No half measures

The first posting for a while that I don't have a new piece of furniture to brag about.  I have taken a break from carpentry, mostly because my hands were getting to crippled and Robt put his foot down...about taking so many ibprofen...It was getting a bit ridiculous. So a break, let my fingers straighten out and work again and we'll see.

I am working my way through a very, very long list of chores around the yard I need to do...I make myself these lists to help me focus and prioritise...anal I know but it works for me...so I go down the list and by the time the snow flies I have about 2/3's done. not bad.  I notice I am slowing down, no more super woman stunts..unless you want to count the perfect 10 point dive I took out of the behemoth tractor yesterday....I climbed into this big boy around 2 pm yesterday and bounced and chattered my way across a 40 acre field in two directions until about 9 pm... the cab of this tractor is about 15 feet off the ground and age has the better of it. the seat is shot and bounces up and down like a one of those Bogey cars the pimps drive around Harlem...my feet barely touch the ground and I have to stretch one leg out to the bar on the door to brace myself and avoid concussion when my head bounces off the sides of the cab...not even kidding.  Going in one direction on the stubble field is okay, smooth...but then you turn and go across that swath to completely break up the soil...it's that direction that just kills me...

The air conditioner does NOT work and it was 26 degrees here yesterday....there is a window that opens but it just sucks dirt inside...I drank water like a lunatic but never once had to climb out and pee...so the heat was good for something....because I don't know if I could have gotten back in after getting down.   Needless to say by around 7 pm I was making deals with the devil, God, you name it....to just let me hang on long enough to finish.... the worst part was I could see Robt, leisurely walking around the barn yard feeding grain etc.....and I wanted to throttle him.... I feel he sometimes takes advantage....and he argues, that I could have quit anytime....

Oh, he doesn't really know me even after 19 years of married life...I never quit half way through anything.  It is why I am so desperate to get off the farm...I know that as long as we stay here I will be working my ass off.  I tried to do very little the first couple years I was supposedly sick and the whole place went to rack and ruin....He admits he can't do it on his own and we don't make enough money to pay someone a wage.   so  there it is....

any way I digress, when I went to finally get out of this chamber of torture...my knees were so weak and sore...my neck was paralyzed and I was in a foul mood.....I stepped out onto the top rung of the ladder, which is perforated ,my shoe caught on the roughness and I lost my balance, leaned against the handle grip of the door and its gargantuan weight swung me out with the door and off the steps completely...I ricocheted off the 7 ft tall dual tires and landed on the ground on my right butt cheek and elbow....I was laughing so hard I couldn't cry...I did that this morning when I went to get out of bed and couldn't move...hahahahah no tractor work for me today...and I managed to put a believable enough pouty face on to con Rbt. into helping me plant my baby spruce trees since it was a cooler cloudy day....

I have to go nurse my pasta sauce and start the spaghetti to boil...whip up a salad and eat....

Floored

I was floored on Friday at the doctors. He gave me the Golden handshake after dropping a bomb shell on me...  The MRI that I traumatized myself for live going to have, showed I have no Cancer (that's awesome news) but I didn't know we had been looking for any....but apparently I glowed...arthritis shows up as light spots on the images...and every joint in my body glowed...hahahaha  that was no news to me, since I was well aware of it on one of my BAD days...  but he said that the MRI  guy that interprets the pictures and writes the report...said and I have a copy right here in front of me...that this patient shows signs of severe osteo-arthritis in nearly all spinal discs but that some of them are deteriorated so badly that there are pieces missing...they are sending me to a spinal surgeon...( that should take a year or two of waiting for that appointment).... anyway, he suggested cortisone shots in the spine to numb the pain and as it progresses they can go in a kill the nerves in the worst areas so there is no sensation in that spot...but that, for me would have to be a last resort... In the mean time, lifestyle change was highly recommended and a modification of work and hobbies to cause the least amount of wear and tear on the joints, especially my back and neck...which were the worst areas affected.

So I finished my armoire for the deck... and before I could get a photo taken R had it half full of his gear, which I what I built it for but it makes for a lousy picture...but here goes...

I am so far behind on this blogging thing, it's debatable whether I should even bother  anymore....

I have been busy putting together an armoire cabinet for out on the deck to store Robts over alls and muddy boots in rather than stare at them in thier usual heap while we dine al fresco.....It has become some what of a challenge to build this thing...5 1/2 ft tall and 5 ft long, shelves on one side, hangers on the other with two doors, completely out of barn wood..with no raw edges showing.

