Catching up and writing more

I have not been writing as much in the last few months as I should.  I have lots of excuses:

  1. House Remodel
  2. Hectic Work Schedule
  3. Jeep Rebuild
  4. A focus on film making and growing my YouTube presence
  5. Lawn and Garden care – seriously, this takes up a lot of my time.
  6. Too much TV and interwebs…
  7. Blah, Blah, Blah…

When you get to the base of it all though, the answer is that I have made time for all the other things that keep me sane/make me crazy except for writing.  I am renewing my focus and will be posting more words to go along with all of the pictures and video.

Let’s start with an update of current stuff:

The Attic

We are so close to being done with the attic conversion.  I have to put a couple of coats on the closet door and one on the stair railing and paint the 4 walls with a couple coats of the almond eggshell that my wife picked out.  The new hardwood flooring is being delivered today and it will be installed on Friday.  I will spend the weekend installing the stair treads and kickers/risers.  The receptacles, switches and lights are the last serious items that will go in before I touch-up a little paint here & there and I will be done and can focus on the basement.

Basement

We are 75% there.  All tiled laid, grout done and a functioning toilet!!  I need to finish the trim install, hang two doors and then paint EVERYTHING!  I am having a custom shower rod TIG welded together and will be building the double sink vanity.  I have to tack together & paint the medicine cabinet door and mirror frames as well.  After all is in, we will have a plumber come out for the sink install and shower hook up.  I don’t plumb.  I am afraid of flooding my house with water or sewage.  I leave that job to the professionals.

Main Level Bath

The tube tile surround is being replaced in two weeks with 6” subway and small hex tile.  The new bathroom mirror will be going in this week, and I have to have the exhaust fan switch rewired.

Jeep

I had a solid weekend working on the Jeep.  The taillights are installed, the winch is re-wired, mirrors installed, windshield back on with new gasket and PLENTY on extra silicone.  The upper KC spotlights are re-installed, and an issue with the front speakers if fixed.  I still need to paint and install the spare tire rack, as well as the CB, megaphone speaker, 2nd battery, air compressor, lower KC spot lights, passenger headlight, rub rails, whip antenna, headlight trim rings, and polish the rear tube bumper.

The current plan is to leave the top COMPLETELY off until fall when I re-install the soft top.  I need to finish the Hi-Lift Jack rebuild project, have the speedometer serviced, and replace my tube pads as well before the cold winter wind blows.

Garage

The shop of me dreams is packed full of everyone else’s crap right now.  It is all leaving by the last weekend in July if I have to put it all out on the road.  I need to finish wiring in my 40K lumens of LED lighting, a 50AMP plug, a couple of 220/30amp plugs and have an electrician connect all into my service panel.

House Exterior

  1. Downspout in back needs attention
  2. A section of soffit need looking at and possibly repaired
  3. I need to weld together the Juliet Balcony outside the dining room
  4. Weld railing for rear steps
  5. The new front windows need a little trim and paint
  6. Dining room window needs trim and paint
  7. The rear steps need to be painted
  8. The chimney needs to be repointed before fall/winter
  9. Basement railing needs to be installed
  10. Both front railings need to be sanded and repainted.
  11. External security alarm siren need to be installed
  12. A tiny bit of concrete need to be pouted
  13. Two security cameras need to be swapped out for the lower profile ones

The yard

Man, the front yard is good, a little weeding and bush trimming maybe.  The back yard though…  It is still a disaster, or at least ½ a disaster.  I want to fill 3-4 gabion baskets with all the rocks left over from a previous owner’s attempt at pond-scaping and make benches around out fire pit.  We will be adding a steel arbor from the garage to the patio this fall that I am welding up on-site.  The patio table and chairs will get a proper sanding and oiling this weekend and we need/want an umbrella of it this year.  I want to add a tool shed and additional firewood racks to the side yard.   And finally, the small yard next to the garage is my makeshift apiary and I would like to make that both permanent and presentable with some additional hives, gravel and flower plants in narrow garden boxes.

Health

Stamps-With-Foot, my mom, and the kids are good.  I am feeling all of my 40+ years lately though.  My hip is still painful a full year after reconstruction.  I may have torn the meniscus in my left knee, AND I have Fucking Tennis elbow from chopping firewood!!  Not being able to run and bike, coupled with my love of cookies, has left me with a classic “Dad-bod” and even my fat pants are tight right now.  Eating better now.  Trying to get between 7 and 10K steps in a day, having the knee looked at, and working on the elbow.  We are going to Hawaii in February and I need at least a 2-pac as there will be MANY shirtless days in and under the water, for my arm to feel better, and my knee and hip to be like 70%.

Other

Work is work, but I have really traveled at all this year and that is awesome!  Still wish I was building cabinets for a living, covered in man-glitter, smiling but that will have to wait.  I will be traveling to Arkansas this fall to see my daughter and her family.  My son will be here in Seattle for a couple of weeks this summer.  I hope to tour a couple of colleges with him.  My wife and I have a couple of road trips planned and I want to get out on my bike, kayak, and skate board a little (don’t tell my wife or knee Dr. about the board…) I have started recording for a monthly Podcast.  A friend conned me into it after a few years of asking.  I am going to just sit and tell stories without naming names or implicating myself in any illegal activities that are not past the statute of limitations.  As a reward for losing weight I will go ahead and finish out both of my tattooed arm sleeves and my wife and I are planning matching bee tattoos for our anniversary.  I still have not bought a boat or a motorcycle, so she will keep me for a while longer

Hiring a contractor the right way

I have remodeled 3 homes while living in them and am the son, grandson, brother-in-law, and step-son of contractors.  I once had my own general carpentry company and served as a subcontractor for a few small to medium sized home-builders.  I have had some great experiences working both professionally and personally with contractors and subs and I have had & seen all the possible home renovation horrors.  The advice written below comes from the experience noted above.

Once you have decided on the work to be done and your ability to pay for said work, get written itemized estimates from several firms. Don’t automatically choose the lowest bidder or throw out the highest.  Carefully consider how and why they are the lowest or highest bidders.  Does the lowest have lower overhead cost or are they missing something important to the job?  Does the high bidder know something that the others don’t or does he have a bright shiny new truck to pay for?  Never, never, EVER do business with friends, family, or neighbors.  Seriously.  The “deal” you are getting WILL NOT be worth the hard feelings at the end.  Ignore at you own peril….

