That Was The Weekend That Was
Thursday, August 11th -- I took a personal day from work. Both of us had early morning doctor appointments. Lunch at the Vineyard Restaurant, review to follow. The afternoon was spent at the DMV. We had been wanting to get enhanced driver's licenses to make border crossings easier. Mine was cheaper than hers because it's an actual driver's license while hers is 'only an ID card'. It's the same card. One line of type difference! When I got my first car, I used to cross the border all the time.
Official: Citizenship?
Me: US
Official: Purpose in coming to Canada?
Me: Chinese (There were FIVE great Chinese restaurants just over the border. Buffalo had take-out only)
Official: Have a good day, sir.
Naturally, this was well before 9/11. Now we were in the DMV with the necessary documents; our birth certificates, our SS cards, my driver's ID, and her ID card, our marriage license, our most recent pay stubs, a recent utility bill, our voter registration card, ...
Friday, August 12th -- Employee Appreciation Day at work. We got the day off. We got free passes to the Erie County Faire, free food vouchers, discount coupons! We stepped out the front door and our glasses fogged over. Me: Do we really want to walk around in this heat? Wife: No. We stayed home in front of the fan and binge watched TV. It was not a non-productive day, it was battery-recharging. Everyone once in a while I have to tell myself I don't have to be productive EVERY day.
Saturday, August 13th -- I was productive! I am the Ghod of Home Repair! I have beaten the Honey-Dew list into submission. I did so many repairs that I've been meaning to get to, that I spent over $75 just on parts and supplies. I don't want to think what professional labor costs would have come to. We left in the evening for my mother's house and crashed there for the night. The cat is starting to regard mom's house as her other home.
Sunday, August 14th -- It's Hammer Time! More specifically, the New York State Designer Blacksmith Statewide Hammer-In which was held at the Amherst Museum, excuse me, the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village Museum. Folks were encouraged to bring their portable set-ups and play. For a serious blacksmith, you have the home anvil and forge and the portable anvil and forge for demos and competitions. You also buy your family vehicle based on how much equipment you can fit in it, not unlike SCAdians looking at vehicles for Pennsic. Since I don't have a portable set-up (actually, I'm still using the club forges more often than my own) I didn't worry about it. I brought food for the potluch and my notebooks. I feel like Leonardo daVinci. I have notebooks full of ideas I'd like to try out some day. I need to win the lottery and quit my job so I can do them. I filled multiple pages with notes. Stuff I won't get around to making. Home repairs have the highest priority, followed by stuff I've promised other people, followed by projects I've already started that I'd like to finish. I have notes on how to forge a ram's head (for a tool top), a bulldog's head (ditto), leaf tongs, bar tongs, etc. There was a class on making a hammer head which was interesting, and I took notes, but it's not something I'm likely to do. It requires a propane forge (coal forge isn't hot enough), a swage block (useful tool, but not cheap), a specialized hardy (which probably has no other purpose) and a specialized drift (ditto). By the time you add in the cost of the steel and the time involved, you've got something that's more than four times as expensive as something that could be bought commercially. You can't make a living selling hammer heads. The only reason to do it would be bragging rights or to make a specialized tool to make something you're going to make a lot of. I took a nap after the Hammer-In. It used to be I hated the C-pap. Now, I want it just to take a nap. We visited mom after dinner. Her birthday is Tuesday, we're taking her out on Saturday.
Official: Citizenship?
Me: US
Official: Purpose in coming to Canada?
Me: Chinese (There were FIVE great Chinese restaurants just over the border. Buffalo had take-out only)
Official: Have a good day, sir.
Naturally, this was well before 9/11. Now we were in the DMV with the necessary documents; our birth certificates, our SS cards, my driver's ID, and her ID card, our marriage license, our most recent pay stubs, a recent utility bill, our voter registration card, ...
Friday, August 12th -- Employee Appreciation Day at work. We got the day off. We got free passes to the Erie County Faire, free food vouchers, discount coupons! We stepped out the front door and our glasses fogged over. Me: Do we really want to walk around in this heat? Wife: No. We stayed home in front of the fan and binge watched TV. It was not a non-productive day, it was battery-recharging. Everyone once in a while I have to tell myself I don't have to be productive EVERY day.
Saturday, August 13th -- I was productive! I am the Ghod of Home Repair! I have beaten the Honey-Dew list into submission. I did so many repairs that I've been meaning to get to, that I spent over $75 just on parts and supplies. I don't want to think what professional labor costs would have come to. We left in the evening for my mother's house and crashed there for the night. The cat is starting to regard mom's house as her other home.
Sunday, August 14th -- It's Hammer Time! More specifically, the New York State Designer Blacksmith Statewide Hammer-In which was held at the Amherst Museum, excuse me, the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village Museum. Folks were encouraged to bring their portable set-ups and play. For a serious blacksmith, you have the home anvil and forge and the portable anvil and forge for demos and competitions. You also buy your family vehicle based on how much equipment you can fit in it, not unlike SCAdians looking at vehicles for Pennsic. Since I don't have a portable set-up (actually, I'm still using the club forges more often than my own) I didn't worry about it. I brought food for the potluch and my notebooks. I feel like Leonardo daVinci. I have notebooks full of ideas I'd like to try out some day. I need to win the lottery and quit my job so I can do them. I filled multiple pages with notes. Stuff I won't get around to making. Home repairs have the highest priority, followed by stuff I've promised other people, followed by projects I've already started that I'd like to finish. I have notes on how to forge a ram's head (for a tool top), a bulldog's head (ditto), leaf tongs, bar tongs, etc. There was a class on making a hammer head which was interesting, and I took notes, but it's not something I'm likely to do. It requires a propane forge (coal forge isn't hot enough), a swage block (useful tool, but not cheap), a specialized hardy (which probably has no other purpose) and a specialized drift (ditto). By the time you add in the cost of the steel and the time involved, you've got something that's more than four times as expensive as something that could be bought commercially. You can't make a living selling hammer heads. The only reason to do it would be bragging rights or to make a specialized tool to make something you're going to make a lot of. I took a nap after the Hammer-In. It used to be I hated the C-pap. Now, I want it just to take a nap. We visited mom after dinner. Her birthday is Tuesday, we're taking her out on Saturday.