Fall colors

This is the stereotypical fall colors. Beautiful, majestic, and a tell tale sign of the changing seasons. This is the top image when searching "fall colors" on google images.

Yep, I got your fall colors right here. Crap, nobody told me when I moved here that I would have to rake 2 tons of leaves annually. Actually the fall colors are on the curb waiting to be hauled away. I spent my entire afternoon raking and transporting leaves to the curb. Amazingly I was able to do both front and back yards. Okay, maybe not amazing to everyone but I was pretty pleased to take on the entire yard and come out on top. Of course the day ends with me grumpy, tired, sore, and a bit buzzed (raking is a good excuse to drink beer all afternoon). Here is one of my piles...


Temperatures have been droping into the 30-40's at night. During the day we are posting up at around 50-55. Not bad, but definitely time to bust out my winter gear to tackle any outdoor activities. Today I donned my Mountain Gear thermal fleece. That coat is amazing. At less than 1/8" thick it has me sweating at anything over 60 degrees and it seems to be good down to about 40 degrees with only a t-shirt under it.

In the garage...
Some goodies this week. Packages have arrived. Erin hasn't said much. She did inquire about last nights package, so I showed her my ass. Err, my horse but that is. Yep, that's right got me some good'ol horse but leather to strop my blades. That stuff is tough, arguably the toughest leather available.

I have my first catch and release in the books this weekend as well. I cleaned up my extra no6 and promptly sold it to another woodworker. I would say at a profit, but that would be foolhearty since I spent about 4 hours tooling on it and some money on supplies. I think I broke even in a sense that selling it paid for the supplies to clean it and 2 other planes. I also take a rusty hunk and return it to service. I can't save the world, but putting good made in the USA tools back into service just makes me feel good in the patriotic sense.

Also in the garage, big'ol rocks. Yep, I got big stones. Wanna see?

Them are some good'ol fashioned Arkansas stones. I have only sharpened one blade with them, but I gotta say WOW. They work great and don't erode like the synthetic stones. These are 10x3x1 in size and are what I would consider an heirloom since even if I used them daily I still wouldn't be able to wear through them in my lifetime. In contrast my Norton waterstones loose about .010-.020" per sharpening session. This is another instance that I am reminded that we are duped as consumers in this century. We are sold that the latest and greatest sharpening stones are where it is at. Of course nobody bothers to mention that these hot new stones will only last a few years. Dang, why do I keep learning all this the hard way.

Thanks to Microsoft. Wait, did I just say that. Okay, evil empire aside MS has a cashback promo that is currently returning about 25% on purchases with buy-it-now on e-bay and paypal. MS Live Search Cashback
It does take a while to get cash back, but rebate programs offering 20-30% back just don't come along every day. I recommend you check it out if you have anything on your e-bay shopping list.

Sorry, no woodworking this weekend. Just house cleaning and yard work. Gotta do the dirty stuff sometimes. Thanks for reading and take care.