Some Questions to ask while you are gathering bids:

  • How many projects like mine have you completed in the last year?
    1. Ask for a list so you can see how familiar the contractor is with your type of project.
  • Will my project require a permit?
    1. If so, will you be taking care of the Permitting process?
    2. If no, why not?
  • Does the contractor have any BBB, State Licensing Board, or labor relations board findings?
    • Call and check.
    • Use the online tools and forums. Even if there is only one negative review. Read it.
  • Will you be arranging both permits and inspections?
    • A good contractor will get all the necessary permits before starting work on your project.
    • Ask for copies of the permits and keep them handy/post on the job site.
  • May I have a list of references?
    • Any contractor should be able to give you names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three clients with projects like yours.
    • CALL THEM ALL!
    • Ask each reference:
      • How long ago the project was and whether it was completed on time?
      • Were there any unexpected costs?
      • Did workers show up on time and clean up after finishing the job?
      • Is there anything that you would do different?
    • Tell the contractor that you will be visiting the job-site, and will that be an issue?
      • The answer should be: “No, you are welcome any time.”
    • What types of insurance does the contractor carry?
      • Answers should be:
        • Personal liability
        • Worker’s compensation
        • Property damage coverage
      • Ask for copies of insurance certificates, and make sure they’re current, or you could be held liable for any injuries and damages that occur during the project.
        • Make sure there is an indemnity clause in your contract to relieves you of any liability in the case of injury or damage cause by or to a contractor’s employee or sub-contractor.
      • Will you be using subcontractors on this project?
        • If so, make sure to state in the contract that the subcontractors have to have current insurance coverage and licenses, if required.
        • Will you be paying the subcontractor directly or will they be billing separately?
        • Is there a fee added for their service fee by the contractor?

Payment Terms:

  1. Don’t pay cash, don’t pay cash… If a contractor will give you a “better deal” for paying cash, then walk away and go with another contractor.
  2. If they are willing to not declare income on their taxes, then they are willing to take other shortcuts on your job.
  3. Limit your down payment to 10-20% of the job cost. Some contractors will want the cost of materials and the 1st week’s labor upfront and that is fine as well.
  4. Make payments during the project contingent upon completion of defined amounts of work and not on calendar days.
  5. Example: ½ of project due when roof doors, windows installed and inspection passed. Final Payment due 7 days after final inspection pass and “punch list” items agreed to.
  6. This way, if the work isn’t going according to schedule, the payments to your contractor also are delayed.

Get a Written Contract:

It should be clear and concise and include the who, what, where, when, and cost of your project with very limited legal language flourish. Before you sign a contract, make sure it includes:

  • The contractor’s business name, given address, phone, and state license number
  • The payment schedule for the contractor, subcontractors, and suppliers
  • The contractor’s obligation to get all necessary permits
  • An estimated start and completion date
    • Possible monetary penalty for (none weather related) missed dates: $50 off the total amount owed for missed milestone date due to say inspection failure and $50 for each day until Passed Inspection
  • The payment schedule for the contractor, subcontractors, and suppliers
  • A fully defined Scope of Work (SOW), which detail all work to be performed at a Time & Material rate or as a total bid cost.
    • If work to be performed is on a Time & Material basis, then a weekly summation of all costs (labor, material, permits, etc.) and debits (payments or credits) shall be provided to the customer.
  • A “Not to Exceed” amount or percentage for the job, say 5-10% of total unless due to noted and signed change orders previously outlining the expense.
  • How change orders are handled.
    • A change order is a written authorization to the contractor to make a change or an addition to the work described in the original contract. It could affect the project’s cost and schedule and that needs to be outlined in the written change order.
  • A detailed list of all materials including each product’s color, model, size, and brand. If some materials will be chosen later, the contract should say who’s responsible for choosing each item and how much money is budgeted for it (this is also known as the “allowance”).
  • Information about warranties covering materials and workmanship, with names and addresses of who is honoring them — the contractor, distributor, or manufacturer. The length of the warranty period and any limitations also should be spelled out.
  • The inclusion of a lien release or lien waiver. See below.
  • Notification time if Sewer, Water, Gas, Electrical services will be interrupted, normally 24 hours, and how long they will be off.
  • Damage to Property: Negligent damage to property by contractor or subcontractors
    • “Shall be repaired to previous condition at contractor’s expense.”
  • What the contractor will and won’t do. For example, is site clean-up and trash hauling included in the price? Ask for a “broom clause” that makes the contractor responsible for all clean-up work, including spills and stains.
    • You will want a broom clause.  Trust me.
  • Do not sign an Arbitration clause. This is for the sole benefit of limiting the contractor’s cost if things go wrong and if you report the contractor to a state labor board or a BBB in your state, this can be seen as a violation of this clause and the contract as a whole.
  • Make sure there is a General Survival Clause:
    • In the event any clause or provision of this contract shall be held to be invalid, then the remaining clauses and provisions shall never the less be and remain in full force and effect.
  • A written statement of your right to cancel the contract within three business days if you signed it in your home or at a location other than the Contractor’s permanent place of business.

After You Hire a Contractor:

Keep Records!

Keep all paperwork related to your project in one place. If it didn’t happen on paper, then it didn’t happen.  This includes:

  • Speak directly to your contractor or your assign representative. Not the plumber, framer, or roofer.
  • Copies of the signed contract
  • Change orders
  • Copies of all permits
  • Follow up any in person conversations or phone calls with an e-mail detailing any agreed to points.
  • Any correspondence with your contractor.
    • Print out and keep e-mails for ready reference
  • Keep all receipts of any material that you have purchased
    • A record of all your purchases may be need receipts for tax purposes.
  • Keep a log or journal of all phone calls, conversations, and activities. You also might want to take photographs as the job progresses. These records are especially important if you have problems with your project — during or after construction. And serves as a record for future construction or remodeling.

Once the job is “Done”:

Don’t make the final payment or sign an affidavit of final release until you’re satisfied

Besides being satisfied with the work, you also need to know that subcontractors and suppliers have been paid. Laws in your state might allow them to file a mechanic’s lien against your home to satisfy their unpaid bills to the contractor that used them on your job.  Protect yourself by asking the contractor to secure a lien release or lien waiver from every subcontractor and supplier before final payment is made.

Know when you can withhold payment

If you have a problem with merchandise or services charged to a credit card, and you’ve made a good faith effort to work out the problem with the seller, you have the right to contact your credit card company and withhold payment from the card issuer for the merchandise or services. You can withhold payment up to the amount of credit outstanding for the purchase, plus any finance or related charges.

Before you sign off and make the final payment, check that:

  • All work meets the standards spelled out in the contract
  • You have written warranties for materials and workmanship
  • You have proof that all subcontractors and suppliers have been paid
  • The job site has been cleaned up and cleared of excess materials, tools, and equipment
  • You have inspected and approved the completed work
    • Use a Sign-Off Checklist/”Punch List”

YouTube Partnership Program Rule Change Rant

So, I am going to rant for just a bit, bear with me…

-Mounts Soapbox –

“Ahem… I set a goal to be a better filmmaker, content provider, and maker five months ago.  Part of that goal was to reach the 10,000 view threshold to monetize my YouTube account.  I did not plan to quit my J-O-B, or be internet famous, I just wanted to use it as a milestone for progress toward the goal and I nailed it on January 4th!  10,000 views!!  I was so stoked that I woke my wife up way too late one night to tell her.  My account was under review for 2 weeks and I was finally officially monetized for two days – two WHOLE days – before BAM!!  I was demonetized with a huge group of small and smaller content providers.  Son of a…

While this was a while in coming, it looks like the process/decision was sped up when a guy with 15+ million subscribers named Logan Paul posted a video of a suicide victim. 1st, what a fucking privileged asshat.  WTF is wrong with people?!  He should be forever ashamed, and spend a great deal of his YouTube revenue on suicide prevention and advocacy.  What should’ve happened following the public and advertiser outrage was YouTube suspending or deleting his channel, but that dude generates SERIOUS ad revenue, so… What happened instead was that YouTube took him off the top-tier ad group and YouTube punished the SHIT out of the small folks by demonetizing channels with less than 4000 hours of watch-time AND less than1000 subscribers to ‘protect their core values’? Makes zero sense and this guy will continue to post and earn $$$ even at the lower tier.

