today's wikihow: using a portaband

Other than an electric ("corded") drill, this is the power tool I use most often at work. Too bad the pictures in the wikihow didn't embed along with the article, which is here.

How to Use a Portable Bandsaw

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Few tools can make a job of cutting metallic tubing or other stock easier than a bandsaw. On those occasions when the stock cannot be brought to the machine, portable bandsaws offer the option of taking the machine to the work. Here are some basic steps for using this versatile and portable power tool.

Steps

1. Rent or buy the portable bandsaw best suited for your needs. Commercial or Industrial Grade tools are expensive and often somewhat heavier than handyman or homeowner's grades, and most portable bandsaws fall in the former category. Here are some options you may find on portable bandsaws:
   
   • Capacity. Since the stock or material you are cutting must fit in the throat of the machine, choosing one with sufficient capacity is essential. Large capacity portable bandsaws can cut pipe or angle stock up to about 6 inches, whereas standard machines are limited to about 4 inches of diameter or width.
     
   • Power source. If you are working in the field where electrical cords are not practical, you may choose to purchase a battery powered saw. These, however, are more expensive than the typical A.C. voltage saws, and have limited cutting times between battery recharging.
     
   • Brand choice. Most name-brands offer similar features and torque, and use a common blade length. Common brands include Porter Cable, Milwaukee, Ridgid, and DeWalt, and are available at builder's supply centers and tool retailers. Discount retailers offer off-brand tools which serve the same purpose, but may be of lower quality than the previous brands, at much lower prices. Be aware that with power tools, as with many consumer products, you will probably get what you pay for.
     
   
   
2. Familiarize yourself with the tool. Portable bandsaws use a trigger switch similar to drills and circular saws, but usually are equipped with a separate speed selector so the sawblade moves at a speed suitable for the material you are cutting.
   
3. Use the two handles, one located on each end of the saw to hold the tool while it is operated. This will allow you to guide the tool, while maintaining complete control of it. Other notable components your should be familiar with are these:
   
   • Tracking adjustment. This feature allows you to adjust the path the bandsaw's blade travels as it revolves around the rear drive pully and the foreward idler pulley. Because the front pulley floats on a spring tension hub assembly, it must be adjusted so the alignment cause the blade to travel positioned correctly on these two pulleys.
     
   • Tension release handle. This handle, located on the forward end of the saw, is released to allow the operator to quickly and easily change the bandsaw blade if it becomes dull or is not suitable for the task at hand.
     
   • Guide rollers. These roller bearing assemblies support the blade as it is engaged in cutting your material so it doesn't deflect or bind. Because the bandsaw blade is made of a thin, flexible metal, these rollers must rotate freely and be positioned correctly to prevent the blade from binding or warping during the cut.
     
   • Cutting shoe. This is a flat, notched metal guide which will support the saw to offset the drag of the blades teeth as they cut the stock. This helps to insure the metal being sawn will not be dragged into the rear drive pulley while you are cutting.
     
   
   
4. Read the operator's manual and become familiar with unique characteristics of your choice of saws, and especially the safety recommendations from the manufacturer. Bandsaws operate with an exposed blade capable of cutting through almost any common metal from soft copper to cast iron and steel, and will cut fingers with no discretion. This is one reason why the operator should keep both hands on the provided handles (located on the back of the saw, away from the blade).
   
5. Dress appropriately for using this tool. Safety glasses and gloves are very important, but also keep in mind that loose jewelry or clothing can easily get caught in the moving blade.
   
6. Support loose material when cutting. Using a vice or having a helper to hold a round pipe or bar will prevent it from spinning in response to the blade biting into it during a cut. Metal which bends during the cut can bind the blade causing the operator to lose control of his saw, and heavy items can drop on the operator's feet when they fall free.
   
7. Mark the stock you are cutting at the correct angle for your needs. Mark pipe around the diameter so the finished cut will be true.
   
8. Place the sawblade against the stock to be cut, making sure the blade is parallel to the cut line you have marked, and perpendicular to the stock (if the cut is to be square, or 90 degrees). Keep the shoe of the saw firmly against the stock.
   
