Riverbend Journal

  There used to be a number of ponds across the farm mainly because nearly every farm had one or more for watering livestock or as a water source. But like many industries, farming has changed and thus the need for farm ponds has been reduced. When you combine that with the need to maintain a pond to keep it in working order, we have simply let the ponds live out their useful life and removed them. The one pond where we mostly fished since I was a little kid still exists but the overflow tube on it has rusted out and it would have cost more to repair it than to just build another pond. I wrote about one of my last fishing trips to that pond here , and my attempt to salvage what fish remained.  Since that time, we have built a new pond in a different location. We don't have a particular need to water livestock or have an alternative water supply anymore but having a place to meet as a family and perhaps catch a few fish seemed appealing enough to justify the cost.  Last sp...

  With all the joinery done, it didn't take long for me to build the frames for which the drawer sliding hardware will attach. I made them out of poplar which is a nice wood to work with, is readily available and is much cheaper than oak and walnut. Only one edge of the frame will be seen when a drawer is pulled out and I have a solution for that. I took some scrap walnut that is too thin to really do much with and adhere them to the front edge of the frames that might be visible when you pull the drawer out. A simple step and pretties things up a bit. Once that was done, I drilled a few holes for screws to mount them into the overall carcass assembly and also holes for me to attach the drawer slides at some point in the future. Above you can see them mounted in the dresser carcass assembly. I need to apply a coat of oil to the front visible edge. There will be four drawers in each section and with three sections, that should add up to 12 drawers which is what the wife requested....

This video was brought to my attention via the news site Tangle , my go to source for unbiased information of the political realm. The video is graphic in that it portrays the last seconds alive for many Russian soldiers.  Why I decided to post it here is because it literally shocked me of the new reality of war around the world and I think it a good reminder of the cost of any war we deem justified. Based upon this video, I think the days of fighting with any sort of boots on the ground in a coordinated manner is past, just like those days of fighting from horses or fighting in organized lines facing each other across open fields. It is a method that is scalable to unimaginable proportions. AI plays a part too. In order to defeat drone jammers, drone operators simply start the process, point out the enemy and then switch control of the drone over to an onboard A.I. that can finish the task without human guidance that can be jammed by the enemy. At least this is how the good actors...

  A view of one half of our garden taken just over a week ago. Thus far everything is looking great, especially the potatoes. Thus far we have been just weeding what few weeds grow this time of the year but plan on mulching everything in the next few weeks before we leave on our trip. Above is the other half of the garden and mostly the warm weather stuff starting with the tomatoes with the cages. There are also a couple rows of beans we just planted and two rows of sweet potato slips beyond that before one gets to the garlic and strawberry bed.  Our radishes did pretty well but were starting to get big and heat up spice wise so I picked all that was left in the garden, thinly sliced and cold pickled them along with a couple old carrots in the fridge. We like to eat this on bibimbap or other similar dishes. Besides that, we've already been eating lettuce fairly regularly as well as pulling the occasional onion. It won't be long before we can start harvesting new potatoes....

  With the main frame of the dresser assembled, I did some touch up sanding and applied a coat of oil all over the exposed wood. Since this project will take some time to complete and summer humidity will be arriving soon, I wanted to seal up the wood to prevent it from absorbing some of that moisture and expanding in ways I don't want it. Here is a close up of one of the end panel with showing some of the walnut grain and the finish it will have. I applied a second coat of hard wax oil to the front and sides that will be visible but not the back or inside. Likely I will add another coat or two to the visible parts at some point but that can wait for now. Above are the components of the next pieces I am going to build. The drawers have slides that allow them to glide in and out of the dresser when you pull on the handle. The slides are what connect the drawers to the rest of the dresser that doesn't move and my slides need some wood structure to fasten too. Above are the pieces...