What I've been working on

I made these shadow boxes for Mel and I, Mom and Dad, and Al and Kathy. Rustic cherry with a glass door.



I made a coffee table for Pauline. Rift and Quartered red oak with "country" legs.




I also made three crosses. Two were rift and quartered white oak, and one was rustic maple. I forgot to take pictures of those though. Oops.

So that's what I've been busy doing lately. Now that their all done I need another project.....Maybe a kitchen...

"That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown"

Merry Christmas.

I'd say it's time for an update!

I've been a little busy lately. That in combination with the projects I've been working on have all been Christmas presents, I haven't had much to talk about. So let's see....

I installed, sanded, and coated a floor for my parents neighbors. Had some help from Todd on the install and some help from a couple of guys from work on the sand/coat. It turned out fricken sweet!

I've been making wooden crosses for Christmas presents for a few people. (they don't read my blog) All the other stuff is top secrete till after Christmas. Then I'll have a full report on what I've been making.

Work is about to drive me off the deep end. The owner is a jack ass and half the employees don't have licenses or cars, so those of us who do have to cart them around. SUCKS!!!! They had their Holiday party last Friday but it was for "employees only." They said that we could bring our spouses but they didn't "buy" food for anyone but the employees so we'd have to pay for them. I thought that was pretty rude, so I didn't go. They the owner called me on Saturday morning to find out why I didn't come. WTF!!!1! I didn't come cause you all run the business like a bunch of damn commies!! So, the long of the short of it is....anyone know of a place where the housing market doesn't suck and I could get a job?

Well enough of that. I had to take Monday off to take care of my wife and so now I have to work on Saturday to make up for the hours I missed. Crappy but at the same time not. After Saturday, I'm off through Wednesday. My cousin Bryen is going to been in town from San Fran, for Christmas, so I'll get to seem him and the family on the 24th and then again on the 28th. We're having a Grill 'n' Chill at Eric and Holly's. Ah, just like old times. I can't wait. Eric, there is a list of things we'll have to do, you realise. Snowball the shed, blow up a grill, have a lot of beer, maple sausage, and of course, since we haven't seen B in a long time, ask him if he's broken any glass tables lately.....I think I might get punched for that last one.....


Well that'll have to do for now. Oh, if anyone wants we're going to the 11:00 pm service on Christmas eve, at our church. All are welcome to join us.

"That's a honey of a tree, Clark."

"Dug it out of the ground myself."

My little giant ladder is extended all the way up and I'm 6 feet tall. I measured the tree while I was up there. 12 feet tall!! Bigger and better than last year!

Summit is doing good with it so far. She wanted to eat it yesterday but we put that thought right out of her head.

Happy Birthday

To my blog. It turned one yesterday.

Sunrise

There was an awesome sunrise the other morning. Here is the best my crappy camera could do.

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is an American holiday honoring military veterans. Both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states, it is celebrated on the same day as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.)

Veterans Day is largely intended to thank veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to United States national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty.

Be sure to thank a Vet.

"We ask God to go to work for us, but on earth we know that Gods work is truly our own." - JFK

Mel forgot one......

Parker and his Uncle.

Ducks and Pheasants

This weekend Todd and Mel and I took the dogs, Sadie and Summit up to Al and Kathy's cabin. Todd and I and Sadie did some duck hunting and then we took Mel and Summit and walked a field for some Pheasant. The ducks proved to be a little more plentiful this weekend. Actually they were just Coots and there was thousands of them on the lake. The Pheasants were a little more elusive. We only saw one hen, but it was still worth it to get Summit into the field. She did really good, even if she was just following Sadie.Here's another one for ya E. This time it's brats, potatoes, and Whiskey 7's.

One for Eric

It's a grill-n-chill. Wisconsin style.


2 Chicken boobs, 1 Sirloin, 4 twice baked potatoes, and 1 fillet of salmon. I know, I know, it's on gas but it's all that was there.

Oh, and Captain Coke, in the glasses.

Just for Todd

Here they are, Todd. Right out of the '70's. I think 3 of the doors lined up properly. The bottoms are all square, but they don't close right. They all bump into each other or the hinges on the door next to it. I'll have to take the ones that don't close all the way and just rip a little off with the table saw.

