Monday, May 13, 2019

Funny....Tool List....



While looking for something else, I thought of  this old post that had the list of tools and their descriptions.  Notice what the pan with the quenching fluid? is setting on...that is Roger's table saw.  Notice the description of it below.  I have had that exact experience.  You can adjust the angle of the blade to make a cut...and I was trimming off just this tiny corner off a board.  A short board I might add...maybe 2 foot.  If that.  Well, it was small, so Roger had this push stick we used to keep our hands away from the blade.  I was using it and standing a bit to the side. It was probably a good thing...when I finished the cut, the saw grabbed the part I trimmed off and flung it 6 or 8 ft behind me and drove it in the garage door!

I won't tell of any other experience I have had, but I am very familiar with a few of them.


Tools and their use:

DRILL PRESS:

A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted vertical stabilizer which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.



WIRE WHEEL:

Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, ' Oh sh--.... '



ELECTRIC HAND DRILL:

Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.



SKILL SAW:

A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.



PLIERS:

Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.



BELT SANDER:

An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.



HACKSAW:

One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.



VISE-GRIPS:

Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.



WELDING GLOVES:

Heavy duty leather gloves used to prolong the conduction of intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.



OXYACETYLENE TORCH:

Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.



TABLE SAW:

A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.



HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK:

Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.



EIGHT-FOOT LONG YELLOW PINE 2X4:

Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.



E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR:

A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps neatly off in bolt holes thereby ending any possible future use.



BAND SAW:

A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.



TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:

A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.



CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 24-INCH SCREWDRIVER:

A very large pry bar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.



AVIATION METAL SNIPS:

See hacksaw.



PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:

Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.



STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:

A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.



PRY BAR:

A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.



HOSE CUTTER:

A tool used to make hoses too short.



HAMMER:

Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.



MECHANIC ' S KNIFE:

Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines , refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.



DAMMIT TOOL:

Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling ' DAMMIT ' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

Monday, May 6, 2019

From a warm, sunny day...


This was taken yesterday...we have so many House Sparrows...I would not mind a few less.  I have been seeing house finches, too but they are never still long enough for me to run grab my camera.  Shoot, they are not even still long enough for me to raise my phone and snap a pic.

I have hung a load of clothes on the line...so you know for at least a short period of time all seemed right with the world.  I did a bit of yard work...and have been to Walmart.  That was the first time to Walmart in several days.  I seldom go past three days without having to stop for something.

I need to fix us a bite of supper...and have a load of Roger's t-shirts in the dryer.  Since he is allergic to so much stuff, I don't hang his stuff out very often, and if I do I take them to the dryer and run them through it a few minutes.  

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I have to give a quote from Sister Monica Joan from Call the Midwife....I was watching an old episode last night and here she comes with some boards.  Sister Julienne asks her what she has/where she got them.  I don't remember her exact wording...and Sister Monica tells her that they are boards and she got them from a pet shop that was rearranging their displays.  She proceeds to tell Sister Julienne...that she requires bookshelves to be set up in her room.  She says, " My books have been in boxes far too long.  If they are not set straight, their contents will jumble and become deranged!"

Sometimes I think that describes my mind...this quote is kind of funny.   There is this one which I have shared before I think:   Sister Monica Joan said:  "I find two opinions are always better than one, particularly if one is mine."  I urge you to click on the link above about her...it will describe her better than I ever could.

But I leave you with closing lines that make you think, "We flicker on the screen...we fold and unfold upon the mind's eye.  For its all as wings as eternal as a heartbeat and even when the heart falls silent we do not cease to be...because in the end we all become memories..."

Friday, May 3, 2019

A bit of this and that...

First of all, I just have to share my daughter's latest quilt top.  It still needs borders but that won't take long.  BTW, this is on a queen bed here.


This is her own design...she first started the one in the second photo in This post... but soon as she got this fabric, she couldn't wait to try it out.

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Thought I would show you a pic of Puss Puss...I usually show Bubbie simply because he is easier to photograph.  She will seldom be still long enough.

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Letters From the Dust Bowl by Caroline Henderson (the link takes you to Amazon where you can read about the book) is my current read.  It is good...consists mainly of letters she wrote to a friend and also to another farmer.  Interesting to read.  It shows what a hard time it was to live through the dust bowl.  It has always been one of those subjects that catches my attention.

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We got the yard mowed again today.  It has been raining so much lately that it has been hard to find a time when it wasn't wet.  By the time it is done, I don't feel like doing anything else.