those dam beavers!

 i had forgotten about this blog post until i stumbled across it while 

looking for some fishing pictures this morning ...

You’ll probably enjoy this, especially if you are from  Pennsylvania.

This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries regarding a pond on his property. It was sent by the PennsylvaniaDepartment of Environmental Quality, State of Pennsylvania . This guy's response is hilarious, but read the State's letter before you get to the response letter, you won't stop once you start.  This guy is good! SUBJECT: DEQ ... File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec 20; Lycoming County Dear Mr. DeVries: It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity: Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond. A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Department's files shows that no permits have been issued Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated. The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations.. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2010. Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action.. We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions. Sincerely,  David L. Price District Representative and Water Management Division.  Here is the actual response sent back by Mr. DeVries:  Re: DEQ File No.. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County Dear Mr. Price, Your certified letter dated 11/17/09has been handed to me. I am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget Lane , Trout Run, Pennsylvania . A couple of beavers are in the process of constructing and maintaining two wood 'debris' dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of natures building materials 'debris.' I would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic. These are the beavers/contractors you are seeking. As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity. My first dam question to you is: (1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers, or (2) Do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request? If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. (Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.) I have several dam concerns. My first dam concern is, aren't the beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation -- so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer. The Department's dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent rain event, causing flooding, is proof that this is a natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and calling them dam names. If you want the damed stream 'restored' to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers -- but if you are going to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter, they being unable to read English. In my humble opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond. If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the environment (Beavers' Dams). So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2010? The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice by then and there will be no way for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them. In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention to a real environmental quality, health, problem in the area It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone. If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your dam step! The bears are not careful where they dump! Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam office. THANK YOU, RYAN DEVRIES & THE DAM BEAVERS

John Updike Has Left The Building

 

 below ...  a repost of a few thoughts on john updike of 'rabbit run' fame ... he is always worth a read ... 

A man of words and culture has passed on. As a reader with a wide range, I haven't focused on his novels but was often entertained when I encountered his short stuff on golf, manners, and everyday life. I posted a short excerpt back in July which I will repost here in his honor and add a link to a thought provoking sort of short story from the New Yorker ... Worth a read if you like short fiction ...

His way of looking and writing about everyday life is a skill I admire and his often thoughtful critcisms of art and literature as well as his precise and wordy sense of humor are usually worth a read if you bump into them.

Here's the golf story ... click to enlarge it for better reading ...

And from yesterday's Times.... a more eloquent summary

new moon, new year ... artists don't retire ...

so, i was sitting outside a while ago and it started to rain... i went inside and 

randomly picked up one of my 'blog to print' books ...  leafing through it

i came to the post below ... the chuck close thing below is relevant here..

chuck says that 'artists don't retire' ... 

i may have to rethink things, and declare Will's new shop 

just 'one of' my retirement projects! 

 

From January 1st, 2017 ....happy new year everyone!

as we head into 2017 and my 38th year of custom furniture making, 

i'd like to wish all of you a healthy and prosperous new year.  

we had a lovely holiday season here, and after one more day of rest tomorrow, 

we'll be back at it,

as i sometimes do on the new year, i'll leave you with a few thoughts that have 

been lurking around my brain for a while...
click the photos to enlarge them ... 

back in the 90s, for a while i kept a sketchbook/scrapbook.  it came to light a while back from a box in the cellar, and, while there's lots of (dated) stuff in there, i plan to put some effort into sorting 

through it this year.  

while it was living in my drawer this year, i stuck two clippings on the cover, one about lou reed and one on leonard cohen .. 

'i'd go there more often.' ... perfect! ... both are worthy of some further thought ..

as i fast approach the big 7 zero , i am sometimes asked if i will be retiring soon,

at the moment at least, i think not ... 

besides work and my day to day home life with kit and the boys, i seem to be making plenty 

of time for painting, pottery, golf, tennis, and paddle tennis. i don't sit still well ...

this year, i plan to teach myself to paint at least somewhat more realistically.

i am still in touch with and visiting with my painter friend horst, and though he has recently had a physical setback at 92, is still painting from time to time. i had the most lovely visit with him yesterday as i dropped off a book that i had made for him as a thank you for his 'teachings'.

and speaking of late stage, 

there was a recent article in the new york times magazine on chuck close
about the source of ideas and their relation to 'process' ...
it's a long one, and it concludes with some thoughts on 'late stage' work ..

you'll have click it to blow this one up to read it .. the gist of it .... 'artists don't retire' ... 

so, after some fine visits with friends both old and new over the holidays, stories swapped, both new and familiar, it kind of, for me at this point, boils down to mr. marquez's thought below ..

happy new year!

