Year 13, Week 21, Day 0ne (week 697)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-15-13 Saturday
   
    92 degrees, blue skies with high feathers and mid level puffs, nice breeze. Some towers built over the Everglades but they marched west and almost out of sight.
    We had a continuing week of wet weather all week. It was not constant as it was last week, but you knew you were going to get some weather in some areas of the county during the day. It was not predictable when it would come. Today was the first clear day all week. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
   
   
    DURING THE WEEK
   
    Last Sunday, I picked up four large pork roast at a good price. Monday and Tuesday, I sliced steaks out of the meat. I took the poorly cut steaks, and carved the meat off the bone and ground them into burger meat using the meat grinder I got last month.
    I mixed seasoning and filler and other stuff into the burger meat and made patties that I froze.
    Wednesday, I started the bones cooking in the crock pot. Thursday, I removed the meat from the bones, stuck into the broth some other pork pieces and bones I froze up. On Friday, I took the meat off the bones and put all the bones into the crock pot and broth and cooked them over night, taking them out on Saturday. The broth is super thick with flavor. The best I have made. If I wanted to, I could have eaten some of the bones too.
    I am well stocked with pork. I will have to ignore sales on all meat for about a month before I make enough room in the freezer, and ignore sales on pork for several months.
    I am planning next week to make Lasagna, using my pasta maker, and using the cooked meat from the crock pot. Since I always modify sauces that come out of a can, this lasagna will be completely home made.
   
   
    FRIDAY
   
    My uncle from Washington State visited for a couple days. We got together Friday night to visit with him. I visited his home back in the 90s and he has acreage with a machine shop and big equipment. He retired from building trucks, and went into a lawnmower repair business. I was fun to listen to my brother and him talk about machining, employees, and the region up there. We got some ideas on how to solve some little problems. It sent us into design mode.
   
    At work, I have some plastic shelving above my monitor where I clip plans on. I have a clip with a bunch of rubber bands on it. I knocked one down and I remembered that one of the "belts" that came with the lathe was a really tiny rubber ring. That got me thinking about the idea of using a rubber band for a belt for the lathe. I selected several wide ones that looked like they might fit the lathe.
    On the way home, I stopped at the dollar store and picked up some head bands, and two kinds of hair bands, with the idea they might be stretchy enough to work with the lathe as belts. I could not remember how much room I would have to work with so I got several different sizes.
   
   
    SATURDAY
       
    We saw just a couple yard sales and they had nothing I could not live without. That meant we got back fairly soon.
   
    I set up the mini lathe to test the items I wanted to test. I saw instantly that the hair bands I got were way too big. The rubber bands, even the stiffest ones were too stretchy. I would have to use really tiny diameter to even have a chance for them to work.
    The thin hair ties had no grip. They just spun in place with no pull on the pulley. There might be something that could be done to the surface to get a grip, or even stacking a bunch of them together on the same pulleys.
    The second type of hair band did not work when attached to the motor. Too much friction, I guess. I killed two of the bands connected to the motor. They worked nicely with the other pulleys though.
    The reason these bands work is that they have exposed rubber dots showing in the weave. They grab on the metal pulleys giving traction.
    No, these do not a great replacement for real belts. You do get a pack of twelve for a dollar and if they only last a few sessions before going bad, I am not going to complain about that price.
   
 to the right are head bands. They were too long. On the left were hair bands that are too thin and slick to use as belts. In the center are the bands I used that work.



 

 The bands in place on the lathe. the one to the pulley on the left broke after a bit of a test as that is the motor and it provides too much tension or something else and the band could not take it.


    My motor started acting up again. It would run, then bog down and stop. While off, it turns nicely, but with the power on, it locks. I could get it spinning after some work but it hated working under tension after a very short while. It worked long enough to give my new belts a test, then I gave up.
   
    A kitty cat had kittens in Mom's yard,  back in the corner of the awning area. She was with her babies out by the well, so Mom and I carefully pulled everything out from beneath the awning. we swept the area out completely, then she sprayed bug spray over the entire area. We then put the equipment back. Some stuff got re-stacked or put away so we ended up with a little more room.
    Mom hopes that the bug spray might kill some of the fleas on the kittens, or that the smell bothers momma kitty and she relocates them, possibly out by the wood pile.
   

    Momma kitty with kittens nursing, taken last weekend.

    Since the lathe was not working, I dug out the dremmel. My plan was on waiting until I had all the rods I needed made, before cutting the hooks into the wood. I decided that since it might be a bit before I can get the lathe running properly again, I decided to add hooks to the rods, making them into crochet hooks. 








 
 Completed rods photographed last weekend.
 
    I dropped the dremmel and very slightly bent the metal cutting blade I was using. I tried correcting it but the wobble was enough to make too big a gap. I went to a regular cutting disk. The metal disk had a sanding surface on the face. I use the disk to sand the ends round or to shape before I start cutting. The regular cutting disk does not sand as well as the metal disk.
    On a couple thin Mahogany rods, I went a little deep with the hook so it was too weak. I tested them and they broke with no effort. On one I actually had to cut it three times before I got a useable hook, which is why it is a whole lot shorter than the others.
    








finished crochet hooks. Left side  are Mahogany, right side are black walnut. Center ones are bamboo skewers. The short skewer took many attempts to get the hook right. The short Mahogany hooks also required several attempts to get the hook the right.


    I am not sure what I will be doing tomorrow. My brother is supposed to be up to haul away some sand. I would like him to look at the lathe motor and see if something simple can be done about it.
   
