The New Year

We always have such good plans for posting on a regular basis (I really enjoy hearing my self talk) but then the common cold comes calling and down you go.  While watching NCIS reruns I heard Jethro Gibbs played by Mark Harmon-who is building a boat in his basement-talk to a girl friend while using a wood plane on a rib of the boat.  She asked why he didn't use power tools because it would be faster; he had her close her eyes and use the wood plan again.  He then ask her how the feel, the smell and the silence could ever be better with a power tool?  Guess another reason for wood working.

Christmas tree is down, and the santa inventory is stored; being in bed, the wife does not encourage carving-something about hard to sleep-so now addressing some projects started but not completed. I will post some pictures tomorrow of the duck, a cardinal and a couple of shore birds but is nice to have some down time.

Supposed to snow tomorrow and Saturday, so may have the time to start back up.

My mother will celebrate her 96th birthday tomorrow, I just got finished with my  69th birthday;  friends and family wished us both birthday greetings-my Facebook page was filled with wishes.  Mom got a bunch of cards from Missouri family and friends and tomorrow she wants chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and a cherry pie-think that we can do that.  I have a grandson Spencer who just turned 9 this past week too.  But I think of all that mom has seen in her 96 years, especially spending 50 years with my dad.  He built most of the buildings on the farm, he did much of his furniture in walnut-we have dressers that he put back together, refinished and are beautiful pieces of furniture.  He built plant stands out of walnut, he built me a sled and a tricycle of walnut during the 40's.  These pieces were lost in a shop fire during the 60's.  I still have a walnut coffee table made during my one adventure into high school shop classes!

 I have a great friend who builds great beautiful pieces of furniture from oak, cherry and walnut.  He bought 80 acres in the Ozarks, found a grove of pine tree planted by the CCC in the 30's and started harvesting some of the bigger trees for lumber. But the coolest thing that he did was find all the smaller volunteer pine trees around the bigger grove, harvest them and build pole pine furniture that he sells in mid Missouri.  Each piece is unique and although functional as furniture, still considered a piece of art (at least by me). He doesn't have a web site, because he doesn't want to have to work too hard on his hobby and it might cut into his quail hunting and playing time with his grand kids.

Hope that some of you may be finding a piece of wood and a knife and looking for something in the wood to carve.  Don't forget to measure twice and cut once.