And you thought it would look like a soup kitchen. If anything it looks like a church basement.

If anyone's still wondering these are the cabinets that Todd and I made for my garage. The boxes and doors are cover sheets, and the frames are Oak, Maple, and Alder scraps. It's a hodge-podge.

Latest side job.

Here's what I've been working on for the last couple of weeks or so. With installing it, scheduling the sanding and coating, and covering the floor, it's been pretty time consuming. But it has turned out to be my best work to date.

The floor is 4 inch rustic Walnut. It's been sanded and has two coats of oil based sealer on it. That's why it's so shiny. It will be getting two more coats of water based polyurethane, which will give it a satin finish.



The border in the living room is 3 boards wide, which makes it one foot wide in total. The center will be getting carpet.


The joints of the border are done "log cabin" or "herring bone." I chose that style because it believe that it is stronger than miters and I think that it fits the style of the house much better.



Thats 'bout it for now. I've got some cool stuff that I'm doing on Thursday and Friday, so until then.

What I have been drinking.

Quick Update.

It's been a while since I wrote. So here's a snippet of what I've been up to.

*Works been super busy. Which is awesome since I'm in the housing industry.

*Been busy with side jobs.

*Did floors for Jacobs, Robin and Greg, and will be doing another one this weekend.

*Got a new nephew. Parker Mathew. He's just a little peanut. Oh, and I'm his only uncle. Poor guy, huh.

*Went to the Fair with Mel. Mmmmmmm......cheese curds.........

*Stupid Labor Day....summer's over now. poop.

*Summit's getting big, and she's all full of piss and vinegar. Destroying all of her toys, and I even caught her trying to take a bite out of my new table. She'll only do that once, trust me. But she's still a puppy so it's normal.

*Since buying the Tahoe, I've put 4000 miles on it and about 4 on my Jeep.

That's probably about it.... Pretty boring, eh?

O.K. then bye.

For Mel

She's been telling me to post about this, so here it is....

This is the wooden valance that I made for our bedroom. It's made out of Hickory to match our bed. I used floor scraps from work, and finished it with one coat of oil based sanding sealing and three coats of water based polyurethane.

I built it to match the design of our head and foot boards.

Tables

I've finally finished the new tables for our living room. I made a coffee table, two end tables, and a side table. They are made in Mission or "Shaker" style, and made of rustic Alder. I purchased plans for these tables before we moved into our house, and have finally got them done. I altered the plans a little to make them suit my needs and looks.


For a first project I think they turned out pretty nice. I had some help from Todd. He let me in the shop and helped with cutting and sizing the wood and with assembly. Thanks Todd!

The next project will be the fireplace. I've figured out a new mantle and I think we've decided on which wall treatment and hearth design we want to go with. Stay tuned!

Nick will be getting our other end tables and old leather recliner for his new house! Way to go Nick on the new house! Can't wait too see it!

Quick uptdate

As you know, Mel and I went to Lake Bemidji State Park and did some camping with our friends. The new Tahoe did awesome on the trip, except for the A/C going out, again. Oh well.

It was pretty much back to work as usual, until Thursday. Glad this did NOT happen to me. One of my buddy's at work was cutting on the table saw and cut off the tips of two of his fingers on his left hand. His middle finger and ring finger, are now about 1/2 of an inch shorter. I talked to him on Friday and he said that he was at the hospital for 6 hours. He seemed to be in good spirits, but was mad at himself for doing something like this. He said that it wasn't an issue of using the saw wrong, it was just a freak accident.

As Mel said she went to the Wizard of OZ play in Eagan, on Wednesday and again on Friday. I ended up going with her on Friday, and to my surprise the play was excellent! There were a lot of scene changes that kind of made it long, but the sets were very well built. They also had a lot of people flying through the air, which I though was cool. Flying monkeys, the wicked witch, Dorothy in the tornado....

Well, that's about all I know for now.

Until next time...

New Ride!

Here is the real reason that I needed to fit the Jeep in the garage. I picked it up last night and have been cleaning it since. I haven't washed the outside since it's going to rain, but the inside needed some serious attention.

