My Best Furniture Find Of 2013

About 2 months ago I found a great end table at St. Vinnies and I got a 25% discount on the sticker price. The wood being solid oak and the legs shape are what really attracted me to it. I don't usually like glass top tables but this table only cost me $11.23 - I can live with the glass. I really liked the look of the table after getting it in my apartment, it looks like it's Cat approved too. I set Sam up on it - she sniffed around and then moved to the edge and sat down on the wood. She isn't stupid - not going to sit on what "looks like" mostly nothing and the glass was probably cold on her butt. Now I just need to figure out where to put it. After a little sanding to just the top and some lemon oil it turned out pretty good.

Ed's Movie Pick - Oblivion

I saw the movie Oblivion in it's first run at the theaters and have since seen it a few more times on the big screen and when it went to the local 2 buck Cinemark theater - buck fiddy - economy hours. I love this movie, great story with some good twists and turns. Oblivion is very entertaining! It has stark stunning visuals, fun tech and some real good action and non verbal acting.

Even though most alien take over movies have similar themes now - try to kill us all off, take our resources and then how we take them out - the more I see this movie the more I want to see it on the big screen again!!! The tech used in the movie is great fun. The "Tower" home is cool and the cabin is awesome
plus the cycle and other tech too...we should all have a personal earth/space transport like he had. Tom Cruise always puts great effort into his characters and his interactions with the cast and scenescapes is great. I am a big fan of his hard work in movies...some of my favorites of his are The Last Samurai, Collateral and more recently Jack Reacher (movie better than the books (which is unusual) and I finally saw then purchased Knight and Day - a really fun movie and check out the dvd extras when Mr. Cruise jumps off a building....ouch! I should say about Oblivion the rest of the cast did a stellar job too - Andrea Riseborough - not just because of her awesome pool scene - so much more, Olga Kurylenko and Morgan Freeman tops too - just right for this movie.

Joseph Kosinski directed/wrote,Karl& Gajdusek and Michael Arndt with the screenplay, cinematography by Claudio Miranda, production design by Darren Gilford and the original music by composers Anthony Gonzalez - M83, Joseph Trapenese and the rest of the cast and crew brought a great idea/story to life for us to see and hear on the big screen. I hope Mr. Kosinski does more sci fi and soon!!!! I am looking foreword to seeing what Oblivion looks like on my small screen - not really - dang, I need to save up someday and get a big flat screen! I call the movie Oblivion a definite see/buy!!!! Heck, see it at the big screen if you still can!!!! It is a testament to it's value that it is still in the 2 buck theater - movies are usually out of there pretty quick if they're not still bringing in the people. Enjoy!

Stone Lamp

Here is another Stonescape Lamp made with a piece of driftwood.  On this one I sanded the driftwood  and gave it a light finish - it definately gave it a different look than the first driftwood lamp. 26 inches tall. Click on the picures to get a little closer look.  

Stonescape Lamp

"oh great....he's gonna move things around and take a picture of another stone lamp....swell."

I found a neat LED bulb that will show 16 different colors - it comes with a remote to set different patterns or individual colors. I really like the Fade button - it moves the colors slowly and smoothly from one to another. Along with the Fade button there is a Flash, Strobe and Smooth (super slow fade). You have to use the remote close to the lamp and the bulb is not super bright even on the White setting but it makes a great Accent lamp. I made and sold this lamp to someone who wanted a one of a kind lamp for his sisters birthday.



UFO - Nazca Lines

I picked up another great original ACEO Painting on ebay. I love the blue sky and mountains....and the rest is perrrrfect too. This fun one is by an artist in Bulgaria....Katya Bajlekova.

Ring Box And Jewelry Drawers Or Kindling....

Still need to do some sanding/shaping.  Maybe a little beeswax for a finish.....then some felt in the bottoms....or maybe just leave everything natural. Some don't like the smell of Juniper but I like it. The drawers are about 5 inches long and the ring box is about 2.5 inches in diameter. I bought the trunk/branches from Seth from Urban Lumber Company here in Springfield.

