Johanna

I just spent a half hour on Google Images looking for a yak birthday cake, but the best I could find was a yak eating a birthday cake! Happy birthday, Kathy! Hope you have a great day and a wonderful year! Johanna

I think it would just be the neatest thing to have a little piece from everyone's scrapbox. I would make a giant leatherworker collage and treasure it forever... I'd say count me in to this one, but I don't do anything in the shop any more, and I could never return anything as nice as what you folks make. Good idea though, Tina, spreading the pretty things around. Johanna

Just an FYI, if anyone is curious: "Rubbing alcohol" is isopropyl alcohol diluted with water to 70% strength. You can't drink isopropyl alcohol. Denatured alcohol is ethanol (a.k.a. ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, etc.) that would otherwise be fit for mixing libations EXCEPT that it has an added chemical to make it unfit for human consumption. The reason for denaturing alcohol is money. Other uses have no excise taxes like beer, wine and liquors, so it is altered to assure that it won't be. Denatured ethanol is regulated by ATF. Johanna

Added and fixed- thank you SadEyes for the heads up. Wasn't your guild the one that recently had the drawing for the original Stohlman/Stanley works? Who won the drawings? Johanna

Kathy- WOW! You had some stiff competition! Congratulations on the first place ribbon! Do you think you'll go to Mich City next month? Thanks for sharing your pics and your trip with us! Johanna

You can go to shoutcast.com and choose your music by genre too. I am fond of Audiocandy's Big Blue Radio out of Spokane, Washington. (blues, folk & rock) If you're going to listen to Internet radio, do yourself a favor and download WinAmp (it's free) so you can set radio "presets" and have all the other conveniences. Many FM stations now "stream" their broadcasts, too, so if you like a particular station, check their website. The NPR site has archives of past shows and streams, too. Johanna

https://leatherworker.net/bufffeathers/index.htm ClayB took the time to take lots of pics and write detailed explanations of what he did to create "Buffalo Feathers", pictured below. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, ClayB is an incredible artist from North Dakota. He specializes in figure carving, but can also do nice florals or build a saddle. ClayB has contributed other tutorials that can be found on the main page if the above link whets your appetite. He's also a staff member here at LW, and in charge of the monthly challenges and contests. Let him know what ideas you have for future ones, or better yet, volunteer to teach or sponsor one. We would be thrilled to have your participation! Let ClayB know what kinds of prizes you want to win. We need to know so we can ask the right folks to help. Have fun, kids! This one is five pages long. Just follow the arrows for the whole tour. Johanna

"Hello? You have reached the complaint department. Press one for English!" Send me a list of what captions need to be moved and I will be glad to fix it. Johanna

Beeze- as usual, top notch work. Did you draw this pattern? I think the way you did the texture on the hat was a nice touch. I like the way you colored it, too- nice contrast effect in the design and a warm fade on the natural brown. (I celebrate every time you seatmakers don't have to dye it black!) Roger, you've got a whole lot of talent, and I enjoy looking at your work. Thanks for sharing. Johanna PS Just curious- approx. how much carving time do you have in a piece like that? Patterns and tooling, not dyeing and assembly. Which part do you enjoy the most?

No more arguing in Buff's thread. Start a new thread in Off-Topic if you want to continue the conversation that has nothing to do with this holster. Beautiful work, Buff! Thanks for sharing! Johanna

I don't like coffee plungers because the coffee always tastes strong and bitter and I don't like grounds in my cup. My old recalled Corelle electric perculator had a thermostat failure after 30 years of use, and Wade and I bought a Bunn. It puts always hot water through the grounds rapidly, like many convenience store coffee makers. I like the Bunn as much as the old perculator. I want my coffee burn-my-tongue hot, and regular drip makers never manage that. My favorite coffee is Chock Full o'Nuts or Eight o'clock, nothing too fancy. I used to manage a bookstore with a coffeeshop that had dozens of expensive gourmet coffees, and I tried them all. I wouldn't want to wake up to any of them, though. LOL (get your minds out of the gutter, people- I'm talking about coffee!) I don't use sugar in my coffee, so maybe that's why I don't care for the espresso and stronger brews? If you get a plunger press, make sure you don't grind the coffee too fine. Johanna

