Not so short contractor rant

August 22, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We are so close to being done with the garage and the house (yard is still a disaster, which will have to wait ‘til next year, but the stress of dealing with crappy, disorganized, and/or no show contractors throughout this process has been and is so frustrating. This is not a post to rail on all contractors or even all of our contractors…

We had same great ones:

Maranatha Hardwood Floors showed up on time for the quote. The owner was personable and the quote was reasonable. They showed up on time, did a beautiful job, listened to a specific request from my wife, there were no extra charges, cleaned up after themselves, and our floor looks great.
RCS Fire Place was A-1: On time, good pricing, no add-on charges, etc…
After an initial sales rep flub, Greenwood Heating & Air did a nice job on our heat pump. Very professional installers. No complaints.
Vehicle Equipment Solutions was awesome on the lift order and install. I couldn’t be happier with their work.
Our Drywall guys were top notch. Very professional, great price, showed up when they were supposed to and finished right on time.
The carpet guys that did our bedroom were fast, professional, and did a nice job.
I had some custom wrought iron brackets made and the blacksmith listen to our wants and delivered a beautiful product.
Pacific RIM equipment rental was great in supplying heavy equipment for the garage tear out and site prep. When there was a breakdown, they delivered a new machine and I wasn’t charged for any gas use for the entire weekend.
Bryan at Squak Box was a rock star when it came time to haul out the debris from the old garage and all the old concrete. On time, no hidden costs, dropped the containers perfectly. Couldn’t ask for more.

And the not so great:

My garage contractor has now quit. There is little I can do at this point besides shake my head in wonder and disgust. It has been a bumpy road from almost the start, but I figured that with a little bit of work it would all be OK. A bit of work turned into a part time job and time spent on the garage was time not spent on the house and that made Stamps-With-Foot grumble. In addition to the garage tear down and the site preparation that had to be done (40+ hours of my time and ~$3000. I had to do 4-5 hours of slab/rebar prep when the contractor’s guy messed up, then had to ask for poly burlap to cure the slab, apparently not standard. I ended up keeping the slab wet for the entire 10-day cure (to limit cracking and allow it to fully harden, then apply the concrete densifier after my normal workday and the end of the cure process.

Installation of fire blocking isn’t required per code in Seattle for a wall less than 10’, but it is the right thing to do. It was out of scope for the contractor and an additional cost, so The Ruminator and I ended up doing it while he was here on summer vacation. I had to install two forgotten kicker studs, tighten missed/forgotten anchor bolt nuts, added nails to the hurricane straps, and had to go over punch list items twice before they were addressed.

The windows and door trim were installed incorrectly – I could see daylight in the corners of the windows and I asked that they be re-installed. When that was being done, my siding got cracked. I also found that instead of every 16” per code, the siding was nailed every 4’ in some locations. I called and the foreman came out. He addressed some issues but caused others. I then called the owner and he came out. He agreed with every point I had. They crew came back and while some items were fixed, others were not and new problems popped up. I let the owner know and this was his response:

“Unfortunately we’ve succeeded in messing up again. ____ had no excuse for why he didn’t read my email, about taking the siding out from the bottom of the windows, and what they were thinking with the screws into the bottom of the fascia’s. If they’d pre-drilled the holes it would have worked and been clean.

I don’t have anyone else in my employee who I could send down to make any corrections, and I don’t think you would trust anyone I sent to do any more work. What I’d like to offer is to forego our final payment and let you clean up any items by your self. I don’t like doing this, I really want to get the job done for you but we’ve already had three try’s. I know you might not be as happy as you should be but I want to at least make you satisfied with _____________.”

I am not happy and while I agree that I don’t trust his guys to come back a third time, the keeping of a few hundred bucks does not make it all better. Now, I either have to find and pay someone else or do it myself. Frustrating.

I have looked at this. Am I just an asshole? Am I too picky or do I expect too much? I really have looked at this hard and yes, I can be an asshole, but not in this and not with a single contractor or tradesman on my site. We provided lunches, Gator-aid, and beer for all the guys working, I talked to every contractor that has been on our property like I would want to be spoken to, If I wanted something different or changed, I addressed it right then by ASKING and wasn’t the least bit of a shit about it. I cleaned up the job site in the afternoons after I got off work to save them all time and effort.

Is needing someone to stick to a schedule, be on time, and not halfway do something too particular? I don’t think so. Is asking that a contractor meet minimum code requirements, pull permits, and do the job they agreed to for the agreed to price crazy? apparently so.

Other issues:

In addition to the plumbing circus that we had in the spring, we had a carpentry crew that abandoned us for a job where the other customer was screaming louder. They left tools, work unfinished, material, you name it. My electrician has been a little flakey – uncashed checks, no shows, showing up unannounced and unscheduled, really hard to get a hold of, etc., but at least this one hasn’t broken into our house while we were gone… I have had 3 contractors come out for quotes on our basement bathroom tile and never heard from two of them again. The third guy finally called me back and said the job was just way too small and “not worth the time it would take to set up his wet-saw.”

I get it, all the contractors in Seattle are busier than a puppy with two peckers. That means that 1. they can be super picky, 2. charge what they want, 3. if they fuck up, no worries, there are three other jobs waiting.

The F-Bomb Garage completion is getting closer!

July 19, 2016 / Matt Talley / 2 Comments

I was out of town this past week on a work trip to merry ol’ England. I came home to a sweet surprise: I have a new 10,000lb two-post lift installed in the F-Bomb Garage. I got a decent deal on a . Went with the Rotary Revolution RPT10 because there is a local dealer, local support, I got a decent deal on the lift+install, and some experience that some friends and colleagues have had with this and other lifts.

We are getting closer to finally building some stuff inside/voiding warranties/modifying the jeep. My contractor had a foreman out last week to deal with the framing punch-list items: a couple of anchor bolts, some trim, loose siding, a funky corner, and I had him re-install my three windows with the proper flashing tape – I could see light in all the corners. A leaky window after I have stressed the importance of proper installation and showed them what I needed twice would throw me into fits. He also swapped the door trim, but not everything on the list got done and now there is more stuff that needs attention. I have the contractor stopping by to go over it all tonight. Very frustrating to spend this sort of cash and to deal with all the little things over and over.

