Year 17, Week 26, Day One (week 912)

Year 17, Week 26, Day One (week 912)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-08-17 Saturday

Blue skies for the most part. Twice, clouds and thunder heads built up over the Everglades only to head west. We are at the edge of the Tropic of Cancer. That is a band of winds that head to the west continuously. Most of our winds head to the north and west. Farther up the state, they head to the east. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.


Mom needed to get one thing, so she decided to drive the yard sales. I rode along.  We do have different styles for hunting for yards sales. We skip sections that others would visit.

At one yard sale, I walked away after the woman ordered me to leave because of the puddle of drool I left. She had an old style clothes iron where you put the hot coals in the body and they would keep the iron hot. She also had a really nice condition meat grinder, a little bigger than the two I had. I fought long and hard to get both. I have no need or place for either, but they were really interesting.
At another yard sale, I asked, out of curiosity, how much a commercial deli slicer was worth. Next thing I knew I was setting it on the seat of the car. I have no idea what had happened. I have two meat slicer bodies that use the same motor. The nice thing about them is that except for the motor, the whole thing can be put in dishwater and really scrubbed.  This new one is heavy, bulky and looks harder to clean. Now I have to figure out what to do with it. Once in a while, we all make mistakes. I was able to go on line and download all the documentation for the machine. This will get thinner than the slicers I have as the “knife” as they call the blade, is not serrated. I would have been much happier with the meat grinder than this. 

After we got back, the garage door repair guy arrived. He replaced all the wheels. He said he would schedule for replacing the pulley wheels, where at least one is shot. Expensive, but won’t have to be done again for a while. 

I had picked up a case of sports drinks a while back and had emptied most of the bottles. They have helped in the heat and humidity we have had.  It then dawned on me that I should use those water bottle flavorings. I knew I used to have a bunch but could not remember what happened to them. I planned on going to Walmart to stock up on them as they help when it is really hot. I accidentally opened a cabinet in the kitchen I seldom go into and found them. I cleaned and filled half the bottles of the case and refilled them with flavored water. Nice. A pitcher fills three of the bottles.

I will have to see what I do tomorrow.





Year 17, Week 26, Day Two (week 912)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-09-17 Sunday

I cleaned the BBQ today. It came apart a lot more than I thought it had. I could have done a better job last time (the first time) I used it. The drip pan comes out, which I did not know. I used a trash can filled with soapy water to scrub everything, changing the water a couple times. My nephew had heated it before he started and the thermostat on the lid said it got up to 600 degrees. That will be hot enough to make sure it is clean if he does that again next time. 

We went out for lunch at JBIRD’S MUDDY WATERS again, and we ate our fill. I liked my dish better this time than the first time.  I had a side of wings and a shrimp/chicken pasta dish.
We went to Walmart to get some groceries. I will tell you, it is no fun shopping for groceries when you are overfull.  I left there with only a flavored coffee. Nothing fun to have. 

I generally use a webbed belt with a slip buckle. The end of one started unraveling. I had to cut the thread to keep it from getting worse. I sat down and carefully cut the end off with one of my favorite kitchen knives as it was sharp enough to make a clean cut. They come with a metal tip that clamps on the end. Those tips come off fairly quickly. I located one and attached it properly. The belt ended up about two inches shorter, but that is not a problem as I get a bit longer belts than needed. 

I examined the slicer a bit more, using the instructions. Nice machine, but I really don’t plan on using it much. It is really for cheese and deli meats. The way that raw meat splatters and drips, it is not really a raw meat slicer.  I saw on line that these slicers are listed starting at $400 and goes up to two grand. Of course, that says nothing about what they actually get for them. It is just what they are listed for. I would rather pass it on to someone who can use it effectively. I might use it for some things, but that will only be a few times a year.

I will see what I accomplish next week.

939

meat slicer

Year 17, Week 29, Day One (week 915)

Year 17, Week 29, Day One (week 915)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-29-17 Saturday

Mid to high 80s in the morning and late afternoon, 90 in the middle. In the morning, we were bracketed by two trains of clouds heading to the North East. It was clear in between them. Radar showed each one with moving radar blips. After yard sailing, I had stopped at a couple stores. When I left , I could see the road to the south grayed out. I arrived home and the ground was wet. The radar showed the trains still following their rail but dots formed between them and zipped across the land. I was missed, other than a couple driplets on the windshield, everything that was out there. Those dots were heading to the north east. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


Mom goes to a painting teacher’s convention each year in the spring. She is on one of the organizing committees. Each year they have a theme which one day they dress up. This next year is LOS VAGUS. Mom got the idea of giving art materials as prizes. She decided to do part of the yard sale loop in hopes of finding art stuff that would be good gifts for the people to win.
One woman had a treadle powered singer sewing machine. I keep looking at them and wondering if I would ever use one if I got one. It is one of those space taking things one would like to have. If I knew it worked perfectly, I might have considered it. Not really for that price, but..... One problem is that I cannot sew. Also Mom has several modern machines that I could use if needed.

