cut ups

[Dan Valleskey]

You might get a chuckle out of this. Tomorrow afternoon I'm having the Cub Scout Den in my shop, our activity is pocket knife safety. And then we will try to make some crafty stuff using our knives. I was trying out a few different things this afternoon, as preparation, when I slipped and half cut off the tip of my left index finger. Ben (9 y.o.) was in the shop, he got to learn a few new words, I sopped up the blood, eventually decided it could make do without stitches.

This evening, after dinner, I was putting some finishing touches on another carving item, when I slipped and made a new gash, about an inch below the first one. Ben was in the shop again, of course, if there were any words he didn't learn this afternoon, the evening edition taught him the rest of them. I can only plead blindness. I'm not usually clumsy in the shop, considering the bloodless pile of sawdust I swept up early today, I think I proved I can keep my fingers intact on my hand. But I lost my regular glasses the other day, I think the baby (she is 4, but still my baby) walked off with them. So I've been working with my reading glasses. Nothing is where my hands think it is, exactly, I misjudge distance often. I have a very old pair of glasses I could wear, but they are not much better.

Maybe tomorrow I'll keep my hands off tools. If any of the Cub Scouts ask why I have big band aids on my finger, I'll make up a story about it. Oh wait, that won't work, Ben knows the real story. He won't keep his mouth shut if he has a chance to make me look like a goober in front of his buddies.

-Dan

[Patriarch]

Dan Valleskey wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I have friends who give me crap about having maybe six or seven pairs of glasses, some for every occaision. There are too many times in life when having the wrong, or no, pair of glasses is, at very least, a threat to peace of mind, if not to life and limb.

I mean, have you ever tried to play golf wearing bifocals? ;-)

Patriarch, who doesn't need an excuse to slice a finger, or a Titleist...

[JGS]

[Upscale]

Take advantage of it. What better example of teaching them what not to do than showing them graphic examples. You can start of the lesson by telling them that even the most capable person can have an accident if they don't follow the safety rules.

[J T]

Tue, Dec 28, 2004, 5:56am [e-mail] (JGS) says: =A0=A0You know Patriarch, I think it's a guy thing. I have been wearing my bifocals for years (except when golfing were I have a pair just for distance) and I have 5 pair scattered around the house /shop but most of my buddies go around pretending they don't need theirs.

In the mid-70s, I had problems with a recurrent corneal erosion. The eye doctors (two of 'em agreed) the solution was bifocals. Hadn't ever needed them before that. Didn't help the eye problem one little bit, but after I'd worn the bifocals for awhile, I needed them. Still need them, but for any detail stuff, or close up, they're useless, and I have to take the glasses off. Oh, the wonders of modern science.

JOAT Diplomacy is the act of saying, "Nice Doggie" till you can find a big rock to bash in his skull.

- Unknown

[George]

Or judge fly balls in the outfield?

[Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliot]

Oh -- you keep sawdust on your shop floor to sop up blood with, too?

[Norman D. Crow]

Bleah! LOML talked me into going "lineless" when I had to go to tri-focals while still driving truck. Learned REAL FAST that you have to be looking almost directly at what you want to see, no more looking out the sides. First time I tried backing into a dock where I had to stick my head out the window and bend it around the corner, I learned to take 'em off and throw 'em on the passenger seat until I was done backing in.

[Charlie Self]

JOAT responds:

Well, my cataract surgery left me with better distance vision than ever before. In close, I can't see squat, so +1.25 reading glasses work. Except they don't. They need to be on and off so many times, I bought bifocal safety glasses. I am now going to do the same for regular wear, and just keep a pair of glasses on.

Problem? You can't take an old pair of frames into the optician and get +1.25 bottoms and clear tops. You have to go to an optometrist to get a friggin prescrip!

Charlie Self "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." George Orwell

[Larry Jaques]

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:06:35 -0500, "Norman D. Crow" calmly ranted:

I firmly believe that the lineless lenses were developed by someone' who either didn't -ever- turn his head, rely on any kind of peripheral vision whatsoever, and who had no other visual impairments. Any folks who live their lives that way will get along just fine in them.