It's a 1997 Chevy Tahoe LT. Leather, power seats, power windows, power locks, AM/FM/Cassette/CD, running boards, 40/60 split rear bench seat, tailgate instead of doors, etc....

The Jeep is no longer my daily driver. I know what your thinking. How's the mileage on that thing? Well, believe it or not, it's better than the Jeep. It gets about 17mpg and the Jeep was getting 12 to 15mpg. We'll also be able to keep some miles off of Mel's Jeep. We were piling them on pretty good over the winter with my Jeep not having any heat. So this will be our main auto for road trips, and just running around on the weekends. We're heading to Al's cabin with it this weekend and then to Bemidji with it next weekend. I might even see how it does towing my Jeep, for our next off roading adventure.

Garages! Part Deux

Yes, that's correct. My Jeep is parked in my garage. No hell did not freeze over, and the Vikings won't win the super bowl this year, but my garage is.....I don't want to say "clean".....how about uncluttered enough, that I can fit the Jeep in there.

For the last month we've had the garage full of crap from a garage sale that we had in the beginning of June. We finally got sick of looking at it all so we loaded up the Liberty and dumped it off at the Goodwill. After lunch I did a bit of reorganizing, and WHAMMY!

There is still a lot of crap that I need to find a home for. I know that James wants the light box, and I've still got the tables in there. They'll be going back to my parents house. There's a few other random things, golf clubs, random pile of wood flooring, folding chairs. Speaking of golf clubs. If anyone wants them, let me know. There's one crappy driver, a decent 3 wood, and some decent irons. There to short for me, so they gotta go.

I'd eventually like to install one of those drop down ladders in the celling, so that I can store some stuff up there. That will help a lot.

Look for the real reason the Jeep is in the garage, in the next update. Coming soon!

Good Question

I was reading my favorite Jeeping forum, and someone had asked the question. "What do you want to do before you die?"

That's a damn good question. I really don't know. There are a few things that I want to do, that I can think of off the top of my head. There are certainly things that I've already accomplished.

Lets list some of them...

Already accomplished.

Got married.
Own a house.
Gone cliff jumping.
Traveled to London, and across the International Date Line.
Gone flying in a single engine plane.
Been to Canada.


Things I'd like to do.

Visit all of our country's National Parks.
Visit all of MN's State Parks.
Visit Hawaii.
Off road on the Rubicon Trail.
Own a custom furniture shop.
Learn how to Fly Fish.

Just to name a few...

I know that there are more things that I want to do in my life but when you sit down and think about it, that's kind of a hard question to answer. I'm sure that most people don't aspire to sit in a cubicle their whole lives. I know I sure didn't. I also don't want to be installing hardwood floors my whole life. I want to get out there and achieve. Learn new things. Share knowledge. Learn from kids. Make mistakes. Take pictures. Smell the flowers. Watch thunderstorms, and meteor showers. Get up early, and stay up late. Work like I don't need the money. Love like I've never been hurt.

I sure don't have any idea what I want to be when I grow up, but I do know that I've got a few things to do to keep me busy along the way.

Friday at work...

Work doesn't get any better, than it did on Friday. I got to install floors at the Minnesota Zoo.

They are redoing the whole Minnesota Trail, at the zoo, and they hired us to install some floors in one of the sections. They are making the whole thing look like a north woods cabin. We installed 5" Hand scraped Hickory. It was glued down the the concrete that was there before. They're really making that section look nice. I asked them when it was set to open, and they said that next week they start special group tours of the exhibit, then the press comes through, and it will be open to the public on July 7Th.

Here's some pics...

I wasn't able to get any pictures of it complete, cause we covered the floor right away. That's to keep it clean and free of scratches, while they are still working on the exhibit, since it's a pre-finished product. I guess you'll just have to go see for yourself.

Hot weather

With everyone complaining about the hot weather. I though I'd chime in.

I, for one, enjoy it. I thought I'd hate it too, but after working in it for 3 summers, it really isn't that awful. When I worked for the Oops, I used to run through sprinklers on the way back to the big brown truck, and if it rained I'd just stand out there for a while and cool off.

