Please pause sometime today and remember all those members of our Armed Forces who have given the ultimate sacrifice in order that we, the Greatest Nation in the World, may live in freedom.

She came into our lives in an abrupt manner. We were leaving PetSmart with Sadie, who had just “graduated” from her training class. There was a couple outside the door who were trying to place some puppies – their black lab had gotten mixed up with a Welsh Corgi and – well, the only way to put this is these little black puppies were too cute to pass up. I told TMBWitW to go wait in the car – we didn’t need another puppy! I joined her shortly after in the car, with Sara in my arms.

She was a cutie – and Sadie got along with her very well. The two of them romped and played together, and as the puppy family grew, Sadie and Sara split the role of alpha dog – Sadie was alpha in name, Sara was the muscle.

Time passed, and Sara grew. She was a gangly little girl, all legs and a tank of a body, the result of the Welsh Corgi mixing.

Once she got past the initial growth stage, she filled out and even though her coat was not the sleek water dog coat, it was all black and very fuzzy. She delighted in being cuddled and hugged.

Sara was Logan’s bestest bud. She took him under her wing, and taught him the ropes of living in a house full of females. He learned quickly, and when we had to let him go, Sara was really lost.

Sara had a regal way of sitting. She would be in the “down” position, and her head would be up, her Corgi ears perked, and she would cross her right paw over her left. Of course, every time we tried to get a picture of it she thought we were going to give out treats, so we never were able to get a shot of her pose.

Until last Friday.

Last night, Sara stumbled a bit as she came down the hall to her blanket. She shook it off, gave me a big slobbery kiss, and laid down. This morning she scratched to be let out as usual; it was still a bit dark outside, and I stumbled my way to the door, let her out, and since it was cool I left the door open so she could let herself back in. When the alarm clock went off at six, I got up and Sara was still lying out on the patio. She looked at me and kind of half-rolled for a belly rub, which I gave with gusto.

TMBWitW got up and handed out the customary doggy treats for first thing in the morning. Sara didn’t want hers. TMBWitW was immediately concerned, since Sara has never turned down a dog treat. She called Acoma Animal Clinic and arranged for an exam at ten; I headed for work and TMBWitW started doing some work from home.

TMBWitW called me a little after ten, Sara had a blood test and xrays. The blood test showed decreased platelet counts, the general exam revealed an elevated heart rate and shallow breathing, the xray showed strange wispy growths around her lungs and a spot near her heart. All of her organs were OK otherwise. Dr. Burnham said it could be either pneumonia (but Sara wasn’t coughing, so that kind of got ruled out right away), valley fever, or cancer. He wanted to keep her for observation, so TMBWitW and MEG headed home.

I left work early (thanks, boss. i owe you one.) and headed home, after a bit we headed up to Acoma to pick up Sara and get an update from the doc. The results from the valley fever test wouldn’t be in for a few days. He went over the diagnosis with me, since I missed the first go-around, and showed the areas of concern on her xrays. We then headed back out front to get Sara and head home.

Sara came out on her leash, ready to go. TMBWitW knelt down to give her a hug, and I came around behind TMBWitW to kneel down next to Sara also. As I came down to one knee, Sara stumbled and went down, in another seizure. Dr. Burnham and Jessica were right there – they picked her up and got her onto an exam table faster than it took me to type this. Dr. Burnham inserted a trach tube.

We stood there, flabbergasted. A few minutes later, Jess showed us into a front exam room. Dr. Burnham came in and told us what had happened – Sara had suffered a seizure leading to cardiac arrest, and that he was basically performing first stage CPR for her. He asked the toughest question I’ve ever had to answer – “How far do you want me to go?”

Naturally, thoughts of Logan’s trials flashed through my mind, and TMBWitW was just devastated – I couldn’t make Sara go through a long period of pain and suffering. Dr. Burnham said that any time an event of this magnitude occurred, the chances of a full recovery were very slim.

I told him to let her go.

And, as unexpectedly as she entered our lives, she had left.

We gathered ourselves as best we could, and went in to say our goodbyes.

You are a good girl, Sara Bear. We love you and will always miss you.

SARA

July 2001 – May 2010

Gentle Giant, rest easy now.

You are sorely missed.

