Aerie Report, October 5, 2009

A beautiful, if chilly and deer free, day here at the Aerie. The thermometer says the low was a mere 40 degrees soon after sunrise at 7:30 AM. The "high" at 4:30 PM was just 53 degrees despite the sun's rays shining between the scattered clouds. The wind blew steadily out of the north-northwest all day and would have had those windmills atop the ridge spinning happily if they had been up and online. If the clouds stay widely scattered, we could be in for a cold--not chilly, COLD--night.

******

Not seeing hide nor hair of any white tails, I spent some time in the workshop again today. I managed to cut the final pieces for the square and dry fit everything together satisfactorily. Oh, it took a little tweaking here and there, a little sanding of edges, and a little "there, that doesn't look so bad" but it got put together. Once I was satisfied, I glued everything to the backboard. Piece by piece. There are the eight large diamonds; 32 small diamonds, 16 small squares, and 16 small triangles for the corners; four larger triangles along the edges; and 16 angled pieces for the interior trim. That's 88 pieces all together. And there's still eight more to from the frame. But those are a piece of cake to cut and install.

Dry fitted pieces on the backboard.

Sorry about the poor picture, but, for obvious reasons, I couldn't tilt the board for a better angle without having to play pick-up-pieces. Maybe tomorrow after I get the frame on it I can tilt the bloody thing without having everything slide off. The wood looks exceptionally pale here but when it gets a coat of spry-on Verathane on it it will change appearance. The walnut in particular will darken considerably.

******

Well, the Giants won, and the Jets lost. The outcomes were pretty much as I expected, but who could have predicted that it would be the New Orleans DEFENSE that would beat the Jets? Come on! An interception returned 99 yards for one TD and a Jets' fumble recovered in the endzone for another. That's ridiculous when you think about it. Two plays of 99 yards and zero yards produced two TDs, while the NO offense produced just 10 points--the same as the Jets' offense. *sigh*

Okay, time to go watch some old guy in a purple jersey try to throw the football around. He's 40-freakin years old? How good can he be with that wet noodle dangling from his shirt sleeve. What? His team is 3-0? he won last week's game with a hail Mary on the final play? No way! That guy retired at least twice...didn't he?

Later.