A past due Post and a Goodbye

First, let me just say, Wow! It’s been a long time since my last blog post! Over the summer I just kept thinking I’ll do that tomorrow or later today…. Obviously that never happened. I’ll have to do a “Make up” post and tell you about all the fun we had over the summer.


Does anyone even really read this thing??

Near the end of the school year, Jensen needed help making an Oregon Trail project. He wanted to make a covered wagon like Gordon did when he was in 4th grade. Really, it almost isn’t fair to the other kids who don’t have a wood loving Mother!  Do I sound a little bit conceited?

We went to the garage together and I cut some circles out of ¼” wood for wheels with my band saw. This is after we used every lid and bowl in the cupboard to trace around until we found just the right size. We carefully marked the placement for the spokes. I was all ready to cut out the little triangles so they would actually look like wagon wheels. It worked well for Gordon’s last time.

We walked over to my scroll saw with our safety glasses in place. I turned on the light over my workbench and then pulled out the power knob to start the saw. Nothing. Not one movement. No smoke. No burned smell. Just nothing. We turned it on and off a few times and still nothing. It was dead. Really dead.

How can I express my sadness at this loss? I can’t even begin to count the many hours I’d spent cutting pieces of wood to cut and paint.

It was a Christmas gift from my Dad 17 years ago.

Christmas 1994 found me in a very sad state of mind. I had just had my second and third of our 5 miscarriages. We were living in Orem, Utah and Garth was going to graduate in April.

I was so sad and really felt sorry for myself. It didn’t help that around the same time that lady in the south admitted to drowning her two boys in her car and that she hadn’t been car jacked.

I really don’t remember why Garth was already in Oregon but I flew to Oregon to join him for Christmas. I was so excited when I received this saw! I spent many hours learning how to use it. It probably sounds a little strange but that little saw really helped me on the road to healing my mind and testimony.

Anyway, here we were last May/June and we didn’t have a saw that could cut out wagon wheels! Of course we were on a time limit and couldn’t just go to the hobby store and buy some pre-made wheels.

We ended up building the top of the wagon and then taking Gordon’s apart. We used the base of his with the wheels. Jensen’s wagon itself is made from some old cedar fence boards to give it a nice rustic look. We were very pleased with the outcome but I’m afraid Gordon was a little upset over his being taken apart! He eventually got over it. I think. Yet another possible need for therapy later in his life?

Back to the saw…

Over the weekend I was cleaning and attempting to organize my side of the garage. I unscrewed my beloved scroll saw from the workbench and Garth gave the motor a good look to see if it was salvageable. It wasn’t. When I started to carry it to the garbage can Garth asked if I needed him to do it, I looked him in the eye and said “no, I need to do it” It was so hard not to cry!

Goodbye my old friend!