I gave the Jeep a little bath this weekend than ended up driving around for 2 hours because it was just so nice to be outside.

Meet Schnitzel. She is our 1987 VW Vanagon Syncro and she is about to have a proper refit with new window seals, AT tires, breaks, passenger side awning, fluid swap, and valve tune. I will also be fabricating front and rear skid plates and a bombproof badass winch bumper – with a new Warn 10k-pound stump-puller bolted to it.

My bride and I are discussing the interior color scheme as well as the exterior changes. Will leave the paint the OEM color, but I DO like the red accent stripe I have seen on some gold vans.

A stack of BFGs TA tires layin’ in wait! Will drop them off at Les Schwabe to have the mounted and balanced.

About once every two years I miss my auction-scored Weaver Tire Changer and Wheel balancer. They were both just so big and I didn’t use them enough in my home shop so I sold them and used the cash to upgrade my 2×72 grinder, which DOES get used constantly. It was a good decision, but at times like this, I do second guess myself and long for a giant shop.

We took a mini-vacation in an A-frame cabin in the wilds of Bigfoot Country! Here is a short video of the cabin and time spent there.

We got 14-16″ of snow at the house. It shut down the city for two days over the weekend.

Seattle and I are having a spat and it may be an unreconcilable differences sort of situation. I will start this digression with a list of why we love/loved Seattle/West Seattle:

• Like a village in the middle of a city
• Nature, water & mountain view right out the door
• Super convenient to downtown, sports, shopping, events
• 21 minute commute to work – almost no traffic
• Amazing Parks
• Terrific year-round Farmer’s Market
• A real French bakery
• Light Rail is coming
• 10 minutes from the Airport
• Low Crime
• Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Thriftway, The Beer Junction, Safeway and some fantastic restaurants for food options.
• Ferry and Vashon Island access
• Alki Beach
• Affordable
• A sense of community
• Fantastic small shops and coffee houses

That is a great list huh? Why would I be upset? What has my undies in a twist? Well:

• 6.01 miles = 59m25s… My 12 minute “normal” commute to downtown is now an hour due to the West Seattle Bridge being out.
  • This was not rush hour. It was a Saturday afternoon at lunch time.
• My commute to work is now 45m to 1h any time of day. Longest commute so far for the 11-mile trip to Kent: 1h47m.
• The West Seattle Bridge closure and access in general is a fiasco.
• The light rail will not happen in West Seattle until 2035
• My car tabs now cost $920 a year for two cars
• Our police are swamped dealing with protests, autonomous zones, and interference from our HIGHLY paid city council (Among the nation’s 40 largest cities, only Los Angeles pays its council more according to a survey by The Seattle Times. Seattle ranks 23rd in population, according to the Census Bureau.)
  • Property crime is zooming upward
  • Everyone on our side of the street has had something stolen out of their car or yard in the last 8 months.
  • Our City Council is talking about defunding the police AND not prosecuting non-violent crime if the person committing the offence is “stealing for food.” How is that enforceable? Do they have to keep the food receipts?
• Building planning and permitting is a nightmare for a home owner.
  • Long delays, constantly shifting zoning, weird ADU and garage rules that change every 2 years, high minimum fees, etc…
• My property tax has DOUBLED since we bought our home it went up $700 yearly in the last two years alone.
• A population and housing boom that has led to parking problems all over the peninsula due to City Planning forgoing the requirement for on-site parking in many of the new apartment buildings.
• I live in the city and I HAVE to have a generator. My power goes out for 24+ hours 2-3 times a year. It is an infrastructure issue that is long overdue to be fixed.
• The homeless crisis is not being addressed effectively at any level of city government. There have been assaults, property damage, and an exploding rodent population due to the lack o sanitary facilities, waste disposal.
• The hassle of transportation and craziness at city hall has us looking at other communities in which to pay our taxes.

My wife bought me this super nerdy Macintosh-shaped watch charging stand for my watch. She knows me!

I fried a 17lb turkey for our 2020 Pandemic Thanksgiving – it was YUMMY! I added a Honey-Baked Ham, sides, and a fabulous wine.

I walked my 78 year old mother down to the ballet box in our neighborhood. I miss getting the sticker, but not the long lines.

