Live from Lakewood

My mom and I are spending a Mother-Son weekend together up north, we borrowed some ATV's and are riding the trails all weekend. What a blast, today is our first day, and we have around 75 miles in aleady. More riding tonight, and all day tomorrow.

Here is where I am typing from, and where we are staying tonight. The Best Western Lakewood Lodge.

Here are the "bikes" unloaded and ready to go.

This picture was taken only a half hour ago, just before we got back to the hotel. We went to a place in Gillet, where they are having an ATV rally/fundraiser tonight. We are going back later with the truck, because we bought some raffle tickets, and will enjoy some great food. So, I will type back at you later, hopefully we win something nice.

Long, Fun Weekend.

This weekend was a very busy weekend. It all started Friday night by building this bed frame for our nephew David. He had his fourth birthday this weekend, and this was our gift to him. We started the bed Friday after work, and finished the construction at about midnight. We did not head to bed, instead we stayed up until 2 a.m. to see my parents off to Canada. They headed up Saturday morning for a week of walleye fishing.



Here is a picture of the simple bed frame. We finished it Saturday morning with some Red Mahogany stain, and a coat of polyurethane. David should get many years of use out of this frame.


Saturday evening we headed to Grafton for a housewarming party. My cousin Greg and his soon to be wife Kim bought a beautiful house, and they had a great get together to show it off. We stayed there until about 10:30, after a few beers, and some time around the fire. I also gave some money away as I lost in "31" and dice. Oh well, great food and company made it a great evening.

Sunday was busy as well, our journeys took us to Rozellville, and Marshfield. Rozellville was the setting for Davids birthday party, and where we delivered the new bed. After the party we headed to Marshfield to visit with Ruth's grandpa and grandma Dittner. We had not seen them in quite a while, and it was nice to talk with them. After about an hour we were back on our way to Ripon.

Good and bad sports weekend by the way....Green Bay Good, Brewers Bad-by losing all four to the Phillies, in-turn giving up our four game lead in the wild card. Oh well!! There are still 12 games left to re-gain the lead, and head to the postseason for the first time since 1982.

I finally am done for now with the shadowboxes and things, so I am hoping to get a start on that long ago mentioned gun cabinet. Lets see how I do today, check back later to see if I found the time.

Nothing New

Not much to talk about tonight. I finished one shadow box, and started another. No pictures necessary, as you know what they look like.

Another 5-4 loss to the Reds tonight in extra innings..damn it!

I did sell my old jointer tonight on craigslist, so I deliver that to the guy in Oshkosh tomorrow. Nice to get rid of an old tool for some cash, as I no longer needed it.

Live from Miller Park

Monday was the day that Ruth and I spent her birthday together on our first trip to Miller Park. We had a blast and took in all of the wonderful sights and sounds of a live baseball game, things that just cannot be taken in by watching on T.V.

Here is amazing view of Miller Park from our tail-gating spot.

WE'RE IN!!

Here we our in our seats, what a view?

Another view of the field, while the Reds take batting practice.

Here is Ruth's favorite player, the catcher, Jason Kendall. He did hit a two run homer in the second inning. How lucky was it that Kendall has only hit two home runs all year, and Ruth was there to see one of them...HAPPY BIRTHDAY from Jason to Ruth.

Here is Bernie Brewer back at the top of the slide just after Kendall hit his shot. He did also get to go down the slide later, as J.J. Hardy hit a shot later.

Here are the Klement's Sausages warming up for the big race. I chose Polish, and Ruth chose Italian...as expected, Ruth got another gift as Italian won big! Chorizo took a sweet digger just short of the finish line, good laughs.
Why do they race? They RACE FOR TASTE!!
Cuz, when you run out of Klement's, you run out of taste.

Here we are back where we began, we had a great time!! Unfortunately Solomon Torres gave up three runs in the ninth, and we ended up losing 5-4. Oh well, we had a blast, and we will return!

Maintenance, Glass, Wood, Deer, and Brewers

Today I spent the afternoon in the shop getting a few things done, saw the deer, and watched a few games (both football and baseball). A good day!

The first thing I did today was change the blades on my planer. It was getting very loud, and I was starting to get "tear-out" on the back end of each board. Both mean one thing....dull blades!!

Here I have both a regular wood shadowbox in progress, as well as a glass Diamond Case. The glass project is very new to me, and I have run into a few problems. Hopefully the next one will go much smoother. The tape on the glass is to make sure my silicone edges are nice and strait.

Here is Ruth sanding the octagon, almost ready for stain.

A coat of my favorite stain on oak....Golden Oak.

Here we have two of the triplets from earlier this summer. They are much larger now, and more independent from mom.

My parents went to the brewer game today. Even though it was a horrible game(Padres-10, Brewers-1) they did get a Corey Hart Bobble Head. So now we have an official caretaker for the shop.

Tomorrow is Ruth's 25th birthday, so I am taking her to the Brewer game. They play the Reds, and I am hoping they turn things around. I will post pictures of the game, and Miller Park when we get home tomorrow.