Did You Write? 11-30-09
It is the end of another month, and the start, in most countries, of the holiday season. For some of us, that means more time to write, while for others, it means less time to write. The rest of us won't notice much of a difference.
I hope you get a chance to write. This regular note is an attempt to prod all of you, and myself, into writing at least once a week. More is preferred, but for many of us, writing once, sometime during a week, is asking a lot.
This is especially for those of us who write in a burst, then go months without writing anything else. the fact that this note is going to show up each week, and you are expected to report on what your writing during the week, (No One, is keeping track. If you have a complaint about the tracking, complain to No One. He will carefully listen to and consider your request) the idea is that you will remember this note is coming and will write something just so you can report that you wrote. Hopefully, it will eventually become a habit.
We are quite loose about what is considered writing. Writing new is just part of writing. Editing, even if it is someone else's work, critiquing, poetry, blogging, article writing, world or character building as long as something gets on paper, are all writing. Even E-mails can be writing if they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. If you think it is writing, then it is writing.
I had finished my Waxy Dragon birth story and fired it off to my writing partner. Preparation for Thanks Giving and a new puppy has kept her from responding on the story, but that is all right.
In case you forgot, that story ended at Page 76 with 50602 words.
to bide the time, I dug into a story I had not finished, but started by editing from the beginning, adding some improvements that showed up from the birth story. This story, WAXY AND THE GARGOYLES is based on her misunderstanding of a commercial. I added two pages and 817 words in my editing. I have a ways to go to get to where I stopped writing on that story, then have to take it to the ending.
This next week, I might go through a story I finished but had not done any editing. It needs it.
I finished the month's worth of story ideas. The past week or so, I was in a mood where I was not as wordy as I normally am. I did not do too bad anyway. Of the 30 story ideas I posted for the 30 days of the month, I wrote 44 pages at 25,603 words. I won't complain much about all that drivel. It got the job done, even though some good ideas ended up dissatisfying in presentation.
I don't brood over something that did not come up to my expectations. However it came out, it filled a space and that is the minimum demand. Hopefully, someone will read it and see something that will spark a new story that could get published.
I am nearly done with some of my ornaments. I have two sets of swans and one set owls as Christmas ornaments. The problem is that I don't have a full set of any of them. I try to have at least a dozen of each ornament I make each year. ON the swans, I have enough blanks to make a dozen, but only have nine swans looking up, and seven swans looking down. The owls are worse. I only have five owls made and no more blanks made.
That will get me going this season. I will make more. AS it is, I need to take one evening to finish up the ones made, adding some decorations and adding the eye hooks so they can be hung.
There is the joke where they say that if you take an infinite number of monkeys banging at a typewriter, and give them an infinite amount of time, they will eventually type out the entire works of William Shakespear.
Then there is the joke that someone did that experiment and only came out with the entire works of Frances Beacon.
My story ideas amounts to banging at th keyboard and seeing what comes up on screen. I have the basic concept and an idea of how to present it, and the keyboard takes over.
consider, a monkey is given eternal life and a computer keyboard and told to just type. It just sits all day and night, hitting random keys.
The secret is that a device is connected to the computer. when it detects the total contents of the works of William Shakespear, it will set off a reaction that will end the universe. The creators had decided that the amount of time for that to happen will be long enough for the universe.
The monkey has the ability to scroll back through the symbols typed to see what it did before. Of course, the instant a key is hit, it is back at the end.
the monkey develops its own language, then it sown math and science. Becomes nearly as intelligent as the people who created the system and then realizes what it is supposed to be doing and why.
As to the question of the week,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU?
Monday, November 30, 2009
Catching Up With Me...
Sometimes I feel like I am living on a merry go round. No matter how fast I go, I can never catch up with my life. It makes for some interesting days. Lately I have been very busy, for various reasons I will explain in future blog posts, so I have been AWOL from here.
These pictures are from an older set I wanted to use as a blog post but didn't have the time to write. Most date back to the first week of November.
A quick stop at the local big box store brought home more yarn. I never know how it happens but it tends to jump into my carriage. *INNOCENT LOOK* The beads were marked down. The Simply Soft I like for doll hair. At this point I was working on a witch doll and have another mermaid doll in mind.
A trip to a local mall that has a pet supply place also resulted in a stop at the craft store. The main reason was to get a second Ott Lite for Lee, who likes to read and work on hobbies in my poorly-lit livingroom in the evenings. So good to have a portable light on your tray table so you can see what you are doing. Those natural spectrum lights are expensive but easy on the eyes, and it was marked down 40%. I bought it as a thank you for all the nice things Lee does for me.
I think I showed amazing restraint, since this is all I bought for myself. Notice most of it is marked down stuff. I can see those buttons as doll eyes with black crisscross thread sewing them on.
On the way back to our neck of the woods we stopped at the Salvation Army and did some thrifting. This stuff is in no particular order.
These little low boots I got for my mother, taking a chance that I got the right size - and I did. They have some wear but are still in very good shape, perfect for those days when it is light rain or think snow. She was thrilled because these things go for upwards of $25 in my neck of the woods. I spotted them as I was dodging a big cart full of things to stock, and went up the shoe aisle to get around it.
They had another one of these whatnot shelves like I bought on the anniversary trip. The little door is in a different spot, but now I have a matching set.
Someone right before me got the good yarn but I took the baby yarn because it looked lonely. *w* The fairy making kit seems to be intact, sorry for the bad picture. The flower book is enchanting, it has a lot of floral history and lore.
More interesting stuff. The offering goddess went into the devotional corner of my bedroom. I got the big fork and serving spoon to add to my holiday serving collection, and the Gooseberry Patch canister now holds kitchen tools. I gave the heavy little pheasant cup to my mother because it is the perfect size for a small tea or coffee.
As anyone who reads this blog knows by now, I love colorful tins for storage. Couldn't pass this one up, it is very deep and rather large.
My grandson Ben has a thing for trains which is the other reason I grabbed it.
This pretty patterened box was another must have. We feed the birds, and I have the garden, so that is just my style.
These pictures are from an older set I wanted to use as a blog post but didn't have the time to write. Most date back to the first week of November.
A quick stop at the local big box store brought home more yarn. I never know how it happens but it tends to jump into my carriage. *INNOCENT LOOK* The beads were marked down. The Simply Soft I like for doll hair. At this point I was working on a witch doll and have another mermaid doll in mind.
A trip to a local mall that has a pet supply place also resulted in a stop at the craft store. The main reason was to get a second Ott Lite for Lee, who likes to read and work on hobbies in my poorly-lit livingroom in the evenings. So good to have a portable light on your tray table so you can see what you are doing. Those natural spectrum lights are expensive but easy on the eyes, and it was marked down 40%. I bought it as a thank you for all the nice things Lee does for me.
I think I showed amazing restraint, since this is all I bought for myself. Notice most of it is marked down stuff. I can see those buttons as doll eyes with black crisscross thread sewing them on.
On the way back to our neck of the woods we stopped at the Salvation Army and did some thrifting. This stuff is in no particular order.
These little low boots I got for my mother, taking a chance that I got the right size - and I did. They have some wear but are still in very good shape, perfect for those days when it is light rain or think snow. She was thrilled because these things go for upwards of $25 in my neck of the woods. I spotted them as I was dodging a big cart full of things to stock, and went up the shoe aisle to get around it.
They had another one of these whatnot shelves like I bought on the anniversary trip. The little door is in a different spot, but now I have a matching set.
Someone right before me got the good yarn but I took the baby yarn because it looked lonely. *w* The fairy making kit seems to be intact, sorry for the bad picture. The flower book is enchanting, it has a lot of floral history and lore.
More interesting stuff. The offering goddess went into the devotional corner of my bedroom. I got the big fork and serving spoon to add to my holiday serving collection, and the Gooseberry Patch canister now holds kitchen tools. I gave the heavy little pheasant cup to my mother because it is the perfect size for a small tea or coffee.
As anyone who reads this blog knows by now, I love colorful tins for storage. Couldn't pass this one up, it is very deep and rather large.
My grandson Ben has a thing for trains which is the other reason I grabbed it.
This pretty patterened box was another must have. We feed the birds, and I have the garden, so that is just my style.
Storage I can smile at all year long.
These little notecards were tucked into a shelf full of old photo albums and other paper things. There were two of each bird. The envelopes are a bit stained and the glue is stuck, but I figure half of them are salvageable, so I can use one set as note cards and maybe frame the other set.
I do love thrifting!
This is my latest crochet project, a witch doll pattern I found online.I can get a link to it if anyone is interested. It was bit tricky but I figured it out by trial and error. I love the hands with fingers and the kewl little heeled boots. I was kind of surprised she could stand up that well. I chose the colors, making her skin a flesh pink instead of green and the fall combo of coffe brown, tan, and dark olive green for her clothing. Yeah, she doesn't have much on, but right now she also doesn't have eyes, and can't see herself.
So even though I've been offline, I've been busy! *s*
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wood Working, Week 516
year 9, Week 46, Day One (week 516) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-28-09 Saturday
72 degrees, 49 freezing degrees in the morning, light breeze, real high feathers and streak clouds. Blue sky to the south where the sun was.
South Florida Frost....
Thursday, I planned on carving on my ornaments. I had my carving basket in the truck all week, but forgot to load my bags of blanks in the truck when I went for my Thanksgiving day. I did carve a pencil head with a beard, and had another one well on its way.
My brother and I dug out a rod and mounted it in his Smithy Metal Lathe. We are making pieces that will fit into one of my boring bars. These will either be drilled and tapped to hold bits, or just drilled to have the screw that will mate with a threaded piece. One thing I will be able to get into strange angles. I can make shaped scraper in any shape at all, depending on my needs.
I worked Friday so no woodworking then.
Saturday.
Mom had some work for me to do. We had to pick up some furniture and deliver it to my nephew's house. My truck was needed for this. WE stopped on the way back at a new location for an antique mall, where one can rent a booth and sell your antique pieces. I saw some rather good stuff, but did not have the money for any of those items anyway. I did see some carvings and turnings. Some better than I can do, some not as good.
I finally got home and sat down to work wood at about noon. I figured it was really too late to get anything done, but I did far more than planned.
I carved four swans, petting the cat twice in between, all in two hours. I still have some Dremmel work to do, but that was a good pace. I could have done more but wanted to do something else. I nicked my carving thumb while doing it and it bled enough just to get some blood on the carving which I shaved off. I put a piece of paper towel over it and kept carving. The way I cut it was I was doing something non-carving and put my thumb against the blade. dumb. It always happens. As long as I don't get blood on the work, I won't complain.
My next project was to make some cuts on a wood car for a friend. She had shown me the marks to cut to. I now have to round it to make it aerodynamic.
I decided that the wooden horse head for the hobby horse, needed a mane. I dug out the strip sander and ground down one edge quite a bit, and then undercut on the other side so it will look like the neck meets in the center. I then cut with the sander, some waves of the hair. I have some sanding to do, and then will paint it.
horse head without a mane
(Will have finished pictures possibly next week.)
I picked up some white and brown paint, along with some clear spray. I will use the brown paint to paint all the horse. The white paint will be for the ornaments, and the everything will get a few coats of clear.
Down the center of the muzzle of the horse, and the main of the horse, will be white. I will paint the whole horse brown and then brush on the white, highlighting the tops of the hair white while it is brown deep down.
I had not finished the inside of my face vase. I was thinking of a special finish on it. I started varnishing it, but pouring some of the varnish inside and rolling it a round. The wood was sucking the varnish up into it. I decided to get lazy and I took some white glue and dribbled it inside the vase, then painted the surfaces with a brush. I wiped it with a wet paper towel to get the excess, while leaving some glue in the ridges inside. When that dries, the varnish will seal it and it will be glossy inside. I want it to be ready Friday when I check in on my stuff at the antique shop. I have some sanding on the outside to do before I work it to the final finish. The clear spray varnish is partly for this piece.
Tomorrow, I will likely sit down with the Dremmel and finish the swans I already have carved. I will then paint them.
I will hand sand the horse and then paint that. I will also use the band sander to shape the race car. I also need to sit with the forsner bit and drill some spaces into the top of the car so weights can be added if needed.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 46, Day One (week 516)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-28-09 Saturday
72 degrees, Mostly blue skies with plenty of sun, light breeze, high feathers and patches in the morning, some lower puffs as the day wore on. This Weather report is Brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I got a little earlier start than I normally do on Sundays. Not much earlier. I petted the cat and he started out pretty good, but he became bratty as the morning wore on. A while later, he calmed down again and began acting like a cat again.
My first project was to sand on the horse a little bit. I then gave it several coats of brown paint. It is a primer. I will give it a clear coat when I am done painting it. It looks pretty good as it is, but will look even better when decorated. While the baby is not quite old enough to understand how to use it yet, he will be able to play with it as something other than a club, in a short time.
I then sat down with my swans. I had to do some knife corrections on some pieces, and then dremmelled grooves into the wings to represent feathers. I actually have the grooves angled wrong. To be right, the grooves are supposed to angle up, when running from front to back. I got them angled down. No one will complain about it. They look good anyway. I did some other corrections and then spray painted them white. there is some clean-up the could use but I don't have time right now. Always time to do it over, but never time to do it right. I ave to add eye hooks and a bit of decorating and they will be done.
The owls mainly need a eye hook and a bit more decoration and they will be done.
I shaped the race car for my friend. It might not be right, but I was running out of time. I need to spend a whole weekend on the project. I have made a number of small errors and they have shown up nicely. Now that I have made one, I can correct all the mistakes next time. I will show it to her and see what we can do to fix my errors.
My brother was scroll sawing ornaments today. He did more than expected so far. they are looking good. The scroll saw is something I should do, but I have so many other projects I should be working on that have more priority.
A shop where every tool is already set up, so I could just sit down at a machine and work, no pulling out, no uncovering, no dragging out of the garage, would be nice. Just sit down at a machine and work, then go to another one, would be the way to work. Few, if anybody has that much room.
Next week, I am not sure what I will be doing. I do know I need to go to the antique shop to see how my stuff will be doing. Between now and then, I am getting the face vase ready to take with me. Some varnish and sanding will be necessary for the rest of the week so I can bring it in with me.
I will see what I actually do next week.
72 degrees, 49 freezing degrees in the morning, light breeze, real high feathers and streak clouds. Blue sky to the south where the sun was.
South Florida Frost....
Thursday, I planned on carving on my ornaments. I had my carving basket in the truck all week, but forgot to load my bags of blanks in the truck when I went for my Thanksgiving day. I did carve a pencil head with a beard, and had another one well on its way.
