New electric griddle. Doing the happy dance this morning

[Clipper]

I simply have to share the joys of having purchased a large electric griddle yesterday while grocery shopping. Small and simple things such as this bring me untold pleasure as I age. It is nothing special, is made by Presto, and was only $19.99, but I have been wanting one simply to make pancakes and to fry bacon. I guess it is the little things that sometimes bring us the largest amount of pleasure. We have always made pancakes and grilled cheese sandwiches on a square cast aluminum stove top griddle that Kathy acquired with a GE stove back in the 60's. It has served us well and now can be retired to the bottom cabinets or to the travel trailer for camping use. In the past, breakfast involved a sheet pan in the oven for the bacon, a frying pan for Kathy's eggs, and the griddle for my hotcakes. The new griddle makes it possible to get by with the one appliance and it is immersible in water for easy cleaning. This morning I put 6 slices of thick cut slab bacon on one end, let it get started, used a spatula to move some of the bacon fat to the middle section where I cracked two eggs for Kathy, while cooking 4 five inch pancakes on the other end for myself, all at the same time. Woo hoo! I guess it doesn't take much to excite me in my old age, haha. The only trouble with this appliance is that it is large and takes up a lot of counter space while in use. If we were to leave it out on the counter, we would probably have to expand our counter space into the living room or laundry room. I am a sucker for the latest and greatest counter top appliances. We have the Showtime rotisserie, a food processor, Kathy's Kitchen Aid stand mixer, a four slice toaster, my Keurig coffee maker, the electric can opener, the little "hot shot" that Kathy uses to heat water for her instant coffee, a deep fryer and a George Foreman grill, all on the counter top. Sheesh. I fear that if we turned all of these things on at the same time, the electric meter would spin itself right off the side of the house.

I go through periods of obsessive collecting of such things. I guess it is compulsive behavior, but I don't smoke, haven't drank in many many years, don't buy a lot of clothes since I retired, we don't take expensive vacations, cruises, or such, and actually live a fairly simple life. I figure I can spend my discretionary income on such obsessions as long as they don't affect our overall financial stability or require credit card purchases. First it was shop tools. My wood shop has at least one, if not more than one, of every power tool and handy gadget that ever hit the shelves at Sears or Lowes. When I fished in bass tournaments, I literally collected hundreds of lures, jigs, and plastic worms, that took up several very large tackle boxes, and also have accumulated at least 15 or more fishing poles of all sizes and uses. Bowling was an obsession for a few years, and I have accumulated probably a dozen or more bowling balls, buying a couple of the latest and greatest each season. Now I have settled in and have bowled with the same ball for 5 or 6 yrs. I am also a sucker for outdoor power equipment. We have an 18 horsepower tractor that is my primary mower, a power push mower, a power self propelled walk behind mower, a walk behind D&R brush mower that works like an overgrown string trimmer, two weedeaters, two chainsaws, a gasoline powered leaf blower, a electric hedge trimmer, a pressure washer and a brand new rototiller, used one season, that I may never be able to use again due to my bad shoulder. When I hunted I collected quite a few guns over the years. I have given most of those away or sold them. I now only have kept my shotgun, a 30-30 and a .22 rifle. At one time I had 12 or 15 long guns in my gun cabinet. Kathy just shakes her head when I open the garage door and she sees all my "STUFF" in my shop and the adjacent stall, and simply wonders what I may decide to accumulate and collect next, lol. She asks why I keep all that stuff, and I have but one answer for her. It doesn't eat any hay, it costs nothing to keep around, and SOMEDAY I will use all of it for one thing or another, haha.

When she complains about the accumulation, I tell her only that she will get one hell of a lump of cash should she hold an estate sale if I croak before she does.

I would truly have a mess if we were to downsize and move into a condo or apartment at some point. I imagine that Dave can attest to the labor involved in divesting ourselves of our accumulated "stuff" over a period of years. I remember him selling his printing press and associated accessories and I am sure that he had to get rid of some of his radio equipment, books, and other things that had accumulated over the years while living in a large remodeled farmhouse with out buildings.

[Deleted]

Wow Clipper if I put all those things in my kitchen I wouldn't fit. I think it is time for Kathy to ask for a kitchen makeover.

I have a wrench and a screw driver it has a Philips head-two sided and a regular screw driver. I also have a hammer. I don't need anything else.

I did buy an electric toothbrush. I used it once. What a crazy contraption that thing is. I went back to the old manual toothbrush.

