search through.  I love how paintings are leaned against the wall four or five deep. Going 'antiquing' is like a pirate's treasure hunt...you may never know what you may find.

As I was flipping through some paintings, this one caught my eye.

An old west sheriff complete with his badge and gun. Neat! But...wait...

Something's not quite right....can you see it??

His mustache was fake hair glued onto the painting! Really?? Who thought that was a good idea?? Overall, it wasn't a bad painting but that mustache...ugh....it ruined it for me!

So what do YOU think? Is it art? Or am I just an art snob?

Eiteljorg Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana

Friday,  I met my parents, sister, brother in law and cousin in Indianapolis to hit some museums. Our first stop was the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art downtown. This is my favorite art museum! My wonderful high school art teacher introduced it to me as a teenager, I took field trips later with my own students, and visited on my own a number of times as an adult. I was so excited now to be able to take my own children and share it with them.

Currently, there is a special exhibition of engraved pistols....amazing! They had a master engraver giving demonstrations and explaining the process (no pictures allowed :( ) But Annie Oakley was the big hit with my boys! A wonderful lady dressed up as Annie, explained about her life with Bill Cody and then, oh my goodness, allowed my boys to "shoot" her rifle!

Of course we looked at all the fantastic artwork too. Some of my favorites are O'Keefe, Couse, Russell and Remington, Terpning...I could go on and on.

Renovated since I was here last, the Eiteljorg  has added a stagecoach for kids to climb into and a saddle to check out. Very neat!!

We also went through the Indiana State Museum right next door. Between the two are giant slabs of, what I assume, is limestone. The boys loved climbing all over these...who wouldn't?

The bottom floor of the Indiana State Museum begins with the natural history of the state. Yip and his cousin even got to talk to an archeologist all about hunting mastadons.

Then there was the early historical period of Indiana. Yap was enchanted with a model of how the lock and canal system worked in early Indiana.

And here is my sister educating my cousin on the wonderful woman who was Maconaquah!

The State Museum also has a fantastic exhibit on Abraham Lincoln on loan from the Library of Congress but cameras weren't allowed inside. There are some amazing Lincoln documents in the exhibit! A must if you are in the area!

It was a beautiful day on Friday so after we were finished at the museums we walked down the White River State Park canal which was right out the back door of the museums. Hundreds of people were out that day on bikes and paddleboats. This little piece of downtown Indianapolis is packed with some wonderful attractions! Within walking distance from where we were there is also the baseball stadium and the zoo and so much more.  I love Indianapolis! Definitely a place to visit if you get the chance :)