The electrician is 3 weeks out – everyone is building and remodeling in Seattle and contractors are super swamped, so I am going to concentrate on the outside in the mean time: Paint and gutters as soon as the siding issues are dealt with.

F-Bomb Garage Build Status – Late June

June 24, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Well, we are a month+ behind schedule, but the our garage is coming along:

The roof trusses are up and on: Flat trusses on one side and scissors on the other side to accommodate the 2-post car lift. My contractor is not adding the fire block (insert grumpy face). These both limit the upward spread of a possible fire and add structural rigidity to the wall. Building code in our area is 10′ of wall height before block is “required” and my walls are 10’… I don’t care to build to the minimum of code, I want it done the right way and fire blocks, regardless of wall height, are the right way, so I cut them all to size myself and have employed child labor (The Ruminator) to install the blocks with a driver and some 3” framing screws. I then snapped a line at 5′ on the outside wall and gave him a hammer and a big box of 8d coated nails so he could attach the sheets to the blocks. Not too many shiners – he did a fine job.

The Tyvek vapor barrier wrap is just installed over the front wall so that the garage doors could be hung. Both are 8’X9′ R12 insulated fiberglass doors with no windows and follow the two different ceiling lines on the inside. I put jack-screw openers to the side of the doors so that the space over the doors would be clear. In the pictures below you can see the tiny attic as well – a pull down ladder goes in next week. Overkill, but I put ¾” T&G up there as floor decking and glued/screwed it in place – just ‘cause…

There is Carlisle WIP300 self-sealing roofing underlayment/membrane installed. #30 roof felt is $25 a roll and WIP is $90, but I only needed 5 rolls (4.2 actually). That $325 difference is serious insurance as the WIP can sit out without shingles on it, in case of wind damage an such, and not leak for 6 months. The roof (as well as wall) decking is all CDX (I HATE OSB) and for the small quantity bought for my garage, it is $4 a sheet in difference. $200ish total for sheathing and decking – well worth the price for peace of mind. Roofing is 30 year algae-resistant (important in Seattle) 3 tab architectural shingles that are color matched to our house.

The rest of the wrap, windows, the man-door, and 6″ reveal Hardi lap siding goes on next week.

The F-Bomb Garage Lives!!

June 16, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

My garage/shop now has a name, but first: Story Time.

I have agonized over what to call it since the early planning stages began almost 3 years ago: The Place Warranties Go to Die, The Jeep Warren, The Briar Patch, The Shiznit Garage, My Little ADHD Shed, etc…

I was out on the slab one night a few weeks ago moving around the poly-burlab curing cover, the boards holding it down, and rearranging the soaker hoses when I smacked myself in the side of the head with a wet 2X6 – really f’n hard, right behind the temple. I saw stars and staggered around holding the side of my head saying F%$#!! loudly, over & over in a machine gun staccato manner. It was all that would come out. This scene may have just lasted a few seconds or more than a minute – the timeline is a little fuzzy. My sweet wife, Stamps-With-Foot, did not see the initial head strike, just my wobbling around and apparent sudden affliction of turrets. I stumbled in the kitchen door a few minutes later and she said over her shoulder while standing at the sink: “I am sure the neighbors will be glad when your little playhouse is built so they will not have to listen to all the dropping of F-Bombs…” I was about to take gross offence to her characterization of physical culmination of my fabrication dreams as a “little playhouse” when I realized that she had provided the perfect name: The F-Bomb Garage.

I have searched the Garage Forum and the Fabrication Forums that I frequent and no one has claimed it and I have found no others, so it is mine, I call it. I found a few stickers and images that I like for a logo, but I will be making my own to apply to projects, the Jeep, the Jeep Trailer, tool boxes, etc.

Garage and House Build/Remodel Update – 6/14/16

June 14, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Garage:

My slab is cured and the densifyer has been applied. really happy with the results – a big thank you to Mr. Mark Flood!!
The ground around my garage slab is all level. I rented a Skid-Steer this past weekend and played in the dirt. Hauled 2 yards of excess over to the neighbors yard to fill some voids and I used the skid-steer to pull out 7 small stumps for her.
Got a call from the builder yesterday and the lumber will be onsite today, Framing starts Wednesday, and trusses are delivered on Friday.
Was asked to move the Honey-bucket so that the lumber would have enough room. Odd, request for my builder to make of the homeowner/customer, but I did it just so there would be no issues with the lumber delivery.
If schedule holds, windows and siding start next Wednesday, and we will be fully in the dry by next Friday.
It looks like I will be installing the windows as I am more particular than the builder about such things.
My son, The Ruminator, will be here for a few weeks and I will get him help me run wire in the garage shell.
My 2-post car lift will be installed by the end of the month

House:

We are finishing up the paint on the main level.
I need to start putting the 1/4 round trim back down.
Bathroom: there is tile work to finish and a mirror to be hung.
Basement remodel is stalled. We had the head manager for the plumbing company out on Saturday after we found even more problems with the work that was done and we have told them: “…in light of the previous and continuing issues, incomplete work, existing damage caused by your subcontractors that we will have to have repaired, and that the basement portion of our remodel has been brought a complete stop, my wife and I do not want a____________ employee, or anyone from a subsidiary company back in our home. We do not wish to continue dealing with _______.” We can’t really touch anything until they agree to this. If they do not, then we can’t do anything as the matter will have to be settled via remediation.

What I Want Thursday – June 9th, 2016

June 9, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Below are the things that I really want and that are present for me today:

For my interior painting to be 100% done in our house.
For my Garage to be 100% built and finished.
More time with my children and family.
Summer BBQs and cold rosé in the yard.
I want to stick to my diet and workout schedule and not fall off the wagon and back into the cookie/café Mocha/lethargic/big-belly/back-hurting abyss.
For the Attic and basement (mostly the bathroom) to be done.
Letters – written on actual paper – from my kids, friends and family.
8″ joiner/planer, 15″ Bandsaw, New Dust collection system for garage
Christopher Ward Quartz Trident with black rubber strap
For the US Political system not to be dysfunctional and a little/lot less crazy

New Garage Slab Has Been Poured!

May 26, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

The slab is down and the curing has begun. It is not laser flat – 1/8″ – 1/4″ variance in couple spots in the field, but the pad is smooth. I had the apron poured extra thick (8-9″) brush finished and control joints troweled in. I had a sprinkler on it for the 1st 24 hours and soaker hoses and a poly/burlap wrap was applied just after the slab control joints are cut yesterday morning.

