The seven blueberry bushes on the east end of our garden had outgrown the individual cages we had built to protect our berries from the hungry little birdies that we enjoy seeing in the back yard. We feed them plenty of seed and suet to be okay with not sharing our precious blueberries with them! […]
The time had come to update the computer and its setup in my home office. A long overdue addition of RAM took my aging HP Pavilion tower from 8GB to 32GB and drastically improved its performance. Lesson learned and passed on. I was also having a little trouble seeing my dual monitor setup on their […]
As Lucas and Emily renovate the Alaya, they have had to fabricate many unique or no longer available parts. To rebuild their motorized anchor windlass, new gaskets were needed. Lucas measured and modeled the main and motor seal gaskets he needed and sent the files to me. I imported his files into SketchUp and then […]
I use a Craftsman roll around tool chest base for my NOVA Comet II midi lathe. The two drawers in the cabinet conveniently hold many of the accessories and supplies I use while turning pens, bowls, etc., on the lathe. The lower part of the cabinet is a big, empty space that was inefficient for […]
One of the major projects that Lucas and Emily have undertaken in the restoration of their sailboat, the Alaya, is replacing all of the windows. The challenge was coming up with an efficient way to accurately duplicate the original, hand-fit windows in 1/2″ polycarbonate. With hands on experience and a lot of brainstorming, our process […]
After a long winter, it takes too much guesswork and patience to wait for the last frosty night before setting out tender plans that were started under LED grow lights in the basement back in February. In past years, we often had to deploy sheets, buckets and pots to protect plants in the garden from […]
I’m a first cousin once removed of Dr. Harry James (Jim) Mahan. Jim was the family historian for many years, and he compiled a wealth of information about the Mahan, Campbell, Harvey, Miller and other related families. With permission from Jim’s wife, Jan, I have assumed the honors of preserving Jim’s work, making it more […]
Through many beautiful knitting projects, Linda’s set of rosewood knitting needles developed a couple of orphans, right in the heart of her most used needle sizes. I thought, “Gee, I have a lathe. If I can find some rosewood, how hard could it be to turn her a couple of replacements?” Well, as it turns […]
Stephen and Katie have acquired a beautiful new space for their custom jewelry business, Jewelry Set in Stone, located on the second floor of the historic Clocktower Building in Chelsea, Michigan. Once they had access to this bright, light-filled space, Stephen asked me to help him decide on some decorating and arrangement decisions. The best […]
A fond childhood memory was sitting at the kitchen table, usually in the wintertime, and playing game after game of Score Four. I think we only ever played by the basic rules, and as soon as someone won by getting four of their color beads in any straight row, the game was over and we’d […]