Recycled table made from cut boards

They are back - home improvement posts!  Well, one anyway.  Just some pictures to show how I made a cool patio table for our back deck using recycled materials.

Here was my inspiration.  

Those are 2x6 boards that the tradesman who installed our cultured marble shower surround used as a backer when cutting the pieces of cultured marble.  I thought they looked so used, organic, and artsy that I couldn't throw them away.  It just took a while before I figured out what I wanted to do with them.

There were more cut boards, not quite so deeply incised, from the siding installation. I gathered them all up and decided to build us a table.  I went to work with my trusty helper in the garage.

Here is the basic construction photo.  I used some extra pieces of cedar 4x4 posts leftover from the pergola project (I had been hording them) for the legs.  I used the super incised inspirational cut boards for the table skirt, and the not quite as incised siding cut boards for the table top. I used several power tools. Fun.

With $12 worth of hardware and some very basic carpentry, I had me a patio table.  I found the chairs at World Market.

Friends helped us christen it with wine and rhubarb crumble.

But I thought it looked too bland.  How about some leftover orange paint to jazz things up?

Overall, I love it.  It is a conversation piece for sure.  Carpentry is not my forte, and after a summer's worth of patio dining, the table is beginning to wobble a bit. 

We will have to keep from dancing on it too much until Drew can reinforce the hardware.

Bad kitties. Very bad kitties.

NWGA expo and WFA

In early December I linked up a couple of trips south.

NGWA

First, the National Groundwater Association Expo in Las Vegas.

I like this convention because it is full of practical and useful information for the times I interact with well drillers and well owners, and in my capacity as our workgroups "well drilling specialist". (Did I ever think that "well drilling specialist" would be part of my job title when I was 16?)  Plus, the exhibit hall showcases some rad well equipment.

A cut-away view of a line-shaft pump.

Drew joined me for the last couple of days, so I was wined and dined after long hours listening to seminars on injection wells, well-cleaning techniques, and new software tools for my industry.

WFA (I pronounce it "wuff-a", 'cause I like the sound of that)

From Vegas, we loaded the bikes on the roof rack and made the short drive to coastal southern California where we got in a quick ride on one of Drew's old favorite trails from his Navy days.

My tour guide on Big Sycamore Canyon trails.

Ending the ride on the beach at Point Mugu State Park.

The next two days were jam packed with learning Wilderness First Aid at a certification class near Oxnard.  We are required to become WFA certified to be coaches in the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, but we are unable to take the course offered in Salt Lake before the start of next season.  So we attended this class hosted by the Southern California High School Cycling League. 

Luckily, it wasn't all classroom time.  We got to run practice scenarios such as how to treat for hypothermia and how to bandage your spouse when she is pretending to be incapacitated.

There was time for some great Mexican food and a short walk on the beach.

But that was the end of my dual-state, dual-purpose December trip.

Moab squared

I was lucky enough to get two trips to Moab in November.

Why condo owners camp

Trip #1 was for our annual home owners association (HOA) meeting for the condo.  In the off season, we are slaves to any potential rentals to offset monthly expenses, so when someone wanted to book a few months in advance for this particular weekend, we did it.  That meant we were camping!

Since we bought the condo in 2007, we have hardly camped.  I miss it.  We were lucky that on this particular weekend the weather forecast for Moab was for clear and sunny, 65 to 70 degrees for the highs and 40 to 45 for the lows.  Excellent.  

We staked out a spot in one of the campgrounds in Sand Flats Rec Area.

Doesn't this look like a Toyota commercial?

And commenced tent set up.  I scored a used cabin tent on our local classifieds for $40. This was its maiden voyage. See the 13 second video of its set up.

Tent builder supreme.

A room with a view

Bird's eye view of our camp.

Panorama of our camp

We spent most of the weekend either at the meeting, or, once the renters left, fixing on the condo, but we enjoy a superb ride on the Magnificent Seven trail system.

Moab squared

Trip #2 for me was to do a bunch of little maintenance items and enjoy some time with my old friends Jeff and Lisa, who moved out of state when their youngest was just a babe; that was almost five years ago.  We enjoyed some of the amenities of the condo...

and a long but special hike to...

Delicate Arch.

The resident chipmunk was quite entertaining.

and tame.

Delicate Arch really is spectacular. No wonder it is on half of Utah's license plates.

It was fabulous to catch up with my old friends and get to know their two cute boys better.

Stans photo shoot

Although it is the dead of winter, we can remember the good times of summer, right?  Here are some pictures from a sort of favor we did for our friend and pro mountain biker Kathy Sherwin.  She races for the Stans NoTubes Elite team, sponsored by Stan's NoTubes.  They needed photos for their promotional material.  We and several of our teammates spent most of one hot Saturday and Sunday in June on a photo shoot.

We got about 200 shots of each of us; but these are my favorites.

For all the action depicted on these photos, there really wasn't a whole lot of riding.  There was more of this...

Standing around waiting to be called out to ride past the photographer.

and this

Cleaning the bikes of dust so the wheels looked best.

And this

Posing for the photographer, Steven Lloyd, while he set up lights and angles.

You gotta admit though, he made us look good!

This is a rad shot of the dude that put the shoot together and did the marketing material for Stan's, the man behind Damion Hickman Designs.

For our time, in addition to the photos and a good deal on the wheelsets, we got to keep a couple of sets of clothes and nice Lazer helmets.  We got some really sweet blue shorts for me and red shorts for Drew from Zoic.  Nice stuff that I ended up wearing a lot of throughout the rest of the summer.

It was mostly work, but we had a little nature encounter too.

In the end, we ended up with some shots in the Stan's catalog and some big posters for Zoic at trade shows.

I kinda felt like a rock star there for about a day.