Year 19, Week 25, Day One (week 1025)

Year 19, Week 25, Day One (week 1025)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-29-19 Saturday

Early morning, spotty clouds and warm. Fast moving showers hit mid morning it took until early afternoon to fade out to nothing. Ending with varied patches of fast moving clouds and some sun. Mom does not have to water our plants. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Department of Tourism.

After breakfast, we stopped at home and then I went out yard sailing on my own. Weather Radar showed there was weather coming up from the south, so I decided to head south first, following my route backwards and then north. On heading south first, there is not as many areas over that distance that would have yard sale so I could get to the southern end quite fast. Down there I saw several signs but no yard sales at them. 
Near the top of the route heading north, I did find one yard sale. Soon after I arrived the husband said, “the radar shows rain coming and that lightning is part of it.”they were at the very beginning stages of scrambling to pack up, not yet gathering things, but looking at what had to be moved and trying to get sales before they got to work. 
I was about to leave, not finding anything really interesting, then I saw a insulated carafe exactly like several I have of, and use at work for my flavored coffee. I make the flavored coffee and fill the carafe first and the rest goes into my cup for the morning. My afternoon cup is the flavored coffee not drank the day before.
Several years ago, I had seen one of these carafes at a yard sale and decided not to get it, and wished I had gotten it at that time. You tend to remember your misses for a very long time. I grabbed the carafe and asked the price. I put the money in her hand as soon as she said the number. She was happy. One less thing to put away. I was happy, got what I needed.
I left there and saw a couple signs where I would have go off the direct route, and decided to skip them. They likely would already be packing up before I got there.

I thought I would see if Orchard supply had something I was after. It had closed. I never heard about it was closing. I had only been there twice. I kept forgetting about it being there since we had not gone for Chinese buffet in months (on the way). Orchard supply impressed me as a very big Ace Hardware. They had similar stuff there, but more of it. I just looked on Wikipedia and found out that the chain, owned by Lowes, was closed in November of 2018. I missed the advertisement.
As I started south, I hit the storms. After the shock wave it dropped to a Seattle drizzle did not stop during the morning.

After a pit stop at mom’s, I went to Ace and got some of those “staples” to hold wires in place along the wall at Mom’s neighbor’s house. I will use them to run the ethernet cord from the bedroom to the box. I will pull a bunch more cord into the bedroom when I start so I have enough to reach most places I might put the computer, then I will tack the cord in place along the molding. I got a packet of 50 and that MIGHT be enough. 

When I finally was ready to do something, I started carving the face on the little vase. I got a good start, but have some corrections to do, which will require me to go deeper in some places. It had been a long time since I carved a face and got a couple things wrong. It is looking good, though. 
It was kind of nice working with the sound of raindrops on the sheet metal of the awning roof. While there are things to correct, I did well on the face so far.

I will see what I do tomorrow.




Year 19, Week 25, Day Two (week 1025)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-30-19 Sunday

Some storms were moving close to us and there was a few little drips, but that was all it did. This weather report is Brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I found a yard sale today on my run. I had been there a couple times. The last time I found a Garmon Tracker and it has the newest maps of all my units.  I mentioned to her that I had gotten a carafe yesterday and she said she had one and considered setting it out but didn’t. She went in and I got it for a few bucks. It looks different style of what I have maker as the ones I like, but I found that the lids are interchangeable. This one might have a hair more volume.  While she had some interesting stuff, I did not need anything she had otherwise.
I don’t like the carafes with moveable parts. I have a couple with levers or valves in the cap to allow you to pour or seal it. I learned that gunk gets inside the parts. It is nearly impossible to get all the stuff out so it builds up. The ones I like, the lids are simply insulated and you turn the cap a little to pour. With the one I got yesterday and the one got today are sitting there with chlorine water in them. 
I cannot remember where it is right now, but I had a carafe that I partially took it apart to clean it properly and could not get it aligned right to not leak. I could likely fix it now but back then I did not have time to work with it to get it right. That type has a design problem with a screw plug on the bottom. Turn the plug wrong and you mess up the pot. You are supposed to be able clean them completely but they don’t always go back together quite right.

