Post by phoenix1967 on Mar 31, 2011 14:53:11 GMT -5
Please folks, hold the tar and feathers, 'least till I give accounting.
Been out a long time, I wanna explain that, then git on to a public apology to some folks here that I owe stuff to. All deals I made will be made good, I'm just now getting a chin up above the mud, so I can see a chance to get workin on fixin the busted deals.
If Y'all will recall way back when (I think july or there abouts) of 09 I was preparin to move from Sumter... I had a deal going with Caretaker for a hawk, and when I wasn't up at the new place in a tent, I was workin at the forge at sumter.
Now about this time, Zack asked me if I could make a damascus knife with Ivory scales for Cody, for his birthday... My time was cramped, but I really wanted to make Cody a knife anyway, and was proud that Zack had asked ME to do it, with all the other knifemakers here. In order to give myself a little more time, I moved the dorge and anvil up to the leesville address, and got started. All my finishing supplies and equioment were still in sumter, but I got this far on it
I threw everything in a toolbox, including a lot of expensive tools, and an extra damascus billet or two, and headed back to sumter to finish it.
As some of you may remember, the toolbox never made it there.
so I had to start over. Meanwhile, money had run out, and I had to make an immediate move out of Sumter... I grabbed what I could, and moved us up there... Where we waited 3 months for my first SS check to come in, so we could have the gas money to go back and get the rest of our stuff. We were literaly waiting for the chickens to poop eggs for breakfast.
By the time I got back to sumter, all 3 of my welders, my hand crank blower, a lot of my tools and stock were gone. I grabbed what I could in the pickup, and went home.
The next six months were spent scraping and clawing to EAT, and to build SOMETHING to hold out some of the cold.
and, of course in the middle of everything I broke my leg
Now, all this time, I was supposed to be building a house for the mother and father in law to move into by the end of june 2010.
The mother in law had given the landlord a years notice (I had warned her NOT to do that, but she did anyway) The landlord had responded to that by refusing to renew thier lease... Meaning 2 old folks were on the street iF i didnt do something.
so I got to work clearing, digging, cutting and splitting wood for thier cordwood house.
All this time, I'm agonizing before sleep each night, about the deals outstanding that I had made here, and on Paleoplanet. I had no shop, most of my tools were gone, and I had no time to fix it... but I didnt forget.
I kept working on the Mom n' em's place, tryin to meet an impossible deadline...
I got this far One month before I was supposed to go get 'm
Keep in mind, that every tree, stump, bush, and every shovel full of earth had to be moved by ME....and my lame self.
I finally convinced wifey that there was NO WAY the big house was gonna be done in any short order, so she needed to design a temporary living facility for the in laws...
I mase arrangements with a friend I had made in the community to put the inlaws up in a trailer, while I built them a cabin to stay in till I could finish DA BIG HOUSE. Wifey sat down one sunday, designed a 2 bedroom cabin on a 23x24 footprint, figured out every stick of wood necessary to build it, and the cost... 3200 bucks, 300 less than what we were waiting on from SS. Of course, the money never came...
Eight days before we were supposed to leave, I contacted a man (Russel, the guy that took the trees down in the front yard, knew him from childhood) that owned a local sawmill. I made a deal with him for the materials I needed to put up the cabin.... it cost me a tree whenever he needed one. Think about it... If I cut down a bunch of trees and delivered them, they would rot on the ground if he didnt have orders for the lumber... this way he got a tree "Bank"
anyway, I got started on the cabin.
We left June 29th to go pick up the in laws, and in the middle of the trip we found out that
Ira C. Foster,
Father, engineer, and WWII war hero
had died that morning.
After the funeral, we packed the mother in law and all of her stuff (a WHOLE LOT OF STUFF!) in a big Uhaul and headed home. Me and some fellas from a local church got to work on the cabin after we got helen situated in the trailer, and about 4 months later we had this
Keep in mind I built all the doors, cabinets, and most of the other stuff from scrap raw wood, by hand. The windows were throw aways from someone elses home improvement project. The tin and most of the plumbing and fixtures were scrounged.
'Course, alla her stuff was NEVER gonna fit in there so
I had to throw a shed together... two days for the shed.
Once she got up here, her and wifey started adding critters... all of whom needed shelters... keep in mind there's just ONE broken down injun to do the work, and he's STILL livin in a 7x14 camper....
Donkey named Jack, and HIS house...
Peafoul and rabbits
Goats (most of whom were pregnant)
Pigs (about 300 lbs a piece... gotta deal goin with a neighbor to butcher one for one)
Ducks (Of course I had to dig the pond too
I finally got Helen to spring for a shed that a buddy had (he was moving to Va.) so I could move outta the tiny camper.
Before I could get it ready to move into, ALL the female goats started kidding... I spent the winter freezing my but off babysitting a bunch of goats, and watching thier female parts (not top of my like to do list) Of course I had to build kidding stalls INSIDE the tin tee pee, and keep the fire going for them... Wifey doesnt believe that goats have been having babies for millions of years without supervision)
Now the upshot to all this (I told you that story so I could tell ya this one) is that they have promised me that my next project will be my shop. That means that soon, I can take all of these half done blades and such that have been silently collecting dust, and finish them up, ship them out, and help settle my conscience a little bit. I never intended to break any deals I made, Life just sorta sat down on me with it's big but, and wiggled a LITTLE. It took me a while to squirm out. I understand that making good on the deals now wont fix hurt or dissapointment, but I'll do what I can to make it right. Loren, I aint forgot the throwing knife and hawks, Joanne, I have the adze about half done too. Nice thing about the new shop, I'll be able to do video's, so you can see the things getting done. Well, Despite my shame for the unexplained absense, it's good to come home.