Wear your mask, stay healthy, do your part, and please go out and VOTE!

Wine has made Mondays better for millennia! We had a really good Chateauneuf du Pape with burgers and fries on an October evening. It really was the perfect pairing.

I have a shoe problem.

I own more than my share of wingtips for work and I am really into Adidas Sambas and Hamburgs for everyday wear with jeans and shorts. I am into them so much that Adidas has put me on a mailing list for 1st peak at new styles and end of season sales.

It was in one of the e-mails for the latter where I came across the beauties below! Really dig them. They are fun and go with 90% of my shirts and hoodies – coordination matters…

The fireplace has been lit and the puppies have taken up their spots in front. There is hot cider on the stove!

I don’t think that I can read Monocle Magazine anymore.  It is still an amazing record of Zeitgeist and fortune teller of new urbanization. I love the magazine, but it has gotten to a newsstand price point for an individual magazine that seems frivolous and indulgent: $18 per issue with tax. That is not a typo. 

The quality of the magazine has not changed since I discovered issue #1 years ago in Hamburg (I still have issues 1-3). The writing is clever and timely, the paper that it is printed on is suburb, their City Guides, Livable City and Soft Power editions are fantastic and in the latest issues, there must have been 4 mentions of Basel, CH, my spiritual European home city. 

While $18 ten times a year is not a major financial commitment, I can do a lot of good with that cash: give to Heifer International and MSG more, buy a book a month from my local independent bookshop, send my kids $20 out of the blue, a Moroccan mint tea with my wife at our local coffee/tea shop. 

I hate that it has to be this way because I want to support what they do, it is just a cost thing for me at this point. Maybe I will look at a subscription price instead of getting it at my local newsstand, but that is another issue in itself.

I buddy who knows about my KLM house issue, fed the beast for my birthday and bought me KLM house #87 – The Het Peperhuis (Pepper House). It is in perfect shape in is a middle eastern route (alcohol free) version and the sticker is still intact. He made me and my inner nerd very happy!

Picked up a new 22″ Vision Kamado grill/smoker at Home Depot or CHEAP – I got a Smoking Deal (pun intended!) 1/2 the cost of the BGE and $300 less than a compatible Kamado Joe on “Sale” through Bass Pro Shops.

First smoke was 1.5 hours at 325F of hot-wings, then Chicken breasts at 350F for 1:25. Both turned out super yummy! Next smoke will be ribs and am working myself up to an 8 hour brisket – slow and low.

Let the Summer grilling season begin!!

I am always cruising eBay for folks selling KLM Canal Houses that don’t know what they have.  I ran across a listing titled “Colletion Of 9 Delft Blauw Hand Painted Canal houses” (sic) knew right then I was mining for gold.  6 were KLM houses, there was one ashtray (#23), and three small delft canal house flower vases (non-KLM).

I made a offer for 20% below asking price and the seller got right back to me were an acceptance.   Looking at current and previous listings, I picked these up for about 40% of current eBay retail.  I am pretty stoked!

I then had to tell my wife that I bought some more delft houses and brace for the consequences…  She was awesome and was supper sweet about my little touch of mania and congratulated me on my find.  I love her so much!

Today has been a good day.

