09-30-09 Train Room

My brother and I have been involved in model railroading since the 80s. My brother was the driving force for years, and still does most of the technical and electrical work around the layout.

Years ago, My brother used to drop by each week on Wednesday. He would be between jobs and stop by before heading home. Some years ago, my nephew then started working with him. My nephew worked three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, about twelve hours a day. That killed the chances of my brother coming to visit. Since my nephew was living with him. My brother would have to go home, then come back out. That is always a pain. I tend to plan to never stop at home while I am out and about. It is hard to get out of the house again.

The model railroad became a shelf, rather than a model railroad. The last time I ran it was three years ago. The cars derailed when I was not looking.

My nephew is finally moving into his own place, which happens to be his Mother In Law's old place, which happens to be about a block away. My brother, in about a month, will be coming to visit to do model railroading again.

I now have a project. I have to clean out the train room, get the railroad layout cleaned up, and ready for work.















This picture is how it looks after I pulled about half the stuff out of the room. AS you can see, I have more to do. I will empty the closet clear the floor. I will remove the junk from the tops of the railroad.

Finally, I will remove the structures (which are just setting in place, not permanent, and move the cars if necessary, from the layout so I can do a little work. I will vacuum the layout clean, clean the tracks with a track eraser, after I cut a slit down the center of the railroad layout.

This is a four foot by eight foot railroad layout was really difficult to get up into my fourth floor apartment. I want to cut a slit down the center so that when it has to be moved, It will be easy to separate the two sections so that I will be moving two eight by two foot wide sections, rather than one big four by eight piece. Just separating two pieces of track and a few wires, and then removing them from the frame it is on, is all that is needed.
I will also use that slit to put a low view block, designed to aid in the belief that there are two different cities there.


This drawing is what my model rail road layout and room looks like The section along the upper wall of the drawing is on a shelf of an metal industrial shelving unit. After that work is done, I will locate my structures, the industries of the layouts which are just setting on the layout, so that we have places for our trains to visit. I will cover more on this railroad layout and my model railroading later, along with news of my cleaning project.

This And That, Because It's Fall Now!

I don't know anything scarier than hearing your beloved child's voice on the cell phone at night, and hearing, "Mom, we had an accident..." My heart about stopped! Thankfully it was followed very quickly by, "But we're fine. We hit a deer." I got a preliminary damage report, but of course I had to ask a million questions, and am not sure I even heard the answers. They're OK. They're fine. Stacey and Brian are fine. It was a relief. Brian was driving, in his new used car; and not too many miles from home, on a narrow and hilly country highway, a deer dashed out in front of them. There was an oncoming car, and the deer stopped directly in front of them. Brian had the presence of mind to swerve just enough to catch it a glancing blow with the headlight area instead of full on with the grille, which would likely have thrown it up and through the windshield at them. The deer was never found, so it ran off, but left some costly repairs and two very shaken young people behind. The car was drivable, the damage mostly cosmetic, and not a scratch on the most precious thing in my life, and the most precious in his. Two mothers gave thanks that night, knowing that it could have been much, much worse. Cars are replaceable, but children aren't, and a parent worries no matter how old they are. If you look closely you will see a tuft of deer fur in the broken headlight cover.

Not a surprise to see a deer in the road, the rut starts soon and they are beginning to chase one another. Deer get careless during the mating season. While I would never suggest such a harsh lesson, and I know he is generally a careful driver, I am sure Brian will be super cautious at night after this. We live in the country, and deer collisions are always a possibility out here. There are lots of brushy shoulders on these roads and so at times something will dart out from seemingly nowhere. Thankfully the insurance company will pay for the repairs and Brian and Stacey are fine.

Ah September, when the skies are blue as blue can get, the afternoons warm and the nights chilly. More clouds now with the heavier morning dew burning off the land in the afternoon.The sun goes down earlier now and only the mid-afternoon has any warmth reminiscent of summer - not that we had much of that this year. It was a very cool and wet summer for the most part. Yet, I still welcome the fall. I love this time of year, when the growing season is winding down. We're starting to get some color in the trees. Colder, longer nights and shorter days make the green chlorophyll recede, leaving the true color of the leaves reflecting the minerals they drew from the soil and the food it produced. Fall can be breathtaking here, this is just the prelude, like listening to the symphony tuning up.

Just a little bit of color goes a long way. Nature is more subtle than we are, and doesn't splash the canvas with bold strokes all at once. You go out there one day and there's a bit here and there, a few days later, an entire tree is clothed in gold or blazing with oranges and reds. If you look closely though, it is not an even distribution of color, but sort of a patchwork shading and stippling. Leaves are already starting to drift down in spots, Lee and I drove through a storm of them one day as we went out shopping. There's a lot of foliar disease spots on them this year, a sign of all that rain. Still, it will be a lovely show. I am always inspired to do something creative in the fall, I think it is all that color.

