The finished penguins, except for a coat of varnish for protection
Jumping fish carvings in front.
My latest Autumn colored scarf. This one went fast. The center was multi-colored yarn and I matched the colors for the rest of the scarf which I changed colors as I went along, usually at about a third of the length..
My wicker paper plate holders. The stack in back is the new ones I got. Now all I need is a party.
Year 14, Week 43, Day One (week 689)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-16-13 Saturday
80 degrees, dropped down to 75 degrees before bouncing back to 80 degrees. Thick threatening medium high grey clouds with low pregnant clouds to the north and south of us. A broken band came over us late morning which caused the temps drop and then the weather improved to just the medium high threatening clouds. At some times, there were strong gusts of wind. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism. At least we got no snow......
I have had a cold all week. It showed up last Saturday and was at its worst Tuesday. It has not gotten sloppy which was nice. I treat it with Cold-EEZ, Menthol cough drops and If I get bad, I will take a pain medicine. No cold is comfortable, but this has been one of my more comfortable colds I have had in years. The cold and the weather took a lot of energy out of me today.
There were supposed to be a big community yard sale, a big church yard sale and Granny's Attic. We went to Granny's attic first. It is held in a gymnasium with a extended room off of it. These are collector and vendor quality stuff. There are good prices. I saw several things I could well have gotten if I did not already have five of them. One family had antique stuff. There was a washboard and a crank clothing roller. I thought it would be cute to get them, but I have no place for them and no use for them. They were just cool. I walked the place five times and when we got back to our car, I was worn out.
The weather killed any outdoor yard sales. We found a garage sale in a warehouse. The couple things that caught my eye was not enough to ask their price. The church yard sale and the community sale were not going on, most likely because of the weather.
We did find a yard sale. We saw it the instant we saw the sign. There was a bag of those wicker paper-plate holders. I asked how much. She said a dollar so I grabbed them up. There was 15 of them. I now have like 35 wicker paper plate holders. I will have no interest in them again unless I find a bunch of them like I just did. I will test them out at the next family gathering that is not a sit-down meal.
I dug out my Manolta film camera equipment and gave it a quick test. I did not run film through the camera, but mainly checked out the lenses and the set-ups.
My bellows attachment does have a problem of not locking in place, starting to disconnect itself from the camera. That is not a problem usually. I just have to be careful and aware of the problem.
I was reminded of something that I forgot about as soon as I learned it the first time. ON my bellows, I have a 55mm lens mounted backwards with a 2x doubler on it to make it a 100mm lens. Usually the doublers are poor optics but this one is very good. When I was heavy into photography, I had mounted a zoom lens on the bellows backwards like I have this one. I had found that the zoom ring became focusing, and the focusing ring became a zoom.
With my setup, I turned the focusing ring and found that I can get a wider view or a narrower view through the bellows attachment. When looking at a flower, I can fill the screen with a flower the size of your thumbnail, or by turning the focusing ring, I am backed up slightly to see some of the leaf surface around the flower. When I crank the bellows in, I can look at infinity. The focusing ring will give me a good telephoto view or a wider angle view. I will have to do some tests to figure out what the range is.
I now remember what the difference is between the model 101 camera I have and the model 201 camera that they came out with later. The newer model allowed the hot shoe on top the camera to set off the strobe. This requires you to plug the strobe in with a cord and the fitting on top the camera is only to hold the strobe. This model 101 has two flash plugs, one for flashbulbs where it would set them off before the shutter fully opened to give them time to power up, and the electronic strobe that flashed just when the shutter was opened. I have several adapters that fits on the strobe's hot-shoe and then a cord runs to the plug.
With the bellows, I liked having the strobe mounted on a bracket so the lense of the strobe is about the same height as the camera lens. I tested a handle bracket but that put the strobe too high. I have no idea where most of my camera equipment is as I used to have a bracket the right kind.
Some of my lens attachments don't work with my selected equipment. I realized that I don't need some of the equipment I brought with me. That will make the bag lighter.
I am not a person who uses a tripod. Most photographers will mount their bellows onto a tripod, and carefully adjust the focus until they get everything right then take the picture. My method is to basically set the focus to the size I want the subject on the image to be and then move myself in and out until it is in focus and take the picture. The strobe, mounted the way I like it, freezes any motion. The strobe also made the subject stand out against the background, which natural lighting cannot do.
All this camera testing likely took only half an hour.
The weather and my cold took away any serious thought about wood working. I just did not have it in me.
I did sit and crochet. I finished, except for the tassels, my Autumn colored scarf. I can see things I should have done that would make it better, but I am not complaining. It is pretty colors.
That is the eighth scarf in my collection. The one in the truck is going to take quite a while to get any length that someone might consider finished.
