Main Street Hardware in the News

Do you know how some things seem to go full cycle? Back when the Kansas prairie was being settled there were people/families that would open stores or trading posts that would be the one-stop shopping for everyone for miles around, simply because it was the ONLY store for miles around. Here you bought your groceries and hardware, but most of all, this was the place that you picked up and dropped off your mail. In recent years our small town has "lost" our grocery store and post office. Instead of just accepting these losses, Sondra Nickell has taken on the work and our small town again has a "General Store" in our Main Street Hardware. Watch the video below of the feature story by KWCH...

Tickling the Ivories at Ye Olde State Bank

I was in downtown Norwich last night to video a promotion for Merchants Night, which we decided to postpone till March, and was fortunate to have my audio/video equipment with me when music broke out...

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!

Edit: I forgot to mention, this lovely old upright piano is for sale. Store address and hours in THIS post.

Ye Olde State Bank Treasures & Antiques Preview

I've got a busy weekend with family ahead, but I wanted to give you a little taste of what I have in store for my next featured Kansas talent. This is a wonderful little store that's fairly new to Norwich, KS.
It's an antique/consignment store with lots of items both old and new to keep you browsing for quite some time.
Everything is laid out in a way that is pleasing to the eye and gives a comfortable homey feeling.
On Saturdays they have fresh donuts and beverages. There's catered luncheons that can be scheduled. I'll report on this in more detail in my next post.
The store's address is 207 N. Main, Norwich KS if you just can't wait till my next post to see more. They are open Friday 10am-7:30pm, Saturday 6am-7:30pm & Sunday 1pm-4pm. More photos and detailed information to come!

Graphic Flux – A Collective Graphic Design Blogging Project

Psiplex is hosting the June Design Blogging Project. The challenge was...

The group's name is Xerces. They are your countrymen and need to make a global impact with this release. Groundbreaking artwork for their CD will be used to carry over to their other media to create a strong connection to the group. Xerces' main focus is music for rain forests. They are all about letting the world know about this incredible but shrinking resource. They would like the CD artwork to reflect their passion for rain forests. Xerces wants to keep the artwork 4-color and their only other requirement is to use the font face 'Petie Boy'.

Here is my entry:

Rowan's Honey Shop & Apiary

Today I'm featuring a local business because I believe it takes talent to open and run a small town business, especially in today's economic environment. Rowan's story is taken from the forward of their book...
The beginning of Rowan Apiary was June 3, 1967 when I married Jim. Jim had started keeping bees when he was ten years old and had become a passionate beekeeper. I gained a husband and several hives of bees - it was a "package deal.Jim was real good about letting me ease into the business - I started out helping extract. That was a good experience until a bee flew into my hair, got mad, and let me have it. Jim also let me be the "marketing agent." I really liked taking the money after each honey sale.

As time went on, we bought the home built by Jim's great grandfather and increased the number of our hives and the size of our family. We added Jeffrey Dean in 1975, Jason David in 1976, and Jaclyn Marie in 1982. All three children grew up around the bees and have been a wonderful help when the work needed done. They are all very knowledgeable about the bees and quite proud of their beekeeping background.
As of today, all three children have left the home hive, but keep in close touch and help when they can. Although Jim and I still identify beekeeping as our "hobby," we run around a hundred hives and have opened Rowan's Honey Shop in Norwich, Kansas. I am still teaching school and Jim is still working in insurance and banking, there fore our hobby sometimes makes for a full schedule.
If you are traveling through Norwich, stop by the shop and visit. If you have comments or questions you may contact us at honeybee67106@hotmail.com (I was informed that they were having problems with their email, so you might want to call them instead. The number's on their flier below)
Rowan's honey has been a local product for a long time, when we had a grocery store they stocked it along with the national brands. I've read that eating honey from local bees was suppose to help against hay fever and allergies, that may only be an old wives tale, but sounds good to me! : )

Boys Toys

My son finally got the shop/shed that he's been wanting. He's gotten all his tools out of the house and out from under his wife's feet and he finally has someplace to do what he does best, create. Well, to create things you first have to create stuff to make your tools function to your liking. Here's two creations that he showed me when I was there the other day. First he built wheels for his Circular saw stand...

Then he turned a drill press into a disk sander.

I probably be posting more creations from my son's shop as that he's always creating something.

Carving Covered Bridges

My dad wasn't born in Kansas, but he's lived most of his life here. He was born in the flatlands of Colorado, right across the line from Kansas in the Joes/Kirk area. He didn't see the mountains till he joined the military so he might as well have been born in Kansas. I'm not sure when dad started carving, but I remember him carving chains and balls in boxes when he helped with the Boyscouts. Later he started doing bas relief carvings of covered bridges. The one below is dated 1988.
I wish you could see the detail, but I wasn't able to get any pictures that really do his work justice. The tree in front of the bridge below actually has open space in the area that the river runs under the bridge. There is depth going into the bridge and depth going under the bridge. I believe that dad said this one was from a postcard.
Again, all these bridges have depth in the actual carving, usually going into the bridge and under the bridge.

