Ed’s been making spindles as fast as reasonable as well as finishing up walking wheels #8 and #9. It’s been fun putting #8 through its paces and making the totes to carry it in. Tomorrow I’ll tackle the totes for #9 which will come into the house next week.

Ed had hoped that by this time he’d have made the number of spindles needed for Black Sheep Gathering but some days of disasters in the shop prevented that. As a result the webstore has been empty for longer than we’d wanted. I’d still like to add a few here and there before BSG.

We appreciate all the feedback received after the last store update. Jesse found that much of the problem centered around a WordPress update that messed with his coding. Updated plug-ins and security updates within WordPress itself can mess with specialized coding which is easy to not see until things backfire such as what happened last time.

While the Random Number Drawings are fun they are very time-consuming on this end, and defeated the purpose of paying for a very good shopping cart. I will continue to use the RNG for the Horn spindles, when they’re available simply because Ed’s not able to make them very easily, or often. (One of the lost days in his shop was due to unsuccessfully trying to make horn spindles.)

Recently a friend let us know that her neighbor had cut down a Japanese Maple tree that was almost 100 years ago. The trunk was good size, would Ed like it?

When we got to their place they asked if we’d also like a piece from the trunk of a beloved dogwood tree they’d had to cut down a couple years earlier when the roots threatened their basement.

Randy and Ed eased the piece down to the pickup.Then we all headed their neighbor’s back yard where they’d stashed the trunk under the rhododendron bush to help keep it from drying out too fast.

Removing the packed dirt from the roots to keep from damaging Ed’s electric chainsaw.

Cutting the Japanese maple base into manageable chunks.

Flora helping Ed to maneuver the hand-truck though the soft dirt.

Once the wood was in the pickup we spent a lovely hour admiring Flora’s spinning wheels and looms then had a wonderful tea with her and Randy in their back yard eating hearty fresh bread, delicious cheeses, pickled beets and olives while enjoying good conversation.

It will be awhile before Ed can turn his attention to discovering what these woods might hold.