Random Thoughts Scribbled On Sandpaper

PHOTO: Hurricane damage to St. Augustine beach dune system. This is from a storm in my past...Not KATRINA.

Last night, I went out to the little wood shop I have to trim a piece of wainscoting on the table saw. Just about the time I finished, one of the outer bands from Hurricane KATRINA passed over us and there was much lightening and heavy tropical rainfall. So there I was trapped in my little barn. It was too far to dash back to the house and there are worse places to be trapped, so I made the best of it.

In the corner is a carving I had roughed out some time ago. I had set it aside due to the frenetic pace of dealing with job, family, and other priorities. So I sit on my stool, grab some sandpaper, and my carving tools and begin again as the rain beats down in sheets.

I kept thinking about the blogger folks whose creations I read every day. Some are out of harms way, but quite a few are going to have this storm affect them directly. Strange to worry about folks you haven't "met", yet isn't that what we should be doing...caring about everyone. Still, caring about "everyone" does get exhausting and ...diluted somehow. It's nice to have some focus...some targets to aim your care at.

The carving is a cane, with seastars and sanddollars twisting around it in relief. I pick out a seastar that needs finishing and begin...

The nice thing about carving is you can think about other things even as you concentrate on the task at hand. The storm track was no longer a threat to us, but it had just missed Thingfish23 and seemed to be aiming for Rurality out in Alabama. The good old Coriolis effect was going to turn KATRINA and carry her over most of the blogs I link to, and others I read, but just haven't put in the links yet.

Sanding is my least favorite part of carving. I try to break it up with actual carving or detailing...but the sanding can not be ignored. So I rub the wood with 220 grit and eventually a rhythm is established.

There seem to be alot of nature blogs coming out of the Appalachians, too many to list here, but I read 'em. Even if KATRINA passes nearby, they will receive heavy rains. Here in Florida, stormwater piles up, but in the mountains it flows with destructive power and so I worry a bit about those hilltop writers near her path.

Benjamin Franklin said something to the effect that "Beer was proof God loved us". As I turn this piece of cherry and sand smooth my tool marks, I think you could say the same thing about wood. If it didn't exist, could we have dreamed of a material so amazing? Enough sanding. I grab the wood burner and begin giving details to a sanddollar.

Will the storm flood Swamp4me's millpond and what about those hummingbirds? Is RM's new home ready for tropical rains? Poor thing had an earthquake last week, does she get flooding rains this week?

I finish burning the last sanddollar's aboral pattern and notice that the tropical band has passed and the rain has slackened. Now what was it I came out here for?