Triple decker bunk bed

Apparently, American Girl is the size of doll every one that commerically makes these adheres to.  And this one was asked for by the lady who wanted it for her grandaughter.  It is 36 inches tall and 16 inches wide and 22 inches long.  These are dimensions for the bed area. 

Considering this is the first one I have ever done, it turned out very well.  A couple ot touches with the router on the pillers and some purchased balls for the top, and it looked pretty good, if I do say so myself.

The bottom of the legs each have pads for sliding around on carpet or flooring, and the nice wide stance makes it hard to tip over.

All in all, I hope the young lady enjoys it and it certainly should last for many years.

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Last week, I wrote my first blog in many months.  And after I re-read it a couple days later, I realized that one should never do something just to get it done.  Some thought should go into it first, and at the very least, the old adage of "if its worth doing, its worth doing well".

I will definatley remember that in my future writings. 

I have many things to share with you and considering the upcoming craft shows that I get into with my wife Debbee,  I hope you will leave a comment every now and then.

God Bless America!

Hello, all over again

What has it been?  Eight months?  Last blog was November 2011.  And the funny thing, I really don't know why.  I just stopped writing one day.  And even this is not flowing the way it used to do.

Before, the words and pictures came so easy.  And now, not so much.

The cornhole website is gone also.  And so are the cornholes.  Reason for that is easy.   Money.  People wanted some outlandish paintings on the boards, but were not willing to pay the true cost.  Sure, I always kept the prices "reasonable", but some of the requests were borderline crazy.  And of course, my promise to deliver in Lake County was my fault.  Some of the boards should have been $150. 00 a set, but the most I got was $120.00.  But again.  That's my fault.

I know I talked about this before, but how many times have I driven by people playing in there front yard with a set of boards that looked like someone threw the paint onto them.  Yet they seemed happy with them.  And they probably made them themselves, or had an uncle do it. 

Like at craft shows, when I show off the "Browns helmet" cornhole, which is just beautiful, do people comment with "nice, but my husband can make that".  Maybe he can, but I guarentee that he won't.  And if he does paint it orange and brown stripes (cause he ain't doing the helmet, that's for sure) the paint will be house paint and will look nothing like the the "Browns orange and Browns brown".

That's the difference from what you make and what I make.  Every color, college or pro, is the true color.

And quality?  My son took a set of my boards to a coaches outing in the Metro Parks one summer.  When he arrived, they had started a game of cornhole on a set from a leading sporting goods store that he coach had purchased.  Then we set of my boards beside their boards.  See where this going?  The sound  of the bags hitting the frame alone was enough to have the other coach pick up his boards and return them. 

Maybe I will try it again.  But this time, I will not be so soft on price.

Next time I want to show you a TRIPLE BUNK BED FOR DOLLS that is finished and delivered.

Thanks and write me at reddtanner@sbcglobal.net

GOD BLESS AMERICAN

Making the turn and heading for home

Ever notice how as we get older, the slogans we use to punctuate our years. For instance, "we're on the back nine", or "heading down the stretch", or "the finish line is coming fast". And as we get older, the finish line is coming at us like a freight train. When we were young and full of spirit, the finish line was not even in our thoughts. The race was just getting started and we had a lot of living to do before we had to think about any of those old folk things. We were invincible.

Being older is supposed to mean we are wise in our years from all of our experiences. Whether good or bad, we should have retained something to pass along. I once read that being older and having the answers was a good thing. Except nobody asked us the questions.

I don't give out advise to my kids anymore, for that reason. They don't ask. They are doing OK without me. I think their Mom gives them the advise anyway. Maybe if they need help around the house or apartment with something that needs fixed, they will ask. I am always glad to oblige if I can. The grand kids, two girls, will ask once in a while. And that is usually for AA batteries for the Leap Frog. Not much for advise though.

Recent events have made me more aware of the "finish line". Several weeks ago, a group of people got together for a celebration. There were sisters, spouses, nieces and nephews. All the sisters were eighty plus years old, which made the nieces and nephews sixty plus.