The following two pictures are of two of the offices that Evans Steel Building Co. built and occupied.
There is an open space in the area of the flagpole in front of the building.
The eagle below has lacquer filling in the depth around the head and the beak protrudes slightly from the surface.
The horses seem to show their bas relief better than the bridges do.

This picture of the rose didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. It wasn't in a well lit area and came out blurry. I attempted to sharpen it up in PhotoShop but it does not do the carving justice.
These are just miscellaneous carvings that dad has done over the years.
He said that every carver has to carve a boot, so the bas relief on the right is his boot.
The lions head didn't focus well either. The lion has a ball carved out inside it's mouth, the ball rolls free but cannot be removed. This is how the balls in boxes or cages were done.

About Talented Kansans

Since I haven't posted in a while I thought I'd do a little bragging since I don't have anything new to add. About talented Kansans, most Kansans I know are multi-talented, though they don't consider themselves to be talented at all. We learn to do things simply because they need to be done, or make things because we want/need to have them. We see things in stores and think they're nice and at the same time think, "I can make that," and often go home and do just that. My daughter even told me when she was a teenager that she was tired of hearing me say, "you could make that a lot cheaper." For a while she was earning money babysitting and buying what she wanted, but as an adult raising a family is back to making what she wants (her scrubs are the envy of the care home). Her sewing skills are far beyond what I taught her. She amazes me with her creativity with pieces of furniture she recycles as furniture other than what they were intended to be. An old headboard for a twin bed was turned upside down and hung on the wall for a shelf. An old wooden decorative wall cabinet becomes a glass front display shelf. The top of a hutch is used for an elaborate headboard for her son's bed, another shelf laid on it's side is just the right size for the twin bed mattress getting the shelf out of the way and creating storage space under the mattress.

My son, the youngest boy in the family, is the really creative one. He claims that everything he knows he learned from me, but I only taught him that he could do whatever he wanted to do. In the picture below is a camera crane or jib that he built from scratch, making adjustments through trial and error.
He's in the process of building a better crane to possibly sell, but still has some bugs to work out. One of the first major projects that he took on was opening up and flooring the attic so we could use it for storage. First he had to raise the sagging roof and put in new braces that didn't obscure the area. He learned, through trial and error, about constructing a wooden I-beam for support to keep the weight of the roof off the open area over my living room. He jacked up the roof, built braces and made the roof straighter than it was when I moved in. We called in an electrician to install a light and check out the ancient wiring. According to our expert, the old wiring is safer and better insulated than the new, so we didn't replace it. Next the flooring went in. He had framed out a new hole for the entrance after consulting our neighbor who does this type of thing for a living and all this when he was still in High School. He later built the deck for the pool, the interior work for the showerhouse, the stage and the playhouse. His brother gave him a hand with the showerhouse and his sister helped with the playhouse and stage. He ran underground pipe for electric outlets in the pool/showerhouse area also an outlet in front for the dining area. He dug and put in the fire pit, ran wiring to the the entertainment center booth, hung a screen that my daughter made out or three long tablecloths and installed outdoor speakers. He put duct work in the ceiling of his rental house to hook up a central air unit that we were able to give to him. He repairs his own cars, if it needs doing and he can find a way to do it, he'll do it himself. And this is how most Kansans I know are. They have a "Can Do" spirit that's necessary for survival in tough times. This is just one of the things I love about living in Kansas.

Wooden Puzzle

One winter my brother-in-law made all the boys wooden 3D puzzles. To tell them apart he painted the ends different colors for each boy. They had a lot fun with these and at least one still exists, though I believe it may be a combination of two separate puzzles. Click on the picture to see the puzzle and all it's pieces. I don't know what I need to do to make an animated .gif work in a post on the blog. If anyone knows, please tell me.

Painted Skulls

My best friend since the 8th grade was creating painted skulls and selling them at one time. I helped her set up a webpage to advertise but it didn't really hit it off. The following are the graphics that I used on that website (also the banner above).

I did some web weaving on some of them for her.

You Were Warned - A Video Montage

This is a video montage that I put together from footage from the 17th Annual Big Boys Toy Show at Century 2 in Wichita Kansas. My son and I set up the big screen at this event every year for the past several years. We project the main stage events up on the big screen live and between events we have fun putting participants and their children, especially the children, up on the big screen.

I put this montage together for fun. I am still learning to use the editing program and having fun learning.

Do You Know a Talented Kansan?

I haven't posted anything to this blog lately because, to be honest, I don't get out much. That being said, if you know of a talented Kansan that doesn't have their own blog and you feel they REALLY deserve to be showcased, PLEASE let me know and I will gladly give them the exposure they deserve! Comment to this blog or see my profile to email me.

If you don't send me someone to showcase I will be reduced to putting more of my own stuff up!

You have been warned!!

Just Having Fun

Since I have had no new talent to add to my blog lately I thought I'd just add a picture I created as something fun I did for the granddaughters. I might use it in the story, but mainly was just learning to use the program.

Is This Talent?