Well, I didn’t get as far along today as I thought I would. I’ll explain why in a minute; suffice it to say that when certain power tools don’t cooperate, certain tasks take a lot longer than normal.

First off, I need to apologize if you got the impression that I had no milling mistakes on Friday.

This is a result of the blind kerf I was cutting for the spline. I had a momentary lapse, the board lifted and came down away from the fence, and the result is as you see here – a short section of “oopsie” that needs to be fixed.

First step – putty. Putty or bondo is a woodworker’s best friend when it comes to paint grade projects. Fill the hole (slight overfill for shrinkage, since it’s acetone-based putty) and let it dry. Sand, and repeat.

End result – nice smooth wood, ready for primer. First, though, a thorough sanding of the rest of the frame, after removing the excess material from the plugs.

This is called a Japanese Flush Cut saw. One of the niftiest little hand saws ever invented, many hundreds of years ago, by the Japanese. The blade is flexible, so you can use the surrounding material as a guide while cutting off the pegs that are sitting above the surface. Works good, too:

Well, most of the time it works good.

So, glue the piece back in, let it dry, and finish sawing it off.

Well, the oak is harder than the poplar, and I am damaging the poplar more than I want to when the oak is being cut off. Time to save time and embrace 20th century technology. I picked this up at a friend’s garage sale a few years back, and it works quite well. Well, until the all the magic smoke leaks out.

And that is the delay factor I hadn’t counted on. When Mr. Belt Sander gave up the ghost, I had to resort to hand sanding the rest of the frames – both sides, and all edges. I got that finished, and now it’s time to run over to the sister-in-law’s house to visit the niece. She’s in town (she lives in Michigan) and she wanted to make this trip before her baby was born.

Friday, I’ll be priming the frames and once they are dry, I’ll be installing hardware and screen material. See you then.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

As we break the 100 degree mark here in Phoenix, I naturally chose today as the day to start on one of the last paying wood jobs I have left. This one is a set of four (one double, two singles) custom wood frame screen doors for a Victorian era bungalow in the historic district for a friend of mine.

The start of the project is always full of promise and trepidation – did I buy enough wood? how about supplies? will the design work? did I measure it right? – but always promises an adventure.

Once I got TMBWitW’s car out of my shop, I was able to start. The scariest part of any project is the milling – once everything is cut to length and any other cutting/hacking/shaping is completed, a big sigh of relief is heard. Since this is a pretty straight forward project, the sigh of relief comes early. Now the fun part – assembling the parts. The door frames are a simple four piece frame (there will be a middle strut installed later) so the best joinery trick is the most straightforward – pocket screws. I use a small Kreg jig that is actually designed for repair-in-place jobs. I have found that it’s versatility in repairs carries over to the bench work in the first place quite nicely.

That shot also shows the channel I cut for the screen spline to be applied later.

Didn’t know you were going to get a Kreg commercial in here, did you?

Next, the frames are assembled with the square-drive pocket screws. A little glue and the screws act as permanent clamps. With the pocket screw angled in, the fit is pretty much forever. With a high-use item such as these screen doors, I wanted to make sure the duty cycle lifetime would be on the higher side.

After the pocket screws are seated, and the frame is complete, I used plugs to fill the holes. Yes, repairs will be tricky, but the overall look is one of solidity.

Next step (probably Sunday afternoon) is to take a belt sander to the frames, ensuring smooth joints front and back and taking the filler plugs down to flush. After that will be a coat of primer and then the hardware. The screen material itself will be last – for the sharpest looking screens, avoid painting them or poking holes in them with tools!

(note to the sharper-eyed readers – yes, the plugs are oak. yes, the frames are paint grade poplar. the doors will be painted, remember? oak is stable enough to use as filler in the poplar frame. and, as a special treat for next time, i’ll show you the one milling mistake i made and how it will be repaired.)

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Fred sends a request for some help – I’ve been helping a friend on ebay quite a bit lately, but I’ll be darned if I know the answer to this question:

Does anyone know how to cancel a bid on eBay? If so, please respond!!

I put in a bid for a “Mickey Mouse Outfit” and now it seems I’m only six minutes away from owning Obama and his entire cabinet!

Sorry, Fred – I don’t have an answer off the top of my head, so maybe one of my readers can help you!

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!