Nessie sculpture creators come forward

Nessie sculpture creators come forward,Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete? put another in river

Some excess cement, inspiration from the boss and downtime at an Eau Claire business yielded a sculpture of a Loch Ness Monster that drew national media attention last week.

Workers at Silvermine Stone, 1807 N. Oxford Ave., created the three-piece statue in late April and planted it in the Chippewa River, just off the riverbank behind their cement factory, just north of the Madison Street bridge.

"We didn't think it would get this big,Shop for trim and crown moulding," said Rich Mickelson, co-owner of the business and mastermind behind "Nessie," a nickname for the mythical creature.

Between the unexplained appearance of the sea monster sculpture, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources opposition to its placement in the river and interest from local businesses — including home improvement giant Menards — to buy it, the story spread across the nation.Stone Source offers a variety of Natural stonemosaic Tiles.

The artists previously had remained anonymous,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. known by the pseudonym "The Phoenix." But Silvermine Stone employees said they might as well come forward because friends began suspecting they were behind the sculpture due to the proximity of the cement factory to the monster.

It all started because there was plenty of leftover cement from a test batch the company mixed from a new supplier.

Mickelson figured it shouldn't go to waste and that his co-workers could make something fun out of it. Suddenly, he thought of the iconic, grainy image of a monster's silhouette on Scotland's Loch Ness and imagined it on the Chippewa River.

"I don't know why I thought of it," Mickelson said.

His son, Tony, designed the mold for the head and tail, but the body came from half of a cement tabletop mold already at the company's shop.

They first made the head, adding metal bars to provide something to anchor it with, and finished it off with a red Coca-Cola bottle cap for an eye. Waiting a day instead of the full week for the cement to dry, a couple of the workers hauled it down the riverbank and planted it into an underwater sandbar. After admiring their work, they made the tail and body sections.

It took a few of them to transport each piece of the beast — the head alone weighs more than 400 pounds. All three parts included, Mickelson estimated the whole sculpture weighs more than 1,000 pounds.

An old hood that had been removed from a car served as a sled, making it easier to get the heavy parts down the steep riverbank.

Mickelson had waders handy, but offered his employees $20 if they volunteered to help him plant the pieces in the still-cold waters of the Chippewa River.

Contrary to previous reports, Mickelson said Nessie had been up only a few days before local media took note of the sculpture. The Leader-Telegram published its first story on the sculpture on May 2, about a week after the monster's head section was poured.

Silvermine removed the original sculpture a week ago because the DNR said it constituted an illegal obstruction in navigable waters, but the employees placed a new,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, upgraded version in the water on Tuesday.

They believe the current monster — buoyed by foam, held in place by anchors and decorated with small reflectors — should qualify as a legal "swimming raft" under DNR regulations.

Such rafts can be established with waterfront property owners without a permit, as long as they are within 200 feet of the shoreline and do not interfere with the public's use of the waterway, according to the regulations.

But Dan Baumann, acting director of the DNR's west-central region, said he does not agree the new Nessie qualifies as such and it needs to be removed.

"A swim raft has to meet certain criteria, and it would pretty hard to convince a common person that this is a swim raft," he wrote in an email to the Leader-Telegram.

Newly constructed home in Park Shore features updated Mediterranean interior design

The owners of a newly-constructed 6,There are 240 distinct solutions of the Soma cubepuzzle,800-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-and-a-half bath home in Park Shore elected to execute a Mediterranean interior design that is ideally suited to a lifestyle that revolves around their three children and entertaining close friends. The layout of the home includes formal living and dining rooms, a family room, study, den, two game rooms, a three-car garage, and a large covered lanai with outdoor kitchen.

"The updated, transitional Mediterranean interior in this residence includes numerous details that contribute to its warmth and overall appeal, including beautifully applied crown moldings and ceiling details in every room,Kitchen floortiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles." said Ficarra Design Associates President Lisa Ficarra, who created and executed the home's interior design.