Golds seem to predominate here, we have a lot of birch and hickory. The leaves don't all come down at once, but you can look into the woods now and see farther, so they are thinning. Even on the gray days the trees seem to be lit from within by all that color. Some people find fall a sad time, knowing the summer is passing. Personally, I love the changing seasons. To me fall is the time of harvest and winding down of the garden and all outdoor activities, so that I can start thinking about indoor things, like crafts and writing, again. I cook differently at this time of year too, the meals are heavier food, and meant to be served hot. Time to start thinking of casseroles, soups and stews. When I'm done putting up veggies that is!

We've been running the woodstove off and on, it gets cool in here. The furnace is all cleaned and ready for the heating season too. Even the cats are in more at night, it's more fun to curl up next to a warm human than to hunt for mice or prowl the yard for intruders.

We have barred owls in the woods up back and tonight as I write this a pair of them is having a sing off. They have a tenor hoot series that sounds like they're asking questions, and sometimes make monkey noises. I love their quavering hoots. Duncan and Ranger are inside for the night, but we have a dog lead out back, so that they can be clipped out to use the facilities. Duncan was out there for a bit, and decided he had to answer the owls with howls. It was kind of funny, but I know his loud voice carries with the hill behind us as a sounding board, so I was glad when Jason went to bring him in. He spooks the cats when he does that, and there are three more huskies up the road who would love to join him in his mournful cries. No one is going to sleep if they all get going at once.

Speaking of cats, Oreo has gotten to be quite the hunter this year. We see less of him than we do the others. He's always out there stalking something.

Hard to get him to sit still like this and actually take his picture.

I like the way he looks so suspicious, like he's wondering what you are up to with that camera.

Oreo is still young but once the bitter weather arrives it will drive him indoors at night. Oreo and Max are the only two of the five cats who will go outdoors regularly. Shadow is a bit old now and he has never hunted or been much interested in the great outdoors, unless it is midday and sunny. The kittens are still too young to be outdoors, we live close to the woods to take that chance. Believe me, I worry about the adult cats, and would keep them in if they didn't yowl half the night to be let out.

Max is the king of the pride here, though Oreo challenges him regularly. Here he is stalking purposefully down toward the garden to see what can be done about those chipmunks and field mice. When Max has hunting on his mind, you can call him repeatedly and he will totally ignore you. He is thinking one thing, "I have to kill something!" He is country cat, and so we allow for some small animal carnage in exchange for less rodents and their damage. Max can be territorial, but most of his battles involve that upstart Oreo, or late at night, a female cat that is the terror of the neighborhood. Not too many cats around here any more, this is mostly a dog lover's area.

Doesn't he look like a cat with a mission?

I don't know what Max saw, but something caught his attention. Could be a bird flying overhead or a gray squirrel working the hickories. We also have red squirrels in the spruces and a never-ending supply of chipmunks.




I called to Max, and he turned somewhat away and got a far off look that is almost kind of facetious. "Hmmm, did I hear a human voice crying in the wilderness? Naw, it's just the wind..." No one ignores you quite as effectively as a cat.

Well Max is off and stalking something else. I guess I am just that boring. Until night time that is, when he and Mischief will vie for a place on my bed; snuggled up beside me, on the pillow behind me, or at my feet. I'd hate to to think it that is simply because I'm warmer than the floor or the back of the couch. Their purring is very soothing when I am trying to get to sleep, but sometimes it is hard to move or turn over without disturbing one of us. You know you love your pets when you find yourself uncomfortable for their sake rather than your own. As I type this, little Mischief is curled up in my arms, precariously propped between me and the keyboard.

Fall is the time for crafts, and I love best of all crochet. I do some off and on all summer, but don't always have time to sit and work something out. The latest project is a box cover for... well, panti liners. My upstairs bathroom is a long room with storage at one end and the toilet area at the other, so things sit out. I think this looks a lot nicer than the advertising on the box, though in these shots it is empty. I used the gray yarn on the large panels because I didn't have enough aqua or white to do it. The little cord and bow doesn't match, but it is pretty yarn so I used it anyway. BTW, that cording is crocheted from two different colors. I make a chain, and then slip stitch down the back side. I left the raw ends out after securing them, and just kind of frayed them to look sort of tassel-ly.

This is the back. The mesh of one row of spaced double crochet allowed me to weave the cording in and out. I prefer single crochet for projects that need to be a bit stiff and where I don't want much to show through. Crochet still has enough give that though this fit the box tightly, I could stretch it over easy enough. That is crab stitch (AKA reverse single crochet) along the top. I just learned that one the year before last.

