Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

Loaner!

Two horsepower, 28000 RPM, accommodates ¼" and ½" shank bits. Went and bought longer M5 bolts to attach it to the router table. You can see them poking out of the bottom of the base. 

It's minutes to noon. Mo and I just had an early lunch. I will brew up and then I will spend some time getting new mounting holes drilled into the router table and the device fitted. Hopefully it won't take the whole afternoon.

[Netfoot]

OK, the loaner router is installed in the table. It took a long time because aligning the bolts through the top of the table and into the router base was a PITA, just like last time. 

Normally, the router would be attached to a base plate which then sits down into a recess in the table top. The base plate is small and light and easily attached to the router. I am considering a modification to the table top to create a recess for a plate made from 6mm birch ply. Also considering a mod to allow a fence system. I originally planned just clamping a strip across the top from edge to edge when a fence is needed but...

I rounded a single piece of scrap, just to test that everything works. Thumbs up!  I will round over the remaining frames in the morning. If I get them all done I can start gluing up racks in the afternoon. Just hope I don't end up having to spend the entire day sanding prior to final assembly.

Made a sweet rice for dinner. Chopped sausage & rice with broccoli, carrot and onion. I boiled a plantain separately and diced a cucumber. Big plantain! I cut it into seven pieces. Mo got three and I had the remaining four. He didn't eat all his plantain. Which is why I normally don't give him any - he doesn't really like it. I diced a cucumber and placed it in my bowl raw, and put my rice and plantain on top. It was very good. Seasoned with garlic & onion powder, paprika and a tiny stock cube.

Mo was here a while ago but has disappeared. I think he is outside moonbathing. Unless he is under the bed again? No, he just walked in, looked at me and walked back out. He is probably snoozing in the passage.

It isn't very late but I think I will try to get an early night. Still not selected a book. Been watching some TV and of course, TAR when new episodes come out, like tonight. But I am not going to stay up and wait for the latest episode of TAR. I will check that in the morning. 

I can't remember if I had a shower this evening but it doesn't matter. I feel for one, so I will have one in a minute.

Oh! I bought a new spatula for the kitchen. I know the dollar store has them for $3.25 but to my surprise I found one at Doit Best for only $2.90 when I went looking for router mounting screws. And it looks pretty good! I am doing my best now to keep it from ending up outside on the lawn. But the question is: should I give the old one to Mo as a play-toy? Or will I just be teaching him that eating spatulas is legitimate?

Edited March 20 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Just rounded over eight frames. The loaner router works fine. My back was starting to ache a bit but I could have done the other eight. (Seven, actually, because one was done with the old router before it died.)

I stopped because I want to give the loaner router a chance to cool down. Routers feed air through themselves to keep themselves cool, but the air in the box of the router table warms up. (So does the air in the house. Mo came in just now and when I stroked his back his fur was hot! Sunbathing again...)

Anyway, I stopped after eight so the router could get a break. Not at all because I wanted some iced water! The old bit in the new router is doing a good job and I only experienced one tiny piece of chip-out which I glued back up and taped. 

Not even ten yet do the remaining seven frames will be done before lunch. Then my favourite part: sanding! 😕

This morning I was rooting around and located this router bit I couldn't find previously:

It is a tee-slot bit specifically sized for ¼" hex-bolts. That means an ordinary ¼" bolt can be used with the head of the bolt in the slot. This is good because while they are more convenient in some circumstances, toilet bolts are much more expensive than a normal ¼" bolt. You could but buy  a ¼" bolt in stainless steel for about ⅕th the price of a toilet bolt. And you would have options for different lengths that you would not get with a toilet bolt.

Mo and I had PB&J for breakfast (we usually don't have breakfast at all) and I had a mug at that time. I feel for another mug now but I will pass for now. Save it for after lunch.

Where is Mozie now? Is he... Yes, under the bed in the darkest corner, curled up.

Edited March 20 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

There is no such symbol as a hashtag. This symbol # is called a hash, a number sign, a pound (because on the British keyboard the symbol is replaced by the the cursive L that is the symbol for the British pound sterling £) an octothorpe (various spellings) and a few other names. But hashtag is not one of them. 

Also, there is no such symbol as a forewardslash. This symbol / is called a solidus, a slash, a virgule, a slant, a stroke and others, buy not a forewardslash.

Made chips for dinner. The best chips I have produced so far. Enjoyed them tremendously, with ketchup & mayo. Slight miscalculation: Mo got more chips than me. 😠

Yesterday, I bought a new spatula. The chips was the first thing I've cooked since then that required a spatula. I used the spatula to turn the chips every 5 minutes or so. And when they were done, I used it to lift the chips out of the oil and put them into a paper-towel lined colander. The spatula was not left sitting in the oil nor near the burner on the stove.

