... sooooo ... let's paint the darn thing on the inside ... only been about 27 years since these walls were constructed and painted their one and only time! We have had the downstairs ceilings painted due to water damage and we DID go nuts a while back and take it upon ourselves to paint the kid's bedrooms and our bedroom ... but Carolyn was never happy with the walls in our bedroom and then there is this tacky (very 1980's) wallpaper in the kid's bathroom, the master bathroom and in the wet bar area ... Carolyn NOW really hates wallpaper ... and hey ... those kitchen cabinets look dated as well ... so ... let's paint it all ... we'll add some accent wall colors, get the wallpaper removed ... it'll be swell ... uh huh ...

So ... got a recommendation from my buddy Pete about a good painter ... called 'em up, owner came out to see what we wanted, exchanged a buncha emails with modifications and negotiations on the bid ... signed the final bid ... agreed on the date the painters would arrive ... and ... "... got hung up on another job so will start a week later than planned ... oh, by the way ... the kitchen cabinets we are gonna paint ... ya'll have to empty those completely before we can start ... see you next week..."

Oh crap ... these cabinets have been 'collecting' things for 27 years ... particularly the lower cabinets that have about a zillion 'collector's plates' my grandmother had and we are afraid to get rid of 'cause sure as hell when we do we'll discover one of them is worth $1,000,000 at auction ... so ... two days of boxing up all our kitchen cabinets and cramming stuff in the craftroom, the music room, all over the place ... done ...

Next day painter is supposed to come ... I'll call to confirm ... "... oh no sorry ... still hung up on that other job BUT he'll be there Monday for sure ... " ... uh huh ... Sunday night .. RINGGGGGGG ... "... painter is sick ... he'll be there Tuesday for sure ..." ^&*(*&^&*()(*&*() ... uh huh ...

Steamed a bit and then called painter office ... "have owner call me .. I ain't happy!!' .... RINGGGGGGGG ..." Mr Millsap?..." "... I ain't happy ... here's what we're gonna do ... we're going to ADD the kitchen fur down, behind the refrigerator AND the cabinets in the master bath ... and all this will be at the same price as already agreed to ... " ... "ok they will be there tomorrow!" ...

And they were ... but we're now about 13 days behind our planned schedule and through no fault of her own Carolyn had planned a trip to visit Brandi to coincide with the end of the painting project ... so now ... it will be in the middle of the project and oh joy it'll be me, the cat and the painters for a few days ...

The photo's below show the mess as the wall paper comes down and the kitchen cabinets are empty and primed ... more to follow as progress is made ...

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

From Painting

... and the new Grand Baby will be delivered shortly as well ...

Well ... after what seems like an eternity ... the "crib" part of this project is finished and will be delivered to it's new home next week ... I still have the rail for the "toddler bed" and the footboard for the "full bed" to make but those aren't under the time crunch the crib portion was. So .... deep breath ... hold ... exhale slowly ... again ... ahhhhhhhhhhh ....

The pictures here show the finished crib in both it's "undressed" and "dressed" states ... the "dressed" state shown here is using "store bought" accoutrement's vs the beautiful handmade quilts and blankets from grandmothers, great-grandmothers and friends with which it will be ultimately adorned.

For the interested woodworkers viewing, I used this Crib plan on Rockler and then modified it substantially to suit my particular taste.

So ... here's the photo's

UNDRESSED

From The Crib

From The Crib

From The Crib

and ...

DRESSED

From The Crib

From The Crib

I have to say I am very happy with the results ...

When a luthier builds a stringed instrument there comes a moment greatly cherished ... it is the magic moment when the build is "complete" except for the finish and any adjustments that need to be made before the instrument is delivered to the owner ... at this magic moment the builder strings the instrument, tunes it to proper pitch and plucks the first notes, hearing for the first time the "voice" of the instrument he has created.  This is referred to as "stringing it in the white".  A luthier has toiled long and hard, usually in complete solitude to bring the instrument to life and there is simply no more joyous moment than hearing the first notes "in the white".

I had a similar experience today with the crib ... the pictures show the crib "in the white" ... no finish applied, final sanding still to be done, some knot holes need filling ... but all of the cutting, shaping, drilling, gluing is done the hardware is temporarily installed and I have verified the fit and square of the whole thing ...

It's a good day ...

From The Crib

From The Crib

From The Crib

From The Crib

Well ... progress IS being made ... it's amazing how long it takes me to accomplish basically ANYTHING nowadays ... I start to do something that should realistically take 2 hours ... and 5 hours later I'm still dealing with "issues" that have come up on the effort ... I'm not really sure why this happens ... but it does with enough regularity that I have simply come to accept it as "the way things are" ...