1. Awake at 8:30 
2. Coffee, Cereal, and a banana
3. Hung flag, semi-circle flag banners on fence, and POW/MIA yard banner in front yard
4. Braved the Wilds of Home Depot
5. Still surprised by the selfishness and idiocy of the masses
6. Drank More coffee
7. Chiseled in the pockets for hinges on pantry doors and cabinet
8. Hung and fit all the pantry doors
9. Talked to neighbor (we were 10’ apart) and walked over to do a quick front yard fence repair job for her
10.  Skim coated 3 spots in house where drywall is/was dinged
11.  Played games over the internet with family and friends
12.  Movie (at home) with my wife
13.  Asleep by 10:30
14.  Slept till 9:00 on Sunday.
15.  Shoulder hurts
16.  Braved Home Depot again for lumber
17.  Wife came.  We bought a whole cart of flowers
18.  Really like my wife
19.  Went pet food store for bougie raw food for our two spoiled little furry monsters
20.  Drank a LOT of coffee and bought a gift card to help support out local shop during the Covid Crisis
21.  Spent too much time on Instagram and Twitter instead of working.
22.  Started the basement stair finish at 2:00
23.  Had all the treads, kickers, and the two sides cut and test fit by 7:00
24.  Said some dirty words to make the process go smother
25.  Did a little Amazon shopping
26.  Texted back and forth with friends
27.  Finished a Malcolm Gladwell audio book before passing out for the night.
28.  Slept late
29.  Shoulder really sore
30.  Took 3 Aleve and wife rubbed back and shoulder
31.  Procrastinated and spent time on Twitter and Instagram while drinking my coffee
32.  Started the stair tread installation
33. Ran out of subfloor adhesive – said dirty words…
34. Sent wife to Home Depot for more
35.  She is awesome and got EXACTLY what I needed!
36.  Hit two nails under the same tread – the 2nd to the last and broke my only two counter-sink bits.
37.  The F-Word poured forth.
38.  Drank some more coffee and cussed a little more
39.  Went back to work on the stairs
40.  Finished the initial installation
41.  Need to fill, sand, caulk, prime, paint, add baluster, and handrail before I can call it done
42.  Neighbor bought over smoked ribs!
43.  He is trying to woo my me with his BBQ skills
44.  It is working
45.  Ate them like a starving crazy person while standing over the sink, making caveman noises (according to my wife)
46.  Coat of touch-up paint in the Bathroom
47.  Yelled at a guy speeding down our tine street in a silver convertible
48. I have become “That Guy”
49.  Installed antique glass panels into the top pantry cabinet doors
50.  Did not cut myself!!
51.  Filmed the process
52.  Downloaded video snippets from phone and camera taken over the weekend into iMovie
53.  Tickled my wife until she made me stop. 
54. I got “The Look…”
55.  Wrote a letter, sent out a couple of MoMT stickers, and wrote 2 Thank You cards
56. Drank some rose with our pizza for dinner
57. I may have bought a new Grill online – Memorial Day Sale!
58. Talked to my son on the phone
59. Had some herbal tea sweetened with my own honey
60. Went to bed early at 11:00, but had weird dreams all night

I feel that I scored with my most recent KLM house acquisition:  I paid less than $5, including shipping, for a 1970’s version of house #6 (first made in 1955), which was the only house of the 1^st ten that was modeled after a real structure instead of someone’s idealized version of what a canal house “should” look like.  

It is in perfect shape with the original stickers in place, the makers mark and house number on the bottom are clear and bright, the cork is intact and there is residue of apricot brandy still inside – as opposed to the modern genever, which I believe has led to the darker ceramic color and blotches.  The detail on the form and the attention to detail with the blue glaze application is rustic to say the least, especially compared side by side with the same house from 1997, which is how they are now displayed.

To get extra nerdy:  This house is modeled on the now-demolished St-Petrus Hous – Achter het Hofplein, which was built in town of Middelburg around 1530.  There is some some conjecture (including on the KLM app) says that the house is was modeled after the Het Houten Huys” (The Wooden House, Begijnhof 34, Amsterdam) but the world’s leading authority on KLM houses argues for the former.

I spent a week in Costa Rica and ate something on my last night there that made my flight home miserable and I got to go to the ER straight from the airport… At home now recovering for a couple of days.

Friday

• Up at 7:30. 
• Coffee
• Breakfast
• Checked work email
• Went to paint store
• Went to Home Depot 
• Wanted to immediately go home
• Bought cedar lumber and 11 bags of garden soil
• Lunch
• More coffee
• Ripped down three 2x10x10s to three sticks of 3” wide each
• Hauled 300 pounds of stone to side yard. 
• Built cedar wood rack – face cord
• Started stacking firewood
• Shower
• Dinner 
• Movie at home with my wife
• Asleep by 11:00