9. Start the saw by squeezing the trigger and allow the saw to cut its way through the stock you are cutting. Do not force the saw or apply excessive pressure, as the saw's teeth are able to remove only a certain amount of material with each pass. Rocking the saw when cutting very thick, solid pieces of stock may allow the metal chips to clear the saw's kerf, but usually, holding the saw steady in relation to the cut is the best method.
   
10. Watch the blade to make sure it is aligned with your cut mark, and slow the cut when you are nearly through the stock so you can anticipate the blade binding if the material flexes or bends suddenly. Check the free end of the stock to make sure there is nothing in the way of it when it drops off.
    
11. Release the trigger and allow the blade to quit moving before setting the saw down after the cut is complete. Set the saw on a clean, level surface when the cut is finished, to insure it does not fall and become damaged, or get dirt or debris in the pulley assemblies.
    

Tips

• Choose a blade appropriate for your task. When cutting metal, especially thin metal or tubing, you should make sure at least 2, and preferably more, teeth engage the metal at all times. Selecting a bandsaw blade with the correct TPI (teeth per inch) for your intended use will give you the best results.
  
• Keep your tool clean and in good condition. Dirt or debris can cause your saw to bind, destroy the roller guides, and shorten the life of your tool.
  
• Supporting the stock you are cutting is essential for a good, clean, safe cut. A pipe vise is recommended for cutting any type of tubing.
  

Warnings

• Portable bandsaws operate with an open, or unguarded blade capable of cutting almost anything that engages it when it is moving.
  
• Always unplug the saw when changing or replacing the blade.
  
• Heavy steel or other materials can cause damage to floors, and serious injury when they fall loose after the cut is completed.
  

Things You'll Need

• Portable bandsaw with suitable blades.
  
• Power cord/power source.
  
• Safety equipment.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Arc Weld
  
• How to Use a Cutting Torch
  
• How to Use a Steel Chop Saw
  
• How to Use a Circular Saw
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Use a Portable Bandsaw. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Changes

Thursday they fired the best friend I had at work.

Friday I decided to go home instead of work - I'd finished up two weeks as foreman while Scott was on vacation, and Scott was due to return to work Friday, AND we had a winter storm warning, and I was still mad about they way they did Kelly (had the cops waiting for him when he left the parking lot, which we got around by my driving him home in my van, instead of him taking his car), so I felt 3x justified in taking the not-required overtime day off. May not work Monday, either.

(K's wife & kids left him Thursday, and he came in to work drunk, that's what they fired him for. He's barred off AEP jobs for 6 months. Maybe just this particular AEP job. Unless they have trouble manning it, in which case he may be back next week. Rules change at whim around here.)

Good thing I came home Friday morning. The snow rolled in and by Saturday morning we had several inches. Enough I loaded the sandbags in the van and blessed Roy for selling me the snow tires I'm running on the back. A trip to town to fill prescriptions was fun, especially getting back up the driveway afterward. I bet I was throwing roostertails of snow ten feet high all the way from the road to the house.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Since I was coming home Friday, th'Mr called UPS to drop off the fridge, which they did late afternoon, and he and th'neighbor and the driver and I loaded it onto the dolly I'd rented and slid it off the (full sized, semi) truck (without a lift gate), then th'neighbor and I pulled it up the driveway. It's a big fridge. At the mo it's in the garage.

The place I rented the dolly from was so busy in the snow, un-stucking cars, that they asked would we please keep it till Monday instead of returning it Saturday. 'K. Then I decided why don't I just take off Monday and try to get the other appliances then. Though we got out in the Astro in the snow I didn't want to take th'neighbor's truck out in it, especially not with new appliances in the back, and Monday we're supposed to be back up in the fifties.

We're still on winter storm watch; the temp's about 15 out there right now and everything's covered by more snow than I've seen this winter.

I heard my phone's alarm clock -the daily alarm I don't bother turning off for the weekend- go off in the laundry hamper (must remember not to wash the cellphone), so I'm up for a little while, tending the wood stove.

everything update

***
Health

Tonight we're heading to Lexington. Th'Mr's cardiologist thinks a pacemaker is a good idea, so that's where we stand now. He (th'Mr, not the cardio) doesn't seem as nervous as I feel, and I suppose that's a good thing.

Tonight we check in at the hospital, then go to a hotel, then tomorrow morning back to the hospital for the surgery. He'll probably spend a night or two.

I've told them at work I might not be back till Thursday, if then. The higher-ups are starting to whine about absenteeism, but some things can't be helped.

