shop time...

Make a frame style lid

I have been working so much in my office on writing and editing that I've not gotten as much shop time as I'd like. When in the wood shop, everything is right with the world and I find pleasure in it. Csikszentmihalyi named it flow, and there is indeed pleasure in it which you'll discover if you try it yourself. Today I took a few photos to prove I was there.

I am working on interchangeable lift-off lids for a box article for Wood Magazine. The idea is to offer a variety of lid options for a simple box.

Bevel a top panel

In the meantime, we are waiting for either SWEPCO to announce that they are abandoning their application to devastate our community with a 345 kV powerline, or for the Arkansas Public Service Commission to rule against them.

Inlay stones in a lid

With the whole community up in arms against AEP/SWEPCO and the serious concerns from the National Park Service and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation having been expressed by letters of condemnation, it is unlikely that SWEPCO's absurd plans will be approved. But there have been many surprises in this case... like the day I learned that SWEPCO wanted to clear cut a 150 ft. wide swath of forest from one end of my 11 acres to the other and only 75 feet from my deck.

Today my associate Pat Costner was named Citizen of the Year by one of our local papers for her work to protect our community. The power line threat has brought our community together in amazing ways. And, we will all be relieved when AEP/SWEPCO's plan is in the trash.

2013 was a momentous year. I wrote most of a book in 2013, and took part in a major opposition to a 345 kV power line, having taken on a powerful corporation and the largest producer of greenhouse gasses in the US.

I wish all my readers a most productive, creative and joyous 2014.

In need of a new year's resolution?

Make, fix and create...