Where in the world am I today?: Aboard the Serenade of the Seas cruising the Inside Passage.
OK… In the foreground of the picture… A prototype rocket I’m looking at using in a show I’m building. In the background a large pine tree that towers something like a hundred plus feet in the air… Inadvertently put the two together – possible Darwin Awards here I come!
Right off the bat I must admit that this isn’t he first time that I’ve used a rocket like this. Back in 2002 I teamed up with John Ullyatt and Iori Mikumo to for a group we called The Executives. In that show we launched the rocket and had it pull underwear out of our pants… Oh yeah… Totally highbrow humor…
This time around the rocket is being used to demonstrate the super strength of my new show partner – William T. Wiener, The Worlds Most Fearless Flying Frankfurter who will attempt to hold back lift off of the rocket with just his super strength and his teeth…
Now with The Executives Show I think we actually used 1.5 litre bottles from Japan for the body of the rocket. I have since used 2 litre bottles for these rockets in a more recreational setting, but for this show I wanted to try and used 1 litre bottles for the rocket’s construction. Step one – buy 5 one litre bottles and drink the contents… Step two build the rocket… Step three test the rocket…
It all seemed so easy… Steps one and two came off with out a hitch, but it was when I got to step three that I really didn’t quite think things through…
I should probably also mention at this point that Willie the Wiener is a stuffed dog toy with a squeaker in it… I’m still questioning the sanity of the decision to make him my partner, but that’s a completely different story…
Rocket’s Built… Lets test things out. Now in the context of the show I envision strapping Willie into his Super Hero Restraining Station. Some sort of chair like device with lots of seat belts… For the purposes of the test launch… A string tied to a loop in his fabric – Done!
Haven’t built a mouth for him to hold a ring attached to the string that’ll be attached to the rocket in yet… Hmmmm… No problem… This safety pin should do the trick – right?!? Done.
Rocket? Check! • Hot Dog? Check! • Restraining Device? Check! Every thing is ready to go (or so I thought). Fill the rocket with water, attached it to the launch pad, pump it up with air – All is good. Recheck to make sure things are secure – Good!
And launch…
OK… I have to admit that it came as a bit of a surprise that Willie wasn’t able to actually prevent the rocket from lifting off… Not that it was his fault though… The weak link in the mock up test launch was the safety pin instead of the mouth ring as it really didn’t take all that much force to pull the safety pin open and allow the rocket to go flying. That safe safety pin attached to the string attached to the rocket also acted as a nice grappling hook so as the rocket hit the tree in the back yard around 80 feet off the ground and started to make it’s way down the pin quite happily hooked onto a branch preventing the rocket from falling down the rest of the way to the ground… DOH!
So there I am looking at the launch pad, making sure that my partner Willie is OK.Then turning my head and seeing the rocket dangling about 70 feet off the ground in the pine tree in the back and all I can think of is –
“Hey… I can just climb up the tree and get the rocket back.”
First step – Get a ladder that’ll reach up to the lower branches – done.
Second step – Repeat over and over in my head the following statement –
“I was an idiot to launch the rocket into the tree in the first place I’ll be an even bigger idiot of I fall out of the tree trying to get the rocket back!”
Step Three – Realize that this mantra I’ve repeated over and over again as I climb the tree, retrieve the rocket and make my way back down the tree has actually had the effect of tensing up my muscles WAY WAY more than had I simply climbed up, grabbed it and climbed back down… That or I’m just getting old, but I like the former explanation better.
Step Four – take the rest of the day off and feel my leg muscles just throbbing!!!
Several important lessons were learned by this test launch and I’m pleased to report that subsequent launches have been far more successful than the very first one that had the rocket end up in the tree…
I highly recommend pushing yourself with new artistic challenges as they often shed light on all sorts of unseen possibilities and opportunities for artistic growth. I anticipate as I get closer to the debut of the Willie the Wiener Show at this year’s PNE I may have some other stories to tell of lessons learned. For the time being though know this –
A safety pin isn’t really strong enough to hold back the lift off of a pop bottle water rocket.
