Odds & Ends

Travel (Cleveland, Fremont, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Atlanta, Oklahoma, Duluth and Denver) is picking up which means boat work is necessarily slowing down. And we haven't been able to do all the traveling we planned this summer: We missed the sailing vacation to the Upper Peninsula. Progress comes in fits and starts between trips but there is progress.

And, even though it is August - with warm temperatures and high humidity - I know cold winter weather is lurking on the horizon. So, there is motivation to get as much done before temperatures drop too low for epoxy and paint. As the saying goes, I'll have to make hay while the sun shines…

There are two thickness planers in my shop. One is a basic Ryobi I bought used three years ago. It has served me well but it needs new blades - or it needs the existing (two-sided) blades changed around - and a good cleaning. New blades have been ordered and I will check the existing blades before installing the new ones. The other planer is a Delta planer with more bells and whistles than the Ryobi but the lifting mechanism is stuck (the planer sat in the barn for at least four years before I found it last fall). No amount of penetrating oil and leverage has budged it. The plan is too take it apart, figure out why it is stuck, correct it and reassemble the planer. One hesitation is, how do I get it properly aligned when reassembling it? Then it occurred to me, the planer is useless now so I can't make it worse... That little project may wait until that cold winter weather shows up later in the year.

Having completed this year's Pedal to the Point bicycle ride, my brother and I decided we want to do the Courage Classic, a three-day event, in Colorado next July. So, now I need to figure out how to train for the hills/mountains and altitude of Colorado here in the flat lands of Michigan. I need to get cracking on that as the Courage Classic is only 48 weeks away...

Travel, boat work, wood work, tool maintenance and bicycle training... plenty of odds and ends to keep me busy!