Tag: Heifer International

Birthday #44… F*ck I am getting old!

/ Matt Talley / Leave a comment

My birthday is almost here. I will be taking the day off from work, the next day as well and enjoying doing stuff that makes me happy! A strait razor shave, brunch, an afternoon movie, steak dinner with my wife, cookies, etc… Below is a short birthday wish list in no specific order. Just putting it out there:

Peace on the Korean Peninsula
For the Adults in the room to take the reins of the American Political System
Heifer International: Bees (I really like to give the gift of bees) Goats, Chickens, Llama, or the whole Ark…
A little cash to Doctors Without Borders/MSF
Go give blood and send me a post card
Money for Diabetes Research
Some time in a Tattoo Artist’s chair
An Amazon Gift Card
Book: Campaign Furniture by Chris Schwartz
Book: Bees of the World by Mitchner
A gift card to Hardwick’s Hardware in Seattle
Genetic genealogy testing from 23&Me
Starbucks Gift Card
Coupon for The Art of Shaving
A card from each of my kids
Sign up for the 2-Day Rally School Course
An Ash Pack Basket (Sling-style harness)
Amber 2ga. Plugs (bonus points if they have insect inclusions)
A fine Anejo Tequila
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey
Porto (Cálem Vintage, Ramos Pinto, or a Taylor’s)

Christmas list for Santa – 2015

/ Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I already have a bunch of crap, so my first request is that people give to a worthy cause and send me a note about it.  My three favorites and where our charity funds go:

  1. Heifer International:
  2. Doctors Without Borders/MSF
  3. Go give blood and send me a post card
  4. Habitat for Humanity
  5. Diabetes Research

Books:
Campaign Furniture by Chris Schwartz
Theodore Roosevelt: a Strenous Life
A copy of Chris Schwartz’s The Anarchist’s Tool Chest GOT A SIGNED COPY!!  I have a fantastic wife!
I could stand a Kindle Paperwhite
Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America by Jennifer L. Anderson
A volume on handplanes or a tome on traditional woodworking
Twilight at Monticello
Bees of the World by Mitchner
A Lost Art Press volume of The Essential Woodworker
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
James Krenov’s Cabinet Maker’s Notebook
Two Classic books on Shaker Furniture: here and here.

Stuff:
Growler from West Seattle Brewing Co.
Letters from my kids – written on actual paper.
German Wheat Beer is always welcome
A fine bottle of Anejo Tequila
Porto, a good bottle of Porto – Tawny or Ruby.
a Beekeeping Smoker
Zombie shooting targets
An iPad mini – lots of storage (with this you can delete the Kindle)
An Ash Pack Basket (Sling-style harness)
Permission to buy a sweet Faber-Castell Classic fountain pen/Perfect Pencil set
Amber 2ga. Plugs
2ga. Dark Jade plugs
A longboard Skate Board
A handsome tweed vest – or two
Tiffany blue silk tie and matching pocket square
An Electric Violin
Brown Redwing Engineer’s boots
These new bad-ass cufflinks
A Global Chef’s knife, Sashimi knife, and bread knife
Classic Cartoon DVDs (Wanrner Bros., Tex Avery, Bugs, Tom&Jerry, Loony Toons, Road Runner, etc…)

Tools:
A huge antique pattern lathe found in a barn on a dirt road 🙂
A pair of 1/2 round molding planes
A Pair of Snipe Bill molding planes
A 1.75 – 3Hp SawStop Table Saw
A Grizzly G0602 Benchtop Lathe

12/28/15 UPDATE:
I had a great Christmas: A full stocking, books, beer glasses, stuff from my list (noted above), my family got great stuff, I got to see the kids and my grand-daughter, we were all warm and safe, and I gave a little to charity. I couldn’t have asked for or hoped for more.

What I Want Thursday – 11/6/14

/ Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Below are the things that I find are present for me today:

1. More time with my children and my mom.

2. 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.