By the time the chips were done, so was the spatula.

I suppose I have nobody else to blame but myself. You pay $2.90 what do you expect?

If I had any sense I'd duct-tape it to a wall and sell it to the Tate Gallery. 

All the side-frames are rounded over. Three developed chips which I have repaired. The repairs will need sanding tomorrow. All the frames will need sanding anyway. Once all frames (and rails) are sanded, I can start assembling into complete racks. 

Checked the landlord's letter box and found my next two welfare cheques. One is valid from tomorrow. I will go over to the mall and stick it in the bank, rather than going to the PO to cash it first. It's a little slower at the bank but I have food in the house sufficient for the next few days, so no rush. 

Mo is moonbathing again.

After Garden Patrol I sat outside on the steps in the moonlight and Mo curled up in my lap. Mo is very affectionate and sweet and I could have sat out there with him for half the night but I had a pot on the stove boiling water for tea so after a while I had to go in again. 

I often go to bed early these days due to tiredness. (Possible a medication dosage issue which I might resolve at Neuro. I was supposed to see them within the next two weeks but they screwed up so I have to wait 5½ more months before I get to ask them.) I am rising earlier on a morning, probably because I go down earlier at night. I take it easy. If I get tired while working, I stop and rest until I feel good again. I avoid working late.

Why am I always tired? I get up and take my time before starting work. I stop and rest frequently. I end the day early. Often, I nap. I don't do anything strenuous that I can avoid. Even bringing the groceries into the house is an exercise in taking it easy. And yet I'm always tired.

Tomorrow I have to drop the cheque at the bank. I am going take the spatula back and see what they say.  I will also buy a small package of small nails. I want to prototype something and the nails will help me with that. Otherwise it is all about towel racks. And naps.

Not an early night tonight, though. Approaching midnight. Going to see if Mo wants in or out, and then kill the lights. 

Edited March 21 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Bought a new spatula. 

Pretty girl showed me a photo of her puppy, refunded my money and gave me a discount on a replacement. Got this one:

Pure silicon. Available in a selection of colours. I chose red because it will be easier to spot lying on the grass when Mo inevitably steals it. 

Got to the mall a little early and found myself standing outside waiting for the doors to be opened. It was only a short wait but my back hurt so bad I had to sit on the floor. 

Sanded the 16 side-frames. Three of them had issues that I corrected yesterday. Unfortunately, I spotted several frames with minor blemishes that need to be dealt with. I will go and examine each frame closely and apply what ever fix is appropriate. I will leave them until tomorrow for the fixes to set up nice and strong then I will sand them where the corrections were made.

Also this afternoon I will sand and trim the rails to uniform length to facilitate final assembly.

Cooked bully beef rice with broccoli, cucumber, carrots and onions. Mo didn't seem to want his so I took a teaspoon and started eating from his bowl. I only got about eight grains of rice before he barged me out of the way and began gobbling it down. 

Feel for a nap but the landlord has decided this is the perfect time to weed-whack the yard noisily, starting under my bedroom window.

 

[andidante]

  On 3/21/2025 at 7:08 PM, Netfoot said:

Bought a new spatula. 

Pretty girl showed me a photo of her puppy, refunded my money and gave me a discount on a replacement. Got this one:

Pure silicon. Available in a selection of colours. I chose red because it will be easier to spot lying on the grass when Mo inevitably steals it. 

 

 

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I like that color! I think silicon is supposed to be able to stand higher heat?

[Netfoot]

  On 3/21/2025 at 8:47 PM, andidante said:

I think silicon is supposed to be able to stand higher heat?

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I believe to so. I know silicon is used to make molds for casting certain molten metals... which are hotz!

Also polytetrafluoroethylene a.k.a. PTFE a.k.a. Teflon.  I was taught it can withstand any temperature you are likely to be able to generate without special equipment or heroic methods. 

Edited March 21 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I'm lying in bed. I just ate dinner (macaroni with chopped sausage, onion & cucumber with tomato sauce) and I'm contemplating a mug of tea. 

Mo is either moonbathing again or under the bed. I'm not looking under because of pains in my kidneys back.

I've been threatening to take the Panadol for several days now; tonight I may actually do it. What I wish I could do is somehow take the Panadol half an hour before I wake up tomorrow morning! Rolling out of bed gets more painful every day. 

I still have to go on Garden Patrol. I will put water on to boil, go on Patrol with Mo and make a mug of tea when I come in again. With the landlord having cut the grass, we should have a straightforward Patrol and I may spend some time enjoying the cool of the evening with my boy. It is cool tonight. Maybe some rain will fall. 