Here are some pictures of the crib laid out on my workbench and "clamped" together to check several things:

1. Is it "square" ? ... You see "squareness" for me is a bit of an issue ... just look at the garden gate or any other thing I have had a hand in building ... "square" is one of those "goals" that I keep reaching for ... happily in this case the crib IS in fact "square" ... .... ... 'enough'

2. Does the mattress spring (and thus the future to be had mattress) actually fit inside the crib (to be) as it is supposed to?  This has been one of those things that keeps me up at night ... did I measure correctly? ... did I cut correctly? ... knowing me as I do ... did I measure AND cut correctly and then find some other way to screw things up? ... again I am happy to report that "so far" (and we have a long way to go affording I am sure MANY opportunities to screw it up) the springs do in fact fit inside as they should.

3. What about the "leg length"?  I've been concerned about this for several reasons the biggest of which being that I have modified the "plan" as it came to accommodate a different more "mission style" look and that meant changing the shape and size of the "headboard" which in turn changed several of the measurements that effect height and leg length ... AND ... when I was dimensioning the wood on the planer I was faced with several 'decisions' about how to get the longest possible piece of useable wood out of the rough lumber I had bought ... these decisions too had an impact on how long the "leg" pieces got cut.  After the dry clamp up shown in the pictures I took several measurements and determined that I skated by with a whole 1.5 inches to spare ... whew!!!

So .... these pictures are just a dry clamp up showing progress to date as I took the measurements for the next critical steps of drilling holes for dowels and construction screws.

From The Crib

From The Crib

From The Crib

Well Christmas is over and March is coming sooner than one might think ... March 17 being the expected due date of the newest addition to the Millsap clan.

That of course means I need to get my tail into a higher gear to get the promised Baby Crib finished before said addition arrives and has nowhere to lay his or her sleepy head ...

I have made some measurable progress to that end ... the "gate" and the "headboard" or "back side" rails and slats have all been cut and fitted with mortise/tenon joints ... the pictures here are simply dry set up (no glue) to see if I have things laid out properly ... this being my first "mission style" (also called arts & craft style) furniture I have had a fairly steep learning curve on the mortise/tenon joints but after the first 20 or so it gets easier.

Next I have to make the "ends" of the cribs (7 slats in each so 28 more mortise/tenon joints yet to make ... sigh ... ) and then I can start the detail work of edge softening and finally assembly ... still many hours of shop time to go but ... hey ... I've got ... uh .... oh crap!!! ... 80 or less days ...

Gate on Left Headboard on Right

From The Crib

Gate

From The Crib

Headboard

From The Crib

Just a quick update on the deer saga ... we picked up 44 pounds of dried/smoked sausage from the processor today.  Yum!!  All neatly vacuum packed and frozen.  Several family members and friends will be getting samples in their Christmas stockings!

Well we are about  to embark on a great adventure ... I'll be updating the Med trip blog tonight with our preparations to date and our basic travel itinerary. I believe most or all of you are subscribed to that weblog at Med Trip Link

"See" you when we get back!

Early this morning I decided to hunt for the first time this season ... I had done enough practice to be confident of a 20+yd shot which is typical for bow hunting around here.  So up just at day break ... camo clothes on ... about 55 degrees F ... perfect weather, I climb up in the tripod and wait for the sunrise ... not too long after ... two 4 point "smallish" bucks are eating at the feed block and I decide one of them is small but "ok" ... I stand up, bring the bow to full draw and %^&*(*&^&*(* what the hell??? I can't see my sighting ring!!!! I had practiced over several weeks and KNOW the bow is properly sighted but for some damn reason ... I can't see the ring ... meaning I'm not on target! ... I hunch my shoulders shift my weight ... and finally "see" the ring ... and put the pin on the buck's shoulder and release ... only to see my arrow cleanly miss the deer (too low) by almost a foot ... again I think ... $%^&*(*&^%^&*(* what the hell????

OK off the stand ... deer have vanished of course ... I pick up the arrow ... walk over to my target range ... draw the bow at the target and STILL can't see the sight ring ... CLEARLY something has caused the bow to be knocked out of "sighted" ... crap ... ok ... it's a pain to sight this bow so I'll do it later ... into the house and off on regular Saturday errands we go ...

time passes ... it's late afternoon ... still plenty of daylight ... I've done several other things ... I'll see if I can sight in the bow ...

Out to the target range ... draw the bow on the target and ... there JUST LIKE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE is my sight ring ... I release on the target and hit dead on! ... nock another arrow ... draw ... sight ring is good .. release ... two arrows in a 1 inch group ... what the hell???

The three deer that have been feeding at the block all this while have been observing my skill with a jaundiced eye ... "... he ain't bothering us ..." ... I draw a third arrow on the target ... release and now have three arrows in a 1 inch group ... so what was the problem this morning???   I mean ... what the hell ????

