Watcha doing?

[tango]

There was an interesting glitch reported in the jury selection process in the UK some years ago that the newspapers enjoyed reporting.

Apparently the computer sent a jury summons to one Anthony Charles Lynton Blair. Mr Blair was exempt from serving for multiple reasons, among them the fact he was the Prime Minister at the time (there were other reasons, I believe relating to his legal qualifications). But the computer demonstrated that it was truly blind and pulled his name from the metaphorical hat.

[Cloudwalker]

I've started watching a series of dad's I received from Hillsdale College.  They are a.series of lectures on C.S. Lewis on Christianity.  Today I watched the 2nd lecture.  I highly recommend this series.  I've watched it before, but am finding I don't remember it well.  Hillsdale College has a number of classes you can take online for free.  No College credit  but they do give you a certificate when you finish with the final quiz.  I highly recommend any of these.  I have taken 10 and thourally enjoyed them.

[tango]

I spent some time yesterday scraping nasty flaked paint off basement doors. I'm beginning a project to update some space in the basement so I can make more efficient use of what limited space I have. In one room I'm going to end up with a table saw, miter saw, planer and lathe, and really need a table to be moved. I think I'll plan to use the adjacent room to store wood and use hand tools (hand carving etc). I want to put a big band saw in the first room, which will be interesting. I see mobile bases in my future.

Before I get the bandsaw I need to build a small bench so I can mount the grinder I bought to sharpen my lathe chisels, and also the small bandsaw I currently have. I may look to sell it if I buy a big one, in which case my scrollsaw can take its place on the bench.

The elderly paint is nasty, much of it flakes off easily with a wide trowel, but getting the underlay off requires sanding. And it's almost certainly lead-based paint, so I attach the shop vac to the sander to try and minimize the amount of dust thrown into the air. The wood underneath is reasonably nice, I'll probably look to lacquer it when I'm done sanding.

Just something else to keep me out of trouble.

[tango]

Today was a bit more sanding of doors. I took a nasty diagonal strip off one door, having verified it was held together by horizontal braces on the other side. That made it easier to sand the rest of the door. There are a few sections that I just can't get at with a sander, so I'll either hit them with a Dremel or just leave them as they are. Then I'll most likely put a couple of coats of lacquer on them, to bring out the grain in the wood.

More moving stuff around in the basement, making space for what I fear is too much stuff for the size of the room I have. But I can get my new slow grinder (now assembled and tested) mounted on a bench now, having created space to put a bench. I just need to figure how high I want it to be and make it. That might end up being a job for tonight, maybe tomorrow.

I should also run a damp cloth over the floor in the corner room that's been left untouched for a while. I want to get the last of the dust up so I can finally get on and lacquer it. I just need a full day where I don't have to worry much about anything, and that day might be tomorrow.

[RabbiKnife]

You remind me of my baby brother when he was four.

He loved hammering nails.

For his fourth birthday I got him 8 three foot sections of pine 1x4’s, a new hammer, a kid sized pry bar, and 2 pounds of 10 penny common nails.

Best gift I ever gave him..

[IMINXTC]

Jury duty yet again, under threat of arrest warrant.  And they are not kidding!


It is a civic duty, however, so here we go.

Is there any limit to how often you have to do that?

In England when I did jury duty there was a get-out clause if you had served within the previous (I think) three years. You could serve again if you wanted to, but you didn't have to.

There is a limit, which I am waiting to hear about today.

Okay. Cleared for now.

Okay. free from Jury duty for the rest of this year and not in violation. Grateful!


Carry on

[tango]

You remind me of my baby brother when he was four.

He loved hammering nails.

For his fourth birthday I got him 8 three foot sections of pine 1x4’s, a new hammer, a kid sized pry bar, and 2 pounds of 10 penny common nails.

Best gift I ever gave him..

I don't particularly care for hammering nails. Removing them is different.

Turning wood into sawdust, now that's kinda fun. There are loads of ways to do that.

[tango]

Today's fun was lacquering the floor. The first coat went on after morning coffee, the second coat went on this afternoon.

In about 45 minutes the third coat goes on. I hope the fumes don't interfere with my sleep tonight.

