But recently I have been dreaming of building a boat…on a 5 year plan (if you look at my projects you will see I am not ready lol)...and so I have been getting lots of books at my local library…on boat building and other titles too…

But one of the books that I picked up is not a skills book per say…its more of a book about the re-building process and experience and I am really enjoying it…

The book is called “Sloop” by Daniel Robb and I am only into it about 35 pages…but I am enjoying it…this made me think there may be many other good reads out there that is more about the philosophy or experience of woodworking and not just the skills…or probably some good combo books with the skills and history or philosophy…of great wood workers…

So…what are your favorite WW reads that include a tale, some history or philosophy, etc…???

ANd hey——if you can help me on some BOAT BUILDING books that would be a bonus…

Matt

Just wanted all of you to know that Grant turned 18 yesterday!!! AN amazing feat if you have followed his health over the last few years…especially the last year.

It was just a month ago that he was released from Children’s Hospital near Milwaukee after a ONE YEAR STAY…

If you are new to this blog look back to see what this series is all about…many jocks contributed to a lure drive to help boost Grant’s spirits last spring when things were really not looking good…

Since my last update…Grant has been home about a month…he has been doing a lot of Physical Therapy to regain his strength. His numbers have continued to improve and or stabilize…as he slowly gets healthier.

Last week he re-entered school for the first time in 1.5 years…he was so excited that he could not go bed before he went…and with everything else he was so exhuasted the next day that he stayed home…again his health is still on the mend…

Since then he has been going part time…usually after he goes to Physical Therapy.

So…just wanted you to all know he is doing great…and he shared a quiet 18th with his family…

Matt

From Grant:

“Home is GREAT!!!!

THURSDAY

woke 3 am central
taxi 4 am central
flight 6 am central
2.5 hours- good, milwaukee-denver
layover 45 mins
2.5 hours- crying baby, denver – sacremento in sac at 10am PACIFIC
took like 30 mins to get luggage
about an hour to drive home
home around noon!! pacific time

its very hot, but thats ok!!, helps me drink all the water im supposed to

What I did first at home

Said hi to my dog fisher!, hes kinda chubby and a bit grayer in his muzzle
Looked around house and yard
Ate my lunch I had been craving that Bana ( Grandma ) brought me special, an itty bitty beanie from high tech burrito
Saw all my grandparents, a grandaunt, an uncle
Saw One of my best freinds who stopped by after school
took a little nap in MY OWN BED!!!!, that my feet dont hang off of!
had some good minestrone soup+good bread for dinner – YUM
Had some home-made apple pie from my grandma- YUM
realized We have a lot that needs to be done around here and a lot to get rid of, need to have a yard sale soon

saw some family freinds Kenny+Melinda+Joesette

SLEPT IN MY OWN BED!!!!! ( again!!! )

FRIDAY

woke up, had breakfast, ( a 2nd high tech burrito )

called dish network because one of our TV’s had stopped recieving service because it had been inactive soo long

Saw my Uncle john and cousin melissa who is about to leave for UCLA

went to register at napa high really quick

Went to costco with bana, our house didnt have too much in one of the way of basic foodstuffs, and we needed a new answering machine , somehow the old one just died. and jeans that fit because ive been wearing sweatpants 95% of the past year and lost too much weight to fit into my old jeans.

saw my aunt steph+uncle kevin

Just getting back to life!!! its great!!

I though it might feel weird to be home after being gone so long, but its not at all, its just nice.

soo happy!!!

goodnight! “

Thanks for folloiwing along LJ’s,

MAtt

I just got the news on Grant’s blog—-GRANT…who has been in the HOSPITAL for 376 days…and 1200 miles from home is COMING HOME TO NAPA…I AM CRYING…I just checked his blog after being on LJ’s for toooo long and I missed the post until 10:30 pm….so I cant race through the house screaming with all in bed…but I really want to …

WHO IS GRANT i started this BLOG and DONATION DRIVE for him several months ago to raise his spirits when he was once again near death and had given up all hope…many LJ’s responded and his slow road to recovery has been up and down…he was finally getting better in the last two months and a few weeks ago he got the word he would be home for his birthday on OCT 25th…and today—————they changed it to this THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!

