Year 16, Week 14, Day One (week 750)

Year 16, Week 14, Day One (week 750)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-25-15 Saturday
   
    84 early morning, 94 late afternoon, breezes strong enough to blow hats off, (chased my hat the length of a car and caught up to it as it stopped just before going out on the road.). Blue sky with a strong haze early morning. Some puffs built as the day wore on. Late afternoon, large columns developed to the east, only to rush over the Everglades. A couple hours later, Thunder heads built over the Everglades again and wind pushed some wetness onto the ground over us, but nothing of the real downpours. It was just enough to know it had come, before the thunder heads headed west again. This weather report is brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    We saw a church yard sale down the block. They had a lot of tables but less than they had at other times. They had some things I had not seen, which was nice. I rubbed the bellies of the teddy bears (Teddy bears love their tummies rubbed) as I walked by. It was the least I could do as I did not dare anger the teddy bears I already have by bringing home more.  I ended up picking up a tortilla press. This is cast iron and well made. It had some surface rust which I know how to clean up. It dawned on me that my kitchen things is becoming cast iron and stainless steel. I don’t use plastic all that much any more.
    They had a set of ceramic pots, large and serving size, that were pretty, but I have no use for them and no place to show them.  I ended up also getting a book. When I made my purchase, I paid a little extra as a donation.
    We checked one of our “rabbit runs” and only found a couple yard sales.  They had nothing of interest. We were about to head home when wefound another church yard sale. They have had two other yard sales this year. I found myself looking at another cook book. I remembered that I have too many already. I decided to look to see what they had on the three or four things I make or want to make using the cook books. This book was not helpful or did not have them, so I set the cookbook down. I’ve decided I should use that for any new cook books I might get and will also use that criteria with the books I already have, that I should unload. They had an electric organ that they have tried to sell before. It turned out to be very good, and at a good price. Mom purchased it for a little church she goes to.
    We got home, and returned with my truck. Two people put the organ into the bed of my truck, and then when we got to the little church, two people took it off the truck and onto a dolly. Mom and I together rolled the organ into the church. This is why I love owning a truck. I had it available to do this for Mom. Otherwise, she could not have transported the organ.
   
    A while after we got home, I dozed off in the chair. When I woke, we decided to go to the Chinese buffet. The food hit the spot and I over ate, which is usual. When we got home, I petted the kitty, leaving her disappointed with how little attention I ended up giving her. The clouds had built up big at this time. I went inside napped, watched some TV before ending the day.
   
    I have several small but time consuming projects for tomorrow.
   
    I will see what I actually accomplish tomorrow.
   
   
   


Year 16, Week 14, Day Two (week 750)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-26-15 Sunday
   
    80 degrees mid morning, 95 early afternoon, flags blown straight out, blue sky with a heavy haze, a lone puff here and there closer to the horizon, not more than five in the entire sky. This weather report is brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    During the week, I replaced a couple tires that were worn. I found that I could not unlock the padlock that keeps the tire in place. My original plan was to replace the spare tire with something that fit the other tires.  The key part of the lock corroded so you could not slip the key in. I grabbed my dremmel and an extension cord and cut the hasp of the lock. I went through two cutting disks to get through. They chose very hard metal for a reason. I worked lithium grease into the hasp and key holes of the lock in hopes to extend the life of the lock.  I then found out that my brother replaces his padlocks each year as they corrode too much.  I am glad I did not get a flat tire before this. It would have been horrible to not be able to release the spare and be stuck.
   
    Mom said that the church group that uses the little church in the early morning (her group that owns the building and meets late morning) set up the organ and removed the keyboard they were leaving there for their use. Mom said that when she arrived, she could hear their music from across the parking lot as they had their music cranked up to full. Mom had to take some time to figure out to turn down the volume on the organ as she did not know where the control was. I guess the organ is appreciated.
   
