Pot Pouri with a contest (of sorts)

 Just a short post today, as I've mentioned, we're off to College Station today until Friday to assist MBD and The Rev in prepping their new home for move in.  I believe this week's focus is on painting and refinishing but could be mistaken.

Also, congratulations to The Rev for graduation from the seminary.  He is now OFFICIALLY "The Rev". Call Sign to be italicized because...Well because I said so.

 On a similar note, one of my best friends from working in the school district days is retiring soon.  When I retired, they gave me a pen and pencil set which was, well let's just say "Spesh-ULL" So I decided I'd make her one myself.  I'm using Olive Wood for the Pen and Pencil and Bloodwood for the case.  Why, you may ask? Well, the Olive Wood was harvested from Bethlehem. No, Beans, not Pennsylvania, Israel.  Why Bloodwood? Well you know the other end of that Bethlehem story. Although, proceeding into retirement isn't quite the same reward as ascension into Heaven, it still is a pretty good reward.  

But, I think she'll be thrilled by the gift.  

In any case, I decided I'd better practice a bit and hone my turning skills before I went all in on the actual gift.  But first...

I decided to straighten up my shop.  Took about a week and a couple of bazillion trips to the dump.

But...

One might notice the nearly finished (only one more coat of sealant needed) project in the background.  Mrs. J wanted two and I adhered to her wishes.

Second one's on the left

Now, where was I?  Oh yeah...Shop straightened up, I finished that and started turning the pen blanks.  Once done with that step, I started putting the finish on them.  I decided after watching a boat load of videos to try a CA Glue finish.  I'd done it once before, but got, at different times, both my finger and a polishing rag stuck to the wood be pen.  One was painful to get off, the other was just a finger.

But in the spirit of  "Never Give Up...Never Surrender", I tried again.

One layer on

The 8 coats of CA (6 thin and 2 medium thick) later, I though it looked pretty good, so I continued on and broke out the plastic polish.

Finished Blanks

Now the pen blanks looked really fantastic (IMHO) and I got excited about the project, and learned a very important lesson.  I took the blanks off the mandrel (the axle the pen blanks spin on during turning) and did the final sanding of the ends to remove any excess glue/finish.

Then broke out the pen press and started inserting all the internal parts.  And Voila!

Decided this needed to go to Mrs. J for all the help, guidance and love she's given me all the years.

Also, because I made one pretty big mistake.

I think, but could be mistaken, that Sarge has offered up a large reward to the first commenter who posts the correct answer of what that mistake is.

Anyone?

On a couple of minor notes.  Spring has been extremely windy (Booo!) but decently rainy.

That's in one night.  While 2" isn't much in Sarge or Bean's part of the world, it's a significant percentage of our annual average rainfall.  So...

Thank you, Lord!

So, took the Mom's in my group (Mrs. J and LJW) out to lunch yesterday at a local winery.  Very nice meal.  Good Wine.  Fun Conversation.  At one point, I was asked to go bring something in from the car.  Right next to our parking spot, a group was loading up to go home.  Walking by their car, I noticed an older gentleman standing there as his son was helping his wife into the car.  I also happened to notice that his car had a USAF sticker on the rear as well as an F-4 sticker.  I asked him if he'd been a pilot.  He said yes.  Seems he'd started flying fighters in the P-80 progressed through the F-86 and F-100 and his last flying slot was in the F-4.  I related my flying career and the intersection thereof in the F-4.  We talked for about 20 minutes swapping flying stories til his son said they needed to leave.  He left me with a final story.  Apparently, when the Thunderbirds converted to the F-4, they did it at George.  He served as their IP and when qualified, they invited him to fly along in a few shows. We talked about each of the airplanes he'd flown and he asked about the Eagle.  It was cool to relay stories to someone who could identify with them (for both of us.) It really made my day to meet him.

Went grocery shopping the other day. (Yes, Beans, cooking meals and doing the grocery shopping is my job.  Mrs. J's job is planning large and expensive vacations for her customers.  I'm good with the arrangement especially when the commission check comes in.)  In any case, I was pontificating over what we should have for Mother's Day Eve (we had plans for the actual day) just her and I.  Rounded the Corner in the HEB meat department and found the perfect idea.

Yes, my friends that is a boneless ribeye sliced almost all the way through down the middle leaving it about 1" thick on both sides.  That one was priced at $31.  Went over to the normal steak area in the meat department.  This one was cheaper than two of the same weight bought separately.  Done Deal!  Cooked it on the Barbecue (Charcoal, Tuna, not gas) to what I deamed perfection.  Served it with my "Perfectly Baked Potatoes", a Caprese Salad,  a bottle of Australian Shiraz and it turned into a sweet evening.

So, as I said at the beginning, off to College Station we go, an ample store of Ben-Gay is packed.  We'll be back on Friday and we'll try to check in regularly, but.

Peace Out, Y'all!