Happy New Year!

As has been tradition for about 40 years, we spent New Years with our college friends. Fourteen of us stayed at the Carlson's in Carmel, Indiana for the annual gathering. We always enjoy a project or two and Carlson's provided an unbeatable combination of activities and hospitality. Several of us searched for about a dozen geocaches in the area. One contained a Travel Bug which has been brought back to Wisconsin for placing in a local cache.



They say problems come in threes. It's true. The first one was a leaking water pipe in the ceiling of the family room in the lower level. The second was a leaking water line to the toilet in the master bedroom ...and the third was a visit by a plumber that included a demonstration of how to clear a main sewer line from the street. That didn't work so the 300 pound machine was moved to the basement to achieve success. The guys enjoyed learning and providing unsolicited advice on this - not to be ignored - repair. The women went shopping.

It was New Years morning when one of the group noticed water on the floor in the basement storage room. Upon further inspection, we found water bubbling up from the floor drain. All toilet usage was halted! The room was cleared, the water vacuumed and the sewer clean out prepared for the plumber who arrived about 11:30. The neighbors were very obliging and encouraged us to use their facilities - all 14 of us.

A special thanks to the Carlson's for their great hospitality!

Below is a slide show and movie of our New Years entertainment.




Click here to see a VIDEO documenting our plumbing experience.

The Argyle Experience

The sale this weekend was interesting and fun. It was my inaugural attempt at a craft sale. My sister-in-law Peg invited me to participate in the 27th annual holiday sale at Argyle High School where they average 600-800 attendees. We went down Friday afternoon so were able to nip over to the Argyle HS to set up at 4 PM. Bob was drafted as main supporter/set-up personnel # 1, so accompanied Peg and me there. All kinds of HS kids were there to help carry, which I thought was wonderful. We immediately discovered we really needed another table, so sent Bob to Dave and Peg's farm (5 miles S/W of Argyle) to get that and my mother’s old wooden clothes drying rack. He’d looked around at other booths and also came back with 2 buckets and a board which we set up as a shelf and covered with a tablecloth on the back table of our “U” to give us a little height. We put all the chenille scarves on the drying rack and it really showcased them nicely. I’d found a wrought iron tree with adjustable flat “branches” at a flea market, so we hung the knitted scarves on that, spread the purses and spoons on one table then filled in every other space with Bob’s trivets and my leaf pictures. Bob had made some great signs so we taped those up and zipped off home to go out for a tasty Friday night fish fry in Woodford, WI.

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Peg and I didn’t go to the sale until 8:30 the next morning since it didn’t start until 9 AM, but discovered the snow overnight was drifting badly and the roads were pretty slippery--not a good omen--plus the wind chill was horrendous. We’d only been there 5 minutes when 2 of the other exhibitors came over and one bought 4 knitted scarves (cheap pays!) and the other bought 2 purses, so we felt pretty good about our prospects. We waited for the big opening rush. In past years they’ve had people lined up in the parking lot around the end of the school, panting to get in. At 9 AM the doors opened…and 5 people came in! That was the rush. People trickled in all morning, but, unlike past years, the place never filled and there were lots of observers vs. shoppers. (Usually, I guess, it’s hard to make it down the aisles, but people could have bowled down them this year!). I can’t tell you how many compliments we got on the chenille scarves and how clever people thought the beaded-handled spoons were (a couple people suggested they’d be great for folks with a handicap or arthritis, which I thought was a wonderful idea, so mentioned it to several other shoppers) or how many people told me the purses were so beautifully decorated and just great…and then they’d wander away without buying anything! I think the sucky economy zapped us royally, but we did sell several purses, various scarves, a couple spoons and trivets, and a few leaf pictures (one lady bought one, and said to her husband as she left “What a score!”, which at least made me feel good) so had some sales at least. No booth did a booming business, but most people sold something. After we packed up at 3 PM, we returned to the farm for a pleasant evening with Dave and Peg.

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Willem Climbs the Mountain

Willem learned he could climb stairs and enjoys doing it. Yet another skill freeing him to roam under the watchful eye of mom and dad. He's also "be-bopping" to music.

Click below to see the climbing movie.

