Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

I am back at work and that also means that I manage to find some time to sit in front of a computer and do a bit of blogging.

This past home period saw a bit of woodworking, as I managed to complete the second traveling bookcase for my daughter. I also made 5 window frames for the small barn. I never got around to taking any pictures of all that, so you will just have to take my word for it..

I think it is fair to say that the single most important thing that happened this home period was getting a new dog. 
We drove down to near Hannover in Germany and picked up the most adorable little Newfoundland puppy. 
She has grown considerably since then, but she is just as sweet and cuddly.

It is probably impossible to not compare a new puppy with the old dog, and often the new dog will fall short in comparison due to the strong memories of the old dog and it setting te standards for good behavior.
In one respect the new puppy (Bertha) actually comes out in front of our old dog Fnug:
Fnug never really liked to stay in the workshop.
She would enter occasionally - take a look around and then leave again.
Bertha on the other hand seems to think that the shop is a great place to stay, and that is something that warms my heart.
She likes to sleep while I work at the bench, and when she is awake she helps by rearranging small pieces of scrap wood.
There are a few drawbacks too though. The major one being that she has the idea the the broom is meant as a toy, and subsequently attacks it as soon as I start sweeping the floor.
Sweeping is not very efficient with a 35 Lb puppy attached to the head end of a broom playing tug of war while you try to clean the floor.
But given her sweet nature I can easily live with that and I'll just sweep the floor while she is not in the shop.

Besides getting a new dog, we also had a really nice Christmas and New Years Eve.

This Sunday a friend called asking if we wanted to join her on a ride in the forest. Laura was at home and really wanted to participate. Mette suggested that I took her her horse, and then she would just walk besides us all. Since the ground was frozen, we were only going to let the horses walk, so Mette wouldn't have any problems in keeping up with us. 
It was such a nice trip, and I actually think that I ought to do a bit more riding. What a fine way to experience nature.

Yesterday I checked my spam folder for my email address, and I found an invitation from Chris Wong to participate in the "Wall Shelf Build-Off"
Four years ago I participated in the SSBO (shop stool build off), and it was such a great thing to participate in. 
Chris had manged to attract some incredibly fine sponsor prizes, and the entire build off couldn't have been organized any better.
I highly recommend you to register and participate in the build. If it is anything like the last event, there will be loads of prizes, for numerous categories, Since the design limits for the build are very wide, it is especially interesting to see what other people come up with. .
The skill level of the participants last time ranged as did the design. I think that the most interesting stool built last time was the innovative works of Alex Leslie. He rightfully won a prize for that entry.


Bertha resting in the shop.


Shavings from the planer stick incredibly well to a soft coat of fur.


Gustav and Bertha right after getting her home.

Jonas/ Bent, Lene/Marco, Laura/Fairy

12 comments:

  1. I still don't like the name Bertha, and will continue to call her Boomquifa instead.

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    1. Boomquifa is a nice name too, I am still struggling to call her Bertha. Most of the time I will call her Fnug as our late dog, or Børste for our even older late dog - or frequently Asger as our youngest son...
      Cheers
      Jonas

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  2. The dog is adorable!! I've been wanting one for a long time. By the way, how does your daughter like school?

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    1. Hi Bill.
      Thanks for the nice word on the dog. Newfoundland puppies are hard to resist :-)
      My daughter likes the school, but she has changed to another class.
      The school suggests that people can change to an different class after Christmas time, and she had decided that she would prefer to take the music line/class instead of the International class. One of the reasons is that the teachers who taught the International class weren't very good in doing so in English, especially not compared to the level that was at her old school. And another reason is that the IB program isn't very well recognized in Denmark.
      But she really wanted to stay at the school.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  3. Beautiful dog. Nice equines, too. It's been too stormy to get my girl Pema out lately, except for walks in hand, she likes those. Dogs and horses, good times.

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    1. Hi Xoney
      Thanks for the nice comment.
      Riding slowly in a frozen forest is just such a nice experience.
      I genuinely believe that the horses like a break from dressage on the riding court, and seeing different things.
      Truly a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and a hot cup of cocoa in front of the fireplace after the trip made a perfect addition.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  4. I grew up with Newfoundlands and Labs. Newfoundlands are very sweet. We recently got a puppy (lab) ourselves. It is a pleasant nuisance in the woodshop right now and will be an absolute delight and company when she is a bit older.

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    1. We had Newfoundlands too when I was a child. They are indeed very sweet.
      They do manage to move a lot of dirt and mud around with them too, but I think they sweet nature easily up weighs that.
      I don't know what it is that is so nice about a shop dog, but I like that she finds it comfortable to cuddle up in a corner and taking a nap while I work on something. If I start banging too loud, like testing out a set of large dovetails for the window frames she will raise her eyebrows and look at me kind of like she is trying to say: Hey, some of us are trying to sleep..
      I tried using two brooms, I can usually take two or three sweeps with the one not being tugged on before she changes to attack that one. After about a minute I normally give up and enjoy playing with her instead.
      After all, a clean shop floor is vastly overrated..
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  5. Hi Jonas,

    I like Bertha as a dog and the name, too!

    When I think of the open transmission of the jointer thicknesser and Bertha's Long hair and tail, I'm scarred.

    Cheers
    Pedder

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    1. Hi Pedder.

      I forgot to write that i NEVER run the jointer /thickness planer while she is in the shop. That would be an accident waiting to happen for sure.
      But there are so many chips lying around after I had used it, and she found it interesting to roll in them and to dig through them as well.
      Cheers
      Jonas

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  6. Hi Jonas and family
    So glad you got a new Newfoundland puppy, as we both know, puppies sure help getting over lost souls. ...
    I laugh when you describes the breed as able to moved a large amount of mud and dirt :-) One of the side benifit of a hand tool shop is that it is easier to remove wood chips than saw dust on the dog... :-)

    Long live Bertha and may she grow happily surrounded by a happy family

    Bob, scratching Rudy ears

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    1. Hi Bob.

      Thanks for the nice comment.
      Puppies are sure good at soothing :-)

      As strange as it may sound, saw dust doesn't seem to stick that well to Bertha as does the chips from the planer.
      She happily tries to dig in the sawdust of the horse boxes every day when she "helps" me clear them out of old horse apples. That sawdust just falls off when she shakes her body.
      Mud on the other side... I just talked to Mette on the phone, and she told me that Bertha had helped spreading a bit of sand on the riding court, and she was smeared into mud and sand after that job. It normally falls of after the fur dries, but the otherwise nice and cute looking dog looks like some amphibian just straight out of the swamp until she is dry again.

      I had to explain my points of view to her when it came to chewing on base moulding on an antique clothes cupboard originating from Mettes family... But she seems to have understood it :-)

      Make sure to give Rudy a treat for being a good soul doctor.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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