Just a shot of the side, showing one of the aqua panels. I made the rectangular base first (it is white) and edged it with single crochet all around. I then started each panel on an edge by picking up front loops only on the bottom edging, which helped the side bend upwards. When the panel was tall enough, I fastened in the white and edged it. When all four panels were done, they were only attached at the base. Lifting two together, I slip stitched from base to top. Then came a row of single crochet, the mesh stitch double crochet, another row of single crochet atop that, and last of all the crab stitch. For the corners on the topping, I added some chain 1 sections around the corner stitch to give it a bit of bend. No pattern for this, I made it up as I went along, but that is the gist of it.

I think the thing I like best about art and crafts is the ability to create on the fly. Crochet is probably the thing I am best at because I have the confidence of years of practice. The more you handle materials and tools, the better you know them, and what to expect when you do something. I enjoy making things that are useful or interesting with my hands, a metal or plastic hook, some sort of yarn, and an image in my head of what I want it to be. Best of all, I can do it in front of the TV in the evening when I sit with the family. I look up, I look down again; I watch, I listen, and I stitch. It is rhythmic movement and rather soothing too. Another nice thing about fall is the new shows for the season begin now, so I have more reason to sit down with hooks and yarn in hand and get busy making things. My family gets to see me and spend time with me, and I feel relaxed and refreshed when I head back upstairs to write my goodnight email(s) before bed.

What's not to love about that, eh?

September 28, 2009 Did You write?

September 28, 2009 Did You write?

There are those of among us who write every day or at least regularly every week, and there are those among us who need a cattle prod to write, let alone regularly. This note is for those who need some incentive. The hope is that by having to report each week how much writing activity one has done, it will prod you into working at least once a week, so you can report "Yes, I did write."
We make no judgement, whether you write or not. We make no judgement of how much you actually write when you do. The hope of this note is to give you an incentive too produce.
Of course, life gets in the way of any plans, and we want to hear about that too.
Most weeks, I list things that can be writing. I will skip it this week just because I am lazy. Refer to previous week's posts for options as to what can be writing.

As for me, I did write. I am happy to say that yes, I did write. I am still working on my Waxy Dragon birth story and making headway. I am rewriting as I go, using as much of existing work as possible, while changing the story around dramatically. I am adding scenes, rearranging others, and overall, changing the nature of the story. I zap words, sentences and entire paragraphs, then add fresh. Because of this, My word count this week, 1557 words, which is about two pages, is really only a small portion of the actual writing I have done.
I just now checked and am surprised that I am editing page 38 of the 44 pages I have. I am starting a set of fresh scenes so the word count will rise quickly. I will also expand what I have and that will add to the word count.
This has been a fun time for me. I had forgotten how nice it was to spend time writing. I tend to spend about an hour a day on the story. I don't get far, but I do better than I did when I tried to fit in a longer period of writing.

I am still going on the story idea front. I have 36 story ideas in the compost stack, including what I will post tonight.. The ideas tend to come in, feast of famine. The postings keep going on, no matter what. I did get a bit behind this past week and had to hustle to make sure I was up to date. Including tonight, three more posts and I will be finishing the month.
I tend to get a little nervous near the end of the month where things can throw me off, cause me to miss a day. I try not to schedule things at the end of the month if possible.
Many years ago, I would take a few days off at the start of the month, and be struggling to get caught up at the end of the month. One day, It dawned on me that if I post every day, even when I was not in the mood, those would be days I need not catch up on. I don't take days off on my story ideas except for life events, such as gong out for a birthday dinner for my nephew this weekend, after missing a day for something else that happened on the previous weekend. Of course, I fitted in a couple extra story ideas when I would have rather worked on Waxy.

As to the question of THE WEEK,
I can say

YES.

DID YOU WRITE?

Woodworking Week 507

year 9, Week 37, Day One (week 507)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-26-09 Saturday

94 degrees, broken clouds. lots of sun, showers to the west in the afternoon that stayed over the everglades. We did get a few drips from a passing "embarrassment" while we were at a yard sale, but that was before I settled in to work. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.

My first project after visiting yard sales and petting the cat, was to clean off part of the workbench. Mom got tired of how it was arranged so she moved everything, consolidating things.
My project was the end of the workbench that was covered in accumulated dust near the disk sander. I had several disks prepared for making platters, and moved them to the shed. I brushed off the disk sander, brushed off the grinder and the bench. I think I got a good cup and a half of dust when I was done. This disk sander is just the motor with switch, and the disk with a wooden platform and sanding table. It does the job. I got it at a yard sale years ago.

I was finally able to start working. my brother started a rocking horse designed for a child below a year old. My nephew grew up before he finished the project due to other matters. I decided I wanted to make a hobby horse, the horse head on a stick. I took the single 3/4 board he used for the head and traced it on two more just like it. We will attach them together and then drill for the rod. We will then decorate.