    I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
   
   
   
   
Year 13, Week 21, Day Two (week 697)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-16-13 Sunday
   
    94 degrees, nice wind with strong gusts, blue hazy sky with some feathers. A few distant puffs showed on the far horizon over the Everglades but wonderful weather otherwise. A perfect day for celebrating Father's Day. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
       
    I got a late start today. I got to Mom's house later than I normally do. When I arrived, Mom was talking to my brother. He was on a job and was not going to make it up there.
    I set up outside, bringing the metal lathe out to have a look at it.
    Mom found a small fishing box with some tools in it when she was digging stuff out of the corner of the awning area. I decided to have a look at it a bit closer.
    The box was in bad condition. One side of the shelving mechanism that makes them open and close when you lift the top shelf, was broken off the box.
    I removed everything from the box and found that these were router bits, parts and tools. There were a couple wooden rods with beads glued into them. I instantly recognized that this went to Dad's duplicator.
    The duplicator was a frame that had a movable attachment that the router fitted into. What you did was to put the work you wanted to copy onto one side, and then the block of wood you were working from into the other. you put a router bit into the router, and there was a follower rod that had an end matching the size and shape of the router bit. As you ran the follower rod over the existing work, the router cut away the excess wood of the work. When one side was done, you rotated the both pieces 90 degrees and did it again. When both pieces had been turned completely around with one bit, you then went to a smaller bit, with a matching follower. One could, if you wanted, to go down to pin sized router bits to get into the fine detail.
    Usually what My dad did was to use the duplicator to horse off the worst of the wood and get the shape and proportions right, then he would hand carve the surface and details after that. It was a great tool to do several of the same piece.
   
    Since the tackle box was shot, I dug out another box that I had, removing the screws and hardware stored in it. It started as a carving box, then became a parts box, then I had my dremmel in it for a few years, and then it became a parts box again.
    The router box had a board on the bottom that had holes drilled into it for the router bits to slip into, holding them upright and apart. It was held in by two small screws. I drilled two holes in the bottom of the new box and screwed the board into place. A couple bits were too tall for this so they went into the tray.
    Dad had a foam mat in some of the tray sections to protect the edges of the bits from the plastic. That was rotted, tore easily. I should do that for the new box but that can happen some time later.
    The bits are protected again and in a safe place for now. I would use the duplicator to make something but I have nothing I care to duplicate right now.
   
    I had made some crochet hooks out of skewers. One really thin one had lost the hook, broke off. I took a bit of time to replace it, going too deep several times. the trick is to not go too much over half way deep. it is an easy mistake to make. I went with a thinner cutting disk and finally got it right.
    I gave all my new crochet hooks a spray of varnish, a sanding with finer sand paper and another coat of varnish. I did that mainly to bring out their different colors.
    I now have to test these hooks to see if I got them made right or have to modify them to make them work perfectly.
   
    I have a bug deflector on the front of my truck. During the repair process we did, I found out that it was cracked. I gave a temporary test with tape, but weather  rotted the plastic of the tape.
    This week, I took some LIQUID NAILS small project tube, and globbed that along the crack to see if it would hold it in place. It did. Today I dug out some acrylic paint I had and blended it with the black plastic. I then gave it a couple quick coats of spray varnish, mainly to give it the same gloss as the plastic. I should have shaved the lumps of glue a bit before painting it, to improve the looks of it, but the black paint helps it blend in some. it is not sticking out bad.
    Liquid nails is sort of rubbery and I have used it to repair some rubber slippers. I have used it for some other quick repairs.
   
    I am not sure what I will be doing next week. If the weather is nice like it is today, I will have loads of work to do. If it is poor, I have other projects in mind.
    Of course, I have loads of other projects that need to be done and won't be.
   
    I will see what happens next week.
   
   
   
   
   

Year 13, Week 20, Day 0ne (week 696)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-08-13 Saturday
  
    86 degrees, loads of clouds, threatening dribbles in the morning, clearing mostly in the afternoon. The past several weeks, Andrea has been sending love letters over us, rain bands streaming up at us while she sat Near Mexico. It got worse as she came up. She never came near to hit our area, but it made for unpleasant weather after she passed as we were then in her feeder bands. Yesterday, I was on the 18th floor of one of the Fort Lauderdale towers and the weather came down so hard that the buildings across the street faded. Today, I heard that the weather was quite wet in other parts of the county, but not over us. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
      
  
    DURING THE WEEK
  
    I tried my new pasta maker twice this week. Both times I used some of my home made flour, where I ran mixed grain -- Bulgur wheat, white rice, Sorghum, Barley, Quinoa, steel cut oats -- with regular white flour. My first try this week was an utter failure. I could not get it to roll out properly at all. I later learned I needed more egg. Before this, I would use extra large or jumbo eggs. Now I have large eggs. Big difference in egg volume.
    My second attempt used more egg and less of my flour. After getting it to the right consistency, it came together wonderfully. I made nice long flat sheets, then I ran them through the smallest of the two settings on my pasta cutter. I made a mistake, letting the noodles bunch right under the cutter so it gobbed together. I re ran them through to flatten them, and held them out as they came out.
    I was expecting them to be tiny flat noodles. Instead what I got was Spaghetti noodles. The cutters sort of extruded the overly thick sheets of dough.
I cooked them up soon after. I added oil and seasonings and they were very good.
    To tell the truth, I cannot really tell the difference between these and commercial noodles, but I know exactly what I put into them. I will try these again.
   
