Pool Time

I'm not real good at pool, but I do like to play it. We had a table in the basement in Gillette. Having an open room in our Buffalo basement, I've been keeping my eye out for a pool table to put there. Lo and behold, the Lord provides. 

I spotted this treasure in the basement of the parish hall. It belongs to the Knights of Columbus, who are the second owners and hauled it down here sometime in the 1970s. Since they hadn't used it in years, they graciously donated it to our cause. 

It's a 9' Brunswick and is in really good shape. I'd like to know what year it was made. I'm guessing the 1960s.

So I called my buddy Jared and we got to work. Neither one of us had ever moved a pool table before. But I had watched a YouTube video and he was trusting. 

We first took the bumper assembly off in two pieces. 

Then pulled the tacks holding the felt and folded it up. 

Moving the slates is where the real challenge begins.

Breaking out the old filler, we exposed the screws that held them down. 

Throughout this process, we tried to be neat and tidy.

They pulled apart pretty easy. This is a three slate assembly, which is pretty common on standard tables. This one also had dowels, which is fine as long as you don't lift up on them as you're pulling them apart. Looks like the last guy found this out the hard way. 

It was good to get to this point. But there was still plenty of work to be done.

Hauling them out was probably the toughest part of the project. A good 200 lbs a piece, I'd say. 

We also brought along the cues and any other accessories lying around. 

Giddy up. 

Then we made room in the 1957 rectory. 

Definitely tight coming down the stairwell. 

When disassembling a pool table, you start at the top and work your way down. When reassembling, you start at the bottom and work your way up. 

We treated all the wood as we went back together. 

Shined up pretty good. 

Again, the slates were a challenge. This time we just slid them down the stairs. 

The first step was to join them back together and get some screws started. 

This was the most important part of the project. You don't level the legs of a pool table, but the individual slates themselves. 

Once we had it all shimmed up and level all around, we screwed the slates down tight. 

The filled in the seams with bondo and sanded it down good. 

Not bad. We were pleased with the way it all lined up. 

Now for the felt. This would be a good time to replace the felt, but we didn't have any nor did we have the time. When reusing old felt, just follow the fold marks and put it right where it was before. We used staples verses tacks on the reinstall. 

Then placed the bumper assemblies on and snugged it all down tight. 

We cleaned up and hung the cues on the wall. Nice old Brunswick sticks. 

All the original balls were accounted for. We put a bit of a shine on them. 

Then Jared racked 'em. 

And I broke the first game on our new old pool table. 

This table is fast! And the extra foot than I'm used to playing on makes it challenging. Jared gave me a pretty good lesson.

Bring it.

All throughout this nine hour excursion, the Sawyer Brown song lyrics kept ringing in my head: We work hard to have a little fun... That's us. This definitely was a lot of work and hopefully we can have a little fun with it as time goes on. Shooting stick is fun, but it also creates an environment to chat about the deeper things in life. Special thanks to the Knights of Columbus for their generosity and to Jared for his strong back. Let's ranch. 

Cutting Torch

Our new sign has been working good, but not the mailbox. It is too close to the driveway. I didn't want to put it on the other side because you'd have to walk through the snow to get to it. After awhile, though, it really looked like the other side was the place to be. So with the help of a cutting torch, we got it changed.

It's not worth waiting until the mailbox slides down the side of someone's pickup before we move it. 

A cutting torch was my tool of choice. The oxygen/acetylene combination is a primitive form of metal fabrication that can't be replaced.  

Grandpa drilled into us kids' head, only turn the acetylene valve on one turn! I've heard this elsewhere and the idea is because if you ever have a fire, the acetylene valve is the one that needs turned off quickly. This is also because you don't need a lot of volume of this gas when cutting like you do the oxygen. Open wide the oxygen tank. The norm is to run the oxygen pressure around 40 psi and the acetylene at about 15 psi. I've got to be careful working around Dad because I'll barely get a cut done and he'll have my bottles shut back off. No sense in leaving them on if you're not using them, though. Most torch set ups have a leak somewhere and there's no need wasting gas. 

Give the acetylene valve on the torch body a crack and strike the flame. Run it open until the flame parts from the tip about a 1/4 inch. 

Then slowly open the oxygen valve until the blue flame cones settle nicely on the tip. Pull your cutting lever to ensure that they don't change when it is triggered. 

When cutting, you have to keep the heat localized before you are able to cut. When cutting off something like this, and you are wanting to preserve the integrity of both pieces of metal, you have to focus the flame on the weld only. This takes a little finesse and it also takes longer to heat up a weld than the edge of a piece of strap iron. 