We've spent a lot of time splitting firewood and moving it to the porch - I doubt he'll feel up to that sort of thing after being cut on yet again. It's still too cold to do without a fire in the woodstove. Next year we will definitely make an effort to winterize this old house.

***
Knitting

Aranmor

I couldn't do Aranmor both sleeves at once after all, since I wasn't sure two balls of yarn would suffice per sleeve, and I have "enough yarn of one dye lot" issues. However, now I know, when using Lion Brand Wool-ease --which comes in 85gm/180yd skeins-- for this project, I'll need 3 skeins each for front and back, two skeins each for the sleeves, and (don't know yet) for the collar and finishing.

I've finished one sleeve to the saddle cast-off and finished the cuff of the other.


Fair Isle sox

Got hooked on Fair Isle. I've sat down to work on the socks only three times but have the leg done on the first and am past the cuff into the leg on the second (it's a habit I have, to work both at once but not exactly at once). I doubt I'll ever be content to knit a plain sock again.

Three-color sox

My movie knitting project is moving right along. I'm doing these toe-up and the first sock is done past the heel. I like the way the colors work together. This'll be a great way to use up scrap yarn on days I'm too distracted for stranded work.

Yet another sock

Yesterday when I checked my Ravelry message board found an invitation to join Sock Knitters Pentathlon, so I did. The first pattern won't be posted till March 1, but the specs are up and last night I swatched that ball of Opal Uni I bought in Florida almost a year ago. This might be a good project on which to learn to tighten up my knitting... using #1 needles I wasn't quite achieving gauge.

There's so much I want to do...

at the library tonight

First time I've been here in a while, since before Christmas. Tomorrow after work I head home for another three-day weekend. Tomorrow is an overtime day (time and a half all day), and Monday is not an official holiday, but my own personal policy is I don't work on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. I also don't work on Labor Day, my birthday, my husband's birthday, or our anniversary. The rest I'll work if they'll pay overtime for them :)

Had two nice knit nights this week: Tuesday and Wednesday at KCYC. I'm within ten rows of finishing the back of Aranmor. I'll work both sleeves at once (thanks, Steve, for the suggestion). That's really all I have to say. Just wanted to check in after not blogging for a few days.

Tuesday?

It's been over a week since I was home. Worked M-T-W-Th-F-Sat (th'Mr came up Saturday evening, went shopping with me Sunday, took my laundry to wash Monday and drove back home today.) Looks like I'll be working the same schedule this week, and so far the plan is he'll come pick me up Saturday and bring me back to work Monday morning.

Astro, my old van, is not doing well. On advice from R, my apprentice this month, I unplugged the overdrive from the transmission housing, but that same day the weather warmed up and I can't really tell if that solved the problem or not. My suspicion is it didn't, and what needs to happen is someone (probably me) needs to drain the transmission and clean the filter. I used to do that every 10-15,000 miles on my old Ford, but these days I'd rather spend that time doing something else (knitting, maybe?), and wish someone else would just take over the automechanic position for me.

Or I could win the lottery and buy a nice car. One that doesn't need transmission work yet.

Knitting - I finished the modular for the grandnephew last Friday, after a few frantic emails back'n'forth because I'd lost his measurements. I ended up adding four inches (!) to each sleeve and then improvising gussets into those same sleeves. Photos will have to wait till I get film developed; my computer access here at the Charleston library is limited, and I don't have the digital camera with me anyway.

More knitting - I finished the front of Aranmor and began the back. Can't wait to finish so I can start another, though I haven't yet decided what the next will be. Fulmar? Bavarian Twist?

next comes Monday

Well, I've been real involved with Ravelry this weekend, almost to the exclusion of all else. Knit on Aranmor some, knit on the Modular some (the kid's birthday is this week; guess that'll be a Christmas present... what do three-year-olds care about birthdays, anyway?), helped th'Mr get some firewood split & stacked, did a couple loads of laundry, but honestly, my butt's numb from sitting here so much of the last couple days. And I'm all guilted out about the Modular thing. And about not blogging more. And I didn't cook a thing all weekend! That ought to guilt me all by itself.

Tomorrow's supposed to be cold --ten degrees colder here than at work-- so now I'm itching to throw everything aside and cast on either the Thermal or some heavy socks. For me.

