Fallen Warriors ⁽³³⁹⁾

Brian Bilbrey May 23, 2021

23 May 2021

Well, it's been nearly two months since we last chatted, sorry for the inconvenience (as the Creator said to his Creation (in the fifth (I think) book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy)). A fair bit has happened in the interim. I have four ladders. This is a story about the fourth ladder. A couple of weeks ago, I was putting some items up in the garage attic. Two or three trips up and down the ladder. All done, I came down the ladder and it failed on me as I reached the third step. The wood broke…

Brian Bilbrey January 31, 2021

31 January 2021

I'm counting from 20 January, with a tiny bit of hope in my heart. We've been staying busy, but some stuff has been going on. The dog dish holder was a four day project. The actual cutting and assembly was a matter of a couple of hours. All the rest was staining, and coats of polyurethane, with drying and light sanding at intervals. It's much nicer looking than the old one, and a couple of inches lower, which is good for a little dog. This is a two-to-three hour job, as I first do my normal inside-the-roaster cleaning that happens…

Brian Bilbrey December 13, 2020

13 December 2020

That said, we've not experienced a significant run of ill luck yet this day, but then neither of us suffer from triskaidekaphobia. We are having intermittent warm and cold stretches, with a possibility of some icy precipitation on Wednesday upcoming - Marcia's looking forward to that. Lexi can do without the heat of summer or the cold of winter, but she does look forward to curling up on the electric blanket in the mid evening on cold nights... Not much else to report yet. I'm waiting to see what happens come Monday. Our condolences to the family and friends of…

Brian Bilbrey August 9, 2020

9 August 2020

The fish jigsaw art piece featured recently is now done and on the wall. I put on a couple of coats of clear matte water-based polyurethane on the back to seal it, and four coats front and sides. After the first coats, I used some 220 grit on the wood surfaces to knock down the nibs, and gently with some single ought steel wool for the face of the puzzle, just to give a bit of bite for the ensuing coat. All the other coats were followed by a light pass with the steel wool. Here it is on the…

Brian Bilbrey July 19, 2020

19 July 2020

The last two weekends have been full of chores, catching up on the early summer yard suffering. Temperatures had been reasonable, and there'd been a fair bit of rain during our absence. That meant that lawns, weeds, everything was growing like gangbusters. But I'm almost caught up. Some of the tomato plants are starting to produce, as are most of the pepper plants. Others of the tomatoes don't look entirely ... enthusiastic about the ONE job they have this summer. Work is ongoing for me. I'm still going into the office once a week for a weekly process related to…