[tango]

After three coats of lacquer, one of them barely half an hour before bed, I slept like a rock. I wasn't sure if I would. Maybe the fumes helped. The floor looks nice this morning. Now I need to see if I can source some yellow pine to make baseboards and window trim. With any luck I can lay my hands on some thick yellow pine boards and turn some finials to put in the corners.

[Athanasius]

Doing everything possible to distract myself. I finally figured out the answer to the core "why" of me, and now I have to figure out how to live with that.

[RabbiKnife]

Doing everything possible to distract myself. I finally figured out the answer to the core "why" of me, and now I have to figure out how to live with that.

One day at a time, my friend.

One day at a time.

[tango]

The floor looks really nice. Now I need some wood to make baseboards

In the meantime I've been trying to figure out how to sharpen my lathe tools. I turned some tealight holders trying to figure some new techniques. My wife claimed the first one, my daughter got the second one and I got the third one. I wanted the fourth one but my wife claimed it, so I made another one and claimed it ahead of time for myself.

Standard procedure is that I turn out random stuff while learning techniques. My wife gets first dibs on anything she wants and then my daughter gets to take anything she wants that my wife didn't already claim. So far she's got a bunch of spinning tops, a couple of snowmen and my first attempt at a small bowl.

[IMINXTC]

Doing everything possible to distract myself. I finally figured out the answer to the core "why" of me, and now I have to figure out how to live with that.

Reminds me of a highly gifted believer who, at an early age, survived cancer before climbing slowly out of the abyss of autism, to cite just a couple of overwhelming health challenges, before assuming the yoke of Christ.

[Athanasius]

Doing everything possible to distract myself. I finally figured out the answer to the core "why" of me, and now I have to figure out how to live with that.

Reminds me of a highly gifted believer who, at an early age, survived cancer before climbing slowly out of the abyss of autism, to cite just a couple of overwhelming health challenges, before assuming the yoke of Christ.

Right now for me it's, "my doctors were lazy, bet with my future, lost on all counts, and had they been even the tiniest bit responsible then..." and so the impossible counterfactuals start from there. But I know I would have gotten appropriate healthcare sooner. I wouldn't have spent years depressed and miserable (or at least in the same way). Maybe even my familial relationships might have been saved.

...who am I kidding, there would have still been a lot of tension between my parents and myself. Not even my doctor's being responsible would have given me a chance. No matter how those cards play out, I never had a chance. But I still might have saved myself a decade of the above depression and misery. But I don't know what that looks like in the other direction.

You plan for the future and you try to be responsible and then you find out 20 years on that the parameters were wrong. You planned under the assumption of A when B was the reality. And those doctors who didn't do their jobs? Dead or retired.

And if I say, "what I've learned now has involved too many coincidences not to have the divine hand involved", then I must also accept the potential that everything that came before bears that same mark.

I'm back in therapy next week, anyway.

[IMINXTC]

Doing everything possible to distract myself. I finally figured out the answer to the core "why" of me, and now I have to figure out how to live with that.

Reminds me of a highly gifted believer who, at an early age, survived cancer before climbing slowly out of the abyss of autism, to cite just a couple of overwhelming health challenges, before assuming the yoke of Christ.

Right now for me it's, "my doctors were lazy, bet with my future, lost on all counts, and had they been even the tiniest bit responsible then..." and so the impossible counterfactuals start from there. But I know I would have gotten appropriate healthcare sooner. I wouldn't have spent years depressed and miserable (or at least in the same way). Maybe even my familial relationships might have been saved.

...who am I kidding, there would have still been a lot of tension between my parents and myself. Not even my doctor's being responsible would have given me a chance. No matter how those cards play out, I never had a chance. But I still might have saved myself a decade of the above depression and misery. But I don't know what that looks like in the other direction.

You plan for the future and you try to be responsible and then you find out 20 years on that the parameters were wrong. You planned under the assumption of A when B was the reality. And those doctors who didn't do their jobs? Dead or retired.

And if I say, "what I've learned now has involved too many coincidences not to have the divine hand involved", then I must also accept the potential that everything that came before bears that same mark.

I'm back in therapy next week, anyway.

Prayers will be ongoing for you.