Update on Lake Champlain Bridge

No pictures this time just an update. Since the Lake Champlain bridge has been closed for 2 weeks today it has made approx 4.000 people take either the long way around or tame a ferry to work. I have opted for the ferry. It only makes me about 2.5 hours late each day. Luckily I work at a fantastic place and they have allowed me to come in and work my 8 hours and then go home. The 2 hour detour to work and 45 min detour coming home is a major pain. with approx. 3 hours of my day gone I have not had much time to saw anything new. It is Friday and I am so looking forward to the week-end. Saturday will be spent in my basement trying to get ready for next weeks craft shows. We have 2 show next week end. it will be the first time my wife and I have split up to do shows. I will be doing one Saturday in Schroon Lake, Ny and she will be doing one in Ticonderoga Ny. Both on Sat and we will be sharing the one in Ticonderoga Sunday. Hope everyone is having a great week and week end. Take care.

Geno DUI Help Florida

Drama Queen

This is a pattern that I ordered and got in today. The pattern was ordered from Chrestensen Burghout Designs. They have some great patterns there. I am a fan of their word art, "Simply words" series. I decided on this one due to my youngest daughter being a Theatre Major. I have to find one in the very near future for my oldest daughter who is a English Major. We have 2 beautiful daughters, both graduated from college and both are fantastic kids. Its good to be me. I saw this pattern and think it will be a good seller during the craft fairs that we start doing in 2 weeks. Yes, I am getting excited. I really enjoy the craft shows. Getting out and talking to the people. Very few folks walk by our table without looking and talking to us. The pattern was cut from 3/4 cherry. I plan on planeing the rest down to 1/2 in. It is just easier to cut and does not look any different. I am planning on putting a hanger on it so she can hang this one from the wall. I will try to cut out 2 - 3 more over the next week. I want to cut a few out in maple and see how they look in a lighter color. DUI Help Florida

Knew this was going to be a bad week.....

It has been one of those weeks. 1st I was down in my shop and my saw broke. Not a biggie I got on the phone and nicely asked Ray from Seyco and he was nice enough to put that part in the mail for me. I will be up and running in a day or two.

This beautiful bridge in this picture is the bridge I use to get back and forth to work. This bridge is in the middle of a 28 mile drive for me. I live in New York and Work in Vermont. This bridge connects the two states and has for 80 years. Yesterday at 1:30 in the afternoon the Dept. of Transportation deemed this bridge unsafe to cross for vehicles and pedestrians. Now my 28 mile drive becomes either a 100 mile each way trip or a 65 mile each way trip with a $20 a day ferry ride in the middle.

I have a great job that I really enjoy and do not want to give it up. They are telling us at this point that the bridge will be closed for a few months. The government telling me it will be just a few months makes me very nervous in itself.

On a good day the drive took me about 40 minutes. I start work at 3:30 am. The first ferry across the lake is about 25 miles away and in the wrong direction and does not start until 5:30. OK well we will get the details worked out. The college that I work at is great about helping in these kind of situations. I guess the point I am trying to make is I will have a lot less time in the wood shop than I used to.

With all of this our craft show season starts in just 2 weeks and half of our shows are on the wrong side of the bridge. This is going to be a fun time I have a feeling.

DUI Help Florida

Family Reunion 10 Oct 2009

Yesterday was the annual Bingo game at my Aunts house. I believe a great time was had by all. I brought a bunch of scroll saw projects and they were quickly gobbled up as bingo prizes. We saw family we have not seen in a long time. The picture on the left is all of the family that showed up. The picture on the right is my mother, my wife and daughters and our new son-in-law. The little guy on the bottom rights is not ours, but the wife did want to steal him and bring him home with us. Both of our lovely daughters were able to make it this year and they both had a good time. I had a cousins daughters-daughter attach herself to me for the day, made me an honorary Grandfather for the day. Come to think of it, she did this last year too. That young lady has great taste! She was nice enough to share my lunch with me, apply lip stuff to my lips 4-5 times and generally be great little girl. Kinda reminded me of the days a long time ago when I had 2 little girls around the house. My mother came up and spent the week-end with us. Our oldest daughter and her husband came up and spent Friday night and stuck around till late Saturday night. We BBQ-d steaks on the grill for supper and just had a great week-end all the way around. Today our small house should get back to quiet again. I had a Master Chief, Jimmy W. Bowen, who used to say about his family and guests, "Nice to see them come, nice to see them go." I do so understand his sentiment. Its great to see everyone and have them come and visit and its good to get things back to nice and quiet. Well, with craft shows starting up the first week in November I have to get busy in the basement the next couple of weeks. Time to go make some sawdust. DUI Help Florida

Earrings and Pendant Combos

Here are some pendant and earring combos that my wife and I have made in the past few weeks. The wood is black walnut planed down to about 1/4 in thick. These are finished with a bees wax that my wife spends a significant amount of time polishing to make look just right. We are hoping these sell well at the craft fairs. We will be making more out of cherry and mohaghany if these sell ok. DUI Help Florida

tap hole maple lamp

This style lamp is one of the reasons that I got into woodworking in the first place. I used to watch my Grandfather make these lamps. He enjoyed making these and the clocks I have previously posted. He had such a good time making these. I retired from the US Navy in 1999 and immediately moved back close to home and bought a house. This house has a nice unfinished basement that was quickly turned into a wood shop. It all started with a visit to my Grandfathers house and One simple question. I asked Gramps if I bought a few woodworking tools would you show me how to make these lamps. Of course he said yes. The next day I made a trip to Home Depot and this is how it all began. It started with a cheap table saw and a sander and now has consumed a large part of my basement. The lamp in this picture was made for my sister Lea and the cradle was made for my grand neice, her granddaughter. These were both made several years ago and were posted on my previous blog but are worth bringing back out and showing off. The lamp is made out of Maple and the holes you see in it are where someone put a tap in the tree to make maple syrup. DUI Help Florida

Turkey Time

Well Thanksgiving is just around the corner. For me that day starts the official holiday season. My official holiday season runs from thanksgiving until January 2nd. This is 2 months that I am officially allowed to act like a kid.

My wife and I are making these turkeys for craft shows and for the famous family reunion bingo table that takes place next week-end. I am getting excited about this as well.

I saw my first tootsie-pop turkey as a teen at my Dads house. I believe my step-mother said someone in her family made it for her. As I got into woodworking I managed to made a copy of the pattern, modify it to suite my needs and here they are. They are easy to make.... relatively easy to paint and fun to look at, and fun to eat. Who knew turkeys could be so sweet. DUI Help Florida

Parking SIgns

I live in an area that is very much an equal rival between the Boston Red Sox and the New york Yankees. I was inducted into the Red Sox Nation in part because of my oldest daughter and My wifes father. I don't think I really had a choice. My daughter is one of the biggest Sox fans around.

I found a template for the sign and used Microsoft word and some nice scrollable fonts to make these signs. I have cut several to see how they sell at the upcomming craft fairs.

I also need to apologise for not updating this blog more than I have. I really enjoy doing this and I will try to update more often. I have actually had friends and family call and e-mail me asking how come I have not updated this. Trust me I have not given up the scroll saw.

We are getting ready for our annual family reunion next week-end. For those who are new to my blog, we have a family reunion where we play bingo. Each family member is supposed to bring 3 or 4 items for the bingo table. for the past several years my stuff has gone quickly. There are great for my ego and heklp me get more motovated to start getting heaviily into the craft show mood.

For those following baseball, botht he Red Sox and the Yankees are in the playoffs. Enjoy the games. DUI Help Florida