A Very Expensive Walking Stick

This spring we discovered that one our our Shumard Oaks had died in last years severe winter.  So we called our arborist and he suggested that we try a Chinkapin Oak to replace it.  He searched around and found a really good looking tree in a hundred gallon barrel.

We arranged to get it delivered and he removed the old tree and planted the new.  We ran a new bubbler from the nearest sprinkler head to insure that it was properly watered.  Well in the process we also got new neighbors who had their sprinkler system fixed and actually used it.  Long story short it appeared the tree got too much water and I walked out one morning to see a dead tree.

My tree guy replaced the tree and this time we decided to go with a Bald Cypress.  They like water (So now it looks like we are going into a drought).  Anyway I know that he likes walking sticks so I told him to save the trunk and I would carve him a rustic walking stick.

I let the trunk dry for several months then broke out my new Lancelot Power Carver.  It is basically a chain saw on a disk that fits an angle grinder.  The chips were flying and I noticed other things were too.  It seems the tree had been hit by borers and two and bored right to the heart of the tree.  So I basically performed and autopsy on the tree,  Bald Cypress are not prone to borers so the decision is looking better all the time.  Any way I rough out the stick and set it in the garage to cure further.  After several weeks I fill the holes with plastic wood and sand away.  Apply a clear finish, a leather hand grip and a braided leather strap.  Added a few bear claws for good measure.  And we have a very expensive walking stick.

Hopefully I have gauged the height right or a few inches may need to be removed from the stick.  Chinkapin in not a commercially viable wood though it is a part of the oak family.  It was fairly easy to carve but I was not trying to achieve any fine details.  It finishes well.  By the way the Lancelot tool chops borers up real well.  Though it does smell a bit.  There were two that escaped the carnage only to die when I treated it with bug killer.  They dropped to floor.  They were about the size of my little finger and about as long.  Nasty little devils with and expensive appetite.  But the stick was fun to carve so now I am looking for another suitable candidate.

More later

Bruce

Christmas Projects

Well I finally finished the last Angel and have it installed in the yard.

And in my return to woodcarving I finished a small pine Santa.

He was carved from a piece of 2x4 scrap.  Not the best carving wood but I had intended just to get my feet wet again.  He has however already been spoken for.

I finally finished my office curtains as well.  Blaze has bestowed the title of best cat project ever on his window seat.  He comes and asks for the blind to be raised in the morning and spends a big part of his day watching the world from his window.

After taking a break to bake and make some projects for Pam to give to her teacher friends as well as some of my friends.  It has been a surprisingly busy holiday so far and I already have projects lined up for next year.

Pam is now off for the Christmas holidays, so there are several projects we want to complete before she returns to work.  New Years will be here before we know it.

More Later

Bruce

When The Weather Is Chilly It's Time For Chili

If you are from Texas you know real chili does not have beans in it, just meat.  Here is my recipe for Real Texas Red Chili.  You can adjust the spiciness to your taste.  I make it as a mild chili.  This chili won first place at a local chili cook off.  It was entered in the contest as Howl at the Moon Chili (we had to come with a name and that one seemed as good as any).

1 lb lean chili grind beef
1 lb your favorite breakfast sausage ( I use Jimmy Dean)
1 lb lean ground pork
1 1lb Ground Turkey
1/2 cup bacon bits (real bacon not the artificial bits)
1 lb finely diced beef or pork stew meat (optional)
1 can hatch diced peppers mild (small can)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can Rotel tomatoes (mild)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup V/8 Spicy tomato juice
1/2 cup beef broth
1 can of tomato paste
1 onion finely diced
1/4 cup chili Powder
1 tablespoon Chipotle Chile powder
1 tablespoon  Onion Powder
1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
1/4 cup dried chives
1 teaspoon creole seasoning or old bay seasoning
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon black pepper (white pepper will increase the heat)
2 tablespoons smoked paprika (helps the chili turn out a deep red)

Brown meat and drain grease before starting.  Add all ingredients to a large crock pot and cook on high for 2 hours then reduce to low for six hours.  Before serving mix several spoons full of broth with several teaspoons of flour to form a roux and add to chili to thicken broth.  Bring back to a boil for several minutes chili is ready to serve.  This recipe will serve 10-12 people.  Garnish finished chili with cheese, sour cream or chives.  Adjust heat of chili by using the hotter Rotel and green chilies.  You could also add diced jalapenos. 

