One Year, Three Months and 13 Days...

since I made my last post. With that in mind I would have to consider my first attempt at blogging a dismal failure. Especially since I conceived this blog as a way to rekindle my creative juices.

Now, with this technically being the third year of my blog, and the beginning of a new decade, my sixth, I feel the need to begin this experiment anew. Truthfully, much has happened during my hiatus, and some of it has been helpful in rekindling my creative nature, only in a completely different direction than I was shooting for. While the writing skills I had hoped to nurture have continued to languish in the realm of mediocrity I have discovered a new found love for woodworking.

I have always enjoyed working with wood, but have not ever considered any of my projects as "woodworking". Now true woodworking is an art and well beyond my level at this point and not necessarily my goal. I'm happy to be able to build nice looking sturdy pieces and learn as I go, hopefully, making each project more pleasing to the eye, and better than the one before it.

My first attempt at building anything lasting was some Adirondack chairs for the deck. It took a little Googling and a prototype chair to get a design down that was a pattern for the rest. I had built three chairs and was beginning on a rocker when the another project fell into my lap.

My wife had decided to purchase a waterbed for her youngest son, my step-son, for Christmas and asked me if I thought I could make the Captain's Bed frame for his bed, and if I could make it for less than it would cost to buy, about $800 to $1,000 in the stores. A little more Googling and a visit to the waterbed store to see one first hand convinced me I could. The real question should have been, do I have enough time.

I make my living estimating the cost and manpower needed to build construction projects costing anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to twenty or thirty million, and do pretty well at that. I've discovered that my skills are seriously lacking at calculating, accurately, how much money, and how much time a Captain's Bed will cost me.

While I would consider this project an overall success since it did cost significantly less than purchasing one in the store, about half, it was much more time consuming than I had anticipated. It began on Thanksgiving day and I

pretty much put all my weekends, holidays, and vacation days into getting this finished in time for Christmas minus a little football watching and occasional half day here and there. Even at the last minute, a miss calculation on my part, kept the project going until 3:15 am Christmas morning. That's when we had finally fully assembled the bed and began filling the mattress.

The second part, the headboard, wasn't completed until after Christmas.

All in all there was much learned during this process that should help me with the next big woodworking project. For now, it's back to completing the Adirondack chairs, tables, and rockers for our deck, and then finishing the fireplace hearth and trim so I can start building an entertainment center.

These projects, and the later part of this year, have led me back toward the true purpose of this blog which is the inspiration to be creative. Once the creativity is fueled it will spread to many areas and inspire many things. And since I have shared my Bigfoot Trap with a few of my close friends I have been inspired through them to continue with what I have started here. My goal is to set aside time, at least several days a week, to continue the New Eden saga I have started here and share the current, upcoming, and ongoing endeavors planned for this year. Most of all, many of these projects, the woodworking not withstanding, will involve collaborating with some good friends in many different ways.