IN A PREVIOUS VIGNETTE I touched on some subjects or incidents that may create a "didn't I read that before" syndrome when you read this essay. This story I am about to share, although similar or paralleling my interests in recycling, for example, is not the same story! So, relax, and enjoy.

"BUSY" IS A WORD that has been used to describe me. In one or more of my essays I have made mention of my Mother's father, Harry E. Keadle. He once told me of a time when I was quite small, but big enough to get into mischief, he heard me picking up a wrench and messing around near one of his weaving looms (he had five at one time). It must have been quite obvious where I was by the sounds his keen ears picked up some metallic noise (he was blind) and he surmised I had a wrench in my hands. "What are you doing Billy?" he asked. My reply turned out to be a classic, "Fixin". I have often wondered if, after I left, he "looked" (really felt) all over the metal loom I was "fixin" to see if I had left a wrench or something else in a working section of one of his looms. "Fixin" has been a hobby of mine for years.

Some hobbies. I suppose, come from a developed ability to fix things, or maybe even design or make things. Sometimes it is a drive or compulsion in which circumstances have cropped up in my life to fix or make something in our home or for our children or other relative in the past years.

WOODWORKING is definitely one of my hobbies. My father-in-law, Ray Steel, was known as a finish-carpenter or cabinet-maker. In his lifetime he had a part in building or finishing six houses. Later I realized he was simply acting as a contractor who hired various men to lay blocks, build the shell, do plumbing and then he would "finish" the insides. He might even do the wiring although he was not an electrician. Once he built a home where he used several ton of Bedford, Indiana Limestone for two fireplaces and outer stone work. He would live in those houses for a while and the urge would come to "build another house" after he and his wife lived in that house for several years. When he married, just prior to the Great Depression, he moved his new wife into a house he had built which only had a very small debt to pay. That was the house where my wife was born on Reese Avenue in Lancaster, Ohio. We even have a few pieces of his workmanship from that house in our house today. I saw my father-in-law at work many times but never imagined that I would some day own some of his tools and become a "half-way-decent" woodworker myself.

Upon my father-in-law's death, inheriting some of his tools obviously created the urge to learn how to use them and apply myself to becoming useful (or busy) in yet another way. I remember my very first project was to make a single shelf which I positioned beneath a large mirror covering the wall at the end of our hallway. "BIG DEAL -- a single shelf." but it was a start in my experience as a woodworker (I would not dare consider myself a real carpenter)..

FOOTSTOOLS became the "signature product" in early woodworking projects. Gradually, more than a couple dozen stools found their way into our house, our son and daughter's houses, other relatives' and friends' houses. My wife kindly scolded me for not making every one of them the same! Each stool was slightly different due to trying this and trying that feature or technique to achieve the desired results. Strength was one desired feature and because of the lack of skill, experience and knowledge of wood the stool designs were definitely strong. Some of my stools could probably have been used in the circus tents for elephants to step on. But somehow they became a regular request so another stool was made. Only one stool, to the best of memories, was a "commissioned job" where money was a result because an auto mechanic ordered a stool for a specific use in his shop.

TOYS of all descriptions also became projects from the shop. My woodworking skills did not begin until after becoming a grandparent so toys were a natural place to utilize basic skills. Several catapults (using Ping Pong balls as ammunition) were made; as well as pull-type toys, miniature writing desks (with a roll of adding machine tape for writing paper) and marble roll toys and puzzles

DUMPSTER DIVING - I hope this doesn't embarrass any of our sophisticated friends (or even family--but they ought to know better) but many projects were either made or fixed using something picked up either on the street (near the curb of course) or in the dumpsters of assorted "Resources" in our town. "Someone's trash is someone else's treasure." Yep, that's me and I can't help it -- it is almost impossible to drive past a "collection" of throw-aways; you never know what is there until you stop and look through it! The word JUNK is a respectable word in my vocabulary. Yes, there is evidence the CO Syndrome (compulsive obsessive) needs factored in -- "You never know when you might need that little or big piece...one of these days." Another syndrome, TMB (too many birthdays) is making it obvious some real trimming down of possessions is needed. It would be a shame to leave "too much stuff for the kids to get rid of" (a morbid but realistic fact just the same). Perhaps I just need to get busy, maybe get away from this computer and build something else and shave down some of my collection from Dumpster Diving.

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THE WORDWRIGHT