Welcome

Welcome.  You have arrived at the beginning of what I hope to be an interesting and funfilled journey together.  A couple of years ago, I had someone tell me that if someone could knock on the door to your "man-cave" and tell you to come upstairs for dinner, it really wasn't all that you wanted it to be.  So, after a lot of thought and consideration, in November of last year, I bought a building that will act now and forever as my shop (a.k.a. "man-cave").  Welcome to the journey that makes it just right.  Also, understand that there is a standing invitation to share with me what you have done to fuel your desire, as that is what this is all about for me.

Let's go back to the beginning.  I came from a family that was always handy.  We were typically inclined to figure out how to fix things ourselves rather than spending money to have others take care of issues.  My father was a woodworker, and at a very early age (probably 4-5) I learned how to sand bowls on the turning lathe.  These were some of the most wonderful times of my life.  My father died when I was still very young, but my grandfather and my uncle Norm continued to fuel the desire in me to understand all things mechanical.  I was living in a wonderful time when things around the house broke, and were held together with screws so they were easily dismantled.  I remember some TVs that I took apart and partially reassembled several times.

Fast forward to High School.  I went to a school that offered two years of wood shop, but through some persistence, I got the shop teacher to offer an Independent study in wood shop.  What did this mean to me?  I got to take shop all four years of high school, and my senior year I spent half of every day in the shop.  By that time, I was torn between being an Industrial Arts teacher and going on to some other type of education.  My dad had always told me to keep the thing that you loved as your hobby, not your job.  Because of this, I went to Drake in business.  But since then, every place I have lived, I’ve had a shop, and in all of them, I have remodeled the house through that shop.

This time is different though.  Rather than fitting into the space that I had, making it work and moving things multiple times, I am building this one from the ground up.  I started with a 25'x40' space and over the next several months I will turn it into my oasis.  I am currently working on the office within this space.  This will give me a place to have a drafting table/desk and a refrigerator, as well as a couch to take a nap. 

This should be quite the trip.  Please come along for all of the trials and tribulations.