Welcome, T.J.!

YEY!


I am finished with my wheel! When I got her, she was all packaged neatly in a little cardboard box.

I was really shocked at how light and "blah" the wood looked.

At first I was thinking that I was going to have to stain her to get her to look like anything, but after perusing a few sites, I decided that simple Tung Oil was going to be the way to go.

Now, she came with some SUPER COARSE sand paper. I came across nothing that needed to be with with that. The factory sanded finish was nice enough that I could start with a finer grit.

First I saturated her with the Tung Oil. I just flooded the surfaces with the oil, and sat there and watched as the wood drank the oil in. As the surface went cloudy, I would add more oil. I was feeding the wood, if you will. Once the rate of uptake slowed I would move on to another area, or another piece. paying special attention to the end grains, as they take up a LOT of oil.

Very light, raw New Zealand Silver Beech wood

Same wood after just one coat of plain, low gloss Tung Oil

Days 1 & 2, being careful not to get drips, I applied two, heavy, saturating coats, one coat each day, with 24 hour drying times in between.

Day 3, I sanded every single piece with 320 grit. Took it all back down until it did not shine anymore, wiped everything down with a cloth to take off the saw dust, hi-power vacuumed each piece, then painted on another coat of the oil.

Day 4, sanded with 320, cleaned up the pieces again, and painted with oil.

Day 5, I decided to sand with 00 steel wool, as the spokes, and spindles needed better attention than what they were getting with the sandpaper. After using the steel wool, I took much care in wiping down the pieces, vacuuming them, tack clothing the grabby areas, and re-applying the oil (now in high-gloss because I ran out of low-gloss).

Day 6, sanded with 000 steel wool, took major care in cleaning a vacuuming the pieces, and then re-applied another layer of high-gloss oil with a soft lint-free rag.

Day 7, applied yet another nice, even, streak-less final coat of the high-gloss oil.

Day 8, I was going to hit the whole thing with a 0000 steel wool, but I loved the even satin/gloss finish so much that I decided to leave it alone, and just assemble it. I think the assembly took me about 2 hours.

I am planning on keeping her surface with Lemon Oil wood finish.



She spins like a dream. I still hear some minor rubbing, and clicking in areas, but I know that it is going to take a little time for all of the pieces to wear smooth, adn learn how to rub into one another. I

I originally set her up as SD, but I have been going on DD now, and really like it. I plan to mess around to see if I can tell the difference between all of the ratios and such. Right now though, i am just treadling and having fun with her!
Aside from the two small zip lock baggies that held the hardware ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE how every single bit of the Ashford packing is recyclable! How wonderfully responsible is that?

Bats in my belfry ...

Kind of funny but last night I was having the best, and most entertaining dream! In the dream I was doing all of this fun stuff that I used to do like high elevation hiking and desert camping, and some point in the dream I decided to take an intensive alpine hiking class which involved a lot of working out carrying heavy packs in steep terrain. Well I was in the class on the first day, meeting all of my classmates, and they had us line up to meet our instructors. So there we are suiting up, and meeting the instructors, and we start getting briefed on what we are going to be doing and how each instructor was responsible for teaching us different things, and I look up when this one instructor starts talking, and it was a dear friend from my past. I was like "no way!", and he looked at me and got pissed because I interrupted his spiel. He did not recognize me! And I was PISSED! Because he would not talk to me, so I got sick of it and walked up to him and took my finger and started poking and tickling his sides saying "GIVE IT UP FAT BOY! YOU KNOW WHO I AM!" (a joke from our past) and he started balling up and giggling like the Pillsbury Dough boy and then he finally recognized me. The rest of the dream we were laughing so hard at everything and drinking beer while hiking -- we were laughing so hard and so much so that i actually woke myself up laughing out loud. Then I lay there in the dark trying to figure out if I had laughed myself awake, or did I actually hear something loud in the house (don't you HATE that?).

I was laying there still enjoying the giggles from the dream when I heard the noises again. I tried to convince myself that I really was not hearing anything and proceeded to lay there with my hears turned on super sonic. You know how that is ... you lay there and are listening so hard that you can actually hear the blood flowing through your eardrums. I started getting SO SCARED because I KNEW I was hearing something in the house, but I could not figure out what it was. It was one of those instances that I knew (kind of knew) it was not a person, because our house is so creaky that you cannot weigh more than 10 pounds and not make our floors squeak -- but still, i kept hearing dragging, flapping, and slithering. I was paralyzed trying how to best get to the boys AND get out of the house ... I finally went back to sleep. I felt like an ass for the rest of the day because I was sure I was just being paranoid ...

