Project Prep

 I was just reminded by my "this time last year" photos that it has been a while since I've really travelled, and even longer since I shared a post! I've been dealing with the dearth of travel excitement by creating my own adventure... with hand tools, a new bench, building a few things. 

The view from here isn't bad!

The first project up was prepping the shop for a winter of construction. The bench was set up, but we still needed to install the fireplace for coziness and a tea/whiskey shelf for further coziness! Smalls had a set of oak pallet boards that gave me practice with planing, basic joinery, and making useful things. I took a week off work in November and got the bulk of the fireplace installation finished, and we hung the tea/whiskey shelf shortly thereafter.  I think it all turned out rather cozy! 

 

The next week off was a different construction project, this time a hay barn for horse feed. Smalls found plans online for a post and beam style barn. We lap jointed the main beams, recruited cousins to lift the king posts and ridge pole into place, and then I spent a week cutting double birdsmouths and putting the rafters up a few at a time. There was one night with high winds where I was a little nervous, but it was still standing in the morning! 

 

My part of the project essentially ended when the structure was up. Smalls car-decked the walls, then put metal sheeting on the roof. It is now stacked full of hay, the horse blanket is out of the "she shop," and the grain is only steps away from Ru's breakfast bucket. 
Concurrent with all these projects, we did all of the ground work for the "real" projects... that next! 

New benches and old drawers

I bought a bench. It's been my biggest non-travel purchase in a while and makes a world of difference when I'm working with my now-working planes. My evenings are now comfortably filled with shavings and bits of random projects...

Homebound adventures (with old tools)

Once the wave of realization that I was grounded and isolated for the forseeable future receded, I realized that my life really wasn't going to change much. I work from home 3 weeks out of 4 (more or less), and my community/family is, for the most part, elsewhere. Sure, I really miss working from coffee shops or pubs for the enjoyment of a different venue. Writing greeting cards from a park is hardly the same! But for the past year, my main means of leaving the house has been on foot, and neighborhood walks are as enjoyable as ever. Figuring out how to replace the exploration stimulus was my bigger worry. Fortunatly, I have a garage of old tools that I'd been planning on working on since... well, I bought the jack plane for $7 at Shipwreck Day in high school. It's been collecting dust and rust since then! 

History Nerds blitz Philadelphia

From what I write here, you would think that work only sends me to interesting places, and that my adventures when not travelling for work are frequently nearly as interesting. It's a classic case of selection bias; if I don't think it was interesting, I don't write about it. When I am given an opportunity to explore someplace interesting... well, it ends up here. In January, I was sent to the center of old town Philadelphia. It was too much history and cool stuff to explore on my own, so Dad flew out half way through the week, and joined me!

End-of-year hikes, et cetera

Even after the jaunt up to Cascade Falls (near Blacksburg, VA), I was still on the hunt for through the end of 2020. Most of these I found closer to home, a sort of scouting mission to map out what is fun and accessible in the immediate area. One of the surprises I found was a state park near Camas, where water drops from Lacamas lake over a series of falls into the Washougal watershed. The popular trail was moderately busy, although I think that forecasted cloud-bursts kept many people at home. I finally invested in the last piece of waterproof gear I needed (socks!) and was packing heavy, but the sun came out between light showers, and I stayed dry!

End of 2019 travel...

I may have had a bit of a travel hangover after Scotland (not a real hangover, we did more sampling than drinking), but that didn't mean that I didn't travel a bunch. Here's an overview of where I went in the last 3 months of last year...

Sunset at home, looking at Mt Hood

Scotland VI: Glasgow, and Goodbye

I’ve been putting off writing about Glasgow, tried writing about it twice, but it's been hard to get my thoughts on (digital) paper. Glasgow was different from Edinburgh, different from the Heilan' towns we visited, and different from the German cities and towns I know so well. Aside from the lilt of Scottish accents, it had more the spirit of Berlin than its neighborly brother, Edinburgh.

Glaswegian humor: the government tried to make the Duke of Wellington less accessible
by putting him on a plinth. The cone re-appeared on his head the next day.