Time to Drill

 

 We're rolling into Spring here in So Cal. That means lots of cool gray weather.  Nothing casts a shadow, and everything seems quiet. And it's April. It has been a year now, since I started back to work. A lot of people hate the gray days. The dull weather makes them feel bleak.  Usually I enjoy this time of the year, but right now it just feels bleak to me as well. My spirits are low, bordering on going into freefall. Tuning in to news and current events is just depressing as hell. Will we see an end to it? Doubtful.

And yet. The quiet routines of daily life here at the suburban hermitage continue almost unaffected by the madness. There is still so much to be grateful for, and I have the blessing of a finely tuned sense of gratitude. I do not, almost cannot take any good fortune for granted. My wife. My home. My two silly cats. The pleasure in simple household tasks, and the  grace of uneventful days. Sometimes, the prayer is simply, "Thank you."

But the bleakness continues, nonetheless.

 

I didn't get a post up last week because I got nothing much of anything  done the week before. I got in a couple of short sessions, and that was it. Tuesday brought some sunshine, and my spirits picked up enough to get back to the stone.  The figure is shaping up somewhat like the last piece in that it's going to consist of an upper figure cradled in a lower one. The negative space between the two  is going to be as important as the figures that create the negative space. Which is a fancy way of saying I need a nice, smooth opening between the figures. So, that means it's time to break out the drill.

 

Now, this isn't machine shop work. The tolerances are forgiving. It's more like target practice. The bit goes in the bullseye one side, and the goal is to have it come out somewhere within the target on the exit. If the aim is wrong, the amount of error will be in direct proportion the amount of grief. I used to be good at doing this freehand. To be blunt about it: Now I'm old, and it's hard to hit the target. (In a lot of ways...)

So I invented a super high-tech precision drilling machine. See?

For this drilling I had all kinds of lateral room, but the vertical space was less than an inch. 

Going in with the 1/4" drill:

 

Daylight through the exit:

 

Close enough for government work, as they say.

Progress as of this post: