Barn Board Update

 Yesterday afternoon my son-in-law "Stinger" and I moved the new load of lumber into the barn. We stacked them with spacers between each layer and left space all the way around each board in a effort to speed up to final drying process. I'll keep the air circulating in the barn with a large fan and in a few weeks or so the boards should be acclimated to the inside atmosphere They've been sitting in the saw mill yard for quite a while so with a little luck they shouldn't shrink much more. They were cut from fairly fast growing pine trees with pretty large growth rings so there's a possibility they'll go through some more changes. Since they are rough cut and I'm going for a rustic look, it's no big deal if they do.

I'll keep you posted as the barn project moves along (I go at a little slower pace than the Pioneer boys do when they're setting logs on a new home).

Country Saw Mill

The other day, my friend Barry and I made a run to "Lunas Saw Mill" in Dora, Missouri. Our mutual objective was to pick up a load of rough sawn pine boards like you see in these pictures. I had admired the look the last time I was in Barry and Kim's barn, so we agreed on a day to make the trip and BOOM...the rest is history.

If you haven't been to an old fashioned small town country saw mill recently, you should consider visiting one. This particular mill is owned and operated by an old fella who, from what I could gather, runs the place from the comfort of his air-conditioned saw shack (they say you don't get old bein' a fool) while a nice young fella (about my age) named Rick runs the yard and keeps things kind of organized. I told Rick I was in the market for 1"x12"x10's, but ended up settling for 8 footer's. I asked Rick if he'd mind if I sorted through their 8' inventory so I could hand pick the boards I wanted. He was agreeable as long as I'd re-stack the culls when I was done and I was glad to do that. He was also  thoughtful enough to stack the pallets of rough sawn boards in the shade so I would only sweat half my rear-end off as I rifled through the stacks of boards. For his assistance and agreeability, I supplied him with an Andrew Jackson to add to what ever collection of legal tender he might have stashed around the greater Dora Metropolitan area. He seemed appreciative.

The next time you have a little project that requires dimensional lumber, you might consider checking out your locally owned and operated saw mill. You'll likely find some stuff you won't find at Lowe's or Home Depot, and it will cost you a whole lot less per board foot than the so called "big box" boys and girls will want for their boards (Big Bear and I paid .45 a board foot).
Rough cut from Lunas Lumber...you cain't go no better!

PS. I'll keep you posted on the ongoing barn project....

County Class

It doesn't take a tremendous amount of creativity to come up with a nice little wall feature if you undertake the job of decorating a country cabin. The old single shot .22 in this picture was handed down from my Aunt Katherine and Uncle Pat and my brother Mark and his family gave the picture to me for Christmas several years ago. This simple little ensemble hangs on one of the bathroom walls of our Missouri log cabin. I doubt we'll get any awards from HGTV for this presentation, but it works for me. 

The interior walls are covered in western red cedar boards; tongue and groove on the left and straight edge 1x6 on the right. I varnished the cedar with a couple coats of semi-gloss polyurethane. Although you can't tell from this picture, the exterior walls are large 18" diameter western red cedar logs--you can't go no better (except maybe 20" logs"). 

Should I come up with any other ideas on how you too might become a "county class" log home interior decorator, I'll share those with you too. And of course, I'll keep you posted.... 

  

Truck Won't Start?

I suppose the concept of rock walls has been around since the stone age, or maybe sometime after that. I doubt that cavemen spent much of their time going around stacking up rocks. It was probably all they could do just keep food on the stone table and lion skin on their back. Any remaining spare time would have likely been used trying to get the old truck started. Now that's an excuse you rarely hear anymore: "I couldn't make it because I couldn't get the truck started." I'm rambling and have absolutely no idea where I was going with this. Oh yea, I like rock walls.

I'll keep you posted....

Future Grandpa

My bride and I will be expanding our collection of grandchildren sometime between today and probably the first part of next week. The other day I told our expectant daughter it's hard to believe that in addition to having her first child, she'll be having someone's grandpa. She gave me the "wrinkled nose look" and said, "What are you talking about?" I explained that her son would likely someday be a dad and later a grandpa, and although it's somewhat of a ridiculous thought at this point, it's no less a reality. I find that interesting.

