Mobile homes have come a long way and this one at barely 10 years old has all that you could get in a regular house except “it’s mobile” you can put it on a trailer and move it to where you want. Anyway, I don’t know too much about mobile homes so I’ll get on and we’ll talk about the plans that we came up with on the yard.

The first priority was she wanted a small raised planter that would give enough ground to plant tomatoes and perennial flowers. The rest would be colored pavers and rock to minimize the amount of maintenance required together with ornamental flower pots. The side of the property would be rock with strategically place pavers, flower pots and an arbor with a gate that would lead to the somewhat private back yard. This was all quickly sketched out on a piece of paper but the details would be left to me and as I have said in previous posts, providing you do have an idea the details will come as the job progresses.

This mobile home was situated on a plot that had an east west aspect, that is, the front was facing west so the sun would stream in the front at late afternoon. The back where the planter will be situated will have sunlight during the first half of the day before falling into shadow. The main concern was not having enough sunlight for the plants but there was little option for anything else, this was the only place it could go. A raised planter would give a little additional light to the plants before succumbing to the late afternoon shadow so we had to decide on how tall it would be.

We had though about using regular block work for the retaining wall but something a little more rustic was required especially as it had to fit in with the privacy panels that would be erected at a later stage. Railway ties were another good option but on inspection these were chewed up pretty bad and way too wide for our requirement. We didn’t have the necessary real estate on one side as it was down to four or five feet from the coach to the back wall so the retaining wall had to be made with material of six inches or less to give a good balance between walkway and planter.

I was hoping to use railway ties because of the weight and by pegging them together it would create a stable fixture but the alternative I had decided on was to use pretreated construction lumber and rebar to pin them in place.

The first process was to cut back the soil on the two sides of the mobile home that would have the rock and pavers. This required a depth of four inches so most of the earth was shoveled to the back of the mobile home to be used in filling the planter but you can imagine how much soil is created from a 40′ x 6′ and 30′ x 6′ area let alone the amount of effort on my part to cut down to the four inch depth. You may be asking why not hire someone to do the donkey work but as the total plan had not been formulated it would be hard to get a fixed price and at the same time I’m getting plenty of exercise. As the amount of soil was gradually building up it was plain to see that a truck would be needed to haul aleast two thirds of it away, leaving just enough for the planter.

This hard labor took three full weekends to establish the foundation for the project but now with the soil cut back I could estimate how much lumber would be needed. It was decided to use 4″ x 4″ pretreated eight foot lengths of pine and half inch rebar to pin the sections in place. The height of the planter would be a full six sections giving it a total height of 21″ a nice height that you could also use as a seat. The rebar to retain this structure in place would be half inch diameter and 36″ long giving 16″ of steel pounded into the soil every couple of feet along the length of the structure. I figured that with the planter built Lego style and rebar to anchor it into position the force of the soil would complete the rigidity. So with the plan in place it’s time to purchase the materials.

For me 2006 has been one of the busiest years that I can remember for a long time. My involvement in the automotive industry as Sculpting Manager has left little free time this year to fully immerse myself into my hobby of carving Welsh Lovespoons so the output has been significantly down, even the partially carved spoons that I have spoken about languish in the garage craving for attention. So, in an effort to bring a perspective to this coming year end, what is the plan for the New Year.

I tend to plan BIG, but then I remember I have two children under the age of five which instantly deflates the grandeur of the scheme leaving me with a few scrapes of an idea that I would like to accomplish, therefore let’s plot it out for all to see.

• Let’s be realistic, I have to set goals that are in the scope of achieving with a family that demands attention.
• Reflect, determine what posts or information over the past year worked and has been useful and continue to produce the same quality over the coming year.
• Be specific, make sure to cover all the necessary details so that my readers are left with no gray areas in the event that they wish to try the procedure themselves.
• Develop the ideas, plan well in advance to achieve the end result, remembering that family time IS the most important time.
• Time and money, allow adequate time to achieve a quality post even if it means, delayed publication. The facts should be true and uncompromised. If there is an end product, make sure that the necessary funds are available to purchase the goods before jumping in.
• Prioritize, with my writing of Resurrecting the Wood, Metamorphosis and my website Clay, Application to Refinement I have to decide when and where the priority lies. Each one has its own importance, with readers who deserve the best quality information at regular intervals.
• The action plan, with all my bulletin points listed I will have to be more scheduled in time management to be able to achieve a fraction of my expectations. It is easy to talk about the end result but when there is a physical property to output then the time frame is that much more critical. If possible, plan out the month in advance then there will be no hidden agenda that may hamper the outcome.

