Shop talk with a grandson

In the woodworking shop, my grandson Landon and I have been building a craftsman style settle which is just another name for a wood-framed sofa.

The sofa's plans called for a number of pieces of lumber that were actually thicker than my boards were, so I had to glue some boards together before I could get started on my cut list. And in order to glue these boards together, I first needed to flatten one side of each board on the jointer. That way I could get a good glue joint. This turned out to be a pretty big job, but finally it was done.

When I began jointing these boards, my dust collector wasn't hooked up to the jointer. So, before long, I had a large pile of shavings on the floor. Landon loves to play in these shavings and it didn't take him long to get his dump truck loaded and piled high with them. And then he had the bright idea of parking his truck under the vent where the shavings came out of the jointer and thus automated the process.

Right next to the jointer, I have a dust collection pipe that runs to the floor with a floor sweep attachment on it so, when you sweep the floor, you can simply sweep the trash into the dust collector. The dust collector is run by a remote control switch which I keep handy. When Landon tires of playing with the shavings, he uses the remote to turn on the dust collector and sweeps all the shavings into the pipe. The shavings disappear as soon as they get close to the vacuum of the dust collector and pretty soon the floor is reasonably clean -- as clean as a 5 year old would get, it at any rate.

After a couple of weeks of working on the black walnut settle (and a trip to Grizzly's in Springfield), I was able to connect the jointer to the dust collector, so now I no longer produce piles of sawdust for Landon to play with. He has to content himself with other activities, which hasn't seemed to be a problem.

And, as always, he keeps me on my toes. The other day, after lunch at our place, Landon and I were heading back up to the shop. He said, "You're the only one of my grandpas that lives close to me."

"Well, you only have two grandpas," I told him. "There's Grandpa Koehn and Nana out in western Kansas and then there is me."

"I have more than two grandpas."

"No, you have only two," I said.

"And there's Miss Linda," Landon said, "but she is my step-grandmother."

Landon paused a moment before asking, "Is that kind of like a 'fake' grandmother?"

"No," I told him, "it's more like a substitute grandmother. Your grandmother, Mamaw Karen, died before you were born and now Miss Linda is your step-grandmother."

"Yes. I like Miss Linda. I like to come to her house. She is a good cook."

"Yes, she is."

The next day Landon spent the entire day with us as his folks were on a field trip with some of the school children. He got to our house before I came out of the bedroom. Linda asked him to give her a hug, but he hung his head and just stood there. When I walked out he came over to me where I hugged him close. After I had eaten a bite and brushed my teeth, I filled my Yeti cup with tea, gave Linda a good-bye kiss and hug, then headed for the door. As we were leaving, Landon ran back in and gave Linda a big hug, too. Then he kissed her on the cheek. I think it made her day.

I had an appointment to have my truck serviced in Springdale and, afterwards, Landon and I planned to stop at Once Upon a Time Books in Tontitown. This is one of my favorite bookstores. It is a favorite of the grandchildren as well. After leaving the bookstore, we headed to Brahms's for lunch. We both had a hamburger and fries. At the drink station, Landon wanted to get his own drink. He placed his cup under the Diet Dr. Pepper spout and pushed the button. I stopped him.

"Hey, Bud, you don't want a diet drink. It's not good for you."

"Why not? It says 'diet' on it? It won't make me fat."

"Well, we can talk about that later. Just finish filling your cup with the regular stuff so we can sit down."

Landon did as instructed and we found a seat nearby. He unwrapped his hamburger and took a big bite. "Uhmmm, that is good," he said. He tore into the fries and it wasn't long before both hamburger and fries were totally consumed.

As we were getting back into the pickup, Landon asked me what day it was.

"It's Thursday," I told him.

"Papaw, you and I could do this every Thursday. We could go to the Once Upon a Books and then go to Brahms's for lunch."

"Well, I think we would get tired of the bookstore if we came that often," I told him. "Besides, if we ate at Brahms's every week, we would both get fat. I don't think that is a very good idea."

"Papaw, I still don't understand why diet pop is not good for me."

"I see," I said. "Well, it's like this, they use artificial chemicals to sweeten diet drinks and these chemicals are not good for you. Does that make sense?"

"No."

"Well, your body has a hard time recognizing these artificial chemicals and, so, it doesn't know what to do with them. This can lead to an unhealthy situation," I told him. "But then sugar isn't really all that much better for you because it can make you gain weight. That's why I always drink unsweetened tea. Tea is good for you and there's no sugar to worry about."

"Daddy borrowed my Yeti cup and now he always has it. I need a new one."

"That sounds like a personal problem to me. Why don't you tell your dad that you would like to share your cup with him? Maybe he would take the hint."

"Papaw, you are nice. I like to go with you."

"Why thank you, Landon. I enjoy being with you too."

We headed back home for a short nap and more work in the shop.

Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 04/19/2017