THIS IS A FESTIVAL FOR YARN LOVERS!

Ann Davenport took me to the Fiber Festival in Harford, PA.  I have never seen so much beautiful yarn, or spinning wheels, or alpacas in one place.  You must go!
http://www.pafiberfestival.com/
Sheep dog demonstrations--it is mazing how intense these little dogs are, and how good they are.

The most fascinating thing I saw was the angora rabbit demonstration.  Here is the rabbit just sitting in the chair while the owner waited on a customer.   People were milling all around.  He just sat there not afraid of anything.

Here is the lady, rabbit cradled in her lap, spinning the fur.  She would stop, and  stroke more fur out of the bunny, spin it.  I was amazed that she could spin such fine fur so easily.  They say these rabbits are really nice pets, very gentle.  Their fur looks kind of messy, like they need brushing.

Here is an apricot colored angora.  Wouldn't this be a pretty sweater?

And here is a grey one.  I am fascinated with the bunnies!

This lady buys old machines, and refurbishes them for felting machines.  So, If you want a felting machine, you can contact her.  I saw her at the Farmers' Market with tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, potatoes, and other produce.  She offered to let me come to her house to can salsa.   Basswood is the name of the business and the phone number on her card is 570-934-2288.  Thanks.

Alpacas have such a soft fleece; I wore alpaca socks last winter and they were so soft, warm and kept my feet nice and dry.  They say if you are going to belong to the alpaca association, you must have a store for your wares.  That sounds reasonable considering how much yarn there was there.

This is a different spinning wheel--so compact, and look at her socks!

There were lots of traditional spinning wheels there too.  Such talent.

I am so proud to see a teenager spinning, even though it is faux alpaca!

The owners love their animals, and the animals love their owners.  Alpaca kisses are sweet!

Such big eyes!

When you are bored, nervous, stressed, just eat!  This is Lady the llama.

We ended the trip with a maple syrup sundae, topped with walnuts.  The hornet was determined to get his share!

I hope everyone who is a fiber lover gets to go to this festival.  The colors are beautiful and you will see such pretty faces!

Thanks, Ann.  I loved the trip, and learned so much.

FACES FROM CENTRAL COMPRESSOR STATION

Sadly, we are winding up the job at Central Compressor Station, and we will all be gone very soon.  I really don't like good-byes.  I just want to put some pictures in the photo album so that when I am far away from Pennsylvania I can remember the good times we had working together.
This is Charlie Rohan.  He is the mechanic at the shop, and drives truck, keeps all the machines fueled and is always in good humor, always has a smile on his face.

Richard Wega, and Raul Zavala take a moment for the camera.  Raul is a civil worker, which means that he specializes in rebar, concrete forms and finishing the concrete after it is poured.  You had better put your running shoes on if you want to keep up with this young man!  Richard is the safety officer, and is going to another job in a day or two.

One of many guards you will meet at the front gate.  These men kept the protesters and terrorists out of the site.  Thanks for keeping the peace!

The inspectors had a cookout and here are the guys relaxing and having a great lunch. 

Mark Prejean (on the left) is the structural welder from Louisiana.  If you want to talk Cajun cooking, talk to Mark.  Next to Mark is inspector Bill Vancott, a Pennsylvania man.

Kirk, and Doug both work for EIU.  They do all the electrical work for the plant.

Jesus Miranda and Raul Zavala  below.

EIU electricians top off the Bar-B-Q with the salads. 

Harvey Gunther is the EIU superintendent and also a Bar-B-Q pro.  Bill Vancott is supervising, I guess.

Chicken, jalapenos,  and ribs.  Chicken is the most popular Bar-B-Q meat in this part of Pennsylvania.

Tommy Stanaland, safety officer,  and Dave Theis, superintendent.

Sam Ward, Ray Burroughs, and Bill Vancott are the third party inspectors and work for Williams.

Ray Burroughs in deep thought!  Reading the stock market, Ray?

