The Renovator strikes again

buahahahahah

I think I bought myself some junk - or a whole heap of trouble!

For those who yet to hear or know  - from time to time I buy a dilapidated old cranky piece of furniture and give it some loving TLC - then try - and try is the operative word here - try and on-sell it for a little bit of profit!!

Just enough $$$ to be able to buy the next project!

W E L L 

This particular piece was - urm - ancient!! Serious consideration was given to just turn it into firewood.  Then a little voice in my head told me not to be afraid of new challenges!!!- Sighs

Actually I should say - this came from a house that was build in 1915-ish!! I am sure it is not THAT old, probably close to it though!! So if you are close to a hundred years old and still walk upright minus a few scraps and bruises - Well done you!!!

How do I know this is an ancient piece - well - the glue originally used is an old horse-glue type - strong and clear! They stopped using that in 1950's I think!! Awful stuff to work with - yet extremely strong.

This is how it came - split and uneven and opened up. I had a hell of a job re-aligning - this. . . . let alone removing it in one piece without breaking anything!!

 

I should say that one major decision made right at the start, was to re-cycle as much of the original material as possible.  It is made mainly from Oak - and has some Rimu for structural support.

 

 

 

 

 

Everything was wrong with this unit - requiring a deep dive into the bone structures, some Osteoporosis treatments. Several broken bones needed to be - well - re-broken (kind way of saying that I ripped them apart), then re-aligned and put into plaster.  The top of the dresser was removed and while bowed and crooked was re-glued with the help of eight dowels - to keep it aligned.  At this point a consultation took place - for if the wood-doctor failed right here to his magic - -  -  then there was no point in carrying on! As luck would have it - the panels held together and stayed reasonably true - or flat! 

The runners of the drawers had been used so extensively - so much so that in one particular case has completely worn away - it was - literally - running on thin air!!!

The drawer-stops had been worn away as well and no longer doing their job (of stopping the drawers of being pushed to deep into the cabinet!) , so were gently pried away and been replaced with some new stops!! 

All drawers had a piece of timber fitted on their respective sides - so that was something solid for them to slide along. All running guides had been taken off - and being Rimu - simply turned upside down and then re-attached in their respective places.  (gotta say - I must have done a sterling job - those drawers are now so smoothly going in and out - it would be easy to drop them if not careful enough) 

I spent some considerable time to find one of the washers that was missing from the tear-drop handle. Alas - it is so ancient that not even Musgroves (our major recycler hardware/timber specialist) had one - at least - simply none to be found. 

Consideration was given to replace all of them with a new modern set - alas at $7 and more - that will be left to the new (hopefully) owner to be done if so wished!! I did find a sort of similar thing - that with a bit of filing and coaxing was able to be fitted!  In similar vain - it sits on the original steel rollers - slightly bent and oxidized (dang - were they copper originally???)  but perfectly function-able. They can easily be pulled out and the unit would just sit on a furniture glide of sorts!

The backing timber was an old piece of crappy 2ply-wood that was getting frayed and came apart at the seams - so I hunted for some suitable timber re-placement!! Luckily - I have not needed to buy some (starting at $50) and recycled an older sheet I had stashed away for another project!

 

 

 

The last job was to bring it to a tanning saloon for a skin graft and new tan! At some point someone decided to stub out some cigarettes - leaving a 3mm deep black hole - and some horrible round black oil stain on the top! LOTS of sanding!!! The very last act was to add a new tan - Linseed Oil!!

 

 

 

I think it came up nice. Best of all - the aimed for "distressed ' or should that be "rustic" look was achieved or maintained! Sure it is not 100 % perfect - (in fact it was never built 'square' to start with), has some scraps and dings and is - well - not 'factory-new'. Yet it is rock solid and looks good.

Well -I lost count after 10 hours of work - so will not get paid for my efforts "by the hour", hopefully more then what I bought it for!!

 

 The deep black hole

 Oldstyle Dovetails - you do not see that very often these days!! - Nice!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It had one on the left side fitted - but the right hand side piece was missing - obviously knocked off a looong time back - so luckily for me I had some Oak T&G plank left over from a previous job - so was able to re-cycle and fit a matching piece!! 

Now for me turning into a sales person . . .

Jack of all trades I have to be . . . .

 


Have fun!

Who's your role model that you aspire to????

Found this today - so do a copy and paste here to be able to re-read at leisure!!

Asked mamabear who her role model was/ is - interesting response!!

I have mine of course!! 

The paragraph that stuck out at me is the bit on social media and the MY MY MY - or me me me Egotisitical lives we are being led into . . . . 

Anyhow - credit to the author and enjoy reading and make of it what you will

Snip / Paste

OPINION
If you can’t name a half-decent role model, you can’t work here
The role models cited don't have to be perfect, as long as they contribute to society
Michael Levin By Michael Levin Fox News
Published January 27, 2024 10:00am EST


An employer in Sweden asks potential hires a seemingly innocuous question, in order to gauge their values without running afoul of strict Swedish labor regulations that ban overly intrusive or personal inquiries.

