So, what's new?

Nada much. Just burning up the time until Christmas. Spare time has predominantly been used for shopping and family activities. Nothing wrong with that though. Life is too short not to enjoy the ones around you.

This weekend took that spirit. So with temperatures in the low 60's and a lake in the park across the street it was time for some water sliding and general mucking around.

Took the better part of a day to remove all the errant grass cuttings from eyes, ears, and wherever else they got to. It was good to get out and play in the water. I haven't had a good water slide session in years. Austin started to catch on, but for the most part he was either doing a power slide on his knees or a face plant. Faith was happy to tromp around and dunk her lower half ever once in a while. Erin and Zoey sat on the sidelines for most of the fun. Poppy decided that water wasn't too bad and her natural instinct of a water dog took over. She was swimming, running, and jumping around in wet doggie bliss. Add a few beers and a movie to wrap up Saturday.

Sunday we were treated with an unexpected slumber. Erin and I both stirred, heard the kids playing, but decided to snooze. We were a little shocked to find it 11am by the time we got up. Pretty rare to get that kind of rest around these parts. After coffee it was time to tackle the leaky faucet in the kids tub. Hmmm, where is the darn water shut-off valve for this house??

Under the frog of course! After a bit of poking around I found the water shutoff. It is down a terracotta tube behind our poky hedge. With all the bugs and such out here I don't typically go sticking my hand into holes in the ground. I did here and was rewarded with a slimy tree frog. So I called for reinforcements. No, just called the kids. Got to spend a few minutes passing the frog around. Then back to work. I got the faucet patched up best possible, it has some internal pitting so it still leaks in some handle positions. I am not really sure where the rest of the day went, went it did go.

Nothing major in the garage. I had a package come in yesterday. Erin gave me the stink eye on it, but I snuck off to the garage to inspect my new-old Stanley No608 jointer plane. This thing is a beast. It is the biggest cast iron plane Stanley ever produced. Close to 10lb of heft and 24in in length. Side by side it drawfs my No7.

Not entirely sure on the age, but I am guessing it is a type14 plane manufactured 1929-1930. I have to do a bit more reading to confirm though. It was delivered "sharp and ready to put to work". We'll see soon enough. Hopefully I can get some woodworking done over the Holiday break.

take care...

Merry Christmas everyone.