The journey continues...

Brian Bilbrey

Another weekend gone

Also this weekend, I baked cookies, and made an army's worth of chili. I used the last of the summer's freezer-reserve tomato sauce, a couple of pounds each of ground turkey and ground spicy italian sausage, and mixed red kidney and black beans. Heat and chili powder added. Yum! Sadly, the cookies are almost gone... I got the second coat of white on the shelving today. A small roller with a smooth-coat cover, and a gallon-size rolling grid solved the problems I was having with painting. I still have to decide what to do next: Poly or no poly. I'm…

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Brian Bilbrey

Finishing in Stages

The woodshop isn't big enough to build everything, then finish everything, then put everything in place up here in my office. SO ... I've assembled the first set of shelves (which was done by the end of last weekend). Since then, I've been applying finishes. Four days of finish, just for the shelving backs. A coat of the dark teal, knock down the grain, and recoat with the teal. Coat once with satin finish oil-modified water-based polyurethane, sand with 320 grit, and recoat with the poly. The backs are stunning, but not photographable as standalone objects. You'll see what I'm…

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Brian Bilbrey

Two Thirds Gone

The weekend, that is. Woodworking, Tops Gear, and Skyrim, again. This not-in-school thing is pretty fun! I'll try to post some pix of furniture progress tomorrow-ish. * * * Our condolences to the family and friends of Sergeant Chambers: Sgt. David J. Chambers, 25, of Hampton, Va., died Jan. 16, in Panjwai District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he encountered an enemy improvised explosive device while on dismounted patrol.

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Brian Bilbrey

UK weather

If I'd been driving around a local equivalent of the Tops Gear (UK) track this weekend, all my laps would have been on the board as either D(amp) or W(et). Fog, drizzle, rain, drizzle, fog - and that was just today. And today was still a busy day. I was at work by 0715, to do a bit of patching (which could be done remotely), and some BIOS configuration on one of the machines I was patching (which couldn't). That, on top of 6 hours at work yesterday: racking up the comp time, eh? I was back home by ten…

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