Vacation ambitions

In Australia a lot of office workers get the week between Christmas and New Year's off.  In addition to this, I took a few weeks off afterwards. 

As usual, I have a whole list of things -- about 85 -- that I'd like to get done during my vacation.  Clearly, I won't get all of them done -- so unlike my usual vacations where I don't make a list, or I only make a vague list, I've done a "brain dump" of various tasks that have been hanging around; I then put them into a spreadsheet (which I've added to as I think of new items), and classified them in terms of priority, whether it's for me or for the family/household, whether it's for fun or a duty/responsibility, whether doing the task frees up a bottleneck for other tasks, whether this task has any dependencies (i.e. I need to do something else on the list before I tackle this item), approximately how many days the item will take (ranging from "0.1" to "6 days"), and whether it needs pre-planning because it has many "stopping points" (e.g. need to let glue, or paint, dry overnight) and thus I can't crank it out on my final day of vacation.

I also noted which of these are best suited to a few weeks of vacation, rather than being a "weekend" project:  these would be things that require momentum, and/or where I tear something apart and it's totally in the way -- and then I put it back together the right way.

And then, as my vacation progresses, I can filter on un-completed tasks, as well as other characteristics (e.g. priority; how long they will take).

I've included some "easy wins" (e.g. "trim my beard!"), so that I can rack up accomplishments during my vacation:  inevitably I end up disappointed at the end of a vacation because I haven't accomplished all the things I wanted to -- so this is a way of recognizing all the things I did manage to do.

In no particular order...

1. Mow yard (fairly completely)
2. Clean up fallen shelves area
3. Cut coardboard for Harry Belefonte LP
4. Gmpa T audio
5. Test and install UPS (power supply box)
6. Tidy the music rack behind the door
7. Test SM58 for resistance to wind
8. Repair cables (mine; church’s)
9. Test USB drawing pad
10. Go through porch boxes
11. Catch up on laundry
12. Book electrician for solar panel
13. B/U HD’s (incl. One at M&D’s)
14. Other clothing repairs
15. Clean out work bag
16. Tidy neckties
17. Clean off bench end of porch
18. Visit D. Bretz
19. Edit blue timestreams video (incl. Color correcting and audio track)
20. Exercise
21. Edit park bench hat-adjust video
22. Finish adze knob
23. Put chopping block on legs
24. Make axe handle for re-rusted axe head
25. De-rust misc. tools
26. Bat signal
27. Roald Dahl instrument
28. De-rust small ball pien hammer
29. Lathe the vampire stakes
30. Lathe tool rack/box
31. Repair wooden chair leg
32. Repair wooden table leg
33. Suitcase drum kit
34. Adze handle for addt’l adze
35. Finish drainfield box
36. Write and record Max dancing song
37. Healer woman song
38. Build lathe shed
39. Suggest getting windjammer/dead cat for SM57 (but first test SM58 wind resistance)
40. Contact Rob on Gumtree for old PC parts (ask if he’d take CRT monitors) (also the giant tower)
41. Clean out (and re-stock) back of car/car boot
42. Sorry, buddy Timmy video
43. PVC frame
44. Repair M&D bench
45. Bretz steps
46. Finish prepping the wood in the water-filled wheelie bin (to make a chair)
47. Uncover drainfield hatch near wattle roots
48. Lay out boundary line
49. Clear off kitchen table (and floor)
50. Edit Max dancing video
51. Healer woman video
52. Lathe those angels
53. Lay tiles around the garden edge
54. Set up recording area
55. Build lumber shed
56. Repair fallen shelves
57. Instructional video for PVC frame
58. Ronin video
59. Make chair from wood
60. Test anti-feedback EQ
61. Test Inkel mixer
62. Drop off used books
63. Give old computer stuff to the hobby guy
64. Go through addt’l used books
65. Log items
66. Bottle recycling
67. Repair soft toys
68. Video chat w/ D #1
69. Video chat w/ D #2
70. Transplant plants to down lower
71. Clean out misc. plant area
72. Get BroDave firewood for black plastic sheet - DONE
    
73. Hand-mow dog yard - DONE
    
74. Finish cleaning out CB’s office (incl. Stationary cupboard)
75. Clean out kitchen
76. Learn my camera
77. Trim beard - TONIGHT
    
78. Repair/change brake light bulbs in white car
79. Finish small two-peg coat peg
80. Slab four pieces of wood from blue bucket
81. Sharpen long ripsaw
82. Sharpen regular ripsaw
83. De-rust and repair mattock

A lot of these are 0.1-day or 0.2-day items -- i.e. it'll take me a half hour or an hour.  Others are modular, such as "Going through the boxes on the porch", where even if I don't finish the entire task, I'll still have made quantifiable progress.

Another consideration is that I need to decide whether to accomplish one or two of my larger-scale projects (which would take a week or a week and a half) -- or rather to stick to small and mid-sized tasks (i.e. 2-3 days max).  One consideration is that it's summer, here in Australia -- so the longer tasks tend to be labor-intensive yardwork (e.g. building a stand-alone shed for my extra wood) is better suited for a cooler season.

--GG

The end of vacaation -- Sunday

The last day of vacation.  So much left unfinished -- but, there's always next weekend.


We don't always go to church, but this time we did. 


Afterwards, I was going to go visit my friend at the nursing home, but I did a web search for visiting hours and it indicated that they didn't have any staff on during the weekend:  weird.  (It possibly referred to just the "business office"; presumably they'd have a front desk/reception person available at all times.  But, had to make a quick decision, and decided that since I didn't know his room number I should get more information -- later.  So instead, The Lady and The Girl drove off to Ikea, and I took the boys home -- but stopped by the store to pick up milk -- and immediately prior, I bought them cupcakes at the nearby bakery (I almost got the chocolate muffin, but decided to get the blueberry muffin for a change of pace; it was okay -- but should've got the chocolate muffin).


Put the laundry on; put the dishwasher on.  Had some food (a bowl of cereal?)


As mentioned, I foolishly stayed up 'til 1am last night (this morning) -- so I was tired.  Around noon(?) I set the timer on my phone for 30 minutes, for just a quick nap.  Unfortunately, I forgot to his "start", so I slept for more than 30 minutes:  woke up around 2pm, when hearing The Lady's voice (must've just arrived home).  

Changed into my yeardwork clothes.  Dumped out the vinegar soak and started to scrub the 15kg weight that I put in the plastic tub last night.  Decided that it needed more soaking, though -- so put it back in with more vinegar -- but this time diluted to abotu half strength, since it'll probably be in there until next weekend.


Worked on the property line some more, including a clever (so says I) lightweight solution involving a way to span the remaining palm tree:  using two sticks of bamboo as spreaders, similar to on a hammock (see photo).

But first, of course, had to source the bamboo (from a stash from 3-5 years ago), then cut to length, drill holes and make notches in the end for the cords.

It worked.


Also worked on the two door wedges:  cut them to length, based on the marks I made yesterday when I tried them out on the doors at the Cash Converters; sanded them; glued sandpaper to the bottoms.  Will oil them some evening this week, and probably deliver them next weekend.


Then it rained like crazy.  Being from the Pacific N.W., I considered continuing to work (eh; it's just water) -- but it was also thundering, and around here getting hit by lightning is a very real possibility -- so I came inside (which was disappointing). 

