Happy Bronze Anniversary

This year marks eight years of marriage for us!  We are supposed to give each other bronze gifts.  Rather than giving each other gifts, we decided to find a lot of bronze statues throughout Kansas City and Independence and have our picture taken with them.

We started here with breakfast.  Yum!

Some of our favorite bronze statues were in Independence here is Girl with Dove.

Stella at the Spring. Another one also in Independence.

In Independence

This one is in the middle of Paseo.  You can see I-70 behind us.  This is Rev. John Wesley Williams.

The great Charlie Parker.

Abraham Lincoln and his son Tad.

Andrew Jackson and me riding?

This is one of my favorites.  It is called Modern Communication.

Ilus Winfield Davis.  Ian trying to do his best imitation.

Muse of the Missouri

Core of Discovery

James Pendergast

We don't remember the name of this statue, but it is at Barney Allis Plaza.  Jen wanted to pet the dog.

Bronco Buster.   Jen is still trying to tame Ian too.

Our 1st President.

Put your hands up!  Us hanging out with the Spirits of Commerce and Industry.

The Hiker

Pioneer Mother

The Scout

Memorial for Fallen Firefighters

Citizen Soilder

The Pioneers in Westport

Visions of children.  During school time we have visions of children all the time.

Lunch at Winstead's.  Jen had her one bite and was finished.

I'm just getting started.

Massasoit close to Winstead's on the Plaza

The Crying Giant.  I guess Jen is the giant here.

Us about to meet our fate at the Spider outside of the Kemper Museum.

We don't remember the title, but it was someone taming Pegasus.

Nelson-Atkins Museum Rush Hour.

Two of these things are not like the others.

Ian not getting the Thinker pose correct.

The Boar.  It is supposed to be good luck if you rub his snout.

Out to Lunch

Jen should have given him a shoulder massage he looks a bit stiff.

Ian doing his penguin in the Court of the Penguins.

Pamona Fountain on the Plaza.

Monkey Business

Ian getting a little too into making the statue try to smile.  Chinese Warriors...there is another one to the left, but to get him in the picture we would have to place the camera in the street.

Harry Truman on the Square in Independence.

Jim Bridger. Last stop on our way home to change.

Cafe Verona for dinner that evening.  You will notice that I am a few shades bronzer than when I started the day off.

You might be thinking what does this have to do with DIY.  It doesn't technically fall into the DIY category, but we are always working at our marriage to make it better.  We also just wanted to share a great day of celebration for the both of us.  Eight years isn't close to any record, but we feel like what we have with each other is perfect.

Dovetail Boxes

Now that school has been out for one day, at least for me, (sorry Jen) I have time to show you what I have been up to in the Carle's Workshop.

My grandfather-in-law (John) gave me some pine that he wasn't going to use.  I was very grateful and decided to put it to use.  John is a very skilled carpenter.  He is always being asked to make something or other for people in his town or his family.  One of the things he makes regularly free of charge are flag boxes for fallen veterans that are buried in the Iowa Veterans Cemetery, which he lives only a few miles from.  So I wanted to make sure that I didn't disappoint by wasting the pine on something I wouldn't use. 
Starting back in January I started making wooden boxes using dovetails as joints.  Dovetails are supposed to be the strongest joint you can have. You can make dovetails using a router, but I wanted to try it the old fashion way using a dovetail saw.

A while back John also gave me  an orbital sander which uses discs for sandpaper.  I decided to make  boxes in order to hold the different grit sandpaper.

Orbital Sander

 Box Number 1

Here is the first box I made. Don't judge.  The number represents the girt sandpaper each box will be holding.

Box Number 2

This was probably the easiest one I made with the big pins.

Box Number 3

This box was going great until I made a mistake and routed the wrong side for the bottom of the box.  To fix it I did some inlay work and placed a piece of walnut inside the mistake and it came out pretty well.

Box Number 4

This isn't really a dovetail box.  It has finger joints that I made using my Uncle Bob's table saw.

Box Number 5

This was the last box I made.  It was easily my best.  The pins are narrow and the tails are different widths on purpose.

Here they are all in a row.  I'm thinking about building a little cabinet for them to sit in two rows of six, which means I'll need to make one more box.

Carpenter Carles' Workshop

One reason we bought the house was because of the room in the basement I would have for a woodworking shop.  We needed to put up a couple walls and create a laundry room to prevent dust floating toward the pristine clothes as they exited the washer and dryer.

The following is the condensed version along with the editing of bad words that were muttered by myself or dad along the way.

 
Step 1 was to tear down some shelves.

These monster shelves, HAVE GOT TO GO! because they were in the way.

Step 2 was to tear down a wall.  The lumber from both was reused in building the new walls

In the background is the wall.  You can see how I had four or five things plugged into the one extension cord.  According to the manufacturer it is NOT RECOMMENDED to do this.

Step 3 was to remove plumbing that was in the way.

Dad was invaluable in his help during all the steps of this process.

Step 4 was to build the frames bolting them to the floor.

What is Jen looking at?    Oh ya I still got it!

The walls after they were framed with studs in place.

Step 5 was to add a door.  We wanted to buy a door with a frame but the height of our wall wouldn't allow it so we re-purposed a closet door from my parent's house as a door for our workshop.  We had to add a doorknob and trimmed the bottom off the closet door in order to fit the shorter frame. 

Cutting the bottom where the door will be.

Door's done!

Step 6 was to move the wood shelf to a different location.  In order to do this we had to dismantle it and put it back up.  I forgot to take a picture of where it was before but basically it ran the length of the rock wall on the left side of this picture.

New location of wood storage shelf.

Step 7 was to run wire for the lights and outlets.

One of the junction boxes.  We used eight or nine of these bad boys. 

We had a friend from church come over and wire all the lights to the switches.  Thank God for friends!

One set of three track lights used.  This one is located over my bench.

This is where my my table saw, miter saw, planer, jointer and dust collector will plug in.  If only I had them right now.

Step 8 was to mount siding and paint the walls on the side of the laundry room and add trim.

Lining up the siding.

Finished on the laundry side.

 Step 9 was to mount peg board and my tools on it.
 

Step 10 Use it.

You may notice that the walls are not finished on the inside of the shop.  Right now I don't have plans to finish them.  I store my clamps on one of the cross supports and it helps keep them out of the way.  I have really enjoyed using the shop.  I imagine most wood workers feel like they don't ever have enough tools and I am no exception.  In my plans I have reserved spots for three more serious power tools that I can't save for quick enough.

I dedicate this post and shop to my late Uncle Bob Carle whose tools gave me a great beginning and are being used daily and to my dad Joe Carle whose help and wisdom helped this shop become a reality. The name of the workshop Carpenter Carles' Workshop is for the three Carles, Uncle Bob, Joe, and Ian.  And yes dad that does mean you can come over and use the shop whenever you want!

Tulip Transformation

Casa de Carle is quickly emerging from winter hibernation.  The daffodils popped up first throughout all three gardens.  The trees are blooming and looking gorgeous with their pink, purple, and white blooms.  The hostas are pushing their way up through the ground.  It is exciting to see all that is blooming.  When we moved in last year, many of the flowers had already bloomed and we missed these first signs of spring.

Last fall, we tackled one last flower bed before heading in for the winter.

    

We ordered some tulip bulbs from our niece and planted them last October.

Ta Da!  A tulip transformation.

Mr. Carle also has a big basement transformation reveal to share soon!