It was an Autism Society Benefit:
With Euforquestra
Dancers!
…and Bloco em FoCo !
The Mobile Percussion Ensemble of Fort Collins cranked up the audience at Avo’s patio last Sunday! Our next gig is at Maya Cove in time for the World Cup opening party in June!
Where the Maytag repairman is buried:
The Iconic Lonely Repairman
In 1989 actor Gordon Jump (remember WKRP in Cincinnati? ) appeared as the Maytag Repairman. It’s now played by Clay Earl Jackson
This is Lee Maxwell
Lee is the washing machine repairman of all time. He is the owner of what he calls The Washing Machine Museum in Eaton, Colorado. A long time resident of Fort Collins until his retirement as a CSU EE professor, Lee began collecting and fixing up old and beat-up washing machines to the point that he had to build a few extra warehouses keep them all.
The Water Tower
Lee uses the old Eaton water tower for an office and main entrance to his collection. Anywhere on the property one might find and old washer or butter churn (which sometimes doubled as a clothes washer) rusting about, but it can not compare with what Lee has inside!
A small part of the collection
There are at least two good sized rooms containing over 1000 machines along with all kinds of artifacts that Lee and his wife collected over the years. Everything is placed in neat rows with isles for visitors to easily inspect each machine. Some are connected up so Lee Maxwell can demonstrate how it worked.
The gentile hands of THOR !!
Here’s an agitator that got our attention! Let these gentile metallic feminine hands do your wash!
Stuff on the side
A detergent named “BARF” and an Ivory Snow box featuring porn star Marilyn Chambers
Parts is parts
Back in the barn is where Lee does all the work refinishing the wood and sand blasting the rusted metal parts. Here is a room where some of the motors are stored.
It really is a farm!
There are swans, turkeys and peacocks roaming around!
Oh, remember that thing I reported on back in October 2008? That big letter A on the side of the hill? It turns out the Lee Maxwell is the grandson of a one R.G. Maxwell who happened to own the land on which the big letter “A” was planted. He loaned the land to CSU for $1 at the time!
at the Bas Bleu:
We took the group out to see the last performance of She Stoops to Conquer
And now a new set had to be built for the next production: Lend Me A Tenor. Jeanne and I helped out in the morning to get part of the stage ready. The flats were ready-made by the set designer so all we had to do was unload them from the truck and place them on stage!
There are seven doors in the set! That’s a lot of hinges!
Our theater group has tickets for The Mostlies in June so we might miss the Tenors although we have comp tickets for helping build the set. This year the Mostlies are ready for “Up, Up and Astray” or “We Did It For The Show!”. I guess you can figure out that’s all about!
Apparently someplace on Maple and Mason streets:
Used to be in Old Town Square
It was forgotten for a while after it was moved. I just happened upon it the other day and I began to wonder if this particular area of town is the official dumping ground of unwanted art. I will take a closer look and make the assumption that anything north of this statue is a “Bad Art” warning zone. If I find some examples, I will post them in this blog.
It now faces in the north-east direction away from town. Does it greet the train engineer on the way into the Mason street line daring teenagers to vandalize the hand in a way that many PhotoShop novices have dreamed of doing? Is it a target for drunk drivers like the one who hit the Swetsville zoo’s dino sculpture? I have a feeling it ain’t over!
at Avo’s
Another Science Cafe: This time it’s at Avo’s
At CSU they’re using nanotechnology to improve lithium ion battery performance!
Dr. Amy Prieto
She has come up with a rather elegant way to make copper nanotubes that act as high efficiency battery electrodes. They are easy to make and don’t use harmful chemicals!
Afterwards music by the Horsetooth Mountain Rangers
At Rosemary’s farm:
A good day for Bloco practice and campfire afterwards
and teaching new band members!
The city will have it’s own Cinco Fiesta this weekend with a carnival and games added (It’s NEW this year!). Bloco’s got a gig this Friday, so with that it looks like the weekend is booked! Adiós!
It was time to spruce up the day care center on Pine Street:
I volunteer at Centenial High School and I run a workshop for job seekers at the Larimer County Workforce Center. My wife Jeanne drives for the SAINT organization and works at the Fort Collins Municipal Rail Road.
Jeanne also took charge of a Social Action group and organized a team of volunteer painters to help paint the walls of some offices and hall ways at the United Way Daycare Center. “And I halped!”
We got there about 9:00 AM and began to work. The UW staff had all the materials ready for us (we did not pick the paint colors!). We had about 10 volunteers on the team and we hoped to get done by 2:00 PM.
“Damn, it looks like it’s gonna take two coats!” The label on the can says to wait four hours before the second coat. Since it’s fairly dry in Colorado, I bet we can let it dry during our lunch hour and it will be OK ! ?
Hey we did it! And we are out of there by 2:05 PM! Thanks to all our volunteers!
It’s the Fort Collins Municipal Railroad (FCMRR) !
Breakstand and air pressure indicator
Fort Collins has an antique Trolley car from 1919 that has been restored and now runs on the weekend weather permitting. We first mentioned it here when we took our first ride. Jeanne and I decided to volunteer as trolley conductors and/or motormen this summer!
Controller stand
It’s pretty much all original equipment (save for the cell phone holster in the upper left) and it’s a real trip to crank this puppy up in the morning with 600 volts of direct current. For one dollar we can take you up and down Mountain Avenue and tell you about the history of good old car 21!
Moose in front of car 21
Our friend “Moose” stands in front of car 21. There is a safety bumper on both ends of the car so if you do happen to run into a real moose or anything else for that matter, the electrical breakers will cut the power to the wheels and the air brakes will stop the car on the spot. There is a catcher claw right before the wheels as an additional safety measure just in case the wheels don’t stop.
Moose switching the tracks
The switch is only used when the car uses the track spur to go to and from the maintenance barn. There is a larger car barn on Mason Street that houses more street car equipment plus another original Fort Collins Trolley “Car 25” which is currently under restoration by the FCMRR volunteer group.
Moose again as Santa Claus
You may have seen Moose before. We bump into him on occasion; here he is at our December holiday gathering dressed as Santa!