The Lady was clearing out a pile of things in the corner of the kitchen, so I helped out with that from about 4:50pm-5:30pm,  Then the rain let up a bit (but still drizzling, and I still had about a half hour of daylight -- so I went outside and pulled some weeds.  Did that until it was almost too dark to see. 


Came inside, chatted with The Lady, watched about a half hour of The Space Between Us (a movie) on Netflix.  That takes us to about 9pm.


Came over to my desk, and excavated a few things.  Was considering doing some mending, but I've been dong this blog entry for the last half hour -- I think -- and it's 10:35pm now.  I haven't played any musical instruments yet today, and I've been thinking about playing guitar -- so I'll probably do that instead of mending.


And... ended up finishing watching The Space Between Us, and noodling around on the three-string acoustic guitar.  Came up with some usable riffs:  we'll see if I remember them.  It's now around midnight; had pre-written the summary below; off to bed!!!


Over all, I had a productive -- and therefore "good" -- vacation.  I would've finished shooting the line along the property boundary, but the rain made the cord sag just enough to drag against some low items that would be difficult to shift:  better to wait until things dry out. 

Made some progress on a few small projects.  Watched a lot of the Black Mirror series -- plus various YouTube videos and other Netflix.  And had some great naps!!!  :)


Tomorrow:  back to the real world.

I will do very well at retirement...!!!


--GG

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

Winding down -- Friday

Friday -- only the weekend left -- and then back to work:  ah well.


The usual morning thing:  make lunches, get people out the door, browse internet.


Took a nap from around 9:30am-10:30am.  Got up, had some food, watched Dark Mirror -- again!!!  Meant to catch the 11:30am showing of Stan and Laurel, but I lost track of time and didn't properly start getting ready until about 11:30:  even with the 10 minutes of ads, plus the trailer -- wasn't going to make it.  Okay, change of plans.


Considered going to visit a friend from work at his nursing home:  about half a year ago he had a mysterious brain issue -- like a stroke, but global -- so his brain is pretty much fried:  very sad.  I tried visiting him in the hospital on two occasions, but he was asleep both times -- even though I hung around for a chunk of a day.

But then, decided against it.  Maybe tomorrow.


Took the weights out of the vinegar bath, scrubbed them with a wire brush, rinsed them in a tub of water with a few shakes of baking soda, then rinsed.  Put them in the oven for about a half hour at 100C (to make them completely dry, plus to heat them up), then rubbed them with a candle (which melted upon contact) to seal the metal to prevent rust.

That description makes it sound shorter than it actually was.  I didn't check the time.


Somewhere in there, ate some food -- while watching Black Mirror.


Around 3:30pm I turned my attention to the cord that I'm using to shoot the property line.  Turns out that the cheap rope that I bought would've been fine if I'd completed the task in a timely manner -- but it's been several months, so the UV damage now makes the rope break at various spots.  Was also heating up some garlic bread.  At it -- while watching Black Mirror.

Around 4:15pm I decided to head to the hardware store to get more rope.   Starting to rain lightly.  At the store it took me a little time to figure out which of the many options I wanted.  The receipt says that I paid at 4:42pm. 


Came home, raining more heavily.  Went "eh" and re-strung some of the rope on the boundary line -- but then got really heavy, and also the lightning was getting closer -- so I went inside.


The Lady wasn't home yet, due to a school thing, so I played the drums (it annoys the family if I do it when they're at home):  had a grand time, and came up with some drum beats that I might use someday.  I'm not a good drummer -- but I'm un-schooled enough that I come up with my own way of doing things -- which sometimes converts into "originality".


Everyone came home.  A quick dinner.


For some reason, around 7pm I was fairly sleepy -- considered just going to bed.  But I wanted to get more things done, so I didn't.

Still raining like everything. 

Decided to log today's purchases; also logged various purchases from a pile that's been on the floor next to my desk for -- it turns out -- about a year (whoops). 

The pile of papers that I went through freed an African slit drum that my late paternal grandfather had made for use when we were kids.  Unfortunately, he had seen them, but didn't understand their functionality -- so the "tongues" weren't tuned, and therefore the drum was unusual for "real" music-making (fine for little kids to make noise, of course).

Over the last half year or so I've been getting into hand percussion -- so I turned it over and tried playing the back.  It actually sounds really good! 

So, that's how I'm going to use it:  on my lap, with the slits serving as sound holes.  


It's 10:25pm:  the rain has completely stopped, and I'm not sure when -- but probably in the last half hour.

Will play electric guitar through a "blues" overdrive pedal that was in a bag among the pile of papers I went through.  Depending on whether fatigue hits me or not, I'll play for a half hour or hour, then go to bed.  Or, play, then watch more Black Mirror -- maybe while playing the three-string acoustic guitar.

A pretty good day.  A shame that the rain prevented me from finishing running the new rope along the property line:  ah well; tomorrow.

Kind of funny that if I hadn't needed more rope, I would've spend the entire day without leaving my yard:  I'm okay with that.



--GG

Day something -- Thursday

I'm starting to lose track of how many days I've been on vacation -- and also having the sense that I'm on the downwards slope.  After tomorrow (Friday), it'll be just like any other weekend:  then, back to work on Monday.


If I could win the lottery and quit my job, I could very happily spend the rest of my life doing this:  minding the house while the kids are at school; doing various chores and projects; running the occasional errand.



The usual morning:  help get lunches and get everyone out the door; a brief check of the internet; putting some laundry on; taking  a nap.


This time I intentionally set my alarm for just an hour (and I wouldn't need to take naps if I went to bed earlier; duh) -- so, getting up at 10:30am -- but the dogs woke me up fifteen minutes early with their barking.  I'd forgotten that the septic tank servicing guy (quarterly) would be stopping by this morning.  I went outside and had a nice chat:  he told me about his vacation.



Was planning on catching the 11:30am showing of the Laurel and Hardy movie, so took a shower and got dressed -- after phoning a musical instrument shop a few neighborhoods away and seeing if they had a cello book (volume 2!) for my son.  Went to lock the dogs in the laundry room -- but then I couldn't find one of our two dogs.  So wasted about a half hour looking for him.  And then once I figured out that he had found a hole in the fence of the doggie yard, it then took another ten minutes to round him up and bring him insides.


It was now 11:30am, but I still figured I could I could make the movie since I knew from earlier in the week that the first ten minutes were just ads (ugh), and then there'd be about four trailers before the actual feature.  But then I was a block away and realized that I hadn't confirmed that I'd turned various things off:  was pretty sure, but...


So I went back -- and figured that if I went now, I'd be late for the movie.  Okay:  change of plans.




Got the box of recycling bottles (worth 10c each!) and took it the local recycling place.  Got about $11 off it: fair enough.



Then went to the Cash Converters (pawn shop chain) in Wynnum West, which I hadn't visited for a while.  They had a bunch of disk weights ("plates") at a good price:  usually it's over a buck a kilo, but most of them were actually at a buck a kilo -- so I picked up a few (twelve; had been planning on this).  Also chatted to the sales clerk -- one of the regulars -- and realized that I hadn't made a door wedge for them like I promised.  Will have to do it today or tomorrow.