Mo just wandered in, polished my pasta bowl and departed again. Back outside or just into the passage I don't know - I will find out later. No, he's back, looking like a game of TT is on his mind. He's gone to the window.... Now he's lying ony shoulder, making use of this device a little tricky.

After sanding all the frames, I went over them with a fine toothed comb looking for blemishes. Most frames has some sort of issue, from very fine hairline cracks in the wood to dents where the part got a "bounce" and so forth. I worked on each one. If you are determined, you can find something to complain about in every piece. And since there were some frames that did have issues there was no reason to hold back on the other frames. So I worked on plugging or patching blemishes no bigger than a pin-prick. Why not? If I had to wait on the others I might as well be waiting on the pin-prick too, right? Only one was completely without blemish. 

Anyway, tomorrow morning I will have to re-sand the frames again, but not all over. Only in the areas where I did corrective work. So it should go pretty fast. After that? Assembly. 

I miss my band saw. There is much I could do if I had it working. I would like to build myself an Adirondack chair. I could go slow and collect pieces I need over time. I could even reclaim some pallet wood. I have several good pallets here. Breaking them down is always exhausting but I have quite a few pieces of pallet lumber from pallets I  already broke down. 

Pallet wood can be rough around the edges and is always riddled with nail holes. With the jointing jig and  Mr. Noisy, I can make the rough smooth! But it might be fun to leave those edges you don't need to be smooth , in their original state. And the nail holes add character. 

OK, it's twenty past nine and Mo is licking my feet. I think it's time for Garden Patrol. Followed by a mug of tea and sleep. 

Edited March 22 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I get up in the morning and reach for one of my many caps. Recently, I have difficulty finding one.

I found one easily enough this morning, but someone snatched it off my head and departed rapidly.

There was a bit of a tug-o-war to get it back. Good thing most of my caps were "distressed". Even the ones that weren't are distressed, now...

ETA: Is it my eyes? Or is my phone taking smoky looking photographs these days? I am looking through a fog all day long, due to (prolly) cataracts. But are the photos looking smoky because everything looks smoky? Or are they actually smoky too? (The state of my phone is something to wonder at. That is nstill works at all is amazing.)

Aaaaaand the rain is down.

Edited March 22 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

After the demise of the router I thought I was done. There is no way I could have completed this project without a router. Thank goodness for the loaner!

Sanding away at frames today, with my trusty DeWalt D26451K sander, I started to consider the other tools I use and what I would do if they stopped working. 

Table Saw - a Grizzly G0690 that is indispensable. Definitely no chance of getting spares locally. Parts would need to be shipped in, and if it was something heavy like a set of trunnions or a motor, they would have to be shipped by ocean freight. Even small parts would take 2+ weeks to reach me by air.

JET JDP-15M drill press. I could do some of the drilling - all of it I guess - with a hand drill but it would be much more difficult and the quality of the work would inevitably suffer. No parts locally, shipping of heavy parts by ocean freight, long delays.

Skil 1825 Router. Already dead. Would repolace with a DeWalt DW618PK for U$237.00 plus shipping plus all the customs fees, but I don't have U$237.00 so it's a good thing I got a buddt with a router who was willing to lend it to me! (And I don't really want to buy a new router while my bandsaw languishes in need of parts anyway, but I might have no option.)

And the previously mentioned random-orbit sander, with which I was re-sanding the frames as these thoughts went through my head. A small machine but important!

There are a lot of other hand tools- clamps, hammers, mallets, knives, drill bits, etc, but they could probably all be replaced locally if you had this mysterious commodity called "munny". 

Right about then is when the sander suddenly threw the sanding disk across the garage like a frizbee. There is a base-pad screwed to the bottom of the sander with Velcro hooks on it. The disks of sand paper have Velcro fuzz on them. (Both have a pattern of 8 holes on them that you line up so you can attach a vacuum to suck the dust away.) The sanding disks are replaced all the time and changed to give different grades of sanding. The base-pad can wear out after much use and are easily replaced, but you have to buy that part and probably not available locally. Checked with a friend who works for a company that used to sell DeWalt gear and parts, but they no longer do.

Anyway, after repeatedly failing to get the sanding disk to stick, I was just contemplating the horror of having to try and sand all these bitz by hand... when I tried a different pad and it stuck on fine. Disaster averted, heart rate returning to normal. Will have to contemplate buying a replacement and keeping it on hand.

10:30. Too early for lunch. Too soon for another cup of tea. Nappp!

