Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments.....

[Dennis Peacock]

5 Sep 2011

Greetings,
I thought I'd get this posted tonight so everyone can have an opportunity to post what they did over the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Me? I worked in the yard some, rode motorcycle with a group of friends and worked my day job some and then I started my week of OnCall duty this morning at 7 AM. I am NOT looking forward to this week at all. Long days and nights, but at least it pays the bills.

Cooler temps have arrived here and we are sure enjoying the coolness of each day now. Too bad I'm oncall this week as I have so much yard work to get done it's not even funny.

Things aren't going well with my dad and now he's in a wheelchair and really frail and weak. He's still at home with my mom but I'm now wondering how much longer that will be before he will need total hospital care. He's mentally gone now and doesn't even know who my mom is nor even understands the house he's in is the one he bought and paid for. It's all strange to him and this confusion and loss of memory is reeking havoc on my mom emotionally and physically. Looks like I'll be making a trip before long to stay a few days again and see what all I can do to help my mom.

Well, enough of my sad story, so what did YOU do this Labor Day Weekend?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Wayne Hendrix]

I finished a cross cut sled, got the legs for three desks mostly built, took my wife out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary and am now studying for a weekly test tomorrow. Other than one minor setback a pretty productive weekend.

[Matt Meiser]

Saturday morning I got in a little shop time and then we ran some errands. It was too hot and humid to do anything outside, then in the afternoon we got the first of a series of thunderstorms. Sunday we cleaned the garage, something we usually do once a year but didn't get done last year and boy did it need it! Moved everything, cleaned, organized, and finished by power washing the floor and anything that could stand the water. It was still pretty warm but I was soaked so that was a good thing. Today i started by designing a piece our club plans to build for a local day care center as a community service project, then moved outside and reseeded a couple parts of the yard that were tore up from projects last fall and over the winter. They were done last fall and this spring and were doing well, but the dry spell we had mid-summer really did them in. Had some fun with the new dog who didn't like the rake and kept trying to steal it from me! The rest of the day I spent int the shop working on tile frames and a little organization project. It got chilly out by this evening--we went grocery shopping and I had to wear jeans and a jacket!School starts in the morning here so we'll be getting back to our normal schedule.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dennis......you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

I got the red oak top for the entertainment center jointed, planed and glued up. Today I spent several hours sanding it.

Saturday afternoon and evening a friend with whom I graduated HS stopped for dinner. He was accompanied by his lovely wife. We hadn't seen each other in 44 years. Over a growler of some fine Scotish ale, we caught each other up on our lives and the lives of other classmates. My wife and I enjoyed their company and hope they return again!

[Glen Butler]

My brother is officially the proud new owner of all my tools, which allowed me to settle a debt with him. He said he wasn't worried about getting paid back and will allow me to use them still. He's a good guy. So we are setting up over 1500 sq ft of shop in approximately a 500 square foot 2 car garage. The miter table will be cut down in length. Some tools will go on mobile bases. There will be much more shelving. But mostly it just wont be as roomy. This weekend, the table saw got put together and trued, lighting was installed, and power was run to the tools.

[Shawn Pixley]

I worked on the pair of tables I am building. The legs were completed and the arc got constructed. Nothing very notable, but all in all refreshing.

[Gordon Eyre]

Had the five stitches taken out of my finger where I had a bad chisel cut. Measured up my kitchen for a tile back-splash and will order the tile today. Talked to one of the nice creakers who gave me many tips on how to lay tile and then visualized how it would go when I actually got started. Watched four football games on TV, ate too much and visited with family. All in all, a pretty nice weekend.

[James Baker SD]

I made a sliding box shelf to place under our induction cooktop to make better use of the storage space. Absolutely the ugliest dovetail joints I have ever seen (1 of 4 was OK, 3 of 4 were poor), but it will probably serve its purpose. Old cooktop was a downdraft and this space was filled with ducting and fans. New cooktop has vent above it through the ceiling, so quite a lot of space under the cooktop was freed up. I dovetailed the box to get the practice and boy do I need practice. :-)

James

[Dave Aronson]

Built a cross cut sled and spent a full day marking out the pieces for a router table cabinet. It was finally under 100 so I could stand to work in the garage.

[john davey]

I added plywood to an unfinished wall in my basement. I will use this wall to hand my hand tools to include a plane and saw till. All I got to so far was getting the ply up....John

[james glenn]

Well, I haven't been on much lately as I haven't been in the shop at all. Not sure if any of you saw the news about us here in upstate NY, but we were hit with the reminents of Hurricane Irene last weekend which blew some trees over. One of which landed on our cow barn. Let me tell you, it is a bit of a challenge cutting a tree from a metal roof with a 12/12 pitch in the middle of a storm of that magnitude; but I dut it off without causing further damage. The storm flooded everything and we have been trying to help each other recover.

Then this weekend I replaced the metal roofing just before another violent storm hit on Sunday causing a tornado only a mile or so from the house and farm. Luckily we only received some more downed trees and such.

Most of the trees were locust, so good for fence posts, at least. There was a Beech tree and a few Maples I might be able to salvage some logs from though.

