Occasionally, I'm just too embarrassed to tell the wife...

So, my youngest son likes to sit on a particular heating vent in the corner of his room.

He loves this thing.  He will sit or stand on it, warming the pertinent body part, especially in the morning when it's a bit cold in his room and we are trying to get the other kids ready for school.

This morning, of course, our rather sick 2 year old is sitting in his favorite spot when he overflows his diaper with diarrhea.  A rather neutral colored, light tan, with small to moderate chunks, should you care to know (this becomes important later).  Katie found him with "stuff" running down his bum and--you guessed it--into the vent.

So I am called in my manly capacity of "corrector of all things house-related" to clean up the poo in the vent.  Fortunately, there is a short segment of ductwork that runs horizontally before a vertical shaft drops directly into the main airshaft, allowing localization of what could have been a whole-house catastrophe.

A few paper towels later I have most of it cleaned up.  I call the oldest boy to bring a flashlight so that I can evaluate need for further cleanup.  As you can see in the picture above, this vent is in the corner of the room and not exceptionally well-lit.  So you really have to crank your way around this thing, and get very low to the carpet, to see in it.

As I am peering into the poorly lit but highly odiferous hole, I note with initial dismay a cool/wet sensation on my forehead as it touches the carpet just on the wall side of the hole.  Dead center, right at the hairline, in point of fact.

For those who have not seen me in a while, "right at the hairline" is likely further north than you are currently thinking.

So I sit up with a dime sized spot of poo that nearly perfectly matches the color of the carpet centered in the above named area on my head.  And for once, I am thankful that "right at the hairline" represents considerably more distance than it did in days of yore.

I am additionally thankful for the entire roll of paper towels situated conveniently near my side.  And for the fact that the wife and kids left soon after, enabling the second shower of the day.

At times I am convinced that my wife thinks I am just this side of completely incompetent when it comes to household chores.  And I just could not bear adding further evidence to the "loser" side of the balance sheet this morning. Now that sufficient time, soap, shampoo, and sundry other cleaning agents have been successfully applied, I am feeling more confident.

Hope your day has gone better than mine, dear reader.

Can only read 10 papers per day...

I am trying to prep for two talks on back-to-back days I have to give next week.  I have read about 5 or 6 papers, with still a few to go, and my brain is tired.  So I decided to post something here so that my brain will not explode.  (It's very messy, the exploding).  Then I'll get back to work.

I have a long-time but little-attended hobby of hand-tool woodworking.  One of the key elements of same is the employment of hand planes, such as this example below:

No, I do not own this plane.  It's called a "coffin smoother" and is likely in the range of $3000.

I own this:

Which is a cheap Stanley block plane that probably doesn't cost $25.   And it's not in the greatest shape.

Those in the know will recognize both rust and an uneven sole, which really messes with your woodworking.  Although not pictured, the blade itself was chipped, uneven, etc. 

So, I decided one day, randomly, to sharpen the blade as the first step in the restoration of the above plane.  This step was chosen, as I don't actually own what I need to do any of the other steps.  

I used a Veritas honing guide as well as a pack of 3M sandpaper on glass (the so-called Scary Sharp method). 

Results?  I grabbed a rough cut yard stake to test.  The pic on the right shows the initial surface, very rough; that on the left, the upper surface, post-planing.  An attempt is made in the bottom pic to show the contrast between the two.  Not bad.

And just to give a feel for what I was taking off, if you look closely in this picture at the shavings I removed, you can see the individual wood fibers.  This shaving is right at 0.003 of an inch.

All in all, a lot of fun, and gratifying to know that you don't need $200 toys to play this game.

Now, back to ECMO.

Sickening

Not sure who the rat bastard was who decided it was "cool and stuff" to walk into a kindergarten class and shoot his mom (by report) and all of the kids in her class.   Just sickening.  What kind of culture produces this insanity?

Bet your bottom dollar I'll be giving the little ones a big hug tonight.  The wife too.  Life is so, so precious.

2

This little guy is 2 years old today. Oh, how the time flies!!

Past Project: Periscope

So, it seems that this would be the opportune moment to show other projects I have done in the past.

The kids are somewhat enamored of this particular species of monkey:

There is a particular episode in which George decides he is a spy, and builds a periscope.  This image is somewhat hard to see:

But that's the construction.  The kids asked for weeks for a periscope.  So...

I built one.

I used scrap wood (which is a recurring theme of my projects) and made the sides out of 1x4, the tops and bottoms out of 1/4 inch plywood.  The mirrors were from Michael's.  I used the Incra protractor (love that little toy) to lay out the 45 degree angle, and it just so happened that the mirrors were exactly as wide as two 2x4s laid side-by-side.  I used E6000 glue from Katie's stash to set the mirrors.  Finishing nails were used in the final assembly, and retrospectively I should have glued it as well.  All in all, it came out well.

Fit and finish wasn't too bad.

And optically it seems to work ok:

The true test is the "use and abuse" test.  The kids still play with it frequently, and so I guess we can call this a success. 

,m

Construction Weekend, Part 3

The third project this weekend came courtesy of Home Depot.  For those not in the know, the first Saturday of every month, Home Depot has a kids workshop.

The link above goes to the project of the week, which was a picture frame.  However, when we arrived, there was more than one kit available.  And, unfortunately, about 50 kids and their parents.

Logan is not a fan of crowds.  Not even a little bit.  Still, the folks at Home Depot were kind enough to give us the kit, a kid-sized Home Depot apron, and a pin commemorating the construction of the "planter".

As you can see, this little project was not much more than a couple of pieces of backerboard glued and nailed to the two headpieces.  However, its life as a planter was quite short; Myra actually did most of the hammering, and promptly added the pink knitted blanket to convert it to a bed.  At least Buzz Lightyear is sure to have a good night's sleep.

Amusingly enough, during this last week I told one of our attendings about these little projects, and she was "amazed".  I recommended that she either check out my wife's blog, or someone who is actually good at these kinds of projects.

,m

Construction Weekend, Part 2

The second project is one that has been sitting in the garage for nearly a year.  While waiting for the paint on the Duplo table to dry (and yes, watching it dry is just as boring as is reputed) I decided to fix Myra's baby bed.

Here Myra holds the finished product.  The frame that holds the bed is quite well constructed, but the bottom of the bed, when it came from IKEA, was essentially thick cardboard.  I think it lasted less than 1 day before Logan broke it by standing on it. 

So I cut a section of the same 1/2 inch plywood as a new bottom.  Glue up below:

It seems that the bed meets with baby doll approval.

For reasons that are not clear to me, this picture refuses to be uploaded in anything other than this orientation, despite multiple tries.

,m