One year ago today: February 6, 2020, around the yard.
Five years ago today: February 6, 2016, Android ate it.
Nine years ago today: February 6, 2012, scooter lore.
Random years ago today: February 6, 2013, a classic day.
Love my Kreg pocket drill kit. I should have been working on the window, it still is not weatherproof. But what a nice day. I did something I would not even attempt before, I shortened a sliding drawer. This was from the bathroom counter, which used to be a chest of drawers. I got away with cutouts on the other pieces, but this drawer had to be shortened due to a new water pipe installed on the back end. I’ve tried this sort of chore years ago and always wound up with unfixable errors. Like window frames, they seemed complicated to me.
Here’s a progress view, notice the small pieces that have to be properly trimmed to make this work. You have to cut the bottom panel to fit back into the slot, it is not a matter of just running this through the table saw. In several places you can discern the pocket screws, six of them. This ½” material is the thinnest the jig is designed for, but both the jig and drill bit are very easy to adjust.
What they’ve done to Sweden.
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Just great, I’ve worn out my stove. I got the knobs temporarily fixed. I do a lot of cooking and baking, enough for a few days in advance. I suppose that unit is over 35 years old, so maybe it can stay. I’m into spaghetti today, it’s soft on the teeth. I threw on a DVD, the “Fokker Kids”, I like the theme. But not Barbara Streisand. Some singers belong in a studio, there is a reason she doesn’t do major concert tours, folks. My guess is not near good-looking enough, but arguably, that didn’t stop Ringo Starr. As for acting, she can only do one role. The scary part is I don’t think she’s acting.
Mercifully, they brought in Owen Wilson so she would have the lousiest lines. I used his scenes to re-learn the bass to “Spooky”. The Songsterr and Ultimate versions are crap, written by tone-deaf low effort types. The correct form is a guitar part using a lot of upper fret work. This is unfamiliar territory for bass players. They rarely know the notes above the octave E and tend to avoid passing notes, contributing to the false reputation that “bass is easy”.
No sign if the orange cat has moved in. I have only seen her running off when I round the corner, so who knows where she actually sleeps. I worked through siesta since my arm is still aching, but not in pain, got that? I’m deep-reading my navigation books, I’ve been open about how I can use the formulas and come up with the answers. But that’s not good enough for me, I cannot tell if the answers are reasonable. I’m beginning to see the overall picture, rather than a series of tasks and formulas. Who wants me to take a stab at explaining it the easy way? Good, you guys are an easy crowd.
It is three separate steps. The sextant does not “read” your location. Its sole purpose is to find out what point on the Earth the Sun is directly above at any given moment, and to measure its height off your horizon. It’s the old side-angle-angle rule you learned in trig. This works because it is easy to measure angles very quickly and accurately, but then you can put the sextant away. All the other information you need is in the Almanac.
The second chore is to establish a location nearby where you think you are. It’s possible you are way off, since you use dead reckoning, but the closer you get it, the more accurate your results. There is a nifty way of finding the nearby location, called an “assumed point”, which I’ll let you follow up. From this point, you can use another set of tables, called “Sight Reduction”, which tells you the direction to the Sun and what angle you would see it from that position.
Third step is you draw these results on a chart. Unless you are exactly at the assumed point, the angle you find is either closer or nearer, and you can determine your LOP, or line of position. You need to take two of these readings at as perpendicular an angle as possible. Where they cross is your location. Most beginners take more readings and average the results. Also, Sun in this context means whatever heavenly body you choose to use.
Looks like I need that siesta after all. Check in later.
ADDENDUM
No siesta. Just as I was about to close shop, the neighbor came over. The chap is not doing that well, I think it is just age caught up with him all in the last few years. I should know. He’s got a small art studio set up in that big barn-shed, but really, how much exercise is that? He had a box he used to step up and down on 50 times a day, more likely to happen when he sees me doing my daily routines. Except somebody stole the box. Or appropriated it, I mean if you don’t know, then one box is the same as the other.
I worked well past dark, knowing there is our first rainstorm of the year gathering off Tampa Bay. You hear that warm air holds more moisture, but don’t really become a believer until you live in places that can flood you out in a minute. Inside the shed, I was high and dry—and he insisted on paying me $40 cash. That means tomorrow, I can purchase the special clamp that keeps these boxes square when assembling pocket joints. Note, this bench, build from his description, does not utilize pocket screws. Glue and drywall screws only.
Yes, I know drywall hardware is considered amateur, but we’re not building Buckingham Palace here. Note that the joints are rabbeted. The pocket hole joints are fast, but they are not visually pleasing. The edges of tis stepping stool are also rounded by router. The task took 90 minutes, so commercially I probably lost money on the deal. That’s not the point. Whoo-hoo, 40 smackeroos! That’s the first real money made in the shed, or you could say made in the shade. (That one hurt, did it?)
