Loft Bed

Anything that I build myself is better in both design and materials than anything I can buy.  No particle board for me; and you can keep your bamboo, jatoba, ipe, sapele, and all that other tropical stuff.  Good old American hardwoods; oak, maple, cherry; are my materials of preference.  I prefer real joinery and construction techniques that you simply cannot find in furniture from Ashley, IKEA, or anything imported from China (which these days is just about everything).

The latest project I finished is a loft bed.  The retail prices for this bed were in the $1700 range.  I am in the $300 to 400 range for building it myself.  And that includes a lighting system for the desk.  I have looked at these beds in furniture stores and they are more flimsy than I am comfortable with. 

The legs are made out of plywood.  I glued up four pieces per leg and used a hand planer to shape it up.  I used a trick I have heard of but never tried; auto bondo to fill in gaps, cracks, and wood grain.  It made a perfectly smooth edge that is difficult to achieve with just sanding.

For the side rails, I tried using FAS dimension lumber, but it ended up twisting just enough that I was not satisfied with it.  Back to the plywood; I glued up my own framing stock by gluing two pieces together and using bondo to fill the edges.

The shelves are made with plywood and dado joinery and pine for the face and trim.  The desk is made from plywood and is bolted to the shelves so that it stands on its own.  For good measure, one of the shelves is attached to the 4 x 5 legs.  The desktop and large end-shelf were supposed to line up, but I forgot about that when I was building the shelf for the second time.  The first shelf was too tall, as were the legs.  Adjusting the height on the legs was easily accomplished with a circle saw.  For the shelf, it was a do-over.

The pieces separate so they can be put to other uses should the loft bed be no longer desired.  They will probably make good furniture for a college apartment some day.  The only thing I am not satisfied with is the white paint.  I cannot seem to apply paint without leaving brush marks.  I think it is a problem that can only be solved with a 20 gallon air compressor.  Most men’s problems can usually be solved with a power tool of some sort.

Unlike what you can buy in a store, most of the hardware is hidden or designed out of this bed.  That made it more difficult to design and build, but overall, I am happy with how it looks.  The only thing I would change with some of the parts is to cut more weight out wherever possible.

Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out.  Now I've got to finish that plywood skeleton before the trick or treaters get here.

How to Spot Problem Legislation

Congress has a chronic legislation problem. They suffer from the belief that they are performing work or helping constituents when they are drafting legislation. Personally, I would like to see thousands of pages of legislation repealed. I think we should only have 300 pages of laws. That way, most people could read, understand, and therefore comply with the law. That being said, I put together a list that I believe can help everyone, including congress, identify bad legislation before it becomes law, and therefore improve the efforts from Washington DC.


Was it written by special interests or for special interests?
If the answer is “yes”, then it is probably bad legislation. Special interests rarely benefit the public at large, and most special interests groups would wither away were it not for the public teat that they so vigorously suck at to stay alive. Legislation funding special interests in any way should not become law.

Does it exempt certain groups of citizens?
ObamaCare is a great example of really bad legislation. It fails each one of the tests described in this list. But there is now a long list of states, unions, and groups of citizens that have been officially exempted from this law. Why? Laws should benefit all of the citizens, not just a few. If you have a law that will benefit 51 percent of our nation, then you need to start over.

Is congress exempted from the law?
I do not understand why people are not outraged when congress passes a turd of a law, and then exempts themselves from it. Congress has their own social security, health care, and retirement. They made special Cadillac programs for their exclusive benefit at the expense of Americans. It is unconstitutional, which means against the law since many Americans have trouble understanding what constitutional means.

Does it have a sunset provision?
A sunset provision means that congress was unable to do its job. They were afraid of the consequences of the law they passed. A good law does not need a sunset provision. If you know it needs to be re-evaluated down the road, then it is not a good law.

Does it have automatic annual budget increases?
Welcome to the corrupt and insane world of baseline budgeting. If your budget increases by 10 million and you only spend 5 million more than the previous year, you can claim to have cut 5 million out of your budget; even though you increased it!

Is it over 10 pages?
A copy of the US Constitution is only 10 pages. If the entire country could be outlined and managed with a 10 page document, why do we have laws today that are measured in thousands of pages? The answer: bad legislation. It is unreasonable to expect Americans to be familiar with thousands of pages of laws, and even our so-called representatives in congress are unable to read the bills before they pass them.

