Year 13, Week 10, Day One (week 686)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-30-13 Saturday
   
    Blue skies, fast moving cotton puffs, plenty of sunshine. I have no idea what the temps were as I could not get to the thermometer to see the reading. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.

    Last week I was really sick. This week I have recovered quite a bit. The Doctor changed my BP meds and gave me an antibiotic. Other than having no endurance, I am doing well now. I lost 10 pounds and will see if I can keep that off.
   
   
    We visited three yard sales in the morning. Each had interesting items, but not interesting enough to pick up. One had a sleigh design basket with deer. Another had an articulated battle dragon. A third had some salt and pepper shakers I gave thought to and decided to hold off. I am sure I have some already. I just have to look for them.
   
   
    I had a little problem. Mom and her neighbor are getting hooked up to the new sewer out by the street, getting off the septic tank system. The entire side of the house is piled up dirt, blocking even the door. Across the back is the trench from where the system connects to the house.
    The trench goes across in front of the awning where I work. To get into it, I have to drop down into the trench, then climb out at nearly knee deep.
    I have a problem in that my leg is not working right. To get out of the trench and to my stuff, I would have to sit down on the paving and then get up onto my feet. I don't get up off the ground very well.
    I was told in no uncertain terms to stay out of the trench.
    I spent some time in the morning, examining the situation, working out how I might get to my stuff. My answer kept coming up with NO.
    I spent most of the rest of the morning playing video games and then some reading.
   
The trench that kept me from reaching my stuff.
 

    Later in the day, my brother showed up and he got me my dremmel boxes. It was too late to do anything, but I had them for tomorrow.
   
    It was extremely frustrating to not be able to do any work. Hopefully tomorrow I will get some work done.
   
    I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
   
   
   
   
Year 13, Week 10, Day One (week 686)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-30-13 Saturday
   
    No temp information, blue sky, soft puffy clouds moving quickly, bright sun, but strong winds taking the heat away. this weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.
   
   
    I still cannot get into the back yard, but I had access to my dremmel supplies.
    In my dremmel boxes, I have rods that I can make crochet hooks out of. Most are bamboo skewers you can get

at grocery stores. I do have some rods from other sources such as some reed.
    I dug out a folding table (the one I really wanted is captured in back where I could not access it), an extension cord and a chair and set up in the shade of some trees in the planter along side the driveway.
    I used a cutting disk and a grinding disk to shape and cut the crochet hooks. The grinding disk removed a lot of wood on the end, rounding and slightly pointing it to go through the loops of the yarn. I then used the cutting disk to make the hook and shape the throat for the hook. I basically had three sizes of dowel to work with. in Crochet sizes, I had D, H, and I. I have a sizing gauge to give me the sizes. I also had a bit of oak rod in the size of K.
    I worked each hook one at a time, and tested it with some yarn I had beside me. I had sand paper which I worked the entire length of the rods, and worked extra on where I did my cutting and grinding. The work has to be smooth or it will catch on the yarn. Several times, I had to go back and re-work some areas to make them better.
    The D sized rod, are the tiny skewers, the most common you will see at the grocery store. Crochet hooks made from them are a challenge. Being tiny, it is easy to make them too weak so the hook will break. I did that once. I just flattened the end and did it again.
    The K sized oak rod was so short that it needed at handle to be useable. the garage is filled with stuff on hold for the sewer project. I had to climb over stuff to get to the drill press. I grabbed a piece of dowel and had to go back outside and use the dremmel to cut a length off. I then placed it beneath the drill press and bore a hole in the center with it on end.
    I did a lot of hand sanding of the handle as it had some nicks and dings, along with other little flaws. Knocking off the edges also caused more sanding to be done.
    My glue was in back, where I cannot access it, but I found that Mom had some school glue in the kitchen on the table. that solved the problem of gluing the rod into the handle.
    I cut the reed rod in half before I made both ends crochet hooks. Not all hooks need to be really long. I also had some short skewer rods that I made hooks from. they were in I size and after making the hooks, I softened the skewer point. I have been poked by a few I left on when I made the long rods from skewer.
   



