More than just cornholes, ya know!! Part 2

AND THE SAGA CONTINUES.................

Ok, maybe not so much a saga as just everyday life.

Back in early June, I wrote about the three tiered plant stand to show the world that life is more than just making cornholes.

And if you look at the website http://www.lccornhole.com/ , you will see more proof to that with all the step stools and yard decorations.

It is just plain fun to make stuff. Like this sign for instance:

This is not Buster. It is Tiby. Buster is in the house. But check out the sign. It reminds me of Geneva on the Lake. You know. The street down by the lake where they have all the games and rides and bars and the fun stuff for summer.

Anyway, I was talking about making stuff just for fun and this sign is one of them. I was getting tired of painting a cornhole, so while I was waiting for paint to dry, I thought it would be cute to have a sign in this area of stone and sand and call it Buster's Beach. The area was Debbee's idea because Buster, the visiting dog of our oldest son, used this area as his private spot and has torn the living heck out of the soil, but only in the area outlined by the rocks. So Debbee's thought, that since Buster was going to be here for a while, might as well make it better to look at.

So the rocks got put into place, then added the sand, and next thing you know, Buster and Tiby have a cooler place to lay down. She called it "Buster's Beach". Couple days later, as I said, waiting for paint, I ran down to the basement, grabbed a router bit and router, a piece of scrap wood and have at it. A little action on the band saw and done. It took all of twenty minutes and it looks it, doesn't it?

But it is a fun looking sign, like Geneva on the Lake. Like a pirates cove kind of thing going on here.

Now its your turn. Go make something. You don't know all the fancy tools like you see on TV. Just some small hands tools will do just fine. And lots of glue. Good Luck!

THIS BLOG WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THE SAND USED IN MAKING THIS BEACH. THERE IS A STORY BEHIND THE SAND, LOTS OF SAND USED IN MAKING BULGARIAN EXERCISE BAGS. THE BAGS I WANT TO SHOW YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN USE AND THERE ARE NOT ANY PICTURES YET. http://www.bluechipstrength.com/ USES THEM AND MY NEXT BLOG WILL BE ALL ABOUT THEM.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Other people have good ideas, too

First order of business is the plant stand pictured. Jean N won this is the contest I had several weeks ago. Actually, the one pictured had to be reworked somewhat. The edges get a little messed up when the plant stands rub together in the boxes used for craft shows. So that needed attention. Also the top face was softened to give it a "foggier" affect. The finished one looked super. Another fine job by our art department.
Now back to business!
Website www.bluechipstrength.com and www.jb-cpt.com has long told me that the best way to do the cornholes, is to have them in stock. Difficult propostion to say the least. First off, since I started doing these five years ago, I had always done the special order custom type cornholes. Like the one featured on these pages from time to time and shown in the cornhole gallery at www.lccornhole.com.
Only recently, with his help, has the idea really worked out very well. The idea of keeping them in stock. And the "his" I refer to is my oldest son, Jason. He's the man behind the websites "Blue Chip" and "jb-cpt". His field of expertise is personal training. I should have half the energy of him and his fellow workout people. I probably did once. Anyway, check out his blog in the News-Herald or go directly to the websites.
But his idea was to have "blank" set of boards available to decorate is always brought up in conversation. And finally, I am glad I did. He did a website for me to get me going, and going it is. Not that I have to rent a factory just yet. But who knows?
He believes it is the blogs that is driving the website. I would like to think so, but honestly, I am inclined to believe it is "Google". Whatever it is, any set featured on the website HAS SOLD.
The Stars and Stripes, (both sets) the Browns MDF prototype set, the Steelers set, another standard Brown set, and another Browns set with the stripes offset for a different look. (and it did look great, if I say so myself).
Now featured is a blank set for the "paint it yourselfer". Or not! An unpainted set will play just as good as a painted set. May need sanded a little, but it will still play.
The other featured set is, of course, the standard Browns set. And on Craig's list, I have this set WITHOUT the bags just to see how that works out. I may do this same thing on the web if I am serious about selling boards only. Wait and see!
The point to all this, is these sells were all IN STOCK. Something I would have not done before. Simply because I would have had them, and no one would have known about it. But now, with the help of this blog and Jason's (actually I do the business on it now) website that he set up for me, I can keep on making them and getting more in stock.
One young women called and asked if I had any in stock and she did not care what they decorated with, just as long as I had them. Well, I did have them! And, BINGO, they were SOLD that same day. Thank you Christy!
Before this revelation, I would sit for hours in the hot sun at the flea market listening to wives and girlfriends tell their partners "look honey, you can make that". But we know they never will.
So I will keep on making "stock". Keep on "featuring the stock" on the website and here in my blogs.
But one more important issue that I may make an entire blog about is this: DON'T BUY A CAN OF ORANGE PAINT AND BROWN PAINT AND TRY TO PUSH IT OFF AS "BROWNS COLORS". BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT!
I was driving Miss Daisey (my wife but don't tell her I said this) around last weekend (the 4th) just taking in the nice day and getting out of the house. And a lot of family gatherings had the cornholes in the front yard for me to examine. They all knew I would be driving around so they proudly put them in the FRONT yard for me to see. And I noticed a lot of Browns fans by the color of their boards. BUT! BUT! C'mon! Try to get close at least to Browns orange for crying out loud.
AND KUDOS TO THEM FOR PLAYING CORNHOLE. AT LEAST THEY WEREN'T STABBING EACH OTHER IN A GAME OF "JARTS".