Need. Socks. Knit faster! And get your numb butt out of that chair.

It's snowing

First snow of the season. Wednesday and Thursday we had a high/low of mid-seventies/upper-forties.

Yesterday --Thanksgiving-- we did nontraditionally. Since I didn't know till the last minute if I'd be working any of the four-day weekend (I'm not, none of it) th'Mr didn't get a turkey. We both agree I can (and do!) bake a turkey any time, not just on holidays, so he decided he'd like to do a couple nice steaks on the grill. Our Thanksgiving dinner was:

New York Strip Steak
Steamed Asparagus
Green Bean Casserole
Stuffing
Strawberry Cheesecake

Today I need to take Astro to the car shop for a tune up - she's chugging and gasping - and we need to get groceries (last night the dog ate catfood and the cats ate tuna). But right now I'm going to sit here and watch it snow.

knitting before coffee

Sunday. It's early. Haven't had coffee. Well, the cup is there but still full. It's seven AM; some of the guys have started working. Double time today. Not me. But I'm up, have been reading a little (Sudden Fiction), now poured coffee and thought, "drink this first cup then get in the shower." Thought I'd knit a little, while I drink that first cup, the one before the shower. Picked up the Aran. Row 15, a front-side row. I'm knowing & loving this pattern. First come fifteen stitches in moss stitch. Moss stitch is like seed stitch --alternate knit and purl stitches-- but you change every second row instead of every row. So I've worked it out - on the wrong side rows I follow the leader, on the right side rows I do something new. So I'm on row 15, a right side row. I'm looking at a knit stitch, so my first stitch will be a purl. Remember, this is before coffee, though my first cup sits there, only one sip gone. My first stitch will be purl. Look. I've purled twelve.

DSL

Still need a router and ethernet card(s?) to get my box into the high-speed loop, but for now it's wonderful to be online the same time th'Mr is; not to have to take turns using the one phone line. He, wanting to demonstrate how fast pages load :) asked me to give him a url to a page I thought he hadn't ever been to... so I sent him here.

Continuing the new high-tech lifestyle, I now have a cellphone. Last time I had a cellphone they didn't make the "folding" models yet. How luddite-like is that?

About knitting, Friday night I'd made it all the way to the shoulder join on Q's modular Zimmerman only to --Saturday morning in the tub-- doublecheck the book and realize I'd done the split wrong - 1/8-1/8-1/2-1/8-1/8 instead of 1/8-1/4-1/4-1/4-1/8, and after only a little thought (and after getting out of the tub) ripped it back to the row where I cast off for the sleeve holes. Saturday afternoon I worked it back to where I'd been before frogging! Gratifying. But then, instead of continuing on into the hood during last nights' movie I chickened out and instead cast on a pair of socks in the Bernat pattern (I think that's where I'm going with them) in cranberry wool-ease. Aranmor waits patiently, within two rows of changing to larger needles.

I worked Friday, making a fifty-hour week, and th'Mr made the 200-mile round trip to pick me up at work, making my weekend a little longer. Tomorrow morning (Monday) he'll take me back to work.

Some time today I hope to finish the modular and get back into Aranmore. In the meanwhile th'Mr has requested another pair of "house socks," and hinted he'd wear a hand-knit cardi, as long as it isn't too colorful or textured. I welcome pattern suggestions.

WIPs and travel

The modular for Q as I predicted was too small, but now I have his little measurements to use next time. He'll be three in December. He loved the jacket anyway (such a sweet kid) --sorry I didn't get any pictures-- and when someone tried to put it on Black Bear he said, "no! that's my jacket!" Yup, I do have to make him one that fits, and soon.



I'm almost done with the Celtic Cable scarf. It was getting a little tedious, but I'm now able to work it without looking at the pattern, so it's going much faster (and thinking instead of reading the pattern takes away the tedium). Been a nice confidence builder, witness: I began Aranmor this weekend.



Swatched on eights, as the pattern suggested, and was much too loose. So off to the Muncie Hobby Lobby where I bought a couple cheap plastic circulars, #4 & #6, swatched on the sixes and was happy, and began the ribbing pattern on the #4 needles. I've finished rows 1-6 and have begun the row 7-12 3x repeat.