Eight crochet hooks I made today
 
 
    Of course, this was not what I wanted to work on. I wanted to grind on my dragon, which of course, was out back, out of reach. It is typical. One never wants to work on what is available, but instead on what one cannot get to.
   
    Next week is going to be busy as there are meetings going on. I do plan to bring my work down to the antique shop and put it on display. I could have done it this week but was not mentally and physically ready to do so.
   
    I will see what I actually do next weekend.
   
   

Year 13, Week 9, Day One (week 685)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-23-13 Saturday
   
    68 Early morning with 100% humidity because it rained over night and that was evaporating and filling the air, 82 high, blue skies with some clouds over the Everglades nice breeze making it feel cool and comfortable. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I got "slammed" during the week. Unable to sleep well, spitting up, not hungry, coughing and hacking, My mind not up to full power. I ended up calling the doctor and seeing him the next day. My blood pressure meds were causing the coughing. I had a couple other problems he dealt with. The next day, before any of the meds really had any chance to set it, I was at work and found my "higher functions" were unable to work such as tracking multiple pieces of information or withholding information told me. I could do my work much of which is by rote, but I had to plot my way through the information rather than plan ahead. I was surprised how little of my mind was actually ever involved in my work at any time. I started getting better as the week finished up. I learned another reason I love my job.


SATURDAY

We hit several places in our Yard sailing. I did not see any "goodies" in a couple of them. I walked away from each disappointed. At one church yard sale, they have it about each month, and it is getting smaller and smaller each time. A woman had some dragon items. I grabbed a calendar and avoided the books and stuffies.
One thing about the thrill of the hunt, you hope you actually catch something. when you leave empty handed, it is a let-down. I am at that point where I either KNOW I WILL NEVER USE IT, HAVE NO NEED FOR IT,  OR ALREADY HAVE IT. It saves money but not as fun.


We got home and I saw I don't have the endurance I used to have, by far. We settled in the recliners, turned on the TV and both slept. We did get up and check on things in back. I really wanted to make some crochet hooks, but had nothing left to do that.

By mutual agreement, I won't be going to Mom's house tomorrow. I will spend most of my time searching for missing bits of sleep and making use of them. I do have work that needs to be done but whether that happens is something else.

I will see what happens tomorrow
       



Year 13, Week 9, Day Two (week 685)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-24-13 Sunday

high 60s in the morning, low 80s in the afternoon, some sun in the morning but it was gone past noon. This weather report is brought to you by the city of Sunrise Department of Tourism.

I had lost a lot of sleep during the week, so I spent most of the morning gathering wayward bits. When I had enough, I would lay down and nap until they were used up. Then I would look for more. That ran out after a while, but I would find more after a long period of time.

I have not had much energy for anything other than some “big cooking” which I do some weekends. I get the urge in me and will cook something that requires a bunch of work. I will make my own noodles from a 1945 cook book, I have stuffed cabbage, made lasagna and stuffed peppers.
I had some hot smoked sausage that I decided I would not use any other way and am making filling for something. I might make noodles.
I did use two cutting boards I rescued a while back

I forgot to mention yesterday that I had started a scarf with the base at six foot long, the side of the scarf, and have worked across it, changing yarns with each row. I showed it to Mom and she likes it. The two yarns look exactly the same in normal light, but in bright light, their differences show up, adding beauty to it.
I will do four more rows and it will be done.

While sitting on the computer, here, I thought about having the mini lathe set up here so I could use it when I am home. I then spotted a major problem. I was on the computer at the time and would not shut it down for the lathe. That is why it is in a different location than the computer. I cannot do both at the same time.

I have a bunch of doctor appointments this week. I will see what is planned for next week. I am thinking crochet hooks, especially if Mom’s sewer work starts.

I will see what I do next week.