    Pasta maker. The crank handle is on the noodle cutter. The main body is for rolling out the dough into sheets. In the bowl is my first attempt this time on the noodles. I flattened them back into a sheet and cut them again.








 Finished un-cooked spaghetti noodles. 2/3rs white flour, 1/3rd mixed grain flour.

I figured out that I have an addiction to kitchen gadgets. I will do something about it if I decide it is a problem......



    Saturday
  
  
    Mom has made head ways in making the momma cat compliant. Yesterday, Mom had petted the cat's tail as she walked around her legs. Today, while the cat rubbed herself on Mom's legs, Mom was rubbing the tail, and then was rubbing the cat's back. The cat at first would shy if she was looking when Mom was rubbing her. Soon, the momma cat was letting her rub the back of her head.
    Later in the day, the kittens came out and we were able to pet and pick up two of them. the third did not want to get very close yet. The kittens are full of fleas. The momma cat really wanted attention, but was so skittish. Later in the day, mom would try to walk and Momma cat would place herself in front of Mom's legs, rubbing herself. It was hard for mom to walk that way without tripping.
    











 Momma kitty eating

  
 Baby kitties nursing on Momma kitty.

  Because the morning weather was threatening, there were no yard sales. I dug out my mini lathe and decided to make some more rods for crochet hooks.
    I needed to cut some wood at the band saw. It happens to be where the kittens are nesting. Two of the kittens were on top of some things in the corner. I started the band saw and they dove down under the debris. It was a giggle. I quickly finished my cuts and put everything I had to move to get to the band saw, back.

    I started with one of my cut sticks and was machining it. I noticed that the lathe motor was bogging down really bad. After a while, I did some tests, removing the belt from the motor itself. It speed up to full speed. I put the belt back on, but only had the belt to the idler pulley. It bogged down again. I am not sure why I did it, but I lifted the motor slightly and it got going faster. I did it again and saw slight movement on one of the nuts holding the motor together.
    I then searched for the socket that goes to that nut. When we got the motor, we needed to open it up to solve a problem. We found that a socket that would fit the nut, would not fit into the enclosure also. I took a socket the right size and machined away some of the metal on the outside of the nut. It now slides into the hole and onto the nut nicely.
    I found the socket was sitting next to me. I found I did not have the ratchet to fit it with me, so I was able to use a flat head screwdriver to turn the socket. It worked well enough. After that, the lathe ran much faster.
  
    After making one rod, I learned that we could go to a picnic, so I packed up the mini lathe and after about an hour rest, We headed to the site. I spent a lot of my time playing chess. I learned long ago, that when up against someone who is nowhere near as good as I am, that I should play more for a draw, and hold off from blasting them to smithereens. It makes it much more fun for both of use. It is frustrating to get stuffed in each and every game. By holding off and trying to avoid a win by either of you, it comes out to be a really challenging game for both of us.
  
  
    There are a number of projects to do. I have to see what excites me first.
    I will see what I will do tomorrow.
  
  
  
  
    Year 13, Week 20, Day Two (week 696)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-09-13 Sunday
  
    86 degrees in the morning, 90 degrees in the afternoon. The air was drier than yesterday moved by a nice breeze, blue skies with high feathers, puffs appearing later in the day rushing west, A few dots on the radar but not where we were.
      
    I settled in on the mini lathe. I decided to do a different tact on the work I was going to do. Rather than machine each stick of wood into a round and then down to size, I decided I would just round each one and leave them at that. I can make them the right size later. The sticks are not square, and they are not even thickness or height all the way down. One end might be a big square, while the other end is a small sided rectangle. I was not careful about how I cut them. Only a few would remain large so that does not matter.
    As soon as I got one rod and the same dimension all they way down the length, I would add another stick. I thought that I had all the sticks I cut out, but while packing up, I ran across a bunch more.
    I did quite well, five rods this weekend. I would have had six, I got a catch and one split out. I will have to cut off some of the length to get to something that can be made round on that end.
    





   

 Existing rods. The lighter rods on the left are Mahogany. The darker rods on the right are Black walnut. The four rods on the farthest right are rough rods, not made to the finished diameter yet.


I was reminded of something today. I knew it but sort of forgot about it.
    There are three stepped pulleys to the lathe. One can increase or decrease the speed of the work by changing the order of where the belts contact the pulleys.
    There are trade-offs when using the different settings of the lathe. When you use the slow settings, going from the smallest pulley on the motor to the largest pulley on the idler pulley, then smallest on the idler to the largest on the lathe shaft, one does not get a lot of speed in comparison, but you can really take deep cuts as it will horse the material off. It will take some time in comparison to the fastest setting, but the motor will bog down the least.
    When you go with the largest pulley on the motor, to the smallest pulley on the idler, then the largest on the idler to the smallest on the lathe shaft, you get the lathe to spin the work faster than the motor is going. It really hums. the problem is that there is no power. This setting is for finishing the work, polishing. You dig deep with a cutting tool and it will stop the motor if you are not careful.
    What I was reminded about was that while working fast is nice, it is not always the best choice. I am working with wood, which is not as hard as steel. I was still bogging down the lathe with my cuts while at the highest speed setting. I was trying to work fast. I changed the pulley settings and slowed the lathe down fairly close to the slowest setting and, while it was spinning a whole lot slower than before, it was not bogging down from the loads. It ended up just about the same speed and was easier on the motor.
  