Wollersheim Winery Tour

While spending the Thanksgiving Holiday at Brian and Erin's they treated us to a tour of the Wollersheim Winery. We were all surprised to learn that the day we were there it was a special tour day and we were able to sample most of their wines and some excellent cheese.

A new hobby - Geocaching!

I have a new Hobby -- Geocaching.

Here's a YouTube video from Explore the Door. Learn more about Door County and Geocaching in this Geocaching Video

Roger and I did a bit of it today. My new hand-held GPS arrived yesterday so we went to Best Buy for a road trip and located three caches on the way to and back. Before heading out we downloaded the cache locations from http://www.geocaching.com/ to the handheld Garmin. With the unit turned on we left for Best Buy and located the first cache in the park behind the school. (See #1 in first photo whioch is an aerial image of where we live and the surrounding area.) After leaving Best Buy we traveled to the park by the Mall and walked up the hill into the woods to locate the second (#2). The third was near the swimming pool (#3). The GPS "tracked" all of our movements. After getting home I downloaded the "track" to MapSource on my computer. Then I asked MapSource to display the track in Google Earth - and that's where I got the pictures you're seeing below. By zooming in closer and closer we get more and more detail of the track - note the second photo is a close up from the right side of the top image.

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The map below from geocaching.com shows the caches around Eau Claire. Note the smiley faces as they are now logged on my geocaching account as found.

Mike Moszer's Apprenticeship Begins

Today, 6' 4" Mike Moszer begain his cabinetmaking apprenticeship in my workshop. He has completed 2 hours of a 120 hour program. Mike now has an introduction to nail guns, the compound miter saw, Kreg pocket hole connections and biscuit joinery. The project was adding 4 inches to the height of Mike and Sandy's new vanity to make it easier for him to reach the sink. A little stain and a few coats of poly and it'll be ready for installation.

ECCC - A Dream Realized

In January 2008 I was asked by the Eau Claire Curling Club (ECCC) if I'd be interested in building an entertainment center to include a TV, fireplace and display cabinets for the club viewing room. Preliminary drawings utilizing commercial kitchen cabinets had already been completed, but the board was looking for other options. This caused me to recall the six months club members' spent building a significant amount of the current curling facilities during the late summer and fall of 1995. At the time, club members' dreamed of a TV and fireplace along the north wall.

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During building construction the gas meter was placed just outside that space in anticipation of the dream's reality. In addition, over a number of seasons, Friday night mixed curlers developed a modest fund earmarked for just such a project. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to design and build this cabinetry and be part of fulfilling that 13 year old dream.

My design goals focused on creating a "WOW" experience people would encounter as they entered the viewing room of the club as well as make the piece part of the much needed change in the institutional look of the space. During the next few months, research and quotes were obtained for the gas fireplace and several iterations of the design were prepared in SketchUp - a 3-D modeling software - for review by the Curling Club board and a variety of members.

Gary Kucho, another curler and architect (who usese SketchUp for his work) assisted by preparing a 3-D view of the entire curling club facility. I inserted the proposed cabinets into that drawing and prepared several views for final approval of the ECCC board and the Eau Claire County committee responsible for the County Exposition Center (AKA - Curling Club). With the season ending in March the project was on hold until the 2008-2009 season.


With approvals in hand, including recommendations for additional doors for the TV cabinet and door locks, the 12' x 10' project began during the first week of September. The projected completion date was November 1 - just prior to Open Houses for the new season. During the summer a friend and fellow curler announced he'd like to assist and learn about cabinet building. I couldn't turn down some help, but wasn't sure if our definitions of "help" were the same. Turns out that Ron King's definition far exceeded mine as he was there almost every day during the eight weeks of construction and installation. He was a tremendous help and a blessing in disguise as this project, like so many, took on a life of it's own. A special thanks to Dave Wallace and Roger Kees for their assistance as well. During the off season, one of the fireplace bids became obsolete as the retailer closed. An additional bid was obtained and ultimately became the club's choice. During construction, additional research was done on the latest LCD - TVs and it was decided to move from a 42" to a 46" which required design modifications as space was limited.

The project was installed during the week of November 3rd and was completed in time for the Open House. The fireplace is operational and adds not only ambience, but a significant amout of warmth which will be greatly appreciated when its 20 below zero in January.

This has been a very large project but quite rewarding throughout its various stages.

Click on arrow to view slide show.