Saturday, October 20, 2012

Shopping

Shop class. Ah, good ol' shop class. It was called Shop back then. No Industrial Arts. No Industrial Technology and other fancy new age names. Just Shop. That was all. Up to sixth grade, the nuns had enough trouble keeping chalk dust off their habits and dress. Sawdust would have pushed them over the edge. As a matter of memory, I wish a couple of them had gone over the edge. Sister Mary Joanne, are you listening? When I moved to Lincoln Junior, I had some poor bloke for seventh grade Shop class. He had a pretty hard time with 'crowd control', if you know what I mean. The eighth grade shop room was overseen by the, at times tyrannical, Mr. H-. I saw "The Caine Mutiny" that fall for the first time with Dad (I watch it often still), and saw at times Captain Queeg in the teacher, who controlled the wood in that room. Let's see, I made a key holder with our last name initial in the middle. I thought I got an A. Captain Queeg didn't! Next, I made a cribbage board. Grampa had passed away that past summer, and he taught me the game summer nights on his back porch. I still have the board we played on. I thought it fitting to make one. I thought I deserved an A. Captain Queeg didn't! There was always extra wood lying around the shop, so I asked the 'good captain', if I could take on another project. He told me to pick a project, get some plans, buy the wood, and I could work afternoons under his guidance. I think he thought that would discourage me. He thought wrong! At the time, I subscribed to Mechanix Illustrated and found a design of a magazine rack within its pages. It took me longer than I thought it would to complete. Things always do. I applied the final two coats of shellac in our cellar and stood back and admired the job. Mom liked it so much she put it in the den and stuffed it full of her magazines and other junk. Wood and I have had a love/hate relationship over the years. Sometimes, I meet with success with pine, nails and screws and at other times... I've been hammered.

12 comments:

  1. When I was in junior high and high school, girls weren't allowed to take shop...or maybe they could have, but would have suffered major bad vibes. So it was home ec for me! I cook pretty well, but am lousy with a hammer and nails...okay, hammer and nails I can do, but measuring...

    ReplyDelete
  2. i like a man who's good with wood (-;

    ReplyDelete
  3. It was Home Ec for me too and I would have much rather been in shop!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Shop" was always a magical place for me as pieces of wood got transformed into wonderful items. Pay no attention to those junior high school grades, no one else does, and I'll bet you still have some of those projects around your house. I know I do.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry I missed this experience, I was busy in home EC! Just for the record, my experience there was much the same as yours. I turned out to be an excellent cook but, it had nothing to do with what I learned in school.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I took woodshop. Can't remember what I made. Think it was a birdhouse. Everybody made birdhouses.

    I'd say you nailed this post even if you were hammered when you wrote it! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had wood shop and we built half a shed. Then came metal shop and we made tool boxes. The last industrial arts class was Auto Shop. I can't believe I still remembered.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The CDP portal roared back into life this week.
    Have you checked to see that your blog is listed?
    Who else covers your town, or your region?

    Voting for the December Theme Day poll commences Thursday 25th October - this Thursday!
    Don't forget, the Theme Day on 1st November is 'The Water's edge.
    Now, how to capture the tension on the edge of the water as a dragonfly alights?

    The City Daily Photo portal - check it out now!
    http://citydailyphoto.org/index.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Show us one of your successes sometime!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh how you make me smile with your descriptions...Love that he let you do the personal project...

    ReplyDelete
  11. hello,
    This is very wonderful blog it contain many fact and views about clothing...

    ReplyDelete