Daily Chat

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I’ve been in chats with the GR people, and sent various screenshots. It happens all the time to me now. So I’m either on now as it’s fixed or it’s a brief visit!

The password isn’t a group thing.

[Jim]

I'm working from home with the Covid lockdown & loving it. It's given me a chance to go through my DVD of 25 years worth of Woodworker's Journal (1977-2012) & use up some of the scrap that's been accumulating in the shop. I've been on a bit of a clean up kick & was close to consigning much of it to the brush pile. Glad I didn't!

Trivets
I have a lot of sugar maple around since I cut one down at the kids' house & had it cut up into boards by a neighbor. Trivets that are made from 3/4" thick, 6" square scraps (oak (left) & maple) & left unfinished. A 400 degree muffin pan left them unmarred. They're one piece, just dadoed to make the lattice effect. I made a jig to cut them, so they don't take long to make. Setting up the dado blade takes the longest.



Here's the jig:



The Little Boss (aka my daughter, Erin) wanted a lap desk & I had a bunch of thin scraps around. The White oak is 1/4" think & the Red cedar I used for the bottom isn't quite 3/16" thick, so edge gluing & finishing them into wide boards was interesting. I didn't have quite enough oak, so I edged the top with some Brazilian cherry scraps. For as thin & light as this is, it's amazingly sturdy. Both the top & bottom boards were finished with clear epoxy to add strength & make them smooth as a baby's skin.

It's about 18" x 11-1/2", 3" at the back. The hinge is repurposed from a box of bits I bought from Harbor Freight.






Another idea from my Woodworker Journal DVD is this marble maze. It looks simple here, but wait until I glue the lid on. I'll bet it will be really tough blind. It's 6"x 8" made from oak scraps.



Here's picture of the latest wooden Erector set made out of Sugar maple with 2 different size (3/4" & 1") threaded bolts, screws, washers, & nuts plus 2 wrenches & screwdrivers all made from wood. The toolbox itself comes apart to provide material. I finished this one a while ago & had made a smaller one for the first grandmonster.

[Ctgt]

Nice work Jim!

[Jim]

Thanks!

[Tnkw01]

Great job Jim. The plant I work at makes food and we're busier now than ever.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Oh wow, Jim, they're amazing. Tom, I hope you're staying safe.

I'm so glad that I started my job before the virus hit. We're all working from home. I've done the job at home longer than in the office now. Steep learning curve.

Mind, being tied to a computer all day has really put me off going on one at night!

[Ctgt]

Tnkw01 wrote: "Great job Jim. The plant I work at makes food and we're busier now than ever."

Stay safe and thanks for keeping us fed!

[Tnkw01]

Ctgt wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "Great job Jim. The plant I work at makes food and we're busier now than ever."

Stay safe and thanks for keeping us fed!"

Thanks, I mean that sincerely. We have a lot of protocols in place. Hopefully, they'll work.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I got in. Again. Now I feel obliged to say something even though I have nothing in mind!!

How are you all?

[Jim]

I'm doing fine, at the moment. Better than fine actually, but only for the time being. Working from home for me is fantastic since I have a small farm. Last night I opened the shower door & instead of grabbing the towel just watched the horses playing through the 1' wide window. I basically drip-dried they played for so long. Gorgeous sight, but one of many I see each day.

In the long term, things are looking rough for the company I work for & business likely won't increase. This is the best job I've ever had, but as a tech guy over 60 yo, prospects of a new job aren't great & I'm still too young to retire.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Oh I imagine prancing and jumping,sounds beautiful. We should all treasure these moments.

As for work, there are so many problems that will come to light when we are all back to whatever new normal we face.

[Tnkw01]

Jim wrote: "I'm doing fine, at the moment. Better than fine actually, but only for the time being. Working from home for me is fantastic since I have a small farm. Last night I opened the shower door & instead..."

I guess I'm blessed (or cursed) because I work in the food industry. 12 hour days are the new norm and being salary, I basically took a cut in pay. But I'm working and that is a good thing. Like you Jim I can see the retirement light at the end of the tunnel but I still have a few years (a little over 5) before I can get there. So, I just have to sit back and try and ride it out to the best of my ability.

[Jim]

A nice thing about working from home is that I've almost managed to keep up with the mowing despite all the rain. We have a bunch of horse jumps scattered around behind the barn & I mow near them, then we move them so I can mow where they were. We had so much rain that I wound up having to remow that field, though. The grass had just sprung up & I could barely see where they'd been.

That's been a bit of an issue with the horses, though. We're having a tough time keeping them from getting too fat & foundering even with the north field closed off completely. We've been putting them in the paddock for long periods. It's just a 1/2 acre & I've been mowing it almost as often as the lawn.

It's been a great year for the birds. Best of all, we haven't had any skunk or coon problems this year, so far. I'm surprised by the lack of both, but I guess things are so good that none feel the need to dare our house. Last year I had to shoot half a dozen coons & in the few years prior to that we had a lot of run-ins with skunks. I even herded a mother with 4 kits out of our field one time. Skunk herding wasn't even on my bucket list, either.

[Ctgt]

Get along little skunkies

[Tnkw01]

In the past we've had to call a trapper on two different occasions because skunks have dug dens underneath our porch and underneath our shed. Not fun. It's bad when your house gets sprayed. The smell lingers for over a month and there is hardly anything one can do about it.

