Goodbye Holiday Season!

The Holiday Season is over; I can tell. This is the first Saturday in weeks that I don't have a party to attend.

And the Christmas decorations are starting to disappear from the house.

The decorations usually start appearing in October. While everybody else is carving pumpkins, my wife is digging out some of the innumerable Christmas chotchkies; the smaller Santas and Frostys, the Christmas themed dishtowels and the 6-inch tree she keeps on the kitchen counter. Then all through November, bit by bit, like watching a slow motion video of a lava flow taking over a small Pacific village, the house turns from a home for people to a Christmas village we have to live in. The coasters disappear, to be replaced with the Christmas set that we can't use (who am I kidding? like I use a coaster at home anyway); then the guest towels and the poinsettia shower curtain appear in the bathroom, and one afternoon on the way home I notice the wreath up on the front door.

Thanksgiving Day the Tree goes up; another sacrifice my wife makes. She loves a live tree, but has an issue. I won't get a live tree until after December 15th. And since none of the boys will help her get a live tree before Thanksgiving, she has to have an artificial one. And the boys will help her drag it out of the attic in November.

Christmas may have been creeping up on me since Halloween, but on Thanksgiving it arrives with full gale force. Every window sill has a Dickens village; the stocking hanger army has arrived on the fireplace, with their stockings in tow; the Shelf Elf is patrolling the living room nightly and I have to move some sort of Christmas paraphernalia just to find a spot to rest my beer.

New Years Day it all ends (personally, I think she has set out the last of the decorations the day before); like a movie fog that slowly recedes leaving the landscape visible once again, the decorations start to find their summer homes. And there are always a few new ones; the after Christmas sales always tend to have a few MUST-HAVE bargains.

But every year a few more things don't summer in the attic. We have lived with the Christmas soap dispenser in the bathroom for a few years now. and we have gotten accustomed to the snowman and reindeer glasses year round. The Santa snow globe has been a summer squatter for a while now, and there are probably others that I just have blinded myself to. I learned years ago that there are decorations that 'don't fit' into the attic, and have to be displayed.

I also learned years ago that my offers to help make things fit only earned me an icy stare. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. I quit volunteering to help.

I really don't mind the small things she does to keep Christmas around her year round.

It's much better than putting up with the Tree all year, like she would like to do.

Day of Rest

Today was a Day of Rest. Serious Rest.

I slept until 8:30, climbed back into bed at 9:00 and climbed back out at 12:30. It's 6:30 and I am ready to climb back in again.

Do you want to know why?

My last day of work was December 19th. Since then I have had parties that lasted 4 hours or more on December 21st; 23rd; 24th; 25th; 27th and 29th. And I have parties scheduled for the 31st and January 1st (technically the one on the First is still tentative). And I go back to work on the Second.

It has been a busy holiday season. I am almost looking forward to going back to work.

Almost.

Start of the Post-Holiday Let Down

Today starts the Winter Blues Period in earnest. Nothing else to look forward to except Spring.

And that is 3 months away.

Christmas is officially over. I was at the store today and all of the holiday displays were coming down, and they were back to light rock on the music.

All of the holiday specials are off the TV and tress will start appearing at the curb in the next few days, right after the last of the bags of wrapping paper are picked up.

And today it's snowing. Not much, but enough to be a nuisance, if it starts to stick. Right now it is just hundreds of large flakes, making a great aerial display, but melting into oblivion as soon as they hit the ground.

The Winter Blahs; short, dark days; long, cold nights. Everybody is partied out and the world seems more dreary compared to the last month of constant motion and whirlwind activities. Everybody runs flat out for the month of December and then just drops flat for the next two months; poking a nose out into the world every so often, like Puxsatawny Phil looking for a shadow.

And the incipient arrival of the holiday bills doesn't help either. Visa, Discover, Mastercard. And the one from the Electric Company. Unbelievable how much it costs to run a few small bulbs, ain't it?

Stepping on the scale is definitely not a day-brightener either. How can eating a couple of pounds of ham equate to 10 extra pounds on the scale?

Trying to keep a car clean in the next few months is always a pain in the whatsis. Mud; snow; salt and slush. Everything is either dirty, wet or both. A five minute trip to the store means a 20 minute cleanup when you get home.

All I've got to do is get through the next two months. Once the flowers start to poke their green little noses out of the earth I will brighten up.

But that is two long months away.

Christmas Day is Here!

I have spent the last couple of weeks crabbing about my lack of Christmas Spirit and the over commercialization of the Christmas Holiday.

