Fresh Bait

Friday, November 27, 2020

2020 Virtual Advent Calendar - Starting Soon!

Image Source: https://www.nikkisplate.com/40-diy-christmas-advent-calendars/

We moved back to Wisconsin in 2020, but there’s a global pandemic on, so we can’t spend the holiday time in-person with our local-ish family and friends that we had hoped and planned for. That’s a bummer, but we still want to celebrate all the things that are good about our lives - and for us, things are pretty good!

As a way to stay connected and to celebrate this festive season and countdown to Christmas, we’re hosting a virtual Advent Calendar. Every day from December 1 through December 25, we will post some holiday inspiration here on the blog.

You can expect to see:

Stories, poems, or articles to read
Pictures and videos
Songs and music
Recipes
Games
Suggested activities that put us in a holiday mood
And other fun stuff we discover along the way!

If you are a contributor to the Fresh Bait blog (or if Darleen will make you one), and you would like to volunteer to host a day, please let me know via email which day(s) you would like to post. If you have ideas to contribute, send me those ideas as well. Please also feel free to comment on the posts - I hope you will contribute if you are inspired!

The Fresh Bait blog is read mostly by members of the Worm family - since we want to share this with a wider group of family and friends, it’s possible that we’ll see some additional readers. If there are other folks in your circles for whom this would be meaningful, feel free to invite them to read along too!

Here's to a fun virtual holiday celebration!

Amanda

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Deer Camp Memories

Tonight while we were listening to Simply Folk on WXPR, our local community public radio station, we heard this song called "Deer Camp Memories", by Pat Wiley.

It made us smile, and we thought you might want to give it a listen too.

Hope everyone is staying safe and cozy at home!

Friday, October 30, 2020

Northwoods Projects

Hello! Our first two weeks in the Northwoods have been lovely, beautiful, and cold! I've been wearing the slippers that Darlene gave me for Christmas nearly non-stop. And that means I've worn through the floss holding on the soles.

I decided that this time, I'd try a single-piece sole, instead of the separate forefoot and heal pads. And, I expanded it to cover the whole bottom, moving the stitching to the outer edge. I'm hoping this means that I walk on the stitching less, and that means the stitching doesn't wear through as fast.

This is also the first official project (other than unpacking and reassembling a bookshelf) in what was sold to us as a "third bedroom", but we have decided to call the "project room". All the craft supplies live here, as well as room to use them. The couch is here to relax as well, or to be converted into that third bed when guests become a regular thing again.

Amanda was also working on footwear - assembling our new snowshoes! We're prepared for the cold and snow to continue.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

California to Wisconsin by Motorcycle!

Hi, family! You've heard about the epic motorcycle trip that Amanda and I just took across the country, right? If you're wondering where we went and what we did, I have good news for you. I just posted a video documenting the whole thing!

The video is also public, so please feel free to share if you know others that would be interested!

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Life in "Northern Minnesota?"

Sure has been warm lately, not sure I am living in Minnesota anymore. Oh well, this too shall pass and fall will come. Nope, not really ready for that yet.

Our garden is growing well. Lots of blossoms on the tomatoes, and some small tomatoes. A blossom on the zucchini. The basil looks good, too. We just might get a good crop this year.

We have finally be getting a bit of rain here and there. It had been very dry. All the storms we heard about went north or south of us for the longest time. We haven't gotten enough, however. I hear the thunder now.

Abby has turned into quite a good dog, still needs work, but don't we all. I don't think she will get much bigger, kind of a medium sized dog. And yet tall enough to steal a tuna sandwich off the counter.

She likes to chase the cat and Emma never sounds too thrilled about it. However, this weekend while Abby is with Joe at the Cottage for the 4th I think Emma kind of misses her.

I am trying to remember where I ordered this bucket o'cat because I want to order another one.

I have been doing some stained glass for a while now. Last fall I made this one for my dad for Christmas. It is of their dog Charlie who passed away last August. My cousin Colleen came up with the picture. I think it turned out pretty well.

Enjoy the summer!

I hope everyone is staying well and safe.

What's going on in your area of the world?

Deanna

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Dresser is finished!

Hello again, everyone. With two weeks to go before we really pack up in earnest, I've finished my new dresser!

More pictures and process at http://blog.beerriot.com/2020/03/12/dresser-finished/

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Christmas gift build stories

Anyone else want to share the story of building the Christmas gift the made this year? I posted mine here: http://blog.beerriot.com/2019/12/29/resin-cherry-jewelry/

Monday, November 11, 2019

Building a Dresser

Looks like eight months since the last post here. Is anyone still checking in? If you are, I have a few links to share about projects I've been doing.

The project happening in my shop right now is a new dresser for my clothes:

I also did another project before this one, to build a box for an old shotgun, and to practice making dovetails:

Of course, there is also now Christmas Exchange present work going on, but there won't be posts about that for a while. Speaking of … was I the last to learn about Andrew's post about the exchange on Popular Woodworking's blog?