My brother and I dug out a rod and mounted it in his Smithy Metal Lathe. We are making pieces that will fit into one of my boring bars. These will either be drilled and tapped to hold bits, or just drilled to have the screw that will mate with a threaded piece. One thing I will be able to get into strange angles. I can make shaped scraper in any shape at all, depending on my needs.
I worked Friday so no woodworking then.
Saturday.
Mom had some work for me to do. We had to pick up some furniture and deliver it to my nephew's house. My truck was needed for this. WE stopped on the way back at a new location for an antique mall, where one can rent a booth and sell your antique pieces. I saw some rather good stuff, but did not have the money for any of those items anyway. I did see some carvings and turnings. Some better than I can do, some not as good.
I finally got home and sat down to work wood at about noon. I figured it was really too late to get anything done, but I did far more than planned.
I carved four swans, petting the cat twice in between, all in two hours. I still have some Dremmel work to do, but that was a good pace. I could have done more but wanted to do something else. I nicked my carving thumb while doing it and it bled enough just to get some blood on the carving which I shaved off. I put a piece of paper towel over it and kept carving. The way I cut it was I was doing something non-carving and put my thumb against the blade. dumb. It always happens. As long as I don't get blood on the work, I won't complain.
My next project was to make some cuts on a wood car for a friend. She had shown me the marks to cut to. I now have to round it to make it aerodynamic.
I decided that the wooden horse head for the hobby horse, needed a mane. I dug out the strip sander and ground down one edge quite a bit, and then undercut on the other side so it will look like the neck meets in the center. I then cut with the sander, some waves of the hair. I have some sanding to do, and then will paint it.
horse head without a mane
(Will have finished pictures possibly next week.)
I picked up some white and brown paint, along with some clear spray. I will use the brown paint to paint all the horse. The white paint will be for the ornaments, and the everything will get a few coats of clear.
Down the center of the muzzle of the horse, and the main of the horse, will be white. I will paint the whole horse brown and then brush on the white, highlighting the tops of the hair white while it is brown deep down.
I had not finished the inside of my face vase. I was thinking of a special finish on it. I started varnishing it, but pouring some of the varnish inside and rolling it a round. The wood was sucking the varnish up into it. I decided to get lazy and I took some white glue and dribbled it inside the vase, then painted the surfaces with a brush. I wiped it with a wet paper towel to get the excess, while leaving some glue in the ridges inside. When that dries, the varnish will seal it and it will be glossy inside. I want it to be ready Friday when I check in on my stuff at the antique shop. I have some sanding on the outside to do before I work it to the final finish. The clear spray varnish is partly for this piece.
Tomorrow, I will likely sit down with the Dremmel and finish the swans I already have carved. I will then paint them.
I will hand sand the horse and then paint that. I will also use the band sander to shape the race car. I also need to sit with the forsner bit and drill some spaces into the top of the car so weights can be added if needed.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 46, Day One (week 516)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-28-09 Saturday
72 degrees, Mostly blue skies with plenty of sun, light breeze, high feathers and patches in the morning, some lower puffs as the day wore on. This Weather report is Brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I got a little earlier start than I normally do on Sundays. Not much earlier. I petted the cat and he started out pretty good, but he became bratty as the morning wore on. A while later, he calmed down again and began acting like a cat again.
My first project was to sand on the horse a little bit. I then gave it several coats of brown paint. It is a primer. I will give it a clear coat when I am done painting it. It looks pretty good as it is, but will look even better when decorated. While the baby is not quite old enough to understand how to use it yet, he will be able to play with it as something other than a club, in a short time.
I then sat down with my swans. I had to do some knife corrections on some pieces, and then dremmelled grooves into the wings to represent feathers. I actually have the grooves angled wrong. To be right, the grooves are supposed to angle up, when running from front to back. I got them angled down. No one will complain about it. They look good anyway. I did some other corrections and then spray painted them white. there is some clean-up the could use but I don't have time right now. Always time to do it over, but never time to do it right. I ave to add eye hooks and a bit of decorating and they will be done.
The owls mainly need a eye hook and a bit more decoration and they will be done.
I shaped the race car for my friend. It might not be right, but I was running out of time. I need to spend a whole weekend on the project. I have made a number of small errors and they have shown up nicely. Now that I have made one, I can correct all the mistakes next time. I will show it to her and see what we can do to fix my errors.
My brother was scroll sawing ornaments today. He did more than expected so far. they are looking good. The scroll saw is something I should do, but I have so many other projects I should be working on that have more priority.
A shop where every tool is already set up, so I could just sit down at a machine and work, no pulling out, no uncovering, no dragging out of the garage, would be nice. Just sit down at a machine and work, then go to another one, would be the way to work. Few, if anybody has that much room.
Next week, I am not sure what I will be doing. I do know I need to go to the antique shop to see how my stuff will be doing. Between now and then, I am getting the face vase ready to take with me. Some varnish and sanding will be necessary for the rest of the week so I can bring it in with me.
I will see what I actually do next week.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Model Railroading
Model Railroading
Because of the holiday, My brother was unable to come over this week and I really did not get to do much of anything in the train room.
Sunday, we talked trains while we were working wood.
Our discussion was on how the railroad should be operated. We explored nearly a couple dozen ways to move the cars around the layout, and even where on the map the different sidings should be, which would effect the operations of the layout.
WE came to one big conclusion. We have one well designed track plan (layout). It fit every operation option we explored and there are more we could come up with if we put our minds to it, or were willing to go more complicated.
Our track plan is based on moving and placing cars, switching, and not just seeing trains run around the track in circles. We can do that, but that is not what our layout was really designed for.
Watching or listening to trains run laps is soothing and calming, but it does not keep you interacting with the railroad. The trick to keep a model railroad layout alive is to get you constantly interacting with it when you are around it. That is where switching comes in handy. You are not watching trains run, you are actually part of the action, making decisions, dealing with simple problems. It becomes challenging.
One can look at a model railroad like a game, where you design and build the game board (the track plan) and you then make up the rules at which the game can be played.
What we found to make things minimum interesting, was to choose a start point on your railroad, and make up your train. Write on a piece of paper where each car will be dropped off on the layout. Then look over the layout and write down which cars will be picked up. then run your train, swapping the cars as you go. You make sure other cars you are not taking, go back to the spot they were at.
You will find yourself with a challenging game. Cars will not be where you want them to be, and you might have to stop and figure out which car is going where.
One can get complicated on the switching, where you have trains running by, following clock time, having trains meet to exchange passengers and cars, have cards made that tell each car a destination and then where to go from there. We could change the order that our sidings are visited, how many laps one does between stops, Whether we run one train with one of us as the engineer and the other as the conductor making the decisions on the moves or each running separate trains.
A well designed track plan allows one to explore every one of these decisions as they come to you.
I have explored many hobbies over the years. Except for Woodworking, in which sales pays for the tools, model railroading is the cheapest hobby when one divides the costs over the pleasurable hours and years the materials will last.
I have a saying for every other hobby I have been involved in. "I need to get into something cheaper like diamond or gold collecting.”
Because of the holiday, My brother was unable to come over this week and I really did not get to do much of anything in the train room.
Sunday, we talked trains while we were working wood.
Our discussion was on how the railroad should be operated. We explored nearly a couple dozen ways to move the cars around the layout, and even where on the map the different sidings should be, which would effect the operations of the layout.
WE came to one big conclusion. We have one well designed track plan (layout). It fit every operation option we explored and there are more we could come up with if we put our minds to it, or were willing to go more complicated.
Our track plan is based on moving and placing cars, switching, and not just seeing trains run around the track in circles. We can do that, but that is not what our layout was really designed for.
Watching or listening to trains run laps is soothing and calming, but it does not keep you interacting with the railroad. The trick to keep a model railroad layout alive is to get you constantly interacting with it when you are around it. That is where switching comes in handy. You are not watching trains run, you are actually part of the action, making decisions, dealing with simple problems. It becomes challenging.
One can look at a model railroad like a game, where you design and build the game board (the track plan) and you then make up the rules at which the game can be played.
What we found to make things minimum interesting, was to choose a start point on your railroad, and make up your train. Write on a piece of paper where each car will be dropped off on the layout. Then look over the layout and write down which cars will be picked up. then run your train, swapping the cars as you go. You make sure other cars you are not taking, go back to the spot they were at.
You will find yourself with a challenging game. Cars will not be where you want them to be, and you might have to stop and figure out which car is going where.
One can get complicated on the switching, where you have trains running by, following clock time, having trains meet to exchange passengers and cars, have cards made that tell each car a destination and then where to go from there. We could change the order that our sidings are visited, how many laps one does between stops, Whether we run one train with one of us as the engineer and the other as the conductor making the decisions on the moves or each running separate trains.
A well designed track plan allows one to explore every one of these decisions as they come to you.
I have explored many hobbies over the years. Except for Woodworking, in which sales pays for the tools, model railroading is the cheapest hobby when one divides the costs over the pleasurable hours and years the materials will last.
I have a saying for every other hobby I have been involved in. "I need to get into something cheaper like diamond or gold collecting.”
Monday, November 23, 2009
11-23-09 Did You Write?
11-23-09 Did You Write?
Welcome to my world, a world of humiliation or acclaim. This is the place to stand before the world and declare whether you wrote at any time this week to live up to your at least smallest potential, you back-slid, let something unimportant, such as life, to get in the way of greatness.
The hope is that this note will get you to write, knowing it is coming, you will sit down and put something on paper, even if it is but a sentence or paragraph. Preferably, it will force you to develop the habit of writing at least once a week every week. If you can write more, then so much the better. The idea is to develop a habit that is not bad.
As to what you can claim as writing, It is a matter of opinion and I know of no one who will complain about how you define writing.
We all know that anything new, is writing. when I read the notes, that is what most refer to as their work. Editing is also writing, even if it is someone else's work. So is critiquing. Poetry, technical articles, blogging, writing assignments are also writing. World or character building is also writing, though it is best that something gets on paper. E-mails can be writing if there is a lot of words and it pertains to writing or stories. As you can see, we are not picky on what is writing. If you think it is writing, then it has to be.
What is more, how much one has written does not matter. It can be one sentence , one word, or fifty pages. If you did anything at all, it is something and therefore counts as writing.
As for me, Yes, I did write. I came to AN ending on my Waxy story. I do not know if it will be THE ending. I will wait for my writing partner to make suggestions sometime this weekend.
I have to decide whether to return to the beginning and edit all over again, or write on something else for a little bit of a break. I has been fun to see the words appear on screen.
When I left you last week. The story was on page 75 with 49972 words. I zapped the notes I had so it dropped down to page 72 with 48801 words. At the ending I have, I am now at page 76 with 50602 words. Keep in mind that this is single spaced.
Much of the newest stuff is as week as my story ideas, not taking time to really develop the story. I will fix that on the next pass. I have some concepts I got to get into the story earlier and that will be a key thing in the next edit. My writing partner's comments will help on how much and what direction to add the concepts.
I do have some other Waxy stories that are roughed out, or not finished, that I can dig into at my next writing. I will see what I actually do next.
On the story idea front, Today, because I got involved in something, I am now one day behind on the story ideas. I can catch that up quickly, no problem.
On Thanksgiving, We gather at my brother's house. His house is dark, they are playing movies and games I have no interest in, and there is way too many people for the room he has, so I tend to sit outside and work wood, carve. Each year, I create some Christmas ornaments, hand carving them out of wood. This has been a tradition for me since 2003. I got my act together this weekend and got a bunch of my blanks ready for carving. I use the bandsaw to remove the excess wood so I can spend my time shaping the final figure rather than removing wood that is in the way. I intend to sit and carve ornaments all day long.
Last week I mentioned about weight loss and someone asked about how one can lose weight without changing anything.
Our bodies are designed to survive famines. When our bodies detect what might be a famine, it will lock down on the fat and nutrients until it is over. Usually, when we go on a diet, the body thinks it is a famine, since not as much calories are coming in, so it locks down and refuses to let the fat go. When we change our eating habits, the body can get confused and think there is a famine still going on so we end up hitting plateaus, Sometimes referred to as set points, and our weight loss stops.
What I saw the past two weeks is that the latest plateau has ended and I am losing again. My body decided that I am not on a famine and is allowing the fat to be used up again. I have dropped, even momentarily, below a key weight milestone and "I did the happy dance" when I saw the numbers on the scale. I am within range of a weight I had not seen since in the 1980s.
I already took the above as a story idea, earlier this week, but thought to pass it on anyway.
A space station colony has a serious weight problem, 600 pounds is light. A new medicine comes out that is supposed to aid in weight loss. it eliminates the set point while losing weight. The body never detects famine and keeps giving up the pounds.
One day, a space war starts, trade with planets and other space stations is cut off, then the power supplies to the farming sections is damaged. there is suddenly a famine, people are eating a few thousand calories rather than their normal intake.
Those who avoided the medicine don't lose weight all that fast, and some are accused of having extra food stores. Those who have the medicine lose weight, which at first is exciting news, but as the food available gets less and less, they are wasting away. The effects of the medicine cannot be reversed. When food and parts finally arrive, the natural people are still big, but nothing like they were, and the ones with the medicine are skin and bones and never fully recover.
As to the question of the day,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Welcome to my world, a world of humiliation or acclaim. This is the place to stand before the world and declare whether you wrote at any time this week to live up to your at least smallest potential, you back-slid, let something unimportant, such as life, to get in the way of greatness.
The hope is that this note will get you to write, knowing it is coming, you will sit down and put something on paper, even if it is but a sentence or paragraph. Preferably, it will force you to develop the habit of writing at least once a week every week. If you can write more, then so much the better. The idea is to develop a habit that is not bad.
As to what you can claim as writing, It is a matter of opinion and I know of no one who will complain about how you define writing.
We all know that anything new, is writing. when I read the notes, that is what most refer to as their work. Editing is also writing, even if it is someone else's work. So is critiquing. Poetry, technical articles, blogging, writing assignments are also writing. World or character building is also writing, though it is best that something gets on paper. E-mails can be writing if there is a lot of words and it pertains to writing or stories. As you can see, we are not picky on what is writing. If you think it is writing, then it has to be.
What is more, how much one has written does not matter. It can be one sentence , one word, or fifty pages. If you did anything at all, it is something and therefore counts as writing.
As for me, Yes, I did write. I came to AN ending on my Waxy story. I do not know if it will be THE ending. I will wait for my writing partner to make suggestions sometime this weekend.
I have to decide whether to return to the beginning and edit all over again, or write on something else for a little bit of a break. I has been fun to see the words appear on screen.
When I left you last week. The story was on page 75 with 49972 words. I zapped the notes I had so it dropped down to page 72 with 48801 words. At the ending I have, I am now at page 76 with 50602 words. Keep in mind that this is single spaced.