[Netfoot]

Do you think they will solve the certificate problem before Monday? Because it's a PITA!

 

[Netfoot]

Trimming the rails to length, the longer rails allowed the removal of bad blemishes from the piece.

A couple of large knots, a small knot, a medium knot and some bad tear-out, and one piece with no knots but a lot of tear-out.

Edited March 22 by Netfoot

[andidante]

  On 3/22/2025 at 4:23 PM, Netfoot said:

Do you think they will solve the certificate problem before Monday? Because it's a PITA!

 

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I was afraid to continue on to the site! I am glad they seemed to get it fixed.

[Netfoot]

The rails are all trimmed to length. I started sanding them and the feel of the rail is much nicer after sanding than before. I had done about six when my back exploded. I continued on but after doing 18 I couldn't manage any more. I came in with every intention of going out and finishing before nightfall. But my back is still hurting and the remaining 14 rails still need to be sanded. Now it only takes two minutes to sand one (unless you discover a flaw that needs attention) so it won't take more than half an hour tomorrow to get them all smooth and slick.

And you know those Panadol caplets I have been threatening to take for several days now?  BRB..... Just took them. 

My dinner was a cross between corned beef & cabbage and bubble & squeak. With added broccoli. It was very filling and didn't taste too bad. Well, it didn't taste bad at all. But it really was not hugely tasty. It only had a very little bit of corned beef in it. Mo had chow but I splashed a tiny bit of milk over it and he loved it! Remember that it is diluted condensed milk and Mo has a sweet tooth. I didn't want him to have too much of it but a little sprinkle was enough to get Mo vacuuming away at his dinner bowl!

I need a shower and I mug of tea and we have not done our Garden Patrol yet. I will put water on to boil and get ready to shower. When our Patrol is over I will either pour the water and go for my shower as the tea draws or (if the water isn't boiling yet) shower first. 

I feel like reading. Not sure about a book. Maybe something light. Maybe a woodworking book or an R/C text or something. Or maybe I can watch a movie. I have Forrest Gump here but I am pretty sure if I start that I will be asleep long before the Intermission. 

You know, if I ever fall 400 kilometers out of the sky and land in the ocean, I hope there will be a pod of dolphins there to greet me. 

[Netfoot]

Lying in bed. Been lying in bed most of the afternoon! 

Sanded all the remaining rails and discovered several minor flaws which I worked on. 

Came in gave Mo his lunch. Chow. Did not feel like cooking something for myself. Rice, potatoes, pasta - none appealed. Thought I'd go out for some bread before all the stores closed but was drinking a mug of tea and was relaxing when I suddenly started to feel terrible, along with developing a tummy ache.

Lay in bed and waited for it to pass. It gradually faded but by the time it abated a bit I'd fallen asleep. Mo eventually woke me by initiating a game of TT. Felt much better upon waking but it was too late to go out and buy bread. Mo got more chow for dinner but there isn't anything for me. I am just not able to cook rice or spuds. Can't face it. 

So, no dinner for daddy. I am quite hungry because there was no dinner lunch either. I should try to build up a stock of "fast food", by which I mean food I can prepare and eat quickly. Like crackers & cheese. 

I suppose I could take the car out and go buy literal fast food. Chefette drive-through for fried chicken or something? But that would be money I'd rather not spend. Or go to a gas station and see if they have bread - but it would be almost certainly be stale. Acceptable if I had a toaster, but I don't. Untoasted stale bread does not appeal. 

Started watching a TV series from last year called Black Doves. Keira Knightly is a private espionage agent, retired with husband, kids and an outside man. When he (the outside man) is killed by the London underworld she is drawn back onto the life... Just seen the first episode so not sure how it will turn out but going to keep watching. 

Mo has squeezed in between me and my pillow pyramid. All too often he worms his way in and claims the most comfortable spot for himself. He is too cute to shift. So I will cuddle him until he decides to move for himself. Or I have to lie down. Oh, he's off again, already! Now he is curled up at the foot of the bed and I am on the pyramid.

Maybe I could make some fry-bread and eat it with PB&J? Just don't feel like doing anything. I guess I'm still not 100% recovered from what ever it was I experienced today. 

Damnit! I'm going to have to cook a pot of rice, aren't I? At 9:30 at night. I could put tuna in it. With carrot and cucumber. And some onion, I guess. Damn.

Better go do that then. ☹️

ETA: Rice cooked and eaten. Feel much better now.

Edited March 24 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

First rack being assembled. Finally!

Remember a while back I made four clamping squares with bolt-on enhancements for holding rails? They are in use here. 