I will let is cure for another 5 days and then apply a densifyer (Ashford) on top. Framing will start next Thursday or Friday. I am so exited that I feel like a pimply teen who just scored a playmate as a prom date!

Garage Build Update 5/10/16

May 11, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

My slab gets poured next Tuesday. All clear from the City for electric trench and slab forms. There were a few issues that I saw last week that needed to be adjusted: There was a rebar oops in the car lift footings that was a serious new-guy error, but instead of calling my contractor to bitch, if just fixed it. Sometimes you are only as good as your worst employee… I picked some rebar and a couple boxes of chairs, looped ties, and put a 12″OC grid down of 1/2′ rebar 3″ from the dirt in the footing hole on Friday evening after work.

I also lifted the existing rebar over the footing holes up with chairs so that it would all be the same level as the welded wire. Hanging it from the wire would force the wire down to the top of the visqueen, negating the use of the material in a large area. I took the extra chairs I had and added them to the welded wire field. I understand that it gets stomped down when they pour and walk the pour, but the trick for me is to limit the amount that stays down. It was $90.00 worth of material and a couple hours of my time and we can work it out as we move forward with the build. The minor details in the grand scheme.

House Status and Plumbing Woes

April 27, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We are making progress, abet slowly:

My father-in-law came in this weekend and painted our bathroom and the trim.
I have a new granite vanity top installed – one with the facets centered on the sink.
New reproduction 1920’s glass handles are installed in the vanity. I is not gud counter. I bad at numbers. Didn’t have enough – one short. Store now sold out. Amazon to the rescue.
The drywall should completely done and sanded as of today. The new arches are super sexy!
I modified the kitchen knife rack to fit the new ceramic sharpener. The original was broken by the asshat moving company and Kyocera doesn’t make that size anymore, so I had to drill out its assigned slot. The replacement knives (also the movers…) are now in as well.
Primer will go on the fresh walls tonight and tomorrow night.
I have patched the hole in the tub surround and am waiting for the thin-set mortar to dry so that I can lay the tile.
The new fireplace insert is in and fantastic. I will do the new surround and mantel after the floors are refinished and as I am trimming out the Dining room Ceiling
I met with the garage foundation crew on Monday to go over all the details and they start the ground work today. I am almost giddy with excitement.
My new dutch doors are ready and I will pick them up Friday
The finish carpentry trim-out starts next Monday.
I learned yesterday afternoon that no plumbing permit was pulled and that we might have to demo the concrete in the basement – the new concrete – and the newly laid supply line so that the county inspector can view the pipes. I am super unhappy and will update as I know more.
We are now 4 weeks without a shower or bathroom sinks at the house. I have been a decent human being and fairly understanding up to this point with our plumbing company (big company, one of the oldest in Seattle). I am afraid that they have mistaken nice for weak and unwilling to have a confrontation. That was a miscalculation. Please refer to the Capone quote concerning kindness…
My wife is still medium chipper and hasn’t threatened to leave me yet over the lack of a shower or all the dust, so that is something.
The lavender out front is in bloom and the bees are back, so not all is lost.

Productive weekend with Heavy Equipment – The Old Garage is Down!

April 20, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Super Productive weekend! The old garage came crashing down at about 9:00am on Saturday. All it took was a little push with the forklift at the peak of the roof (I rented an extension boom forklift and a jack-hammer to assist with the garage and old slab destruction) I didn’t take out any fences or cars, but one of our recycling cans took a beating. Within 3 hours it was all loaded into a debris dumpster that I had dropped Friday morning.

The forklift was a little manky to start and keep running. I would overload the hydraulics just a touch and instead of straining, it would die and take 3-5 minutes to restart. The rental company was supposed to bring another one out, but we kept waiting and waiting and just making do as we whittled away at the slab and footing with the jackhammer and forks. While the garage demo was a breeze, the slab was something else altogether. It was super tough, full of quarter-sized aggregate, and 6 inches thick. The footing was +16” deep. I was impressed – I thought it was just some concrete poured over dirt like our basement slab. Nope, this stuff was WAY overbuilt for the tiny carriage house. I could had parked a tank on this thing and it would have been just fine.

With the slab about ¼ split and loaded into a second dumpster, the forklift finally died. After a couple of calls, the rental company brought me a free 18000lb rated track-hoe with a bucket thumb and a pusher blade!!! That translated into an adult sized Tonka toy for my yard. It was 5:30 or so by the time the track hoe was off loaded, so after demonstrating that I wouldn’t run it into a power pole, I parked it and work in the house a little. I try to be a good neighbor and running heavy equipment while it is dinner time in a neighborhood does not endear you to others.

I was up and at it at 8:00 the next morning and the second piece of equipment was so sweet and made the tear out and load go so much faster than I expected! However, it is apparently not a normal occurrence to have a piece of heavy equipment spinning, grunting, working in my little neighborhood. I one point I looked over and I have 5 neighbors standing in the shade of a neighbor’s garage, drinking beer and watching me demo. When I took a potty break, one asked me if I could break something to make it more interesting. Son of a… They had gathered to watch me wreak havoc and as it did not ensue, were somewhat disappointed in me.

After five hours on the track hoe the garage, the whole slab, footings, three tree stumps, and four posts that were set in concrete were loaded and ready for transport. All our water lines, fences, and overhead electrical lines were still intact so it was a successful second and final day of garage demo. My back yard is now a flat spot of dirt and is waiting for a new garage slab.

After playing in the yard for most of the day, Stamps-With-Foot and I went into Seattle and bought all the paint (Benjamin Moore only thank you very much) for the house interior and new fixtures and lights for the main floor bathroom and the laundry room sink. I then cut and installed the new bathroom vanity on the main floor and did a little electrical work in the basement. It was then shower and night-night time, because I have a regular J-O-B to go to every morning.

House Remodel Status – 4/12/16

April 12, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Things are moving along with the house and garage, abet very slowly.

