For the last two weekends I've been working on this gate for the side of the garage, as the old one is rotting off. It's been taking so dang long becase I've been using a handsaw and chisel to cut all my tenon joints. Though I did use my electric drill to bore out the dowl holes, I did use a spokeshave(thanks Jeremy) to size my dowls to fit. And it worked great! Working with handtools is very satisfying.
I am happywith the work for the most part, its very rustic looking which I like, though that was less by design and more lending to the tools I had at hand.
In the next few weeks I'll be looking for hardware. A friend of mine suggested I hit up the Habitat for Humanity reuse store in town, which sounds like a great idea. I'll let you know what I find...
I have been stairing at this butt-ugly bench in our shop bathroom for the last year. This week, I finally had enough of it! I planed the paint off of the 2x12 fir boards and got to work bringing it back to life....
I enjoyed the opprotunity to work on my through mortise and tenon. The chisel work was pretty rough, but it turned out alright.
The legs of the bench(as a tenon) come through the holes(mortise) in the top. I put one coat of Natural oil on it a 4 coats of poly-urethane.
Not 100% sue what I'm gonna do with it, but it will probably just hang around the shop.
It's been over a year since we've hosted a link group in our home in Creswell, which was a great experience by the way. And my wife and I are planning on starting a link group through or local church here in Medford and I am nervously excited about it. I had a great meeting with the link group pastor at our church, Table Rock Fellowship. We seem to have similar vision for the benefits of link groups and how they can support the vision of the church, that's a big deal to me as I don't want to work against the leadership in the church. I'd much rather be a part of the support structure in the church than on the outside looking in throwing rocks or on the inside setting fires.
A few Saturdays ago Julie and I woke up and decided that we wanted to put a built-in book shelf in our living room. We had a shelf already hanging on the wall where we wanted to put the book shelf and we didn't want to move it, so I designed the shelf around it.
This was a really quick project. I picked the pine up at Builders Bargain Center in White City for $50, and did the machining and assembly at the shop in the morning and stained and finished it in my garage at home. I hate spending my Saturdays away from the family, so I did as much of it at home as possible.
Quick and dirty little project, but it gets our books out of the garage!
After work today the whole family packed into the van and went down to the Grange Co-op in Central Point to select some baby chicks. My wife and I have talked about getting chickens for some time now, and since we have a backyard that belongs to us, now seems a good a time as any. They'll be staying inside for a few weeks until they are big enough to weather the weather, the girls are gonna love having these little guys around the house!
5 baby chicks came home with us today. Julie grew up with chickens, but I didn't. So this is all very new to me. So far so good though its been 2 hours and they are all still alive.
My daughters are really enjoying having animals in the house, I believe that they have named all five chicks: Lady, Wiggles, Tiny, Blossom and Blossom I Love You. I guess one of the Blossoms just can't get no love.
Now I need to start thinking about building a coop and pen for our little ladies....
I found this video for the song Joan by an artist named Butch Walker on a friends Facebook page a week ago and couldn't get it out of me mind, its deep and raw. I spent some time pondering the lyrics and discussing them with my wife, and it seems to me that its a call.
"Joan" is a story of a women who is coerced, oppressed, abused and then is either murdered or takes her own life. Catchy, huh?. Statistically, one in four women will experience domestic violence in there lifetime. Thats every fourth women you know, and every year nearly 1300 of those women will be murdered by their abuser.
Joan is a cry to the abused, abuser and those who walk on by.
Joan- She is waiting on a ride, that is waiting for someone to take her out of this situation that she has put herself in. There is a lot to be learned about Joan ladies. Loneliness would have been a far better option for Joan. Be careful who you let into your life, and sex is a deadly bargaining chip. Stop waiting Joan. Get out. Make it right, this isn't who you are.
Abuser- He is misplacing her life. Taking what doesn't belong to him and sidelining it for his own ends. He is sick,selfish and cowardly.
Us- Butch sings at the end, "they slowly misplaced your life....go get it right...". It feels like the I/we are part of the "they" who slowly misplaced Joans life. Am I the ride who never stoped by? Are you? I don't know much about how one gets involved in this sort of situation.
Angry shouting at the neighbors.
Bruises.
Children acting out.
I pray God would give me wisdom and courage and grace if He brings me into a situation like this. I pray He gives you wisdom and courage and grace.
I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time about a month ago, and the phrase that has stuck with me ever since was"the dude abides". That phrase brought me a lot of peace last week when I was walking through a really tough decision to change careers. As a Christ following movie critic, I believe that when we engage entertainment we should filter it through a receive, redeem, reject biblical filter( I learned this from Cinemagogue ). John the Baptist would abide. He was the son of a temple priest, who would have traditionally followed in his fathers footsteps. Yet, he was called to be obedient to God's call on his life to be a priest on the fringes of society, in the desert eating bugs and honey and preaching repentance.
What would the neighbors think?
Yet, John would abide in God's call on his life.
Society expects him to follow in his fathers footsteps.
Yet, John abides in the footsteps that his Father has set before him.
He would have been a bit of an embarrassment to his family and friends.
Yet, John boldly preached the repentance and love of a Father to his children.
How did John expect to make a living in the desert?
Yet, John would abide in God's providence.
In the movie, there is much that cannot be abided: lust, envy, pornography, pride, arrogance...
Luke Chapter 3 7-9
He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
