Bought an old lamp from an antique store and it had this quaint old thing in it. We don’t talk about it much, but the LED lighting revolution is quite profound.

I’m back to woodworking after more than a year without a shop. During the long transition to move to a new home, I got rid of my remaining power tools. I’m now a 100% hand tool shop for my projects. Started out by making a box out of scrap pine to warm up after such a long hiatus. I’m rusty!

Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, from the Maryland overlook. I hiked a 6.6 mile loop today, which included a stop to take this photo. It was relatively crowded on this cold and windy day, so I imagine this is a trail to avoid in the warmer months! What a nice view. 📷

Turkey Point light station, Maryland. This is one small inlet of the Chesapeake, gives a sense of just how large this bay is: largest estuary in the U.S. 📷

Remember Letterpress? I began a match in March that is still underway. We have yet to use 3 letters on the board (Z,M,K). We are avoiding these tiles at all cost. I don’t know why. It was an unspoken, organic decision. We just hit 401 words. This match may not end. 🕹️

I deployed my Tiny Tenkara rod (4’ 11”) on a small mountain stream in Pennsylvania today. Worked great on brookies, until I unexpectedly caught a big brown. I lost that fight in seconds.

After that, I switched to my (much) longer and stronger Dragontail Mutant Tenkara rod in a bout of optimism… and then caught only trees and bushes. For those who Tenkara, just want to share that such a tiny rod exists — it’s the only rod that works in many tight spaces and folds up small enough to keep in a pocket.

I experimented with night shots using my iPhone 13 Mini while at Savage River. I took a shot as the near-full moon rose over the mountains on a cloudy night. This is a shot at 9 PM with a 10-second exposure, handheld. It was very dark, so I wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised.

While I was fishing at Savage River, I came across a giant chicken of the woods. I took about three pounds home to eat, which wasn’t even half.

Been a long while since I posted. I had the chance to do some fly fishing up in Western Maryland at Savage River last week. I was expecting brown trout, but the first fish I caught was a beautiful brookie in full fall colors. I took a quick shot and put him back.

This one is odd, but it serves a purpose. We have an elderly cat who has bad joints so has trouble eating. I set out to create an adjustable tray so he didn’t have to bend down to eat. Here’s what I came up with. I made it tall enough to plan for the future (in case we end up getting a really large cat or a small dog someday in the future). Our cat can now comfortably eat while seated. The trays easily move up or down depending on the size of the bowl.

The inspiration for this: I had two Harbor Freight bar clamps in my shop, shown below, which I never use because I don’t like to use them for work holding. But the one thing I like about these is that the bottom clamp ratchet is very easy to move up and down. So I thought, what if I cut these clamps up and used the parts to make a cat feeder that could be adjusted?

This is the end result, with a touch of decorative cord wrapping. This was all made with wood scraps and it’s mostly poplar. I’m happy with how it came out and I believe it a one-of-kind design. I mean, really who is going to make something this weird?

Each tray is attached with four screws (and glued) to the aluminum clamp ratchets. I framed the trays so each has a lip so the cat can’t push the bowl off the edge.

I added bumper feet on the bottom of the stand to keep it off the ground a bit in case a water bowl is tipped. I made the top removable so each tray can be removed and cleaned. The tops are capped with scrap leather just to ensure we don’t cut ourselves on the cut aluminum edges. Each bar is set in the poplar base with deep mortises, glued, and screwed in. Also, I added wood inserts to the inner part of the bars for more sturdiness.

The top is shaped so it’s easy to lift off. I cut tiny mortises to fit these bits from the bar clamps and they just rest on top of the aluminum arms. I glued them in.

And here is the final. The apparatus is sized to fit nicely on a standard cat mat. I finished all the wood parts with three coats of Osmo TopOil High Solid.