Woodturning Apr29th

My latest project. This a Camphor vase that I am working on. It is about 10 inches tall and 4 inches in diameter. I am just about done working on this, it has been hollowed out and sanded. I have just started applying finish to it. I like to apply a few coats of finish to protect the piece. I still have to finish parting it off the lathe and then clean up the bottom. Then I will sand an apply several coats of finish and finally burn my name into the bottom. Other then the grain it has a knot in the side. I was happy that it stayed in I was thinking it might pop out while I was turning the inside. The oil from this wood has a really strong smell. I enjoy the smell while I am working with this wood. Plus this wood turns and sands well. The shavings from this ended up as mulch around the bushes in my front yard. It helps keep the bugs away from the bushes and we never have to buy mulch. I will post another picture of this piece when it is completely finished. Plus I will post it on my website.

Triathlon Training

I am taking a triathlon training class. Last night I went to the first meeting. It is put on by the Strider's Running Club. The class last night was very organized I was very impressed. They had all the information and had the coaches and gave a really good talk about what to expect. The meeting was held at About Bicycles in Orange park. They pulled out all the stops to make us welcome. We got our training program for April. I started my training today. I took a spinning class with Tami. Of course she was on call checking about he conflicker virus. So she was a little distracted during the training.  We get to train together a couple of times a week. So this is cool. Tomorrow is Art walk the kids and I are going to be there selling out stuff (Wood turning, Candles and Soap). So I am going to miss the first run clinic. I will be back there next week and shouldn't miss too many of the training days. I will make sure to get in some training. 

Stay tuned for more training details. The adventure continues. 

Out in my studio

Yesterday, I decided to go out and work in my studio. I selected a piece of wood from the pile. Then I proceeded to start shaping the outside of it. It is a piece of spalted Maple. The color and grain of this wood is very nice. Today I am planing on hollowing out this piece. I made quite the pile of shavings while shaping the outside of this piece and rest assured they will be put to good use. I place all my shavings under the bushes to use as mulch. I always have different colors of mulch under the bushes around the house. When I am turning a lot I will even make enough shavings for the neighbor to use for mulch around his yard. When I cut off the corners of a blank I throw them on his firewood pile and he burns that to help warm his house. Of course I make sure to check when he finds wood to see if there is anything I want to turn so it all works out for the best. He never buys wood he just finds it on the side of the road from where people put it out for yard trash. We are saving it from the land fill. I will post another picture of this piece when it is finished.

Running Downtown#3

This picture was taken about 4 miles into our run. Below there is a link to some more pictures.

Tonight was another run along the river and over the bridges. This is my very favorite place to run. The bridges make it challenging the course along the river is scenic and there is usually a breeze blowing. Tonight I ran with Tami and Laura. The riverwalk wasn't too crowded with bikes or people. It took us a little over an hour to complete the course. It was our first run back since doing the River Run last week. We are planning on running on Saturday. So stay tuned. I will post some pictures of that run. We did take pictures and I posted them on my Facebook page.    

Keeping busy

March 18th 

Today was a another busy day. Home schooling the kids. Samantha has finished one of her courses already I have to keep Ethan honest and check all of his work. He likes to do 2 pages of math and then put his book away. I have to check to make sure he does all 3 pages. I went to a spinning class today I actually sent a twitter message before class from on the bike. The class was good and I am glad I was able to go. We then went down and visited the Warwick's and saw the puppies. Then off to meet my Mom for dinner and then to teach a woodturning lesson. When I got home I went back down to the Warwick's to see if I could help with their drain. Unfortunately I was unable to get it cleared. They will have to call a professional in the morning. After getting everyone in bed I was able to watch a movie and then blog about the day. I am planning a canoeing trip to the Wacissa River this weekend so I will be able to update my other blog for the first time in a while.

The picture was taken while I was driving home from my lesson. It was right before sunset. And is just a picture from inside the car. Taken with my iPhone

Woodturning

Today I went out in my studio and did some work after the kids finished school. I made this Camphor vase. It is about 12 inches tall and probably 5 inches in diameter. It only has one coat of finish on it so far but the piece is starting to look great. I was thinking about carving on it but I am starting to have second thoughts about that. I will have to think about it for a while. I have another vase that is a much plainer wood that I will definitely do some carving on, This one may have to wait. 

Shuttle Launch

Tonight I was driving home from dinner and looked over and saw the space shuttle launching. In the picture you can see the contrail that it left in the sky. I could actually see the shuttle and the solid rocket boosters separating. They were speck of light but I could tell what they were. It is amazing how fast that thing moves. I will have to watch the news tonight to watch the thing taking off from the launch pad. I have been down further south to watch it launch and it is a very impressive thing. You can feel the ground shake. The power is very hard to explain. I thought the picture came out fairly good. I took it with my iPhone while I was driving. The hood of the car is visible in the bottom of the photo.