Last Line Tomorrow

 Monday @ 2100 MST I start my last three day line. Thursday morning I finish the paperwork shortly after 0230 and "That's All Folks". 

It has been a long, strange, but wonderful journey starting in 1958 with my first flight lesson in a Cessna 120. The flying part ending with flying a Lear 35 from Abu Dhabi to McMinnville OR in 2007. After that flight I drank the kool-aid, donned the gray pants, white shirt, red tie, blue Blazer, and strapped a Flight Simulator to my butt expecting to only work a couple more years.  Damn that couple of years ended up taking 14. 

Was not a bad life for a dumb old West Texas farm boy, I got to see the world, most of the time at Flight Level 410 or above and M .80. Someone paid me to stay in the some of the world's best hotels, eat in world class restaurants and paid for my whisky. Of course there were a few hotels and meals at the other end as well.

I even met MsBubba in the back of my airplane, from the first time I saw her with her mop of curly blond hair I thought "That's the one for me". Then I chased her until she caught me.

More after I finish Thursday morning,

ken

A Pie For Pi Day

 As per the title, I made a Chess pie for Pi Day. You do not see Chess pies that often in the store or bakery but like Mince Meat it is one of my favorites. 

Maggie update, she is resting most of the time but seems comfortable with doggie smiles and tail wags. How long she lasts is unknown but as long as she is isn't in pain we will be there with chin rubs and treats.

The boy child, wife, and grand kid #2 will show up late tomorrow for most of the week. This will be the first we have seen each other in over a year. I'm really looking forward to some time with Abby. 

MsBubba got her second shot Monday and it kicked her butt, she is just recovering and now functional.

ken

Maggie Update

 First the good news, Maggie is OK. 

We spent the night tending her, at no time could she do more than a slight lift of her head. Anytime she tried to stand up she would fall into a loose pile of bones. By mid morning she did not appear to be better and we made an appointment with the Vet fully expecting to put her down. While waiting to go to the Vet we were visited by a neighborhood friend who sat with and petted Maggie for close to an hour. After her visit I walked with her to the street and we talked for 5 or 10 minutes. When I went back into the house Maggie was standing with her tail wagging, wanting a treat as if nothing had happened.

We went to the Vet anyway and she said Maggie had cluster seizures, with no need for meds at this time. She may or may not have more and if she has more there may be a need for meds to help.

It is good to have my shop dog back, thanks everyone for your concern.

ken

Sweet Maggie Dog

 Sweet Maggie Dog is a rescue Chocolate Lab who joined our family a few months after our other rescue Yellow Lab, Sam the Wonder Dog. Last year at an age of around 14 or 15 years we had to put Sam down, I still tear up when I think of Sam. Maggie is 13 years old and suddenly, over night has become unable to stand and walk. I expect we will take her to the Vet either today or tomorrow if she does not improve during the day.  

Maggie comes by her name naturally, everyone who has met her almost without exception will comment that she is the sweetest dog they have known. This will be the first time in over eleven years we have been without a dog in our life, as much as I have missed Sam I expect we will miss Maggie even more.  

 We will miss you my wonderful friend and shop dog.

Eating My Words

 With a side of beans and a little BBQ sauce they are not too bad.

As anyone who has read this blog knows I've been a pretty strong advocate of free hand sharpening mostly because of speed and the ability to sharpen all your tools with little of the monkey motion required by many sharpening jigs. 

Lately I've been playing with the Tormek and the results are really good. The big difference was after watching one of Tormek's instruction videos I took another look at the Tormek's leather stropping wheel and I realized with using the leather wheel to buff after grinding on the standard wheel followed by polishing with the Japanese water wheel I ended up with a Unicorn profile and not just a Unicorn profile but a damn sharp one.

The process still has the problem of not being usable on 100% of my tools but it gets close and some of the tools like shavespoke cutters (using the small knife jig) work much better on the Tormek than freehand. The new "77" jig puts a beautiful smooth camber on plane cutters and is very controllable with as little or much as you want. The biggest group that does not work with the Tormek are the Japanese chisels and with those I really like the look of the bevel finished on JNATS and a flat bevel anyway. So it isn't a deal breaker.

If the cutter isn't in bad shape, it is close to as fast as free hand and if using synthetic water stones I expect faster because there is no need for stone maintenance.  

Over the years I've had a love/hate, mostly hate, relationship with the Tormek and have come close to selling it many times. I'm glad I didn't. If you have a Tormek it is worth a go.

ken