OK, fine, fuck’em.  I was not doing this for some mythical pot of gold.  This setback is just going to make me dig deeper.  I am 10% to the new threshold and I will keep slogging on. Keep making and doing. Post better and better content.  This will make me leaner, stronger, bigger, better, more… A better speaker, better filmmaker, I will get lighting and sound for my videos dialed, have awesome content, and be a better person from it all. Success doesn’t teach half as much as adversity.

To all effected by the YouTube demonetization BS: Don’t quit! Keep slogging on. Keep making and doing. You too will be all the better for it. Send me your channel and I will follow you and help with the watch hour threshold. As I said, I had just hit the monetization before all of this and we will get there again.  It will take some hard work but, we can all help each other out.”

– Dismount Soapbox –

 

2018 News Year’s Resolutions:

A year ago, to the day, I said that I would do a bunch of stuff in 2017.  I did OK, but not great. I could blame it on my old man hip, the surgery, or the recovery time, but mostly not getting stuff on the list done was all me. All my own laziness, stuborness, or my A+ skill level of procrastination. These are the promises I made to myself that I kept:

Take a pottery class
Take a Blacksmithing class at the Pratt
Read 1 book every 2 weeks – minimum
Play my uke, banjo, and guitar with others
Give lots of $$ to Heifer and MFS
Make movies and post: Adventure, craftsmanship, and family.
Make Stuff!!
Ride my skateboard because I am not too old or too fat
Road trip in WA more
Take my wife on vacation
Plant a spring garden
Fix up the front and back yards

The following is what I am committing myself to do in 2018:

  1. Organize my chaos in the shop and basement.
  2. Sell, donate, recycle, or throw away shit that I do not use.
  3. Use my planner and notebooks as tools not as something that I “have” to use.
  4. Eat my veggies.  Seriously.  Salads in my future.
  5. Take my desk at home back and make it a conducive writing space.
  6. Cut WAY back on sugar and carb intake!
  7. Lose weight – back to 175! and put on 5-7lbs of muscle
  8. Go to the gym 3-4 time a week – minimum.
  9. Box more at the gym and at home
  10. Write more: Blog posts, REAL letters, Thank you notes, fiction, and non-fiction
  11. Take more great pictures
  12. Fly my drones more
  13. Take at least a 45 minute lunch at least 4 days a week at work
  14. Show up to yoga at least once a week
  15. Take another pottery class
  16. Finish my CJ-7 Jeep restoration
  17. Look into getting back into the judo dojo
  18. Sign up and compete in the Gambler 500 car race
  19. Sign up for a letterpress class at SVC Downtown
  20. Take another blacksmithing class at The Pratt
  21. Read 1 book every 2 weeks!
  22. Learn how to play the mandolin and banjo better!
  23. Play my uke, banjo, and guitar with others
  24. Build a skin-on-frame canoe for two
  25. Road and mountain bike
  26. Take the puppies to Lincoln Park for a walk at least once a week
  27. Ride the living shit out of my Single -Speed
  28. Bike to work at least 5 times this year (12 miles each way)
  29. Volunteer more at the Center for Wooden Boats
  30. Pay off all credit cards
  31. Go sailing in Puget Sound
  32. Turn some amazing and useful stuff on my lathe
  33. Give lots of $$ to Heifer and MFS
  34. Make at least 1 movie a week for YouTube and post: Adventure and craftsmanship
  35. Monetize my YouTube account and increase my presence and standing in that community
  36. Lessen my Twitter and social media activity…
  37. See my kids and grandchildren more
  38. Be involved in politics more: financally and with a time commitment
  39. Work on my Genealogy database and organize all my info.
  40. Finish the house remodel –  even if I have to pay a contractor to do it (…shudder…)
  41. Finish the garage/shop/GROP build
  42. Make.More.Stuff!!
  43. Ride my snowboard and skateboard because I am not too old or too fat
  44. Road trip in WA and on West Coast more
  45. Have two hives of healthy, happy bees
  46. Kayak lots!
  47. See my friends more
  48. Take my wife on vacation
  49. Plant a spring garden and have a really bountiful fall harvest
  50. Have an awesome Griswald-like Christmas light display!

I am printing this list out and pasting copies in my notebook, work planner, in the shop, at my desk at work, on the fridge, and in the basement above my warranty voiding workbench.

Car Lift and Jeep CJ-7 Saga/Search/Information

Before putting 4000 pounds of 31 year old Toledo steel above my head for the first time I really needed the correct locations for a 2-post-lift pad placement points on a CJ-7.  I like who I am and I have some plans for the next 30 years or so and really didn’t not want to be that guy who squashed himself in his own garage.  It happens.

lift fail 1Lift fail 2lift fail 3

 

 

 

 

I have seen two jeeps on their sides at dealerships after falling off lifts, countless other lift fails, and have seen CJs put up in the air at least four different ways.  I have had a couple of cars in the air since building the garage, referencing their owner manuals for lift placement, but not the Jeep yet. Again, I didn’t want to be the guy that drops his 4X4 pride off the lift in his own garage. I started doing a little research and asking questions.

After a fairly fruitless internet Search, I called the company that built my lift (it is a Rotary Revolution RPT10) and they referred me to The American Lift Institute (ALI) manual that came with the lift. The 2016 version of the manual only goes back to 1991 for most vehicles and when I called them, there was no answer that they could give me. They referred me to “a local Jeep dealer.”

I dropped in the one nearest the house and there was not an “old-guy consensus” on how to life a CJ: on the frame behind the shackle mounts, on the shackles, on the spring plates, on the axles, etc… My Chilton and Hayes manuals have nothing and I am still trying to source a good 1986 Service Manual (can’t find anything in the downloaded ’82) and would love an original Owners manual. I went by a 4X4 shop a bit ago and the tech there said “lift it on the shackles…” and posed it as sort of a question.  I walked away swiftly.

