What happens to boys...

[Bill Grumbine]

...when they show up too early to court my daughters.

<img src= "http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/logsplitting01.jpg">

Two young men (brothers) from our church have been calling on my two older daughters for the past few months. The whole family is coming over for New Year's festivities, but the boys thought it might be nice to get in a little extra social time, and arrived well before the young ladies expected them.

No problem says I, I know just the thing. We hitched up the log splitter to the tractor, got the tractor out of the barn, and proceeded to split some wood for an hour or so. Hee hee hee. The worst part is, most of it was walnut. It was too small to make anything out of it, and it doesn't even burn that well.

Happy New Year to all.

Bill

[Terry Quiram]

Hi Bill

Thats funny. My father in law used to put me to work also.

What happened to the rest of your corn crib? :D

Terry

[Mark Singer]

Thats it get some work out of them!
Mark

[Jim Becker]

...when they show up too early to court my daughters.

Hopefully, they "didn't" learn their lesson and show up early and often... :D



The worst part is, most of it was walnut. It was too small to make anything out of it, and it doesn't even burn that well.

Interesting...I find that the walnut in the two cords I have burn quite well in my woodstove that keeps the great room warm. Only the oak seems to burn longer, at least in my Vermont Castings stove.

[Bud Duffy]

Is that why the boys quit calling on my doughter?????

[Tom Sweeney]

Is that the infamous family with the 3 boys that are the same age as your girls but are "just friends" :D (I forget the name even though I heard it many times when I was at your place)

I just showed your post to my 15 yr old & her "just friend" that's here for new years & reminded him that I don't even have a tractor or a splitter, Just a big Sharp Axe - -Thanks Bill :D Though I think I already have him trained properly - he made his mom drive him around our neighborhood for a while cause he was too early :cool:

[Charles McKinley]

"The World According the Papa Chuckie" .... and I know all about little boys I used to be one!

Luckily I have a few years before I have to worry about such things.

[John Piwaron]

The boys like you. That's good. And tools are a universal attraction. They knew you had one and wanted to get some time usin' it.

My daughter is a bit too young to have boys calling on her, but it isn't too far off. With luck, they'll be attracted to my shop. That'll be a good sign.

My late father in law and I got along very well. When I went through a bout of unempolyment 20 or so years ago we spent quite a bit of time together on yard work for our places and his friends.

[Bill Grumbine]

Good morning all

I am sitting by the fire as I type, comfortable in the knowledge that I have some more cut wood to get me through the winter now. ;)

Terry, the whole corn crib is there. We removed the wire on one side so as to use it for wood storage. It started out to be turning blank storage, but then we bought the rest of the farm buildings and now we use it for firewood. This thing is a monster, on a huge concrete pad.

Jim, I might be spoiled (well, I know I am), but we burn mostly cherry and mulberry here, and the walnut can't hold a candle to it. :D

Tom, you are right, them's the boys. They know what they are in for when they come over. They've been working for me for years now.

John, you are right too. I think they love the tools. Diesel tractor, hydraulic splitter, and they get to drive the little tractor that tows the wood wagon once in a while. I know that it still feels like playing for me, even though it is some hard work.

Today is a nother beautiful day for working outside, but we have other obligations, so I'll just have to "invite" them down to see the girls another day.

Bill

[Mark Singer]

Bill,
Your a lucky man ! the boys that date my daughter don't want to get there "Gucci" pants dirty....this part of the worlds tilted a bit....If it wasn't so pretty I might move ...in Kutzrown I'd be a lot closer to "falling Water"
Mark

[Jim Becker]

...in Kutzrown I'd be a lot closer to "falling Water"

Actually, you'd be about a five hour drive away from Falling Water, assuming normal biological functions get taken care of along the way. Beautiful place, BTW, and they finally stabilized it so it will not continue to fall apart. Wright was a wonderful designer, but a poor engineer...too many corners cut structurally.

[Mark Singer]

Jim,
He had the same problem here in Ca, all the textile block houses are crumbling and have to be redone....beautiful though. If he had the attorneys that are around now... he would of had some real problems...I've got 60 sheets in some of my plans and there still looking for errors and ommisions. I would like to resaw and bookmatch the whole group!
Mark

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Jim and Mark,

Falling water was messed up by the builders wanting the balconies level when it was built rather than slightly tilted to allow for the setteling as it was designed.

