Paradise ponders...

Paradise ponders...  Well, today wasn't the easy day of progress on the mud room's electrical wiring that I was hoping for.  For starters, yesterday I cracked (again!) the plate for the motion detector.  I threw it in the trash and spent several hours fabricating a new one from scratch.  This took much longer than I anticipated because I had to make two runs: one for a jigsaw blade, and another for scroll saw blades (the latter run took me all the way into Logan).  However, I did take some photos of the process this time.

The steps involved were:

1. Cut the blank (a 7" x 7" section of 2x8).
2. Rough-cut a 4" hole in the center of the blank, using a drill and scroll saw.
3. Turn the blank in the lathe to get the hole exactly right, using trial fittings to test it.  It took me four tries to get that right. :)
4. Use the router to put a 1/2" radius on the front face corners.
5. Use a Fortsner bit in the drill press to mill two holes to recess the “ears”.
6. Sand.
7. Paint with KILZ primer.

Tomorrow after the primer is dry, I'll be drilling pilot holes for the screws.  They're just too big in diameter to safely screw into this wood.

I also mounted a new entry set (latch and lock) on the door between our laundry room and our garage.  The old set had worn out.  Naturally, after I took the old set off I discovered that the hole for the lock was not the standard (2 1/8") diameter.  To make it more challenging, the door is a steel security door.  Sigh.  So I used a jigsaw with a metal blade to enlarge the hole to the right size.  That was surprisingly challenging to do; the uneven surface of the door made it hard to keep the jigsaw upright.  I solved that problem by using a small piece of plywood as a flat platform for the saw.  I needed about three hands to do that!

This afternoon I had a lovely walk with the puppies.  To switch things up, I walked them through a new part of the neighborhood to our northwest.  We met lots of new dogs, several new adults, and a few curious kids.  Most surprising was the kitty who came running out to meet the new puppies!