Tuesday, February 28, 2006

WHAT DA HELL ARE THESE GIRLS UP TO?? SEE IF YOU CAN GUESS


ARE THEY:

1.Trying to out-gross-out each other with a garlic breath showdown???
2.Hurling insults about having to drive in an unheated automobile???
3.Spitting contest???
4.Just a coupla blowhards tring to out blow each other???

Friday, February 24, 2006

tyrant dictator of raub street???



Could anyone in their right mind
ever possibly consider this precious pup(current president of the look-like-a-baby-seal club) the tyrant dictator of raub street?
(see Cat Nap at http://www.rainamast.blogspot.com/ or clik "on sugar hill" at right under LINKS)

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

little visitors to the shop



Terry Came with the kids to check on the progress of her new piece of furniture. Grace (left) Luke (right)
She loved it. They did too.

Friday, February 17, 2006

A LITTLE UPDATE

I'm almost finished the cabinet - the glass for the doors came yesterday. The drawers are just about hung - hardware is attached.
The apron for the bottom is all cut rounded off and finish sanded - I just have to install it which means I have to turn the cabinet on its back. Not that easy since this baby is weighing in at around 300 pounds already.
Now I just have to re-do the top. When I was final sanding it, one of the boards developed fissures that just came outta nowhere and were just too large to fill - that occurs a lot when you work with figured wood. So I had to completely cut the board out (it was situated in the middle of the top) and essentially start again from scratch. Daddy (me) was not happy, plus just one 4 1/2 inch wide board was $50. Nice wood though.


Next the finish goes on - CANT WAIT - hand rubbed tung oil. The wood on this is so beautiful that I cant wait to see the 3D effect slap me eyeballs!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

KRAMER


I inherited a dog when I moved to Easton - Kramer. Judging by the name it's hard to assess that she's a she. Kramer was a very friendly dog but after a couple of years she began to smell, and
anything she'd touch would smell; and if you touched her, you smelled too. . Not an ingredient for developing fondness, if you know what I mean. She used to sleep on the couch which annoyed the crap outta me because she'd leave the "Kramer Stank" behind. So I began to discipline her. No one I believe, had before, except for potty training with which she was becoming more and then much more lax. That my friends, is no fun at all in the middle of the night while going to grab a casual midnight snack.
Kramer's fondness factor was in a freefall.
Complicating matters was the fact that the children's olfactory development was nonexistent and when I wasnt around would allow her to get on the couch to stink them, and the couch up, simultaneously nullifying all my hard disciplinary work with Kramer. Then I began to see an interesting bahavior crop up - damned willfulness! I'd kick that bitch (not literally kick, but literally
bitch) off the couch and go into the kitchen and and when I came back, she was back too - stinkin to high heaven. So I devised devious designs to make it impractical for her to want to be on the couch. Everytime she'd sneak back, I'd get my steel measuring tape for which she managed to have acquired an aversion, and whip it out extending it across the room to tantalize her - well ok, torment her.
To no avail. Simply a quick fix. Nothing permanent. She did get better when we arranged some specific bedding designed just for her and became more endurable when we had a heiny procedure done by the vet 6 or 7 times (you dont wanna know the details).
I then began to realize that the puppy was a puppy no more, and that the now feeble, hobbling, smelly little creature was probably not going to be around a lot longer.
I began to treat her kindly. I'd greet her tenderly in the morning softly petting her smooth little head and I'd tell her what a pretty old pup she was. At first she wouldnt even let me touch her head - she'd back off as if I were going to pull her ears off or something. But after time she not only responded, but after about six months, she would also begin to sort of coo in a soft growly kind of voice. She was communicating. And what I finally determined she was saying was, "I'm not gonna lie on the couch any more" And lo and behold, she has not.
The important lesson to me in this was that, unlike some characters in DH Lawrence's novels, I have seen that love does have a profound affect on behavior. Not sycophantic love but genuine concern and respect. For her, it's more important to stay off the couch and maintain the love she receives than risk losing my affection for her.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the untamed tongue:






ME OLD PUP

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

BUSH-IT

"BUSH-IT" (bsh-t) v. intr. or commonly,"to Bushit"- defined as: being able to tell anyone, in all earnestness, your full intention to do good, knowing damn well there ain't a snowball's chance in hell you're going to come through w/the goods.

GEE DUBBLYA (president Bush) had an excellent speech writer last night and I see the wellbutrin is finally starting to kick in, allowing him to actually speak coherently. Generally just listening to him is enought to make me wanna go find a local college kid and hit-em-up for some Ritalin, just to help me make it thru his babbling.

But the problem isnt the speech. It's the substance. And when you hear crap like (and sorry, I cant quote directly) "taking care of each individual" you only have to look at Katrina to see the level of care this administration has had to offer. Talk is and has been really cheap, and until I see the "action" side of his caring, this is the administration just trying to "Bush-it" even more.