Preparing for Christmas

Today in the News:  I'd like to thank bmatt for a great post.  Seems like the days he posts are high hit days - over 240 hits today alone!  If you'd like to be a guest writer here on the Axe, email me at house.of.howes@hotmail.com.  I also encourage you to look for the gadget on the side of this blog that shows all the blogs I'm following. Take time and check out each blog.  Every one of these blogs has something great to offer, and by giving them traffic, you in turn give The Sharpened Axe traffic.  I like to see blogspot as a community of people sharing and educating about different subjects, which I think is fantastic.  Today is a bit of a rehash of an older post, hope you still enjoy it. 

One more thing - Uncle Bern and I have been discussing the axe head in the background of this blog.  Does it look like a Norlund to you?


Link of the Day:  http://www.antique-used-tools.com/


Preparing for Christmas


I told you all about the axe head I got for my Nephew, L.J. here.

I've been slowly working at it, taking off the finish from the handle and fixing the head to the new handle.  I also made him a sheath.  Something I wanted to do was personalize the axe for him.  As I said in my "Recycled Axe" post:

 "Giving it ( the axe) to L.J. will be great.  He and I, intellectually are worlds apart.  He's a really intelligent kid - and when I say intelligent, I mean book smart.  I'm the opposite.  I'm intuitive.  I can smell a lie like a fart in a car.  Intuitive people find it easy to mess with intelligent people and I think vice-versa.  That's why I love that the head retained some of it's red color.  I know he'll ask me why it was painted red and I'll reply that it wasn't painted red.  Then he'll look at me quizzically.  Then I'll tell him I traded with an old Apache man named Geronimo The Terrible and the red is the residue of the blood the many white men from which he took scalps.  I'll tell him the sum that I traded it for was five albino beaver hides that I took on the Hudson Bay in the Winter of Starvation, when it was so cold that all I could find to live off was beaver carcasses, pine bark and dung beetles and that he should be thankful for such an axe.  He'll roll his eyes.

And then for the next five years, every time he uses the axe when I'm around, he'll ask me what the real story is.  And I'll stick to it."

Interesting fact:

Geronimo's name, was not in fact, Geronimo.

A piece from wikipedia (take it with a grain of salt):
Geronimo (Chiricahua: Goyaałé, "one who yawns"; often spelled Goyathlay or Goyahkla^[1] in English) (June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States and their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars.

Geronimo's parents raised him according to Apache traditions; after the death of his father, his mother took him to live with the Chihenne (red paint people) and he grew up with them. He married a woman (Alope) from the Nedni-Chiricahua band of Apache when he was 17; they had three children. On March 6, 1858, a company of 400 Mexican soldiers from Sonora led by Colonel José María Carrasco attacked Geronimo's camp outside Janos while the men were in town trading. Among those killed were Geronimo's wife, his children, and his mother. His chief, Mangas Coloradas, sent him to Cochise's band for help in revenge against the Mexicans. It was the Mexicans who named him Geronimo. This appellation stemmed from a battle in which, ignoring a deadly hail of bullets, he repeatedly attacked Mexican soldiers with a knife, causing them to utter appeals to Saint Jerome ("Jeronimo!"). The name stuck.


 Incidentally, L.J. is Catholic and his grandfather's name is Jerome.  I thought it would tie in nicely with the story to take a small St. Jerome medal, carve out a piece at the bottom of the axe handle and shellack the heck out of it to get it to stick.  Unfortunately, I can't find a (cheap) St. Jerome medal anywhere.  So we may go with his favorite Saint, Saint Patrick.  If anyone knows a cheap source for Catholic medals, please speak up!


If I have to go with St. Patrick, I'd like to somehow write the prayer "St. Patrick's Breastplate" on the handle permanently.  It is a beautiful prayer and you don't have to be Catholic to appreciate it:

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through the belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness

Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,

Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,

Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,

Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today

Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In the service of archangels,

In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In prayers of patriarchs,

In predictions of prophets,

In preaching of apostles,

In faith of confessors,

In innocence of holy virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today

Through the strength of heaven:

Light of sun,

Radiance of moon,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of wind,

Depth of sea,

Stability of earth,

Firmness of rock.

I arise today

Through God's strength to pilot me:

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's host to save me

From snares of devils,

From temptations of vices,

From everyone who shall wish me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,

Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness,

Of the Creator of Creation.

Merry Christmas and Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike, Oscar, Hotel....out.