Well there you have it, some semblance of a plan for 2007 and something that I can work to, to increase output for the coming year. Hope your plan is ironed out too, ready for the onslaught of the New Year.

As I pulled into the parking lot that day I had an inkling that today would be the day that it would fall. The root system was more prominent than usual, probably due to the prevailing winds and I thought to myself that it would not be possible to save this tree if it fell, the weight would be too great to lift and support it back in place. I made a mental note to myself, when it does eventually fall I would have some of the cuttings for my carving projects, when the chain saw is called to reduce this tree to logs.

Three hours after I set foot on the premises the tree was over, within the hour the electric chain saw had started to reduce this once large tree to a mass of branches and of course I asked If I could have a limb that was about five inches in diameter and four feet long. This would be more than enough to support a good few carvings, after all, I already have several large logs in various stages of drying out already situated in my garage.

I must admit, I am quite curious as to how it will carve and what type of grain it will have. The size of limb was important as the small Grizzly bandsaw that I have can only support a six inch cut at best without adding extension blocks, even so this will still be a challenge to cut.

I was totally shocked by the amount of moisture that was in this piece, proving to me how saturated the soil really was, it was soaking up this moisture as fast as it could. The weight of the limb must be in excess of fifty pounds meaning the drying out time will probably be a good six to twelve months.

The good thing about drying in my unheated garage is the lack of unforced heat, this will certainly help to prevent cracking of the timber is this situation. The temperature will remain reasonably constant over the winter months as the temperature does not fluctuate too much near the beach and with the return of higher temperatures next year it should be ready for cutting next summer. Retaining the bark will help to control the moisture lost to the ends of the limb and gravity will play its part in dispersing the sap to the bottom.

Eventually the area that once held this tree will grow over with grass and the scar in the ground will be healed. As for the other trees, there are a few in as much distress and will have to be removed and replanted for them to achieve their full potential, this winter may be the ideal time, if not I may fall lucky again.

Darren Rowse of Problogger.net latest group writing project has stimulated both seasoned blogger and novice blogger to delve into the heart of the matter and question “What if I had to start my blog over again.” Now this very question will place doubt in the most seasoned veteran because the very existence of our blog is being questioned. Is it the right subject, the right niche, do people find the content amusing or educational. Is the design appealing or down right boring. These many questions are racing through my mind/our minds when several days ago this was not even an issue, well not in a sense where it was at the forefront of any current discussion.

My own efforts as a blogger have diminished as of late with my main occupation absorbing all free time in working and traveling so my number one factor would be to ensure that the design of the template was completed before posting. The generic template will suffice and I know there are hundreds available online but for my own needs, I want to be different.

• Design template first, before the first post.

At the beginning I had several Blogger Blogspot Blogs thinking that I would only be interested in posting on a temporary basis and as it was free I had nothing to lose. I already had a website Clay, Application to Refinement under its own domain name and thought the additional annual cost would not be justified. The additional work of posting to a blog regularly would be too much especially with the development of my main website but to be truthful I enjoy blogging when I have time, so the answer is, don’t be cheap get a bona fide domain name not a you.typepad, you.wordpress or you.blogspot. I mean a you.com, .net, or .whatever then it belongs to you.

• Start with the right domain name.

I’m sure there are numerous other flaws that I need to address but in general I am happy with the particular subjects that I talk about, posting on a regular basis will come in time and it’s not something that I’m going to stress over with right now. Reading other peoples blogs and learning from their experience will only strenghten my own resolve, after all this is a long term commitment.