In short…he has struggled with a horrible blood disease for many years…one that required MANY blood transfusions to stay alive…last year the family found a donor that matched his blood type—-not a perfect match…but workable…

He has since had an up and down road to recovery…has had three seperate blood (not transfusions) but grafts??? sorry I am using the wrong terminology…but either way…the reactions to the transfusions and all the drugs in and out took a toll on Grant’s body and he almost didnt make it many times…he would then finally recover and then some other hurdle….they thought they would be home at the latest LAST MARCH…and not…finally his body is ready…still not 100% but close enough…

GRANT IS COMING HOME….I cant explain how great this is…please take the time to check out this blog and project series…

THANK YOU LJ’s for listening now…and thank you to those who supported with words of encouragement, prayers and donations…

God bless all…

I dont know how I am going to get to sleep…every day for more then a year I have waited all day for his family’s post on his update…it has been a big part of my day…and tonight to go on and read he is coming home just feels sooooooo good….

Please continue to continue with prayers and thoughts for Grant and his family…he will need all of our help as he continues to heal…

Thank you…

Matt

Since my last entry I have:
1) moved 95% of “the “non-shop stuff” out of my garage…so now it is A SHOP…
2) put up shelves in the shed for all that stuff…
3) sorted through all my lumber and organized it neater so that I can for the first time in several years exit my shop to the RIGHT of my work bench…
4) moved out my sawhorses and put the new (old) cabinets i acquired for free into the places they will stay…I can now go all the way around them…
5) purchased lumber for 3 tables—-I went the cheap route for the table tops 2×4’s that I am standing up for maximum thickness and strength…
6) cut all the 2×4’s for the three tables—-two small tables that will make my miter station along the wall.
7) 6 foot long table in the middle (end) which will rest on top of the two larger cabinets i acquired…
8) Today I had time to trim the tops off the 2×4’s off the top edge….and I then used my jointer to smooth the face of each side so that when I glue them up their will be no gap…
9) after that I glued up the table top of the one smaller table…I am gluing up the smallest sections first so that I can learn from each attempt.
10) for example in the first picture you see three small glue ups that I did a few days ago…I did these first so htat I can learn and get practice for the bigger and bigger pieces…these three pieces will actually be the dividers on my new bench—-so it will have to halves and these will provide tool “bins” (for lack of better word)...

Here is the cabinet and table top BEFORE i trimmed, surfaced and glued it up…i set all the wood on each table so that I could get a real feel for how the shop will look with each table done…IT LOOKS GOOD!!!

This last picture is to show how big the shop is with NOTHING in it…but the benches and my SHOPSMITH…which i can turn in ANY direction and still be working INSIDE my shop…all my stuff that had been spread out on my “old bench” (plywood on top of sawhorses) is now in the cabinet drawers…

When we got word that we were going to make the shed (see my story on my shed) I decided I would stop all wood working until i could re-organize the shop…right now it is a disaster because I gave up on putting things away—-knowing I had just acquired a bunch of FREE cabinets (four) and would be taking A LOT of junk out of my garage…

So…with the completion of the shed…I hung new shelves in the shed this week and started hauling all the camping gear, garden stuff and other junk in my garage…

With the wall clear of junk and shelves (a literally gained 3×20 feet) I finally got a my back right corner where i had a ton of scrap wood…in piles…I couldnt even walk on that side…now it is all standing up straight in the corner with the smaller pieces in boxes…and I can actually walk between my “bench” and that wall to get out the back of my shop.

