Remember

It's not about stuff.

A great cover of an even greater song.

It's not Wednesday but he's got the hair....

Top 5 Christmas movies

Movies

5. White Christmas

4. Home Alone

3. Elf

2. Christmas Vacation

1. A Christmas Story


Cartoons

5. A Garfield Christmas

4. The Polar Express

3. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

2. How The Grinch Stole Christmas

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas

Amazon Wish List

Here is my amazon wish list. Click.

From the makers of "Slow Dance Chubby"

Tag. WTF!

Evidently I've been tagged...whatever the hell that means...

These are the rules of this tag game.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random thoughts about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.


This is the link to the tagger http://www.andersfamily-afinemess.blogspot.com/

Six random thoughts....
1. Contrary to popular belief. I am still a Jeep-a-holic. I still have a subscription to Crawl Magazine.
2. My garage is a disaster.
3. I do like my job, but I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
4. My church thinks I'm responsible enough to be a youth leader.....HA!
5. If I had the time, I'd grill every meal.
6. I'm still thinking about joining the PLFD.......

I'm tagging Eric, Bryen, Mike, Aimee, Pete , and Ann. Mel was tagged by the same person who tagged me.

Camera

We got a new camera recently and I was playing around with it today.

Congratulations Pete and Anne

This weekend Mel and I journeyed 231 miles to Bryant, SD for Pete and Anne's wedding. It was a wonderful time. They got married in a little church that hadn't had a regular service in it since 1978. The reception followed in the town auditorium / gym. There was no heat in the church, but thank god it was a Lutheran service, so it was short.

Congratulations again you to. I wish you many years of happiness.

Here's some pics.This was our hotel. Ward's Store & Motel 3

The church.

Everyone huddling together to keep warm.

Pete and Anne

Kris, Mike, Me, Aimee, and Andrew.

Goofing around. Drinking a lot of Spotted Cow......mmmmmm..


And one for Mikey. Notice the name of the store in the background. I thought it was funny...

Happy Halloween!

Go Wild!

It's hip-hop punk, yo!

It's Hilarious!!

An update in pictures

So.... I went out and bought one of these...

...and some of these...


I went here...



...to hunt for these...



I ended up with.....













...that's right. Nothing. It was still fun though. I just think it's been to warm this year and the birds haven't started to migrate yet. I could be totally off base too. Maybe there just are no birds around any more. Who knows. Good thing it's a fairly long season.

Little update

Well, I've been pretty busy lately. Work and side jobs and other activities. I recently did a floor for a co-worker of Mel's. It turned out really nice. They live in a "slab on grade" town home. So it was a floating floor. It was a character grade maple. I went over on a Saturday and removed all the base boards and tore out the carpet and pad, and was done by 10:30am. I would have started installing the floor but I had to be home in time to go to a wedding at 2:00pm. I went back on Sunday to finish the floor. I was finished installing and putting the base back on by about 12:30pm. It was, all in all, an "easy" job.

Duck season opens on October 4th. I'll be going up to my father in laws cabin for opener this year with, by brother in law, Brian. I'm pretty excited about that. I used some of the money that I got from the side job to buy a shot gun. Can't wait to use it. Todd and I went over to Al's and cleaned out is stock of Goose silhouettes. There were 250 decoys that he gave us. He also gave us a duck boat. It just needs a little work. If we can't fix it up we'll just scrap it, so no loss.

I am also in the processes of finishing up two canoe paddles for a silent auction. One of Mel's old co workers, works at a school in Shakopee. Each class got a theme for the auction. Their theme was "the outdoors." So they asked me to make some paddles. I was off work today so I spent the majority of the day working on them. I've almost got them finished. I'll post some pictures when they're done.

I finished trimming out our cabinets today as well. I had some weired gaps under the toe kicks from the old cabinets. When the house was built they installed the flooring after the cabinets were installed. When we replaced the cabinets the new toe kicks ended up being deeper than the old ones so they didn't cover the flooring like the old ones. I had to make the base shoe a little bigger so that it covered. It's nice to have that done.....finally.

Priceless

This is my favorite commercial. I think it's HI-larious.

State Fair '08

SPAM for breakfast....

Mega Pronto Pup

Deep fried Oreo's.

Cheese curds. The greatest fair food EVAR!!

Mutha fawkin fish Police!!

BUSTED!!! For being an A..hole.

New chopper....HA!!!

Another paddle

I just finished a paddle for Mel. This one is mostly Red Cedar. It came out weighing less than the one I made for myself, so I'm really happy with it. Three coats of Spar Varnish, and it's nice and shinny, too.

Here's some pics.

Random Picture

For Sale

CANOE PADDLES!

When Mel and I were in St. Croix State Park, we sat in on a demonstration on how to make a bent shaft canoe paddle. It was a very good demonstration and the instructor was very nice. He let me take pictures and measurements, and even handed out a card with measurements on it. He encouraged us to try to make them at home.

So I did. Here's what I made.