I walk over to the target, extract the three arrows, look up and not 15 yards away the three deer have now split off a bit ... two have "moseyed" about 10 steps from the block and one doe is still holding her ground at the block and eying me with a bit of what I considered a haughty attitude ...

Ok ... I set two of the arrows in the quiver and knock the third ... I walk all the way around to the front of the big deck ... up on the deck ... walk across 30 or 40 feet of acorns crunching like snap crackle pop cereal all the way watching the doe ... she's still at the block and now proceeding to munch away clearly not concerned by me and my bow (and it's very fickle at this point sight ring) ... I think to myself ... what the hell! ... I'm NOT in camo, I'm NOT on my tripod 15 feet in the air I'm NOT up wind ... and I have clearly been seen by this animal ... if she's that damn dumb or indifferent ... what the hell!!  I'm taking a shot ... so ... once again I draw my bow to full draw and the sight ring at first isn't anywhere to be seen then as I relax a bit... it settles into place ... I release the arrow and see a clean kill shot on the animal ... naturally she jumps and runs into the brush away from me as expected ... I wait ... go into the house change into old clothes and start to run the blood trail ... easy sign all looks to be a good shot with easy to follow trail ... and then ... it happens ....

I hear kids ... LOT'S OF KIDS ... and other people .... LOT'S OF OTHER PEOPLE ... all laughing CLEARLY having a party ... and as it turns out ... sure enough there is some sort of birthday party in full swing in the back yard of my neighbor (the Bakers) ... understand we rarely ever hear or see the Bakers ... like maybe once in the last 5 years ... and NEVER small children ... their property is separated from ours by dense heavy cedar and brush ... there is easily 100 yards from the deck in my yard across my property of dense cedar brush to where the Bakers have their yard and tennis court ... so .... here I am hot on a fresh blood trail when I come up right at the property line and smack into some sort of birthday party ... with maybe 30 people all tolled ... bunches of small (4-5 yr old) kids playing on the tennis court ... people laughing ... having a fine time ...

I stop and think to myself ... "What the hell?????" .....

So as quietly and stealthily as I can I back track to the our house ... cursing my luck that on THIS DAY of ALL DAYS ... the Bakers are having a damn party in the back yard ... and I KNOW right there close by is a dead deer I REALLY need to collect and get to the processor ... Carolyn is sympathetic but wants to go look for the deer now ... I'm of a mind that I really don't want a bunch of little kids crying because I shot Bambi and their mother's and father's telling me they are sure I have broken some ordinance or other and they are gonna have my ass thrown in jail .... so I tell Carolyn we will wait until the party is over ... maybe even tomorrow ...

About 7:45PM .... I walk outside and listen ... it's dark and I don't hear any revelry from the Bakers' backyard ... so I tell Carolyn the party is over and she wants to go look for the deer ... (btw when I first made the shot I advised Carolyn to call and see when the processor over in New Braunfels closed for the day ... they accept deer for processing until 9PM ... ) ... so with flashlights in hand we begin Ninja Deer Stalking in the dark ... always a fun evening ... I found the blood trail pretty quick and we started following it ... remember we are in THICK cedar brush at night with flashlights and basically right up against my neighbor's back fence ... when ...

.... there's another flashlight ... this one over at the Bakers' ... what the hell?? ... Dan Baker calls out "... hello who's there ..." and I reply "hey Dan ... it's Bade ..." (now Dan is a nice guy but I don't think he's a real fan of bow hunting in his back yard .. or in my back yard for that matter ...) ... Dan calls back "... are ya'll looking for a deer?" ... crap! ... "Yeah we are ... " ... "he's over there ..." and Dan helpfully shines his light about 10 yards from where we were standing ... "geeze Dan ... I was tracking that deer earlier when I came up to this point and ran into your party ... I'm REALLY sorry ... I hope the kids weren't freaked out ..." .... "no ... they didn't see it ... some of the adults did ... " ... "well ... I'm really sorry I didn't know there was a party going on ..." ... "yeah it was a surprise birthday party for me today is my 70th birthday ... " ... "well ... uh .... Happy Birthday!!! ... I'll get this deer outta here right away and again I'm really sorry it interrupted your party ... " ... "no problem ... I was sent out to look for a GameBoy ... " ... "ok well good luck and Happy Birthday again ... "

So ... I go over and pick up the deer and carry it about 50 yards back on my property ... field dress it as fast as I possibly can ... get it into the pickup ... it is now 8:24PM ... it's typically ... 40 minutes at best to New Braunfels ... gonna be tight ...

But Carolyn makes all of the lights but one and we pull into the processor at 8:59PM ... I'm not sure they were real glad to see me pull up at the last second .. but they took the deer and my deposit ... looking forward to some good dried sausage ... it wasn't a big doe but will make plenty of sausage ...

What the hell!!!

--
Bade
Like an old desperado ... painting the town beige