Today is the Day; the reason for the Season.

Merry Christmas!

Christians all over the world look forward to today. A birth forecast by the prophets for a thousand years; the arrival on Earth of God and the beginning of a new period of revival. A gift promised to the Jewish people, the birth of Christ did little for them, and instead created an entirely new religion that has spread and splintered into dozens of sects around the globe and 2.1 billion followers; the largest religion in the modern world, with 33% of the world's inhabitants as followers.

Hard to believe it all began with the birth of a small child in a stable on this day 2,012 years ago.

Well; there are questions, both about the actual date and the year. Some even doubt the birth itself.

Considering how easily information gets confused in just a few short years, I would think it would be easy to lose track of an exact date that happened, in our case, over 2000 years ago.

The creation of a Liturgical Holy Day to coincide with an existing pagan holiday is logical as well. After all even today the Queen of England has both an actual birthday and an Official Birthday.

None of which should detract from the Celebration itself; we are celebrating the Birth of Christ; not Christ's Birthday.

That may seem like a semantic difference, but its not. We aren't concerned so much with when Christ was born as much as we are concerned that he was born at all.

Think about the concept; especially 2000 years ago. Gods demanded tribute and worship; gods were vindictive and destructive when they were not properly honored.

But here was a God that loved the people who worshiped Him to the point that he would send His Son- His only Son- to live on Earth with us; to suffer for our sins and to suffer the ultimate punishment for us; to die in our stead.

We aren't celebrating the day He came to Earth, but the concept that He did.

And that, my friends, is quite a concept.

Christmas Eve

Today is party number two, along with some other traditions we usually do on this special day; the Krohn Conservatory in Eden Park, along with the Western & Southern Insurance Creche, with life sized wax figures and live animals. Then a quick trip to the Overlook; the speed of which depends entirely on the weather. Cold wet and windy; 35 seconds. Cold dry and snowy; a couple of minutes.

The overlook has a beautiful view of Northern Kentucky and the cities of Dayton, Bellevue and Newport, as well as parts of Fort Thomas, Covington and Southgate. On Christmas Eve, when the air is clear and the Lights are lit, contrasting with the white backdrop of a recent snow, the cold seems to melt away. Old familiar landmarks are sorted out of the panorama, and pointed out to those with us, even though they are old, familiar landmarks to them as well.

Then a stop at UDF for egg nog; the Southern Comfort is already in stock. Home in time for a quick bite and a quick review of the presents, making sure we haven't missed anybody or missed a present. Then off to Walmart for just a few more things.

Then off to the homestead on the hill for another Christmas Celebration with the family. Ham again, and then a couple hours of unwrapping presents.

And the noise! 14 adults; half a dozen kids over ten and another half dozen between 6 and ten and 4 more under 6. Running, playing, squealing in anticipation. and each of them taking turns hitting the buttons on Each. And. Every. Animatron. Each plays a different Carol, usually Santa singing something, except for the that probably dates to the Clinton Administration that plays a jazz version of something or the other on a saxophone. none of them gets a break until the presents are distributed, and the younger crowd has something more important to occupy them, and one parent will usually sneak a battery out of each Santa during the melee, just to make sure silence remains golden. Especially the one with the damn saxophone.

Youngest child to oldest, each unwraps a present, and each is met with either squeals of delight or the 'its-worse-than-socks' toss onto the pile, while a previous present is pulled from the pile for further inspection. I have to admit that I run about 50/50 on the squeal/socks chart. On the upside I don't think I have ever given a take or leave present; it's either pure love or distinct hate.

And then the departures start. Young children to get home and into bed; old parents who want to get the older children to bed so they try to get a few minutes sleep between Santa's visit and zero-dark:30 when Christmas Day starts.

When our kids were smaller- like between 7 and 17 we had a few chickens and a rooster. The Christmas morning rule was nobody came downstairs until the rooster crowed; that meant at least the sun was up.

Until one enterprising youngster realized that turning on the back porch light would wake up the rooster. None of them would ever admit who it was who would turn the porch light on at 4:30 in the morning, but I suspect the eldest convinced the youngest to do it.

That's just the way things work.

Countdown to Christmas- C-Day-1

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. In my minds eye I can see Santa and his helpers making their last minute preparations; feeding the reindeer; polishing the harness and the sleigh; making sure all of the packages are accounted for and the famous red suit is back from the cleaners. Elves running  every which way; dealing with last minute details and making sure Santa's yearly trip goes off without a hitch.