Much of the newest stuff is as week as my story ideas, not taking time to really develop the story. I will fix that on the next pass. I have some concepts I got to get into the story earlier and that will be a key thing in the next edit. My writing partner's comments will help on how much and what direction to add the concepts.
I do have some other Waxy stories that are roughed out, or not finished, that I can dig into at my next writing. I will see what I actually do next.
On the story idea front, Today, because I got involved in something, I am now one day behind on the story ideas. I can catch that up quickly, no problem.
On Thanksgiving, We gather at my brother's house. His house is dark, they are playing movies and games I have no interest in, and there is way too many people for the room he has, so I tend to sit outside and work wood, carve. Each year, I create some Christmas ornaments, hand carving them out of wood. This has been a tradition for me since 2003. I got my act together this weekend and got a bunch of my blanks ready for carving. I use the bandsaw to remove the excess wood so I can spend my time shaping the final figure rather than removing wood that is in the way. I intend to sit and carve ornaments all day long.
Last week I mentioned about weight loss and someone asked about how one can lose weight without changing anything.
Our bodies are designed to survive famines. When our bodies detect what might be a famine, it will lock down on the fat and nutrients until it is over. Usually, when we go on a diet, the body thinks it is a famine, since not as much calories are coming in, so it locks down and refuses to let the fat go. When we change our eating habits, the body can get confused and think there is a famine still going on so we end up hitting plateaus, Sometimes referred to as set points, and our weight loss stops.
What I saw the past two weeks is that the latest plateau has ended and I am losing again. My body decided that I am not on a famine and is allowing the fat to be used up again. I have dropped, even momentarily, below a key weight milestone and "I did the happy dance" when I saw the numbers on the scale. I am within range of a weight I had not seen since in the 1980s.
I already took the above as a story idea, earlier this week, but thought to pass it on anyway.
A space station colony has a serious weight problem, 600 pounds is light. A new medicine comes out that is supposed to aid in weight loss. it eliminates the set point while losing weight. The body never detects famine and keeps giving up the pounds.
One day, a space war starts, trade with planets and other space stations is cut off, then the power supplies to the farming sections is damaged. there is suddenly a famine, people are eating a few thousand calories rather than their normal intake.
Those who avoided the medicine don't lose weight all that fast, and some are accused of having extra food stores. Those who have the medicine lose weight, which at first is exciting news, but as the food available gets less and less, they are wasting away. The effects of the medicine cannot be reversed. When food and parts finally arrive, the natural people are still big, but nothing like they were, and the ones with the medicine are skin and bones and never fully recover.
As to the question of the day,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Week 515 wood working.
year 9, Week 45, Day One (week 515)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-21-09 Saturday
85 degrees, Little breeze in the morning, picked up some as the day wore on. Blue sky overhead in the morning, with feathers and streaks high up to the north, puffs appeared in the afternoon.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
The turning club meeting was this week. I found it really good. There was more I learned than I remembered.
In one of the magazines, a guy attached a temporary plate with series of holes in it to the lathe. This became his method of indexing his lathe for doing spaced work around the piece, such as adding fluting. that was an obvious solution.
The demonstration was on making bowls. He used a screw chuck, where the chuck has a screw on it. You drill a hole a tiny bit smaller than the thread and then screw the piece on. It is a good way to hold a piece on the lathe. I had done that with screw mounts I made. One thing he did was to add a plywood spacer on it so it would be easier to remove once he was done with that step. a lot I noted in my mind and have forgotten.
One really good thing is that you see those bent wires used as calipers. I found out how to use them properly. One puts a measured gap on it. Then you put one end inside your work and then you measure the distance between the outside and the other end of the wire. I was doing it all wrong. I set it to what I thought the distance was supposed to be and then seen if there was a gap or not.
I showed off my face vase. It got a lot of looks. I told the carving club leader that a friend could sell it for a hundred bucks easily. She winced. I then asked her how much I should sell it for. She told me to start at three hundred dollars.
I remembered I left my camera at home when I was half way to the club. It turned out that the photographer did not show up either so there are no pictures this month. Darn. I was hoping for a picture to show my weight loss.
Mom decided to have another yard sales today. I helped her set up and pack up. She did not do too well. She took a bunch of stuff that won't sell, to the Salvation Army so she does not have to deal with that stuff any more. She still has a lot of stuff to get rid of but that was stuff she no longer needed.
That creature of temper we have been taming over the past two years, actually acted almost like a cat today. He was in a good mood. I was watching his moves carefully and would stop doing something when he tensed up. That made aq bit difference in his moods. I petted him about five times during the day. He liked the attention and usually left after I stopped petting him.
I started the day by finishing up the hobby horse. I finished drilling the holes. I tried my battery powered drill and the batteries were all dead. I charged one. I had to use a slightly bigger forsner bit to drill the holes. I used dowels we had for the handles and the stick. I had to shim them to make them fit. I likely should have gone with slightly smaller drill hole and then make the handles fit.
Mom suggested to add a ball for the end of the shaft so it won't do quite as much damage to the floors. I dug out some cedar and prepped it for turning, then realized it would be way too soft. Instead, I took a cut-off from the horse head that I kept and turned that. I then drilled it and was satisfied with the results, other than having to shim the hole too.
I looked at that block of Cedar and decided it begged to become apples. I put the wood on the lathe, turned a tenon on the end for the chuck to hang on to. I then turned it around and started on the apples themselves. I was getting two apples out of it.
I had the first one mostly formed, when I took a long strip of emery cloth and was sanding it. The chuck caught the edge of the dangling tail and jerked on the sandpaper. The paper tore in half a distance from my hands.
I turned off the lathe and then noticed some blood on my finger. The sandpaper whipped around and sliced into the end of my finger. I washed it good and then put a bandaid on it. It bled well but does not hurt as the cut is on the side just past the finger tip. Being a sandpaper cut, it is a tiny bit rough.
I should have known better than to leave the tails dangling like that, but I was not thinking of safety. This is likely the kind of thing that will bite me a few more times.
With bandaids on the finger, I got back to work, finishing the sanding of the first apple, cut it off then made the second apple.
With these apples, I have not shaped the bottoms. I likely will do that with the dremmel, rather than on the lathe. They have some BOO BOOs on them that will have to be sanded out.
I have a vase I intend to carve. I had designed out what I wanted to do, but a fear of mistakes kept me from digging in. I finally started on the carving. At the base there is big areas between the stems. I cut them back a little bit since I want all the background to be set in deep. I also took the dremmel and strip sander and fixed the bottom inside. I used poor turning skills when I got to the bottom. I left a nob in the center and a rise around a donut. I removed the rise and the nob so it is now even. It is now useable.
I will be doing more carving now that I have started. I may stop and paint the leaves in so I can get them the way I want them. My first intent is to set back the spaces between the leaves and petals. The flowers will likely be shaped and carved first as they are the key to the design. The center of the flowers are the knots in the Norfolk Island Pine.
Previously, I had turned the base into a flower pot. While working with the bottom, I found out that most of the pot is solid wood. I did not go as deep as I thought I did . That will be all right. it will be counter weight against tipping over.
When I carve the vines and leaves, they will rise and fall as they wind up the vase. They will likely look really good with the background set well back. One thing I want to do is to "ebonize" the background. To do so, one puts steel wool in vinegar and the iron turns black and stains wood black. This is something I had wanted to explore with.
After I packed up, we went to the county fair. Their past site was horrible. This site, in an outdoor mall, is rather poor too. No midway and no rides. Next week they will have animal judging. My mom teaches art and I know something about art. We were looking at works by school children. they had artists outside. One guy's paintings were not spectacular. I mentioned these works were better than the guy's outside. One of the people there really got a big kick out of that.
When two artists are discussing the works, it really makes a big difference in the appreciation of the work. Some of that work was spectacular. I was impressed.
Tomorrow, I need to make a bunch of swan blanks and if my lathe and I are willing to talk to each other, I will also make some owl blanks. Since Thanksgiving is next week, I need to make sure I have my blanks and my carving basket with me when I leave so I will have that stuff when I go to my brother's house for our big meal. The house is usually dark and full of people. There is no place to sit. I found it best to sit outside and carve, work metal, or simply talk. I want to be ready to do that and I need to have the stuff in the truck tomorrow when I leave.
I will see what all I do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 45, Day Two (week 515)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-22-09 Sunday
85 degrees, blue sky with high wispy streaks in the morning, solid high feathers in afternoon with some low puffs. Light breeze to make things comfortable. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
When I arrived, Mom was set up for me to string lights under the eaves at the point of the roof over the garage. My psychiatrist says I am unbalanced, so I try not to do anything that requires balance. I got up n the ladder and did th work. It was not a problem except when I was going up or down. Then I could see what my psychiatrist was talking about....
Beggar acted like a cat again today. Mom had fed him in the morning so when I got there, he was more interested in attention than food, though the food was there for him to nibble on.
My project for the day was to get ready for next week, since I would be at my brother's house for Thanksgiving. I spent the time to make eight blanks of the swans looking up, and five swans lo0oking down. This design I am using is better than what I started with. It makes my carving easier. I had designed my looking up swans yesterday and used one of them to design the looking down swan. The number I made simply depended on how much of the wood I had available.
the body and wings were the same, but because the neck looking down swan is back farther, There is a line of the saw between the neck and the wings, rather than a space I had on the looking up swans. I think these will look good. I don't know how many I will have done for next week when I take my pieces to work to show off. considering the market, the chances of selling something is slim, but will try.
At my price, I would be lucky to get a dollar an hor for each piece, but when you consider that the wood is cheep and the labor is free, I would say it is a good deal. It is money.
I showed off the hobby horse. I will be finishing it, Rather than having my brother finish it. I also found out the color it will be painted. That was one question I had. It will be brown, with white on the muzzle. What I will do is, after it gets a good sanding, I will paint it white so it is well covered, then paint on the brown.
After the ornaments were roughed out, I packed up my stuff. My brother and I sat and talked Model Railroading.
Next week is Thanksgiving. I will carve during that day. I will decide whether to go to Mom's house Friday, and will be there both days for Saturday and Sunday.
I have a lot of projects to work on but the ornaments get priority right now.
Will see what I actually do next weekend.
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-21-09 Saturday
85 degrees, Little breeze in the morning, picked up some as the day wore on. Blue sky overhead in the morning, with feathers and streaks high up to the north, puffs appeared in the afternoon.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
The turning club meeting was this week. I found it really good. There was more I learned than I remembered.
In one of the magazines, a guy attached a temporary plate with series of holes in it to the lathe. This became his method of indexing his lathe for doing spaced work around the piece, such as adding fluting. that was an obvious solution.
The demonstration was on making bowls. He used a screw chuck, where the chuck has a screw on it. You drill a hole a tiny bit smaller than the thread and then screw the piece on. It is a good way to hold a piece on the lathe. I had done that with screw mounts I made. One thing he did was to add a plywood spacer on it so it would be easier to remove once he was done with that step. a lot I noted in my mind and have forgotten.
One really good thing is that you see those bent wires used as calipers. I found out how to use them properly. One puts a measured gap on it. Then you put one end inside your work and then you measure the distance between the outside and the other end of the wire. I was doing it all wrong. I set it to what I thought the distance was supposed to be and then seen if there was a gap or not.
I showed off my face vase. It got a lot of looks. I told the carving club leader that a friend could sell it for a hundred bucks easily. She winced. I then asked her how much I should sell it for. She told me to start at three hundred dollars.
I remembered I left my camera at home when I was half way to the club. It turned out that the photographer did not show up either so there are no pictures this month. Darn. I was hoping for a picture to show my weight loss.
Mom decided to have another yard sales today. I helped her set up and pack up. She did not do too well. She took a bunch of stuff that won't sell, to the Salvation Army so she does not have to deal with that stuff any more. She still has a lot of stuff to get rid of but that was stuff she no longer needed.
That creature of temper we have been taming over the past two years, actually acted almost like a cat today. He was in a good mood. I was watching his moves carefully and would stop doing something when he tensed up. That made aq bit difference in his moods. I petted him about five times during the day. He liked the attention and usually left after I stopped petting him.
I started the day by finishing up the hobby horse. I finished drilling the holes. I tried my battery powered drill and the batteries were all dead. I charged one. I had to use a slightly bigger forsner bit to drill the holes. I used dowels we had for the handles and the stick. I had to shim them to make them fit. I likely should have gone with slightly smaller drill hole and then make the handles fit.
Mom suggested to add a ball for the end of the shaft so it won't do quite as much damage to the floors. I dug out some cedar and prepped it for turning, then realized it would be way too soft. Instead, I took a cut-off from the horse head that I kept and turned that. I then drilled it and was satisfied with the results, other than having to shim the hole too.
I looked at that block of Cedar and decided it begged to become apples. I put the wood on the lathe, turned a tenon on the end for the chuck to hang on to. I then turned it around and started on the apples themselves. I was getting two apples out of it.
I had the first one mostly formed, when I took a long strip of emery cloth and was sanding it. The chuck caught the edge of the dangling tail and jerked on the sandpaper. The paper tore in half a distance from my hands.
I turned off the lathe and then noticed some blood on my finger. The sandpaper whipped around and sliced into the end of my finger. I washed it good and then put a bandaid on it. It bled well but does not hurt as the cut is on the side just past the finger tip. Being a sandpaper cut, it is a tiny bit rough.
I should have known better than to leave the tails dangling like that, but I was not thinking of safety. This is likely the kind of thing that will bite me a few more times.
With bandaids on the finger, I got back to work, finishing the sanding of the first apple, cut it off then made the second apple.
With these apples, I have not shaped the bottoms. I likely will do that with the dremmel, rather than on the lathe. They have some BOO BOOs on them that will have to be sanded out.
I have a vase I intend to carve. I had designed out what I wanted to do, but a fear of mistakes kept me from digging in. I finally started on the carving. At the base there is big areas between the stems. I cut them back a little bit since I want all the background to be set in deep. I also took the dremmel and strip sander and fixed the bottom inside. I used poor turning skills when I got to the bottom. I left a nob in the center and a rise around a donut. I removed the rise and the nob so it is now even. It is now useable.
I will be doing more carving now that I have started. I may stop and paint the leaves in so I can get them the way I want them. My first intent is to set back the spaces between the leaves and petals. The flowers will likely be shaped and carved first as they are the key to the design. The center of the flowers are the knots in the Norfolk Island Pine.
Previously, I had turned the base into a flower pot. While working with the bottom, I found out that most of the pot is solid wood. I did not go as deep as I thought I did . That will be all right. it will be counter weight against tipping over.
When I carve the vines and leaves, they will rise and fall as they wind up the vase. They will likely look really good with the background set well back. One thing I want to do is to "ebonize" the background. To do so, one puts steel wool in vinegar and the iron turns black and stains wood black. This is something I had wanted to explore with.
