Tag Archives: Tools

Garage Cleanup Update

16 Tuesday Jun 2026

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I had a few distractions today that kept me from getting into the garage until after lunch.

First, there was the Tuesday morning Bible study. Then breakfast with Rick. After that, I headed home, looking forward to what I thought would be a much-needed nap. Unfortunately, my plans were interrupted by an alarm reminding me that I had a doctor’s appointment across town.

After making a cup of coffee, I headed to the doctor and returned home completely exhausted, in even greater need of a nap than before. Instead of giving in to temptation, I ate lunch and headed straight downstairs to continue the garage cleanup.

Today, I tried to focus on just one worktable. That turned out to be a project all by itself. The table was covered with tools of every description, parts from unfinished projects, wood glue, and enough paint and stain to open a small hardware store.

I gathered up all the paint and stain containers, but before I could put them away, I had to reorganize the paint cabinet. Apparently, I can’t clean one thing without first cleaning something else.

I found an empty box and started filling it with parts and pieces needed to finish various projects. Some of those projects had been sitting there long enough that I barely remembered starting them.

As I worked, I began uncovering tape measures. Every time I turned around, there was another one. I finally decided that whenever I found a tape measure, I would put it in a box. By the time I finished cleaning off that one table, I had collected seven tape measures.

Seven.

I have no idea how one person accumulates seven tape measures on a single workbench. I suspect they reproduce when the lights are off.

After a couple of hours of rearranging—and I can’t honestly call it cleaning because I’m mostly moving things from one location to another—I finally achieved a major milestone.

I can now see the bottom of ONE worktable.

I also found more wood screws that needed to be sorted into their proper trays. At this point, I think wood screws are breeding right alongside the tape measures.

Tomorrow’s mission is to empty one of the large plastic storage tubs and determine what can be thrown away. With any luck, I’ll end up with an empty tub that can be used to organize some of my power tools until I can clear enough space on another workbench.

In other words, I’m still robbing Peter to pay Paul.

It feels like I’m not making much progress because I’m constantly moving things from one pile to another. Still, I suppose some progress is better than no progress.

Using my bucket-of-sand analogy from yesterday, I think I’ve managed to remove about half a spoonful today. Between the distractions and the endless rearranging, that’s about all I can claim.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get started a little earlier tomorrow and maybe remove a whole spoonful.

The Spoonful of Sand Effect

15 Monday Jun 2026

Posted by in Arts and Crafts, Life, Retirement, Uncategorized, Woodworking

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Imagine, if you will, a large container filled with sand. (Insert the Twilight Zone Music) You come along with a spoon and remove a single spoonful. You and I both know that you’ve removed that spoonful, but to everyone else, the container looks exactly the same.

That’s the same scenario I’m facing in my garage.

I spent all day today throwing things in the trash, moving items around in the shed so I could move other things into it, and generally trying to bring some order to the chaos. Somewhere along the way, I stepped on a few Sweetgum balls (For those that live in the South, you know what I’m talking about), rolled my ankle, and landed face-first on the ground. If there had been judges present, I doubt they would have scored the dismount very highly.

I knew when I started this project that it wasn’t going to be a one-day event. It’s going to take several days, if not weeks, to get this garage looking the way it should. Years of “I’ll put that there for now” have finally caught up with me.

I took the time to cut usable pieces from my scrap wood pile so I could minimize waste. I also found several containers filled with wood screws of various sizes. I sorted them into separate containers and even labeled them. That’s a small victory, but at least now I won’t have to dig through a coffee can full of random screws every time I need one or, God forbid, go purchase more.

This morning, I took some before pictures of the garage. In fact, I had even posted a few of them on yesterday’s blog. Later, I took them down because I was honestly a little ashamed that I had let the garage get into the condition it’s in. Maybe once everything is cleaned up and organized, I’ll share the before-and-after photos. If nothing else, they’ll serve as proof that all this effort actually accomplished something.

A lot of time and effort went into today’s work, with very little visible evidence to show for it. If someone walked into the garage tonight, they probably wouldn’t notice much difference, kind of like that missing spoonful of sand.

But progress was made. It may not be obvious to anyone else, but I know it’s there. The garage is a little better organized than it was this morning, and that’s enough for today.

Besides, the sore ankle and busted kneecap are all the proof I need that I was working.

My Garage Needs an Intervention

15 Monday Jun 2026

Posted by in Arts and Crafts, Boy Scouts, Fishing, Kayaking, Life, Retirement, Twins, Uncategorized, Weather, Woodworking

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I missed a perfectly good day to go fishing.

According to the weather forecast I saw last night, today was supposed to be cloudy with rain. As I sit here writing this, it’s cloudy all right, but there isn’t a drop of rain anywhere nearby. Apparently, the weather forecaster and I have different definitions of “rain.”

Since I can’t blame the weather anymore, I guess I’ll spend the day in my shop doing some cleaning.

The shop is in desperate need of organization. I try my best to keep it neat, but somehow it always ends up looking like the “before” picture on a home improvement show. If the folks from a hoarding television program ever drive down my road, I’m keeping the garage door closed.

My two-car garage hasn’t actually been a two-car garage since my daughters came home from college. Before they moved back in, I told my wife that the girls needed to rent a storage unit for all their furniture. I explained that once their furniture crossed the threshold of our garage, it would become a permanent resident.

I was absolutely right.

Years later, some of that furniture is still sitting there. At this point, I think it’s claimed squatters’ rights.

To be fair, I’m not completely innocent. The side of the garage where I used to park my truck has become home to my hobbies. When I bought a larger truck that wouldn’t fit in the garage, I suddenly had extra space—or at least that’s what I told myself.

That space is now occupied by a motorcycle, shelves full of Dutch ovens, camping gear, fishing equipment, ham radio supplies, woodworking tools, and a collection of items that I apparently purchased because I was convinced I would need them someday.

Someday has not yet arrived.

The side where my wife once parked is home to my daughters’ furniture, my CNC laser, a newly acquired 3D printer, and a worktable where I paint and assemble projects. Unfortunately, the worktable is currently so covered with stuff that I couldn’t work on it if I wanted to. In fact, I’m not entirely sure where the actual tabletop is anymore.

I know it’s under there somewhere.

The garage also houses my table saw, miter saw, drill press, nail guns, sanders, drills, rotary tools, clamps, and enough miscellaneous hardware to open a small branch of Home Depot.

Need a screw? I’ve got 10,000 of them.

Need the specific screw I’m looking for? Not a chance.

I’ve decided that I’m not starting another project until I make significant progress organizing the garage. This is a bold statement considering that starting new projects is one of my favorite ways to avoid finishing old ones.

The problem is that I have no idea where to begin. Every time I move one item, I discover three more things that need to be moved first. It’s like playing a life-sized game of Tetris, except none of the pieces fit, and I can’t find the instruction manual.

To make matters worse, I have a storage building in the backyard that’s almost as crowded as the garage. Before I can organize the garage, I’ll probably need to organize the storage building.

Of course, organizing the storage building will require temporarily moving things into the garage, which seems suspiciously similar to the process that got me into this mess in the first place.

Maybe I should have gone fishing after all.

Built with Love (and a Little Bit of Crooked Math)

30 Thursday Apr 2026

Posted by in Arts and Crafts, Cancer, Disability, Family, Fishing, Kayaking, Leukemia, Life, Nature, Retirement, Uncategorized, Woodworking

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With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I decided it was time to push through the pain and make something for my mom. She loves plants—like, really loves plants—so I figured a couple of wooden planters would be the perfect gift. Plus, I’ve got a pile of scrap wood that’s been quietly judging me for months, including some cypress fencing material my wife has been not-so-subtly encouraging me to “do something with.”

So, around 9:30 this morning, I dragged all my equipment outside and got to work. By about 11:30, I had everything cut down to size and was feeling pretty good about life. That’s usually the exact moment things take a turn.

I started assembling the first planter and quickly realized something wasn’t right. The pieces weren’t lining up like the plans said they should. Now, the plans called for ¾-inch wood… and I’m working with ½-inch. Details, right? Apparently not. Turns out, those little fractions matter.

Still, I pressed on.

At this point, I’ve got one planter about 90% complete. It’s… let’s just say “custom shaped.” Not exactly square, which means putting the top boards on requires some math. And if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you already know—math and I are not on speaking terms. I’m pretty sure an angle finder is in my near future, the next time I wander into the store pretending I know what I’m doing.

After spending most of the day bending, lifting, and moving around, my back has officially filed a formal complaint. Sitting usually doesn’t bother me, but tonight I can’t seem to find a position that doesn’t make me question why I thought this was a good idea. The heating pad is doing its best, but the second I move, my back reminds me who’s really in charge. I took a pain pill earlier, but it’s apparently operating on its own schedule.

After looking at what I’ve completed on this planter, I’m not really happy with it. It’s one of those projects that looked a whole lot better in my head than it does sitting in front of me. So, there’s a good chance this one becomes a “keep it at the house” planter, and I’ll come up with something else for Mom.

I guess you could say this was my practice run… whether I planned it that way or not.

It all really depends on how I’m feeling after this upcoming pain block. If I can get a little relief and move around without feeling like my back is plotting against me, I may give it another shot and build something I’m actually proud to give her.

If not, well… Mom may be getting something a little less handmade and a little more store-bought this year—and honestly, she’ll probably love it just the same.

As for doctor updates, I’ve now got two appointments lined up—one with the orthopedic in mid-June and another with a pain specialist next Thursday. I’m hoping the pain specialist can help take the edge off until June gets here.

And yes, I’ll admit it… I probably shouldn’t have stayed out on that kayak as long as I did last Thursday. But I’ll still argue it was worth it. I needed that time on the water—maybe just not that much time.

Tomorrow looks like it’ll be a recliner day. I plan on catching up on my Bible study material for Tuesday morning. Theology isn’t exactly my strong suit, but I’m giving it my best shot—kind of like woodworking and math.

I also had a visit with my oncologist last week. My iron levels were low again, so they gave me a shot of Epoetin alfa to help boost my red blood cell production. They also ran my BCR-ABL1 test to check on my CML. The last several tests over the past six months have come back non-detectable, which is great news. I’m curious to see how this one turns out, though—it seems like those numbers like to keep me guessing. Should have results in a few days.

Other than that, things are pretty quiet around here. I’ll finish up that planter (eventually), survive the math, and hopefully have something worth showing for it.

I’ll check back in when I’ve got something else to write about… or when the second planter decides to humble me too.

Hidden in Plain Sight

19 Sunday Apr 2026

Posted by in Fishing, Kayaking, Life, Uncategorized

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The mind can play some terrible tricks on you.

Sometimes it convinces you that you saw something that wasn’t there. Other times, you can look straight at something—multiple times—and somehow never actually see it. I can’t explain it, but I’ve experienced it enough to know it’s real.

The other day, I wrote about my wife and I panic cleaning the house. In the process, I moved several things to what I thought were “safe places.” You know the kind—those spots that make perfect sense at the time but completely betray you later.

One of those items was a set of red flags I bought for the back of my kayak. They’re there to warn drivers that I’ve got a load sticking way out past the truck bed. Bright red. Hard to miss… or so you’d think.

Well, those flags disappeared.

I tore this house apart looking for them. I knew exactly where I put them. I knew the room. I knew the box. I checked that box more times than I can count. Opened it, moved things around, looked carefully… and every single time, nothing.

Gone.

Now, I’ve been down this road before. When I can’t find something after a while, I usually just give up and buy another one. That’s the reason I own more tape measures than any one man should. Same goes for hammers. I’m pretty sure I’ve got at least 15 scattered throughout this house.

At any given moment, I can find four of each.
At other times… not a single one.

It never fails.

So while packing for my fishing trip, I gave up on the flags and moved on. I grabbed my Nikon camera, put a fresh battery in it, set the time and date, and placed it in a Ziploc bag along with a notepad and pen so I could keep everything together.

Or so I thought.

Because when I got to the river… the bag and the camera were nowhere to be found.

Now I’m standing there wondering how something can vanish between my house and my truck. Later on, I start searching again—this time for the camera.

And guess what I found?

The flags.

Right there.
In the same box.
In the same room.
In the exact spot I knew I had already searched.

I didn’t just glance in that box—I looked in it. More than once. And somehow, I never saw them.

But the moment I stopped looking for them… there they were.

At this point, I’ve just accepted it. There’s no explaining it. The mind sees what it wants to see—and sometimes, it refuses to see what’s right in front of it.

So tomorrow, I’ve got a plan.

I’m going to look for something else entirely. Maybe a missing tape measure or one of those fifteen hammers. And if history repeats itself, I’ll stumble across that camera and Ziploc bag like it’s been sitting there the whole time… just waiting for me to notice it.

Because apparently, that’s how this works now.

From Handy Man to Recliner Champion

05 Sunday Apr 2026

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The beginning of my Easter weekend started out simple enough—help my son check on a leak in his slab.

Now, when someone says “just come take a look,” you picture a quick in-and-out job. Maybe a loose-fitting, maybe something obvious. Ten minutes, tops. You feel confident. Capable. Like a man who knows where his flashlight is.

What you don’t expect… is a full-blown plumbing adventure.

Since I was only supposed to be looking for a leak, I made the brilliant decision to leave all my tools at home. Normally, they live in my truck, but since I recently had some body work done, everything got unloaded—and apparently, my motivation to reload it went with it.

That decision came back to haunt me almost immediately.

Before heading to my son’s house, I had already been given my “honey-do” list for the day. My wife wanted a new overhead kitchen light installed and the handrails painted before our Easter guests arrived. So, naturally, I thought, “Let me just swing by, find this leak real quick, and get back home.”

Famous last words.

I picked up the light and paint, called my son, and headed over. When I got there, I grabbed the one and only tool I thought I’d need… my flashlight.

That flashlight and I were about to be very disappointed.

When I walked in, I found my son wrestling with a toilet. Not just any toilet—this was one of those “engineered by someone who hates plumbers” models. You know the kind. The connections are hidden, your hands don’t fit, and nothing is where it should be.

He was trying to replace the flush valve, and what should have been a simple job turned into a puzzle designed by a madman. You couldn’t even get your hand behind the tank to reach the nut. At one point, I ended up breaking the old valve just to get it out… which is always a confidence booster.

Eventually, he told me he had it under control, so I went back to my original mission: finding the world’s most elusive water leak.

About 15 minutes in, I heard some… colorful language coming from the bathroom.

That’s never a good sign.

Turns out, he was now fighting the same battle we just had—getting the new valve tight enough without being able to reach the nut. And since all my tools were sitting comfortably in my garage at home, we were working with whatever he had lying around… which wasn’t much.

After some struggling, twisting, and me contorting my body into shapes it was never designed to make, we admitted defeat and made a trip to the hardware store for some “special” wrenches.

Spoiler alert: they helped… but not much.

Eventually, through persistence, determination, and probably a little bit of stubbornness, we got the valve installed without leaks. Victory was ours… and so was the back pain.

Once I finally made it back home, it was time to tackle my original assignment. With my wife’s help, I replaced the kitchen light, then moved on to painting the handrails… along with a good portion of my shirt. Apparently, I believe in fully committing to a project—whether I mean to or not.

After finishing up, I rewarded myself the only way I know how: parked in my recliner, heating pad in place, enjoying the first of several cups of coffee like I had just completed a home improvement marathon—which, in my mind, I had.

Later that night, I took my meds as usual and noticed something looked a little off. Turns out, in the chaos of cleaning and rearranging, my medications got mixed up—and instead of taking my sodium bicarbonate, I doubled up on my muscle relaxers.

Now, if you’ve never done that before, let me tell you… It turns your entire next day into a slow-motion documentary.

I spent most of Easter in a fog.

Thankfully, it was a good kind of day. We had family over—my son and his girlfriend, my daughter and future son-in-law, and even her sister. There was food, laughter, and the added bonus of some first-time introductions.

It was one of those moments where everything just feels right.

Even if you’re slightly sedated.

After everyone left, I curled up in my recliner and took a much-needed nap.

Because sometimes the best way to end a long weekend of fixing everything for everyone else…
is to finally sit still long enough to not break anything else.

Making Sawdust

23 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by in Photography, Retirement, Woodworking

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2018-11-28 14.14.17

I must admit since I got married, I have been collecting woodworking tools but I have never been able to find the time to work with them.  I guess my first tool was the table saw, then a few small power tools like a drill, a Skill saw, a Miter saw and the list goes on.  Right now I have so many cordless drills that I can’t keep the batteries up on all of them and they all die.  In fact, I just ordered two new batteries for one of my more heavy duty drills.

Most of my drills came from when I worked.  At first, the company would supply us with cordless drills but when I went to use one, either I couldn’t find one or when I did the batteries were dead because the last person who used it didn’t put it back on charge.  I soon started buying all my tools that way I could lock them all up and they would be there when I needed them.

Anyway, now that I’m retired, I’ve started working on some small projects that were either needed around the house or projects that I’ve seen that I think I could sell at some craft shows.  My first project was, of course, the picture frame.  When I first started making the frames, I just couldn’t get it right.  I was using my miter saw that I bought some twenty years ago, cutting on a forty five but when putting everything together, the last corner was nearly a quarter of an inch off.  I couldn’t figure it out.  I watched Youtube videos on the subject, I was doing everything right but no matter what I did, I was still a quarter inch off on the last corner.