[Clipper]

Sshhhh! Don't let Kathy hear that Alan. She got one kitchen makeover when we first moved into this little 70 yr old farm house. We actually have about 14 feet of counter space now. I put down a new sub floor and Pergo laminate floor, new stainless steel sink, new base cabinets and counter tops, new dishwasher and range, and I took the doors off of the custom built pine upper cabinets with knotty pine doors, hand sanded each and every door, primed them, painted them white, applied 3 coats of polyurethane, and replaced all the hardware. I sanded the cabinet faces and shelves, stained them with a cherry stain, and three coats of poly on them also. We also ripped out the old 5 foot by 10 foot bathroom, gutted it down to the studs and joists, turned it into a laundry room and half bath with toilet, sink, and large storage cabinet for laundry supplies and some of Kathy's canning jars etc. I then gutted a 9x12 foot mud room with a door to the back yard, took out the door and put in a window in it's place, installed a vanity cabinet and basin, a jacuzzi tub and shower, a toilet, and three closets for linens, pantry items, and the 80 gallon hot water heater. I used to truly enjoy fixing up houses and remodeling, but as I got older, broke my back, and wore out my knees, it has become more and more difficult to do that sort of work, and I have pretty much quit taking on such projects. Now my woodshop work is pretty much limited to small projects, wooden toys for kids, bird feeders, bird houses, lawn ornaments, lamps turned on the lathe, spice racks, and crafty little scroll sawed wooden items that are fun to make. With m bad knees I have actually adapted some of the stands that hold my power tools such as my band saw, router table, and scroll saw to a height that allows me to sit on a roll around shop stool, and an old swivel based office chair to work, as I can't stand for extended periods on the concrete floor like I used to.

I truly enjoy working with my hands, and when we first moved here I spent my every waking hour working in the yard and in a huge vegetable garden. In recent years I only plant a few tomatoes and about a half dozen hills of cucumbers. I took care of our 3/4 acre lawn and gardens, plus mowing and maintaining my mom and dad's house and 1/2 acre lawn. Now I hire a boy to do the weed whacking once a month in summer because my shoulder and back can't take the abuse any more. I also have to hire someone to rake the leaves in the fall.

I know I don't have to tell you about health problems. We work all of our lives, looking forward to the day we can retire, and then when we do finally retire, our bodies are worn out, our joints are all arthritic, and we are limited in our movement and enjoyment.

[Deleted]

Clipper you sure are multi talented. WCNY will have to invite you on the show wright Shop and This Old House you would make a great guest. You even make wooden toys. Holy cow. Could get a part time job with Santa Workshop. I bet you did enjoy being able to do so much. I was never blessed with talent to do such things. That is why owning a moble home was so expensive. Anything that need be done I had to call someone and it cost $100. just to crawl under the crawl space under the home. I made a big goof buying that thing. But it is water over the bridge. I wish I could find someone to fix my living room and bedroom windows. Been 6 years now. In the winter the cold air blows right through and a a lot water vapor builds up on the inside with the heat on. Maintenance does nothing around here. They been saying we will get new windows and have been saying that for 8 years now. I just wish they could just fix my windows I have to wipe up all the water buildup each morning and when it is real cold the towels I place ever them at night freeze. At least I don't have it as bad as the guy next door he has windows that seem to just pour water every night. I only wish I had a better place to live but cannot afford that. Oh well.

[Clipper]

Alan, my paternal grandfather was a very handy person. He could build or fix almost anything. It was his talents and creativity that fueled my desire to work with wood. I pretty much taught myself to do home improvement projects through books and trial and error. As for working in my shop on wood projects, I simply love the smell of fresh sawdust, and enjoy the relaxation of watching the transformation take place as I work at my own pace to change a simple block of wood into something useful. In winter it is often warm enough to simply wear a flannel shirt to work in my shop, but if not, I have a ventless propane heater to take the chill off. I have a tape player out there to play all the cassettes that I have collected over the years, that no longer can be played in my vehicle because car makers have moved on to CD players. It is simply what some might call my "man cave" but without the beer system and flat screen tv, lol.