I am not sure how you Southern folk deal with these threats and storms so often. I guess I will have to stop complaining about the snow to much. haha.

[Jim Rimmer]

Talked to one of the nice creakers Was this one of the older guys that logs on here? :D

[Jim Rimmer]

Dennis:

Sorry to hear about your Dad. We went through this several years ago with LOML's Dad. It's a tough time. Our prayers are with you.

[Rod Sheridan]

Dennis, sorry to hear about your father, I went through that with my Mom recently. You are correct, it's hardest on the other family members, it didn't bother my Mom at all.

One day I went to visit her, however she wasn't answering her doorbell, so I used my cell phone to call her.

My Mom appears at the door, says "I don't have time to talk, Rod's on the phone", and slams the door in my face. Fortunately she didn't lock it.....LOL. My siblings and I still laugh about it, however it was painful watching her mind fail.

Dennis, keep up your spirits, we're all thinking of you, and the genrosity of your actions comes through in your posts.

What did I do this weekend? Diann and I went to a Provincial Park called Mikisew in Ontario, about 300Km from home. It was almost empty, so we had a great weekend of camping with no cell phones, radio or TV. Nice starlit skies, cool nights..............It was wonderful, now I'm back at work heading off for two weeks away on projects/maintenance.

Regards, Rod.

[Jim O'Dell]

Dennis, I too am sorry to hear that your Dad's health is declining. Seems our families are on similar but not parallel courses. Got home from work last Monday to find that my Dad was in Mercy Hospital in OKC. How did we hear about it? A friend of theirs told LOML's sister in Pauls Valley OK about it, and she called us asking how he was. I've told my Mom that we are going to have a sit down discussion once this all is resolved. So I took off work and spent 3 days and 2 nights with my Mom, brother, his two daughters, and one son in law....Oh, and a multitude of my parent's friends from Lake Texhoma. Dad evidently had fallen 6 weeks ago, and was getting dizzy. Finally went to Dr. that Mon. am, they did a head CT, and by 1:00 he was in an ambulance headed for Mercy to drill 2 holes in his head for tubes to drain the blood. Great hospital by the way. I got about 7 hours total sleep the 2 nights I was there. The 3 on the second night in my van in the parking lot. It's bad when the ICU waiting room at the hospital is too noisy at 2 am to get any sleep. :( Fri. am, Dad pulled one of the drains out trying to wake up, and had to be put back under to reattach. By Sat am he was stronger and able to stand, something he wasn't able to do while I was there. By Sun, they pulled the tubes and sent him to a regular room. This morning, they kicked him out of the hospital. :D Home resting now after finally getting a shower and a shave.
Woodworking. Well, not really, but I worked all 3 days on the ceiling I've been redoing. Cut in 12 recessed can lights and got them all wired up. Another touch up on the joints with compound and sanding. Last night touched up some more, and need to sand those few spots. This weekend after wiping down the ceiling to get rid of the dust, I'll prime and texture (hopefully on Saturday) then prime and hopefully finish coat on Sunday. At least I don't have to go crawling around in the attic anymore!!!!! Here are two shots, one from each end of the room. 207021207022 SHHHHHH!! Don't tell Glenna I snapped the last picture while she wasn't looking!!!! :) Jim.

[Gilbert Vega]

I'm close to finishing a Mesquite display case that will end up on the entry
just need door knobs and catches.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k240/00lightning/2011-09-05_18-35-06_143.jpg

[Gordon Eyre]

Was this one of the older guys that logs on here? :D

For sure Jim and I certainly find myself in that category. :o

[Jerome Hanby]

Scheduled Tuesday off of work to make an extended long weekend with the idea of making some major progress in the shop. Made the mistake of taking Saturday off to watch football and the fallout from the tropical storm hit us Saturday night and remained until Tuesday evening. It stayed so dark with cloud cover and rain that my shop was virtually pitch black day and night. I was able to do a bit on Tuesday but everything was so cluttered inside and still too wet outside, that I spent the day cleaning in the shop. Hopefully by month's end, I'll have my shop lighting installed and the shop organized enough that I can work indoors.

[Dave Aronson]

WOW! very nice

[David Hostetler]

Sorry to hear the guys that are having a rough time... Prayers for yall and your families for sure! My post for this is late as officially my weekend is still taking place. Since we don't have to schedule around Kids school schedules, LOML and I decided to take the long weekend and make a week of it. We have so far been to Galveston, the Houston Museum district, and our favorite BBQ joint in Pasadena. Unfortunately since the prior manager Reeves left, it just isn't the same as it once was...

We are presently working on purging the master closet, and switching sides. It made no sense for me at 6' tall to have the shorter side of the closet (closet pole height wise, the widths are the same side to side) compared to my 5' tall wife. My shirts were always getting wrinkled, and she needed a step stool to get her skirts... So we are trading sides of the closet.

I also have been able to spend a tiny bit of quality time in the shop cleaning up. I need to finish the inlay for the pet urn and get the first attempt done. I am having a little trouble with the dovetails, but I think I have it figured out... Nothing masking tape won't fix!