Happy Thanksgiving

              I hope every one had as good a Thanksgiving as I did. I know things are a lot tuffer this year for some and maybe you didn't do Thanksgiving this year. You still have a lot of things to be thankful for I"m sure. I haven't done anything in my wood shop for about a month and a half now but I think I can start up again soon . Haven't got a clue yet what I'm going to do I've been thinking about it for a few days now I'll come up with something.......................Rick

My Father 1923 - 2012

Last week I laid my Father to rest. He was 89 years old and had a very good life I suppose you could say. He was self employed the last 50 years of his life he owned an auto salvage /tow truck business  up untill he semi retired in the late 70's but then he did scrapping and used car sales untill he started to lose his sight in the early 2000's . Than we all watched as he slowly shrunk into a tiny little representation of his former self. It wasn't an easy show to watch  . My Mother and his wife of 68 years tried her best to care for him but she has a weak heart and just could not do everthing she needed to do so 'about a year ago we put him in assited living.And as many of you may have witnessed once a person goes into assited living it usually speeds up the dieing process . My father and I had a stormy first 30 years together I personally think he hated me and I dredded to see him coming. Altho we had some good times during that period I can't put a finger on any one thing. I was in a nutshell everything He did not want in a Son . I played music in a rock band starting the summer between the 6th. grade and my middle school debut .That was about 1965 he hated the thought of having a long haired hippy in his family and went out of his way to make sure I knew it. Me of course being of the same blood responded the way you would expect .It was not pretty to watch. I really thought things would get better when I married and left home but I was wrong . I did not know it then but it was the fact we where both in the same town . That marrage only lasted 6 years but I did give him a Grand Daughter. In 1980 I married my wife and the one person in the world I would die for After 4 years marrage we gave him onother Grand Daughter .None of this seemed to Improve our relationship. In 1986 I was offered a job in Las Vegas Nv. so I took it he wouldn't even say good by the day I left .I really didn't care to be honest I hated the thought of moving down to such a big city I had never known any thing else and was scared to death. To be quite honest if it had not been for my Wife I probly would not have stayed. But instead we spent 18 years there and still miss it today. Some time during our time in Vegas my Father decided He liked me I really didn't do anything to change things We started spending time on the phone and they (Dad & Mom) Would come for visits as often as they could and we would like wise try to make a trip up north atleast once a year.By I think 2005 we started our plans to move to Roseburg Oregon By then his health had already started to fail and he only got to come and visit us here twice and both times he was kinda like a lost puppy. He really did'nt function well out side his own home. I understand I don't either.Dispite everthing that transpired between him and I over the years I loved him very much and will miss him. Words cann't express how I feel as I write this it's hard to cover 89 years in a few lines and I know his life would probly fill a book But at this time all I can say GOODBY DAD ....     Jim L Goff  1923-2012

WINTERIZING

Have been really busy the past couple of weeks getting my house and out doors ready for winter.Not that its that cold yet but I didn't want to wait till the last minute and then have to do it all in the rain. I think I ve got it all done and now I can move back into my shop and start cleaning again. Still have the Router outfeed table to finish and the dust extraction for the both of them. I hope to get started this weekend I'm getting a little cranky because I'm not getting to work in my shop.. I really do get cranky and hard to be around when I don't get to work wood. I really don't know what causes it, I would call it selfishness. I like the solitude of just me in the shop its like I don't have to communicate with anyone and the wood never talks back. Sometimes I can almost forget about the outside world and thats a nice break. Any way hope to have some pictures by the end of the day....................

FAMILY FALL FESTIVAL

 I thought it might be nice to show you all some pics of the things I built for the fall family festival that I spoke of in the last post. The first one is a Sponge Bob sponge toss pretty self explanitory I think.   The second one is a plinko board this one took some time to put together but it works great. The third one is what we call the UFO toss basically if you get a ball thru the hole you can win that many tickets to redeem prizes .So everyone had a good time we gave away alot of prizes and nobody went home empty handed . some of were pretty tired though

two weeks in hell

Just finished two weeks in hell. my family and I, mostly my Wife put on a fall family featival at out churh. It's kinda like those old school carnivals you went to as a kid, lots of tossing games and fishing over the wall stuff. It was a huge success I'm guessing close to 300 screamming kids and they're bewilderd parents went thru it in the 2 hrs. it goes on. I do all the construction for the festival and of course I have to put it together and take it down Thats what I've been doing for the past 2 weeks. Maybe now I can get back to my router out feed table  Keep looking in you never know what you are going to see on this blog............................................Rick

Black Licorice Recall

                This black licorice recall is about to kill me. I haven't had any in about a month . I actually am not suppose to eat it at all because I'm diabetic but we all have our down falls and vices don't we.. I used to keep it on hand a 1lb. bag would last 2 or 3 weeks. They say there is too much lead in it, maybe all that weight is whats slowing me down. I think most of it has settled in my ass because I can't stand up for very long . Maybe not having any will be a good think Just a thought................Rick

School Bus

I ve made it to Saturday at the end of My first week back to work. Calling it work is loose by any term. I drive a School bus and the hardest thing about my job at this point( aside from having to get up so early) , Is the heat on the bus. On a 90 degree day the temp on the bus well exceeds 100 or more. Thats pretty tough on an old fat man. My Kids this year seem to be pretty well behaved or maybe its just the calm before the storm. I cover over a 100 mile a day but it broke down into 3 different segments which makes it nice. I alo have a kindergarten route this year what an adventure. Hauling 20 5 year olds in quite the thing.                                           Rick