Odds and ends

Not much happening the last two days. I ran my errands and got my supplies yesterday so I could finish the woodworking project this morning.

I spent some of yesterday doing some maintenance on the power tools. The disc sander is a little wobbly. (I could not manage to get the darn thing off to check the set screw sitting properly. I'll have to try again.) And the table saw had a problem with one of the belt guides. The allen screw that holds it tightly to the shaft had come lose so it sqweeled like a banshee on start-up. That's been fixed and the motor got a few drops of 3-in-1 oil to keep it running smoothly. The rest of Thursday afternoon and evening was spent reading more Terry Prachet. (I finished Monstrous Regiment--again and am now reading Going Postal. I've come across a couple of excellent quotes in the latter that I want to share in a future post. And I'm only up to page 50!)

This morning I took the square out of the clamps and applied two coats of spray verathane. Man, doe tat make the contrasting colors of the oak and walnut stand out! Then ran over to Wellsboro to return one of Terry's library books. Back at the Aerie I spent much of the afternoon scanning more slides of days of yore. I first started taking slides in 1970. and have scanned about 1/10 of all I've got so far. Call it 650 slides completed, another oh, about 5500 to go. I could be doing this for a looooong time. At least I am finding I have, indeed, some pictures of people. And they are (mostly) labeled as to who they are.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning it was all of 24°F at 7 AM it later rose to over 50°F. This morning it dropped only to 34°F at 3 AM and rose steadily until it got to 60°F at 3 PM. Despite a forecast calling for scattered showers and intermittent rain (over half an inch according to AccuHunch), we got no rain at the Aerie and had several hours of bright sunshine that helped boost the temperature this afternoon.

I'm going to be positive and say Spring is definiely right around the corner! I think I even heard some bird song that was territorial as opposed to simple chatter. Any day now I expect to hear the song of an American Robin. Any day now....any day...a..n..y..d..a..y.....

Terry called this afternoon to say she made it to her friends home at the south end of Cheasapeake Bay in Virginia. They're about half way from Sumter, SC to the Aerie. She'll spend the next two days there talking stitching and stuff before getting back on the road to head home.

Tommorow is the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Anchorage. The race can be as short as 10 days or as long as forever. The trail has lots of snow this year (maybe too much in some locales) so it could be interesting to follow.

With major league baseball several weeks away yet and the Rutgers men's basketball team a dismal 1-16 in the Big East and out of it, and the women's team having dropped out of the Top 25 completely with a very mediocre showing, the Iditarod might be the only show in town that holds any interest for me. (Forget pro basketball and/or hockey, they are not my cup of tea. Although hockey can get my attention if there's real skating/scoring/solid goal work. I don't think much of the fights.)