Two University Bids! And Other Random Musings...
I now have two bids for University! Woo hoo! Most folks don't have any idea how pleased I am to actually have a choice. Both are from groups in Virginia. One from the west, one from the north, both seem to cost about the same.
Decisions, decisions.
Mordor
A heh. I don't really crack me up as much as you'd think....
I almost had a rain delay to the gatehouse project, but thank goodness there is still plenty of other detail work to handle. I started out getting the rest of the sheathing primed, so assuming there is no wet weather today, I should be able to finish the walls tonight and paint/stain the exterior. I did a bit more design work in my head and will be adding some exterior details--trimming it out so I don't have a white monolith with a roof. I plan to upgrade the details as time permits--carvings on the corner posts, etc., but I have other projects that must also proceed.
But the big success was getting the aged face of the second door cleaned up. The door was actually in slightly worse shape than I had originally thought. The cross braces had pulled away from the latch side of the door, so I took off all the hardware and pulled off the cross bracing. Yep, more work with the hand plane again. As tough a job as it is on the Man of Sloth, and as hot and humid as it was down there, I still felt very happy building stuff down in the shop.
This shouldn't be a big revelation. I seem to be happiest when I am involved in a creative process, even if I obsess about the details or design. This is a clear signal to me that I need to quit reading and/or participating in all those argumentative e-lists and refocus my energies.
A Sidebar Musing Resulting From Shop-Time Revelations
isenglass asked someone whether the Pelicans (and perhaps by extension, any service award holders) like one another. Seeing that question gave me pause, and I just had to ponder and pontificate. At least this will be brief.... The answer is both yes and no. I think we are all friends, but we are all control freaks, and none of us like to release control to another person--so of course there is conflict, especially over what each of us perceives as the threshold or standard by which we judge a candidate.
A&S is so much easier to deal with because things are quantifiable and easily categorized. Until you get to those darn PLQ's. Even the Knights (at least at one time) had something similar, but it didn't turn into an acronym. Sometimes you simply know it when you see it.
Nibble Fu
Josie has been a minor pest the last couple of mornings. It is time to trim her claws because she keeps digging at my elbow, and those little pointy claws hurt. However, once she wakes me up, she insists on being petted a little bit, but what she really wants is to nibble on my fingers. She doesn't bite, just mibble. Silly girl!
Fleece Fu
When I prepared for our house guests, I cleaned the living room and put out the cats' blanket and turned ealdthryth's old polar fleece robe into a cat mat. In the last two weeks, the polar fleece has migrated all the way upstairs to our room. Neither ealdthryth nor I have touched it.
Acknowledged Expert?
Hmmmm. It seems my name is getting thrown around as a go-to person at work now. Surprisingly, even though I hate having my work interrupted, it is rather flattering to finally feel needed and useful.
Decisions, decisions.
Mordor
A heh. I don't really crack me up as much as you'd think....
I almost had a rain delay to the gatehouse project, but thank goodness there is still plenty of other detail work to handle. I started out getting the rest of the sheathing primed, so assuming there is no wet weather today, I should be able to finish the walls tonight and paint/stain the exterior. I did a bit more design work in my head and will be adding some exterior details--trimming it out so I don't have a white monolith with a roof. I plan to upgrade the details as time permits--carvings on the corner posts, etc., but I have other projects that must also proceed.
But the big success was getting the aged face of the second door cleaned up. The door was actually in slightly worse shape than I had originally thought. The cross braces had pulled away from the latch side of the door, so I took off all the hardware and pulled off the cross bracing. Yep, more work with the hand plane again. As tough a job as it is on the Man of Sloth, and as hot and humid as it was down there, I still felt very happy building stuff down in the shop.
This shouldn't be a big revelation. I seem to be happiest when I am involved in a creative process, even if I obsess about the details or design. This is a clear signal to me that I need to quit reading and/or participating in all those argumentative e-lists and refocus my energies.
A Sidebar Musing Resulting From Shop-Time Revelations
isenglass asked someone whether the Pelicans (and perhaps by extension, any service award holders) like one another. Seeing that question gave me pause, and I just had to ponder and pontificate. At least this will be brief.... The answer is both yes and no. I think we are all friends, but we are all control freaks, and none of us like to release control to another person--so of course there is conflict, especially over what each of us perceives as the threshold or standard by which we judge a candidate.
A&S is so much easier to deal with because things are quantifiable and easily categorized. Until you get to those darn PLQ's. Even the Knights (at least at one time) had something similar, but it didn't turn into an acronym. Sometimes you simply know it when you see it.
Nibble Fu
Josie has been a minor pest the last couple of mornings. It is time to trim her claws because she keeps digging at my elbow, and those little pointy claws hurt. However, once she wakes me up, she insists on being petted a little bit, but what she really wants is to nibble on my fingers. She doesn't bite, just mibble. Silly girl!
Fleece Fu
When I prepared for our house guests, I cleaned the living room and put out the cats' blanket and turned ealdthryth's old polar fleece robe into a cat mat. In the last two weeks, the polar fleece has migrated all the way upstairs to our room. Neither ealdthryth nor I have touched it.
Acknowledged Expert?
Hmmmm. It seems my name is getting thrown around as a go-to person at work now. Surprisingly, even though I hate having my work interrupted, it is rather flattering to finally feel needed and useful.