DIY gurus? er....perhaps not

Flushed with our past success in building bookshelves, a wine rack and other household items we decided to embark on the first of many woodworking projects we've been wanting to do outside when the weather got nice. So yesterday we took advantage of the sunshine and got out the materials we had purchased back in January or February when we conceived the idea of building a wall wine rack for Joe's dad for his upcoming birthday. It's not meant to hold a lot, but it's based on a design that my Dad did for himself about 15 years ago and that we liked.

I'm not sure we fully understood the amount of work we were taking on, but just figuring out and drawing the measurements took a couple of beers, a calculator and at least an hour. Then we got to the cutting, I took on the chop saw and the dowels (that is, er...also, ear plugs and safety glasses-sexy sexy) and Joe the skill saw and the body of the rack. Joe also used the jigsaw to create some nice curves in the outside corners. So chopping and sawing done we were ready to drill holes. I have to say I am somewhat enamored with the drill bit that lets you bore a 1 1/2 inch hole through a piece of wood. That is, at least I was enamored. It's a tough fucker to operate and I think I might have killed the project with a huge gouge that I took out of the side of the board. But the shavings are cool.

We sanded some of the dowels and the inside of the drill holes (try not to picture it) and then called it a day. We'll see what kind of sanding it'll take to take the gouge down from heinous to noticeable and then decide how to press on from there. But that's next weekend stuff.

I also spent some time on the side of the house digging up our pumpkin mounds and mixing the clay dirt with some topsoil so that there would be better drainage and so seedlings could actually push through the earth instead of flounder. I also planted some poppies to bring in the bees, so we can actually have pumpkins. And...we'll see how it goes, but we put in some sugar snap peas in the front yard near the cast iron decorative supports on the house (and the railing) to see if we can get them to climb and grow there. The plum tree in the front of our house is in full bloom now, but this is what it looked like just a few days ago: It's just gorgeous and I'm excited for the fruit, we were only just able to sample some last year in July before the season ended, so we should be rolling in the plums this year (according to our neighbors who also have a plum tree, they make excellent crisps).
Though the forecast called for rain on Saturday morning, we ventured out with Andy on a short bike ride. Joe switched on the cog set and wheels for my bike, so I got the super racing wheels and an added boost of confidence. We left from our house and did a loop to the northwest, stopping for a train and a bit of de-layering (as the sun was shining). I felt much better on the bike this weekend and even managed to keep up with the boys. We went 15 miles and kept a good speed pretty much the whole time. I also biked to and from yoga this week, a habit that I plan to continue-unless it's raining, wet stuck on clothing yoga seems highly unappealing.

At least biking and this wine rack project will keep us busy while we anxiously await the better part of spring so we can plant more veggies, herbs and flowers.