The best part is that I got 4 FREE cabinets from Napa HS—-they are remodeling their science building and ripped these out…I had them sitting on our back patio for 3 weeks since I got them—-but now they are all in the shop along the right wall…they need tops…

Right now I am thinking of making the two smaller cabinets into a miter saw station…putting a top on each and them connecting them with a benchtop that connects the two at a lower level so they all meet at the same level…right now I have to take my chop saw out to my picnic table every time I want to use it with any longer wood and so i rarely use it…

With the two larger cabinets i am thinking of putting them a long the same wall…OR possibly putting them back to back and building a nice large work surface…with some separation between them…right now I am using two sawhorses with a piece of plywood on top as my bench…

Either way I have tons more storage with all those drawers…it will be great…

Shop Goals:
1) work bench
2)miter station
3) lumber rack
4) shop cabinets (hanging from wall)
5) new electrical
6)lots more???????

Hello LJ’s…

Our care package for Grant arrived yesterday…I got a short note from Grant this morning and a longer message on the caring bridge website from his mom…along with a photo…

If you have not seen this blog——YOU CAN STILL CONTRIBUTE…YES…he will still be in Milwaukee and 1500 miles from home for several months…see my first blog for the story of Grant…the most courageouos person I know…

He is approaching day number 250 in the hospital…and has missed his entire senior year of high school…he has gone through 2 transplants and after the 2nd one…has had many setbacks…

The push now has been to get him from living at the hospital to an outpatient situation at the Ronald McDonald House…near Milwaukee…(cant remember city outside Mil…)

I posted a request from LJ’s to make/send fishing lures…in order to give him something to hope for…since he was starting to really lose hope and give up as the hurdles and road blocks added up…

If you would like to contribute…I ask for some lures or something fishing related (books/dvd/etc..) AND most importantly—-A GOOD FISH STORY…

I will send packages periodically as I receive lures…

THANKS…EVERYONE!!!

HERE IS THE NOTE FROM HIS MOM Wendy ON CARINGBRIDGE:

”Day +194 (this means day 194 POST 2nd transplant—-but day 250 in hospital this coming monday)

Take a look at this photo of fishing loot that came in the mail yesterday! Some of you may recognize the name “Matt Denney” from CaringBridge guestbook entries. Matt and I worked together at River School a number of years ago and he was also one of Grant’s teachers in middle school. He is a member of a brotherhood of woodworkers called “LumberJocks”. Matt told these guys about Grant and the result was this fantastic fishing themed care package. Some of these lures are handmade wooden collector’s items! These guys not only made lures but dug into their own tackle boxes for more gear and a few fish stories to boot! Jack- what kind of wood are those big ones? Also in the box, an exquisite piece of scrimshaw fashioned from a slice of elk antler, a DVD about fly fishing and a nice box to hold the lures! What a great motivator for Grant… goin fishin’! Wow! Thanks so much to Matt, Jack, Ralph, Todd, Steve, Jerry and all the rest. You guys are awesome!”

If you read no other entry today I would like to ask you to take 5 minutes and read the following plea for help for a great young man…you can learn more about his story here.

I have been a part of this wonderful community for two years and I have seen some great things…projects, jokes, review, forums—-but the part that keeps me coming back is the compassion for woodworking and most importantly the compassion for the fellow members here and the communities we live in.

I would like to ask all of you for a little help…not for me, but for a young 17 year old who has been struggling with a horrible disease for 10 years and has spent 200 days of the past year in the hospital 1500 miles from home His family has been in the Children’s Hospital near Milwaukee to get treatment for his disease…and in the past 200 plus days he has been on an amazing and scary rollercoaster to recovery…6 months ago they were hoping that they would be heading home fully recovered from his transplant by March—-and each time he has gotten close to release something new has popped up that pushes him back…and now the closest estimate is that they will still be in Wisconsin until August/September. All the while his family has uprooted and been living in the hospital with him.

