Girl’s Weekend

Lori, her Mom, and Carter all went up north last weekend for a "Girl's Weekend". They did a little swimming, a little shopping, and a bit of just plain relaxing.

Bowl Blanks

Another thing I've been busy with with the wood out back - cutting some turning stock, especially bowl blanks. I can't wait to start turning these! Most of it is spalted hickory, I think. And there's a smattering of yellow birch, ash, and oak in there too.

Hickory Burls

A few weeks ago, I was driving down the driveway when I looked to my left at a tree that has been dead and lying across the creek for as long as we've lived here. For some reason, this was the first time I had ever noticed that the thing was thoroughly covered with burls! Jackpot! So far, I've cut about 1/3 of them off and moved them into the garage to dry. They should make some amazing turning stock - I can't wait to dig into them! The other cool part that I should have expected was that while cutting the hickory, it smelled just like barbeque. Awesome!

Halloween 2010

Just a few cute shots from Halloween this year. Carter was Alice (of the "in Wonderland" variety), Sean was Darth Vader, and Uncle Adam wore this hilarious afro wig.

Lathe Project – New Bowl

Made this little bowl on my lathe a couple of weeks ago, and forgot to take a picture of it. It's made from some spalted something (hickory, maybe?) that I cut out of an old log back behind the shed that's probably been there ten years. I like it - the spalting really adds character to the wood.

Drying Peppers

The Thai peppers that I grew over the summer are super-hot, and I had way too many. So I'm trying to dry them out so I can crush them and use them to cook with. So far, so good. They are getting nice and dry and crispy. I want to make sure that they are completely dry before I crush them, because if I do it too soon and they still have any moisture in them, they'll mold in the jar - that actually happened to me last year with some Cayenne peppers I tried to dry.

Carter’s Birthday Party

We had Carter's 4th birthday party at Party Playland - the same place we had Sean's party last year. This was the first time Carter's party was all her friends, instead of just a family party. It was so cute to finally meet all the little boys and girls that she is always talking about.

Piggybacks

Sean has been trying to hitch free piggyback rides on Sean every time she catches him on the ground. She just leaps onto his back with no warning, and he tries to walk her around, like a horse. We had to ask them to stop, after Carter took a couple of spills that landed her right on her head, though. Ouch!