Year 13, Week 8, Day One (week 684)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-09-13 Saturday
   
    63 early morning, 68 when I got out back, breeze, clouds. This weather report is brought to you by the Pompano City  Department of Tourism.


During the week, I went to the bone doctor about my knee. they took X-rays and when we got together a bit later, the news was not good. the knee is collapsing. I will Eventually need a knee replacement. He gave me a brace for my knee to assist in pulling it a little true. the brace reminds me my leg is not right and because it adds additional dimension to my leg, the pants don't hang straight down now and you can see the angle.

I had some big plans for the day, but I appear to be catching another cold. I am a bit tired.

We hit some yard sales and I got a pair of small duck baskets that a friend of mine will love. A an indoor yard/collector sale I nabbed a third basket

We were kind of late and I went outside in the "warmer" part of the day, I was a little cool yet, and talked on the phone for a while. That took up a lot of time, but it was pleasurable.

I went inside and laid down in the recliner and dozed off. I ended up sleeping till about time to go to the meeting in the evening and was still too tired. I left extra early as I was not doing good. I made it  home safely and fell fast a sleep

For tomorrow, I have to bring home some bins from the art show and put some carvings away.

Will see what else I do tomorrow.     
   


   
Year 13, Week 8, Day two (week 684)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-10-13 Sunday.

I slept really late and half thought about not going to Mom's house. My brother came to Mom's house early so I got ready and headed up there.

I have had braces and such get really funky when worn for a while. I decided to wrap terrycloth around my leg first, than add the brace. the idea is that the cloth takes up all the perspiration and the brace will stay better a little longer. I do not know what that does to the efficiency. I will know when I see the doctor the next time.

Mom will be having a sewer put in and my brother was preparing there area where the pipe actually drops straight down to get to the city sewer elevation. When they rebuild the road, they poured the aprons leading from the road to the driveways. We found out that this was six inches thick. My brother and nephew worked most of the day on that.  Saw to cut slots to control the spread of cracks, my nephew slamming a sledge hammer down to create cracks in the area to remove, then my brother with a chipping hammer to try to worry the pieces off.

While they were doing that, I got my bumper out of the back of the truck and was trying to fit it on I found none of my crescent wrenches were big enough for the nuts. I was going to use my monkey wrenches for that.
I quickly found I cold not handle the bumper alone. the horns kept turning down and I could not line up the holes and keep the bumper under control.
During his break my nephew helped me get the bumper on and I got some nuts hand tightened. I knew instantly that my wrench was not going to work My nephew brought over a deep socket set and I was able to finish the job. It might not be EXACTLY straight, but good enough for government work.

My next project was to deal with the bins and stuff. I located the bins with the fairies and other large carvings and started putting them away on the shelves. I only had a couple left to put up when one with a VERY heavy base fell off. EEEK!!!!
The wings on two fairies were broken, and the mushroom of another was broken. All can be repaired with just a little work, and glue. I decided not to deal with that today.

Bins with shelving supplies and with my small carvings all went into the truck. My  bin of wood turnings went into mom's back room for now. I plan  on bringing them to the antique shop at the end of the month.

I am still tired so I am calling it a day.

Next week, I need to work on crochet hooks. I seem to be using up the ones I have.

Will see what I actually do next week.

Year 13, Week 8, Day One (week 684)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-09-13 Saturday

54 degrees when I got up, 65 when I got outside and got up to 75 degrees as a high. It was a nice day with cotton clouds up high. There was a nice breeze also. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
Yard sailing was pretty good. A couple people were basically getting rid of stuff. I got 23 music CDs, Half I will listen to only once. A few are keepers. I got all of them for $2.
I got a whisk broom, a folding stool, a stainless steel bowl, a blanket, two note pads, a paper plate holder and a basket for someone special. I think I spent a total of about six bucks. I think I like the stool more than the seated cane I got. It is smaller and seems like it might be a bit more stable.
I looked at a kitchen-aid mixer (the good one) and forced myself not to ask how much it was. I don't use the stand mixer I already have and barely use the hand mixer I also have. The interest in the stand mixer was just that it looked so good.