As soon as I started using them I realized I'd made a mistake in their construction. They can still be used but they would be much better if I'd built then them a little differently. 

Each square has a long side that (with the extension) aligns with the rail. The other side is shorter and clamps to the vertical leg. The mistake was in making that shorter side shorter. Preferably, it would be long enough that it extends from one side of the tack rack to the other so it could be clamped to both legs in the side-frame. It would more accurately hold the rail perpendicular to the side-rail as a whole, rather than just the one leg. Now, the legs are in alignment with the side-frame so it shouldn't make any difference. Perpendicular to the leg means perpendicular to the frame. But it would have been better to make that short side not-so-short to allow clamping on both legs rather than one. 

I think I was concerned that an extended side stretching right across to the other leg would interfere with the clamping square & extension on the other leg/rail. But if course, the other tail rail is clamped on the other end of the rail so the squares would not interfere with one another. I will try to think of a way to extend the short sides but right now, while it could have been better designed/built, it is adequate and final assembly is proceeding. It will come out of the clamps and make room for the next one in 1:37 and with any luck, I will get five glued up today.

I also used two squares to hold the side-frames upright and to keep them down on the table I used gravity clamps. (Tuna tins filled with molten lead and painted red. They stack up nicely when needed and when they get chewed up from being dropped on the floor, you eat some more tuna, remelt the lead and pour yourself a new clamp!) ideally I'd use a device called a magswitch. Magswitches are magnets that you can turn on and off. You build them into your jigs, clamps, etc, and attach them to the cast iron tablesaw top magnetically. Unfortunately they are expensive, at U$20 or U$30 each, even for the small ones!

Had a fairly good night's sleep and woke to find an affectionate puppy in a playful mood. While playing a sudden deluge came down and quick as I could I shut the window but the puppy had run out of the room.

I resigned myself to dealing with a soaked little boy and probably used as a towel, so when he returned I was a little apprehensive. But he turned out to be bone dry! I don't know why he was so Kern keen to go running out but it wasn't to splash about in the puddles!

Oh, here he is now! 

Edited Monday at 04:56 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Fifth rack glued up and in clamps. Could come out after 2 hours (in 1:42) but I won't do any more after this one, so it can stay in the clamps on the tablesaw overnight. 

So this would be an ideal time to take a shower. But once again, my water is off. I thought they'd disconnected me but I checked the meter and the valve is not closed far less sealed. So maybe water will return later tonight. Lack of water also makes cooking a bit tricky. So I gave Mo chow and the rice I had left over for lunch will be mine. I will heat it in a pan. If I had an egg or two I'd turn it into fried rice!

Continuing with Black Doves. It is not bad. A mite too much sodomy for my taste but putting that aside, the show is pretty engaging. 

So the racks are now curing. The full cure time of TB3 is 24 hours, so the first of these won't be fully cured until lunchtime tomorrow and the one I just glued up won't be fully cured until tomorrow evening, this same time. But after curing overnight they will be fine for careful handling.

So tomorrow first thing, I will take the last one out of the clamps, examine all of them to make sure there are no globs of glue dripped out of the joints and dried. (If I find any I will trim it away and sand the spot smooth.) Then I will call my guy and let him know they are ready for collection. 

Ok, so I can't shower. I can't cook anything that requires water..... (I could cook chips) and I can't make tea. It's 7:30 PM and I'm starting to get hungry. And I really want a shower but not going to get one unless the water comes back on later. 

I am going to go and decide if to cook chips, reheat the (small) portion of rice left over from lunch, or both. And I will see how much water remains in the pan from the last mug of tea I brewed. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:01 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

9:30 PM. I'm sitting here in my towel, after a shower. And a mug of tea sits at my elbow. 

Water came on about 30 minutes ago. Al least that's when I noticed it. I ran the eYer water in the kitchen sink for about 2 5 minutes while Mo and I had a lovely cuddle outside on the steps, followed by Garden Patrol. The tap spit and sputtered and spewed out muddy, brown water but by time Garden Patrol was over it was running clean and clear and without spitting.

So I brewed up a mug of tea and retired to the shower while it drew. The shower spit and sputtered too and there was no hot water. Not sure why. Hoping it returns soon because I don't like cold showers, even if cold means 80°F.

Going to go off to sleep early. Or binge-watch more of Black Doves, one or the other. Mo is still outside. Not much moonlight - only a 39% 30% waning crescent.... Speak of the devil, here he is now!

Edited Tuesday at 11:43 AM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

G'morning, folks! After a tumultuous game of TT combined with a couple rounds of Bitey-Bitey, I crawled out of bed and...