My brother and I went out to Harbor Freight. He bought had a welder for a job and it would not work. He ended up taking the project home, doing the welding there and bringing it back to the job. He traded the broken welder for a better, but cheaper one. He will see if it does what is advertised. I must have been really sick today as I walked out without buying anything at all. I might need to see a doctor about this......
We then went to Home depot and got some LP gas for the BBQ.  I now have two good cans plus what is on the unit itself. It is nice to have extra cans

I did a little carving before my brother came. First I lost the knots that gave me the idea of doing the face in the first place while correcting errors I did on the eyes, then I went a little too deep and created a hole just above the eye. It was thin there.  I got a pretty good face so far. I can see that I will need to use color to make the face stand out on the wood. Otherwise, it looks pretty good. 

After my brother left, I moved the woodworking equipment into the corner of the awning for Thursday’s BBQ. I gave the area a rough sweeping. It should be better but I was running out of energy. There are some stuff on the work bench that will need to be taken care of but there is plenty of time for that too.
I have to clean the case of the BBQ during the week when I drop by, then the BBQ will be ready for use. 

We think the very last of the mangos have fallen from the tree. It is now done for the year. They were good. I have a little frozen at work and some frozen at home. Mom may give me the last ones when she cleans them. They have to ripen a little bit. She lets them sit out in the sun and after a few days they are ready to eat.

Thursday will be getting the place ready for the BBQ. Friday will be cleaning up. Saturday and Sunday are expected to be no different than any other week. 

I will see what I do next weekend.

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the face carved

the face carved

face on of face carved

the pitchers. the caps just sitting on them as I was about to fill them with coffee.

I got this picture on line. it shows the type of torches the yard sale had last week.

Year 19, Week 24, Day One (week 1024)

Year 19, Week 24, Day One (week 1024)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-22-19 Saturday
It was up into the 90s and clear today. Humidity was somewhat high, but not too bad. It was a good weather to end the day in the air conditioning. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

THURSDAY

The turning club was good. The demonstration was on dust safety, mostly, with other safety concerns also. He covered the effectiveness of different dust masks, ear plugs, face shields or goggles. The cheap dust masks are next to useless as the smallest dust is what does the most damage. He showed breathers with the filter behind the back. And other kinds of masks and filters. The ones that are for chemicals are the best ones. 
He uses a face shield when roughing out the work where bark and debris is flying everywhere.  The face shield prevents you from getting hit by large debris.  When he has the piece mostly finished, he wears goggles. He showed a pair of goggles that he wore when working with super glue on a piece. He had not waited long enough after applying super glue to a piece to keep some bark from a natural edge piece he was working with, and when he turned the lathe on, some drops flew and hit him in his face. He wished he wore a face shield then, but you could see drops on the lenses where they saved his eyes. That is why he always wears goggles. I have had pairs of glasses with dots of super glue or varnish on them.
We had new a young member who had been in a demonstration class in school, where they made pens,  and then went to one of our workshops and made a vase and joined up. We have demonstrations at various parks during gatherings such as orchid shows or art fairs and have gained members from those events too. Many of our members are involved in outreach in the community and schools. You never know when you will touch a heart. 
We had about 25 people at the meeting this time, and they said that they had removed those members who had not paid their membership from the listings by the beginning of June and we now have 75 members. That is pretty good. 

