If I only had a name...

This little pup came home with us Friday night. She needs a name!

Answer: Because he can...

Question:

Why put a little sliver of walnut into the dovetail joint of this drawer?

Here's a bigger view of the kitchen, with the top drawers installed and pulled out. Please excuse the clutter! It also looks a bit like a grocery store, since everything is exposed.

The shelf in the foreground (Cheerios, Club Crackers) is often wasted space in a typical kitchen. Instead, we put in a cabinet that's about the depth of a cereal box. It's at Elizabeth's level, and holds stuff that typically goes straight to the table.

Speaking of Elizabeth, she really likes to help in the kitchen!

Drawers, drawers, drawers

I've done a lot of typing today, so I'm going to let the pictures tell the story.

These shots show the "top drawers". Mick is constructing them in batches that are the same height.

A busy weekend...

Last weekend was Mom's 80th birthday. We had a lot of activities!

First, we stopped to see the pups on the way to Frederic. We still haven't picked ours, but that could happen next weekend. She might even come home then.

Elizabeth got to go out in the boat with Poppa on Saturday morning. It was pretty windy, so we didn't stay out long. I forgot to bring the camera in the boat, but we did have fun. Elizabeth wasn't scared of the boat ride.

She helped pull in this crappie.

Mom invited some relatives over for coffee on Saturday afternoon. It was really nice to see everyone.

Saturday evening Mick walked up to the fields. He found a few woodticks, but no bear! These birds were very hungry. Mama-bird was kind enough to let me snap a photo while she was out getting food.

Finally, Elizabeth and Grandma on the front step.

A tree stood in our yard

There used to be two big maple trees in our front yard.

In 2005, we cut them down and hauled them to Frederic.

My Dad used his portable bandsaw to make lumber.

Now they've come full circle, and Mick is planing the lumber to make drawers for our kitchen.

He's also produced a lot of sawdust.

The trash guys must really wonder about us. In the front, you can see our second attempt at a replacement tree.