Category Archives: Home & Family

New Porch

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This summer, we have been fixing up our home – doing small construction and repairs, including: refinishing the front door, filling in missing baseboards, refinishing the floor in John’s office, eliminating some dry rot and fixing a floor that shifted out of level in John’s model train room and workshop, adding a side fence and creating a pottery studio for Paul. Our next project is to add a side porch to the house. The contractors poured the concrete foundation yesterday. Months ago, we bought hundreds of old ceramic roof tiles from a neighbor – which match those already on our 1930 Willow Glen house roof. The “new” tiles will go on the porch roof so that it will look like a natural part of the house.

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Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

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Metal and Clay

Last weekend, we visited two interesting companies selling the bits which make up our homes:

At Sims, we were looking for some steel pipe and angle iron for John, although I also came home with a treasure: a 4-shelf wrought iron plant stand for $20 which only needs a little work. Everything at Sims is sold by the pound – kettle drums, lawn chairs, fencing, old farm equipment, rusted bird cages, old iron stoves, and unidentifiable bits of steel. There is even a small section for sculptures.

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At Fireclay Tile, we looked for the tiles to pave our new side porch. John and I rooted through the new tile showroom and also the Boneyard in back where excess and nonstandard tiles wait for adoption.  We found some likely piazza tiles by Gladding McBean plus a tile mural for the center.

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Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

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TechWomen Dinner at Home

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The Huawei TechWomen mentors and mentees gathered in my home for a potluck dinner tonight. My husband made a halal chicken curry with rice as the entree.  There were women from at least seven countries around our table: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, and the USA. The guests had fun visiting my office in WP668, our backyard caboose. The food was interesting, plentiful, and delicious. My mother and husband joined the party.  What a delightful group of new friends!

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Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

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TechWomen at Huawei

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We are having a good first week with the three TechWomen mentees hosted by Huawei in Santa Clara, California. We are still sorting out offices and equipment and accesses and orientation and starting work on our projects.  Tonight,  John and Paul and I went to a sushi dinner with two TechWomen and then on a tour of the San Jose TechShop where we have a family membership.  We visited the textile area, wood shop (including my favorite Powermatic lathe), metal shop, laser room, and other technical and tool delights.

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Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

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2 More Patents

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Ink drawing of Wade Dickinson – Copyright 1986 by Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson

In the 2011 Katysblog entry called On His Own Terms, written the day after my father died, I included a list of dozens of his U.S. patents. I just got a letter for Wade Dickinson from a company trying to sell plaques for his new patents. A quick search of the US Patent and Trademark Office website told me that two more of my father’s patents have just issued:

  • 8,256,992 Underground sequestration system and method
  • 8,256,991 Engineered, scalable underground storage system and method

A pleasant surprise.

The letter offers a lifetime guarantee for the patent award plaque – what does that mean when addressed to someone who is already dead?

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Wood Turning

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I just finished my first class at The Sawdust Shop (452 Oakmead Parkway, Sunnyvale, California). I had a wonderful time learning wood turning from Phil Roybal. Each of the six students made a basting brush and a small bowl. The class was not without incident – several bowls went spinning across the floor when the novice turners made a mistake. However, I was pleased with my own results and plan to continue studies in woodworking.

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Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

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Play in a Garden

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Last night, my husband John helped to run the light board for a community theater group presenting the short play “Christ in the Concrete City” by Philip W. Turner. The production was by the Saint Andrew’s Players, directed by Melita Thorpe, and was held at dusk in the garden of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School (Saratoga, California). It was an interesting play, at times disturbing, and a fun evening.

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Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

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