Sorry for the lack of updates this week. Ann’s still recovering from gallbladder surgery, but she’s been well enough to keep an eye on the dogs during the day. So, I’ve been busy this week rebuilding the small shop (in back of the big shop … roughly 25′ x 20′). It was a dark, dingy room with one fluorescent light that didn’t work.

Since we have plans to redo this area of the shop (a year or two away), I didn’t want to invest too much into the room. So,after pulling down all the old shelving, I washed the walls, rather than paint them. Then, I replaced the dying fluorescent light with a series of LED shop lights. It’s not all that elegant, but it’s nice and bright in there. I also bought some hangers so I can put my extra wood onto the wall. Finally, I built a long, narrow, sturdy shop bench out of recycled wood and screws, where I can store more wood pieces and other materials. I still need to add a pegboard and build a vacuum setup for the wood dust.

Here’s a brief look at the small shop. My one before-photo isn’t all that good, but, as you can see, the room was dark (and that was with the light on)!.

There are the after pics, though there is more work, cleaning, and organizing to do still.

All the saws and equipment are on wheels, so everything can be moved when necessary.

We had an arborist check out our willows and cottonwoods the other day. Unfortunately, many of our trees were incorrectly trimmed, so there’s lots of work on that front. We have 12 cottonwoods that were so badly topped that they will all have to come down eventually.  For the next three days, we have have a tree company pruning our giant willows and removing some other willows.