We finished the route, so I then went out on my own. I found one yard sale that mom missed, about the time the mom decided to head home. This woman had sold most of her stuff in the morning, Our conversation started with what we look for at yard sales, then on collections, hobbies and into arts and crafts. about twenty minutes later, it was time for me to leave. She had decided that since no one had come while we were talking, it was a good time to pack up.

I found one other yard sale that was at a storage unit. Our eyes always go to the things that are most interesting. there was a meat slicer in the box. This was a high quality home-style unit. I have lower quality ones at home. I have one motor for two bodies. I also have that commercial one I accidentally picked up.  I never asked the price, but I lingered several times....  
Several of the yard sales had glassware on display. Me and glass don’t get along too well. 

After a quick stop at Lowes, I went to a restaurant supply store called Gordons Food Supply. I ended up picking up a 17.5 pound boneless pork butt. I did not have time to deal with it tonight so it is in the fridge. It will become a bunch of steaks. 

I got home, and we lingered a little, and then went out for Chinese. As we ate, mom told about a book she is reading. It was like an hour and a half later when we left there. when we got back, I laid down and napped for a while before leaving.



Year 17, Week 29, Day One (week 915)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-29-17 Saturday

90 degrees, 60% humidity, partly and then mostly cloudy. Large blobs on the radar passing from the west, but avoiding us. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I found a yard sale in the morning on the way to Mom’s. He was still putting his stuff out. I picked up a small wood box with a nice lid design. I have an idea for it. 

I later stopped at a “community” yard sale at a historical house. There were like ten people with displays, one had food. Many looked like vendors (stuff in original packagess). One person had all sorts of elephant figurines. A couple had glassware. One had a old style sewing machine. Just the machine in the box and it was three times the price of the one I saw yesterday. There was a “high hat” cymbal stand. This is the stand with the foot peddle where you step down on the peddle and the two cymbals clang against each other. This is another case that if I buy it, I will kick myself, and if I don’t buy it, I will kick myself. I found myself out by my truck when I realized I did not buy it.

I found out that my brother was coming up, so I decided to cut the pork roast I picked up yesterday. I have all those meat slicers. What did I use to slice it? A knife. This was two boneless Boston Butt roasts. They simply removed the bone and sealed two of them into the same package. I sliced one for lunch and I sliced them thick. I sliced the rest of it into thinner steaks, and cutting some of the larger pieces into smaller portions. 
I am one of those people who, “If I cannot tell the difference, why pay the difference?” and if it is a whole lot cheaper, I will gladly go with a lower quality.  I eat a lot of pork steaks as the quality is close enough to a cheap beef steak, and at half the price, I can have a lot of it, whenever I want. 
I am also one of those people who believe that if a labor savings device takes more labor to clean than it saves, I will use the other way. I used the knife as it is a whole lot easier to clean than my meat slicers. I can slice fairly evenly too. You end up using the knife anyway.  My freezer is now filled with packages of steaks. The meat slicers are best for stuff like sandwich meats where you want consistently thin slices. 
Mom fixed dinner and it was so good. We sat and talked for quite a while. By the time my brother and niece left, it was too late to do anything outside. 

This week, I was thinking about ornaments to make for next year. Each year, I TRY to do four designs, and a dozen of each. These are generally carved out of two by twos. Last year I had planned to do some rocking horses. I have three ways of making them and will try each and see which works best. Because of hurricane Matthew and some other things that were going on at the end of the year, I could not even think about doing ornaments. 
The hardest part is to do an ornament that one has not done before. That is getting very difficult after 17 years of carving. There are only so many variations of Christmas Trees, Snow men, Penguins and Angels one can do. Many times, I have searched the web pictures for ornaments and they end up being all the same. Most years, I try to have them done by the beginning of November and most of the time I am into October before I find something to try. It does not matter when I start searching for ideas, I am always under the gun to find something. Now a few times I came up with ideas early in the year and they ended up being the least liked designs. 
I also should start thinking about art for the Christmas cards to do next year too. I tend to be doing them on Christmas Eve when I am to give them out.... With the cards, I have done too many snowmen, Christmas trees, and palm trees. Again finding good ideas are tough. 
With both carvings and cards, the problem is that it has to be simple enough to do quickly but complex enough to look good. One cannot spend a lot of time on each one. 
With the carving, I have blanks for many of the designs I did over the years that were not carved. They tended to be too tough to carve when it came down to it. 

I will see what I do next week.

1451

Year 17, Week 28, Day One (week 914)

Year 17, Week 28, Day One (week 914)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-22-17 Saturday

The temps got up to 90, but we did not get any weather in our area. A giant blob headed west, but north of us in Palm Beach County. We had a lot of sun, but later it clouded over with a light cloud cover. Late in the day it dropped down to 86.  This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.

