Two Men and a Canoe

I'll start this and try to post progress on the restoration project that my son-in-law and I have embarked on. My wife and I  bought him a canoe for Christmas at a fantastic price, but it's a definite "fixer-upper":

Scott and one of his friends started a canoe trip down the Illinois River last summer, but had to cut it short due to flooding and unsafe conditions. They intended all along to resume the trip at the spot they had to stop, and now Scott has another reason to look forward to the trip - he should have his own canoe to use. At least that's our intention. It's 'seaworthy' as far as there are no leaks, but we need to install the gunwales, a couple of thwarts, a flotation chamber, and seating.
Scott has really gotten into the project - the first week or so, he spent lots of time on the web researching canoes: building, restoring, etc. We looked at several books, and he researched a number of websites on canoe restoration. We have a pretty good idea now what all needs to be done, and are looking forward to getting started.
It's going to be an interesting project since Scott and my daughter live some 800 miles away from my shop and his canoe. I think we have it worked out, though - I'll get to work on building the basic components, and put them aside until Scott can come out and help to fit them to the canoe. Both of us will be engaged in gathering parts and supplies in the meantime.
Scott hasn't been told this yet (I assume he'll see it here) but, in addition to working on his canoe, I hope to enlist him in helping to restore my boat (I think it's a much smaller project). I can post progress reports on that also. Until next time.

Geocaching

You may ask: "What is Geocaching?" Well, it's a high-tech treasure hunting kind of thing. It involves a GPS and an internet connection, and finally a registration at the www.geocaching.com site. How it works is: someone with a GPS unit hides a small notebook (the geocache log) with optional swag (could be anything like a coin, a toy soldier, a seashell, etc.) in a weatherproof container somewhere in the world (it has to be near where they can maintain the cache on a regular basis) and publishes the GPS coordinates on the website. Then the intrepid geocacher downloads these coordinates to his or her GPS unit and goes looking for the cache. There's a ranking system for the difficulty of finding the cache: terrain and difficulty of hide are both graded from 1 to 5 - with 5 being next to impossible. There are also various sizes of containers from nano (possibly no bigger than a watch battery) through micro (35mm film canister size) and small (vitamin bottle size) to regular (typically a Tupperware™ container or an ammo case). The "owner", or the person who hid the cache, also includes on the site some sort of description of the cache, or possibly the significance of it and optionally a clue as to its location. One of my favorite clues I read just recently and dealt with a cache hidden in the woods, near a stream with a bridge over it. The clue went something like: "My kids favorite story is about the Three Billy Goats Gruff so that's where I hid the cache". If you're not familiar with the story (my son-in-law was not) the clue does very little good. But, since I WAS familiar with the story, I knew where we needed to concentrate our efforts.

I spent some time with my son-in-law over the holiday doing some geocaching. Apparently a favorite haunt of geocachers is cemeteries (pun intended). Out of 10 caches that we sought one day, 6 were in cemeteries. One of the cemeteries had a plaque stating that the mother of Brigham Young was buried there.

My son-in-law is an avid geocacher. I introduced him to it about a year ago and he is fast approaching the 300 mark of found caches. (As for me, I'm sort-of, maybe-I'll-get-there, coming up on 50 found caches.) He's such a caching fanatic that we incorporated it into one of his Christmas gifts this year: we had the gift at a set of GPS coordinates, and had two sets of coordinates for him to go to in order to find the next set. We sent him to a cemetery (go figure), and then to the local marina. The final destination was supposed to be a friend's pond, but, he and my daughter surprised us and arrived nearly 12 hours earlier than we had anticipated so we hid the gift in the garage. It was lots of fun doing this high-tech scavenger hunt. He even said it was a really cool idea (thanks to my lovely wife for the inspiration).

Well, the holiday vacation was over for me and I had to return to work. Our guests were still staying with us, so Scott continued his geocaching adventures, and I do mean adventures: one of the caches he was seeking had to be postponed due to bear!

Yes, I said bear.