This is great served just as chili or serve over Fritos for a great Frito pie.  Also good on hot dogs and hamburgers.  My favorite is to make chili mac.   Serve it over your favorite pasta like spaghetti sauce.  I also use it to make a spicy lasagna.  This freezes well so when I make it I will put a quart in the icebox and two quarts in the freezer.  There is generally two and 1/2 serving to a quart and we will eat a quart for dinner.  My Crock Pot is a five quart oval model.  If you are making in a four quart Crock Pot you will want to cut back on diced tomatoes to one can and cut beef broth to 1/4 cup as well as only use the pork sausage and leave out the ground pork as well.

While there are a lot of ingredients it is quick to prepare and then just stir it a few times.  It is a great meal for having friends over as it does not require a lot of fussing over leaving more time to visit.  You don't have to make it in a crock pot but that is the easy way.  If you want to make it on the stove make sure you cook it for at least two hours for the flavor to fully develop.  Just don't tell me if you add beans.

More later

Bruce

Some Holiday Recipies

Its Holiday Baking Time.
Here are some of our favorite recipes for entertaining and for giving as gifts.  I have added these as JPEGS if you right click and save image to your hard drive you should be able to print it out complete with graphic and if all went well it should be recipe card size.

This is a very old recipe for basically Chex mix.  It predates the kind found in the store by many years.  We have had it for 30 years but believe it to be closer to forty years old.  Our original is printed on the old mimeograph favored by teachers until the late eighties when copiers took over.  The old mimeograph machines used a blue or purple master and had a very distinctive smell when just printed.  This recipe was hand written and you can tell from the hand writing that this was a teacher.  Ah typewriters, mimeo machines and handwriting you could read.  I am definitely feeling old.

The next recipe is one of my adaptations of the old Rice Krispie Treats but done with a twist.

And finally for this post My Kitchen Sink Oatmeal Cookies.

Pam named them as it seems I have added everything but the kitchen sink.  They are good and relatively healthy.

Hope all is well

Bruce and Pam

Lack of Recent Posts

I have not posted anything for the last week.  The reason was a computer problem.  My current computer was originally a Windows Vista Machine.  When Windows 7 came out I upgraded to that as Vista had quite a few problems and I seemed to be having them all.  While the upgrade was successful it seems that I had set myself up for the problem that came to head a little over a week ago. 

My registry (The part of Windows that keeps track of where everything is and how it is supposed to work) had become corrupted beyond repair.  Since the original computer was Vista I had bought an upgrade to Windows 7.  You cannot do a fresh install with an upgrade disk. (Or so I thought) After trying every registry repair program I could find I tried the next step use the disks supplied by the manufacturer and reinstall the original system.  Well as you would expect they did not work.  They could not deal with the new operating system on the computer. 

So I decided I would buy a new hard drive and try.  So a visit to our local FRYS yielded a Hitachi 1TB drive that met the specs of my machine and was only 54 bucks, what a deal.  So I happily went home and put the drive in the computer.  No luck the Acer disks expected the 320 GB that had been installed in the computer.  Another trip to FRYS.  The original disk a 320 was in stock but it was 160 dollars.  As luck would have it there was one employee in that department that had more than a blank stare on their face.  He looked at me quite incredulously and said just call Microsoft they will give you an unlock code for the upgrade and you can do a clean install.