If you take your time you can make a clean cut that doesn't need a lot of clean up. 

Looks good on the other end too. 

Like my cousin always said, Bryce is a good grinder. 

Not bad. A little nick in the pipe from the torch. 

When cleaning up this angel iron, I just make sure all the cutting slag is gone. If there is some old weld left, that is fine. You're gonna reweld it anyway. 

Getting the welder out to the sign was my hold up. Thankfully, Dick Bradshaw came through once again. This time with a heavy 220 extension cord. 

I just held it in place, with the box still attached, and gave it a tack. 

Then pulled the box and welded it up. 

Shot it with a little paint, turned the box around, and we're back in business. 

I like cutting torches. Grandpa said that they were the first breakthrough in allowing metal works to be done on the farm rather than at the blacksmith. Change the tip, and you can use them to weld as well. Gas welding was the first way I learned to weld. A oxy acetylene set up is about the most versital tool in the shop. As long as you're not out of gas, you can be ready for about any project that comes your way. 

Fish Tale

If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Even if He says to say nothing! 

           https://youtu.be/9vXEusgIYe4         

Horse Care

I bet it in the last two months I have visited these horses twice. That's the beauty horses, if their pasture conditions are right, they can fend for themselves.  

It's been an open winter, which allows the water to stay open and grass exposed. A couple honks of the horn at Jack's place, and the kids come running. 

A bucket they'll dive right into. Out of the hand, they need to test first. 

Oats don't take too much convincing. 

Chief is weathering well. Still got to look into his limp. I hope to have a vet take a look soon. 

Buck's pretty happy. 

Mollie always enjoys a good treat. 

Happy campers. 

We've got a good set up at Jack's. There are cows still in the country or I'd supplement them with a lick tub. Hopefully we can soon. My wheels are already turning about spring. We'll see what kind of fun we can find out here in the months to come. Ranch on. 

Attractiveness

Our Lord's authority is attractive.

           https://youtu.be/T28LET1VZc4         

Authority

Jesus speaks with true authority.

           https://youtu.be/5Sz9_Oqgsdw         

Pilgrimage Sunday

Every good Catholic vacation needs to have some sort of pilgrimage attached to it. That really isn't hard to do, beings the Church is everywhere in the world and saints come from all corners of the earth. For us, this took place in downtown Edinburgh. Oh yeah, we picked up a straggler too. 

Spain really isn't that far away. So, Gerry jumped the pond and joined us for a couple days of Catholic Cowboy fun. 

Our first stop on Sunday morning was at St. Mary's Cathedral. I had made arrangements beforehand to concelebrate at their 9am Mass. 

Beautiful church. Built in the late 19th century. There are different areas where Christianity, and Catholicism is particular, are alive and well. There are also other places where it is barely hanging on. It remains pretty lively in downtown Edinburgh. Our Mass was fairly full. 

Why this cathedral is entrusted to Our Lady...? Why not? Can't go wrong with Mary. She always leads us to Jesus. Every pilgrimage I take, I like to renew my entrustment to Mary. Just following in the footsteps of Jesus. 

Tradition holds that Scotland was evangelized by the Apostle Andrew. He, like most of the Apostles, died a martyr's death. Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross. You often see him figured holding this cross and you see it in different symbols around the country. Particularly on the Scottish flag, which is blue with a white shaped X across it. 

Fr. Jeremy and Dcn. Peter were quite friendly and accommodating. 

After Mass we took a stroll downtown. 

There's a bagpiper on every corner around here. 

Our destination was the Edinburgh Castle. 

Back in its day, this place was a force to be reckoned with. Hard to describe the magnitude of this fortress and its purpose to protect and defend. There's a lot of history in these stone walls. 

The highlight of our Pilgrimage Sunday was St. Margaret's Chapel. Queen Margaret of Scotland was not from Scotland, but married the king after her family was forced to flee England. After that, she bore eight children and lived a holy life dedicated to God and neighbor.

This chapel was built in the 12th century and was a common place for the royal family to pray and have Mass celebrated. It remains the oldest standing building on the castle premises. 

Beautiful, noble simplicity. Here, we prayed for ourselves and for others just like St. Margaret would've done. 

Bring it. 

Fun stuff. Vacations are always funner when God is the source and summit. Our Lord was the leading force on this trip. And it was Him, who was our great culmination. Just like life. When Jesus is our alpha and omega, everything in between falls nicely into place. This trip to Scotland has been a good gig. Wonder what awaits us next? Only one way to find out... Let's ranch.