"The color palette features reds, greens and golds along with rusts and creams. The flooring is porcelain with a stone look presented in a pattern consisting of 20-by-20-inch and six-by-six-inch pieces. When you enter the home's foyer, a half-wall with a stone arch and an iron accent provides a view of the dining room. A beautiful medallion, an element often found in Mediterranean designs, has been laser cut into the floor and offers a note of welcome. From the foyer, the eye is drawn through the formal living room to a view of a cascading waterfall flowing into the pool at the rear of the home. The waterfall has hand-painted Italian tiles,Find everything you need to know about kidneystones including causes, another common Mediterranean design element," said Ficarra.

Ficarra's furniture selections are classic with transitional Mediterranean overtones that offer cleaner lines and something less ornate than heavier Mediterranean furnishings. Matching John Richards' chairs, done in an embroidered chenille fabric, are featured in the living room. The sofa has a paisley patterned chenille cut into it that provides a three dimensional look.

A custom stone fireplace features antiqued mirrored panels above the mantle that are surrounded by a keystone frame. Custom built-in wall units are positioned on either side of the fireplace. The coffered ceiling has rope lighting and an contemporary faux finish that brings in the color of the John Richards' chairs.

An adjacent study's wall finish mimics elephant skin. A traditional style wall unit wraps around the room and a chair rail has a unique tan elephant skin finish.

A custom built-in buffet with granite top is featured in a niche in the dining room. The niche is bordered by a keystone frame. The wall above the buffet has a light bronze metallic faux finish that compliments a bronze-finished tray ceiling. The ceiling's stenciled design accents tall silk draperies.Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. A crystal chandelier is suspended above the dining table that seats eight.

The kitchen has a bar that seats four, an island and a wet bar that features a wine cooler and a light textured faux wall treatment.

Ficarra created a beamed ceiling,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. a mosaic inlay in the floor that frames the island and a custom vent hood that has a transitional design. The vent hood incorporates an iron accent that plays with raised, three dimensional iron pieces inlayed into the cook-top's mosaic backsplash.

The kitchen's primary cabinetry is off-white with glazing and lighting above. The vent hood, the base of the island and the space under the cook-top that surrounds the oven are in a deeper, darker brown tone. Granite countertops are a mix of rust, gray and taupe tones and feature a thick, double waterfall edge.

The kitchen flows into the family room that in turn flows into the ground floor game room that features a pool table and a bath done in a leopard pattern and zebra stripes.

The family room has a tall custom built-in set in a niche that houses a flat-screen TV. The built-in also has curio shelves and component cabinets. The family room's box pattern coffered ceiling is painted gold with white crown moulding. Pocketing sliders open to the covered lanai.

The master suite's ceiling design has intricate three-piece crown and wall moldings that accent a cream, rust and gold-taupe color palette. Furnishings include Bombay chests, a bed with a carved scalloped headboard and a heavy Mediterranean bed frame.

The master bath has a custom made stained glass window that brings light to the shower. Arches throughout the space are framed out with keystone moulding. An inlaid onyx floor in a thatched pattern with painted Italian tiles is in the shower while the tub deck is a soft gold marble.

The upstairs has four bedrooms, each with a full bath, a breakfast area at the top of the stairs, a recreation room, a den, a den bath and a covered lanai. The den is used as a computer room for the children. All of the upstairs rooms feature dark brown walnut six-inch plank hardwood flooring.

Skaneateles home is reminiscent of an Italian villa

When Auburn natives Peggy and Jimmy Spano decided to build a home at 3187 West Lake Road, Skaneateles, they wanted it to resemble an Italian country villa.

With its exterior of stone, stucco and wood, turret, cupola, three staircases, multiple porches, balconies, stone verandas and terraced landscaping -- even a grapevine-draped pergola -- the home could be near Italy's Lake Como rather than Skaneateles Lake.

The Spanos are ready to downsize after raising their two children in the four-bedroom, four full and two half bath house on nearly 13 acres. The 5,001-square-foot home,Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete? which took two years to build, is on the market for $1,499,000.

