White out!

Phoebe, Amber and Sabrina came out to the shop this morning, eager to help on a project. Kids, being kids, and me being the biggest one, I figured a messy job would be the most fun. The foam blocks needed to be carved down to look like rocks. We started with a hot knife, but that was far too slow and far too boring. So I fired up the die grinder and set about making some real progress. It was an instant blizzard of bits of styrofoam. 

The girls took their turn, while Sabrina, dubbed official photographer snapped the pictures. It wasn't long until the whole shop and ourselves were covered in the white stuff. We even got some work done too!

A good time was had by all.

-grampa dan

Painting fun

The Cap-it signs are coming along nicely with the little Jeep now sporting it's first coat of paint. Today I conscripted our two nieces (who are staying with us for spring break) to help out in the shop. Sabrina painted the yellow while Amber helped put on the glazes for the rock. Color sure changes things in a hurry!

In the background the second truck awaits rock carving and the first coat of sculpting epoxy tomorrow. It has proven to be a challenging but fun project so far. Stay tuned for more progress.

-grampa dan

Don't sweat the small stuff.

This morning as I came out to the shop I noticed water running out from beneath the studio door. That is never a sign of good things inside. As I came into the shop I heard the water running and immediately thought of the hot water tank over the staff break area. There was no waterfall there. It was coming from inside my studio bathroom. The toilet pipe had come apart and the water was about an inch deep in my lower studio/library and storage areas. Out in the shop there were large puddles over much of the floor. I quickly waded in and shut off the water as fast as I could then began the task of mopping things up.

Some things got wet, a little stuff ruined, but save for the hundreds of gallons of water we needed to mop up the real damage was minimal. In less than three hours we had the worst under control.

As I worked with Janis my heart went out to those in Japan and around the word that have suffered real loss. Our little flood was merely a little inconvenience - a hick-up in our day. While I may have been tempted to get a bit upset, I knew better.

Don't sweat the small stuff in life. We have it good. And we should be thankful.

-grampa dan