XMAS TURNINGS..

A while back I was at the Tavern with friends and one of them mentioned he just bought a lathe and was turning handles for kitchen and bar tools...I was very interested and remembered wood shop in 8th grade and how much I loved the smell of burning wood on the lathe..A couple of days ago that friend called and asked me if I wanted to come over to learn a little bit about turning wood on the lathe..He showed me his collection of xmas gifts that he had already finished and they were beautiful..I thought I was just there to watch but he took me through each step in the process of turning a handle..and then let me do one myself...complete to finish sanding and tung oil and insertion of the kitchen tool..in my case, a vegetable peeler..I had a great time and now would love to buy a lathe and put it in my newly construction garage/workshop/guesthouse...

©bobpolli
assortment of kitchen and bar tools

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garlic press

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ice cream scoop

 "grasshopper" at work

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my finished veggie peeler in zebra wood

PAU HANA FRIDAY POOL TOURNAMENT

...In the ManCave...started off with Happy Hour at the soon to be defunct Tavern (December 28th last day) and then moved to our place for post Happy Hour festivities...people started dropping off at around 9pm...but die hards played until around 2am...and the two of us left at 2am also finished off a bottle of MakersMark ....

 ©bobpolli

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GARAGE/WORKSHOP CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

We are finally getting very close to being finished with our construction project.  The carport conversion to mancave has been completed for a while now and the garage/workshop is getting there.  We have friends coming to stay with us on December 17th so I am hoping we are done with the daily construction noise and mess by then.  Here's some photos of the "workshop" interior..

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stairs done, hand rail next

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workshop cabinets and farm lighting

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bathroom vanity and vessel sink

 

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looking out bathroom sliding door in to outdoor shower

LAKE COMO...

My friend just finished his remodel of an centuries old house he bought a few years ago on Lake Como.  Since he and his family live in Nashville, it was a long distance construction project that required a bunch of trips to Italy to monitor the work and also deal with all of the historic building restrictions and hurdles to jump over...He just sent me an email with some photos he took from the back lanai and boathouse on the Lake and invited us to stay in the place anytime they weren't using it...really amazing views....

MORE RIDGE PICS FROM OUR BACK LANAI...

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MY BIRTHDAY (SAME DAY AS KENNEDY ASSASSINATION)..

I turned 67 on November 22nd and I keep hearing the Neil Young song "Old Man"...the lyric's keep repeating " old man take a look at me now, I'm a lot like you were"...yikes..scary...good friends celebrated with me..a bottle or two of good whiskey from kauai friends..a box of excellent cigars from Lee and Gin in Florida...and Jane made me my favorite raisin pie...and a chocolate birthday cake..just another brick in the wall :-)

GOOD NEWS...

We went to Jane's oncologist appointment on monday to finally get the results of her oncotype dx test.  She scored in the low category which means that chemotherapy is not warranted...she has a better chance of non-reoccurence with radiation treatment followed by endocrine treatment (drugs) which brings her down to about an 8% chance of reoccurence in ten years..we went to her radiation oncologist yesterday and she is scheduled for 33 treatments that probably won't start until after the holidays..she is doing great..the surgery is healed..and she is as beautiful as ever...

©bobpolli