A meandering asphalt private road, shared with one neighbor, cuts through a broad expanse of lawn, ending at the hand-laid stone circular drive. A detached, heated three-car hobby garage, set in a clearing behind the house, has a fireplace and a half-bath. There also is a heated three-car garage attached to the house.

The home's double-door main entrance,External hemorrhoids are those that occur below the dentate line. sheltered by a stone portico with a beadboard ceiling, was hand carved by craftsman Matteo Bartolotta, of Auburn. The solid mahogany door feels as though it could withstand the pounding of a battering ram. One side has a diamond peep hole Bartolotta told the Spanos he added for when their daughter's suitors come to call. He suggested they use it to look over the young men before sending them packing.

The foyer, which has Venetian plaster walls, gives a hint of the Brazilian cherry floors found throughout the home -- here, inlaid with travertine tile below a tray ceiling with a hand-painted recessed center.

The main staircase begins in the foyer, with twin antique mahogany newel posts rescued from a ruined Italian church. Bartolotta replicated the posts' three-dimensional roping design, open in the center, in the spindles he carved to line the staircase.

The foyer also opens to a formal parlor overlooking the front lawn and the lake beyond. Across from that is a study behind double French doors with a coffered ceiling, judges paneling and custom built-in lighted shelves and cabinetry crafted of American cherry.

Beyond the foyer is the formal dining room, with a vaulted ceiling, picture frame molding, twin pendant chandeliers and silk draperies imported from Italy. The room, adjacent to the open plan kitchen and family room, easily accommodates a table for 12 and has a wall of windows with a wide view of the lake.

A glass door at one end of the dining room opens to a covered stone veranda, trimmed with wrought iron. This veranda and a second on the side of the house -- accessible through two sliding glass doors in the family room -- meet at an open-sided, copper-topped turret on the front corner of the house. The ceiling of the turret's roof is lined with a custom mahogany beadboard, illuminated with indirect lighting and a wrought iron chandelier.

On the lower level of the turret is an octagon wine-tasting room adjacent to a wine cellar with a dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer, wine cooler and racks designed to store 500 bottles. The two rooms have heated stained concrete floors and are finished with barn siding and stone. Arched copper and glass doors, reminiscent of those perhaps found in a castle's cellar,A Hybrid indoorpositioningsystem for First Responders. protect the stores and open to another covered veranda shaded by stone arches.

Peggy said the wine-tasting room and cellar, the verandas and the open-sided turret offer an exciting setting for parties. She especially enjoys using the dramatic lighting, including lights trained on the Concord grapevines at the end of an elevated walkway. And when not gazing at the lake, guests can enjoy viewing the terraced landscape with huge granite boulders Jimmy placed there himself.Choose from our large selection of cableties,Broken chinamosaic Table.

The 23- by 23 1/2-foot family room has an elaborately carved American cherry coffered ceiling, a limestone-fronted gas fireplace and a wall of windows.

The adjoining gourmet kitchen has mahogany cabinets, also hand-crafted by Bartolotta. One side of the kitchen serves as a baking station with its own sink, oven, built-in microwave and pastry island. The kitchen also features a pasta faucet installed above a six-burner stainless steel gas range with dual electric convection ovens. A dedicated coffee pantry and a separate walk-in pantry are well hidden. A curved two-tiered, granite-topped breakfast bar with seating for five loosely hugs a round vintage-style island, set below a chandelier imported from Italy.

Neil’s wood inspiration leads to links with India

A BEXHILL man is hoping to carve a niche for himself in the world of home design – by launching a furniture business with ‘master craftsman’ values.

Neil Buckley-Jensen, 35, (pictured) is the first to admit he is “obsessed” with wood and is always on the look out for discarded pieces to ‘upcycle’ into new wares.

And he is so committed to hand-tooling each piece he has forged links with an Indian factory to turn out wardrobes and tables made from old church pews and fishing boats.

The dad-of-one, who has set up a website for his Little Tree Furniture company, reckons he is on the cusp of a revolution in the way we think about our living spaces.

He said: “I think people are getting a bit tired of filling their homes with cheap, mass produced furniture.

