Granny's Fiddle Update

Well it's been a while since I hung an update on my fiddle making out here. I've learned a couple of interesting things since the last time I blogged about it.


I've learned that I'm good at sharpening gouges ... and at applying band-aids to my fingers.

I've come to realize that by the time my fiddle is completed, it will be readily identifiable by my DNA. I may not have to stain it. Okay, so I exaggerate somewhat for effect.


I have also learned some technique for using gouges. When I started this project, my woodworking tool skills were limited to sandpaper and a knife for making stick to roast wienies. Up until now, I've been using a gouge and a beech mallet and bashing my way through the back of this poor piece of maple. Today I found out how to use the gouge a little more gently.


Here is the picture from a while back of the back along with the picture from today ... post-blister. You can see it's starting to take shape around the edges and I've worked my way further into the centre.


I'm starting to see a fiddle emerging from what was once a solid slab of bird's eye maple.

Outrageous, but true.

Okay, this sounds outrageous, but it's true. It sounds silly, but who cares, if it works.

It seems there are a lot of colds going around that go away, leaving you with a persistent cough. The cough seems to hang on for weeks. If you start coughing during the night and can't seem to get stopped, here's the thing to do.

Put Vick's Vaporub on the soles of your feet, then put on socks. Within minutes, the cough completely stops. Ken has had this night-time cough for the last week or so, and he'd been putting the Vick's on his feet, at first with a bit of skepticism, now he's convinced.

The nice thing is that Vick's Vaporub has almost all natural ingredients. Here's the listing from the Vick's web-site:

Active Ingredients (Purpose)
Camphor 4.8% (Cough suppressant and topical analgesic)
Eucalyptus oil 1.2% (Cough suppressant)
Menthol 2.6% (Cough suppressant and topical analgesic)
Inactive Ingredients
Cedarleaf oil, nutmeg oil, special petrolatum, thymol, turpentine oil

Still not convinced, here's the link to Snopes.com.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/vaporub.asp

It may sound hokey, but if it works better than taking cough suppressants (chemical stew), why not?!?!

Ontario Driver's Handbook 2007 Updates

Time to review the Driver's Handbook!

1. Turn signals will give away your next move. A confident Ontario driver avoids using them.

2. Under no circumstance should you maintain a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, because the space will be filled in by somebody else, putting you in an even more dangerous situation.

3. The faster you drive through a red light, the less of a chance you have of getting hit.

4. Warning! Never come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it and it will result in your being rear-ended.

5. Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive bodywork, especially with P.Q. or Maritime plates. With no insurance, the other operator has nothing to lose.

6. Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to ensure that your ABS kicks in, giving a vigorous, boot massage as the brake pedal violently pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it's a chance to strengthen your leg muscles.

7. Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right. It's a good way to prepare other drivers entering the highway.

8. Speed limits are arbitrary figures; given only as a suggestion and are not enforceable in
Ontario during rush hour, especially in the GTA.

9. Just because you're in the left lane and have no room to speed up or move over doesn't mean that an Ontario driver flashing his high beams behind you doesn't think he can go faster in your spot.

10. Always brake and rubberneck when you see an accident or even someone changing a tire. This is seen as a sign of respect for the victim.

11. Learn to swerve abruptly without signaling. Ontario is the home of high-speed slalom-driving . . . thanks to the Department of Public Works, which puts pot-holes in key llocations to test drivers' reflexes and keep them alert.

12. It is tradition in Ontario to honk your horn at cars in front of you that do not move within three milliseconds of the light turning green.

13. To avoid injury in the event of a collision or rollover, it is important to exit your vehicle through the windshield right away. Wearing your seat belt will only impede your hi-velocity escape from danger.

14. Remember that the goal of every Ontario driver is to get ahead of the pack by whatever means necessary.

15. In Ontario, 'flipping the bird' is considered a polite salute. This gesture should always be returned.


Thank You From, The Ontario Registrar of Motor Vehicles

I'd like be so bold as to add another.

Should your brakes fail, don't worry about the other drivers on the road, or your passengers, any fool can stop a car with no brakes, in an emergency. ( Oh, wait, maybe that's just my family members!) Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Muggins Has Been At It Again

Muggins has posted on her blog.

www.mugginsworld.blogspot.com

Two Drivers??

So Muggins seems to like the new truck .... she helps Ken with the driving. She sits very straight in the front seat, watching the road the road in front of the truck attentively.

Muggins' New Post

Muggins has posted on her blog.

www.mugginsworld.blogspot.com

Maple Syrup Time

Well today was the big day. Spring was in the air and we were pumped!! The birds were singing, the sun was shining, it was a balmy 1ºC.

Gryper and I set the spiles in the maple trees today and hung the pails. We've got thirty pails just waiting for that sweet elixir of spring ... maple sap. Meanwhile, Ken and Mrs Gryper hung the tarp over the evaporator and got ready for the first bucketfuls to get boiled.

Fiddling Granny finishes another sweater

So I've had a busy year for knitting .... I just finished a sweater for Ken this aft. It doesn't show well in the picture, but it's a bulky knit pullover with a cable up the front. The same cable is repeated up the saddle sleeves, that meets below the collar on the back.

Here it is:

Sleep Disturbances

I woke up Sunday morning at 2:16 to the sound of laughing. I know the time because I asked Ken ... the laughing wakened him too.

It wasn't just that far away, off in the distance, party on the other side of the lake kind of laughing. It was really nearby. It wasn't just a quiet laugh, it was that really uncontrollable, I-can't-stop-myself, tears-running-down-my-face kind of laughter.

When I was awakened, I had been dreaming something about canoes. I can't really recall the dream, just that it involved canoes. The puzzling part is, there's nothing particularly funny about canoes.

On that morning, however, found something extraordinarily funny about them at 2:16. I was unable to stop laughing. Tears rolled down my face as Ken, puzzled over the whole issue. Yeah well, duh, I'm puzzled too!