That project done, I looked for another project. I dug through my wood piles looking for a project. I got an idea to make a bunch of pencil cups. On one board, someone said they put marbles or decorative glass in a cup. The "stones" kept the pencils sticking straight up and kept the cup stable. I decided I would like to give that a try. It would be easy to make some cups. I thought they would make good gifts. I can decorate the cups with ease with carving, wood burning or painting.
I looked around my wood pile and found a log that was solid, but had some worm holes. I decided it would be good for this project.
I cut the ends off the log, about six inches at the widest, and then cut it into turn-able chunks. I have no idea what wood it is. There is a little bit of pithiness in one section but that will give it a different look there.
I rounded one piece and then started hollowing. I heard a clicking sound while I was turning so I checked my tool, which is a boring bar that has a metal turning tip mounted in it. I needed to tighten the tip. I decided instead to say that it was long enough for the day.
I should be able to finish it tomorrow. I think I can even get two cups out of this piece of wood.

I packed up my stuff for the day. A couple hours later, I went with my mom to the store and I could see I had already been on my feet too long.

My nephew has a birthday near this weekend, so we went out for dinner.

Tomorrow, I want to finish one, possibly two cups, carve on some ornaments, and maybe work with my brother on the hobby horse.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.


year 9, Week 37, Day One (week 507)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-26-09 Saturday

90 degrees, high plates of clouds with a few lower puffs. A front that Early morning weather radar showed to be coming, never arrived. there was some sun, though not too much. There was a light breeze but not really noticeable. Late in the day, storms were over the everglades.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I got started a bit later than I planned. After I petted the cat, I drug the lathe out. I dug out the wrench and tightened the cutting bit on my boring bar. My boring bar is something my brother helped me make. It is simply an iron bar with a hole machined or drilled in the end. There is an allen wrench set screw that goes into the end hole from the side. I can put all sorts of cutting bits into the end of the bar and hold them in place with the set screw.
I have some other attachments to go into the end of the bar, which includes holding flat pieces of metal for scraping inside a vase, and attachments to reach around corners for inside the neck of a vase. I have not gotten into using the attachments as of yet. I have more to make also.
I started on the cup I started yesterday. The bit I have on the boring bar is very aggressive, eating wood away quickly. The end is triangular. I can use the point to cut the wood, the flat side, or the back corner to do the cutting. I find it is really good at cutting on the pull stroke, the rear corner leading the cut.
I had the cup done, except to remove it from the waste wood which would be the second cup. I did not like the flat sided cup. It needed something. I decided to turn some beads down the side. I measured off and drew lines at each centimeter on a ruler. Spinning the wood, I cut in grooves first, then rounded them into beads. I was a bit timid, not wanting to cut too deep into the thin walls.
I cut the cup off the waste wood disk sanded the base smooth, and then started on the second cup. This time, after truing up the outside, I cut my beads on first on the outside. That done, I then hollowed out the inside. It went fast this time. When that was done, I cut off the tenon from the base of the cup, and then disk sanded the base flat.
I have no idea what wood this is, but it looks interesting. I think it was wood given to me.

I cleaned up and packed up the lathe since lunch would be in a half hour. The cups looked pretty good. I could have done better with the beads. Maybe on the next cups.

After lunch, I sat down and carved an owl from one of my blanks. It went fairly quickly. A knot in the feet required a bit of design opportunity when carving the toes. Part of the knot was a bit brittle.

I finished the owl and cleaned up.
I did not do as much as I hoped, but what I did, came out pretty well.

I have pictures of some of my work, and of myself located at
rstegman and his woodworking
http://allnews.yuku.com/topic/532
Each note has a description of what I actually did, many times hidden by the works of others, and there are sometimes pictures of myself holding my work.


For next week, I want to do more of the cups. I also want to carve some more ornaments. I have some other projects that I would love to do, but are of lower priority. I want to make some turned ornaments too, but while higher in priority in the projects I need to do, they are lower than other projects.

I will visit the Antique shop that has my work on display and also a thrift store I always visit. I will drop off a couple small monitors there when I get to the thrift shop.
My mom and my brother are going to visit that big rat in central florida next weekend. I will be working alone at Mom's house, well I will have to pet the kitty quite a bit.
I will see what I actually do next week.

More From The Harvest...

Another week or so in the garden. Still getting some decent produce out of my weedpatch, though as September progresses, the pickings are getting thinner. Except for the beans that is, they just keep on coming and coming...

That's Frank and the beanstalks below. Those plants are about 10' tall, and he is standing on an 8' step ladder. Frank is not a tall guy, but we do look up to him from time to time.
(HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!!!!!)



Finally a decent picture of that kabocha squash. This is my favorite winter squash and I try to grow some every year. Rich, smooth and sweet, it whips beautifully thick, and you only need some butter and a touch of nutmeg and cinnamon to make it taste divine.




A ruddy red sunflower...

...and a lovely yellow one, basking in some afternoon rays. I will definitely plant all kinds of sunflowers in a mixed row again next year, they just stole the show. BTW, Roger actually planted most of those sunflowers when he was up here in early June. He did a really good job too, and I like to think he enjoyed himself out there. Wish we could work together like that all the time. Lee joins me in the garden often, and he has picked more tomatoes this year than I have.

