My Memorial Day Weekend

So I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend. I took a trip up to DesPlaines,IL to purchase some real lumber to for my outdoor kitchen cabinet currently under construction.  But once there, I realized it would cost about $1,500 to purchase the wood. I decided that was realistically more than I could justifying, so I came back home with a new plan to use ipe wood instead. So that will be ordered today.

While I was in the general area, I stopped at Oakbrook Center and did some shopping for some new shirts.  Happy to see I timed the trip just right, by accident,  as Brooks Brothers was having sale.  After purchasing some shirts, I made another stop at Nordstrom , and then hit a few other stores to check out how the retail traffic looked. I do this as many retailers are having tough times these days as more and more shoppers turn to the internet to make their purchases.

As an investor/trader, it is good to keep a handle on how much foot traffic the different publicly traded companies are doing.  One of the ways to do so, into visit their stores and see how many people are in the stores, and how many people are actually buying.

Not a lot of motorcycle news right now. I should have spent last weekend in Flagstaff,AZ, but due to a few other issues, I canceled that trip to stay home and work on my house.  Looks like I really missed a good time.  I need to take the time off as I help my son move to college later this summer.

Back at home I headed over to the American Legion on Sunday morning to meetup with some of my friends in my local BMW MOA Club for breakfast. I was not the first there, but as witnessed in the picture, I arrived ahead of many.  The lot was full of bikes just about a half-hour later.  We had a good breakfast and many were headed out for a ride.  Not me though.

I’m now back home and ready to get to work in the wood shop.  This door is made of cherry and curly maple.  It has no finish on it yet.  But at least it is now hanging.  Behind these doors is a small closet that will serve as a backup pantry for the kitchen.  You know, the kitchen that still has no cabinets built yet.  But I’m getting closer!

I’m currently building two cabinets, matching the wood as well.  Then onto the passage door, door trip and crown molding. This is all for my new laundry room. Wood finish will consist of several coats of boiled linseed oil, shellac and then top-coated with varnish. The finish process takes about a month to complete, once started.  Slooooow process when working with oil.

So that is and update for now from my world.  More later and ride safe.  Oh, one more thing, as Steve Jobs used to say.  More motorcycle stories are coming.  And new trips are planned for 2017, including another trip up to the great state of Alaska.  So stay tuned.