When it Too Hot to Work Outside–Work Inside

The Plan was to get the Urchin’s motorcycle to the shop, mow the yard, finish the roof trim  & get the larger of my motorcycle trailers up for sale this week.  Well I did get the motorcycle to the shop Friday, loaded it onto the rail trailer all by myself just fine.  I also called the Urchin Friday eve & wished her a Happy Birthday.

Trailer with installed by me wood flooring & ramp

And I got  the yard mowed finally.  The cable that engages the wheels so they turn broke but I got things moving by substituting a bungee cord.  I got half the back mowed Saturday but had to stop when I located the yellow jacket nest under the doghouse the hard way.  No hard work until the effects of  the stings & the shot at the clinic wear off.  Spent the rest of Saturday with ice packs on various parts of my torso & drinking lots of water.  Mowed the front Sunday & the rest of the back Monday, all except a buffer zone around the nest site.  I do not want to annoy these squatters again. 

I got 2/3 of a coat of paint on the rear trim, but the heat is defeating me there.  Its just plain too hot to paint anything.  So the last 1/3 of the rear & the kitchen side trim will just have to wait.  Ditto working on the blue motorcycle trailer.  Its too hot to do anything outside, too hot even to read in the shade outside. 

I did consider finishing this front window because its well shaded but decided to wait until the birds are done here.

So I made lemonade – both literally & figuratively.  Since outside work was out, I worked inside.  Cleaning I did late at night when its cooler.  Letter writing, photo file organization & history projects I did during the day.

This is my shooting bag.  The strap has been reversed for left side wear & shortened for half-ling sized me.  The leather patch in the center of the strap is for a powder horn strap.  The strap slides under the patch so the bag & horn stay together as a unit.  The leather has been treated with Pecard dressing & an 18th century reproduction buckle installed.

Thank you Henry Bryant of Ft. Vause Outfitters for both the buckle & the tutoring in leather working.  This is a Speedy Hogarth bag & I wanted my alterations to match Speedy’s work in quality. 

This is Buffalo Woman’s Leatherman shooting bag.  She had some water leakage issues in her gear storage area & this bag had developed some serious mildew.  Well the mildew is gone thanks to a good cleaning with mouthwash inside & out.   This  bag has also been treated with Pecard dressing.  Another thanks here to Henry Bryant & his workshop on leather care at an Eastern Primitive Rendezvous.

The gear in the bag had suffered from the dampness also & corroded each in its own way.  I polished the German silver & brass pieces then polished & re-blued the iron gear.  The char cloth, flint & tow in the tinder box were unaffected by the moisture, so the box did what its supposed to do – keep the tinder dry. 

I also replace the strap on my mid-19th century style cherry wood canteen & am currently working  on a small pigskin flint & steel bag as well as a powder horn strap.  Will post those pictures once I’m done. 

I have also seen the final Harry Potter film but promised my daughter not to talk about that until she’s seen it too. 

Happy Birthday to the US of A

OK, I admit it, I LOVE the 4th of July.   The celebrations of my childhood involved neighborhood potluck cookouts where chicken, fresh fried lake perch, hotdogs & hamburgers were flanked by German potato salad, marinated garden peas & baby onions, coleslaw, jello with various fruits inside, canteloupes  &  deep red watermelon with iced Frosty root beer to drink.  The fish came from Lake Michigan, which had a viable fishing industry into the 60’s, & the produce was all locally grown.  After the evening feast we’d all pile into various family cars, the idea being to get the whole neighborhood into as few cars as possible.  Full dark does not come early in a western Michigan July so the local fireworks  never started until after 9 PM even before day light savings time was the norm.  The fireworks were shot off from a barge anchored  either in Lake Michigan or in the boat turning basin of the St. Joseph River if the lake was too rough.  The show was watched from the bluff above the lake or the river banks & lasted about an hour.

Once I’d left my parents’ house for the wider world the 4th was still a magic day.  I didn’t manage a picnic & fireworks every year but I managed at least fireworks most years.  I watched the DC Mall-works for several years with my daughter from the grass of a highway interchange in Alexandria VA, spent happy years with D&D at the Vienna VA works & one year watched 3 small town works at once from the Buena Vista campground. (The picnic pavilion was on a hill, the view was spectacular.) 

So it’s a sad year in Mudville when I have to work on the 4th & thus miss seeing any  fireworks.  Like this year or so I thought.  Until on the eve of the 4th the local neighbors held a potluck to rival those of my childhood, except there was BBQ pork  instead of fried perch.  I came home from running some errands just as the feed was winding up.  About 5 minutes later & with a thunderstorm moving in the fireworks began.  Yes real honest to China skyworks.  Roman candles, whistlers, bangers & flowers - lots & lots of flowers.  This stuff was most certainly not bought at the local fireworks stand.  The show went on for about half an hour, the thunderstorm moved in forcing an intermission & then there was another 20 minutes or so more.  It was gloriously grand.  Better even than the mall works, better than 3 town works at once, & maybe better even than those nights on the bluff above Lake Michigan when I was young & the whole world was new. 

Happy Birthday to All of the US of A

May there always be fireworks for your birthday.