So, relying on Cunningham’s Law, I asked the internet via the JeepForum if anyone had some documentation on where to apply the lift arms/pads on a CJ-7 frame and where the balance point/center of gravity of the vehicle was to put in-line with the lift posts?  I got some helpful suggestions and a couple answers that were on the edge of trolling, but the general consensus from CJ owners and mechanics on the forum was to follow the guidelines for the 1991 Jeep Wrangler and their frames, suspension, and balance points are very similar: The lift pads are placed under the frame (centered on the pads), directly adjacent to spring hangers/shackles. Sounded reasonable and plausible, so I decided to go with that.  The balance point/CoG is between my dash and the bottom of the steering wheel and that point goes on center between the two posts of my symmetrical lift.

I went ahead a couple weekends ago and decided to put it up and do a little general maintenance.  After everything checked out – raising the Jeep 6″ off the ground and giving it a serious shake on all 4 corners, raising it up and down a few times, I spent 30 minute for full oil and filter change. I lubed all the zert points on the drive-line and chassis while I was there.  No squashing or falling Jeeps. 🙂
Matt Talley_Lift location_CJ7_Jeep_2017

Matt Talley CJ Lift points (1)

Matt Talley CJ Lift points (2)

Matt Talley CJ Lift points (3)

IMG_3759

Matt Talley Changing oil_07-2017 Jeep (2)

Hip Rehab Milestone

Today was a big day for me:  I got rid of the crutches and started using a cane.  My grandfather’s cane to be exact.  Also, I drove to work.  The first time in 6 weeks that I have been behind the wheel.  It tasted like freedom.  I was temped to play hooky from work, call in sick, and drive to Montana or Alaska or Mexico…

Boat Lust

So, you may or may not know this about me, but even though I currently own a couple of small boats, I have MAD Boat Lust.  I am a member of the Center for Wooden Boats, I get Wooden Boat Magazine & Small Craft Adviser Magazine every month, go to the Lake Union, Seattle, Portland, and Port Townsend boat shows every year…  I follow four sets of Blue Water sailors on YouTube, am trying to con my wife into taking a sailing vacation (I am getting a hard NO! on that one currently), and almost bought a used 22′ lead keel sailboat last summer for “my son.”  I tried to sell it as his “learner Boat” and play up the father/son bonding time angle with it and my wife saw right through it.  To date, however, I have not come home to tell my with that “We” just purchased an Amel 55 blue water sailboat, a 47′ diesel powered Cabin Cruiser, a Chris-Craft in need of some “light repair”, or a Hans Christian 33 kept in Bristol Fashion that “I” am planning to live on since said purchase would leave me homeless, devoid of my puppies, and divorced.

If my son, The Ruminator, lived in Seattle I wouldn’t mind a swing keel Columbia 22 or a Catalina 22 to gunk hole around the Sound in with him.  A Catalina 270 LE would make my heart go pitter-patter as well, but I am a realist (-ish) and very aware of my current budget and available storage space.   A sailboat that I would only use a few times a year and have to pay moorage on, would make me very unpopular at home.  But, if someone has a 19′ WW Potter taking up space in their life that needs a new home, I would be game…

While what I WANT is a sweet little sailboat, what I NEED is a small outboard that that sits on a trailer in or beside the garage, that I can pop over to Blake or Vashion Island on, run up the Duwamish River a little piece, do a little salmon fishing on with my son or friends, haul a crab pot or three in season, find a secluded weekend beach for summer camping, etc…   It needs to have a cuddy cabin to get out of the shifty weather here in Puget Sound, some storage space to keep gear dry, needs to be light enough to be pulled behind the jeep when fully loaded, and fast enough to handle the tidal flow in the PNW.

Buying a finished boat, even used, like a Ranger Tug 21, a C-Dory 19, or a Boston Whaler 21′ Cuddy are WAY out of my price range, I have been perusing Craigslist for a 16′ -21′ hardtops, but the ones I have found are either gold plated & upholstered in unicorn foreskin or needs to be sunk.  So, in due course, I have been thinking about building the boat of need mentioned above.  I know, I know… I have a shit ton of projects already with the shop and house, but I won’t start the boat until Stamps-With-Foot agrees that the house is good and all the little projects at home are squared away.  Happy wife, happy life.

To digress a bit, my current home-built boat want is a Devlin Boats Dunlin 22 Cruiser with all the bells and whistles, but that too would be spendy, require me to quit my J-O-B to obsess over the details properly, I would have to rent out boathouse space for the duration of the build, have the time to build it, and would probably cause my sweet bride to up my life insurance just before “accidentally” pushing me into a wood chipper.

dunlin22side-1024x721 dunlin22top-1024x841

 

 

 

 

Back in reality, I am looking hard at building a couple of boats, including a Devlin Noddy 18.  It is something realistic to build over the fall and winter, in the space I have available in the F-Bomb Garage, and within my current budget.  Powered by a 4 stroke 50HP Honda or Yamaha, with homey little extras like: a sardine wood stove in the cabin, a crab pot winch arm on the stern, and lots of LED lights.  noddy16plan-devlin-boats_2017Devlin Boat Works in just south of us in Olympia and in addition to being a design house, they are a boat works and build all manner of craft there at any given time.  I sent a couple of e-mails and made some calls about the possibility of going down this summer if they have a Noddy or similar hull under construction.  We will see if it can be arranged.

I will have to wait just lust a little while longer to satiate my boat lust…

Update: May 2017

Nope.  Devlin is off the list.  I can’t find anyone on the boat forums that has built the Noddy AND I have not had a single phone call or e-mail replied to.  I don’t need to do business with someone who I have to beg to take my money.

Going Full Nerd Now – Star Wars & Conspiricy Theory

As a new Star Wars Movie (Rogue One) has just come out, I have been psyching myself up for it, re-watching previous films, reading up on minor characters and such. Since I was fully emerged in it and Christmas is coming up, I went onto Amazon to buy a few action figures to round out the toy chest I keep for my friend’s kids when they visit. It is full of blocks, Transformers, matchbox cars, Lincoln logs, Barbies, Army Men, Cowboys & Indians, and action figures. There are actually three tubs as I am apparently living vicariously through other children.

Anywho… I am buying an action figure set of Sith characters (no one ever buys enough bad guys) and BAM! who is in the set: Jar Jar Mother Fucking Binks. OH MY GOD! It all makes sense!!!! About a year ago (2015) and REDDIT user named Lumpawarroo proposed a theory that Jar Jar was THE Phantom Menace and really a dark Sith Lord. I skimmed over it, laughed because I hate Jar Jar and have thought George Lucas was high when he wrote him into the script. I then read the post and comments a couple times, nodded with a smile, and passed it along to my fellow nerdy friends so that could laugh too. It was all fun and games until I saw this “official” toy set from Disney, with Pope & Smoke blessing from Lucas Film. My feeble mind is blown!

