Year 15, Week 05, Day One (week 702)

Year 15, Week 05, Day One (week 702)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-15-14 Saturday
   
    51 degrees early morning 75 degrees in the afternoon, blue skies early morning with brisk breeze, sky filled with puffs as the day wore on until they dominated the blue sky. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    We went yard sailing after breakfast. We hit quite a few places. I got out of it cheap. I got a light coat for two bucks, a Calvin and Hobbs book for a dollar. We then found a church yard sale.
They had electric wheel chairs, walkers of different qualities. I did not see any canes and was going to be leaving without anything. Mom looked in the same are and found a Quad cane and a regular cane covered in pink roses, almost unused. I purchased both of them. Mom got a book she had wanted.
I got rubber feet for the new quad cane. It is the next size bigger than the ones I had been using. It is lighter, the base is smaller, which makes it easier to handle than the emergency quad cane I was using. The rose cane is now at home in case I need it there. I already have two canes in the truck.

I brought up my small carvings and some turnings I had at home. I sat down and picked through the bins and boxes. It was a real surprise.
I found a whole bunch of Christmas ornaments I wished I had at Christmas time. It would have made the selection a lot better for people. I also found a extension cord switch box I was hunting for during the past six months. Plus I found drop spindles (spinning fiber into thread or yarn)  I had lost, and had no idea where they went.
What happened was that I had them at the art show last year, and everything went into bins and were delivered at home and never looked at again.
The extension cord switch box is what I use to turn on and off my mini lathe. I thought my brother had borrowed it and it disappeared. He did borrow it at one time, but that was well before the art show last year.
I had two broken pieces to take care of. One just needed gluing back together.

I did not get much else done. I was running out of time. I emptied a box and a bin, which helps. Some of the pieces will need a coat of varnish A few pencil heads I made previously needs a bit of paint for hair or touch up on faces.

I hope to get some work done tomorrow. Every thing I do now is one less thing that has to be done later. One thing I have to do is to dig out all my big carvings and examine them carefully as to their condition.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.





Year 15, Week 05, Day Two (week 702)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-16-14 Sunday
   
    49 degrees early morning 72 in early afternoon. Mostly blue sky all day, good breeze but did not blow around a recloseable bag I had sitting on the workbench. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I had crock-potted some turkey bones Friday and put them in the fridge. I took them out and put them back on the crock pot heating unit. I found it was not working. I did everything I could think of, Including plugging and unplugging it several times. Before I was going to leave, I took a spare cord out. It worked.

I grabbed some pieces off my shelves and took them to Mom’s. I washed them and then put them in one of the bins after they had dried. I had two broken pieces. One, the lid of one of my pumpkins, had the stem come off the lid. I drilled for a dowel and glued it back together. I had a sleigh I made the very first year I made Christmas ornaments. The edge chipped off in the center. I gently carved back the wood until I got rid of the chip. I have a little touch-up to do, and then paint it again. Bells and sleighs were two ornaments that never sold. They were not well made.

I had a Stanley bench plane that I had left under the awning. It was developing surface rust. I took it apart and cleaned it. While I was doing that, a little shaft disappeared. I could not find it anywhere. I took a small Allen wrench and after measuring it for length, broke it by rocking it back and forth, held in the vice. I put the plane back together after I finished cleaning it up. Mom came out and I mentioned it. She dug out a magnetic wand and swept the area. We heard a click one time and she found a screw. A bit later we heard a click and it was the shaft. I swapped out the allen screw piece. That went into my dremmel box. One never knows when something like that is needed for some project.

After lunch, mom was going to a President’s day concert put out by a local church. She invited me to go. I cleaned up the back area, putting everything away. The concert eliminated any chance of doing anything else for the day. The concert was great so I am not too sad.

I’ve been laying wrong lately and my shoulder has bothered me. Yesterday, I lifted my hand cart into the truck, and even when I was levering it in so I was not really lifting it, I felt it in my shoulder so I had to swap hands. This will just be another thing that will make getting ready for the art show rather interesting.

Next week, I must go through my big carvings and see what repairs have to be done and decide whether they will be easy enough to get done quickly or put them back on the shelf, repairing them after the art show. I do know that some will require new wings to be scroll sawed out. The way things have gone so far, I am not totally sure if I will get time to do that.

I will see what I actually do next weekend.