football fever

I am a die hard Packers fan from way back. I grew up with the champion teams of the sixties and suffered through the mediocre teams of the 70’s and 80’s. The 90’s with Favre at quarterback reignited a passion for the team and were as exciting as it gets. The last few years with great expectations that were rarely met were both exciting and aggravating.

And this season has been an exercise in frustration given the great preseason and then the lousy play that was the first 8 games. Last week’s loss to the pathetic Bucs in Tampa Bay gave rise to the anger that comes from knowing the team is better than they were playing. I admit I jumped on the get-rid-of-the-coach bandwagon last week after that embarrassing loss.

Anticipation of today’s game against the Cowboys was pretty much restricted to hoping the Packers would put forth a respectable showing and keep the score under blowout status. I fully expected the Pack to lose by at least two touchdowns while showing at least some basic competence at the game. I hoped only that they would show some progress in correcting the penalty and sack problems that have plagued them every game this season.
I prayed that the O line would somehow figure out a way to keep Rogers upright and still breathing at the end of the game. I begged the football gods to show the D line the way to get to Romo and plant his ass on the sacred tundra of Lambeau. And I was not shy about begging for a special teams rebirth as a professional unit.

Well, my begging was not ignored. My beseeching of the football gods apparently worked. The team the Packers put on the field today was the near opposite of the team we’ve been seeing up until now. The defense played like an all pro team, pitching a near shutout. The offense came alive at the right times getting first downs when they were desperately needed. The special teams played as though they were special, not allowing the big play that has hurt them so in the past few games. And when they got into scoring position, the Pack scored.

The only bad thing about today’s excellent play is that it raises expectations for a repeat performance every game until the super bowl trophy is again back where it belongs. Unreasonable expectations? Not if you’re a Packers fan from way back.

another tragedy

It has taken a few days to absorb the senseless violence of last week’s murderous rampage at Ft. Hood. I’m not sure I will ever really understand how such a thing can happen.

What possible rational can justify such a heinous act. What twisted logic allows a man to calmly approach his fellow soldiers and start shooting at them with deadly intent?

I am not yet inured, and hope I never will be, to these acts of violence perpetrated by crazies who feel it acceptable to act out their thoughts of revenge against a society they feel has wronged them somehow. Columbine, Virginia Tech, and now Ft. Hood will forever be linked to the violent acts that bear their names. The name of the place where the next slaughter happens (and be sure that it will happen again) will join that list of tragic sites, adding to our collective consciousness that there is no longer any place that is truly safe.

I sincerely hope that we don’t ever become so accustomed to such horrible acts that we can easily shrug them off and go about our daily routines with only a passing notice. Outrage should always be our first reaction, and then grief for the victims and then grief for another deadly blow to our sense of humanity.

shop update

Time to get caught up with the shop output. I continue to work almost exclusively on the lathe, trying to become more and more competent and comfortable with it. I've tried a variety of techniques to familiarize myself with the many different possibilities of lathe work. It is an ongoing learning process that I find exciting and fulfilling.

This walnut bowl is 4.5" diameter and 4" deep. The slanted rim makes the interior more visible and accessible.



This is a simple little bowl made of maple with a bubinga stripe. It is about 6" diameter and 1" deep. It is rather elegant in its simplicity.



These are only a small example of the latest pieces to come out of the shop. If you want to see more, click on the "gallery" link in the side bar. I will post more here soon as well.

twin seasons

It’s been a dreary week. Cold wet and windy. Not a nice Autumn so far.
Have you ever noticed that this season is the only one with two names? Autumn and Fall. That’s probably because the season has a split personality.

I think of Autumn as embodying all the best of the season. Warm sunshiney days with gentile breezes rustling the brilliantly colored leaves. Pumpkins decorating front porches. Corn stalks gathered in bunches around lightposts. Autumn is a season of celebrating the harvest and slowly shutting down our outdoor activities in preparation for the coming Winter.

Fall, on the other hand is the evil twin. Temperatures fall precipitously off the cliff of Summer’s plateau. The nasty winds tear the turning leaves from their branches with wrenching force. The cold rains mat those leaves on the ground, smothering whatever lies beneath them. The flowers wilt and die from the too early frost. The days get shorter and shorter forcing us inside before we really want to be. Every now and then, Fall will shock us with a snow fall that is a harsh reminder to get the lawnmowers put away and the snowblowers gassed up.