I cut the dying vine maple out of the back yard. Its loss made both my wife and I sad – we loved that tree. Part of it I saved for fire wood and part I gave to a local bowl turned I know so he could make beautiful stuff out of the sections that were free of rot.
The new 1″ water supply line is in.
Our basement slab was cut for the new basement bathroom and drains
Concrete floor re-poured.
I have demo’ed part of the basement ceiling, the front bedroom closet and a huge spot in the dining room for the plumbing company to run PexA supply lines and vent pipe.
Plumbing rough-in is going on today and we may have a functioning toilet and kitchen sink by 5:00pm tonight – maybe…
We haven’t had water for a week and have been staying in an air B&B, which has gotten old and expensive.
Basement bathroom framing is going in tomorrow.
The new 1st floor bathroom vanity is done and in place, but the holes in the granite top for one of the facets are cut wrong – it has made me a little crazy…
I have cleared all the stuff out of the way in the back yard and am ready for dumpster deliveries. I am taking the old garage out this coming weekend.
The attic is ready for new floor joists, but still waiting on the engineer’s report to decide what is going in and options for the space. We had wanted a Master Suite up there, but are not sure if it can be done at this point.
Our fireplace insert goes in tomorrow and the new fireplace tools are already there.
The three windows for the garage and two for the house are on order and should be here next week. I just have to find a place to store them.

Some pictures of the current status and the latest progress:

I haven’t had a day off in about three weeks – working my day job, making calls to contractors and supply companies at lunch and on the way to work/home, and working at the house at night and on weekends. I have to work all this week getting ready for the garage demo and all weekend tearing it down. It is all starting to take it toll on me. I’ll get an evening off from remodel this week to attend my new advanced throwing (pottery) class, and will have a two evenings off next week while the drywall goes in, but will be back at it painting the entire weekend of the 23rd and every evening the rest of the week after.

My wife said a little something a few days ago that resonates: “Life is a journey an not the destination, but remodeling is all about the destination. The journey sucks!” I swear if I had to make this decision again, I would have sold the house and bought a McMansion in Maple Valley or an updated mid-century rambler Bellevue and just moved right in in. I have remodeled many homes in the past, but this one and the size/scope are both out of hand and way too ambitious for someone who has a day job. When all is said and done, I do not want to touch a thing in or on the house for YEARS and would like to just enjoy home for a while, sit in the back yard and drink rosé in the summer sun with my wife.

Project built for my truck – the one I sold 2+ years ago…

February 26, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

So this post is a little bit delayed. It has been sitting in my draft folder for almost three years. It may be time to publish it…

My 2011 Nissan truck had a very cool really system for holding gear in the back of the truck: an extruded aluminum track along the side rails and two in the bottom of the bed. They made sliding tie points for use on the rails that were great for some stuff, but I needed more to really strap a load down when hauling brush and debris to the dump. I looked at buying more from Nissan, but they wanted >$200 for the set of 4. No thank you! I did what any engineer would do: Designed my own and went into the machine shop and made a few prototypes out of aluminum scrap that was laying about.

I made one version with an offset bend for the side walls and the other with a 90 degree bend for use on the bed floor rails. I might change the latter a little as I found that while a standard small ratchet strap or rope had no effect on it, if I used a large ratcheting load strap, I could bend it.

I also found that the rails were the exact same dimension as commercial uni-strut (standardized formed metal structural system used in electrical, plumbing and HVAC installations for structural support). Parts are available at all the Big-Box home stores and I was able to pick up a bag of 10 threaded nut plates for ~$8.00 and 1/4″ hex-head bolts of various lengths for another $5.00. The prototypes worked so well that I made more and with my hold down solution and the OEM tie points, I could haul anything I really wanted and make sure it was securely fastened: Refrigerators, lumber, yard trimmings, fire wood, trash, you name it.

I added the side walls of a wooden shipping crate to my new truck bed system, bolted directly to the side rails using the uni-strut nut plates and then strapped over the whole load with 2″ straps. I found the installation took me 15 minutes from start to finish and it made dump and material runs super simple. It was even faster to remove and store in the garage so I didn’t drive around town like I worked for Sanford & Son.

I sold the truck in December of 2013, but I kept the OEM Nissan tie points as well as the ones I made. I will use them on my next truck, or possibly my next trailer. I will just install uni-strut on the sides and on the deck and I will make it that much more useful.

What I Want Thursday – Febuary 2016 Edition

February 25, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Below are the things that I really want and that are present for me today:

More time with my children and family.
I want to stick to my diet and workout schedule and not fall off the wagon and back into the cookie/café Mocha/lethargic/big-belly/back-hurting abyss.
For the house remodel to be done
For my Garage build to be 100% and my new lift and tools installed and waiting for me.
Growler or two from West Seattle Brewing Co.
Letters – written on actual paper – from my kids.
A longboard skateboard
I could stand a new Kindle
A handsome tweed vest – or two
Brown Redwing Engineer’s boots
Huge antique pattern lathe found in a barn or a PM4224 with all the add-ons.
A pair of 1/2 round and a pair of Snipe Bill molding planes
A 1.75 – 3Hp SawStop Table Saw
One fine compound sliding miter saw
>8″ joiner/planer
A Grizzly G0752 Benchtop Lathe and G0801 Vertical Mill

Getting a new garage in 2016!!!

January 7, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Woohoo!! It looks like we are a go for a new garage and some needed updates to our heat, plumbing, and wiring at the house. I am meeting our builder this weekend and passing him a check (two checks actually, one is for the City of Seattle permit office…) and I will have a real garage and wood-shop by spring. I will have room for a big lathe, cabinet saws, wood storage , my joiners workbench, room to assemble projects/furniture, a real dust collection system, and all my planes/saws/chisels/hand tools on one side. On the other side of the shop will be a mini-machine/fabrication shop with a two post lift, lathe, end mill, welder, mobile paint booth, and work table…

I cannot tell you how stoked I am! Seriously, I am all giddy about it. I plan to make cool stuff, descend into super-nerdy, and will be voiding the shit out of warranties!

Here are the prelim drawings that are being submitted and a lay out of the shop floor.

Update:

Drawings sent to the city. Cross your fingers and pray with me that Planning is having a good day/week/month and these babies get a stamp.

Wood Lathe for sale in Cornebarrieu – SOLD

November 7, 2015 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

The move is ON! we have two weeks until the packers and movers get here and Stamps-With-Foot and I spent the morning and part of the afternoon going through stuff and listing stuff for sale the largest of which is my lathe. It hurts me a little to see it go, but I know that a huge old gap-bed lathe waits patiently for me in Seattle.

