Sandra

This is Sandra's contribution to Jubilee. The colors and how things are decorated.

A view of the front of the house. Her carefully selected 3 color paint scheme. (Don't ask how many times I painted it until she had what she wanted.)

The best way to show Sandra's design scheme is in the kitchen. Here is where she started.

And this is where she finished. Same exact corner; door moved, window added and lots of careful touches. It is what she wanted me to make.

Start of the cooking area.

Finish of the cooking area. Check out the loaf of Whole Wheat Bread on the Butcher Block.

Another decorator touch is the Hall Bath. No start photo is available because the Hall Bath didn't really exist. I just cut up the walls and floor and added it to the house. Then Sandra decorated. We get lots of "Wow!" over that old tub with Iris pattern stenciled on the sides.

The towel cabinet is made of Cedar. The sink matches the tub.

more to come

Food

I dearly love to cook, especially healthy foods. I have read several of Michael Pollan's books where he tells about the "River of Corn" and "Enriched Bread".

Maybe my favorite item is Whole Wheat Bread. Getting a good rise to this kind of flour is very touchy but in general I get it right. This is very tasty bread. It is NOT the Whole Wheat Bread you find at the grocery store which is white pasty flour and brown food coloring. My bread is good to eat and good for you. Look at this. Yum!

And I like to make pies. Here is a pear pie (our pears) with a crust recipe by Jeanette Pynes (Sandra's college friend). I blush to tell you how much lard is in that crust but just ignore that and admire how flaky it is. Topped with an Oatmeal, scant Brown Sugar, Walnut and Butter crust. These things usually don't get cooled down before they are gone.

Here are Whole Wheat Flour Cinnamon Rolls with low sugar and plenty of Cinnamon. A Roll with Hot Cocoa and a blanket on the front porch on a cool morning. Great!

Who knew that homemade noodles could be so good. Even the ones that fall on the floor while drying are good. And pasta from our Sweetheart Tomatoes and chopped Pork from Bacon Bits our Pig. What a meal; and double for me because Sandra doesn't care for "floor noodles".

One of the things I read in Polland's books is about the digestive benefits of femented or cultured foods. We make Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Pickles, Yogurt, Kefir and Kambutcha. Here are jars of Kambutcha that are stored in the refridgerator for a handy, low sugar drink. Good probiotic and tasty.

Here is the difference in my cooking and Sandra's. Her cooking is about presentation. This is her Thanksgiving Dinner. Most of her items are from our garden or Hen House, cooked correctly and served elegantly. Nothing from the floor.

And everything finished off with Sweet Potato Pie. Since we live in the Sweet Potato Capital of America it is illegal to not serve it at Thanksgiving.

Young Men

I have done about a dozen projects with young men to teach them Christian Principles which exist in ordinary work. A box must be made of parts that are square and true. The complete work must have a careful finish. 

This is Kane and a Jewelry Box he made for his momma. 

Ian and Sean working on a Storage Box for their Nanny to store her knitting supplies.

This is David's Tool Box for a competition. He needed to show 3 types of joints; this has 5. The Tool Box is made of Pecan and Black Walnut to show off the joints between parts. Notice: Lap Joints, Mitre Joints, Tongue and Groove Joints, Dowel Joints and Mortice Joints. This is a really Classic piece with a hand rubbed near mirror finish. The question I always ask the student is: What was Jesus last words on the cross? The answer, which they must find on their own, is "It is finished." So, I point to their project which they have been working on for a week, and say, "That is not finished." A week later, after hours of sanding and waxing the students looks at me and says, proudly, "It IS finished."

Pay attention to David's joints and the alternate colors of the pieces.

Check out David's finish.

Should anyone ask why I would spend time with these kids I would say that Kent Nicholson spent time with me when I was but 12 tears old. I still have the Square he gave me. A fine Christian Man, he.

Furniture

I dearly love to make things. Here is a Desk I made for Sandra from a 94 year old Persimmon tree. It is finished with hand rubbed wax.

Belinda Berka gave me some planks from the barn her Grandfather made; she asked if anything could be made from them as a memory of her Family. Here is a Keepsake Box from very old, very rough pieces of Oak.

This is Carla's Letterpress which I found at an auction. It is an 1874 JW Daughaday press in very sad condition.

