Waiting for the train in New Haven
Category: Personal
Day trip to New Bedford, MA
Yesterday, Susanna and I took a road trip to New Bedford, MA. We planned to visit the New England Demolition and Salvage company. The plan was to look at possibly getting a new door for the kitchen. In hindsight, I should have measured for a new bedroom door. Our bedroom door is the only really crappy replacement door in the house (hollow core, flat panel). There are tons of doors that match the style of our house, most for $50-$60. Exterior doors are closer to $150-$200.
We wound up not buying anything at the salvage store – but it is a great place to get ideas. They have an acre of claw-foot tubs. Thousands of doors and windows. And countless other treasures.
We made it a day trip, with lunch after the salvage store, and a visit to some more antique stores (and a flea market in Fall River that wasn’t worth stopping at). We aren’t really in the market for anything specific for the house, but it is nice to get out and explore. We were home in time for dinner and a movie.
Looking ahead to 2013
So, I didn’t meet all my goals for 2012. Let’s see how I do for 2013. I think I should print these out somewhere I can look at them regularly and remind myself of my goals. So here they are (in no particular order):
- Get the sailboat in the water and go sailing
- Build an island for the kitchen
- Build two larger woodworking projects
- Get garage ready for the wedding this summer
- Ride bike into work more often than last year
- Finish painting the outside of the house
- Continue organizing the workshop
- Build a wooden hand plane
- Go camping with the boys
- (added very recently) – finish repairs to Will’s room
- and of course… get married to Susanna
Of course (most of) that list is subject to change. In general my overall goal is to still work on finishing projects that I start.
2012 in Review
So, in January I wrote about my goals for 2012. How did I do?
I said I wanted to build 6 pieces of furniture. How did I do:
- I built a bookshelf for the study
- I built a piano bench
- I built saw benches with the boys.
- I helped Mark, Nick and Ben build drunken cutting boards, though never finished my boards (goal for 2013).
- Built a “magic treehouse” style ladder with the boys.
- I made cutting boards with the boys (and for our kitchen).
- I built Jenga blocks and boxes.
- I built a hand-plan storage shelf and tool support shelves in the workshop.’
- I built a coin-holder for a friend at work.
- I built shelves for the kitchen (where the stock cabinets wouldn’t fit).
Another goal was to finish painting the house. That was not completed, but Susanna took over that chore for me, and made good progress on the painting. But it was a busy year with the house and workshop:
- I reorganized and built new stairs to the second floor of the workshop.
- Susanna and I changed the layout of the kitchen and added a laundry room (the laundry room and mud room still need to be renovated, but that wasn’t on the list for this year).
- Susanna and I installed new cabinets in the kitchen.
- Painted part of the house (though that was mostly Susanna, Sofia, Rebecka and Linda).
- Electricity to the garage.
- Installed trim around the garage door.
- Grew a garden (though not a very good one).
- I moved the sailboat out of the garage, but didn’t get it in the water.
I had a pretty busy personal life. Susanna and I got engaged. We had Susanna’s sisters (and Linda) visit us for a month this summer. We did visit Six Flags a bunch of times. The boys and I drove to Pennsylvania for a family vacation with my dad and brother. But, we didn’t get out camping at all this year (I want to change that next year).
Another goal was to ride my bike into work more often. I probably rode more often than the year before, but not enough.
I said that I wanted to do lots of walks with Susanna and the dogs, which we did.
I said I wanted to be better at finishing projects. I have been better at not starting project until I finish old projects. I think that was my big goal for the year (to not have as many unfinished projects hanging out). One of the characteristics of ADHD is that it fun and exciting (and easy to concentrate on) when starting a new project. However, new things get old, and it is difficult to find the energy to focus on and complete longer projects. Ben’s room was the perfect example. It took lots of assistance from my dad and Susanna (and several years) to finish.
As I write this, I feel that I only have a few unfinished projects hanging over my head. I have an uncompleted kitchen island in the workshop – I suspect I won’t be finished with the island by Tuesday. I have small repair projects to complete around the house, but nothing major – they may be finished by the end of the year. The workshop needs work, but I suspect that will be an ongoing project. The kitchen needs a little touch-up paint, but Susanna is working on that, so it isn’t in my list of things to finish. I plan on keeping focus on finishing things for the upcoming year, it is nice to look back on the things that one has finished.
Also, this is my 200th post in this blog – a nice milestone to reach.
Christmas Projects
Merry Christmas! Our family had a great Christmas day. Susanna and I went to Christmas Eve services last night (yes, I don’t know what is wrong with me… but it was nice to get out of the house). The boys arrived this morning and will be here until Sunday. The plan was to let them get settled from transition and then open gifts. The boys decided 15 seconds after arriving that they had settled long enough to open gifts.
We all enjoyed a relaxed Christmas day. Susanna started reading “50 Shades of Grey.” I helped the boys with their Christmas projects. Ben spent most of the day assembling a complicated toy roller-coaster. He doesn’t actually need much help (only a little help at the end getting things running smoothly – it won’t be much longer before he gets to the point where I won’t be of any help).
Will had a lesson on carving wood at the Mystic Seaport in on a field-trip with his school earlier this year. He had enjoyed carving, and had asked for carving chisels for Christmas. Today, I helped him get set up in the workshop, and I milled him some lumber to carve with his new chisels. I think he likes carving because it is something he can show the rest of us how to do.
I first traced some letter so he could carve his name. Then we milled a piece of sapele (actually two) and he carved a sign for his room. We hung it on some sash chain and brass hooks outside of his door. Maybe tomorrow he will make a sign for his brother’s room.
Publishing the blogs
It is that time of year again. Time to look back on the year. Time to get the blog printed into a book. Not only do I need to get this blog printed, I promised the boys that I will print their blogs as well.
