Year 15, Week 15, Day One (week 712)

Year 15, Week 15, Day One (week 712)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-03-14 Saturday

80 degrees late morning, 85 late afternoon, good breeze, fully cloudy all day long, late afternoon showers that tempted me to build an Ark. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.

We went yard sailing. Together we hit a few yard sales and I picked up three stainless steel bowls with a plastic coating on the bottom. I also got a stainless steel strainer. I decided I like metal in my kitchen and will eventually weed out the plastic stuff (Knowing me, I likely will hang onto them “just in case”).
I later went out on my own and hit over half a dozen yard sales. At one, I got a whole bunch of pieces for THE MAGIC  BULLET food processor. This is one of those “AS SEEN ON TV” products. The commercials showed them making everything in just a minute. It is basically a small blender. I got a Magic Bullet years ago with two containers, two blade sets, and two caps for the containers. This set has dozens of containers, caps, and rings that go over the threads so you can use them for drinking out of. One of the containers is a pitcher and has a sieve that goes inside. When you process the food, the juices are thrown through the sieve and one can then pour out the juices from the rest of the pitcher. It came with a plunger too. I don’t think it is for veggies like carrots. I also did not have the jar on right on the blade unit. I will give this a real test some time later.  Right now, I have to figure out a place for all the pieces so they are available and yet out of the way.
I saw a push lawn mower. I did not ask what it cost. It was wider than most I’ve see. The only grass my mom has is a city swale between her circular drive way, between the sidewalk and the road. That push lawn mower could cut that grass in two passes.  No, I did not get it, but it was fun seeing. It was in new condition.

I’ve been sneezing and sniffling. We went to a couple stores so I got a few cold products I like. 

I had dropped my wood cutting board. It was glued up and it broke at one of the joints. I sanded the separated edges as there was a bit of wood hair of one board that went with the other. It was interesting to see how the oil I used on the board to protect it, had seaped about a third of the way down the wood along the joint there. I think it may have been through the whole thing. 
I used a lot of white glue (cannot figure out what I did with the yellow glue I have) on the joint, and then clamped it. I used a pair of clamps on the faces to keep the joint in line that way, and then a clamp end to end to hold the joint tight. I was going to use a clamp to keep the joint in line side to side but decided not to. I then set it up to dry overnight. 

It was around noon and I decided to lay down for a while. I woke at three and it was pouring out, outside and my cold flared up so I was getting sloppy. Woodworking was out, both because of the weather and because of my condition. 
The drive home was mostly slow highway driving for about eight miles before I was able to get out of the heavy stuff. 

How I feel will dictate what I do tomorrow. I do want to retrieve my cutting board and it will require some cleanup. 
I will see what I actually do tomorrow. 





Year 15, Week 15, Day Two (week 712)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-04-14 Sunday
84 degrees late morning, all blue skies, sunny, light breeze, Just a wonderful day. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department Of Tourism.

I got to Mom’s house and went out back. Something smelt dead under the awning. I first walked around  the back of Mom’s yard to see if the smell was coming from there. I then walked in the neighbor’s back yard to see if it was there. It was only under the awning. I did not want to know that. 
The equipment under the awing is aligned where I have a cart with the mini lathe and a whole bunch of junk. Then a wagon with stuff on it. Then a cart that has lathe tools and materials. Then the lathe, the drill press, then mom’s stuff. To get to anything, other things have to be moved out. 
I could not see the source of the smell just by looking, so I had to start moving stuff. I pulled the wagon out and saw the flies. I was worried that it might be Scarface as he is getting a little old and is always getting beaten up.
I then pulled out the cart and saw the source. A great big opossum died there. It looked like it got in there to hide and just died. I happened to have a new, unused garbage bag among my stuff so I bagged him up. Flies were everywhere. 
I pulled the lathe out so I could have better access to the area and I watered down the spot to dilute and hopefully wash away the mess. It really did not do a good job. When mom got home a bit later, she took out some bleach and splashed the spot and the flies then finally left.

I took the clamps off the cutting board, after I almost dropped it on the ground, and I found that I should have put the clamp for side to side as it was off about a sixteenth of an inch, which is gigantic when one wants to even it out. The top and bottom basically needed sanding and it was ready. I took the knife and shaved a bit of the transition of the “high” part of the offset and then sanded well on both edges. I worked both surfaces and the edges to clean it up a little. When I got it home, I washed it, scrubbed it with steel wool, and then oiled it. It is now ready to use again. 

I sat out in the sun for quite a while and it felt really good. I don’t get much sun during the week and really not a lot even on the weekends. I only took my shirt off for fifteen minutes. I am so white beneath the shirt that the reflection brightened the area under the awning.... I was not about to get sunburned so it was only that short time. Usually, the only tanning I ever get is on the arms and around the head and neck. 

The whole time I was outside, I felt nearly no effects of the cold. 

I looked at the platter I had made a few weeks ago and the sticks I rounded. They are drying nicely. It might be next weekend that I will remount them on the lathe and finish them up. I should cut disks off the big sea grape log so I can turn more platters out of that also. 

Because I was sick, I decided only to stay a short time, which amounted to be about two and a half hours. 
Tomorrow, I hope I will be in better condition and the weather will be nice. ‘

I just realized I should have taken a picture of the Opossum before I bagged it up. Darn. 

I will see if I can actually get some work done next weekend.