Let's fix up a long broken windchime :D

I live in an area famous for it's wind, the Columbia River Gorge. The river forms the border between Washington and Oregon here in the US. The river gorge is also the only near sea level passage through the rugged Cascade Mountain range.

The Cascades extend from northern California up into southern British Columbia, Canada. But let's get back to those gap winds.

Here is a great explanation of gap wind by Tristan Gooley:

Whenever a wind is forced through a narrow gap it accelerates. This is true of all fluids, gas and liquid, it is the reason we put a thumb over the hose opening to make the water go further.

As a result, the winds here are famous and attract wind-tourists, also know as kite-boarders and windsurfers. You may have heard of a brewery started in the 1980s called Full Sail. Well that name refers to the full sail of a wind surf board.

Damn, I really went off the rails of this post, so let's get back to the windchime. This thing hung in my yard for years but finally broke about five years ago. I found it recently while doing some spring cleaning, so it's time to fix it up.

I picked up a small spool of 5 pound fishing line and were ready to go.

First I tied a short piece of line through each of the five eyelets on the top ring.

Then, starting with the longest chime, I strung each one up and tied the other end of the line to the next eyelet.

I can guarantee that stringing curved fishing line through the little holes on opposite ends of those cylinders was fcuking maddening.

At this point I had to stop for the day xD

The clapper ad sail are both long gone so I had to figure what I was going to use. I didn't get any photos of this stage but I ended up using a wood cabinet handle as the striker (shout out to the cabinet guru Hive account@silverd510, though I'd guess he's doing a face_palm while reading this).

For the sail I cut the top and bottom off an aluminum can then folded the aluminum with the inside of the can out, so it's silver, into a square. I attached all that and hung it out front.

Within a week we had some spring rain and I caught this snap!

Beauty, eh?

The sound is so familiar, I just love it!

Have a windy day, friend :)

This post is dedicated to a friend who recently lost a dear family member 💙💨