I miss you folks!

[bird]

Hi folks,
     How is everyone?  I miss all of my tool talk buddies! November through the 1st of January is the busiest time of year for me. I spend a lot of time catering parties for persons. I don't cater that many parties anymore, but I always pick up 5-10 parties during Christmas and New Year's .  I try and make a bunch of cutting boards and coasters to sell during the holiday season. They seem to be the perfect gift for all persons and in the right price range (12-30 bucks, generally).
      Most of you know that about the only place I ever go to is my local hardware store....  which also serves as the "general store" for my county. So, I'm trying to sell my craftsman and snap on tools via the store. The store wasn't my favorite place today. I wound up loading 16 bags of mulch, which probably weighed half as much as I do, onto this old fellows truck!
       A funny story from the other day:  this woman managed to lock herself out of her car. The keys were sitting on the dashboard. She had a sunroof that was open. Someone said, "Hey, Jenny, come here."
       "Why?"   
       I knew that tone of voice. 
"Jenny, just  come here." ... and I knew it wouldn't lead to anything good.
       "Just come here!'
I was chosen to crawl up and over her car, drop through the skylight, and retrieve the keys.  This could have been super cool if I was in Mission Impossible.  It was a nice car.... something expensive. I told the woman, "I hate to mess up your car with my boots."  But, I guess she was just happy to get her car keys back!
     Well, that's another day in my life!  I hope I made you folks laugh. I miss you all.
cheers.
bird

[Papaw]

Really good to hear from you!
Good luck with your sales, and have a great holiday season!

Good story about the keys, Jenny.

[OilyRascal]

I keep telling myself the hard maple "scraps" I put back would turn into a cutting board gift(s) project.  I've seen lots of methods; end-grain checkered being my personal favorite I believe.  Post some photos of yours.

Hauled/Carried more mulch bags in my life than you want to know.  Had several bitter disputes with large hardware giants over the years getting assistance with it.  Last watched 5 employees enjoying coffee while I fought about 30 bags on a cart.  Finally decided to start buying it bulk by the truck load and determined it was taking nearly 15 cubic yards to mulch the place.  Long past are the days of wasteful spending on such things.  Now if I want mulch I walk over to the wood's edge where the local tree service dumped chips for FREE.  Do them right and they'll bring you the nice pure hardwood chips - or cedar/cypress if that's your flavor.   "Right" generally involves Cheers! with working class around here.

Cheers, and happy holidays if I don't see you pop back in.

[Bill Houghton]

So, were you selected because you're smaller, younger, more agile, or just more gullible?  Or some combination?  Nice story.  Sounds like a good community you're part of.

[bird]

Let's see..... no one made carry those bags .......  I don't work at the store , officially. I guess I'm younger then most folks, maybe a bit more agile... or a bit more gullible, too. Although, (in regards to the store) I take what I need and give a lot more back, probably. It's not my choice to choose a "bulk load" of mulch.  That's what I would do. Although, I can run enough stuff through the chipper to give me mulch forever! 
    If I were to save all of my sawdust over the past three years, I'd  probably have enough sawdust to cover an entire square mile with two inches of sawdust......  yeah, I have a math / number problem .... hence knowing those dimensions about my sawdust.  I'm not sure why i have that figured out.....  just another random useless way that I spend thinking....
      I have been busy. I bought a whole bunch of tools when I was in PA.  ... a few planes, a no. 81 stanley scraper, a great pair of HD Smith offset pliers, and a bunch of other tools. I'm not sure if anyone is into fishing.....  I bought an "Airex' fishing tool box with all of the lures, rigs, and spools of line (wooden spools). The set is absolutely complete.....  someone must not have ever used it!  The only fault is that the clear "bobber" is cracked.  To the best of my knowledge, the "mastereel"  fishing "set" that I have is from a company that produced the 1st spinning reels in the USA. 
       Yeah, that's not about wrenches.  But, i bet someone out there is into fishing!  Well, I like to "throw a line in"  or spend a few hours "casting".  I'm not really into antique fishing luers and fishing antiques. But, I bought that all of that for 10 dollars. So, I'm pretty excited about it!.
     Well, I've probably made most of you completely bored by this post.
But, I do miss all of you.
cheers,
bird.

[bird]

So, were you selected because you're smaller, younger, more agile, or just more gullible?  Or some combination?  Nice story.  Sounds like a good community you're part of.

  I'm probably all of the above. But, I'm also just the girl that likes to help persons when I can. I guess that's not much of a story. My county is quite diverse.  when it comes to "poor, middle, and upper' class persons. I have all types of friends here.... those without power, those with a house but not running water, those that have literally lived in the woods for decades, those folks that have a house up on the mountain (Wintergreen Resort) which is usually someones 2nd, 3rd, or 4th vacation house, and folks that are still holding onto their farms.  I guess that's why I love living here.
      A normal week for me usually involves, at some point, seeing a cow in the middle of the road, calling FP, Paul, or any number of other folks and saying, "Hey, your cow is lose...  it's  in the middle of the road." I will admit that me trying to chase a cow off of the road hasn't gone so well. .......  that seems to end up in me running from the cow instead of the other way around.
      A friend of mine owns or takes care of a bunch of land across the road from me.  i haven't quite figured out the "livestock" plan he has. There are a bunch of goats, a random Lama, and a few really mangy sheep.  The lama is mean as hell!!! I'm serious... that beast will 'charge you' in a second! 
     The "apple season' has passed. That usually involves persons taking turns for a total of three days and nights making apple butter.  Usually, a bunch of folks that play instruments entertain the apple butter creators. That's  a big event within my community.
      So, i guess I don't have a great story to tell, when it comes down to where I live. But, it's an exciting life for me.
I hope all is well with you.
cheers,
bird.