Until 4:30 in the afternoon when I just happened to notice this on my curtains....

Yup. See that? It's a BAT!

I thought he was kind of cute, but I was a little wigged out at the same time because I had no idea how to catch him ...

I found myself laying mental reference upon one of the boys' Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes...

Bat, bat, come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon;
And when I bake,
I'll give you a cake,
If I am not mistaken.

This rhyme probably came from a time when more households dealt with bats in the house on more a daily basis (you know, fireplaces with no flue flappers, gaping siding, huge attics etc.). I guess the way they caught them was under a hat. But the logic ends there. Was I also supposed to wine and dine the thing? Yeah ... riiiiiiiight.

As I was formulating my plan of attack, all I kept picturing was me tippy toe on a chair, wearing my Bat-Catching-Accoutrement, sneaking stealthily up on the flappy critter, when all of a sudden it would be like the opening scene of Scooby Doo in here. There I go, falling on my head, bat skittering off to some dark recess of the house ... only to keep me awake for countless nights to come.

Long story short, I just walked up on the bat with an empty Tupperware container, and put it over him/her. It did not budge. The bat was really sleepy (like me). I gently laid the lid over the curtains in the container to impede escapiture (yes, my word).


I let the boys briefly ogle him through the sides of the container, and then I put his little fuzzy butt outside.

Little bat friend finally flew away once it got dark.
We think he was a Silver Haired Bat

Actually, that night, when I read the Bat Rhyme to the boys, I changed it to something that makes more sense in MY world ...

Bat, bat, come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon;
And if you get out,
You will flap about,
Of that, I am not mistaken.

Are you kidding me?

Okay ... this is a short little rant today. It is just that, something struck me today whilst I flipped through one of my catalogs.

Okay, are we familiar with the wonderful Fleece Couch Sack apparel? You know, it's basically a sleeping bag with sleeves and feet holes. Hey, I am not knockin' them, because I have TWO. Long story as to why I have two (a gift and a re-gift), but let me tell you, I LIVED in this Couch Sack during the winter months of my pregnancies. At 9 months pregnant, it was all I felt I could fit into on some days. I actually started to wish that they made them in fancy fabrics that one could say, go out to dinner in. Sew a little fake pearl strand on the collar, add perhaps a printed faux belt or a Velcro-on skirt? ANYHOOOO, back to my rant. As I was leafing through my catalog, I saw that they had some of these Couch Sacks (NO I am not purchasing another one!) and they had them described as follows ...

Fleece Couch Sack ... stretchy cuffs at wrists and ankles make this warm, wearable fleece blanket a snuggle suit perfect for chilly evenings, One piece, zip front -- Generous Fit.

Generous Fit.

Generous Fit ... (?) (!)

Isn't it obvious that this sleeping bag with arm and foot holes would be a generous fit? Perhaps also, the words COUCH or WEARABLE BLANKET would make you think that it is generously sized?

Excuse me, BUT it's a FREAKING SACK for God's sake! You'd kind of expect a Body Sack to be a bit beyond Relaxed Fit, wouldn't you.

Take the word sack -- do YOU think of something that is form fitted? Seriously, how often do you find yourself nudging your buddy and whispering ... "that slut, did you see her wearing that CFM sack dress?". Or, how about "Wow Henrietta! That sack really hugs your curves and shows off how much you have been working out!" No, it usually like this "I feel like a bloated whale today, so I am going to put on my bloated whale sack pants...".

Oh I am SO GLAD I read the WHOLE description because (phew!) because I want my Fleece Couch-sized Sack to be Fitted!

Which brings me to another pondering ... now that we have quantified the upper limit of Generous Fit, there must be something larger ... is the next step up Tent Fit? Tent Fit for those with an inverted triangle shape? And then what is up from there? Infinite Fit? Hmmm, I guess Infinite Fit would be going naked.

sorry.

Had to share.

It is getting cold outside ... I will be crawling into my generously sized fleece sack soon. Pictures will be posted.

Why Christmas might possibly BLOW this year....

DOA

See that?
It's our furnace.
It is, what it's name infers.

Being that it is going to be winter in Flatlandia soon ....
We had to replace it AND the a/c unit.

now ya see it .... now ya don't ....

F.

Man, it is going to be tough around here for the holidays.