Below is the add that my wife is posting on the local English-speaking forums here in the Toulouse area:

FAR TOOL TBF 1000 Wood Lathe for sale in Cornebarrieu:

I bought this lathe brand new from a local shop 18 months ago. Since it came unassembled, I reinforced the standard steel base with additional shelving, cross-braces to remove any possible flex. I then sheathed three sides for extra rigidity and added a strong bottom platform for ballast. I have turned everything from honey dippers, to bowls (large, small, & huge), stools from tree trunks, stair balusters, platters, furniture feet, tiny wooden and acrylic ornaments, lids, etc. It has been a great lathe and has NO PROBLEMS or “small issues.” The bearing are true and tight and there is ZERO rust on the ways/bed. This lathe is in perfect shape and the only reason I am parting with it is because we are moving back to the US and the power there will not work with the lathe’s 240/50Hz motor.

Here are the details and specs as well as a couple of links to shops that sell it:

Cast iron variable speed lathe features a 360 degree swivel headstock.
Solid cast iron headstock and lathe bed construction.
Extra bed extension for outboard turning.
Speed is fully variable between 450 – 2100 rpm.
Weighs ~120 kilos
300mm width capacity over bed and 900mm between centers.
Have turned 600mm platters with headstock swiveled 90 degrees
550W enclosed fan-cooled motor
hollow self-ejecting tailstock with #2MT
Cast iron offset tool rest and extension arm
Head Stock has MT2 Taper and 25.4mm (1:8TPI threading – industry standard for lathes this size – easy to find chucks and accessories
Includes reinforced/enclosed steel base, added powerstrip for lights and hand sanders, a 4-prong drive centre, bowl/platter faceplate, live tail center, 4 wrenches, knockout-bar, shop-made stead rest.

It will be perfect for your garage or shop or for your partner’s Christmas present since it is ready to work and you just have to plug it is. I paid 520 Euros for this lathe 18 months ago and it currently lists for 550 – 745 Euro depending on the shop. I am asking 375 Euro. Please give me a call if you have any questions and the lathe is available for demo if you would like.

UPDATE:

I sold the lathe to a nice English gent, who got a smoking deal. I helped him take it all apart and put it in his car. The rear springs were seriously loaded, but he looked happy as he pulled out of our drive.

I NEED a Lister Diesel Engine

September 5, 2015 / Matt Talley / 2 Comments

I have a big ol’ crush in Lister single-cylinder diesel engines. These stationary work horses were made from 1926 to about 1985 and were used for pumping water, power generation, inboard flat-water boat engines, and all manner of other uses. They came in 1.5-12 horsepower and would/will burn Diesel, paraffin, kerosene (as a mix), waste motor oil (WMO) fresh or waste veggie oil (WVO), bio Diesel, etc… They were and are so reliable that many of the originals are still running today after 90+ years of just regular maintenance.

After the parent company stopped making them, Indian firms started making clones for Asian and Southeast Asian use due to their inherent long life, simplicity, and ease of maintenance. These are called Listeriods, and they are fairly plentiful, but the quality swings widely.

Why do I want or need a Lister? Reasons. Why did I need a Millennium Falcon in the second grade? Why did I need all those Legos? I just did. Just like I just need a small Lister (or two) in my garage to tinker with and run various other machines that I just need as well.

I have been thwarted in my attempt while living in the US due to EPA regulations making importation verboten. There are some, both original and clones, around, but they command top dollar as they are VERY popular with the off-grid/prepper folks. I like “The Grid” just fine. I am not building a bunker, planning for any sort of societal collapse or EMP weapon defense, I just need a Lister.

I have found a couple here in France, but either the owner has been unwilling to sell or the logistics in getting it have proved difficult – hauling it 30 vertical feet up and 2km down a mountain path sort of daunting. I still haven’t given up. We know a British couple that have been here long term and the husband is a classic car/truck guy – he has a 1962 Unimog fire truck as a daily driver… I spoke to him this weekend about my need and he might know a guy who knows a guy sort of thing. I have my fingers crossed.

Enjoy a few videos of Listers in action below:

10/7/2015 Update

So, I found an engine here in France that was the right size and type, with an outstanding price tag – basically free. But, there is NO way I can bring it back to the US with me. We are bringing home Wine and other stuff that are customs red flags and they are going to go through our shipment container with a microscope. I think I might have a way to get an Indian import once we are back in Seattle, so I will deal with it there.

Puttering around in the shop

August 31, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I had a super shitty trip home from Morocco and was stressed out & pissed off when I got up Saturday morning.

First Coffee.

I then decided that and working on some current projects, a couple of little things on the lathe, and making lots of sawdust and wood shavings would make it all better.

I am in the process of building an old-school 6-board chest (now 8-board as I added a skirt to front and rear…) and had some white pine scrap sections left from the two sides and the bottom. I glued them up before I left for Casablanca and when I got home I decided to turn a quick fruit dish for the kitchen/my wife. It took all of about 20 minutes and is 10.5″ in diameter and 2″ tall. I am pretty happy with the results.

Obsessing Over a Possible House Remodel & Letting My OCD Shine Bright

August 25, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We are currently going through a make/buy decision concerning our house in Seattle. Meaning, do we spend $200-$250K plus, months of time, and lots of sweat equity on updating our house, adding a garage/shop and dining room, and refitting the basement into an apartment for my mom. Or, do we spend $5K getting the house ready to sell and find another house that has what we want already done and complete. Do we keep the house as a rental and build an entirely new one…? We have met with our estate agent, a builder, a draftsman, an architect, a landscape company, a second builder, and now a third builder in our quest, but really are not any closer to making a decision. As said before, Stamps-With-Foot and I are going over it all and trying to decide what is best for our finances, future possible family expansion, and quality of life.

I drew our lot and house just after we moved in and have spent more than a few hours modeling all our crap – to scale – and seeing how it would all fit in the possible expansion of our existing house with the new garage build. Part of this on-going decision process is looking at all the possibilities and modifying the existing drawings into a “someday-maybe state”. I have a touch of OCD… If I am working on something or especially in the planning stages, I will drill WAY DOWN into the project. Evidenced by the below images and the included timeline.

I have modeled sewing machines, yard tools, bikes, my 1986 Jeep, my wife’s Subaru WRX, hand tools, bikes, , machine tools, trees, bushes, furniture, lathes, saws, wiring diagrams, rugs, even our puppies… all to scale… I may have a problem.

