Henhouse...Part II

It amazes me that after all the hours Matthew and I have put into building the Henhouse, we still don't have much to show for it. I guess that is because we have been building all of the pieces that will eventually go together to make the completed structure. We have completed the base, the left, right and back walls and we're almost done with the nesting boxes where the hens will lay their eggs. The pieces for the front wall are cut, but not assembled yet.

Matthew with the mostly finished nesting box.

Hen House gets started

If you can look past the messy garage, you'll see the materials for the Hen House that Matthew and I are going to start building for the 4 chicks that we expect to get on February 12. Stay tuned for updates as the Hen House progresses.

Webelos Craftsman Activity Badge

Matthew is currently working on his Craftsman Activity Badge for Webelos. He decided to make a necktie rack. We came up with a design that was right up his alley. The Glock Firearms Logo.

Here is Matthew with the logo penciled on the wood.(Oak)

After we cut the corners off with a jigsaw.

We got a little carried away and forgot to take the next picture, so here it is after the edges and logo were routered and the holes for the necktie pegs drilled.

Stain has been applied....

Logo has been painted....

Pegs inserted.....


Matthew is very happy with his new necktie rack! Some of you may be wondering.....how many neckties can a 10 year old have? Matthew has about half a dozen.


Matthew did the majority of the work on this project, with dad supervising the use of the power tools. Matthew routered the entire logo and most of the edges. He drilled 5 of the 7 holes for the pegs and wore his elbow out sanding.

The lazy sniper

Ty and Matthew got a .22 bolt-action long rifle and have been out shooting a few times. Watch out Pepsi cans and self-resetting targets! Matthew has an uncanny ability to hit his target consistently from 50 yards. Wait until we scope the rifle! Matthew is a huge fan of FBI, NCIS, and basically any type of Federal Agent.

Silence is Golden....

Starting in 5th grade, students can begin playing a musical instrument. Matthew loves music and waiting until October to begin playing the trumpet was going to be difficult. We decided to get him started a few months early. He got his trumpet yesterday and was extremely excited. He played it for the rest of the day. Lucky for him, he will get some instruction starting the beginning of July until band starts towards the end of September or early October.

Play Ball!

This past weekend we took a trip up to Seattle to see the visiting San Francisco Giants take on the Seattle Mariners.


There was Ichiro Suzuki

There was Ken Griffey Jr

But they were no match for Matt Cain who only allowed one run and pitched a complete game. Giants win 5-1!

2009 Lacamas Creek Pinewood Derby

Tonight was Matthew's 3rd pinewood derby and his first as a new Webelos scout. There were 25 boys participating in tonight's event. Matthew decided he wanted an "NCIS" theme car this year, sticking with the law enforcement theme from last year's "CSI" car. We used a standard wedge design with a little twist. We routered out the letters NCIS all the way through his car. We painted it Navy Blue, which was fitting since NCIS stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Services. All of the boys had a great time, with huge smiles on their faces. Lot's of happy dads too.