Winding down -- Saturday

So:  Saturday.  Only one day of vacation left.  And it's already feeling like a regular weekend -- except that I have a more substantial backstory of recent activities.


Around 9:30am, went to the local metal recycling place for the first time in amonth or two.  Dropped off a handful of old bicycle parts I had left over from a project:  being environmental by not throwing them away; didn't want to stand in line just to get a few bucks for them, so i just "donated" them.

Found three cymbals in the "brass and bronze" bin:  no-name; one had a substantial crack about an inch in from the rim.  Paid scrap-metal prices:  $16 for 2kg -- which is about five bucks a cymbal; fair enough.

Also found a peculiar set of pruning shears in the mud.  The guy didn't charge me for it, since I'd donated the steel from the bike parts.


Got home around 10:30am (had to wait for the scales to clear, so I could get the cymbals weighed).  Drilled out the ends of the cracks in the cracked cymbal, to prevent the crack from spreading.  Also used a dremel tool in my power drill to grind back a pointy section of the crack.  While I had the drill out, decided to polish the cymbals using a brass wire brush: they wre pretty tarnished.  I'd never use a wire brush on "good" cymbals, or ones with a logo -- but these were cheap and blank.

After I cleaned the cymbals, I was inspired to paint a silver "star" across the bell (the centre) of each cymbal:  putting paint on the outer sections might dull the sound, but not much of the "crash" sound comes from the centre, so I wouldn't be changing the sound much (if at all). 

Cut pieces of masking tape into triangles and made asymmetrical multi-pointed start shapes, with the points more-or-less radiating out from the centre.  Gave it two coats of silver paint:  I have about five cans of silver spray paint, left over from a project where I wanted a specific shade of silver but I couldn't tell from teh paint can description.

It turned out pretty well:  someday I'll upload a photo.


Started work on the pair of door wedges for the Cash Converters that I'd promised to make.  Got the basic shape, but then didn't want to go further until I tried them out on the door.  Had been regretting not picking up the 15kg weight (it's a good increment), so I drove over there, tried out the door wedges, marked the excess, and bought the (fairly rusty) 15kg weight.

I knew that I was nearly out of vinegar (for de-rusting soaks), so on the way back I stopped off at Aldi and picked up five 1L jugs of vinegar

Put the 15kg weight in a plastic tub, and poured nearly two litres of vinegar on it, to soak overnight.  Tomorrow I'll scrub it off, rinse it with a baking soda wash, then heat it in the oven and give it a light coating of candle wax, to prevet further rust. 


I think I had some food at this point; had also had some food earlier:  both times, I think it might have been leftover garlic bread.


Intermittent light rain throughout the day, by the way.  But since it wasn't raining at the moment, I turned my attention to running the cord along the property line: I ended up replacing all of the existing rope, as the old sections kept breaking.  I also re-aligned the plastic bucket that hangs from a pulley at the far end, which provides tension on the line, as well as punching some holes to that the bucket will drain instead of filling with water (which makes it heavier than I'd like, for these purposes).

It really helped that I had cut down that other palm tree.  Unfortunately, the remaining palm tree, nearby, is just slightly displacing the line.  I tried hacking away some of the bark, but it's not enough to provide clearance.  I'll have to consider some sort of alternative. 

Worked on the property line 'til just about dark.  Also split a half-log from the felled palm tree into two quarters.  Then it was even closer to dark, so I packed up and went inside.


The boys and I had (another loaf of!) garlic bread for dinner (plus some cut-up watermellon), while I watched a few Cinema Sins episodes on YouTube.  Tried out the new cymbals, and ended up somewhat playing the drums.   That takes me to about 9:30pm.


From about 9:30pm-10pm, did some minor tidying of my desk; a brief "hack" of my reading glasses (adding some black thread); and writing this blog entry up to here.  :)


ADDENDUM:  Stayed up until about 1am -- Netflix and various videos.  Whops.


Tomorrow I'm going to try to finish the two door wedges; finish running the property line; maybe lathe a cymbal holder for one of the new (rescued) cymbals; maybe-maybe visit my co-worker at the nursing home; and maybe set up my PC (swap out the hard drive; install Linux).  Oh:  and maybe pull some weeds.


When I do outdoors things, or little projects, I'm happy-putter-y, and it makes me feel like I've had a good weekend.  Or vacation. 


One day to go.


--GG