    I was also reminded that wood is messier than metal. the wind was blowing today and was moving the fine sawdust everywhere. Sawdust also sticks wonderfully to anything that has oil on it, such as the moving parts of the lathe.
    I use a tooth brush (get a pack of them at the dollar store) to clean the lathe. you will be surprised at where the sawdust gets to. I just dumped the loose sawdust off the lathe yesterday. Today, I had to brush it with the tooth brush. It is still not clean, but much better than it has been. It really needs to be disassembled to be cleaned properly.
  
    My big lathe needs to be disassembled, the "Ways" The surfaces the tail stock and tool holder slide on, needs to be cleaned of the thin surface rust and waxed really good. I need to dig out all the wood on the shelves beneath the lathe and remove all the sawdust. The wood needs to be looked at to see if bugs have been having fun with any of it. It is also good to be reminded about what is under there. The motor housing needs to be cleaned and the tail stock should be lubricated.
    It is a big project With my back and my leg, I am not sure when I will be in the mood to tackle that project.
  

    I am not sure what will happen next week. I do plan to work more on the crochet hooks. I will likely spend my time and round the rest of my sticks and then machine them down to the needed sizes.
    I have the urge to cut the hooks into the rod, but want to hold off until I have all the rods I need in the sizes I need and then cut the hooks. I will try to make them all the same length (mistakes happen and sometimes a new end have to be re-cut so the rod ends up shorter).
  
    I will have to see what I do next weekend.

Year 13, Week 19, Day 0ne (week 695)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-01-13 Saturday
   
    86 degrees, grey skies with some blue peaking through, a couple early morning drips dissuaded yard sailing, nice breeze all day long, A shock wave of hard downpour found while driving home around noon. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    Mom has kittens! A delicate cat has hung around for quite a while. Mom has not fed it as she really does not want to take care of another cat. Last week I moved some equipment and heard a kitten. This week she saw the cat and she had three black kittens following her.
    Today we went out to feed scar face and after he was done, we sat down and placed the food on the ground. The female came out hesitantly and started eating. Her three kittens came out and played a short distance away. She was flighty and if we moved with any speed, she spooked. A bit later, she settled beneath the chairs, in view and nursed her kittens. Mom is "so happy" to have kittens among our equipment under the awning.
   
    Last week I received a pasta maker as a birthday Present. During the week I decided to give it a test and made some regular thin noodles which were pretty good, and some Lasagna pasta.
    Later in the week I made some Lasagna using my noodles. I used my meat grinder to grind some pork into hamburger and did not have enough tomato sauce so I boiled some tomatoes I had on hand in the sauce. I put it together with Ricotta cheese, which was the first time I had ever purchased it, and some cheddar cheese I grated. It turned out to be the very best Lasagna I had ever made. It was slightly below what I get on average by other people. I made two loaf pans full, and ate one whole one for breakfast one day, and the other loaf pan lasted two days and three meals only because I forced myself to.
Later in the week, I put a bunch of different kinds of grains in my coffee grinder to make a multi grain flour. That will be for my next test of the pasta maker.
   
    I am digging through my kitchen to see what I have and what I can get rid of so I have room for something else. This week I found some things I forgot I had, and located some items that were not where I thought they were. I have a lot of "Tupperware" kinds of containers and need to get them all out in one place and see what I might use and what will never be used.
    One problem I am seeing was I purchased a bunch of stuff for one kind of cooking, and then I changed my cooking style. there is that nagging thought that if I change, the stuff I get rid of could be stuff I should have kept.
    I've been using small plastic plates usually used by children for dinner. It keeps my food volume low as if it does not fit on the plate, it is too much. I noticed that my ceramic saucers are only slightly smaller and they do not score when a steak is cut in them. I found a use for something I was not using at all.
   
    Saturday
   
    During the week, I picked up a spare tire for my truck. I have never had one for this truck. There is always that nagging worry about what if I have a flat tire that cannot be fixed on the spot. With a spare, I am not so worried. Since the cable is broke on the crank that lifts the tire beneath the truck, I picked up a lock a while ago and a cable Saturday and locked the tire in place. I did find that I could not lock it the way I wanted so I had to use bungy cords to make sure it stays in position. I will work out something better later or get the tire crank replaced.
   
    I decided I would go to the antique shop and check on my work on display down there. I made a quick stop at home to get some things and then headed farther south.
    At the antique shop, I swapped out some pieces. I needed to take my carved vases with me to show someone what I used to always do. I laid tissue paper down which improved the display. I really needed to add a couple boxes to the display to place some pieces at a higher level. I have some pieces on a table, and some on the floor. It would be better to have a third level. It would improve the display quite a bit. I forgot to take pictures of the display. It is kind of hard to get a good picture as there is a giant display window directly behind it and this camera has no controls.
   
    After the antique shop, I stopped at a local thrift shop. I saw several things I could get in the kitchenware section, but did not get them. It was then that I saw I have an addiction to kitchen equipment. Knowing I have an addiction and solving it are two different things. I have not decided it is a problem yet......
   
    Back home, I gathered my laundry. I was at that point in my laundry where I HAD to do it. It was not I would like to do laundry, or I should do laundry, I was at HAD TO DO laundry. My condo has washing machines but you have to buy tokens. I go to a laundry mat as the machines are bigger, better maintained, and seldom are you unable to find enough machines to do your laundry. 
       
    I am not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I do hope to do some sort of wood working.
   
    I will see what I do tomorrow.
   
