Category: Uncategorized

Okay. The groundwork is laid for the artpiece I’m working on. Next step: carefully determining the placement of and drilling thousands of tiny, tiny holes. Then I remove and destroy all the work I’ve done to the current point, saw, sand, paint, then do another round of what I just did, but with a different sort of stencil, then paint, then repeat those two steps two more times, then clean it up a little, then drive tiny screws into all the holes I’d drilled in … the … next step.

Anyway, that’s coming along.

I peeled the bark off the sticks for the legs for my side table today, as well. Here is a photo of me at work, peeling bark:

Unfortunately, between the lack of gloves and the repetetive force, I seem to have hurt myself. I didn’t notice it at the time. In fact, after I finished peeling all four legs, I moved on and did the first 1/3 of the art project’s layout and still didn’t know I’d hurt myself. And then I went to the bathroom…

And when I tried to turn the handle to open the bathroom door, the friction against my thumb … well … the thick layer of skin on my thumb was quite painfully moved… and I looked at it and it was attached all around, and not a blister (ie: not full of fluid), but … the skin was all bunched up at the base of my thumb. And it HURT. And I slowly massaged the layer of … not really loose, but clearly not attached … skin back into place. Sort of. Which also hurt. And then I slowly learned all the hundreds of ways I use the pad of my right thumb in normal activities, as it still hurts. Though I will admit that it has swollen and filled with some fluid, so is more like a blister now … sigh. It doesn’t feel good.

I didn’t know, at the time, that I was hurting myself. Silly me.

I think I’ll go do a different post now.

“All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me…”

Is there an end to it? How about a beginning?

I meant to go to sleep early last night. I was pretty tired well before even my brother went to bed at 10. I even laid down before 2. But then a while after 3, when I still hadn’t slept and my mind wouldn’t let me lay there any more, I got back up and started working on an art project.

It’s topical, and has a subject. And it’s big. Looks like … around 48″ by 30″ or so. And I was working on it, doing some of the computer work, and printing out some notes and guides and once I’d done 1/3 of them and it was almost 4:30 I figured, why not just do the rest, they’re going fast. So I did. Actually I ran out of black ink (and Magenta and Yellow) and had to cast the entire thing in pure CYAN to finish printing it, which slowed me down a beat, but I had the guide together and got myself back into bed by 5:30.

And then I kept thinking for a while, but luckily it trailed off. Just some good ideas about how to color, how to design some stencils I’ll need later. I should probably write some of it down, lest I forget it. It’s pretty obvious, now that I have it in mind, but I wouldn’t want to lose such good ideas.

The biggest problem with this particular project that I can see right now is the amount of time it’ll take me to complete it. I know I’ve had trouble in the past keeping enthusiasm and momentum on any single creative project going for more than a couple of weeks. So I’ve nearly figured out how to make it fast. If I can just figure out a quick way to punch/drill hundreds of tiny but exact holes, I’ll be set. The rest isn’t too slow. I’m going to try to find the right piece of wood later today, and get started.

I’m also going to see about getting the legs for my small table peeled. They’ve been soaking for about two days now, so the bark should be easy to remove. And then, assuming my dad still hasn’t gotten around to getting the spraying done, I can try to get the legs affixed to the top before he does so. Don’t know if I can, but I’ll try. Because that would be an additional “completed” project.

Have I mentioned that, working with my father last night, we scrapped the plan we’d had for the coffee table top and I have to come up with a new one? Yeah. So. I haven’t found a new one yet, but I’m working on it. Some in my head. Some out. Did design most of a couch table from some juniper. Dad’ll have to plane it, and I’ve got to find five good juniper posts for the leg assembly… Hah! Good luck! I’m sure I’ll find something…. and then after I work on it long enough, dad’ll find a reason to cancel it.

Or not. Maybe I’ll get the whole thing done before he has a chance.

154.1, eh? Getting close to the end of another week. I don’t feel like I’ve got much done, personally. Of course, things have been accomplished around here at my hand or with my help, but … the things I want or need to do … I haven’t made a lot of progress, it seems. Maybe I should start work on re-writing that novel with dragons who destroy America. I’m thinking of writing the ‘destroy America’ part out. What do you think, ye who knows not what I have written? You think I should make it a longer sequence, and more graphic? A more dramatic sequence with less geographic detail and more emotional detail? You think I should cut it out completely because the rest of the book is suitable for young readers, as you’d originally intended, and you get into some pretty gruesome and horrible murders once the dragons invade America? What kind of an attitude is that? America must not be allowed to go on being … well, wait. That’s the theme of the novel, isn’t it? I guess … I”ll just work on it.

Or something. I need to get more writing done. I’ve reached one of my two goals for the month for wordcount in this blog (20k was one, >Iain was the other), isn’t that good enough? Shouldn’t I go focus on something else? Some other project?