I have a whole new appreciation for those furniture makers and crafty folks who do barn wood creations with no cut edges showing...geesh...it's not as easy as it looks.
Very stressful actually, to get it all right the first time, no wrong cuts because there is only so much of this wood around.

Any way I'm nearly done and will post pictures of course when it is finished... In the mean time, because we all know I can't just sit still and take it easy, I whipped up a couple of more stools, the first one I made (white) was lonely. so now he has companions....these things are so strong...I can sit on the and wiggle around and there is no moaning, groaning or creaking....I am impressed with the design.  I made the seats a wee bit bigger than was in the plan because I wanted both my butt cheeks to have something to rest on....hahahaha   Robt uses one as a side table while sitting in the recliner and the seat is big enough that it's just the right size for a table top....hahahahah what does that say about my ass....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah   that cracks me up....

The AYLA cabinet

Well I finally finished the little cabinet I was making. Both R and I are more than happy with the way it turned out, we are especially enamoured of the colour I eventually settled on, and it only took the purchase of three seperate litres of paint to find the right colour. Due to my chickening out at the last minute...but I would have been money ahead had I just sticked with my gut and gone with the original colour that caught my eye on the paint card.

Called  STILL WATERS, we are thinking of painting a few walls this colour too, maybe our whole bedroom.

You might notice that there are no fancy legs on this cabinet like I mentions origially, we bought them but were not happy with the flimsy way they attached to the outside rib of the cabinet, and when stood on the legs the weight of the cabinet made it seem very wobbly  and precarious. So for the time being we turned it into a floor model and I like it very much... Inside the double doors are two shelves, where I store my Wii attachments, photo albums and binoculours.  LOVE IT, LOVE it...love it....heee heee heee...  50+ yrs old and still able to surprise myself...not bad for an old brawd....

I am quickly whipping up a pair of stools to turn my single one into a trio... and then I will begin cutting planks for the outdoor armoir I want for storing rain coats and winter boots in on the deck...

Incase I didn't post a completed picture of my awesome X Bench here it is, all polyurethaned and sanded it feels like glass and is great to sit on...

Wholely Hell

It's snowing here again, our brief taste of spring lasted two whole days... and boy was it nice, shirt sleeves and runners, yes it had dried up that much.  But now, it is back to parkas, lined gloves and insulated rubber boots because it is MUDDY ! !

I trudge my way up to the small heated room in our barn where I assemble all my projects...my latest is a small dresser/cabinet called  THE AYLA CABINET, no kidding that really is its name, so of course I just had to build it.

Originally the lady built it to house her daughters doll house and furniture...but I added an extra shelf and it will be home to I don't know what yet...

It has certainly been challenging, using plywood for some of the sides and such, I had a heart attack when I went to buy the plywood...I went there wanting to get sanded both sides pine but it was nearly  $ 90. so I cheaped out, much to Robts relief and bought just construction grade....I regret that now, it is put together, it would have looked so much more fine with good plywood...I can sand some of the divots out and fill some others but in the end it looks a bit rough.  Oh well, it's just peasant furniture after all...
It was made to add fancy turned legs on the end of the 2 x 2 corner pieces but I had trouble finding any with a 2 x 2 square top  so we settled for round and I am not liking the transition...too late now, since I have glued and doweled them on....  I committed my myself to a colour too....a light sea foam/ turquoise that I thought looked kind of retro-ish.... I will of course distress the edges and what have you and I splurged on something I have wanted for years and years....small fancy glass pulls for the two doors and the drawer...they are lovely...and so girly...Robt was surprised I didn't go for some old antique looking brass monstrosity...but I envisioned this cabinet being very feminine... so if I can improve the look of the leg transition from square to round...I will be very excited about how it turned out...in spite of nearly pulling my hair out installing the damned drawer sliders...there has to be a simple trick to that, that I just wasn't seeing...but I prevailed in the end...stubbornness pays off at last.

I hope to have all the doors hung by end of tomorrow and will take an unfinished picture, before beginning the priming and painting stage... so stay tuned...

Poor Robt goes for his age 55+ routine colonoscopy on Thursday. He has never had surgery or any procedure of any kind done and if he acts the way he does when forced to go to the dentist I may drug him up myself and wear a disguise...he is abrupt and uncommunicative to the point of rudeness.  so I plan to have lots to do up in the barn after I drive him home and he can whimper and gripe all he wants after the ordeal... like he does to me...

Moan and Groan

I gots a sick tummy.