Last year I used blog2print.com. The site make it easy to print a hardback book from a blog, and the quality of the printed book is good. One of the things I didn’t like with the service was there was no control over the size of the pictures in the book. The quality of the images was decent, but they were all a little smaller than I would have liked. The book also doesn’t include comments. The comments aren’t really an issue for my blog, but for Will’s and Ben’s blogs, the comments would be nice.
I’m trying a new path for the boys. I haven’t decided what do do with this blog. I am using BlogBooker.com. The service is free (though to get it to use high-resolution photos you must make a donation (about $14). The service takes the blog and converts it to a print quality PDF. I can then upload the PDF to Lulu.com.
With BlogBooker.com and Lulu.com, I can only (easily) get the book in a 6×9 or A4 (letter) softcover book. I probably could find a way to get it to one of the hardbound book sizes for Lulu.com, but it would require a couple of extra steps. Another advantage is that I could open up the Lulu.com books if grandparents wanted to get a copy of the boys’ blogs. BlogBooker.com also allows comments to be automatically included.
If anyone has a better way to take a blog and publish it, please let me know.
Let us mourn
Let us mourn for the senseless tragedy at Sandy Hill Elementary School in Newtown. It is often far too easy to ignore violence when it takes place on the other side of the world, or even half-way across the country. It is much harder to ignore when it occurs close to home (on the other side of the state).
Friday’s events were too close. From the initial panic when seeing a news flash of an elementary school in lockdown in Connecticut – knowing that both Will and Ben were in their elementary school at that time. To the relief on finding that it was on the other side of the state. Then the sadness as the news of the real horror of what happened started making it to us. As we collectively grieve the horror, we should not forget those who are grieving a personal loss today.
Remember those that were lost:
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana M Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hocksprung, 47
Madeline F. Hsu, 6
Catherine V. Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Russeau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto, 27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison N Wyatt, 6
Disappearing Dogs
Yesterday, the Targa and Tucker decided to take a little vacation from hanging out at home. They took off on the hike I took with the boys and them. We were pretty far in the woods when Tucker got a scent of something and off he went. Targa went in pursuit.
It was early afternoon when we went hiking. They hadn’t returned by nightfall, and we all were starting to get worried. The boys started talking about putting up “Lost Dog” signs on every third telephone pole on Sunday if they didn’t come back before this morning. We even took a drive around the block to see if we could find them.
Nothing. Not even a Tucker bark. We went to bed in an extra quiet, dog empty, house. Will woke up a couple of times in the night to check if they got back. I had strange dreams about finding the dogs, only to wake up to discover it was a dream (but thankfully they were dreams – I also had a dream where Will and Ben decided to steal from a toy store – maybe I had too much wine before bed).
Finally about 4 AM I woke up to the distant sounds of Tucker barking. Yes, he is loud enough to hear through the window when he is far away in the field across the street. I went outside and called for them, but it was too dark to go looking for them.
Will woke up at six and went downstairs to find the dogs sitting at the back door. Dirty and very very tired. Tired enough to not protest a bath.
Sankta Lucia Concert
Celebrating Sankta Lucia is a Swedish tradition that Susanna has brought with her. According to by Agneta Lilja, Södertörn University College (posted on sweden.se):
The Lucia tradition can be traced back both to St Lucia of Syracuse, a martyr who died in 304, and to the Swedish legend of Lucia as Adam’s first wife. It is said that she consorted with the Devil and that her children were invisible infernals. Thus the name may be associated with both lux (light) and Lucifer (Satan), and its origins are difficult to determine. The present custom appears to be a blend of traditions….
The concert is a celebration of light, with Lucia wearing a crown of candles and each member of cast carrying a candle. According to sweden.se:
The real candles once used are now battery-powered, but there is still a special atmosphere when the lights are dimmed and the sound of the children singing grows as they enter from an adjacent room.
Tradition has it that Lucia is to wear “light in her hair,” which in practice means a crown of electric candles in a wreath on her head. Each of her handmaidens carries a candle, too. Parents gather in the dark with their new digital cameras at the ready.
The star boys, who like the handmaidens are dressed in white gowns, carry stars on sticks and have tall paper cones on their heads. The brownies bring up the rear, carrying small lanterns.
The Yesterday we shared in that tradition by attending a Lucia concert in Hartford. The boys found the concert a little boring, but it is good to experience new things (and learn to sit though things that aren’t as exciting as watching a movie). This is the second year we have celebrated the holiday here. Last year we attended the concert at the Swedish Church in New York City.
The concert last night was very nice. Of course, the big concert in NYC the year before was amazing – there was no comparison between the two. Of course the concert at the Swedish Church is significantly more expensive and a much longer trip.
Small Projects
Today finally felt like a normal Sunday. It has been crazy busy her over the past couple of weeks, between my work travel, hurricane Sandy, and holidays. Today we had nothing planned save a few errands to run before lunch.
I decided to take an easy day. I had no major house projects to work on, so I decided to finish up a few small projects around the shop.
The first project was to replace the spotlight on the corner of the workshop. I had installed a motion sensor light several years ago, and it no longer worked. I decided to use one of the RAB lights I had left over from the garage and put it on a timer. I picked up a dusk to dawn timer switch. The timer adjusts for sunrise/sunset and will turn the lights on at dusk and off at a fixed time, and back on in the early morning until dawn.
The second afternoon project was to work on the door to the second floor of the workshop. I have a kerosene heater for the workshop, but without a doorway to the second floor, all the heat escapes from the first floor workshop. I still have a little more work to do on the door, but it is getting closer. I pulled one of the antique doors that had been in the workshop loft. I’m not sure I like the painted door in the middle of unpainted plywood. Maybe next summer I will paint the plywood walls.