As he got to within 100 feet of the location of the cache, he heard a roar. That gave him pause (for some reason) and he stopped for a second. He took another step and heard a second roar about 200 feet in front of him. He decided that he didn't need to proceed right then - the cache wasn't going anywhere - and began backpedaling until he felt safe to turn and quickly leave the woods. He says he's never been so scared. We returned to the site a few days later, better prepared. Scott had his survival knife (he said he'd have gone further the first time if he'd had the knife then - oh, the confidence of youth!), and I had my 12 gauge shotgun loaded with a slug. You might think that that was adequate preparation, but, considering that my shotgun is a single-shot you might be thinking "oh, the foolishness of dotage". Well, we found the cache and saw neither hide nor hair of the bear (thank the Lord). It made for probably the most exciting cache I've ever searched for, though, and I wasn't even present when the bear roared!

I hope all (2?, 3?) of my readers had a wonderful Christmas and will have a very good New Year.

Did he really need something more to apologise for?

Well, our esteemed President Obama has done it again: he's offended a large segment of humanity. This time it again involved a head of state. When he went to Norway to accept his Nobel Peace Prize award, he "declined" to have lunch with the King of Norway. What's this? Are we at odds with Norway? Are their human rights policies not in line with ours, or maybe it's their nuclear material production efforts that we disagree with. Maybe it's because Norway has yet to voice outright hatred of all things American like so many of the the other country's whose heads of state President Obama HAS honored - by bowing to them, kissing their rings, APOLOGISING for going after the terrorists that have safe haven and even overt financial support from their contries?? Where is the consistency from the purportedly most powerful man in the world? Where is the common sense? Where is the political savvy? I don't believe that any of these exist within President Obama. Well, now he has fodder for his apology mill, so I guess that's something.

I guess that now that he has already cashed the check from the Nobel Foundation, it's safe for him to dis the Copenhagen meeting about global warming (hmm, didn't I recently hear something about all of the hype being just that - hype? and even falsified hype at that?). But, that conference was a joke from the outset. All of these "staunch supporters" of being green, had an issue even before the official conference started. They ran out of limosines! Go figure - all thes people who preach (to others) about reducing the carbon footprint, sharing a ride, etc. couldn't even follow their own supposed principles when going to discuss these very same principles by sharing a ride. Since they are each SO Important, they each had to have their own limo for transportation. (Huh, that's kind of like Al Gore flying around the country in his private jet to all of these "Inconvenient Truth" gatherings. Or his primary residence having a bigger carbon footprint than some third world coutries - but don't get me started on him.) I guess it's all the same as it's been for years now: you don't know who to believe, because they all have their own agenda.

'Tis the Season

It's that time of year again: time to clean up the woodshop and get serious about making Christmas gifts. I love being able to spend time doing one of the things I really love - making gifts in my shop. I inherited a marvelous workshop full of tools from my father and now have the "technology" to make many more things than I used to. I used to have a band saw, router, table saw and a drill press. To that I've added a lathe, oscillating spindle sander, 12" disc sander, a scroll saw, a radial arm saw, a horizontal borer, a thickness planer, a jointer/planer, a dust-and-chip collector, a multitude of wooden toy parts, many plans (both 'store-bought' and those modified by my parents), and a wide selection of power sanders. And in the process, my original tools (band saw, router, table saw and drill press) were upgraded. My dad used to make some of the neatest toys I've ever seen - and he was a master at it. He took the time to make absolutely sure that all of his parts fit as they should, that they were sanded to perfection, and that they were finished in a manner that was safe for anyone to use or play with. Many times you'll see other toy vendors who sell toys made of pine: they're rough on both surfaces and edges, and being pine - prone to damage by merely standard play.