I doubt that when my grandma took the above picture of my mom back in the winter of 1941-42, anyone was watching her scoot around her grandparent's back yard and thinking, "Little Lorraine will make such a wonderful grandmother". It's probably even less likely they were thinking of her at that time as a great-grandmother. Yet, sometime in the next few days, little Lorraine will become a Great Grandma for the second time. And as you may know by now, her Daddy might have said at that thought, "Now that's somethin' to think about!"

I'll keep you posted....

~Some of Little Lorraine's handy work

~One of Mom's sunflowers....75 years in the making

Napping By The Hour

A few years ago I was doing some dozer work for a couple of friends of mine who own side-by-side cabins on Beaver Lake. I surprised them by reworking their fire pit area and stacking up some huge rocks that I'd dozed out of the hill behind one of the cabins. It turned out pretty good for a rookie dozer man, if I say so myself.

I took this picture and was going to email it to them with a caption something like, "I just love being a dozer man and charging by the hour when no-one's around to verify how many hours of dozer work you're actually doing", or something close to that. I don't recall if I ever sent that email, but maybe Chuck or Doug will run across this post, recognize the scenery and get a delayed chuckle at the thought.

It's difficult to beat the atmosphere of a little cabin on the water. It's also difficult to beat a little nap in the middle of the day when others are busy grinding away at their corporate gigs. "You cain't go no better". I'll keep you posted....

Olives and Douglas Summer Update

 I mentioned a while back that I'd keep you posted on Olives and Douglas. Well, here's a recent shot of the two Rapscallions hanging out. Olives has apparently figured out that we all get a kick out of her posing with"Big O' Happy Head" for pictures, especially when Douglas isn't the least bit interested at the moment in having his picture taken. And Douglas has apparently figured out how to sleep through just about anything---except the smell of bacon frying or the sound of the neighborhood ice-cream man driving by in his ice-cream truck. I actually don't know for sure about the ice-cream man, but I do know for sure that Douglas would not be lying there like that if bacon was frying in the kitchen. I'll keep you posted....

Coming Up

This is just around the corner, although it's probably far from most folk's minds when the local outside temperature will hit about 95F/35C today. I have the objective to burn more wood this fall and winter than I burned last year. To "git that done" I'll have to spend more time at the cabin. And, I'll have to spend more time splitting wood with my handcrafted Gransfors Bruks large splitting maul. "You cain't no better!"
Dang, I should contact the fine folks at Gransfors Bruks and ask if I qualify for anything for promoting their products. On second thought, the best job security on the planet is being under-paid. With that in mind, I think I'll just keep doing this for the fun of it. I'll keep you posted....

Newburg...You're Doing Fine!

OK, OK....enough with the hate mail already! I'm quite sure Newburg is one fine place. It's probably also a great place to raise a family. And while I'm at it, if you haven't planned your next vacation, you should consider spending at least a week of it in Newburg: there's a lot to do there. Personally, I can't think of a place I'd rather be, than Newburg.

"NEWBURG--"THE GARDEN SPOT OF THE OZARKS"!

Proud Snuff Consumer

Every now and then you run across something out of the ordinary: this is an example. In this picture there are 10 rows (one row you can't see) of Skoal can lids which are nailed to the 2x4's that support the roof over the enclosed back porch on this double wide trailer in Oklahoma. If you do the math, that's about 810 can's of Skoal that gave up their life to enhance the beauty and overall atmosphere of this back porch. Nothing out of the ordinary about that--providing you're from the greater Newburg, Missouri Metropolitan area. A lot of the folks from outside of New Burg, however, might find this scene a little odd. In truth, the only thing about it that I find odd is, all this Skoal was chewed (chawed, snuffed, smelt or whatever the correct terminology is for sucking on a mouthful of Skoal) by a lady-or perhaps a more appropriate gender specific pronoun in this case would be female. Now-now...don't go all silly on me for inferring that an Ol' gal who spends a good deal of her time chawin' around on snuff, isn't a lady. I'm sure there are a lot of ladies who chew snuff....while they're busy at work overhauling train engines.  

