I have yet to see the barred owl that lives in the woods behind the barn/shop. Not a barn owl, but a barred owl. My Beautiful Mystery Companion has seen the owl twice and says it has an impressive wingspan. The other night, while I was working in the library, she said the barred owl perched for several minutes on the roof of the shop, perusing the terrain below for dinner: field mice, snakes, small dogs…
That is why at night when we let our two small dogs out — Rosie and Mollie — we stay outside there with them, even with the backyard newly fenced. Rosie weighs about 15 pounds, Mollie...
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Despite giving away more than two dozen bank boxes of books to daughter Mere and the Estes Library at LeTourneau University, where I began working in person again this week, the collection I kept filled all the shelves in the new home, as well as the bookcases we brought here. As I said previously, building a barrister bookcase remains high on the woodworking to-do list. Buying books is a habit I do not intend to break.
Putting up books is always a pleasure, this ritual of renewing acquaintances with old friends. I took my time, trying to better organize them, keeping multiple books by authors...
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Acquiring patience has been a lifelong struggle. One reason I took up woodworking was to learn patience. One cannot get in a hurry building furniture without messing up or losing a finger. However, it’s been a decade since I have had the space to actually build stuff and haven’t really needed to do so. Now I have a dream shop on our country place. It’s huge, insulated and far enough from our only neighbor to run power tools, such as my planer, without disturbing anyone. And I have several projects in mind for our House on A Hill — a toy box for Molly the Maltese; a barrister bookcase to house...
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We have a burn pile at the new place out in the country, left by the previous owner. Actually, we have two burn piles, which is one more than necessary. I mowed a tight circle around the grass at the burn pile closest to the shop’s outside spigot, then thoroughly watered that grass so the burn pile would not turn into a raging grass fire. I don’t really want to get acquainted in that manner with the volunteer fire department. Actually, I haven’t figured out who provides fire service out here north of town. Probably need to do that.
I was burning boxes not fit to save for another move....
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