Dad worked almost exclusively with cherry (his favorite) or maple (a close second). He always told a customer that all of his toys had a limited lifetime warranty - he'd repair any toy returned to him - only limited to his lifetime. I've seen kids throw a toy my father made across the room, down the stairs, off the porch, what have you, and show virtually no damage. I've also seen some of the pine toys break because the kid rolled the toy across the floor! Sure cherry or maple is more expensive - about twice the cost of pine - but, when you compare that to the extended lifetime of the toy (probably 10 to fifteen times as long - at least), it's really a no-brainer. Dad had return customers from across the country and around the world - I know of at least some connection to Buckingham Palace for one of his "Large Trains".

So anyway I really treasure this time of year - not only do I really love making these things (I've been doing it for almost 40 years), but it also reminds me of my dad and the joy he got watching kids play with the toys he made. When it came to these toys, I think he was almost as much a kid as the kids who actually bought and played with the toys. For me, since I don't do the craft fair thing like he and Mom did, I get my joy from seeing the expression on the faces of the recipients of my efforts. Most times they are much more appreciative than the gift deserves. I'm not yet up to the standard of my father, and sometimes what I gift to others has some obvious (at least to me) flaws. I am improving with time, however, and I do more lathe work than Dad, I love the lathe - you can actually SEE the item taking shape as you work on it; turning is fairly easy to learn, but can take a long time to master.

One of the distinct advantages of this time of year comes as a result of the first step mentioned above: "time to clean up the woodshop". I do lots of DIY home improvement projects throughout the year and I tend to leave my tools in 'convenient' spots. Trouble is these spots are only convenient when you can remember where they are AND when they're in close proximity to where you're working. Since most of my Christmas-elf projects are located in the shop itself, and few, if any, of my year-round project are, most of the waylaid tools are NOT convenient for the seasonal projects. If I could just get myself to ALWAYS put my tools back, I'd be less likely to waste time looking for them when I need them. And with dozens of power tools, hundreds or maybe even thousands of hand tools, you can see where having things in unconventional places would get to be a challenge to find. I really enjoy finding most of my long lost tools again!

Well, anyway, to my whole audience of 2 or 3, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, I had a very nice time with the inlaws this past weekend in Toledo, OH. My wife's family mostly lives there and we decided to go for a visit - we hadn't been there for a holiday in several years - it was time for a return trip. First off the drive there was quite surprisingly nice. Shorter than I expected - only 6½ hours door to door. The next pleasant surprise was the price of gas out that way. We filled up just inside the Ohio border for $2.44 a gallon as compared to $2.89 here at home. It was only $2.46 in Toledo on Wednesday through mid morning on Friday, then I guess the going price of crude jumped because the price went up to $2.60 a gallon in one swell foop! And they maintain in Toledo that they don't play games with their pricing! Really!
Anyway, on Friday Angie and I did partake in our annual tradition: Black Friday shopping. I have to say how impressed I am with the shoppers in the stores we visited. No pushing, trampling, bad language, short tempers like there had been every other year I've gone out. Not as many miraculous deals as were promised, though. A few good deals, but, mostly we enjoy the people watching. It was refreshing to see that people CAN behave themselves on Black Friday.
My father-in-law had a good weekend also. We were able to bring him to the house each day we were there and even got special permission to keep him out later than the rules usually allowed. He really perks up when Angie comes out for a visit. He loves the rest of his family, and treasures the time he can spend with them, but, since Angie can only come out infrequently, it obviously means a whole lot to him. It was good to see him in such good spirits for such an extended time. Truly something to be thankful for!
Watched Marley and Me while we were out there; very tough movie to see after having lost our dog this April. We'd had Zeke for almost 17 years! My son doesn't really remember life without Zeke. And Zeke was not a terror like Marley was - he was just a typical Labrador. He did chew on things while he was a puppy (did I mention that he considered himself a puppy for at least 2½ years?), but he was a very good dog all-in-all. That movie really brings home just how a dog looks at you even if you don't always dote on it. They worship you. Really tore me up at the end of the movie. My wife says she's not ready to watch it yet. We own it, but it still sets in its case, unopened. Talk about a tearjerker!
Anyway I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and had time to realize just how many things you have to truly be thankful for. If you can't think of any, post a comment, and I may be able to suggest some things!

