Last time I was talking about going back to work......almost made two weeks. There I was on Friday morning, peddling away on bicycle, headed to work. Less than a hundred yards from the building, cars were coming, I took a short piece of sidewalk. Cars went by and as I dropped off the curb, I jammed my spine. Immediate hurt. I continued on to work because I knew I wouldn't be able to walk once I stopped. I could feel my back knotting up. By the time I got into the building it was getting hard to put one foot in front of the other. By the time I made it outside the training room I could barely move. It seemed to be pinching nerves so bad it was hurting down both legs. They thought they needed to call an ambulance. I finally convinced them that just getting me home so I could lay down was best. The pain was familiar to me. I have been through it too many times.

So...I have been riding bike a lot. I had even ridden over that curb several times before going to work, just making sure I would be able to handle getting to work okay.

I think my back was hurt so easily because I was already hurting from all the sitting I was doing in training. So in a weakened state, I hurt it.

So....now what? It appears that sitting for long periods is my downfall. I have been working on building stamina by keeping moving and sitting or laying down when needed. I had not really considered what might happen if I sat for long periods. Long drives in the car hurt.

I generally hurt all the time. I guess the difference is that the sitting still hurts me while stiffening me up. So even though the movement hurts, it keeps me limber. Being limber keeps me from hurting my back so easily.

My physical therapist had a bad back injury when younger. He is quite active. He said he could never sit still for long stretches either, it hurts his back to do so. Other people I know with back injuries are the same. I don't know why I thought I would be so different.

So...what else has been happening? Always something.

Remember this picture?

That wool hat is seeming to fit rather snug and kept sliding up on my head. I have owned it for years.
When running around the woods of north Idaho, during the cold and often wet times of the year, when such a hat is needed, it generally would get stretched out once wet. It stayed stretched out and always fit well. Once I saw the picture, I realized Ye olde cover was needing stretched again. Got it wet...

Stretched it over the right size ball to dry.
 Just like new.
Ended up almost completely disassembling the new hand crank sewing machine to learn how it worked. Since the directions were in chinese, I had to sort it out myself.

The holes are the length of stitches it came sewing. You can see the short row of stitches on the top of picture after learning how to adjust. The thread tensioners also had to be moved. Well..one of them did. Singer built a machine almost identicle a long time ago. I found a picture. Not much help, but could see where the thread tensioners went.

The tripod it came with was unstable and poorly built. I attached a block of wood to the bottom so I could clamp it in a wood vise to use it.

What else? Always something.

I am working on learning the art of doing hand cut dovetails and sliding dovetails. Tried some yesterday. The saw I used is too course and big. Kind of like trying to build a grandfather clock with a chainsaw. It can be done...but is not pretty.

The first thing I tried was a sliding dovetail.
Top picture shows it ready to slide together. The bottom is what you would see on the face of whatever you were building. It is supposed to fit so tight as it comes together that glue is almost not needed.

Next was a run at a through dovetail. There is also a half blind dovetail joint that is only visible on one side. A through dovetail is seen on both sides of the joint
Like this rough cut example above. Of course...that is my first try at handcut and I don't have the right saw for fine line cutting. Practice with the wrong tools is still practice. If you remember...I have a router and template. I can do dovetails much quicker.

This is a half blind joint I did earlier on.
Why not just do these?  They are certainly quicker. Much less labor intensive. Anybody can buy a router and template. How many people do you personally know who can do handcut dovetails? I "might" know somebody. But since nobody I know has ever fessed up....I don't know.
 Do you know why dovetail joinery was so prevalent in the OLD days? Nails were expensive. A glued dovetail joint needs no nails. The dovetails were considered ugly, so were hidden by trim or used where they were not so visible. Odd how we now tend to see them as a strong ornamental joint that shows one's craftsmanship.

Whatever...it is a new skill I will learn and use on boatwork. I also noticed it is much quieter and makes much less mess to cut them by hand ;-)

Looks like we are driving out Saturday to look at a van for me. It is time for me to have a vehicle. I may still be able to work at Vacation Myrtle Beach part time. There are other jobs available that will better suit my special needs. Once owning a van...I intend to put out an ad for work as a handyman. I understand there is a need. I also know how to fix about anything.
 I think that will be right up my alley. Also a good practice run for what I will be doing in Marathon.

 Steve and Linda Franko sent me the raw water pump off their Onin generator. A new pump is rediculously priced. Rebuild kits do not seem available. There is a belt driven pump available for it(also expensive). I have time. I am going to poke around at an idea I have this winter and see if it can be done.

Almost forgot. I decided to use a sewing machine motor on my paint mixer.

It works quite well.

I just have to share this. One of Jon's soccer games was played on this field.

They watered all the surrounding grass on the large school grounds. Also charged a higher admission for the game. I wonder if it was to buy a hose and sprinkler for the field