I do hope to do some wood working tomorrow. It gets frustrating to not have any production. A lot will depend on the weather.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
Year 14, Week 43, Day One (week 689)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-17-13 Sunday
85 degrees, lots of medium-high grey clouds, with blue spaces between and some sunshine. A nice breeze kept things comfortable.
Feeling better this morning, I dug out my carving stuff. I carved another jumping fish and when I was done, I decided I did not like carving jumping fish. This gives me four and I won't make any more unless the mood hits me sometime. They are just not working. My first one came out good and none of the rest has matched the quality.
I got around and finished touching up the Penguin ornaments. I used a Stabillo to touch up some spots missing black or where paint went a little too far. I also finished up the eyes. I sanded the bottom of the bases and signed them. I still have to give the penguins a coat of varnish but held off on that. 9 penguins will be enough. I could use, though, another three.
I had seen an article where a guy turned little balloons (light bulb shapes) and then turned little baskets and attached them together with string glued between them. I have considered making them for a while, but wanted to do a single step kind of thing, avoiding the string.
Years ago, I had made a few ornaments that required one to take four sticks that are attached back-to-back. One then turns a shape in them. You then disconnect them turn them around so the turned surface is facing inside and then turn it again, following the shape. One ends up with a hollow ornament you can see inside of.
I got an idea of trying to make the balloon that way, using the wood to be the strings. I had a stick of three-quarter wood. I cut it in half, then cut each half in half. I used tape to bind them together. I was going to remove some wood where the ropes would be on the lathe. I found that the little lathe was too small, and the chuck of the big lathe did not go small enough. I tried turning it anyway using friction and marked the wood before it caught and came apart. I then decided to tape it back together and carve it instead. I made my cuts, then flipped them around and glued them together.
While the glue was drying, I went in to have lunch and do some crochet. I came out after the glue set and started carving and quickly found my plan with the lathe would not have worked anyway, at least the way I tried to do it. Cutting into the wood limited the size of the basket. I was not getting a balloon shape at all. After I had piled some wood chips, I tossed it in the garbage without ever taking pictures of any stage. I have been thinking about methods that could have worked and don't like any of them.
The momma kitty sat in my lap for about fifteen minutes. She enjoyed the attention I gave her. I set her on the ground because I had to do other things. I do not know if she would stay there if I were not giving her attention. When she gets to that point, I will call her a lap cat.
Scarface has been hanging around close for the past few weeks. He had hurt his paw and has decided not to wander anywhere. He is eating heavily right now. He is sometimes fed two meals in a day and normally eats everything he is given. That shows he is not double dipping as he used to.
I can forget about woodworking next week. I have to go to a wedding next Saturday. I am giving away the bride. The whole day is shot. There won't likely be even yard sailing. With all the activity we won't have time. Since it is my mother who is getting married, I won't go up Sunday.
I will see what happens next weekend.
Year 14, Week 42, Day One (week 688)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-09-13 Saturday
83 degrees, fully cloudy, lots of clouds giving birth as they rush by. Mom's house was in a pocket where we would only get a mist with light liquid sunshine coming down. Farther north, a train of clouds dumped their load almost continuously from the ocean and onto land. The ground was wet everywhere. For about ten minutes, I saw some sun but it got frightened away and hid from us. The wind gust so hard that mist and drips from the edge of the awning would spray us while we sat and petted the kitties under the awning. while I could not work wood, Mom was happy as she did not have to water her plants which are all in pots. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Yard sailing was a bust because of the weather. It was just too wet for anything.
Mom had some running around for me. There is an indoor flea market I have seen for decades and have intended to go in to see what was in there, but never made it. The building was once a good sized grocery store. Now it is full of booths. I was really impressed. A third of the place was devoted to clothing. there were seamstresses there and they adjust outfits for major stores. We picked out a suit for me and the man measured me, and then told us to be back in a half hour. When we got back, they had the suit fitted for my body shape.
There were several barbershops, several nail salons, jewelry stores, a food site and a DOLLAR AND UP store. The outfits they had on display were a higher quality of design than the Festival Flea market where we normally go. The dummies the clothing was on looked really cute. I can imagine what those outfits would look like on real women.
We then went to Brandsmart. I drooled at the camera department, then spent most of my time in the household goodies section. I now have a couple items for my wish list. I was impressed with the prices and may go back there in a few weeks to get one of the items.
We went to a Chinese buffet. this was almost to the northern border of the county. While we were in there, the parking lot went grey with angled drips driving down several times. It stopped when we came out which was nice of it.
About this time, signs of a cold started showing.
