Willem's First Birthday

Willem celebrated his first birthday on February 27. Although we weren't able to be there for his celebration we visited 10 days earlier. ...and delivered his rocking horse. When placed on it he immediately slid off the tail. There's plenty of time to learn to ride.

Ride 'em Cowpoke!

Today, Bob Klimpke and I finished building two matching rocking horses. Bob's will be for his 1 year old granddaughter, Addison, and mine for 1 year old Willem.

Over the last two weeks, I went through the plans and cut out and dry fit the pieces for Willem's horse. Over the weekend Bob K. was able to cut out and assemble Addison's. His son Eric drove down from Richfield with Addison so she participated in the process. We were able to utilize a variety of woods including cherry, maple, birdseye maple, quilted maple, and black walnut. We fabricated all the pieces, including turning the handles on the lathe. Another fun project for a couple of very special little people.

Click on Image to see slide show.

Eric's Bedside Tables

On January 24 and 25, Eric Klimpke and his dad, Bob, built two alder bedside tables in the workshop. Note the SketchUp illustration and the final table. With a few demonstrations Eric was off and working. Eric now has 16 hours toward his 120 hour Cabinetmaking 101 certification. A special thanks to Eric for use of his new Canon camera...

Christmas 2008

Marc & Amy, Bob & Nora, Brian, Erin, Willem & Hayden -- 1/18/09

The Fullers celebrated Christmas on January 17, 2009 in Eau Claire. We enjoyed food and fun. Presents were exchanged and we all took turns playing with the new Wii. Saturday afternoon we all prepared for snowshoeing. Unfortunately, the wind chill made it quite cold and several had to abandon the trek. For those who continued, it was an enjoyable first-time experience. We'll have to do some more in warmer weather.

Willem demonstrated that he can now walk, talk and speedily crawl toward anything that catches his eye.

1000 Aces

Congratulations, Larry!

Today I experienced an unusual card playing hand. Four of us have traditionally played Pinochle on Martin Luther King Day for a number of years. Today, Larry managed to meld a hand with "1000 Aces". That means he has all the aces in the deck. Two of them were passed to him after he took the bid. While I don't know the odds for such a hand, I've never seen one before and I'm sure it'll be a long time before I see one again. If it hadn't been for those 1000 aces, my partner, Jack, and I would have won the day - maybe.

Larry's partner, Edsel, recalled this happening in another game he played...

"A few years ago, one of my partners raised the bid from 24 to 27 indicating that he had 5 or more aces. That bid requires a response if holding one or more aces, so I raised the bid to 29, indicating two aces. Elated (like Larry was), my partner raised the bid to 129 in his exuberance. It turned out that all we had for meld was the 100 aces plus a marriage for 102 meld. Taking all the tricks still left us 2 short in making the bid! What a way to go set, huh?"

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.

Click on images to make them larger.

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.

Click on image to make it larger.