Trip to Muncie was nice, FIL looks healthy and says he feels great (he's had one chemo series so far), and it's always nice to see all the family there. Need to visit more often, but it's a 500-mile round trip...

While there, though, we went to Target to find him a Bunn coffeepot (no luck) and I finally broke down and bought a "purse" big enough to carry my knitting without looking ridiculous. It's a diaper bag. I love it so far.



I've had a sleeping pill & a cranberry/vodka; waiting for both to kick in so I can get some sleep and WORK ON A MONDAY for a change.

surprise!

It's Monday, and I'm not at work.

It is really hard for me to leave home Monday mornings (and easy for th'Mr to convince me not to go). Imagine how hard it would be if I were leaving every morning, instead of just once a week!

It's not a great idea financially, though. At least I don't have to worry about losing my job. I'll have that till it ends, unless I really screw up (fail a drug test, get caught with a camera, etc).

Haven't seen any hummingbirds in three or four weeks, but I'm leaving the feeders up a little longer for stragglers. The goldfinches are all now brownfinches. Overnight temperatures have been in the forties. The leaves are turning -- maybe it'll be a pretty fall. Maybe the cold weather will pass as quickly as the summer seemed to. I'm already ready for spring, and planting.

We're back on forties

Thursday afternoon the Powers That Be decided that for now we're working forty-hour weeks. I was unprepared, so had to go back to the apartment for stuff - my laundry, for one thing - before heading home. I do love three-day weekends.

Friday we cleaned a little, we grocery shopped, and I cooked chicken to go into a pot pie. Saturday we went to a little book fair at the Morgan county HS, bought & sold books (they had a dollar table, and I dropped ten real easily) and had a pretty nice time - Brosies were there, as were Hughes', Dicks, and others we see only at these events; Sunday is today, and we spent time together while finishing up preparing for the week ahead.

Next weekend is the Sturgis book fair, but we may go to Muncie instead. th'Mr's dad is sick with something called pre-leukemia and Sis is worn out with worrying over him. Our turn.

Tonight we had a surprise visitor; a HS teacher from Carter county wanted to talk to th'Mr about how to get started writing. Was interesting, though I wandered off to knit after a few minutes. Was funny the little dog had gone off, barking at the back door; th'Mr and I thought it was over some noise I'd made in the kitchen, and I said something along the line of, "STFU Grrrl, there's nobody out there," when came the answer, "oh, but there is."

'K, it's now time for me to take my nine o'clock Sunday sleepy pill - so I don't wake up at two ayem and stay awake till the alarm goes off at four.

The week in knitting

This week at work I knat on Q's EZ modular jacket. When I say "knitting at work" I mean primarily at break & lunch - rarely do I have the chance to knit other times (while at work). It's hard to carry knitting around on a construction site --not as if I'm carrying a purse (well, a toolbag some of the time, but it's way too subject to getting dirty or shredded in there), though that is what I had in mind when I got cargo pants-- instead I have a block of wood and sometimes whittle a little when I'm in the field and we're having slack time.

Shit, this post was supposed to be about knitting and here I am talking about work.

So, yesterday I finished the hood, kitchenered it together and picked up stitches for one of the sleeves. Expect I'll finish it next week. Pictures will be posted here.

Sis sent a pic of Q and Black Bear, but BB is getting severely hugged and it's hard to see the jacket he's wearing. I'll scan & post it anyway. Hopefully Q will feel the same way about his own jacket.

VJ at work, when I was working on the cuff of th'Mr's red & black sock, asked was I knitting a beer coozie? And suggested I should. Yesterday I told him I'd try that and said since he'd given me the idea the first one --the demo-- would be his. He requested orange & blue (some pro sport team - I forget which) and accordingly I stopped at ACMoore on the way home to pick up a skein of orange Wool Ease.

There's no orange in evidence. Maybe after Hallowe'en it'll be an easier color to find. Of course I browsed the three aisles of yarn at ACM and of course something yummy was on serious sale; I ended up buying all the Moda Dea wool/nylon blend in the color blue Sara F once told me was most flattering on me. No idea what I'm going to do with it or how much yarn the eventual project will take, but it was half price and all one dye lot, so with a vague notion of "hat & mittens? scarf?" I spent my fifteen bucks and now have 625 yards of it.

