10/28/2018

It’s been an interesting weekend. I came in with an honorable mention at the Halloween party, good for two $5 Starbucks cards. Ancient red cloak from the haunt days in storage, stitched back up with a new tied neck knot button, my mechanical hand, red steam punk goggles. I need to get a picture from someone who has it.

Yesterday Saturday I worked on a soundboard in redwood for the next soprano ukulele build. I cut a piece of mahogany at an angle for the neck head after surfacing it to flat. Not really flat as I’d like, saved some dust for filler.

I also cooked up a batch of beef stroganoff for a couple lunches and one then, tasty.

Joe sent me a note, Brice on the Geyserville planning committee is having a party at the stallion sculpture lot to carve pumpkins. Sounds like fun. I showed up and carved a few, saved some seeds and roasted them later, good times.

Today I slept in, then headed to town for free Bucky’s coffee on the card. There is a gem show at the Santa Rosa fair grounds and a flee market in the Vet’s hall lot. I scored an emerald and a string of amethyst beads, plus a nice forstner drill bit cheap at the flea market.

At the car show in town, I dropped off half the roasted pumpkin seeds at Brice’s booth. Simply salted and roasted at 350 F.

Back home, I cooked up a batch of primo chicken soup, with cabbage, parsnips, all the main veggies, a superior blend, four buckets.

Laundry day, and I cut out the neck in mahogany for the next soprano uke. I stacked the heal blocks and glued them, this will be a good neck. The clamped back is now flat, the soundboard is tight.

Bend the sides next.

I have begun to sand the bass uke 2 back to flush with the sides, slow process, coming along.

Back to work in the morning.

10/8/2018 Columbus Day

Another interesting weekend. Three days as they gave us Columbus day off paid, excellent. Too bad I had a dentist appointment, crown install so no pain.

Let’s see, Saturday a fun trip to the farmers market. I spent the rest of the day installing the new stove. I had to change the jets to propane. That was a challenge mostly because I had to find all the tools. It’s in and works OK, no frills, not even a clock, but the oven is correct according to my thermometer.

Sunday, a binge on Netflix, Hawaii five-O, laundry, then some cooking. I made a batch of primo chicken soup. I took a walk to the river and back the long way around. I wanted to make a Cocido, Spanish beef and tomato stew with garbanzos, but I’m missing a few ingredients, mainly sherry and red bell pepper. I did buy some organic garbanzo beans dry, and put them on to soak overnight, but for a different purpose. I drew out my logo on the inside back for the UB2 bass.

Then I prepared the clamps for the back. I moved them around until I had good coverage with the different styles of clamps. I left it in place unglued overnight.

Today at the dentist I gave the assistant a couple guitar picks for her son as he’s learning guitar. I don’t use them and they come free with the uke strings I buy. A stop at Trader Joe’s after for sherry but they’re out, and I forgot the bell pepper. I did get a few odds and ends. Next door at Bevmo they had sherry and my favorite beer.

Back home I made a batch of Cocido for lunch and work lunches. I left out the pepper but added another fresh tomato instead. I tastes great, something like Dad used to make, but different without the bells.

Next on the agenda, Falafels. Chopped garlic, onions, and parsley. Using Gary’s tiny food processor in several small batches I chopped up the soaked chickpeas and veggies to a course paste. I added 1 Tbsp. corn starch to thicken it and avoid gluten for some. Salt, cumin, coriander, I can’t find any cardamom, left out. Added some canned garbanzo juice as I have some left from the cocido instead of eggs as this stuff mimics egg whites well. I rolled up 11 balls, deep fried in canola oil. excellent, though they could use some more salt. I froze the larger batch for future use in a plastic zip bag. Chopped lettuce and tomato bagged with mustard dill sauce and a pita for lunch tomorrow in style.

I took a picture of the electronics inside the UB2.

Then I glued it and clamped the back in place.

I re-posted the add to sell my boat Frolic on Craigslist for a bargain price. Wrote this to post.

A good long weekend.

9/30/2018

Fun weekend of Hexenfest up at the local Isis Oasis hippy commune. Raven took the gypsy wagon up there and sold coffee and drinking chocolate. She did alright.

I’m making lasagna for the potluck this Wednesday. Problem, my stove oven died due to the mice ate the electric cord. I’ll get a new one from the landlord but not until Friday. I dug out a kitchen torch from stuff should work well enough to brown the top and the microwave will finish the cheese melt OK. Cooking for a crowd with minimal tools. Total organic sauce from the farmer’s market with help from Trader Joe’s tomatoes.

It rained yesterday, Hurray, first since spring. That should stop any more fires, wonderful. We’re all grateful.

I worked on the second bass uke today, added the electrics and drilled the holes in the bridge for the strings. I made the holes big enough to fit the fat nylon strings even though I’m using smaller wire wounds.

The gypsy wagon move back to home came off without a hitch, thanks to Syntha, a gypsy friend.

Good times, back to work tomorrow.