What I want Thursday

May 28, 2015 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

Current ‘shit that I want/need list’:

For my mom to feel 100% better
To stop traveling SO MUCH for work
To stop eating so many carbs and so much sugar
For my wife to feel all better
A three day walk in the mountains
6 Days in Rome without my cell phone
To rock climb with my friends in the French countryside
About 15 hard cover books about beekeeping and cabinet making
Some serious cash to give to Heifer and MSF
To be 100% certain of what can and should be done with our house in Seattle: rebuild or sell
For my wife to finish some alterations and repairs for me
A slender dark grey Yorkshire cap
To stop worrying about our house in Seattle
A sweet tweed vest
A few pair of cordovan and black monk-strap wing-tips from Al’s Attire
A Filson medium travel bag.
A couple of belts
To start working out again in earnest and stick to it

Some small projects around the house

May 18, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I have been swamped with work and travel for the last couple of months, so my shop time has been very limited. I have mostly been puttering around with my workbench, getting the last bits and bobbles done before calling it done and I have spent the off hour here and there on the lathe and doing stuff around the house:

I had to fix a dishwasher leak and do some painting in the kitchen – still hate plumbing
We did some re-arranging, so I had to fill some nail holes and then make new ones.
Glued a cutting board back together after it split – craptastic glue didn’t hold, so it is back in the to-fix pile and will get some dowels this time
Made a pot lid handle out of some scrap cherry.
Tackled the jungle that was once my yard – twice
Sharpened the lawnmower blade
Turned the compost
I bought a sheet of plywood and built a DVD shelf and a 8′ bookshelf for the lending library we run.
There was been an oak log in my shop for months so I cut it in half and made a couple of stools for my office.
Our puppies play a game called “run away from Mommy” when she takes them out, so I built two small fences to keep them in the back yard and away from the front gate.

I have do a few things in the shop just for organization and am working on a couple of little projects:

We got a huge free wardrobe that I put in the GROP to organize non-tool/shop related items like climbing gear and life jackets
My battery operated tools need a home, so I put together an organization center for them that mounts on the French cleat board
I hung up my 6 heavy panel clamps to get them out of the way
Made a Lathe chuck and tail-stock tool organizer for the French cleat organizer
With a bonus from my J-O-B, I bought a few more molding planes, but they arrived in sad shape. I spent 6+ hours one Saturday cleaning, sharpening and fixing them.
Started work on a blanket chest rebuild: cut here, snip there, new runners and new feet. Will get new milk paint finish when complete.
Working on a copyist lectern rebuild. I made the base, pillar and other bits from some scrap beech left over from the bench build.
Built a wooded top for the puppy Kennel so it blends better with the furniture in the Living Room.
Putting together a 6-board chest for molding plane storage. Will get re-purposed forged hardware and a Barn Red milk paint finish.

My workbench is DONE!!

May 6, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I am about a month late in posting this – life and my J-O-B got in the way – but the Cornebarrieu Bench is done. Completely done! All bells and whistles added. It seems like it took me forever, but it fits perfectly in the shop and I started using the bench even before it was finished. I am very happy with the outcome and am currently working on projects that have been piling up all winter. Just in case you haven’t been following along for the past year and a half or so:

My GROP (garage and shop combo) in Seattle was too small for a proper joiner’s bench. I made due with a slim, high, wall-mounted work counter, a bolted on machinist-vise, Quick Clamps, and the top of my table saw. It worked – mostly/sort of – but was a pain in the ass a good bit of the time: I never once planed a board on a stable, solid surface. My GROP here in France is roughly the same size as the one in Seattle, but is absent the huge cast iron machines and saws. I have some room to move and finally have the space for a big, heavy, proper work bench as well as some time to build one – or so I thought.

It is an amalgamation of benches by M. Roubo, Roy Underhill, Chris Schwartz, and Bill Schenher. I am calling it the “Cornebarrieu Bench” after the small village in southern France where we live, where the lumber has been sourced, and where the bench was made and first used.

For anyone interested, here is a documented build process, build notes, and step by step guide – 115 steps – to build this beast.

New stools from an oak tree

March 2, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

This weekend I finished up a “little” lathe project I started in early February – I made a couple of stools out of a hunk of oak tree that was cut after a storm in our village. They are about 15.5″ (39cm) tall and 10″ (26cm) around and getting it that way pushed my Chinese lathe to its absolute max. It walked all over the floor when I first started it up – hence the kettle bells thrown on the middle shelf to add mass. It super did not like the out of balance logs. It would have been fine at a slower speed, but the slowest my lathe goes is 400 RPM and that is too fast for this size project. I managed, but there was lots of starting and stopping.

I really like both how the turned out and how comfy they are to sit on – just the right height for a quick stop-and-rest. I will add bow-tie joint if needed as they dry out and split, maybe out of some walnut that I have. They will make a nice addition to my home office.

Used my workbench today!

March 1, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Today was the official first use of my workbench. I used it as a work table to lay out the shape of the leg vise, I cut the dados for the tail vise, cleaned them with a chisel, and after spreading plastic used the bench top as a glue-up table for the vice pieces. I had enough room at the other end of the bench to put together a French-cleat mounted battery drill organizer that I cut the parts out for yesterday afternoon. I have trouble staying with one project and do 3-5 at a time. It makes my wife crazy.

The bench top height is perfect and I am super stoked to have a real workbench here in France. I can finally get down to serious business and make some moldings and a small linen-fold panel chest.

Happy!