GOD BLESS AMERICA.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

WHAT A DAY!

FOURTH OF JULY!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

WHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD COULD A COLLEGE GAME FROM CINCINNATI BECOME THE NUMBER ONE SPECTATOR SPORT...SURPASSING MLB, NFL, AND NBA COMBINED?

CORNHOLE FOREVER! LONG LIVE CORNHOLE!

MORE IMPORTANT - - - HAVE A SAFE AND FUN DAY WITH THE FAMILY

AND THE WINNER IS......the envelope please...

Recently, I showed a picture of an item I made for my son's wife's mother. That would make her my daughter-in-law, so it's her mother. Anyway, it's her birthday and Dana (daughter-in-law) showed me a picture of this cross looking thing. So, Debbee and I went to the spot where she saw it so that I could get measurements and see just what this thing was and how it was made.

It turned out to be at a local nursery, and the PLANT HANGER had been there for years. It was eight feet tall with a span of six feet and a couple braces supporting the span from sagging under the weight of two huge baskets of flowers.

The nursery used an outdoor 4x4 post for the mast, and an outdoor 2x4 for the supports and the span.
(I say "outdoor" because I can't spell "wool-men-ized") You get the picture.

I went one better and got a 4x4 for the mast and the span and outdoor 2x4's for the supports.

I made a half-lap joint where the span and mast meet, and a small groove in the span for the supports to sit in to help relieve the weight on the supports. I used lag screws for the supports to the span and mast and carriage bolts and then I countersunk washers and nuts and you have one strong PLANT HOLDER.

My son picked it up in a truck on Sunday and I told him that if his mother-in-law gets tired of hanging plants, they could use it for a swing set.

The nice thing about this item is that anyone can make it and it costs about $25.00 in material. And you can hang a lot of flowers and brackets all around the mast and hooks galore across the span.
Let your imagination go!

AND NOW THE MOMENT WE HAVE ALL AWAITED.......(drum roll...........)

JEAN N of SOUTH EUCLID was the first to guess correctly and wins a hand crafted plant stand from the good people at Lake County Cornhole, aka, WWW.LCCORNHOLE.COM

Jean could not be with us today, so accepting the prize is her good friend, Homer.

Thanks to everyone who sent an email guessing the "thing". Some were quite imaginative, and unprintable.

Next up....the WHITE CORNHOLE boards.







GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Hardest worker in recent memory - revised 6/28

I am sure you have heard the phrase "opinions are like (you know what), cause everyone has one"? This writing is off my usual cornhole banter, but I just gotta get this onto "paper" and off my mind.

I recently had an encounter with a man named Ed Painter. He is doing electrical work in the house so that we can get air conditioning. (I only hope we will use it this summer)
Meeting Ed was not so unusual. Nice fellow, mild mannered, and went right to work the minute he showed up at the house on Friday morning unloading material and tools and taking them to the basement.

And he did not stop!

He told me what he was going to do and he did it. And just kept going.
For nine straight hours, he was at the side of the house, then to the basement, then to the side again, and to the basement. Over and over, all day.

My wife said he stopped and ate lunch while standing at the side of his van.
Then it was back to work.
My dad was a hard worker, and my brothers, and I like to think I was a hard worker in my day as well.
But this guy went far beyond that. I'm talking marathon here!
Now, I know there are guys and gals that have their own stories of things that they have done that may very well compare. But this guy is 56, and I am here to tell you, he did not stop until it was done.

Please don't give me the old "that's what he's paid to do" line. Save that for politicians.
Give credit when it is due.

And my hat goes off to Ed Painter, hard working guy. One of the hero's of the American work force, or what's left of it.

Sonny boy says if you gonna give a "shout-out" at least put in the contact info for the business. So ok, here it is:

BUSTER'S ELECTRIC & HR
440-488-4825
ED PAINTER

There! Now I feel better and can get back to the Cornhole Saga.

Now what? Name this thing!

Ok....it is sitting on sawhorses. I will give you a hint......it is upside down. It is 10 feet tall and 6 feet across the top (bottom in the photo).

Tell me what it is and I will send you a really nice plant stand if you guess correctly.

See photo below!

Here's what you will win!

It is about 9 inches in diameter and 6 inches tall.

Or use it for a foot stool. Standing on round stools is NOT recommended because of a tipping point in the middle at the edge. It says right on them, "NOT MADE FOR STANDING".

Email you answer to reddtanner@sbcglobal.net . First correct answer in is the winner.

Also, go to http://www.lccornhole.com/ to see more fun stuff that is very useful for the home, inside and out.

God Bless America!

Greatest Cornhole Board ever made

If one more person asks me "is that a Fathead"? POW, right in the kisser.

I don't know how to top this one.