Similar arrangements are going on at the homestead, but not on a North Pole scale. We will be loading up the front wheel drive sleigh ourselves in a couple of hours and heading off to a couple of parties, and I am trying to get my old iPhone to load my Christmas music so I can use it like an iPod during today's festivities. But it's not going well.

I dumped the iPhone for a Droid about a year ago- one of the happiest days of my life- and I haven't messed with the cussed thing much since. I had forgotten how much of a PITA the thing is. With the Droid loading music is as easy as drag and drop. The iPod has to 'SYNC'. And it can only sync music in the iPod format. So, if you didn't buy a song from Apple or rip the CD using iTunes it has to be converted to the WMA format before it can be synced. Oh, and loading all of Christmas music means I had to wipe out the music that was on the cussed thing to start with, and after Christmas I need to go through this again to restore the music I had on there in the first place. Anyone who believes this is a good system probably has never been introduced to any other.

I know I promised no bad news until after Christmas, but I had to rant about that frustration, and add that Friday night I was talking to a group of iPhone 5 users, all of whom were crabbing about short battery life. SUCKERS!

And what little snow we had has melted, and none is forecast until the 26th, so no White Christmas this year, which isn't rare. This area has only had 7 White Christmases in the last 40 years. My memory says that ain't right, but it could just be that snow at Christmas creates a better memory than a rainy one.

Well; except for one year.

I think it was 1966. Every year on Christmas Eve we would visit my Mom's parents up in Reading Ohio; about an hour ride or so. The eating and gifts would last late into the evening, and then packing the car with kids and presents would take another half hour. we usually hit the road about 10:00 and I was asleep by 10:02.

For some reason this year I was wide awake and watching the cars we passed on the expressway and watching the rain fall. We came up beside a bright red 1967 Ford Falcon station wagon; the entire back end crammed with toys and wrapped presents. as we drew up next to the drivers window I saw the driver's full white beard and red suit; yeah, it was him. Santa took his eyes off the road long enough to see a very wide-eyed young man staring at him, and then took one gloved hand off the wheel to give me an admonishing finger wag.

I was asleep before we passed his hood ornament.

For some reason ever since I keep my eyes open for red vehicles on rainy Christmas Eves. But I've never seen him again. I guess we each only get one chance to catch Santa on his rounds. I had mine almost 50 years ago. and still remember it like it was yesterday.

Countdown to Christmas; C-Day-2

Last night was the company Christmas Party. As always a stellar event. Dinner on the top floor of a local hotel in a private club with a view of the area that spanned 360 degrees. The night was clear and we could see for miles. The meal was exquisite- Filet Mignon for me- followed by a mix of desserts and a few bourbons.

And lots of conversation. Our firm is spread out in 3 buildings locally, so some folks I have worked with for years I don't get to see on a regular basis; last night was catch-up time. Exchanging old stories and sharing new ones; hearing of new additions and old passings; just having a few hours to talk to folks without the pressure of a deadline.

It was also probably the last day of relaxation before the storm of Christmas busy hits. Like today. I should be wrapping presents, but am taking a few minutes to post to the blog. Yeah; it's procrastination. Not that I mind wrapping presents usually; I like the creating of secrets. But usually I store shop for gifts and part of the selection process is the box the present comes in. That is a dirty little secret I am sharing for the first time; the easier a package is to wrap the more likely you are to receive it as a gift.

But this year I did a lot of shopping on-line. The packages these things came in suck. All curves and odd angles and soft corners. What ever happened to a good old-fashioned 6-sided box? I do have one present that is a 6-sided box; 4 inches square and 4 feet long; yeah, that'll wrap well.

I also need to decided what will be the background. Christmas Carols? A Christmas movie? or maybe a few old Christmas Specials we have on DVD? Something to help put me in the mood to fight thin paper, sticky tape and sharp edged, oddly shaped packaging.

But if I bring presents I get ham.

Yeah; it's worth it. Now I need to find the DVD for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer....

Christmas Prep is Done!

I am determined to do only Happy Posts between now and Christmas. I don't know how, but that is my goal.

See how hard it's going to be? I've gone negative already.

The plans are all in place; parties on Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; Sunday and Tuesday will probably be all day affairs. Gifts to exchange; food to eat- including 3 hams- beer and eggnog to drink, cookies and candy are far as the eye can see in any direction. And probably a pumpkin roll or two.

Family everywhere, except tonight. Tonight is the work family. A good meal; good company and a few mellowers. But no ham.

The shopping is done, as of a few minutes ago. I just have the nail-biting wait for the delivery on one more thing and all will be wrapped and ready to go.