    I have a couple food processors that use a post to hold the accessory slicer-grater attachments. Several weeks ago, I had made a new post for one of my food processors. I decided I was going to make another one. I had a few pieces of Sea Grape that were near the right size. I carefully examined them with the food processor next to me and found that the best one got narrow on one end. I used the disk sander to square it so it would fit the square part of the attachment, but when I checked for the fit for the round end, it was just too small and on an angle. I need to split some more sea grape wood to get a piece the right size. I had something else to do first. When splitting with the grain, the wood does not always split square. I know there is a technique where you apply pressure in or out to guide the crack straight, but I cannot remember which does what. I seem to remember it was counter-intuitive. Since I know that, I am really thrown off. I am not using optimal tools for this either. I just try to get what I can use.
   
    One of the problems of making the food processor post is centering the square on where it will be round. On the one I made previously, I did a little better than eyeball the center. What I needed was a four jaw chuck for the little lathe. It has a three jaw chuck which is great for holding round stock, which one usually works with on the lathe. When a three jaw chuck holds a square piece, it ends up off center because one of the corners always meets one jaw while the other two catch more of the flats. I thought I had a four jaw chuck in the lathe-box, so I decided to take everything out and see what I could find.
    I got the box down to the bare wood (plywood box) and then sat and sorted things. My brother and I have been searching for a “rotary table” for some time. We’ve known we have it but could never find it. It turned up in the lathe box. It was far smaller than I thought it was.  The rotary table allows one to rotate a piece to a different angle when machining. You can set specific degrees to work. It is key if one wishes to make gears, which we eventually would like to get into. I never found the four jaw chuck for the lathe. I did find several face plates with attachments to where, with some skill and knowledge, one can get a piece centered and hold it there while you work.
    All the stuff in the box tends to flow on top the lathe when everything is put in so one has to push stuff out of the way to get the lathe out, and also push stuff back out of the way to put the lathe back in.  I took a piece of thin wood, which I had picked up for scroll sawing, and put that in as a divider to hold the “debris” in place. Then came the project of loading stuff back in. I decided to put the stuff I know I will not use any time soon, on the bottom and stacked stuff in the order of likely-hood of being used soon. It helps, but I was surprised at how much stuff that turned out to be. Some stuff will have to go elsewhere eventually. The only thing I actually took out of the box was two sheets of sandpaper.
   
    Everything was pretty much picked up in the process. The dinner bell rang so I finished packing up and ending my day. Another project I wanted to work on was that I have two teddy bears that need to be stuffed, have faces made, and stitched up. That would have been my next project but I decided to save that for some other time. I half figured that the wind would be too strong for working on that outside. One needs to spread things out under good lighting. Since filler, thread and yarn are light, stuff would likely have blown around.
    I ended my day with lunch, other than seasoning the taco press as I would a fry pan.
   
    I hope to make a new shaft for the food processor, exploring how to get it centered properly this time. I hope to finish up those two teddy bears I already have almost made. I would like to take on another wood project.
   
    I will see what happens next weekend.
   
 
 
 Tortilla press with box


 
 Tortilla press opened up. Shows a little bit of surface rust, easy to clean up and re-season to like new.

 
This book was given to someone I knew would use it.
    











   
   

Year 16, Week 13, Day One (week 759)

Year 16, Week 13, Day One (week 759)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-18-15 Saturday
   
    87 degrees early morning, 89 late morning, 90 in the late afternoon, 94 when the sun was shining beneath the awning. That was when I finally took my coat off as it was warm enough... Mostly blue sky with some puffs mostly around the horizon. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
   