“I am bit of a traditionalist in the sense that I think furniture should be built to last. On my travels to places like India and Africa I have come across amazing pieces of old colonial furniture that are still being used after all this time.

“Britain was once a country which prided itself on its master craftsmen. I think it’s sad we have lost those values so I’m determined to try and bring them back.”

Neil set up the ‘family’ firm from the 19th century cottage he shares with wife Aimee, 34, and son, Thomas,Find beautiful goose jackets here. two.Get information on airpurifier from the unbiased, independent experts.

It was while renovating the property – involving a lot of work with wooden beams – that an idea was sparked.

Neil, who works as a pharmaceuticals professional in his day job, then attended a government-run ‘business link’ scheme which helped get his firm off the ground.

But he soon realised he needed a unique selling point to give him the advantage in a crowded market.

So he began accompanying air stewardess wife Aimee on long haul flights to India to search for inspiration.

He added: “We met when we were both working for the same airline. I wasn’t very good at being a trolley dolly. I think I only lasted six months.

“But we ended up staying in Goa for a while and I was introduced to some guys who worked at a furniture manufacturing yard. It only had a couple of machines and about 10 carpenters but the stuff they were churning out was amazing.”

After striking a deal with the owner, Shazad Sayed, he started to import individual pieces to the UK.

But demand quickly began to exceed the tooling company’s modest capabilities and Neil was advised to travel north to the arid deserts of Rajasthan.

After several “adventures”,The indoor Tracking is based on Bluetooth technology. including one where he nearly died when an over-excitable cabbie ploughed into a ditch, Neil secured a host of regular suppliers.

He said: “I’ve managed to set up links with three different outlets and they manufacture the pieces.

“It’s been absolutely fantastic as I’m really into reclaiming old bits of wood. We’ve got furniture made from old churches, buildings and railway sleepers.

“And we’ve got a range coming soon that is entirely made from old fishing boats. It’s so colourful and characterful.Choose from our large selection of cableties,”

Neil has also factored in a bit of charity work to help local village schools after visiting the area six times in the last few years.

He is sponsoring local children to pay for their studies and wants to install 300 generators to keep vital air conditioning working during frequent power cuts.

He said: “The lights and air con just go down whenever the power fails. You have kids passing out because of the heat. So I really want to put generators in the schools otherwise the kids are missing out on learning.TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China.

“Our business is family focused so I just wanted to translate that into what we do in the community as well.”

New Orleans Jazz Fest Focuses on Mardi Gras Indian Culture

The New Orleans Jazz Festival Cultural Exchange Pavilion is usually reserved for displays and performances by folks from foreign countries with traditions that harmonize with those of the Crescent City. Haiti was featured in 2011. South Africa, Martinique, Mali and Brazil all have taken turns in the spotlight. But this year the focus couldn't come any closer to home. The tent, located near Congo Square, will be a gathering spot for tribes of New Orleans' own Mardi Gras Indian maskers, who will give festival-goers a peek at the artistic and musical customs behind their spectacular Carnival street pageants.

Pavilion coordinator Valerie Guillet said the time was right to feature Mardi Gras Indians, not only because their colorful costuming and percussive music parallels other traditional celebrations in the African Diaspora, but the HBO television series "Treme" has made the uniquely New Orleans custom better known to a national audience. The scene from the first episode in which fictional Chief Albert Lambreaux appears specter-like in his glowing suit on a flood-devastated New Orleans street remains one of the series' most searing images.

Mardi Gras Indians symbolize New Orleans as surely as the St. Charles streetcar and St. Louis Cathedral, but some of the intricacies of their activity remain private and -- at least to outsiders -- mysterious. Mardi Gras Indians have performed on Jazz Fest stages and paraded the grounds since the event began in 1970, but this year the fest hopes to provide "a more in-depth view for the public," Guillet said.

Eight maskers will occupy the pavilion over the seven-day course of the festival, sewing suits,Find rubberhose companies from India. beading patches, building crowns and answering questions.TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. Plus, the festival's Mardi Gras Indian parades will pause in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion to perform parade songs. Other maskers will attend the frequent Mardi Gras Indian music practices. In all, representatives of 30 tribes will circulate through the pavilion during the course of the fest.

