I swear those Squirrels are covered in Chrome!

Click Here for this and other shiny squirrel items

I am going to stop planning weekend projects. Oh, I will continue to do a project every weekend, just it never seems to be the one(s) I planned on.  I will have to admit, I may have been a little over zealous in planning last weekend. It seemed plausible at the time. Looking back, it was never going to happen. I was going to burn the brush pile, build the glue table and test the concept for the Steampunk Pen. At the end of the weekend, I had burned enough brush to fill a 55 gallon drum with ash. No table, No pen. I did spot several squirrel nests up in the trees. I figure that’s where the chrome colored ones are that keep distracting me. 

Funny thing though, just a month ago, I made the comment that I was out of turning / project stock. Not entirely true as I still had my scrap bin to fish through and a couple of exotic pieces. Then something happened. Trees began to fall. Big trees took out little trees. Oak trees, Hickory trees, Cedar Trees, Birch Trees, and even a Poplar tree all made their way into my drying racks. But the fun did not stop there. My Dad called. He had trees down. A Bradford Pear and a Red Oak, each over 18 inches in diameter, made their way to my drying rack too. Then another tree fell. This one would be a willow tree. It too made its way to the drying rack. Now my racks overflow. Logs sit waiting to be milled or stored for drying. I’ve never had this much stock at one time, nor have I had this much variety! The band saw had to be tuned up, it’s about to get a workout!

The Band Saw. I was cussing it back during the holidays. I had grand plans the desperately needed the band saw. The first day I turned it on and a key part broke. The saw could not function. I had to order the part. The part would show up on the last day of my holiday leave. My first weekend after the holidays was spent repairing the band saw. Since I had to dismantle it anyway, I decided to add the lift kit I’d been saving. A new blade, a 17 inch throat, new parts, and all of a sudden the Bandsaw is ready to re-saw logs. I just did not have any logs at the time.

It’s funny how things happen like that. They say, “Be careful what you ask for”. I guess because sometimes we fail to see the big picture and get too much. But I believe that the good Lord provides what we need when we need it. Sometimes it’s easy to look in the bottom of the scrap bin and say, “I’ve got nothing”. But that’s just impatience talking. In the weekends that have passed since I made that comment, I really haven’t had time to work on a project. The things I did work on produced stock which will be used in future projects. As for the band saw, had the part not broken, I probably would not have added on the lift kit or tuned it up. It would not have been ready to saw logs into lumber. So my plans are just a pecking list. Maybe that’s the key. We just need to realize that our plans don’t really mean squat without the good Lord putting in his 2 cents.

Until next time, 

Kevin