   

Year 13, Week 19, Day Two (week 695)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-02-13 Sunday
       
   
    86 degrees at around 10, 88 degrees around noon and stayed there at two. Blue skies, sun, with high feathers. Thunder bumpers developed over the Everglades early but drifted west and out of sight. At two, thunder bumpers developed over the Everglades, the anvil covered us and the sun, and it was time to pack up. Here in South Florida, Interstate 95 (I-95) tends to be a border for a lot of the thunder boomers. They will stop around the interstate and drift back west. In the evening when the off short winds die down, the thunder boomers then rush to the sea and on out. I drove through a portion of the thunder boomers while driving home but was past them by a long way by the time I got home. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
    I arrived early at Mom's house and immediately set up in back. I got the folding table from the garage and set it up, dug out my mini metal working lathe and the tools I needed. I settled down to making another rod for crochet hooks. It was a challenge. Last time, I made a quarter milometer mistake and made a rod that was supposed to be an E size into one that was a D size. Today I wanted to make a new rod the right size of E.
    This was a rectangular piece so I drew on one end a square and placed a hole in the center of that, then did the same on the other end. I then slowly whittled down the excess wood until I had a round rod. It fit into the G hole of the template but not the F. I then made a few more passes with the cutting tools until it fit into the F hole but not the E. Finally, I used sand paper to reduce the size down till it fit through the E hole. I had better luck on the bowing of the rod. It behaved better.
    I do see one little problem. Some of the rods look like they might be mahogany rather than black walnut. I was using cut pieces I already had, It is sometimes tell two kinds of wood apart when they have a slight aging on the surface. That is how the mistake may have happened. I will have to cut up some black walnut and make rods out of that now to make up for the mahogany rods. I will make more mahogany rods so that will end up a full set also.
   
    I have no idea what will be happening next weekend. I mean I have no clue. I figure Saturday will be taken up with non-woodworking projects. Sunday I hope to do wood working, even if it is just making more rods on the mini lathe.
   
    I will see what I do next weekend.
   
   

In memorandum 
Year 13, Week 18, Day Three (week 694)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-27-13 Monday - Memorial Day


88 degrees, loads of grey puffs with blue sky between, and no sunshine. We did get a couple dots of liquid Sunshine while driving but none fell on us directly. This Weather report is brought to you by the City Of Lantana Florida Department of Tourism.

It was Memorial day today. We decided to go visit Dad's grave in the National Cemetery in Palm Beach County.

My dad was born in 1917. He served in World War 2 as a Tank Destroyer driver with Patton's army. Many years after the war, he met my mom and convinced her to marry him. Together, they raised four children, I am the youngest of them, working at the Bethlehem Steel Mill in Seattle as a crane operator.

My dad was a can-do person. He built our house from scratch, digging the basement by hand in clay soil after the house was built. As I was growing up, He could fix cars, work electricity, put up fences, grow a wonderful garden each year, cook when necessary. He seemed to be able to do absolutely anything.

When I was in highschool, I was trying to decide what kind of person I should be. I was stunned when It dawned on me that I should be Dad. I have to admit that I failed. My brother is very much like dad.

In the late 70s, Mom and Dad moved to Florida, and six months later I came to visit and never had the money or brains enough to leave....

In his retirement which was at 58, Dad was busy with all sorts of projects. He learned many crafts and hobbies. He kept complaining that he was so busy he needed to retire.

In the years around 1999, I would come up to visit Mom and Dad and would sit and write on the laptop, or build wooden structures for my model railroad. Dad's main hobby at the time was wood carving. It dawned on me that he was in his 80s and I did not want that "I WISH I SAID, I WISH I HAD DONE" situations. I took a piece of wood and borrowed one of his knives and did my first carving. I am still proud of that carving. I did others. I jokingly tell people that the way Dad taught me to carve was to pat me on the head and say "very good, carve another one".

He did teach me to make knives, provided tools for many projects such as introducing me to the lathe. Ie provided inspiration to make even more carvings, and do them even when he was in the hospital.

I never realized how good a wood carver he really was until during his last few years. He did projects such as making clay faces of my brother's and sister's children that were so good you could recognize who they were. He intended to carve them in wood but never got to that. He made accurate elk, and chainsaw carved. His favorite subject though, was cowboys, golfers, and clowns, in the Ozark flat plane style of carving.

I did not accurately copy his style. Mine was more modern sloppy... I guess you would call it. I do love complex positions of the people, bent legs and arms, kneeling, sitting, When Dad carved a woman, you knew it was a woman even if she was dressed as a man. I have to use the hair and other features for my carvings to day "woman."

Now my dad, in his years, painted paintings, did string pictures, macrame, worked in clay and in wood. He tried just about everything before he settled totally on wood carving and scroll sawing.

Dad taught me to be a devout believer in hobbies. Up until the last couple months of his life, he was busy with is crafts and hobbies rather than sitting in a rocking chair and waiting. In his last days, scroll sawing was his hobby, making ornate clocks. Curves were very easy for him and he did them with great accuracy, but Mom had to do straight lines for him as he could not seem to cut a straight line any more.

Dad would likely have lived to be a hundred except he kept hurting himself. He was on a bicycle and having replaced the brakes, had them adjusted wrong. He hit the brakes hard because of a fast truck and he went head over heals and broke his hip. He recovered nice from there. Another time he was showing a friend a cut on the band saw and touched the blade with the back of his hand, cutting the tendons. Many years later, he pinched a nerve in his back and had pain in his leg after that. a while later he was bending down to pick something up and he fell down breaking his other hip. He did not recover as fast this time as he was afraid of falling.

