kelseybacon.com

I am in forced time off from working with DoorDash due to my driver’s license having gone expired. We are falling behind on bills as the days go by. It is a painful situation. But I am at home with my wife and kids and working on how to make a living doing other things, which for us is making things on the farm.

I have almost got the roadside firewood stand ready to open. I have the wood for the roof on and the metal ready as soon as I get the roofing screws for it. I have the honor box in place, and I am working on the signage. I know how it is all going to come out, apart from cutting the lettering into the main sign, and burning an instruction sign with the laser. But everything is coming together. I plan on selling loose firewood, rather than packaged, so someone can just load what they need. I want them to go for $1.00 per piece, and they will be bigger than what can be bought at the stores around here and will usually made from poplar. I hope it will generate an income more than it does theft. But there is only one way to find out. Tomorrow or the next day it should be done. Depends on what else is going on around here.

One of the kids is coming down later today to work on the car and visit. He will also be welcome to work on the firewood if we are going into business together on this. It will be good to see him either way. In spite of the legends and lore, we parents actually do like our kids.

I have tried and tried to make a video for YouTube. It is nigh on impossible for me, though. Turns out that in spite of all my fanciful dreams, I may not actually be an actor, or even the person with the talents to be one. I cannot even act normal in front of a camera. I know part of it is to do with a lack of scripting. I am not confident and feel like I am reaching for what to say. So I have to give credit to those on YouTube who are making it work, and making it interesting, and making videos where they are conversing to the camera and thus the audience just as though they were talking to a person next to them. I find that hard.

Missus and I photographed many of the candle products I make yesterday, and she set me up with a place to keep them all ready to ship out. She is going to edit the photos and list the products later today, or tomorrow.

Here, for example, is an unedited image of my hand dipped birthday candles. Posh! I’d only ever think someone would buy one for their cake and just use that. But of course, they are welcome to buy as many as they need. I’d love to see a little group of three on a small cake if it were me, and larger cakes maybe two groups of three, for example. Ignore the numbering by age and just use a few to do the trick.

I have candles and wax nuggets for tools and sewing applications. I use some wax on the bottom of my hand planes, and I can see why nobody makes corrugated bottomed planes anymore. It’s just not necessary as the wax permits the plane to slide like butter on the wood, making it much easier to work down those high spots and level out the surface. It lasts a bit, too. It is not like I put it on every few strokes, or something. I put it on a couple of times at most while working a board’s surface.

As I understand it, wax can be run onto a thread for sewing applications, and I would imagine threading a needle. I am not experienced in sewing. But I am aware it is an application.

I have done a little work on the table I am making for the entry. The most important piece of it warped after I thought I had it all settled and shaped. I have tried to recover it by cutting it into three pieces and reversing one, then gluing them all back together. I put in tongue and groove to help hold it, but you know, you just can’t reverse a twist out of a board by putting one of the pieces in the opposite direction. The twist comes back the same! But I will have reduced cupping and bowing, so there is that. I may have to counter the twist elsewhere, such as with stout leg stretchers. This is kind of problematic. But I can leave it to settle again in the final location, I suppose, then see if it returns to straight. Then I can put the stretchers in place, and cut the bottoms of the legs to level it. Goodness! This is a fun problem!

Right! It is coming up to 4:30 in the morning. I am tired again and need the little sleep I can grab before it is time to take the kids to school. Try not to think too much, and don’t worry. Things will have to work out somehow! If not, then at least I will have had a bit of time off to refresh, and a bit of time to work on some things I have been behind on. Relax. Sleep.