John Moore, from Steel Nation kept us in Krispy Kreme donuts, and I gained 5 lbs. from his generosity.  Thanks, John; it was worth every pound! Dave Theis is at the end of the table.

Sam Ward and his little helper, Blue, a six-week old rat terrier.

Blue is all action!  Sam, you had better not leave your socks laying around unless you want holes in them.

This is the boom for the 600 ton crane we had on site to set the compressor.  This is an amazing piece of equipment.

Crane boom in the fog.  One of the guards took these pictures of the crane.  Nice shot.

This picture show the "gantry" or the cable that holds the boom up.

One of the guards took this picture of the forklift unloading in the fog.

These aren't all of the folks that have worked at this site, and I am sorry that I don't have their pictures.  Time got away from me.  God bless each and every one of you hard working folks; you have made my days fun.  Thanks for the memories.

A TOUR OF CENTRAL COMPRESSOR STATION, KINGSLEY, PA

This was a groups of protesters from New York.  I think the leader missed her calling as a cheerleader sponsor at Podunk Hollar' High School.  Their battle cry was,"Obama, Obama.  We don't want no frackin' drama," and also "Ban fracking now!  Ban fracking now!  Ban fracking now!"

Now, they are heading out to their tour bus, ready for the next stop.


This yellow thing is the plant generator (in case of loss of power).  This is the back up so gas keeps flowing.

This is the compressor building (with the black exhausts) and the turbine building off to the left .

 Here we are at the south end of the compressor building.  The generator building is in the back, and the roof tops of MCC1, MCC2, and the warehouse on the lower right corner.  MCC stands for motor control center.

This is the back of the compressor building with the coolers that cool the gas.

The little tanks are for waste, such as glycol.  This is known as the "tank farm".

The curved pipe goes into a gas filter, which cleans the gas before it goes on down the line.  This keeps your stove doesn't get gummed up or what ever.

The five tanks behind the low building are air tanks to start the compressors.  The yellow pole is called a bollard, and keeps someone from running in to the pipes.  I kept hearing about "bollards", and had not a clue what they were until I saw them--pipes poured full of concrete with bright yellow jackets over them.  Heck!  I see them everywhere now.

The big round thing is the turbine cooler.  The turbine moves and pushes the gas.

Corey Grimes loading stuff to go the shop for other jobs.

We are looking at the turbine compressor.  This compresses the gas so that it will flow; gas doesn't just whoosh up the pipe on it's own.  I has to be forced.

Here is the turbine building.

Finishing up a job is lots of  work.  These boys are laying  filter fabric on the ground, and then putting gravel on top of it.

Mr. Gelasio is lifting a roll of the filter fabric--heavy stuff.  He also worked at Snake Creek.

This young man is running a vibrating packer called a blade tamper.  This is the first prep for fabric and then gravel.

Here is an interesting piece of equipment; it  is remote control roller, a small version of a sheep foot packer.  No one rides on it; he runs it like a video game!

These are the dehy canopies (top left in the picture), and lots of the piping.  The dehy takes the water out of the gas.

This thing behind the yellow bollards is the receiver for the free flow line.

Now, these tall tanks are called contactors, and they help clean the gas along with the dehys. 

Just another view of the canopies.  This looks like a shrine when you see it all lit up in the dark when you are driving up the steep road north of here, better known as Puzos hill.

Here is the pipe line that comes up to Central to bring the gas in.

Efrain Zavala (no hard hat), and Dave Theis.  Efrain is the civil general foreman, and Dave is the building superintendent.  He is finishing the job for us here at Central. Dave has been in the construction business all his life, and he knows everything there is to know about buildings.

Richard Wega is our safety man here at Central.  He is lots of fun, and very serious about safety.  Thanks Richard.

This brother-in-law, Tommy Stanaland, getting a trailer ready to move material to the shop. 

This is my husband, Bobby, on the phone buying pipe or something for the next job we are going to.

T

It's hard to believe that we have been working in Pennsylvania for more than a year now.  Here it is nearly fall again.  The days are getting shorter, and I found the first fall leaf on my noon walk.