We once took our Grandson to a mini Circus that had sat up in town. There was the opportunity to “Sit on an Elephant!”

They had a staircase pushed up to the standing Elephant. It wore a platform atop, with a railing and seats. I took Jordan up the steps. We stepped aboard. The rest of our group took our pics.

As we prepared to descend, our Grandson Jordan spoke out loudly, in his little boy squeaky voice ... “Where’s the Elephant!?” Where ... where’s the elephant?”

I always want to get more done then each day permits. Yesterday I cleaned off an Aux bench. Brushed and vacuumed the mess. (The amount of dust, shavings, and debris in a shop is always in direct proportion to the work being done there.). I got tub after tub of acid and chemicals out of cabinets in the back room. I got out dye powders and custom mixed a pint of dark blue dye. I plugged the holes in the parts so the acid and electricity doesn’t degrade the fit. I “desmutted” (acid etched) the parts. This cleans up the crystalline structure of the surface of the aluminum. One part exhibited an odd pattern which would probably have shown in the final dye finish. The etching removed it.

By about 7pm I texted Kelly and said I think I’ll close early. The next steps have to run in sequence and require a couple of hours. She replied ... “aren’t you going to Anodize?” I replied, “Hah, I have been anodizing.”

It reminded me, once again; of the cruelty of working for yourself. In other jobs, the Friday paycheck says you worked this week. In a job like mine, it’s only the final wipe with a soft cotton cloth to remove the last finger print that gets credit for “work”. Because after that it’s presented as Done. 48 years so far. Probably 5% of the days were recognizable as “work” by the above scale. Hah.

Just a thought.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2022 05:12PM by barnespneumatic.

Sorry if you read and the post “Perspective” was all messed up. I had a nightmare with it. There was a flag embedded in editing and copying that would NOT allow me to move, edit, rename, reprint ... there was a wall that , no matter what I did, it would only print the post to a certain point and not beyond. I finally found a work around.