CRIB

March 16, 2020 was the date....I don't think I blogged it until a month later in April but, that was when our world started shutting down. That was the weekend that my brother and family came for a visit that got modified because of CoVid. Unfortunate for them but great for us....me in particular. On that trip Shawn and Adele helped design the cribbage crib, as I like to call it, for the bus.

                                             

This is a crude screen shot of the 3D modeling that they did

                    

And this is how it all turned out

This side is the metal inlay with acrylic top

                                        

And this side is the crib board....yet to be used for the first time.....perhaps soon??

Of course no matter how much I plan, there always seems to be some snag, as Robert Burns said, "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men". I designed one of the crib cabinets to house the subwoofer and also the crib table. Everything looked great until....

it seems I forgot to account for the retention pin knob. The only way the table will fit into the cabinet is to remove the knob and pin prior to stowing it away, and THAT will never work for me.

 But thankfully I was able to  trace the path of the knob placement on the table, then using a  forstner bit and the router to create an insertion channel. This is not the finished product but already allows the table to be stored, in its entirety, in the designated area as originally designed. 

A series of firsts

Another day another first. After some contemplation I decided to get some work done on the bug(stereo) and I maaaaaaayyy have had a little mishap with the buses rear view camera which required a trip into Calgary to see the professionals at ARA automotive accessories  Thankfully they could take care of both issues on the same day. I just had to get both vehicles to them. It would be the first time to test the whole tow-car concept. I must say it worked like a charm!

 

Oddly enough, not to far away I came across a GF brewery that has some delicious wares to sample. First one in western Canada, and a first time for me being there. Good thing Fillmore has a fridge!

Shortly after, we got the kids ready for their first time "alone" in the back country. I give the quotation marks because they have been camping, they have been alone(without parental units) and they have been in the back country. But they have never had the trifecta. It was a first for them.

So the three amigos set out hiking and camping on an envious quest.

So Michelle and I got inspired and shortly after dropping the kids at the trail head we packed up Fillmore and headed out on an adventure of our own. We hit spray lake for a little kayaking. Once we got there we explored the campground and found an open site to which we slipped into.

It was another first for us, I may not elect to drive Fillmore down those roads again, but I would definitely go back to that lake!! 

A little here a little there

All of us just want to get out for a little fresh air and exercise. A week or two ago we hiked prairie link, a section of what we rightly or wrongly called powderface trail for many years. None the less it was a beautiful day with some great friends......and Fillmore of course.

Alberta has a lot of things to offer, beautiful mountains, glacier fed rivers and lakes, but warm hunid nights are not on the list off assets. So being from Manitoba where you can sit outside on a patio until the wee hours of the night is not an option unless you bring layers of fleece and down. So I decided that we needed a fire table to extend the comfortable evenings on our deck. After some research and going to the showroom, I decided I could build a fire table. Michelles dad was here and we cut down an old Oak wine barrel formally used as a rain barrel for the base, then I constructed a temporary fire pan and table top. Well the prototype fell short of a few key elements. The base was perfect, but my fire pan was flimsy and my table top was...well....combustible. Not good qualities when your talking about a table with open flames and heat for hours. So with some cajoling motivation from my baby brother, i decided to pour a concrete table top.

Jeff and I made the form from 1"  wall foam board. 

In an effort to keep the table top thin(and therefor as lite as possible) I used a specialty concrete with shredded fiberglass fibers in the mix. We spent a lot of time vibrating the pour to make the surface as smooth as possible.

It was our first time doing this but we were happy with how it turned out.

                        

After some sanding and de burring, the surface finish was smooth enough I dont even feel like we need to make a slurry to fill holes

I can see many a late nights by the table coming up....