It’s this: Aside from family members, who are your role models?

    To a shockingly high degree, the interviewees can’t answer the question.
They can’t think of a single human being they view as a role model, with the possible exception of climate activist Greta Thunberg, whose name comes up frequently.

    The most satisfying answer, from the standpoint of the company, is prompt mention of an individual whose products or services make lives better for others – Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, for example. It’s OK if the role models cited are less than perfect as human beings, as long as they contribute to society.

    Management at that Swedish firm, which makes high-end products sold all over the world, finds it dismaying that so many well-trained, well-educated, smart people have practically no one to inspire them.
Medal of Honor recipient shares his history of service Video

    Why do so many job seekers cite Greta Thunberg? The overwhelming career aspiration among young people is influencer. In secular Europe, climate action is practically a religion. So, according to the Swedish CEO, Thunberg is a modern-day Joan of Arc, combining classical idealism with the modern-day urge to get "likes." And on top of that, she really doesn’t have to do very much – just bash the West for destroying the world. Nice work if you can get it.

But for role models, that’s about it.

How sad.

    It used to be that you could ask a total stranger on a flight or a coffee shop who their role models were, and you’d get ready answers. Not that anyone asked total strangers for their role models, but if you did, you’d get names. JFK. Martin Luther King Jr. Winston Churchill. Henry Ford. Or if they were truly historically inclined, Joan of Arc.

So whatever happened to the concept of role models?

    In an age of social media (yes, we’ll start off by bashing social media), our mindset is ahistorical. All we think is about what’s trending, not what’s lasting. Our devices increase our sense of self-importance far out of proportion to who we really are. My phone. My feed. My timeline. My, my, my. It’s all about me, so what do I need a role model for?

(Gosh - I have been saying this for years) 

    In an age when we simply know too much about famous people, we balance their accomplishments against their shortcomings in ways that prior generations never did. Yes, JFK was a great president and would never have allowed us to become enmeshed in Vietnam. He would have slowed the nuclear arms race with the Soviets, had he lived. But he was serially unfaithful to Jackie, so no role model he.

MLK? Same argument. Prayer and player, all in one. How can I look up to that?

    On top of that, the world just looks too big, its problems too intractable, to make a difference. The Earth’s climate, the political climate, the social climate... it all seems impossible to fix. So why bother?

    Generations ago, individuals toiling upward in the night created breakthroughs that served humanity – Marie Curie and Watson and Crick come to mind. Today, developing a new drug or scientific breakthrough is the purview of Big Pharma or Big Science. Inspired individuals need not apply.

    What about sports figures? When Charles Barkley told us decades ago that he was not a role model, we suddenly grasped that athletes were athletes and nothing more. Michael Jordan famously declined to participate in civil rights issues, reminding us that "Republicans buy sneakers."

    Compare and contrast with Jim Brown, who mediated gang disputes in Los Angeles for decades after his retirement from football, or Muhammed Ali, who gave up his career because of his religious beliefs. ("I’ll beat ‘em up, but I won’t kill ‘em.")

    Clarence Darrow defended the poor and helpless, those without resources to fight massive state power. Chief Justice Earl Warren defied President Eisenhower, who appointed him, by defending the Constitution and freedom, not the Republican Party’s principles. Find me a judge or lawyer today who can serve as a role model. I’ll wait.

So much for science, sports, and the courts.

    In times past, the world found statesmen and stateswomen who had a vision for their societies that far outstripped taking polls and fashioning policies accordingly. Gandhi wanted to get the British out of India. FDR wanted to save the Free World. Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto, Israel’s Golda Meir and India’s Indira Gandhi put paid the idea that women couldn’t lead. Today, anyone with a half a brain runs screaming from the cesspool that is modern electoral politics.

    My role models, not that anyone asked, have remained consistent since my teen years. George Orwell and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote courageously about their societies, at the risk of disapproval and punishment. Would dropping their names get me a job in Sweden? Maybe.

    The point is that we all need stars to steer by, not influencers to envy, not politicians to despise, not religious leaders to sneer at. Instead, it’s time to stop, take stock, and ask, who are my role models? Who sets an example that I can grow toward?

    We must be heliotropes, drawn by the warmth of the sun to raise ourselves to our full height. And if it seems as though the world is just too hard to change, we must find resonance in Gandhi’s imperative: "What you do is insignificant, but it’s essential that you do it."


New York Times bestselling author Michael Levin runs www.MichaelLevinWrites.com, a book ghostwriting firm.





Have fun!

Crunching some numbers

Oh yeah - I wanted to put this into a New Zealand context - so hunted round for some numbers (taken of Wikipedia and US/NZ government sites)

One will have to make a distinction between a LEGAL and Ill-legal immigration.

Thus

For the year 2015 there have been around 11 million people wandering into the US by foot across their southern border.  I have no idea what the official US legal immigrant numbers are!! Based on their population size that works out at 3.4% of total Population of US.