A few years after moving in this house, my dad and I extended our deck on the back of the house.  My dad is a real craftsman.  I’m just an imitation compared to him.  My dad, in order to help with some of the cuts, bought a miter saw large enough to cut some of the six by six posts that were required to build my deck.  After having all the trouble with my cuts for my frame, I decided to do a couple of cuts using his saw, being that he never took his saw home.  I want you to know that that was the prettiest frame that I had made.  The forty-five’s fit nearly perfect.  I went back to my saw and realized that when cutting a forty-five, the blade was square at the fence but as it moves toward the outer edge, it was out at least one-sixteenth of an inch.  When you add all that up, that’s at least one-quarter of an inch out.  No way to fix the saw.  There’s no adjustment for that.  I know.  I took the saw to have someone look at it and there’s no way to fix this.  Luckily, I have my dads saw and the last time I talked to him, he’s given me this saw.

Now that I’ve got a saw that cuts a good forty-five, I started making frames, and a bunch of them too.  All shapes and sizes.  I use plexie glass and real glass.  I’ve even got my mat cutting equipment and different colored mats.  I have a driver tool to hold the picture in the back of the frame.  I have everything needed to make and sell picture frames. And I got bored.

2018-12-31 18.06.33

Next up, a paper towel holder.  Or a poor excuse for one.   The plans call for a jigsaw, which I have, to cut the pattern out.  But, for some reason, I keep burning the curves.  I have a jigsaw that has a scroll feature on it but I haven’t been able to master it yet.  I also have a router and I used a trim bit but it ended up tragically.  It was my first try and I’ll try again I get the nerve.  It was pretty scary, to say the least.  It was so bad that my son, who was helping me at the time, said “Dad? “I don’t think that was supposed to happen”   No crap!!.

2019-01-16 16.36.37

Next up, clothes hamper.  Made from recycled pallet wood.

Don’t look too much at the lid.  I am still working on it.  In fact, I’m still working on all of it.  I’ve spent the last few days sanding on it.  If I had known that my wife wanted it sanded and stained, I would have done the sanding on my bench sander before nailing it all together.  Oh well, It’s giving me something to do.  If everything works according to plan, I should finish sanding tomorrow and start the staining process.

I look at sites such as Esty.com and see some of the prices these people want for items such as this and I think they must be crazy for asking for such an outrageous price.  But, going through everything that I’ve done just to get this far, I’ll have to say that they should be asking for more.  According to Esty, the picture frame should go for $35, the paper towel holder $75 and the clothes hamper $175.  Do I think I’ll get that much?  Probably not.

I’ll up date on both, the clothes hamper and the paper towel holder when they’re finished.  I think my next project will be a much needed foil rack for one of the cabinets.

Life Goes On.

365 Day Photo Challenge 173/365 “Happy Fathers Day!”

21 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in Photography

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BN-ESTK11-NCL-OPEN

I’ve been riding on a regular basis for three years now and I’ve never felt like I’ve had the full support from my family. They’ve always kidded with me about my cycle shorts, the dri fit shirts that I wear and of course my head gear.  Whenever the subject comes up around the house about bike riding or cycling in general I always get a deaf ear and the subject gets dropped or changed.

Around the house if there’s anything to be fixed I’m the one to fix it.  I’ve got tools to do woodworking, auto mechanic, lawn mower repair, plumbing and even heating and air conditioning repair.  But what I don’t have is the proper tools to do bike repair.  It seems that there is a lot of things on a bicycle that takes a special tool.  A tool that I don’t have.  In fact, just the other day I needed a spoke wrench to tighten a spoke that had come loose and I didn’t have the proper wrench to do the job.  I went the next day and purchased a three sided spoke wrench (because I didn’t know which size I needed).  I even mentioned this to my wife who again turned a deaf ear.

Today, to my surprise, I received this tool box for Father’s Day.   I can’t tell you how surprised I was when I opened my gift.  I actually thought that it was a set of pedals that I have been wanting because I saw the box sitting on the front porch when I came in from work on Friday so I knew the box came from a bicycle supply house.

I made sure I gave each of my kids a huge hug and thanked them over and over.  I think they got the message that I was extremely thankful for my surprise.  I[m not sure if I’ve got them won over with me cycling yet but this looks like it’s a start anyway.

“Life Goes On!”