The ball band says 20 sts 26 rows to 4" on #8 so I'm swatching on #6 (because I knit tight? No, because #6 is what I grabbed on the way out the door to pick up a pizza) and two rows into the swatch it looks like I'm 17 sts to 4". Not sure if this means I should drop down a needle size or I should finish the swatch & wash it. Maybe it means I should google up the Moda Dea website.

Another suggestion I got from work, when I held up Q's jacket which is now, with the hood sewn up, actually looking like a jacket, is that I sew a "union made" and/or my name into everything I make. I think that means they like the jacket.

I also got the suggestion --again-- that if I sew I could make out selling the "do-rags" so many of them wear under their hard hats. Just the other day I saw the pattern & demo I got from CG when he was my foreman (his wife makes them), and now I'm going to make a serious effort this weekend to (1)find the pattern & demo and (2)figure out what I did wrong last time (and (3)try again).

It's getting cold and th'Mr says it's time to exchange our kitchen curtain/cat door for something heavier. Another project for this weekend: find suitable material, pin it into shape, take it to Charleston Wednesday and run it through the sewing machine. Do I need a second sewing machine? Hahahahaha.

Mom keeps asking me what I'm going to do when I get "too old" to do this kind of work. Maybe sewing/knitting is the way out. I think it's too late to do anything with "going to college in order to qualify for a 'better' job." Most college grads --BAs and MAs, I mean-- don't make as much as I do; I know that; Mom knows that. All I really want is to pay off the mortgage, pay off our biggest debts, and do the repairs necessary around the house, then we could live on a fraction of what I'm making now. That's what I want.

first full fall weekend

Today is ...Sunday? Yeah. Yesterday was the cousin's wedding, up on his old homeplace, outdoors, like ours was. Just last week while cleaning out the old entertainment center th'Mr found the tape of our wedding and we watched it. It's just been six years ago (my, how much thinner we both were). The cousin who got married yesterday was at ours, in the video. I just had a thought: let's one day take that tape up to the homeplace and let cousin & new bride P watch it. Or invite them here (maybe better, since it's VHS and many people don't have that). I'm babbling. Drink coffee now.

Dad (th'Mr Sr) and brother T with wife L & sons was down for the festivities; Dad was here when I got home Friday night but headed back to Indiana from the wedding, so we have the house to ourselves for the rest of the weekend. I see the dr on Monday, so still have two days of weekend left.

Tuesday I'll move into my apartment. It's very small, only two rooms - one of which is the kitchen (new linoleum, full size stove, refrigerator, adequate cupboards) and the other is the "other" room (new carpet, new paint, ceiling fan/light combo, two windows). The bathroom is very small and the shower is just a tiny cube, but hopefully the water heater is large. I'll be renting month to month, at least at first. $400 to move in. $250/mo rent, trash pick-up included but the rest of the utilities are mine - gas (water heater) electric (window a/c & baseboard heat) and water. No furniture. So far my packing includes two sleeping bags, a coffee pot and my craft lamp. And Dad's old microwave; he brought it down for us. (He also bought us a mower, but that's another story).

Losing track of what I wanted to write. Get another cuppa coffee now.

Friday I was back on temporary in the precip again. The powers-that-be decided one foreman's crew would go into the blue box to pull cable, and the other crew (that would be the one I'm on) would go to the FGD side. Normally I don't say a lot. Not to say I don't talk --quite the opposite is true-- but normally I don't argue or bitch a lot about what they want out of us. It's work, work by definition is something they have to pay you to do, therefore it isn't always pleasant. I shut up and do my work. This is different. When my referral says "outage" and someone else's referral says "FGD" then me going to FGD to work is like double-booking. Double-jobbing, to be exact. As if... suppose Pritchard has this little job downtown, in an office building, say, pulling belden cable (nice, easy job), wearing tennis shoes and baseball caps instead of steel toe boots and hard hats, a climate-controlled job instead of a powerhouse. Suppose they come to us one morning and say, "You'll be working on the office building job this weekend, on overtime. They've fallen behind." Oh sure, it's tempting, but it's plain wrong. And it's no different from sending us to the FGD side. FGD, if I haven't already said so, stands for Fossil-Gas Desulphurization. It's what they call "the scrubbers," which is basically the catalytic converter that will knock most of the sulphur dioxide our of the plant's emissions.