Now that I'm pounding in floors, there are no sprinklers to run through but if I drink a lot of water, I'm fine. I do sweat like a prostitute in church, but that's just part of the job. I'd much rather have the heat over the cold winters. That's the suck right there. Trying to stay warm, running in and out of the house hauling in wood and tools, at 5 degrees. Having a 5000 sq/ft house being heated by one lonely bullet heater. Seeing your breath all day long, but not wanting to wear a jacket or stocking cap, cause you'll end up sweating and then the sweat will freeze and so will you. Now that's a bunch of crap.

So, in conclusion. I say bring on the heat. That's what they make AC for. I guess I haven't noticed the heat at work. The only time I really notice that it's hot out is if I'm not doing anything and even then it's nice.


This has been the fat kid saying, quit whining about the hot weather and enjoy it. We only get it for 3 months.

Fathers Day

We started the weekend at Al and Kathy's cabin near New London, MN on lake Norway. For more on that see Mels Blog.

I can't think of a better way wrap up the weekend, on Fathers day, than sitting at the "Last Stop" bar with my Dad and Brothers, sorting through Grandpa's old fishing tackle. He had a lot of stuff. A lot of old stuff. We divided it up 4 ways. I thought that there would be some arguing over some of the stuff, but everyone was very generous about it.

I ended up with a lot of old tackle. I plan on making a little end table with a glass top and a drawer in it so that I can display some of the stuff I got. It's hard to pick a favorite lure, but if I had to it would probably be one of the old red a white bass plugs.

Happy father's day Dad and Dad in-law! I had a fun weekend!

Cover songs

Cover songs are a touchy subject. When you do a cover song you have to do the song justice by not totally ruining it, but you also don't want to make it a clone of the original.

That being said. There is one song in particular that has been getting some air play, that I really like. That is Green Day's cover of Working Class Hero. They did an awesome job with this song. Every time I hear it I like it more and more. For those of you that don't know, I'm kind of a big Beatles fan, and with that, I like each one's solo career. Particularly George Harrison, but John Lennon's is nothing to overlook. It was short lived but he really made some great songs. For this song to get covered is great, cause it's not a song that gets played relentlessly.

I keep saying to myself that I'm going to make a "cover songs" CD but I never get around to it.

What are some of every one's favorite covers?

Puppy progress pics

This is the night we picked her up.

The was a couple nights ago.

Had her one day.

Tonight.

Tongue.

Cuddling with pheasant.

It's a celebration!

Happy birthday Mom L.

Bike

This one's for you E.

I've been working on a new (to me) bike. Nick found this GT Rebound frame in a junkyard, and decided he didn't want to do anything with it. So I grabbed it. 3 or so years later I've done something with it. I took all the components off my Giant Yukon and put them on the GT. Anyway, it's much lighter and simpler. I've got a SRAM 9.0 8 speed rear derailleur, LX cranks with a 32 tooth chain ring on the front and Pro Max V Brakes. I decided that since I rarely ever shift the front when on the trail I figured that I didn't need one. It's much easier. Oh year I've got an Easton bar and stem, sooooo nice.

So, E. When you get back we have to hit up some trails. They've completely redone Murphy. It's got a beginner, intermediate, and advanced loop with table tops, bridges, and boardwalks. I can't wait to ride it!

Here's the bike pics...

Update

Nothing new here. Been busy at work, and at home. I'm redoing the rock rails for my jeep. Rebuilding my M80 and building up a new (to me) GT Rebound. Oh yeah, and been playing with my RC rock crawler lately, too. I went to my buddy Josh's and broke it in 5 mins, so I had to fix it.
Now it's fixed so I've been driving it around the yard. I wish I had a rock pile in my yard.
That's all.

Quick Heep update.

I replaced the thermostat housing, thermostat, and temp sensor. Nothings changed. Everyone says it's the fan, but while I was dinking around with all that crap. I opened the radiator. Huh, the coolant looks low. There's plenty in the overflow tank. That's weird. Maybe it's just not showing in the top. The fins are wet so I know there's fluid in there. So I start it up without the cap on, and let it reach operating temp. Still no fluid. The hoses are not that hot. I turn on the heat and rev the engine a little. Ah, there's a little fluid coming through now, but not that much. At least the hoses are hot.