Now those people who were employees or extremely close friends of the company, they had the distinction of wearing the Clark Foam T-shirts, unavailable to the rest of the world making them very exclusive. Today we find that these rights have been gained by a Capistrano Beach, long time surfing entrepreneur Allan Seymore.

This famed blue and white T-shirt worn by the few is now being made available through retail surfing stores only. For those in the know this represents the end of an era, an icon from the past. Still, the exclusivity of the shirt is with the surfing community with no intention of it being available outside your local surf shop. Like I said Clark Foam is still available be it only as a T-shirt!!!

The tremor which lasted between 45 seconds to 60 seconds ruptured fuel tanks and and water main lines causing major fires to break out in the city with little or no water for the firefighters to quell the raging inferno.

The fires unchecked, torched 3600 acres of the city only to slow down as the fuel ran out and eventually to be extinguished by a spring time storm.

The estimated damage ran into $400 million, with a casualty list of 3000 dead, 225000 homeless and 28000 buildings destroyed. The rupture to the earth ran a total length of 290 miles, in comparison the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake left a rupture of only 25 miles!

New to this period of time was the ever popular camera and being inexpensive at that time this natural disaster provided the material for amatuers and professionals alike to capture images of the aftermath making it the first major disaster to be extensively covered by photographers.

Today there are very few original buildings standing and those that are still carry a reminder of the past such as the Fairmont San Francisco looking as it did in 1907. The Palace Hotel which was hosting a famous opera singer and had to be completely renovated, reopening in 1909 and the Westin St. Francis Hotel who had a young John Barrymore in residence on that famed day in April 1906.

When you think about it, it’s still a great deal, when you can send a letter from California to New York for 39 cents! I’m sure there will be the usual moaning about the increase but this is the first since 2002. Profit must have slowed down especially with the energy prices going through the roof. You still have to transport the mail somehow.

If you are sending mail Internationally as I do, the rate is also affected on Sunday so be sure to check the rates out. My airmail cost to the UK has gone from 80 cents to 84 cents for the first ounce so several sheets of 2 cent stamps are going to fill the void until I get the new airmail and first class stamps.

Even though this blog covers pretty much any subject that I feel is important to me I still want to revolve it around the making of Welsh Lovespoons and the tools and materials required to produce a unique product. I would also like to progress my website Clay, Application to Refinement to the next level which would be the start of the 1/5 scale model that has been pending for the last eighteen months. This may be a tall order with a couple of children under the age of five, still obviously craving for attention none stop, but I will have to dig in and get to it.

Next, to complement the website I will be tying in a blog called Metamorphosis. Here I will be posing questions with regards to clay modeling and hopefully students who are pursuing their design degrees will find the information constructive. The intent is to provide a means of useful dialog to solve the many issues in the construction and modeling of scale and full size models.

Well, I guess that’s a tall wish list for me for this year so the late nights will start once again.

Who will take up the slack you may well ask with this humongous void being left to be filled. Maybe it will be Walker Foam, a long time competitor and now possibly the leading maker to fill Clark’s boots. Other possible candidates are Just Foam of San Clemente and Maxi Wetland of South Africa, who ever it is, they have some mighty big shoes to fill.

Either way, there is a big lesson to be learnt here, never put all your eggs in one basket, you never know what’s around the corner.

The strange thing about this closure is that the agencies have stated that that manufacturing plant in Laguna Niguel was in full compliance with state and federal codes, including how it stores the toxic chemical TDI. The fact that there has never been any complaints from local residents leaves one scratching their head. A spokesman from the South Coast Air Quality Management District states that Clark Foam has never been in violation of air quality standards and the local fire authority was not aware of any other action being taken by any other authority.

Clark Foam supplies an estimated 90 percent of the world’s surfboard blanks, with this latest news it has sent small businesses reeling with people already being sent home due to an insufficient stock of blanks. Other retailers have promptly add a premium to their existing boards in the region of $100.00 – $200.00.

The fact that many businesses have not set up alternative suppliers for foam cores will undoubtably lead to shortages of boards and premium prices.