Been out a long time, I wanna explain that, then git on to a public apology to some folks here that I owe stuff to. All deals I made will be made good, I'm just now getting a chin up above the mud, so I can see a chance to get workin on fixin the busted deals.
If Y'all will recall way back when (I think july or there abouts) of 09 I was preparin to move from Sumter... I had a deal going with Caretaker for a hawk, and when I wasn't up at the new place in a tent, I was workin at the forge at sumter.
Now about this time, Zack asked me if I could make a damascus knife with Ivory scales for Cody, for his birthday... My time was cramped, but I really wanted to make Cody a knife anyway, and was proud that Zack had asked ME to do it, with all the other knifemakers here. In order to give myself a little more time, I moved the dorge and anvil up to the leesville address, and got started. All my finishing supplies and equioment were still in sumter, but I got this far on it
I threw everything in a toolbox, including a lot of expensive tools, and an extra damascus billet or two, and headed back to sumter to finish it.
As some of you may remember, the toolbox never made it there.
so I had to start over. Meanwhile, money had run out, and I had to make an immediate move out of Sumter... I grabbed what I could, and moved us up there... Where we waited 3 months for my first SS check to come in, so we could have the gas money to go back and get the rest of our stuff. We were literaly waiting for the chickens to poop eggs for breakfast.
By the time I got back to sumter, all 3 of my welders, my hand crank blower, a lot of my tools and stock were gone. I grabbed what I could in the pickup, and went home.
The next six months were spent scraping and clawing to EAT, and to build SOMETHING to hold out some of the cold.
and, of course in the middle of everything I broke my leg
Now, all this time, I was supposed to be building a house for the mother and father in law to move into by the end of june 2010.
The mother in law had given the landlord a years notice (I had warned her NOT to do that, but she did anyway) The landlord had responded to that by refusing to renew thier lease... Meaning 2 old folks were on the street iF i didnt do something.
so I got to work clearing, digging, cutting and splitting wood for thier cordwood house.
All this time, I'm agonizing before sleep each night, about the deals outstanding that I had made here, and on Paleoplanet. I had no shop, most of my tools were gone, and I had no time to fix it... but I didnt forget.
I kept working on the Mom n' em's place, tryin to meet an impossible deadline...
I got this far One month before I was supposed to go get 'm
Keep in mind, that every tree, stump, bush, and every shovel full of earth had to be moved by ME....and my lame self.
I finally convinced wifey that there was NO WAY the big house was gonna be done in any short order, so she needed to design a temporary living facility for the in laws...
I mase arrangements with a friend I had made in the community to put the inlaws up in a trailer, while I built them a cabin to stay in till I could finish DA BIG HOUSE. Wifey sat down one sunday, designed a 2 bedroom cabin on a 23x24 footprint, figured out every stick of wood necessary to build it, and the cost... 3200 bucks, 300 less than what we were waiting on from SS. Of course, the money never came...
Eight days before we were supposed to leave, I contacted a man (Russel, the guy that took the trees down in the front yard, knew him from childhood) that owned a local sawmill. I made a deal with him for the materials I needed to put up the cabin.... it cost me a tree whenever he needed one. Think about it... If I cut down a bunch of trees and delivered them, they would rot on the ground if he didnt have orders for the lumber... this way he got a tree "Bank"
anyway, I got started on the cabin.
We left June 29th to go pick up the in laws, and in the middle of the trip we found out that
Ira C. Foster,
Father, engineer, and WWII war hero
had died that morning.
After the funeral, we packed the mother in law and all of her stuff (a WHOLE LOT OF STUFF!) in a big Uhaul and headed home. Me and some fellas from a local church got to work on the cabin after we got helen situated in the trailer, and about 4 months later we had this
Keep in mind I built all the doors, cabinets, and most of the other stuff from scrap raw wood, by hand. The windows were throw aways from someone elses home improvement project. The tin and most of the plumbing and fixtures were scrounged.
'Course, alla her stuff was NEVER gonna fit in there so
I had to throw a shed together... two days for the shed.
Once she got up here, her and wifey started adding critters... all of whom needed shelters... keep in mind there's just ONE broken down injun to do the work, and he's STILL livin in a 7x14 camper....
Donkey named Jack, and HIS house...
Peafoul and rabbits
Goats (most of whom were pregnant)
Pigs (about 300 lbs a piece... gotta deal goin with a neighbor to butcher one for one)
Ducks (Of course I had to dig the pond too
I finally got Helen to spring for a shed that a buddy had (he was moving to Va.) so I could move outta the tiny camper.
Before I could get it ready to move into, ALL the female goats started kidding... I spent the winter freezing my but off babysitting a bunch of goats, and watching thier female parts (not top of my like to do list) Of course I had to build kidding stalls INSIDE the tin tee pee, and keep the fire going for them... Wifey doesnt believe that goats have been having babies for millions of years without supervision)
Now the upshot to all this (I told you that story so I could tell ya this one) is that they have promised me that my next project will be my shop. That means that soon, I can take all of these half done blades and such that have been silently collecting dust, and finish them up, ship them out, and help settle my conscience a little bit. I never intended to break any deals I made, Life just sorta sat down on me with it's big but, and wiggled a LITTLE. It took me a while to squirm out. I understand that making good on the deals now wont fix hurt or dissapointment, but I'll do what I can to make it right. Loren, I aint forgot the throwing knife and hawks, Joanne, I have the adze about half done too. Nice thing about the new shop, I'll be able to do video's, so you can see the things getting done. Well, Despite my shame for the unexplained absense, it's good to come home.