Guillet said the aim isn't to provide a single definition of the complex Mardi Gras Indian tradition; it's to seek "a collection of definitions."

"What we are trying to do is get the answer from community members," she said. "We've asked people what it means to be a Mardi Gras Indian."

Three of the Indian maskers to be featured in the pavilion sat down for interviews last week,Our porcelaintiles are perfect for entryways or bigger spaces and can also be used outside, providing a cultural exchange preview.

Big Chief Keith "Keitoe" Jones, of the Ninth Ward Seminoles, will be a sort of master of ceremonies at the Cultural Exchange Pavilion. In a sleepy conversation earlier this week, Jones explained that he and his grown son had stayed up through the previous night until 5:30 a.m., working on his 2013 Mardi Gras costume. Each year requires a new design, decorated with uncountable numbers of caviar-sized beads, demanding hours and hours of meticulous labor. "Some nights you sew until daybreak," he said.

Jones' spare bedroom is blanketed with beaded mosaic patches. He demonstrated the heft of a Mardi Gras Indian suit by handing over his late wife's costume,There is no de facto standard for an indoor positioning system. which he estimates to weigh 50 pounds. He called particular attention to a dizzyingly detailed patch depicting a Seminole attack on British colonial soldiers. The shadow of the swirling ceiling fan above made the thousands Buy high quality bedding and bed linen from Yorkshire Linen.of clear crystal rhinestones in the patches glitter dramatically.

Long Line of Cars? Not Anymore

In the aftermath of last summer’s Las Conchas wildfire—the largest in New Mexico history—a wall of black, muddy, log-choked water came roaring down Bandelier National Monument’s Frijoles Canyon. The National Park Service had prepared for the Aug. 21 flood, wrapping the historic visitor center in heavy plastic and erecting concrete barriers to deflect the waters.

But when the flood was over, the area where some of the park’s 230,000 yearly visitors park their cars was filled with debris, and the access bridge was gone. Already facing parking shortages, NPS managers had a big problem on their hands—and Albuquerque’s annual Balloon Fiesta, which brings a surge of visitors to Bandelier, was just around the corner.

To their relief, Los Alamos County stepped in, providing buses to shuttle people into the park for the remainder of the season. Around 9,000 people rode the county shuttle, and for the rest of the year, Frijoles Canyon was car-free.

This was the fire’s unlikely upside: allowing NPS managers to achieve the elusive and long-sought goal of limiting park traffic to a public shuttle.

For the past decade, NPS had advocated a shuttle tthat would eliminate noise, fumes and overcrowding from Bandelier’s historic headquarters area. Until the fire, that idea had never moved.

But last summer, out of necessity, it finally became a reality. Los Alamos County built a new parking area outside Bandelier, in White Rock, where visitors could meet a NPS ranger and hop on the shuttle for the 10-mile ride to the park.

This February, the Los Alamos County Council formalized the arrangement, approving a three-year contract to provide shuttles for Bandelier visitors. A new visitor center, slated to open this summer in White Rock, will serve as a jumping-off point for the shuttle system, which the county believes will benefit both Los Alamos businesses and the park.

“Los Alamos County has turned out to be a model partner for us,” Bandelier Superintendent Jason Lott says, adding that he hopes the shuttle will be “the most economically efficient shuttle system in the national park system” since NPS is working with a local government partner rather thaPurelink's realtimelocationsystem simplify emergency evacuations.n a commercial contractor.

“This shuttle will only cost the Park Service around $150,000 per year,” Lott explains. “No other NPS shuttle system comes close to this cost.“

The National Park Service currently runs shuttle systems to alleviate congestion at Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks.

Another advantage of the Bandelier shuttle,GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. Los Alamos County Public Relations Administrator Julie Habiger says, is its potential to increase tourism and diversify the local economy. Habiger says the shuttle will cost the county around $600,000 per year, with most of the funding coming from federal grants and some help from NPS visitor fees.