As you can tell, I am looking forward to the Christmas celebrations, despite yesterday's post. I still don't have the traditional Christmas Spirit, but maybe it will come, now that the stress of the season is over and the fun part is beginning.

And now that the parties are starting I can start hitting the Christmas Spirits; that always helps.

We took a couple of hours yesterday and went to visit the Train Display at the Cincinnati Museum Center; Just the wife and I and the Young'un. She isn't as appreciative of the trains as her brothers. She couldn't wait to get out of there and hit the Children's Museum. She had a good time and we left after a couple of hours. The place was not as crowded as I feared it would be, but I guess most of the area schools were still in session; her's let out on Wednesday.

And we have snow. Not much, less than a dusting, but still snow. as long as it's still on the ground come Tuesday we can say we had a White-ish Christmas.

Lets the celebrating begin!

And Carols Under the Tree

Today starts my Christmas vacation.

Well; almost.

I have one of those jobs that you never really get time off from.

So Today starts that period of me not going into the office and taking longer breaks in between working in my sweat pants and t-shirt while waiting on Christmas.

Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?

Back in the day when I had a job I would shower after instead showering for, leaving work meant leaving work. The whistle blew at 4:30 and work became something tucked into the back of my mind, tucked away in a hidden recess until the alarm went off at 6:00 the next morning. Didn't think about it, talk about it, or DO it.

Not because I didn't care about my job, but it was hard physical labor, and it required both the parts and the tools to machine the parts; not things I could haul around.

Now my job consists of paper. Well, not even real paper most of the time. Usually its virtual paper. I can carry my entire job around on a laptop. Very Handy.

I can take a week off and deal with 99.9% of the issues I need to with out leaving my house. Or in good weather, the back porch.

But; I digress.

This morning I slept in until almost 8:00. That's the way to start a vacation! It will probably be the last day I get to sleep in too. I still have some shopping to do, and the parties start on Friday. My schedule is full of Christmas doings from 5:00 Friday night to at least 6:00 Tuesday night, with various other get-togethers sprinkled out until I go back to work in January.

The carols are playing, the tree is up and lit and the presents are wrapped and spread around its base.

But it doesn't feel like Christmas. The sights; the smells, the bustle is all here. We've watched the Christmas movies and specials and ran through the traditions. But the special feeling that this is a special time of year is still not fully developed.

Maybe its the troubles. Fiscal cliff; Newton shootings; the news in general. The weather; chilly and rainy.

Or maybe I'm just not a kid anymore; maybe that's what I miss. Back when I was a kid Christmas was special, and not a chore. Presents magically appeared; Santa Claus was really right in front of me and that red light I saw out my bedroom window on Christmas Eve was Rudolph's nose.

Now I know where presents come from; that Santa has an army of helpers around the world and the red light really there all year- I just noticed it on Christmas Eve. The magic has gone out of the holiday.

I have just noticed that everything I am noting is concerned with the commercial holiday of Xmas, and not the religious Holy Day of Christmas.

Maybe that's why I am not feeling the Christmas spirit; I have been bombarded with the trappings of Xmas since before Halloween; they aren't as rare as when I was younger. Christmas burnout maybe?

In 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas was first aired on December 18th. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol first aired in 1962; on December 18th. in 1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on December 9th. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer aired for the first time on December 6th, back in 1964. The Christmas Season was more compact, and drifted into January.

A Christmas Season that starts in October and ends abruptly on December 25th at midnight is probably the reason I don't feel Christmas like I did. It has become even more commercial than it was in '64 when Charles Schultz penned his now famous rant. With sponsorship by Coca-Cola.

I guess it's our fault. We bought into the idea that Christmas gift spending should be the driver for our economy and have spent accordingly. And that 'Spending Season' has been expanded from a couple of weeks in December to two full months at the end of the year, including a shopping bacchanal the entire weekend after -and, recently ON- Thanksgiving.

And we wonder why our government spends the way it does.

A Little Bit of Random

I guess I am still suffering from the after effects of too much Tryptophan; my thoughts have been completely uncoordinated for the last few days.

Like the other day when Hostess and the Baker's union failed to come to an agreement in a bankruptcy ordered mediation. Who is in charge of that union?!?!? The company says 8% pay cut or we close the doors; the company closes the doors and puts you out of a job. Then the court orders the two parties back to the table, as a last ditch effort to save the company, and.... YOU STILL DON"T ACCEPT THE DEAL!?!?!?!?

