4000!

Hello everyone!

Well as the title says 4000. That’s 4000 views so far. I crossed that level a couple days ago and am just getting around to this post. Seems like I am averaging about 1000 views every three months or so. The 1 year birthday of this blog is coming up soon! I guess I will have to do a birthday post too! This year has gone quickly yet it also seemed to drag at times.

The football season is almost over. WA is 1 – 7 now, with one game to go. Last night was another tough loss. I think it is hard on the coaches too. It seems like two different teams some times. They played the good teams tough and teams they could have beaten, they didn’t seem to play well against.

I got to fight the wind at last nights game with the end zone camera. It was steady and hard and had the 30′ pole at a curve west to east. Coach said I kept it pretty steady though and did a good job. He anticipated getting sea-sick watching the video, when he saw the pole swaying in the wind before the game. I think I saw him looking at that time and was wondering what he was thinking.

I am getting more active on the internet. First I started this blog, then got my plumbing web site up, expanded this blog, got on LinkedIn after a friend asked, signed the business up on Manta, and now I am on Facebook from another friend request. So you can get me multiple places. Today I finished putting all my woodcrafting pictures up on Facebook. A new gravatar is coming here, soon as I figure out how to change it.

So unless I have something to post sooner, look for a birthday post on the 21st!

Later, Harold

A WA Football Update

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while and I haven’t been doing any cutting on the scroll saw. I have been busy making connections on LinkedIn and trying to get some work and doing any I get, while also looking for a job and putting out resumes.

I also have been the end zone cameraman for the WA varsity football games. I was asked to do a couple practices too. It has been a challenging year so far. I gave the St. Louis report. Since then they have lost to Byron, St. Edwards, and St. Francis. Then they beat Chicago Christian. So they are 1 – 4. I think they have been playing better each game and it finally produced a win. Go Warriors!

Joshua broke his right arm during practice the week of the St. Francis game. He took a helmet hit to the arm during a drill. The doctor said he is out for the rest of the year. He was pretty bummed about that. He had a wrap around it for about 2 weeks and now has a cast. It goes from the middle of his upper arm to between his thumb and fingers. The X-rays look real good, no displacement. The doctor told him what he could and couldn’t do and he seems okay with it.

It took Josh a bit to pick a cast color. He thought black was cool. He liked the blue too. He thought about pink because during Wheaton Academy’s homecoming/spirit week the juniors are supposed to wear pink one day. I suggested not! Then suggested red as that is close to the school color of maroon. After all that he went with blue.

So that is about where it is at football wise. I still need a job or more plumbing work. Some wood crafting orders wouldn’t be bad either! Christmas will be here sooner than you or I think! Check out my Thankfulness pages too!

Later, Harold

St.Louis trip recap

Hello Everyone!

It is done the St. Louis trip there and back again.

In short Wheaton Academy lost both games, met a scroll saw friend, it was HOT, enjoyable time, and food.

So we are all set to leave at 7:30 AM on the coach bus as a couple kids finally arrive. I’m not late, it’s only 7:30, you were supposed to be here at 7 and LEAVE at 7:30… oh. So we leave a bit late. With one stop at a rest area to eat, stretch and do what’s necessary we arrive in St. Louis at the Missouri Athletic Club. We check in to our rooms, get a snack, meetings for the Varsity team and leave for the game.

View from my room

We get to the Westminster Christian Academy, a beautiful new school, just opened this past week, over an hour before game time. They give me two kids to help carry the camera cases and set up the system. We do and still have almost an hour before game time. Now I have to stay with the camera because after a period of time of inactivity the camera will shut down. It is about 30 feet up in the air and has to come down to reset it and then put it back up. So I have to stay with it and push buttons every so often so the camera will stay on. That is the boring part. All by myself and nothing to do but keep the camera on and test it making sure all is okay. Same thing at half time. Did I say it was HOT earlier? I’m down on the field, on a brand spanking new track type surface in the direct late afternoon sun. It is hotter there than anywhere else and I can’t go anywhere. The coach bus driver had given me a chair with an umbrella and at least there was a breeze. I used that chair and umbrella when I could!

View from east side of field south

View from east side of field north

A couple hours later I was done (put a fork in me) and so was the game. We lost and it could have just as easily gone in our favor. It was a good game, a bit sloppy with too many mistakes on our part. I got to see it all on my little 3×5 screen. Josh started on all the kickoffs and got a tackle. I am sure I filmed it but didn’t know it was him until it was announced after the play. There were a lot of good passing and running plays for both teams. Did I say it was HOT? We had a couple guys go down with cramping but they all seemed okay.

