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| What? A bluejay in a squirrel trap? That's just what happened Thursday afternoon. |
11 degrees/snow flurries/breezy
Pentoga Road
I've had a couple of pesky pine squirrels stealing food from the bird feeders this past week so I set a live trap with plans to get rid of them. I caught the first the day before yesterday and thought I'd caught another on Thursday.
Imagine my surprise when I picked up the trap and saw blue feathers rather than a bushy tail. Jay, of the family Blue, wasn't a happy camper. Unlike chickadees, I don't believe bluejays would make very good pets. This guy was spitting fire and calling me names that should never be printed.
I've never touched a bluejay, so rather than merely letting him go, I held him in both hands, rubbed his feathers on my cheek and was pecked a few times before releasing him back into the wild. The last I saw, he was flying through the dense spruce trees to a destination unknown.
Thursday started off with hamburger, lots and lots of burger. Our's is purchased at a wholesale food mart and comes in a lengthy tube.
I cut the burger, plastic wrap and all, into hamburger sized pieces.
Three are wrapped separately then put into their own meal-sized package. Finally, everything is sealed in a two gallon freezer bag and placed in the freezer.
I was in the shop by mid morning. The first task on the agenda was to clean the area around the lathe.
Turning even the tiniest bowls seems to make the biggest messes. The dust collector does just that, sucks in dust, but it's not effective on shavings and the heavier saw dust.
Switching gears, I began making puzzles for the smaller grandchildren. Most of yesterday was spent on an alphabet worm puzzle.
A pattern was copied then glued onto a 1x8 board with spray adhesive.
Before using the scroll saw, the interior and exterior of the puzzle had to be sanded. This needed to be done before cutting so the pieces would exactly match each other.
Finally, the individual pieces were cut from one another.
I'll paint each piece a different color, making certain every four form a pattern, (early childhood psychology) then apply the letters. That'll be one puzzle down, with several more to go.
Just as I've been making miniatures, I decided to see how large a piece of wood I might turn on the lathe. A goodly hunk of birch was found alongside the wood shed and with no small amount of difficulty, made ready to turn.
The motor on the lathe is really too small for anything very heavy and this piece was so large that I couldn't fit the chisel rest underneath and still allow it to turn.
I had to start at one side and work my way in.
Still, it was shaped into a perfect cylinder before I turned the lights off and closed the door. I'll begin shaping the piece today.
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| This is the largest piece of wood the mini lathe will turn. |
That didn't happen. I discovered I'd left my wallet at home and could only ask the clerk to set the aquarium to one side with the promise that I'd be back this morning to complete the transaction.
Sargie and I rode back together last night for a nice, quiet, evening.
She opens this morning, but is off Saturday. As luck would have it, she's scheduled to work Sunday.
I'll ride back with Sargie this morning, drop off the taxes at the accountant's, stop by Home Depot for small samples of paint for the puzzles, and finally, purchase Goldie's aquarium.
On the agenda for today:
* laundry
* more laundry
* set up Goldie's aquarium
* paint the puzzle
* turn the block of wood on the lathe
In my spare time, I may dwell on how to solve the national debt. Yesterday's work on perpetual motion grew tiresome. Perhaps the solution will come to me next week.
Meanwhile, it's time to do something really important, like pour a cup of coffee and listen to the news.
After all, a man's work is never done.
So are the tales from Pentoga Road...
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