Local Politics

I try to keep this blog to all things woodworking, but every so often, I'm going to deviate. This is one of those times.

I was part of a team that was instrumental in electing 3 new people to borough council. We ousted 3 long time incumbents. We didn't just oust them, nay, we kicked their asses!!! Being part of a grassroots effort to change the direction of our town's revitalization toward a positive one has proven to be a great opportunity to meet my neighbors and be part of a group working for the good of the community.

Last night, I went to an after-election party. We had the results by then and needless to say, the champagne was flowing. Someone had written a ballad about our 3 candidates to the tune of "This Land is Your Land", which we all sang loudly and badly. It didn't matter that we had different party affiliations or different views on religion or came from different socio-economic backgrounds. We had all worked together to make a difference in our town. It was exhilarating.

When I retire, I intend to run for local office. My goal is to be town Mayor (stop with the snickering!) . The Mayor gets to do all the fun stuff: plan the Memorial Day event, the Halloween parade, the Christmas activities, etc. But most importantly, I'll get to ride on a float in the Halloween parade. I'm going to start practicing my mayoral wave.

Interesting Observation

A friend who works at the local Woodcraft Store and who is a retired police officer noticed that if a woman comes into the store who is a woodworker or who is interested in learning woodworking, 95-98% of the time, she has blue eyes.

Now, that percentage is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but still, even if it were 75%...

Santa's Shop Part II

3 other members of my woodworking club and I finished up the toys today for underpriveleged kids. 102 cars and trucks in all. Since most of the work today was hand sanding and adding axels and wheels, the four of us were able to chat for the four hours we were together. Anyone who claims that men don't talk much should meet the guys in my club. The type of conversation between groups of men and groups of women, however, is very different. Woodworking guys tell funny stories about things that happened to them or "this guy I know", or talk about woodworking in general or places they've visited or just topical "things". Women talk about people and relationships.

While we were working, an older man came into the woodshop with his very young grandson, about 4 years old, and of course walks right over to the only woman (me) to tell me that when he goes to flea markets, he tells his grandson to ask the vendor for some Hustler magazines, upon which he laughed raucously. Not sure why he felt compelled to tell ME, but I obliged with a chuckle. After he left, the guys started telling jokes about a certain county nearby that is known for its not-so-sophisticated residents.

Buried Treasure

I went out to my personal lumberyard, which in its former life was a 2-car garage, to retrieve some walnut for a new project. There's lumber out there that I've had for 15 years and for some weird reason, I remember where most of it came from.

This particular pile of walnut came from a friend's house in WV. Being rough cut, I wasn't able to see just how beautiful the wood was until I ran it through my planer. It's black walnut with curly figure in the grain. Now, I had pulled this lumber to build doors for the assembly table in my workshop, but seeing how gorgeous it is, I might have to use it for something more special.



Second thought, what's more special than my shop? ; )

Privy Door

A few years ago when the sliding pocket door to our main bathroom fell apart, I added another project to my seemingly endless list of home projects. Since our decorating style is Adirondack & kitschy, I decided to build an outhouse door. Hey, why be subtle? A piece of cake to build, just pine boards, and I added a sliding privacy window for the moon cutout. Inside, the door "handle" is an antique key that swings on two antique cut nails. Probably took longer to paint the door than it did to build it, but for a simple project, it's a fun conversation piece.

(And yes, that is dust on the key. Hey, I'm a woodworker, not a housekeeper!)












And here's a picture of our exceptionally tall terrier demonstrating how the moon window works.

Shop Tour

Photos of my shop, which is located right off the bedroom, in the morning light. A woodworker's shop is never really complete. I have a number of workstations I'd like to build, an assembly table that needs a top, a sink base that needs doors. By the time I finish everything that I'd like to build for my shop, I'll be too old to do woodworking. Then, we'll probably sell the house to someone who'll turn it into in-laws' quarters...

Colossal Cat

Nothing to do with woodworking. Just continually amazed at the size of our cat who, I swear, we do not overfeed.

Santa's Workshop

Today, several of us from the woodworking club got together to make toys for underprivileged kids in our area that will be distributed by Volunteers of America at Christmastime. Each year, my club makes at least 75 cars and trucks. We'll put wheels on them next week and drill the "windows". Although very simple designs, the toys are given to very young kids and we're told they love them. The good part about these toys is they can really take a beating (they are 6 year old tested and approved). All wood is donated by a local lumberyard and the Woodcraft Store lets us use their woodworking shop to build the toys, so it's very much a team effort. (In the group photo, I'm the one on the right.)