# Shop Rat Interruptions



## Diver Temple (Oct 31, 2019)

Hi, I'm Mo. I'm a wood turner, mostly. I've been clean now for four days but will most likely fall off the wagon on Friday or Saturday...

As this is a forum mostly for shop talk, I hope it's also the place to commiserate on things that turn a good day in the shop into a challenging day trying not to break more than necessary. 

So there I am fine tuning a turned bowl when my beautiful wife needs to start interrupting with off the wall questions, repeated interruptions and finally a catch that destroys the bowl as I try to get back to bowl...repeat every 20 - 30 minutes on other projects, but only when I'm at a nail-biting moment with a skew or trying to turn past a crack. 

Then this last weekend I am working a burl slab for a desk organizer, top and bottom drum re-sanded to 220 (had to remove a failed attempt at WOP), hand sanded to 400, sides brushed with spar varnish completed and dried and just applied the 3rd coat of BLO on the top and bottom to better pop the figured grain patterns before moving on to something shiny - and looking pretty good. And... you guessed it, it is at this moment, with several hours of work over several days invested, that the love of my life  needs to come out to the shoparage and get the "dog bed" out from behind my work bench, on which also resides a rack of lathe tools. 

As the wonderful person to whom I have been married for 36 years approaches with her nefarious intentions, of which I am, for the moment, blissfully ignorant, my attention is diverted. Not to waste precious shop time on my weekend, I am not only working on the burl slab, I am also prepping three pens, two bottle stoppers and working a plan for a bowl and bowl stand (the stand I destroyed on Sunday - all on my own). So within seconds of turning to the other bench with the various kits and wood blanks laid out to markup for cutting and drilling, I hear couple of clanks, one or two clunks, one dribbling thud, and the clatter of wood and HS steel on concrete. 

I turn around rather quickly to see my wife looking a little concerned about the freshly sharpened blade on the floor, which is my 2" bowl scrapper now sporting fresh concrete powder and a new style edge burr, and then my attention is drawn to the pretty burl slab, almost was ready for a final finish, which now has an 1/8" x 3" depression that strangely resembles the shape of the narrow edge of the bowl gouge now lying on the floor! 

After biting back a tirade of the most colorful words I picked up during my 30 years in the Navy, not so politely but not so harshly telling my better half to find some place else to be, holding back the urge to smash...something..., resisting the desire to burn the dog bed, 30 minutes of serious objective reflection concerning the actual importance of a ~24x15x2 burl slab of questionable ancestry and my time spent on it, 4 happy pills (the only thing I am kidding about), and 10 minutes petting the Siberian husky who was suddenly concerned about my mental state, I spent the rest of the day running the burl slab back through the drum sander to 220 (third time now if your keeping count, I am), hand sanding to 400, applying three coats of BLO to dry until this coming weekend, finished my plan for the bowl and bowl stand, looked at the pens and bottle-stopper blanks, and had a single malt - double. Good thing I had Sunday to make the bowl stand...https://woodbarter.com/threads/well-done-is-an-understatement.40156/ 

Isn't wood working grand?!? So how was your week?

Reactions: Great Post 2 | Funny 3 | +Karma 1 | Sincere 3


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Oct 31, 2019)

I wanted to use the sincere emoji but used the laugh instead. Just because I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes its just better to laugh and say oh well than throw a bitch fit and cuss and hurt the feelings of the ones you love. It's just another step in the life of a woodworker!

Reactions: Agree 2 | Great Post 1


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## Mr. Peet (Oct 31, 2019)

I would have simply reversed the door knob lock assembly to lock from the garage. Lack of respect comes to mind, but so does jealousy. Good luck...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Gdurfey (Oct 31, 2019)

Eric, due to your post, I changed my emoji. I couldn’t decide whether to put the chuckles, was almost afraid that would be the straw and he would hunt me down. I thought about sincere......but didn’t want to be a sap tonight!! 

Mo, you’re a good man. I can tell you have a great woman, I didn’t do things right but have the great woman now. Just feels late, but it’s good. What I am getting at is that it is really neat to see some one that has set the example for many and care as much as you do. 

If I am all wet, well, tell me where to send flowers to and I hope prison has a wood shop. Will send you wood on Sundays.......

Reactions: Like 1 | Sincere 1


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## ripjack13 (Oct 31, 2019)

Wow. I did "great post", because it is. 
Mo, I bought one of those doorbells that plug in an outlet, and has a battery operated remote button. When the wife wants attention or is warning me , she coming in, she'll ring it, a few times.
Something like these would be good.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## Diver Temple (Oct 31, 2019)

Seriously all, my post was all in good fun, even if the oh-$#!T moment wasn't. I got lucky with a woman who could put up with me and the Navy for 30 years, and didn't get tired off me after I stayed home all the time. LOL
Once I get a shop that is not in the garage (shoparage) I will make it harder for her to want to come in and mess around. However, I do like it when she brings me a fresh glass of water and a snack, so can't put up the "NO SPOUSES ALLOWED" sign. In this case, she was leaving to buy groceries and our routine is to put the dog on the long lead in the garage, door open, and put the bed out under a tree in the front yard. BUT USUALLY, she brings out the dog and I get the bed. She was being "helpful." So, the moment passed, there are no bodies to hide, and tomorrow I put her car in the driveway and roll out the machines! Appreciate all the careful humor and good suggestions, didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable. I will never post something that can't be laughed at and I appreciate all types of humor, even when it stings once in a while. There is not a lot that I don't find the humor in, eventually. Saturday just took a few minutes longer.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1 | Sincere 1


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## Sprung (Nov 1, 2019)

Been there. Gotten startled by my wife while I was in the shop and, on at least two occasions, I could have easily lost fingers to a saw because of it.

Reactions: +Karma 2


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## ripjack13 (Nov 1, 2019)

Diver Temple said:


> Seriously all, my post was all in good fun, even if the oh-$#!T moment wasn't.



I know Mo. But it still is a good idea.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## ripjack13 (Nov 1, 2019)

This is the one I have. 
It's crap. Only one bell worked. I wanted a set of two so I ring it if I needed her. But oh well. One buzzer i have stuck to a base that wont get lost, just in case she is sick or something she can ring it from her bed, or chair, and I'll come up to attend to her.
So, it's a good thing....

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## Gdurfey (Nov 1, 2019)

I figured, but I still wanted to poke carefully!!!! I really do like the way your wrote it; verging on a Erma Bombeck story. Thanks Mo; have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!! by the way, thanks for your service!!

Reactions: Like 1


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## ripjack13 (Nov 1, 2019)

Gdurfey said:


> a Erma Bombeck story



Ah, good ol days, and good clean stories that were funny as heck.

Reactions: Like 1 | Sincere 1


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## Diver Temple (Nov 1, 2019)

ripjack13 said:


> This is the one I have.
> It's crap. Only one bell worked. I wanted a set of two so I ring it if I needed her. But oh well. One buzzer i have stuck to a base that wont get lost, just in case she is sick or something she can ring it from her bed, or chair, and I'll come up to attend to her.
> So, it's a good thing....


I was actually looking at shock collars, on short shot for water, two long ones for food, three long for beer! But then,I don't like wearing jewelry around my neck while turning so she has to get her own refreshments!!

Reactions: Funny 2


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## DKMD (Nov 1, 2019)

Sometimes my kids will come out to the shop to mess around and cause me grief. They’re especially fond of grabbing the air hose and ‘cleaning up dust’ just after Ive applied a coat of finish to something... all of the airborne dust is immediately drawn to that fresh finish. As if I don’t get enough practice sanding...

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 2


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