Stopped off at Aldi and picked up a few different garlic breads, plus two cakes of tofu (organic; firm; they only had one type).



Then stopped by the Woolworth's on the way home to get a jug of milk.  Turns out they had Jatz crackers on sale (which I enjoy; I have about a box every 2-3 days), so I bought a big box of 20.  Also bought two or three more garlic breads -- so, five in total -- to do a taste test with the boys tonight (The Girl and The Lady aren't into garlic bread).  Also bought a cinnamon roll at a bakery on the way out of the shopping plaza.



Home:  put the food in the 'fridge.  Had half of the cakes of tofu for lunch, with Japanese nori rice seasoning on top.  Also the cinnamon roll.  Watched an episode of Black Mirror as I ate.  Then cut up the watermelon that was in the 'fridge (but taking up room), ate about a quarter of it, put the rest in a plastic container and put it in the 'fridge.



Hm:  this reminds me of people texting/blogging/Facebooking photos of their food.  Ah well:  this is for me to look back on.  And maybe my kids.



Went outside got the weights from the car, put them on my workbench under the carport.  Removed the price tags from the weights, and put some of the rustier weights in a plastic tub for re-rusting:  poured cheap vinegar in there, plus some expired bottles of diet cola (the artificial sweeteners turn sour over time -- but the cola still retains its acidity).  But because I wasn't sure the diet cola would be sufficiently acidity, I added some leftover citric acid (a baking supply) to bring the acidity levels up.  Added some rocks to fill in the blank spots in the liquid, thus raising the over-all levels.  Slooshed it around; will let it sit for a day or two, then scrub off the rust with a wire brush, rinse with some mildly alkaline water (i.e. will add some baking soda), then heat gently in the oven to dry them.  Will finish by rubbing (while still kind of hot) with an old candle, to protect it from future rust.



About 3:45pm, headed out to go pick up the cello book.  This time putting the dogs in the laundry was no trouble (whew!).  Afternoon traffic was starting to build up, but not a big problem.  Picked up the book, then also checked out the Garden City branch of Cash Converters:  nothing interesting.



Home about 5:30pm.  Put on the garlic bread -- just a quarter or so of each sample.  The boys and I tasted them -- and they all taste about the same!  Although:  I only tried the mid-range through to the cheapest loaves -- so maybe the more expensive ones taste better?  Blondie boy did find one that he didn't like, though.



Don't remember what I did after that (I'm remedially writing this the following morning -- from memory, no notes), but I think I checked e-mail, and then pretty soon thereafter The Lady said it was time for dinner. 


Alternated between watching Dark Mirror and helping Blondie Boy with his homework -- plus laundry (again!).



Spent the evening logging some expenses that had been kicking around:  one of my quirks is that if something is music-related (e.g. the recording magazine I buy), excercise-related (e.g. the weights), or tool/woodworking/yardwork-related, I write it down.  I also logged most of the weights I'd bought.


Thurs, March 14, 2019 -- Blog entry -- JUST A BACKUP SO I DON'T LOSE IT..


Watched another episode of Black Mirror; meant to noodle around on guitar as I watched, but forgot.  Went to bed just after midnight.



Am getting a little concerned:  all these great plans, and few things actually completed.  Today didn't feel as "productive" as the other days -- partly because I spent most of it driving around (or browsing shops), and also because I added a task (cleaning the weights) that wasn't originally on the list.


But, I still had a nice day.  Will "bat cleanup" on the weekend.




And -- BTW -- this still beats wandering around Hamburg (or somewhere) for a vacation:  I have so much stuff to do around the house -- and it makes me happy to get these things done (or at least:  spend time on them, and making progress).  So why would I want to go anywhere else?


Other people's mileage would differ, of course:  this is just what makes me happy.  ;)



--GG

Day 5 of vacation -- Wednesday

Wednesday -- Day 5 of my vacation.


Helped everyone get out the door, again.


Some minor internet, then took what I intended to be a one-hour nap, but I hit my snooze alarm twice -- so maybe 9:30am-10:45am?  (I didn't take notes for today.)


Alternated between the internet and watching Black Mirror on Netflix (which technically is also the internet).  Somewhere in there I put a load of dishes on; a little laundry.  Headed outside somewhere between 2 and 3.


Made two more gluts (disposable wooden wedges); finished splitting the palm tree log; split some more of the logs; moved them from the neighbor's property onto ours (the split logs are now only half the weight!).


The Lady got home around 5pm, and we went out to pick up the car from teh mechanics.  Got there around 6pm; home maybe 6:20pm?


Shower.  A little more laundry.  Write and post yesterday's blog entry; write this entry.  Now 7:35pm -- dinner.


Dinner while watching yet another episode of Black Mirror.  Then watching another:  only a few minutes into it, but getting tired (now 10:10pm; been checking e-mail for the last few minutes).  Will noodle on three-string guitar while watching the rest of the Black Mirror episode, then to bed:  estimate 10:30pm; for me, early.


UPDATE:  Nah.  Ended up also watching the "Hang the DJ" episode of Dark Mirror, thus staying up about an hour later than intended.  That's okay:  my favorite episode thus far.


--GG

Day 4 of vacation -- Tuesday

So, it's Tuesday:  day #4 of my vacation.  (Oh:  never got around to playing my effects pedal last night:  got trapped by the internet instead.)


The other car is in the shop, so I'm stuck at home. That's fine:  plenty to do.


Helped everyone (except me) get out of the house:  made sandwiches and cut up apples for the kids' lunches (they assemble the rest).


Puttered around a little bit; maybe put some laundry on (I forget).  Took a nap from about 9:30 to 12:15pm.  Kind of "burning daylight" (i.e. should've been getting things done outdoors) -- but it was a fairly hot day -- and I enjoyed the nap very much -- so:  eh. 


Had a breakfast-lunch of two bowls of cold cereal while watching a half hour of the Netflix series Dark Mirror:  pretty good -- although I'm appreciating some episodes more than others.


Loaded the dishwasher and started it.  Did some laundry. 


Pretty humid:  some rain during the day. 


Another 15 minutes or so of Dark Mirror.  Finally got changed and went outside at 1:45.


Spent my time splitting the sections of palm tree that I cut down a few days ago.  Took me longer than I expected:  some species split easily; some don't; this one is in the middle of the range. 

Ran out of wedges, and my existing gluts (like wedges, but made out of wood; user-made; expendable) weren't thick enough, so I made some more.  That took me until near dark.


Borrowed the riding mower from my brother-in-law:  tidied a few places in the lawn (mostly the "soccer field" -- currently set up with two poles and a rope, to mimic a volleyball net).  Kept it overnight, to use tomorrow.


Packed up my tools around 6:30m; went inside; showered.


Decanted the remainder of expired food into a big bucket, and stashed it far away from the house:  didn't feel like trekking it down to the existing pile; stashed it far enough that vermin wouldn't be attracted to the house; will shift it tomorrow.


Made dinner for the boys and me (The Lady and The Girl were away at a sports thing).  Just sandwiches and cut apples:  usually we'd have frozen pizza, but for some reason The Lady didn't pick any up when she did the weekend shop. 


The Lady got home; chat with The Lady. 


At 8:30pm, watched some more Black Mirror (which drinking loads of water), then do laundry; more chatting with The Lady.