Saturday

• Up at 9
• Coffee
• Breakfast of 3 different cereals
• Sharpened chainsaw
• Started cutting up two trees worth of cherry. 
• Split some and used chainsaw to rip rounds that were too knotty to split
• Lunch and more coffee
• Spent 8 hours on the saw
• Made crazy amounts of sawdust
• Lost count of how many times I sharpened the chain
• Stacked 9 loaded wheelbarrows of cherry in firewood rack
• Real tired. 
• Wife gave me a haircut. 
• Shower and shave
• Wine and Aleve with dinner
• Real tired
• Asleep by 10:30

Sunday

• Sore
• Laid in bed till 9:30
• Coffee
• Lost 2 hours on Instagram
• Started chainsaw again. 
• Neighbors SUPER happy with me!
• 2 hours to finish cutting all the cherry up
• Moved 230 pounds of bricks
• Stacked rest of firewood
• Cleaned up sawdust and loaded trailer with 8 wheel narrows worth of the stuff. 
• Had more coffee
• Took apart compost bins
• Loaded compost into trailer
• Can’t use…  rats nested in compost!!!!
• Super pissed!
• Went to check 2 bee hives
• Said a LOT of dirty words
• All bees are dead
• Almost cried
• Cold snap nailed them as they were starting to move and gather the first bits of spring pollen. 
• Lots of honey still in hives and new pollen everywhere
• Dammit!!!!!!
• Had to take a time out
• Pulled the hives apart, harvested the wax, left fames with honey out overnight to feed other bees. 
• Super pissed off and sad. 
• Loaded weeds and yard waste into trailer. 
• Talked to Son on phone and tried calling daughter
• Showered
• Had dinner
• Wife poured me a nice beer to make me feel better
• Paid some bills and worked on budget. 
• Took Aleve
• Had a back rub 
• Passed out

My favorite book as a child was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.  I was 11 when I bought my first copy – a paperback, pulp paper, Scholastic Book Fair edition – and I devoured it.  I wanted to be Sam Gribley with my whole soul – still do!  It created a lifelong love of wilderness, falconry, and it was the book that REALLY lit my internal fire for reading and story telling.  I devoured the book, read it 4 times, leaving the pages tattered, and passed it on to a friend that had the same reaction (We had a mini pre-pubescent male book club for a couple of years).  I then read Julie of the Wolves, The Talking Earth, and so many other books of hers.  I bought and read Sam’s tale again when I was 16, a couple more times as an adult, and own the two sequels, the 2 additional picture books,  and the related cookbook.  I have the Kindle and Audio book editions and a DVD of the 1969 film just for good measure.  Side note:  This was the first time that I experienced the “ I liked the book better than the movie” phenomenon that we all know so well.

When daughter was born, I bought a nice copy of Julie of the Wolves for her with both original illustrations and supplemental maps and wolf/artic photos.  It was a major purchase for me during that time in my young life.  Shortly after my son was born, I happened upon a nice hardcover of My Side of the Mountain in a local bookshop and bought it for him.  My hope was for us all to read the books together when the kids were old enough. 

I met Mrs. George briefly in 1995 and while I would like to tell you how I went on at length about her contribution to my life and my appreciation for her work, that didn’t happen…  I was awestruck and mumbled a ‘thank you’ before walking away with a stupid smile.

A few weeks later, I built up the courage to write her and ask if she would sign the copies of my kids books.  She wrote back less than a week later, saying she remembered me and agreed to sign the books!  I was over the moon and they went into the mail the next day.  Two weeks later I got back a neatly wrapped package containing the books with not only a signature, but she had written a dedication to both of my kids in the books and had made a small sketch of Julie in one and a full page drawing of Sam and Frightful (READ THE BOOKS!) in the other.  I ugly cried!  I fired off a ‘thank you’ letter and treasured the books for years in my own secret book horde, before relenting and giving the books to the kids, along with paperback reading copies and a tale of how special the books really were.

I should have taken pictures of the notes and illustrations before I let them go, but I wasn’t thinking.  I do not have a picture of the Julie illustration, but I have ones of Sam and Frightful that my son took with his phone and sent me last year.  After a little snafu with some files and some lost pictures, I figured if I put them here online that I would never lose them and sharing this story warms me from the inside.

I will be forever grateful to Mrs. George for the words written, stories told, and the time she took to reach out and do something wonderful for my children and I.  Read the books.  Read them with your kids and grandkids.  Give copies as gifts.