"Snow Leopard Climbing Higher"

Here is a picture of the original ACEO (Artists Cards, Editions and Originals - 2.5 by 3.5 inches in size) that I just received this weekend from the very talented artist Tasha Riojas. The above picture is her "Snow Leopard Climbing Higher". Sorry, the picture doesn't do it justice but I'm lucky, I get to appreciate it in person.  I love so much about this painting/drawing - the blue background makes the beautiful detail of the Snow Leopard come alive. I am not eloquent in speach enough to say what I feel about this amazing artwork. I just love it. I can't believe it's the first feline she has done....and I was lucky enough to aquire it. Thank you so much Tasha!

Stone Lamp

                                                                                   

I finished the new Stonescape Lamp for my brother but forgot to take a picture at mom and dads with the Northwest Salmon Shade and a trout pullchain I had purchased.  The pictures above I took at my place before I picked up the salmon shade on the way up north - they are of the lamp with an elk shade I brought up too - just in case he didn't like the salmon shade.  I had made a pull chain out of a crawdad lure but he still liked the trout pull better with the lamp - hey, I even removed the hooks - huh, go figure.  He said he liked the lamp and also said it would go good with the glass salmons he has on his mantel that he had bought at Portland's Saturday Market - I haven't seen those yet.  I asked him to take a picture of both and send them down.

It was great seeing everyone. With all the people in the house - it was roasting. Dad is turning 80 on the 30th and he is never warm enough anymore.  I decided to get out of the house to cool down and go to 7-11 and get a slurpee. My youngest neice yelled out she wanted to go too. On the way there she hinted - not too subtly - that she wanted to try driving a stick shift car - which, coincidentally I was driving at the time. (Her older sister got a car financed for her for Christmas). We got a couple slurpees and some zotts for her and on the way back I stopped in a big empty parking lot off of TV Hwy and she got to drive a stick shift car for the first time, she's twelve. I remember trying my first stick shift on a truck in the middle of a field on the Fanno's farm - she did better than me.  I held her slurpee and she was laughing after a while - she noticed I had sucked down most of her slurpee. I must have been a little nervous. We had some good laughs. Thinking back it did taste funny. She mixes cherry and coke - what do twelve year olds know (actually, I did that too when I was younger).

Original Watercolor

I bought a Beautiful Original Watercolor on ebay (this picture doesn't do it justice) -  A Plein ACEO Air Sketch Painting named "2 Pines" painted in the Rocky Mountain National Park by a wonderful artist by the name of Wendy Armfield. I just got it yesterday and need to make a rustic frame for it. Check out Wendy's new website for her Windy Trees Gallery - http://www.windytreesgallery.weebly.com/

Oh, and by the way if you don't know ( I had to look them up) ACEO's (Artists Cards, Editions and Originals) are works of art 2.5 by 3.5 inches - the size of playing cards - Wendy's site has a section about them. Plein is a french word for the act of painting outdoors. I'm going to enjoy this little jewel till my eyes give out but hopefully my memory will still be around. I bet I can find a place to hang it. Thanks Wendy!

A Warm Place On A Rainy Day....

Yes....I do mix my colors but I don't remember wearing or drying myself off with a cat this week?

After dropping my still warm "clean" laundry on the bed I had gone to check on the game....

About 25 years ago....

We stayed at Sunriver and went skiing at Mt. Bachelor. Owned almost everything (red boots included) - the skis I rented. A fun but spendy sport. I've skied that mountain a bunch of times and when the weather is clear it is a sight to behold from up top. Central Oregon and Century Drive - Beautiful Views!

Vintage Batman Begins....About 44 years ago

I remember I was really into the utility belt....I really don't remember the gun....maybe the 40's Batman?

Blog's Partial Namesake

Some stone I can drill through with what tools I have at this point, some I can not but I keep for the future when I will.  I took a couple days off and will use some of the time making the apartment a little more zen feeling by getting rid of some things and reorganize some - my stone cairns being one such thing.  I just have a pull towards stone or stone calls to me and this is the form I can work with right now so I'll keep them around - stubbed toes be damned. Besides the little hunter likes to walk/rub on them and stalk critters aka spiders if any find their way in.

Happy Halloween

To all of you a Happy Halloween.

Winter ....She Is A Coming

No snow here yet but mornings are colder. Really don't get much snow here but do get some as seen in pictures. Weatherwise this week has been beautiful - Chilly nights but sunny days.