 

NZ has a population (last Census count) of 5.123 Million people.

At 3.4 percent that makes this 174,182 people.

To put this into perspective - that would be the entire population of:

 Dunedin City (126.000)  A N D  Invercargill ( ~ 50.000)  ! ! ! 

 

NZ has a annual 1500 Refugee Quota

plus there is (legal via Visa's) seasonal migration movement (farm workers etc) which worked out at net +49500 for year ended Jan 2023 (another Invercargill sized city population) 

 

So imagine if every year after year (lol in NZ's case swimming or boating) the entire population of Dunedin and Invercargill arrive here without any visa's and expect to be housed / fed / medically taken care of / etc etc etc

So I ask you 

WHAT would our country look like if that were to happen??????

What kind of infrastructure issues would NZ face??? A new Housing crisis???

How many more Taxes would need to be collected from you - to be spent on these Issues???

 

Yeah - interesting thoughts!! Puts the US situation into perspective - right?!

Have fun!

Annual Christmas Epistle 2023

Yeah nearly forgot to post it here!

:P

uuuuuh - hopefully the pictures come across too . . . . 

Copy paste thing

2023 Christmas letter


  

 Another solar cycle completed as our older son would say!! The year started with a bang – we left on 27th Dec for a 10 day trip south in our Bearmobile #2– and saw our Jonno’s place of work – at Milford Sound! We arrived in basking sunny warm temperatures – very UN-like Milford!! We had a great time catching up with Jonno – and were spoiled with food and accommodation!  His office window looks out over Mitre Peak – priceless!!! We also managed to stay at various other places – some for free!! We took our time getting there and back! The trip also involved a rare excursion across a lake and into Doubtful Sound! You catch a bus to catch a boat and then another bus to catch yet another boat to be in the Sound – then the return trip!  We had ZERO waves on the ocean – it was billiard table flat!! Very agreeable and also very scenic as well as once in a million days! Certainly are spoilt in NZ with our vistas!

 The other major trip away was up towards Nelson and Marahau (the beginning of Abel Tasman National Park) in the middle of February!  Our Motorhome is getting a good work out – apart from the short weekend trips away!! It is our second home away from home and also our respite care from all the worries of our lives and world! - Then in August we had a trip away for 10 days in Raratonga – a tiny island in the middle of no-where in the Pacific Ocean – so leaving a cold and damp Christchurch at the end of winter and arriving at 25c!!  No- we did not swim or drive our Bearmobile there – instead we caught a big plane for that particular trip!
    Michael has moved out of his flat in Hanmer – again – and came and stayed in our granny flat!! He wanted a job and there were more offerings in Christchurch then Hanmer!! So we had him living with us – sort of! He is very independent – but shared three evening meals with us during the week.  He has picked up a job with a firm doing electronic soldering initially for 4 days – and now full time!  He is enjoying the extra income and being able to save cash for various projects!  Since then he has moved back out again into a flat with two other males, who he knows well – so we are home alone again!! Wonder how long that will last!  2 weeks from writing this he will celebrate a full calendar year without getting once into the hospital for treatment on his leukaemia or complications from that!!  Break out the bubblies to celebrate that!!


   We are keeping well.  Reinhold’s CLL is just – there – parked at the moment! So there is long term remote monitoring for this condition!! Being of the older generation – one of the male things to watch out for is a prostrate – which needs more care.....  Not that the girls have any worry in that department!  Reinhold continues to enjoy his woodworking and often spends time in the workshop with his mate Roger, restoring old pieces of furniture and creating new projects.   The latest being a Oak-wheelbarrow with containers for pot-plants!

Pam is keeping well and busy.  If she is not reading while on our trips away, then she is knitting various garments for little folks we know from our relatives – or friends! She is also looking forward to retiring from work – although that is yet 5 years away!  It is going to be a long wait me thinks!  Here she can be seen practising the relaxing lifestyle!!     
We took on a major project in our garden – ripping out a few herbs and a ton of weeds and stones and other junk – took over 600kg to the Dump or recycling center – then found out how unfit we were when we started digging the soil over – in preparation for a flat weed free surface – then laid a weed mat over that and planted NZ Red Tussock grasses and tossed a whole lot of wood chips over that.  This should keep that area tidy and maintenance free – so that we can go away more often in our Bearmobile #2!! YESS!!!! Job well done!!

    
    Not being on Facebook any longer (and Pam says she would NEVER go onto that) we do miss out on the snippets of what our friends are up to, so feel free to email or write back to us.  We always like to hear the news from friends and family and see their lives progress! Those who use ‘signal’ are certainly good sharing the news and pictures!! Those little ones are now more grown up children and we enjoy seeing those pics too!! 


    

Well – time to close for another year!!  As I type – it is raining on the roof of our Bearmobile #2 with a typical late spring/early summer weather – temperature of 9c outside!! Almost winter again!! Time for a hot drink!!  Take care and hugs from the both of us!







Seasonal greetings to all!!

R+P







Have fun!