Workbench Progress

January 13, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Progress on the Cornebarrieu Bench is coming along. It has been slow going – I have been swamped with work, travel, lack of allowance (I spent it on Christmas and a classic fiddle/violin…), more work, etc…

Stamps-With-Foot gave me a gift card for our local Home Center/hardware big-box as a Christmas present that took care of the price for the last section of the top. I got a lot accomplished this last two weeks:

The final sections of the top were glued up just before New Years eve- using every single clamp I brought to France and more than a little ingenuity.
Installed (2 hours of cutting, drilling and chiseling) a pricey German-made cast iron end vice that I got on 65% sale – was missing two small metric bolts and the wood handle.
Made final leg cuts: the tenons that go inside the bench top.
Put 5/16 oak dowels in to the pieces that have cracked, even a little, to make sure that the cracks do not spread.
Gave all the base parts an 80 grit sanding.
Really like the sawmill marks on some of the pieces. Am going to put clear poly on the base instead of milk paint to preserve the marks.
The legs and stretchers shrunk and warped just a touch in the six months since I cut them even though I had it all clamped together. It will be fine and could have been worse.
Made the first dry-fit of the base to the top: Everything lined up , fit perfectly, and is as square as I could ask for.
Drilled holes for connector bolts and lag screws.
Installed base shelf cleats
Cut the 12 sections of 5/8″ tongue & groove pine that will be the base shelf

Before I head to the US in a couple of weeks, I hope to have installed the end-vise block, given the base a 120 grit sanding, polyurethane the base &shelf, cut the hole for the leg vise screw and the rectangle cut for the vices’ parallel guide. I also want to install the leg vise nut in a pocket behind the leg while the bench is upside down.

2014: My year in Review

January 5, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Moved into house in small village near Toulouse France
Started running and lifting again
Set up office at home
Had to deal with broken furniture from move – Insurance company was fairly easy to deal with
Fixed some stuff, got other new stuff
Flight to Florida for work
At least 10 hours a day spend at J-O-B
Work Laptop stolen in Paris hotel Room – Super pissed!!
Met friend both new and Old in and around Toulouse.
Trip to China for a week
More work, more coffee
Cut down a deceased cherry tree and made 3 big bowls
Gave two away
Played Pétanque with the old guys in my village
Built 5 benches for the house over a 5–week period
Work crazy hours
Flight back to Seattle for 2 weeks work/vacation
Visit to Carcassonne and Limoux
Found amazing French junk shop in the middle of nowhere
Joined a French beekeeping group
Bought a wood Lathe
Worked more crazy hours
Rode my bikes a little – not enough.
Made stuff for house: instrument hangers, book shelves, lids, kitchen island, etc…
Running and lifting again somehow stopped and work increased…
Got a new Banjo
Horribly addicted to coffee
Blogged a good bit
Started setting up small hand tool work shop in garage
Son in France for 2 months
Got a canoe for Father’s Day
Bastille Day in Carcassonne
Began building 450# traditional work bench
Quit Facebook
Spent way too much at local wood supply house
Made 4-5 small pieces of furniture for the house
Father in law in France for a month
Fixed some furniture for a co-worker and another piece for a neighbor
Adopted new puppy – Truffle
Flights to Germany, Marseilles and Paris
Super stressed – J-O-B
Getting fat(er)
41st Birthday trip to Porto, Portugal
Got an awesome watch as a gift from sweet wife
Trip to Morocco for J-O-B – bought 2 fantastic carpets while there
Thanksgiving in Turkey – sort of funny sounding. Was working
Grew a beard – wife disgruntled
Flight to Arkansas
Became a Grandfather!!
A beautiful baby girl!
Feel super-old
Tried to bribe a Friend’s parents into selling me his old jeep
Enacted a diabolical plan to make the jeep mine
Spent 14th Birthday with Son
Got most of Christmas shopping done in US
Came home to France with new mandolin and vintage violin
Cut down another cherry, and apricot and a plum and started making bowl blanks
Back to work and back to more 10-12 hour days and calls until 10pm
Christmas snuck up on me again.
Read 20 books in 2014 – almost shameful. Will read more next year
Spent holiday in Pau, France at a friend’s parent’s place and ate and drank until I was ready to pop
Finished top for new work bench – only took six months
Had two friends from London come over for New Years
Spent first weekend of 2015 snowboarding with two friends in Andorra

Chinese Lathe Build Update – Pimp My Lathe Edition

November 24, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

As mentioned in a previous post, I purchased a Chinese manufactured wood lathe shortly after moving to France. Putting it together and getting it running true was not a Herculean task, but it wasn’t a plug and play affair either. In addition to the initial setup, I have taken an hour here and there to make it bit more ridged and add some features that did not come stock, just to pimp it out a little:

The base is now sheathed in 1/2″ plywood, glued to the wood supports and screwed into the sheet metal legs. It makes the base a LOT stiffer and clean-up is much faster.
After 4 months of weekly run-time, I have had to replace a couple of set screws and re-tighten the short bed extension outboard of the head-stock. The clamp bolt holding the head stock shattered and caused me some grief. Chinese bolt quality sucks.
The bottom of the base was finished with 2″ thick scraps and I added a couple hundred pounds of pavers, gravel, and crushed brick to add even more stability. It is not enough when I try to turn a 15″ hunk of cherry outboard, It still wobbles and jumps around a bit. There is just no way to make the sheet metal frame more ridged.
On the French cleats above the lathe, I added a tool holder and chuck/drive center/tail center tool mount for convenience.
I hung a long compact florescent over the work area and on the side there is an IKEA floor lamp/spot light that I can move about. Scored it used for $8.00!
A tool grinder the I picked up for about $45 is mounted are the end of the lathe on a small table for easy mid-project tool sharpening.
The capacity is only 12″ and that is not the magic number. 16″ – 18″ would be perfect for the bowls and bases and platters that I am doing here. If I added 2″ iron risers to the head and tail stocks, then it would give me a 16″ turning capacity (swing). I have thought long and hard about doing it, but haven’t yet as it might be a complication that is more headache than useful AND I don’t want to put anymore time or money into the thing. I just want it to work.
I designed a steel bed extension – modeled it in 3D and everything, but I am not going to have it made… I would be trying to turn an under powered Hyundai into a V8 4X4 Toyota Truck.
For tuning large objects with the head swiveled, I designed a sweet swing arm tool post as well. I modeled it up too, and decided not to have it built for the same reasons. I will use the tool post arm that came with the lathe with a wood post under for support when I turn bigger stuff outboard.
This Lathe will get me by for the next couple of years and I will go over it and repair/replace any worn parts before we leave France to ensure the next owner has relatively trouble free tool, but This is my last “cheap” lathe. I am going to plop down some funds and get a Robust, Vicmarc, a huge Powermatic, Oneway, Oliver, or a Stubby – Something with power, mass, lots of heavy cast iron and reliable parts that I don’t have to screw with.

