Spring Miscellaneous

Lots of stuff going on, besides new leaves on the trees.  We've started planting the garden early this year - almost 1 month early... so we'll see!  With the garden in, the fences go up to keep the chickens OUT!

Some blacksmithing going on, too.  A new sword this time, and finishing up the handle on a knife.  Here he's making a few precision adjustments...

"yeah, straight enough for battle!"

The texture on the knife blade is pretty cool.  Handle is birch (from the Yukon), with brass mechanicals.

We got rid of one of our roosters, and with one left (for now...) we thought we'd break out our egg incubator.  Here's a little circuit for sending the temperature and humidity to the internet for graphing every 15 seconds.  Testing now to see how many days we get off the battery.

Oh, and it is spring, which means Trout Fishing!  So, we may not post projects for a while...

Livin' the good life!

Kite Camera Videos

A few videos of our waterfront testing.  We used both top and bottom connectors on the camera, to show the different viewing angles of the video.

Kite Camera Test at the Waterfront

Also a video of the kite crashing into the tree.  Fun!

Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? Is it a $2K Drone? NO! Introducing Kite Camera!

This has been another fun project.  Having eager and smart assistants always makes it fun.

Yeah, there are drones to do this, but we thought 'hey, why not on a kite?', and figured we could do it better than what was already on the FaceTube.  So we tried, crashed a few, burned one, and got one up in the air!

Pretty simple design, with a small camera (17grams, that is like 0.6 ounces!) that can do 1280p video.  Or, it can do lots of pictures.  There are also some more expensive (and slightly heavier) cameras for 60 frames-per-sec.  This one was just right.  Another plus is that our small solar panel in the truck can keep it charged-n-ready.

Our kite was nothin' special, a decent, small, and 'cool' kite we can keep with us.

Good thing it was cheap(er), because its been in a tree a few times...

No problems, though... it led us to create our super-awesome-PVC-Kite-Picker!  Order now, supplies are limited ;-)

 Never down for long, we quickly got back into the skies.

Our only problem now in the Spring is... dependable wind.  Oh well - we keep this one in the truck for any chance to get it out.

If you are interested in our design, shoot us an email at talltreehw@gmail.com.  I'll help the kids make you a bracket (camera not included) for $5 USD.  Want a camera with it?  We can figure out a price for that, too.  Oh, and a nice, convenient, Android Smartphone app to view, download, and configure your cameras soon.

Stay posted for more videos!