Could it really be that easy.  I went home and called Microsoft and got Tech Support in India (of course).  After going through the screener that determined who I needed (10 minutes of interesting conversation) she sent me to a tech.  Another 10 minutes to get through what I wanted to do and the light bulb finally dawned on the technician and he said oh its easy just call us back when you have your computer ready and everything laid out for the install.  By now I am dreading calling back and going back through the maize and reexplaining my problem.

So I again dial tech support.  Again I get India.  However this time the screener seems to be both alert and quick in comprehension.  45 seconds and I am to a tech.  My luck has to change right.  The tech comes on and is a very pleasant Indian woman.  I explain my problem and she gets it on the first try.  Leads me step by step through the process and we have a pleasant conversation while we are waiting for the computer to do its thing in the install.  The best part was she never tried to cover up the fact she was in India and was a skilled conversationalist to boot.  20 minutes later (most of the time waiting on the computer the operating system was installed and up.

My hats off to Microsoft, this was the first time a tech call fielded in India had not ended up we me wanting to jump through the phone and strangle someone.  A few days of configuration and moving data as well as, installing programs.  I did go buy the newest versions of the programs we use most to insure no registry problems in the near future.  My computer is finally back. 

I was able to recover almost all of our data (Some emails were lost) but I am pleased to say I am back and will have more posts later this week.

Bruce

Christmas Decorations Part 5 Santa is Done

Well Santa is complete.

And Hanging out with Rudolph.

The last Angel's body was carved today.  Got a late start as Pam and I worked on cleaning up the leaves in the yard and then treated our selves to lunch at Jason's Deli for our hard work.

This one is a little more ornate than the first.  We are supposed to get a cold front tomorrow so I am not sure when I will finish the wings.  I think I will move inside for a few days and work on some indoor projects.

Here is how the yard looks at dark.

Pam and I also added a few more lights today.  Now there are 800.  I cannot imagine how many are in some of the yards around.  We also put out the spots fore the decorations. I have everything tied to timers.  We will see what is does to our electric bill.

More Later

Bruce and Pam

Christmas Decoreations Part 4 Santa

So now I need a Santa.  It will be made from Pine of course.  1x/12 common pine.  Four foot tall.

So here is the rough cut.

Now to carve him.

Now for some paint. (Santa took about 3 hours to carve).

Tomorrow I will put on some stakes and a final clear coat and he will go in the yard with the others.  Only one angel left to complete.

Hope your decorating is going well

More Later

Bruce and Pam

Christmas Decorations Part 3 Angels Part 2

Well the first Angel is done.  Here the body is painted

.

Now for the wings.  Gold of course.

 Put them together and you have an Angel.  Hand carved from pine.  Total time about 5 hours.

 Installed in the yard.

So far one Angel, one JOY sign and one reindeer done as well as forty red stakes.  Next Santa.

More Later 

Bruce

Outstanding Baked Beans (Crock Pot Recipe)

I was in the mood for baked beans to go with a Turkey breast I smoked this week.  Both turned out well.

Here is the Baked Beans Recipe.  I make it in a slow cooker.

Soak 1 pound of Great Northern beans overnight.

In a crock pot that has been sprayed with cooking spray add the following to the drained  beans and set to low (8 hours cook time)
1 can of tomato sauce
1/2 cup of real bacon bits
1 can of tomato paste
1 cup of beef broth
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon of pepper
1/2 tablespoon of garlic
1 medium onion finely diced.

At the halfway point 4hrs
Add 1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of agave syrup (agave is a healthier sweetener)(1/2 cup is as sweet as 1 cup of sugar)
Finish cooking

I like the slow cooker as I can put things on in the morning and they don't require much attention during the day.  You will want to cook the beans for eight hours on low or for two hours on high and four hours on low.  You can put the sugar and agave in at the beginning but the cooker will require more attention to make sure the beans don't stick.  It does take about 4 hours of cooking in the sugar mix for the beans to thicken up.

