9 My Indoor Archery Range

I worked in my store up on the square most of today. I filled my truck up with boxes of books and boards. That will have to wait until tomorrow.
I emptied out about ten six foot high book cases and arranged them down through almost the middle of the room. I had to move some smaller cases and two tables, which will have to be moved out later.
I set up a new archery target that I just bought at Cabela's. Shelby had given me a Christmas Gift Card from there, so of course, I had to use it for another target.  When I have finished the new set up, I will be able to stand at the front right window and shoot arrows down through the room without having to worry about the weather.  I am getting pretty excited about my own private indoor archery range. I have different targets ready to go in when the time comes. Shooting my bows really helps with the pain from my complete rotator cuff tear in my left shoulder.
    I will be able to take Shelby up to my range so she can shoot her new bow during the winter months. We have set up an outdoor range at the house, but it's not much fun in cold weather. The room goes back far enough to serve us quite well as an indoor range. I've kept the lights on up at my store, so it will be nice to finally get some benefit from paying that light bill.
     I still have Patti's office materials stored in the building, so I can continue to work my way through her thirty-five year collection of materials she used in teaching English Grammar/English Literature/ and Technical Writing. I have already come across quite a few personal writings of hers that she kept up at her college office. I go through boxes and boxes of her papers and every now and then I find something that has meaning to Shelby or me. It's been three years and we still grieve as we come across her papers and personal items.
     I haven't seen much news today, except for more of the videos of the explosions in New York. I did see some videos of explosions in Louisiana. I could see the DEW come down from the sky and then and explosion. Looks like to me that we are being tested for our reactions. Looks like something big will be coming down soon.

8 Gossip

The gossip today around YouTube was an odd mixture of topics. Looks like many people are concerned about Martial Law coming to our country just about any day. News continues about the buildup of the prison at Gitmo. Apparently lots of money has been invested in updating the facilities and docks to allow for future prisoners in great numbers. The strange events regarding the envelopes at Bush's funeral is still a hot topic. Of course, the blue sky and partial black out and blown transformers at New York are still in the news. I think it is strange that we have yet to see any closeup views of the actual event. I read that a new Caravan will be heading up our way, this time more like 15,000 people  intend on crashing our border, since so many of the earlier caravaners are actually being turned loose in the States.
I also read that GeoEngineering is coming in 2019, like we have not already seen it for years. Direct Energy Weapons are  being discussed on a regular basis. I seriously think DEW was used to kill thousands of citizens at Paradise, California.
The news media is not reporting most of the information that the pubic should be aware of. 9-11 has certainly come into the social media again. Conspiracy theories abound, but when properly researched, much truth can be found. I think most people tend not to want to be associated  with the "crazy people" who follow "conspiracy theories." There are a ton of questions that arise in connection with 9-11. I guess I am far too old to be concerned with what people think about me and/or my views. I don't usually take sides on most issues. I believe that we should be open to different views.

7

I was please to see this cut in half. It's a pretty light blue. I have no idea what I can do with it since the other side is rounded. Back in the day, I would have placed the pair in a small white box and set it in the display counter. Someone would surely have bought it as is.

I could reopen my store up on the square one day, but I consider myself retired and I simply do not want to be bothered with all the sales taxes and property taxes. And then, there is the issue of having to deal with the public day in, day out. I miss the interactions with people, but after twenty years in my store, I can really do without the hassles. People would come in, look around, talk and talk, then talk some more. Sometimes, people would buy, but usually they wanted to argue about the prices. No thank you! I tired of trying to explain the time that goes into what I did.

Back in the South, people came into my galleries, looked around, and exclaimed over the craftsmanship and actually bought...at my prices.

6

Click on the picture to really get a good look at it.
I love this material. This is a piece that has been run through the first step of coarse grit. I thin it will polish out really nice. I will probably wind up as a drop on a necklace.

Patti would have like this stone. Of course, she liked just about anything I made for her to wear. She never really lived long enough to see what I can really do, but she enjoyed the pieces she had.

She never really was interested in watching me cut and polish or silversmith, but she certainly enjoyed showing off the finished pieces when she wore them to work at the college.

I hope to come across more of this material this summer. I have boxes and boxes waiting to be cut.

5

The YouTube reports are indicating that we may be facing a financial event this week. With earthquakes, volcano eruptions, grids down, YouTube and Facebook being down for hours yesterday, and warnings that our grid may be down for several days, I sort of wonder if I should draw some cash out of the bank and stock up on gas, water, and groceries.

With all the news going on all over the word, I don't want to guilty of not being prepared, but I don't want to be paranoid either.

4

Don't ask what it is. I almost never know. I buy large boxes of mixed rocks and almost never know what the pieces are. I don't really care. I just enjoy seeing all the different materials and what they look like as I cut them.

Most of the time the pieces that are sent to me are usually what the seller just wants to dump due to lack of interesting patterns. I cut, and cut, and cut, and grind, and when I get bored with a piece, I toss it into a bag of rocks for the tumbler.
The tumblers have a unique way of changing the not so great pieces into at least more interesting. It's a process of time and patience.

3

Too much crust around the outer edges, so this piece will lose quite a bit of material. I may try cutting out an interesting pattern in the middle area. The fun part is trying to pick just the right area. 

I just noticed that one of my dear friends posted a comment on one of the pictures. It dawned on me, I have not see her posts in a very long time.  Upon deeper thought, I realize I am rarely seeing posts by some of my favored friends. I guess Facebook has played around with the settings again. They continue trying to force us to behave as they see fit. I am really tired of their silly games. It's Behavior Modification and it stinks. I wish we had another place to gather and share.

I guess I need to stop posting these for the night. I don't want to intrude upon my friends, but I wanted to work out some issues with this Blogger site tonight. 

2

We had a really nice snow before Christmas, but it had all melted by Christmas. So, we had a pretty day, not too cold, no snow. I loved the lack of snow.
I really prefer not to have snow around these parts. I have had enough snow to contend with throughout my life. I don't miss the slipping and sliding, the shoveling, or all the issues that come with traveling.

I was really hopeful with this pretty piece, but once cut, it was a bit chalky. Maybe I will find some harder pieces as I get into it. 

1 My Favorite Cut

One summer, back before my wife passed away from Alzheimer's Disease, I ordered several boxes of Coconut and Geodes. Most were about palm size to a bit bigger.
I had a heck of a time trying to cut them, until I bought a geode clamp to use in my fourteen inch Barranca Rock Saw. The clamp allowed me to cut slices.
This was one of my favorite cuts.
I look forward to cutting many more in 2019,

Site opened December 24, 2018

Site opened on December 24, 2018.