We went to get the trees. One was a queen palm, and the other was a purple Tabebuia. The tabebuia usually is found in a bright yellow and is sometimes called a golden shower tree as the flowers fall all over the yard. Usually people select the biggest queen palm tree they can find as they are expensive to buy. We picked up likely the smallest queen palm tree they had. It will be small for a very long time.  

We stopped at a yard sale along the way and I got a good recorder (flute) in a case. At a later yard sale a woman had two professional recorders and really had no clue what to sell them for. She paid good money for them. One, though a different brand, but was just like the one I got. I later found that mine was a professional brand also.. 

Out on my own I found a Garmon Nuvi Navigation system. They said they did not have a computer in order to use it as it had a USB cord on it. My truck has a USB outlet so I plugged it in a while after I had left. It works! I have to play with it a little. This uses the same USB outlet plug as the tomtom I picked up a while ago, so I can swap the charging cord with the USB this one has. I can use them both if needed. It has a bracket to hold it and it appears that the ball socket had broke off. part of the bracket is still there, but there is some broken plastic in the ball socket hole. I plugged it into the computer and it just got power. I then saw there is a different plug in for data. 

At one of the last yard sales, there was one of those stainless-steel pot-racks that goes into the kitchen to hang pots from the ceiling.  I looked at it a couple times and decided against it, then I started walking to the truck to leave. With a sigh I said "I'm going to kick myself." and I bought it. sigh. I likely will for a while too.

My brother and my nephew came over. After doing a tiny bit of work, we got together for lunch. I like mom’s cooking. I napped afterwards before having to leave.

###
Sunday, we went for Chinese buffet lunch so I had nothing to report.

496

Year 17, Week 27, Day One (week 913)

Year 17, Week 27, Day One (week 913)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-15-17 Saturday

90 as the high, mostly blue skies with puffs and towers sometimes over the Ocean and sometimes over the Everglades.  

Several cities are having tree give-a-ways now. They give away trees in hopes that you will plant them in your yard and “green up” the city. The city of Pompano had a tree give-a-way today and will have another next weekend. You just have to show proof you live in the city. Driver’s licences are now all that is required. It used to be that you also had to have a bill, preferably a water bill, for the address. 

Mom was really wanting a SILVER BUTTONWOOD. These have a bluish green leaf that stands out from other foliage. The guy said that when they went to pick them up, they did not look good enough to offer. We picked up a foxtail palm and a triangle palm. From a distance, the fox tail fronds look like the fluffy tail of a fox. The triangle palm has the leaves come up in a diamond, rather than all around, forming a triangle. 

When we got back, I headed out to visit yard sales. At one yard sail, they had a “Family” bible with white leather cover. I intended to give it to my dad, but then decided I would rather keep it. Mom later showed that she had something like that already. There is a lot of reference material in the front and back of the bible.  That yard sale was selling stuff from their late mother. There was a set of serving dishes that had yellow flowers on them. A Gravy boat(?) Had a bouquet of the yellow flowers on the lid. It was so pretty, but I have absolutely no use for any of that kind of stuff. 
At other yard sales, I picked up a few humor books. 
I then hit several stores on the way home.

Several weeks ago, I picked up a case of sports drinks. I was running out and considered buying another case. It dawned on me that I have, somewhere, some of those water-bottle flavoring packets. I accidentally found them, right where I had intentionally  put them. I had not thought to look there. I previously found those packets were way too strong for a normal water bottle. I washed the empty bottles of the sports drink, and added one packet to a pitcher of water, just to add a slight flavor to the water so you can guzzle it. One two-quart pitcher filled three of the sports bottles. Some bottles got thrown out, but I had twelve. That is a lot of pitchers of water.  They are in the fridge cold when I need them and in a useful amount to carry around. The lids prevent leaking when needed.

I lost a pin on my watch so I may have to go get it repaired tomorrow. One part seems to be missing to attach it properly. 



Year 17, Week 27, Day Two (week 913)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-15-17 Saturday

We had a nice rain this morning. It petered out before I headed to Mom’s and then became mostly blue skies the rest of the day. The high was 86.

We decided to go out for Chinese food after church and we all ate more than we needed, but it was so good. 

My watch has a clasp locks the buckle in place. I was using that to hold my watch on, and it worked well. Last night, while checking band out before I headed out, I figured out that the missing piece to put it together, was a plate that folds against the other and held in place by friction on a bar. They unfold so your hand can slip comfortably in, and then fold together to pull it tight. when I saw it was two pieces, I investigated and found where the pin went. Mom replaced the pin today. Her pin was a hair too long and she had to adjust the band slightly. Now the clasp does not want to lock closed. Not a problem. I will fix that a little later.

I have noticed that there is no woodworking mentioned in these posts, even though it is referred to as a wood working diary. I have to change that somehow. Something has to give somewhere. 

I will see what I can do next week. We will get more trees. 

746

power outlet (cigarette lighter) outlet adapters.

Family bible