Tools Of The Trade
Loki: “WTF!”
Wishful Thinking, Fool!
I weighed myself
Hundred sixty-six point six
Devilishly low
TOTT
Tag: tools
Then It Rained
There was not a cloud in the sky at dawn.
By 9:30 AM, clouds had rolled in and covered the sky.
Since an owl was showing interest in the nest last night, I decided it was time to add insulation to the bottom of the nest. I started gathering up everything I needed at 10:00 AM.
Insulation, a board for the bottom, and tools. The bottom of the nest without insulation.
Insulation in the bottom of the nest. The nest with the bottom board to cover the insulation.
There are 8 to 10 inches of mulch and leaves for bedding inside the nest. I got the bottom screwed on at 11:20 AM, just as it started raining. I gathered up my tools and headed inside. The rain was steady until around 3:00 PM. We got 0.22 inches of rain during that time. Enough to get everything wet and muddy.
The sun lit the clouds when I started my ride heading south on the levee this afternoon.
The afterglow at dusk on my way back home, riding south again.†
†On a typical afternoon ride, after I cross the Clearwater ditch, I ride south 2 to 3.5 miles on the levee, turn around, ride 5 to 6.5 miles north on the levee to the flood control channel, turn around, and ride 3 miles south to where I cross the Clearwater ditch to go home.
Adventures with my Wankel
The Blacksmith at las Golondrinas
The Blacksmith at las Golondrinas pumps a giant bellows to stoke the fire. The blacksmithing process involves a lot of back and forth between the tools, the bellows and working the hot iron for it cools and goes back into the fire.
Infidel Lumberjack
Since we are having branches that have been piling up around the property for the past couple of years chipped, I finally got around to cutting down an old, diseased peach tree that we are not going to irrigate this season because of water restrictions. I was going to cut down the tree with a chainsaw, but the chain come off sawing on the first branch. Since it’s a real pain to put the chain back on the chainsaw, I got a bow saw and discovered I could saw through the branches very quickly, and had the tree cut down by hand in 30 minutes — not much longer than it would have taken me to put the chain back on the chainsaw once I gathered up all the tools and got the chain back on and adjusted properly. Whenever I cut down trees, I can’t help thinking about Monty Python’s “Lumberjack Song.”
Laurie put the finishing touches on the catio, including trying to clean the calcium carbonate from water seeping out of the swamp cooler over the years. She was really cute scraping on the glass. The last photo shows the finished catio. The large box leaning against the bonsai shelves has my darkroom sink in it.
Of Mice and Mess
Laurie’s been reorganizing the house over winter break, and she finally got to the armory/computer room/photo room/workshop that has been doubling as a large closet to store everything that we didn’t have a place for otherwise. Scads of age old electronics, analog sound equipment, computers and peripherals have come out of this room — many of which go back to the stone age of their technology.
Off Center & Not Even 