It's time to pick Ben's pumpkin, and the procession is entering the garden. In the lead is Frank, followed by our intrepid newbie gardener, mom Stacey, and #2 son Brian. Yeah, my youngest has gorgeous long hair, doesn't he? I like this shot because in spite of the weeds, it gives you a good idea just how large that garden is. It's 55x70' and all of it does get planted too. Too bad the weeds got so out of hand, but that's the way it goes some years.

Wow Ben, what do you think, is that a heavy one or what? There are at least 3 other pumpkins out there yet, so he did a great job. I picked up a kit for starting pumpkins, one for sunflowers, and one for watermelon at Lowes this spring, and let Ben plant them by himself. I put the plants in the ground but he did all the rest. We lost the watermelon seedlings to heavy rains, but as you can see, the sunflowers and pumpkins thrived. He looks so proud doesn't he?

Stacey is holding the gourd thing that was growing next to Ben's pumpkin. We have yet to cut it open and see if it is edible. I spotted a couple more out there since we picked this one. I think it might be a cross between butternut squash and kabocha, which has the same color and ribbing. I dug up a wild 'squash' vine up by the back gate and filled a gap in the vine bed with it, so that is likely where it came from. When sqaushes cross, it affects the seed, so that would make sense.

That is my dying cucumber vines on the trellis in the background, still producing a little something but close to dead. We've had some cold nights, it's about time.

I'm very proud of my junior garden partner, he really got very enthusiastic about the whole thing this year. He loves to tell everyone how he planted all the pole beans and now they go up to the sky. He did plant more than half of them. I think we will be doing this again next year, Ben seems to have a real apptitude for it, he was very careful in everything he did.

The last picking of sweet peppers, don't they look good? We may still get a few more. I saw one very small eggplant had finally started growing yesterday. Hope the frost holds off!

This is two pickings of beans, just about 25 lbs worth. I gave away as many as I could, but still put up a lot. The very big bean on top is from my scarlet runner beans, they are considered an ornamental but the pods are edible and taste fine. The big guys like that have to be 'stringed' and cut in small sections. They are a bit fuzzy when fresh, but that cooks right off.

Here is the last batches of beans and broccoli I put up for the freezer. I got 13 quart bags of string beans and 1 quart and 1 pint of broccoli. Lots of good eating for this winter all the way to next summer.

As I have said before, this level of gardening and food preservation is something I have been doing for many years. I planted my first garden when I was 16, and I'm now 52, and haven't missed too many growing seasons. My summers fly by because of the garden, but I don't really mind. I always feel proud about all the good food and healthy exercise involved. And being outdoors, connected to the rich soil and green growing things, gives me a sense of peace and purpose. I think you appreciate more the food you have had a hand in growing. Much of what I plant has been nurtured from a seed or at least a small plant or cutting, and so I get to see it develop every step of the way. Sometimes I even save seeds from my plants and start new ones the following year, taking the Sacred Cycle of Life and Death and Rebirth that extra step. Along the way, I also get to see a lot of other creatures in their natural habitat, and I've met more of my neighbors as they walk by and say hello or make comments. You just can't be too downhearted when the birds are singing, butterflies and bees are fluttering by or buzzing all around you, and the sun is warm on your bare shoulders. I probably saved myself a fortune in therapy over the years by taking my problems to the garden. I will do that as long as I can stumble out there, and then when that is no longer possible, I can always sit with my eyes closed and remember, and then write about it too.

Did You write? 09-21-09

Did You write? 09-21-09

WOOOO! Hooo! Another week has ended, Were you ready for it?
The hope is that you see this note coming and you get yourself to write something, anything, so you can proudly report that you actually wrote something this week. Of course, you are encouraged to tell about your failures for the week, and otherwise tell about what is going on in your life.
While we always look at the original writing, fresh writing as writing. Editing is the key part of writing. There are times where I write by editing, rather than starting with something fresh. Because of this, Editing is writing.
Other things that people may or might not consider writing is Poetry, article writing, blogging, World or character creation, if something gets on paper, writing assignments, and even E-mails, as long as they are wordy and pertain to a story or writing. There are others that might fit, and some that might not. It is more whether you want to report it as writing. Anything that will let you claim success is worth the try.

AS for me. I did write. I worked deeper into my Waxy Dragon Birth story. I added four pages and 2500 words to it and I am still in editing mode. I am filling in some story details that effect later stories in the listings. I am also working out details of a second story to be written right after this one.
In the series, I have a lot of things hinted at, but not detailed. The story I will write after this that will add a lot of those details. I am getting excited.
AS for the story I am writing, I am getting close to added a whole bunch of new scenes in between what I have. That will be fun. I now see the 50 pages to be short. I would not be shocked it ending at 70 pages.

