Welcome to the first Saturday of fall, or Autumn if you prefer. Although we’ve had pumpkin spice IPAs at the bar for weeks, now it’s official and David and I are celebrating our favorite season. Of course, it’s not like we’re making any changes. We’re here, the bar is here, and we’ll snag a few drinks and pay attention to Linda’s prompt.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “i before e.” Find a word that has an “i” before an “e” even if there’s a letter between them, and use it for your prompt word. Have fun!
If we were having a beer, you be in the mood for a drink.
“Good afternoon, my young friend. How are you today?”
“Ready for a beer, David and getting close to my seventieth birthday, so I’m not sure about the ‘young friend’ comment.”
“Well, you’re still younger than me.”
“This is true, and in a show of respect for my elders, let me see if I can convince Curley to pour you a glass of John Howell’s Bourbon.”
“And…”
“A snifter of seltzer, a glass of ice and a couple cherries.”
“Cherries in bourbon. That can only mean that my two favorite customers are here. Dan, let me pour you a cold Modelo first and then get busy assembling David’s concoction.”
“Thanks Curley.”
“I guess that’s okay, Curley, but if we were in keeping with the hierarchy we’ve been discussing, my drinks would come first.”
“Is that ‘age before beauty’ or some other hierarchy?”
“I’m not sure I’d put Dan under the heading of beauty, but something like that.”
“Well, I go by the hierarchy of inconvenience. Your drink — for lack of a better word — is harder to make. And, since Dan is paying, I’m going to serve him first and ask you to be patient. But here’s your bourbon and cherries. I’ll be back with the seltzer, the tank kicked.”
“Cheers, Dan.”
“Cheers, David.”
“So, you finished the trailer, can I assume you delivered the snow blower to the shop for a tune-up?”
“I have an appointment to drop it off Tuesday.”
“So, that’s it? Closing up the shop for the winter?”
“No, I have one more project in progress and I have one more planned.”
“Woodworking?”
“Yes.”
“What are you working on?”
“A corner cabinet.”
“That sounds like a big job.”
“I should be more precise, a tiny corner cabinet.”
“Why? What good is a tiny corner cabinet?”
“It’s not a matter of it being a good idea or not, I’m making a cabinet to fit a door.”
“Are you talking about that hunk of tree stump you bought at the woodworking show? I remember you saying you thought it could be a door for something.”
“That’s it. I hollowed it out, and it’s going to be the door of an odd-looking cabinet.”
“How exactly did you hollow out the door. I remember stories about Native Americans setting fire to logs to burn out the inside of a canoe — something like that?”
“My wife is okay with woodworking, but she draws the line at using fire as a tool.”
“Then what did you use?”
“I drilled some of the deep stuff out and then cut and chiseled the shallow parts. Then I used an abrasive wheel on an angle grinder to smooth it all out.”
“You know what, Dan, you’ve exhausted my interest. I’ll wait until you’re done. I assume you have some pictures. You can show me later.”
“It’s not much to look at yet.”
“What’s your other project?”
“I need to make doors for my workshop.”
“Doors to where? I mean it’s not open to the weather, is it?”
“Doors between the shop and the garage. You see—”
“That’s enough, Dan.”
“But, I…”
“You were just getting started, I know. Curley, Dan was just about to order us another round.”
“Coming right up.”
“I was going to explain…”
“Why one room needs a door to separate it from another room? Dan, people have been hanging doors between rooms for several millennia. I know how they work.”
“Here you go guys. One more round and I put two orders of Teagan’s Mushrooms in for you.”
“Thanks Curley. This is a good time to switch the conversation to sports.”
If you want to see the cabinet photos, they’re in the slideshow. Feel free to skip to the gallery.
I started from here 
The stump was attached to a sheet of plywood to get a straight edge 
Cutting one clean edge 
Chiseling out around the holes after drilling 
The saw cuts will control the depth of the removal 
The slices are down to the right depth 
Chiseling out the wood between kerfs 
Working with the shaping wheel to get close to the final shape 
Interior of the door 
Now that the door is shaped, I need to fit a cabinet around it 
I think this stump will make a nice door 
The components need to fit better than this. 
Between cutting and planing, this edge will fit nicely. 
Looking down from the top 
Cleaning up the top and bottom with a smoothing plane 
Cleaning up the top and bottom with a smoothing plane 
Cutting rabbets 
Cleaning out the rabbet with a shoulder plane 
These have to come together somehow 
Sides, top and bottom are dry fit 
Pieces are rough cut 
Test fit
And now the gallery
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
No Facilities 
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