Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments.....

[Dennis Peacock]

2 May 2011

Good Morning everyone,
I'm tired, sore, and exhausted this morning. I got back from my parents home in Huntsville, AL just last night. My daughter and I left last Monday morning to go and help my parents around the house and yard for a little "spring cleaning" and to visit with my Dad as much as I could because his cancer appears to keep on taking more of his life from him.

We were only 1/2 mile from one of the F4 tornadoes that hit Alabama. There were over 1 Million people without power. My parent's home and neighborhood were without power and any other utility except for water during the first wave of storms that came through the area. Tress down everywhere, lines down, poles snapped, and damage at most every turn. We were very blessed to only have property damage and no damage to the house.
I am sorry to say that a very dear friend of mine lost it all to the twister that passed close to us. My heart aches for him, his family, and many others like them. Tuesday, they all had homes and were comfortable and clean. Wednesday it was all gone with many only escaping with their lives.

My heart and my prayers go out to ALL of those that have suffered loss, damage, death, injury, or loss of job or utilities during this time.

That's all from me, so what did YOU do this past weekend?

Best of weeks to you all and prayers to all who have been hit by the storms.

[Jim O'Dell]

Dennis, glad you got to spend time with your Dad. And glad you were there to help with the property after the storms.

Not much here going on. Finally getting some rain that we so desperately need. I mowed Sat since rain was in the forcast for Sunday. Started packing, still packing this morning getting ready to head to OKC for the Irish Setter National Specialty. So I will be away from the computer for a while. Back late Saturday. Hope I'm able to mow next Sunday! We've been having to mow the Rye grass about every 4 days, and that's without rain! :eek::eek: Jim.

[Shawn Pixley]

Friday night I started my journey back from Brazil. 24 hours later (but no sleep), I walked in my front door. LOML and DS were happy to see me. I igured out that I was home eight days in April. The balance of Saturday was running errands until I hit the wall. Sunday, I started the tray I need to make for a present for a freind's wedding at the end of the month. DS interrupted me to go look at some gear he wants to buy to start his studio, while a glue up was drying, Came back and worked a bit more before he asked to go and play catch. When your 21 year old son asks this, you drop what you are doing to keep connected. Apparently, fathers still have a role... Started the inlay elements - silver, abolone (cut from the shells), and various woods for they tray before I called it a night. All in all, a good day.

Dennis, sorry to hear about your friend's house. I send best wishes for speedy repairs to all affected by the tornados.

[mickey cassiba]

I look forward to this post every week, but have never commented, mostly 'cause I never do anything of note.
This week however I actually accomplished something. I brought my wife home from the hospital, and have cleaned and scrubbed all of the cigarette smoke odor from the place to help decrease her cravings. I've been stringing oxygen lines throught the house anticipating the delivery of her concentrator, so she will not be limited to one room when she needs a puff or two.(Of o2, not tobacco!)

[Matt Meiser]

We had a really long weekend that started on the 21st. It was my daughter's spring break so we took vacation and went to St. Louis to see the sights and visit family. My wife and I are there at least once a year since my company is located there but my daughter hasn't been in a few years and not for more than a weekend since she was an infant. So we did a baseball game (on the evening of the 23rd when there were a bunch of tornadoes-made for an interesting evening,) toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery, went to the arch, went to the Museum of Transportation, City Musuem, and a few other things. We also spent a lot of time visiting aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. On Thursday, one of my uncles and I drove from their house about an hour west of St. Louis to Springfield to visit Grizzly and Bass Pro, as well as eat lunch at Lamberts Cafe. Made for a very enjoyable day since I don't get to spend a ton of time with him. Also stopped by Rockler since its easier for me to get to the one in St. Louis than the one in Detroit.

[David Hostetler]

My weekend started somewhat early as I had good traffic back home Friday. I got the rest of the trim installed on the garage, along with primer, and paint on all the new siding and trim. As stormy and violent as it has been in the southeast, it has been unseasonably dry and hot here, we are talking mid 90s almost every day, and over 100 days since any rain to speak of. Yeah a tiny sprinkle here and there, but that's it... Been a very bad spring so far weather wise...