    THURSDAY
    The turning club meeting was educational. We have several people who demonstrate at national symposiums and conventions. There are others who are that good or better but are not that involved. One of the masters had a demonstration about what good design is. This was the third time I had been at this demonstration.
    The first thing you must ask about the piece you are making is whether it is for use, or for art. If you design for use, you must make it strong and stable. It is not going to be a work of art.
    On the first time he did this demonstration, he looked at my piece, which was a bowl, and asked, what it was. I said “a bowl.” He then said it was a good bowl. It was not an art piece. I was slightly bothered by that.  In the years since that, I have known about design and such, but this demonstration finally helped me fully understand what he was talking about. We sometimes do things without fully understanding why. We have to be told several times, with time in between for it to sink in fully.
    One thing he said was that over time, all wood, even the most colorful woods, will fade to a solid brown. If the design is bad, it won’t be worth much then, no matter how vibrant the wood was when you first made it. If the design is right, it will always look good.
    One of the keys to good design is what is called the Greek Golden Mean. It is a formula where the proportions is essentially two fifths to three fifths. In just about anything, this works.
    Another key is to make things in the female form. The female form is wide hips, narrow waist, wide shoulders. The male form is essentially small hips and wide shoulders.
    Another key is that art pieces should have a shadow line at the bottom, the rim it sits on is set in from the bottom edge so the piece has the impression it is floating off the counter. The base should be two thirds that of the mouth, at least.  Utilitarian pieces tend to have solid and large bases for stability.
    One of our mentors that beginners can work with to learn wood turning, tends to make big bases, making them first and then working to the mouth. A better way is to make the mouth of the piece and then make the base smaller than the mouth. What this mentor is doing is not wrong, but just not right for every applications. It is a stylistic thing.
    The people brought their own work and he used them as examples of what works as art pieces, what does not work, and what can improve them. He makes pieces with small openings as he just could never sand the wide opening pieces enough when the grain changed direction. Others only do big opening pieces. Each wood turning finds their niche where they get the most success.
    He said he does a lot of shows and he can spot a wood turning within seconds. A wood turner will always put their fingers into the holes of work and feel how it is finished inside. He hates that. Non-wood turners never do that. He only sands the inside finely just a bit farther than a hand can reach.  It saves him a lot of work for people who would not care.
    I learned a lot but I likely explained  much of what he talked about as well as needed to fully understand what he taught. It took me three times to understand it myself. 

    Saturday
   
    We stopped at home right after breakfast and then headed out to some yard sales. The first one was going to send the proceeds to a friend who has breast cancer. I got some paint and brushes of the kind I can use in my painting of cards and figurines. I need a couple colors and I can never remember what colors I need. These seem to fit with what I use a lot of. I picked up a few things mom wanted since I already had my wallet out.
    We stopped at a Catholic Church that has two or three sales a year. It is always good as they have stuff that is really interesting. I found a rolling pin with hexigonal blades on it. I am assuming that they are for cutting pasta dough for something like Ravioli. Roll it over the dough and it cuts pieces out.  I also picked up a tin of sewing stuff – thread, needles, pins, some accessories. I don’t sew very often and am not good at it, but I can see a use for these in the near future. I also picked up a couple items mom was interested in. The priest said that these sales funds their outreach program.
    We found another church having a sale. The signs said this was a rummage sale and people had different booths. There might have been fifteen of them. I walked the line three times. There were stuff that I would have jumped on years ago, but I know I cannot use them, or don’t have a place for them, or already have several of them. At the first booth, which I hit last, I saw a basket with some yarns. I heard the woman mention the price to someone elsethe first time I saw it, and I walked away. The second time I walked by, I looked at it again. She also had cross stitch patterns. I refuse to get involved in cross stitch. I have to draw the line somewhere on the crafts and hobbies I could get into. The third time, the yarn leaped out and tangled me up tight. I was forced to buy them in order to force them to let go of me. They just happened to be colors I can use.
    There were a few other yard sales we stopped at but they did not have anything we were interested in. One place I had visited weeks before. This was her last sale of this season and she was going to donate everything to the Salvation army, Goodwill, or some place else. I found two books that were interesting. I don’t need any more books. I got them anyway. She had some collectibles but I am not collecting.
   
    When we got home, I sorted through the yarn. Some needed to be made into balls as they were out of control. That took a while but gave me a good idea of what I had. They were colors I like and can use. There was some scrunchy yarns and I see they are interesting, but not sure how to use them. 
    I then went through the sewing box, sorting things out. Lots of pins, lots of thread, lots of needles, safety pins. I have no idea how you get the threads into some of those needles. The holes are too small.... there must be a trick.
   
    After the late evening Thursday, early morning at work Friday and not catching up on Friday night, along with all the running around, I laid down for several hours. It felt good as long as it lasted. Afterwards, we watched TV and talked.
   