If any of you canoe and want a custom made paddle I would love to make one. They cost on average $100.00 at the stores (REI, Gander MTN, Duluth Pack, etc) Cost would be negotiable.

I made the paddle of Pine and Cedar. I could make it any way someone would want. All pine, all cedar. More stripes, less stripes, no stripes. The one in the picture is my first attempt. I fiber glassed half of the blade for strength and abrasion resistance. I think on the next one I'll just add an epoxy resin tip to the blade. I think that would be more than enough and would be easier.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. If any of you know someone in the market. Send them my way.

Fishing and Severe weather

This weekend Todd and I went to my father-in-laws cabin for a Bass fishing tournament. It's just a little made up tournament between friends. We all toss in 20 bucks and fish for the money and bragging rights.

Friday.
Todd and I left my house at about 8:45am. We got to the cabin just before noon. It was windy. White caps on the lake and a constant 30 mph wind. So no fishing. We just hung out and as more people arrived, the wind started to die off. By dinner time the wind had calmed down enough for a bon fire.

Saturday.
4:00 am. Up. Dressed. 4:30 drive to the launch. Put boat in water. Drive boat to Al's dock. 5:00 am. GO!! Todd and I took off only to watch everyone else in their fancy new and fast boats blast past us. So I told Todd that we may as well head to the farthest point and work our way back. That's what we did. We headed to the adjoining lake and got two fish in the live well right away. Off to a good start. Worked our way back to the main lake and hit our next spot. Boom. Todd catches a 20" walleye on a bass jig.

By 8:00 am we had our 6 fish + 1 walleye, and we were off to measure up and clear some space in Todd's live well (an old cooler with an air-rator suctioned to the bottom). We found Al and measured our fish, took off for the cabin to put the walleye in the live box at the dock and take a potty break. Back out we go. By 12:00 pm, when the tournament had ended, Todd and I had a total on our 6 biggest fish of 88 1/4 inches. I thought we were doing pretty good. We loaded up the boat and headed back to the cabin. We came in 4th out of 5 teams. The winning team's 6 fish measured 105 inches.

Saturday afternoon.
Lunch and a nap. A few beers, and it's time for a fish fry. After dinner, everyone decided to head back out and hit the evening bite. 6:30 pm boat's in the water. Headed to the first spot and noticed that there was a pretty heavy cloud headed our way. We didn't think any thing of it. We thought maybe we'd get a sprinkle. About 7:15 I turned and looked at the sky and noticed that the cloud had turned into a pretty significant wall cloud, but it was off quite a ways yet. The sun was still out and Greg was still fishing next to us.

7:30ish. I look at the sky again and see that it has moved closer and that there was now thunder and lightning. Todd says, "I'm ready when your ready." I say, "lets go then." Off we go. The ride in Todd's boat is not fast but I figured we'd have a chance to at least get to the launch before the rain. Wrong! We got about half way to the launch and I looked up and the cloud had caught up to us and I could see that it was moving faster than us. I then turned and looked back to see if Greg had left yet. I didn't see him. Then I looked forward again and he was in front of us. I then looked back across the lake and I could see the wind coming. Turned back around and we hit Greg's wake. Soaked! Then the rain came. It wasn't raining that hard, but when the wind hit, it was blowing so hard that it was actually sucking water off the lake and blowing it at us. The waves would only make it so high and the wind just ripped them apart. We were heading straight for the dock, and I told Todd to just beach it. He came in full throttle and turned the key off at the end of the dock and we still slammed into the side of it. The wind blew us off our forward course that quick. I would estimate that the wind's were easily a constant 70 mph. We pulled the boat up on shore as best we could, and waited it out. It was short lived. Maybe 15 minutes. When we went back down to the boat it had filled with water. It was almost submerged in the back. We bailed as much as we could and then hand loaded it on the trailer. Got it out and pulled the plug. It drained for another 10 minutes.

In the mean time Al had drove to the access to make sure that we all got off the lake OK. He said that a tornado had touched down in New London, which was about 4 miles from us. He also said that he watched the funnel cloud forming over the lake from his cabin.

Once the boat had finished draining, we put the plug back in, backed it back into the water and reloaded it onto the trailer. Pulled it out and made our way back to the cabin. By the time we got back the sun was back out. I'd say the whole storm lasted 45 minutes tops. I changed clothes and had a beer or ten.

That was by far the most intense weather I have ever been in. At no time did I really feel my life was threatened, but looking back, had we stayed 5 minutes longer in that spot before leaving, things could have been a lot worse.

Mercy

mer - cy [mur-see]

-noun

-compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence

-an act of kindness, compassion, or favor


"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Go and be undignified. Associate with someone out of your comfort zone. Perform a random act of kindness. Speak positively. You'll be surprised at how good it will make you feel.

Ouch!!

After watching this on Monday night. It's just more reason to think that hockey players are some of the toughest athletes around. Ryan Malone was the player that got hit, and he even came back to that game to play in the OT.

Detroit won tonight, by the way. They are the winners of Lord Stanley's Cup for 2008.