I debated on putting this here, on KS Born Talent, or over on my original blog, KS Born. Since I put my original post about the "Magic Kingdom" (very first post) on KS Born Talent I decided to post this here and then mention it on KS Born. I do not consider myself much of a sketch artist or painter. I have dabbled a bit in all of these, and have actually drawn a few things that I was rather proud of, but not something I'm real comfortable or confident with. Since I have found no one to help me with artwork for my children's story I thought I'd see what I could do. The following is a picture created with my Wacom in PhotoShop utilizing tools, textures and layers.

Please let me know what you think. What you might do different? To much color? To little color? How does the whole scene feel. Do you feel a story there?

Publishing History

Years ago I started researching my family history. I had a great-uncle that had been doing genealogy since the '50s (I think). He actually taught a course on researching genealogy in Albuquerque, NM. I have published two family history books. One on my Father's - Father's line and the other on my Mother's - Mother's line. My paternal line book is the Abraham Heinrichs Family which is predominately Mennonites who were Germans from Russia. They were in Russia for over 100 years, but lived in German communities and spoke and taught their schools in German. Many believed that God would not understand them if they prayed in anything but German. My maternal line is the Gates/Chapman family history. These lines were predominately English and come down from the same Gates line as General Horatio Gates and Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower. In the Gates line is the Captain of the Bedchamber for Henry the VIII. More recently we have my 5-great grandfather that was murdered in Wisconsin and there exists a plate glass negative of him dead in the middle of the road. Researching my family history was like being on a treasure hunt, turning up great treasures from time to time, never knowing where I'm going to find them.

The three smaller books are: a book published by my Gr-gr-grandmother about her mother called "Pioneer Short Stories". She tells about entering Lawrence right after Quantril's raid to find the cousins that lived there. The middle book is my republication of "Pioneer Short Stories" and the third book is a story written by my grandmother's cousin, Edna Windhorst, at my request. Edna lived to be 102 and lived on her own well into her later 90s. I encourage everyone to attempt to research your family history if it has not already been done. I did not like, nor did I understand history when I was in school. Researching my family history made it real, made it make sense, and made me want to find out more.

It also got me elected to organize a couple of family reunions. The cassette tapes below I put together from our family reunion in California. The talent show was the highlight. One thing that our Heinrichs family enjoys is singing. Getting together and singing truely "Golden Oldies" into the wee hours of the night is something that we always loved to do.

A Study in Color

Just playing around in PhotoShop Elements that came with the Wacom Tablet. Thought I'd just put a "Warhol" together.


Just a simple picture of a bunch of flowers. I love the way the different colors and effects transforms them. Can you pick a favorite?

New Toy/Tool

I have a new toy/tool for creating my computer generated projects. It's a Wacom tablet which will make cutting out and detail work soooo much easier on my hand. It is bluetooth and has a battery so I can use it completely wireless. Below is a picture of the tablet with the mouse and pen in it's holder above it.

Below is the first picture I've doctored using the Wacom. I have several other photos that I need to do this to, to get them ready for creating my story that I mentioned in the very first post on this blog. I'm still looking for someone interested in collaborating with the artwork for this.

Pow-Wow

I thoroughly enjoyed making the Native American artwork and adornment. I even made my grandson a shirt, leggings, breechcloth, moccasins, ankle bells, breastplate and headband with two feathers. I did beading on the headband and down the sides of the leggings but never decided what to put on the breechcloth so I never got it done. He was around 3 or 4 when I did this, and I took him to a Pow-Wow in Wichita. At the time I was helping out with the Cherokee language class at the Indian Center in Wichita and they had a booth at the Pow-Wow. Going there he didn't want to put it on, but when we got there he saw all the Native Americans in their Regalia and he decided he wanted his on too. Now for the part of the story where I got in trouble. While we were there the little guy needed to pee and the only toilets they had were the portables and they had already seen two days use and were rather nasty. I really didn't want to take a little guy that didn't know how to keep his hands off things in one of them so I told him that since he was being an "Indian" he needed to learn to "water the bushes", which is real easy to do with a breechcloth. Big mistake! Every few minutes after that he wanted to "water the bushes" everywhere. THEN! The next day I get a call from his mom (my daughter).... something about her turning around and there he is whizzing away in the front yard. I heard about that for a long time afterward. I still have everything except the moccasins, he wore them out.

Ryan Windham

Ryan Windham is another Wichita Talent that I'm not sure whether he was born in Kansas but lives here now. Shad and I set up the big screen to project live at Big Boys Toy Show every year for the last 3 or 4 years. Last year Ryan was one of the main attractions giving performances on stage, so I taped him. Entercom broadcasting had sponsored the "Wichita's Got Talent" contest and Ryan was the winner and now they were promoting him at various shows like this. He has a very unusual style, I hope you enjoy listening and watching him.

Flights of Fancy

Many years back I had the choice of buying a camcorder or digital camera. At that time digital cameras were quite expensive and they weren't really all that good of quality, so I reasoned, with a camcorder I could put my videos on the computer and cut clips from them, just like having a digital camera. I found that it was an excellent digital camera since I was able to get shots that I probably wouldn't have gotten with the still camera, such as my hummingbird drinking from a fountain.