Note: I'm quite confident I may have gotten myself in some hot water over this post with the union folks who represent locomotive diesel mechanics: I'll keep you posted....  

That's Somethin' To Think About

~Callin' the Blue by Andy Thomas

I'm no expert on American history nor has anyone ever asked me to write a book on Canadian History. That said, I probably have a better grasp on these subjects than most of the folks who've shown up on Jay Leno's "Jay-Walking" over the years with answers like "Harley Davidson" and "Art Linkletter" to questions like "Who was the first president of the United States" (by the way, Art Linkletter was Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, Canada's favorite son).

Note: We should all do a little boning up now and then on our native country's past, present and potential future---in my occasionally not so humble opinion.

I ran across this painting the other day and was somewhat captivated by it. I snapped a shot on my "icamera" so I'd remember to google it later and check out it's origin. I'll abstain from any political rhetoric, musings or anecdotal editorials (in honor of our friend Marsha H). But, I will share that I find the concept inferred by this painting's artist, intriguing.

Which brings to mind this thought: Our friends from Canada don't often receive sufficient credit for the significant role their men and women have played in America's history; especially their couragious support during the second world war. They fought side by side with Americans and other allies in the Battle of the Atlantic. They played key roles in the air war over Germany and contributed substantial forces to the various campaigns of western Europe. Canada was then a nation of only about 11 million folks and my guess is, the citizens of that sovereign nation felt the impact in their home land no less than the citizens of our great and proud nation did in ours; on a relative scale. And as my Granddad would have said, "Now that's somethin' to think about".

Hats off to that generation of Canadian patriots, who too often go without the appropriate recognition and gratitude deserved from those of us who reside south of their border. The free world is indebted to you Canada!

PS. I'll keep you posted should "Canada" ask for further input from the staff at "Old and Ridiculous": don't wait up too late.

View With A View

Although I've driven Missouri Highway 112 East to Roaring River State Park numerous times over the years, I never noticed the small pull-off area to the south of the highway about 3 miles west of  the park until George and I stopped there on our way to trout fish this past Sunday evening. We were both surprised at the view we'd missed so many times before. Not bad for free!
I'll try to remember to share any future newly discovered gems I run across, and of course...I'll keep you posted.

Redid, Redone and Reclaimed

-The new side of a 24 year old reclaimed redwood 2x6

Reclaimed wood is apparently (as a member of the in-crowd might have said back when my Ain't Monie was in high school), all the rage. If your wood came off an old barn, shed, or maybe even an old house, your reclamation is likely going to set you back more than had you acquired the same material new at Home Depot or Herman Lumber. If you decide to reclaim some long ago claimed wood off an old house, you might first want to make sure no one's living in it-especially if you do most of your wood reclaiming in Arkansas. Imagine the embarrassment if your truck is loaded to the top of the cab with wood you've just "re-claimed" off a raggedy Ol' house and as you're ratcheting down the last strap, some big strapping lad with a Betty Boop tattoo in the middle of his forehead comes running out of the house with a half empty 32 oz. Milwaukee's Best in one hand and a 12 gauge shotgun in the other screaming, "Hey, Hey Hey: what the "blank" are you doing to my house!" Anyway, you get the picture.

I'm using quite a bit of re-claimed wood on my project to finish off the inside of my barn. I have a lot of "RECLAMATED" redwood left over from my deck remodel project from a few years ago. The amazing thing about old weathered redwood is, about all you have to do is scratch the surface of the old wood and it's as  good as new-better in my opinion because now I can refer to it as reclaimed. Which reminds me, I'm in the market for a reclaimed Chevy Blazer-circa 1972 or better. I bet if I call my cousin "Duster Man", he'll be able to put me onto a good one somewhere in South Central Missouri. Maybe I'll be able to find one that was originally purchased by one of my Aunt Dee's former California High School classmates, like one of the Dunham, Burger or Kerkoff kids. If so, they'll probably want a premium if they find out I'm a history buff....DANGIT!
I'll keep you posted....

