Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself

[Larry Norton]

Hi, All! My name is Larry Norton and I live in the little town of La Plata, Md. I was a service tech for Verizon for 30 years and retired on Christmas Eve, 2001. On Apr. 28, 2002, our house was picked up and moved 9 ft. in a devestating tornado. It came crashing down on top of us, but we were just scratched.

In the old house I had a 17 by 21 ft basement shop, the new house has a 24 by 32 basement shop. We were actually able to save quite a few tools because the house stayed in one piece. 3 very good friends of mine sent pictures of the house sitting on my Delta contractors saw. Delta was going to replace it, but I had already gotten a PM 66, so, to make a long story short, they delivered a brand new DJ20 jointer to my door. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed.

I've been building furniture for 16 years, and my wife and I do about 6 or 7 shows a year. I also have a one day a week job putting up new books and magazines in 3 Home Depots. I'm certainly not doing it for the money, but it is fun.

If someone could tell me how to post pictures, I would appreciate it. My furniture isn't spectacular, but I'm having fun.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. I learn new things every day, and look foreward to learning things here. Hopefully I'll be able to add some too.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Hi Larry, and welcome to the Creek. I'm pretty new aroud these parts myself, but I guarantee you won't find a better bunch of people on the 'net. Lots of good-natured learning, sharing, helping, and gloating going on.

Regarding posting pictures, there's some discussion about it at http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=21272. I've had no trouble posting pics, but I have a website that I can host them from. If you don't have a website of your own, there are a number of "picture hosting" sites. Others here can likely shed a lot more light about these than I can.

Once again, welcome, and enjoy!

- Vaughn

[Christian Aufreiter]

Welcome to SMC, Larry.




If someone could tell me how to post pictures, I would appreciate it. My furniture isn't spectacular, but I'm having fun.

I can't comment on your furniture because I haven't seen it yet :) but I do like your attitude.

Regards,

Christian

[mike malone]

[QUOTE=Larry Norton]Hi, All! My name is Larry Norton and I live in the little town of La Plata, Md. I was a service tech for Verizon for 30 years and retired on Christmas Eve, 2001. On Apr. 28, 2002, our house was picked up and moved 9 ft. in a devestating tornado. It came crashing down on top of QUOTE]

hey Larry ...welcome!!
you'll find SMC as one of the friendliest, helpful forums on the web...bar none.
lets see some photos....and tell me how i can get a free DJ20 jointer from Delta again...
regards
mike

[Richard Wolf]

Larry, welcome. Sounds like the house thing was pretty devistating, best of luck.

Richard

[Norman Hitt]

[QUOTE=Larry Norton]Hi, All! My name is Larry Norton and I live in the little town of La Plata, Md. I was a service tech for Verizon for 30 years and retired on Christmas Eve, 2001. On Apr. 28, 2002, our house was picked up and moved 9 ft. in a devestating tornado. It came crashing down on top of QUOTE]

hey Larry ...welcome!!
you'll find SMC as one of the friendliest, helpful forums on the web...bar none.
lets see some photos....and tell me how i can get a free DJ20 jointer from Delta again...
regards
mike

Larry, welcome to the "Creek". Looks like you can be helpful right from the start, You just need to explain to Mike, "How to Start a Tornado", AND, get it to set his House on top of one of his Delta Tools for him to take a Picture of." :D :D

You're gonna Love it here on the Creek, friendly, helpful people with a little Humor thrown in Occassionally. :)

[Joseph N. Myers]

Larry,

Try http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthr...2416#post132416 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=132416#post132416) for some really good instructions on posting. You also want to keep the size under 90k (?) and no bigger that 600 x 450 (I use pixresizer, free, very easy to use, search the web).

On this site, you upload the pictures from your PC, i.e., "my documents" and it(they) become part of your post. On other forums, you have to load the picture(s) to some "picture holding" file(s) on the web and put the "link" in the message.

Give it a shot --- I among others are dying to see the pictures. (If you still have problems, send me an e-mail or PM and we'll go from there).

Regards, Joe

[Mark Singer]

Welcome Larry! Join the SMC guys!

[Alan Turner]

Welcome aboard, Larry.

[Per Swenson]

Welcome larry,

I would love to see some pictures.

Especially the the house and saw combo.

All though we do not get twisters around here,

we occasionally have floods.

Do you think Delta would go for a shaper as anchor photo?

Per

[Steve Ash]

Welcome Larry,
You will find a wealth of information here, glad you found us. I'm also looking forward to seeing pictures of your house on top of your old saw.

[Dan Moening]

Welcome to the Creek, Larry!

I'm not usually one to join in the power tool goings ons, but when I saw you had made an introduction I thought I would chime in.

Glad to have you here.

[Jim Becker]

Welcome aboard, Larry!!! I know I look forward to seeing your work!

[Jim Stastny]

Larry,

Welcome to the Creek!! I live on the otherside of the Beltway. According to Yahoo Maps we're about 72 miles apart. If you ever get up this way give me a call.

[Larry Norton]

OK, Let's try.