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There are a number of videos that go into the minute details of this Gungan betrayal as well: Here, Here, and Here. This means that Jar Jar and Senator Palpatine were co-conspirators in the Sith Plot. Jar Jar’s bumbling fool act was just an elaborate staged production to deceive people – ALL people. This means his actions in Episode I&II are to facilitate Palpatine’s plans and are not those of an unwitting idiot that Forest-Gumped his way into a bad situation. They are the actions of an ally, a friend, a co-conspiritor, a partner…
Which makes sense now: Palpatine and Jar Jar are from the same world, which means they have possibly known each other for a very long time. Remember how scared the other Gungans were of him when he showed up at their city in Episode I?! They may have skipped together in Grade School and swapped spit behind the bleachers…

Please stop laughing now. This shit is for real. I admit to being a full-on nerd, but I am Functionally Nerdy: I have a pretty wife and a good job, and can interact socially with non-nerdy folk just fine. Jar Jar Mother Fucking Binks…

We Have LIGHTS!!!

HOLY Bejesus… I have Electricity in the F-Bomb Garage!! Only 4 months after permit pulled and 9 months after garage build began. I have lights that are not hooked up to an extension cord, the auto door openers work, there are five 110VAC plugs ready for power tools, and my lift is now working without the aid of a 220VAC extension cord running from the drier plug in the basement of the house.

I just had the bare minimum done to get the panel and transfer switch in place and have the city sign off on the garage. Now, that is not to say that all is well in the electrical department: I am still waiting for final permit sign off for the work already done, which is on hold. Apparently, my electrician screwed up the wire routing in the meter box and SCL cannot install a meter. Thankfully they are letting me keep the lights on until my current electrician can come back and address.

I am now prepping in all the other 110 plugs myself – at 4′ high, putting in 2 additional 220 plugs and a 50amp plug for my welder. There is no way I am going to pay an hourly fee to have romex run, holes drilled, staples put in, and plugs & switches wired in. Nope. I will be paying electrician that my company contracts for industrial work to sign off on my install and run the lines into the panel and install breakers – already arranged and the price isn’t too bad at all. While I can do this in my sleep, I am not licensed and my insurance would not pay a dime is something happened, regardless of fault.

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Additionally, My J-O-B was getting rid of a huge organizer bin cabinet: 1/8″ steel, 72″X24″X84″ and 350+ lbs. There was no way I was going to watch that beast go to the recycling center, so I asked if I could have it. Yep, the facilities guy said “load it up” and btw “I have a pallet jack that is wonky if you want it…” Yes, please. Got them both home and the cabinet fits perfectly and will be amazing for climbing, boarding, camping gear organization – keeping all the shop dust and debris off of my gear and making it so I don’t have to dig for small parts ever again.

The pallet jack was low on hydraulic fluid. I filled it up, put a weighted pallet on it overnight and this morning I found the pallet still in the air and no fluid on the floor. Win-win.

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I did not buy a boat or tools at the 2016 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

I went to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival this past weekend (the 40th anniversary) and succeeded in staying married to my lovely wife by not buying a sailboat, not buying any crazy expensive (yet stunning!) tools at the Lee Valley Tools booth (the plane hammer and plane irons don’t count), and by not getting shanghaied into debauchery aboard a three-masted sailing ship headed out into the Pacific for points unknown.  Instead, I drove up, saw the sights, talked to a few folks, lusted after a few tools, fell in love with one particular little wooden single-mast pocket yacht, then drove home in time for date night.

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There were so many amazing boats there and I went up specifically to see a couple of the CLCPocketShips, a Scamp build, and to see if I could get on a 19’ West Wight Potter (while not a wooden boat, the Puget Sound Potters Group were in the vicinity…).

The Ruminator will be spending a good bit of his time next summer learning to sail and I may be in the market (grade and behavior dependent) for a little trailer sailor/pocket yacht for us to rebuild together.  The  idea of building or rebuilding a boat with one another interests me a great deal (sweat equity), but the Scamp is too small for us both (he is a big boy and I am tubby) and it is a 1000+ hour build.  The Pocket Ship would work and we could overnight in it like a 2-man tent, but it is a 2,000+ hour build.  The latter translates into 2 years of weekends and all my days off from work.  It would also tie up all of my new shop space for the duration of the build.  That is no está bien…  The “smart” thing is to pick up a Catalina or Columbia 22 and just sail, but the ones I have seen, been aboard, and sailed on have no soul.

I did get a very close look at Opus, a lovely little boat (named after my second favorite Bloom County character) that I have seen battened up at the Center for Wooden Boats a few times.  Her owners were there this weekend with her brass polished, decks scrubbed, and companion way open.  I am in love!  Opus has plenty of soul and personality just sitting dockside.  I got to talk to the owners a good bit about how she sails, her history, and explored her little cabin to my heart’s content.  I want her.  If I were to build a boat someday it would be just like Opus.  She is a Wee Seal MKII, designed by the noted Australian/Scotsman designer Iain Oughtred.

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I also got to take a look at the Pygmy boats and kayaks (love their traditional kayak paddles) as well as the offerings from CLC.  Some of the wood, inlay, and detail work on these kayaks is amazing.  I don’t think I could put one in the water after I finished building it.  I would be way too guarded about where it went and where I put it.  CLC also has a little teardrop trailer that seemed to be one of the hits of the show/Festival.

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I finished my tour of the show back at the Lee Valley booth and then walked out onto a long pier to watch all the sail boats playing in the 10 knot winds for a long while, before heading back to Seattle in the Forester by way of Port Gamble.

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House Remodel Status September 2, 2016 – 7.5 months in

Here is the house/garage re-build/build status for the 1st part of September.

  1. The F-Bomb Garage has been painted – at least the outside walls.  I need to paint the trim and doors next.
  2. Repaired some major issues with the trim and siding on garage – real unhappy with my garage builder!
  3. Front yard is still green, but need to clean and re-seed the back yard.
  4. There oar only 2 rooms in the house that are complete and need no work at this point.  Stamps-With-Foot could be happier with me right now…
  5. The mounting brackets for the granite in the basement are done and I will install them this weekend.
  6. Our washing machine went out…  fuck.  The bearings finally gave up the ghost.  need to haul it out and put another in.
  7. No garage power yet.  Huge load of confusion between the City of Seattle and my electrician.  Maybe worked out now, but we will see.
  8. The yard is completely fenced in and the rear gate is installed.  just a couple of tweaks and then power wash and polyurethane coat.
  9. The living room corner cabinets are in place, but not painted or installed.
  10. We have a small roof leak – motherfvcker!!!  it is around the kitchen vent and from where the moss removal team got too eager with the power washer.  I will go up there this weekend and seal it.
  11. Got a huge bill from our plumber for work that they didn’t do before abandoning the job.  wanted to scan my ass into the 3D printer and send them a copy.  Called a lawyer instead.  we have a plan forward.

I AM NOT TOO OLD!!

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So, I was left without adult supervision last night while my wife was at a hair appointment and decided to ride my skateboard around the neighborhood and to the lot where the local cool kids hang out with their board.  All was fine until on the way home, full of hubris and ego, I had to stop suddenly – there was a rock. I didn’t go down, no road rash, but tweaked my heal and ankle a little.  I said the f-word a couple of times and rode home.  I was fine-ish when I went to bed, but woke up this morning to pain and swelling. I had to crawl up the basement stairs – true story.   All Hubris and ego suddenly left me.