One day, He was working on a scroll saw project in the garage. He walked out front in the bright sun shining on the white pavement and walls. He went into the house which was extremely dark. He could not see. He took hold of the arm of the chair and sat down, but he was on the wrong side of the arm, not grabbing both arms as the doctors tried to teach him. He landed on the floor and broke his arm. He went down hill from there. a few months later, his body started shutting down. He was able to attend Thanksgiving, but died a couple days later. Mom was with him and my brother and I arrived a few hours later.

He is now buried in the Lantana National Cemetery, placed there before it opened to the public. Usually, at least twice a year, Mom and I go and visit his grave and remember the wonderful times we had with him.

I am really ashamed to admit that he was my father. That is because I fear people will expect more out of me. The same goes for my Mom. They are both so talented and wonderful that there is no way I can live up to their standards.

I have loads of projects to do next week, along with materials that need to be used up. I am not going to even hazard a guess as to what I will end up doing. I will leave that to what interests me and what comes up at the time.
I will see what I actually do next week.

 Step ladder I picked up at a yard sale.

 A wind up alarm clock that I picked up at a yard sale

 Frog and turtle figurines I got at a yard sale. Might use them as something to go by when carving them.

 Knife set I picked up at a yard sale. I donated it to our minister's wife.

 Buffing machine I received for my birthday

 Mom behind Dad's gravestone.

 Me behind my father's grave stone

Dad's grave has the yellow flower in front of it.

 HEALING SECRETS OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN book I got for my birthday

Pasta roller / cutter I got for my birthday

Year 13, Week 18, Day 0ne (week 694)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-25-13 Saturday
   
   
    86 degrees, sunny with clouds, nice wind. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Department of Tourism.   
   
   
Went Yard sailing. We hit several yard sales. At one, I picked up a set of twelve kitchen knives. It had six steak knives. These were on the idea of the "As Seen On TV" knives where they can cut pipe and leather without dulling them. I also got a frog and turtle figurines that can be used as go-bys-- you use them to go by while carving something similar.
At another yard sale, I picked up a aluminum step stool. At home I have a tall ladder and chairs in order reach something high. This step stool will help on that.
Mom picked up a buffer used for car finishes and handed it to me saying, "happy birthday." My birthday is next month, but tomorrow we are combining my birthday, my brother's birthday which is at the end of the month, and Labor day.

I've been digging into my kitchen to see what I will never use or have too many of. I found that I had a couple dozen cooking spoons and spatulas so I sorted them out and set aside some to give away.

I also had a bunch of wooden spoons and spatulas. Many did not look in fantastic condition. While packing to go to mom's it dawned on me that I am a wood worker. I can fix them up. I have the technology!
Later in the day, I sat outside and sanded on them to refresh the finish. A couple are soaked with oil, which is not a problem but that would not sand out so I did not try. I did sand the surface a little anyway. My sanding improved the look of most of them.
I gave mom a couple items from my kitchen stash. The metal stems of some scoops had a little bit of corrosion that a Brillo pad would not touch. I used the dremmel to knock down the corrosion and touched it with emery boards (the kind for your finger nails) There were a few little pits but otherwise they cleaned up nicely. I have some more at home that needs that kind of work.

I went to a party at about lunch time and donated the knives to the hostess. She thanked me when I gave them to her, and she thanked me again later. That always brings a smile.
I went to a fellowship meeting at night and gave the kitchen stuff I had gathered. I told them to keep what they want and pass on the rest. One of the women commented about five spatulas....

Tomorrow is supposed to be a combined birthday party and Memorial day cook out. My tendinitis is not cured yet so I won't try to bring my carving basket and carve figurines.

I will see what happens tomorrow.





Year 13, Week 18, Day Two (week 694)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-26-13 Sunday
   
    I have no idea what the temps were. I was under a nice cool oak tree all day long. The sky was blue with wisps of really high clouds. The breeze was just enough to keep things even cooler. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Fort Lauderdale Department of Tourism.
   
    We combined my brother's and my birthday parties and Memorial day. We are within a couple weeks of each other. The specific day is never important to us. For me, other than the presents, it would not bother me to forget the day.
   
    I realized I did not have a card for my brother, so I grabbed some colored felt pens. I was not sure what kind of art to do on the card. He has a red pickup truck that he is working on, so I drew a red truck. I then wondered what to do next, so I drew his shed. I then drew a person inside and then the stand for the machining lathe he has. I wrote Happy Birthday on the outside. I also added grass all around since that is basically what is around his shed. I then added a nice message on the inside. I even made his envelope and that was his card. It came out pretty good. He looked at the picture of the card and said "That is about it."  I forgot to take pictures of it.
   
    My brother's house is always dark and tends to be crowded so I stay outside all day. We have been lucky as our gatherings have not had more than a passing shower in all the years we have had them there.
    There were a lot of people I had not met in years, or never met so that made for good conversation.
   
   
    My brother had to go to a job so he did not come home until later in the day. Because of that, we did not do any metal working or any other project.
    My tendinitis has not healed enough yet to do any carving with a knife. Because of this, I did not bring my carving basket. I did not bring the Dremmel either. Too much hassle and not good to become covered in dust.
   
    The food was cooked in dribs and drabs and by the time they were done cooking, everybody was full. They had loads of food and I cannot eat anywhere near as much as I used to. I did over eat anyway.
   