Once I got out back, I dug out all my bins and washed each of my wood turnings from the antique shop. Some haven't been washed since they were made. At the antique shop, they were near a door with a gap at the bottom so sand and dust blew in. I also had to remove some cobwebs from a couple pieces. I used my yard sailed stainless-steel bowl to hold the water and rinsed out the rag in it. I had to change the water once because it was getting so dirty.
I sorted supplies and emptied a bin and some boxes. I then put my big carvings into the emptied bins and boxes. I had to repair the wing of one of my fairies, and the wing of a butterfly. Both wings were scroll sawed and they broke where the webbing was thin.
I emptied out my carving basket and rearranged it. I found several items I thought I lost like some small skewers of a large diameter. I looked for them a few weeks ago to make crochet hooks and had no idea where they were. Had I looked a little closer, I would have seen them.
I sharpened all my knives, which is a tradition for me. The art show is an excuse to sharpen every knife I own. Early on, I dulled one knife and the other was not sharp enough either. At another I cut myself so now I sharpen every knife I have and located sheaths to protect the blades.. This allows me to start the year in good stead.
When I got out of rehabilitation for my accident, I got my mini lathe and my carving kit out of the shed so I could access them without having to carry them, which at the time, was a real effort.
Because my carving basket is not in the shed, a few knives developed some surface rust on them. They are now cleaned up.
I intended to make some crochet hooks with the dowels I have, but by the time I was ready for that, I was out of the mood and the time.
One problem I found was that just to get set up to sit down and not move around, there is a whole lot of getting up and gathering things so you can do it. Dig out the folding table from the garage, get the basket, go potty, get the coffee, get that bag that is blowing away,,,, One spends more time getting set up then actually sitting. Then you have to put everything away again.
Mom was going some place about the time I had enough. My leg was discussing with itself whether it should start complaining to me or not.
I see I would have been worse off if I actually set up the display table like I planned. Mom made my decision by returning some tables back to where I had gotten them. I am saving myself for tomorrow, where I will need it most.
I will have far more than I need with me and decide what will show. My fairies will be on display. My carved vases will be on display. I have a plate rack for my platters.
I plan to have my scarves with me too.
I showed Mom my scarves and she said that she had not seen them for a while and they look great. We agreed that I will sell my long scarves for $15 and the one short one for ten.


I keep seeing striped scarves in the how-to-E-mails. I know I could do a really good job if I went down the side for the whole six foot length. The problem is that the first row into the chain gives me the most trouble of the project. the idea of doing six feet of the first row makes me resistant to doing a scarf that way. I will do it, but will think about it first.
One thing about making a scarf that way is that when I run out of yarn, it sets the width, rather than the length. Of course, I could end part with down the length. It is also easier to do stripes. The yarn change is carried on the ends where tassels can hide it, rather than the sides.
   

I have the art show tomorrow and with set-up and pack up, it will take all day long.
I will see how I do tomorrow.


Year 13, Week 8, Day Two (week 684)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-10-13 Sunday
       
I am not sure what the temps were like as I was inside all day long. I think it was in the high 50s early morning I think it got into the 70s later in the day. I do know the sky was mostly blue and there was a light breeze and loads of sun. It was cool enough to enjoy being outside. In the 13 years I have done the art show, we got rain once and that was before the show opened last year. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of LightHouse Point Department of Tourism.    

   
I had a devil of a time getting to sleep last night. I ended up digging into my stash yarn at the yarn I had. I had two balls of pink yarn that has the tinsel running down it. They were slightly different tones and weights. I chained six foot long, and returned with double crochet. I cut the yarn, tied in the second one and started another row. I will stripe it with the two colors. In low light, they are the same, but in bright light, the shade differences are visible.