I called my boss this morning and fessed up to the nature of the reason for me taking a rare sick day – my skateboard.  I think he is still laughing at me. One of my engineers, sent me the Murtaugh quote from Lethal Weapon…  I am not too old!!   You can pry my skateboard and bikes out of my dead cold hands when I am 90.

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New Floors! Reason #451 for me to have OCD

We are out of the house and living in the basement like quiet mice this week as our floors are being sanded and refinished.  I am both super-stoked and full of trepidation.  Let me explain:  I love my original oak and hemlock floors.  LOVE them!  They are beautiful and I want the entire world to see them shimmer in the sunlight.  However, I do not want them dirty or dented, or scratched, or even breathed on heavily.  That was before they were refinished…

With the new stain (DuraSeal Spice Brown) and 3 coats of hard Swedish Finish, our floors will look even more stunning and I will become a minor dictator of the hardwood – I know this will happen.  Woe be the young lady who steps inside the house with heeled shoes on and I almost feel sorry for the first electrician or plumber that comes in wearing muddy boots.

The plan was to get done with painting before we had the floors done, but contractor scheduling and a huge plumbing oops (more on that later), mean that with are 1/2 done with the painting and will continue as of next week.  The stain goes on today and they will have to cure until Sunday night.

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5/16/16 Update:

Here they are with the last coat on and dry. We are going to let them harden for a few more days before moving and furniture in and bringing in the paint ladders for finish up the last couple of rooms.

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House Remodel Update – February 2016

Making lemonade out of lemons…  I have mentioned an issue we found with our house and how we had to tear out walls to fix things.  Well, we took the opportunity to do some long wanted remodeling since the place was already torn apart.  We are insulating the exterior walls, re-plumbing the whole house, re-wiring to remove the old knob&tube still left in the attic, remaking the Stairs of Doom into something that people won’t fall down, tearing out the 30% efficient oil heater and adding a heat-pump, adding attic access, making a dining room, putting in arched doorways, bringing in more light, and adding lots of period-appropriate detail.  Below are some of our in-progress updates after three weeks of demo, with the “WAS” pictures first.

The stairwell and chimney tear out – before and during:

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The 1942 oil heater removal – before and during:

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The back-bedroom transformation into the dining room – before and during:

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The Attic – Before and during:

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Getting a new garage in 2016!!!

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.

Garage floor 3 Garage Floor 1 copy Garage floor 2 copy

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.

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What I want Thursday – Birthday Addition 2015

In about 4 weeks I will celebrate the 13th anniversary of my 29th birthday and the current plan is to spend the weekend in Rome and Venice or Florence.  While there, I want cake (moist yellow cake with chocolate butter-cream frosting), snuggling, a nice glass or 6 of fine wine and lots of tiny cups of Coffee, laughter, and a few well thought out gifts. I will NOT work that day – just not going to happen – and I plan to pamper myself with a haircut and a strait-razor shave if it can be found.

Below is my birthday wish list – mostly for my wife, family and children, but feel free to peruse and suggest.

I already have a bunch of crap, so my first request is that people give to a worthy cause.

  1. Heifer International:
  2. Doctors Without Borders/MSF
  3. Diabetes Research

If you DO happen to maybe want to get me a little tangible token of your love and appreciation:

Updated after the occasion with strike-throughs for the stuff I got 🙂 

Books:
A signed hardbound copy of Campaign Furniture 
Theodore Roosevelt: a Strenous Life
I would like a signed copy of Chris Schwartz’s The Anarchist’s Tool Chest
Founding Foodies
Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America by Jennifer L. Anderson
Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan
A volume on handplanes or a tome on traditional woodworking
Twilight at Monticello
Bees of the World by Mitchner
Bees of N. America Santa got this book and two others for me early
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:
A yearly subscription to Monocle Magazine My wife is Awesome!!  I have wanted this for YEARS!
Permission to buy a sweet fountain pen
Amber 2ga. Plugs
2ga. Dark Jade plugs
A handsome tweed vest
a large Isle of Lewis Chess Set I got this set after-the-fact and my wife is now playing chess with me weekly! Win-Win
Brown Redwing Engineer’s boots
A banjo mute Found for cheap in a local Toulouse shop
These new bad-ass cufflinks or these My wife had these made for me with a sweet message on the reverse.  Love her.
New House Shoes  My mom is cooler the yours!  She sent me these house-shoes and I have worn them almost every day since!
A Global Chef’s knifebread knife, and ceramic sharpener Another score from Mom.
Classic Cartoon DVDs (Bugs, Tom&Jerry, Loony Toons, Road Runner, etc…)

Tools:
A pair of 1/2 round molding planes
A Pair of Snipe Bill molding planes
A Grizzly G0602 Benchtop Lathe

 

What I want Thursday

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

SUPER DEAL on the interwebs!

in December of 2013 Stamps-With-Foot and I were in San Francisco and visited an awesome shop called Windtip, which is in the shadow of the Trans-America Building.   They are in a former Art Nouveau bank building (Originally the Bank of Italy) that the store has preserved – including the vault.  As you might imagine, they have lots of fancy men’s shoes that made me tingle, But are more than a shoe store: “… a “one-stop shop” for the modern gentleman…  the store features a custom clothing department, professional & casual clothing, cufflinks, pens, leather goods, barware, cigar accessories, a barbershop, and shoe shine stand. And that’s just the store. A private club for our best customers houses a bar & lounge, private parlor rooms, a boardroom, golf simulator, and a wine cave.”  In short, a VERY cool place that any gent or his loving wife SHOULD check out if in the city.

Anyway,  while there I fell for a black leather Moore & Giles document portfolio that I considered, if only for a flash of an instant, plopping down some hard earned cash for.  Although perfect for my work life as a European-dwelling engi-nerd that prefers to more fast and light through airports, I came to my senses and walked away.  I have longed for it ever since and have asked for one as a gift for every anniversary, Christmas, birthday, and a few random Tuesdays and Thursdays since that first meeting.

I checked the other day on it, more to torture myself than anything else, and the manufacturer has discontinued the product.  Wingtip had bumped the price up and had it marked at $450!  Crap…  I started sketching it up so that I could get my cobbler (that sounds SO much more pretentious than it is…) to see about making it.  I needed a detail and did a image web search this afternoon 15 minutes before I had a super important call for my J-O-B and BAM!  There it was at Sierra Trading Post for CRAZY CHEAP!  I have bought hiking clothes from them for years at deep discounts, but had no idea that they would have something like this.  I double checked the item, looked if they had the black one in-stock, and called their customer service right then.

Yes they have it in black, yes they accepted my 4 year old 30% off coupon and just like that I got a $450 portfolio for $110.40 delivered free to my house in Seattle.  Done and done.  I was so excited that it made the work call after a pleasure and I have been dreading it for two days.

AM SO STOKED!!

Matt Talley _ Mand G_ SCORE 2015

MandG Port Matt Talley -2015 Origional Price copy

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The Deed is Done!!

