No Woodworking Here; Just Good Times With Good Friends

Last Saturday, we had a cookout at our house that my wife Jen put together for me. Things weren't looking real promising earlier in the week as we had 3 straight days of fairly heavy rain and the yard was pretty much flooded. Luckily, the rains moved out by Thursday night and the yard had dried up pretty nicely by the time the party rolled around on Saturday afternoon.

We had a really good turnout, I'm guessing around 150 people, and I had such a great time. My energy level was good all day long and I felt great. It was so nice and touching to see so many people show up. I had friends I went to high school with that I hadn't seen in years show up; even some from long distance, one from North Carolina and another from South Carolina. And lots and lots of family and friends. The weather couldn't have been better; sunny and in the high 70's. We had a ton of good food too. Everyone brought a dish and my father in law brought a tow behind grill and cooked 4 pork butts, a beef brisket, a venison roast, 40 pounds of chicken, 100 hamburgers and about 40 hot dogs. And everything was absolutely delicious! I've never had anything come of his grill that hasn't been great.

I say this post has nothing to do with woodworking but shortly after the party started, someone asked to see the shop. Well, I took them out for the tour and for the next hour and a half or so, every time I'd get ready to leave the shop to rejoin the party outside, 4 more people would come out to see the shop. And just about everyone that came out was asking what the spring pole lathe was and wanted to see it in action. Well I was all too happy to oblige. My friend Paul joked that by the time the day was over, the hunk of Walnut that I had chucked up in the lathe as a practice piece was going to be a toothpick. Needless to say, I had a great time out there showing off the shop and it's contents. I'm so glad I built that place and so thankful that my wife encouraged me to do so.

I missed my local SAPFM meeting that day which had Chris Schwarz as the guest speaker and also Don Williams and Michele Pietryka-Pagan of the Roubo translation fame. I was a little disappointed when I first heard the date my wife picked and found it was going to conflict with this SAPFM meeting that I'd been looking forward to for months, but after experiencing the joy and happiness of the cookout, I had no regrets.

Thanks to everyone who came out and make it such a special day for me. Special thanks to my wife for putting it all together. To my mom for helping so much and buying most of the supplies, my father in law for not only cooking up all the meat to perfection, but for supplying it also, to my aunt Debbie for providing 100 burgers, my cousin Troy and uncle Jimmy and uncle Tommy for all their help in getting the yard and garage ready, my friend Billy for providing the large tent, to my friend Crystal for taking and providing all the good photos, all the people who let us borrow tables, chairs, coolers, etc. and everyone else who was so generous with their time and efforts. I truly had my best day in a long time.

My Father In Law-Grill Master Jimmy Quade

Some of my work crew

Gladly showing off the shop

Some of my high school classmates

The crew from work

My friend Pat's very cool '54 Chevy

Me with the in-laws and out-laws

Me and my Baby :-)