I unclamped the fifth rack and arranged it with the others for a photograph:

There are also some unassembled frames that could be turned into a couple more racks quickly:

By quickly, I mean 10-15 minutes for a glue-up followed by 2 hours while the glue sets up then set aside for at least overnight so it can cure well enough I would be comfortable parting with it. 

Sent my guy the photos and he says "After lunch" so I will hopefully see them away this afternoon. I will query him about future orders of these items. 

I get the impression that they don't sell rapidly so the ones I've already made will last for quite a while. butvhexdays But he says some times someone will come in and want a dozen so after weeks/months with little or no sales, they are suddenly Ll all gone. I want to know whether to work on improving the jigs and fixtures or whether it is not necessary.

The jigs cost me money for materials but make the work easier and faster. So the jig for gluing up side-frames makes them easy to build, but can only do one at a time. I leave them 1 hour before taking them out and doing the next. A second such frame would double my rate of production. Should I build one? It will cost me $79.99 in form ply. I would hate to spend that money and end up with two gluing jigs that never get used.

I use a guide on the drill press for pocketing the frames. It works much better than doing it directly by hand but it is still fiddly. A $79.99 router bit would make it much faster and easier and probably result in more uniform pockets. Should I consider getting it?

Any way, I will go brew up and contemplate the $340 in profits this sale will generate for me. Doesn't sound like much but that is after I set aside money for the rent and the telephone bill. I suspect I should make a payment towards the water. Yesterday's outage was a false alarm. Tomorrow's outage might be a real disconnection. 

Edited Tuesday at 01:09 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Four of the five racks have gone, there wasn't room for the last one in his car. I got $600 with the balance due within the next few days (before end of month). While chatting he mentioned he needed a 29" circle of plywood. I have a beam compass (trammel) and a 1M straight-edge so I can draw a circle 2M in diameter. So after he'd gone I went and got some plywood and 

Drew the circle with the trammel, cut just outside the line with my jig-saw (band saw still US) and sanded to the line. Lightly sanded the two faces and the two edges to remove any splinters and fixed voids visible in the edge of the disk by gluing in thin slivers of pine. They can be sanded flush first thing tomorrow. He's coming to get it nineish in the morning.

It doesn't need to be pretty. It is to be covered in Trowel-Plastic or some other faux-stone finish to match coral. 

I compute that the wood cost about $14.80 so let's say $15. How much do you charge for cutting a circle and a few minutes of sanding? Not much. So nothing much to be made on this job but maybe some good will. 

He may buy two of the additional towel rails but not for a week or so. 

Was supposed to take my blood sugar this morning but forgot. So I will take it tomorrow. 

Mo is outside barking at something but I have no idea what. Wait.... He has just joined me in bed, curling up at the foot. I had my shower earlier. Still no hot water. And water pressure seems a bit low. But I was showering earlier than usual and I get better pressure the later it is. 

Watching Black Doves again. Only a couple episodes remain. (There are only six in the series.)

Feel like another shower. Why, I don't know. I am not sure it would be a good idea, because the hot water still has not returned. And don't fancy a cold shower at this time of night. 

Edited Wednesday at 02:17 AM by Netfoot

[b4pjoe]

  On 3/26/2025 at 2:14 AM, Netfoot said:

I compute that the wood cost about $14.80 so let's say $15. How much do you charge for cutting a circle and a few minutes of sanding?

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Minimum $30.

[Notabug]

  On 3/26/2025 at 3:16 AM, b4pjoe said:

Minimum $30.

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I think you could ask for $45 to give you room to bargain if he balks at it.

[b4pjoe]

  On 3/26/2025 at 4:43 PM, Notabug said:

I think you could ask for $45 to give you room to bargain if he balks at it.

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Yeah it won't hurt to go higher as a starting point but I would never go below the $30. Time isn't free.

[Netfoot]

Last rack departed along with plywood circle. Got paid another  $600 for the racks and was told they would take the two remaining racks. I have one in glue-up now and the second should get glued up around six. Not sure when he will want to take them but they will be ready for collection by tomorrow, mid-morning. Hopefully I will get paid for them before month-end. I have a $155.72 shortfall in the rent and the next welfare cheque is for the 4th. Pension due on the 3rd too. But that won't help me on the 1st.

And groceries are starting to run low. What would be a help is if Heidi would come and collect the one I told her she could have. I told her about it last Thursday morning but so far she is too busy to come collect it. It's a gift so it won't help with the rent but it would be nice to get it out of here and not have to maneuver around it all day. 

Edited Wednesday at 08:15 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I feel grrrreat! I will probably feel worse shortly, but I just had the first recent decent shower in three days!

