A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

Monday, August 5, 2013

Ocracoke!

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures while we were travelling or in Ocracoke because I was enjoying each moment so much. Sarah and I managed to pull a short vacation together at the last minute and were glad to have the opportunity to sit on the beach with great family and friends.

The one that got left behind. Here's Jonas doing his best to make us feel bad. I think he had a great time with our friend Vinnie, though, camping out, sitting by the fire, and going for walks.

And Eva may have been excited about being an only child again.

We made it to the ferry after some great tag team driving and no major (or even minor, really) problems. Oh I can smell the salty air and feel the breeze, even now!

The house was incredible! Sarah thinks it's her favorite yet, and it's hard to argue with that. There was one tucked back on the sound that I loved, too, but it's fair to say that the amenities this year set a new bar. We had a lot of great wine and beer to go with the stimulating and entertaining conversations. The whole family spent a lot of time on the front porch... it was so nice. Zillie's has really been a boon to the island life. I have to say that there are some great little NC breweries that hold their own.

Two happy ladies. Eva spent a lot of time making sure Elefteria and Mckenzie were not lonely.

On the porch

And of course, at the coffee shop!

Here's a shot of one of our Zillie's trips. Great beer on the right, great wine on the left, and a beautiful girl on the bike!

Our time was up too soon, as always. When we started to pack it was nice to see that Eva was interested in coming with us. After the ferry incident a couple years ago, we never really feel sure that we rank above the beach. But then, can you blame her?

The early morning ferry ride was both a gorgeous good by and an enormous, heart wrenching temptation to turn around and head back south on 12!

Thanks to everyone who made the trip possible and unforgettable! Without a doubt, the conversations, laughs, and drinks on the front porch are the memories that are the most vivid from this year. The surfing and frisbee and swimming at the beach were phenomenal, but it was the family, the conversation, and the food that really made this trip special. We love you all.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Livin' the eclectic life!

I haven't updated lately because I've been so busy, so it's time to get caught up.

I've been collecting pallets for some projects.

Pulled 'em apart with the gerber and some other tools.

Wood pallet, deconstructed.

Here's the pallet at Pat's, re-imagined as a storage station.

I'm really proud of the little cabinet I made for it.

Found another double bit axe to work on. Have done a little, but have to finish it this week.

I helped Sarah make some pickles and dilly beans! It's always fun to can and jar together.

Not sure how this will show up, but it's supposed to be a movie of the tree chipper in action. That might be the scariest, most abusive, loudest, most unpredictable machine I've ever worked with.

I had an exciting day at Greg's that started with having to tie branches of a spruce back, climbing into the tree, and cutting the aspen out of it.

Dropped a pine on the other side of the property. Of course I didn't take my wedges with me, so made some quick wooden ones that worked just fine!

The big dead aspen that had some crazy lean and no room to move.

And then it was gone. It's what I do. I was really proud of this one. The tree was in the middle of the woods, had some crazy kinks and lean and a canopy of widow makers, but I dropped it just where I wanted, with minimal damage to other trees, and most importantly, not hung up.

I did a little flooring. Pretty fun, but like all chores, more fun when I have the right tools.

This is my swollen hand (stung by a bald face hornet) which instigated an emergency trip to the ocean for the salt water, sun and sand cure.

The swollen hand didn't keep me out of the woods, though! The thought of the beach kept me going, too. That post will be up shortly!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Ian and Elefteria visit and Keith remembers to take pictures for exactly one morning.

Soooo... Ian and Elefteria came up last weekend as can be read in detail on Ian's blog. We met them at IBC on Thursday night and had a great dinner and conversation. While they were in NYC, we went out and rode the horses and got some housework done. When they came back on Saturday night we had a very nice fire, but the pièce de résistance (IMO) was grilling brats and eating dilly beans on Sunday. It was a great dinner and, again, the meal really brought us together for communion. We had a great time. Monday morning I had to fix a toilet at one of my friend's rental houses, and then Ian and I took on Shindagin, atop our trusty iron steeds. That's pretty much the only time I slowed down enough to remember to shoot some pictures, so that;'s what you get. See Ian's blog for more.

Ian's preride tire inspection. Lookin like he should be getting on a custom single speed to ride in NYC...

But gettin on a GT mountain bike to bomb the Shinny, instead!

The trails were acceptably muddy and the riding was fast!

Ian's post ride look

Keith's post ride recovery food

Ian's post ride recovery nap! We had a great time and hope to see Ian and Elefteria again soon. Maybe next time I'll remember to pop the camera out once in a while.

All future Gerber use goes here, James.

This post is really for James. This is my way of saying thanks for a tool that changed my life. I've been trying to take pictures of some of the things I use it for. I'd say, on the whole, I remember or am able to take photos of use about 25% of the time, so go ahead and extrapolate. In addition to what you see below, some common uses that I never remember to shoot are: personal grooming (using the knife to trim fingernails, pick summer corn out of happy teeth, cut off longer whiskers (it drives me nuts when I find a long beard hair), removing splinters with the pliers, file down broken nails, etc. I also brush my teeth with the file because they're just that strong. They destroy normal toothbrushes... ask Sarah.