vivdunstan

Saturday. Sunny and warmer than I had expected.

Many chores have been accomplished, including doing the preliminary set up for my glass working space. I had a moment of despair when I realized that none of the many outlets in the Foosball Room, err, worked. Then I remembered my fusebox lessons from Steve Symonds, crossed the basement, flipped a switch, and hey, presto! Power, we haz it.

I have two oil radiators, and also the old electric heater that I replaced not because it didn't work, but because it was old. So, it, too may join me and I'm thinking that room will be toasty as heck, even in winter.

The library cart (sorry, Steve) will be put into use to hold my glass and tools where I can see everything, and Archie's stool (I bought a nasty old wooden stool at a flea market back in nineteen-seventy-ought two, I guess, all over splotches of paint, and -- oh it was a mess. But for fifty cents, who could say no. Took it home, did the sanding and the priming and painted it Chinese Red. When I brought Archie in to run the place, that was his favorite seat.) is just the right height to park my fundament (why does spellcheck not know fundament?) on while I glare at the pattern, which I have no doubt I will be doing a lot of.

There was a big old warped piece of wood leaning against the wall, which I have put down, so I'll have something besides a concrete floor between me and the permafrost, and I should probably get a cheap rug, for another layer. Right not, All The Things are on top of the board, because I'm hoping to flatten out the bow.

Now! I need to rustle lunch, and then, oh, go out to TJMaxx.

Yes, yes, I'm supposed to be getting rid of stuff so it will be easier for those who have to clean up after me, and instead, I'm getting new stuff.

How's Saturday treating you?

Oh, hey, my work-area-in-process:

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Hmmph. Did another exploratory round of Stuff I Already Have. Identified a glass keeper, known to those of us who had administrative/secretarial jobs as a desk-top file organizer, which will do fine. It is metal, but easy enough to soften each section by taping in a manila folder or two.

Steve used to have these ... big foam tiles that he used in the SRM office (another basement location). They interlocked, so you could make your space as big as you needed, and they were soft, which was easier on your back and legs. I went looking for them, but no luck. And -- I have a really hard time remembering where I last saw what. It could be they never even made the move to this house. So now I'm trying to remember where he got them. Maybe Staples? Back when Staples actually had things in their store instead of offering to order it online for you?

mooches off to Staples online

SPOILER: As suggested by several Facebook friends, Home Depot had them, aka "single sided gym tile"

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And that's enough fun for one day.

I went to TJ Maxx and unexpectedly came upon a wooden plate holder, which will handily hold the glass I'm working with now. I can foresee a time when I'll need to bring the other holder into play but for now, I've put it aside.

I put together some "gym" tiles, and put them directly on the floor in front of my work bench. All The Things are still piled on top of the warped board, but I'm not having to walk to the warped board, so that's a win.

For a change, we are not under a freeze warning tonight, so that's a change. And now that I've had my fun, I need to finish up washing cat bowls, by which time, it will be Happy Hour.

How time does fly.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.

I'll check in tomorrow.

The work space as now configured:

Tonight's blog post title brought to you by Mr. Robert Seger, who is pretty damned sure of himself, so there is that:  "You'll Accomp'ny Me"

Friday.

Pics before wordage:

So that was a pleasant day. Cool but not frigid on the beach, despite a brisk breeze. Took a pleasant walk along the trail at Scarborough Marsh, from whence the picture of the Great White Heron and also what I believe to be a loon, which if so -- a coup. I mean, herons are hard to photograph, but loons are impossible.

At Old Orchard, I walked the beach, and up into town, had a chicken salad wrap and a root beer at Cafe 64, decided not to go down to Wells, but to come on home, but avoiding the interstate because construction. This of course meant that I got lost in Portland, which is business as usual. I finally asked the car's navcamp for a way home that avoided highways, and boy didn't it oblige me? However! I discovered a new road. I truly do not believe I've been on Route 88 before, and that was just a splendid drive. So -- Serendipity For the Win.

I came home to the news that the nerve conduction test -- that's probably not what it's called -- has been scheduled for October 23 at 3:45 which won't do for two reasons, those being it will mean I have to miss stained glass, and! I'll have to drive home from Rockport in the dark (that's 50ish miles of unlit back roads from the Confusion Factory), and I don't know the route well enough to want to do that. So, I'll add rescheduling that piece of optimism to my pile of Monday phone calls.

The cats -- all three, which made for some confusion of who was where and how do I not fall over -- threw themselves onto to me with loud cries the second I opened the door. I did tell them I was going to be gone for most of the day, but apparently neither Tali nor Rookie can tell time and Firefly's skills are a little rocky.

I now have Rook and Tali keeping a Very Close Eye while I type this update, and Firefly is having a wee dram of dry food to recruit herself.

I see that we're under a Freeze Alert this evening, which means I'll be needing to cover the rose again.

But before that, I need to put the clean dishes away and, oh...pour a glass of wine.

How did your Friday play out?

Today's blog post title is brought to you by Jimmy Soul, "If you wanna be happy."  My excuse is that this is the song that was playing when I turned the car on this morning.  Recorded in 1962.

The moon is gorgeous tonight, big and yellow.

So, now I have glass and the means to cut it, though I am strictly forbidden from doing so until next class. What I do have to do is finish cutting out my pattern and affixing the pieces to the appropriate pieces of glass so that I can begin cutting my glass next class.

Excuse me: "Seymour Glass. Do you See More Glass?" Thank you, J.D. Salinger. Honest to Ghod how long do I have to pay for that English project?

So! I'm feeling, actually, better about the glassworking after this evening's class. Maybe because I have a better feel for how the moving parts fit together. Possibly because the instructor did not faint dead away when she saw my pattern, but said, "Oh, that's nice, did you get that out of one of my books?" and then helped me modify that big swodge of "ocean" that some of y'all were so worried about.

I see that I'm going to have to be moving the portable radiators into The Foosball Room (so called because there was a Foosball table in that room when we looked at the house, and for a time it was a question whether or not we would be adopting), aka The Cold Room aka The Workshop, so I can cut glass (permission will apparently be given to cut glass at home eventually) without my supervisors getting paws on, not to mention glass in their fur.

For tonight, my glass and assorted Stuff is in the car. I'll need to move it down to The Foosball Room before I head for the ocean tomorrow.

Fans of Firefly will wish to know that she is having the Zoomies. Apparently, she DID SO TELL the kids that I would be home and that I would feed them, first thing I got inside, and as this has come to pass, her stock has gone up.

That's all I've got to report. The rest of my evening will be reading today's chapter of A Night in the Lonesome October, and getting something to eat.

Everybody stay safe. Writer's Day Off Tomorrow. I'll check in as I can.

Oh, wait! My bats came:

Tonight's blog post title brought to you by U2, "She Moves In Mysterious Ways"