Farm Visit

Recently, my cousin Ed told me about something that he had found on his farm that he thought I might like to see. Yesterday, Will, Rob and Eleanor joined me for the visit. On the way and for old-times' sake, we stopped for breakfast at Ditto's. For many years, Dad ate breakfast here almost every morning with his various friends.

While we waited for our corned beef hash, pancakes, eggs, and other goodies, Eleanor did some coloring with her Pop. Ditto's provided quite the extensive crayon collection.

When we arrived at the farm, Ed was out working.

He showed us how his machine shed had been framed with the timbers from one of the two old barns on the farm. Eleanor was fascinated by all of the machinery and posed for us on one of the tractors (a Farmall MTA, for those of you who may be interested). She also liked seeing all the cats and kittens and their Beagle, Daisy. Later, Karilyn showed Eleanor her Beanie Baby and thimble collections too.

This is the remaining barn on the farm. You may recall from prior postings that Will is quite interested in timber framing. So, he and I were interested in seeing how this barn had been built in that style.

But the big attraction was finding these carvings in the barn. This one reads H. F. - 1915. These may be the initials of the owner of the farm four generations back. The farm has been in the family for at least five generations now.

The more interesting carving for us was this one. We were not quite sure how to read the first initial in the second pair of initials. If it was an H, then this could be my father expressing feelings for my mother when he was a young man growing up on the farm. However, it definitely appears to be an E or an R or some combination, maybe an H with an E somehow superimposed. Too bad there wasn't a date to help figure this out (or a father still around to ask). Either way, this was fascinating to see, and maybe some day we will come up with a best explanation. Any suggestions or ideas would be most welcome.

Early Holiday in Nashville

A couple of weeks ago, we drove to Nashville for an early holiday celebration with Jessica, Mike, Travis and Nicole. On Saturday, there was a baby shower for Jessica, but I'll let Kathie or someone else do a posting on that. We have pictures, but I wasn't there, so I can't describe the action. However, prior to the baby shower that Saturday, we all went to a downtown pub named Bailey's, which hosts Iowa fans for all Iowa football games. Iowa played Indiana that day. The girls were able to stay until it was time to head for the baby shower. We guys stayed through the entire nail-biting experience. (Iowa won 18-13).

Mike and his sister, Amanda, were there.

Nicole and Travis were there.

And, of course, Jessica, Kathie, and I were there. It was fun. The food was good, and there were lots of other Iowa fans there too.

Kathie and I had been busy for weeks before the trip making things for the baby, who is expected in January. Among other things, here is a chenille blanket that Kathie made for the baby.

Shortly after Jessica and Mike told us about the pregnancy, I offered to make a crib and/or changing table for the baby. They picked a plan from among several I had, and I bought a bunch of cherry and started working. The "crib" is unusual in that it has two drawers below and a small cabinet for storage. I made the front rail so that it could be removed and replaced with an open side frame when the baby is older. In other words, it converts to a toddler bed at some point. If they wanted, they could remove the entire top part and have a smaller-than-twin-size mattress made for use for another few years.

The changing table is actually a chest with drawers and shelves behind a couple of doors. The changing table part sits atop the chest and can be eventually removed.

Here are the proud, expectant parents with the crib/bed. Some of the shower gifts are adorning the crib.

We took a set of mandatory departure pictures before we headed back in the direction of home. (Actually, we visited my sister on the way home.)

Unfortunately, Mike was at work.

Jess looks great. She is her same self, just with a baby bump. So far, the pregnancy has been pretty easy for her. We are all eager to see the beautiful little girl that will arrive in January.

Henry Makes A Car

A few weeks ago, Betsy and her family were here to spend a few days with us. Henry had previously said that he wanted to build something in my shop when he came--maybe a car. I told him that would be fun and that he should start by drawing a plan for the car he wanted to build. Here is the plan he created. His drawings are the ones on the right. The two on the left are ones I drew to discuss with him how the pieces were to be assembled. Note the several locations in his drawings where he shows a drill is to be used to create the holes for the axles for the wheels. I was impressed with this detailed work.

We started by making some wheels using a hole cutter on my drill press. There is a little movie below that shows Henry at work. Betsy admired her skillful son's work.

Clara just thought it was too noisy.

Here is my grandson making the wheels. I thought it was a little funny that he liked to really crank down on the drill, making some smoke in the process. I should have taught him to pull the hole cutter through the wood a little more slowly, but that can be a lesson for another day, I guess. We failed to get a picture of the finished product. Suffice it to say that Henry made a very nice little car and that he did most of the work himself. I look forward to building other things with him in the future.