Happy New Year!

Selfies

Cornhole

During the Christmas break, I spent some of my time over at the shop.  Gave me a chance to do some cleaning so I could make a new mess.   Well, it didn't take me long to find a new project.  I decided to paint up some cornhole boards.   This is the third set that I have painted.  They are fun to work with and you can get as creative as you want.  

For this one, I decided to go with Royal Red and Navy Blue and alternate the colors.  I found a cool Ford Motor Co. image that I used as a template to stencil.  This was a hard one as the stencil had a lot of detail that had to be hand cut.   I am getting pretty decent with using an Exacto knife.  For the stencil work, I brought both the boards home and finished working on them on the dining room table. 

These are pictures of the other two I have done.  I have given both of them away.  One was donated to our office and the other I gave to a friend.  I already have a few ideas on some new designs that I want to try.

Red Rock Canyon

Seems like a good time as we are ending the year to try to get a few more past posts entered.  These two pictures are from Thanksgiving.  We headed out early that morning and did a nice hike through Red Rock Canyon.  It was a little busy so Pebbles was on the leash most of the time, but she had fun.

 After our hike, we headed home, cleaned up and then went out for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Easier that way as there is just the three of us.  I don't want to cook and clean as it is a lot of work.  We went to the Cheyenne Resort and ate at the buffet.   They have so many choices and they are all great! After our big dinner, we headed home and all unbuttoned our pants and relaxed.

Sanibel Island

I could go on and on about our week on Sanibel, but being lazy, I am just going to unload my camera pics for your enjoyment.  We always have fun and are amazed at the numbers and types of shells that we can find.

Eric & Shannon Robinson

We had a great time in Flordia celebrating with Eric and Shannon for their wedding.  They married on October 31st (Halloween) at the Swan and Dolphin resort.  It was an outdoor wedding in the early afternoon.  It was very nice and we are super proud of both of them.  Who knows it may not be long and we could be grandparents.  I took some of the photos that I had taken and made the video above.

The rehearsal dinner was at the Melting Pot, and the dinner for the wedding was at the hotel in the steakhouse.   I think everyone had a blast, I know that Candy and I did.

We were able to spend a day at Universal Studios and one day at the Disney Animal Kingdom.  For Universal, we got in as soon as they opened.  Lucky us we were able to ride every ride that we wanted and the wait times were not bad.

For Animal Kingdom we also got in early and we had a group of about 15.  The Bride and Groom and most of the people that were in the wedding.

Once we finished our day at Animal Kingdom, we started our drive down to Sanibel.   Eric and Shannon were getting ready to leave to D.C. to see the sites.

New Orleans

This year I got to spend my Birthday in New Orleans.   Had to be there for a conference, so Candy and I went down the weekend before.   Was a first for both of us.   We stayed downtown by the French Quarter and Bourbon Street.  Was able to walk to both.

Which after spending some time on Bourbon street it was good that we could walk home.   We spent one night out dancing and drinking, maybe we drank a little much.  We stumbled our way home safely.  We ate some great food and got to listen to some great blues music.   

We spent a day in the French Quarter walking around and checking out all the vendors.  I found a cool music store and picked up a few t-shirts.   Got me Slim Harpo and Professor Long Hair t-shirts.  We went to Morton's for my Birthday dinner.   Morton's is one of my favorites and honestly I was ready for a steak after a couple days of Cajun food. 

One day we took a paddle boat ride up the mighty Mississippi.  Sat outside as the presenter talked about the various buildings and area's we traveled through.   A lot of history in the area.

To India and back....

As soon as I returned from the Golf Tournament I caught a plane and headed off to India for two weeks.   It was a good trip and spent time with our team in our India office.  The hotel I stayed at was really nice.   They took great care of me and everyone was very friendly.  I was able to get a lot accomplished at work while I was there.  It is always great to be able to spend time with the team.  This trip on my off time I spent most of my time on my own.  I did a lot of walking around and checking out the area that I was staying in.

Being there for the duration I was, they were sad to see me leave. They had a cake for me and we took a few pics. I look forward to returning in the future.

I survived the Sharkey

Had a great time at the Sharkey Clark Memorial this year.  This years tournament took place in Breckenridge Co.   Most of the crew was in attendance for the event.  I am pretty sure everyone had a great time.  I know I did and actually played some decent golf this year.

Candy made three golf towels for the winners.  She made one extra so I also have one.   Below are a few pics I took during the awards ceremony.                         
I managed to come away with a trophy this year.   Took 3rd in the handicap division.  I was in the running for 2nd until I fell apart on the last day.   Well, it happens.                                                                                                         

One More

Yes, it has been a few months since I made a post.  I have been traveling off/on for the last couple of months and will attempt to catch up with a few items.

I finished another tank.   This one came out really nice and looking to do more in this style.   With the weather changing and my travel, I haven't been to the shop in several weeks.  This was my last project before hitting the road.

Got Gas?

Lately, when I have gotten a chance I have been repainting old metal gas cans.  I find them at garage sales, flea markets.  Most are in pretty poor shape with a few dings and dents.  These are for decoration only, I wouldn't store gas in them.  You could I guess.  

My idea was to create some cool looking automotive man cave item that people might want.  I clean them up with soap and water inside and out.   then I take my wire grinder and strip all the old paint off.   Paint comes off pretty easy so I can clean one up in about 20/30 minutes.  Once all cleaned then I shoot them with a coat of apple red paint.

Not sure if apple red is the correct color, but I like it.  I found some stickers of oil and gas companies.  I put them on the cans after I get them painted.  The stickers really make them pop.




No idea on what I am going to do with them.   They look good in my garage, but I have about eight more cans to do and will need to unload them.  Why do I have eight, just about every garage sale has one.  I can get them for about five dollars.  So if I see one I grab it.

Projects

In what little spare time I get, I have been trying to get a few projects completed.   I recently finished another Milk Can.  This time around I decoupaged postal stamps all around the center section and painted the top and bottom blue.   Back in the day, people used to send letters to each other and some of the people collected the stamps.  I purchased thousands of them going back 10 to 40 years.  I call this one my tribute the United States Postal Service.

Late to the Party

I am such a goof.  On August 1st, we celebrated our 31st Wedding Anniversary.  I am so lucky and we make a great team. 

We celebrated by going out for dinner.  We chose Bonny and Read and had a nice seafood dinner.  We reminisced over what we have accomplished together over these 31 years.  We have been very blessed and are very thankful.

For an Anniversary gift, we purchased a Bird Photo Booth 2.0 and have been having a blast trying to capture that perfect photo and whatever allusive bird may visit.  

Having cats makes it a little difficult.  Both of our cats are great hunters.  Two days ago I had to clean up a small finch that ended up meeting the jaws of death.   Brooks our big boy, he hides in the raspberry stalks and waits patiently.  

If you do get a Bird Photo Booth 2.0 you will want to make sure you have a tripod.   We put ours on a tripod and set it up by our current bird feeder.  Several different types of birds have visited us.  In the feeder, we give them dried mealworms along with wild bird seed.  

One day instead of shooting birds I opted to see if I could get a good squirrel picture.  With a shake of the peanut bag and putting a few out it didn't take long to have one show up.  I would love to have one of these guys as a pet.  I am sure they are a mess, but what fun.