Minimal blogging today

We have had about 25 days of rain but today was relatively clear so I spent it doing outdoor things (getting firewood in and looking for scrap iron along the railroad tracks for blacksmithing (got 40 pounds of good high-carbon steel bolts and spikes)) This evening, we went to a presentation on the Lone Jack Gold Mine which is about 20 miles from where we live. First staked in 1897, it is still in operation today. A fascinating bit of history! I am spending this evening dismantling a dead microwave oven to salvage the power transformer -- I am building a small spot welder for sheet metal and blacksmithing work and the cost of a power transformer with this sort of power would be several hundred dollars. This transformer is 120 in and has a rated capacity of 1,500 watts, more than enough. By taking off the old high-voltage secondary (about 2kV) and winding on a new low voltage/high current one, I will be able to build my own for a couple bucks worth of copper rod for the electrodes. I have most everything else...