My end zone from the stands, I was in the red square area

I was sent some help to take down the camera and load it back on the bus. Thanks guys for both times. We went back to the MAC and cleaned up and had some St. Louis style pizza. I have had it before so I knew what to expect but it seemed others had not and did not. St. Louis style pizza has a very thin crust and a sweet sauce and a different cheese than you would expect. I am not sure what the cheese was. I heard guesses of Parmesan and cheddar. I liked it and yes it was different from Chicago style. It was pizza and you eat it.

Saturday morning breakfast was great! O.J. and milk, scrambled eggs, sausage links, bacon, fried potato wedges, pancakes and syrup. Then off to the JV game. I didn’t get to film this game and was waiting for a scroll saw friend to arrive, so I was distracted from the game a bit. The morning sun was in the east and the stands were on the west side of the field. It was cooking time again! I thought I was done last night! This was a reheating! My friend made it there during the third quarter and we met face to face for the first time. GB is a friend from a scroll saw forum I am a member of. So we had never met even though we had talked through the forum for almost a year now. It was good to meet him and his sister. We talked through the rest of the game, the JV lost too.

After the game we were all served lunch by WCA. There was no lack of food on this trip! There were sub sandwiches, toasted ravioli, veggies, fruit, a local root beer, pink lemonade, water and a delicious butter cake for dessert.

Then we were off to the St. Louis Arch. Just a short time, so only walking around and a visit to the museum, but no trip up the Arch.

The old capitol building

Buffalo inside the museum

Back on the bus for the ride home to WA with a stop for a quick supper.

A look back

I was tired and over-baked but had an enjoyable time. I was glad I got to go.

Later, Harold

 

Teamwork!

Hello Everyone!

Well I decided to expand on my thankfulness update on the blog today. So you get a double dose but more detail here.

Today was a voluntary work day for the JV football team from WA. The plan was to do some work around the house of a team member. It kind of expanded with the storms we have had lately. Their power went out and they ended up with over 15 inches of water in the basement. So some work inside the house got included on the list.

There were over 15 boys, their coach, a couple teachers, some dads, a mom and friends all onsite to help out and do what we could from 8-12 this morning. When Josh and I arrived and got the lay of the land we were sent inside. Me to do plumbing, but of course, and Josh what ever was needed.

I checked the furnace and got it working first, kind of out of my area but I was the closest to know anything about it. Then I checked the sump pumps, working okay, lit the water heater, okay, made a temporary repair on the laundry sink waste line and repaired the laundry sink faucet. More plumbing to be done at a later date.

Water damaged stuff was being tossed and gone over. The floor got swept by Josh with the wet-vac and general cleaning and sorting was going on.

Outside general maintenance was going on. Lawn care, brush removal, raking, weeding, bush trimming, trees cut down, lots of activity! The drain for the sump pump was found and trenched to the street with rock added. A down spout drain was trenched out and the piping, hopefully pitched, was all put underground and rocked at the end. Loads of debris were hauled away. I had Josh clean the gutters on the garage from a ladder, then I put him on the house roof to do those gutters too. He got about 4 buckets full of debris out in total and every gutter draining. The garage door operator was adjusted and gotten to work properly too. Probably more was done than I know about.

I am sure with their first week off from school gone, that these boys sure could have been doing other things on this Saturday morning. But they chose to volunteer their time and efforts to help a teammates family that needed some help. This family has gone through the husband losing his job, don’t I know about that, to his being diagnosed with cancer, terminal, the wife switching jobs to help out better financially, he dies after a short battle with the cancer and all the ramifications of everything  listed and whatever else I don’t know about. All in about a year or so!

My hat is off to those who organized today, to the boys and the work they accomplished and all the others who put in time and effort for today. It looks a lot better than when we started! More to be done at another time.

Way to go everyone! Today you were the mind, the hands and the feet of JESUS! Serving the body of Christ in HIS goodness. A great representation of Wheaton Academy and the sports department and especially the JV football team!

Yeah team!

Later, Harold

News

Hello Everyone,

Well, just thought I would put up an update for what has happened since my last post.