So anyway, Friday again I had the easy job of first checking my entire work area (the precipitator) to be sure nothing had tripped (plenty had), resetting tripped breakers, turning on the air conditioners, making sure all the welder six- and eight-packs were running, then sitting in the break trailer waiting to be notified in case anything went wrong. After the boilermakers quit for the day I went around & shut down all the air handler units.

This is not what I had in mind when I raised hell about not going to FGD. What I wanted was for them to stick to the original plan and put one journeyman (not necessarily me) and a foreman in the precip every Friday, in rotation, while the rest of us went into the blue box to pull cable. I'd had it the Friday before, now it was someone else's turn. The one whose turn it was didn't "get" it and was happy to go work on the FGD side (sigh) ...some people you can't teach. Enough about work. Now it's the weekend.

Dad, as predicted, was horrified when he saw the grass and went to Lowe's and bought us a lawnmower. Never mind that neither th'Mr nor I was particularly worried about it, that in fact we were charmed by the fact we've got praying mantis walking around



on the windows, never mind that in a month they'll be slashing the price on new mowers by probably a third, never mind that in a month I'll be able to afford one (at the price they are now, even)... he bought us a mower. And th'Mr mowed. It's as much about the exercise as the grass; if he mows ten minutes a couple times a day he'll have more exercise than if he doesn't.

Shorty with catnip and tall grass:

The new mower, at rest:

first short weekend

Friday I worked in the Precipitator, as usual, while the rest of the crew went into "the blue box." Every Friday one journeyman and a foreman will work the precip and the rest will pull wire in the building. At least that's the plan so far. Mostly SG (my foreman) and I sat in the break trailer, in the air conditioning. I knit th'Mr's red & black sock from cuff, through eight inches of leg, eye of partridge heel, and gusset decreases into the foot. Next week it's someone else's turn for an easy day of precip temporary (easy, unless it rains) and I'll be in the blue box sweating along with the rest of the crew on the wire pull.

After work I met th'Mr at the car shop, again dropping Astro off for them to look at Saturday morning. Again they found nothing wrong, and again after picking it up Saturday at closing time, the "service engine soon" light came on within five miles. Anyway, I dropped off the van and we went to eat at La Finca.

Saturday morning after picking up Astro we went to Big Lots. He said, "come look at this," and showed me an entertainment center they'd slashed by a third. After measuring the TV hole we went home & measured the TV, then he went back and got the piece of furniture, which I spent the rest of the day putting together. First he got all the stereo and TV components out of the old one, we took the old one apart and outside (it wasn't in good enough shape to even consider freecycling), and I painted the wall we'd exposed (I'm a good quarter of the room around in paint, now).

This morning we spent putting the stereo and TV components back into working order, and this time I finally did draw a diagram of how it all goes together. I'm tired of the trial-and-error guesswork each time we unplug all the parts from each other. It's really simple, which I suppose is why I've never written it down before, but it always takes a while to remember what it was that was so simple. Never again. Now we look at the little picture.

This afternoon we were due to go to Lexington for a KFTC meeting, but I begged off --three hours minimum hanging out in Lex, plus an hour drive each way, is way too many hours to spare out of my meager two-day weekend-- and then he decided not to go either.

I cooked us a brunch of eggs, hashbrowns, gravy and biscuits, then I had a glass of wine and a nap. A doze. A laydown while finishing a book. Whatever, it was restful.

Update, eleven PM:
I think I have an apartment! I'll look at it tomorrow after work.

more hours

They've changed our schedule; now we're working five tens (7AM to 5:30PM, Monday thru Friday), so my weekends are shorter and I'm spending four nights instead of three in hotels. It's time to look for an apartment near work.

I finished th'Mr's toboggan and it's in the washing machine. I knew was afraid it would be a little much too big. If the washer & dryer don't shrink it to the right size I'll make another. I may make another anyway. He loves the colors.

I've started in on a pair of matching socks.

Need to pick up Mom's fingerless gloves again before I forget what I had in mind. I think Dad was teasing when he said he wanted red socks, but that's what I intend to make for his birthday (November). The gloves are for Mom in December. Hey, wake up! Is this really that boring? Yes.