At work they cut down a tree on Monday. I was going to take just one piece of wood, and then told them put it all in my truck. At the turning club, one of the wood experts examined the wood had no idea what kind of wood it was. It does not look like anybody got any pieces of the wood, though a couple people pointed to one stick and said that would make a nice natural edged goblet. I am not sure which one that was. I decided to unload the wood from my truck for now and will turn some into mulch (by turning it). I will decide what to do with the wood as time goes on. It was suggested to cut the bigger pieces into smaller ones and put pieces into the garbage each week. 
There is no rush to do anything with them. They are there and I can decide what to do over time.
This might not be the best way but what I did while transporting them, since I did not tie them down, was, when I first started out, began moving slowly, then hit the brakes hard to force the pieces up against the cab side of the truck bed. I had most of the ends in line with the truck. I did that a couple times so that if there was a panic stop, the wood would not move too much. It is the flying piece of wood that is really dangerous. I then started gently after that. For the most part, they stayed put. 



SATURDAY

It was a nice clear day, so I decided to go yard sailing. The first three yard sales had nothing I absolutely had to have. One had the old style torches that dad used when I was a little kid. These used white gas and had the can below and the torch itself above it. I considered them for half a second and glanced away. While it would be cool to have, I don’t need them and would never use them. I remember dad fighting with them some times to get them going. That yard sale was really big. I have no idea how I walked away without anything. 
I was about to head north and saw a yard sale sign aiming a bit south of where I normally go so I decided to check it. Big mistake. At one yard sale I got some plastic storage drawer units. I paid more than they were worth but I felt good about the price and she was really thankful. There were wheels in one of the drawers and they fit the two drawer units and the big units.  There was two stacking drawers, a there medium drawer unit, and a big three drawer unit. The big unit is not put to use yet, but the others have been. 
At another yard sale I found a real percolator. This one sits on the stove to make coffee. Nothing automatic.  I checked and it held the normal twelve cup easily. I had wanted a good percolator for if there is a very long power out like a hurricane. This one is stainless body steel and  has a hinged lid. The basket and stand are aluminum. It can hold more than the 12 cups but I know how to make for 12 cups so that is what I will do. 

I had some celery that had to be used as they were beyond limp and was a bit woody, so I had started the last of my mixed grain and some of the lentil soup cooking in the crock pot. I have accumulated some 19 different grains and I mix them together and use them like I would rice. I don’t do it for any other reason other than I can. I had fried the celery with onion, then added chicken and fried them together, added them to the grain and let them cook together. 
I showed mom what I found at the yard sales. She tasted my concoction and said I added too much pepper (when I fried the chicken). She had me add some noodles to take up the seasoning. I also added some frozen veggies to it. It turned out to be really good and mom had several servings.

I unloaded the wood from the truck. I dropped them down onto a hand cart and rolled it to the back of the house. The biggest piece was the toughest but I was just able to handle it. Mostly dropping it on the handcart with some tugging into position, then tipping the handcart to dump the piece.  That was the piece I first told the guy that I wanted from the pile, before I told him to put all of them in.
Because this is fresh, wet wood, what I really need to do is take the wood and rough out pieces, like an inch thick. Then let them dry for a few months, before I remount them complete the turning to finish. Usually an inch or so is about right to allow enough wood in a bowl shape for the wood to warp out of shape, then remount it to turn it round. 
I could just do production turning a whole bunch of pieces. I am hoping to do some turning tomorrow. I will have to see how things go. 

I added more super glue to the handle of the tea pot. I want to make sure it is as strong as possible. I have some sanding to do on it but I wanted to make sure it is least likely to break. 

The fourth is on a Thursday this year. I will be off Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If it was on a Wednesday, I would take the year off......

I will see what I do tomorrow.


Year 19, Week 24, Day two (week 1024)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-23-19 Sunday

It was hot and humid out. It got up to 93 with about 70% humidity. The sky was mostly blue with little wisps once in a while. Clouds built up, shrunk and built up again over the Everglades. The shield clouds of thunder boomers, which are mostly heading north, has blocked the sun near the end of the day. While I am more used to the heat than most people, I am not ready for the humidity. I have to work on that, mainly by forcing myself to stay out there. 