I worked on a scarf many parts of the day. The scarf is autumn colors -- brown, orange, yellow, white with some tone bleed in between. I did not have enough of the yarn to come close to finishing the scarf, so I started adding in other solid colored yarns, cutting them at about a quarter or third of the length of the scarf. I intended to have a pattern of the tied in yarns, but it really did not happen. I considered ripping it out completely but mom said it was pretty good.
I started on the second side, but this time using the pattern I was after. The same color will not be on top itself and there will be a space between when it shows up again. It is looking good. I am surprised that I am already half way done.
At the evening meeting I go to, I gave one of my female friends the mandolin slicer I picked up last month. It is the one with six blades. She kept asking me, " are you sure? are you sure?" She was giddy over getting it as she wanted a slicer and could not find them. I got two hugs out of it. Even trade......
I am hoping the weather is a little better tomorrow and that I can get some woodworking done.
I will see what I do tomorrow.
Year 14, Week 42, Day One (week 688)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-09-13 Saturday
85 degrees, solid high clouds with streaks of blue here and there. The breeze died down and it does not feel humid. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Well, I have the start of a cold. Sniffling, some watery eyes, sore throat. I am taking some stuff that I learned worked fairly well toward it -- zinc lozenges, menthol cough drops, rest, pain relievers when it gets strong, drinking a lot. Most times this keeps it from becoming a full blown cold.
I stopped at two yard sales and at one, I got some stuff I absolutely do not need. This is something I have to avoid. I think because I am not feeling spectacular, I got caught by my normal inclinations.
I picked up a bunch of knitting needles (I already have hundreds), a stitching hoop (I saw it in use on a crafting show and got trapped by the idea), and a pair of back support raps (They are velcro and I might be able to make use of them even if it is not for the back).
I got to Mom's fed and petted the kitties, and then made a cell phone call while sitting outside under the awning. By the time I was done, I was ready to leave. I did have a couple stops planned for on the way home.
I decided on Friday to make some stuffed tomatoes and some lasagna. I got the stuff I needed. The store I go to has a good mixture of their vegetables, from green to almost over ripe. You just pick out what you want. I got some green plum tomatoes, which is something I could never get at the big grocery stores. I had planned on making some home-made lasagna noodles but I am not in condition to do that so I picked up some commercial noodles today on the way home.
I cooked up some mixed grain, some eight to ten different grains, and had a little for breakfast with some almond milk. It was pretty good. The Almond milk was picked up on a lark, wanting to see what it is like. This was vanilla flavor and tastes a bit better than the regular.
I sliced the plum tomatoes in half, as I saw that quarters were too small, and then sliced some greenish tomatoes I got previously in quarters. Scooping out the inside leaves good pockets for the filling, which includes the mixed grain, and the green tomatoes don't wilt much when baked. I will start on the lasagna when the stuffed tomatoes is done.
This is all what I call big cooking. It takes a lot of time in the kitchen rather than sticking something in the toaster oven and having it come out cooked. I likely won't do this again for many weeks.
Things are coming up in the next couple weeks that is going to kill wood working. I will try hard, but I don't see having the leaping fish ornaments done before the end of the month. I will give it a try but don't have high hopes. There is just a few little details to be done on the penguins. An hour should handle that.
I will see what I actually do next week.
Year 14, Week 41, Day One (week 687)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-02-13 Saturday
80 degrees, blue skies, light breeze, some clouds here and there. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
When we started out, we only saw a couple yard sales, but since we had to do some shopping, we searched for more sales. At each sale, I saw things that were interesting, but really had no use for it.
An example is that we were at a church sale and there were some two by two blocks for raising butcher block cutting boards up. There were a set of four furniture feet that might be used for a foot stool or couch. They were each two bucks a bag. I carried them around a little bit, then realized that I really did not need more wood. I cannot get to the wood I already have.
So we hit half a dozen yard sales without getting anything. We then hit several thrift stores. I noticed that down here, clothing is big. 4/5ths of each of the big thrift stores was filled with clothing. Some of it was new. The goodies, the stuff I was really after, was along two of the outside walls with a few short rows sticking out. Not a good selection.
We stopped at one "garage sale" thrift place. They had baseball cards, signed prints of sports figures, and jewelry. None of them had anything of real interest.
Right near by was a tiny thrift store and we went in there. I found a mandolin slicer that I got a deal on. I have a set that has six different blades. I found that all I ever use is the flat slicer. I will gift the other one to a friend who needs it.
At one thrift store, we found suit pants that were good quality, fit me, and a really low price as everything was half off. We could not find a suit jacket of the same or similar tone anywhere.
Mom is clearing out a bedroom that was once her office, then became a craft room and finally storage. She was getting rid of stuff to make room. She gave me all her film cameras and equipment. I will take them home tomorrow when I have time to prepare to bring them home.
