Cutting up!

July 5, 2007 (6:06am)
60º F, Clear, Calm wind.

Good morning,

July 4th has come and gone. We didn’t get to the parade as we got a late start and by time we got ready to go, the parade was over. Margriet prepared a special dessert for us and then it was noon. Shortly after noon, it started to rain on and off. We really didn’t want to stand around in the rain to watch things, if there were in progress. So ..... we pretty much had a normal rainy day here. We did pick up some turkey drumsticks for supper. Margriet prepared them differently than usual, since the spice supply is very limited here. They turned out very well and have some left for hotdish to be eaten over the next couple of days. Sounds good to me.

I pretty much worked in the shop most of the day. Before the rains came, I did fill in about half of the trench. The sand sure goes in easier than it came out! Working in the shop, I continue to work on taking things apart. I am getting a pile of ¼"x1" bar stock about 14" long, thanx to the work I did yesterday. Don’t have a present plan for them, but sure I will find one someday.

The last time to our friendly Ace Hardware store, I picked up a Makita reciprocating saw. I have been looking at them for some time, knowing I would have many uses for it here, but now it was on sale for about 10% less than normal making it cheaper than I had seen it anywhere else. It works very well. I did a lot of cutting with it yesterday. The only thing I had problems with it when the blade gets in contact with some weld, the teeth on the blade are made useless in a very short time. Where some of the cutting is made, I can’t see the blade, so I wander a bit occasionally. Good thing I bought a supply of blades. I did discover the blades are long enough so I can move the foot and use two sections of the blade for cutting, doubling it’s useful life.

I started to install the storm door yesterday before the rains came. Found that I need to get some brick molding to accomplish it. Of course none is used here and I am not yet set up to make my own. Kind of puts that on hold until I can get uptown today and pick some up. Probably will need to do some whittling to make it fit too as on one side the wall of the entry shelter is very close to the door frame. I noticed there isn’t anything in the space between the door frame and wall either. Need some insulation to put in there and a wind stop of some kind. Always some futz-ing to do around here!

Margriet had a bit of excitement the other night - a mouse ran across the gathering room from one end into the kitchen, funning at high speed past her as she sat and read. She saw it come out behind the range and got a shoe, waiting for it to show itself again. It didn’t. Guess it didn’t want to mess with a mad Dutch Woman holding a blunt instrument. We picked up some traps and set them. During the night I heard the one near the refrigerator snap and this morning, sure enough, one was in it. A start on Margriet’s new winter coat. Really didn’t expect any mice at this time of year and our traps are all in FISKLAND yet. We are prepared here now.

Tuesday I called the ISP and talked to one of their tech folks about trying to get Margriet’s computer on line. No matter what we tried, nothing worked. After a bit of chat, I sounds like the LAN card needs to be reprogrammed or it has failed. Either way, I need to bring the computer to their shop, in Iron Mountain, for them to look at and/or repair. If it needs a new card, just might get a wireless card if it is not too much more in cost. Not sure if we messed it up or it just had a mind of it’s own. We will drop it off on the way south and then pick it up again on the return trip, hopefully ready to use without too much out of the pocket book.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>