Duct Tape from Zimbabwe

Duct Tape # 60 comes to the collection from Sarah Ahrems-Balwig who is a neighbor of my daughter in Madison, Wisconsin.

My daughter, Mindy was at her neighbors high school graduation party and found out that Sarah was going to Zimbabwe for a month after graduation! Mindy explained the World Duct Tape collection to her and Sarah said she was in!

Sarah wrote:
"I had an incredible time on both the Zimbabwe and Europe leg of my trip. I looked for duct tape in every town I passed through, to no avail. After a day of walking through the bush, we emerged to see the most decrepit filthy Land Rover you can imagine. It looked as though it was entirely paneled with duct tape. This being the case, I figured they couldn't miss a piece, and wouldn't begrudge a hobbyist a piece."

The piece that Sarah got was attached to this notebook page on 7/15/15 and signed by Ron and Tash from Vintage Camp in Hwange, Zimbabwe. Nigil, Toks and Henry alsosigned the page for good measure!

It was great meeting Sarah. She is now off to her next adventure for several weeks of outdoor camping and naturalist skills study! She seems like a mature graduate well beyond her years.

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in Southern Africa of about 13 million people. They have 16 official languages. Victory Falls is also in this country.

Chi Lambda battle axe and Duct Tape

This blogs main purpose is to attract, post and promote the collection of signed rolls of Duct Tape from new countries from all over the world that have been sent to me to add to the World Duct Tape collection. Here are the latest four rolls. #56 Algeria, #57 Belgium, #58 Finland and #59 Croatia. The details on each roll were reported in earlier posts to this blog.

At this years 2015 OM World Finals I gave out over 100 micro rolls of duct tape (also explained in an earlier post) and have joined Facebook in hopes of tracking down a roll from Moldova and other countries that were there.

On another note... Chi Lambda

The battle axe in the picture is for another project, The Bad Axe Tour (explained in an earlier post). Started in 2001 an axe like the one in the picture is being mailed around to past Chi Lambda fraternity members. At the 2015 alumni meeting in Boulder Junction, WI I said I would post the travels of the axe also on this blog. So from time to time the axe will show up with the tape reports.

Can report Gerry Tietz has signed the axe and placed a DVD on the Paul Derby scholarship in the box and mailed the axe to Larry Schoenberger Chi Lambda '64.  Hopefully Larry will contact me and let me know when he sends it on to another XV alumni in the near future.

Chi Lambda "Bad AX" Battle Axe Tour continues on...

Dear XV Brothers,  What you are looking at is the battle axe that Dick "Z jr" Anderson '72 carved and  Wayne "Pigmy" Fjerstad '71 engraved in 2001. The idea was to mail the ax out in chain letter fashion to XV alum's have them sign it and write a bio page in the log book about themselves and then send it on. The plan was for this to go on until the XV 50th anniversary in 2006 and the last person to have it would bring it to the 50th celebration at Stout. It would be like a 5 year time capsule for everyone to read about where it had traveled and the log book bio entries.

Everything went as planned until Jan. of 2004 when the ax went MIA! Up to that point I (Dick Anderson) had been getting intel back each time the ax was passed on. I waded into the abyss that is our US Postal "Service" and had no luck. The ax and box were lost (but not forgotten). Could it have come to a violent end with two youngsters having the time of their lives playing? Maybe used to start a nice camp fire??

Well, no. You know how those news stories go about a lost letter or post card from years ago shows up? Just like that the Dead Letter office came to life and sent the ax back to Mike Swanson '79 on 10-10-07 after 3+ years!!! Mike sent it back to me and I copied all the entries in the log book and made copies to send to those that had it and passed it on. Very cool read if you get a chance or if you start following this blog as I will start posting the travels of the ax on this blog as I get the info sent to me.

Hopefully the ax will be brought or sent to the semi annual alumni gatherings of the guys from the 1960's. They have been and continue to have organized gatherings. This year it was held in Boulder Junction, WI May 15 and 16. I would have to rate it a 10+. Hats off to Jim Naylor and his wife (jamesmnaylor@comcast.net) The next one will be in the Dells area around the same time of year.

To bring you up to date:
Dick Anderson gave the ax to Ken Reader '72 Mellon, WI  715-274-4444 ask4kay@hotmail.com
Ken R. gave it to Arnie Oswald '72 Lake Geneva, WI arnie.oswald@badger.k12.wi.us
Arnie O. gave it to Dick Fromader '70 Germantown, WI  262-242-2090
Dick F. gave it to Bob Yager who had some pressing family business so no info from him
Bob Y. gave it to Doug Janson '68 Germantown, WI    norinendoug@gmail.com
Doug J. gave it to Dennis Koepp '69 Huston, TX  dkoepp44@gmail.com
Dennis K. gave it to Scott Schmid '69 Elmhurst, IL 630-833-3835  scottschmid@comcast.net

and next week I (Dick Anderson) will be sending the ax to Gerry Tietz 651-324-6761 in hopes that he will pass it on to someone maybe from the 70's as these guys from the 60's expand there great alumni influence. These guys from the '60s conceived, started, organized and built the Paul Derby scholarship that each year offers a $1000 to a Chi Lambda member!!! So maybe the alumni from the 70's will want to get involved somehow, someway.

Keep in touch and follow the blog.  Dick Anderson'72

And the duct tape?

Well that's another story and if you want to see more about the collection, a signed roll from each of the 50 U.S. states. Signed rolls from 59 world countries and the ISS you will have to look back to last years postings about this time of year. That would be when I was at the OM (Odyssey of the Mind) World finals. This year I will be in East Lansing, Michigan for the 2015 World Finals and scouting for more rolls from countries I do not have. These two just came in. The 3M one is from Finland and the KINZO one is from Croatia sent to me by XV alum '72 Ken Reader's wife Kay.

Getting duct tape ready for OM World Finals

Here is roll #58 with the collection in the back ground. My wife's friend Deania Halverson from Hodan goes to her church in Dodgeville, WI. We were talking at a dinner and she said they had a foreign exchange student from Finland for the school year. One thing lead another and he, Mikael Kinsivnea was able to get his parents to send a roll from Espoo, Finland!

I contacted Jim Lovell from the Apollo 13 mission and told him about the duct tape collection and the roll I had signed by Ed Smylie who came up with the idea to help save his life with duct tape. He said he would sign his book. I sent a copy of his book Lost Moon to him in Loves Park, IL.  (Note: The duct tape turtle was on the research ship pictured in a previous post)

Jim Lovell signed his book on page 250 where he writes about the work of Ed Smylie and his problem solving duct tape.

And lastly, I have made over 100 micro rolls of duct tape to take to the OM World Finals in East Lansing, Michigan to trade. Each has the blog website address on it to help get the work out and traffic up on the blog.

Just got some pictures from Turtle Haste who has been traveling on a teaching related study grant to the Black Sea about some Duct Tape travels.

What you see here is duct tape that has been made into a turtle shape by some NOAA folks traveling aboard the Oceanos at the Equator doing some ocean research. Word has it that like Flat Stanley the Turtle is making the rounds. Who knows where it will show up next?

Looking forward to getting the word out about the Duct Tape collection and the blog at this years 2015 OM World Finals to be held May 20-24 at East Lansing, MI