    Momma kitty does not always like to be picked up. I got her up on my lap and started petting her in the way she loves. For nearly ten minutes, I had a furry puddle of cat in my lap. I love that. So does she. We both agreed it was time for her to get down and I moved slightly and she slipped off. I petted her while she ate some before I went in. While the temps were 90+, the breeze took away the heat for the time I was out there.
    Mom has a number of flowers in full bloom. I took the time to hunt down and photograph the flowers of interest.
   
    That pretty much ended my day, other than a little crochet on a teddy bear. I started stitching the sides together when I had to pack things up.
   
I will have to see what will be happening tomorrow. I would like to do some wood working, but my schedule tends to get away from me.

Year 16, Week 13, Day Two (week 759)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-19-15 Sunday
   
    90 degrees, blue sky except some extremely high thin platelets and wisps over the ocean, sunny, strong wind. This weather was brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    My brother was at Mom’s when I arrived. I watched him as he welded a cross brace on the rack on his truck. It took a lot of time getting the equipment out or out of the way, the project took about ten minutes, then a long time to get everything back to where they belonged.
    We then went out back and talked about some engineering books he’s been reading. One of them talked about making the boilers of the big steam engines. He was telling about design problems with putting in the rivets to hold the boilers together. He later talked about some math books he’s been reading. The book he’s reading now is finally explaining things that were ever explained in all the classes he took. If I had more time to read, I would borrow his library. He has loads of books on how to do things of all kinds, They were books by people who actually did it and explained it so you could do it.
    The “dinner gong” sounded and lunch was an enjoyable discussion. Of course, not long after lunch, my day was done. I needed to head home.
   
    I have a couple loaves of bread dough in the freezer. Last night, I stuck one in the fridge to thaw. This morning, I checked one of the cook books I got recently and decided to try adding whole mixed grain to the bread dough. It was easy and it did not take too much time to do. Less kneading than if made fresh.
    I let the dough rest until I got back home. There is a life-span of yeast in the freezer and this was too long. It did not rise. I baked it, even if it came out like a brickbat. It came out all right, though not light and fluffy like I wanted. It came out pretty good, though a few of the grains are a little crunchy but that is good anyway. It has good flavor. It is fun to be able to do a quick experiment.
    I have one more loaf in the freezer. Some other time I will do something else as an experiment. It does not have to be simply bread.
   
    I do hope to get some time to do some wood working next weekend.
   
    I will see what actually happens.
   

 the ravioli rolling pin.

 The paints. the green case has a bunch of brushes.

 The cookie tin of sewing supplies.

The basket about as I saw it.

   
What was in the basket.

Year 16, Week 12, Day One (week 758)

Year 16, Week 12, Day One (week 758)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-11-15 Saturday
   
    78 early morning, 88 late afternoon. Some heavy puffs interlaced in the morning, blue sky except over the Everglades in the afternoon. Nice breeze helped cool things down. This Weather report is brought to you by the City Of Plantation Department Of Tourism.
   
    Mom had us going to a banquet, so our morning was short. After breakfast we visited just a couple yard sales. In one area where there is usually nothing, we saw signs for more than half a dozen yard sales. We did not have time to see them. We were trying to find a sale at a condo. We were told that it turned out that it was just the stuff inside one of the apartments , not where a bunch of people got together to sell, so we did not stop there. I hated missing those other sales but we just did not have time to go to them.
   