About 10:30pm actually plugged in the delay pedal and had a go (using a guitar wiith single-coil pickups).  Pleased with my choice of pedals:  the "digital" sounding echo rather than the "analog" (i.e. high-end fades with each repeat) that I chose to not get. 

Messed around with various riffs, chords, and some of the very few actual songs that I can play the melodies (e.g. "What Child is This"/"Greensleeves").  Came up with a chord progression that could make a song:  can hear it being doubled, with a different strum pattern, on acoustic guitar.  Still need a chorus section, and a vocal line (melody) for both -- and lyrics, of course.


Bed around midnight:  I'm nocturnal -- and I don't have to work tomorrow. 


--GG

Day 3 of vacation -- Monday

We're down to one car (the other is in the shop), so we all left the house at the same time.  Dropped the kids off at school, then drove The Lady to work.


Stopped by a used bookstore on the way back from The Lady's work, browsed, and picked up an autobiography of the main accompanist of some famous Australian singer (Dame Nellie Melba; never heard of her, but my [Australian] wife had).  I've only read part of it, but the blurb in the jacket indicates that he was active from the 1920s through 1960s.  The book is copyright 1983, and a note from the publishers indicates that, sadly, the author passed away prior to the publication of the book.  Hello, Mister Melody Man, by Lindley Evans.  Engagingly written (IMO), and discusses music things (which is of interest to me).


I'd originally planned to do various outdoor things today (yardwork and/or woodworking) -- but since I had access to a car today, I did various errands instead.  Was planning to catch the 10:45am showing of Alita:  Battle Angel (no one else in my household was interested but me), so stopped by the house to pick up a flannel shirt (I sometimes get cold in air conditioning), then got to the theatre by 10:35.

Bought the ticket and was in my seat just a few minutes before the start time -- but then had to sit through (literally) 10 minutes of ads.  Then came four or five trailers -- but unfortunately, they were trailers I had already seen on YouTube.

The movie was good, though:  will review shortly.


After the movie I went to the mall's food court and bought a Hungry Jack's (the AU branding of Burger King) vegan burger and ate it while reading the book on U2 (the band).  Then got a frozen cola on the way out.


Stopped by the local Cash Converters (a chain of pawn shops).  Browsed the DVDs and picked up Fear and Loathing in Vegas (with Johnny Depp), which I'd been meaning to see sometime.  For a dollar.  Australian (so, about 80c in the U.S.).

Then walked a few shops down to the sewing, crafts, and art supplies place, to buy the right color thread for repairing a pair of The Lady's slacks:  a seam is coming undone.  Will probably repair sometime this week.


Went home for about a half hour, and did some YouTube research to compare two guitar delay pedals that I would be choosing between that evening:  a guy on Gumtree was selling a cheap one and a medium-priced one, and they had slightly different "flavors" -- so I needed to decide (thought it would be to extravagant to buy both).


Left to pick up the kids from school, then picked up The Lady from work.  She ended up being on a phone call, so we had to wait for a bit.

Then we drove down to the Gumtree seller's place:  should've only taken 15 minutes, but the GPS app somehow sent us in the wrong direction (bad address entering?), so we then had to backtrack by 15 minutes.  Made a reasonably quick decision (bought the less-cheap pedal).  Drove home. 


Dinner.  A little Netflix, while eating.



Remedially post blog entries for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (tonight).  Is now 10:40pm, 



Noodle around on the guitar while trying out my new (used) pedal:  probably use single-coil pickups.  Maybe some Netflix or a DVD after that.  To bed around midnight?


Staying home tomorrow.  Probably finish cutting up the palm tree and removing it from the neighbor's property, then finish shooting the property line.  Possibly do some woodworking -- maybe some lathe work.


Yet another good day.  Vacation.  :)


--GG

Second day of vacation

Sunday:  second day of vacation.
Second day of vacation (Sunday, March 12th):


Sometimes we go to church; sometimes we don't.  This time The Lady and The Girl went, and the boys and I stayed home.

Watched various YouTube and Netflix -- possibly some web searches as well (don't remember; I'm writing this on Monday...).


After lunch I wiped down all the food items we took OUT of the pantry (one by one), circled the expiration dates, and restored each to the shelves (in an higgledy-piggledy manner).  Items that were just a month or two out of date, or about to expire, I put on a special shelf; items that were truly out of date I put in a box, piled the boxes/packages/cans on the front lawn, and later (with the help of the kids) emptied into a big bucket and then (just before dark) tossed into the bushes waaaay into our back yard (we have a big yard):  the animals may feed on them; it's sufficiently far from the house that I'm not worried about attracting pests; hope that some critter besides me enjoys that expired brick of Spam.

I recruited the kids to help me on the pantry-related tasks, on 30 minute rotations (I used the oven timer to measure the elapsed time):  I think each kid did three sessions (yow!  four and a half hours...!!!).


Watched a little Netflix, then around 3pm or 4pm chopped down (with permission from my neighbors!) a palm tree that straddles the property line:  a few months ago I tried to "shoot" our property line by hanging a cord from surveying peg to surveying peg, but the palm tree was in the way.  Used my late [paternal] grandfather's felling axe to chop it down, after having (a few weekends ago) re-ground it to a narrower pitch and then re-sharpening it.  Then chopped it into four logs about as long as my leg, plus the top bundle of "fronds", to make it move-able.  Plan on splitting the logs with wedges, then letting them dry for a half year or a year, to see if they end up being usable as lumber:  probably not, but it won't cost me anything except time (and I need to dispose of the logs somehow, regardless).

The tree fell the wrong way, BTW:  I chopped through about 40%, but apparently it didn't naturally "sag" in that direction like it was supposed to.  No matter:  I got out safely, and it didn't fall on anything important (in fact, it fell exactly on one of the "escape paths" that I'd cleared).

Also, I was afraid of the "hinge" (where I chopped) being too strong, and having to then free the felled trunk from the stump.  Quite the opposite:  completely fell off.  Probably due to the palm tree only having maybe 20% of the fibres of a "regular" tree:  the rest is filled with squishy stuff -- so, less tensile strength.

It's late summer, so it stayed light until maybe 6pm (I didn't keep track).  Brought my tools inside, then dumped the above-mentioned bucket in the lower back yard.


Since the kitchen isn't really usable (The Lady is still sorting the pantry, with things piled on the stove), she sent me out to pick up some pizzas for dinner.  I also put on some store-bought garlic bread, when I got home.


Re-strung the formerly 4-string, now 3-string acoustic guitar, while watching the rest of Get Out (suspense/thriller) on Netflix:  when playing that guitar yesterday had decided to change the tuning:  it had the correct middle four strings (A D G B) mounted, but was tuned to the lowest (thickest) four strings' tuning (E A D G).  But then when I re-turned it to the higher tension, I discovered that I didn't like this new (but correct!) tuning, because the higher string tension made me have to press down too hard to fret the notes, and it made it too hard to "bend" notes.

So, I removed all the strings, put the lowest two strings (E and A) back into the packet, and collected the highest-pitched four strings (D G B E) in the "wrong" positions (the centre of the neck, rather than the bottom four locations) -- with the intent of tuning them a little slack, so that the middle four strings would still be tuned correctly for their position (A D G B) -- but slightly slack.

