It's official, I start work on March 2nd. On March 31st it will be nine years since I got hurt.

Talk about a long, difficult vacation! Pretty sure I don't want another one of those :-)


Seems like forever ago that I decided to buy Mary Lee. I remember very well how I came to the conclusion that I was just laying there waiting to die. Not wanting to. But unable to stand much in the way of activities. I also remember thinking at one time, much earlier, that if nothing improved. I had enjoyed all the fun I was likely to ever have. The pain was pretty intense for a long time.

I knew if I never took drastic steps to change things, my inactivity would lead to an early demise. I don't even know how I made it through the first year with Mary Lee. Like Barbara(a very good friend )said, I backed my way into a corner so the only choice I had was to come out fighting. I did do that!!

 So here I am. Finally going back to work. It is going to be a very busy summer. Along with working, I will be giving Mary Lee some much needed changes. She also will be moved to Charleston harbor for a much anticipated summer of sailing.

This fall she will be moved to Florida, finally!!!

So right now, I am starting to wrap up some projects so I can get to Mary Lee's projects.

I did get the washroom cabinets done. Trust me, the picture does it no justice.

When we got my stuff out of storage. I had a quite expensive mattress set that was barely used. We decided to use it. On Vivian's frame, it is quite tall. I even have to roll myself up into bed. I built Vivian a stool. Finally built a better stool for her and now I use the original.

They are made from the same boards. Just white pine. I used steel wool rusted in white vinegar for stain on the dark one. Just wiped the rusty looking liquid on and watched it darken while drying. That is two coats. Same polyurethane on both. I guess it works on the tannins in the wood. Who knew?

Better yet, if one wanted an ebony look. Just use the rusted steel wool pad and scrub the liquid into the wood. The two pieces of oak on the left are from the same board. Once the wood has dried. The finish will bring out the color stain has made the wood. (Everything I show here has polyurethane on it) Or, you can wipe it with damp cloth to see what it will look like with finish on it. Do not totally understand the science behind it. Just know it is a cheap and affective stain. I guess you can add food color to it and get a different tone.







This weekend is a trip out of town for a soccer tournament. Jon, Vivian's youngest son, is playing his last season of high school ball. He is starting his third year on varsity. Soccastee (sock us tea) high is a AAAA school this year. New league. Jon has assured us that they have a really good team this year. They had a good team last year.

I must admit. I never really watched soccer before. Vivian needed a soccer compadre to go with. Turns out I kind of enjoy the game. Who knew??

I find it interesting that a school this big, with a soccer team this good, hasn't got more people in the stands. The picture is not quite right. The crowd of about 30 to 40 is to our right as I took this. Mostly parents. The bleachers on the other side are indicative of what you generally see on the visitor's side. Mostly Soccastee's side has the same wherever they play. Soccer parents are pretty reliable for Soccastee.




Oh well, they are good games and Jon scores often. Vivian is quite the fireball in the cheering section and I am highly entertained. All is Well :-)

I am beginning to think I forget to take pictures of half my projects. When I do, it is usually just the final product. I will work on that.

Today started with Vivian's hair dryer. The cord had finally been twisted enough times, it shorted out where it goes into the handle.

Got a spare dryer out.  Flipped breaker. No power. Once I got her out the door I started working on the problem. It turns out that the outlets for both upstairs and downstairs bathrooms are on the same circuit. No problem, but why no power? Turns out the "one" outlet, with a little gvi switch for safety, is upstairs. Good! Well..not good. But good I do not have to fix a cobbled up wiring job on a new house.

So....being me, I eyeballed the hair dryer and decided to fix it. I have a solder gun and solder in the garage. Why not? Pulled unit apart. Unsoldered cord from both switches. Cut off bad end. Soldered back onto switches. Put together. Works fine.

I am still getting used to the idea that everyone doesn't just fix everything. Vivian said she paid about $100 for it 6 years ago. It is a good little machine. Maybe it will last a few more years.

I put together my paint mixer/tumbler this week.

I had a smaller one I used for cleaning brass when reloading shells when shooting a lot. It was rather small and although I could put small spray cans on it to mix while I got ready to paint. I could not use it in anything larger than quarts.