It was a fine gathering of people that had not seen one another for years. Some for more years than one would care to admit. The funny thing was, that back in the day, some did not speak to one another anyway. Or was it more like being mildly upset? But not this day. Whatever upset them then, was long forgotten and the hall was abuzz with stories and laughter and more of the same over and over for hours. All was forgiven or forgotten.

It was good, very good, that they spent that time together. Because, within a few short weeks afterwards, one sister would pass on. All that were there that night for celebration were glad to have had that time together once again.

We want our children and grandchildren to appreciate the time they have and to appreciate each other too. Not let pettiness come between relationships. And not wait for old age to cure the ill will. Someone said "don't sweat the small stuff. It's all small stuff".

But for those of us that are rounding third and heading home, we need to be sure they appreciate each other to the fullest. This is a good time of year to remind them.

And now, the famous Bavarian, or is it Bohemian sandbags

TA DA!!!! Presenting the; what's this

called again?

The Balgarian Exercise Bag. Ok, so what's this all about and why is it a featured item on the Corhnole Gallary?

Well, I think the big deal is that a group of people actually use them for their exercise program. The actual proper use is done by Blue Chip Strength group and they are at http://www.bluechipstrength.com/ . There you will find the links to YouTube to see how to use these bags.

But the real fun is in the making of the bags. My son, the personal trainer, ordered about 20 bags, each to weigh 15 pounds each.

The first pair were for him and they weighed 25 pounds per bag.

I wanted to post this a couple weeks ago, but missed the boat when he took all of them when they were finished before I could get a picture of them. My fault. Well, now he needed one more at 15 pounds and two for the grandaughters at 5 pounds each. I managed to get a picture before he nabbed them.

As mentioned, the fun is in the making of them. You need blue jeans worthy of being cut up, nylon wire ties, duck tape, wide adhesive tape (the white medical stuff) and of course, enough dry playsand for whatever weight you are making.

Cut the legs off jeans way up near the crotch. Grab the end with you hand and wire tie this section off as it is now to be a handle on one end. There is another handle on the other end as well. Take the duck tape and wrap it around the part you designated as the handle and then wrap it again with the medical tape.

Now you have a bag of sorts. A denim bag ready to load up with sand. Figure out how you are going to weigh it out then put the appropriate weight into the pants leg. Wire tie, duck tape and medical tape just as you had done previously, only this time the bag will be finished.

The sand should be free to shift around inside the bag so the weight moves about. Don't know exactly why, but the trainer wants it this way.

We later figured out that it might be better to put the sand into a plastic bag, such as the bags from all the stores when you shop, or perhaps a large freezer bag. The reason is the sand releases a dust right through the denim and can be annoying to the user.

Nonetheless, this is a good workout. I played around in my driveway with one of the bags and it got pretty tiring after a short while.

It you got any instructions from YouTube or have heard others making them, they probably used a automobile tire rubber inner tube. This is what they are using on web to make the Balgarian bag, but the cost is very high for a quanity of them. Besides, an inner tube is for much more weight and we simply did not need that kind of weight. So once we get the dust issue under control, these will work just fine.

In case you were wondering about the cost? Jeans are half price at Unique on LSB in Willowick on Mondays, and sand is around three dollars for 50 pounds at Lowes. Wire ties are cheap at Harbor Freight as well as their gray tape, but it is not really Duck brand, which I prefer. Medical tape is reasonable at Dollar General. So all together, 20 bags probably cost under $50 and took a couple hours.

It is a good workout.

Stay safe this weekend and God Bless America. Bless our troops and bring them home.

What a lovely shade of blue...on the kitchen floor??

Well, it was bound to happen. After more than forty years of painting something, walls, floors, ceilings, and, ah yes, cornholes, a can of paint gets dumped.

Luckily it was a quart. Or nowadays, it is a 29 ounce can. Notice that you don't buy quarts anymore. You buy LESS. Like tissue, and ice cream, and anything prepackaged. It is now less than it was.

So, we don't raise prices. We just get less for the same money, which means they raised prices without telling you they raised prices. And all that having to redo the packages. Hope they are made in America. That means the new American jobs are "redoing what we have already done".
So anyway, as I was saying; I was closing a can of "true blue" Krylon, the 29 ounce size from Sears. From Sears because Drug Mart did not have it in the Painters Choice, which I would have preferred. I just finished a section of the Case Western Reserve cornhole board that a lady ordered. I was working in the dining area of the living room, mind you. Debbee suggested that because it is simply too humid in the sun room where I normally finish painting to come into the house. The sun room has much more sunlight and more room for my "stuff."

