April 28 – “The Easiest Project”

I just accidentally deleted the entire blog entry for today.  And it's already 11:30.  Do I continue on tonight and do it over again?  Start in the morning?  Oh, well, Chris and Cailyn and Mom are all already asleep, so here goes.  I'm sure it won't be near as good as it was the first time.   Chris has set aside several projects for me to do.  She knows I like to work with wood when my finger and wrist joints don't hurt too much, so right now there are at least five things waiting.  There is one little table that she wants sanded down and painted and a big piece of tile set on top.  She also has all the pieces of our old coffee table that used to have a mirror top.  The mirror is gone, a victim of Ike, but she wants to put the puzzle back together and then create a mosaic tile top from salvaged pieces of tile.  We also have the legs to an old shelf of our, just waiting to be reincarnated into a brand new something.  She even has the top part of the trim from one of our pre-Ike windows.  I'm not sure what she has in mind for that one.   Since she was going to be gone for three days, I really wanted to get to work on the list.  So, of course, I chose the easiest project.  Chris has an old doll bed that she played with when she was a kid.  It needed a bottom so Cailyn could use it to play with her doll.  Actually, the times we have had it out when Cailyn was around, she tried to climb in herself.  It definitely was not strong enough to hold her, though.  So all I needed to do was cut a piece of thin wood for a bottom.   I backed the truck into the driveway, dropped the tailgate, pulled out my Black and Decker Workmate, and draped a hunk of wood from one to the other.  Instant workbench.  I got out my trusty circular saw, my first power tool purchase after Ike.  We used it to cut out our wood floors, but I would rather not remember that right now.  It didn't take but few short minutes to cut the wood and even sand it.  That was easy. Done.   Except I noticed that the screws and hardware pieces were rusted really bad.  I could fix those.  So I unscrewed one side and took it to Village Hardware, our little store around the corner that I can remember my Dad going to all the time.  Sure enough, they had some shelf brackets and small screws that would do the trick.  Not an exact fit, but pretty close.  Old stuff off, new stuff in.  Done.   Except that the bigger parts of the bed were held together by old-school wood dowels, and the glue was no longer holding.  So I decided to grab some wood glue for the cabinet and take care of that.  As I gently pulled the pieces apart to insert the glue, one of the dowels broke in half.  That meant a trip to WalMart for a new dowel rod.  I had to take Mom to a friend's house, so we stopped in and picked up what I needed.  After I dropped Mom off, I checked the size and realized that it was too big.  So I headed back to WalMart and got the right size.  Interesting pricing situation.  The first one cost $.57.  The smaller one cost $.95.  Supply and demand?    Before I could insert the new dowel I had to drill out the broken one.  I didn't have a 3/8 inch drill bit, so I had to drill again and again to get it to fit.  The I had to cut the dowel rod itself to the right size.  Then glue all the holes.  Finally, it all went together.  Nothing left but the drying.  Done.   When Chris got home she was pleased with the repair job.  Done.   Except we decided to put it back in the storeroom until Cailyn either gets old enough to know how to use it properly, or gets big enough that she can't fit in it.  Now … done.   John 19:28-30 says, "Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."  29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.   30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."   Father, your "Done" is a lot more powerful than mine.  You only needed to say it once.  Amen.