I spent two weeks in HELL trying to adapt to them before forcing my optometrist to replace them with nice, 100%-of-the-lens-viewable bifocals. I have astigmatism in both eyes and there was no correction for that in any part of the lens but the very center 10%. Driving was hell, laying a tape measure was hell, hanging a picture was hell, ad nauseum. I'd like to castrate the guy (or something equivalent to the woman) who dreamed them up. I had a stiff neck for a week after I quit using the damned things.

Grrr! $485 pair of totally useless glasses MY ASS!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If God approved of nudity, we all would have been born naked. ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Your Wild & Woody Website Wonk

[WoodchuckCanuck]

Dan,

Like Upscale said, make this a good opportunity to teach others. Your glasses are a tool...of sorts. I've heard it said that a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife. I think your under-prescribed glasses may be a case in point. Woodwork Safely, Jim Barry

[Patriarch]

"George" wrote in news:41d16010 [e-mail]:

I gave up softball when I hurt myself too often fielding the ball. 15 years ago now, or more? It was another hobby at which I went more than a little overboard.

Maybe there's a trend here somewhere...

Patriarch

[Patriarch]

Larry Jaques wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Vanity. It's all vanity. No one wants to admit that they are middle-aged.

As if the other indicators weren't readily apparent...;-)

Patriarch

[Swingman]

middle-aged.

Damn ... if I still could, I would.

[Silvan]

Amen bruddah. I hear your pain. My lenses are getting a little scratched up, and I need new ones. These glasses are FINE. But I can't go get new lenses without horking up a gob of cash to pay for an eye exam, 'cause my script is over two years old.

[Charlie Self]

Swingman responds:

Coulda, woulda, shoulda cause it's too damned late now.

Time may not have wings, but it does take wing and fly...away.

Charlie Self "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." George Orwell

[Dave O'Heare]

It may simply be that those particular lenses weren't the right ones for you.

I have been wearing lineless bifocals for a few years now. When I had to replace my lenses this year, I asked my optometrist if there were cheaper alternatives, seeing as I don't have medical insurance coverage any more.

She set me up with a pair of rather cheaper lenses, and it was an almost unmitigated disaster. I couldn't read, I could drive okay but I had problems walking, especially going downstairs. It was awful.

She did tell me, though, that there was a tryout period on *all* bifocal lenses that they carried.

So, I went back, ponied up the extra bucks, and have been happy with the lenses ever since. SWMBO tells me that I don't look like somebody who wears bifocals when I'm reading; I just read.

And yes, I have astigmatisms in both eyes, one 30 degrees off vertical and one about 40 the other way, one astigmatism is radical (+2.25).

Cheers.

Dave O'Heare oheareATmagmaDOTca

[John Grossbohlin]

I'm going to have 8 Weblos to instruct Thursday... I made a conscious decision to stick with relatively low risk tools: coping saw, back saw, block plane, sand paper, compass, ruler, pencil, vise, clamps.

I did a one-on-one with my son for pocket knives, whittling, and using carving tools. That instruction took hyper vigilance and 8 kids would have been 7 too many. There is no way I'd subject myself to a den full of kids with knives... I plan for success! ;-)

John

[Dan Valleskey]

I held it right up, no sense trying to weasel out of it. They got a laugh out of it too.

We made mice- carved, basswood. Two small cuts, besides mine.

-Dan

[Dan Valleskey]

It was .... okay. Had two moms to help. 6 boys. two small cuts.

They needed to have it for a woodchip card, so they can carry their knives to camp.

The shop thing comes next month. Bat houses, I think. Last year (with eight year olds, and one dad per kid) we did bird houses, used air nailers, drills, power screw drivers, but the table saw cuts were done ahead of time by me and another dad.

I've let the boys use the stationary belt sander on pinewood cars. They use the drill press. Scroll saw. Band saw I use, though I offered it once to a Webelos. He declined using it, no big deal.

-Dan