    We changed and went to the banquet. The City Of Plantation Woman’s club had an annual banquet to celebrate the Woman of the Year. Several city organizations selected the Woman Of the Year from their membership, and then the city awarded each selection. They got the key to the city, a plaque, and a small gift.
    Mom is a member of the Plantation Art Guild and has been an official within it for years. She was one of ten Women awarded the Woman Of the Year honors this time.
    I joked to one of the banquet officials when we were introduced, that I hate to admit that Mom was my mother, as people would expect more of me. While it is joking, it is almost true.......
    I was taking pictures with Mine and Mom’s camera. I took a video of her receiving her award with my camera in one hand and snapping pictures with mom’s camera in the other hand. Hearing what they were saying about her, I had to look away from the screen to make sure it was mom they were talking about and not someone else. What they said sounded so special....
    The food and presentation of the food was good. I could tell some people would have liked their food prepared a little different, but most people ate what they got. We had a choice of chicken or salmon, and I got salmon.
    There were gift baskets along the wall and one could get raffle tickets to try to get one. They were really nice. Only two were something I would try to get if I were interested. Since I did not bother to get any raffle tickets, it was a moot point. They also had a silent auction where you write down a bid on something higher than the last person and the last bid wins. A really pretty painting was on display. It was done with a pallet knife, added with streaks and dabs. I loved the style, the technique and the painting itself. I haven’t a clue of what I would do with such a painting if I had gotten it. I have no place to hang it where it could be seen. Even though I enjoyed looking at it, I let others bid on it. I once had a mindset in Photography and a little in painting as I was learning, that rather than buying something, I would get it myself. It took a while for it to dawn on me that I was not that good.  I know now that I would have fun trying, though.
    By the time we got back, the day was shot and we were all wore out.
   
    I might try to re-make the food processor post again tomorrow. The hard part is getting the four square sides centered on the lower rounded post. I have some ideas on how to do it better.
   
    I will see what actually happens tomorrow.
   


Year 16, Week 12, Day Two (week 758)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-12-15 Sunday
   
    88 late morning 90 afternoon high, strong breeze took away the heat making it feel cooler. (It is almost shirt sleeve weather....... Mostly blue sky with occasional puff slipping in front of the sun, high plates and feathers to the east of the sun. Humidity slightly higher than yesterday. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
   
    Mom called me early in the morning. My brother was not coming up today, Mom needed some computer stuff done, and they wanted to take me out for lunch. Woodworking was put on the back burner again.
   
    I did some work on mom’s computer, mainly doing a little maintenance. When the time was right, we headed for lunch.
   
    We went to the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store for lunch. The food is good and the store has all sorts of old implements hanging from the ceiling. One product they started selling was cast iron cookware (one of my many weaknesses). I reminded myself that what I had, I had enough, and what I did not have of what they had on display, I would absolutely never use.
    When looking at the stuff on display, part of the fun is identifying what it is. Then figuring out how it was used. Anything with wood is usually weather beaten. Some metal stuff is in almost new condition, though some is truly old. Here and there is something brand new, such as a cast iron pan they sell, hanging from the ceiling. In the restaurant part, they have old photos and small implements on the walls and partitions.  I have gotten good at knowing what everything is. It is fun to gawk at the stuff anyway. My new dad said that he used a number of the stuff on display when he was a kid. There were some things that were new when I was a kid. It is almost enough to make you feel old, but not quite enough......
    It is not a place to talk, as the acoustics are poor. We love to talk during meals out. They used to have stuff hanging from the ceiling in the restaurant, but I think they stopped that because of collected dust. There is no sound baffling in there. The food was exactly what we wanted and we left well full and happy. My new dad had pancakes and they were the best I have tasted in years. I do recommend that if you go.
   
    We relaxed and digested our big meals while we viewed the pictures I took yesterday. Then it was time for me to leave.
   
    I hope to do some wood working next weekend. I will aim for it.
    There is also a wood turning club meeting this week. I have to see if I can make it there.
    I will see what I actually do next weekend.
   
   

Year 16, Week 11, Day One (week 757)

Year 16, Week 11, Day One (week 757)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-04-15 Saturday
   
    74 degrees early morning, 84 degrees afternoon. Patchy but mostly blue sky, light breeze, mostly sunny. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    There was a lunar Eclipse this morning. Mom knew about it and we all went out and watched it from the corner of our block, two houses up, and saw the moon head down fast, and the shadow cover most of the moon, before it went behind a badly placed palm tree. We went back in until it was time to go for breakfast.
   
    The first yard sale after Breakfast was a woman trying to unload a bunch of stuff and was almost giving the stuff away. There was a stack of cook books and the top book was on pasta. I kept looking at it as I walked by. The woman offered me to take the entire stack for a pittance. I took them. I turned out to be a stack of 12 cook books. Four were really desirable. Two I will unload as soon as I can get rid of them. I will never throw out books. That is against my better nature. I would rather pass them on so someone else can make use of them.
   