I have spent 5 years hating my neighbor’s tree – 5 years, but that time is at an end. My 50′ foot nemesis is dead. Its corpse has been rendered, chipped up, and the big bits have been given to another neighbor to chop up and burn at their leasure. It took a huge chunk of my yearly bonus check, but is worth every penny of it. THIS is a fine day!

No more moss on my roof, no more easy roof access for the squirrels and rats, no more pine needles & cones littering my yard and tracked into the house. My flower beds and grass will grow. My tiny sliver view of Mt. Rainier is visible. I now get to clean my gutters ONCE a year instead of 5-6 times 🙂 We can use the fireplace without fear of burning the house down. No more worries about wind storms and branches/the whole tree falling through the roof. The breakfast area and kitchen are filled with sun in the mornings, birds are singing, and I am all giddy inside.

My neighbor was sad to see the tree go, he actually was. I will spend a little money and send him something nice and also send him a ‘thank you’ note. This also means that I am in his debt and I will probably have to do all sorts of stuff for him in the foreseeable future and ignore all sorts of annoyances. Fine. Worth it!

Diabolical plans for arborcide are coming to fruition

Holy sh1t, my neighbor has finally agreed to let me cut a pine tree out of his yard that has been the bane of my existence in Seattle for 5 years! It has been my 50′ foot nemesis.

It hangs over my roof – branches like spiky swords of Damocles, waiting to fall into my living room.  Pine needles and cones litter my yard and get tracked into the house.  My view of Mt. Rainier is obscured.  It has grown a fine crop of moss on my roof, a secondary crop in my front yard, and fills my gutters to the point that they have to be cleaned 6 times a year.

The thing has now grown over my fireplace and it is a fire hazard for our house and his.  That is what won him finally over to the Dark Side – the possibility that his house could burn.

Now, I have to pay for 100% of it, but it is a check that I will gladly write. And if nothing else, this revelation has made my trip home 100% worth it.

You truly have no idea how happy I am about this!  I wish my wife were here – This make me so giddy, that I want to conceive a child to commemorate this victory!

Throwback Thursday: Mark Flood – The TOUGHEST man you will ever know

So, I have this buddy who is by nature and temperament a hard-man. Sweetest guy in the world, super humble, would give you his last dollar in the pocket, the shirt off his back – salt of the earth sort of a guy. Seriously. This same friend is also physically and mentally toughest person I have ever personally met. I have only seen him mad twice and thankfully neither time was at me. I was very happy about that. Flood is one of those Old Testament, walked forty years in the desert and killed and army with a mule jaw bone sort of guy. Really, really.

All my climbing buddies and I TRY to get together once a year and spend a week in the mountains. One year (maybe 2009), Mark couldn’t come and it was the most relaxed trip ever – soft beds, video games and *GASP* a rest day! We all talked about how Flood would have hated the wasted time when he could have been wedged into some shitty, moss filled crevice, 40 feet above a manky piece of protection, giggling with glee. At the time, “Chuck Norris” jokes were just getting popular and while sitting at a bar one evening we started telling Mark Flood true-isms. At one point these two girls who had over heard us, came over and asked with willful intent if Mark was at the bar or in town. Dr. G looks them up and down and slyly says, “Nah baby, your would KNOW if HE were here…” They got all giddy. True story.

Anyway, the list below is some of what came out of that evening and 10 or so follow-up e-mails after the trip.

Mark Flood uses Tabasco Sauce for eye drops.
As a child Mark Flood ate transformer toys in vehicle mode and shat them out transformed into a robot.
Mark Flood’s penis is so big that it has a penis of its own and it is still bigger than yours.
… doesn’t open no can of whoopass. He makes his own with farm-fresh eggs and dehydrated onions.
… can get Blackjack with just one card.
… once screwed up his knee, purely for the sake of winning the Special Olympics.
… can sneeze with his eyes open
… once fucked a sheep ‘till it was a sweater
… once took a lead-fall so big that his clothes burned off on re-entry
… uses a rattlesnake as a condom
Mark Flood’s penis is so TALL it has never been mounted without the use of oxygen.
… eats live Billy-goats as a light mountain snack.
… started a pirate mutiny in the south china sea.
… is hung like a woolly mammoth.
… keeps live cobras in his sock drawer.
… once snorted cocaine off Jenna bush’s titties in the oval office and made W watch.
… has a +92 Ape index.
… secretes Serin gas from his rectum.
…once used a spork as an ice axe and tire chains as crampons.
… whittled his own skis.
… can write in beautiful Victorian script cursive ambidextrously with his feet.
… once killed and gutted a grizzly bear with toenail clippers to have a warm place to sleep
… carries a pack so heavy he can rightfully call Atlas himself a pussy.
… always has sex on the first date. Always.
… is capable of lactation.
… once took a bubble bath with Rosie O’Donnell and made her straight.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse actually live in Mark Flood’s nutsack
Mark Flood makes his women wear gaiters and crampons to bed.
… can eat a hammer and poop nails.
Mark flood can climb any 14er using only echo location
Mark flood can play “the devil went down to Georgia” better than Charlie Daniels AND the Devil using a violins
strung with his pubic hair.
Mark flood pulled so hard on Castle Rock in Eldorado Canyon that the climb is now 12.3 feet shorter.
… makes MacGyver look like Steve Erkel.
… does not procreate – he breeds…
…  raped Blackbeard for using Argh! in an incorrect grammatical supposition.
… once climbed to heaven and he did it all in one linked pitch.
Mark Flood once stated “The double rope system is for newbie’s. I only climb using a sextuple rope system!”
… can piss directly into gale force winds and not get a drop on himself.
Mark Flood has to live in the Midwest because his gravitational field screws up the tides.
… felt that the ‘Jolly Mark” was egotistical, so he let some fruity guy named Roger take the credit.
… is no longer allowed to climb at Indian Creek because his hand jams have widened all the cracks.
… simply decided to start producing spider silk from his anus so he no longer had to use ropes.
… only dates climbers because only they have the necessary grip strength to give him a hand-job.
… is not afraid to climb any route but all climbing routes are afraid that Mark will climb them.
… once gave a new meaning to peak enchainment when he added Mt Elbrus, Long’s and Pikes to his key chain.
… feet are sooo big he doesn’t need snowshoes.
Mark Floods’ dick is so big that the AAC listed an all female ascent the latest American Alpine Journal
… can literally talk to snakes
… is so energetic that routes get tired of HIM.
… climbed every peak west of the Mississippi in two days with only a Mars Bar, the September 1980 issue of Playboy, an ice axe, 1 box of Pop-Tarts, and a can of tuna.
… masturbates to pictures of used climbing gear and Alpenglow.

2014: My year in Review

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

Buying a Moroccan Rug: How-To

Below is a link to a PDF document that contains The VERY little I know about Moroccan carpets and how to buy them in Morocco. I put it together of multiple trips and years and thought I would share with the general public on the interwebs. Disclaimer: This work is not 100% mine. I have kludged together some of the knowledge and wisdom of others that has helped me in the search for my own carpets and have added my own thoughts, ideas, and text here & there.