I didn't go to knitnight Tuesday nor workshop Wednesday in Kanawha City, nor did I make knitnight here at home Friday; th'Mr and I were going out to eat after dropping Astro-the-van at the car doctor again. On the way to work Monday Astro was seizing up and backfiring, losing power going up hill. Once it warmed up that stopped, but my mileage isn't as good as it was; there's definitely something wrong.

So fast...

I wonder if there's a reason time goes by faster the older you get. If one's heartbeat slows ...or something... it would make sense for it to all be relative in some way. Thirty - thirtyfive years ago the ten (?) week summer vacation stretched on for six months of "now" time. I'm writing before coffee again; not a good idea if I don't have thick skin. Not used to writing. I like what I do for a living --well, I enjoy my job at the moment-- but I think it kills brain cells. After three months at it I'm not as (searching for a word here) as I was before. Literate? Able to express myself. Good with language.

Yesterday was a nice break: Every Friday now two journeymen will work to support the boilermakers, keeping the power on to the welders, and power in general. My crew is small now: Kelly, myself, "Benny," and Roy. We have yet another new foreman; Scott. The crew got big enough to support a second foreman and Isaac is now running "production" while Scott has taken "temporary." That's what we are, temporary (no pun intended). Our mission is to light up the areas others are working in, to supply enough places for them to plug in their grinders, drills, vacuums, to hook up the welders and replace them when they go bad (which happens quite often; the welders get hard use), to keep the air conditioners running so it's not unbearably hot between the hoppers.

To that effect we have "bangboxes" that supply 120 V power, "disconnects" the air handlers are fed off of, "six packs" and "eight packs" of welders. I spent yesterday afternoon drawing diagrams of where everything is fed from, so that Vince and Dooley, who are this week's two Friday journeymen, can quickly deal with any problems that arise.

I think I did a bang-up job with my maps. Wish I had scanned them. (As if. As if there's a scanner I could use at work. Feh.)

Yesterday's low was 45. Tomorrow's will be 36. Almost frost. I've been taking my jacket out in the evenings and wearing it in in the mornings; it's almost too cold at 6:30AM for just a tee shirt. The seasons change so fast.

I don't work Mondays

So, last Monday was a holiday and I didn't go in Tuesday either. (seems I did the same thing after fourth of July - whenever they give me a long weekend I make it longer? What's up with that?)

Really, the reason I didn't go to work Tuesday is I have been having a weird sleep pattern situation: some nights I just can't get to sleep till it's almost time to get up, and no way am I driving 100 miles and then working ten hours in what is truthfully a dangerous AND hazardous environment, on only two hours' sleep.

Near quitting time yesterday my "toolie" K said to me, "maybe if we both come in Monday they'll let us tool up together again!" He'd come in a couple hours late yesterday, and I had A-the-Liberian as a toolie all day, while when K came in he was stuck on the crew that had to move the new transformers into the unit - slow, tedious, heavy, frustrating work.

TBC

getting there

All right!
Got up and finished a book while having a tub soak, found the gloves, fixed the cucumber salad, gave the cats their liver, got in an hour of porch sitting split between cross stitching, brushing Winston and taking hummingbird pictures, started the pork roast, went to the bank & grocery while the pork cooked, dosed Grrrl and Nameless, and now I'm logging some bills at wheresgeorge.com.

Still have laundry & packing to do; I could still use a nap, and the closet light might wait another week, but I've cleaned out the fridge and have a plan for some sewing next weekend:

A couple weeks ago I bought two sets of high-thread-count sheets at a yard sale; one is queen and one is double, so both are the wrong size for our full-size bed, but if I cut a strip out of the fitted one that's too big and sew it into the one that's too small I may have two good sets of sheets when it's done. Or I'll be out seven bucks, but that's worth the lesson.

hot week

It's been in the nineties and muggy all week. At work they finally gave us some relief: "cool vests" which are canvas vests with velcro straps, containing re-freezable ice packs, and "cooling bandannas" that when soaked in water for 30 minutes will retain moisture for up to two days. It's still stifling out, and the vests are heavy. We keep the break trailer down around 65; I put on a heavy quilted jacket whenever I'm in there, and am glad to feel cold enough to need a jacket. Wednesday before afternoon break I went to the "trough" to wash my face & hands & arms and ended up impulsively filling my hard hat with water and dumping it over my head, twice. What a difference that made --especially a few minutes later in the break trailer.