Hat Trick

~Taken from the back seat on our way to a recent early morning fishing trip at Roaring River

You may recall a previous post about my good friend Tony who lost the hat that cost "almost a hundred dollars". Well, that's Tony in both pictures with the replacement hat that cost, you guessed it, "almost a hundred dollars". I may have my facts wrong, but now that I think about it, I believe Tony told me that when you purchase a hat like this one, it comes with a guarantee that if you ever loose the hat, the company will replace it for only $50. Translated, that means the hat is probably actually worth about $35. So, when they charge you $100 for the original hat and $50 for the replacement hat, they must be tickled to death. They're probably hoping guys like Tony will continue loosing their darn hat at the rate of weekly if at all possible. Son of a gun--that's one heck of a marketing strategy. My hat's off to the folks at Tilley! I'll keep you posted....

~George instructs his Dad on the finer points of fly fishing while Tony stands under the protection of his high-dollar hat

~George with one of several rainbow trout he caught the morning of July 26, 2014

Where The Winds Come Sweeping Down The Plain

...where the waving wheat, can sure smell sweet and the...wait a minute--wait a minute...I got a little carried away there; but you get the picture.

This is a sample view of one of our latest log home projects. I/we have new clients who own several hundred acres outside Bartlesville, Oklahoma. They have a dream of developing this property as a gathering place for their very large family and extended family (23 grandkids!). Their initial plans call for a home/lodge/main house on this point overlooking their property and future lake. They also plan to incorporate a few log cabins around the lake for their children and grandchildren to utilize when they visit. The home owners are very excited to say the least and we'll begin the initial design of their log home next week.
Pioneer ace designer, Donna Fitzel, will be traveling down soon from Williams Lake for an on-site visit and to gain a first hand perspective of our clients wishes/dreams. I'll of course keep you posted as things develop.

As a follow up on our Hot Springs, Arkansas project, things are on hold briefly but should start back up soon. The design is nearly complete and significant progress has been made to the existing structure.
Also, things are moving along on the Table Rock Lake "Jurassic Pork" project, but at a little slower pace due to the home owners having to work through some utility issues concerning the rather remote building site. I'll keep you posted on that as well.

Old Stores And Stuff Like That

Old fashioned grocery stores, hardware stores and drugstores are cool in my opinion. When I run across one I try to stop and go in. If they serve coffee I like to get a cup and walk around. Sometimes it's easy to imagine what the atmosphere of that store would have been had it existed 50, 75 or maybe even a 100 years ago.
There were some cool old drugstores in my home town like Scotts, Hillcrest and Rolla Drug and another in my Mom's home town called Stewart's Drug. Stewart's Drug was old when I was a kid in the 60's and I know it was there way before my Mom and her friend Judy used to stop in for cherry phosphates after school in the 40's and 50's. I still recall the aroma of the place, the old booths, and the round spinning stools that were attached to the floor in front of the counter, and of course the big  Coca-Cola sign that hung on the wall, like they probably did in all the drug stores of that era.
I'll have to check in with our family historian, Aunt Dee, to find out when Stewart's Drug began operation. Maybe I'll find an old picture of Stewart's; if so I'll share it later.

Sorry for the tease on the old drug stores, but I didn't have a specific idea of what I was going to write about when I loaded this picture. The grocery store above is in Seaside, Florida. If you happen to be in the neighborhood stop in and tell them the guy from "Old and Ridiculous" sent you. My guess is they'll look at you like, "Who the.......?" I'll keep you posted.

Too Hot

I was talking with Sam Peterson Thursday (Pioneer master craftsman) and he said it was so hot in Williams Lake that they'd quit working early and gone home. That's one of the differences between Canadians and Americans. Americans who work outside go home if it rains or maybe if it's too cold. Canadians don't stop working when it rains or when it's cold--unless it's so cold their chainsaws won't start.

In the meantime, I'm with the Canadians on this one. I don't like 90 degrees and up. I love the cool and cold. Although we've had one of the nicest summers I can remember in our neck of the woods (nothing much over 90 so far and it's August!), I'm ready for fall. As far as fall goes in my opinion, "You can't go no better"! I'll keep you posted...

PS.  A new post showed up a few post back instead of first in line--it's entitled "Blasting Zone"