OK – things are getting into somewhat of a routine. TMBWitW went back to work this morning, after maternity leave and vacation. She has been dreading this day, when she has to go without holding her daughter for nine hours. I don’t blame her. MEG is the most beautiful baby ever, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her Dad. I mean it:

I got a concerned call from Gawfer on Friday, while the three of us were in Kingman visiting our cousins. He asked if I was OK, since I hadn’t been active on the blogs all week. I told him I was fine, and I appreciated his concern. In the process of being approved for a contractor position with the Arizona Republic combined with finally getting the new pulpit completed, I didn’t have a lot of time for anything else.

What’s that? You want to see pictures of the pulpit?

This is the pulpit before any color was applied. The base material is 3/4″ maple ply, with hardwood trimming from Home Depot:

The nice thing about hardwood is that when you add color like I did, it blends the poplar and the maple very nicely.

Back view:

Lectern view:

Ignore the mess in the background – I was working on my back patio.

I used Vermont Maple base color from Minwax:

Lectern view:

This project started out as a refinishing of an old pulpit. The original piece had been stored in an outdoor location, under a roof extension, and covered with a tarp. One thing about beautiful wood and water – the latter will eventually find the former unless someone is very vigilant. No one was vigilant, so it soaked up a lot of rain, even in this desert environment. Combined with the fast drying action, mold attacked most of the structure, and sanding the old finish revealed large patches of deep damage. The old one was made of eastern white oak – beautiful, and I cried when I saw the mold. I was able to salvage some of the parts, and after talking with the Pastor, it was decided to use a carved grape motif and a Celtic cross from the front of the old pulpit. I did a face sand of the salvage pieces, retaining the old finish in the relief sections. These were incorporated into the face of the new pulpit, and the whole thing got a clear coat:

The contractor position with the paper is delivering bulk quantities to store fronts and racks; this takes place between midnight and 6 am. This allows me to watch MEG during the day while TMBWitW is at work, God is Good! and He allows us to keep MEG here at home instead of putting her in daycare. Parental supervision is best!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

I’m a slacker. I missed last Friday. And this Friday, I am not in town. TMBWitW, MEG and I are visiting relatives up north.

Go here. Buy a shirt, wear it on Fridays, and declare your support for the troops.

Diet update: This morning, I weighed 221. For those keeping track, that’s five pounds in two weeks. I’ll keep you posted. Gotta look good for the Presidency!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

Mary needs some help.

Seems she has gained the interest of a pervert, a slimeball who goes by “OS” on Blogspot. Please read her entire post, and help out. It requires clicking on a link she has in her post, and flagging a blog as having objectionable material.

Blogspot has a very bad record here – they do not seem interested in protecting the first amendment except when it pertains to child pronograpghy. (Yes, it’s spelled wrong. I don’t need that type of reader.) That’s why you don’t see the surf bar at the top of my blog – I’ve blocked it, so that you do not have to be exposed to a random blog that may contain material that is objectionable.

If you would like to know how to block that bar, drop me a line. My good friends John and Sues helped me out on that, and I will pass it on to any who would like it. By the way, Sues and John also have another site, Warriors For Innocence. They have a lot of helpful information there to protect your family and your children.

In other news – the week sure disappeared on me. Mike and Cimarron are well on their way to Idaho. The custom cabinet shop never called me back. I have been accepted as a contractor to deliver bulk volumes of the newspaper. That starts probably next week, and it’s an early-morning job, so when I am finished I can watch MEG while TMBWitW goes to work, that way MEG doesn’t have to go to daycare. We played live in service yesterday evening. The pulpit is almost finished. I have in my possession quite a few business cards with my campaign information on them – if you would like to have some to pass around, please drop me an e-mail and I’ll get some to you. I haven’t been keeping up on my reading of the blogs, so I have some catching up to do there. I’ve got a few projects on the burners – I need to get some shirts available, and bumper stickers, and whatnot – I’ll let you all know when that happens. I’m trying to get the attention of the community channel, for a local interest story (how many communities have a write-in candidate for President?) and that’s not going anywhere.

I think that’s all for now.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

I love my son-in-law, M. My youngest daughter, from the first marriage, married a wonderful, Godly young man last May. He is very loving, adores C with all his heart, and is musically talented.

I am a dufus. It was in March. March 10, to be exact. Happy Anniversary, guys. Sorry ’bout that…

He’s also artistically bent, as the two buttons in the left sidebar indicate. He just “whipped those together” while goofing around, he said, and I liked ’em so much I stuck them on the blog. Please, steal them and spread them around.

M and C are moving to Idaho next Sunday. We are trying to spend some time together before they leave, as TMBWitW and I don’t travel very often.

(I may go back to driving a truck, just so I can stop by and see them occasionally, but that means more time away from home…yuck)

I want to say “Hello!” to the family and friends who are peeking in over here – ya’ll are welcome to leave comments, that’s why I’ve left the Anonymous Comments available. Just do me a favor, and sign off in the comment so I know which one you are…

My blogfriend, Texas Fred, has admonished me for campaigning in his comments section. I apologized, and I do mean that, Fred. I understand your reasoning, and you are right, since I don’t have a budget, I don’t stand a real chance.

I would, however, like to ask all of you, my readers, to help me out a bit. Mention my name and website. To everyone, if you would, as a possible alternate candidate. Even if I don’t receive any write-in votes, I’ll have gained some exposure. My main goal is to get the Career Politicians to be aware of the fact that We the People are sick and tired of being the third or fourth thing thought of anytime they are in session. We should be first, along with the sovereign status of the United States of America. We shouldn’t have to fight for crumbs after most of the Career Politicians have finished pandering to their special interests, lined their pockets, and taken care of their favorite foreign country.

We should be first.

I would do that. I would hold America in the position of First and Foremost, with the needs of the Citizens and Legal Immigrants supporting America coming in right behind. I don’t have any special interests (except for model railroading, but that’s another story…) and I certainly don’t hold any other country in higher esteem than I do the Great Nation of the United States of America.

Weight loss update: Due to a glitch in my eating habits, I’m actually down to 219 this morning. That does not portend a loss; rather, it indicates that I didn’t eat much yesterday. Her highness, little miss MEG, was having issues with the bottles, and did not want to be set down. So, I spent a lovely morning holding her, and watching movies, while TMBWitW was at class. Greybeard over at Pitchpull dropped a nice comment in Friday‘s post regarding my good looks; we tossed some weight-loss stuff back and forth a bit. I’ve got to start working on better eating habits and exercising more (actually, any is more than what I’m doing now…).

That should do it for this edition of This, That, and Sundry.

(made you look!)

Oh, and no updates on the job situation yet. I have an interview with a custom shop on Monday; it sounds like a nice little shop to get involved with. Your prayers and thoughts are received with glad tidings.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

Go here. Buy a shirt, wear it on Fridays, and declare your support for the troops.

In my blog perusing this morning, I ran across Greybeard‘s blog as part of my normal readings. He has embarked on a “shape-up/lose weight” crusade; his remarks opened my eyes a bit. So – since he has an inch on me in height, and I have twenty + pounds on him, perhaps I need to follow his lead – eat less, and exercise! What a radical diet plan…

For the record, I am starting this diet plan today, and my weight is 226. Yes, I have a spare tire – look here if you don’t believe me!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008