Harriman Ranch Weekend

We headed down to the Harriman Ranch in Idaho for a weekend of cross country skiing, cooking great meals, and hanging out with a great group of people. The Harriman is really an oasis. The compound of a few cabins, a large community house, and a really large bunk house are about a mile's ski in. We reserved the community house for cooking, and general hanging out and the bunk house for bunking. There were about 30 of us and it was a great time.

Fence posts covered in deep snow on our first ski
There are miles and miles of trails. Ben, Becca, Sara and I took a ten and a half mile ski on Saturday afternoon.


Here is Becca skiing away from Ben as he is taking pictures of the swans.


the swans


Sara and I pulling a sweet ski move


An outhouse with a snow hat


And a barn, just like they say; a post with a barn sure beats a post without one.

Finally

I had this idea that I wanted to build Sara a bed for Christmas. Unlike most of my ideas, I started with ample time to actually do it. I met with my friend Anna who is a great woodworker to talk about my design and to get advice on wood stuff. And so I designed it and got the steel, cut it, and took it to a few welders, one of which said, "sure, that'll be simple enough." So I was off. By this point, it was the beginning of November and I was waiting on the frame, trying to figure out how to pay for expensive stuff like the wood without Sara noticing the bank account and going to the pub quite frequently. One day I went into the basement of a building Mike owns and was just taking the tour of the work they were planning. In the next week, they were going to take down the walls of the basement, huge fir boards, and replace them with steel supports. The building was built in 1892 so that makes the wood pretty dang old and pretty much the kind of wood we will never see again as those forests are gone. So I asked if I could have some and Mike told me it was mine if I hauled it out. So I did and used a bit of it to make our new bed.
I left raw edges so you can still see where it was nailed into and they headboard is an amazingly thick heavy piece filled with colors and sap. I surprised Sara the day before we left for Colorado for the holidays by presenting all the pieces to her and finally finishd painting the base, oiling the wood, and assembling it yesterday. The most difficult thing about actually being prepared was the inability to post about or talk about the bed with Sara for a long long time. Here it is.


cut steel on the way to the welders


the headboard in the shop


the basic frame laid out in shop


a view of the slats with marks of the old wall strips


the bed in its final position in our house

The bed project is done and I am excited to get working on a few projects in the bird and feather studio. I hope everyone is well, Happy New Year.

bird and feather handmade goods

It's official bird and feather is an actual place with an actual address.
Two days ago, Lori and I rented 119 Reeders Alley in Helena, MT for a studio/shop space. My half will be the physical bird and feather studio where I can work and maybe even sell bags, art, wood projects or whatever I am doing at the time. The same items will be available online through etsy so check it out, I created my store yesterday and I will be adding items today.

Here is the studio, we are on the street level.


I spent all of yesterday working on a few cowboy bags. The space is very small and has this fantastic stone wall for displaying items.

I owed my grandmother a new bag so hers was the first project in the new studio. She wanted a closure on top and I decided on a slightly different design which makes it more of a cowboy purse.

Here is a detail of the zipper. It turned out nicely.

One of the nicest things about the studio is it's location. It is right in the downtown and such a historic piece of Helena. Here is a brief history of the street:

Begun in the early 1860's, Reeder's Alley was carefully constructed of native materials and brick, brought to the new mining camp from Fort Benton. The need for lodging in the new camp called "Last Chance" prompted Lewis Reeder to begin a series of small buildings at the extreme west end of what was known as 'Bridge Street.' As demand for lodging increased so did the size of the Alley. For nearly twenty years, Reeder continued to expand his hostelry. A series of devastating fires brought the demise of 'Bridge Street,' but the Alley was spared each time. Today, Reeder's Alley is a restored miner's village with offices, a barbershop, a few restaurants, and small shop spaces.