A Pretty Girl

Moon Maiden Lamp

I found this little lamp at Goodwill, it has a cast iron base, I haven't seen one of those before. I put a new shade and a stone looking clay bead pullchain on it.

Bleached Beach Bones

My brother and his wife brought my mom down and drove to his beach cabin - about a 2 to 3 hour drive for them - for the weekend and I was invited too. I just went over Saturday, it's about a 90 minute drive from my apartment and I timed it just right - missed most of the yard work - a lot of huckleberry bushes around there - will be tasty in the fall. I did make it in time to help put some cabinets in/back up and a couple of supply runs. I mentioned I wanted to pick up some driftwood for possible projects. (I tend to collect stone and wood - they end up as cairns in my apartment until I make something good out of them. There is a time lag involved that I have to work on.) Anyway, mom said she wanted to go look for driftwood with me. It didn't look like we would find much but we finally ran across some sign and corraled some - dead stick hunting - they are crafty critters - well hopefully crafty. I hadn't been to the coast for years which just isn't right - it being so close. It was a busy fun day.

Double Action Boba

Brigid - I forgot to tell you, some guy at the range (see picture) - at least I think it was a guy - was asking questions about you and some Donald character. Seems that this Donald guy is wanted ---- in a galaxy far far away. Anyway, someone has their feathers ruffled and wants to chew him out. -----------please stop me now --- doesn't Blogger have any restrictions on Boba Fett Pez posts?

He/she didn't get anything out of me - although I did ask for Princess Leia's phone #/communicator frequency.

Wine Rack

Here is the Red Oak Wine Rack I designed and made from wood salvaged from community tree's by Urban Lumber Company. This wine rack is made for a countertop or table. It can hold 4 wine glasses, 4 wine or beverage of your choice bottles and I put a hole in the center support to hold a corkscrew.

Bullseye Shoot

About a month ago I went into Eugene to a Gun Show. Didn't see much there but in a back corner there were a couple guys at a little table. I went over and met a nice guy named Neal Caloia his daughter and his dad John. Neal was an Olympic shooter at the games in Atlanta. They were at the gun show trying to get some people interested in Bullseye Handgun Shooting aka Conventional Pistol. I knew nothing about it but it sounded fun. Guns+Shooting+Picking up some tips from an Olympic shooter = fun to me. Oh and since I haven't got a .22 pistol (right now) - they said they would have some there = I gave them $10 for the range fee and my phone # and they said they would call me before the weekend.

Got the call and everyone was meeting at a classroom at Emerald Empire Gun Club on Sunday at 9am. I was to bring 200 rounds of ammo - not high velocity. About 20 people showed up and there were about 7 instructor types. We got a general overview of the sport and competition and safety rules. We were going to shoot at only 25 yards for the morning - no 50 yard - they didn't want to scare us off. In practice and competition shooters will fire their handguns one handed with a dueling type stance. Handguns used are .22's, center fire - .32 caliber and up and .45. Some shooters use only two handguns for the competition a .22 and a .45 since the .45 can work for the centerfire stage too. Targets are out at 25 yards and 50 yards. The match has slow, timed and rapid fire stages. For more information go to www.bullseypistol.com

We were chompin at the bit to get at the range next door and finally were let loose. There were just two of us that didn't have a pistol. I would have been happy to just watch....yeah right. A very nice guy named Pete had a shooting box that had two pistols (his current and older competition Ruger Mark II's), parts, tools....and also a spotting scope attached to the lid. Pete let me use his pistol that he didn't use in competition anymore and later when someone had malfunctions with their pistol Pete let them use his current competition pistol - like I said a nice guy! The pistol I shot with was a Ruger Mark II bull barrel with a red dot sight and a contoured wood grip. Yes you can shoot with a red dot scope -no magnification - or you can shoot with open sights. Oh and the pistol had a 2.5 lb trigger pull- so nice. I had picked up some Remington Target .22 cartridges and I was very lucky to find them. The mock competition was a kick. We shot slow fire stages first. After the first magazine we used spotting scopes to check our shots. I was not used to shooting one handed - it felt like the front site was shaking all over the target picture but one of the other instructors yelled over to us and said "Pete he shoots better with your pistol than you do" he was exaggerating some but I did do better than I thought I would. I liked the timed and rapid fire stages the most. Pete also assisted a couple next to me. The husband shot a .22 revolver - looked like a Smith and the wife shot a .22 Colt Target Woodsman - looked like a 6 or 8 inch barrel and it was in prestine condition - wow.