    They finally passed out our gifts. I got a book on HEALING SECRETS OF NATIVE AMERICANS and I got a gift card. I then got a WOW gift.
    Mom gave me a pasta roller, something I have wanted to get for a couple years. All I could say for a while was     WOW!
     Every once in a while, I will make my own pasta. I use an egg noodle recipe found in a 1949 copy of GOOD HOUSEKEEPING COOKBOOK. The biggest problem I had was I could never get the pasta thin enough. When I used mixed grain flour it is so thick that it is like rubber.
    This pasta roller also has a noodle cutter attachment with it. This is one sweet machine. NO motor, but crank powered, which I kind of like. It fits with my crank meat grinder.
    It is going to take some doing to avoid making some pasta immediately. I may make some in the next couple weeks to try it out.
   
    Tomorrow, Mom and I are planning to visit my Dad's grave at the Lantana National Cemetery. I have no idea if I will work wood after that. We will have to see.
   
   

Year 13, Week 17, Day 0ne (week 693)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-18-13 Saturday
  
    86 degrees early morning, 94 as the high, mostly blue sky with the exception of a late morning Everglades thunder bumper that cried over us then disappeared. What momentary drizzle that came down, blown over us from the anvil head, evaporated almost as fast as it fell. A good brisk breeze kept the air feeling cool. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
  
    We saw two yard sales and they had nothing of interest.  I have started looking at what I have in my kitchen and considering what I will never use, with the idea of possibly gifting it, passing it on or yard sailing them.
  
    Mom got her back yard back in order again. It looks pretty much like it did before. The side yard is a bit of a problem as the lawn along side the neighbor's house has been replaced by sand. The wind blows it around, mostly onto mom's walkway. They are discussing solutions that do not involve a watering system for the lawn.
    Flowers are blooming like mad. Will have to get pictures into another note sometime later.
  
    The local Ace Hardware store is about three blocks away. Mom needed something so I went with her.
A couple months ago, they completely re-arranged the store. I was looking around today and found they have a whole “drool” isle. Most hardware stores have Dremmel bits on display. This store had all the RIGHT Dremmel bits on display. It had accessories for drills, routers, cutting tools, just about anything I would actually use. I forced , myself to walk through it fast before I grabbed an arm load. That will be for LATER.
  
    I went out back almost immediately and set up to get to work. Feeling a little lazy, I put up a folding table and brought out the little machine lathe. I've wanted to make a set of crochet hooks in black walnut for a while. Last week, I made two rods of the specified sizes based on a sizing template I have.
    Today I decided to continue making more rods. The template has sizes A throughF stepped at a quarter of a millimeter size, from two millimeters to 3 1/4 mm. Sizes G through K are half millimeter spacing up to 6 1/2 mm. L through P are single MM spacing ending at 16 mm.
    I was machining the rods as I would if they were metal, using all the same techniques except that wood is softer, easier to take big cuts, and a bit more flexible. I had an idea and decided to test it to get better accuracy in my turning.
    In the past, I would work from one end going down the rod to slightly larger than the size I needed, and then turn the rod around and work the next end. In this process, I would find the center of the unworked end when I turned it around which would cause some inaccuracy in the middle of the rod.
    What I did this time was to mark where my center was going to be on each end and then "rough round" one end of the square or rectangular rod with a knife (a grinder if metal). I would stick that end in the chuck. with metal working, the lathe has a three jaw chuck which is great for holding round stock but not suited for rectangular or square stock. I would mark the center on the other end and put that in the tail stock. I then machine just the end of the tail stock end until it is round. It does not have to be anywhere near the finished diameter, just completely round.
    I flip the rod around. The chuck is now holding a nicely centered round end. I machine the rest of the rod as far as the tool rest positioning will allow. To get the end by the tail stock, the width of the carnage of the tool rest prevents you to work near the chuck.
    I get the accessible rod close or even at the diameter I am after. I then flip the rod around and machine the first end until it is the same diameter as the rest of the rod. The whole rod is already centered and when I reach the already finished diameter it is in line. I usually will sand or file down to the final diameter I need.
    As I worked down to smaller diameter rods, I found a little problem. I have known about this but it became a bigger and bigger problem as they became smaller. The middle of the rod would bow out slightly as the tool passed over it. This caused the rod to be thicker there with each pass.
    A solution for this bowing problem is something called A STEADY REST. Depending on the materials and the size the steady rest could be wheeled or essentially metal surface. It goes behind the work opposite the cutter to provide the support to prevent bowing. A steady rest (wheeled ones usually) can also be used to support the work while working on the end of a long piece.
    I don't have a steady rest set up so I took emery boards used for fingernails and held them behind the rods to reduce the bowing. Since it was sand paper, it would assist in smoothing and straightening the work.
    Since I started early in the day and the first rods I worked on were fairly large and not subject to bowing, I had good production. Last week, I had made a L and K sized rods. Today I made six rods, J, I, H, #7 (which matches the knitting #7 at 4 ½ mm), G, and F rods.
    The rods will have to be sanded more before they the hooks for the crochet is cut into them. The simple rule is that if the rod fits into one hole in the template but not the next smaller one, that is the size of the rod. All my rods just barely go through the holes they are sized for. With sanding, they will fit better later.
    Having worked for several hours, I cleaned up and put everything away before taking it easy the rest of the day.
    

  Finished rods stuck into proper holes in template


    I have no idea what I will work on tomorrow. I have loads of projects and even more ideas for project (and even more wood than that).
  
    I will have to see what I actually do tomorrow.  
      
