Bell ringing woman, IV
REACH FOR IT, SUCKER.
Or rather, Hold onto it, sucker.
. . . First Rule of Bell Ringing: Never, ever, ever let go of the tail end of the rope.* But you actually want your arms straight, like this, at the top of the backstroke; it’s supposed to give you better control or something. Gods help me then if I rang with bent arms. Ah well.
* You have several hundred to several thousand pounds of mad bell up there on your leash, just longing to do a bolt.
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So, does that characteristic make the bell rather like a several thousand pound hellhound?
YES. VERY LIKE. :)
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How far up is the tail end? Your arms can’t go up much higher than the top of the picture. I see your forearms! …And yet no rope tail.
It depends on how long the rope is! I have gorilla length arms so I’m mostly okay even at my home tower which is notorious for short ropes. People with arms that do not stick several extra inches out of the cuffs of their long sleeves have to stand on boxes. If you look at the first pic, which is handstroke (I think I’m waiting to pull off there, but that’s also what handstroke looks like, and you DO pull off from handstroke position), look at my left hand: that’s (approximately) how much tail i’ll still be holding onto at backstroke. You adjust, of course, as necessary. (And how much tail end you have also VARIES depending on what you’re ringing.)
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Wow, all right. That’s not a lot of tail. That would make me *really* nervous! :)
Well, you don’t want it too *long*, or it hits you in the face!! What I don’t like is when it’s so short it doesn’t QUITE reach all the way THROUGH your hand . . .
*snort!* Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem.
Looking at this photo I can absolutely see where your arm definition is coming from. Would the strength factor be from double hellhound power straining at their leashes?
They are sligtly bigger than I expected BTW. I know you kept saying that, but I still thought of them as more whippet size, so even more admiration for muscle power with those two strong young beasts in tow… or is it you that’s in tow ;)
I already had arm muscles by the time I brought the hellhounds home AND A GOOD THING TOO. :) They certainly serve to keep the situation topped up however. I think Darkness is over fifty pounds by now and Chaos a few pounds behind, so yes, they’re pretty hearty for whippets. I’ll post better all-over pics of them here soon. They are NOT of course SUPPOSED to pull but they still get . . . EXCITED. When I ***really*** notice what they weigh is when I have to hoist them over chest-high stiles . . . arrrrgh. . . .
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well, everyone else has already made the obvious connection between bells and hounds (longing to do a bolt); and it sounds from other posts as though some of your favorite plants want to do the same thing–they just do it more slowly.
It is good to see pictures of you. Also nice to know that there are people who get their exercise doing things they love, not working out in a gym. (I seem to get mine not at all.)
Yes well even if you don’t have mastiffs you can post pics of YOU. As soon as Blogmum figures out the lowest-upkeep method. . . .
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So after all this bell propoganda I decided to see if there were any towers near my part of the country (History has Been Made near me, so I figured there might be a chance) and found a tower not 35 minutes up the road! Their website has some well-done phrasing that almost, but not quite, begs anyone with the slightest interest to at least come out and give it a try to see if he/she might *like* tower ringing and you don’t have to come for Sunday service you know, just practice and we really won’t bother you but honestly, ringing is FUN! Come join us!
My husband, who was nosily peering over my shoulder, asked what I was up to and I explained and he asked “Can I try too?” So apparently we’re both going.
This is the part that cracked me up good: the contact woman lives in my town and I serve her regularly at the library. She’s about three feet high, weighs maybe ninety pounds and has the voice of a china doll. The last person I’d expect to ring 420 pound bells. But now I think of it, she’s very buff.
You’re spreading the addiction, Robin….
My husband, who was nosily peering over my shoulder, asked what I was up to and I explained and he asked “Can I try too?” So apparently we’re both going.
******** Good, good, excellent! :)
This is the part that cracked me up good: the contact woman lives in my town and I serve her regularly at the library. She’s about three feet high, weighs maybe ninety pounds and has the voice of a china doll. The last person I’d expect to ring 420 pound bells. But now I think of it, she’s very buff.
*********** 420 lb is *lightweight* for a bell. They start at 200 +, which is tiny, and go up into the low thousands.
You’re spreading the addiction, Robin….
********* I’m DELIGHTED. :)
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You mention a lot of names of ringing patterns(?) etc., and I think you’ve explained this before, but how does it actually *work*? Is it a repeated pattern, or something like that? (And, because I’m curious, under normal cicumstances do people’s feet ever leave the ground? And if you’ve already answered/posted links to this before, sorry)
happy Beltane, N.
I’ve answered most of this before, yes, certainly about the situations where people’s feet leave the floor! But go look at the ringing links in ‘about’–they’ll give you the run down on methods and hwo they work.
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It must be a breakthrough moment when you can start concentrating primarily on your place in the ringing pattern rather than on technique (steps of or lack of, whichever). From your explanations, is sounds like you’re well past that point so you can *focus* your worrying (I mean concentrating). . . :)
We are off to Wisconsin for three shows (hopefully not a complete waste of time and money), and I can focus MY worrying from outside the ring because the handler will have the A.B. (yay hurray). Of course it is supposed to rain, thunder, etc., and our ring is the rabbit and poultry building of a county fairgrounds, no doubt full of fascinating and distracting smells, so worrying about how she’ll behave won’t be entirely neurotic. Guaranteed if I were in the ring with her, I’d be thinking about technique the whole time!
Oh good luck, tell us how it goes–she must be a pretty hot ticket, if you’re going to the lengths of a handler for her!! (When do we find out if the bitch producing your puppy is PREGNANT?)
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For interest - why exactly is it required form to have your hands together when ringing? Does it give more/better/even control in some way or perhaps a quicker turnaround when you change places in the pattern?
Is there also a required form when bench-pressing hellhounds? :)
Yes–control. EVERYTHING is about control . . . sigh.
Is there also a required form when bench-pressing hellhounds? :)
******** LOL!!!!! No doubt–and that I don’t know is my PROBLEM!!
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