Up to speed!

There was an almost full crew in the shop today and it was one busy place! Everyone was in great spirits and eager to geet lots done. Because the rain was coming down hard for most of the day we were all tucked inside the shop. Kendra and Jenessa were busy painting the last of the block trims for the house. Hailey was organizing the paint supply and beginning the first color on the features. Adison and Big Matt were busy tying wire to my welded frames. TJ was mixing for Peter, carving, and tying wire for much of the day. Peter was applying the concrete and carving up a storm. I was building routing files and running the CNC router. I also did a little carving, cleanup, welding and assembling to round out my day. With a good sized, hard working crew it is amazing how much work can be accomplished! Here's a picture of the shop this morning as we got going...

By afternoon the results of all that hard work was clearly showing. Peter applied the fiberglass-reinforced-concrete while Hailey started training Kendra and Jenessa on the fine art of carving. Two wheels were finished and they look pretty cool!

Peter applied a lot of mud today which meant there was a lot of sculpting to do as well. TJ got his first lesson in the art of carving a cactus using a state of the art carving tool... a spoon.

And the wagon got the first of many coats of color. It sure changed things in a hurry.

As I looked back into the shop when I was locking up to head in for supper it made me smile. I appreciate my talented and hard working crew!

-grampa dan

Old haunt revisited for a good cause.

It's been a couple of years since we worked on the Fox and Hound Pub project. Since that time I've been back a number of times with workshop groups and special guests. I simply love the warm and welcome feeling of the place.

Tonight we went back again as the pub was kindly hosting a fundraiser event for Pipsqueak Paddocks - a charity we host on our property. The not for profit society is raising money for new fences and footing. A good crowd was out and the silent auction bidding was brisk. We also enjoyed a wonderful meal and the surroundings which we had created a while back.

The owners, management and staff of the pub continue to take wonderful care of the many things we created for them. Everything is still in good order and dust free. I sure appreciate it when the owners of a project take such good care of what we did. THANKS!

Here's a few pictures of some of the signs which I took this evening.

Going back to the pub was like visiting an old friend.

-grampa dan

Success!

Today was the day Phoebe (and grampa) were looking forward to for a long time. Phoebe has gone fishing with others many, many times, since she was little but in all that time she has never caught a fish. Grampa knew just how to remedy that situation in a hurry. I'm no fisherman but I do know where the fish are.

Last month when we visited the local fish hatchery on one of our previous adventures I read about a 'learn to fish' program they offered. I booked Phoebe and I in immediately. It was kind of like shooting fish in a barrel, but my eight year old grand daughter just wanted results. A fish was all that mattered. Eight year old Phoebes (and grampas too) only have so much patience. 

This morning it was not a chore to get Phoebe out of bed, dressed and through her breakfast. Everything needed to be in a hurry so we wouldn't be late. We arrived plenty early and had to patiently sit a while because everyone else was on time.

First came the talking program with Phoebe correctly answering many of the questions about fish. It turns out she knows a great deal about fish and how to catch them. Feeding the captive fish on display was also a highlight. We learned to tie knots so that if we lost a hook while fishing we knew just what to do. 

Then came the main event - FISHING! First everyone had to learn to cast, something Phoebe already knew how to do. At long last we headed down to the small pond to begin to fish for real. We baited the hook and Phoebe threw in her line. It took a few tries and it began to rain pretty hard but none of that mattered. Phoebe got some real good bites and at long last a FISH GRABBED HER LINE. The huge grin on her face as she reeled in her very first fish was well worth the whole effort.

Being a fish hatchery, it was catch and release of course but Phoebe was OK with that. Before we let the fish swim away we grabbed one quick picture.

It was one more wonderful Phoebe adventure!

-grampa dan