Washroad

The "average" person doesn't buy a house here. They can't. You need an income of more than $80,000 to buy a condo here (Orange County)(only 30% of the population can afford to buy here)(many commute from the "Inland Empire" as it's more affordable than here but they have to commute close to 40 miles)(you should see the rush hour traffic here), more for a house. The houses that have sold in my neighborhood had 2 families buying them so they could qualify. You most likely pay more in property taxes than we do (we have Prop 13 that limits our property taxes to a 2% increase a year). I know friends in Texas pay a lot more property tax but they have no income tax like we do. Govmint will get ya one way or another. Income higher? I don't really know. Wildrose, I think people ought to spend their own money on whatever they want. Yes, lots of good charities, but a house is very important and I would love to have a larger one on more land.

I work in the trucking industry. Can you imagine what's happening to us because of fuel prices? We normally set a "rate" for a haul; point A to point B is $100 when fuel is less than $2.00 per gallon. Right now our fuel surcharge is slightly over 35%. Point A to Point B is now almost $140.00. Customers don't like it but know that everyone is doing the same. The thing is, we can only increase the surcharge once a month. So, if fuel goes up during the month, we have to eat it until the start of the next month. We've done everything we can to increase fuel economy, our trucks now average 7.5 mpg (considering they weigh 80,000 lbs [a little over 22,000 kgs] that isn't too bad. As far as my job goes, I've still got one and this company will weather this storm. It's been through worse than this and survived quite well. The housing market in good ol' Orange County....... A while back, my little 1300 sq.ft. house was valued at $600,000. Should've sold then, huh? A very nice house 3 doors down the block from me, 2 remodeled baths, remodeled kitchen, finished garage, nice patio, etc., sold awhile back at $607,000. Two families moved in, and less than a year later put it back on the market at $675,000. It didn't sell and went into foreclosure. House is still nice but the yards are in bad shape. New asking price.....$450,000. Yes, that's a lot for a house, no doubt about it, but a drop in price of $150,000 is huge. Luckily, my wife's company is doing so well they are hiring and they just gave her a 7% raise!!!! I just looked outside. . . My 3-month old Border Collie is busy harassing my 9-year old Shepard/Husky, the sun is out, I'm above the ground and it's going to be a great day!

Being out here in Lalaland, where the liberals all know so much more about how you should live, you just about can't smoke anywhere. There are even cities that have banned smoking in your backyard. My wife is an ex-smoker so she doesn't give me too hard a time about it. I've been at it 45 years. I don't smoke in the house, the motorhome, her car, at work in my office (illegal and a citeable offense here). The longest I quit was 5 months, used Welbutrin. Had a big life change and the smell got to me one day and that's all it took. I tried Nicorette, the patch, adversion therapy and even accupuncture. Welbutrin was the only thing that worked. DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!

After seeing this piece and the purse your wife made, I'm in AWE. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Right now on the left coast here, it's a light breeze, 74 degrees, sunny. Tonight will be low 50s. Tomorrow will be the same.

The new minister was just assigned his first church in a small town. He attempted to go out and meet all his flock by going to their homes for a visit. One day he went to an elderly widow's home and knocked on the door. The widow invited him in for some coffee. They were chatting in the living room and the minister noticed a bowl of peanuts on the coffee table and asked the widow if he could have some. "Sure," said the widow, "Help yourself." They continued to chat and suddenly the minister noticed he had eaten almost the whole bowl of peanuts and was very embarrassed. "I'm so sorry," he said, "I ate almost all of your peanuts." "That's quite alright," the widow replied. "Since I've lost all my teeth all I can do is suck the chocolate off of them anyway."

I must be about the same age as Jordan! Not only do I listen to the music he mentioned, I saw several of them live (many of them are gone now, like Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis, gawd I loved her and she just burnt up the stage at UC Irvine in '69!). Gotta throw in the southern rockers....Allman Brothers (ever listen to the live version of Statsboro Blues???), Lynard Skynard, Molly Hatchet. I also like a lot of electric blues, from the masters like Albert King, Muddy Waters and BB King to newer musicians like Walter Trout, Joe Bonamassa, Stevie Ray, Johnny Lang.....people that can really play. Since where I work is so noisy, a lot of the time I just want quiet.

Right on! leatheroo!

I use a ceramic blade on many things and really like it! I still use steel blades, just whatever mood I'm in at the time.

I basically did a Google search, looking for a forum where there were lots of people that did leather in all kinds of different ways. I'd been looking for a long time and when I found this place, and the offer of "fresh" coffee....... and doughnuts! (somebody knew my weakness!) I found what I was looking for. I don't post much, got my new camera that won't work with my old 'puter so I'm gonna have to sneak over to the wife's 'puter, but I'm here way too much, read until my eyes cross, and that's only when I'm at work!! Glad my boss is 4 miles away! Thanks Johanna! and too many others I can't remember you all!

Oh yeah!

Out here on the left coast (I'm 12 miles from the Pacific Ocean), it was hot, over 90 for a few days, then had a day of light rain all day, now it's sunny and a cool 70. Today I heard on the radio that some of the ice rings around Saturn are starting to melt. Maybe we can get lucky and that fraud Al Bore will go there and leave us alone.

I showed this to my wife. She said it looks like my work. Yeah, right. That is a beautiful briefcase! You are extremely talented!

All water has something in it unless it is filtered a lot. My home tap water is very hard (over 25ppm). So, I installed a water softener and now it's down to less than 5ppm. It only cost me $1800 installed! Take a bottle of it to a store that sells softeners. They can tell you your hardness. There are no "softeners" added to water, rather it's a extensive filtering.

I'm in Orange County (Orange). Where are you??