However, when removing the strings, I somehow broke one of the strings near the tuning peg -- rendering it too short to mount.  So the current guitar is now just a three-string:  A [no D] G B.  This forces me into unusual fingerings, and I came up with some riffs that I wouldn't otherwise have stumbled upon. 

Anyhow, noodled around in that new configuration while watching the middle third of Get Out.


Finished Get Out around 9pm(?), but didn't feel like going to bed -- so finally watched Sin City on DVD:  bought it maybe half a year ago, on DVD, for a buck.  Engaging enough that I stayed up until about 11pm watching it, then went to bed.


End of Day 2.  Still enjoying myself thoroughly.  :)


--GG

First day of vacation

I'm taking a week's vacation -- just because I felt like taking a week off work.

No specific plans; definitely no travel:  just doing stuff around the house -- a mix of "what I 'ought' to do", and "what I feel like doing".

The last few times where I take an arbitrary vacation, I end up thinking it was the best vacation ever -- but I only remember portions of what I've done.  So this time, I'm taking better notes.


So:   Saturday, March 9 -- my first day of vacation.  Puttered around the house, put some laundry on, watched some various videos on YouTube.  No particular aims to be "productive":  just recovering from the week. 

The family went out to run some errands:  I took a beautiful, beautiful nap from about noon 'til 3pm.  Some interesting dreams -- although they faded when I woke up (which was appox. when everyone got home).

In the afternoon (pretty soon after my nap), recruited the kids to help me empty out the jumble of our pantry (NOT a "walk-in"; the size of a closet):  did a "bucket brigade" of me handing things to one of the kids, who then handed it to another kid, who stashed it somewhere nearby.  Then I wiped down the shelves.


I also ran some of the plastic baskets (totes?) through the dishwasher.


Had dinner:  I think it was a fast-food burger, followed by a bowl of cold cereal (not sure; I'm writing this two days later).

Watched the first half of the movie Get Out on Netflix.  Kinda interesting -- but not so much that I was compelled to stay up past my bedtime just to finish it.


Noodled around on my 4-string acoustic guitar for a bit, while watching Netflix.  Bought the guitar for AU$15 (negotiated down from AU$19) -- so about $12 American.  A good tone -- but the bridge is broken so you can't mount the top and bottom strings.  I have the guitar tuned to E A D G, which is the tuning of the four thickest strings -- which is the same as an electric bass, but an octave away.  Decided to swap out the strings and tune them to the "proper" middle string tuning:  A D G B.



--GG

Day Something -- Thursday

I'm starting to lose track of how many days I've been on vacation -- and also having the sense that I'm on the downwards slope.  After tomorrow (Friday), it'll be just like any other vacation:  then, back to work on Monday.

If I could win the lottery and quit my job, I could very happily spend the rest of my life doing this:  minding the house while the kids are at school; doing various chores and projects; running the occasional errand.


The usual morning:  help get lunches and get everyone out the door; a brief check of the internet; putting some laundry on; taking  a nap.

This time I intentionally set my alarm for just an hour (and I wouldn't need to take naps if I went to bed earlier; duh) -- so, getting up at 10:30am -- but the dogs woke me up fifteen minutes early with their barking.  I'd forgotten that the septic tank servicing guy (quarterly) would be stopping by this morning.  I went outside and had a nice chat:  he told me about his vacation.


Was planning on catching the 11:30am showing of the Laurel and Hardy movie, so took a shower and got dressed -- after phoning a musical instrument shop a few neighborhoods away and seeing if they had a cello book (volume 2!) for my son.  Went to lock the dogs in the laundry room -- but then I couldn't find one of our two dogs.  So wasted about a half hour looking for him.  And then once I figured out that he had found a hole in the fence of the doggie yard, it then took another ten minutes to round him up and bring him insides.

It was now 11:30am, but I still figured I could I could make the movie since I knew from earlier in the week that the first ten minutes were just ads (ugh), and then there'd be about four trailers before the actual feature.  But then I was a block away and realized that I hadn't confirmed that I'd turned various things off:  was pretty sure, but...

So I went back -- and figured that if I went now, I'd be late for the movie.  Okay:  change of plans.


Got the box of recycling bottles (worth 10c each!) and took it the local recycling place.  Got about $11 off it: fair enough.


Then went to the Cash Converters (pawn shop chain) in Wynnum West, which I hadn't visited for a while.  They had a bunch of disk weights ("plates") at a good price:  usually it's over a buck a kilo, but most of them were actually at a buck a kilo -- so I picked up a few (twelve; had been planning on this).  Also chatted to the sales clerk -- one of the regulars -- and realized that I hadn't made a door wedge for them like I promised.  Will have to do it today or tomorrow.


Stopped off at Aldi and picked up a few different garlic breads, plus two cakes of tofu (organic; firm; they only had one type).


Then stopped by the Woolworth's on the way home to get a jug of milk.  Turns out they had Jatz crackers on sale (which I enjoy; I have about a box every 2-3 days), so I bought a big box of 20.  Also bought two or three more garlic breads -- so, five in total -- to do a taste test with the boys tonight (The Girl and The Lady aren't into garlic bread).  Also bought a cinnamon roll at a bakery on the way out of the shopping plaza.


Home:  put the food in the 'fridge.  Had half of the cakes of tofu for lunch, with Japanese nori rice seasoning on top.  Also the cinnamon roll.  Watched an episode of Black Mirror as I ate.  Then cut up the watermelon that was in the 'fridge (but taking up room), ate about a quarter of it, put the rest in a plastic container and put it in the 'fridge. 


Hm:  this reminds me of people texting/blogging/Facebooking photos of their food.  Ah well:  this is for me to look back on.  And maybe my kids.


Went outside got the weights from the car, put them on my workbench under the carport.  Removed the price tags from the weights, and put some of the rustier weights in a plastic tub for re-rusting:  poured cheap vinegar in there, plus some expired bottles of diet cola (the artificial sweeteners turn sour over time -- but the cola still retains its acidity).  But because I wasn't sure the diet cola would be sufficiently acidity, I added some leftover citric acid (a baking supply) to bring the acidity levels up.  Added some rocks to fill in the blank spots in the liquid, thus raising the over-all levels.  Slooshed it around; will let it sit for a day or two, then scrub off the rust with a wire brush, rinse with some mildly alkaline water (i.e. will add some baking soda), then heat gently in the oven to dry them.  Will finish by rubbing (while still kind of hot) with an old candle, to protect it from future rust. 


About 3:45pm, headed out to go pick up the cello book.  This time putting the dogs in the laundry was no trouble (whew!).  Afternoon traffic was starting to build up, but not a big problem.  Picked up the book, then also checked out the Garden City branch of Cash Converters:  nothing interesting.


Home about 5:30pm.  Put on the garlic bread -- just a quarter or so of each sample.  The boys and I tasted them -- and they all taste about the same!  Although:  I only tried the mid-range through to the cheapest loaves -- so maybe the more expensive ones taste better?  Blondie boy did find one that he didn't like, though.


Don't remember what I did after that (I'm remedially writing this the following morning -- from memory, no notes), but I think I checked e-mail, and then pretty soon thereafter The Lady said it was time for dinner. 

