October 28, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 28, 2023, more boxes, everywhere.
Five years ago today: October 28, 2019, Bryson City.
Nine years ago today: October 28, 2015, success draws attention.
Random years ago today: October 28, 2013, no wonder Johnny left town.

           Top-rated news broadcast of all time in America, Trump. Thirty million people tuned in to hear Trump at the gardens. The Houston University vote center has been closed due to a burst water pipe at noon y’day. There’s a pattern here that the authorities just can’t quite put their finger on. It’s about time I got a little good news around here. I’ve allocated $800 to the doggie fund and I won’t have to time the year-end deposits so tightly. This led to French toast for breakfast, the kind with the melted butter in the batter and a nice morning in the shed, staining wood. The news was also unexpected, so I need some hours puttering to assimilate the changes. We are not out of the weeds yet.

           Here’s the thrill shot of the morning, the burn barrel half full of ashes. That will be fun to deal with. I had the electric chain saw out to work on yard debris and finally sliced up the remainder of the Mitch tree. There was more wood from the 65-foot tree that taxed by gas chain saw so I had to leave it until it was crumbly dry, shown here. These are the camphor trees and years later will emit that aroma when cut or burned.
Here is what makes them dangerous. This view s
hows the outer layers but the inside core begins to rot into this dusty, powdery brown powder. See photo. It cannot withstand hurricane weather. The outside wood is surprisingly heavy and it will easily cave in your roof. It is also dry wood, the smaller pieces break away like nothing. And so will the trunk if you don’t trim it—which is very expensive, at least $800 per tree.

           There was time to stain the rabbet box, which I think will get two coats on the interior. There should be some nearby photos of the bottom being build up with biscuit joints. It’s a handier tool one you learn that instead of fighting with the wood, you cut the slots in the right place, then bend or clamp any stubborn lumber into place. Another text from Tennessee, the wee doggie is back to himself but each time a little shorter. I tend to pick him up and carry him around as much as he wants. Then again, I weight twice as much as the Reb.

           Is it me, or is life less interesting when there is no music, no Tennessee, no Miami, and not a lot of activity but yard work? This morning I raked another batch of leaves and twigs, then ran the chain saw to fill the barrel. Which is smoking up the neighborhood again, but with the aroma of camphor wood and papaya stem. An hour later I was still snapping branches over my knee like a boy scout. I moved a lot other trash out of the shed, mostly burn barrel odds and ends that accumulate. I moved the small fridge and cleared more of a path for the new compressor pathway.
           Tool maintenance as well, I oiled all the jacks, we have three including the 30-ton used to raise the floor here seven years ago. Now that the lean-to is waterproof, it becomes useful. Never meant as a walkway, you quickly learn to cut through there during any rain. Did I mention it is a great shady spot to work and watch the burn barrel? I also had a beam that was sagging, so how about we quickly shore it up. Took a friggen hour and I had to cut a foot off a new 2x4.

Picture of the day.
Lychee wood charcoal.
($8 a pound.)
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The neighborhood is mosquito free since I began this burn session. It never really broke into a healthy flame, just smoldering away to nothing. Which takes half the day. Closer examination shows there hurricane damage to the fence is more serious than first thought. Two of the more sold fence posts have shifted. Most wrecked is the path along the north side, so it is not a priority. This place has me using a posthole digger more that since I left the farm, where I’d had enough. Yes, it makes a huge difference when it is your own property.

           Deciding to chance the cracked manifold for a while, but cancel any weekend drives means I will have $130 in the travel budget. It is a subcategory of entertainment, so I decided the best option is to take the Reb to a super-nice restaurant. She likes east Nashville, which I find on the old-fashioned yuppie side. One thing the Internet is good for is menus. Make sure they have a vegan dish or two. Over the years, I’ve begun to like restaurant sandwiches. Know the drill, some foods taste better when somebody else makes it and I seriously like cold sandwiches. I can go to a gourmet dinery and order a Cuban.

           Aha, found them. These are two photos of the biscuit joining process. I’ve learned a number of things and did my best to photo them. These are the biscuit slots. I now make them closer together than the instructions say. Also, sand the wood fresh for any surface that will have glue. In this picture you can see the space between slots is smaller than the slots. While the saw can make excellent cuts for full length splines, I’ll tell you why not to go there.

           The biscuits are made of compressed wood that expands from the dampness of the glue. Splines you cut don’t swell and down the line the boards can bend and warp a bit, enough to make you wish you had used biscuits. The follow-up photo is these thee boards clamped and glued. Notice there are runners pinned across the planks to keep them flat. This box has been a treat to build because of experience. My thinking has done a 180° from when I started, thinking a box was four sides that you nailed together and put a op and bottom on.
           Now I plan the boxes from the inside out. Doing this allows most of the tricky work to be done by the saw and clamps. If I had a planer, I would eyeball most of the pieces and flatten them that way.

           Fire has broken out in a Portland ballot box. I got $20 dollars says it was all Trump votes. Reports of Democrats telling people in line not to vote and having poll watchers arrested for telling people to stay and vote. Harris asked an audience to chant their own names and the room went silent. [Insert joke here.]

Last Laugh