I will say that the statements contained are not purely academic: I have perused Medinas and souks in Marrakesh, Fez, Casablanca, Essaouira, Rabat, Dubai, Ankara, and Abu Dhabi. I have purchased rugs from multi-generational vendors who spoke every conceivable language – especially the numbers – and who have seen every bargaining trick known to man. You have not lived a full life until you have seen a mustached Moroccan man and a tiny Chinese lady in serious heated discussion over the quoted price of Beni-Mguild, wildly gesturing with their hands while barking in Mandarin at each other.

I have also walked away from deals after bargaining for a couple of hours. There is a hanbel (kilim is the Turkish word) in Essaouira that I left folded on the floor there that still calls to me. Every so often my wife will say, “Remember that rug…” and we both get a little sad. I do not claim that I am the world’s greatest negotiator or that I have never been taken advantage of by a market seller – I have.

If there is someone out there reading this that feels my info – any of it – is wrong or misleading, write me, tell me what I need to know/change. I will update this doc and list them as a primary source in an endnote/footnote.

Buying a Carpet in Morocco V3

Four days in the US: lots of work, frenzied shopping, and severe jet lag

I just spent 3.5 days in the US. I had to go over for a bunch of meetings that I just couldn’t do over the phone and this is how trip started…

Woke up at 04:00 and hopped in the shower.

Had 06:30 flight to the U.S. 

Caught female French Bulldog chewing wife’s $400+ retainer in our new bed.

Took retainer away and scolded puppy. 
Went to get tooth brush. 

Walked back by bed while brushing teeth and headed to get dressed.

Caught a sideways glimpse of the same dog peeing between our pillows and switching to the “I gotta shit” hunch. 

I LOST MY MIND!!!

Grabbed dog, wife put robe on me (was still naked at that point) as I marched dog to the door in righteous fury. 

Wife stripped bed – no pee on pillows or new mattress.

After completing her business, dog went into the kennel. 

She did it because she was pissed at me for taking her “new yummy toy” and for scolding her so early.

It is official, she is getting fixed next week.
No way we are passing those genes on to continue her line of un-smart and passive aggressive Frenchies.

Our other Frenchie (the smart and well behaved one) watched the whole affair with a dual look of “Wasn’t me!” and “Damn girl, you got in TROUBLE…”
As dessert, I got my balls manhandled by security at the Toulouse airport in a cup and smush maneuver that they must teach to the French equivalent of the TSA as this is not the first occurrence.

Work was work and there were lots of meetings and calls, but I had a couple of hours at night to run some errands. Anytime we go home, there is a list of stuff to get that we normally can’t find in France or if we can, it is crazy expensive: 12oz jar of coconut oil at Trader Joes is $4. Here it is the equivalent of $15.50. Really. You don’t want to know what vitamins cost and forget finding “your brand” of tooth paste.

My sweet wife, Stamps-With-Foot, gave me a list. A very exacting list and below are the places I went to check everything off:

Target
Bed, Bath & Beyond
Starbucks
Ross
3 different Walgreens
Ye Olde Vitamin Shoppe
Woodcraft (that was for me and I got in trouble)
GNC
West Marine
FedEx
CVS Pharmacy
USPS
Guitar Center (again me, but I only dropped $6)
Academy Sporting goods
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Barnes & Noble
Petco
Pets and More

I had to get the puppies new coats for winter ( on the list) and I had an arm load of pink frilly sweaters when a woman from my cooperate office walked by me in Petco and struck up a conversation. I felt especially manly standing the in the dog outfit section, deciding on which pink heart-covered puffy knitted number our female Frenchie would look best in. The lady may have snickered a little. Her husband was standing a few feet behind her – 6’2″, ~240 pounds with a large beard – he was holding a chihuahua mix with a purple harness and gave me a look of shared shame and defeat.

Our new puppy is part cat…

Truffle has some cat DNA in there somewhere:

1. If you want to sleep and she doesn’t want you to there is a slobber attack. Don’t try to hide your head under the pillow – it won’t help you.
2. She will chase the laser pointer up the concrete column in the living room and go back to look for it an hour later.
3. Why would she eat her food, sleep in her bed, play with her toys? Brodie’s are so much better.
4. Apparently, her assigned spot in the bed is between my wife and me at shoulder level.
5. Oh, you want to write an email or get some work done? Nope, not on her watch. She will sit in your lap, lick the keyboard and grunt until you pet her full-time.
6. Yoga Mat? Wrong. Puppy play space. Move over.
7. You want to watch “your show”? Not during designated playtime you don’t. When is designated play time? What time does your show start?
8. Why would my wife want to put make-up on by herself when Truffle can help?
9. A relaxing bath for the Mrs…. Sure if she doesn’t mind Truffle standing at the side of the tub whimpering or lying beside it passing gas.
10. “What do you mean there is a no dogs on the table rule?!” We have learned that chairs and benches have to be pushed in so that we do have to share our meals.
11. She CAN get in the bed by herself, but why would she do that? Standing beside the bed with her nose and front paws on the mattress and whining until the bald pink monkeys put her up there is a winning strategy, so why should she expand the energy?

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Small job for the neighbors

Just finished a curio cabinet rework/repair for my next-door neighbor. It was the husband’s parents and as best as I can tell/find it is from 1910ish. It was really well made and a fine piece of small furniture to display dolls, tea cups, and such. At some point, 2 shelves were added and the corner trim blocks were lost. I turned some 7/8″ X 7/8″ X 3/8″ blocks down, and added rosettes with a skew chisel point. As my neighbor was handing me the cabinet to install the blocks, he also asked that I put in a third shelf. OK… I used an old fruit crate bottom for the shelf material and planed it down a touch to match the thickness of the other two. I then cleaned up the front edge of one of the “original: shelves so it matched the other and the new.

After the repair and rework, I mixed and fiddled with 3 different stains I had to color match the original finish; I didn’t want the rosettes looking out of place. After touching-up all the dings and scrapes, I added an oil finish and 2 coats of wax. It only took 10 minutes or so to buff it up to a high shine.

I took it over to his wife Monday morning and she was thrilled at the transformation. The Talley motto (at least my house-hold) is “Be Helpful when you can” and I feel this qualifies. I am glad I could do this little thing for them and hope they continue to use it and pass it to their kids.

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Rosettes for neighbor

Need a trash can lid? Make it on the Lathe

We have a Art Deco flower pot in the guest bathroom that is used as a trash can. is about 9″ high and 8″ in diameter, so it doesn’t hold a lot. However, our new puppy is VERY interested in the contents of that vessel. To stem any possible and eventual messes, I took some pine scrap, chucked it up in the lathe and made a heavy wooden lid. I stained and finished to match the pot. Simple fast jobs like this make it so I can buy new tools without my sweet wife flipping out.

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