On the story ideas, I am running one idea behind right now. I did have a chance to catch up that one story idea this weekend, but mis-read what day it was and lost the chance because I was thinking I had somehow caught up. I have all week to get caught up so I am not worried.
I have 40 story ideas in my compost pile, including the one I wrote tonight. Only the top ideas really change, which is why it is a compost pile. Some on the bottom are a couple years old already.
I had a period where I was digging deeper into the pile because new ideas were not coming. This weekend, I had a blast of ideas, something like five of them all at one time and that helped. I have gotten a few more since.
Because I don't know the true source of the story ideas, I always start to worry when the new ideas stop coming. Several years ago, I had a stretch of a month or so where I got no ideas at all. In reply to a note I was complaining about that, someone wrote some suggestions based on my compost pile. I wrote those and suddenly I was full of story ideas.
Because I don't know where the ides come from or the nature of the inspiration, I get excited about big weeks with loads of new ideas and worry when they don't show up.
Something I hate is like this weekend. In one day, I came up with two really good story ideas. Because I did not have paper nearby, I never wrote them down and they are gone, most likely permanently.

I got a new DVD writer. My CD writer had locked up. This DVD writer has problem where when it plays a DVD, I don't get sound. I have to do some searching for a solution. I can swap parts but there are those cute little tricks that I never figure out. At least now I can view them.

In my wood turning, I somehow am in a period where everything is going good. I get those some times.
I will have a period of time where everything I do works out beautifully. I show some real skill. It then goes away and I cannot do anything right. Like my story ideas, I have no idea when I get wonderful periods like that. they never come more that twice a year. Once a year is normal.
I picked up a couple swans at a yard sale, and I decided to copy them for this year's Christmas ornaments. I try to do four sets each year. I don't always get to make that many. The ones I am copying are assembled, several pieces, while the ones I am making are one piece and a bit smaller. I am stealing the concept of them. Mine are all hand made.

AS to the question of the week.

YES I DID WRITE.

DID YOU WRITE?

Thoughts On Writing

I was in school before the personal computer. I had not seen a personal computer until I was in vocational school after I graduated. I had a strong interest in writing back then. My problem was I could not type worth a bean, Did not understand story development, hand wrote slowly, and was actually quite lazy.

Back then, editors had a rule of thumb. The work had to be typed perfectly, no mistakes. Also, the author had to be the one who typed it. If they learned that the author hired someone to type it with no mistakes, they would not even look at it.

At the time, I never fully understood why that was. I knew I could not type perfectly and would want to have it typed perfectly so it could be accepted by the editors.

While working on my rewrite of my Waxy Dragon Birth story, I can now see why editors of the time wanted the writing to be by the author.

As I am editing my story, I will start reading a little behind where I stopped to get into the swing of things and a feel for where I am going. Invariably, I will change several sentences, a word here, a phrasing there, as I go, before I pick up where I stopped working before.

Every time a writer re-typed a work, they changed sentences, improving the way their work was written. If someone else typed the work, the writing would not be as good as it could be.

I read recently somewhere, where a famous writing person said that if you are going to change your story, write it over, which indicated to start from scratch. We tend to avoid heavy writing by using as much of the old story as you can, pulling in the writing of the previous stage. His thought is that if you are making changes, write it from scratch and let the story become what it is supposed to be, rather than to let the old stuff hold the new work down.

In this editing of My Waxy Dragon story, I am adding whole scenes expanding ones I already have, changing much of what I had. If I started over on this rewrite of the Waxy story, rather than filling in, in between what I already had, It might have been better, a bit different, possibly cleaner, likely even less work. Instead, I am changing half the sentences as I filter through the piece. Using existing sentences is likely only saving me a quarter of my writing effort, if that.

I think the reason I am editing my piece, rather than rewriting it, besides not hearing about the concept before I started this editing run, is that there is the hope that there will be entire sections that will end up unchanged, saving me a lot of work. Of course, looking back so far, that has not happened. Also, I am using what I already wrote as a guide as to what I want to do and where I want to go with it. It is hard to do that with two text open.

Week 506 woodworking diary

year 9, Week 36, Day One (week 506)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-19-09 Saturday

90 degrees, nice breeze, mostly cloudy with some blue sky, and once or twice had some sun. Palm Beach county got some good rain by the looks of the clouds to the north of us.
This weather report was brought to you by the city Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I spent the week getting my duck bowl presentable. I used a rub on method of applying wipe-on varnish for the first three coats. This is where you dampen a rag and rub it all over the piece until it dries. After that, I applied spray varnish. I ended up with some drips but did not have time to clean them up. Weekend after next, which will be in next month, I will take the duck bowl to the Antique shop. Till then, I have some sanding to remove the drips, and then giving it more coats of varnish. It does look better than I normally do, because it is shiny.

