Some of my favorite people:

Since upgrading my brakes to disc brakes and going from 15 inch to 16 inch wheels, my spare tire no longer fits underneath the front of my VW Vanagon. I have the option of carrying a spare inside the van, but it’s a safety hazard if there’s an accident and since my two-year-old rides in the van a lot, it’s an extreme safety hazard!!

So, for a couple months I just rolled around without a spare. And by a couple months, I mean over a year. OK, two years… I knew that I needed a swing away tire carrier, but life has just gotten in the way.

I’ve built two others for vans and had a third kit ready to go, I just hadn’t found the time. As I am taking stuff off my to-do list this year, I finally made time for this project. Now, it took me six or seven weeks to complete the build – with an hour here and two hours there and lots of starts and stops. I made some stupid mistakes because I wasn’t focused and I ran out of welding gas at least once. I altered it from the original plans just to touch and made it so that I could also carry two NATO jerrycans and a 10 pound propane tank attached to the swing away tire carrier and still be able to open the rear door.

It’s a great design and if you have the time to focus on the build and your own home fab shop (welder, drill, press, tap, and set, welding table, tubing, bender, etc.), then this is a perfect way to spend some shop time where you have a useful and tangible tool at the end.

My son and middle child is now a Game Warden for the State of Arkansas. I am so proud of him! The acceptance into the program is not easy and the training is 18 weeks of tough! He did great and I flew to Arkansas to be at his graduation. So very proud of him!

He worked hard in high school and college and truly applied himself. He applied that same tenacity to this task. We talked weekly while he was in training and those conversations were the highlight of my my week.

I am not going to sugar-coat my worry though… There is danger in what he does and no matter ho big, old, strong, or worldly he becomes, he is still my little boy!

We got to spend 2 days together afterward as well and I will treasure that time!

In 2010, I married my wife again. We had a courthouse wedding in 2006, but moved to Germany a month later. There was a plan for our “Party Wedding” the next summer that kept getting pushed just due to travel, availability, budget, timing, etc… In the late summer of 2010, we were joined by 100 or so of our friends and family in West Seattle for a proper do.

I love her more today than I did even then.

The metal shop and forge are coming around slowly, but getting more useful every week. The scary electrical panel was updated and the possibility of the whole building burning down has now lessoned.

The Federal Pacific Stab-Loc panel was replaced with a modern EATON panel and breakers and now there is no issue with the welders running or using the power hammer. I can now get insurance on the structure again and there is some added peace of mind as well!

I have been able to finish a couple of projects for the shop:

Finally finished my naval stand for my 400# 1927 South German beast.

New Quench Tanks for oil hardening steel

Have also cleaned and organized and have been able to know a few small things off the list, including fabricating a swing-away tire carrier for the Vanagon, forging a few hooks and hoof tools for some horse folks I know, cleaning and doing some maintenance on my mill, making a new tool post for the lathe, setting up my Coal Iron Works induction forge, lots of oiling and greasing and throwing stuff out. Almost there. The cabinet shop in the garage – not so much! I need to sped some serious time moving stuff, rebuilding/upgrading my CNC, putting my wood lathe back together after swapping a bearing set and generally setting everything up for use. Only so many hours in the day…

I really do love to bake. Making sourdough for my family brings me a huge amount of joy. Homemade pizza and crust is a guilty pleasure as well!

Took the family to Disneyland – about 10 minutes from the house. My first time. Took a few pictures. Everyone had a blast and my daughter beamed with unmitigated joy the whole time. 100% worth the price of admission!!

I took a random Tuesday off and went to the beach with my two girls. It was a good day: laughs, snuggles, sand castles, a nap, ice-cream, and no sunburns 🙂

Built and installed (can be removed in 3 minutes) a sliding kitchen box for the van to make it a self contained camping machine. There is a mount for the fridge, a collapsible sink, mount for a facet, storage, and a stove drawer. The drawer slides lock in really securely.

We have had to pack and upload and set up and take down when camping. It is a bulky and time consuming process. I wanted a way to just drive up, park, and be up and running within 5 minutes and this box does that for us. It makes packing up a faster process as well.

Being able to pull it out so that I can transport bulky items is an added bonus.

