Blonde in a Nutshell: January 2006

Coping

The senior non-boatbuilder bought me a coping saw, so today I coped (I guess) the molds for stations 1 and 3, cut the inside curve of the center frame, created the forekeel, glued a few sticks together, transferred the patterns for the bow and stern transoms, then went to the library. Sometimes I get so swept up in actually working on a project that I forget how much easier it is just to sit in a chair and read about it.

Suddenly Sudoku

Do you Sudoku? No? Do you hit yourself in the head repeatedly with a castiron skillet? So asks newspaper columnist David Grimes, from Florida. Suddenly Sudoku is everywhere, but David Grimes and I hate it. Eric is no fan, either, and you are probably wondering, Who is Eric? Well, Eric is the person in David Grimes's column who said, "I think Sudoku is boring, but many of our elders love it because it gives them a different mental activity to go with the crossword. Got to stave off dementia, after all, and any mental activity helps." Then David said, "Let's see...dementia...Sudoku...dementia...Sudoku."

What would that columnist have to say about an aging boomer of the blonde persuasion building a boat? "Let's see... dementia...boatbuilding...dementia...boatbuilding."

Underway

Operation Nutshell has begun! Today I completed step one of the model, which was to prepare a sub-base and a base upon which to build the mini-pram. I cut the wood for the base, a 5" x 15" piece of 3/4" plywood, and also cut my foot in the process when a piece of wood fell on it. As always, I was wearing open-toed shoes, aptly named because I cut my toe open. How lucky to sustain my first injury so early in the project. Surely there will be many more to come.

Next, I transferred patterns for the molds, the center frame, and the forekeel onto little pieces of sheetwood. I had planned to cut them out until I discovered that among the vast array of hand and power tools at my fingertips, the one that was absent was the very one I needed: a coping saw. It was absent because it is still at the hardware store waiting to be purchased.

Tune in tomorrow, when I procure the coping saw.

Ordinarily, I would have shown a picture of today's accomplishment, but the Non-boatbuilders pictured in an earlier post took the camera sailing with them last weekend, and it ended up going for a swim. It drowned. So until next paycheck, I must endure without a camera.

The Non-boatbuilders

My son, Parker, on the left. My husband, Cary, on the right.

Parker has offered to help me build the Nutshell Pram. I might let him because he has the one necessary qualification: he's blond.

Blonde joke #1

Q: Why did the blonde get so excited when she finished a jigsaw puzzle in 6 months?
A: Because on the box it said "2 to 4 years."

Q: Why did the blonde get so frustrated when she wanted to start building her model of the Nutshell Pram?
A: Because she'd had the entire kit for 10 years, and in fact had been reading the instructions a few weeks ago, but three days ago when she wanted to start to work on it, she couldn't find the instruction sheets or the plans, and she cleaned her entire house, including her teenage son's snakepit of a room, looking for them, to no avail.

Q: What did the blonde do?
A: She called Wooden Boat and requested another set of instructions and plans. They're on the way. Yay!

Mission: Possibly possible

I've read the book. I've watched the video. I have the T-shirt. There's nothing left now but to build the boat. This is my challenge: to build the Nutshell Pram, and to make a documentary film about my endeavour.

Here's what I know about boatbuilding:
Here's what I know about filmmaking:

Here's one thing I do know: I want to build this boat.

About ten years ago, I bought a kit from Wooden Boat for a model of the Nutshell Pram. Attempts to interest a male member of my family to build it failed. Every couple of years, I'd resurrect the little kit and wave it before my husband, pass it under my son's nose, but not even the Nutshell's innate cuteness could dislodge Cary from his sailing magazines, or Parker from his video games. Then came 2006 and my New Year's resolution to be a better blonde: I'll build it myself! First I'll warm up to it by building the model, then move on to the life-size boat.

These are my obstacles to boatbuilding: No woodworking skills whatsoever, and no place to build it.
These are my obstacles to filmmaking: No camera and no camera.

Lucky me, though. Two things stand in my favor:
1. Plenty of sexy power tools and trusty hand tools.
2. A blonde's obliviousness to obstacles.

Into the wind!