                                                                         20 minutes later .... 

on second thought, i leave you with a poem, 'Cosmolgy' by billy collins.

typically, i'm not inclined to read much poetry, but i like this one ...

spock

so, this quote from mr. spock showed up on my kitchen counter saturday.  every year a 

neighbor gives us a calendar of sayings, a one a day thing.

kit and i use them for note paper, and as you can see, we are about a year behind.

jim harrison .... gonna miss him

so, jim harrison has left the building ... however, you can be assured he gave his whole time here his absolute best shot ... outdoorsman, cook, poet, thinker, writer, storyteller, he did it all.  and admirably and in his own totally robust style.  i think my first introduction to his work was 'dalva', a fine saga i have read and reread numerous times.  he drew fine characters, like brown dog, and led you through their interesting, yet somehow almost believable lives ...

one would do well to read the two things the times has published yesterday and today ... 

the photo above is from the obituary they published yesterday .. 

and this one today by dwight garner

the excerpt below is from a blog post on books that i was reading back in 2010 ... 

there is a category over there to the right called 'what i'm reading'.

 if you are a reader, there are probably a few books there for you, regardless of your interests.

"And, finally, a revisit to a favorite author, Jim Harrison, who we have been reading for at least 20 years now. This guy can get you thinking with every, and I mean every, sentence. I borrowed it from a friend but I'm going to get my own copy. Some sections are so beautifully written and thought provoking they just take your breath away .... You find yourself opening to earlier sections to reread the best parts before opening to where you left off. A historic saga of family life and nature on the American Plains ... Try Dalva too ...

2/20 ... update .... having been so taken with The Road Home, I visited the library and in the last week and read two more of Mr. Harrison's books. The Summer he Didn't Die, and yesterday, in the throes of a headache and general malaise, The English Major in about a 20 hour period ... Both lived up to my expectations and if you like his style, you'll probably enjoy these too ...."

what i'm reading now

a wonderful report on what it takes to get really good at something ..

and after visiting the david smith show at the new clark art museum back in july, i hauled out my doorstop of a book from the guggenheim show and spent some time with that .. the guy was a dedicated, persistent, visionary artist of his time. 

well, this was an ambitious project ... the four rabbit books by john updike. rabbit run, rabbit redux, rabbit is rich, rabbit at rest.  i was born in pottstown, pa, about 20 miles from where these books fictionally take place ... while rabbit is certainly not the most likeable man, this is a portrait of those times, and, an insightful one in my opinion. updike is such a craftsmen with words, it was hard to take a break ... 1679 pages, and i read em all, one after the other.  took about a month .. his writing on golf too, always brings a chuckle .. and there is a link to a great new yorker story in that post too.

how's that for a sentence?

and rothko ... a controversial guy, but i am influenced in my pottery by his work with color.

a comment on the history of craft, a history of how knowledge is passed down and along in society .. a bit of a slog, but you can just nip at it from time to time and revisit it as you feel like it ..

and lastly, a great read and an incredible true story ... background on the effects of the depression in seattle, the dust bowl, the nazis and the 1936 olympics, the grand coulee dam ... again, what it takes to get good at something, physically, and mentally ...

tell the story

                                i'm gonna leave this here for a minute and come back to it later.

it's an important thought and i don't want to lose it, (again).

ok, i'm back ... below is my attempt at on observation on the letter above:

so kurt vonnegut is one of my favorites.  like my father, he was caught up in world war II and made the best of it.  in kurt's case, you might say he made a career of it, and i go back to his books from time to time for his insightful writing and sense of humor.  i recently read the book of his collected letters, and while some are mundane, others are brilliant and totally make me stop and think .. the one above is a good one. click it to enlarge it and (hopefully) be able to read it ...
others are below at the end of this post.