After I packed up, we went to the county fair. Their past site was horrible. This site, in an outdoor mall, is rather poor too. No midway and no rides. Next week they will have animal judging. My mom teaches art and I know something about art. We were looking at works by school children. they had artists outside. One guy's paintings were not spectacular. I mentioned these works were better than the guy's outside. One of the people there really got a big kick out of that.
When two artists are discussing the works, it really makes a big difference in the appreciation of the work. Some of that work was spectacular. I was impressed.
Tomorrow, I need to make a bunch of swan blanks and if my lathe and I are willing to talk to each other, I will also make some owl blanks. Since Thanksgiving is next week, I need to make sure I have my blanks and my carving basket with me when I leave so I will have that stuff when I go to my brother's house for our big meal. The house is usually dark and full of people. There is no place to sit. I found it best to sit outside and carve, work metal, or simply talk. I want to be ready to do that and I need to have the stuff in the truck tomorrow when I leave.
I will see what all I do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 45, Day Two (week 515)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-22-09 Sunday
85 degrees, blue sky with high wispy streaks in the morning, solid high feathers in afternoon with some low puffs. Light breeze to make things comfortable. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
When I arrived, Mom was set up for me to string lights under the eaves at the point of the roof over the garage. My psychiatrist says I am unbalanced, so I try not to do anything that requires balance. I got up n the ladder and did th work. It was not a problem except when I was going up or down. Then I could see what my psychiatrist was talking about....
Beggar acted like a cat again today. Mom had fed him in the morning so when I got there, he was more interested in attention than food, though the food was there for him to nibble on.
My project for the day was to get ready for next week, since I would be at my brother's house for Thanksgiving. I spent the time to make eight blanks of the swans looking up, and five swans lo0oking down. This design I am using is better than what I started with. It makes my carving easier. I had designed my looking up swans yesterday and used one of them to design the looking down swan. The number I made simply depended on how much of the wood I had available.
the body and wings were the same, but because the neck looking down swan is back farther, There is a line of the saw between the neck and the wings, rather than a space I had on the looking up swans. I think these will look good. I don't know how many I will have done for next week when I take my pieces to work to show off. considering the market, the chances of selling something is slim, but will try.
At my price, I would be lucky to get a dollar an hor for each piece, but when you consider that the wood is cheep and the labor is free, I would say it is a good deal. It is money.
I showed off the hobby horse. I will be finishing it, Rather than having my brother finish it. I also found out the color it will be painted. That was one question I had. It will be brown, with white on the muzzle. What I will do is, after it gets a good sanding, I will paint it white so it is well covered, then paint on the brown.
After the ornaments were roughed out, I packed up my stuff. My brother and I sat and talked Model Railroading.
Next week is Thanksgiving. I will carve during that day. I will decide whether to go to Mom's house Friday, and will be there both days for Saturday and Sunday.
I have a lot of projects to work on but the ornaments get priority right now.
Will see what I actually do next weekend.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Did you Write? 11-16-09
Did you Write? 11-16-09
In hopes to push myself, and others to write, I post this note to give everyone a chance to brag about their accomplishments, cry about your failures and to otherwise tell what is going on in your life.
I know all of you would love to brag about all the writing you have done this past week. When you realize this note is coming and you have not written, the hope is that you sit down and write something, even if it is a paragraph, just so you can say you did write.
The hope is that writing at least once a week becomes a regular habit, and then you don't have to depend on this note to get some writing done.
Everybody considers new writing, as writing. That is obvious. REWRITING and editing, even if it is someone else's work, is also writing. AS to the type of writing, it can be anything. Poetry, blogging, article writing, technical writing, character or world building as long as something gets on paper. Even E-mails will count if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. It really depends on what you personally decide is writing.
As for myself, I have been busy on my writing. I did not add a lot of pages but can see the ending approaching have to get my characters from where they are to where they have to be, and then I can end it.
One thing I see is that there is a bunch of character development I need to add through the story. I basically need to show how the attitude of one character changes toward the other. I have two motivations to show. One is where he decides he wants Waxy to be with him from now on, and Why he wants to retain this world they are in. I have said it in the story, but I have not "shown" how he changes in his attitudes. I will "finish" the story first. I will end it with a setup for the second story.
One of the fun things about this is that as I am writing this, I am seeing where later characteristics, seen in stories I already wrote, are developing. This is fun writing, though getting the relocation between worlds will be tough writing. I will do what I usually do, get it on paper then correct it.
I added only three pages and about two thousand words but made good headway. The story is on page 75 now. Once I get it written, I will fire it off to my writing partner to see what needs to be changed plot wise. When I am satisfied with the editing, I will then send it to her for a serious examination.
One thing that happened was that I mentioned Waxy being told a bedtime story and I ended up writing it as a story idea. It was so "bad" it had to be written. It was fun to write and I now know how to make it even better if I ever decide to rewrite it.
ON the story idea front, I am staying up to where I need to be right now, but that may change this week. I have some meetings and activities that could cost me a day or so.
My latest count is that I have 46 story ideas in my compost pile, including the one I wrote today. This past week, I wrote all new story ideas except yesterday when I was running late and had to steal an idea posted at the end of one of these notes.
The fun of these story ideas is that I have the excitement of imagining a brand new story. I get the exhilaration of staring on a new piece. I get the satisfaction of finishing the rough draft, and if it is horrible, I don't have to worry about spending any more time on it. If it is good, I always have the opportunity to dig into the idea again and develop it fully. Also, if I cannot get back to it, not a loss. It is still there for me if I want it.
My mom had a yard sale this weekend (tag sale to some of you) where you sell useable, but unwanted stuff. You set it out near the street or in your garage and people will come by and purchase it from you, sometimes haggling over the price.
I usually do my wood carving outside so I can keep her company. I worked on my Christmas ornaments this weekend. I usually do twelve of each kind I make, hand carved. I have till the end of the month to get done. I have only five of each kind, I have to get to work.
I had changed my eating habits two years ago and have lost over fifty pounds since then. This year, I lost about ten pounds. My weight loss stopped last month and stayed put. while I expected that, it is frustrating. My system of eating is easy to stay with, which is why I lost the weight I did. I needed to change something in my diet to regain losing weight. I did not . This past week, I finally broke free of the plateau that I was stuck at and lost two pounds.
Based on the joke, At the rate I am losing weight, there will be nothing left of me in fourteen years.
Using the above as a story idea. She took a new medicine guaranteed to assist in losing weight. It was experimental so there could be problems. She was desperate. She took the pills. Her weight slowly started to drop. She had only taken them once, mainly because they were checking for toxicity.
She came in for tests. She had lost more weight since she had done her tests. She was excited.
The doctors kept track of her, checking her periodically. With just one pill, she was still losing weight. They do extensive examinations of her, trying to find out why the pill is working. They deduce that it changed an enzyme in the body, causing her to use more energy.
Years pass and she is at the figure she wants, but she is still losing weight. She starts pigging out, eating as much as her belly can hold, but she does not even slow her weight loss.
She is soon skin and bones, and her bones are pencil thin. They don't know how she is still alive or how she has not broken a bone. The medicine is banned, at least until they can figure out how to reverse it. They have no idea how.
At the rate she lost weight, there was nothing left of her after ten years.
AS to the question of the week,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
In hopes to push myself, and others to write, I post this note to give everyone a chance to brag about their accomplishments, cry about your failures and to otherwise tell what is going on in your life.
I know all of you would love to brag about all the writing you have done this past week. When you realize this note is coming and you have not written, the hope is that you sit down and write something, even if it is a paragraph, just so you can say you did write.
The hope is that writing at least once a week becomes a regular habit, and then you don't have to depend on this note to get some writing done.
Everybody considers new writing, as writing. That is obvious. REWRITING and editing, even if it is someone else's work, is also writing. AS to the type of writing, it can be anything. Poetry, blogging, article writing, technical writing, character or world building as long as something gets on paper. Even E-mails will count if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. It really depends on what you personally decide is writing.
As for myself, I have been busy on my writing. I did not add a lot of pages but can see the ending approaching have to get my characters from where they are to where they have to be, and then I can end it.
One thing I see is that there is a bunch of character development I need to add through the story. I basically need to show how the attitude of one character changes toward the other. I have two motivations to show. One is where he decides he wants Waxy to be with him from now on, and Why he wants to retain this world they are in. I have said it in the story, but I have not "shown" how he changes in his attitudes. I will "finish" the story first. I will end it with a setup for the second story.
One of the fun things about this is that as I am writing this, I am seeing where later characteristics, seen in stories I already wrote, are developing. This is fun writing, though getting the relocation between worlds will be tough writing. I will do what I usually do, get it on paper then correct it.
I added only three pages and about two thousand words but made good headway. The story is on page 75 now. Once I get it written, I will fire it off to my writing partner to see what needs to be changed plot wise. When I am satisfied with the editing, I will then send it to her for a serious examination.
One thing that happened was that I mentioned Waxy being told a bedtime story and I ended up writing it as a story idea. It was so "bad" it had to be written. It was fun to write and I now know how to make it even better if I ever decide to rewrite it.
ON the story idea front, I am staying up to where I need to be right now, but that may change this week. I have some meetings and activities that could cost me a day or so.
My latest count is that I have 46 story ideas in my compost pile, including the one I wrote today. This past week, I wrote all new story ideas except yesterday when I was running late and had to steal an idea posted at the end of one of these notes.
The fun of these story ideas is that I have the excitement of imagining a brand new story. I get the exhilaration of staring on a new piece. I get the satisfaction of finishing the rough draft, and if it is horrible, I don't have to worry about spending any more time on it. If it is good, I always have the opportunity to dig into the idea again and develop it fully. Also, if I cannot get back to it, not a loss. It is still there for me if I want it.
My mom had a yard sale this weekend (tag sale to some of you) where you sell useable, but unwanted stuff. You set it out near the street or in your garage and people will come by and purchase it from you, sometimes haggling over the price.
I usually do my wood carving outside so I can keep her company. I worked on my Christmas ornaments this weekend. I usually do twelve of each kind I make, hand carved. I have till the end of the month to get done. I have only five of each kind, I have to get to work.
I had changed my eating habits two years ago and have lost over fifty pounds since then. This year, I lost about ten pounds. My weight loss stopped last month and stayed put. while I expected that, it is frustrating. My system of eating is easy to stay with, which is why I lost the weight I did. I needed to change something in my diet to regain losing weight. I did not . This past week, I finally broke free of the plateau that I was stuck at and lost two pounds.
Based on the joke, At the rate I am losing weight, there will be nothing left of me in fourteen years.
Using the above as a story idea. She took a new medicine guaranteed to assist in losing weight. It was experimental so there could be problems. She was desperate. She took the pills. Her weight slowly started to drop. She had only taken them once, mainly because they were checking for toxicity.
She came in for tests. She had lost more weight since she had done her tests. She was excited.
The doctors kept track of her, checking her periodically. With just one pill, she was still losing weight. They do extensive examinations of her, trying to find out why the pill is working. They deduce that it changed an enzyme in the body, causing her to use more energy.
Years pass and she is at the figure she wants, but she is still losing weight. She starts pigging out, eating as much as her belly can hold, but she does not even slow her weight loss.
She is soon skin and bones, and her bones are pencil thin. They don't know how she is still alive or how she has not broken a bone. The medicine is banned, at least until they can figure out how to reverse it. They have no idea how.
At the rate she lost weight, there was nothing left of her after ten years.
AS to the question of the week,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Woodworking Week 514
year 9, Week 44, Day One (week 514) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-14-09 Saturday
75 degrees, 60 degrees early morning, nice breeze, clear blue skies, Perfect day to be out in the open.
Mom decided to have a yard sale so I helped her get the stuff out so she could set up. A bit later, I dug out my carving stuff and tools along with several chairs. I set up facing west. Except for the first bit of time after I set up, The low sun kept me in the shade of a coconut tree. The trunk itself is about four foot tall and the fronds stuck up to about twelve feet. That was plenty to throw a lot of shade to us on the north side of the tree.
Mom and the neighbor moved several times to get back into the shade but I never even considered moving.
The cat acted sweet, ALMOST like a real cat. I did not get to spend a lot of time with him. I did spend some good time with him, though. The hard part is knowing what he is enjoying and when he stops. A slight change in what I am doing can have a big effect.
My main project was to shape the swan blanks I already have made. I broke the wing of one swan twice, glued it back together and after it dried for a wile continued carving. There is some touch ups I need to do, but the swans do look good.
I carved the last owl blank I had so all my owls are done. except the eye on this one.
I messed around with a few other pieces I had to work on. Some pine pieces needed sanding which turned out to be serious sanding. I will need to spend more time sanding on them. One piece I made, I need to set it back in the lathe to fix it. That will be a challenge to get it set right to correct the problems.
I have a goblet that the bowl is tipped. I think I know how that happened. When I was making it, It was wobbling as I made the stem. That wobble became cut into the piece.
I have four choices. Leave it as it is, leave it tipped, but straighten the rim of the bowl to the tip, soak the piece and then straighten the bowl and dry it that way, cut the stem off and make it into a flower. I will try the soaking first and decide what to do once that works or fails. It will make a good tulip if all else fails.
Tomorrow will likely be making blanks for Christmas ornaments. My brother might not come up so I really have no idea what is planned or will happen.
Will see what I do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 44, Day Two (week 514) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-14-09 Sunday
80 degrees, blue sky, The brisk breeze was not warm but the sun was. Early morning was 82 degrees, but I was not out until it was in the mid 70s. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
Mom had a yard sale again. She was already set up when I got there. I helped her pack up at the end of the day.
I accused Mom of swapping cats on me again. he was in such a good mood that one could almost think he was a real cat, instead of an attitude in the body of a cat. I spent quite a bit of time petting him.
I put some wood into the lathe and started turning blanks for my owls. I had asked mom which ones she liked best and was copying it. I had marked the wood for four owls. It seamed like the wood and my tools were fighting each other. By the time I had finished the first owl blank, I decided that It was not going to work for an owl. I use the corner points for part of the design and they took a horrible beating. I decided I was going to do something else, hoping that next week works out better. Everybody will have days like that.
I made three swan blanks. How one orients the figurine in the square stick effects how it looks. the first swans I cut were in the two by two sticks in a way where the wood laid flat as it passed into the bandsaw. That is stable and safe.
I decided to try cutting the swan on an angle so the corners of the stick were down on the table of the bandsaw. I had to cut a couple wedges and make sure they were at forty five degrees, so I could hold it in place. I sliced close, on both sides of the high corner to make the neck. I cut curves from the sides to the base of the neck to make the wings. I then turned the piece to the side and shaped the head and neck, and again cut curves of the wings, plus I cut the tail. I made a few other cuts to remove as much wood as I could. The rest was knife cuts to finish the swan.