My mind seems already to be shifting to Focus On: Art, though it’s not supposed to start for a month. I really want to work on writing. Want to get another book or two together.

Grr… I must go deal with my bowels. I’ll write more later.

I need your help.

Please, everyone, I need as many NEGATIVE words (and short phrases) as possible that you would consider to be synonymous with George W. Bush.

So if when you think of G.W.B. the word “devil” (or “American Devil”) pops into mind, please comment and let me know.

If every time you see GWB’s face on TV, instead of thinking of his name you think “idiot”, “big idiot”, or “big fat idiot”, please comment and let me know.

And link to this post, too. Email your friends, notify your blog readers, try to get the big audiences to come and share their negative words synonymous with George W. Bush. The more the better.

Thank you.

This is my “I got out of bed twenty minutes ago but I’m not ready to face the day, get dressed, or even just turn on the lights, so here I am” post.

This is also my “I can’t believe it’s already 153” post. Where did the month go? Only a few days left, what did I get done? Have I fallen behind by not completing anything since those lamps, or is everything queueing up and I’ll have several things done … soon? I think it’s a cross between those two. I’m not exactly “almost done” with anything more than the floor lamp I did most of the work on before I began the table lamps. But I do have the floor lamp, a side table, a coffee table, and … something experimental … in process. Floor lamp needs to be lacquered and have its hardware installed, so it really is “almost done”. The side table’s top is constructed and its legs selected, but … I still need to peel the legs, sand them, cut them for length, attach them to the top, level them, and then put a dozen coats of varnish on the whole thing. The coffee table … I’ve selected most of the wood for the top, I’ve finished sanding two of the legs and started on a third, but I don’t know where I’ll find the fourth – I haven’t got a lot of good wood in the right size/length. Anyway, for the coffee table I’ve got to find the remaining wood for and assemble the top, find the remaining leg and sand it, cut all the legs to length, attach them to the assembled top, level them, and put a dozen coats of varnish on the entire thing. And with my special project I have to … figure something out. Buy a whole new product or something, because the one I started with isn’t doing the job effectively.

I guess that’s somewhat a ‘to do’ list, there. But it does give an idea that I’ve got some things in progress but not exactly “almost done”. That is, I’m not working as fast as I’d like yet, but I haven’t completely stopped or forgotten that the work needs to get done, either. A lot of other projects have been coming up (and will continue to come up) lately. Like … we have to dig out/pour concrete for a handicapped parking space, build a ramp and boardwalk to/around several of the stores, and … as long as we’re doing concrete pour a concrete floor where one isn’t, for the small log cabin… all before the end of the month. Plus we have to disassemble a small mobile home before the middle of next month, when the dump will be having a “free dump day” or two. And last week we had to empty the shop of a ridiculous amount of junk, plus shelves and everything else, so Jim and Nancy could get started and move in, and then we spent all day yesterday moving things around in a part of the warehouse that grandfather will be using to try to sell some of the remaining junk so that we could fit all the stuff into it. Except that didn’t get 100% done, so I’m sure I’ll be doing more of that this week.

And then, somewhere in there, I have to find the time to work on furniture, too. I’d sure like to get both tables at least assembled before next weekend. You know, so I can get started on the ridiculously long process that varnishing them will undoubtedly be. And then, as soon as I get these pieces done, I need to go through all the wood and sort it, somehow, into “firewood” and “potentially use-able wood”. And it’s a lot of wood, and most of it’s … well, pretty crappy. Anyway, I have to do that between finishing the current projects and starting any new ones. Not just because the wood is in “the way” of some of grandfather’s store, but also because it’ll make finding pieces of wood for new projects a heck of a lot easier.

Thinking about doing a bigger table next. Dad wants me to do a bed, but … I’ve never really wanted to do a bed. I was thinking about doing some chairs, but they’re a lot of work for not a lot of money, and then … well, then I tried to find some “small” legs for my side table and had a heck of a time. I just don’t have the appropriate wood for small projects like chairs and side tables. I have to do bigger stuff. Big lamps, tables, Maybe … something else. Haven’t figured it all out yet. Something.

Or maybe just lamps and tables forever.

I’ll figure something out.

It’s finally getting warm enough that I could maybe work downstairs in the warehouse in the middle of the night. That’ll be good, since I’ve been up until 3… or 5… or 6… or 7AM on most nights lately. But I think I posted about that. Something about not being able to work very long around my father without a lot of trouble/stress. I’ll almost undoubtedly post about it again. Soon.

Okay. An hour sitting here rambling (and chatting with Iain about a website he’s been working on), ninety minutes since I got up (or so), I think I’ll go get dressed. Face the world. Have some breakfast/lunch.

And get to work.

Twenty thousand words isn’t so hard.