    We got home, talked a bit, then I headed out on my own. There were four other yard sales, but they had nothing at all. Two I have visited previously and they had nothing new. One of the two has antiques. He  had a small metal knife sharpening device that was kind of interesting. You simply scrape the knife in slots and it sharpens by scraping the metal. I did not get it this weekend because, “how many knife sharpeners can you really use at one time anyway?” Because of my nature, it would be interesting to have, as it had a large number of different knife or scissor sharpening spots. If he has another yard sale and that is still there, I will get it, but not until then, though. Maybe someone else who really needs it will get it.
    I think that the main reason there are few yard sales, not that four is few, but the snowbirds (partial year residences who come down during the winter and head back north in the spring) have flown North.  They had their yard sales to get rid of stuff they did not want to store or take with them and now only the locals will be having sales.
    Generally, after Easter, only the locals are left in town. Traffic should really become lighter after this weekend.
   
    After I got back from my search along one of my “rabbit runs” for yard sales, , I spent time and looked at the cook books I got.
    I had to do some traveling, which included going home to pick up something I had forgotten. When I got back we all napped for several hours( mom was up all night). The day was over then.
    While watching TV, I nearly finished stitching a new teddy bear. It will be set to the side until I can set up and create the face, stuff it, and finish the stitching as I am supposed to. Those are not things to do “on the run” as the body of the bear is stitched.
   
    I really need to do some sort of wood working. I keep getting sidetracked by other things.
   
    I will have to see what happens tomorrow.
   
   
   
Year 16, Week 11, Day Two (week 757)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-05-15 Sunday
   
    On a lark, I pulled out nearly all my cook books. I was stunned to have over 70 books. It is time to start culling them. I have books by TV cooks that are no longer doing books or have since passed. I have special books that I have to keep. There are specialty books that should be kept. A lot of the rest of the books fall into the category of “Maybe I will want that some time.”
    There are times when grabbing a book is better than searching on the internet, especially since a problem cropped up on my printer that could well be beyond my skills to solve. Some books will go. I will put them in a box and next yard sale or opportunity comes up, off they go.
    I knew I had a lot of cook books, but never knew I had this many.

    I had an idea for a project. I did not know if it would even work but worth a try. I have a couple food processors that slicer and grater attachments fit onto a post that goes into the machine. On one, the post broke in half. On the other, I got it without the post. The chopper works well on both of them, but the other fittings would be nice to use.
    I have some Sea Grape wood that I had split, and decided I should make a new post out of that since it is a strong, hard wood. It MIGHT be as strong as the plastic post that broke. I took one of the food processors with me.
    My first attempt, I used my knife to split and shave the end that needed to be square until it just barely fit.. I then mounted the piece of wood on the little metal lathe and rounded the other end. The piece just was not right, so I went to the disk sander to square up the square end. When I was done, it was too small.
    Time to change tactics. Since the wood was from a piece I had split, and the wood grain was going the right way, I decided to start with the disk sander and get the entire stick square first. I chose the flattest side and sanded that even flatter.
    Now my disk sander has a wooden table with a Masonite top. Because of loose sanding papers over the hears, the space between the sanding disk and the table is a bit wide and there are spots where pieces can fall in. I do need to fix that some time. It is on my long list. I took a piece of 1/8th inch think plywood and set that at the table and used that to span the space between the disk and the table so the wood could not fall down and would have something flat to sit on.
    I set the flat side down and sanded the flattest of the two sides, making it and the bottom square. I then flipped the piece around and did the second side, and then the top, and then kept flipping it, sometimes end for end until I had it square. I checked for fit and slowly got the piece to where it would fit inside as it was supposed to.
    I then took out the little machine lathe and after finding the center of one end, I put that end into the Tail Stock of the lathe and rounded the end to a distance. I then worked the diameter down to where it would fit into the hole of the food processor. Once I had a tight fit, I used my knife to shave one side flat so it would fit in and lock in palce (the original had a flat on it )
    I finally checked the total fit and made the shaft on both ends to the right length.
    My final step was to drill for a pin that goes through the shaft and helps to spin the accessory. I had a dull “Roto-Zip” bit and after drilling that through to create the hole, I  then used the dremmel to cut it off on the smooth shaft end at the right length so the smooth shaft will stay with the wood, and the remaining twisty part is still available for use. Finally I glued the remaining shaft into the wood.
    I did run the machine a couple times, while it was wide open, working the safety switch with a thin stick. There is a wobble to the disk of the accessory but it worked.
    After I got home, later in the day, I tried it out with a potato and onion with the slicing plate on the accessory disk. It wobbled, but it ran and sliced the potatoes. A couple times, a piece would get caught on the slicing blade which is kind of aggressive, but the shaft held solid. It might have needed to be a bit taller, but the accessory is useable again. It would have been nice to have the original to measure length with.
    It was fun to figure out the solution, create the part and test it out. Now after my test, I was reminded that the food processor is really best when working with a large amount of food, as the effort to clean it is sometimes more than the labor saved.
   