Thanks again Pete.... I owe you. The extra cartridges I left you were not enough. It was a cold but really fun day. I can't imagine shooting at the 50 yard target....well I can imagine it. It's just going to take a lot more practice but that's just icing on the cake. Now I have to really get the money saved for that Browning Buckmark .22 5.5 Field Pistol.

A Gargirl Looking Over My Shoulder

I was posting about the "Spring Day" shoot (it was cold, had sprinkles and hail at the end - I think the sun even made a showing. I love spring, a lot of energy in the air and the weather changes every 10 minutes. Anyway, I heard a commotion on the chair behind me - Sam....Samantha. Eye beams burrowing into the back of my head willing me to play "Mouse"(plastic stick with string and fur/streamers/little bell on the end)...."Mouse"...ok,ok,you need play too!

She shoots better than Me

Dang, I only had one box of shells! I finally got out to the range - about time.

After cleaning the Smith and Wesson Victory .38 Special revolver ( check out the picture above - nice bore for a World War II revolver ) I got it dirty real fast. I shot a box of Remington 158 grain round nose cartridges. I shot at a little over 11 yards, single and double action on both targets. Two hand - no rest on most of the shots. I started out with six single action shots, slow fire - grouping to the left of center. I switched to double action after 12 - 18 shots. Boy am I rusty. I finally used a rest and found it definately was me not the revolver - shot four in the 10x with single action. I have some work to do. Double action (some of it real fast) I shot all over the place - a lot more work to do. I had a total of 47 out of 50 shots on the paper - my count. Three bad flyers - I'm sure they hit a bullseye somewhere....Yeah.

First time at that Range, I liked it. $10 for the public - they provide targets, ear plugs and or muffs and a spotting scope if you need it. I won't forget my monocular again. But bring cash, they don't take debit or credit cards. I like shooting outdoors - the natural ventilation and change in weather feels good. But I do like the electric target retrievers or the man powered pulley systems - maybe they will get those sometime.

I will try and save up for more ammo and get out more often. Next time I will shoot single action only at one target and double action on the other. At least this time out, my last shot was a 10x hit on the left target (two hand - no rest)....that felt good and was a good way to end the shoot.

I have got to save up and get that Browning Buckmark 5.5 Field .22 - that will provide a lot more shooting at a lot less cost.

A Little Home?

In this day and age it seems like too many houses built today are huge and of such a quality that they have major problems not too far down the road. They also are right next to each other and no yard. I wonder how much resources we could save in the long run by building smaller and stronger. Throwing in a view wouldn't hurt either but I understand packing them in close builds a bigger tax base and they can have utilities in a smaller footprint. But a view and some grass and trees around sure is nice and the air seems fresh.

A couple building materials that I think are worth taking a look at - if not the specific company - at least the product idea. One is Structural Insulated Panels the other is Niagra Insulated Blocks. I think a key point in these two products is there is an insulation barrier sandwiched in the middle of the blocks and panels - keeping heat and cold transfer way down. The energy cost up front in manufacturing and transport seems like more but the end product would be saving energy in heating and cooling for a long time down the road.

www.niagarablock.com/products/icb

A home at the edge of the pines, maybe a daylight basement and a view of the mountains.

Old Victory - New to Me

My quest to get back to .22 shooting by buying a Browning Buckmark 5.5 Field Model took a hit back on September 2, 2008. For some reason I was drawn into Ace Buyers - a pawn shop - on Saturday August 30, 2008. In over 7 years here I had been in that store twice. I went back to the gun case and didn't see much until my eye caught on an old looking revolver. The tag read S&W Victory Model .38 Special - I asked to see it. It had a lot of an all business no nonsense finish except the front sight had some red paint on the blade and the top strap had the finish worn/taken off on it, the action felt good - oh and it felt right at home in my hand. The tag showed $299.99 I didn't have it - not even close. I asked what their best price was - the customer service rep checked with the manager and said they could take off $10 from the price. I handed the gun back. They mentioned they had 60 days same as cash and they would need 20% down. I didn't know what a Victory model was so I thought I would head home and search on the internet....

