Thursday 11/8/07 Rock Tumblers...

Maggie turned twelve this year. She collects rocks with the neighbor boy. Her birthday present was a rock tumbler. It looked like a nice, low maintence gift. It came with a small base that has a small motor in it and a container with a lid to put the rocks in. There were also three kinds of grit to put in to make the rocks progressively smoother. We had a tererible time getting the container to seal closed. The directions said to put a small ammount of vegetable oil between the container and the lid to get a good seal. It kept leaking. After about ten tries we got it sealed. The problem is that the container sits on it's side in the base as it spins. After we got it sealed we put it in the dining room by the frogs. We needed an open spot by an electrical outlet. When it was turned on it was the loudest thing in the house. We couldn't talk on the phone or hear the TV, and I am sure that the frogs didn't like the noise. We moved it to the living room. That was on Friday night. When we went outside we turned it on...and back off when we came in. It is now in the kitchen, away from the frogs, the phone and the TV. Maggie really likes the gift and is glad that we found a place for it.