[Jim]

Tnkw01 wrote: "In the past we've had to call a trapper on two different occasions because skunks have dug dens underneath our porch and underneath our shed. Not fun. It's bad when your house gets sprayed. The sme..."

Oh, that's horrific just thinking about it. We haven't had that issue, just the dogs getting sprayed & that's bad enough. Poor Lily just loped around my shop one morning & got a faceful. She didn't even mind me squirting out her mouth or washing it with soap.

The worst was when 3 dogs got it all at once & then ran into the house & rolled in Marg & Erin's beds waking them up in the process. Marg put them into the little bathroom & it was indeed a month before the rest of the house didn't stink. It took another month before the bathroom door could be closed.

[Tnkw01]

The trapper said it was two males fighting over the female and hence they sprayed. All over our porch and front door. Yes it was horrible.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

We don’t have skunks here. Squirrels, foxes and badgers are beginning to get spotted.

A town near mum, in Wales, has had goats move in during the quieter roads of lockdown.

[Virginie, Meow.]

Yup, no skunks either here (south-east of France). I live closer to the city now, but used to have some wild boar and fox problems. I remember a time in boarding school when a female boar decided to take a nap right in front of my door. Was stuck inside for 6 hours, couldn't go to the kitchen to eat since she was very aggressive haha.

Spent two years in Stockholm, and there's wild life in the middle of the city! It's pretty amazing :)

[Jim]

That's neat. I love reading about the wildlife in other places - make that life in other places. Had a great chat with a guy in St. Petersburg, Russia a couple of weeks ago. He was tech support & we had some chat time while the computers ground away.

[Elona]

Here in Gothenburg, we sometimes get deer and porcupines. We have a ton of birds too. No skunks thankfully :)

[Tnkw01]

It's really a shame that skunks smell so bad they are actually really cute. They're timid, slow and not very aggressive. But......the spray is terrible.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

We have a tom cat that wanders the neighbourhood and he stinks when he sprays. No one will own up to owning him now as we all complained in the neighbourhood what's app.

My Izzy hates him.

[Jim]

Helen wrote: "We have a tom cat that wanders the neighbourhood and he stinks when he sprays...."

Oh, that's awful. I think tom cats are right up there with skunks! We had one spray a screen of ours to impress our cat. She was spayed, too. It was practically impossible to wash the smell away. That window didn't let in fresh air for ages.

[Tnkw01]

Yuck!!

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

This one seems to like neutered boys

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

The app let me in!! I’m shocked and need to go and get my strawberries. Wondering if you’ll still be here when I come back.

I don’t understand how GR know that the app is locking some people out of the groups, not displaying books etc and can’t get it fixed.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

The little menu icons have changed on the app AND I have managed to get into the group. Has the app been fixed?

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Well I’m in again but it’s definitely not fixed as anything written in a post after a book cover is invisible still.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

People wonder why the Brits talk so much about the weather. Here’s an example of our current weather in and around South Manchester, north west England.

Last week it was sunshine every day with temperatures from 12 to 22 degrees. This week, we’ve been down to minus 3, up to 7 and had snow twice.

So last week out in a t-shirt and this week multiple layers.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Just so you know, I’ve changed the what are you reading thread to an ongoing one so I don’t have to set it up each month. GR limit how many threads you can set up so this seemed like a good option.

Likewise I’m not going to do the Welcome to the month one. I’ll try and remember to put links in the email for noms instead.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

It’s a year today since Virginie has been in the group or on GR. Has anyone heard from her?

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Winter is coming!

[Dhanusha]

Well, fall is just beginning to peak here, it's sooo late this year

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

The Seasons have had strange timing this year for sure.

[Hunter]

I have been working on a drawing order (two dogs, I love painting animals!) and started doodling my own dog, to gift my mom on Christmas :) My dog has the cutest face, I swear :>

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Oh that sounds lovely

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I don’t know if anyone noticed but I haven’t held nominations or polls for January or February.

To be honest, I’m sick of the time it takes and then the people who voted the book in not reading it.

There are exceptions- I am generalising.

On top of that Virginie hadn’t been in Goodreads for over a year.

If you want a January book then put your arguments here. Politely.

[Tnkw01]

Helen, I think we should read The Lost War. This is Mark Lawrence's latest SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off) winner.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

That does sound good and the U.K. kindle is cheap too.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Merry Christmas guys.

Looks like no one is missing group reads except Tom!

[Dhanusha]

I'm down to read The Lost War in Jan

[Tnkw01]

I love group reads but I just wish we had more participation and less voting and no comments. Just what I think.

[Tnkw01]

Helen wrote: "Merry Christmas guys.

Looks like no one is missing group reads except Tom!"

So, what does this mean?

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

It means that I’m not prepared to do the nom thread and poll even though you’re super lovely 😊

[Tnkw01]

We have been hanging out for years but I'm afraid our wonderful group may be on life support.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I totally agree. The amount of voters has dropped hugely and then they don’t read the book. I try to read it but I’m on a much more limited budget and the winning book doesn’t always appeal.

[Dhanusha]

Happy 2022 All!

[Tnkw01]

Dhanusha wrote: "Happy 2022 All!"

Happy 2022 to you also.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Happy new year!