what to make of the letter above.  hmmm  ..  i am a member of the the guild of vermont furniture makers, a group with 30 or so members throughout the state.  .. kate pace owns and runs a company called 'route 7 social' that is engaged in helping small businesses like ours market their products.  the guild recently received some state money in a grant designed to increase business activity and job creation, and we engaged her services to use social media to help us do that.   after imploring, (without much success), the list of suspects to add content to our guild of vermont furniture makers blog  , she has more or less taken over the production, (writing), and promotion of that web address.  in that effort she is visiting and profiling all thirty artists in their studios.   i had an interesting conversation with her on thursday, when it was our turn, dan's furniture, sam's metal work, and will's banjos.   one of her observations from visits with other makers are that many of them describe themselves as 'not into self promotion', and 'want to let their work speak for itself'.  that's all well and good, and i understand completely.  but often, objects themselves don't have all that much to say and just sit there quietly, waiting to be 'discovered' ...  as kurt points out, "people capable of loving some paintings or etchings or whatever can rarely do this without knowing something about the artist."  so without the story, as kurt suggests above, 'there goes the ballgame right there'.  i agree that the object is only one half of the conversation.   i'm often curious why i write what i write and why i actually enjoy and look forward to doing it, and have come to the not unsurprising conclusion that, while it is not for everyone, i have a story to tell about the stuff we make, and sharing that story gives me some sense that what i am doing has an audience and is part of a dialog.  so, my humble advice to other artists is to 'tell your story'.  there's nothing more deflating in my experience than to drop off a piece, have the client say here's your check, thank you, see you later..  there's more to the ballgame than that.

think briefly about the 'famous funriture makers' .. krenov, wendel castle, nakashima, garry knox bennet ... while their work 'spoke for itself', they all spoke up for it too ... picasso, jasper johns, ai weiwei, story tellers all ..

some more of kurt's letters .. click the photos to enlarge them ..

 'we may end up miles from here' .. love it

one of the more poignant ones above, on the draft ...

and, on quitting smoking ...
and, last nut not leasgt

 

one of kate's photos from her visit thursday .. good one!

why we make things, and why it matters

hmmmm ... i think peter korn has been looking over my shoulder for the last 40 years ... and, he has the way with words to get what he has been seeing down on paper so i can understand some of the things that flit through my brain just below my level of consciousness ... like things i try to verbalize sometimes when people ask me about how or why i started making furniture , and 'do i like it as much as i seem to'? etc .. i didn't always know how to answer those questions, but now, some of it has kind of been explained it to me through mr. korn's book.  my friends bill and steve and pete and all the other folks i know who have been struggling through making a living as furniture makers, builders, potters, glass blowers, masons and sculptors for the last 35 years, are part of a cultural thing, and, as mr. korn says, most craftspeople he knows 'kind of stumbled into the party' while they were looking for 'a good life'.  amen to that.  in the 60s and 70s we were in fact searching.  'back to the land' .. 'self sufficiency' .. 'organic gardening' with sam ogden ... 'living the good life' with helen and scott nearing .. an alternative path to the life most people the generation before us, (our parents), were living.

when i started as a carpenter in 1973, like peter, i was fascinated by the problem solving aspects of the job. then the dexterity and skill thing relating to quality added another level of challenge and interest.  from there, it took just one short lay off from my carpentry job in 1979 to transition to full time furniture making, and ultimately, the good life i was seeking.  i have been lucky, i am the first to admit.  building stuff has been very good to me.  i have had the benefit of a supportive family and community, and amazingly, a steady supply of wonderful and interesting clients.  i have worked hard for sure, but it's never really, and still doesn't really, feel exactly like 'work' .. it's just what i do, and how my life goes.  peter's path was similar to mine to start, but along the way, after experiencing a bout with cancer, and a typical struggle to make a living building furniture, his path moved away from furniture design and building, and into education and school building.  but, his roots are my roots.  his background thoughts are my background thoughts.  the 'engaged pursuit of quality' is a rewarding pursuit that as furniture makers, or any other kind of artist or artisan, we get to buck up to everyday.  in my humble opinion, the 'engaged pursuit of quality' is a concept for everyone to pursue daily in his or her field of endeavor.  it's a great concept.

i also like what peter has to say about design, and how 'it begins with two things, the intention to create and a problem to be solved'.  and how it is a 'skill like any other' and can be learned, which i can attest to personally, as i had not a clue about design when i started making stuff ... kit was the one with eye, and she painstakingly taught me how to 'see' ... four years of college and a degree, and not one single art course.  design can be learned, and some people take to it more easily than others for sure, but if you put in your time and choose your references carefully, you can most likely find you own voice.

