The hammer Falls

The world is a beautiful vast place. You could spend your entire life exploring the far corners of the earth. And yet the beginning of 2020 showed us that the world, as we live on it, is a very small crowded little ball. We watched a sickness in a city that most of us had never heard of, in a country half way around the world, and thought to ourselves "wow that sucks....I am sure glad I live over here!" The next thing we know our little flu is all the way around the world, reaching into every little nook and cranny of those far corners that we marveled at being vast and expansive in a matter of weeks. It's speed and veracity caught a lot of people of guard.
The beginning of march was no exception for us. We like many others had been carrying on with our lives, watching the warning signs, but not really acknowledging them.
March 13, while Shawn,Adele and Sofia traveled from Winnipeg for a weekend visit and to catch a Jets v Flames game, Jeff and I traveled to Edmonton to tour the U of A campus faculty of engineering. Thursday night as we settled into the hotel....all was normal. Friday morning, the hammer fell. The University called and cancelled the tour as they were shutting down everything. As we returned to Bragg Creek we found that the Hockey game was also cancelled. We watched and marveled at how the doors and shutters to our seemingly otherwise normal world were closed and drawn at a seemingly staggering rate.
After getting over the initial disorientation of it all, we quickly saw the opportunity in the mix......and headed to the shop.

 I have tremendous respect for Shawn's creative mind, I stopped asking years ago where he comes up with ideas. Its akin to the mistake of asking a musician how they thought thought up the catchy melody to a new song. If you have to ask then you really don't get it. So now I just watch and marvel. Put this guy into a crowded shop with materials of opportunity and a fresh pot of coffee as motivation and great things start to happen.

 The process starts to create its own gravity, and the next thing you know the creative pied piper has lured even the teenagers into the shop.

 My vision for what I had always called the lounge area, which is traditionally the "dinette" was rudimentary but functionally solid. A space where a pair could sit in recliners with their feet up, or enjoy a game of cards on a "yet to be designed" table. As you can see above, Shawn too that idea and made a space out of it. Rather than being a spot with two slightly askew chairs, he created a "space". So now the FUN begins to make that happen.

 The cabinet making was going to be in my corner, and will take time. But with the creative juices flowing we embarked on the creation of the table. Calling it a table seems woefully inadequate, but for now its just that. Anna was put to the task of creating the actual table from maple and black oak

 Jeff took the opportunity to learn from the master and improve his welding technique.

 For what seemed like minutes, as the hours past we had wood in clamps...

 table frame taking shape...

 And by early morning we were ready to take the next step.

AFTER we spent some time with this little sweetheart Sofia. She will rule the world of her stand off rough and gruff poppa, he doesn't realize yet how lost he was before her.

The Crib Cabinet

Back in mid December when all we had to worry about was frost bite I started working on a cabinet in the area for what I now affectionately call the cribbage crib( my play on the traditional 'dinette') but alas I am getting ahead of myself and will have to let that story play out.
The forward cabinet, or the crib cabinet,  is a custom cabinet that grabs some unused space behind the drivers seat and is built overtop of the forward wheel well.

Needless to say in the upside down position it looks, frankly, like a hot mess

But in the upright position the workings of the cabinet were smooth as silk.

The bottom drawer was a little easier to create, and I used, as an opportunistic experiment, some premade side walls

Fabricating drawer fronts is always a challenge but these turned out well and I was happy with them

Of course, there is still so much 'body work' to be done.

While life is not all playing in the workshop, Anna and I took time (albeit before COVID-19) to donate blood, it was Annas first time and as a long time donor and Dad.....I was very proud and honored to be with her!

Time passes and the world as we knew it has changed

Where do you start?

How many times have you seen a problem in the world, on the news, in the paper and said "wow, that sucks!" But its not here, its not in your back yard and there for somehow it doesn't seem real. There is no immediate impact on your day to day life so you shrug it off as an unfortunate problem for someone else in the world. That was January, what started as a report of a cluster of pneumonia cases is Wuhan China, now we know this is COVID-19 and this is a world wide Pandemic.

As hard as it is to understand let alone abide by the new social rules, we all must do our part. This for some means the loss of jobs, for some the shutting down and possible loss of their business.  For others....the ones on the front lines of our health care system it means going into work everyday taking care of the sick, knowing they are putting themselves and their families at great risk...for the greater good. We all must do our part for the good of us as a global society.

It doesn't mean we cant continue to do the things we love, but it may affect where when and how we do them.

Fortunately for me, in my part of shutting down my business for the greater good, I have plenty to keep me busy.....and it is  naturally social distancing  too!

So, I will try to bring you up to speed on my journey while I have time on my hands to work and to blog.

After the interior potion of the rear cabinet was complete, the rear potion of the heater box had to be constructed

I needed to enclose the heater, but also find a way to feed the heater lines in ,the A/C refrigerant lines and the electrical all the while being mindful of space. The solution came with the design of a three part back panel. The main back board with a smaller removable slip. Allowing the placement of the panel and enclosure of the hoses.

The final piece of the puzzle was the 'bump out' allowing for the conservation of space and accommodating the fan housing on the heater.

Finally the long procrastinated job is done.

Be safe, be smart, stay healthy!