Coffee liqueur

A dash of homemade coffee liqueur on ice cream is a favorite.

decided to try to new recipe:

simple syrup = 4C water 4C turbinado

1/2C coarse grind extra dark roast coffee

3C vodka

will keep it in the cupboard for 4 weeks (next to the cereal/oatmeal bowls).

the only other duty is to give it a turn once a day before i make my breakfast.

nothing against vodka but we only tend to use it for liqueurs and extracts.

Red

As the hammer hits my thumb,

i see red.

Rock appreciation

A jack of many appreciations and tonight it was time to comb my living room rock display.

good rock, good boy.

my rock displays are not suiseki but i have a definite affinity for rocks. 

even when we were little we would scour for hours in search for that perfect rock. 

when we found it, we seemed to have properly punctuated the story of our trip.

even had a tackle box that housed my collection.

today i focus on the stand alone, submersed in a field of sand.

i am aware of the traits of the japanese art and i actually use some of their rules to define my impressions of the stone. 

but once again i do this from my plains' eye and notions.

one of my preferred brushed for working the sand.

crate building

One of my past times has taken on the air of heavy and i will need to light it up.

building some shipping crates for hatchets i will put on my etsy shop.

wanting more from even the smallest of efforts i wanted to make sure the crate could humbly take on some other functions.

economical & light i wanted this crate to function as a:

crate

carrying case

wall display.

some of the pieces are cut and lining up.

i am on a lovely close/open shift from work and will have to try again tomorrow.

i still need to make the handle supports, hinge crate tops, figure out a handle and add the flair.
this is pretty much following the same format as my mallet designs.

Schrade tactical fountain pen

I have been in the market for a new work pen for some time now.

and as ridiculous as it is has consumed some of my time.

i have three pens i depend on a lot:

1.  sharpie permanent marker - not changing 

2.  signo #207 uni-ball - not changing

3. and most used a fountain pen.

the old work fountain pen was a pilot plumix fountain pen.

this was a very reliable yet inexpensive writer with a japan italic nib.

unfortunately, it is no longer available at our general store.

what i like about it is that i could drop and knock it around.

the replacement is going to be the schrade tactical fountain pen.

felt great in the hand and scribed very well.

i need to say looks much more like a "work" pen (in form and function).

close up of the smaller japan nib.

close of the german nib.

i will miss the squareness of the pilot's write

but

will greatly enjoy the smoothness of the schrade write.

Transcribed by Mac #2

Entryway boxes

Amongst our boxes, these three are when we first walk through the door.

as always i had to practice designs on them.

some designs are better on different surfaces and there is only one way to test it.

number one contains the boys important school papers

number two houses misc mail papers. 

and for some reason number three contains gaming supplies:

carrom soldiers, cribbage, shuffle board pucks, wood bowling, ect. 

Mustard

Weaving a story is best with a straight face.

all parents know of the similarities between mustard and baby poop.

but

what my boys didn't know is that the reason why i dip my pretzels in horseradish mustard.

today, a conversation was started with jack proudly announces that he had green hair when he was born.

i countered with that may not be something he will want to be promoting in public.

after all, his green hair was account of him relieving himself before he made his way out. 

his brothers then started to make fun of him for that (which was funny).

then dad had an opportunity to amuse himself.

"there is nothing wrong with baby poop! in fact, thank you very much, as long as  you mother was breast feeding their poop actually looks just like mustard. (they all start laughing) settle down boys, why do think i dip pretzels in horseradish mustard. it is only because i use to dip my pretzels in your baby mustard poop. now that isn't possible so i had to find an alternative. hence the horseradish mustard.

i had two of the three boys going. 

the oldest has heard too many of these types of stories.

good times.

wife just shook her head.