Posts by Chuck Curtis
We made it home last night by 8pm – making it one of our most reasonable ends to a day trip to the city. We ate dinner at IKEA in New Haven and still made it home in time for the boys to read before bedtime. I didn’t get too many pictures on the trip, but here are a couple more.
Today we took a trip to the city. Will and Ben had been begging to go so they could do Christmas shopping for each other. Today was the only day we could go as a family before Christmas.
It is the first of December and the city was already packed with shoppers. Thankfully, we were done in time to catch the 3:30 train back to New Haven. Overall both boys did well – only a little frustration leaving the toy store only buying gifts for each other, and nothing for themselves.
The weather this week has been nearly perfect. It has been (maybe) a little cool in the mornings, but the days have been wonderful. We took the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather and did a hike behind the house on Thanksgiving morning. My dad was visiting for the week, so we got to enjoy the woods with him.
We took a little detour from the normal loop that we hike, and took a closer look at some of the abandoned hospital buildings that are adjacent to the trails we hike.
We enjoyed a turkey dinner (thanks to the Sawyer Farm for the turkey – it was wonderful), and Susanna even ate a few bites of the Thanksgiving turkey. Will was quick to point out that the turkey is the only thing on our table that was on the tables at the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621, but we enjoyed our meal nonetheless.
We had a good, cold, soccer morning on Saturday. Both boys had games, but this week Ben’s game was early, so we had to be at the soccer field by 9am. Which meant no lounging around in the morning as we had done the previous two Saturdays when Will’s game was the first one at 10:30.
It was also cold. The house thermometer said 24 degrees (-4°C) when I woke up. We had a good hard frost on the ground – no more peppers from the garden (which another post topic – however not a post that I will plan on writing unless really bored).
Ben’s game was great. He played goalie the first quarter, letting in only only one goal. By the second half his team was tied 1-1 and he had moved to playing forward where he scored the winning goal (they won 2-1). Will played a good game as well. He rotated between positions, and was able to get two shots on goal while playing forward.
Yesterday was a pretty good day. The boys had a half of a day at school, so I took the afternoon off of work. We had the piano tuned, which made Susanna very happy. Ben even got back on the piano and practiced for the first time in six months. It took the tuner a couple of hours, and the piano isn’t perfect. But it is much better.
And after much work, I switched out the flat tire on the boat trailer, and then with everyone’s help, we pushed the trailer out of the garage.
Today the boys have soccer games this morning, and this afternoon may be nice enough to get some chores done. Maybe even light off a fire in the fire pit.
It has been a very busy two weeks. Susanna has been working most evenings (or so it seems) as well as going to school full time during the day. I have been working on “drunken cutting boards” as a project with a group from work, which leaves the workshop in need of a cleaning (and I’m pretty sure the tools in need of sharpening).
I’m still working on power to the garage. Hopefully that will be finished this weekend – getting power out – not the wiring completely.
As written by Will this week at school:
Wants to be a scientist
Inside recess stinks
Loves dogs
Loves books
I like school
A boy who likes weekends
My favorite food is pizza
Okay, I have to admit. I didn’t get everything done that I had planned. No real surprise to anyone that knows me. But I had a productive weekend even if I didn’t finish all my projects.
In the morning I helped Ben in the workshop. I hadn’t planned on doing any woodworking, but I would never turn down an opportunity to work with either of the boys. The two boys are working on building a gift, and there isn’t much time before it needs to be done. I cut the big boards up to size and helped Ben on the bandsaw (he is still a little timid with the bandsaw – rightfully so). Next, all three boys took turns using the hand saws to cut out notches needed in the project. Will and Ben even sanded for a bit (something no one likes doing -so good luck getting an 8 year old to do a good job sanding).
I didn’t skip apple picking. Will had a friend sleep over on Saturday night. He lives pretty close to the apple orchard, so when we all went apple picking on the way to dropping him off. After a quick stop by home to drop Ben off, Will and I headed up to Home Depot and Target. Will had to get a present for his brother’s birthday, and I needed to rent a jackhammer to smash up some ledge that was in the way of running power to the garage.
I didn’t get power to the garage. I did get the ledge out of the way. The next step is to run the wiring and cover the trench. I also got the big trench filled in. I will probably need another 1/2 yard of topsoil to level out the area, but otherwise it is done. I almost finished tying in the gutter downspout to the drain – but I needed another trip to Home Depot to get the right parts, and I wasn’t about to do a third trip today.
And to finish off the busy day, Ben and I went for a short bike ride. Will decided to stay home and read.
Susanna split the day between doing homework and painting the house. The house is starting to look nice – our neighbors have been stopping by to tell us how much they like the new color scheme.
My house goals for the week are to finish the gutter downspout (tomorrow) and run power to the garage (maybe tomorrow and Tuesday). Tomorrow should also be the next step in the first batch of drunken cutting boards. Maybe I’ll be able to get the sailboat out of the garage this weekend – nothing like wishful thinking.
This seems like a day to start projects. Though honestly I started this one a couple of weeks ago when I ordered the lumber. I am planning on building four sets of “drunken cutting boards” with three other people I work with. Today, Jim Russell came by after work and we cut up the maple and glued up the boards. We should be able to complete four boards per person (two pairs).
We also cut up thin (1/8″) strips of cherry for the spacers.
Next week I’ll document the progress on the cutting boards. The next step is to make matched pairs of boards (one of purpleheart and one of maple). Then we will cut the first wavy strips and do the first glue up.
I would like to think the reason that I’m awake late on a Saturday night (ok, early on a Sunday morning) is that Susanna and I are out enjoying a rare weekend night where the boys are with their mom. That isn’t the case. I’m sure if it were, I would have better things to do other than write on my blog. Heck, even on a slow night like this, I have better things to do than write on my blog. Like sleep. This is one of the joys of shifting one’s body 6 time-zones. My sleep schedule is all screwed up.
One would think that flying back to the east coast after a week in Hawaii would cause me to stay up late and sleep in late (i.e. stay on Hawaii time). A red-eye flight from Honolulu to Dulles last night allowed me to get a full nights sleep and wake up at a reasonable east coast time. But it is rough sleeping on a plane, so I’m never fully rested. Second, my week in Hawaii was spent underwater on a submarine, which never helps one get on a fixed time-zone. So here I am boring all three of my blog’s readers with my musings on my sleep patterns. Yes, I know, I found something more lame than woodworking to write about. Well done.
I have started running again. I’ll see how far that goes. I have slowly built myself up to 5k runs – and my knees feel it. Hopefully I can lose a couple of pounds which will make the runs easier on my legs.
I also ordered lumber online for the first time. I had ordered some small pieces from eBay in the past, but never the wood for a full project. I am planning on building several cutting boards (drunken cutting boards) with some of the guys I work with. The plan is to use purpleheart and maple squares, with cherry accents. I’ll post pictures of the build here. I ordered the material from Bell Forest Products the week before I left for Hawaii. The package arrived while I was gone, and I opened the boxes this evening. The lumber looks great. There wood is clear and straight. The iPhone pictures don’t do the wood justice (thought the purpleheart isn’t quite purple yet – it will age to purple in the sunlight).
Now time to head back to bed. I’m sure I’ll have to reclaim my place and move Tucker to the foot of the bed.