[Tim Morton]

WOW...La Plata? Digging back into my memory bank...20 years ago I was stationed at Pax River (lexington park Md)...I think we used to drive thru Laplata on our way to the big city of Waldorf? Welcome to the Creek...Southern maryland is not a bad place to be IMO....I would love to make it back for a visit.

[Michael Gabbay]

Hey Larry, we've been waiting for you..... Welcom to the dark side! :D


Actually, for those who don't know Larry he's a great woodworker and does some really nice country / shaker / mission style work. He also has a few thumb and table saw pictures to keep us safty minded! :eek:

Welcome to the Creek Larry!

Mike

[Corey Hallagan]

Hi Larry, welcome to the creek. Incredible story. I like the way you think! Don't underestimate yourself either, your work looks pretty good to me!
Corey

[Larry Norton]

Hey, Tim! I was raised in Ridge! Waldorf is about 9 miles north of La Plata. La Plata has changed so much since the tornado. You wouldn't recognize it.

Thanks, Corey! Don't buy a Fugi Digital, 90% of my pictures are out of focus. My old Olympus took perfect pictures until I dropped it.

Mike, I see what you meant in your email. Maybe you should send Alden one, also.Have you told them about where we get "lumber" from yet?
Thanks, everyone, for the warm welcome. I can tell I'm going to like it here. I'm still working on the picture thing, so bear with me. I have to figure out how to make them smaller.

[Jim Hager]

Now show them some of your art work larry. They make me go by my real name here but Bonyfingers is the alias :D on the wwa where you may have seen my posts before. Welcome here, I don't say much on this board but I sure enjoy keeping up with all these guys here even if they don't know that I do.;)

[Bill Fields]

Larry:

I'm new as well--I get tips not available anywhere else on a weekly basis, and I know you will get a lot out of SMC.

Great looking work--picture a little fuzzy--but I can tell a lot of care and effort went into it.

BILL FIELDS

[Joseph N. Myers]

Larry,

Looks like you have the picture thing under control. The main thing about the size is the "600" or the width of the picture. When you get over say 660, you have to start scrolling left/right to see the picture/text, a real pain.

If you do a right click on the picture, then left click properties you can get all sorts of info such as size (and copy, etc). Your 1st picture was 788 x 555 and hence the right/left scrolling. Your 2nd picture was 631 x 815 and hence no scrolling (you know, the 600-660 size). The "815" will cause you to scroll down but no big deal.

Regards, Joe

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Larry...good to see you made it here! How you been? You would be hard pressed to find a better bunch of folks than you will here...welcome to the Creek!

[Von Bickley]

Welcome Larry,
Glad to have you at the Creek... :)

[JayStPeter]

Larry,

Good to have another SOMDer around.

Tim, let me know if you ever do visit.

Jay

[sascha gast]

hey larry, good seeing you here. a really nice place here, cool people and very friendly.
now you know the 2 places where i like to hang out.

sascha

[Phil Maddox]

Larry,

I see Sascha here also. We need Alden and we can start the SMCMDAUXers. What do you think?:cool:

Do we tell of the H_cksv_ll_ secret yet?

Good to hear from you again

Phil - aka philm

[Bill Lewis]

Welcome Larry from another MD'r

I like the sideboard, and yes you need to get a new digital camer, but don't we all!? :) Glad you got the picture posting thing worked out. Looks like you have some good stuff to show us.

BTW here's a probably a painful picture of LaPlata... Satelite photo of the F5 tornado path that you experienced first hand

[John Hart]

Hi Larry...Welcome to the Creek! You do nice work and I hope to see more. I lived in Waldorf before moving to Cleveland 15 years ago. I miss Captain Billy's just south of you the most...Is it still there?

[Frank Pellow]

Hi Larry, welcome to Saw Mill Creek! :)

Glad to see that you figured out how to post pictures, expecially pictures of such nice furniture.

But, when do we get to see the picture of your house sitting on your table saw?

[Frank Pellow]

Larry and Jay, Maryland is quite a small state, so why do you refer to Southern Maryland?

What with Cheasapeake Bay dividing the state the way it does, I could understand East and West, but not North and South. And, if you are in Southern Maryland, where are the folks in Pocomoke City (who are even further south than you are) ?

[Larry Norton]

Here's the picture of the house sitting on the saw.

[Keith Starosta]

Hi Larry, and welcome!! That picture is amazing. I remember the LaPlata tornado very clearly. That's the one that picked up the car with two girls in it and through it a couple hundred yards, killing both of them. I can't imagine that!

Again, welcome!

Keith

[Michael Gabbay]

Larry - How many times do we have to tell you, don't try and cut the room off your house with the table saw! :D You must have some serious outfeed rollers!:D

Sorry could not resist. I still get chills when I see that photo. I remember herding the kids and dog into the basement the afternoon of those tornados. Since we don't get very many the ones that hit close by are hard to forget.

Mike

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Larry,

Welcome to the creek! It is good to see you here!

That picture is truely amazing :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Welcome to the Creek Larry! Neat place to exchange information! From beginners to pros they are all here always willing to exchange information or lend an opinion! That picture of your house and t/s is impressive! Sounds like you are recovering from the incident. Keep working on the furniture.....you've got some talent! Again......Welcome!