another thing peter discusses that is important to me now is that as his focus changed from furniture making to school making, his work changed from 'working with things to working with words', and one of his biggest surprises was 'how much he took to writing'.  that has also been a surprise to me too after 700+ posts and six years of writing this blog.  i spent 16 years getting a formal education, during which i avoided writing pretty much at all costs.  now, for me, as for him, it is just 'another medium through which we think'.  as peter mentions for himself, (now that he has pointed it out), 'working with wood, words, (and for me the five other people in my shop), are all different forms of the same essential endeavor'.  anyway, the book is a good read if you're looking to think about why we make stuff and why that is a good and important process.  friends who have attended his school have good things to say about it, and at some point, i am planning to pay him a visit up there on the coast of maine ... enjoy!  you may not fold over as many pages as i did, but there is something there for everyone ...

more info, more book reviews, and interviews at this link

and lastly on the 'why we make things' subject, i remember reading something recently that bono said in rolling stone regarding lou reed's passing.  i can't find the exact quote, but he said something about lou like this:

 'the nice thing about people who spend their whole life making things is that 

after they go, we still have the things'. 

2/13/14 .. found it ... here's the actual quote

perfect

well, building a new building, or for that matter, a new piece of furniture, or, in fact, building anything requires that we have a vision in our mind when we start.  usually, that vision assumes that we can execute our concepts perfectly, there will be no flaws, and that we will be 100% happy with our progress as we work.  not often the case. throughout the building process, and particularly,  as we approach the final few weeks before sam moves into his new metal shop, we have been "encouraged" by a number of realities that often rear their ugly heads to make some compromises.  don't get me wrong, i am THRILLED with everyone's efforts on this building from the first shovel full of earth to the last board nailed up on friday, but i have often worked on projects with more substantial budgets of $ and time, and therefore know this one could have been 'better'.  maybe.  we could have used the new, more efficient spray foam insulation ... +$2000 at least.  we could have gone for the fancier door units that i saw when i first entered the window and door showrom at miles ... +$8000., the next level up of windows ... $2500., and we could have finished the upstairs this year and been done with it ... + who knows? $15,000.?  more?  as mr. cheek's article from the times above mentions, we have arrived in the land of mr. wither's 'all right', and, as always, we're happy to be there. her's a link to the times article online if you can't read the one above.

 land of 'all right' .. fits into the existing landscape ok ... one of my builder friends commented that 'it will look like it's always been there'.  good enough for me ..

 where we are as of today ... i had always envisioned a pair of formal 'entablature like trim details' like the one on the main shop, but i personally never got around to executing them before matt and nat arrived there friday with the siding.  they were always 'off budget' items that i was going to add in on some weekend or other, with some sweat equity, but as we were all studying the situation friday, off the list they went .. move on ... 'all right'..

so, in the end, we did 'pretty good' .. the doors can open wide for work in the summer, check.  radiant heat in the concrete floor, check ... slate roof to match the other buildings, check, no posts in the main work area, check ... up to code wiring and welding fume exhaust .. check, soon ... we've definitely arrived in mr. wither's 'land of all right'.

for more of mr.cheek's thoughts on boat building, see this link 

his writing is full of little gems of observation, like the one below... food for thought.

"Mr. Greenley was never perturbed about a mistake; he simply set about finding the most efficient fix. He understood intuitively that surges of negative emotion not only interfere with problem-solving; they also get built into the object you’re working on."

and for a few interesting thoughts on moving your thninking skills forward, try this article in the new yorker from atul gawande ...

i'm back (sort of) ... spring in vermont

well, when it's springtime in vermont, you can't expect tooooo  much writing from me ... i do have a couple of good posts coming up, but i haven't quite gotten around to getting them together just yet.  soon, i suspect, like maybe tomorrow.  maybe.  if it rains or something.  maybe ... here's a sampler of what it's like outside here now ... like i said.  spring.  click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 you got your grass to mow ... nice change from the snow ...

 you got your hoseshoes to set up

 you got your magnolias ..

 and your phoebe nest ...

 and your fishin'...  sam with a big one from the mettawee ..

 your tulips  ...

and your wood to stack ... all done now ..

your big fat 800+ page book to read ... 400 years of natural history, well written.

your golf to play ... been out a bunch of times ... 

and so much more.

and oh yeah,  we still have to work ... we've been working on the new designs.  heading into it big time on monday ... more soon ... dan

"design matters" ... george walker

there's a lot to read about woodworking in the big old online world.  since i know from their comments that a lot of my readers are woodworkers, i think it only appropriate that i occasionally point out other worthwhile writers to ponder .. george walker is one whose musings i enjoy from time to time ... 'design matters' is his cleverly named and  nicely written contribution to the knowledge stream.  i encourage you to add it to your list.  i was particularly inspired by his recent post on 'learning to see', a subject i know i have commented on from time to time.  enjoy ...