Is it an enumerated power in the US Constitution? Does it take power or oversight away from the states?
Good bye: Dept of Education, Dept of Labor, Dept of Housing and Urban Development, Dept of Health and Human Services, Dept of Energy, etc. These are just the bigger unconstitutional departments. The actual list of bureaus, offices, departments and agencies are several pages long. Abolishing them overnight would immediately end the current recession and begin to restore freedoms that have been stolen from Americans.

Did it originate as part of the “New Deal?”
The “New Deal”, just like Obama’s “Fundamental Transformation” of America is code word for imposing Communist/Marxist policies on Americans. Communism has starved or killed more people around the globe than all natural disasters or plagues combined. Beware of federal legislation that seizes control of, or legislates: education, health, labor, or the economy.

By now, you are thinking that most of the legislation of the last 70 years is unconstitutional, and you would be correct. The best way to save America and help Americans is not to pass more legislation. We need to demand that congress repeal legislation and remove government agencies. As for me, they want to call the Republican party the “Party of No.” As a Conservative, however, I’ll be the party of “HELL NO!”

Homemade Bread

Some years ago, we got a bread machine and a recipe book on how to make various breads. If you have never had homemade bread, go out today and by a bread machine; you will not regret it. You should also map out a 2 mile route close to your home and start jogging it each day so you can enjoy homemade bread and keep your current waist line.


We have made several different types of bread; Italian, sour dough, cinnamon, ciabatta, etc. But everyone’s favorite is known as potato bread. This recipe is nearly fool proof and often disappears right out of the oven, along with half a stick of butter.

One of the drawbacks to using a bread machine is that the mixing paddle gets baked into the bread and leaves a hole in the bottom when the bread is removed. One day I timed what the bread machine was doing and figured out how to make it by hand. So here is a fool proof recipe for bread and the steps to make it. I recommend that you make two loaves at the same time and give one to a friend. Enjoy!

Recipe for 1 ½ pound loaf

1 ¼ cups warm water
3 tbs butter melted
2 ½ tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbs potato flakes
3 cups bread flour
1 ½ tsp quick yeast

Mix everything together in the order listed, and then:

Knead for 5 minutes (min)
Rest for 5 min
Knead for 20 min
Rest for 30 min (keep dough slightly warm)
Knead for 2 min
Put bread in bread tin, lightly oiled with cooking spray
Allow to rise for 1 hour
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes

Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, remove from the tin, and lightly butter the entire loaf. Best eaten while it’s hot!

Camping

It's been warm, but I have managed to go camping anyway.  I much prefer cool nights where you actually need a sleeping bag, but just getting away from everyday normal is worth it.  North Carolina was our destination this time.  Here is a scene from the Blue Ridge Parkway:

I like just driving along the Parkway, and of couse stopping at every overlook, whether you can see anything or not.  I have yet to drive along the section that starts in Cherokee, near the Great Smokies.  I hope to make that journey this year, but once summer ends, schedules become pretty tight on the weekends.

While camping along the Parkway, we were lucky enough to have a Park Ranger host a program about skunks.  I really got into the program... as you can see below...

I learned that peroxide and soap will neutralize skunk odor in about a week.  I also learned that these guys will eat just about anything and are absolutely not afraid of anything.  Interesting and fun little creature!

On this same camping trip we made it to Mount Mitchell.  I will leave you with a photo from the summit.

Flown the coop

It is summer time and I have found myself too busy to take the time and write to the blog.  I really do not know how some people write daily, or even several times a day.  Summer means hiking, biking, camping, and canoeing.  I sit behind a computer enough at work as it is.

Time to catch up.  I never finished posting about the owls that nested in our back yard.  About a week or two after the first post, they flew from the nest.  Here is a picture of one of the babies on its first night out.

He was in a tree about 4 feet of the ground.  I walked up to it and stared him right in the eye while he stood stone still.  For the next few days, they lived in the woods just on the edge of my yard.  I learned to call like the mother owl and the babies always called back to me.  It made it easy to locate them.  Here is a picture of them sleeping during the day, about 20 feet up in the trees.

The baby is hiding behind the large branch.  The mother had three babies, of which two survived.  I found the one who didn't make it and could not find any thing broken about it.  I can only assume it fell from the nest and was injured internally.

We enjoyed watching them eat and hoot at night and I hope that we'll see them again next spring.