The First of May is a celebration day for the start of Spring in Finland - though we didn't know if we were going to do much celebrating, as it was touch and go with our health. So, just in case we didn't get to go to the city for the normal tradition of looking at the stalls and buying a helium balloon for Smallsteps, she and I worked together to break in the new mitre saw, and make our birdhouse.

We did make it to the city after all.

Birdhouse first.

I have never used a mitre saw before, but I have seen it done, so was pretty confident I could work it out. Still, I made Smallsteps stand well back from the machine around the corner, as I couldn't find her safety glasses - which are of course a must for any of these kinds of power tools.

We also had no clear plan.

But we weren't going to let that stop us!

(I had a plan in my head)

But as my daughter has oft observed and commented on - I always have a plan and the plan keeps changing. And today was no different, as she and I made up what we were going to do as we went along, with many adjustments as things progressed.

For me, the secondary goal was to start using the saw and making a few irregular cuts to see what it was like, and we achieved that part. The primary goal was to have Smallsteps do some things, and learn a little about what tools we were using and how to adjust them, even though she wasn't changing drill bits and the like. However, she did put in most of the screws, once I had pre-drilled the holes. And she did the sanding of the edges to make sure the little birdies don't get splinters.

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We wanted to make this a little different to the basic shape, but also wanted to be a little different with what we used, so to make the roof more "roofy", we used some offcuts of the wood panelling we used on our kitchen backsplash. Not only does it look more like a roof, but since we have hung the birdhouse on the birch tree to see it from the kitchen, it has a nice mirror of material. No one will of course notice, but we know.

We also did no research into building a birdhouse and what kinds of requirements we would need prior. I say "we" but it really should have been my job. This means that the door hole is too large because the smallest hole saw I had for the drill was still too big, but it doesn't matter. This was attempt one. The other thing was I didn't have any doweling for the perch, so I used a wooden IKEA pencil. Though we found out later (once we did some research) that the perch isn't recommended anyway, as it will likely just be used by other birds to get to the eggs and young. Nice.

Still, I don't expect any birds to actually use it, and it will just sit there on the tree empty, and age to look like once upon a time, there was a family of birds that were raised in it. Ah, and the roof comes off, because on the off chance birds do nest in it, it will need to be cleaned after they leave, or before the next nesting period. I am a little dubious as to if the roof will stay on in very strong winds, but we shall see. If it doesn't, I will add a hinge - which is another thing I had forgotten to buy.

Primary and Secondary missions accomplished.

1. Smallsteps and I had fun
2. The saw worked brilliantly.

Off to the Party

While the First of May is about spring and sun and colour, it is also the traditional "labour day" where there are marches and protests. It is always nice to see the neo-fascists walking together in black and blue, with their shaved heads and swastika tattoos, while the kids are jumping on bouncing castles and eating fairy floss. It didn't look like their were many computer programmers, doctors or engineers in the group.

However, the faire area was nice and crowded, since the sun was out even though it was only about 10 degrees. There are always the same stalls and sideshows, but even though they are overpriced, I want Smallsteps to play a couple if she chooses, because I didn't get to play any as a kid. We all played the "knock the cans" game and I got close, but one can was left standing - the one nailed to the board I assume.

After, we were sitting down and it was a good opportunity to look at what we got as prizes, and then estimate how much they could be bought at the store for. Suffice to say far less. Not only that, Smallsteps realised she wouldn't actually buy any of that crap at the store anyway - even if it was cheaper.

Maybe next year she won't play?

But she still loves getting a balloon and in her typical behaviour, she chose the only mouse they had. I really thought she was going to go with a Bluey or a Bingo balloon - but the mouse won out the day. and for my wife of course, fairy floss (cotton candy) as it is the one thing she always wants from these places, and it is a bit of a May Day tradition, as I bought her two massive ones eleven years ago today, just before I asked her to marry me.

Get her high on sugar first.

So all in all - a pretty productive public holiday!

Taraz
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