After 10 years of complete reliability, my 1986 CJ-7 has an issue that I can’t address in an afternoon. It looks like the throttle-body needs to be completely rebuilt and the ECU needs to be swapped out. She is going to take a little ride to my local Jeep surgeon.

August 12th update: Some other issues were found – not big, but it was a good time to address. The jeep was in the hospital for 2 months and her final bill was $2700, but she is back in time for lots of summer top-off driving

I made a loaf of regular and a loaf of rosemary sourdough this week. The regular loaf. was for sandwich bread for lunches all week and the rosemary was a direct request from my wife. I do as I am told.

Anytime I cook or bake, my youngest daughter is RIGHT THERE wanting to help. She put on her apron and chef’s hat and wicked a pinch of flour in her own little kitchen while I folded dough. It was super cute and I hope she both always wants to bake with me and that she becomes an accomplished baker in her own right.

I am always the one behind the camera. My family and friends have 50X the amount of pictures taken of them than exist of me. Every now and then someone will sneak a shot of me or I will take a reflected selfie. This one was shot at a car show – I have become my dad and frequent them at this point in my life. It was just an unplanned quick snap with my iPhone in the really clean mirror of a car from the 1920s. I like the composition and how it all turned out.

Once a week I wake up early with my youngest daughter and take her to run errands, or to the camera shop, or just to the park to let her mommy sleep in and have a leisurely morning all by herself. This morning we had pancakes at the original IHOP and while at a small car show we had two scoops of strawberry ice cream. It was a good morning!

I was in Houston last week and spied a Blacksmith Statue outside the Astros home stadium. “Forging the Future” is a statue of a Ferrier forging a horseshoe by sculptor Eric Kaposta, was dedicated outside the ballbark in 2002. The statue is a tribute to the Houston blacksmith shop that was founded on the site in 1902 by C. Jim Stewart and Joseph R. Stevenson and grew into the Stewart and Stevenson Corporation.

The second bit of blacksmith/trades related public art was seen on the same day after I flew home and stopped by a Thai place in Anaheim to pick up dinner on my way to the house. “

“Anvil And Nails” by Japanese artist Nobuho Nagasawa. He has said that ‘this installation reflects hard work and labor, and represents the labor provided by blacksmiths who made their own nails and anvils.’

“Hammer Clock” by Daniel Martinez

This piece reflects the passage of time and pays tribute to hard work of the blacksmiths in the original Anahiem colony. It also recalls the street side clocks found typically on a Main street. The pocket watch hangs at a perilous angle resting on a hammerhead twelve feet off the ground, depicting the precarious nature of time: we never have enough it and are constantly on the edge.

I spent three days in the NYC Financial District for work and got an afternoon to take some pictures and visit the 9/11 memorial. I took my Rollei Automat 3.5a with me and got a few really interesting shots, including a couple of accidental portraits that really stand out.

Various images taken around the Financial District and port

The 9/11 Memorial is VERY moving and powerful. I did not take many pictures. It was very somber and reflective for me. Never Forget.

This was the last shot on the last roll I shot. The light was pretest coming through a window after a rain and this gent agreed to let me snap a picture. He looks like a Rockefeller! The light and focus were perfect!

1971 fabulous – Dick and Millie Brown on their 1st date

One of my wife’s college roommate’s lives close by and is a dear family friend. Logan LOVVES her. I recently shot a couple rolls of 120 film while she was her – loading one of them in backwards… As I have said previously, If you show up at my house and eat my food, I will take your picture.

These are my 3 favorite images from that session:

If you show up at my house, I am going to take your picture. It is just going to happen. My brother-in-law was a good sport about it recently and I got a couple of, what I feel, are really good pictures of him and the family.

I just finished a project for my forging press, but I have 431 others left to do before my shop is fully functional.

Here is a double feature of that work:

She is so very sweet and is already working on her comedic timing.

Note the Dino that completes the dance ensemble…

My wife volunteered to let me do some test shots of her using different film and settings than I normally use. The below is a purposeful double exposure of her and our apricot tree blossoms with Kodak Portra 160, 250ASA, f/8 at 18:80 in fading light. Shot using a Canon F1n and a 50mm f.3.5 lens