The turning club meeting was pretty good. They had four lathes running. Each person was showing how to do different ornaments. One was doing decorative disks, showing how to use texturing tools on the disk to spice it up. A second was showing how to do hollow ball ornaments with long finials. A third was doing hollow bird house ornaments. A forth was doing hollow cage style ornaments.
On the last, I had done some of those several years ago, following what I saw in a taped demonstration I checked out from the club. I found at the time that I did not have the skills to get good results. I learned a few tricks on how to do it right, not that I can get the same results.
I brought my ornaments and separated those made with some help from the lathe, and those that were purely carved. It dawned on me that I had several of the very first turnings I had ever done. Some bells and a show man with a santa bag in it.
The club meeting was pretty good.

Today, Mom and I visited some yard sales (tag sales in some parts of the country). At the last one, I picked up a pair of wooden swans. They were assembled, wings and necks added onto the body. Something said I had to copy them.

I spent quite a bit of time today petting the kitty. He was in a really sweet mood, Most of the time, I would pet him about five, ten minutes, but the last time, I petted him fifteen minutes. Just think, two years ago, If you tried to pet him over six times, you got hit by two sets of claws. I think I ruined him....

The swans I am making are smaller than the swans I picked up. I make my carved ornaments out of two by twos. I made one of each ornament first. One swan has the head looking up. The second one has the neck curled so it is looking straight. When I was done with the first two, I decided the one looking up needed a longer neck to have the right appearance.
I have them mostly done. some touch ups to do. I then made two more blanks of each swan.
In my design, I cut the side view first on the band saw, getting the neck and wings, along with the body cut, a silhouette. I could use a scroll saw but did not want to bother bringing them out. The band saw does well enough since most of the real work is done with knife and dremmel.
Because of the design of the swan, I laid the swan face down, divided the thickness in thirds, and made two cuts down the neck and wings, just stopping at the top of the tail. With that cut, I get three pieces of the head and wing. I remove the two outside pieces of the head, and remove the inside piece of the wing. In the blanks I made, I did not remove the inner piece of the wing.

I have decided I will make owls, and swans as three of my Christmas ornaments. I have not decided what my fourth one should be. I will go through the chess book I picked up to see what the best idea might be. A hammer might be a choice though something like a character would be better. I do a dozen of each ornament each year. Last year, I only made one set, reindeer.
I have to make replacements for some of my more popular ornaments. Christmas trees have always been popular.


I am not sure what I will work on tomorrow. I would love to turn something. I have projects half done that need to be finished. I would like to turn something brand new. I should do more of these ornaments to get a good head start on the year. I always try to get started very early in the year, but never really get anywhere till this time or later.
I have heard it will get very chilly tonight, down in the 70s. Burrrr!!! better put another blanket on the bed.

I will see what I actually will do tomorrow.


year 9, Week 36, Day Two (week 506)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-20-09 Sunday

94 degrees, blue sky with lots of big puffs, really high wisps, sun during parts of the day. Nice breeze was enough to not need a fan. We never got the cold weather I heard about on the radio. Since it was a palm Beach station, they likely would get colder anyway.
This Weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

The cat was "loving" all day long. I petted him for several stretches during the day and he was mostly happy to lay between my feet and let me stroke his back all day long.

My first project was to make some blanks of the swans I started yesterday. I had already cut the wood to length, but had to cut the shapes out to work with. In wood carving, it is usually best to remove the worst of the wood with some other tool like a band saw, so you can spend more of your time actually carving the finished project, not removing excess wood. There are times where I will carve straight from the stick, but for these ornaments, the less time removing wood, the better.
I bandsawed the basic shape. I ran the bandsaw from the head down to the body in two slits. the idea is that I get three wings, three heads. I cut off the two outside heads, and remove the middle wing, and I have a blank that is unquestionably a swan.
I now have the blanks all ready for carving. I just have to sit and shape.

I looked at my big wood, and decided to work on a project I had already started. I have the start of what is supposed to be a beer stein. I had not removed the tenons yet. I re-mounted it in the lathe. When ever you take a piece off the lathe, it will never go back on exactly balanced. there will always be a slight wobble. I removed the wobble from the outside first, improving the finish. I then worked on the inside, removing the wobble inside, and squaring the bottom, making the whole insides cleaner. I finally removed the tenon, giving it a flat bottom.
I then mounted the lid and refinished that. It is so much better than before. It will still take some sanding, but nothing like it was going to do. I love these periods where everything works right.
I then addressed the handle. It was cut from a two-by piece of mahogany. I sanded the mating surface so it is very close to what is needed for a perfect fit. I then decided the handle itself was too wide. I checked the thickness at the thickest point where the user holds the handle. I then marked it to that thickness over the entire thing. I then drew flairs where it mates to the cup. I then cut it on the bandsaw. the top is flat, so I put that down on the table and pushed it through the blade, thinning the handle except where it flares out to meet the cup. It looks good.
My next project is to work out the mechanism to lift the lid with the thumb. I will have to shape the top of the handle to make it all work perfectly. Some other day.