I liked the effect, but working with the wood unstable like that bothered me. If in doubt, don't.
I then cut another blank, using the design changes I made in the angled piece, but this time with the stick flat on the table. The cuts were easier to do. I sat and carved that swan. When I put them side by side, there really was little difference between them in size and design.
I then made a third blank, again flat, but decided the day was over and never carved it. That is for next time.
I need to make about seven more of these and then several of the swans with the curved necks.
It was a pretty good day overall. I now can make a better looking swan because of my experiments.
I have a turning club meeting Thursday. I want to get my face vase presentable for the meeting. It won't be right, but I am happy with presentable.
I have a few pieces that need work too. A couple ornaments I had started last week needs some sanding and varnish.
Next week I have more ornaments to make and to get to work on some presents too. Mom intends to visit yard sales so I have no idea how much woodworking I will actually get to do.
Will see next week.
75 degrees, 60 degrees early morning, nice breeze, clear blue skies, Perfect day to be out in the open.
Mom decided to have a yard sale so I helped her get the stuff out so she could set up. A bit later, I dug out my carving stuff and tools along with several chairs. I set up facing west. Except for the first bit of time after I set up, The low sun kept me in the shade of a coconut tree. The trunk itself is about four foot tall and the fronds stuck up to about twelve feet. That was plenty to throw a lot of shade to us on the north side of the tree.
Mom and the neighbor moved several times to get back into the shade but I never even considered moving.
The cat acted sweet, ALMOST like a real cat. I did not get to spend a lot of time with him. I did spend some good time with him, though. The hard part is knowing what he is enjoying and when he stops. A slight change in what I am doing can have a big effect.
My main project was to shape the swan blanks I already have made. I broke the wing of one swan twice, glued it back together and after it dried for a wile continued carving. There is some touch ups I need to do, but the swans do look good.
I carved the last owl blank I had so all my owls are done. except the eye on this one.
I messed around with a few other pieces I had to work on. Some pine pieces needed sanding which turned out to be serious sanding. I will need to spend more time sanding on them. One piece I made, I need to set it back in the lathe to fix it. That will be a challenge to get it set right to correct the problems.
I have a goblet that the bowl is tipped. I think I know how that happened. When I was making it, It was wobbling as I made the stem. That wobble became cut into the piece.
I have four choices. Leave it as it is, leave it tipped, but straighten the rim of the bowl to the tip, soak the piece and then straighten the bowl and dry it that way, cut the stem off and make it into a flower. I will try the soaking first and decide what to do once that works or fails. It will make a good tulip if all else fails.
Tomorrow will likely be making blanks for Christmas ornaments. My brother might not come up so I really have no idea what is planned or will happen.
Will see what I do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 44, Day Two (week 514) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-14-09 Sunday
80 degrees, blue sky, The brisk breeze was not warm but the sun was. Early morning was 82 degrees, but I was not out until it was in the mid 70s. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
Mom had a yard sale again. She was already set up when I got there. I helped her pack up at the end of the day.
I accused Mom of swapping cats on me again. he was in such a good mood that one could almost think he was a real cat, instead of an attitude in the body of a cat. I spent quite a bit of time petting him.
I put some wood into the lathe and started turning blanks for my owls. I had asked mom which ones she liked best and was copying it. I had marked the wood for four owls. It seamed like the wood and my tools were fighting each other. By the time I had finished the first owl blank, I decided that It was not going to work for an owl. I use the corner points for part of the design and they took a horrible beating. I decided I was going to do something else, hoping that next week works out better. Everybody will have days like that.
I made three swan blanks. How one orients the figurine in the square stick effects how it looks. the first swans I cut were in the two by two sticks in a way where the wood laid flat as it passed into the bandsaw. That is stable and safe.
I decided to try cutting the swan on an angle so the corners of the stick were down on the table of the bandsaw. I had to cut a couple wedges and make sure they were at forty five degrees, so I could hold it in place. I sliced close, on both sides of the high corner to make the neck. I cut curves from the sides to the base of the neck to make the wings. I then turned the piece to the side and shaped the head and neck, and again cut curves of the wings, plus I cut the tail. I made a few other cuts to remove as much wood as I could. The rest was knife cuts to finish the swan.
I liked the effect, but working with the wood unstable like that bothered me. If in doubt, don't.
I then cut another blank, using the design changes I made in the angled piece, but this time with the stick flat on the table. The cuts were easier to do. I sat and carved that swan. When I put them side by side, there really was little difference between them in size and design.
I then made a third blank, again flat, but decided the day was over and never carved it. That is for next time.
I need to make about seven more of these and then several of the swans with the curved necks.
It was a pretty good day overall. I now can make a better looking swan because of my experiments.
I have a turning club meeting Thursday. I want to get my face vase presentable for the meeting. It won't be right, but I am happy with presentable.
I have a few pieces that need work too. A couple ornaments I had started last week needs some sanding and varnish.
Next week I have more ornaments to make and to get to work on some presents too. Mom intends to visit yard sales so I have no idea how much woodworking I will actually get to do.
Will see next week.
Monday, November 9, 2009
11-09-09, Did you write?
11-09-09, Did you write?
Today is that day again. The day to come forward and announce your production or lack there of, in the art of writing. I hope that these notes prompt you into writing.
You know the note is coming each week, and you know you want to announce you had a good week to write, even if it is a ten minute session. The hope is that you will use this note as a prompt sit and write even a little so you can announce you were successful.
There were times where knowing I had to write this note, I would plan on writing something. It does work. Little bits of work builds into a big piece of work over time.
We all know that any new writing, is writing. In our minds, that might only what we call writing. Because few of us can write perfectly the first time, Rewriting, editing, is writing, even if it is someone else's work. You might not get the word counts that you can pat your back about, you can swap around a whole lot of words. I have zapped an entire page of writing, and ended up with something similar to the original word count after the rewriting and editing was done.
Blogging, articles, newsletters, poetry, writing assignments are all writing. character or world building is also writing, preferably if something gets on paper. Even E-mails can be writing, if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. The real definition of what is writing, is up to you. If you say it is writing, I doubt anybody will say otherwise.
As for me, I had a golden time of writing. I had a lot of fun. The hour or so each day I am doing on my writing, is about the right amount of time. I keep excited about what I am working on, and also get some good production.
I usually allow myself to write when I first get home, before I do anything else so I get it out of my hair. It helps that I have a fixed amount of time. Everything else tends to expand out into whatever time is available.
This week, I did very little editing or rewriting. I spent the week on all new scenes. That really made this fun. It has been a while since I was in all new territory in my writing. I had several action scenes that need work, but I got them written. I have basically two more sections to write, one where there is bonding, then there is the ending where a simple childish judgement error ruins everything, creating th pattern for the rest of the stories to come.
I had been saying that I might end at around seventy pages. I have to say I was wrong. One hundred sounds a bit more like it. The reason I say that was that I went from page 64 with 42,462 words to a count of Page 72 with 47,890 words. The words just flowed.
One reason there is high page counts is that I keep reminding myself to detail what is going on rather than saying "he attached jewelry to his magical staff and made it into a golf club", I would go into detail about what he was doing and why, and showing the effect of the magic.
As I said, I have loads of work to do on this piece. I finally figured out a bit more of the reason for the story. He is trying to figure out what to do with Waxy. I have to write it into the story, but it starts out that he ends up with something he really does not want, and she turns into something he really loves. It also explains the ending better too. During the week, I also figured out why the ending creates the problem. I came up with a reason he really wants to be able to return to this world, and Waxy following him home, rather than waiting for him to return, keeps him from being able to return. Things are falling into place. I love that.
Of course, I do have to do at least one more heavy editing pass, but it won't take as long as I won't be re-writing, then writing new. Many of the additions will be a sentence here and there. ]
When I started writing my story ideas. I had some concepts I had no use for. I was not going to write them and I thought that someone else wanted to write and could not come up with something, could dig th rough my presentations and find some jewels to spark their imagination. at first, I kept the very best for myself. The concepts came out fast, an idea a day. At first, It turned out that my best writing was not that much better than the posts I was making (I actually still have that opinion on some days). After a year or two, decided I would post all ideas I came up with, even those I intended to write. The posts became my storage vault for my concepts.
last month, I spent a couple weeks digging through the concepts I Post at the end of some of these notes to bring my activities back to writing, and I turned them into official story idea posts. This month, I returned to posting all new ideas for a while. The new ideas are not coming in fast, but they are coming in. At the moment, including concept I am posting today, I have 51 story ideas in my compost pile, waiting to be written up. Some of them are really good. I have some deeper down in the stack that are really good, but are more complicated or in depth than what I feel I have the time or energy to do.
For those who are interested, my story ideas are posted on many bulletin boards, but the one I post on the most is Http://www.xprodigy.net/board/index.php and go to WRITER'S ROOST. The notes to look for are like NOVEMBER 2009 STORY IDEAS. I have one for every month that the record has.
If you go to the very beginning page of the notes, you will find the Waxy Dragon stories as they were originally posted. All will eventually be rewritten.
On the wood working side of my activities, I worked on my carved Christmas ornaments, made some turned ornaments, and made a blank for a Rocket powered car for a friend. It is not right, but it gives them something to work from in their planning. I made headway on several projects too. they are not finished.
I am doing a vase that I carved faces on. I had one question I needed to answer. I want the faces to stand out from the background. I got the idea that I could give them a coating so they would hold the color, and then soak the wood so the rest of the piece so it changes color compared to the face.
Norfolk Island pine darkens dramatically when it is soaked in oil. If the finish is applied lightly to the surface on the other hand, he wood will remain light.
My project was to find a coating that will hold the surface of the wood light, like a surface finish, while the rest of the piece is allowed to darken. I have to do some checking, but I think I have a solution. I only have a week to get it done. I might give it a surface finish for now and work on the tonal changes later. Just sand off the finish I am applying and work from there.
To use the above for a story idea. consider someone who makes magical containers. His main thing is to apply substances on the surface for the effects he is after. They are usually sparkles, or glowing at night, preserving foods or drinks, and so on.
A customer asks him to fully seal the piece with a magical liquid, having it soak all the way in so it can contain a real evil magic. Along with that, they also want the surface with their normal effects.
he decides he has to do some experimenting. He applies dozens of different finishes on some pieces and then applies the soaking magic. What he is after is to have magic surfacing that will continue to work, and work the way it is supposed to. he gets some strange effects that are not planned. After a time of experimentation, changing formulations, he comes up with some coatings that will be entertaining, will do their normal magic, and a couple that will help contain the evil that will go into the container.
As to the question of the day,
YES, I DID WRITE.
as for you,
DID YOU WRITE?
Today is that day again. The day to come forward and announce your production or lack there of, in the art of writing. I hope that these notes prompt you into writing.
You know the note is coming each week, and you know you want to announce you had a good week to write, even if it is a ten minute session. The hope is that you will use this note as a prompt sit and write even a little so you can announce you were successful.
There were times where knowing I had to write this note, I would plan on writing something. It does work. Little bits of work builds into a big piece of work over time.
We all know that any new writing, is writing. In our minds, that might only what we call writing. Because few of us can write perfectly the first time, Rewriting, editing, is writing, even if it is someone else's work. You might not get the word counts that you can pat your back about, you can swap around a whole lot of words. I have zapped an entire page of writing, and ended up with something similar to the original word count after the rewriting and editing was done.
Blogging, articles, newsletters, poetry, writing assignments are all writing. character or world building is also writing, preferably if something gets on paper. Even E-mails can be writing, if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. The real definition of what is writing, is up to you. If you say it is writing, I doubt anybody will say otherwise.
As for me, I had a golden time of writing. I had a lot of fun. The hour or so each day I am doing on my writing, is about the right amount of time. I keep excited about what I am working on, and also get some good production.
I usually allow myself to write when I first get home, before I do anything else so I get it out of my hair. It helps that I have a fixed amount of time. Everything else tends to expand out into whatever time is available.
This week, I did very little editing or rewriting. I spent the week on all new scenes. That really made this fun. It has been a while since I was in all new territory in my writing. I had several action scenes that need work, but I got them written. I have basically two more sections to write, one where there is bonding, then there is the ending where a simple childish judgement error ruins everything, creating th pattern for the rest of the stories to come.
I had been saying that I might end at around seventy pages. I have to say I was wrong. One hundred sounds a bit more like it. The reason I say that was that I went from page 64 with 42,462 words to a count of Page 72 with 47,890 words. The words just flowed.
One reason there is high page counts is that I keep reminding myself to detail what is going on rather than saying "he attached jewelry to his magical staff and made it into a golf club", I would go into detail about what he was doing and why, and showing the effect of the magic.
As I said, I have loads of work to do on this piece. I finally figured out a bit more of the reason for the story. He is trying to figure out what to do with Waxy. I have to write it into the story, but it starts out that he ends up with something he really does not want, and she turns into something he really loves. It also explains the ending better too. During the week, I also figured out why the ending creates the problem. I came up with a reason he really wants to be able to return to this world, and Waxy following him home, rather than waiting for him to return, keeps him from being able to return. Things are falling into place. I love that.
Of course, I do have to do at least one more heavy editing pass, but it won't take as long as I won't be re-writing, then writing new. Many of the additions will be a sentence here and there. ]
When I started writing my story ideas. I had some concepts I had no use for. I was not going to write them and I thought that someone else wanted to write and could not come up with something, could dig th rough my presentations and find some jewels to spark their imagination. at first, I kept the very best for myself. The concepts came out fast, an idea a day. At first, It turned out that my best writing was not that much better than the posts I was making (I actually still have that opinion on some days). After a year or two, decided I would post all ideas I came up with, even those I intended to write. The posts became my storage vault for my concepts.
last month, I spent a couple weeks digging through the concepts I Post at the end of some of these notes to bring my activities back to writing, and I turned them into official story idea posts. This month, I returned to posting all new ideas for a while. The new ideas are not coming in fast, but they are coming in. At the moment, including concept I am posting today, I have 51 story ideas in my compost pile, waiting to be written up. Some of them are really good. I have some deeper down in the stack that are really good, but are more complicated or in depth than what I feel I have the time or energy to do.
For those who are interested, my story ideas are posted on many bulletin boards, but the one I post on the most is Http://www.xprodigy.net/board/index.php and go to WRITER'S ROOST. The notes to look for are like NOVEMBER 2009 STORY IDEAS. I have one for every month that the record has.
If you go to the very beginning page of the notes, you will find the Waxy Dragon stories as they were originally posted. All will eventually be rewritten.
