It recently dawned on me that I’m one of those typical enigmas that confound friends and family. I’ve often squandered opportunity and potential for the sake of the greener side of the fence. This means that I’ve bounced around a lot doing various things. Some of the more quixotic pursuits I’ve had include: gold miner in Alaska; prison guard in New York; Navy corpsman aboard ship and with the Marines worldwide; timberframer in New Hampshire, and then in California; and Navy survival instructor in Maine. I’m incredibly fortunate to have an immediate and extended family who have indulged me in this crusade to find new things to do - despite their raised eyebrows and impassioned pleas to get a real job.

I’m also a couch potato and happiest when there are no chores to do; no bills to pay; and no obligations to meet. Why? Because this leaves me free to press onward in my voyage of discovery as I pursue various passions. Of late, this effort has been focused on getting my clumsy hands to produce that which I see in my minds eye, be it in wood or cyberspace.

The current journey began when our daughter was born and I thought it would be nice to build a cradle for her. I had a small collection of Harry homeowner hand tools - an eight ounce hammer; two stripped Phillips-head screwdrivers and a dull cross cut saw. A bit later on it was time for a dollhouse; a tree house (I still owe her that one); and various furnishings. But it’s not all her fault, though. My wife needed stuff - as did parents, siblings, friends, and so forth.

Rationalization is a powerful force, especially when it relates to things one desires. Naturally, I eagerly succumbed and began acquiring every power tool I heard about because I figured they would enable me to build yet more stuff that much faster and then sell some of it. In turn, this would not only pay for the tools I already had, but allow for future acquisitions as well. This is the point where normal people say, “Not!”

Ultimately, all this brought us back to Maine after a twenty-year absence where I set up shop as a self employed woodworker specializing in dollhouses and architectural models. An early project led to an introduction to the Maine Woodturners, a bevy of new friends, and the realization that I needed to learn how to “do web sites”.

And so here I sit with my three personal passions - miniature structures, woodturning, and web sites - and nowhere near enough time to devote to all of them at once. As it turns out - a forty-two hour day allows for this quite nicely; and on any one of them I can be found right here at the computer; just eight feet away on my lathe, or out in the rest of the shop just beyond. I have finally found that greener side of the fence at long last. Life is good.