Friday, October 20, 2017

Warren the Lumberjack

Because someone asked me about blog updates a few days ago, I figure it is time for an update.

And the update is ....

Nothing new to report!

Which is good news.

I am now in the middle of Cycle 57 - each is 21 days long. I am still in the clinical trial of  Panobinostat - combined with the standard "RVD" therapy. I go to Dana-Farber on days 1 and 8, so I was there (with Barbara) on Wednesday. Numbers seem to be mostly holding, though they are not quite as good as they were a few months ago. The doctors tell me that my treatment has greatly slowed down the disease. There are many side effects to deal with. Too many to mention. Most are minor. None that I view as a really big deal.

So, with that out of the way, I will move over to more pleasant topics.

Autumn here at the lake has been spectacular: warm clear days with very little rain. Almost makes up for the lousy June we had. Of course, it also signifies that summer is over. Well, we knew that summer had to end eventually. We took the boat out of the water this year before it got really cold - which was uncharactertisticly smart on our part. Normally I like to wait for a rainy, freezing cold day.

Unfortunately, the cold and wet June did not help my garden much. This year, I decided to focus my efforts on my New Hampshire garden. Wanting an early harvest, I planted two full rows of radishes. I got a total of three radishes. I share the garden area with a neighbor and when I complained about my harvest, he said, "Don't feel bad. I only got one."




I had three good tomato plants that all seemed to be headed for bountiful productivity, but these suffered a sudden, well planned, and very effective attack, by Tomato Horn Worms. They removed very leaf from all my plants in a few days while I was not looking. Clever beasts, they are. Though I must say that in the long run, things did not end well for them. Good thing I discovered them when I did. If they had gotten any bigger, I am not sure who would have won the battle.

I also set a couple of zucchini plants. These always grow and produce bountiful veggies. In 30 years of gardening, I have never had zucchinis fail. These failed. 

Other than that the garden was very successful. Oh - wait. That is all I planted. Almost. But I did have reasonably (good) luck with wax beans and since those are my favorite veggies and the plants are still producing (slightly), I am very happy about that.

I spent a lot of time over the summer in my wood shop. On nice days, I open the two garage doors in front of the shop. This lets in the sunlight and often a nice breeze. Also mosquitos.

I "turned out" a couple of very nice vase shaped turnings as well as two bowls as graduation gifts for our nieces.



Then, someone gave me 3 cherry logs, each 16' long that had been sitting in their back yard for several years. Some rot had started, but there was lots of good wood remaining. Then someone else offered me some Black Walnut which has me totally excited, though so far, they have delivered only two pieces (from New Jersey). And over the last few days, I found an ash tree on my property that had fallen. I cut it up yesterday and it looks like there is some very interesting wood in there. As you can see from the image below, I have been busy with Lumberjack Activity.



And I am in the middle of another project to convert a treadmill that I found at the dump into a drum sander. That should be interesting if it works.

In fact, I have been creating so much sawdust and wood chips with my chainsaw and my lathe that Barbara says that my shop looks like the inside of a hamster cage. I have been eating a lot of nuts lately. I wonder if the two facts are related. I have also found that I can store acorns in my cheeks.