Catching Up

I  got home Monday to find Ron sorting the non-2012-tax-paperwork. That job done we put things more-or-less away, and the 6' table was taken down. Yay!

Then Ron trimmed the last bits on the last pair of pliers, I dyed the edges of the leather, and sat down at the computer to print an invoice, shipping label, etc. Until Ron demanded I move, he needed to do something right NOW.

There were red and orange blinkie lights on the Drobo (multi-drive storage device). The Drobo holds 4 or 5 drives, and one of the original drives we put into it is/was failing. Not a problem, given the way the Drobo operates and immediately running successful backups, but Ron's a little twitchy since the time two drives failed simultaneously. 

After dinner I reminded Ron that I hadn't finished what I was doing on the computer, evicted him from the computer, finished up what I needed to for the pliers, and did the last couple bits of tax paper-pushing. 

The pliers went out in yesterday's mail. Here's a picture:

Snuck out of work a little early yesterday because of the weather, but still haven't gotten any cartridge pouches cut out. OTOH, I'm almost caught up on dishes, and even though I was hoping for a snow day today, I planned for having to go to work, boo, and put together tonight's dinner.

2011 tax paperwork and my laptop power cord are still missing.

On the up-side, the reproduction Colonial-era buckles and Civil War-era studs and buckles I ordered came in Monday, and yesterday I got a book I'd ordered, about uniforms, equipment, etc. of the US Army on the plains post Civil War. 

I'm about halfway through the Civil War cartridge pouch book, and have found a reference to thread color, at last, stating that black wax only is to be used on the thread. Trying to re-find a web site with a recipe for black wax, I tripped over information on dyeing leather black in that era, which was also interesting, but I'll natter more about later.

Yesterday I found the black wax reference. I had briefly considered making up some, but upon more sober reflection, I think not. The stuff is messy to make, and somewhat sticky to use. Besides making thread black, and probably helping waterproof seams, it was used to stick boar bristles to your thread, the bristles being used as needles. 

Still waiting for two more books I ordered for references. We have a biggish mail box, but given the weather this time of year I played it safe and had them shipped to work. 

Still need to photocopy and mail off the business taxes.

Don't know if I'll get leather cut out tonight. Have to stop and pick up dog food and also a PeaPod order. Depends if I go with Ron to the weekly Wednesday night kibbutzing at a local restaurant, or not.