I did some wheeling and dealing and conned her into giving me her yarn stash. She has one project she started years ago, and wants to eventually finish it. She kept the project and the yarns used in the project. She gave me the rest of the yarn.
What I got would fit into two garbage bags, but I split it up into three garbage bags. Talk about hitting it big time! This doubles the amount of yarn in my stash. It was all for the taking too!!!!
I can say that the cab of my truck was packed full when I left.
I finished edging the blue scarf I had in process. It was a scarf that I had bad stitch counts because it was done in my truck with a pattern that one does not do in bits and pieces. The edging was to correct some of the ragged edges. Mom says the wavy edges are pretty good and told me to consider it finished.
I started crocheting some Christmas yarn for a scarf. I had the chain six foot long and just started double crochet into the chain when I realized that this yarn is used in Mom's project. I gave it to her to put away. I then grabbed a Fall color ball of yarn, white, yellow, orange Burgundy brown, and did a five foot chain of that, and worked to the opposite end with double crochet, then worked about two thirds up the other side when it ran out of yarn. I found an orange that matched the orange in the yarn and ran that to the end. My plan is to stripe the piece in yarns similar to what the multi colored yarn was made of.
We went to a craft store. I walked most of the isles. I looked for yarn similar to the fall color ball I was working but did not notice it. I am not sure if I would buy more anyway. We then went to a Party store. Mom is preparing for an event at the end of the month and was looking for supplies and ideas. The party store had nothing I wanted.
We then went to the dollar store and since I did a whole lot of walking all day long at all our stops, I stayed in the car, not having what it took to walk another store. I always walk the dollar store and look in all the isles. Not today.
Of course, with all our running around and digging out materials, I never got out back other than to feed and pet the kitty cats. For woodworking, this day was a bust, but for everything else, it was fantastic.
Tomorrow I plan to work on some Christmas Ornaments. I might do some wood turning also.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
Year 14, Week 41, Day Two (week 687)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-03-13 Sunday
81 degrees, mostly cloudy with a few spots of sunshine. Strong breeze made the clouds really move. This Weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I changed only one clock last night, the one over my computer. The rest of the clocks I changed after I got up. That gave me an extra hour in the morning to work.
The Mandolin slicer I got yesterday works perfectly. I am happy with it. the set will be gifted next weekend.
I dug into my yarn stash first thing. I pulled out all the containers my yarn is in, and then dumped out the bags of yarn I got from my mom.
A month or so ago, I picked up a wicker clothes hamper. That now has yarn. Mom had a lot of rug yarn. I put the rug yarn at the bottom of the hamper. I then sorted yarn by color, nearly all my white yarn went on top the rug yarn. Mom did give me one ball of cotton yarn and that went into my cotton basket.
Sorting the colors roughly by color and size, I bagged or boxed my yarn, stacking things so they are not going to fall over by the slightest bump.
I looked at my camera equipment. I used MANOLTA SRT cameras for decades. They stopped making them in 1979. I love them as when the battery is taken out, the camera still works because the battery only powers a little light meter, a single needle. The rest is mechanical. It happens that after all these years, the battery still is good.
My other camera has electronic shutters and at the moment, because the battery is dead, makes a good paperweight.
One problem here in Florida, because of the humidity, is that fungus will grow on the surface of the lenses, especially inside. My two long lenses, one a zoom and the other a telephoto, is totally unusable as the fungus fibers cover several of the glass surfaces inside. All one gets is a fog.
I had like five rolls of film that were never developed. I have no curiosity as to what is on them so I tossed them.
I brought home Mom's camera equipment and all her stored film, all of it in the fridge or freezer. That keeps the film fresh for extended periods of time. Once she went digital, she decided that film was too expensive.
I have not dug into her equipment yet. All her cameras were battery powered and I do not know if I can get batteries for them any more. They may still be available but I will have to see. I know several of her lenses are in excellent condition. I will have to see what lenses she has and how that fits to my preferred way of doing photography.
I should note that in the 1980s, I got within -->||<-- a="" and="" being="" br="" close="" home="" i="" money.="" my="" of="" out="" photographer.="" professional="" purchased="" quality="" ran="" then="" to="">
I did do a little bit of woodworking. I dug out my penguins and touched up their paint jobs, corrected a few things with the knife. I have just a little bit more to do and I can sign them and call them done.
I worked a bit of a leaping fish blank while waiting for paint to dry, but did not get very far. Mom wanted to go to some stores so I packed up and went with her. I never got back outside to work. When we were done, the work time was over.
Next week, I really MUST carve some more leaping fish. the penguins will be done in about a half hour of work. I hope to come up with another, easy, ornament to carve. I need to have all the ornaments ready by the Beginning of December.
I will see what I actually do next week.
