Day 38, "Every picture has a story"
Well the story behind this table is a long one. If you are reading the blog and have things to do you may want to read it another time! Well maybe that is not so true actually. I reach way way back to the farm and then to our shop where we kept the Ford tractor. The shop was where we had a huge vise, a huge drill press, a great forge and then tucked away in the 3 corners were boards, shovels, odd equipment for the Ford and the list is endless. It was there that I often kept a can of worms for fishing but I am now off my subject. With an old piece of wood, a saw, maybe a hack saw, and the vise to hold things Dave and I would cut out guns for cowboys and Indians. We would use the drill press to make the trigger hole. That was the beginning of my woodworking! Well I could mention setting up a 4 foot board that was about 12" wide and then standing back 15 feet and throwing my pocket knife to stick it in the wood. I think I could have defended myself pretty darn good if the need had arose. Back to woodworking as throwing a knife is not in that vein. Other than making guns my woodworking skills were not activated on the farm but the real start was as a freshman in high school. Mr. Hanson, the shop teacher, got John C. and I into making picnic tables for the teachers. They would buy the wood and then actually pay us a little for making the table. I am sure the idea came from the fact that I, maybe John too, did not have the money to buy wood for a project. Then on to my first job as a teacher. I got into making things in the wood shop at the school for the deaf in Devils Lake. Willie, the deaf instructor, ended up giving me the key to the wood shop so that I could come in at night and work. I ordered 200 bd ft of oak in the spring of 1977. A short time later we decided to move to St. Paul and Willie bought the wood from me as it was rough and I knew I would have no way to use it after we moved. So at that point my projects were things like a HUGE toy box, night stands for the boys, tool boxes for the boys and several wood picture albums. I also made a cross for Ann and Otto's 50th anniversary cake. As we settled in ST. Paul work, christian community and family sports kind of took over my life in a way that was, as I look back, over whelming and "for sure" over the top so to speak. Then in the summer of 2003 Gail and I found out that our first grandchild was on the way. I offered to build a crib but to do that I needed a NEW table saw and from that point on wood working became a "central" part of my life. The table above is used as a computer table and it was made of a 2" slab of maple that son John had in his garage but could not take it with him when he and Mary moved to South Bend. As one can see my work is often not the "fine" kind of work that perhaps brother Dave does but I so enjoy making things and the list has been quite long. It includes 3 cribs, beds, night stands, treasure boxes, tool boxes etc. Like I said this story is long.
Terry and I got our flu shots yesterday so that is done. Amazing as I do not think I felt mine at all but today my arm is a tad sore. Interesting as the flu shot is free and the store gives you a $10 gift card to boot. I offered to get a shot in each arm if they would give me 2 gift cards but they declined! Of course that was after I found out it did not hurt as I am not a big fan of pain. Regardless the $20 helped our grocery bill as we checked out.
We had rain all morning yesterday so NO tennis. I drove over to the courts and then when I came home I left the car out in the rain. When it stopped I wiped off the car and it looks like a fine car wash.
We do have a cool front, the first of the fall season. It started to cool down yesterday afternoon. I got out of our pool after a dip about 5:00 and it was actually chilly. I see this AM that it is 58. I think we have usually had lows in the low 70s up to now. I welcome the temps as I play tennis. Those 90 degree days with humidity are a bit much.
About all for now as I rambled on and on about the picture and my FP cup is empty!!!
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