[bird]

I keep telling myself the hard maple "scraps" I put back would turn into a cutting board gift(s) project.  I've seen lots of methods; end-grain checkered being my personal favorite I believe.  Post some photos of yours.

Hauled/Carried more mulch bags in my life than you want to know.  Had several bitter disputes with large hardware giants over the years getting assistance with it.  Last watched 5 employees enjoying coffee while I fought about 30 bags on a cart.  Finally decided to start buying it bulk by the truck load and determined it was taking nearly 15 cubic yards to mulch the place.  Long past are the days of wasteful spending on such things.  Now if I want mulch I walk over to the wood's edge where the local tree service dumped chips for FREE.  Do them right and they'll bring you the nice pure hardwood chips - or cedar/cypress if that's your flavor.   "Right" generally involves Cheers! with working class around here.

Cheers, and happy holidays if I don't see you pop back in.

Me and pictures don't get along so well. ...... (ask Papaw about that)   anyhow, my cutting boards and coasters aren't anything exciting. It's a way to use up small pieces of wood that are still quite beautiful in my eyes. End grain checkered pieces are probably the best in the business!  But, that requires a heck of a lot of time, and particular pieces of wood that, with any luck, are quarter sawn in the first place.  Those ARE the best looking boards.  If you have a great band saw, those checkered, end grained pieces are a fairly easy project to achieve.   
       I'm usually stuck with either "plain sawn' boards or glueing face grain to face grain.
But, anyway you look at it, even the 1 by 1/2 by 10 inches of good looking lumber can be used for something great. Well, as usual, I've rambled on for quite some time......  I guess that's what I do.
cheers,
bird.

[amertrac]

Jenny, What kind of craftsman tools do you have for sale? I have three,three sectioned tool boxes full of craftsman  but there is always room for more. Anytjing old  =v=,
bb , be  =vv= or older especially  underlined c    let me know   amertrac at frontiernet dot net
thanks  bob w.

[johnsironsanctuary]

Hi Jenny!
We missed you too. Your ramblings are always a bright spot here.  Great story about the car keys. I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but Sun Roof diving is an Olympic event. If you add a one and a half gainer on your way in, it adds points. Be careful though, if your landing is wobbly, you can lose points. I have never been involved, but I could see the team practicing from where I was trying out for the Dumpster Diving team. SR Diving looks like great fun. I didn't make the DD team, but it was a thrill just to try out.  Go for it! Good Luck!

[Bill Houghton]

But, I'm also just the girl that likes to help persons when I can.

Sounds like a nice community indeed.  Our town is not that tight, as far as community - but, yeah, it is the kind of place where, when I go into the hardware store, I may wind up giving someone newer to the store than I am directions and even help him/her find what's needed.

[bird]

Hi Jenny!
We missed you too. Your ramblings are always a bright spot here.  Great story about the car keys. I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but Sun Roof diving is an Olympic event. If you add a one and a half gainer on your way in, it adds points. Be careful though, if your landing is wobbly, you can lose points. I have never been involved, but I could see the team practicing from where I was trying out for the Dumpster Diving team. SR Diving looks like great fun. I didn't make the DD team, but it was a thrill just to try out.  Go for it! Good Luck!

I think I could take on anyone in a dumpster diving contest!!!!!!!!!!  Hmmmm. Did I ever tell you that I got stuck in a dumpster?  A house was being built next to my property. Of course, that's a gold mine for me! Every slightly twisted 2 by 4 is thrown in the dumpster.  It became a general routine for me to jump into that work sight dumpster next door.  However, one day I failed to realize that someone actually emptied the dumpster. So, as I took my joyous jump into the dumpster, I found myself hitting steel...... ie.. the actual bottom of the dumpster. It was a "thump" sound that I had not foreseen. Those work sight dumpsters are a lot deeper then you might think. There are not very many "foot holds" to aid a person stuck in a dumpster to climb back out of it.
       I was convinced that I would be spending the night in the most odd of places..... the dumpster next door. I thought, "I can't believe this. I'm going to have to wait until morning to get out of here. I'll have to scream 'help' to the first person that shows up on the job sight." 
      I was surprised to realize that I wasn't all that concerned about the situation. After all, I'm the person that drives from South Carolina to the destination of North Carolina , and winds up seeing a "Welcome To Georgia" sign. I'm the person that looks at a map  while I'm driving, only to have half of the map fly out the window.  I'm the person who drove 27 hours straight to make it from Houston to my current home.  I hate celery. About 5 miles from my exit to go home, traffic was stopped. As luck would have it, a truck that was carrying..... yes, celery... overturned.... celery everywhere! 
      So, my life is a continual disaster!  But, with each new problem, I find myself laughing more and more at myself.  if I were concerned about winding up in the wrong state, being stuck in a dumpster, continually being lost (in more then one way), or wondering how it could be a coincidence that celery, my nemesis, stopped me from going home... well, my life would be quite dismal.
      My family and friends have learned not to doubt any outrageous story I tell them about myself. 
cheers,
bird.
        Somehow, this seemed quite funny to me.  I spend a lot of my time laughing at myself.  Anyhow, I managed to put together a few peices of wood which enabled me to get out of that dumpster.  I learned a lesson that day: always look before you jump!