I spent a bit of time doing some shop cleanup, which consisted of a large amount of construction debris (keeping the old trim for sizing of the new stuff...).

I finally got tired of looking at my cheap POS Wilton wood working vise I got from Home Depot without any sort of faces, I took some 3/4 pine stock I had from an old project and made some quick & dirty faces out of it. I have to post up pics of this. This thing is beyond pitiful...

Most of Saturday was a wash, I ended up taking the family out for hair cuts as we were due. LOML gets her hair dyed, which takes forever. We showed up at noon, and got out of there at 4:00... Good thing I brought a copy of Shop Notes...

LOML and I spent a couple of hours removing what leftover wallpaper is stuck to the guest bathroom walls. I am also in the process of creating new moldings for the door jamb as the originals were destroyed by a former roomate's dog, and the profile I need is no longer available off the shelf locally, but easy enough to copy on the router table / table saw...

I went ahead and painted the 5" A/C louvered vents to match the siding instead of painting them with the contrasting paint color for the trim. I figured that would make one thing less the HOA can fuss about...

I have reorganized my big 5 tier shelving units so that I don't have stuff strewn from one end of the shop to the other, now one shelf is entirely LOML's garden stuff, and the other shelf is shop stuff, not all woodworking mind you, most of it is home repair and automotive repair supplies, but at least it is somewhat condensed now...

And we had the unfortunate task of trying to understand our Cell Phone plan. I am paying through the teeth for a 3 line 1400 minute plan, with no smart phone service or anything like that. I need to get my bill down but have no clue what I am being charged for... Does anyone actually understand cell phone plans?

I ended up making Chile Rellenos for dinner last night (I typically do the weekend cooking), which is something new for me... Came out okay...

Lastly, and probably most importantly, stayed up last night to absorb the news of Osama Bin Laden's too long postponed meeting with his maker. I almost wish there was a camera crew there to catch the look on his face when he finds out just why those virgins are still virgins...

[Callan Campbell]

Actually got back to woodworking and my shop for a change. Helped a friend with his bathroom vanity projects in a couple of bathrooms. Correct a 220 volt outlet box in my shop that had loosened up from the wall, was 'always' going to add anchors to it, and of course it went months before I got around to it.
Fixed a shelf for our laundry room, hauled out scrap metal to the alley for the roving junkemen. Would have like to have seen the face of whatever guy stopped to pick up the old Wayne 5HP 2 stage air compressor pump that I left out there!!!! Another project that I held onto for several years for a friend that in the end didn't go the way he could afford. So, good bye to that old blue Wayne Pump, and hello to more floor space in my shop.
Put away multiple small items from recent Festool purchases to round out some existing and older tools. And swept up 3 times from all the crud that I uncovered while moving everything out or around. Gee, somebody is a pig around here, hmm, could be me!

[BOB OLINGER]

Dennis - sorry to hear of your friend's loss. That storm damage was simply horrible.

Concerning the weekend, I finished laying ceramic tile in the first bathroom - these were all floor tile this weekend. However, first was figuring out and following the instructions for installing a heated floor mat between the hardibacker floor underlayment and floor tile. Actually, instructions including CD were very good; I haven't put the juice to it, but testing at various installation steps all proved OK. Also, I finished plumbing the new bathtub with whirlpool jets. By end of next weekend, the vanity including plumbing and stool must be in - a bridal shower coming the following weekend. All-in-all, a good weekend with good progress.

[Paul Canaris]

Ran 3/4" iron pipe throughout my workshop all weekend for the compressor I have coming in a few weeks; 10 hour days. Learned how to set-up and operate a Rigid 535 electric pipe threader I rented from RSC without benefit of a manual or inservice (fun). Thank god there are plumbing forums on the internet. I'm really, really tired and sore today.

[Dave Pugh]

On Friday, I went to a Colonial Marketfair that is held at a fort that was in use during the French and Indian War. That day I bought the hunk of wood on my bench below:
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i214/DavidPugh/IMG_2320.jpg

By Sunday evening, by hand, I made it look like this:
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i214/DavidPugh/IMG_2343.jpg