Surfing the Net Again

It's Sooooo good to be back. My wife had issues with some of the dietary restrictions, I missed the Internet the most. My first day back was spent on Cheezburger, getting caught up on who needed what to finish the collectible sets (since they have ended, and trading lasts only until April 15). The last picture that I captioned before the fast made homepage on "Set Phasers to LOL"



While I was away, I got a couple of handyman projects finished. We had been wanting to replace our solid utility closet door with a louvered door. Since the duct work for upstairs runs through this closet, its HOT in the winter and Cold in the summer. Noe it's just right and the hallway around it is more comfortable. I found the door at the Habitat For Humanity Resale Store for $20. We were invited to a Pamper Chef party the following day. My wife asked if I was going. I told her that I was hanging that door before I did anything. I finished hanging it at 12:15 and the party was at 1. I went.

I also made a small shelf for my wife to put her seasonal clothing on. Since the Christmas sweaters and such are worn for a short period of time, she didn't want them taking up closet rod space. I took some pine 1x12's I had and fashioned this shelf:

Saturday marked the first tournament for the Jr Bible quizzers. I've been head scorekeeper for the last dozen or so years. I was a little worried about being scheduled to work that Saturday since my vacation request for the Friday before or the Monday after had both been denied. I didn't have to work, so I put in seven hours at the quiz. I was especially excited since this is the first year that "The Boy" was quizzing. His team finished tied for fifth and he was Honorable Mention All-Tournament Team with a 46 point per quiz average.

Sunday, I told one of the folks at church that I had fruit for breakfast. They looked puzzled until I explained that it was "forbidden fruit" of the Daniel fast: Donuts, chocolate & Diet Coke (sounds like the breakfast of champions). We also went to "The Ogre's" house after church to celebrate her birthday and "The Girl's" birthday, which was earlier in the week. Mmmm cake.

Tonight we went out to a local steakhouse that has half price burgers on Tuesdays. It smelled wonderful in there. My burger looked wonderful. It tasted wonderful. I'm such a carnivore.

Daniel Fast

Just an FYI, I'll be off here for the next 21 days. See Daniel 10:2&3 and here, for more details. In the meantime & between time you can see some of the things that make me smile & LOL. It may take you a few of those 21 days to get through the entire site.

The Good Son

Today, I spent a long time at my parents house. Ever since their caretaker moved out, there's been several little jobs that piled up that they just weren't able to get to. Here is a list of odd jobs that Mom gave me:
Rehang shower curtain
Clean out dryer vent
Unload pantry shelf
Fasten pantry shelf to wall
Load pantry shelf
Drive stray nails into trim
Take laundry basket of cookware to shed
Take tools to shed
Put furnace filters in
Attach lock hasp top other shed
Hook up digital picture frame
Clean out & move out dresser
Open stuck door
Pack & take canned goods home with me.

It only took me about seven hours to finish the list.

Flashback Friday # 170

The Death of Uncle Brad

Hello. It's nice that you could stop by again. Pull up a chair & stay awhile (it's really uncomfortable reading your computer while you're standing).

As you can tell by the title of the post, this isn't a normal, lighthearted post. Uncle Brad was the first Uncle or Aunt that I lost. He was the husband of Mom's closest sister, Liza. Since they lived in Massilion, we didn't get to see them all that often. I think the only time I ever got to see Uncle Brad was at family reunions. He was a mailman, so on the Saturdays that Aunt Liza would drive down to Aunt Pam's house, he would have to stay home and work. I only remember being at his house once.

Not only was he a mailman, he was also an avid lover of the theater. The was a local playhouse that he spent a lot of time at, not only patronizing, but helping behind the scenes. He could be found there at least 2-3 times a week.

One evening, as he and Aunt Liza were driving home, a car barrelled out of a drive in movie parking lot. The driver paid no heed to oncoming traffic, and struck Uncle Brad's vehicle. Uncle Brad was pronounced dead at the scene, along with the driver of the other car. Aunt Liza was rushed to the hospital with a mangled leg and many other less serious injuries.

After sever hours of surgery, the doctors were able to put Aunt Liza's leg back to gether. A large hunk of her calf was missing, but she regained full use of her leg again, although it pained her frequently. The coroners report stated that the other driver was drunk at over twice the limit. He had no family, and no insurance, so there was no recourse.

Mom was quite upset when she heard the news. She drove up to Massilion that night (a two & half hour drive). She called into her work & took several days off to be with Aunt Liza and help make funeral arrangements.

After Aunt Liza came home from the hospital and was getting around better, she decided to clean out some of Uncle Brad's things. I got several US Mail coats (I was told that I had to take the emblems off)and the gloves Uncle Brad wore on his route. I had the coats for years.

One thing Aunt Liza found while going through his this was really sad. She found letters from one of the actress at the playhouse. She and Uncle Brad had a relationship going for several years. Aunt Liza said that she hadn't a clue that there was something going on behind her back. This could explain why he was at the theater so often.

A Green Christmas Gift from A Not-So-Handyman

A few months ago, I got the wild idea to make a gift for some of the grand kids. I had seen at Largestretailerintheworld-Mart or in a magazine a beanbag toss game that had an Angry Birds theme. It was a piece of cardboard with varied sized holes with different point values. At first I considered something like that, but in the end, I decided to make a child's size corn hole game instead. I consider it "green" since everything (but the duct tape) was stuff that I had on hand or picked from the scrap at work.

It was child sized for two reasons. Reason #1: It was for children to play with, the oldest of these being 10, the youngest, almost three. Reason #2: The frames were made entirely out of scrap wood pieces that I got from work. The longest of these being 27" long.




The top was made from some fiberboard pieces that were also from work. They protected some expensive material. More scrap that was being used for my project.



I brought the wood home and cut it into piece that would make a 27"X13" frame. I had cut the fiberboard at work on my pneumatic shearer. I then had to make a 6" hole in the fiberboard. I used a coffee can to get the size I needed, after measuring out where it would need to go. I made pilot holes with a 1" drill bit and a sabre saw to cut out the hole.






I then printed out a coloring page and traced out the red bird and the king pig onto a transparency. I brought home an overhead projector from church and cast the images onto the fiberboard. I traced them with a sharpie and painted them with acrylic paints. To prove to folks that I did indeed paint the pictures, and not just added a decal, I took pictures of them as I just started painting them.










To attach the top, I needed to drill pilot holes into it to avoid splitting. I nailed it on with finishing nails.


The legs were the hardest part. I used a fruit can to mark the curve, then cut it with the sabre saw. I then measured the center mark and drilled it out. there was a lot of sanding done on the legs before they worked properly. I fastened them on with nuts & bolts found in the various cans of hardware I have in the basement.


Since the fiberboard had some sharp edges, I sanded the edges intensely. My wife then suggested that I used duct tape to cover the sides to not only protect but to decorate the sides. We found red & green duct tape.




We wrapped them and gave them to two sets of our grand kids. They were a big hit.