Ron Altier

I knew a guy that was teaching his grandson woodworking. At the end of the day, the grandson's duties included cleaning up the shop and returning all tools to their proper location. Great habit, to instill in a woodworker...........I'm still trying. Sometimes I succeed.

Pencils? I always have some within reach. I always pick the one that is dull or broken. I still think that somewhere there is a place FULL of lost pencils and socks.

I really like the see thru containers that you can organize and see all that you organize. Not more that 10 minutes ago I had one out full of different size nails and tacks. Perfectly organized by size, etc. THEN I dropped the darn things and what a mess. The nails are back in that thing and NOT organized I'll save that for a rainy day when I have more patience. May never happen

When I was cleaning my shop yesterday, I remembered something that happened MANY years ago with a shop clean up. My wife's widowed father lived in a house trailer, half woodshop, half home. It was an absolute mess with just a path thru. More like a hermit cave than home. My future wife decided she'd surprise him (when he went on a trip) by cleaning up the place. When she finished it was very neat, very clean and was a model home again. She wasn't around when he came home and was excited to see how he liked his clean home. He was FURIOUS! and that don't really describe his anger. Of course it was clean, but when it was dirty and stuff stacked everywhere...........he knew where each and every tool, saw, nail, etc was in that pile and now he couldn't find anything! Thats kind of how I feel now when I clean and reorganize. This tool, ruler, scissors would etc would be much handier if I put it there. Days later, when I need it, I look where it used to be and can't remember where it is..................and so it goes.

I didn't use CA, maybe next time. I am now out of salted wood, but I may use some in the colorful sawdust as a filler to see what I can do.

I had one piece of spalted maple left. After cutting and glue up with some scrap (red hart, I think) I attempted turning. The results were very disheartening. The rot was too extensive and I kept getting bad results. Over the course of 2 days, I reglued, returned & refinished several times. This morning I decided to go with them as they are. Any more would be too much. The finish is what it is and my critic likes them. She is happy.....I am happy.

Lew said,"Remember, anything that's pleasing to your minds eye is OK". Not every everyone has the same idea of a pleasing/functional shape." I turn a lot of Christmas ornaments and different projects on my mini lathe. I use a lot of exotic wood and tricks to enhance these ornaments. I can't tell you how many times I have finished a piece thinking that this really looks good.................only to hear my wife say "Its OK" (not beautiful, just ok) So early on, I made the decision that the only one it has to please is me Keep it up, I think it looks great.

Owls aren't so rare here. I believe they were here when this area was not developed. and have never left. This one was not afraid of people and I'd bet he was hatched in someones tree. My daughter had a family of owls in her tree too. Owls had their family in the open outdoor section of Lowes at Castle Rock, CO. When I was there, Lowes had a sign saying not to disturb them. The area below them was a mess and was roped off. One of the hatchlings returned and made a nest in the same area the following year.

Canon SX 60HS 65X Optical zoom

We do see birds of prey often here in Colorado.Several kinds of hawks, eagles up high and others. We even get to see some up close. Today an owl showed up and stayed a while. Our neighbor has chickens and I'm sure that was the attraction. Its not often that one will pose for you and this one did.

RIP brother. We fired support for Big Red One and were also hit by mortars. I can see his bravery in my mind.

That looks great and functional. My neighbors are also from Ukraine and speak their language most often.......great people

My absolute best was WWII, however when I sent them back for resharpening, they really screwed them up, so I sent them back again. Again they came back with bad silver solder repair, even a blob of silver solder. That was it.........no more

Looks like something a cowpoke would have in his truck to repair a fence with.