year 10, Week 47, Day One (week 569)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-04-10 Saturday

55 degrees at nine, 75 mid day. clear blue sky with a very light haze (not a deep blue sky), light breeze. After the sun was out for a while, it was a very nice day to be out and about. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourist.

During the week, I finished up my ornaments. I added paint, I decorated them, such as adding presents and bead ornaments on my little Christmas trees. They look really good. The only thing I did not do was add eye hooks, which I still have not found. I had purchased a bunch of them last week and just cannot figure out what I did with them. Two places I did not look today was in my dremmel box and my drill box.

FRIDAY:

I went down to Dania Beach as I usually do each month. The Dania Beach Water Gardens is closing at the end of December. I went down there to gather the stuff I had on display. Donna did not really want to say goodbye. I gave her two ornaments. I gave Tom an ornament, and gave one of the helpers an ornament.

I took my stuff over to the Antique shop I have my stuff on display and swapped out pieces. I rearranged the display so it looked good and showed everything off better, including his stuff. Some pieces I brought back could well be used as gifts or simply held till later.

SATURDAY:

After yard sailing, I got to work out back. The backyard beast did not get as much attention as he is used to. He did get some though.

I had gone and gotten some more eye hooks at an ACE HARDWARE, which is just two blocks away.
I finished up a bunch of ornaments with hooks, then fixed up two shell ornaments, one that lost the piece I had stuck the hook in, and another I made all new finials for. That one has a missing piece which I have to figure out how to replace. Should not be hard.
One thing was I was able to use cut-offs from other works to make some of the pieces I needed for these ornaments. It saved me from messing with large pieces of wood. The real problem is that there is a limit as to how much of these cut-offs you want to have around. They end up not being used very much.

I went to a yard sale by several members of the turning club. They had wonderful tools available, at prices I drooled over. My problem was I was completely tapped out. I walked away empty handed. Not really, there was some stuff to be tossed out and I got my hands on them.

I started carving on a piece of wood cut from one of Mom's plants and decided to get going as I had a stop to do.

Last week I had picked up some Sea grape. Tomorrow I want to make something with it. I want to make something from a piece. I also need to carve on some remaining ornaments. I see that the spool ornaments are popular so I may make more of them.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.




year 10, Week 47, Day Two (week 569)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-05-10 Sunday

52 degrees early morning. 75 in the afternoon. Stronger breeze than I like as it blows sawdust around. High "platelet" clouds with blue cracks. They darkened in the afternoon over the west and blocked out any sun that we were getting. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I started the morning by painting a bunch of cards. these cards are pre-printed for some charity. I got them at a yard sale. I decided to paint them with spray paint them so the printing does not show.
The wind made this a miserable process as the cards kept flipping, landing on the ground or on top each other which was worse. A calm hot day would have been better for this. I can use them all.
I ran out of white paint which almost needed three coats, so decided to use blue paint (the fullest can) which covered in one coat. I then got the idea to hit the edges with red, sort of a cloud effect. I planned on clouding the center of the inside with yellow so the lettering could be easily seen.
The process got stopped because of other projects so I have more to do next week. Once the cards are all painted with the background color, I will then paint images and letter them for my Christmas cards. I have no idea what images I will paint this year, but at least I am making the first steps on it. I do have blank, white card stock too.

While the paint was drying, I dug out some goblet bowls I had made from some wood I was given. The wood mainly became a platter, but I had room enough to make some goblet bowls.
I took some wood I had and made some long stems to fit the bottom of the bowl, and then another kind of wood for the bases. I have not taken the time to examine them carefully, but I think one is very slightly tipped. I can fix that no problem. I use white glue to attach them. When varnished, they will stay together. I have loads of sanding to do before I can call them done.

Each time I started to carve on my ornaments, I would remember something else that needed to be done. I got almost nothing done on the carving front. Oh well.

This weekend, I have given quite a few ornaments away. they got all messed up, in wrong boxes and separated out. I dumped them all out and sorted them, counting them. I have not gotten a total count, but do know that I have a lot of pieces to display. some could use more pieces made, but some likely will never be repeated.

My brother, with my help, replaced the starter on my truck. It took far longer than I ever expected. It was not even on the side of the truck I thought it came off when we replaced the transmission.
One wire gave us fits. It would not give us the room to maneuver it. It was only after we traced the wire that we found there was a clamp we could remove and that allowed the wire to move enough to work.

Mom's water heater is starting to leak. She and I went and picked up a new one. This was right after we got the truck all buttoned up and everything put away. This was our test of the starter. It works. I will watch it for a while. There is always doubt there, like there might be something else going on.
I do love having a pickup. I slipped the heater into my bed and got it home with no problems. Mom thanked me for helping her. This was why I got a pickup in the first place. I don't have to schedule with someone else and I can help others. I am always at Mom's house on weekends, so we use my truck to get her stuff when needed.

This week, I will have my ornaments on display at work. I strongly doubt I will sell anything, but will have them on display. I figure next week I will pick out pieces to gift, but at least this week, I will display them.
I am trying to be ahead this year rather than doing things the day of Christmas in hopes of getting done before having to go to meet the family.

Next week, I will finish painting the cards so I can do the artwork. I will try to finish up some more ornaments I have blanks for. I have some good wood to play with and should get onto them. I have some projects that need finishing up, some just sanding and some requires more work.

I will see what I actually do next week.