I’ve been busy with work on some client projects in addition to home and yard work so there has not been time to write. The phrase, “I’ve been worked slick” came to mind. I heard it years ago and assumed it alluded to how a well-used wood handle tool like a rake gets polished slick from hand rubbing. I always assumed it was in common use but I couldn’t remember a single instance of hearing it since that original experience. I searched for it on the web and didn’t come up with anything.
As I pondered other references about work which I had tucked away in my memory a few came back to me. From childhood there was “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” About twenty years ago I first heard “Woah there, a man can easily over do.” A friend used this as a joke whenever he heard some type of work proposed.
Another favorite was used by my paternal grandfather. As a teenager I was eager to get things done and when I got impatient with the pace of our work I occasionally did something which evoked “Slow down there. We’re not at a rat killing.”
Today I’ll be working again on finishing an unusual railing project. I am making what I call a twining vine motif rail. The rail is inspired by the concept of a vine such as bittersweet twining around the trunk or vine of another plant and seeming to sink into it as the encircled plant grows in diameter. I have been told that some cane makers will coppice a sassafras grove so that there are a lot of young sprouts which will quickly grow to cane-size. Some of these will be encircled by twining vines and the resulting deformation makes especially sought after cane stock.
My clients home is in a rural setting so the work I am doing will reflect some of the native flora such as river grape vine. The rail is mounted with grape leaf - fruit cluster - tendril brackets. I’ll start posting some information about how the project was done as soon as I can get the time.
Scroll down to the twining vine image:
More quotes about work:
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