I grabbed one of my “logs” from this small tree. Total height was at about the building roof line. It was cut because it was getting too big and was next to the building.
The piece of log I selected (first large piece I grabbed) had rot in the center, just a soft and wet sawdust-like pulp. I split it using a couple axes and a hammer, I need to see about getting or making a fro, not that I would use it much. I flattened one piece quite a bit then cut it for turning using the bandsaw, first cutting it to length, then knocking off the corners. I first mounted it between centers and rough flattened the bowl face and then made a tenon. I flipped it around and rough rounded the bowl into shape and put a tenon on the bottom. I flipped it around again and just begun the hollowing process when the bowl came off the chuck. The heat and humidity was such that the sawdust was sticking to me everywhere so I decided it was a nice time to stop. I should do more next weekend. I just wanted to start something.

I decided to make chocolate ice cream. My semi-sweet chocolate morsels were in the fridge so they were cold and hard. I put them in the food processor and left it on until they were mostly like a powder. If I had warmed them, they might have liquified and blended with my base. Maybe next time. It took a while to get it to a sand consistency. 
There are people who have a lactose intolerance. Making ice cream using bananas as the base is a good way to get around that. It is best when slightly soft. The recipe I first saw served it right out of the food processor using frozen bananas as a soft ice cream. It said if you wanted it more stiff, put it in the freezer for a bit. I will taste it after blending, but always freezes it and eat it that way.
I then added some white and brown sugar, not too much, but I figured it would be enough to make a difference. In the previous banana based ice-creams I have made I sometimes felt it needed a little more sweetness. I have made this with strawberries, mixed fruit (blueberry-black berry based), mangos, just to name a few. 
I then added my bananas. They were frozen and I softened them by letting their baggy sit in hot water for a little bit. They blend better when softened.  
I originally intended to only make half a batch, but then decided to make a full batch and use everything up. After everything was blended nicely, I checked the flavor. The chocolate was a tiny bit grainy. I knew I should have but did not do anything to melt or liquify the chocolate. I laid out a sheet pan with plastic lining it and poured the mixture into it and it went into the freezer for a couple hours. 
When it had set up, I cut up the slab into bite-sized chunks. I could pig out on this. It turned out better than I expected. Yes, it would be much better if the chocolate was liquified and well blended, but I am not complaining. You get the rich, dark-chocolate flavor from the semi sweet morsels, and yet it is sweet enough to make it feel like ice cream. This is the best I have made. 
My previous attempts with fruit added their own water, which causes ice crystals to form more noticeably. The banana does not have a whole lot of liquid. One store I go to puts out past-due fruits and veggies into ninety eight cent packages. In their bananas, you get a good bunch of bananas in the package. I found that even the over-ripe bananas (parts becoming mushy) make good ice cream. 
I have some mint-chocolate from Christmas that I found and gathered in one package when I last cleaned the fridge. I intend to make the next batch of banana based ice-cream using that. I know now that it will work though I do intend to soften it enough to blend completely with the banana. 
I have always ate bananas to prevent or cure cramps. It works pretty good and tastes good. By making ice cream with it, it is more fun to eat. 

Mom’s neighbor was tired of the low bandwidth of the WIFI when using his bedroom computer so I grabbed some ethernet cord I recently picked up at a yard sale and ran it wildly from the cable box to his computer. It goes under the door, behind his dresser over another door to his computer. He had tried to drill a hole through the wall near the end of his bedroom into the closet of the office and ran into the block wall. I tried to help and used a “really long” concrete drill bit and made it through the cbs block but did not have the length to go through some other hard substance, and even then, the hole was way too small for the tip of the WIFI wire. I would have to drill the hole even bigger. I now have a hole to fill. 
I re-booted his computer, then unplugged the WIFI-based USB unit. He was giddy because he was getting on line through the hard wire now. There is a big difference. There has been a few times where I heard a glitch, like click in the radio station we were listening to on line, but it did not cause the computer to search for the signal again like it used to on the WIFI.
I have many options to take care of the wild running cord. One is to tack it to the walls with wire hooks of some type. I could also run the cord through a whole the wing wall at the door then into the wing wall in the closet to reduce how much is seen. I could also borrow or buy the right size and length concrete drill bit to go all the way through the wall at the hole we already started. He is in no hurry right this second. For now I just shoved the excess cord into the closet for this moment so it is not an eye sore. Hopefully the cord will solve the problem he have had.