Inaugural Hand Tool Tuesday Post

September 23, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Being a child of the 1980’s, my early tool and joinery education from my own father was augmented by two TV craftsman – Norm and Roy. I have a foot in each of their worlds: My table saw, miter saw, and lathe get the lion’s share of work done in my shop, but I am giddy whenever I can whip out a chisel, Japanese saw, or molding plane. My lathe gets a lot of press as it is my only power tool here in France and I recently realized that I am not highlighting hand tools enough in my shop work posts. Additionally, I see a lot of very cool old tools here in France that need to be shared. I will be posting pictures, videos, details, openions, thoughts, etc… here.

For today, enjoy Roy and Norm

Disclosure Note: The choice of the Roy video was solely due to the heady mix of Jefferson and Roubo. In the future, I will include more videos of people actually using the tools 🙂

Cornebarrieu Bench – Redesign & first cuts made

August 8, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I did a full redesign of the Cornebarrieu bench… As per my normal modus operandi, I was over designing/building it. With all the tweaks and gadgets and new parts, it was going to take me 6 months to build, some serious math to layout the interlocking joint angles and cost $1900 in material – I may have priced solid 4” thick seasoned Eastern European beech and walnut for the top and legs…
Anyway, I came to my senses and decided on using the pine I had already purchased for the legs and stretchers, lap joints with bolts instead of compound dovetails, a liberal amount of hide glue here and there, and a top made from re-purposed IKEA counter tops and will install a leg vice salvaged from a junk shop near Limoux, France instead of the $300 Benchcraft scissor vise that I was eyeballin’. The top will be solid all the way across instead of the split-top design.

The pine slabs have been drying in my GROP for 5 months and were ready to be cut down into their rough size. I had a little time this last weekend and spent 4 hours making all the leg and stretcher joint cuts – hogging out the material with successive circle-saw cuts and then chiseling them out. I am waiting to cut the tenon that fits into the top on each leg until I have the top in-hand. I chiseled and planed all the joint cuts smooth and I really wished I would have had a timber framing slick. When I do another bench or some large furniture with this type of joint anytime again, I will pick one up as it will pay for itself with the labor saved, in comparison to a 1.5” bench chisel, on 4 lap joints. I did the rough math and I think that I will have made 1023 total handsaw and circle saw cuts by the time the bench is done. There will be 16 bolts, 6 sections of 7/16” all-thread, 12 large screws, one 2’ ACME thread rod, 2 large dowels, 4 lag screws, 32 nuts & washers, and some sweat, blood, and curse words that will all go into it by the end. The new dimensions of the bench will be 25.5” wide, 34” tall, and 8.2 feet long. I believe the finished weight will be around 320 pounds.

My next milestone is the dreaded IKEA run. It will be a couple of weeks before I have the enough spending money horded together from my allowance (I want to be debt free in two years and retire at 55 so yes, I have an allowance…) and get the top cut out and fitted. I will update as I go.

Up-cycled present for my wife

August 4, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

On our way to Carcassonne a few weeks ago for the Bastille Day festivities, we stopped by one of our favorite used furniture/junk shops and I found a few pieces of treasure (Cast iron miter saw, a forged hold-fast, etc…) and Stamps-With-Foot found a set of badly weathered Victorian andirons (the things that hold logs in a fireplace) with a female costumed figurehead bust. She took one look and immediately thought “book-ends!” We paid 5 Euros ($7.50) and put them in the car trunk. I researched them a little later on and found that they were cast in France between 1870 and 1880. Even in the condition we found them in, they go for 90-120 Euros ($121-162) on eBay, so I was pretty pleased with her find.

After coming home from the vacation weekend, my son and I cut the rusted rear beam off one of them, cleaned the sharp edges of the cut with a file, and used a bronze wire brush to mostly clear the surface rust off the bust. My saw blade was dull and we couldn’t cut the second one, so we put all the pieces up a shelf for me to take care of later. Fast-forward 3 weeks and after buying a new blade, I made the second cut, filed the edges, took all the rust off both, primed, painted them with 3 coats of matte black paint, and 2 coats of clear matte finish.

Stamps_with_Foot had a big smile and skipped a little when I gave her the finished pieces.

Very Productive Weekend – except in the yard.

August 3, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I did not mow the yard this weekend. It just didn’t happen. I meant to and I wanted to… I even took the mower and cord out, but it just didn’t happen. Instead I did this:

1. Redesigned the top of the workbench that I am building.
2. Threatened for 148th time to quit Facebook.
3. Didn’t quite
4. Updated status
5. Cleaned and organized GROP a little while grumbling about my lack of willpower
6. Worked on a J-O-B related spreadsheet
7. Finished bookends for wife – made from Victorian andirons.
8. Cut the base (legs and stretchers) for my workbench.
9. Turned two sets of TINY rosettes for our neighbor to replace a couple that are missing from a piece of furniture – help the neighbors when you can.
10. Put together a set of I-beams to reinforce a table top that is warping – they do that after 250-300 years…
11. Gave my wife a foot rub.
12. Glued up some maple blanks to turn later on
13. Played with the puppies – there are two now.
14. Got sucked into Pinterest
15. Watched a little TV/YouTube
16. Took puppies for a walk around neighborhood
17. Turned a small jar lid for wife out of some scrap cherry
18. Drank some Spanish rosé with wife and had a nice home cooked Thai meal
19. Fixed front door lock at 1:00am
20. Had weird dreams Saturday night
21. Slept in – new puppy had first good night’s sleep 🙂
22. Puppy sat while wife got her hair cut.
23. Told wife her hair was very pretty
24. We took puppies into Toulouse to meet some friends for coffee
25. Walked in park with wife and puppies.
26. Cut and chiseled joints in to ½ of the workbench legs
27. Sucked into Pinterest vortex again
28. Sent some J-O-B e-mail
29. Talked to my mom
30. Text messaged with my daughter
31. Tried to call my son – he was out with friends. Teenagers… 🙂
32. Played with puppies
33. Sent some more work-related e-mail
34. Told wife hair was pretty again
35. Made a tiny adjustment to kitchen island at wife’s request
36. Wrote a snail-mail letter to my aunt and son
37. Filled out a couple of post cards
38. Updated website a little
39. Looked at work calendar for tomorrow – very full.
40. Said dirty words…
41. Went downstairs to snuggle wife, puppies and to stay up too late on Pinterest or stupid Facebook.

Driven Outside

Tag: Shop