With Autumn comes the optimistic days of Indian summer. Fall hammers us with the harsh, pessimistic realities of the northern winds.

Is it Summer yet?

workshop output

I haven't been sitting idle despite the fact that I have been negligent in posting here lately. I just seem to be too busy creating sawdust to take the time to keep caught up here. I have pictures to prove that I have been busy.

I've been doing bottles lately, using glued-up blanks made from the scraps of wood that are leftover from other projects. I hate wasting all those pieces that accumulate so I make blocks that then can be turned into something. In this case , bottles.

This bottle is capped with maple. I stands about 8" high and is made from maple and bubinga.




This piece is made from walnut with maple stripes. It is also about 8" high.




This 6" bottle is made from a variety of wood pieces slavaged from the scrap pile. It shows that there is always something that can be done with the leftovers besides trashing them.




There are quite a few more pieces coming out of the workshop. I will eventually get around to sharing them here, but if you can't wait, then click on "gallery" in the sidebar to get an up to date look at what I've been doing.

wood lust

As a woodworker I am constantly searching for materials to feed my fetish. Lumber can be quite expensive, especially the more exotic woods. Buying from a typical lumber yard or big box store is one way to keep the shop stocked, but the choices are usually somewhat limited to the finished nominal sizes if dimension lumber. And you won’t find any exotics or rough and unmilled pieces in the typical lumber sources.

Most retail lumber sources—think Menards, Home Depot and Lowe’s—will have the usual most commonly used finished woods like oak, maple, walnut, and pine in the usual most commonly used dimensions. I use a lot of that type of lumber and find those sources convenient if somewhat limited. I have found it a bit frustrating now that I have begun woodturning that I can’t easily find big chunks of rough lumber that I need to turn some of the projects I have in mind. Glueing up turning blanks from dimension lumber is one way to go, and I have done a lot of that with excellent results. But as a woodturner I crave logs and big chunks of unmilled and unfinished slabs of different kinds of woods.

I have begun paying close attention to work sites where trees are being felled to clear the land for building. While others may search out those locations as a source for firewood, I seek them as a source for the raw materials I need for my lathe. I have even bought a chainsaw so that I can more readily handle and prepare logs that need to be cut into manageable turning blanks. But cruising the streets searching for raw materials is hardly a convenient or expeditious way to spend my time.

So it was with great excitement that I recently found a place that could provide just the sort of lumber that I craved. It is a tree trimming and removal business that has an enlightened approach to its mission. Dedicated to using the entire tree in the most useful and nonwasteful way, this company has stockpiled slabs and logs of oak, maple, walnut, birch, and other woods that furniture makers, artists, and woodturners lust after. While some parts of the trees that get cut down are turned into mulch and firewood, a very large proportion of the tree is saved and rough cut into huge planks and short log sections that are then properly dried to provide the kind of working material that we woodworkers crave. And the price is right.

I will use this source a lot as I continue my woodworking efforts. I will gladly buy from Green Man because I like the way it strives to use the whole tree with little or no waste. As long as they are willing to put forth the effort I will do my part to help them stay in business.

Now, back to the workshop and a gorgeous chunk of ambrosia maple on the lathe

they weren't kidding

Some friends invited us for dinner this evening. Not unusual as far as invitations go. The reason for the invitation was my expressed skepticism about their purported method of cooking chicken. They had something to prove.

Awhile back--I forget the circumstance--the conversation at another getogether happened to hit on their method of grilling a whole chicken on the grill. They claimed straightfaced that they would prop the whole chicken on end and stuff a beer can up the chickens butt and cook the chicken with said beer can--full of course with beer--in place. I, of course, figured they were blowing smoke up my butt by making such a claim and so I dared them to prove it.

And so they did. I took pictures just in case there are skeptics like me who need hard photographic evidence to belive it.





Apparently there is a whole book devoted to the cooking of chickens and other foodstuffs with a beer can being central to the success of the process. Who knew? I'm not only convinced that it is possible, but quite pleased with the result.

Oh yeah, the chicken was delicious.