Your work is so freakin' beautiful! Your "mistakes" are better than my "good!" I wish I could screw up that well!

I haven't posted much lately..... I'm Brian. I live in Orange (hey gunfighter48!) about 5 miles from Disneyland over in Anaheim. I went to the same high school and college my dad and elder brothers did! I'm the 4th generation of my family born here, the 5th generation is doing well. I was a truck driver for almost 20 years and now I sit in an office all day telling truck drivers where to go and what to do, I also supervise a 200,000 sq. ft. warehouse full of newsprint paper. I work for a sub-contractor to the Orange County Register (a fairly famous libertarian newspaper). I was a hippy in the '60s but didn't do too well at it as I loved my hotrod '56 Chevy 221! In between chasing girls and surfing I would be street racing. I started doing leather while in college. My brother came home with a watchband that I thought was cool and he told me he paid $10 for it! Wow! That was a lot of money in '69! So, I went to a Tandy shop in Anaheim and bought some stuff and started making watchbands and belts and it helped finance my higher education. Did some work on/off for the next 30+ years, not too much. Always kept my leather tools even through a messy divorce! I bought a fixer-upper house in '99 before the prices here got more ridiculous than they are now, and after I got the house to a point I couldn't do anymore and had to start hiring contractors, I remodeled my garage and have a small leather shop in there next to my mechanical area. I don't make a lot of stuff, do a lot of practice, have a great time. I read this board almost everyday and sometimes 3 or 4 times a day. I was almost beside myself when it crashed!

I have several of those "specialty" items around the house. We call them cat toys.

When I was in college back in the late '60s, my brother came by one day with a unique watchband. I looked at it and asked him how much he paid for it. He said it was something like $10! (OK, in the '60s and going to college, it was quite a bit of dinero, I mean, when a job was only paying you $1.25 hour before taxes....). I looked at it and thought I could probably make them as well. I went to a Tandy shop in Anaheim (long since gone) and purchased a bunch of leather scraps and some hardware. I wasn't into tooling, just sorta making straps and riveting them together. I made a few and they sold! right away. I kept making them and people started asking me for belts. Back then, we used to wear belts that were about 3" wide (along with our bell-bottom pants!). Back to Tandy, bought more stuff, made belts and they sold. This did a lot to finance me in college for awhile until I got tired of being broke most of the time. I dropped out of college after 2 years 'cause I thought getting a job and chasing women would be much more fun! So, I did, built me a fastass '56 Chevy and started street racing for money on weekends. Leather kinda went on the side.... I kept what tools I had. Every once-in-a-while someone would hit me up to make or repair something and I had the stuff to do it. This went on for several years, all through the first marriage....lost my tools in a divorce (along with several other things)... I met my wife Gail in '87, I asked her to dance, we were at the Crazy Horse Saloon in Santa Ana (where all the Orange County cowboys hung out! ), we moved in together several months later, moved from Anaheim to Truckee up in the high Sierra mountains. During a trip down the hill to Reno we saw a Tandy shop. We went in and I was looking around. Gail bought me a bunch of stuff, tools, leather, hardware, what a gal!!! I married her in 2000! Not going to let this one get away! So, I started doing it again. Then, found this website a few months ago! Now I read this forum almost everyday and learn a lot, enjoy the company, drink a lot of coffee and steal a donut whenever I can!

My first post on this site was how it took me a long time to find such a great place! I still think this place absolutely ROCKS!!! I don't post a lot, I just come in, read, look at stuff and think how I can maybe try to do some of it. Thank you Johanna for starting this website. I'm a big fan of yours! P.S. The coffee is always hot but you gotta get here early to get a donut! :biggrin:

Your work is just freakin' beautiful!

I don't post a lot here. I haven't figured out how to post a pic yet, I think it's 'cause I use Firefox and the digital camera is in the motorhome with dead batteries (yeah, I'm on top of things alright!), but I come in here at least once a day when I'm home and not doing honey-do's and just look at stuff, read how to do things and enjoy the comraderie here! I looked for a long time to find a website just like this.....how's that? Just like this one! Why look for one just like this when this one is here? I'm rambling, it's early, it's cold here and my leather is in the garage and the dogs are sleeping in front of my bench and won't leave and they act like they're gonna bite me if I try to move them.... I have some hot coffee :coffee: , and I'm trying to find a donut that no dogs have been near! or at least some that maybe could pass for not having any dogs around.... This is a wonderful place!

Hey Everyone! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! :biggrin: I'm leaving at 4am to go out to the desert, do some dune riding, cook the turkey in the sand hang out with some combat vet Marines! and drink a bit of Jack Daniels and have a great time! You all please, have the best day you can, be glad you're here! See you all again on next Tuesday!

The fires here are finally under control, the wind is gone, it's cooling off, looks like our winter is coming. How do you know it's winter in so. Cal? It rains once-in-a-while and it's gets cooler, like highs in the low 60s, lows in the low 40s. I'm getting ready to do Thanksgiving in the desert again (been doing this since I was 14!) Last year we had 22 people for dinner. [How to cook a turkey in the desert.... 1. Prep turkey like usual with stuffing 2. Put it in a baking bag 3. Wrap it 3 times in aluminum foil 4. Dig hole big enough for turkey plus 5 inches all around 5. Get 60 pounds of charcoal going, wait until turns white 6. Layer bottom of hole with hot charcoal 7. Insert turkey 8. Completely cover turkey with charcoal 9. Completely cover charcoal with sand 10. Go play for 6 hours 11. Dig up turkey carefully! 12. Enjoy!]

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state. For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security. No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. The above are from Thomas Jefferson This last one is originally from Ben Franklin "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."