Oh!  And jotted down some song lyric ideas that occurred to me in the car.  I have an idea for the chorus melody; the verse just has a concept, but no direct melody.


Then alternated between watching Dark Mirror and helping Blondie Boy with his homework -- plus laundry (again!).

Spent the rest of the evening logging some expenses that had been kicking around:  one of my quirks is that if something is music-related (e.g. the recording magazine I buy), excercise-related (e.g. the weights), or tool/woodworking/yardwork-related, I write it down.  I also logged most of the weights I'd bought.


Watched another episode of Black Mirror; meant to noodle around on guitar as I watched, but forgot.  Went to bed just after midnight.


Am getting a little concerned:  all these great plans, and few things actually completed.  Today didn't feel as "productive" as the other days -- partly because I spent most of it driving around (or browsing shops), and also because I added a task (cleaning the weights) that wasn't originally on the list.

But, I still had a nice day.  Will "bat cleanup" on the weekend.



And -- BTW -- this still beats wandering around Hamburg (or somewhere) for a vacation:  I have so much stuff to do around the house -- and it makes me happy to get these things done (or at least:  spend time on them, and making progress).  So why would I want to go anywhere else?

Other people's mileage would differ, of course:  this is just what makes me happy.  ;)



--GG

Vacation bliss

One of the things I enjoy about being on vacation is that I eventually lose track of what day it is.

Apparently, it's Friday.  But I thought it was Saturday.

It's all the same, really...


Been doing some more woodworking -- plus sold a nylon-string acoustic guitar through Gumtree (I hadn't played it in years).  About to watch a DVD with the daughter:  The Adjustment Bureau.  I've already seen the special features:  looks like it'll be a pretty good movie.


--GG

Best vacation EVER

I'm doing well: best vacation ever...!!!


Similar to professional chefs (well: I imagine) who have several dishes going in parallel -- I have four(?) projects that I'm hoping will all get completed by the end of my two-week vacation.

I putter along with one, until I reach a stopping point (usually gluing or applying an oil-based finish), then let it "rest" overnight as I turn to the next one.


The projects are:

1. Making substantial progress on my mini-drumkit in a suitcase.  I've been working on this during most weekends for the last month or two (would have to check the date-stamps on the photos I've been taking).  Lots of minor components:  as mentioned above, when one needs gluing or oiling, that's the stopping point for that specific component -- so I turn to another.
2. Making a stool out of a wooden seat that I got from a co-workers wife, plus some thick branches that I've been saving for about five years, for just such a project!
3. Making a stool-slash-endtable out of a short stump or piling (the local style of architecture would raise houses up on "stumps" -- basically pilings -- like this -- but made of wood.  The total length is about the width of an office chair -- so, pretty short, so I'm having to engineer a solution.
4. Recording a song that I wrote a few weeks ago.  It'll be the first song that I've recorded that has me playing actual drums -- rather than using a programmed drum machine, or just foregoing drums. 
5. I picked up (used; online) two wooden boxes that will go under my desk at work to hold some of my "things" (e.g. I have a spare change of clothes -- just in case I totally spill; also a towel (Hitchiker's Guide); also a pillow and a blanket...).  I'm patching some holes, oiling them, and doing a mod to the bottom of the larger one.
6. Miscellaneous lathe work:  two weekends ago my next-door brother in law (the mechanically-minded one) repaired my lathe (an easy fix; duh) -- so I've been having a great time making various pieces of wood cylindrical.  It's full of micro-reinforcements (e.g. seeing the shavings fly off; continually changing the shape of the workpiece) that makes it inherently enjoyable to me (but YMMV).  Lovin' it; not yet tired of it. 
7. Creating an auger-ing jig for stool-making, to control the angle of the hole that I bore in the seat (the legs are then mounted in the holes). 
8. Planted some date pits (hoping they will sprout); planted a sprouted avocado pit in a large pot; and have suspended another avocado pit, and also a mango pit (seed?) in water to try to sprout them.
9. Have re-ground a skew chisel blade (picked it up at some garage sale, perhaps a year ago?) and tang, and will probably turn a handle and mount the blade.
10. Finally finished sharpening the hewing hatchet that I modded from a "regular" (symmetrical) hatchet. 

Regarding the lathe:  having a functioning lathe now opens the world of possibilities for making stools.  Before, I could cut a square or rectangular tenon on the end of a stool leg, then chisel a corresponding mortice in the seat -- but, that's a pain.

Whereas:  with a lathe, as long as the leg is short enough to fit in the lathe (not sure about tall stools...), you turn a round tenon, and then just drill a hole in the seat:  easy!


Anyhow:  grand times; making progress on all of them; and will have at least some things to show for the vacation.   :)


At some point, I'll post photos and create blog entries on most or all of these...   ;)


--GG

The world is my oyster

So:  today is the first day of two weeks' vacation:  I return to work after New Year's Day.  The horizon stretches before me...


I have two weeks -- and no particular commitments.  So, one way or another, I'll get "creative things" done.  It's just a matter of in which realm:  woodworking, or recording some songs.


My brother in law fixed my woodworking lathe for me, so I can now make cylindrical things.  So I might make my first, simple footstool:  just a plank plus four cylindrical legs, which I'll turn from some of my "found"/"rescued" wood.

Or, I could try to finish my "micro drumkit" that I've been working on during weekends for the last month or so:  a fully-functional drumkit that fits into a small "flight attendant"-sized rolling suitcase.

Or, maybe turn some other things on the lathe -- like some drumsticks made out of exotic wood.

If I make a bunch of drumsticks, or a bunch of stools, it's likely that I'll start to give them away.  My paternal grandfather used to enjoy making things out of wood -- but then would end up giving away most of the items, because the interesting bit is the designing and executing (the making).  Once you've made them -- well, how many cutting boards, footstools, and etc. do you really need...?   ;)  So I suspect I'll be the same way.


I've been meaning to record a song that I wrote a few weeks ago, about people going back to college, taking up exercising, and etc., in an effort to make their lives better.  Plus, a few nights ago I finally sat down and noodled around on the electric guitar -- and came up with a chord sequence that would make a good song (energetic, but slightly loose and sloppy).

I'm planning to do my first recording with real drums:  all of my existing recordings either use a drum machine, or are drum-less.  So first I need to figure out which is my preferred pair of room mics for drums (my inexpensive USB recording interface only has two inputs), then record both drum tracks for the two songs in parallel (i.e. "in the same session"), and then go back and forth between the other tracks for the pair of songs.

The recording process keeps getting delayed because we've been having nice weather, so on weekends I keep thinking, "Well, I'll do woodworking during the day, with the natural light, and do recording at night."  But by the time of nightfall, then having dinner, and doing things with the kids, and then checking e-mail -- well, it's time for bed!  ;)


Also, I have some yardwork types of tasks that I could do this week:  maybe finish tidying that pile of bricks at the end of the yard, and cut up some fallen branches for firewood.  Maybe pick up the various piles of miscellaneous (e.g. stashes of "found" wood) and consolidating them somewhere.


In the end, it'll be a balance between "going whichever way my mood takes me" and "being careful to NOT start 'yet another project', before finishing the ones I'm already working on".


And:  the family will probably catch a few movies.  For fun, we might try to catch two movies in a single day.