[Jon Olson]

Welcome Larry.
This is a great place. As Sascha said, some of us have other homes (brainfrz)

Jon

[Michael Gibbons]

Hi Larry, On a happier note, "Welcome". Glad your O.K. Mother Nature is something, isn't she?


Mike

[Jason Tuinstra]

Larry, sounds like you have quite the story to tell. Welcome aboard! Sounds like you have a well equipped and good sized place to go and hang out. Posting pics, as I'm sure you've been told, is a piece of cake. We look forward to seeing what you've made.

Edit: Ah... I see you've already figured out the pic thing. Sorry.

[David Wilson]

Larry
Welcome aboard. You found a great place to learn and teach with a great groop of people.

[Larry Norton]

One thing I forgot to mention about the picture. Most people think the grey wall with the window in it is a wall I built around the house. It's actually the basement wall that the house sat on. The house was built in '56 and it had no bolts through the plate intto the cinder blocks. It's probably a good thing because I believe it would have pulled the wall over and we wouldn't have survived. We were actually about 6 ft. to the left of the saw. I watched the house being picked up, moved and set back down. Here's a picture of the new house on the same lot.

[Rob Overton]

Is that table still shaking from going throuh the Tornado..... :D Just kidding. Looks good to me. Welcome

[John Hart]

We were actually about 6 ft. to the left of the saw. I watched the house being picked up, moved and set back down...

WOW!!!!!! And you survived. That is just unfathomable!

[Jim Andrew]

Looks like that old Delta might have saved your lives. Congratulations! The
new house appears to have a poured basement. Much better. What county
in MD do you live in? Jim

[Michael Pfau]

Hi Larry, welcome! Looking forward to seeing your work. This is a good place to ramble! Alot of good knowledge here, glad to have you!

[Bob Reeve]

Larry,

Welcome to the Creek. You are not alone from the other place. Alot of us frequent both places. (pacmktg).

Bob

[JayStPeter]

Larry and Jay, Maryland is quite a small state, so why do you refer to Southern Maryland?

What with Cheasapeake Bay dividing the state the way it does, I could understand East and West, but not North and South. And, if you are in Southern Maryland, where are the folks in Pocomoke City (who are even further south than you are) ?

Frank,

Three counties are considered Southern MD. They are Charles, Clavert and St. Marys. Southern MD is the area of land south of DC and west of the Chesapeake. It is bordered on the south by the Potomac and ends at Pt. Lookout, the point formed by the Potomac and Chesapeake intersection. It is more isolated than most places within an hour of DC since it is cut off and split up by water (Chesapeake, Potomac and Patuxent plus smaller tributaries).
Your thoughts of east/west are correct. The area east of the Chesapeake is called the eastern shore and the panhandle western MD. Pocomoke City is on the eastern shore (also known as Delmarva). The rest of MD is basically metropolitan DC and/or Baltimore.

Jay

[Stefan Antwarg]

Frank, and anyone else who cares. It may seem that MD is too small to have designations like Southern Md, but it does. Jay described it perfectly. Thing is, people who live in the other counties never go to Southern MD :). I lived in MD just about my whole life and have been south of DC (in md) about twice. It's just a different world down there. So yes, there are clear divisions. Eastern vs. western shore even more so. Because there are only a couple ways to make it across.

PS - take my post lightly - I am sure plenty of people go to Southern MD.

Stefan

Oh, and welcome to the forum. That's some very nice furniture. Not everyone realizes what a big deal that tornado was at the time. It's not like MD sees them all the time. But I am glad everything worked out for you.

[scott spencer]

Welcome to a great forum Larry. Great introduction!

[Larry Norton]

Thanks so very much for the warm welcome, guys! Posts, are great, pictures are even better, but the best thing about woodworkers is how we make friends and how much they improve what we love to do. I've been a member of another forum for almost 4 years and have made many great friends, some I've met, some I would love to meet someday. I'm sure the same thing will happen here.


If you're ever coming through La Plata on Rt 301, please let me know, I'd love to meet you and show you my shop, especially my DJ20.

[Pete Harbin]

Hey Larry,

Both of my parent's families are from La Plata. They both graduated from La Plata High School. When my Dad retired from the Air Force (30 yrs - 1995)they returned and lived in my Grandmother's house on the Potomac River when she moved down to Florida. My youngest sister even graduated from La Plata High School after they went back. My parents now live in the "big city" of Waldorf.
Boy do I have a lot of fond memories of times at that house on the river. How do the Blue Crabs look this year? My little sister actually worked at Capt. Johns when she was in high school (8 years ago.) Whenever my wife and I go back to visit, we always make a trip (or two) out to Capt. Billy's at Pope's Creek.

Welcome to the creek! Lot's of help and knowledge, but no blues :)

Pete

[Don Slaughter]

Welcome, Larry. I guess this is a great way to lend credibility (or not) to your "standard" welcome to newcomers at the other place. Looks like we're both finding that woodworkers are fine folks wherever you meet them. BTW there is a current post expressing concern about you at the other place.

good luck,
Don