Here is Carla's Letterpress after reconditioning and the addition of an index plate, registration fingers, paper hold down. This press will do multiple colors which was unheard of 140 years ago.

Here is the Letterpress mounted on a cabinet made from Laurel Oak from Jubilee. The drawers hold all the inks and tools and the bottom box is a photo-polymer exposure instrument for making print plates.

This is a very old Sewing Machine that one of the local Quilters asked If I could fix.

Here it is fixed. The Quilter is very proud of that old Sewing Machine.

This is Sandra's Card Table made from Black Walnut. We play Kings in the Corners on it; a sort of Rummy game.

This is a Harvest Table I made for Lewis Hewitt. It is made from good quality Red Oak; ten feet long.

This is my main work bench made from scrap Oak lumber that was shipping pallets. This dude is heavy. Notice the embedded clamping rails down the center.

Barn

You cannot have a farm without a barn; so I built one, from scratch, with no plans except what was in my head. Let me tell you that working up there on the top is scary. 

Once finished there is a ton of storage; two upper decks 10x20 and a bottom concrete floor 20x40. In 16 years I have fillied it up with projects: carpentry, furniture, welding, tractors, lawn and garden, water pumping, hand-made lumber and just stuff. Notice how bright it is inside the barn with the Skylight panels in the roof. There is also a wood stove to warm the place up in the cold weather. That's what I do - cut wood, build furniture and burn the mistakes. The Barn comes complete with wasps.

I was not highly regarded in the community, being an "outsider" from "Dallis", until I built the Barn. Now-a-days the locals introduce me as the guy that built one heck-of -a-barn. Sometimes I go weld-up a plow just to show off when farmer friends drop by.

See the page on Furniture and Young Men for what goes on in the barn.

Visitors

We have had so many visitors during the last 18 years that I can't even find all the photos. 

Elmer Stanley, the original owners of the old house. Elmer is the one in the middle, his wife on the left and a WalMart visitor on the right.

Jim and Barbara Morris, our Square Dance, Backpacking, Trout Fishing, Europe Traveling, Cruise Sailing, 42 Playing, Jubilee Friends. They donated so much furniture to Jubilee that we named the Guest Bedroom the Morris Bedroom. Jim is responsible for the many projects at Jubilee as he is the one who talked me into it. "Don't you have a pond?" he would say. "You need a chicken house", he would say. "A Farm has to have a pig", "I think a barn would give you a place for tools", "If you put a garden over there you could grow lots of Okra" (I hate Okra). Half of Jubilee is a Jim Morris suggestion.

Our wonderful neighbors, Paul and Sandy Syltie. We have had lots of activity with them and their kids and grandkids. Both are Gardening Experts and Rock Hounds. Sandy can cook a meal from sticks and leaves.

Here are long time dear friends. L-R Btm row: Glenn Echols, Sandra, Sam Buchmeyer; top: Anita Buchmeyer and Mary Sue Echols. If you want laughter this group has it; and opinions which no one listens to.

Sandra's College friend Jeanette Pynes and hubby Gordon Pynes. When these Mary Hardin Baylor Girls get together the singing can go on all night: "Up with the Purple". I don't know who Jeanette was going to tie up with the rope, but she's like that.

Daughter Carla, middle, often brings her Austin friends: here is Lynn Eno and her daughter Drew on the right (Drew and I are science buddies except she is the smart one.)

On this day the Ballet came to Jubilee. I was invited to dance the Nutcracker with the Ballerinas. Hysterical Fun!

Our Extended Family Leaders from The Church of the Resurrection in Dallas. The real reason they came to visit was to check on Sandra out in the Lonesome Wilderness.

Good Friends from Square Dance and Spades, Dick and Freda Diz. Freda was here to teach us how to entertain Country Style.

Dora

This is Dora; she came from the tiny hamlet of Dora, New Mexico where Sandra's mother was born and spent her childhood. I found Dora covered with weeds in a pasture and packed her inside our travel trailer and brought her to Jubilee. Poor thing had 97 bullet holes in the vanes which I patched with fiberglass, then repainted with happy colors for her new home. Dora does not have gears and cannot pump water but you tell me if she is not just as proud as if she could.

Can't have a windmill without a "viewing station."