Next week, I have to prepare the awning area for the Forth’s BBQ. It is on a Thursday so I need to make sure everything is ready to bring out in just a few trips and start cooking. I have a few other projects to work on.

I will see what happens next weekend.

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the "logs" I got from the tree.

the drawer units I got. I added the wheels already. the small units are in use right now.

the real percolator coffee pot I picked up

the split log

the rough bowl blank when I mounted it on the lathe.

the top of the bowl when I stopped

the bottom of the bowl when I stopped

I found t his picture on line. this is the kind of torch I saw at the yard sale

Year 19, Week 23, Day One (week 1023)

Year 19, Week 23, Day One (week 1023)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-15-19 Saturday

Some light showers early morning, and some more in the afternoon. Mostly sunny and nice wind. 76 degrees with 82% humidity. That  humidity feels thick. I almost felt like I needed scuba gear to move around. It makes air conditioning nice. . This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I had to run to a few stores, so I decided to head out and yard sail while I was out there. 
I stopped at Walmart and walked some of the isles, mainly around the outside and through the food section. I ended up finding cream brulee coffee and buying three bags of it. I like to have a wide variety of coffee flavors at work so you never get tired of one of them.  I had not seen cream brulee for two years, running out right after a new worker said he loved the flavor. 
I then followed my northern route and found three yard sales. At one yard sale, I only after I was talking to the woman, who sort of remembered me that there was a two inch step up and last time they had signs saying “watch your step.” When I saw that tiny step and knew I had been here before and told her when we met before. It is surprising how, when you don’t have the signs leading you, you may not know exactly where a place was. You know the area, the side of the road you turned, but totally forget which of roads and which house. Many of these housing projects were where there was just a few design houses that are repeated. They have different landscaping and paint, but the roads blend easily. You need some other landmark to know where they were and when following or looking fo signs, one is not looking for landmarks. Also you usually don’t expect to go back there for any reason other than another yard sale and are lead there with signs.
I got a set of things for weaving ropes for a sailing ship. There are several sizes of hollow aluminum hooks that you stick the rope into. There is a pick to spread the cords or pull up a cord, and there are instructions. I was not sure what I would do with it, but got it anyway. I am sure I will find a use for it, even if it was not for ropes.
I found another yard sale with boxes of crafts stuff with pencils and pens, crayons glue. She gave me a very good price for all of them. I then grabbed a recorder (flute) and then a bowl of wooden fruit that I think she said was made in Kenya. They were better than anything I ever made. They might be examples to follow for making my own next time.
I went to two yard sales that had nothing I “needed”. One of them had a really nice Norwegian sewing box that opens up towards the ends with three sections on each side. I considered it strongly, but they wanted $50. If I had that much money, I would have planned on using the money for something else anyway. There was a wooden cradle that her children and grand children were raised in. She also had a brand new paper-white tablet still in the unopened box they wanted $50 for. Nice things but I did not need them. I have a couple paper-white readers that I got for a song. I have not had a chance to really use them yet.
I went to Lowes and walked many of the isles. I have some ideas for projects. I almost could not find what I was after which caused me to walk more isles than intended.
And then went to Harbor Freight (woops)  and walked all the isles. I just got a few things and nearly used up my gift card. It was nice, though. Each time I go, I learn that there is more things I need. I noticed a guy following me with a mop, cleaning up the drool everybody was leaving between the rows.
I went to Save A Lot, which is a small grocery chain where you have to buy the grocery bags or grab an empty box they have on the shelves (they put the boxes on the shelf with the top cut off) to put your purchases in. I walked all the isles. 
I also walked the dollar store I did find what I was after, and got an idea of what they have in stock when I am ready to go again. I also stopped at the Arbies which is next door to the dollar store to get lunch. 
I list this to show that I walked my tail off today. I actually did quite well. It looks like I am in better condition than last year, which is not saying much....