It has been 4 years since the Jeep wore its soft top. After struggling with it for 3 hours last night, getting out the heat gun, contorting my body into funny shapes in the back seat, and saying a battle-ship’s worth of cuss words – the deed is done. It was a bright and sunny Seattle winter day today and I drove her to work in all her Old Girl Glory!

I got lots of stuff done this past weekend because that is what should happen with 3 days off.

1. Printed 35 knobs for March order (my side gig)
2. Filmed parts of two new YouTube videos
3. Built drawers for my X-Carve stand
4. Had Moroccan mint tea with my wife at local place
5. Really like my wife
6. Designed a new coffee cup organization and display cabinet for pantry
7. Put drawer fronts on X-Carve CNC stand that I am currently building
8. Did some pre-vacation shopping in the internet (Costa Rica!!)
9. Made no less than three trips to Home Depot
10. Applied 2^nd coat of Spar Varnish to CNC stand top
11. Organized 2019 Income Tax Receipts for 2nd Accountant appointment
12. Drank a LOT of Coffee
13. Spent too much time on Instagram and Twitter.
14. Finished a Michael Pollan Book
15. Drank a little Cote du Rhone that we brought back from France
16. Ran out of black PLA – said dirty words…
17. Ordered 2 boxes of PLA
18. Found a sweet and well-maintained Radial Arm Saw on Craigslist for $50!!!
19. Bought said saw and brought it home – giggling maniacally the whole way
20. Worked on a new tool design for my SWAG Hulk Roller
21. Stayed up too late surfing the interwebs
22. Replaced battery on the jeep – it had a good life
23. Ran some errands
24. Drank some more coffee
25. Started installing the soft top on the Jeep – it is not going well…
26. Wrote a couple of letters and Thank You cards
27. Printed a prototype part on my “new” (6 months old) printer
28. Cut and installed face-frames on our new butler’s pantry cabinets
29. Measured and cut all the poplar lumber for butler’s pantry door frames
30. Published X-Carve video on YouTube
31. Had some herbal tea sweetened with my own honey
32. Went to bed early

Excuse me while I mount my Soapbox…

Ahem…

The US Department of Veteran’s Affairs is full of bureaucratic fuckery.  I said it. It is my truth. You cannot convince me otherwise. In 27+ years of working with, dealing with, and interacting with almost all levels of staff, at multiple regional sites, I can say with all honesty and sincerity that not a single year has gone by without some sort of breakdown in documentation, communication, process, compensation, or care.  That is not hyperbole, it is my experience of fact.

Currently, I am experiencing a problem with compensation that borders on Orwellian:  I have been assigned a debt that I do not owe, had to appeal that issue, won that appeal after providing 10+ years of documentation, received official notification of a decision in my favor of that appeal, and yet there is no mechanism to tell the collection group of the VA (DMC) that the now-won appeal means a deletion of the debt that I didn’t owe in the first place.  The path I have been given over the phone today is one where I am to file an additional appeal of “financial hardship” to cancel the debt.  It is not a hardship, it is just bullshit over a relatively tiny amount of money. 

I have called a VA representative 11 times in the last 3 months, faxed 212 individual sheets of paper, and written four different letters to each VA department involved over the minor accounting/records discrepancy.  If I am having this kind of issue and have had similar complaints/challenges every year, as mentioned, then what about the folks facing real crisis or hardship?  What does the bureaucratic loop look like for those vets?  How do they handle the uphill battle, duplication of effort, procedure?  How in the world does this personify the Abraham Lincoln penned VA moto: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle”?  I get the VA is complicated and their mission is both underfunded and plagued by mismanagement and scandal (Google “VA Scandal” for a LONG read…), but how long is this status quo just accepted?

There are good and well-meaning folks at the VA that push and strive for those of us in their charge.  I know some of them and related to a few.  I have heard stories of their own struggles in dealing with the looping logic of the VA administrative officialdom.  I don’t have an answer for problems that I have experienced, any salve for the wounds, I just need to rant a little and wish for a better process, better management, compassionate over-site, proper funding, and advocacy for veterans from inside the VA in an official form.

…dismounts Soapbox.