A Tribute

This is pretty much a continuation of the previous post. I intended to attack the mushroomed wedges with an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel. I didn't have a cutoff wheel and the wife had our one and only car. I wasn't going to walk 4 miles to a hardware store.

Well I wanted it done. I had two teachers who both passed away too young. Ray Bishop my science teacher and George Schaefer my shop teacher. This post is a tribute to both men.  Both believed in keeping the old ways as common knowledge. This afternoon I spent 45 minutes remembering George Schaefer. I recalled the day he taught me to properly use a hacksaw and file. The prepper side of me decided to use the old way rather than let the skill atrophy.

You can see the crack in the piece I cut from the large wedge. To be honest I was pretty skeptical myself when I started. It is a 1.5x2" piece of metal afterall. It made me glad I took the time to aneal them. Another 15 minutes chamfering the edges with a mill file and it will be done. Just think no noise , no electricity also no sparks or grinding dust all over the place. I did one side of the small wedge with a grinder. It took as long as doing two sides with a hacksaw.

Thank You George and Ray. You may not have known it when you were still here, those old skills are apreciated. Thanks for teaching me the proper use of hand tools. They really aren't that much work when you know what you're doing.

Woods

Giving thanks

Reading another blog a few days ago left me in deep thought. Subject was the things a man really needs. On top of the list was "A good woman". I'm lucky in that respect. I was a bachelor for many years. I knew alot of people that needed to be in a relationship. I found myself on occasion the subject of ridicule because of my hard nosed unwillingness to settle for less than the woman I truly wanted to spend my life with. I'm old fashioned, too old fashioned in the eyes of most modern women. My fondest childhood memories were time spent with my grandma. A devout christian woman, A wife, a homemaker, and a moral compass for her family. My hardnosed ideal was, I wouldn't settle for less. My children if there would ever be any deserved the best I could find them. Well it took me until after my fourtieth birthday, but, I found her. The amazing thing. For much of our lives we were only the next town away from each other. At one point we were only blocks from each other. And these were relatively small town, not large metropolitan areas. I know it was god's will we would find each other. But, his plans weren't immediate. We had to learn enough from life to be ready for each other. I know I have come as close as I ever could when it comes to finding my soul mate. She blogs also. Here's our life from her viewpoint. http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/ Thank you my love. I can't recall what life was like without you. Thank you god. My prayers were answered. My bride brought three children with her. Learning to be a dad was alot harder than learning to be a traditional husband. It would have been easier had I been with these kids from the start. Still the experience has been a great one. I know I can be difficult at times. I just hope they keep understanding I'm on a learning curve here. Thank you again god. The other things I don't give thanks for enough. I have a roof over my head, it keeps me dry and warm. I have a soft pillow in a warm bed to rest when I'm tired. I have the fruits of the earth to nourish me. I have work to keep me feeling productive. I have an active productive mind, and the ability to make my hands do my minds will. Thank you god, I have all that I need. Woods