My brother had to stop at a job before coming up. when he arrived, I had him look at my fordum power tool. This is like a dremmel, except it is more powerful, heavier, and uses a foot switch for speed control. The bits are mounted at the end of a flexible shaft.
My problem is that it is running only in one direction, backwards. My brother said I need to see about buying a switch for it and he will replace it for me.
I do have a flexible shaft for the dremmel, but seldom use it. I don't really gain much on weight or size of the parts in my hand, and I don't have a foot switch to control the speeds.

For next week, I likely will work on my Christmas Ornaments. I will also work on several projects I have in process right now. I have no idea what else I will do. I would love to do something new.

I will see what I actually do next weekend.

More Garden Shots

September is generally beautiful weather here. The days warm up into the upper 70s (Fahrenheit) with the occasional foray into the 80s, but usually with little humidity. The cool, crisp nights make you want to reach for a blanket and bring down the windows. On nice days, the afternoon sky is clear azure, often studded with puffy white clouds from the dews and mist rising in the morning sun. Lee thought the cloud below looked like a dragon. I am thinking a saxophone...




September is harvest time even outside the garden. This is a young shagbark hickory tree in the scrub near the garden that is loaded with nuts. I couldn't get a picture but an industrious gray squirrel was in there harvesting. The green husks were raining down as the squirrel stripped them off the shell and either ate the nuts inside or ran off to store them somewhere. That may be how the three hickories in that area got planted, the nearest mature tree is across the road.




Canada thistle is considered a weed, but I find it beautiful and interesting in bloom, the pale fuschia colored fuzzy blossoms are well set off by the spiky blue green foliage. This honeybee was making a 'beeline' for the plant. Getting late in the season for these guys, they are in a hurry to fill the hives with food for those lucky enough to overwinter, and so bees and wasps of all descriptions are everywhere. They move slowly until the sun warms them enough, so their workday hours are now getting limited. When the pods reopen, they will be filled with fluffy down attached to little black seeds. Wild finches love thistle seed and will pluck the pods clean for them. The thistle seed you buy for birds is Niger thistle, imported from India I believe, and heated to become sterile so it doesn't get a toehold as an invasive foreign plant.




Still getting some bell peppers on my plants. They have not done too badly considering all the cold, wet weather this summer.




Frying peppers have been fantastic. A few marigolds are still in bloom too.




We're still getting crookneck summer squash.




Be time to pick butternut squash soon, they are coloring up nicely.




This is grandson Ben's pumpkin, and it is decent sized. He talks about it all that time, that and the pole beans he planted. Everyone is suprised at how interested he has become in gardening. I just smile and remember two other little boys following me around asking questions and wanting to be involved.




My only zinnias this year, a small clump bravely thrusting up through the weeds near an abandoned bed. A favorite with the butterflies. There is a single cosmos plant to the right of them, you can see the feathery foliage, though it hasn't bloomed yet.




Watching a blossom unfold reminds me of unwrapping a gift. Amazing on the outside, and a big surprise within.




I see a caterpillar found this one. I didn't see it until after I viewed the picture.




That red just seems to glow, doesn't it?




The pole beans are still producing well. We've been picking over 15 lbs at a time. I see an enterprising goldfinch has found my sunflowers.




A lovely vignette, don't you think? To me it screams "home in the country". The corn in the background is about done for the year. It was good, if a bit stunted with the way the weather has been.




I love sunflowers, their height and warm colors make them so showy. Fairly dependable flowers in this climate. It's nice that so many of them now have multiple blossoms.

Sunflower buds are interesting too.

Don't you feel warmer looking at this small one? Like the flames of a good wood fire.

I love that dark center. It makes the gold look richer. Another small one with somewhat more delicate stems and foliage.

Hard to get a picture of them without the bumblebees. They are all over the sunflowers.

C'mon, you know it makes you smile!

Same goldfinch, down where he can get to the goodies, the seeds. He spent some time stripping away the outer petals so he could pluck the seeds out one at a time. I must have taken 40 pictures of him out there. He let me get pretty close without spooking.

Ah success. Sunflower seed in beak, just before rubbing off the seed coat and gulping down the oil rich kernel within. We feed sunflowers and other mixed seed to the birds all winter up by the house. I grow them for their beauty and let the birds take what they want. You'd need a field full to make a dent in the seed bill every year.

Hope you enjoyed another garden walk. Unfortunately I did some damage to myself, and I've been laid up with some back problems since the day I took these pictures; most shot in between picking veggies. Today they are saying we could get a frost by morning, so a lot of this stuff will be gone... Oh well, all things must end, and it has been a decent gardening year in spite of the summer that almost didn't happen. No complaints, I had my share of gardening, and next year I can start over again. I love living in an area that has four distinct seasons. You never get bored here.