A perfect evening by the fire
Planting the garden (and other house chores)
It is quiet during the day with the boys not here. That gives me a chance to catch up on chores. But I’d rather have the noise of kids running around and squeeze in chores on the edges.
I picked up (and planted) tomato, pepper and celery seedlings from the Sawyer Family farm. I also picked up a freshly slaughtered chicken – dinner one night for the boys and me.
I mowed most of the yard this weekend (a little left to finish next week). The yard is coming together. The garden is planted. The flower beds are getting cleaner (ok, still work to do).
I also covered the hole in the second floor of the barn where the original stairs had been. I am getting ready to install a large (4′ x5′) window in the south facing wall. I will hinge it so I should be able to get a nice breeze in the summer. I had to repair glazing on the window and paint it.
In addition I removed four of the glass storm windows and installed screens (I have only 3 screens, so I’ll have to make more this summer.
It finally feels like summer here. Now for pizza and beer while enjoying the evening from the patio.
Saturday Night Out (and Sweden wins 2012 Eurovision)
It is a rare weekend night that I am home and the boys aren’t here. Even rarer now to have that and Susanna not working. Last night was one of those rare nights. In addition Loreen from Sweden won the 2012 Eurovision contest. I think they hadn’t won it since 1918 or something like that. Sorry, not 1918, I’m thinking of something else; Sweden hadn’t won Eurovision since 1999. Understandably, Susanna was pretty excited. Also, understandably, as hard as I may try, I’m just not as excited as Susanna about it.
Anyway to celebrate the Eurovision win (for Susanna) and to celebrate a night we can actually go out (for me), we dressed up and went to Foxwoods Casino for dinner and drinks. We enjoyed mexican (food and drinks), and I actually won $20 on the slots (yeah, slots, like lottery, tax on people bad at statistics – but it is fun sometimes just to put in $20 and see what happens – and going to a movie would cost just as much).
We came home to enjoy the humid evening on the patio. We even dug out some of the sky lanterns we had left from last summer and lit two of them – watching them drift away into the night sky. I think we will save the remainder until the boys are back (and for when Susanna’s sisters visit this summer).
Speaking of visits, it looks like both of Susanna’s sisters may be here at the same time. That will be a change, from a household that has more males than females in it to just the opposite. If anyone wants to find me that week, I’ll be locked in my workshop. I have beer and water in there. I just need to find a urinal and install it – I’ll be all set for a couple of days at least.
Enough random musings for this morning. Time to drink my coffee and get moving on my day.
The most usless tool ever (Chisel/Rasp combination)
I can’t believe I actually purchased these. It is completely useless crap. It functions neither as a proper chisel or a proper rasp. Please don’t ever purchase one of these. I’ll give you mine. No wait, I won’t even do that. I’m throwing them away. They have been sitting in a toolbox for a couple of years now just waiting for me to throw them away.
What is wrong with them? They can’t be used as a proper chisel (the rasp portion is in the way of close cuts). They can’t be used as a rasp (you need to hold both ends of a rasp, the second end on this one is the sharp end of the chisel). Maybe you can open cans of paint with them. But mainly they will sit in your toolbox until you get frustrated enough to throw them away.
I’m guessing whoever designed them had never worked with either tool before. And the idiot in marketing that thought they should sell them… The set is about $20 at Amazon. Don’t purchase them.
This weekend I’ll spend some time cleaning out the workshop and getting rid of other tools that I don’t need or that don’t work.
Ben’s Saw Bench
It felt good to get back into the workshop after over a week out of town for work. I took a little break from my workshop renovation to build a saw bench with Ben. He helped me mill the top from a piece of lumber (maybe wormy chestnut – I’m not 100% sure, could be wormy pine) before I left.
Last night he helped me get the legs cut from a piece of cypress I had below the barn. He helped me mark out and cut the dadoes for the legs, but then got a little bored with the project.
I did most of the remaining work. The stretchers are red oak (I had it laying around), and I didn’t make a bottom shelf. I milled the lumber using the power jointer and planer. However, I did nearly all the joinery by hand. I can tell I need practice with the hand tools.
Ben helped me assemble the bench (glue and wood screws). Tomorrow I’ll take the old workbench I made for the boys and put it on the second floor, leaving only the saw bench. I have a thick piece of ash set aside to make the top of Will’s saw bench (when we get around to it).
