Blanket Chest - Part 3

The chest has been completed, including a piano hinge. Finish will consist of several coats of Waterlox (tung oil and varnish) followed by a few coats of wax.

Blanket Chest - Part 2

The chest is mostly done. The box has been completely assembled; the top has been cut to size and routed with a stepped roundover profile; the base (plywood with a solid oak border) has been routed with a bullnose that matches the top; and the legs have been cut and glued up (the masking tape holds the mitered corners together while the glue dries). A dry fit of the entire chest is shown below:

Blanket Chest - Part 1

Last week I started work on a frame-and-panel blanket chest. The wood is red oak. The chest is 34.5" long x 18.5" deep x 15.5" high. The rails and styles are 2.25" wide.

Shown below is a dry fit of the front frame (without the panels):



This is a dry fit of all of the frame panels that make up the chest:




Now it is time to put the panels into the frames and start the glue up. The front and rear panels are shown. The panels have been cut so that the grain will run continuously around the chest:


The top (not shown) has been glued up and is ready to be cut to size. Next week I will work on the top, the bottom, and the base.

President Obama With His New Best Friend (Not His Dog)

President Obama shares a moment with his new best friend, Hugo Chavez. Makes sense when you think about it. They have similar views about imperialism, capitalism and the role of the state.




All smiles here. You can feel the love.

Lucy at 8 Months

This photo was taken at Thanksgiving time. Lucy is a good-natured critter with a sweet disposition. I just can't believe how little she is.

Thanksgiving Turduckhen

This year we decided to cook a turduckhen, a gluttonous dish invented in New Orleans, consisting of a partially de-boned turkey, stuffed with a deboned duck, which in turn is stuffed with a deboned chicken. Each layer of poultry is separated with a cornbread and sausage dressing. We ordered the turducken from Herbert's Specialty Meats in New Orleans and had it shipped frozen.

The turducken needs to be roasted for 8-9 hours at a low heat to make sure that it is cooked through without over-cooking the outside. Here it is just out of the oven. The shape is a bit different than a turkey because most of the bones have been removed:





To carve the turduckhen, it is first sliced lengthwise. You can see each of the layers of stuffing:


Then each half is sliced across so that each slice contains each of the layers of stuffing. The slices make a beautiful presentation:


We will soon see if it tastes as good as it looks. Wines that we serve for Thanksgiving are American. The turducken is highly seasoned and requires a big wine. We will try pairing it with a 2005 Girard Syrah.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sarah Palin's Acceptance Speech

Sarah Palin's speech was loaded with so many memorable, pointed, zingers that it is hard to keep them all in mind.  I could not find a copy of the text of the speech, but did find several articles that quoted bits and pieces.  The following are among the most insightful and biting lines:

• “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer’ except that you have actual responsibilities.” 

• “I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.”

• "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state Senate."

• “This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word ‘victory’ except when he’s talking about his own campaign."

• "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems -- as if we all didn't know that already. But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all."

• "But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot, what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger, take more of your money, give you more orders from Washington and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy, our opponent is against producing it." 
  

I recorded the speech and listened to it twice last night.  What a stunning delivery.  Apart from the brilliant content, her intonation, facial expression, body language, and timing were flawless.