3. For my wife to finish some long ago promised sewing tasks for me – I would really like those shorts, pants, and shirts back…

4. a Fine large set (only 2) of Easy Wood carbide insert lathe chisels for all the fall and winter bowl work I have planned

5. For my proper car camping/glamping kitchen set up to be finished – it is about 1/2 the way done and sitting in the GROP.

6. A leisurely trip to Rome and Venice with my wife – no puppies, no family, no friends – just us for a week or so.

7. For my Joiners workbench to be done and set up and in use.  I am only about 1/3 of the way done and only have 8 of the 17 sections of the top laminated up.

8. A few books: Franklin Bio by Wood,  Paris Between the Wars 1919-1939: Art, Life & Culture; Ernest Hemmingway bio and a two books of his letters (1&2), A signed hardbound copy of Campaign Furniture 
Theodore Roosevelt: a Strenuous Life,  The Anarchist’s Tool Chest etc…

9. A whole Metric crap-ton (my favorite unit of measure) of wooden wine crates for a couple of open projects at home.

10. To give Heifer International a menagerie of animals for Christmas – That is my charity goal for the year.  We give monthly, but I would like to be able to do more this year.

11.  For our 2015 French Visas to be finished so we can get on with plans for next year.

2012 Gift to Heifer

/ Matt Talley / Leave a comment

As a follow up to a previous post about our plan to give Heifer International a menagerie of animals as our charity goal for the year: we just got a confirmation e-mail that our $250 donation for one goat, one pig, and a share of rabbits was received. I have stashed change and $1 bills back since July to have for Heifer so that they can continue their mission of giving, training, and hope. It will provide animals and knowledge that will change lives for the good.

My mother gave a gift of bees in my name for my birthday and I have talked a couple of folks at work into donating a little something this year. Other than the families that this will help, the highlight of this process was my son’s involvement. We talked to him about Heifer, the work that they do, and into donating what he would have spent on our gifts to the cause. I am so very proud of him and we will send him a copy of the mailer we will get in the next few months explaining just where the money went and what our gift has done.

I wish we could have done a LOT more and we will do so next year. Please take a moment, do a little research into the charity, and give what you can.


What I Want Thursday – 8/2/2012

/ Matt Talley / 1 Comment

Below are the things that I find are present for me today:

1. More time with my children.

2. I want to stick to my new diet and workout schedule and not fall off the wagon and back into the cookie/café Mocha/lethargic/big-belly abyss.

3. For my wife to finish some long ago promised sewing tasks for me.

4. More book shelf space at home. We read more and more on our kindles and have sold many, if not most, of the paperbacks that have filled our lives for years and we are still completely out of space for our books. There are stacks on the floor in both of our home offices, to-read piles on each night-stand, fiction and history filing the living room book case, literature lined up on the basement hutch, cookbooks on the bottom shelf of the china hutch, and single volumes littered across the normally unoccupied spaces of our small home. We more shelves, not less books!

5. A finished kitchen

6. Painted lawn furniture

7. Filson Medium Travel bag. My son and I went to the Filson factory store and I fell into love/lust over this piece of luggage. I know that sounds weird, but I fly a LOT – I am a Platinum SkyTeam frequent flier member and a Gold OneWorld member. Quality, attractive, roomy, useful luggage is a necessity.

8. A cigarbox electric Ukulele for playing blues with a slide.

9. A proper car camping/glamping kitchen set up.

10. A few books: Passions:The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson; The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook; Paris Between the Wars 1919-1939: Art, Life & Culture; Ernest Hemmingway bio and a two books of his letters (1&2), etc…

11. A Truck bed full of wooden wine/port crates/boxes for a couple of open projects at home.

12. To give Heifer International a menagerie of animals. That is my charity goal for the year. I want to save, gather, raise, find as much cash as possible to give to Heifer International by the end of 2012 for the purchase of bees, goats, cows, water buffalo, chickens, trees, training and hope. It will provide animals and knowledge that will change lives for the good. I will add a link or a tab on my front page to a fund status page/counter and update it as the gift grows.