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 1/10/2008 The first of my two bonsai shows of the year is coming up in a little less than two weeks. For the past month I have been working furiously during my spare time to clean up my trees and make some bonsai stands to display the trees on. Sounds simple enough, make a small table that has only nine pieces of wood: four legs, four sides and a panel in the middle...but I decided to copy from a photograph in a show book from Japan, a table that I liked the design of. I've now made two slightly different ones, and each time it took me about fourty hours worth of work. The wood has to be milled, cut to size, the joinery cut, then cleaned up. Then the parts are shaped a little, glued together, shaped some more; the surfaces are cleaned up, scraped to smooth them, then sanded, and finally the stain and finish are added. I just can't belive how much work it really is...I thought the second one would go much faster than the first, but it took just as long.Dory has started her own little side business, selling childrens books to friends and acquaintances who have young ones. If anyone reading this is interested you should contact her, the company is Barefoot Books Bryce has been doing really well in school and with his playmates since over the last few months. It's hard for me to say what is helping him, but every time I talk to someone who hasn't seen him in more than a week they are amazed at how his speech is progressing. It's harder for me to see because I am with him so much, but sometimes I actually wish he would just shut up. We went up to my mom's house while Dory was away at her annual sales meeting; on the way it was dark and rainy and I managed to get the hiccups while I was driving. Most people don't have too much issue with hiccups; but when I get them it is a few hours of agony followed by a couple days of soreness in my chest and stomach. Anyway, Bryce wouldn't stop asking questions while we were in the car and it made me really frustrated because I needed to concentrate on my breathing as well as driving in the rain and darkness. He's a good kid, but I guess the reality of a nearly-three-year old is that they talk when they want to. 12/16/2007 Well, a few people, including myself have been wondering when I would manage to get phutu updated again. Has it really been 3 months? Anyway, Christmas is fast approaching and Dory is away at a managers' meeting at the moment. Bryce and I are hanging around like a couple of bachelors, we took Dory to the airport this morning. Thus ensues a list of things that I have done recently. I spent Saturday at a bonsai workshop, triming and repotting some of my trees. I've been neglecting them a bit during the cold weather in favor of other endeavors. Mainly, I've been exploring the intricacies or woodworking as it was used for making Chinese antiques. I was quite surprised to find that the types of joints that are used in traditional chinese furniture basically make glue unneccesary. It's amazing to think about, but I'm guessing that the glues that were available to the furniture makers were of poor quality so they had to develope techniques for making the joint strong without glue. I spent much of my free time for the better part of a month making one small table which I will use as a bonsai stand. When I started it I was thinking that it would just be a prototype so that I could learn some of the techniques involved, but as I progressed I decided to give it my all and complete it so that I could use it in a show. The result is pretty good, but I hope to take what I have learned and apply it to a few more stands, incorporating changes to improve and refine what I accomplished on the first stand. The three of us took a trip to Las Vegas this last weekend. We stayed with our friends Cheryl and Mark; Dory and Bryce spent much of the time away from me: they went on a train ride in Henderson while I was off hiking. I was surprised three years ago when I went on a hike outside of Vegas and found a forest hidden in the middle of the desert (it was in a secluded valley within a small mountain range.) And ever since I have tried to go hiking every time that I go to Vegas. This time I went with Andrew and Jordan, the sons of Cheryl and Mark to Red Rock Canyon and climbed Turtlehead Peak. It was a tough climb, it started as a normal trail but quickly degenerated into a dispersed bunch of trails going up a canyon. Although there was a main trail it was really easy to lose it while while we scrambled up the rocky slope. Once we made the ridgeline it was an easier matter to get to the top of the peak. It's not a record breaker or anything, but the climb was interesting and I found some nice twisted junipers near the summit. 8/24/2007 6/28/2007 5/11/2007 3/27/2007 1/5/2007 11/23/2006 10/1/2006 9/1/2006 7/20/2006 5/30/2006 5/20/2006 4/25/2006 3/22/2006 2/22/2006 1/25/2006 12/20/2005 11/17/2005 10/27/2005 10/8/2005 9/11/2005 8/26/2005 8/9/2005 8/1/2005 7/20/2005 7/5/2005 6/17/2005 5/27/2005 5/1/2005 4/15/2005 4/5/2005 3/24/2005 3/13/2005 2/5/2005 12/28/2004 11/29/2004 11/3/2004 10/2/2004 9/10/2004 8/23/2004 8/8/2004 7/21/2004 7/2/2004 6/8/2004 5/4/2004 4/20/2004 3/28/2004 3/10/2004 2/10/2004 1/15/2004 To reach entries prior to January 2004 click on one of the older entries on this list and scroll down to the bottom of that entry. e-mail Eric |