  
  
Year 13, Week 17, Day Two (week 693)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-19-13 Sunday
  
    88 degrees in the morning 94 degrees in the afternoon. Blue sky and sun all around except on the horizon -- ultra high thin wisps to the east, puffs far to the west. A good strong breeze made the air feel cool when seated for work. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
  
    Before I went to Mom's house, I finished off a scarf I've worked on at Mom's house and doctor's offices for a while. I worked this scarf from end to end, rather than side to side. When you work side to side, you set the width of the scarf at the start, and then work out the length by the amount of yarn you have or your intended length. When you work end to end, you set the length, in this case six feet long, and then work to develop the width by how many rows you want to do.
    This morning I added the tassels to the ends. I still had lots of yarn left. Mom trimmed a few long tassels to make it finished, but she said it was really good.
    I did a chain for another six foot long scarf to do at doctor's offices and other places. This will be a burgundy (reddish purple) scarf. I am thinking of changing up the stitch as I work across it.
    




 
 Finished 6'-0" long scarf


    I set up the mini metal lathe to work with more crochet rods. I was having a problem with the automatic feed so I partially disassembled the lathe and made some adjustments. I found that an eigth turn of the adjustment screw made a dramatic change in the way the controls operated. Too tight and it would bind, too loose and there was slop. I got rid of some old sawdust in the tight corners of the machine and lubricated a few items before getting back together. It helps to know where the controls are so one can do quick adjustments while operating. A couple were plainly visible but I was thinking those screws were something else.
  
    Now I was doing what I figured would be the smallest rod I would do in my crochet hook set I am making in black walnut. My experience yesterday said that this E sized (3.5 mm) hook would be a little difficult to make due to the bending of the wood in the middle. I had a piece of wood bigger than it needed to be, but small enough that I was not wasting wood for this rod.
    I used my method of rough rounding one end, placing that into the chuck and rounding the opposite end, then flipping it and rounding the rough end. One thing about rounding the end is that you eliminate the flats of the wood if you miss the exact center. You know how much wood you are working with. If you really messed up on the centering, you would know it before you go any farther. You might grab another piece of stock and use this one for something else.
    I got the wood mostly rounded, except for some flat still showing in the middle. I found that the best way to get the middle down to size was to work back and forth over a short area, then move over more. I got it round and it looked close to the size needed. I tested and it was too big, especially in the middle so I worked on down.
    I was close but still a bit too big so I took two emery boards and squeezed the spinning stock between them, working them back and forth over it. This did two things, it sanded the extra thickness away and the two boards squeezed on the work reduced the give or bouncing of the wood.
    I found that part of the rod fit into the "D" (3 1/4 mm) hole so I ended up making the rod fit that hole all the way through. A quarter of a millimeter is not much material. In actuality, one removes half the material you want to remove because you are working with half the diameter when you are cutting. This is a very small rod and likely subject to breakage if used rough, but I made it anyway. This forces me to make one more small rod, the E rod. I won't go smaller. I have three larger rods to make now. An to think that I eventually plan to make several more sets of these.
    After that  one rod, I cleaned up and went home.
  
    I have no idea what I will do next week. I do have that one last rod to make. In crochet and knitting, there are two ways of holding the needles/hooks. One way is like a pencil, and the other way is like a knife. These rods will get a handle to make it comfortable for holding them like a knife.
  
    Like this week, I have loads of projects in process, even more ideas and enough wood to keep me busy for several years, "IF" I choose the project based on the wood. If I choose the project first and look for the wood, I don't have anything.....
  
    I will see what I actually do next weekend.

HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO!

Image is adaptation of David Russell's original book cover

There are several milestones any writer hopes to achieve within their life and career, and thanks to the folks at Dynamic Ram Audio and Pro Se Productions, I have just reached another one.

The first book I ever had published, let alone the first installment within the HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE series, has just been released on audio!

Read and narrated by voice actor Pete Milan with engineering by Chris Barnes, this audio file is a complete and unabridged presentation of all eight stories that appeared in the first Hugh Monn book in a seven and a half hour production that can be played on your Kindle, Iphone, Ipad, Android, etc.

“Pete Milan,” says Tommy Hancock, partner and Editor In Chief of Pro Se Press and the publisher's new Voice of Pro Se imprint, “channels the voice of Lee Houston’s Hugh Monn perfectly. The Voice of Pro Se debut release, Hugh sounds like a 1950s type detective, but plies his trade in a futuristic setting. In just the same way Lee blended those two things seamlessly together, Pete’s take on the stories has the nearly hard boiled edge you’d expect from a great PI tale, but there’s also that flexibility a good science fiction tale demands of a narrator. Hands down, the team of Milan and Houston make HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE an audio book must have.

"I am a major fan of Audio Fiction, from old time radio shows to modern day audio drama and especially audio books. And our first trip into the medium was a great experience and to have Chris Barnes, our engineer the first time around and the man behind Dynamic Ram Audio Productions now, on board for this debut as well as what is coming, it just couldn’t be any better.”

Everyone can listen to the Hugh Monn trailer here:
 http://soundcloud.com/chris-barnes-37/hugh-monn-private-detective. 

The audio book, along with an excerpt from the production, can be found at Amazon.com here
at http://tinyurl.com/bdx6lmm!

Cover by David Russell

And of course, don't forget that the next book in the HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE series will be coming out soon as Hugh is hired as a security consultant when actress Ruby Kwartz comes to the island nation of Galveston 2 to record a new vid. But what was supposed to be an easy assignment turns deadly when Hugh discovers that everyone around Ruby has a hidden agenda, and someone wants to make sure this production will be her last.

So I hope everyone is looking forward to CATCH A RISING STAR, which is not only Hugh's latest caper, but is also his first full novel length adventure.