I'm lost. Did the union not believe the company the first time, and STILL think they are bluffing about closing down? Or do they not want jobs in the first place? I might be interested once the book comes out. And this will be a classic case study in the ignorance of unions.

Speaking of unions, right after one votes themselves and 18,000 of their co-workers out of jobs is not the best time to try and organize a new place, like, say, Wal-mart? According to the news story I read this morning, apparently a whole 50 employees boycotted work at Wal-mart on Black Friday in support of the union. Yeah; that worked out well for them, didn't it?

And speaking of Wal-mart, the wife was there three times during Black Friday; once at 8:00 on Thanksgiving night; again about noon on Black Friday and again about 8:00 on Friday night. The early Black Friday shopping was busy, but the other two trips were normal weekend sized crowds. I guess everybody was already shopped out?

Personally, I have to be desperate for something to actually step into a store between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hate crowds and I hate shopping. So I stock up on things I'll need early in November and stay away until January. Oh; I build my Christmas presents.

Which will start later today. I have a train or two to build, and a toy box. and a device to be named later. I'll probably spend at least a part of every day for the next month covered in sawdust.

Yes; that's a good thing!

Hi Folks, Remember Me?

It has been a while since I have had time to post. Work has been crazy, and Christmas prep has been worse.

See that toybox? I figured I could get it done in about 10-15 hours. It took over 50.

It took awhile because it is built out of a sheet of oak veneer plywood and solid oak. Oak takes a while to work because it is so hard. But I had to use oak; this box is for my grandson. It had to be able to take abuse; after all, I raised his daddy, I know how rough he will be on his things.

But it had to be done for Christmas. And it was.

Almost.

I still need to put another coat of polyurethane on the lid and sign and poly the bottom.

Then it will be done.

And I can start in the OTHER Christmas projects I have to finish.

Some of my Projects I

I built this a few years ago as a Christmas Gift for a brother-in-law. In case you can't tell. it a fishing pole rack, that has a spot at the top for two special poles he has that belonged to his Dad and Granddad; the picture is the three of them fishing, and Dad and Grandad are using their poles.

Don't mind the photo editing; I had to hide a few pictures of the kids.

2010, So Far

Well, my New Year has started off with a Bang; and a whimper.

New Years Eve was great. I had a couple of parties to go to, including one at home with the boys and the Young'un. But instead of watching some Yankee in New York, we did our own countdown and lit off some fireworks at Midnight. Not too much, but enough to know we celebrated.

And I caught some bug or the other, and spent all of New Year's Day in bed, dozing and watching TV. Discovery had a Mythbuster's marathon, and the Cartoon Network had a Looney Tunes marathon going and I was always lucky enough to have either one or the other going. Or I was asleep. Not what I had planned, but, still a decent day.

Saturday I spent most of the day working on a couple of cars. it was a tad chilly working conditions, but still, enjoyable.

Today is back to the wood shop to finish a late Christmas present.

Tomorrow is back to work, damn the bad luck.

This has been the quickest two weeks I think I've ever seen. It seems like only yesterday was the middle of December. But it has been a busy two weeks; that always makes time fly.

What's that line form that old Willie Nelson song? The Party's over, and tomorrow starts the same old thing again.

Yep, that's it.

Guess Where I Was Today?

The Wife and I took the Granddaughter over to the Cincinnati Museum Center today. I figured it would be a good time. It was a weekday and I was on vacation, so it should have been fun.

After all, it was just us. And what felt like a half million of our closest friends.

Seriously, the place was so crowded you could not walk anywhere in the Children's Museum. The Ball Room was 3 deep at every device, the Play City was overrun completely and the Building Zone was full as well. There is a place where you stack some foam blocks to build an arch. Two kids were playing with half the blocks, so we couldn't build it; a fact we didn't discover until half of the arch was up. And the punk kids' parents didn't say a word about it.

Over at the building panels area the Young'un searched for 5 minutes for a hammer so she could play with the nails and panels. She finally found one and was just ready to start banging away when a little boy came over to where she had picked up the hammer with a hand full of parts. He started looking around and asked his brother- Where's my Hammer?. Without prompting the Young'un promptly handed it back to him. She knew who's hammer it was.

It was like that everywhere in that place. We finally left and went to the other Museums, which were almost as bad.