Regardless:  as long as I keep busy doing things that I like to do -- that's a well-spent vacation.  :)


--GG

Someday a road trip

Sometimes I get funny ideas in my head.  Like:  I rather dis-like travelling -- but a few years ago I had the notion that it would be neat to live in Norway for a year.  But then I realized that I envisioned myself hiding out and doing woodworking and recording songs -- and I could do that more easily here at home (and not have to ship my tools and musical instruments overseas).

A variation of that occurred a few weeks ago, when I accidentally stumbled across the town of "Bell", in regional Queensland.  It's a few hours west of here, and pretty small:  hypothetically I could spend a few months there, recording and doing woodworking:  and driving there with a pickup truck or van full of tools and instruments would be far more feasible.


My latest thing is this:  I was reading an article in a guitar magazine this morning about ten great guitar shops in the U.S.; one of them was in Chicago; and I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a used guitar from Chicago?"

And the thought developed:  I've never really been on a "road trip".  Family trips as a child don't count.

I drove from Tacoma to Portland, Oregon once, for business (about a three hour drive); and from Seattle to Pullman, WA once (about four hours).  And that's it.


So:  one of these days, fly into Oregon; meet up with Old Roommate; and do a road trip to Chicago.  Stop by a few guitar shops along the way (and whatever is of interest to him); drive, reminisce, stop at some truck stops and diners.

And when we get to Chicago, phone the store to ask how to get there without getting stuck in any of the dodgy neighborhoods.

Aim for getting a guitar.  But if a Fender Rhodes, a compelling tube amp, or some funky old synth, calls to me...

Bonus points if I buy a used guitar from a Chicago pawn shop!!!

Then drive down to Nashville (only eight hours away!  Had not realized it was that close!), book a few hours in a low-end recording studio, and record a demo -- just to say that I've recorded in Nashville.

And then drive back.


Not now.  Maybe in a decade or so -- when I'm about 55 or 58.

Not in the summer -- too stinkin' hot -- nor in the winter -- getting stuck in the snow. Either the fall or the early spring.  Maybe fall, so I can have Thanksgiving with my family before heading back to Australia.


The "fun" part will be trying to ship that stuff back.  Probably by ocean freight, not by air freight.  Depending on the volume.


--GG

Addendum: (3:55pm) -- Bring a guitar or other musical instrument (but one that I don't care about!) to sell at a pawn shop in Chicago.  That way I can also say that I pawned a guitar in Chicago.

Everything else that I did

Well, I'm back at work.  But, I got a lot done on vacation.


In addition to the blog entries from this last week, here are other things that I've done:

-Some exercising

-Put some more music on the kids' mp3 players

-Sewed some seams for the kids' stuffed animals:  a Luigi doll, a black spider, another black spider

-Mended a hole in a brown sitting cushion

-Sewed on a button to a work shirt; sewed on a button to my work trousers

-Super-glued the frame of my reading glasses (they've been held together with tape for a year or two; my brother in law suggested that I super-glue them; duh -- yes)

-Binge-watched the last half of the final season of Friends with my daughter

-Read a bedtime story to my kids (on the nights where they actually went to bed at a decent hour (they've been on school holidays)


So:  pretty good. :)


--GG

Firewood shed

I'm recording yet another small-to-mid-sized project that I did during my week's vacation.

I sometimes make tiny little fires in my backyard, in a small terracotta fire bowl.  Because the fires are small, I don't need a whole lot of firewood:  various branches gathered from my back yard are enough.  But I have odd little stashes in various places, including my back porch.  So for the past few months I've intended to make a little firewood stand.  So, here it is.


I started cutting the pieces of wood, intermittently, early in my vacation -- maybe the 19th.  And I finished it last night, on the 25th of September.  All of the assembly took place on the 25th.


The project is based around triangles, because triangles are structurally very strong.  It also meant that nearly all of the pieces are the same length -- which was handy.

You'll notice that the wood is currently darker at the joints:  that's because I rubbed boiled linseed oil on at the joints before screwing the wood together, to protect the wood from moisture at least a little bit.  If I had tried to oil the wood after assembly, the oil may not have reached into the joints.

Also:  I've had this wood lying out in the open for more than ten years, getting rained on.  Wood is remarkably robust:  it can get wet, and as long as it doesn't stay wet (i.e. it gets a chance to dry out again), it doesn't rot.  Note that the wood was off the ground:  if it had been lying in the dirt, then yeah -- it probably would've rotted.

Although:  if I lived in a cold and rainy climate, this might not have worked.  But we get most of our rain in the summer -- so it's sunny and things dry out pretty quickly.


Here's a tool I made myself, maybe five years ago.  Basically, it's a handle for an L-shaped Allan wrench of the correct size for the hex screws that I like to use on my larger projects.  The wood is actually a tree root:  I wanted to see if a root was strong enough to use as "wood" (the answer is "Yes"). 

For this sort of project I usually drive the screws with a hex-shaped bit, in an electric drill.  But it's a nuisance to keep switching between the driver bit and a drill bit (for making additional holes) -- so I'll often "start" the screws with this tool, and then drive a bunch of them at once, later on -- using the hex bit.

Because I often use this outdoors, I wanted the tool to be visually distinct from the dirt (and miscellaneous scraps of wood), so I spray-painted it bright green (because I like the color green!).  I achieved the spiral by wrapping the tool with a single spiral of narrow masking tape, with a gap between each loop; spraying the handle; and then (of course) removing the masking tape after the paint had dried.


Here's the wood rack taking shape:

Note that I also put some diagonals on the ends, to keep it from flopping over.  And that I've now oiled the whole structure.


Then I cut a scrap sheet of plywood in half, butted the halves end-to-end, and screwed it to the top of the frame.  By now it was starting to get dark.


This is a "Look!  I finished it on this day!" photo.  It was my last day of vacation, and I really wanted to complete this project -- so I worked right up to dark.

But here's a better photo, which I took this morning before work.

You can't tell from this photo, but the structure is about waist-high for me -- so it's not very large, as firewood shelters go.

It's sitting on top of a (salvaged!) plastic base to a portable basketball pole, which keeps the structure off of the dirt -- which will hopefully prevent rot, and make the structure last longer.

You probably can't tell (unless you click on the photo to enlarge it?), but there's a piece of one-by-four that covers the gap between the two pieces of plywood -- also rubbed with boiled linseed oil.

The black pots hold little stubs of wood that are too short to stack properly.  The three sections of the rack are for wood at different stages of drying:  the far left is for old, dry wood; the middle section is for "kinda dry" wood; and the far right is for "green" wood.  When I use up all the wood in the left-hand section, I'll transfer each section's wood to the left. 


Note that as I re-stack it, the order of the wood (which reflects how long it's been drying) will change.  For example, the wood at the bottom of the middle section will be older than the wood at the top of the middle section; when I re-stack in the section at the left, the less-old wood will end up on the bottom of the "To Use" section, and the older wood will be on the top of the "To Use" section -- i.e. the first to be used! 

This re-ordering doesn't apply to the wood from the "green wood" section -- but by the time it reaches the "To Use" section it'll be so seasoned that it won't really matter.


