Winter . . . REALLY !!!

We thought we were having winter back in late December and early January . . . but now in early February WE ARE REALLY HAVING WINTER !!! Most every day I spend time shoveling or snowblowing. School has been cancelled several times and so has church. The animals are hangin in there . . . and so are we . . . but spring will be real nice.


Sometimes . . . when it's not snowing or blowing . . . it's really quite pretty!

But sometimes IT'S BLOWING LIKE H*** !!!

It's pretty bad when you have to climb out of the barn !

Ilene has had to dig out the path to the barn about 20 times. Enough already !

Lots of snow piling up everywhere . . . even on the ladder and planter box.

Just routine ! This was Thursday, Feb 7th.

You can see that getting out to and then into the barn and shop has been a constant challenge.

You can walk right off this drift and on to the top of the shop. Inside was DARK, cuz the windows were totally covered up by the snow drift. In this picture I've shovelled out about half of the shop because I was afraid the snow would break out the windows with it's weight. One more window to go !

Making sawdust . . .and little bowls

Randy is showing Bridger how he starts to make a bowl. Starting with a chunk of wood . . .

. . . you put in on the lathe and start making sawdust as the wood is cut away (and when you're concentrating really hard you need to have your tongue stuck out - just a little - it helps to make it better)

You keep turning and turning, using different gouges and chisels, depending on how much wood you want to remove. And little by little, the bowl starts to take shape.

And making more and more sawdust as you remove the wood to form the bowl. And little by little, the beauty and character of the wood is discovered as the carving process continues.

And here are some of the bowls that Randy has made as he's learned to use his lathe. Each is a little different . . . some are made from birch, some from oak. You don't know what interesting markings you'll find in the wood until you start the process.

It's all a learning process as he discovers the beauty in the wood he's been collecting for years. Some of the wood came from a trip to Ohio, some from a trip to Tennessee, another came from Grandma Kendrick's white clump birch that was cut down several years ago. You just never know where you'll find the next piece of beautiful wood. Randy's always on the lookout! If you ever come upon a good dead hardwood tree (or even little pieces) let him know. . . or bring it to Idaho. He'll make it into something great!

Hats - Hats . . . and more hats

Logan has a thing for hats. If you leave a hat where he can get it, he'll put it on. Jason left his hat where Logan could get it so here it is on his head. He's such a cutie.

I can tell he's used to having his picture taken because when he saw me with the camera, he said, "Cheese" . . . I thought that was pretty funny, especially since he was also holding cheese!

He found these glasses and necklace downstairs in the toy room . . . and Grandpa's hat, so naturally he put them on. It's a good look, don't you think?

And this beautiful little hat belongs to a doll he also found in the toy room. I was surprised he could get it on, but somehow he managed.

What a guy!

Bridger - - the birdhouse builder . . .with Grandpa's help

Bridger spent some time in the shop with his Grandpa last weekend.

He wanted to build a birdhouse . . . and not just a little one, but a birdhouse large enough for birds to really use. So with Grandpa's help he learned how to build a birdhouse.

Here's the serious building as he paints his birdhouse. He's a good little worker when he doing something he's really interested in.

Bridger proudly displays his finished birdhouse. Now he's ready to take it home and hang it in a tree or put in on a post in his own yard. He was pretty proud of his accomplishment . . . and so was Grandpa. Good job, bud!