The new med. I just started is making me feel bad.  I will endure, because I think the benefits at this point out weigh the negatives..so far anyway. hahaha

The weather man was threatening another huge winter storm for Alberta and our area appeared to big smack dab in the middle of the worst of it.  But we woke this morning to a light snow and brisk winds but so far nothing, now they are saying that the snow will stop in early afternoon and Robert is a happy man...He hates the snow.. understandably, since it causes him much more work when it snows..but we both generally dislike the muck and grim and wet mess of it.

Robert made a quick trip into town yesterday and chose to stay home...I worked in my wood shed, assembling two more simple benches that I had cut the pieces for a few days ago...I have to leave them in the barn to dry out a bit before I paint them, since the wood was damp from the last snow we had a few days ago....that is the downfall of this being a new hobby, I haven't quite got the logistics worked out....and I am reluctant to make to many commitments because it is just a hobby, who knows , this time next month I could be into rock polishing...or jewellery making...hahahah not likely but you get my drift...

I would love to take up welding....hard to do since we only have an antique welder that cost a fortune to just turn it on...the new ones run on oxygen...and cut like a laser....  I would do metal sculpture if I could...I have this vision in my head of a beautiful tree with all its limbs and twigs..and bark...and I would use it to hang my twinkle lights...and it would never rot, fall over or break...

Robert bought me  a pair of wood clamps the other day...they were on sale and he surprised me with them....Oh My God, where have they been all my life... I have only ever had the old, screw clamps that are ancient and are hard to turn the threaded cog...with arthritic fingers...so these new clamps are heaven...you just pull the trigger like a water pistol and voila it tightens up and holds like a hot damn... I'm in love ...with Robert of course but there are two new men in my life as well... twins, left and right  Pro-grade Clamp....

Wow, I'm wood working in this century finally...hahahahaha  I have to be careful what I ooh and awe over because Robert wants to buy it for me and I'm weak and will let him, when I know we can't afford it...so now I walk into the hardware store, get what I went for and walk out...after paying of course...I have to appear indifferent...and it's soooooooo hard.

The best one so far... says Robert

Robert likes this bench so much he asked me the day I finished it, to build another one ... a wedding gift for a niece this spring. 

I want to make one and try to sell it.... but have no idea what price to set for it. Any ideas ?




before I stained it




after I stained it




here's proof I actually made it


This bench was pretty easy to make too...of course I probably shouldn't tell you that...Robt says it is because I am getting better at doing them that it is getting easier...or seems like it is. 

We vaccinated the cows yesterday, to keep them and their babies healthy for the summer...the cow gets the vaccine, she builds antibodies in her blood and milk and passes the antibodies on to the calf...

The whole process of working the cattle is a misery this time of the year...rarely is it ever dry enough to wear regular shoes...yesterday, we needed hip waders... after disturbing the ground last fall with our corral re-construction it was very soft, add to that a foot of snow melting on it and a hundred + cows churning it up and by the half way point it had gone from mud to muck to eventually soup...and that's the point at which I belly flopped (nearly) in the deepest hole...and then a cow came after me....before Robt could intervene...I was plastered up against the metal panel with my right foot up and between the rest of me and the cows head...apparently she took exception to my using her fecal matter as a bath product hahahahaha

She chickened out before she did too much damage...and by the time Robt got close ..I was pretty livid...I put up my hand in the STOP motion and told him to not say a word....that if he could drag me out here to do this crappy (pun intended) work again (I did get a few years reprieve when I was told I was ill) then I was going to do all the work like I used to ..not just the fluff stuff...

we tried leaving all the work on his shoulders and he couldn't keep up, it takes more than two but two is all we have so, so be it...but two of us WILL be doing the work and if he doesn't like it he knows what he can do about....call a truck to haul the cattle to auction...it would alleviate 60 % of our work load...and free up the winter months...

We have to work the cattle in the mud again in 10 days to sort them for breeding groups...certain cows go to certain bulls sort of thing...then again in May we have to separate the babies and run them through the barn for their vaccinations... and then they all get walked up the road to our other land in early June...and then.......drum roll please...we get 2 months of nearly cow free time...all we have to do is take salt and make sure the batteries of the solar waterers are charged...and move them to new pasture every couple of weeks...which means opening a gate or two... 

I love this time of year....    I got a rash and itch from spending a few hours with all that manure and mud seeping through my clothes while we finished the cattle work...and the sun block I decided to put on after getting a bit of a burn on my face two days before while hoof trimming the cows...gave me an allergic reaction and by 8 pm last night when I got to come in and shower...I had welts on my face and it was on fire....I vaguely remember there was a reason I don't wear sunblock ......but I remember now... NO Sunblock.  this stuff was the stuff made for kids with allergies...too...so so much for that...theory.