The hot water came back today, scorchingly hot. Locally, solar hot water can literally peel the skin off you if you are not careful with it. I had to mix in a large proportion of cold to make the shower bearable. 

So I am sitting here feeling pretty good right now. Pot of tuna rice on the stove (with broccoli, carrots, cabbage and onion) which Mo and I will share when it's ready. (He is sleeping on the floor right now, but he will rise soon and put his paw on my thigh to let me know that it's time for me to do my duty!)

Glued up the last towel rack and it is drying & curing overnight on the saw, as is the one in the back of the van.

When I am preparing to glue one up, I mark the four pockets in each side-frame with 1-4 dots if of sharpie. One frame red and the other black. Then I mark the end of each rail the same way. Each end of each rail is fettled on the disk sander so it fits snugly into it's matching pocket. Then I take the parts to the saw so I can use the flat, cast-iron top. 

I always do a dry-fit. Making sure all the arts parts fit together before yaking taking apart it again to apply glue. With this last rack I couldn't get it to go together, no matter how hard I tried. I wonder why?

I finally figured it out which meant I had to use a different rail. But that meant I had to fettle the replacement tail, so back to the disk sander. Good thing I do that dry-fit. It would not have been good to be fettling the new rail while there was glue already drying out in all eight pockets!

The rice is done and I'm about to eat it! Mo has naturally disappeared. Well, he has been fed and if he chooses not to eat that is his business!

Going to eat my dinner and then watch TAR. 

ETA: Mo just arrived and is hoovering up his rice!

Edited Thursday at 02:24 AM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I have been worrying about rent, which is due in 5 days. I have been short when outstanding bills are accounted for. But one of those bills isn't due until the 10th of next month. By then I should receive another cheque and my next pension payment should drop. So by delaying that payment, I can make rent with $100.90 left over.

Which is a good thing because the cupboard is quite bare. I have a couple potatoes, a few onions, a quarter bag of rice and two bags of pasta. There is two tins of corned beef and one of tuna but the only veggies are 3-4 carrots. I boiled up a package of lentils (which went into the rice at lunch and the pasta sauce for dinner). So that $100 will be very welcome to get some grub in the house. There are a couple servings of chow for Mo (3-4) but there is no more milk. I have a coupe dozen tea bags and most of a kilo of sugar, but no eggs, cheese, bread or biscuits. So some groceries are required.

The pension & welfare next month will pay that outstanding bill but there won't be enough to pay rent for May. Hopefully I can get some more woodworking jobs in the next couple weeks. More towel racks would be good because I'm all set up (mentally and tool-wise) to do those but I don't think any more of them will be required in the near future. So I don't know what.

I didn't do much today. Took the last towel rack out of the clamps and sanded the glue-joints, is about it. Also walked over to the mall and deposited some cash. Yet I am unexpectedly tired. 

Mo is here sleeping on the floor next to the bed. I am ready to switch off the lights using the bedroom remote and just roll over and go to sleep. As soon as the lights go out I expect him to join me in the bed and find a spot to curl up. Probably against my back. He doesn't often curl up against my tummy, but he did this morning in the wee hours. The 'fore-day morning. 

There is no milk for morning tea. I will have to go out and buy some before I can brew up. But I have three towel racks in the car and don't want them banging together in the back of the van. Not sure when they will be connected. No time soon, I expect. I will have to find somewhere to put them until called for.

I had a flimsy, makeshift table in the garage that had got piled with more & more junk over the passing months. It finally collapsed and the junk ended up all over the floor. I'm sorting through it and separating it into good junk and bad junk. The bad junk can be disposed of. (But see below.) Alas, I don't know where to put the good junk so I have started piling it on to a different flimsy, makeshift table.

Two minutes to midnight. I'm going to call it quits, now.

[Netfoot]

  On 3/28/2025 at 3:59 AM, Netfoot said:

(But see below.)

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Yeah, I pay something like $48 per month for Sanitation Services to come and haul away my trash. They come once a week on a Monday. So about $12 for each time they visit. 

It is now Friday and they have not come yet. It is highly unlikely (but not impossible) that they will show up over the weekend. So next Monday, assuming they show up then, I will have 'lost' an entire visit.

What is most annoying is that the stuff in that bin has been in there since last week! So potentially 12 days, now. It could be quite noxious! I'm not going to stick my nose in the bin to find out for sure. Also, by Monday the bin will contain two weeks worth of trash. More than it is intended to.

And if the trash guys decide there is too much trash or that it is too putrid, they can refuse to haul it away! So they cause the stuff to build up to excessive levels, they cause it to putrify, and they get on their high-horses and blame me for the situation and refuse to clean up the mess they caused!