What I've been drinking

Lakemaid beer is a limited release brew from August Schell Brewing Co. & Rapala. Brewed in Schell's old world tradition, this classic American lager is a crisp, clean, refreshing beer, specially brewed to capture the flavor of the fishing country where the legendary lakemaids swim. With a malt flavor like a soft summer breeze and the sparkle of hops that dances like sun on the water, this is the ice cold beer with a taste so good it proves that great fishermen never need to exaggerate.

Todd and I tasted this at the Sportshow in MPLS this year and we really liked it. I've only seen it at Marketplace Liquor in Savage. I think it's a really good beer. Under each cap tells you what you've caught. "Weeds." "Picked clean." "26lb Carp." etc.

I suggest that you pick some up while it's still available.

Random pictures

It's been a while since a post, and even longer since I've talked about Jeeping. So, here are some pics of Jeeping. Enjoy

Nick

Me

Weekend update

Friday-

Worked till 6:30pm. Got home, and met up with one of my wave kids from a couple of years ago. He was at church last Wednesday for the closing ceremony and he wanted to get together on Friday. So when I got home I called him and we went bowling. We rolled 4 games then came back to my house and hung out. It was good to catch up with him, since I hadn't seen him since before he graduated.

Saturday-

Back to work. I worked for the better part of the day, trying to get a custom job ready for Monday morning. We made an 8' Mahogany circle for a dining room, and there was a mistake so we had to correct it.
It was made in quarters and as you can see in the picture, one of the sections is missing. Well, that's what we had to fix. Somehow when we installed all the sections, that one ended up being short. I don't know how it happened.

After putting that section in our jig, I came home and vegged on the couch until it was time to go get our drink on at the P.L. VFW. Since the smoking ban, it's actually nice to go out to the bar. All of the other bars in Prior Lake are dives, and the VFW is no exception. However, the have the cheapest drink prices.

Sunday-

Slept in!! It felt great!! Didn't even get dressed till noon. Finally made it over to Mom and Dads to finish up on the cabinet doors. Then we rode along with Mom and Dad to deliver some picture frame molding that Dad ran for someone that he works with. Made a pit stop at Von Hanson's Meats and had ourselves a BBQ. Made our way back over to Mom and Dads to pick up the doors. Got home and installed them, and finished installing the crown molding. Hopefully tomorrow is an easy day, cause I could use a little break.

We installed 3 custom jobs last week. Not only is it physically exhausting but it's mentally exhausting as well. Here are the other two jobs that we did. This one is a custom header that the homeowner wanted. Rather than the usually straight angle he decided that he wanted a little bendy thing.



This one is a curved nosing. The total length on it was just under 33 feet. This is just an opening to the lower level of this house. The stare case is in a completely different spot.



I love doing this kind of work.

A winter wonderland...

...in spring? April 26Th and I wake up to this.....


Earlier this week it was 75 degrees. The ice finally went out on the lake last weekend, and I thought we were done with this stuff. What a bunch of crap.

Progress

The kitchen is moving along swiftly now. Todd and Nick finished up and came over to install everything on Saturday. I have to say that they did a fantastic job. It really looks great. I couldn't be happier with it.

I spent most of the day Sunday putting on sanding sealer and polyurethane. I did some touch up tonight, and put on some of the crown molding. Mom offered up their garage to finish the doors, since mine is full of Jeep and old cabinets. I'll probably be bringing them over sometime this week. Todd will be coming over, probably tomorrow, to measure for the new counter top.

For fear of jinxing things. I'm NOT going to say that spring is finally hear. I'm NOT going to say that it was a really nice day out today. I'm also NOT going to say that it's supposed to be in the 60's this week and that it's aboot time. I will say that the job sites are a damn mess because of the melting snow and ice, and that I got stuck in the driveway of my job today. That was a treat.

Well, I've gone and babbled on about a bunch of crap that no one cares about. So, I'm off to bed.

What I'm listening too.

Quick update

On Easter, Mel's Grandma and Grandpa asked me to make them a stool for their entry way. Something they could sit on to put on their shoes. So, hear it is.
They wanted it unfinished because they want to finish it them selves.

I also finally got the mantle for the fireplace hung. That's only taken a month. Once I get some new batteries for the camera I'll put up some pictures of that. So basically that it. I get up, go to work, come home and go out to the garage and work on things like that. I do have to clean the garage though. The new cabinets will be coming soon. YAY!!!!

A good days work

I got to install some custom medallions in a floor today. These are made by Oshkosh Designs, out of Wisconsin. They are CNC machined and sent to us. All I have to do is cut them into the floor. The quality of these are second to none. Not only do they send the medallions ready to install, but they also send a template to cut the floor and they send a pattern bit for the router. The only thing else they could do is install them for me.

Now I know that your thinking that a trained monkey could probably do this. However, I'm about the only one that my company trusts to do this right. Sad isn't it. These medallions only took 45 minutes to install. The rest of the day was spent repairing holes left in the floor from the old radiators, and cutting in 8 flush mount vents in the existing floor. That part took about 6 hours.