On the wood working side of my activities, I worked on my carved Christmas ornaments, made some turned ornaments, and made a blank for a Rocket powered car for a friend. It is not right, but it gives them something to work from in their planning. I made headway on several projects too. they are not finished.
I am doing a vase that I carved faces on. I had one question I needed to answer. I want the faces to stand out from the background. I got the idea that I could give them a coating so they would hold the color, and then soak the wood so the rest of the piece so it changes color compared to the face.
Norfolk Island pine darkens dramatically when it is soaked in oil. If the finish is applied lightly to the surface on the other hand, he wood will remain light.
My project was to find a coating that will hold the surface of the wood light, like a surface finish, while the rest of the piece is allowed to darken. I have to do some checking, but I think I have a solution. I only have a week to get it done. I might give it a surface finish for now and work on the tonal changes later. Just sand off the finish I am applying and work from there.
To use the above for a story idea. consider someone who makes magical containers. His main thing is to apply substances on the surface for the effects he is after. They are usually sparkles, or glowing at night, preserving foods or drinks, and so on.
A customer asks him to fully seal the piece with a magical liquid, having it soak all the way in so it can contain a real evil magic. Along with that, they also want the surface with their normal effects.
he decides he has to do some experimenting. He applies dozens of different finishes on some pieces and then applies the soaking magic. What he is after is to have magic surfacing that will continue to work, and work the way it is supposed to. he gets some strange effects that are not planned. After a time of experimentation, changing formulations, he comes up with some coatings that will be entertaining, will do their normal magic, and a couple that will help contain the evil that will go into the container.
As to the question of the day,
YES, I DID WRITE.
as for you,
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Week 43 wood Working
year 9, Week 43, Day One (week 514)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-07-09 Saturday
86 degrees (77 early AM, CHILLY!), lots of blue skies, Lots of sun, loads of thin clouds in a thin layer moving by really fast because of a 20+ mph breeze. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Mom was out of town again so I went directly to breakfast from home. I stopped at a couple yard sales after breakfast. One had nothing of use for me. They did have some medieval torture devices, such as a weight bench and an exercycle. Among other things. I tell people that back in the olden times, they forced people to use those machines or confess all their sins. I would have made up sins if I had to....
The weights looked interesting but was not about to even ask the price. I told them a joke. "At the health club, I bench pressed the bar six times. Then the jerks added the weights to the bar..."
The reason the weights look interesting is that spinning wood that is off center will cause the lathe to bounce, twist, and move. Adding weights to the lathe will keep it steadier, make the work smoother, easier to control, safer. I really don't need more weights but I gave it a thought.
At the good hard sale, I purchased some tools. I got a plunge router fitting for a dremmel. I got a small square, a angle finder, a small turning tool where the guy added a lock washer on it, so you can use the spikes to cut in grooves, One of those things that sides in the slots on the table, used to hold pieces square on various machines (forgot what it is called), A depth gauge, and a letter stamp set. It all cost me about six bucks. There were other interesting things I really did not need.
The cat had been alone, fed once a day by the neighbor, for most of the week. he was not in his best mood, and I seamed to find ways to irritate him. He went so far as to hit me with a claw. He did not stick the claw in, but I felt it. I did get to pet him some, but when he ran off to sleep, (after four feeding/attention sessions) I did not see him for the rest of the day.
Our secretary is taking college classes. She is in a science class where her group is having to make a rocket car. She gave me the specifications for it this week and I said I would try to make something for her.
I dug out a cedar post and cut the end off first to get away from any weathering and a bolt stuck into that end. I then cut it to length.
At the disk sander, I removed the paint from the sides, squared the piece off on all sides. I then sat down and measured everything out. The car I made is basically a wedge with wheels. Everything measured, I moves stuff in the garage so I could get to the drill press. I drilled the side holes first for the wheels. I then drilled the end for the model rocket engine. My forsner bit was not long enough. There was no way I could get to the paddle bits. so I dug out a brace and a bit that was just slightly bigger than I needed. all my others were too small.
for those who don't know, A brace is a hand drill. It looks like a crank shaft. This one is pretty good. It has a chuck, a ratchet, and appears to use ball bearings. The bit I chose has the wrong designed end. When I was drilling, it would wobble and I could not stop that. It must be dull as It was not drilling well. I dug out my battery powered drill and it wobbled even worse than on the brace. A four sided end does not fit well on a three sided end. I did get the hole deeper, but not deep enough for my needs. It will have to do for now.
I cut the waste part of the block off, made sure everything was sanded and left it as that.
I have the other half of the 3x3 I cut that from and tomorrow, will try something to make it "better". I will give her the choice of two designs to talk to her friends about and then they can tell me what they are really after once they have something to look at.
that palm tree bowl I turned last month is finally dry. the bottom is thin and set in on the bottom. I flattened the bottom on the disk sander, and then used the dremmel to remove the hairs on the inside. I was finally down to wood.
I then took some clear epoxy and filled the bottom depression. When that set up, needs more, I turned it over and filled the inside with epoxy and buttered all the surfaces. I really should not have needed to do that and should re-turn the piece to remove the worst of the epoxy. I won't though.
One thing I learned while messing with this was that I should dry the wood first. This is a long process since coconut palm is mostly water. I used a microwave to dry this turned bowl and it took a couple weeks of off and on heating for a short moment. A better way might be to put it into an oven for several hours at like a hundred degrees, several weeks in a row. Kiln drying essentially. I have no idea when I will get a piece of wood like this.
I turned my attention to the Christmas ornaments. I had the dremmel out. knifed the wing and tails of the blanks. The wings spread out as they go from front to back. My main task was to make room for my dremmel to go in and shape the back between the wings. By cutting the inside of the wings, It gave the dremmel space to get the back the way I wanted.
I did that on all my swan blanks to get them to shape. I have a lot of carving to do, but that was the part the knife cannot do.
I turned to the owls. I had made the blanks on the lathe. I used square wood, sort of like two by twos but slightly bigger. These owls are horned owls with tufts sticking up on the sides of the head. I turned these so that I can lop off some of the corners, leaving the horns, the beak, the wings and the tail, shaping the wood in between. Simple knife work to get them into shape.
When I turned these, I did the top of the head wrong. I was not exactly sure how it was wrong, but I knew it was. I figured out that I needed to knock down the dome of the head so it was about level to the base of the tufts. Being lazy, I turned to the disk sander and put the top of the head to the edge of the disk so it cut down just a portion of the head. Careful turning, twisting and flipping, even going to where the edge of the disk was rising rather than coming down to the platform, I got a look on the head I like on the two I worked on. On previous owls, I would remove the corners where the wings were, then cut in for the belly. this time, I left the corners sticking out for the wings and amplified them. big improvement. The way they are carved makes it easy to spot which are wings and which is the tail. The dremmel did a good quick mob on the feet too, after I messed them up.
I need to make more blanks and now I have a good idea how to do it so it comes out looking great.
My brother showed up for about half an hour and I sat with him, sanding on the face vase, while he fixed something on his truck. I need to do more sanding on the face vase to get it to the point I can decide to finish it.
I need to make a quick blank and do some quick carving on it, then apply different finishes to the designs. I want the designs to be amplified. Norfolk Island Pine is light in its natural state. If the finish is soaked into the wood, it goes really dark. What I want to do is to apply some finish to the faces of the face vase so they remain light. I will then soak the vases and let the surrounding wood go dark as it absorbs the finish. That way the faces stand out. I need to make a piece to play around with to see what will work.
It was getting kind of ate so I packed up and headed home.
Tomorrow, I plan to play around with the second car, I need to turn some more owl blanks knowing what I learned today. I also need to turn a experimental project and apply simple carvings to the face to see how that works out. I also have to see what Mom has planned now that she is home.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 43, Day Two (week 514)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-08-09 Sunday
86 degrees (77 early morning, chilly), strong breeze, lots of small and thin clouds with some heavier puffs. Blue sky between and lots of sun.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
The cat was in a sweet mood today. That does not mean he was a nice cat. It was that he wanted company and attention enough to relax between my feet several times.
I started the morning on designing a second car for the secretary at work. I was doing this one as a Formula One car. I messed up, lost a piece and had to toss it. I will try again next week after I talk with her.
One of my big problems was that I wanted to cut an angle and the band saw was too short. I could cut the angle on one side, but not on the other side. I was cutting between sections I wanted to keep. I had bandsawed in along the drawn lines a bunch of times and chiseled the pieces off with a screwdriver. Had I thought about it, I could easily have done it entirely with the band saw and solve a lot of problems. One big problem was that a piece I wanted to keep on, came off, broke.
I decided to try something else half way through the process, of slicing the entire other side off with the intent to glue it back on, but one piece disappeared and that killed the project.
I added more epoxy to the bottom of the coconut bowl. I need to add one more batch to level out the base, get rid of the depression that is there. I have a lot of sanding to do on the inside. The epoxy I have inside, had fibers sticking out, making it rough. I ground them down but now have to even out the interior. I would love to try this again sometime. I know I can do it right.
some time ago, I took the top of a Norfolk Island pine and dried it. The top, while it is growing, is flexible and green. It dries out all right, becoming like wood, but it has a really big pith so it is not really good for any serious work. What I did was to turn it into a bell, with a handle. I have added super glue, epoxy and white glue in a design on the outer surface. I am soaking it in oil, right now vegetable oil. The wood darkens quite a bit as it soaks up the oil. I am trying to find out what would be best for the face bowl. I am after the faces to remain light and the rest of the wood darken. My test is to see what will protect the surface lightness best. So far, they are all working. The white glue is easiest to work with so that would be my choice if all three are equal.
I re-mounted a piece of pine from last week on the lathe. I hollowed out the ball, then made a short finial on it. I wanted to make a long one but it was wobbling badly. Had I thought of it, I could have used the tail stock to stabilize it, but at the time, since I was rushing to finish it, I did not think about that. This was a day here I knew several solutions, but did not think of them.
My main project is to finish things. Sand several projects such as goblets, face vase, ornaments. I have Carved ornaments to work on and finish up, more blanks to make.
I will see what I actually do Next Week.
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-07-09 Saturday
86 degrees (77 early AM, CHILLY!), lots of blue skies, Lots of sun, loads of thin clouds in a thin layer moving by really fast because of a 20+ mph breeze. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Mom was out of town again so I went directly to breakfast from home. I stopped at a couple yard sales after breakfast. One had nothing of use for me. They did have some medieval torture devices, such as a weight bench and an exercycle. Among other things. I tell people that back in the olden times, they forced people to use those machines or confess all their sins. I would have made up sins if I had to....
The weights looked interesting but was not about to even ask the price. I told them a joke. "At the health club, I bench pressed the bar six times. Then the jerks added the weights to the bar..."
The reason the weights look interesting is that spinning wood that is off center will cause the lathe to bounce, twist, and move. Adding weights to the lathe will keep it steadier, make the work smoother, easier to control, safer. I really don't need more weights but I gave it a thought.
At the good hard sale, I purchased some tools. I got a plunge router fitting for a dremmel. I got a small square, a angle finder, a small turning tool where the guy added a lock washer on it, so you can use the spikes to cut in grooves, One of those things that sides in the slots on the table, used to hold pieces square on various machines (forgot what it is called), A depth gauge, and a letter stamp set. It all cost me about six bucks. There were other interesting things I really did not need.
The cat had been alone, fed once a day by the neighbor, for most of the week. he was not in his best mood, and I seamed to find ways to irritate him. He went so far as to hit me with a claw. He did not stick the claw in, but I felt it. I did get to pet him some, but when he ran off to sleep, (after four feeding/attention sessions) I did not see him for the rest of the day.
Our secretary is taking college classes. She is in a science class where her group is having to make a rocket car. She gave me the specifications for it this week and I said I would try to make something for her.
I dug out a cedar post and cut the end off first to get away from any weathering and a bolt stuck into that end. I then cut it to length.
At the disk sander, I removed the paint from the sides, squared the piece off on all sides. I then sat down and measured everything out. The car I made is basically a wedge with wheels. Everything measured, I moves stuff in the garage so I could get to the drill press. I drilled the side holes first for the wheels. I then drilled the end for the model rocket engine. My forsner bit was not long enough. There was no way I could get to the paddle bits. so I dug out a brace and a bit that was just slightly bigger than I needed. all my others were too small.
for those who don't know, A brace is a hand drill. It looks like a crank shaft. This one is pretty good. It has a chuck, a ratchet, and appears to use ball bearings. The bit I chose has the wrong designed end. When I was drilling, it would wobble and I could not stop that. It must be dull as It was not drilling well. I dug out my battery powered drill and it wobbled even worse than on the brace. A four sided end does not fit well on a three sided end. I did get the hole deeper, but not deep enough for my needs. It will have to do for now.
I cut the waste part of the block off, made sure everything was sanded and left it as that.
I have the other half of the 3x3 I cut that from and tomorrow, will try something to make it "better". I will give her the choice of two designs to talk to her friends about and then they can tell me what they are really after once they have something to look at.
that palm tree bowl I turned last month is finally dry. the bottom is thin and set in on the bottom. I flattened the bottom on the disk sander, and then used the dremmel to remove the hairs on the inside. I was finally down to wood.
I then took some clear epoxy and filled the bottom depression. When that set up, needs more, I turned it over and filled the inside with epoxy and buttered all the surfaces. I really should not have needed to do that and should re-turn the piece to remove the worst of the epoxy. I won't though.
One thing I learned while messing with this was that I should dry the wood first. This is a long process since coconut palm is mostly water. I used a microwave to dry this turned bowl and it took a couple weeks of off and on heating for a short moment. A better way might be to put it into an oven for several hours at like a hundred degrees, several weeks in a row. Kiln drying essentially. I have no idea when I will get a piece of wood like this.
I turned my attention to the Christmas ornaments. I had the dremmel out. knifed the wing and tails of the blanks. The wings spread out as they go from front to back. My main task was to make room for my dremmel to go in and shape the back between the wings. By cutting the inside of the wings, It gave the dremmel space to get the back the way I wanted.
I did that on all my swan blanks to get them to shape. I have a lot of carving to do, but that was the part the knife cannot do.
I turned to the owls. I had made the blanks on the lathe. I used square wood, sort of like two by twos but slightly bigger. These owls are horned owls with tufts sticking up on the sides of the head. I turned these so that I can lop off some of the corners, leaving the horns, the beak, the wings and the tail, shaping the wood in between. Simple knife work to get them into shape.
When I turned these, I did the top of the head wrong. I was not exactly sure how it was wrong, but I knew it was. I figured out that I needed to knock down the dome of the head so it was about level to the base of the tufts. Being lazy, I turned to the disk sander and put the top of the head to the edge of the disk so it cut down just a portion of the head. Careful turning, twisting and flipping, even going to where the edge of the disk was rising rather than coming down to the platform, I got a look on the head I like on the two I worked on. On previous owls, I would remove the corners where the wings were, then cut in for the belly. this time, I left the corners sticking out for the wings and amplified them. big improvement. The way they are carved makes it easy to spot which are wings and which is the tail. The dremmel did a good quick mob on the feet too, after I messed them up.