Unfortunately last month a change for the worst was added to his physical illness. Grant—a smiling, intelligent GREAT kid has started to lose hope…he has started to wonder what all this is for and is it time to give up—-ie. His emotional health has started to go down…and the doctors say this worries them more then all the other hurdles he has faced…

This gave me an idea that ALL OF US—-WOODWORKERS can help him greatly…Grant likes to fish with his dad and brother…and on his website where his family writes a daily blog on his health he has chosen a background that has FISHING LURES decorating the sides…the few times that he has been able to leave the hospital he has gone to Cabella’s which I understand is a great outdoors store found in the midwest…

So my fellow LJ’s…I would love to hold a “FISHING LURES FOR GRANT DRIVE”…make a fishing lure, write a card for Grant wishing him his health and maybe a good fishing story…and send it to me…as I receive them I will send them off to Grant as a surprise. He has already expressed the desire for a road trip to get home when he is finally released from the hospital with his dad—-so maybe a road trip that has the promise of some great days of fishing on the way home would really raise his spirits…

Will you help me raise this young man’s spirit…I truly believe this could help him live if he has one more thing to hope for…

If you can contribute reply here…maybe a lure…maybe something that would go in a tackle box…then send me a PM and I will give you my address…as I get several at a time I will send them off to Grant…

My special project…if I get enough of a response from all of you I would like to attempt to make a special tackle box for Grant…I have never made a box but I have seen soooo many great ones on this site that I am sure I will have lots of help…

So what do you say…thanks for reading this far…if you have already made some lures—-help me out by getting the drive off to a good start…

Let me know…keep this blog “fresh on the rotation” when you can by making comment on your progress…if you turn your lure into a project that you post please tell this story and add a link to this blog so that new LJ’s will learn about this drive…

One more favor—-if you know of any LJ’s who have already posted LUREs…send me a message so I can send them a request for a few to get us off to a good start…

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU…lets help Grant!

Your friend,

Matt

as part of this strand i checked out the merchandise shirts…and noticed we have achieved A FEW MILESTONES…since the milestone shirt that is being sold…

the milestone shirt that is being sold is 1,000 projects…and the homepage says we are above 15,000!!!

ANd how about that LJ booth at the Woodworking show??? all we need are some stickers, cards, shirts, a few laptops and some LJS….

ANd where are the baseball caps???

I mean this out of love…I am proud member and believe soooo much in this site…its time for some of the amazing artists to submit some t-shirt designs…maybe a new CONTEST???

So we need to get ready for LJ #10,000!!! T-shirt…and more…

matt

What a difference 2 years makes…when I joined we were in the hundreds of members…I joined in what I think was the first BIG Growth spurt when LJ’s teamed with Popular Woodworking for the table challenge…I have never looked back…of course never made the table…but certainly discovered a good place…community that keeps me coming back daily—-and during summer—-hourly…lol…

Well…I had anticipated that my 2 year anniversary would be celebrated with lots of fun projects and turnings—-since it coincides with the end of my spring break vacation…and guess what—-I have not even gotten into my shop except to grab the occasional tool…

I have been spending the week working on my new :) sprinkler system…boy its physical work!!! And its not really wood working so I wont post it as a project…until I build the box to go around the valves…

But I would like to say thank you to all of you—-I would have NEVER ATTEMPTED this without the confidence and skills I have attained over the last 2 years from all of you—-not to mention the encouragement…this week I was helped by a neighbor when I pushed, pulled and prodded the trenching machine—-that thing was a beast…but all the trenches took us 4 hours…Thank you Jonnie!!

And later a colleague who had done his own sprinkers helped me with the purchasing of all the parts and giving up an enitire day to put them in—thank you Chris!!!

Today I will start filling in the trenches to bury the pipes…and then we will level out the soil and get some grass soon…

This project is a huge section of the worlds slowest back yard makeover—-which is represented in many of my other projects…over the last 2 years….so it really is a part of my woodoworking when you combine it with all the above…

The GAte

the fence

the rolling gate

the picnic table

the deck

The raised garden bed

The Redwood Baby Swing

The adirondack chairs

and now…the sprinklers…

THANKS LJ’s…

Your buddy…matt

Here is the first trench with 5 seperate lines…and the valvest in the back ground…that is where I will build a cover…THE WOOD PART…lol…

Then that first line branches off in to a three pronged fork going down to the back…

Author’s SELF PORTRAIT…and the pipe for the garden bed drip system…

And most importanlt—-THE LUMBER JOCK SHOT—-after hundreds of feet of pipe—-that is all we had left—-measure twice—-cut once!!! I have learned! (this one is kudoos to chris!)...