    Right after I finished the post, my brother and I started talking, and later the rest of us got together for dinner and discussion. That pretty much ended my day.
   
    I have another of the food processors that could use a shaft like I made. Of course, I have more projects than time or materials.  It was satisfying to accomplish something that really worked.
   
    I will have to see what happens next weekend. Mom might have other plans for me.
   
   

 First shot of Lunar Eclipse. Flash went off to get the darkening color

 The last shot available of the luner eclipse before it went behind a tree.

 My wooden post in place, ready for the accessory disk.

The accessory disk in place. Later tests shows it works.

Year 16, Week 10, Day One (week 756)

Year 16, Week 10, Day One (week 756)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-28-15 Saturday
   
    68 degrees early morning 74 high, strong winds with hat blowing gusts especially when in places where buildings focus the wind. Mostly sunny with high plates and feathers mostly to the north and west. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    Mom had to go to a meeting I was not able to attend. I was on my own for the day.
    After breakfast, which was a bit earlier than normal, I went to Home Depot to get some items I need for tomorrow’s projects. While there, I went into the gardening section. I did not see any plants I really wanted to kill. They were nice and pretty, but they did not need to come home. I was reminded as to why TV landscapers love drifts of the same plant. It adds to an eye filling display.
   
    Yard sales were almost not found early in the morning. I drove past a Plant Nursery and had a good look there. We had some really strong winds last night and they had a bunch of plants that were blown over, including some two foot diameter palm trees in pots. They had opened not long before I got there and were just starting the clean-up process.
    They had some pretty blue flowers there. I decided they would not do well in the shade of my porch so I did not get them, even though they were the perfect color. I loved looking at the mixture of texture and color of the non-flowering plants in the distance.
    Some of my plants have been in pots for years so I decided to get pound bag of Palm Fertilizer for them. There used to be a gardening show on the radio I used to listen to on the radio and he used palm Fertilizer for every kind of plant. I figured if it was good enough for him, it would work for me.
   
    I got into the wealthy areas on the canals. I found just a few yard sales there. I had a wonderful drive through well manicured landscapes and gorgeous homes. Most homes are single story but now they are building two story homes, especially when you get off the main drag and down the canals. I found that the two story homes are more impressive. They cannot be accidentally taken for something in a lower cost neighborhood. I also find I like the homes with pillars along the front. It gives them a more important look.
    In the few yard sales I hit, I got a few nick-knacks that I will be gifting to someone who really loves that kind of thing. I get things I would not be sad if I ended up keeping them, but know others would love them. It makes gifting more interesting as if I change my mind, I am not sad.
   
    At Mom’s house, I petted momma kitty for a little bit, and then napped for longer than I intended. After Lunch, I did some computer stuff for Mom, napped a little more and then waited for the day to end, while doing a little crochet. I had not realized how much I did in my traveling around.  I did go out to see Mamma kitty several times during the day. When I left, she looked indignant at me that I would not spend even more time with her.
   
    I have some at home projects for tomorrow so there won’t be any woodworking. I doubt I will have anything to mention about my activities tomorrow.   I do know it will get down to the 56 degree frost temperatures tomorrow morning.
   
    I will see what I do tomorrow. If not, I will see what I will do next weekend.