I need to make more blanks and now I have a good idea how to do it so it comes out looking great.
My brother showed up for about half an hour and I sat with him, sanding on the face vase, while he fixed something on his truck. I need to do more sanding on the face vase to get it to the point I can decide to finish it.
I need to make a quick blank and do some quick carving on it, then apply different finishes to the designs. I want the designs to be amplified. Norfolk Island Pine is light in its natural state. If the finish is soaked into the wood, it goes really dark. What I want to do is to apply some finish to the faces of the face vase so they remain light. I will then soak the vases and let the surrounding wood go dark as it absorbs the finish. That way the faces stand out. I need to make a piece to play around with to see what will work.
It was getting kind of ate so I packed up and headed home.
Tomorrow, I plan to play around with the second car, I need to turn some more owl blanks knowing what I learned today. I also need to turn a experimental project and apply simple carvings to the face to see how that works out. I also have to see what Mom has planned now that she is home.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 43, Day Two (week 514)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-08-09 Sunday
86 degrees (77 early morning, chilly), strong breeze, lots of small and thin clouds with some heavier puffs. Blue sky between and lots of sun.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
The cat was in a sweet mood today. That does not mean he was a nice cat. It was that he wanted company and attention enough to relax between my feet several times.
I started the morning on designing a second car for the secretary at work. I was doing this one as a Formula One car. I messed up, lost a piece and had to toss it. I will try again next week after I talk with her.
One of my big problems was that I wanted to cut an angle and the band saw was too short. I could cut the angle on one side, but not on the other side. I was cutting between sections I wanted to keep. I had bandsawed in along the drawn lines a bunch of times and chiseled the pieces off with a screwdriver. Had I thought about it, I could easily have done it entirely with the band saw and solve a lot of problems. One big problem was that a piece I wanted to keep on, came off, broke.
I decided to try something else half way through the process, of slicing the entire other side off with the intent to glue it back on, but one piece disappeared and that killed the project.
I added more epoxy to the bottom of the coconut bowl. I need to add one more batch to level out the base, get rid of the depression that is there. I have a lot of sanding to do on the inside. The epoxy I have inside, had fibers sticking out, making it rough. I ground them down but now have to even out the interior. I would love to try this again sometime. I know I can do it right.
some time ago, I took the top of a Norfolk Island pine and dried it. The top, while it is growing, is flexible and green. It dries out all right, becoming like wood, but it has a really big pith so it is not really good for any serious work. What I did was to turn it into a bell, with a handle. I have added super glue, epoxy and white glue in a design on the outer surface. I am soaking it in oil, right now vegetable oil. The wood darkens quite a bit as it soaks up the oil. I am trying to find out what would be best for the face bowl. I am after the faces to remain light and the rest of the wood darken. My test is to see what will protect the surface lightness best. So far, they are all working. The white glue is easiest to work with so that would be my choice if all three are equal.
I re-mounted a piece of pine from last week on the lathe. I hollowed out the ball, then made a short finial on it. I wanted to make a long one but it was wobbling badly. Had I thought of it, I could have used the tail stock to stabilize it, but at the time, since I was rushing to finish it, I did not think about that. This was a day here I knew several solutions, but did not think of them.
My main project is to finish things. Sand several projects such as goblets, face vase, ornaments. I have Carved ornaments to work on and finish up, more blanks to make.
I will see what I actually do Next Week.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Model Railroading
It has been a while since I wrote about the model railroad project. I can say I have made progress.
My brother has been busy and has not been able to stop by since the first visit. I have been working in the train room though.
My brother and I each created our own railroads, with colors of the engines. My brother had the PUGET SOUND RAILROAD which is painted in orange and red. My TILLICUM RAILROAD is purple with a silver or white stripe. I chose that because I found an eastern railroad that had those colors and the engines were readily available at my local hobby shop. I just had to change the lettering.
We each had a second railroad, I had the KLAPATCHE BARGE company that was mainly working ports. My brother had the SKADGET RIVER RAILROAD which was a logging and mining railroad that operated steam.
Last week, I brought in from another part of the house a second two drawer unit, sorted through the railroad cars and put all the broken cars into the drawers I also sorted through my engines. Those that don't work are in the drawers also.
I found I have two GP-9 road switcher engines that run really good. Not at the same speed, but they can run slow, which is key to placing and picking up cars and making the day of running trains longer. They also pull a lot of railroad cars. One is painted for NORFOLK AND SOUTHERN and the other I stripped the paint off it.
I have three SW-9 yard switcher diesels, Two are Athern engines, a middle priced engine. My brother tried to improve how they run and slow them down and used re-gearing kits. These things run slow, but boy do they growl.
I have a 44 ton center cab yard switcher diesel made by quality engine maker. I once had it lettered, but weathering and other things caused the loss of any lettering on it. It was lettered for the Klapatche barge company.
I also have two F-units, painted for each railroad, that are made by Tyco. Tyco makes two different levels of engines. they make expensive engines, about a hundred dollars each, that run like watches. The other are what you get in the toy train sets. They either run full speed or stop, very little speed control. It happens that these F-units are the cheap type of engine.
The cheap engines likely will not be used, put into storage. Fighting engines that don't run perfectly is not worth our short time to model railroad.
With the cars taken off the layout, we still have way too many railroad cars on the layout. I should figure out how to put them on display. Of course, I really need to take everything out of the house and start over, either with a bigger house, or less stuff.
*******
Talking about less stuff, I spent this week cleaning the floor. The floor is almost completely clear. I have a little bit more to go. I mainly stopped when I filled the big box with the junk on the floor. I vacuumed the cleared section of the floor too which makes a big difference.
Since then, I picked through half the box, filling two kitchen garbage bags, one with stuff being tossed, and one with stuff being saved for now.
I need to do the rest of the box. The stuff that I will keep will likely go back into the box for now. I also need to finish the floor, which is mainly near the closet.
I will have to empty the vacuum cleaner, but when I do, I need to sort through the stuff sucked up as model railroad keepers can be small pieces and vacuum cleaners love them. Think of it as a archeological dig where they sift the sand in case they missed something.
*****
A few weeks ago, I picked up at a yard sale, crate like shelving. I had not decided where they would go. I finally decided to fit them into the blind corner of the closet, where I was storing the computer monitors. I then removed the "barges" my brother made and stuck them in the bottom two sections of the unit. This frees up room for storage bins on the shelving beneath the extension.
Our plan was to have interchangeable barges as part of our railroad operation. We would have sets of cars on them. Railroad cars would be taken from the trains and loaded on the barges as an actual operation. We would then lift the barge out and put it on a shelf, then slide in a new barge filled with cars and the engines would take the cars off them.
One problem all railroad layouts have, is that one only has room for a small amount of rolling stock. Every model railroad owner has more rolling stock than they have track space for. They end up with cars that get worn out from constant use, and cars that never get used because they are in storage. We had figured out years ago that having a barge operation is very intense, and enjoyable. One person could load and unload barges all day long. Our plan for a barge port on our railroad was intended to allow us to use all the railroad cars in our collection.
Handling the cars causes damage. added on details like hand rails and steps, along with couplers, end up getting broken. Also your carefully weathered finish and lettering gets rubbed off over time. The less handling a railroad car gets, the better.
We figured out that if we were to come up with a system where the cars are not handled at all, or at least very seldom, we would gain. The barges was a plan to solve that problem. The cars would be put onto the barge, a coupler on the rear end would keep the cars in place, along with a lid is slid down to keep them from jumping falling off if the barge is tipped.
The barge system would give us intense operating activities, which I will explain in detail in a future note, and would swap out our railroad cars so they all get the same amount of use. We would even be able to have special trains using cars that would only show up once in a long time, a circus train, a maintenance train, a train moving big equipment, and so on that one does not want to see on the railroad often.
Our problem with the barges we were making was that we never had the time, money, and at least back then, technology to complete the barges to be workable. This is one reason they are now being stored out of the way.
My brother has been busy and has not been able to stop by since the first visit. I have been working in the train room though.
My brother and I each created our own railroads, with colors of the engines. My brother had the PUGET SOUND RAILROAD which is painted in orange and red. My TILLICUM RAILROAD is purple with a silver or white stripe. I chose that because I found an eastern railroad that had those colors and the engines were readily available at my local hobby shop. I just had to change the lettering.
We each had a second railroad, I had the KLAPATCHE BARGE company that was mainly working ports. My brother had the SKADGET RIVER RAILROAD which was a logging and mining railroad that operated steam.
Last week, I brought in from another part of the house a second two drawer unit, sorted through the railroad cars and put all the broken cars into the drawers I also sorted through my engines. Those that don't work are in the drawers also.
I found I have two GP-9 road switcher engines that run really good. Not at the same speed, but they can run slow, which is key to placing and picking up cars and making the day of running trains longer. They also pull a lot of railroad cars. One is painted for NORFOLK AND SOUTHERN and the other I stripped the paint off it.
I have three SW-9 yard switcher diesels, Two are Athern engines, a middle priced engine. My brother tried to improve how they run and slow them down and used re-gearing kits. These things run slow, but boy do they growl.
I have a 44 ton center cab yard switcher diesel made by quality engine maker. I once had it lettered, but weathering and other things caused the loss of any lettering on it. It was lettered for the Klapatche barge company.
I also have two F-units, painted for each railroad, that are made by Tyco. Tyco makes two different levels of engines. they make expensive engines, about a hundred dollars each, that run like watches. The other are what you get in the toy train sets. They either run full speed or stop, very little speed control. It happens that these F-units are the cheap type of engine.
The cheap engines likely will not be used, put into storage. Fighting engines that don't run perfectly is not worth our short time to model railroad.
With the cars taken off the layout, we still have way too many railroad cars on the layout. I should figure out how to put them on display. Of course, I really need to take everything out of the house and start over, either with a bigger house, or less stuff.
*******
Talking about less stuff, I spent this week cleaning the floor. The floor is almost completely clear. I have a little bit more to go. I mainly stopped when I filled the big box with the junk on the floor. I vacuumed the cleared section of the floor too which makes a big difference.
Since then, I picked through half the box, filling two kitchen garbage bags, one with stuff being tossed, and one with stuff being saved for now.
I need to do the rest of the box. The stuff that I will keep will likely go back into the box for now. I also need to finish the floor, which is mainly near the closet.
I will have to empty the vacuum cleaner, but when I do, I need to sort through the stuff sucked up as model railroad keepers can be small pieces and vacuum cleaners love them. Think of it as a archeological dig where they sift the sand in case they missed something.
*****
A few weeks ago, I picked up at a yard sale, crate like shelving. I had not decided where they would go. I finally decided to fit them into the blind corner of the closet, where I was storing the computer monitors. I then removed the "barges" my brother made and stuck them in the bottom two sections of the unit. This frees up room for storage bins on the shelving beneath the extension.
Our plan was to have interchangeable barges as part of our railroad operation. We would have sets of cars on them. Railroad cars would be taken from the trains and loaded on the barges as an actual operation. We would then lift the barge out and put it on a shelf, then slide in a new barge filled with cars and the engines would take the cars off them.
One problem all railroad layouts have, is that one only has room for a small amount of rolling stock. Every model railroad owner has more rolling stock than they have track space for. They end up with cars that get worn out from constant use, and cars that never get used because they are in storage. We had figured out years ago that having a barge operation is very intense, and enjoyable. One person could load and unload barges all day long. Our plan for a barge port on our railroad was intended to allow us to use all the railroad cars in our collection.
Handling the cars causes damage. added on details like hand rails and steps, along with couplers, end up getting broken. Also your carefully weathered finish and lettering gets rubbed off over time. The less handling a railroad car gets, the better.
We figured out that if we were to come up with a system where the cars are not handled at all, or at least very seldom, we would gain. The barges was a plan to solve that problem. The cars would be put onto the barge, a coupler on the rear end would keep the cars in place, along with a lid is slid down to keep them from jumping falling off if the barge is tipped.
The barge system would give us intense operating activities, which I will explain in detail in a future note, and would swap out our railroad cars so they all get the same amount of use. We would even be able to have special trains using cars that would only show up once in a long time, a circus train, a maintenance train, a train moving big equipment, and so on that one does not want to see on the railroad often.
Our problem with the barges we were making was that we never had the time, money, and at least back then, technology to complete the barges to be workable. This is one reason they are now being stored out of the way.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Goodbye Blue Eyes...
There was a great sadness in my family this past week when we had to bid another member of the family adieu. Duncan, our 12 year old Siberian Husky went over the Rainbow Bridge last Friday. We miss him terribly.
The kids and I talked it over and decided we at least wanted blood work and an x-ray. So we did that while we were there, though Brian had to carry 69 lb Duncan to the next room. It was a busy day, so the blood work took a while to get to, but we saw the x-ray right away. There was so much fluid in his abdomen that you could only see the tip of one of the masses, but it looked to be good sized from the position and what Betsy had felt inside. Betsy told us an ultrasound would not have showed any more than that because of all the fluid. The kidney we could see looked about normal but his poor spine was all worn away from severe arthritis. Normally the parts of a dog's vertebrae that point downward have squared off ends, but Duncan's were very much arched upwards, so he was definitely in some pain from that. Another thing to think about.
I think of all of us, Brian was the closest to Duncan. They seemed to have an understanding of sorts and he minded Brian the best. My youngest son couldn't bring himself to say 'put him down' yet and we were still awaiting the results of the blood work. It was busy in there, and there is just the one vet and examining room, so we decided to take him home and talk it over, and bring him back once we'd all had a chance to say goodbye. The poor dog certainly had too much stacked against him. Betsy said they would have the blood work results right around closing time, and if we wanted to euthanize him that day, we could bring him back, or do it the next morning. I knew it would be best to do it sooner rather than later, but this time the boys had to make the decision. So we took Duncan home for a last goodbye (we live about 10 minutes away) and waited for the blood work results.
I think Brian needed to see it for himself. He had to help Duncan out of the car but he was able to walk to the house on the leash. Once inside though he basically collapsed on Brian's bedroom floor and was panting in exhaustion. His eyes were all sunken in, and while he loved the petting, you could see he was uncomfortable. I left my very strong and capable son alone with his dog for a short while, and when I came back to check on them, I could see that Brian had cried, and that he understood what had to be. Brian just looked up and me and said he knew we couldn't prolong this, that it was time. Meanwhile, I had been gathering the others together, everyone who could stand to be there was going with us - Stacey (who had driven us to and from the vet in her car), and Jason said they would go. Lee and my mother were to stay home with Stacey's son Ben, who was only 5. Lee would have come, but I didn't want Ma to have to be alone with Ben, she was upset too. Frank was trying to get home but time was against us.