So I took the open can from the dining area to the kitchen sink, 7/8 full can of true blue. And I mean BLUE. True Blue. I never mess up the edges so it is easy to push the lid down and get a good temporary seal before tapping on the lid with a hammer when I am completely done. But I am not completely done yet. So I pushed down only.

Remember, I am just a little older than I used to be and the hands don't have the strength they once had. So, I am squeezing the can between my thumb and whatever fingers I can get around the bottom of the can.

I have this "thing" with my right hand that needs surgery to help straighten out the hand to its normal configuration. One finger is folded in such a way that the hand cannot lay flat. When shaking hands, it is the first finger in for the shake, so I have to position my hand to kind of wrap around your hand so you don't get a "finger bump" and wonder "what the heck was that all about?".

Squeezing the lid and bottom of the can, and suddenly it takes flight. Sort of like trying to hold onto jell-o, or a wet ice cube.

Well, it was airborne. And before I could react, it landed safely on its side on the floor, two feet away. At first, I thought it held. But no! It just sort of, laid down. And out came a lot of pretty blue latex paint. It reminded me of those scenes from a crime show when someone is shot in the head and they always show a pool of blood right next to the head to prove they were shot in the head.

Well, this true blue was defiantly shot in the head.

I reached for the can immediately to stand it upright. Luckily, if that is the right word to use at a time like this, I saved enough of the paint to finish the job. But all I could think was that this was nine dollars laying on the floor and a roll of paper towels will be used in the clean up process.

Ok, think fast! It's water based latex. So get lots of water on it right away. And get started wiping. NOW!

Suddenly, my knees did not ache so much and I went straight down to the floor on both knees using a bench I had handy to rest my chest and stomach on so I could use both hands. (I think I wrote a blog about this type of bench and its handy use both in the house or in the garden. If I didn't, I will soon. Very handy item.)

The wiping begins. I got up off the floor only to get a bucket of water to keep the area wet. If I dare say, working quickly and with wet paint made even wetter, the clean up went very well.

Sure! I used a lot of paper towels, but the floor shows no signs of the accident. And from now on, its using only the mallet to seal off the lid.

If you do use a hammer to seal the lid, tap it lightly. It does not take much to seal it. And use a cloth over the lid while tapping. The cloth will catch any spray that might be in the trenches of the can.

Hope you like the featured cornhole.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

FIVE THINGS TO LOVE (OTHER THAN FAMILY)

MY TOP FIVE FAVORITE THINGS



CRAFT STICKS

WD 40

3 IN 1 OIL

DUCK TAPE

SHELLAC

AND NOW, INTRODUCING (what daya mean not yet)

This was going to be the Bulgarian Exercise Bag Edition of Cornhole Gallery. But, as luck would have it, out of the 16 Bulgarian Exercise Bags (now referred to as BEBA's) we still have not gotten a good picture of them. Why?

Well, to tell the truth, we have been pretty busy with the cornholes. Four sets in the last two weeks. And then I got lazy when it was Millertime and completely forgot to take pictures of the BEBA's.

So, no BEBA's and more cornholes.

The cornholes were the black and white I showed two weeks ago, and another one is the Browns striped set done in four days, and another was just plain black. That one was interesting. A lady said her daughters wanted to do the rest themselves with fluorescent spray paint, which would be pretty cool.

And the last set due next week is shown below:

Pretty cool, huh?
I put the prices on the MSU because I was going to put this picture on the website, http://www.lccornhole.com/, but I think I will wait until it is done totally. Why show "work in progress", even if this is what it will look like when finished anyway. Just the letters will be "cleaner" and bigger.
I understand these will be taken to Chicago to a couple that attended each school and then got married. One of them should have gone to OSU. Now that would have been interesting.

So next, we will put a couple sets in stock, in anticipation of the NFL strike ending.
And then its on to something else. Maybe a leaning shelf. I like those.

Now go make something. And check in with your local craft shows. They can use your support.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!