Always be Prepared

Ray is obviously younger than me. His last name starts with an "M". He was a Webelo Scout in 1983. (the year I graduated from high school) I have his scout manual. The den leader's initials were DJ. That is all that I know about him for sure. I can assume he was an athlete and wanted to earn his Woodsman badge. (all of the blanks were initialed for the athletics and most for the woodsman). I really hope he doesn't see this and want that book back.


See at 8:00 pm last night - this is what his scout manual looked like. Deconstructed and spread out on the counter in the studio. The final step between me and a finished bookcase. I thrifted the book because of the graphics. When I painted the shelf, this was in the back of my mind as the covering on the back of the shelves.

I love working in the studio. Now that I have power out there and a small tabletop fan, it is bearable even when the daytime temps are now in the high 80's here (sorry Mrs G. - it is beautiful here in the sunny south) I have not even turned on the radio while I am working. Quiet, peaceful, productive, relaxed. How cool is that????

The handbook contains a wealth and huge variety of information. I started with the full pages that I just loved. Randomly glued them into place and then worked out from there.

It took me a few hours - one bottle of white plain ol' Elmers school glue - a cheap cruddy paint brush, a glass of sweet tea and two Miller Lights. There is no photo, but the apron that Carrie made me has become the studio uniform constant. I go in and, like Mister Rogers, don the studio uniform - then I am in work mode. I like having that separate space a lot.
A zoomed view of the top shelf. Yes - the graphics are fun. I have asked the man at my address to get a coat of paint on the floor tonight while I am at church. Then I'll move this into it's final location and attach it to the wall.

The great thing about the project. It was cheap -

bookcase --- free

primer --- already there (pennies)

paint --- a miss mix at Lowes (3.00)

glue --- 1.00

thrifted book --- free (it was damaged)

less than 5.00 for the entire shelf. Now that qualifies as a bargain.

A bonus feature of the shelf -- the shelves are spaced far enough apart to hold my big paper/mail sorter shelf. So one shelf of this lovely will be designated just for paper storage. All of your other paper whores will surely understand how important it is to have all that paper in one place.

By the way - finished this at around 11:30 last night.

A happy dance happening again.

Have a wonderful day.