February 16, 2017 - Thursday
2 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road
That young man above is my oldest son, Josh, practicing one of his favorite hobbies, riding mountain/fat bike. There's quite an extensive woods behind their home in Connecticut where he's carved out a series of mountain bike trails. I've encouraged Josh to travel to Alaska and compete in some of their two-wheeled events, one being the Iditarod for bikes, but so far, he doesn't seem too inclined. Year's ago, he was in Alaska as a member of the Coast Guard Eco Challenge team, a long distance, extremely dangerous and difficult race that included rafting, hiking, biking, mountain climbing, and orienteering, all across miles and miles of unmapped wilderness.
Currently, Josh and his family live in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. He's a full Commander in the US Coast Guard and a professor of engineering at the United States Coast Guard Academy.
My life wasn't nearly as exciting as Josh's on Wednesday. After arriving home from my morning walk, I went to town to exchange a pair of pants we'd purchased the day before.
What? They were too small? I normally wear a 36 inch waist, but in this case, it wasn't enough. Seems I moved up the belly ladder to a 38 inch waist, but that'll be our dirty little secret, okay? It must have been the cut. Yeah that's it.
Once home, I headed out to the shop for the day. My goal was to make another tea cup and saucer.
I've been asked several times how a person can carve a bowl from a hunk of wood.
It's an interesting process, one that I didn't fully understand until Mississippi Brother Garry taught me the basics.
 |
| I want to turn that wild cherry, stolen from Neighbor Mike's woodpile, on the left, into a tea cup like the one on the right. |
It spins quite rapidly and when I apply one of the chisels, the wood begins to take shape.
In this case, I'm attempting to make tea cups that are somewhat similar in size, so I use a caliper with which to measure the thickness of the various parts of the cup.
After moving the chisel rest around to the end, the inside is hollowed out. Sandpaper of various grits is then held against the spinning cup to make it as smooth as possible.
The last act on the lathe before separating the cup from the wood is to apply a coating of bees wax and buff the entire thing with a soft paper towel.
A handle is carved by hand, also from cherry, and attached before a final coat of clear poly is applied.
The saucer is turned in much the same manner.
The cup that was turned yesterday is a bit different than the original. I'll turn two or three styles for the little ones in my life and hopefully get them all matched to where each set contains four tea cups and saucers. Two down, eighteen to twenty-four more to go. I have a large flock of granddaughters and nieces. I just hope I live long enough to make them all complete sets, including the accessories, the sugar bowl and creamer, a pitcher, and of course, plates on which to enjoy those all important cookies during the tea party!
The propane heater began acting up again so I spent well over an hour swearing and muttering. I discovered a broken plastic part in the adjustment knob, one that was temporarily repaired with a zip tie. I believe I can get the part online, so I'll limp along with what I have until it arrives. If not, I'll have to purchase a new heater, another fifty dollars down the hole. Grr.
Three loads of laundry saw the washer, the dryer, and were hung during the day. I also made a large batch of cheesy cauliflower potato soup in which a large bag of frozen cauliflower from last summer's garden was used along with an entire bag of shredded cheese. That doesn't include the gallon of milk and bushel of garden potatoes that made up the main stock.
At first, the soup was a bit thick and I was tempted to use it as a cracker dip, possibly a fondue, but in the end, I kept adding milk and finally, something that resembled soup emerged.
It must have been ok. We had no problems eating it last night and Sargie pronounced it as "one of the best."
Ah, the way to a woman's heart is also through her belly. It appears men have no corner on that market.
Sargie arrived home later in the evening after a visit to the beautician's. The poor girl opens the Vision Center today, so once again, she's meeting herself coming and going.
I going for my early morning walk then will head to town to take advantage of a one day sale at our super market.
After, I hope to redo some of my ice fishing equipment and gear up for the spring fishing season. The warmer temperatures and longer days, along with the usual spring melt, often spur the fish into some late season activity. I'd like to be a part of that action.
Time to move along here, get this day going, tote that barge, move that bale, all that good stuff.
After all, a man's work is never done.
So are the tales from Pentoga Road...
The cup that was turned yesterday is a bit different than the original. I'll turn two or three styles for the little ones in my life and hopefully get them all matched to where each set contains four tea cups and saucers. Two down, eighteen to twenty-four more to go. I have a large flock of granddaughters and nieces. I just hope I live long enough to make them all complete sets, including the accessories, the sugar bowl and creamer, a pitcher, and of course, plates on which to enjoy those all important cookies during the tea party!
Three loads of laundry saw the washer, the dryer, and were hung during the day. I also made a large batch of cheesy cauliflower potato soup in which a large bag of frozen cauliflower from last summer's garden was used along with an entire bag of shredded cheese. That doesn't include the gallon of milk and bushel of garden potatoes that made up the main stock.
At first, the soup was a bit thick and I was tempted to use it as a cracker dip, possibly a fondue, but in the end, I kept adding milk and finally, something that resembled soup emerged.
It must have been ok. We had no problems eating it last night and Sargie pronounced it as "one of the best."
Ah, the way to a woman's heart is also through her belly. It appears men have no corner on that market.
Sargie arrived home later in the evening after a visit to the beautician's. The poor girl opens the Vision Center today, so once again, she's meeting herself coming and going.
I going for my early morning walk then will head to town to take advantage of a one day sale at our super market.
After, I hope to redo some of my ice fishing equipment and gear up for the spring fishing season. The warmer temperatures and longer days, along with the usual spring melt, often spur the fish into some late season activity. I'd like to be a part of that action.
Time to move along here, get this day going, tote that barge, move that bale, all that good stuff.
After all, a man's work is never done.
So are the tales from Pentoga Road...
 |
| Taken a few minutes ago Sunrise early Thursday morning |
No comments:
Post a Comment