86 degrees in the morning, 94 in the afternoon, no breeze in the morning picking up as the day went on. They sky had high sheet of thin clouds early, went to mostly blue with sun, then thunder boomers started building over the Everglades as I was packing up. I did drive through some wetness on the way home, but it was not hard, barely enough to warrant windshield wipers. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
My weekend was all mess up. I needed to work Friday to try to get a special project done. I got a lot of work done, but a half hour before I went home, I learned I have to change a whole bunch of stuff. I had not worked Fridays for almost three years now. Not having Friday off left out a lot of projects I intended to work on.
I have determined that the nail gun I got last week in inadequate. It won't set the nails deep in any wood of substance. I have to relocate the sales slip and then take it back.
The turning club gave a wood alert about a Norfolk Island Pine cut down near my mom's house. Right after Breakfast, I dashed over and got some wood. There were some big chunks, about two, two and a half, feet long that I would have loved to take but I could not lift them. I likely could, but chose not to.
I got back and had to fill 12 buckets of gravel. I then poured out 10 of them into the third front planter. We had to depot a palm tree that had started going into the ground and stuck it into another pot, only to find that the new pot was the same size as the old one. Again, mom did a whole lot of work before I arrived and she put down newspaper and cardboard before I put down the gravel. Soon, Mom will work in the back yard.
House planter. Stuff to the left was found hidden within the planter as mom cleaned it up.
The first planter we did, right out by the new sidewalk.
side planter from house side.
side planter from the street.
I cleaned off the branches, removing the fresh growth containing the needles and stuff. Norfolk has weak branches that will break off if there is too big a wind, protecting the tree. Hurricane Wilma stripped a lot of the branches from the Norfolk, but they remained standing, though not always as tall. They looked sick after the storm. They are now filling out nicely.
Norfolk is a fragile tree. When the Europeans first saw them, they were excited that they would be great masts for their ships. When they cut them down, they shattered on impact with the ground.
Wood turners love them because the wood, when one adds oil to them, develop great colors. The branches grow in a ring, then there is a space and then another ring of branches. The wood turners love the effects of the knots running through their work, especially if they follow the surface of the work.
first day's collection of wood. branches are for figurines
I filled the garbage can and took it out to the curb in time for the garbage truck to take them. I had some branches I had gathered from Hurricane Wilma and bugs got under the bark and ate holes into them. I stripped the bark off and they weathered nicely. I finally decided they were no longer needed and took them out to the curb with the garbage and they are gone also. I will likely kick myself later as I will see I had a great use for those...
I took a branch from the new tree and cut it into sections. One branch was pulled out of the tree and it had sort of a fire look to it. I removed the bark from it, and then carved a little bit of the flame. I mounted it on the lathe, after the cat decided to stop sleeping beneath it, and started turning the handle of the torch. I made a mistake on the centering of it and turned it off center near the flame. I have not decided whether it ruins it or not. I likely will finish it anyway. It just won't be near as good. I will try to re-center it on the flame and then finish the handle.
I spent most of the day working on a crochet project. I am making a bag to hold my crochet in the truck. It is made up of bits and pieces of yarn tied together, known as an odd ball. I finished the bottom and started up the sides. This is mainly a red-light/ doctor's office/ laundry mat/ type project. It was a way to sit in front of the fan and cool down while petting the cat once ion a while.
At home I have nearly finished a dress for my teddy bear. I will start planning on making a few stuffed animals next.
Side view of teddy bear dress. The brown the yellow follows was supposed to be the front, but it was too big.
The other side view
I made a few little corrections on the dress. I decided turning it inside-out made it look better.
The bottom of my yarn bag. colors are bits and pieces of yarn, made into a ball, referred to as an ODD BALL It will hold the yarn I work with in the truck at stop lights, doctor's offices and other places where I will be working. it will be much taller.
tomorrow, I will visit the wood pile again and see what I can pick up. My own wood pile is bigger than it should be and really should not be added to until I use some of what I already have. Norfolk is fairly rare for me so I want a bunch of it and it tends to last a while.
The mango tree is getting thin on fruit. The owner said that when it is done, he is going to cut it down. He is going to give me some pieces of wood from it. I may dig through my wood pile and get rid of some wood that has been there a while. It is good to look to see what I have anyway. I have some oak that should be debarked to bother the bugs that are eating it.
I will likely finish the torch I started. I need to make a spout for my tea pot. I have two vases that need to be carved. I, of course, have lots of wood to turn. I could also machine some metal.
On a lower level of priority, I could dig into my wood pile and sort it. I could empty the shed and re-arrange it. I know Mom will have an early morning project to work on. I should do a little work on the finish of the bed of my truck. The rails need to be sanded and then given several gloss coats.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
Year 11, Week 24, Day One (week 598) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 06-25-11 Saturday
86 degrees early morning, 96 degrees in the afternoon. Clouds changed from high feathers, puffs, blue sky, big shield coming from the everglades. We heard thunder as we were packing up but it was nowhere nearby. This weather report was brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
On the way to Mom's house, I picked up a few more pieces of wood. these were bigger than what I got yesterday. One was all I could move around. the rest was too big.
I got home and stuck them into the back yard, then went and got ten more buckets of gravel. All the buckets are filled now. Mom will use them around the plants. I figure in one or two weeks, that gravel will be gone.
my whole wood pile laid out. Older stuff are by the concrete, new stuff are close.
Another view of all my new wood
My next project was to get pictures of all my new wood, then unload the wood pile entirely. I also took pictures of it laid out.
I then removed two cacti that was against the fence behind the shed. I could not get the roots out but I butchered them nicely.
I finally put my wood pile back together. When half the wood was in place, I tried to cut one big piece in half. My electric chain saw was dull and in the sun, kneeling down, the job turned out to be too tiring, especially after all the hauling I did earlier. I might try it again some other time. I got it into the wood pile and put the last of the wood back in place.
One thing I found was that I have a lot of wood. I forgot I had all that wood. That is one reason to unload the wood pile, to see what you have periodically. I will forget soon, but for now I have a good idea of what I have.
I did toss a few pieces of wood that I knew was no good. I had some pieces of a Dade county pine that had died and was cut down. The wood splits too easily so I got rid of it. There were a few bug eaten pieces of wood I also got rid of. I have a large number of pieces that have been there for a lot of years that seem solid yet. I really should try a few of those to see how they work.
I did a little turning on my torch and made a mistake. It ended up not centered and I did not realize it until I had gone too far. I did some correcting, but will have to do more. I think it will look pretty good when done. Now if I had made the steady rest like I was supposed to, I could have solved this problem quickly. Oh well.
The torch. I got the fire end off center.
My brother finally showed up after being too busy for a month. He decided to make some clocks and cut some wood for them. The sheet was too wide for the band saw so he used my battery powered jig saw until it ran out of power, I have to charge them now. He then used a Saws-all to finish up the rough cutting. He did glue one part together, he is making two clocks, and we ran out of time.
Next week, I have a large number of projects to work on. I likely will have to help mom with some of her big plants as she worked her back yard garden.
I have lots of wood to work on and even more projects.
I will see what I actually do next week.
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