Catching up

 In gun fighting they say the key is to get the first shot off fast to make the other side duck, then take your time with the follow up shot.

I got the first post to restart blogging off fast, did you duck?

In the 4 years since I was posting, I was laid off, semi-retired, learned bee keeping and black smithing, did some painting and then, after 2 years, rejoined the work world. I work with a great bunch of folks at Rimini Street, Inc. doing remote Oracle database support (no surprise there!)

Recently I also purchased and setup a Park Style RV as a rental on my property. For those not familiar, a Park Style RV is one designed to be placed in an RV park and left there, so essentially a house on wheels that is moved to a spot and left. Here is a picture of the one I set up:

Park Style RV

As I said above I also took up beekeeping with 2 hives to start with, which will generate over 10 gallons of honey in a good year. I am also making mead which requires a good bit of honey.

I took up blacksmithing, just because I remembered doing forge work in shop in Junior High School and remember enjoying it, I have made knives, hooks, coat hooks, brackets, towel racks and other miscellaneous items, even hair barrettes.

A set of Daggers I made for a friend

In the image above I made everything (display box, daggers, sheaths) except for the frogs (the leather holsters that allow the dagger and sheath to be attached to a belt.)

As I said I also rekindled my artistic bent by doing some acrylic painting.

An acrylic I did of my Daughter, Son-in-law and Grandson

After all, you have to stay busy. Better to wear out than to rust out. So now that I am working full time it is harder to do the "fun" stuff, but I will try to keep a hand in.

So that is all for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday time! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!