I got up with the first alarm at Daylight Savings Time 4:15 and got going with my morning.
At mom's house, we loaded the truck and I went to the show. Mom brought the loads in from the truck and I set up the table. The set up ended up taking less time than I expected. I had some idea of how it was to be set up from the last time. I basically had my biggest carvings on a raised back row and smaller stuff on the different level shelves and then the table itself covered by work.

There is a brunch where you get your food from a buffet, and then sit down at linen covered tables and waiters come around for your drinks and dirty dishes. Brunch was good. I over ate and then some. The coffee was not great, but everything else was good.

During the show, my pixies ended up being popular. I sold six of them. They were at a lower price than I normally sell them but they did sell. I also sold a spin top I made as a turning club  challenge, A pencil head, an elephant ornament, and one of my tall-man carvings. The tall man carving is where I start with a two by two that is can be twice as tall as normal and sometimes taller, and carve the person out of it. I try to use up as much of the wood as possible, so I will put the nose sticking into a corner with the ears at the other two corners. The shoulders into the corners and the same with the hips and knees. One thing I love to do is to have him turning around, but that was not the one I sold.
I ended up with a good show total. It was average for most shows I have done here.
What surprised me was that other than what sold, was what didn't sell. Other than the spin top, I sold no turnings.

I was on my feet far more than I should have. I would get up and point out things, some funnies like my turned pastries were hollow calories, my fruit plates were high fiber and low sugar. I answered questions about the types of wood things were made. I mentioned to one person that all the fairies are life sized.

I gave shaving flowers to all the little children that came by. I found myself with a big smile as they made their selection and a while afterwards. One girl got one early and it lost a bunch of the petals, so I had her swap for a different flower. A young brother looked forlorn so I gave him a flower too.

I decided to crochet rather than carve. My wrist was not quite up to it and I was not interested in the extra mess. I did use my hand made wooden crochet hooks. I ended up having to rip out eight to ten rows of the scarf I was working on  because I increased and it was really throwing me off. It took a bit to use up the ripped yarn and get back to fresh. In all, I don't think I really made a whole lot of progress on that scarf.

My leg held up fairly well, a whole lot better than in the beginning of last week. I know, though, that I will feel, I mean hear about today for quite a while from my joints.

I now have some more money to get tools and supplies for wood working. Now if only I don't mix it with general funds like I have had to do over the past couple years... All I asked for in my wood working was for it to support itself. It did it until the down turn, then what little money I got went to other things.

Other than suffering the rest of the week from all my work, and a whole bunch of doctor's visits, I have to put most of my wood working away and see about any projects that catch my attention.

I will see what happens next weekend.

Year 13, Week 7, Day One (week 683)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-02-13 Saturday
   
    54 degrees early morning, 66 degrees in the afternoon. Some blue skies, lots of sun with lots of light clouds. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
       
    Spring is coming. At one point just a month ago, I was driving to Mom's house in the dark. the sky was just getting lighter as we headed to breakfast. Now, there is a morning glow as I leave my house for the twenty five minute drive.
   
    There were not many yard sales. We went to a church yard sale that was relocated to an individual's house. I found a fuzzy blanket that is black on one side and a baby blue on the other. I decided I had to have it. It will be great when sleeping in the recliner when the temperatures drop down in the chilly seventies....
    I grabbed a hymn book and then mom decided to take the entire box which were all hymn books and told me to put mine back in. One hymn booklet was 1900, another was 1904, They are starting to come apart. I got my book, which was printed in 1968 back when we got home. Mom  also picked up two balls of yarn for me. One is fuzz and green and the other is bright red. They will be scarves also. The fuzz yarn is going to be a real challenge.





The blanket is folded over. It is black on one side and blue on the other. The two balls of yarn, bright red and green fuzzy yarns.