While searching I came across a very informative blog site - www.xavierthoughts.blogspot.com - He has a lot of great info on firearms and more. Looking around the site there is Victory info and I also read entries about pawn shop hunting. He had written about puting funds down on firearms and making payments - which I had never done. The Victory model Smith and Wesson .38 was a revolver made during World War II and the serial number is prefaced with a V. The revolver I was looking at had what I later found out is a parkerized finish but I noticed the revolver did not have the original smooth wood grips or the lanyard loop that screwed into the bottom of the grip frame. The grips it did have are S&W and have seen a lot of use. Check out Xavier's site and others that can give you more of the interesting info about the Victory Model S&W and it's place in history and thanks Xavier for all the great information! I wonder about the specific history of this Victory, before and after grip change. I got an impression that maybe the Victory I found was a trainer for some law enforcement agency after the war - red paint on blade, top strap parkerizing rubbed off?

I went back to Ace Monday September 1 ...payday. They are closed Sunday. I asked to look at the "Victory" again. I wanted to see the pistol again and make sure it had what I thought was a screw under/just below the cylinder release - that is an identifying feature to a Victory . It looked like a pin. Xavier said it is the hammer pin. I brought up the fact that the Victory didn't have original grips, hoping I could get more knocked off the price....they didn't budge. I again handed the revolver back. Driving home I thought I might have made a mistake. That night I decided that if the Victory was still there after work the next day I would put money down on it. Headed right over after work and it was still there. I gave a lot of people a good chance to get it. I put $60 down and needed to pay it off by the end of 2 months. That with money tight. Now with the payment they took that revolver from under the counter and put it in the back - safe for now!

Well, I made $40 the next payment....but about halfway through the second month I ran into a little funds setback and called Ace to let them know that I wouldn't be able to payoff the Victory....they said, no problem, just keep making monthly payments until it is paid off - I have found this is unique to this store. I made a $22 payment by the end of the month and have made payments each month ever since. I made the last payment of $56.44 on 3/14/2009. After all said and done I paid $289.99 plus a $10 gun processing fee.

I know....blah blah blah blah....hows it shoot???? I can't wait to fire some rocks down range!!!! Raining all weekend here, not that I havn't been shooting in that before - it is Oregon - the sunshine has rain in it a lot. I've lived in Oregon all my life, it's beautiful here - Coast, High Desert, Mountains.... just don't tell anyone. I hope to get out after work this week or next weekend. I went through training a long time ago with a S&W model 13 - still want to pick up one of those - but it has been too long since shooting a Smith and Wesson Revolver. I'll let you know how it goes.

Spearhead

I was high school age and went hunting in Eastern Oregon with my dad and we joined up with friends of the family in deer camp at Dead Horse Spring. At the end of the morning hunt I was walking a dry creek bed that came down from the rimrock draws and lost itself out in the high desert prairie. In that region of Oregon you'll see obsidian around....it isn't uncommon but it isn't covering everything either. I saw a little piece of obsidian in the dry sand, reached down picking it up....it just kept coming out of the creek bed! Someone that knows about such things told me that it was probably Paiute and probably ceremonial - since the Paiute of the area used tougher stone for hunting. I wondered back then and through the years about the maker of that spearhead. I've pictured the landscape of that day in my mind and thought about what their lives were like and how the spearhead came to it's final resting place. After many years I delivered the spearhead to the Burns Oregon Paiute Tribe. I showed them on a map where it was found.

Made A Rustic Shelf

Here is a rustic shelf I made out of Aromatic Cedar. I purchased the wood from Seth at the Urban Lumber Company in Springfield Oregon. I have a very small apartment. This shelf gave me a little more floor space - every little bit helps.

Pinus Densiflora/ Japanese Red Pine

There is a row of these along the drive coming in to the apartments I live in. They have a red bark that glows in the early or late sun. The branches contort and give the trees a unique look - especially when grouped with others. There is a small beautiful grove at the Hoyt Arboretum in Portland Oregon.