Maybe next year - finale

Well, it's over once more - College football with the Michigan Wolverines. Saturdays just aren't the same when the games aren't on. We did marginally better this year than last. 5-7 rather than 3-9. We added more notches in Coach Rodriguez's belt: the first coach in Wolverine history to lose BOTH of his first two games played against OSU, the first coach since the 60's to post two losing seasons in a row. The list just seems to go on. I hear that the Athletic Director was asked point blank if he was considering firing the coach and the AD just laughed. Roriguez was asked if he was worried about getting fired, and he reponded that he has a 6 year contract, and this is only year two, so no he's not getting fired. I guess we, the fans, will have to give him at least one more year to pull the team together - we don't have any say in the matter. I must admit to a particularly strong sense of being underwhelmed by him. I've heard that he doesn't have all the "pieces of the puzzle" yet. I've heard that a good coach MAKES the pieces of the puzzle - haven't seen much of that so far in his career.

Tate Forcier was disappointing today - he threw 5 interceptions. Never seen the man do that poorly before. I also heard rumours that he may be transferring. If he does that, I'll lose much of my respect for him. I find it hard to respect quitters. That man has an amazing talent; he should stick with the team and be part of its ressurection. He will be a tremendous foundation on which to begin rebuilding Wolverine football.

I do agree that we have not seen much depth of bench from Michigan in the last couple years. The talking heads attributed this to his only having one recruiting season so far. We really need to see some support for Forcier. He can scramble well, he has an arm like a cannon, he stays very cool under pressure, but he's only one person on a team of 11 on the field at one time. He can't do it all. We need to see some SIZE on the offensive line, some speed and good hands in the backfield and the receivers. We have a couple of receivers that do pretty well. But when they get tired and are off the field, there's nobody left to do the job. And ALL of the team seems to be inconsistent. Sometimes the quarterback gets lots of time to throw, and sometimes there's no time at all. And this is all within the same game!

All I can say, is next year had better be better. The coach will have even more trouble with his recruiting if he can't pull together more wins, and if he can't recruit, he'll lose more and have more trouble recruiting, and so on. With the players he'll be keeping, he has to build some depth.

Maybe next year.

A stitch in time . . . or not

So, the driver's side windshield wiper on our Explorer has been acting up a little lately (like for a year, I think). It wasn't attached very securely to the wiper arm. I've been meaning to get it replaced, really, I have. Well, tonight we had to take it to a Ford dealer to have a safety recall issue fixed. I won't deal with the Ford garage across the street from me - I don't trust them to deal fairly with me. Ive already had a bad experience with them. So, anyway to get off the rabbit trail and back on to the main track again: Coming home from Ithaca over Route 79, it started to rain rather steadily, so I turned the wipers on to a medium intermittent speed. Not too bad - for a  while. I began to notice that it was getting tough to see the right-hand lane marker because the inner section of the wiper was no longer making contact with the windsheild. So, I pulled over in Mecklenburg and re-situated the wiper blade. This worked wonders on clearing the windshield for a time, then it started all over again. As I was gettin quite close to home, I didn't bother to stop again to re-orient it - not such a good choice as it turns out: Coming down Burdett hill, the wiper blade suddenly went "Clunk!" and turned upside down and perpendicular (rather than parallel) to the wiper arm! Now I had the driver's side wiper not touching ANY of the windshield, no street lights, rain coming down in periodic buckets, and lots of incoming traffic. To say it was difficult to see the road is a tremendous understatement. I had to slow down to less than 30 mph, much to the irritation of the drivers behind me (with the exception of my wife, who was just worried about me). So I stopped at the local Walmart and bought a new wiper blade. Isn't it amazing how much better a functioning wiper blade works than a non-functioning (or at least sporadically functioning) one does. And all of this drama would have been avoided had I just replaced the blade when it first gave me problems.
Old Ben Franklin knew what he was talking about didn't he?