Mad Times

Unexpected birthday present

The other day a box appeared on the doorstep with a return address from one of my cousins in California. I wasn't expecting anything from him, but the box had an enticing heft and clank to it. When I opened it up I discovered a bunch of old woodworking tools:

Unexpected tools in the mail are a real treat. But that's not the end of the story. When I read the enclosed card I found that these tools had belonged to my cousin's and my grandfather who died when I was 12.

My cousin had read about my predilection for old woodworking tools and sent these off to me. I am so touched by this and so happy to have these tools I can't even express.

They are, left to right, a WWII-era Stanley jack plane, a Shelton smoothing plane with a blade adjusting mechanism patented in 1933 (which means the plane was probably made before 1950), a 10" Millers Falls 1710 brace (manufactured from 1935 all the way up to 1981, this one looks to be from somewhere in the middle of that range and still works perfectly, just as I'd expect from a Millers Falls product) and a few well-used bits, a Disston try square still within a few thousandths of true, and a couple of nice socket chisels.

None of these tools has significant collectible value, but they just became favorites in my collection alongside the crosscut saw that belonged to my other grandfather. I'll give them a gentle cleaning, sharpening, and tuning and put them to use, add a bit to their history. And I'll have to start keeping an eye out for someone in the next generation to be their next users.

Chain mail balls

Took another class from Cailyn Meyer last night and made these fun little balls. Have parts ordered to make more since juggling two gets boring pretty fast.

Common ground

Theo and Rhiannon were each delighted to discover common ground in the intersection of Rhiannon's desperate desire to pet the kitty and Theo's boundless love of being brushed.

I can make it

We moved the cats' tree to the front of the house and within minutes Alice was thinking about whether she could make the jump to the top of the bookcases (covered with burlap for the art sale). She must have either decided she couldn't do it or it wasn't worth it cause we haven't seen her up there yet.

Lost in France

Peripatetic foreign correspondent Katherine sent in these nice shots of a separated pair she spotted in the Montpellier Botanic Garden back on May 7th. Thanks for sharing!

Lost Glove #92

I was trying to get a shot that showed the ants that were wandering around in the gravel, but anything that read the ants didn't read as a glove.

Lost Gloves #90 & #91

This pair was just far enough apart that I couldn't get them both in the same frame and have them be identifiable as gloves. The two shots work nicely top to bottom like this, don't they?

Lost Glove #89

At first glance these seem to be latex gloves and so outside of my charter, but closer inspection revealed that they were knit gloves with latex gloves added as a waterproof outer coating. Pretty clever, really. Their creator should have held onto them.

Lost Glove #88

Another hobby

Took a class yesterday that resulted in this bracelet for Becky. It's a chain mail pattern called "Byzantine". Took a couple of hours under the tutelage of my teacher Cailyn Meyer. It was really fun and I'm already signed up for another class. Just what I needed, another hobby.

Ode to an Outstanding Ottoman

This was one of the babies' favorite spots, but all good things must come to an end and the chair and this, its ottoman, have moved on to their new owner via Freecycle. That was two weeks ago, and strangely the kitties seem not to miss it particularly. This might have something to do with the new location of their tree which I'm sure will be featured some Friday soon.

Lost Glove #87

This is in the same spot as #57 only this picture is looking in the opposite direction. It's getting so I could almost put together a photo collage of Issaquah from all these crazy pictures.

It's also getting so I'm having a hard time finding an original picture to take. These last three are nearly identical poses and even before this it wasn't exactly untilled ground. At all.

Could I be coming to the end of the series? Or do I just need to dig a little deeper to find some new pictures?

Lost Glove #86

Lost Glove #85

Guest Cat Blogging: Kitten Bug Crunch

My friend Dan L contributes this week's picture about which he says:

This is one of the five barn kittens that we eventually placed with neighbors. We went out at least twice a day to socialize them, which meant sitting around and tempting them with food and fun. They were resistant to our charms until their mom disappeared one day.

If you missed the call for submissions and would be interested in having your kitty featured here on Mad Times, you'll find the guidelines here.