I've seen that pic before, but I can't remember the story behind it. The driver didn't live. I think it was taken in Las Vegas? Reflector tape ought to be stapled to every person in my neighborhood that likes to wear black and jog at night. Some of these people run with the flow of traffic and have iPods in their ears. What are they thinking? I would feel terrible if I hit someone, even if it were their own fault. Now, who wants to volunteer to sneak up on the deer and slap some tape on their rumps? My mom hit one twenty years ago in a Chevette (remember them?) and thank goodness the trooper showed up so quickly to shoot the frantic animal before she was kicked to death. The former mayor of this town hit a horse at 80 mph in an old Lincoln Continental which tossed the horse 300 feet to its death. She broke a few bones in her face, but the car was driven away from the crash. Johanna Here, I'll make this easy for all flavor of browsers fisheradvertisement.pdf fisheradvertisement.pdf

I think if you stick to hourly shop rates you are less likely to short yourself and/or confuse your customers. After awhile you will look at a specific job and be able to give a rough estimate time wise. Johanna

Hey, Grunt! Looks great! Moving this topic to "Show Off". Johanna

Ha ha! I have a cell phone, and if I need to do anything beyond answering it, I need to ask one of the kids for help. Our girls can send text messages and pictures, check email, play songs, and work the calculator, but I am lucky I figured out how to turn the ringer on and off. Remember how we used to hold our lighters in the air at a concert? The kids hold their cell phones now. Sheesh!! Johanna

When I get new hardware I hook it all up and try to run it without the enclosed software cd. XP is pretty good at finding generic drivers to run things. Of course, this doesn't always work, and sometimes I need a driver or two. The next step is to Google the new hardware and locate the drivers from the manufacturer's site. Case in point- I have an ancient HP 3 in 1 with a cd of nearly 700MB of software to run it. I don't want my printer seizing control of my image files, so I didn't use the cd. Everything on the printer worked but the scanner. I found a 4MB download on HP site that makes the scanner work. Hurray! Vista is a whole different scenario, and you'll likely need the supplied cd. But Bruce, I have never installed any of the external Hard drive software on any XP system. As long as Windows recognizes the drive, you're in business. You can have as many externals as you want. TIP: store your externals away from the main computer (don't leave it plugged in all the time!) If something happens to the computer (lightning, gremlins etc) the exteranl is safe. A different physical location or fireproof box is ideal storage. Johanna

I would get an external and "copy" not move the important files. After you're sure everything is preserved on the ex hd, delete the files on the computer from the original location. This needs to be done ASAP or you are risking their loss, based on the errors you are receiving. Exteranl cd writers are okay, but they don't work as well as internal ones. You can buy a writer unit to swap with the cd reader the computer already has. I wouldn't try to burn from the ex hd unless I had to (slow!) but the key is to act now before it's all gone. Johanna

That's really pretty, Mike. I like the pink & yellow roses and the quilting on the bend. Sounds like all you need is the carving piece, Brent. Take a good look at the change purse before you do too much work. Tandy had some trouble with them breaking in the late 90s, if I remember correctly. Johanna

I don't see any problems in FF, but ain't that the way it goes! ~J

They are all really nice, but my favorite is the girl with the glasses. She's all about attitude, and I like the way you did her t-shirt at her back. Don't forget to post your Koi link somewhere for your fans, David! Johanna

Vegetable tanned leather will absorb water and take tool impressions, chrome tanned leather will not. HTH Johanna

Ummm... rdb told me. Yep, that's it. (Old heads have to cover for each other, right?) ~J

Yep, the old head is right. "1623" is a reference to marijuana decriminalization. And the belt is classy. Thanks, steveb! Johanna (way to go New Hampshire!)