One more project completed this year. Now to the sharpening station (also spoken, “Kitchen table”) and sharpen some of my very dull tools.
Workshop Progress
I had a pretty good weekend in the workshop. Will and Ben accused me of being boring (spending too much time in the workshop – so I spend more time with them on Sunday). It feels like there is a lot more room now that I am cleaning up the shop. One more set of shelves and I will be done with the organization on the fist floor. As promised here are pictures.
A simple woodworking project with kids
Last month I completed a set of pretty simple cutting boards with Will, Ben and Ben’s friend, Anthony. Making long grain cutting boards is simple, and was easy for the boys to complete.
I did all the milling before the boys arrived. I found a bunch of scrap lumber in the workshop and cut them to about 15″ in length. I then milled them all to the same thickness. The exact thickness doesn’t matter – I just made them all match the thinnest piece of scrap.
I marked then cut them into varying strips of 1/2″, 1″, and 2″ width. I marked arrows on each piece so the grain all lined up (so I could use the jointer/planet in the final boards to clean them up).
I then had the boys mix and match the strips into boards that were no wider than 7″ (so they would fit on the jointer). In hindsight I could have let them make the boards a little wider. The boys then glued up the strips into boards and let them sit overnight.
After the boards were dry, the boys helped scrape away the glue squeeze-out and I ran them over the jointer and through the planer to even them out. The boys can help at the planer, but have to stay away from the jointer.
I then cut the boards to size on the table saw, and the boys used the router table (with a lot of supervision) to round over the edges. They then hand sanded the boards and applied a coat of mineral oil/beeswax coating.
It was a quick project that required little prep and no cost by me (the scraps would have gone into the fire put if not used). The steps were short and simple enough for the boys to not get bored. And the boys had a chance to appreciate the beauty of different species of wood.
Spring nights
Spring evenings are meant for ice cream at Michael’s Dairy in New London followed by “dandelion soccer” in the overgrown field next door.
The workshop… almost… and lots of random chores
It feels good to have a day where you get a lot done. It has been busy enough that it is worth making a list of things completed. The morning was unexpectedly free when Will didn’t wake up feeling well enough to go to soccer practice (the bad night sleep on Thursday catching up with him):
- Took fencing and an old barn sink to the Sawyer farm – returning tools I borrowed from them, and getting 4 dozen eggs.
- Finished the new stairs to the second floor of the workshop. Pictures to follow when I feel like going out there and taking some
- I got rid of some antique windows, random scrap lumber and some old tractor pieces using Craigslist – and all was picked up today.
- I removed the original stairs to the second floor of the barn.
- The boys and I made a bonfire, and burned most of the wood from the original stairs.
- I moved the drill press and bandsaw to the corner where the old stairs had been.
- Lots of cleaning and organizing the workshop(but I still have a ways to go).
- Picked up Will’s friend, Tyler, for a sleepover – they are outside playing for now.
- Moved the water tank to the second floor.
I still have a little ways to go on the workshop, but the end is in sight. I have to clean up the stairs, add a handrail and a railing in the loft. I still have some shelves to build to finish putting away all the tools – I also need to go through my tools and get rid of ones I don’t need (hello Craigslist). After I complete the work inside, I need to install the large window on the south facing wall, and add exterior trim to all the new windows (and replace the rotted trim on the south facing wall). But overall, the renovation has made the workshop much more usable. All of a sudden it feels like I have nothing but space…
Up in Smoke
Last night a house down the street went up in flames. It was one of the other old houses on the street. According to the the neighbors at the fire, the house was in foreclosure and there was rumors that someone (possibly the owner) was seen leaving the scene just before the fire.
No one was in the house, but apparently the rats that infested the house are now homeless. I’ll have to leave the dogs and cats outside to make sure the rats stay off of our property.
Will woke up for the fire (he tried to wake Ben up, but Ben can sleep through anything) – but was too nervous to walk down to the fire trucks and see the fire. But when the house was going, the flames were above the trees, so he got a good view from our back yard.
It didn’t make the paper today (but did make the internet). I forgot to take my camera, so had to take pictures from the local newspaper.