Was just going out to buy some essential groceries when the rain started falling. It is not falling hard but this is kite season so the wind is blowing. I'd rather not be out and about in it. Upshot: no tea.

Speaking of kite season, I've been hearing the sound of 2-3 "mad bull" kites in the sky for the last few weeks. These are kites anchored and left. They fly day and night for weeks until they finally fall apart, the line parts or (rarely) they are taken down again by their owner. Anyway, I can usually search the skies and spot them (during the day, not at night). But so far I've been unable to see any of them. I am assuming that my eyesight is definitely deteriorating. Not that I was in any doubt about that...

Edited Friday at 01:35 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I let the ground dry out a bit but this is Friday. Later on Popular will be jammed with people, filling up.thecparking lot and causing the lines to be long for the cashiers. And the weekend is upon us so I surely don't want to be without food and have to go shopping later.

So off we went to Popular, stopping for $20 gas on the way. I had a list on my phone but things didn't go 100% to plan.

The cheap condensed milk for $1.89 per tin were not available. Only PHD condensed milk was available at $2.99 per tin. It is unquestionably better quality but it is that much more expensive. I was going to buy 5 tins but settled for four.

There was no pumpkin or cucumbers but there was pak choy! Never seen it at Popular before, but there it was. Bought three bags. They were small heads, two per bag. 

Otherwise got potatoes, sugar, tea bags, rice, carrots, sugar and two tins of corned beef. 

And according to my calculations I am still good for $14.35 after rent is paid.

Made corned beef rice with carrot, lentils and pak choy. It tasted great!

Mo (who is sleeping between my feet right now) has not eaten his for some reason. That's his business. 

[Netfoot]

Mo didn't eat his lunch. So when he started to get excited about the chips I cooked for my dinner, I kicked the lunch-bowl over to him. He was a little pissed but he ate the lunch and I ate the chips. Which were pretty good!

It's been a strange day. I had nothing to do all day so a nap would have worked out fine. But because I had nothing to do all day, I wasn't tired. Of course, I had a lot I could have done; cleanup and so forth. But I didn't feel motivated. There are things I feel motivated to try but I don't have the materials and even if I did, I'm not sure I would want to expend it on experimental stuff.

There are a number of things I'd like to build that I never have simply because I have no real need for them and the price would be prohibitive.

For instance a digital clock, but different. It would use the standard 7-segment method of displaying the four digits but each segment would be a 3' fluorescent tube. (Or a modern LED equivalent.) Either that or a mechanical element of comparable size. A flat board that is painted black on one side and white on the other and flips over to display one slide or the other on demand. I'd have to put the clock outside so passing motorists could use it. I wouldn't have room for it inside.

Another think I'd like to build would be an 8 foot tall chess piece. Or a small number of them that could be set out to show a classic end-game. 7 don't play chess but I always wanted a nice big chess piece standing in the garden. I know how to play, I used to play but I concluded long ago I was a poor player really, so I don't play any more.

How about a 3D wood-block puzzle? Where each piece is two or more cubes fixed together? They can be tricky to take apart and tricky to put back together again. Especially if the cubes that form the fundamental basis of the puzzle are 24" square. 

I am watching a couple TV episodes of miscellaneous shows. For instance, I just watched the pilot for Eureka, a sci-fi comedy from the mid 2000s. Colin Ferguson becomes sheriff of a small town that is actually a secret enclave for all the world's top scientists. And they are all a cross between Heath Robinson and The Nutty Professor. (Speaking of which, that's a movie I have not watched in decades. The real one with Jerry Lewis, of course.)

Mo is outside barking spiritedly at something. Dunno what. We had our Garden Patrol and I've just finished my bedtime mug of tea. As I was making it, I was contemplating that I can't afford coffee these days.

I like coffee. I like tea too. Normally I'd be drinking several mugs of tea a day for weeks or months and then I would decide to have coffee. I would enjoy that and it would be coffee for several weeks or months until one day I'd drink tea again... I can get 100+ teabags for the same money that a small jar of coffee would cost. I really have to struggle to convince myself to buy a jar. And while I can decaffeinate teabags at home, I have to buy the coffee decaffeinated which is more expensive than regular. And for some reason, much more scarce.

Mo is still outside keeping a racket.

Anyway, I will go and see what else I can watch. It's about a quarter past nine and I suspect that if I put a movie on I will quickly fall asleep. So it will have to be something extremely exciting or interesting to prevent that happening. Wish me luck finding something suitable!

Mo just wandered in.....

Edited Yest. at 01:31 AM by Netfoot