Duncan left this world peacefully, with much of his family around him, holding him and petting him. He did not suffer any more that day, poor thing. We brought him home and he now has a grave on the hill near three of the cats he lived with, and one that I had when we first moved here.
I stayed indoors and watched Ben and kept my mother company to give Lee a break. Fortunately, Frank was home in time to use the tractor's backhoe to dig in our rocky soil because it was getting dark and was pitch black out by the time they finished. I fed Ben enough to keep a 5 year old from getting too hungry, and Stacey and Brian took him out to dinner and to pick up his tux, because Ben was going to be in a wedding the next day. It was also Halloween, so he was going to trick-or-treat that next evening. We answered what questions we needed to about Duncan, but kept the emphasis on life going forward. Tears were shed many times over the next few days, but everyone involved felt we had done the right thing for Duncan. And you know, that is what matters most.
They say that animals have no feelings, and they don't mourn, but I can tell you for a fact that is not so. I watched Duncan mourn his first doggie pal Honey, and all this week I have been watching Ranger dealing with the loss of Duncan. Poor guy, he moped for several days, going through the motions of eating and so on but not really seeming interested in anything but finding his lost companion. He sniffed all through the house, nose to the floor, and he searched all over Duncan's neighboring yard, leaving his missing pal a 'pee mail' on the tree his lead is connected to, something he would NEVER do if Duncan was there. We stopped putting Ranger outside during the day and are keeping him indoors with us so that he has some company. He seldom barks now and hasn't howled, but would mostly lie in his doghouse with his head on his paws. Indoors Ranger will go look for Duncan's blanket or his favorite sleeping areas, and we'd find him curled up there alone, sometimes eyes wide open and just laying still. Just the last couple of days, after the blankets were washed and the floor vacuumed, and some big fusses were made over Rangey (he got a bath, and his allergy spots were all treated) he has finally begun to perk up. He actually played with a tennis ball the other night, that is progress.
I don't know if we will get another dog. Not right away anyway. I suggested something smaller and more manageable, now that I am kind of gimpy too. I'd kind of like a rescue, but I will leave that up to the boys. As long as they are willing to help out, and share some of the expenses and work, I won't rule out anything. I'm sure Ranger could use a playmate again, he is the kind of dog that is very accepting of others. I watched him nuzzling the kittens the last couple of nights, now that they have lost their fear of him. We'll see what happens.
So while Duncan may have left us, there is likely another furkid out there just waiting for a chance to be given that empty place in our home and our hearts. In fact I was just shown the picture of a 1 year old female Golden Retriever that a rescue agency has up for adoption...
You see, true love never really dies. It is always reborn in the next opportunity to share your life with another.
This is how Duncan looked back in May of this year, getting old but still plenty happy and energetic. Oh, how the memories come flooding back...
We got him as a cute little blue eyed pup with pink inside his ears and huge paws back in November of 1997. I don't think there is a piece of furniture in my house that he didn't get his teeth into, and we learned early on that only the most indestructible toys were safe for him as he would shred anything he could get his teeth into. We crated him every night until he was too big for that crate because he was always into something. Duncan always had a stubborn streak and he was bound and determined to do things his way. If he was done with a walk, you either carried him or waited until he was ready to go again, because he would lay down and let you drag him. He loved to dig from a very early age and his nose was always either in the ground, or somewhere it shouldn't be - like in the cat litter box or in a garbage can. He wound up with what is called 'snow nose' in huskies, where they have a pink skin stripe in the center of a black nose because he basically wore the outer skin off. When we had him neutered, he pulled out all his stitches and had to be stapled. When he got a hold of someones socks or gloves, they became confetti in moments, or if outdoors, they got buried. He was an excellent pickpocket, and so fast you would never catch him in time. And if you punished him, he'd talk back to you. Duncan was a trial, that is for sure, but you know he was also a lot of fun too.
Duncan basically grew up with the boys, pulling them downhill on a toboggan, going for long walks with them, and sleeping in their rooms. He was never a well trained or controllable dog, he could run like a gazelle and he liked to chase small animals, so when he was outdoors and unsupervised, he had a sliding lead on an overhead wire about 75' long and chained to a huge oak tree on one end and bolted through a 4"x4" post set in 800 lbs of cement on the other end. That post is bowed and the cement is a bit tipped out of the ground, because he was always a strong and energetic dog. Originally we had him tied to a chain that attached to a very heavy wooden doghouse, but at about 6 months old he started dragging that down the driveway! We are talking about a dog who would dig tank traps all over his yard, and bury a mouthful of dog food in them to see what kind of game he could attract. He killed a couple of opossums and many mice that way, and also accounted for a couple of young cottontail bunnies and woodchucks. And all that was while he was tied up! He also dug up a lot of rocks, and it was not unusual to see him rolling one the size of a bowling ball around his yard - ditto with snowballs in the winter. Anything was a toy for Duncan but he especially loved tennis balls, which he would fetch back to you and drop at your feet; and he enjoyed anything he could play tug-of-war with. Duncan loved snow and he never cared how cold it was out there. He couldn't wait to get out in the morning. He also loved to rip things, and so we gave up on dog beds indoors and putting blankets in his doghouse, because they got trashed. As a pup he would sleep in his toy box or crate, and as an adult dog he had straw in the doghouse outdoors, and a blanket on someones floor when inside. But it was not unusual to see him curled up in the snow with some on his back, happy as a lark. He was a hardy dog.
There's so much more I could tell...
Duncan was originally brought home as a companion for our Golden Retriever Honey, who had grown up with Nikki, our malamute cross. When Nikki had to be put down at about this age, Honey was lonesome, and we figured she needed canine companionship. Honey initially hated Duncan, but over time they became the best of friends. When we had to put Honey down at 7 because of an aggressive cancer, Duncan missed her terribly. He would bark and howl all day, and roamed the house at night. So we brought home another puppy; Ranger, our chocolate lab, who was as cute and happy a pup as I have ever seen. Well, Ranger tried too hard to be friends, and Duncan would growl and snap at him, so they did not immediately hit it off either. But over time they became best buds. The folks that live up the road from me have three huskies, and they love to howl, and Duncan would always join them with a high pitched soprano. He even taught Ranger to howl, his deep baritone accented by a bark a counterpoint as he wagged his tail and looked to Dunky for approval. It's not easy to be an honorary wolfie. *s*
We'd been watching Duncan age rapidly these last couple of years, going from the frisky, rowdy, and energetic dog he'd always been to a senior who was having trouble getting into a comfortable position and getting up again. But he still was basically a happy-go-lucky guy with a stubborn streak and an attitude that wouldn't quit, right up until this summer, when he began to really slow down. Still, most of that I attributed to age as he was eating well and all the rest of the body systems seemed normal functioning. At his yearly checkup, the arthritis and some little skin growths were noted, but everything else seemed about normal. So we watched and waited.
Over the last few weeks Duncan stopped eating regularly, and he seemed to grow listless. We brought him in earlier than normal and he went outside later in the morning (both dogs have insulated houses and leads on wire runs). We would have left him indoors but he would pace the house all day, asking to be let out. Duncan was becoming much quieter and more sedate than he ever had been - that husky bounce and swagger was gone. While his appetite was never huge, he became extremely picky about food. We switched brands and offered a few choice table scraps, and those were eaten, but there was no zest. While his kidneys and bowels still functioned normally, there was more urgency about getting outdoors in time, and we had a few accidents. I figured Duncan was just getting to that age where we would soon have to say goodbye, and so we just made the best of it.
Last week though, we began to realize something more serious was up. Duncan had become very listless and was refusing to eat for several meals at a time. When he did eat, he just picked at food with no interest, though he would accept and eat a treat. He still begged to be let out, and would sometimes stay just out of reach on the back yard lead (it's right outside the door) refusing to come in. He felt thin in most spots, and his coat was rough and still shedding, but his abdomen seemed somewhat bloated. I figured it might be early signs of kidney failure. When he refused to eat two days in a row, My #2 son Brian called the vet Friday morning, and got him an afternoon appointment.
We had to help Duncan into the car, he just didn't have the energy to lift himself. We had been squeezed in and had to wait a bit, and Duncan was obviously uncomfortable because he kept shifting positions. He had a sudden spasmodic bout of diarrhea on the floor of the waiting room, which was a huge embarrassment, but luckily it was all dog lovers in there that day. At least we now had a stool sample to test, which came back negative.
When we finally got Duncan up on the table (he had to be lifted) Betsy, our vet, took all his vitals and noted that he was very anemic (his gums were pale). No temp or anything else, but I mentioned the bloat, and Brian said he thought he'd felt a lump in his abdomen. She prodded Duncan around pretty thoroughly, something in the past we would have had to muzzle him for, and he winced a couple of times. The finding was grim though, two rather large masses were in there. She suspected some sort of advanced organ cancer, and named several possibilities. And now, we were going to have to make a choice.
We could do blood work and possibly x-ray him, and that would at least give us a hint of what was going on. One of the types of cancer had internal bleeding associated with it, and that might be the cause of the anemia. Surgery was not going to do much to prolong his life, since Duncan was really too old to expect a positive outcome, and of course, there is a lot of expense involved in that too. We could opt for an ultrasound test which would hopefully show what kind of cancer and where it was located to get a more full prognosis, but she warned us it would likely still be inoperable at his age and current physical debility. That ultrasound would require a weekend stay and calling in a special team, which is expensive. Had Duncan been a younger dog and a better candidate for surgery, we would not have thought twice about ithe expense, but he was so exhausted he could barely stand and his age was clearly going to work against him.
The kids and I talked it over and decided we at least wanted blood work and an x-ray. So we did that while we were there, though Brian had to carry 69 lb Duncan to the next room. It was a busy day, so the blood work took a while to get to, but we saw the x-ray right away. There was so much fluid in his abdomen that you could only see the tip of one of the masses, but it looked to be good sized from the position and what Betsy had felt inside. Betsy told us an ultrasound would not have showed any more than that because of all the fluid. The kidney we could see looked about normal but his poor spine was all worn away from severe arthritis. Normally the parts of a dog's vertebrae that point downward have squared off ends, but Duncan's were very much arched upwards, so he was definitely in some pain from that. Another thing to think about.
I think of all of us, Brian was the closest to Duncan. They seemed to have an understanding of sorts and he minded Brian the best. My youngest son couldn't bring himself to say 'put him down' yet and we were still awaiting the results of the blood work. It was busy in there, and there is just the one vet and examining room, so we decided to take him home and talk it over, and bring him back once we'd all had a chance to say goodbye. The poor dog certainly had too much stacked against him. Betsy said they would have the blood work results right around closing time, and if we wanted to euthanize him that day, we could bring him back, or do it the next morning. I knew it would be best to do it sooner rather than later, but this time the boys had to make the decision. So we took Duncan home for a last goodbye (we live about 10 minutes away) and waited for the blood work results.
I think Brian needed to see it for himself. He had to help Duncan out of the car but he was able to walk to the house on the leash. Once inside though he basically collapsed on Brian's bedroom floor and was panting in exhaustion. His eyes were all sunken in, and while he loved the petting, you could see he was uncomfortable. I left my very strong and capable son alone with his dog for a short while, and when I came back to check on them, I could see that Brian had cried, and that he understood what had to be. Brian just looked up and me and said he knew we couldn't prolong this, that it was time. Meanwhile, I had been gathering the others together, everyone who could stand to be there was going with us - Stacey (who had driven us to and from the vet in her car), and Jason said they would go. Lee and my mother were to stay home with Stacey's son Ben, who was only 5. Lee would have come, but I didn't want Ma to have to be alone with Ben, she was upset too. Frank was trying to get home but time was against us.
When the call about the blood work came, it was nothing reassuring. Duncan's white blood cell count was severely elevated, and his liver and kidney values were not good. Brian took the call and he asked Betsy if she could please stay until we brought Duncan back. We wanted it done in the office to spare those at home who would not bear to watch. And then we headed right out.
Duncan left this world peacefully, with much of his family around him, holding him and petting him. He did not suffer any more that day, poor thing. We brought him home and he now has a grave on the hill near three of the cats he lived with, and one that I had when we first moved here.
I stayed indoors and watched Ben and kept my mother company to give Lee a break. Fortunately, Frank was home in time to use the tractor's backhoe to dig in our rocky soil because it was getting dark and was pitch black out by the time they finished. I fed Ben enough to keep a 5 year old from getting too hungry, and Stacey and Brian took him out to dinner and to pick up his tux, because Ben was going to be in a wedding the next day. It was also Halloween, so he was going to trick-or-treat that next evening. We answered what questions we needed to about Duncan, but kept the emphasis on life going forward. Tears were shed many times over the next few days, but everyone involved felt we had done the right thing for Duncan. And you know, that is what matters most.
They say that animals have no feelings, and they don't mourn, but I can tell you for a fact that is not so. I watched Duncan mourn his first doggie pal Honey, and all this week I have been watching Ranger dealing with the loss of Duncan. Poor guy, he moped for several days, going through the motions of eating and so on but not really seeming interested in anything but finding his lost companion. He sniffed all through the house, nose to the floor, and he searched all over Duncan's neighboring yard, leaving his missing pal a 'pee mail' on the tree his lead is connected to, something he would NEVER do if Duncan was there. We stopped putting Ranger outside during the day and are keeping him indoors with us so that he has some company. He seldom barks now and hasn't howled, but would mostly lie in his doghouse with his head on his paws. Indoors Ranger will go look for Duncan's blanket or his favorite sleeping areas, and we'd find him curled up there alone, sometimes eyes wide open and just laying still. Just the last couple of days, after the blankets were washed and the floor vacuumed, and some big fusses were made over Rangey (he got a bath, and his allergy spots were all treated) he has finally begun to perk up. He actually played with a tennis ball the other night, that is progress.
I don't know if we will get another dog. Not right away anyway. I suggested something smaller and more manageable, now that I am kind of gimpy too. I'd kind of like a rescue, but I will leave that up to the boys. As long as they are willing to help out, and share some of the expenses and work, I won't rule out anything. I'm sure Ranger could use a playmate again, he is the kind of dog that is very accepting of others. I watched him nuzzling the kittens the last couple of nights, now that they have lost their fear of him. We'll see what happens.
So while Duncan may have left us, there is likely another furkid out there just waiting for a chance to be given that empty place in our home and our hearts. In fact I was just shown the picture of a 1 year old female Golden Retriever that a rescue agency has up for adoption...
You see, true love never really dies. It is always reborn in the next opportunity to share your life with another.
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