Year 14, Week 51, Day One (week 697)

Year 14, Week 51, Day One (week 697)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-11-14 Saturday
   
    84 degrees, strong puffs that thinned out as the day went on. Good breeze to blow fine sawdust around, and gusts to blow loose hats off. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    DURING THE WEEK.

    I had one last gifting to do mid week. It is a group of good friends that meets on Wednesdays at a chain restaurant. When we last met, I had my first batch of Christmas Cards only started. We have not met for several weeks because of the holidays. Since then, I made a batch of 20 cards that went to some friends and to work, I modified the remains of that batch to help the design a little bit. I then did another batch of 28 which went to family. Finally, I made a batch of 10 for this group of friends. Out of the batches, I think I have five or six cards left.
    I also finished a scarf I started just before Christmas, and then found another scarf and improved on it. They went to two special people, our waitress who remembers what everybody is having (except me who never gets the same thing twice) and to the one who started this group. Both loved the scarves.
   
   
    SATURDAY
   
    We hit a few yard sales. I picked up a pair of battery powered fans. We do get power outages here in Florida so having a way to move air can be nice. They take eight D cells. I have no idea how long they last on fresh batteries.
    I also got a wide set of beaters for a blender. There were dough hooks, which caught my eye. I found out later that they are too small for my stand mixer, and too big for my hand held mixer. I have ideas of how to solve that.
    At another yard sale, I got a set of stainless steel measuring cups. These are the expensive style with a U shaped rod as the handle.
    I stopped at a thrift store and got some burner elements for my electric stove. I got all three for three dollars. In the store, one element starts at ten bucks. Over the years, I have had to replace a couple so this is a good buy.
   
    I wanted something quick and easy to work on so I made another pair of drum sticks. I am getting a handle on how to make them right. I worked out one trick that helps a lot. the ends are tough to do. I slipped it inside the jaws of the chuck, where it goes partially into the head of the lathe (which is a hollow pipe) and clamped down the jaws so the base of the jaws did the holding. While there was a wobble, I was able to clean the ends up and shape them, mostly with really heavy sand paper. The narrow end goes in deep, while the but end only goes in a short distance.
    With one drum stick I was working on, the end the tail stock was holding, was starting to split. That is usually the end that I would make the tip of the drum stick. It is not good for that to be breaking. To solve the problem, I swapped ends. The but end with a crack is not going to be a problem as it is simply being held.
   
    I made a run to the antique shop that has some of my work on display down in Dania Florida. The Candlelight Antiques, on US-1 at Dania Beach Boulevard, has my work on display for many years. I went down there to touch base, which I had not done in several months, and to let him know that I will be picking up my work next month.
    I got notice that the art show I do in Light House Point Will be March 9th. I gave the owner of the antique shop warning I would be picking up my stuff for the show.
   
    After I got back from the antique shop and had lunch, I went out back and sanded and varnished the drum sticks. I also had a drum stick given to me that was a bit chewed up, a natural effect of hitting the edge of the Cymbals. I mounted that in the lathe and sanded it until all but some dents remained and varnished that.
   
    I put Momma Kitty on my lap. I found what she really wanted and she melted. I was sitting there with a furry puddle of cat on my lap! I had my laptop next to me and started working with that. As my left hand let  her to touch the keyboard, her paw would rise up to intercept it. I finally concentrated on the keyboard for a minute and the furry puddle came back together into a cat and she hopped down. Her expression was that of disappointment.
   
    That pretty much ended my day. I should sand and varnish the drum sticks again, and I might try some other simple turning project.
   
    I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
   






Year 14, Week 51, Day Two (week 697)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-12-14 Sunday
   
    78 degrees, Sunny, nice breeze with hat blowing gusts, blue sky with feathers and mist really high, mostly to the south. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    What was supposed to be an early start turned out to be a late start after I laid down for "a few moments" and went out like a light.
    I stopped at a yard sale that we had visited yesterday. The precedes were going to a charity. I saw some stainless steel bowls and matching sieves and after I left, I figured out that I could make use of it. I saw that they were still having a sale so I stopped by. The bowls ere gone. Darn. They mentioned about tools in back, so I went and had a look. I ended up getting a pair of very large hammers. One is sledge on one end and a wedge on the other, likely for working with stone. I then found a very large ball pene hammer. These will end up with my brother.
   
    As soon as I got home, we went out to lunch at THE CRACKER BARREL RESTAURANT. There is one three miles from my mom's house.  Again, we were looking at items hanging from the ceiling within the store, figuring out what they were, and how they were used. I figured out the basics of a couple things I did not notice the previous time. While I did not know what it was actually used for (logs, hay bails, etc), I could figure out the mechanics of the equipment.
   
    I finally got outside and after dragging the lathe out at least part way so I could use it. I sanded and touched up the drum sticks I had made. I think I put in more scratches than I took out. I did fix the end of an older pair I had made.
   
    This week, is The turning club meeting. I am going to go to it. I have no idea how badly I will suffer the next day as it has been nearly a year since I showed up. I have very little to show off.
   
    I will see what I actually do next week.