To me, working in my wood shop is sort of like reading. I am taken away to a peaceful and relaxing place when I work my way around the shop from one workstation to another. My mind is on the wood and the project, and not on the problems of the outside world for that particular period of time. I close the doors, leaving the world outside, turn on the lights, and power up the tools. I make the toys because I often don't have anything else to make, and because I saw the simple forms of toys at a flea market years ago and decided it was a useful way to spend some time, and a cheap way to provide toys to kids that don't have many. Most of the toys I make are simple shapes such as trucks and cars, garages for them, and simple forms resembling loaders, tractors, trains, etc. The raw material is normally simple blocks of either soft pine or scraps of hardwood, made by cutting 2x6 or 2x10 boards into workable lengths. I usually cut the rough shapes on a band saw or scroll saw, and work them to the shape I want with bench mounted belt and disc sander, router and drill press. Wheels are cut from a board with a hole saw or bought at the hobby and craft store, and axles are simply hardwood dowels. Toys for the little tykes are painted with a non-toxic acrylic paint, and coated with shellac. Shellac flakes are non-toxic and I mix the shellac flakes with everclear alcohol, which is also non-toxic when it dries. I am not sure about the toxicity of premixed shellac, and that is why I use the flakes and mix it myself.

I had all I could do to keep up with the yard work this summer, and between my shoulder surgery and the recovery, my deteriorating knees, coupled with Kathy's back surgery and caring for her, I have not been in the wood shop much at all. I didn't have any toys to give away this Christmas, and hope to just be able to get back out there soon. Knee replacement tenatively scheduled for early January, so I will have that the period of limited mobility while that heals, and will need to stay up and about and active, so I anticipate being able to go out there and tinker during that recovery time on days that I don't have physical therapy.

I give most of the stuff that I make away. I have donated toys to toys for tots, and have made simple wooden cars and trucks for kids I come across at the food pantry. I have a real soft spot for kids. I like to have something for them when I volunteer. If it is not candy, or toys, it is story books, coloring books or boxes of cookies from the dollar store. I am a miserable and cranky old fart, but nothing makes me smile any more than putting a smile of the face of a little kid. I have been fortunate Alan. I was blessed with a wonderful and loving grandfather and father who were talented and patient in teaching and passing along their talents. I am blessed with my grandpa's high quality hand tools that he left to my dad, and my dad left to me. I have the shaping tools to use on my lathe that he used back in the 40's and 50's. I have his antique craftsmen table saw that he passed down to my dad, who gave it to me when I moved here to Tennessee, although I did supplement it with a brand new table saw that I purchased a couple years ago. I have several planes of various sizes and shapes. I take a lot of pleasure in simply using those tools that my grandpa held in HIS hands to create something 50 and 60 years later and in caring for them with the same respect and tenderness that he did.

[Deleted]

Clipper said: I didn't have any toys to give away this Christmas,. Oh boy but you have a great heart filled with love that you give away. God Bless you Clipper and Kathy.

[Clipper]

Believe me Alan, my heart is not always filled with love, haha. Much of the compassion in my old age is simple gratitude for the blessings that the Lord bestowed upon me over the years. I certainly was not always a very nice person when I was younger. I credit the Lord for turning my life around and giving me the skills to climb out of the place I was in the 60's and 70's to achieve a decent career, adequate retirement, and to be blessed to have met Kathy, who is my true soulmate. It is sort of like the term "paying it forward" that has become so popular in recent days. Having plenty of idle time in my retirement, I find it only good common sense to put that time to some productive use instead of simply sitting around vegetating, lol. Making toys is fun. When the toys have been made, the natural thing to do with them is to give them to someone that will use them. It is simply common sense. I have always loved interacting with people, and spending time chatting and working with the other volunteers and with the clients when I volunteer is just as much fun to me as is the bingo games and senior bus trips are to some others. It is what drove me to run for president of the local bowling association. Through that endeavor, I have had the pleasure of meeting pretty much every bowler that bowls on a men's league here in Bristol at least casually, having held the preseason meetings, and having addressed some of the grievances that arise during the year. It is that desire to interact that originally drove me to create the original Clipper's Busy Corner. I was fortunate to have people like Ralph to bring the expertise to make it usable and presentable, it is he and others that deserve all the credit for taking what was simply an idea and stab in the dark for me, and making it what you see today. It grew to have people like all of our original members like Dave, and Clarence, and yourself under your old original screen name, that helped to grow it and make it what it is today. While I may not have exactly been the "ambassador of good will" here, at least the forum itself has been very successful over time. People interacting with other people is what makes the world go around. Communicating with and sharing with folks like yourself, is what I wake up for in the morning. There is something to be learned from each and every interaction with others.