Our high school, Wheaton Academy, (WA) had their awards night last Wednesday. It used to be called the Evening of Honor. This year they changed it to the Academy Awards. It is mainly for seniors but others can and do get awards too. Our older two sons got awards their junior and senior years. Now our third son Joshua has gotten an award his freshman year (Commitment Award) and now this year his sophomore year he received the American Citizenship Award. So he is two awards up on his older brothers.

This weekend we went over to Upland Indiana to Taylor University to see our oldest son Benjamin graduate. Our first college graduate! He was listed as Cum Laude but when final grades are totaled he anticipates being upgraded to Magna Cum Laude. Either way we are proud parents and he did well, putting about 5 years of schooling into 4 years and no slacking off. He will have a degree in Economics/Systems with minors in Physics and Mathematics.

Then we packed him up and brought him home and we are a family of eight again!

The graduate with his proud parents.

No that is not his girlfriend that is my wife!

So that gets you updated to now.

Have a good week!

Later, Harold

(or H@rold?) What do you think?

Wuz Up?! Wuz Down?!

Hello everyone,

Wuz up? Where is the up?  Is there an up? Downs?

I haven’t been on the scroll saw lately, so I got nothing to post about that. I don’t know if I lost my enjoyment of it or feel I don’t deserve the enjoyment of it. I gotta get out of that funk. I look at it and tell myself to do something, then ask why. I don’t answer. I wrote in another’s blog I might get to it tonight…might…I didn’t.

I have been through a lot of ups and downs with my job search. That has not been fun to write about. We got Osama and I did a post about that, Hooray! Then Mother’s Day came and I did a post then. An actual family member commented, that was good, but I have lots of them. I guess I kinda hoped for more.

Do you ever hope for a pat on the back, an attaboy or good job? Then not get them. Then even a kick to the hind quarters might at least be something? Or a slap up against the head? But you get nothing? You are at the bottom of the barrel, looking down, around, and glancing up. Hey! Somebody toss me a lifeline or something. Wonder when this will end?

Then there are the ups.

I have done two basement bathroom additions and gotten them finished through the rough-in stage. Now I wait for the finish stage. Walls, floors and ceilings have to be put in so I can install the plumbing fixtures. Also the other odd job here or there. I have another basement bathroom shall I say…in the pipeline…yep, pun intended. Oh stop your groaning!

So the work makes me feel good. I am working at a friends house. I am doing what I like/love and I am good at it. The copper water piping all went pretty easy with no leaks, but I had some trouble with the PVC pipe. It gave me some hassles. We in the plumbing trade say any idiot can put PVC together. Apparently I am not any idiot! Maybe I am too smart to be an idiot? So why the hassle? Gotta keep me humble I guess. Make the easy hard and the hard easy? I am also helping with non-plumbing stuff too.

Tomorrow night we will be going to WA for the awards night. Joshua is getting something. He and we don’t know what, just that he will get something. Our first two did not get any awards their first two years, so Joshua is two up on them.

Then Friday we go over to Indiana to Taylor University to see our oldest, Benjamin, graduate on Saturday. Then we bring him home and see what his future will be.

So I guess it is like running and diving off the high dive towards the Olympic pool below (indoors mind you). I can float on the air waves for a while but always seeming to fall. That pool keeps getting smaller though. Some times it looks like a barrel and I am not even sure if there is water in it or if the shine is the inch of slime at the bottom and what happens when I hit or if I miss?! Will the pool come back? Is there water? Can I keep floating on these indoor air waves? What is keeping me from just plummeting? Should I just close my eyes and curl up? Will I bounce? Questions, always questions! No answers! Just the stress of not knowing and not having or being in, control.

Wake up! WAKE UP!!

I am awake, this is no dream. This is reality and some times it is really stinky and it bites. The smell can still linger through the good times and make them not as good. Kinda like visiting a mansion next to a garbage dump.

I have left the diving board, no parachute and no safety net. Or was the board cut from behind me? Is there water and how much?! When, where or will I hit?!

Later, Harold

( All wording is in reference to myself. Reflections of or to someone else is purely coincidental and unintentional. You are reading too much into this. Not valid in minds outside of my own. Read at your own risk.  No animals where hurt or water wasted in this blog. See MSRP )

News

Hello Everyone!

Not really a break, just a news flash.

I have a plumbing job interview today 9:30 AM Chicago time.

Update later.