This project was noteworthy in that, except for the screws, all of the wood was salvaged, not purchased:  the long pieces were from a neighbor's house construction, and the red plywood was from the pallet from our solar panels (which explains the peculiar cut-outs:  I cut the wooden blocks out; I wasn't able to remove the nails).  In fact, the short screws that I used to attach the red plywood were salvaged from a previous wooden outdoor project that started to rot:  I threw away the wood, but kept the screws.


--GG

How to tighten a hammer head or attach it more firmly

This is yet another one of my small-to-mid-sized projects during my one-week vacation.  I started it on the 21st, and finished today (25 Sept.).


About half a year ago, I bought a few rusty old handtools from an estate sale.  I finally got around to cleaning them up.  This hammer is one of them:  the handle was loose in the head, so someone in the past had driven in a cotter pin to try to tighten it up.

Here's another view:

However, the cotter pin didn't work in tightening the handle: the head was still so loose that I was able to pull the handle out by hand.

The trick to tightening loose handles on hammers is to start with a wooden wedge that runs the "long way" through the eye of the head (you'll see what I mean, in a moment).  Then, if you need additional tightening, you can follow up with metal "hammer wedges" that cut through the initial wooden wedge.


This photo shows the wedge that I created, and the branch that I created it from.  Next to my workbench I keep a bucket of hardwood branch sections, collected from my yard, just for making small dowels and pegs and such.

The wedge is probably about 15 degrees.  I didn't measure it; I just eyeballed it -- and it looked like about half of 30 degrees, so...


Here's a shot of me using sandpaper to smooth the surface of the wedge, so that it won't bind on the way in.  Because the piece is so small, it's actually easier to hold the sheet of sandpaper on a flat piece of wood, and rub the wedge back and forth across it.

Here's a shot of the (now-cleaned!) hammer head, the handle (not yet oiled, because that would mess up the gluing), and the wedge (not yet inserted).  Notice the slot that I had sawn in the handle, to accommodate the wedge.

If you look closely, you can see that I made the tip of the wedge at a coarser angle than the rest of the wedge:  that's for strength; I figured that a very thin tip would be fragile, break off, and ruin the process.


Here's a shot of my driving the glue-y wedge into the slot.  Notice that there's already a split in the handle end, in a direction that isn't useful.  I didn't show this, but I had mostly filled it with a sawdust-and-glue mixture -- and then let it dry for a day or two -- prior to sawing the slot for the wooden wedge.  Also:  I'm using a mallet made by my late (paternal) grandfather.

Here's the hammer, in my workbench vice, after the wedge had been driven in as far as it would comfortably go.

And, here's a shot of the finished product, after I'd trimmed off the excess from the wedge with a handsaw (using masking tape to protect the hammer head from scratches), and then finishing up with a sharp chisel.

And, another view:

The hammer head is on well -- but if it starts to get loose, I'll put a metal wedge where the pink line is.  If I need another wedge, I'll put it where I've drawn the red line.  My local "big box" hardware store sells hammer wedges for about three bucks for a two-pack, in the hammer section.

--GG

How to tighten an adze head

Well, my vacation is nearly done. But here's one of the mini-projects that I accomplished.

I started working on this on Monday, Sept 19th. I finished it today, Sunday the 25th. Some of the intervening time was just spent waiting for the glue to dry -- as you'll see below.

This adze-ish tool -- with a pickaxe at the other end -- is one of the tools I picked up at an estate sale maybe half a year ago.  It's one of the tools that I cleaned up during this vacation, as described in another blog entry.

The metal portion was loose on the handle:  not enough to fall off, but certainly enough to make it annoying when trying to use the tool.


The first photo shows the tool in my workbench's vice.  I've used a chisel to create a groove to receive a wooden wedge, which will spread the end of the wooden handle and jam it against the inside of the "eye" of the tool's head.


The next photo shows the wedge that I created, and the branch that I created it from.  Next to my workbench I keep a bucket of hardwood branch sections, collected from my yard, just for making small dowels and pegs and such.

The wedge is probably about 15 degrees.  I didn't measure it; I just eyeballed it -- and it looked like about half of 30 degrees, so...


Here's a shot of me using sandpaper to smooth the surface of the wedge, so that it won't bind on the way in.  Because the piece is so small, it's actually easier to hold the sheet of sandpaper on a flat piece of wood, and rub the wedge back and forth across it.

Here's the tool, back in the vice.  The green towel isn't part of this process:  it's just there to make the photo clearer, by obscuring some of the clutter on the workbench.

Unfortunately, you can't tell -- but I made the tip of the wedge at a coarser angle than the rest of the wedge:  that's for strength; I figured that a very thin tip would be fragile, break off, and ruin the process.


Another shot, prior to my driving it in with a wooden mallet.  Lookit the glue!!!

And:  a few days later, after the glue has dried.  I've cut off the excess from the wedge; sanded it a little; used the bench grinder's wire wheel to clean the rust off the metal; WD-40'd the metal; and oiled the handle (including the "eye") with a a 50-50 mixture of boiled linseed oil and methyl alcohol (as a thinner). 

The handle is now quite snug in the eye of the tool.  However, if it becomes loose, I can tighten it up by driving a metal "hammer head" wedge into the eye, as indicated by the red line. Because the initial wedge is made of wood, I can drive the subsequent metal wedge through the initial wedge.

And if it loosens again, I can drive another metal wedge where the green line is.


--GG

Tool rehab

Well, tonight is my last day before returning to work.  I had a good -- and productive -- week off:  I spent it doing things from my "To Do" list -- my fun "To Do" list, not the "Ought To/Responsibility" list.  Well, except for doing laundry, doing some dishes, and feeding the kids.

I had a bunch of rusty tools that I'd picked up at an estate sale maybe a year ago.  I started cleaning them up on Weds, 9/21.  Tonight is Sunday, 9/25, and I've completed the process.

Usually I'll soak rusty metal in white vinegar for a few days, then use a wire bush (a "hand" brush, not a wire wheel) to remove the loosened rust and crud.  But this time most of the items were attached to wooden handles -- so I thought I'd try a different approach.

Most of the time for this project was taken by using the wire wheel on my bench grinder to remove all the rust.  Once I'd done that, the faster component was wiping the wooden handles with my 50-50 mix of boiled linseed oil and methyl alcohol (as a thinner).

Here's my setup, under the carport.  The wooden table thing is something I built a few years ago:  it's kind of a portable, mini-workbench, that I use a lot.

I don't set up the grinder in my workshop, because (a) I don't have the room (it's small, and currently crowded and messy), and (b) I don't want to spray rust and crud all over.

After a fair number of (meditative) hours spent grinding rust and crud off, over the course of a few days -- interspersed with other projects -- here are the results:  I tried to arrange them in the same order as on the plank in the earlier photo.  (The pruning shears, at the bottom of the photo, was a late addition.)

After grinding off the rust from each item with the wire brush, I sprayed the metal section with WD-40 before it had a chance to re-rust.

I could've sanded back the wooden handles, prior to oiling them -- but I wanted to retain their well-used, "found in an old barn" look.

The top three items are lathe tools for woodworking -- clearly "user-made".  One of these days I'll actually purchase a lathe...

The thing that's just above the handplane blade is a narrow trowel:  bad angle; it doesn't show up very well in this photo.


Note that the hammer to the right now has its handle:  in the original photo it did not.  The re-handling is the subject of another blog entry.


--GG