    I decided to do a few things with the truck. I went through the cab, sorting and re-stacking stuff. I found several items that I lost. It is easy for this stuff to become buried.
    When we had first removed the bumper on my truck to tow it back in November, we removed some fiberboard sheets that directed air into the radiator. Since then, after several attempts, we failed to figure out how to put them in.
    I decided to give it another try. As I was looking at the left hand sheet, It dawned on me I was thinking about them all wrong. I was thinking of it as MY left hand as I was looking at the truck. It was the Truck's left hand. The first sheet went in within about five minutes. The second sheet went in within a minute. They fit perfectly.
    I looked at installing the bumper and found that my sockets were not long enough. Hours later, It dawned on me that I could have used open ended wrenches.
   
    At around Noon, I headed down to the antique shop to get the work that was on display down there. It took some effort to get the hand-truck and bins into the corner where my stuff was. The passageways were tight.
    I was able to take my stuff out a side door that saved me a lot of work and reduced the damage of breaking something he had on display.
    While my display did not look like much, it took two trips to my truck to get the bins and boxes out there. By then, I was badly hobbled, back bothering me and my knee hurting even with my weight into the cane. I had a bit more running around there before I was ready to go.
    I stopped at a thrift store I like and did not buy anything. There were a couple things that were interesting, but not enough to buy them.
    I had tied a tarp over the back of the truck to keep things from flying around on the way home. I decided to take a slower route to reduce the chance of damage.
   
    I got back to Mom's house and It was all I could do to walk. I am still suffering badly from the Renaissance fair walking I did last week. All through the week, until Friday, I was limping badly. Friday I seemed to be doing all right. I now see I have not recovered.
    At a meeting we went to in the evening, my back was not too bad but my limp was exaggerated.
   
    My plan for tomorrow is to set up a table and practice my display.
   
    I will see what really happens tomorrow.
   
   


Year 13, Week 7, Day Two (week 683)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-03-13 Sunday
   
    54 degrees early morning, 66 degrees in the afternoon. Some blue skies, lots of sun, but plates of high shield clouds all over. At about three, the sun went behind the clouds and the wind took on a cool feel. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    My plans was to set up a temporary three foot wide, eight foot long table and set up my work in the display I plan to use for the art show. The idea is to examine my work and see what condition they are in, see what looks best where, check for missing price stickers, and repack everything in order to speed the setting up of the display next time.
    Plans changed. I was moving like an old man. I grabbed all my knitting needles as a secondary project and headed to Mom's house.
    I sat down, partly in the sun, at the workbench next to the fence and laid out all my knitting needles. I placed them together based on their sizes. I had a size gauge template for checking the ones with no markings. I also found a few that were mis-marked. I later bundled all the same sizes together.
    My original plan was to make as many complete sets as possible. There are a couple sizes where there are two or three of that size. Bundling them together turned out to be a better idea.
    I went through the broken needles. I re-pointed nearly a dozen of them. They need more sanding, but if needed they could be used. Basically, I used the disk sander and holding the needle at nearly in line with the disk and spinning the needle against the sanding disk. I later took a emery board used for finger nails to clean up my sanding job. I need to use a fine sand paper to finish them off, but was not in the mood to dig the sandpaper out.
    There were a few that could not be remade or I chose not to. One plan with the broken needles was to make them into crochet hooks. I still can, but don't have to. There were other things with my collection so I consolidated them. It all fits better into the space I have. The needles are not just jumbled together now.
 

 bundles of needles grouped in sizes.
    
 
 These needles were repaired. Needs a little bit more sanding to finish them.
 Needles in original packages. Also super sized needles
 
 Small needles and accessories. There are a bunch of circular needles.





    My brother arrived as I was taking pictures of my needles, and then we sat in the sun and talked. My body was not in the mood to do much more than sit and talk.
   
    I wanted to ALSO set up my display Saturday for extra practice. Considering how bad I felt yesterday after getting my work together, I figure I will wait until the day of the show and just "wing it" on setting up the display.
    I do have to box up my carvings and that will take some time and effort. They cannot be stacked on top of each other as they are delicate.
   
    I will see what I actually do next week.