Hi guys,
I've been missing you folks. A bunch of crap has been going on in my life...... but who hasn't gone through all that?!! Don't answer that question. (that reminds me of asking my mother, "Is it just me, or are things going completely crazy" DON"T ANSWER THAT, MOM! )
Anyhow, I seemed to have buried myself in a bunch of stuff that left me without the ability to remember the things that make me happy, and the persons that make me happy. Oh, yes, I'll sound cheezy.... which isn't normally an adjective that I would be associated with (primarily because it isn't an actual word), but I always find that when I'm unhappy, part of the problem is that I stop talking to you folks.
If any of you have continual recurring problems, whether they are mental, emotional, addiction related, ect. you probably know that "cutting off all ties with the world" always seems like a very rational and smart idea.
My dog has the unfortunate fate of listening to me every day. I suppose the rest of the world is fortunate that I have my dog!
A friend of mine showed up at my house this evening with her kid. She said, "Jenny, I hate to do this, but could you 'watch her' for a while..... I need to use your computer." I suppose she's not that much of a kid-- 11 years old. But, I'm not that great with kids.
When they showed up, I was in my usual place in the evening, sitting in my rocking chair on my front porch reading..... an anthology of the best "short plays" by American playwrights in the last few years.
I asked Tara (the kid) how she was doing. I told her, "come on out back with me. I have to check on my beans, strawberries, raspberries, and tomatoes. "
She gave me a very disconcerting look. I told her, "well, if you're going to be over here, you may as well make yourself useful!." Like I said, I'm not great with kids.
Anyhow, she came out back and said, "wow, your garden is bigger than my house! Do you need to give those plants some water?"
"Well, yes, they'd like a drink, but I just haven't gotten around to it today."
"I could water those plants for you."
I told her to wait a minute while I turned on the hose. After a few minutes of her telling me that the water didn't work, the water got around to traveling through the twists and turns of the hose and showed up at the end of the hose.
While she was doing that, I ran back upstairs and told my friend Shannon, "Your kid's worth a lot more then you are! At least she does something around here!!!! (HAHA)"
We had gone from my front yard through the cattle gate to the back yard. After I went upstairs I came back downstairs through my shop to go outside.
She said, "I haven't been in THERE since I was five or six."
"You haven't been in where? My shop?"
"UHha"
"Well, you can come in here now, if you want to."
The first thing she asked me, "What's all that stuff on the floor?"
I was hoping and praying she wasn't referring to the all too many cigarettes on the floor (which are definitely PUT OUT before they rest on the floor). But, I was saved. I guess she'd never seen sawdust before---- at least, not in the quantities that I have (several inches deep).
I couldn't believe it. She had no idea that wood came from trees, and that trees could be cut into "slabs." And that those "slabs" could be shaped into beautiful pieces of wood that persons like me made furniture out of.
I don't know what she thought furniture was made out of or who made it.... although, these days, who knows what "furniture" is made out of or who makes it!
She looked at every tool in my shop (well, 'every tool' would take a lifetime). "What does that do? What does that thing do?" She was referring to the power tools in my shop.
She looked all around my shop, but didn't notice my actual "main workbench." But, eventually, she honed in on a hand plane (OK, that's a little bit of a play on words!). At that point in the evening, I was happy. I told her, "You know these machines you've been asking me about? Everything in the world was built without them until a certain recent time."
She said, "Not AHHH. Are you for real?"
"Yeah, I'm for real!" I guess that's the way you're supposed to answer that type of question. So, she started looking at my planes. She had asked about the routing table I have. So, I tried to explain to her that the planes I use do the "same job" that the router does. She asked me, "why are there so many of them?!"
So, I started to explain what purpose each plane had..... I realized I was "losing her" ..... I'm pretty sure most persons wouldn't want to hear about each and every plane I have ..... must be 30 or so that I use..... of course, .... then there are those that I buy, repair, ect.
Anyhow, she really wanted to use a wood plane. I joked with her, I said, "well, this is my work horse. It can tackle anything." Her eyes became larger than I thought a child's eyes could become. I guess that's because I was going to hand her my "work horse" plane, 33 or 36 inches long. I guess that was a bit much. So, I picked out a "well tuned" block plane for her to use. I told her to "follow the lines in the wood." I guess that's the best way I could think of to describe "going with the grain" of the wood. I had to shut my eyes when she decided to travel across the grain rather then with it....
It took her a little while, but, she finally had that great feeling of watching a long "curl" of wood show up from the throat of a good plane.
I couldn't believe it. A kid that spends her life watching TV and playing video games came to my house and left fascinated with the small curls of wood a hand plane produces!!!!!
WOW! Maybe there is hope left in this world!
Maybe that's what I needed to get me out of this mess I've been in. If a little kid from the city could come to my house, learn about gardening and woodworking and not want to leave "my shop"...... well, like I said, maybe that restores my hope for the world!
Yes, I'm still the "resident rambler"
cheers, bird