Tommy

I don't know why my pictures didn't load initially on that last post, but 3rd posting's the charm...  I noticed this picture of Tommy on my Sister-in-law's blog today.  My son is my clone, but he looks so much like his mommy here.  He also looks more like a little boy than a baby - kind of bitter-sweet...

This one's for the ladies

Men & Women are very different.  All the guys who follow my blog were satisfied with yesterday's post.  I rented a cool piece of machinery & used a chainsaw.  The ladies?  Why did you cut that tree down?  What did you do with all the wood (timber)?  I want to see pictures of the stump.  etc. etc.  Details - sheesh!

The "tree" was actually 5 trunks growing out of one base.  3 of the trunks had died 1-3 years ago, and the base was starting to rot/get eaten by termites.  One of the trunks fell onto my house but was too small to damage anything.  If the other trunks had fallen, they would have destroyed anything they landed on.  I removed the rest of the tree to preserve my house, and my neighbor's.

I'll cut the stump down some more this week & burn it slowly with charcoal.  Pat actually taught me this old-timer's technique and it works quite well.  Of course, the first time I tried it at this house, I thought it would work better to dump all 40 pounds of charcoal out at once and fan it with a leaf blower.  It really has to be low and slow to work, but I did manage to smoke his neighbor out of their house...

The city is running a green-waste program in April.  The only rule is "one dump-truck load per household".  Not being certain how big their dump-truck is, I split the lumber into 2 piles.

We split my neighbor's tree into 3 piles.  Besides being a little messy (needles & cones), I have no idea why we cut it down...

Mario - the handy scale-guage.  I count 33 rings at the base.

Timber!

Most bids to remove this tree were about $2000.  I decided to rent a boom for $350 and do it myself.  Pat gave me his old chainsaw, which cut like the devil after I tuned it up and got a new chain.  Fortunate for me too, my neighbor heats his house with wood and was happy to help for a bunch of free timber.  I might have just cut & dropped this tree in the backyard, but it's way too close to the houses.  With the lift I was able to get near the top of the tree & cut small sections which could be felled carefully into a tiny patch of yard.  The boom extends 60 feet, at which length it really sways & bounces.  I was a little unnerved at the very peak.

There aren't any close-ups, but I want my mom to know I was in full safety gear:  long sleeve heavy shirt, gloves, goggles, ear protection, and a hard-hat.

Tommy wished he could help - a few more years buddy.

My neighbor's been thinking about taking out their big pine tree, so when we finished my tree we cut his down too.  I didn't have the camera with me, so I'll post a couple pictures tomorrow. 

March Madness

Grandma Chris brough a basket of stuff over last week, and Tommy loves it.  If we steady it he can pull himself up in it.  He also likes it when I pull it over our heads and he can peek out the holes.

Oh, and he likes to taste it too.

Our cute puppy Mario who is 12.5 years old.  He's slowly losing his sight, hearing, and a few teeth, but is forever young at heart.

As usual, we're keeping every hour of the day busy with projects.  Katie bought some really cool antique knobs for our buffet.

Katie reupholstered our dining room chair cushions with some fun, bright fabrics.  She found old markings under the seats.  They were made by Tell City Chairs in Indiana, which is still in business today.  She contacted them and found our model chairs were manufactured 1940-1962.

I got the fun job of breaking them down, and gluing them back up.  After at least 50 years of use, I think there was one solid joint out of the 4 total chairs.  After taking them apart, I'm pretty sure they're solid mahogany.  I have to give This Old House Magazine props.  They recommended using polyeurethane glue on furniture because it expands and fills loose joints (and is very strong), which worked like a champ.

All done.  They go with the old drop-leaf table in the back left corner, which will become a game table in the basement at some point.  I didn't refinish the chairs because I'm lazy and hate stripping/refinishing.  Good thing they still look pretty good.

This was the old chair cushion.

I also sanded and finished our farm table benches.  They turned out pretty good, even though they're clearly not quarter-sawn oak like the table.

I found out this week that our city will have a curbside green waste pickup in April.  This means I can cut down my dead poplar, and won't have to haul it to the dump or rent a dumpster.  Stay tuned for updates involving 60+ foot articulated boom lifts and chainsaws!

Tom & Tommy

My dad came to visit this last weekend.  It was pretty low-key, (but that's our life right now) though we did manage to take him to Maddox for dinner and had a great visit.  We did a terrible job of taking pictures, but I'll share what we do have below. 

Tommy's sick again and last Saturday was really tough - I think we (my poor dad included) got about 2 hours sleep that night.  He's recovering quickly though (Tommy, but probably dad too), and I might even dare say we've turned a corner with sleep.  He had the flu last month.  He was through the worst of it in a day or two, but it really took a couple weeks to shake it completely.  He lost a little weight, but packed on 24 ounces in less than a week and is nice and chubby again.

Enjoy the few pictures we have.

Sleeping on Aunt Wiz

Munching a rice noodle

Long eyelashes - such a pretty boy

Tommy's a big stander - he can pull himself up!

Almost a little boy now

Teething, so he drools and sticks out his tongue a lot.

Laughs like his dad

Tired - try sleeping Tommy...

Typicaly quick to laugh, even when tired.

Ready for bed.  Mom & Dad are ready for some sleep...

He's a big jumper

Sunday AM, sick, having not slept much at all, but looks deceptively good.