The picture is from the main rotunda showing one half of the mural that spans the half dome, showing the progress from early settlers to the modern (1933) day. Done as a fresco with tile as accents these were only the largest of the murals done by Reinhold Weiss. Back in the concourse- where the train gates were- there were a series of murals depicting various 1933 Cincinnati manufacturing processes. When the concourse was torn down in the 1970's all of the murals were moved to the Greater Cincinnati airport. Unfortunately modern travel restrictions mean they are almost as viewable as if they had disappeared with the concourse.

One interesting display that is new since the last time I was there was down in the Museum of Natural History. There was a Dinosaur skeleton- an Allosauraus, if I remember correctly- that was compared to a modern Chicken.

Yep, a chicken. Apparently modern science now believes that dinosaurs aren't extinct; they survive as modern birds. Which is something I have been saying for years. Anybody has ever seen the claw of a rooster will have no trouble believing chickens are actually dinosaurs.

But just imagine a T-Rex with feathers.

Why I have Been Busy

I made this for my grandson in Santa's Workshop. The cars are out of poplar and the wheels and axles are oak.

I enjoy making things like this. I enjoy the creative process of seeing something in my minds eye and then creating it. I also enjoy the problem solving that needs to go into making my ideas work.

Where do you find wheels for something like this? Well, you have to make them. Which is difficult without a lathe. The small wheels I made from a piece of dowel, cut down into slices and then a hole is drilled in the center. The large wheels I cut from a solid piece of oak with a hole saw.

Like I said, it's the problem solving I like.

Each project is like that for me. I seldom do a new project without first having a new problem to solve.

Like my Snowmen.



I have an image that I printed out from my computer on both sides and then I cut them out on a scroll saw. Getting the images to line up so I could cut them out together was an initial problem, basically involving how to get the two sides to register in two directions. But it worked. I made twelve of these puzzles, including the prototype, and the nieces and nephews loved them.

It has been a busy couple of weeks. But today I am taking the day off. I'm going to find something on TV and go into full rest mode in the recliner.

I've got a couple of projects around the house scheduled for next week, so I'm going to need it.

Merry Christmas to All Y'all!

Today has been a typical Christmas. Woke up at 5:30 when the kids came creeping down the stairs. The youngest is 14; I figured teenage sleepyhead disease would over come the Santa rush and I would be able to sleep a little longer, but nope.

We got home late last night, as usual on Christmas Eve. The family gets together at my sister's house on the hill to exchange gifts and eat. This year we started unwrapping gifts at 7:00 and finished about 10:30. We probably deforested a couple of acres just for wrapping paper.

I did well; the family knows me. I got a 6-pack of good beer; a good cigar; an annotated copy of the Constitution; Thomas Paine's Collected works and The Federalist Papers. So one day soon I can kick back with a good beer, a good cigar and some good reading. It just has to warm enough on the porch for these activities.

I made an army of snowmen for my nieces and nephews; they seemed to go over well. Next year maybe an army of Santas?

Santa brought the kids a Monopoly game for the Wii system; they are in the living room arguing over a game now. We are about the start cooking breakfast; bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits and gravy and pancakes. I may go back to bed while they the kids cook. That does two things: One it keeps me out of the way, and Two- I don't have to watch while they basically dirty every dish in the kitchen. Why they need 3 shot glasses while cooking breakfast I really don't want to know.

I can't find my camera cable this morning, so you'll have to suffer through a stock internet image today.

Merry Christmas to you and yours, and may you all have your wishes fulfilled.

So Much to Do, So Little Time

I have to admit to being behind schedule a little bit for Christmas.

I have a lot going on; building presents for the grandkids and the nieces and nephews and such but I would be able to make it work, except for work.

I had a BIG issue pop up on a file that was basically done. I should have to spend 5 minutes on the dang thing between now and Christmas, BUT NO...

Instead of spending tomorrow morning down in the wood shop making sawdust, I'll probably be at the computer working out a solution to this issue that has been laying dormant for 2 years, just to pop up 48 hours before this file was gone for good.

Did I mention I was on vacation this week?

Oh well; 2 more days until the deadline; I should be able to make it all work.

I'll post some pictures when I get it all done.

Of the toys; not the file

Merry Christmas to All!

This picture took me hours to get right. The model for this I posted a couple of weeks ago. That one was taken with just the lights up, and with an iphone.

I spent 2-3 hours trying to replicate that shot with an expensive Canon. And I think I nailed it.

if you look closely you can see the lights reflected in the polished doors, and glimmering off of the crystals in the chandelier.

Yeah, I'm proud of that shot.

Here's What I Did Yesterday

No, that's not my house, but that tree is a beauty, ain't it?

Just for perspective, that ceiling is 15 feet tall.