Later, Harold

Interview update

It went well I think. Now I wait to see if a job offer is made.

I have more to say about it, but not at this time.

Later I met a friend for lunch and had a good talk with him. He bought! We haven’t seen as much of each other since the WA football season ended. Then on the way home I dropped off my resume at a plumbing company, didn’t get to meet the owner. Those have been few and far between. Oh well.

In one more week our church choir will start practicing again. Can’t wait! Been missing that! Could have been a good pick me up tonight. Kinda slipping now. Oh well, I’ll survive one more week without.

Hey Gabe, remember those karaoke nights after bowling! Good times!

Before I can go any further with my How It Is Done series, I need a container. It has to be about 18″ long and about 3″ wide with sides around 3″ or higher. It does not need a lid/top/cover. It has to hold liquid. Been looking all over for something. I need it for two projects now. Any advice out there on where to look or what to look for? Thanks.

Later, Harold

Doing It Again!

Hello everyone!

Okay, I am going at it again on those jerseys. I have done the primer coat on both sides, gray. Here is a different one awaiting this next trial.

WA football theme this year

This is just primer and they always look good. If I remember right it was 48 cuts to do this one! All by hand on the scroll saw with a blade. No laser cutting. I don’t have one of those.

Next come some jerseys. They have two coats of Claret Wine satin spray paint on them and are looking pretty good.

Looking good

another one

Okay, I actually have five of these curing and ready for the next step. I will be waiting more than 24 hours to put on the glaze. That’s just the way my timing will be for tomorrow. I will do one that is not for anyone first to see how it goes. If things go bad maybe I will just put a clear coat of gloss on instead. I am really hoping for the glaze to work, cause if it does, they will look great!

Well that is it. I will let you know what happens tomorrow, unless I do something crazy after I blow it!

Cross everything! fingers, arms, toes, legs, eyes and if you can cross something else do that too!

It is dinner time! Stuffed baked peppers with feta and more! My own recipe with help from my wife and combining other recipes.

Later, Harold

Home school Series #5

Hi Everyone!

Yep,  here comes number 5, are you ready? Number 5? Why does that sound familiar? Anyone know what I am referring to? Now don’t be shy. It is really okay to leave a comment! REALLY!! Sorry, didn’t mean to shout. As Nike says “just do it”!

This cooler weather is keeping me from getting much done and I am frustrated with myself. I need a heater for my work space in the garage and no I did not do the blow out, yet. Lots of ideas are popping around our household. I keep saying put it on paper, I need to see it. So some are in the pipeline. Plus the others that I haven’t gotten too yet that are on paper or in the computer.

I now have two sale sites for my wood crafts and they are both the same day but different times. First is Santa’s Secret Shop at Arbor View School 10 am to 2 pm. Then later that evening our football banquet at Wheaton Academy 6-9 pm. I will have any WA stuff I have ready on a table there to help out the boosters. All on Saturday Dec. 4. So I need to get busy, busy,busy!

So here is acronym #5. I know I said wait for all six but rules change. Start answering now after number five because I do not have a confirmed answer for number 6. I will post it soon and take answers for it by itself. Okay? Clear as mud? Answer now after number 5 don’t wait for number 6.

And the game is a foot!

Later, Harold

G. and E.

Your trash my treasure

Good evening everyone!

Sorry no pics on this post.

Like the title says your trash my treasure. On the way home after voting I saw some wood out in someone’s garbage. We stopped and looked and liked so I took it. Then went back for a solid core wood door. The lady of the house was leaving and I saw more wood up by the house and asked about it. She said take it all and thanks. I said thanks too, and I more than doubled the first take and added some nice 2×4′s also. It is all treated wood and in good shape. I have a project in mind for it. All I really need is roofing materials to complete the stash. So I need some free shingles and stuff like that.

Right up the street from there someone had a cabinet with a small counter top out also. I took the counter top to make a table out of for either the sander or a grinder. It should work good for 0ne of them.

Later we had the last three PTC at WA. These teachers also gave good reports for Josh. It seems there is no class he will not shut up in and the teachers all like it. These days they call it participation.

It has been a couple days since I made some saw dust and I am feeling the urge. So hopefully tomorrow.

I am working on a product page with prices and hopefully it will work out to do it through this site. If not I may have to change or figure something out. I have some help coming to my rescue. (Thanks Kathy!)

So until the dust settles tomorrow,

Later, Harold