The above mentioned leads me to believe that the coolant is leaking into the engine at a very slow rate. HEAD GASKET!!!! DAMN!!!!

Tonight I decided to ignore the problem at hand and take my 'rusted to hell' rock rails off and try to remove the rust and paint, and prep them for a fresh coat. Well, I got them off and got the paint stripped off, but the rust is a different story. I should have done this last summer, but nooooo.....I'm to lazy. So this is the price I pay. Now I've either to to take them to get sand blasted somewhere, or try this "electrolytic rust removal" process that I found on the interweb. Looks like I've got my weekend planned........Poop.

F-ing Jeeps!!!

So......I have a Jeep. It's grey, and has big tires. It has a nice rear bumper and tire carrier, and cool rock rails with spiders etched into the metal.

Now for the bad part!

It over heats.....or does it?

I've replaced every damn thing I can think of, and it still is having this problem. Just over a year ago I replaced the radiator, thermostat and heater core. Last fall I replaced the thermostat again. Just after Christmas I replaced the water pump. In Feb. I had the cooling system flushed and cleaned. Twice!

Everything was fine after I did that, and now it's having the same problem again. What happens you ask? Well, I'll be driving along and the temp will rise to 210, which is normal operating temp. The it will get a little hotter. Then it will go up to the beginning of the "red". Sometimes it will go back down, other times it will peg out all the way "hot". This usually happens when I'm going through stop lights, or just sitting. If I'm moving usually 50mph or above, it will stay just above 210.

I tried some "thing" that was supposed to make my fan run like a conventional fan, where it just increases speed with the increased RPMs. As opposed to being triggered by a heat sensor and a clutch. That didn't work. Tonight, I went and got a new temp sensor, thinking that the sensor that is sending the signal to the gauge was bad. I was installing it in the thermostat housing, and must have tightened it half a turn to much, cause I cracked the housing! DAMN!!!! Good thing I live close to work. So tomorrow I get to hunt one of those down. I was looking on line and found that they only cost about 15 bucks. Thank God!

But wait, there's more! My power steering gear is leaking. My front and rear differentials are leaking, and I still have a little drip coming out of my transfer case. The diffs and T-case are easy fixes, they just take me getting off my arse and doing it. The steering, is going to get a bunch of stop leak till I can get another gear box. By the way, this will be the third one.

My dad is selling his Jeep. It's allot better than mine, so don't let the above mentioned "Jeep from hell" scare you away. His is super nice. It actually makes me sick. I have basically the same Jeep as him and his still looks and drives like it just came off the showroom floor.

POOP!

Knee diagnosis

Patella Tendonidis.

That's what's wrong with my knee. The tendons that connect the knee cap (patella) to the shin are inflamed. What a bunch of crap. So I get to deal with this forever, now? The doctor said that if it doesn't get better or keeps coming back, that I can take my knee pads into their physicaltherapist and they can help make them better for me. Adding padding where needed. I need to start icing it after work, but I've been to lazy to do that. I did ice it on lunch today, and that seemed to help a little. I suppose not kneeling on it for the past week has helped too. It just sucks cause that leg/knee cramp up when I do that. Meh, oh well. Just one of those things with getting old, I guess. I can't imagine that loosing like 50 pounds wouldn't help either.....nah.

Speaking of loosing weight. I need to. We've been taking the pooch for walks as much as we can, but she's not up for the long walks that will actually do me some good. I need to start eating right too, and the blizzard that I just ate while writing this will have to be burned off at work tomorrow. Man I'm not off to a good start, am I? We did have a nice dinner though. Chicken on the grill, alfredo pasta, and bread. Carbs and protein. Summers 'bout here, and I hope to get the bike out more than a dozen times this year. We'll see what happens.

Garages

Garages are a wonderful thing. When you can park in them and use them for something other than collecting junk. I've been cleaning mine for the past two days now. I've got a jumbo pile of garbage, and a big pile for a garage sale. Once I get rid of all that crap, it might start to resemble what a garage is supposed to look like and most of all, have a floor again. I'll be chopping a hole in the ceiling very soon and installing a drop down ladder so that I can store the things that I want to keep but don't have room for. Usually the types of things that would go in a basement. Since I don't have one of those, I have to look up.

