November 2005

On Thanksgiving weekend our yard was graced with a Cooper's Hawk. That's him, circled in red. Shortly after this shot, he took a sparrow from the bushes below near the bird feeders. Couldn't get a shot of him, but he perched for about an hour on a bench while he dismantled his prey.

October 2005

Pangur Ban hauled from the workshop for winter storage.

At long last, the boat is out of the garage. Not done by any stretch of the imagination, but it is far enough along that I can free the garage for spar building over the winter-and I've got some cabinets to build for the living room.

September 2005

The Alexandria LA Headquarters building after Rita. Non-existent water pressure meant inventive alternatives.

I spent most of September as a Red Cross volunteer in Ferriday Louisiana. Went from completely clueless to shelter assistant manager in less than two weeks. When I've finished processing the experience (in part that means when the PTSD wears off) I'll write up some of it and post it here.

Some construction details of a loom stored in the Longwood carriage house, Natchez Mississippi. On my one full day off during my stay in the south, I toured a few of the antebellum homes in Natchez. This old loom caught my attention.

July and August 2005

Grab rails and toe rails on the boat.

Progress on the porch plus a nasty surprise.

Visited Sleeping Bear Lakeshore and took a couple pictures of the lifeboats.

May 2005

Started to tear-down and re-build the front porch. There's good news and bad news. The bad news: The rot is more extensive than first suspected. I'm going to have to do some structural work under the front corner of the house as well. The good news: I've solved the problem of door-to-door salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses.

April 2005

I've been playing around with Photoshop as a tool for posterizing and reducing photographs to line art.

April 2005

Took delivery of a 16-1/2" X 31" Lathe/Mill Combo this month. A new hobby-just what I needed. Managed to get the quarter-ton brute moved into the shop, uncrated and bolted to the workbench all by myself-and with all 21 digits intact at the end of the day.

Note to self: get all the rustproofing goop off the lathe chuck before powering up.

A couple of photos of an end-boring jig I built for my lathe/mill combination.

February 2005

Rooted around in the attic and came across some figure drawings I did a long time ago.

Some work on replacement drawers for the dining room cabinet.

January 2005

Got the new year off to a fine start with a new remodeling project-this time in the Dining Room.