But not everyone agrees that a carless Bandelier is a good thing. Todd Nichols, who owns the lease on the Bandelier Trading Co., which runs the gift shop and food service at Bandelier, says his business has dropped dramatically since the shuttle came.

“People will see the shuttle coming and throw $60 worth of food away and run to the bus, even though it comes every half hour,” Nichols says. “Also, my local customers have stopped coming when the shuttle is running.This page provides information about 'werkzeugbaus; We may have to restructure our business because of this.”

While Nichols praises NPS’ handling of the fire and flooding, he worries that the shuttle may diminish some visitors’ experiences.

But Lott argues just the opposite, maintaining that fewer cars in the canyon will mean less noise, fumes and traffic jams. “People are attached to their cars, so it may take some retraining for some visitors,” he admits.

On a recent Saturday, as spring visitors arrived at Bandelier, a ranger warned them of a 20-minute wait for parking. In Frijoles Canyon, a line of cars parked on the road,Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete? with drivers waiting while Bandelier staff busily managing the overfull parking lot. With a fraction of summer visitation already frustrating visitors,Get information on airpurifier from the unbiased, independent experts. Bandelier rangers are looking to the June shuttle for relief.

Native American Concerns Clash In Arizona Desert

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A fisherman lies in the foothills of the western Arizona’s Plomosa Mountains, an image scraped into desert soil by prehistoric Native Americans and protected from tourists’ tennis shoes by a Bureau of Land Management fence.

The Bouse Fisherman Intaglio is said to represent Kumastamo, a god who thrust his spear into the ground to make the Colorado River flow.

For centuries, members of Native American tribes along the river have had a spiritual connection to the La Posa Plain, which unravels across the bleak desert toward distant mountains. Dig a hole and you’re likely to find prehistoric artifacts.

“It can be as small as stone flakes to make a stone tool or as big as a village site,” said John Bathke, historic preservation officer for the Quechan Indian Tribe. “There were many tribes that came here to trade, live, sing, worship.”

The undisturbed landscape stretching between mountains, known as a viewshed, is as precious to tribes as the fisherman itself. According to the BLM, seven of 18 viewsheds on or around La Posa Plain are sacred to various tribes.

But unlike the fisherman, sacred viewsheds aren’t protected.

By this time next year, a 653-foot solar tower – an industrial pipe taller than the Washington Monument – will rise from La Posa Plain if the Quartzsite Solar Energy Project earns BLM approval this summer. The top of the tower would be visible from Bouse Fisherman Intaglio and in other sacred viewsheds.

“You’re looking at having this alien structure dropped down in the middle of our traditional spiritual area,” Bathke said.

Solar plants and wind farms are spreading quickly throughout the American Southwest; so far in Arizona, the BLM has identified more than 237,000 acres of public land as optimal for renewable energy developments.

While there are laws that can preserve sites with Native American artifacts, none are devoted to protecting viewsheds. Tribes have little power to halt or stop developments on land they don’t own and are only consulted by the BLM about their connection to a potential project’s land, be it historical or spiritual.

But to Bathke and his tribe, whose reservation lies along the Colorado River near Yuma, that consultation is little more than a formality.

“Many of us – not just Quechans – feel like our concerns aren’t being taken seriously,” Bathke said.

By the time applications for renewable energy developments go through BLM and get to the tribes,Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete? they’ve become massive binders – or sets of binders – that include environmental impact statements.Shop for trim and crown moulding, Tribes are asked to read through these 500-page studies and respond with comments within 30 days.

“It took two years for them to develop it. How are we supposed to respond in a month?” Bathke said.

After watching the federal government go forward with a series of wind farms and solar plants that various tribes of the Southwest opposed,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. the Quechans are beginning to fight back, calling for a more meaningful consultation process – one that better acknowledges their religious beliefs.Stone Source offers a variety of Natural stonemosaic Tiles.

“We always have to justify our spiritual experience,” Bathke said. “What if someone wanted to put solar panels on the Vatican? Would that be acceptable?”