Well, after a weekend of light use my knee is a little better. I found out on Friday that I can claim this as a workman's comp "injury." So I made an appointment for Wednesday to have it drained. Ugh, I just want it to go away! It's more hassle than anything. It doesn't hurt just walking around and I can do 90% of my job. It's just the kneeling part. I spent today, with one knee pad on and not even setting my right knee (the wet one) on the ground. That was interesting, to say the least. Just think, I gave up my cushy desk job for all of this....and I wouldn't go back. ;)

Eh, that's good for a Monday.

Long couple of weeks.

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this thing. I've been pretty busy between work and installing MikeyB's floor last weekend. They look awesome, by the way.

I've recently been nagged by "water on the knee" from my job. It basically boils down to my knee being swollen and in pain. It is, however, getting better. I've been taking Advil, and keeping it elevated. That seems to be helping. And while I'm at work, I have been wearing my knee pads constantly, and been making a conscious effort to stay off of it. We'll see what happens I guess.

Today, I was starting one of our gas powered air compressors and tweaked my back right under my right shoulder blade. Sucky!

Tuesday night I went out and picked up a new toy! I got a Hitachi 10" table saw! Woot! Picked it up a Lowes, and set it up. I haven't had a chance to use it yet but I'm confident that it will work wonderfully. It's got all the same features as the DeWalts that we use at work. The only difference is the fence and the cost. The fence on the DeWalt is a "Rack and Pinion" and it's super nice. I just don't think it's worth the extra 150 bucks! I think mine might weigh less but I'm not sure....

Well that's the long of the short of it. Oh. Mom and Dad's anniversary is this weekend. 29 years on Sunday! Goodness, I'm getting old! LOL!!

Happy Anniversary!

Mmmmm....Beer.....

Here's what I've been drinking. Full Sail Amber. It is good. That is all.

Easter

Eas - ter [ee-ster]

-noun

1. an annual Christian festival in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.


2. HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

Friday....

Fridays agenda:
Wake up at 4:00AM go to work.
Get to work, start distribution truck, and punch in. Punch in time = 4:18AM
Drive to Shawano, WI to the Owens PlankFloor warehouse.
Pick up one bundle of 5" hand scraped American Cherry.
Drive back to Prior Lake.
Punch out at 1:48PM

Total miles = 546.8
Total time = 9hrs 30mins

I worked in the corporate world for 7 years, and never traveled once. I start working construction in Aug of '05 and I've been to Green Bay, WI Omaha, NE and now Shawano, WI. What the heck!

On the plus side, I've been able to see Lambau field, visit the Bass Pro shops in Council Bluffs, IA and see lots of Amish people driving their buggies. Highway 29 across Wisconsin is filled with the Amish.

Weekend Update....

I got some new shoes this weekend. I got these Vans for work, they were only 20 bucks at Famous Footwear.

I got these Asics there too. I needed some new shoes for taking the dog for walks and stuff like that. They are really comfortable and super light.

Mel and I went and had lunch with my parents at the Lions Tap in Eden Prairie then went over to the mall. At the mall we went into a store that sells prints that are already framed. They were having a sale and we found another print for the house for $29.99!! On the way home we were driving down co rd 18 just past the Home Depot and had to swerve to miss something in the road. I looked and saw that it was a package of those interlocking foam mats. So I turned around. When I pulled over I saw that there where actually two packages of them in the ditch. Brand new! So I picked them up. I've got enough to cover 67 sq ft!

Summit has had the poos since Tuesday and so on Saturday morning I called the vet. They told us to bring in a stool sample before they closed and they could test it. Well of course she didn't go till about 2pm. The vet also said that if we couldn't make it in time to stop feeding her, her normal food and to switch to a rice and ground beef mixture. You make normal white rice and then boil ground beef and mix them together. Use a little less beef than rice. They said that it was really easy on the dogs stomach. Well, now I think she's constipated! DOH!! I think we're going to bring her in tomorrow nigh and see if they can tell us what's going on. We have a stool sample but it's from this morning. I guess it's better than nothing. Hopefully she'll go again between now and then.

Pics....

Summit and Sadie

Sleepie time