There is another F.L. Wright house just down the road from Falling water. It is called Kentuck Knob. (It was built for the Hagan family. Think Golden Round Icecream, MMMMMMMMMM.) It is a much warmer and more livable space as it was designed to be lived in yaer around. It is based on a hexagon grid. It is one of the few Wright houses with a basement and a kitchen not for hired help. It is open for tours.

Entice you enough for a visit Mark????

My girlfriend built a model of it for a class when I was in college and I got to actually crawl around it to get the measurements. It is now owned by a Brit that collects houses. It has a very interesting sculpture garden also.

Contact me if you want more info.

[Mark Singer]

Chuck,
I really want to see them both. I have seen photos of Kentuck Knob it it does look interesting. I will get out there and when I do I would like to visit mySMC friends along the way. All except for Bill, I never did like chopp'in firewood ....Maybe I can just watch.
Mark

[Todd Burch]

Bill, my son is 13, and I think he's part pyromaniac. If there is an opportuity to burn something, he is all over it!

Yesterday, I trimmed up a bunch of rough, natural edge cherry on the band saw and cut up the trimmings with a chop saw to fit in the backyard outdoor chiminea. (clay fire box). I gave him some pitch pine shavings (better than matches) for kindling and let him burn it all. Cherry sure does smell good. At one point, fire was licking out the top by well over a foot! I told him to slow it down a bit - the clay pot wasn't meant to hold a bonfire.

I think he only helped me in the shop because he knew I was going to let him burn them up.

Today, I got out the aromatic cedar scraps and burnt a few of those. Yummmm yum. Reminds me of being at a lodge.

[John Piwaron]

There is another F.L. Wright house just down the road from Falling water. It is called Kentuck Knob. It is one of the few Wright houses with a basement and a kitchen not for hired help. It is open for tours.

It is now owned by a Brit that collects houses.


Imagine having enough money that instead of collecting stamps or ceramic figurines, you can collect houses. Yum.

[John Schreiber]

My father-in-law had three daughters and no sons. He said he got more work done by boys coming to see his daughters than he would have if he'd had sons in the first place.

[Mike Evertsen]

if I had daughters I'd be explaining to him what I expected as I cleaned my shot gun,,,thats how the girl (I was dating) father explained it to me when I was in high school,,,,

[Bill Grumbine]

Bill, my son is 13, and I think he's part pyromaniac. If there is an opportuity to burn something, he is all over it!

Todd, that's part of being a boy, isn't it? I still love fires - responsibly of course! These boys love demolition. When we gutted the house to redo the wiring, the boys came over to help, but they did not know what they were going to be doing. When they arrived, they were issued goggles, dust masks, hammers, and wrecking bars. I took them into the living room dining room area and told them, "Wreck the walls". The looks on their faces were something to behold. They thought they had died and gone to heaven. The vigor with which they applied themselves as amazing. One of them even stopped for a moment, turned to me and said, "We don't get to break things very often without getting into trouble, Mr. Grumbine". He then turned to resume his activites with redoubled zeal so as not to let his brothers have all the fun. Oh to be a boy again... but I think I'll pass.

Bill

[Bill Grumbine]

Bill,
Your a lucky man ! the boys that date my daughter don't want to get there "Gucci" pants dirty....this part of the worlds tilted a bit....If it wasn't so pretty I might move ...in Kutzrown I'd be a lot closer to "falling Water"
Mark

Hi Mark

The scenery out here ain't too shabby either. :D But even if you can't move out here, you might be able to make your way here next July for the Five Barns picnic. It is a woodworking picnic we host here at our place in the summer. Last year we had 93 people from all over - you might be the first to make it from CA for the picnic, but Carol Reed (the Router Lady) has the honor of being the first Californian to visit my humble shop.

Bill

[Bill Grumbine]

My father-in-law had three daughters and no sons. He said he got more work done by boys coming to see his daughters than he would have if he'd had sons in the first place.

There is a lot of truth in that John. Not only do the boys work, but the girls pitch in so that a) they can spend more time with the boys, and b) the job gets done faster so thy can go off to do what they had originally planned!

Bill

[Bill Grumbine]

if I had daughters I'd be explaining to him what I expected as I cleaned my shot gun,,,thats how the girl (I was dating) father explained it to me when I was in high school,,,,

Mike, we don't just clean 'em, we've taken the boys shooting. Not only do they know what a hole my larger caliber pieces make, they know how good I am at putting that hole where I want it. :D And my daughters can shoot too, better than they boys!

Bill