I realized when I was doing Mary Lee's bottom paint that I wanted to mix gallon cans the same way. The motor is a shoe shine machine. It works great. I epoxied the old pulley, from the little motor that came on the old tumbler, onto a piece from the shoe shiner. Added a vacuum cleaner belt and it works great.

Speaking of shoes. Vivian had work shoes that were still in good shape. Just scuffed enough they needed re-dyed.

I did six pairs. Deglazed them first. I could have used acetone but had deglazer. Dyed them. Then used my airbrush to put the protective finish on. It is a finish designed for leather. Flexible and water resistant.

I built the frame for Vivian's dream board this week. I had attached eyebolts to a bedroom wall so she could do her exercises before bed.

She wanted to put up pictures of tropical places we may see boating.

I got my hearing aides.

Pretty neat hearing all those small sounds I had been missing.

I built a jig so I could have router set up horizontal. The router table is great, but I have found it lacking.

The router mounted this way allows different things to be done. I also realise that I will have to build a better router table sometime.

 I have outgrown the one I bought.


I finally got around to repainting the stool I built for the bathroom.

It got a coat of flat white when built. Kind of had that whitewash look and looked interesting. So I left it. Noticed it was looking a bit bare the other day. I know Vivian was expecting white when she got home. I thought the bathroom could use a splash of color.

Therapy continues to help. I am sleeping better. A lot of that really overwhelming fatigue, I have battled for so long now, is easing up. It is freezing outside right now. This is the first time since I got hurt, that I am doing projects during the cold stretches. Only a couple months until I hit my two year anniversary of stopping the pain pills. Last winter at this time, it was all I could do, sometimes, to get breakfast dishes cleaned up before Vivian got home in the evening.

Can you just imagine how good this summer will be? I have much planned.

Definitely not going to crash clown bike this year! 😉

I have so many things on my plate that sometimes I wonder how I get myself into these things.

Of course you already know about the upcoming work on Mary Lee, trying to get projects finished here before I start work. Well....I have had something on the back burner for several years. I am that guy who can never find a good pair of shoes. Most shoes look mostly new when thrown out. I buy shoes when I need them. Soon as they start breaking in....they are no longer comfortable. I think I have a half dozen in there right now. Two pair look new. I don't like them.

So years ago(already?) I started pondering the idea of making my own. Pre-computer days it was quite hard to find tools or even a book. I have most of the tools now. Still unable to find a book that works for me.....but I found lots of good videos on utube. So this week, I finally found lasts in my size. 12EEE.

It took some doing. I made all the regular searches. Ebay, craigslist, every other site that advertised lasts. Best I could come up with was suppliers that would only sell them in lots. Whatever style you want...you had to buy a run of sizes in that style. At $180 a pair, buying several sizes I had no use for seemed a bit too much. Suddenly ebay has a bunch of them. A few more things to get and I am going to give it a go.

Why?? I have heard the old"buy a custom pair" speach. For $3-400 I could have one pair. For much less than that, I can own the tools and build several pairs. I watched a lot of videos. Frankly...I would find pulling an engine out of a sailboat, rebuilding it and installing it much harder. Oh wait!!! I have done that also. I saw nothing on any of those videos that I could not do. Soon I will prove it. All it takes is taking your time and not moving on to the next step until satisfied the current step is done correctly.

I replaced my phone last week. While switching everything over. I found email address was compromised. I now have a new email address. Same phone number.

Was cold on the beach the other day. Vivian was showing me she was tough enough to take it.

Physical therapy continues.

The first picture was taken a few months ago. Notice the big knots.

Vivian took this the other day.

 Different position, but you can see the knots are going away. I was so locked up everywhere. The hamstrings have been especially fun to get loosened up again.

I doubt if much of me was not all knotted up. Slowly changing eating habits. I walk as much as possible. Some days I hurt too much, but on a good day I have walked up to 2 1\2 hours. I use a heart monitor when exercising. I keep my heart rate between 75-80% of maximum. My 2 1\2 hour walk got me 10 miles.

Tonight is clam chowder night. I told Vivian it would be on the stove when she got here. Lucky she had gym after work and a soccer meeting with Jon(her son). I better run....later