Enjoy

Bruce

The Best Laid Plans

I had intended to work on the angels today but for some reason I could not get past two unplanned projects.  Santa and a Reindeer.  The Reindeer seemed to want to be done first. Now I had not set out to make a Reindeer but apparently some one wanted me to.  So here he is.

Cut from 1x12 Pine like others Rudolph came together pretty quickly.

Now for some carving and some paint.

And he is ready to put out.

Hopefully I have one more day of good weather left so the plan is tomorrow to finish the Angels and Santa.

All of the patterns for the yard decorations are mine.  They have been drawn directly on the wood so I did not maintain any paper copies.  If you wish to make your own versions I have given the basic dimensions. Rudolph is 4 ft tall.  His hooves nose, eyes, antlers and sign were cut from scrap.  He has two stakes 1and1/2 inch wide and 2ft tall to anchor him in the ground.  You can get pre-made surveyor stakes at the lumber yard that will work just fine.  He is painted brown his nose of course is red his hooves black and his antlers are gold.  For the antlers I used a gold spray paint.  The other colors are latex house paint available in the lumber yard in pint cans.  It holds up better outdoors than the craft paint you get at hobby stores.  He does have a coat of clear spray after everything was assembled.  His parts are held on by screws attached from the rear.  I have given him some detail by carving but you could just paint the detail on as well.

More later

Bruce

Christmas Decorations Part 3 Angels Part 1

So now I need some angels to go with the JOY sign.  Again I am using 1x12 common pine.  Which from the prices today is not so common.  The angel will require an 8 ft section. the body is cut from a four foot piece and the wings are each cut from a 2 ft piece.

Here I am laying out the angel.  You can see my scale drawing.  Yes I lay it out with a marksalot marker.

Now lets cut it out.

Now comes the fun part carving some detail in the body.

I have shown the head as it is easiest to see the detail there.

Now for the wings.

In the next installment I will carve the wings and paint the angel.  Then I just have to do it all again for a second angel and Pam's Yard decorations will be complete.  Thankfully she likes it simple.  So no inflatable anything.

More Later

Bruce

Christmas Decorations Part 2

Of course we cannot have just some lonely lights more decorations are needed.  So back to the garage and here is a simple sentiment for the season that I made.

Using common pine 1x12 and a jig saw I cut out JOY.  Here I am working on the O.

I find it easiest to work out a scale sketch first.

Here are the letters are cut out.

Now to add a way to anchor them.

I used stainless steel screws to mount the stakes.  I had also considered making each letter separate but is hard to keep them from turning in the wind when they are put in as separate letters.

Now to add some color.  Red of course.

And installed.

Next I need to make two Angels.

More Later

Bruce

Christmas Decorations Part 1

We have not done much decorating of the house in the last few years so I was surprised when Pam asked me to put up lights this year.  Up is actually a misnomer as she wanted them around the flower beds in the front.  After visiting a number of stores I had no problems finding the lights she wanted but could not find the stakes that we have used in the past to put them around flower beds.  Of course she was not worried as I have a garage full of tools (her words).  So here is my solution.

I took 1/2 inch PVC pipe and cut them into 1 foot sections.  I put a 45 degree cut on the bottom to make them easier to insert and cut a 1/4 slot 1.5 inches long at the top to hold the light strand.  A 1/2 inch PVC cap will hold the strand in place.

Here is the PVC before slot and after slot as well as cap.  The red to the side are the caps I have painted with PVC compatible paint.

Here I have painted the PVC stake.  You don't need to paint all the way down as these will be inserted in the ground about 4-6 inches.

Here is the finished product in action.

I made 40 of these to put out 200 ft of lights.

To make forty I bought 4 packages of 10 caps and 8 5ft sticks of PVC.  With paint these ran 15 dollars in materials.  Or about 1/2 of what I expected to pay for the stakes at the store if I could have found them.

More to come

Bruce