New Subject:  Sumpten fer nuttin'
Perhaps it is my poor southern upbringing but I really like being able to make something from discarded and worthless items. As a ham radio operator I was always taken with the guys that could design and build their own equipment. Sometimes it would look a bit "hammy" (dynamo tape labels a few extra holes, etc) but to be able to build a useful thing out of parts and pieces garnered from other old radio's and Tv's seemed just a hoot.
I guess I am just a sucker or maybe I spent too much time listening to the old folk's talk about the good ol days. Perhaps they now have a pill for that. Anyway it seems to me that so much of our culture in the the US is completely wasteful...throwing out useful things that can be re-purposed or reused. I have friends that subscribe to the policy that if you haven't used it in the last three months...then you should throw it out! Absurd! They live in sterile clean houses with no clutter and only the latest versions of magazines telling them what the big "O" says to buy. I think this is sad. I have radio magazines from the 1930's that I love to browse and read. (before I was born). Anyway I intend to post some projects, idea's and maybe even some pic's of home-made things built from scrap, flotsam and jetsam, etc. etc. Perhaps this might be inspire you to a life of being a horder...packrat and having too many "irons in the fire".
Good Luck!

Things realized forty years too late OR Gosh am I stupid

I guess I had a revelation today about my dad. I have in my house a small red toy box my dad made for me and my brother when we were pretty small. (I can remember sitting in it)
It was built to look like a railway boxcar with the gable lid of the boxcar opening up to put the toys inside. My dad was quite an artist as well as a woodworker and he painted the "boxcar" with logos and even the data plates that real boxcars display on there sides. As I looked at the car I noticed something I had never thought about before. The knob for the top was turned from wood and painted to match. It suddenly dawned on the extra effort and the several steps it took to turn this small handle...just to be placed on a child's toy-box. It dawned on the that this was a labor of love. My dad has been dead for a several years but even now I see his loving care. Thanks Dad!

Manifold Blessings when I really didn't deserve them.

I recently read that my next door neighbors son had fallen from there second story window and was unhurt. This reminded me something that happen a long time ago...a miracle really that I had completely forgotten about...until this brought it back to memory.
My son, who is now in his mid thirties, fell from a high balcony/deck at a friends house- head first-onto a concrete driveway. The deck was around the second story so you can get an idea how high this was. What saved his life was a plastic beach sand bucket...the kind children take to the beach to play in the sand. It had been placed at the edge of the drive and filled with water for the dog. My son fell head first into the bucket, his little head splitting the side of the bucket and spilling the water. Had it not been for this he would have certainly been injured seriously or killed. I don't think anyone could have placed that bucket with such precision...a few centimeters left or right would have surely made all the difference in the world. a lucky coincidence? I think lot. I have to believe it was divinely placed there. Ok, I am not asking you to believe me, but I felt it needed to be told.