The Hobbit Hole XXXVI - O! Water cold we may pour at need...

[RosieCotton]

Ooh, pretty!

So you have a spinning wheel? I can’t remember if you’ve had that all along and I’m forgetting, of if this is a new development. How do you go about spinning the fiber? Does it come in individual colors, or was it multicolored like that to start with?

[Lil'freeper]

No wheel yet - they're several hundred dollars more than I want to invest at this point. I have a Spindolyn that works just fine.

The fiber comes in a variety of forms, some people start with the fleece right off the sheep - but that takes more time, $$, and equipment than I care to invest at this point, so I buy commercially combed bundles of fiber. Various folkses dye them up and sell them, most frequently as braids:

Then what I do is split the braid lengthwise and spin it down into a single thin thread. The spindle in the pic is full of singles. After that, I ply it back on itself to make a yarn. I can do a two-ply and three-ply! It's vey vey vey relaxing.

[Squantos]

I measured such for intel in EOD with regards to recovered ordnance, UXO etc yet never considered such a value on my lapua or lost river projos for target or hunting. I use a corbin swage to make .224 bullets from old .22 rimfire cases etc so will have to get that meplat trimmer ! My recent experience with meplat was initiated by my use of Garrett Hammerheads in my 45-70 Ruger Number 1 (the new version) a stainless beauty with the green laminated stock.

Looking in my catalogs and low and behold meplat trimmers and gauges !

Thanks !

[osagebowman]

Morning Winmag, it’s amazing the aftermarket gunsmithing tools and gadgets to life just a little easier. The vice blocks are a great addition to the gunsmith’s bench.

Thanks for posting, as always, a great addition to ‘gunsmith’s lexicon’.

[osagebowman]

Weather report, if you liked the temps and humidity yesterday, you’ll like today’s weather even more.

Another volunteer plant was found in the Rose-of-Sharons on the street side of the fence. This one was a volunteer tomato. We had tossed a couple over there after the birds or squirrels had pecked at them for moisture. Well, one took root and is now about 4 feet high. We pounded in a bamboo stake and cleaned out around it. There maybe only a couple of ‘maters but we like the volunteers. Four basil plants and one tomato plant; not bad.

[Overtaxed]

My so-called basil/herb bed is now a squash bed. I had some volunteer squash come up (spaghetti squash seeds in the compost). Oh there's basil, but the squash is starting to overshadow.

[Overtaxed]

The squash/ herb bed:

And the new squirrel barrier:

Hope these snapfish photos load.

[SuziQ]

Oh, OK, I must have just missed the part where you said you had spun the yarn. That is just WAY cool! I guess it would be relaxing.

When my Granny was getting older, she would have times of nervousness, where she had to be doing something, or she'd drive everyone around her crazy. Mama handled this, when Granny was visiting her, by giving Granny the start of a ball of yarn, and having her keep rolling the yarn onto the ball from a skein. It kept her busy and contented for a couple of hours at a time, giving Mama some free time to do other stuff around the house.

[Overtaxed]

*sigh* I need to find another host for pictures.

[Overtaxed]

Let's try this again:

[darkangel82]

It seems Snapfish is kaput.

[300winmag]

Looking in my catalogs and low and behold meplat trimmers and gauges !

I forgot to mention it, but regular as clockwork, my Brownells catalog arrived on August 1. The single best source for gun pron on the planet.

As a kid, I found out that the Sears toy catalog became sorta stale after Christmas, but my dad's Brownells catalog provided great reading all year long.

[ExGeeEye]

Try Photobucket.

They don’t suck yet.

[darkangel82]

Good, as long as they don’t censor.

[Squantos]

Agree !

Numbah 60 is on desk unopened at widget works . I took off early Friday and it was in the pile of mail !

My goals and key issues these days are a remodel I am doing at home. I have a shop , new just built on the back of my property that is 80x40 and am building it up for all things that go bang, boom and varoom !

Shelving, tool storage , organization of work areas etc is a task for me . I am used to having a 2 car garage and a den / home office to work in and now all the tools and stuff I have saved over the years gets a home !

[Rose in RoseBear]

So, we went looking at houses to purchase today.

We have pretty much decided to move out of Austin proper --- too liberal, too weird --- and closer to our jobs, which are in bedroom communities to the north.

I work in Georgetown, and the house prices there are getting crazy low. We've checked out housing subdivisions on the outskirts of Georgetown, so today we decided to look at the so-called "Old Town."

Walked into a house that probably dated back to the early part of the last century --- the church across the street has a Texas Historical Marker in its parking lot. The saleslady is there, holding an open house, and a family of shoppers is there with her already. Man, wife, two kids.

The house is really cool-funky, as old houses often are. Wood floors in the living and dining rooms. A nicely remodeled kitchen with stainless steel appliances, including a double convection oven. A pair of staircases, one leading to an upstairs sitting room, one leading into (yes, into) the middle of the upstairs bathroom, a bathroom which was spread over three separate rooms.

The husband of the other couple is all up in the Realtor's face. "Why are there so many houses in this neighborhood for sale?" (My unspoken response: "It's a neighborhood full of old people.") The Realtor actually had to ask him to hang on a moment so she could invite us to wander around.

The husband gets tired of haranguing the Realtor, and is now pacing across the living room floor. "Do you feel this?" he squawks to his wife, bouncing up and down on an open spot. "The floor is moving!"

I couldn't help it ... I laughed. "Sure it moves." I look over to the Realtor. "Pier and beam, right?"

"Yes," she smiled, foolishly relieved.

The husband looks at me as if I'd grown another head. "What?"

I smile at him, that smile that Texans give to folk like him. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"I live in Round Rock," he protested, proving my point that he wasn't accustomed to real Texas life, "and I've never felt a floor do this!"

"Well, I grew up in San Antonio," I replied, "and there are a lot of older houses built on pier and beam foundations, not concrete. Pier and beam foundations move and settle." I looked up, and found the telltale foot-long crack running toward the ceiling from the corner of the door. "Didn't get to all the taping and floating yet, huh?" I asked the Realtor.

Her eyes got wide, and she started trying to explain how the cracks were cosmetic, and didn't indicate a real problem with the house. I didn't stay to listen. My work there was done, and I went upstairs, where the kids were freaking about the staircase that led to the middle of the bathroom and the saloon swinging doors that separated the toilet from the rest of the three-room bathroom.

That poor Realtor ... maybe we should throw our business her way ...

[osagebowman]

Evening Rose, Bear - Sounds like you had a good time in Georgetown. Was there quite a few years ago but recall it being quite a picturesque little town. Glad to hear you’re looking at turn-of-the-century homes and that you have some experience in dealing local building styles and quirks. Good luck on your quest for a new domicile.

[Rose in RoseBear]

Do they have pier-and-beam or cedar post foundations up your way?

Digging a real foundation into the limestone here is a futile exercise ... concrete slabs crack here, too, and is that ever a pricey enterprise!

[300winmag]

see more pwn and owned pictures

Or make road signs.

[osagebowman]

We sure do, all sorts of foundations in between. The Ozark topography is a lot like the Hill Country, even to Karst Topography. Red Cedar posts form the foundation for lots of homes in MO. We have them for our front porch supports. Over 90 years and going strong when we rebuilt the porch in in 1995.