Mom and I swapped flats of bottled water. She gave me her old ones so we can use them up quickly while she got some new ones to hang on to for hurricanes or special needs. I used a hand cart from the truck and her house and was surprised that five waters was all it (I) could handle. They are taller than I expected.

I brought out most of my gatherings and mom and I sorted the drawers of the art filled drawer units I picked up and stuff is easier to find now. We think the woman might have been a teacher or something as there was a lifetime supply of pencils, pens, brushes, and colored pencils

All that walking reduced any interest in making a mess. 
I will see what I do tomorrow.



Year 19, Week 23, Day two (week 1023)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-16-19 Sunday


I had to make a quick run south, where the sky was watering the plants then came north. Storms swept across on an angle as they slid east, with the cells in the front were moving north. While it was dry up north when I started, It got well ahead of me by the time I got to mom’s house. Her plants won’t need watering today. This weather report was brought to you by the city Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I arrived a bit earlier than I normally do. I went out back and started unloading the lathe. I then had to remove the bolts holding the fence-post blocks in place, that the wheels were attached to. The first ones came off all right. That end was always under cover. The second end had problems where the bolt heads were pulled deep into the wood so I could not get a grip on the head of the bolt to remove them. My brother arrived as I was getting ready to cut the bolts off. I used the saws-all to slice right through the bolts holding one side of the block in place. We then went in for lunch and when we came out, I did the other side.
After a quick stop at Ace hardware where I did not get near enough bolts, I bolted some furniture-mover wheels (picked up at Harbor Fright last week) beneath the lathe. It was mom’s suggestion as they were on sale. These were 12" by 18" mover dollies and it turned out that the base of the lathe cart was 18" wide. I drilled and the bolted them through the cloth (added by the maker to prevent scratching) covered 12" long boards. I chose not to remove the cloth because I was lazy and figured it would only make a small difference.
The lathe rolls a little easier when it was empty but not quite as easy loaded down, but it is much better than it was.  What has happened with these dollies, is that the weight of the lathe is now held in four places along the length. The wheels on these carts are now spaced out. With the weight of the lathe spaced out on four, instead of two, places, If I hit a bump, the other wheels carry some of the weight so the force is not so strong (I think, anyway). It rolls easier in getting it in place, but does not seem to roll while I work, at least on the projects so far.
The humidity was thick and I was soaked as I worked out there. My brother helped me a little, mainly adding another hand a couple times, but mostly sat back for the entertainment of my making The Three Stooges look competent. Actually I did pretty good.
I showed my brother my finds from yesterday at harbor frieght. He approved.

I already found a place for the drawers, on top of some rolling drawers mom gave me a year or two ago.  I need to go through all the drawers of everything and sort them also. 

While visiting, there was woman with a new baby, about a month old. I asked if I could test the size of my crochet  booties on it. She put each one on one foot and they fit. I gave them to her, then remembered I never wove in the ends. Oh well. I know the technique works anyway. I hope she does not think badly about me.

I have my turning club meeting this week on Thursday. Try as I might, I don’t have anything to show off. That will be all right. It is fun to  to brag about something you did. It is also fun just to see what everybody else was working on and what just being around every friends. 

I will have to see what I do next week.

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the bins of craft stuff I picked up. top bin is separate and is now full of colored felt pens.

the pink bin drawers is separate from the red bins drawers

the new wheels under the lathe. those flat boards is the only thing I don't like. sawdust collects on them and is hard to sweep off because of the wire rack

the wheels more from the side, showing the cloth protected upper boards. I chose not to cut the cross boards off because I figured it will be stabilizing the wheels.