Year 14, Week 41, Day One (week 687)

Year 14, Week 41, Day One (week 687)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-02-13 Saturday
   
    80 degrees, blue skies, light breeze, some clouds here and there. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    When we started out, we only saw a couple yard sales, but since we had to do some shopping, we searched for more sales. At each sale, I saw things that were interesting, but really had no use for it.
    An example is that we were at a church sale and there were some two by two blocks for raising butcher block cutting boards up. There were a set of four furniture feet that might be used for a foot stool or couch. They were each two bucks a bag. I carried them around a little bit, then realized that I really did not need more wood. I cannot get to the wood I already have.
        So we hit half a dozen yard sales without getting anything. We then hit several thrift stores. I noticed that down here, clothing is big. 4/5ths of each of the big thrift stores was filled with clothing. Some of it was new. The goodies, the stuff I was really after, was along two of the outside walls  with a few short rows sticking out. Not a good selection.
    We stopped at one "garage sale" thrift place. They had baseball cards, signed prints of sports figures, and jewelry. None of them had anything of real interest.
    Right near by was a tiny thrift store and we went in there. I found a mandolin slicer that I got a deal on. I have a set that has six different blades. I found that all I ever use is the flat slicer. I will gift the other one to a friend who needs it.
    At one thrift store, we found suit pants that were good quality, fit me, and a really low price as everything was half off. We could not find a suit jacket of the same or similar tone anywhere.
   
    Mom is clearing out a bedroom that was once her office, then became a craft room and finally storage. She was getting rid of stuff to make room. She gave me all her film cameras and equipment. I will take them home tomorrow when I have time to prepare to bring them home.
   
    I did some wheeling and dealing and conned her into giving me her yarn stash. She has one project she started years ago, and wants to eventually finish it. She kept the project and the yarns used in the project. She gave me the rest of the yarn.
    What I got would fit into two garbage bags, but I split it up into three garbage bags. Talk about hitting it big time! This doubles the amount of yarn in my stash. It was all for the taking too!!!!
I can say that the cab of my truck was packed full when I left.
   
    I finished edging the blue scarf I had in process. It was a scarf that I had bad stitch counts because it was done in my truck with a pattern that one does not do in bits and pieces. The edging was to correct some of the ragged edges. Mom says the wavy edges are pretty good and told me to consider it finished.
   
    I started crocheting some Christmas yarn for a scarf. I had the chain six foot long and just started double crochet into the chain when I realized that this yarn is used in Mom's project. I gave it to her to put away. I then grabbed a Fall color ball of yarn, white, yellow, orange Burgundy brown, and did a five foot chain of that, and worked to the opposite end with double crochet, then worked about two thirds up the other side when it ran out of yarn. I found an orange that matched the orange in the yarn and ran that to the end. My plan is to stripe the piece in yarns similar to what the multi colored yarn was made of.
   
    We went to a craft store. I walked most of the isles. I looked for yarn similar to the fall color ball I was working but did not notice it. I am not sure if I would buy more anyway. We then went to a Party store. Mom is preparing for an event at the end of the month and was looking for supplies and ideas. The party store had nothing I wanted.
    We then went to the dollar store and since I did a whole lot of walking all day long at all our stops, I stayed in the car, not having what it took to walk another store. I always walk the dollar store and look in all the isles. Not today.
   
    Of course, with all our running around and digging out materials, I never got out back other than to feed and pet the kitty cats. For woodworking, this day was a bust, but for everything else, it was fantastic.
   
    Tomorrow I plan to work on some Christmas Ornaments. I might do some wood turning also.
   
    I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
   
   
   
   
   
Year 14, Week 41, Day Two (week 687)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-03-13 Sunday
   
    81 degrees, mostly cloudy with a few spots of sunshine. Strong breeze made the clouds really move. This Weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    I changed only one clock last night, the one over my computer. The rest of the clocks I changed after I got up. That gave me an extra hour in the morning to work.
   
    The Mandolin slicer I got yesterday works perfectly. I am happy with it. the set will be gifted next weekend.
   
    I dug into my yarn stash first thing. I pulled out all the containers my yarn is in, and then dumped out the bags of yarn I got from my mom.
    A month or so ago, I picked up a wicker clothes hamper. That now  has yarn. Mom had a lot of rug yarn. I put the rug yarn at the bottom of the hamper. I then sorted yarn by color, nearly all my white yarn went on top the rug yarn. Mom did give me one ball of cotton yarn and that went into my cotton basket.
    Sorting the colors roughly by color and size, I bagged or boxed my yarn, stacking things so they are not going to fall over by the slightest bump.
   
    I looked at my camera equipment. I used MANOLTA SRT cameras for decades. They stopped making them in 1979. I love them as when the battery is taken out, the camera still works because the battery only powers a little light meter, a single needle. The rest is mechanical. It happens that after all these years, the battery still is good.
    My other camera has electronic shutters and at the moment, because the battery is dead, makes a good paperweight.
    One problem here in Florida, because of the humidity, is that fungus will grow on the surface of the lenses, especially inside. My two long lenses, one a zoom and the other a telephoto, is totally unusable as the fungus fibers cover several of the glass surfaces inside. All one gets is a fog.
    I had like five rolls of film that were never developed. I have no curiosity as to what is on them so I tossed them.
   
    I brought home Mom's camera equipment and all her stored film, all of it in the fridge or freezer. That keeps the film fresh for extended periods of time. Once she went digital, she decided that film was too expensive.
    I have not dug into her equipment yet. All her cameras were battery powered and I do not know if I can get batteries for them any more. They may still be available but I will have to see. I know several of her lenses are in excellent condition. I will have to see what lenses she has and how that fits to my preferred way of doing photography.
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    I did do a little bit of woodworking. I dug out my penguins and touched up their paint jobs, corrected a few things with the knife. I have just a little bit more to do and I can sign them and call them done.
    I worked a bit of a leaping fish blank while waiting for paint to dry, but did not get very far. Mom wanted to go to some stores so I packed up and went with her. I never got back outside to work. When we were done, the work time was over.
   
    Next week, I really MUST carve some more leaping fish. the penguins will be done in about a half hour of work. I hope to come up with another, easy, ornament to carve. I need to have all the ornaments ready by the Beginning of December.
   
    I will see what I actually do next week.