Today was the day that Henry, Juniper, Grandma and Grampa had been waiting for. Christmas shopping and other preparations have been underway in the background for a while, but today was the time to bring out the Christmas decorations and put them on display. As has become our tradition, the kids and I assembled the tree and strung the garlands while Grandma sorted the containers of ornaments. There were plenty of ornaments to choose from, each handmade by a member of our family and each one with a unique story. The kids then got to pick out their favourites and place them on the tree. As we decorated, we talked about who made each one, remembering those now gone and fondly thinking of those far away. To keep things civil and fair, both kids shared the task of placing the angel on top. Our house is now ready for this year’s celebration! Merry Christmas, all!
Last details to complete project
Yesterday, Jay painted the final details on the Downey’s mascot and tractor that will sit atop the giant sign/planter we finished last week. This final painting marked the completion of this project. It will stay in the warm shop over the holidays to ensure the paint perfectly cures before we take it out into the cold. There are three more signs to build for this order before we ship to Ontario.
Bringing in the experts
The new laser engraver requires a six-inch vent to extract the noxious fumes that are created while operating the machine. The more direct the path of the ducting, the more efficient the laser will run, so we decided to go straight from the machine through the wall. The thing is, the wall behind the laser is fourteen inches thick, eight of which are solid concrete. Rather than tackle this project ourselves, we put in a call to our friends at Groovin’ Gord, who specialize in coring, cutting and grooving concrete. They were super efficient and wasted no time setting up, drilling the seven-inch hole and then cleaning up perfectly when they were done - all in less than an hour. THANKS!
