It's not the New Yankee Workshop, but it is quality craftsmanship.

When not plannig the wedding, and cooking three meals a day, Amanda gives me a little bit of free time (not much but enough to sneak over to my buddy Roger's house to get a little daily lesson in woodworking. Refinishing to be specific. In three weeks I have completed three projects. I wouldn't call my work quality yet, and by no means is it up there with Roger's but hey, he's been doing this since 1966.

Anyway, my three projects consisted of a small oak plant stand, a taller knotty pine plant stand(both came out of my brothers house when he bought it) and a small stool that Amanda says she used when she was too short to reach the faucet (which is a statement of question itself because she is still - as my dad put it when he first met her "short.") So not only is Amanda happy with the outcome of the appearance of the stool, but brushing her teeth is a whole lot easier in the mornings again.

Above you can see the finished products. I am quite happy with the way they turned out. I expected Roger, a former proffessor of metal casting and safety to hand down grades on each of my projects. Much to my suprise, I never received any. I guess when you retire, you do so in every sense of the word. He did note,however, that the little stool I refinished is "quite the honey." That must be an antiquing term, and I think it s a better grade than "a lemon." On that note, I will take it upon myself to safely say that I passed my first course in refinishing.

To note, since I have no place to display my work at this transient time in my life I have decided to give the small stool to Amanda (hopefully, she will let our kids use it once in a while), the small oak stand to Donna, so that she can use it as a drink stand next to her beautiful new chair in Platteville, and the large knotty pine stand to my mother in hopes that after she sees my fine quality craftsmanship (the knotty pine stand is everyones favorite so far) she will allow me to get my hands on great grandpa's smoking stand in hopes of refinishig it and turning it into a beautiul conversation piece for years to come.

Oh, before I forget, Amanda wanted me to put another one of our engagment pictures on the blog. That's what that picture is all about.

Waiting for the varnish to dry,

Tom

Wedding planning is a full time job...

but it has been a lot of fun for Amanda and I. We spent the last two days in Dubuque scouting things out and getting a feel for the area. We pretty much have everything set, now it is time to work on the details. We are coming up with lots of fun and creative ideas for the wedding and for the whole weekend, in anticipation that everyone is going to stay around Saturday as well (we got a great deal on the hotel rooms). It is going to be a great weekend. I have given you all a little sneak peak at the Cathedral (pictured above, the middle picture is a view of the cathedral for the hotel/reception site - two blocks away) but not everything is going to show up on the blog. You've got to punch your tickets for Dubuque in 2007 to enjoy the festivities.

Where's the squirrels?

As I told you a few days ago, Madison has been going on plenty of walks. When not walking though, she is starting out the window dreaming of that time when she might actually catch a squirrel. I don't ever see it happening, and I don't think Madison knows what she would do if she ever caught one. Its just a pipe dream i guess. Still, she spends hours a day at this window, looking out into the back yard in P'ville. When she's not staring out the window she is usually on my lap in the king's (Phil) chair, or tagging along with me over to Uncle Roger's to do some woodworking and sit by the wood burning stove. Her life is rough, but she manages.

A bacon double cheeseburger at Miller's Cafe: $4.75

An order of fried mushrooms: $2.50

A can of Busch Light: $1.75

Sitting at the bar learning life's lessons from your granddaughter: priceless.

A Little View of the Countryside

It is still a little chilly in southwest Wisconsin, but Maddie manages to get us out looking for squirrels. Since we were out today, we decided to take the camera and take a little country walk. The scenery is beautiful up here. Of all my travels so far in my young life, I tell Amanda that Southwest Wisconsin is the most beautiful place I have been so far. Imagine rolling hills, beautiful red farms, and streams and creeks everywhere and you have Southwest Wisconsin. It is as good as it gets. Plenty of ducks and geese too! Take a look for yourself. Andy and Jess will be able to tell you all about it after they come out this summer too.

On the weekend of February 24th we were graced with the presence of friends and family in Davenport for one final sendoff. It was the first time that Amanda's family met my family but it didn't take long for everyone to relax and have a good time (see picture of Granny and Uncle Mark!) From the photo you can tell that these two were locked up in a few hardnosed games of euchre just moments before. Get your tickets now for the rematch June 22nd, 2007 in Dubuque, Iowa.
The following day after a good run at cleaning out the breafast buffet by the Rammel boys and Amanda's brother in law Eric, we said our goodbye's to most of Amanda's family and then it was off to pay tribute at the farming Mecca of the Midwest-the John Deere Museum! Three whole buildings of nothing but green and yellow baby! I myself have been there so many times I have a Frequent Farmer Card. However, it was a first for Amanda, her mother, Moe, Granny, Tom, Pam, Sam, Tim, and Smallz. It was a tie between Amanda and Uncle Tom who had the most fun. And as you can see, Sam I Am had a great time remenising about the good old days of the Waterloo boy tractors.

Here are a few important dates:
On Feb. 24th Tom and I graduated and our families met for the first time! We had a great weekend and want to thank everyone who was able to join us.
June 22, 2007 is our official wedding date. We are hoping all of you can save this Friday night and join us in Dubuque, Iowa for our wedding ceremony and reception. Those of you interested in having and entire weekend of fun are invited to stay Saturday night as well, which will give Tom and I a chance to spend a little more time with everyone.

Hello everyone! That's right, Amanda and I have entered the world of blog. This is a big leap for myself considering at one time in my life me and a group of buddies had a contest to see who could be the last person in the world to own a cell phone. (Turns out none of us won that contest, and i now have a nice shinny laptop, and digital camera to go along with my cellphone.)
Amanda and I have decided to set up a blog so that people can keep track of us. We have a lot of big stuff coming up inthe next few years and currently we have no true address, and we won't for the next couple of months. So after consulting with my cousin "Sticky" Nick Rammel,(my technology expert) we fell that this is the best way to let everyone know where we are and what we are doing.
Things to look for in the future include: wedding updates, career updates, and where in the world we are living (currently Platteville Wisconsin, but not for long).