Renew and Reuse

    I think it's such a shame to throw things away.  I often rescue items I see discarded on the street. My little dog, Jakob, feels the same way, proving that our canine companions do become like us! A while ago, when returning from a walk, Jakob saw a large, plush animal on the corner. He marched up to it and started pulling it backwards up the street even though it's two or three times his size! "Shall I carry that for you?" I asked. He gave me a look of utter disdain - you could almost see his little arms on his hips and hear him say, "well, yeah, you've got thumbs and you walk upright!" Having been severely reprimanded by Mr Dog I picked up the stuffed animal and carried it home. Its only defect was a ripped seam here and there, which I repaired. Now it's Jakob's favourite bed! It started out in the kitchen, but I kept mistaking it for Jakob so now it's in the hallway! Because it looks like a blood hound I call it Olf, short for olfactory. :) Olf has now changed pronouns and he's a beloved member of our household. Here's a picture of Jakob nestled happily in Olf's arms:

 
    Another item I rescued from rejection was a lovely rocking chair. It was a bit rickety. One of the dowels in the back had broken and the front support on the left arm was wrecked so the whole thing was in bad shape. I shoved it back together, but when anyone sat in it at all forcefully it fell apart again. When I went to the local wood supply shop the supercilious guy behind the counter told me not to bother fixing it as it was just a machine shopped piece of junk. As I only had a piece of dowel to show him I didn't know how he could reach this conclusion! I gathered my courage and my wits and persisted in my demands. Eventually I ended up with a piece of dowel of the proper diameter and another, larger chunk of dowel that I planned on shaping for the left arm.
    I took these home and, with a sharp pen knife, began whittling the support for the arm. It took some well spent time while watching TV before I had a piece that looked close to the right arm's support,  then I sanded it until it was smooth. Next I had to cut the dowel for the back support to size (the smart Alec at the shop refused to do it!) I didn't realise how hard it would be to get all the back struts into place at once and reassemble the back, much less did I have any knowledge of a sensible way to do this, and it took a lot of sweat, tears and cursing before I had them all glued into place. When I'd done that I had to replace the strut for the left arm along with its single partner, which was much easier. I left the glue to harden then replaced and tightened the various screws holding the chair together.
    The next job was to wash the chair three times with Murphy's oil soap, a great wood cleaner. This washing revealed a very pretty chair under the years of dirt.  I then let the chair dry and sanded it. I love sanding wood as it makes it feel smooth, like a little baby's bottom, as you gradually reduce the sand paper to a very fine grit. When that job was finished I stained it with some golden oak, my favourite stain. I let the stain dry,  smoothed on some carnuba wax and polished it. Now I have a lovely, comfortable rocking chair that everyone admires. No one seems to notice that the arm struts don't match exactly, nor that the replaced dowel in the back is of a better quality wood than the others. More than any of that I love this chair! It reminds me of the adventure we went on together and all the things I learned from it as I gave it a new and better life than it would have had in a landfill.  I added some flowery cushions to make it more comfy! Here are two pictures with and without the cushions: