The tenon I'd made to fasten onto the bottom of the ring bowl remained firmly attached after drying, but the pine from which it was made was so soft that it crumbled once any pressure was applied by the jaws of the chuck.
I went outside, found a dead two inch branch from a hard maple tree, stuck it in the lathe and turned it round. It was soon cut to size and glued onto the bottom of the future bowl. Believe me, fashioned from rock maple, it won't crack.
The bulldog pattern was also numbered and made ready. I've decided to make a life sized segmented pooch, an English bulldog, one that will sit on our front porch and greet all visitors. It's my hope that from afar, he'll look like the real thing.
Stay tuned on that one. It ought to be fun if nothing else.
It was time to make that long trek to the dentist. Making a swing through Iron River for Sargie's Coke and a quick trip through the car wash, we meandered the fifteen miles to Crystal Falls. With the Covid rules and all, Sargie had to remain in the car.
Despite knowing I was going to leave minus one wisdom tooth, it was good to see all my friends. Brenda greeted me, Katie took an xray or two, and Eric shot my head full of Novocain and pulled. I even got to see a video of new mother, Brittany's, baby's first birthday party.
The entire procedure was quick, extremely pain free, and as hard as it is to believe, fun. Thanks folks.
How's my mouth feeling on the morning after? I keep forgetting I had a wisdom tooth pulled. There was little bleeding and absolutely no swelling.
Just one little bitty problem. Since it was a wisdom tooth, I may have lost some of my mental acuity. Sister-in-law, Trish, had wished me good luck earlier in the day, so I responded to her text last night assuring her I was just fine:
"Der trisha I stil hav mosa mi branes evn afr he taked out mi wizdum toof so u don hav 2 worree. thu dokter sed i hav plentee of ovur teefs. Eye stil iz smarts. Luv u tom"
With snow forecast, Sargie reminded me that I wanted to pull the trailer from the woods to alongside the barn. In a normal winter, several feet of snow prohibits moving anything from an area that's not plowed.
The biggest problem we had was loosening the bottom of the trailer jack from the ground. Between snow, rain, and cold temperatures, it was firmly imbedded.
Finally attached and freed from its bondage of ice, I threaded the trailer between the backhoe and boat trailer that was sitting a few feet away.
I use the trailer little during the winter months, but it's good to have should I want to transport the snowmobile for fishing on a distant lake or need more wood from the plant to boil maple syrup later this spring.
It was bothering me that I'd yet to successfully calculate and cut the angles for the segmented ring that will be added to the latest bowl.
I'd cyphered, added, subtracted, Pi r squared, and divided. Finally, I was ready to cut. Using a piece of junk pine on which to practice, I lowered the blade of the new battery operated miter saw Sargie had given me at Christmas. It was the first time I'd used the machine and maybe, just maybe, it would bring me luck.
I carefully cut eleven pieces, all at a 16.36 degree angle. (Those aren't my calculations. Mississippi Brother Garry later told me that's what they were.)
Oh, dear Lord, Baby Jesus, make these fit into a circle, six inches in diameter.
Here I go.
Ah, the sweet sweet taste of success. After sending the above picture to Garry, he texted back and reminded me how I could have figured the pieces in a much simpler manner and to make them come out in an even number so I don't have two exactly the same together. I'm going to begin again this morning using Garry's formula so all my Pi's are squared.
Sargie pulled out all the culinary stops yesterday by putting a pork roast in the slow cooker along with cabbage and carrots. The roast was so fall-apart tender that I had no trouble eating, despite having recently lost a wisdom tooth. The cooked cabbage and carrots were frosting on the cake.
With several inches of wet, gloppy, snow, forecast to fall, I doubt I'll be working on my tan lines today. Yooper Brother Mark is to come out at some point and walk with me. No doubt, I'll be clearing the drive of snow, and of course, I'll be in the shop. We'll make our usual trip to town where I need to purchase a large hose/radiator clamp to fit around the segmented pieces after they are glued.
Other than that, I may just settle back, let it snow, and close my eyes for a nice, long, afternoon, winter, nap.
After all, a man's work is never done.
So are the tales from Pentoga Road...
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