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Those were two of our kids... the middle (boy) and youngest (girl). I don't recall where the oldest was during that picture-taking day. Probably inside with the lovely central AC (it was last summer).

Those were the titles we put on them when they were at Yahoo Photos. I set up a Yahoo photo thing for him so his relatives who live in North Carolina could see his work. I'd send them photos, then they'd say, "we never got them"- right down to the kids' school pictures... I'd ask and they'd say, "never got 'em"... only to find the photos sitting in frames on a shelf. Well, they can't say "never got 'em" now... because if they don't see the work, its their own fault.

But yes, he is very talented in woodworking. And, he does all that work one-handed. He lost the use of his right hand when he had the stroke and had to re-learn everything left-handed. He never asks for help except when the situation demands it- like when he put up the addition on the back of the garage- two of us went out and helped raise up the framework for the walls. But otherwise... no help... all his own. He uses clamps and vise-grips to hold things in place.

He used to build precision models before the stroke. Cars, trucks, helicopters, airplanes. He even had working models of the Bismark and the Hood battle ships.

The military aircraft used to hang from the ceiling in our son's bedroom till we moved here. He'd taken great care in moving the models carefully when we moved into this house- all of them were laid flat and carefully in the back of our vehicle. And, the four year old kid from next door (same age as our son at the time), climbed into the vehicle while we were unloading the moving truck and broke all the aircraft. We later learned this kid has serious issues and we're lucky all he broke was the models. (he's 15 now and the police are on a first-name basis with him and his family).

Anyway, we have some diecast metal models he built after the stroke in little plastic display cases around the house. But he never got back to the level of skill he had before. And now he's into woodworking.

The benefit to that is, I get sturdy bookshelves and awesome patio furniture.

He just finished building a shelf thingy for my CDs in the kitchen. I have a "space-saver" CD player mounted under a cabinet, and all my CDs were stacked up on the counter (not all of them, but lots). So, he built a little shelf thing... I'll get pics later.

Just big enough for the CDs I had. He said, "There, you're not allowed to get ANYMORE CDs... EVER!"

I have a whole mess 'o CDs that Shawn has made for me- some copies of albums, others downloaded, and even more mix CDs. And those aren't in the standard CD cases, but the really flat, slim cases.

Come to think of it... there aren't any CDs I truly want right now anyway...

I'm tempted to just go find something to buy so I can set it on top of the CD shelf and say, "HA!!"

My CD player in my truck is screwing up. It scratched the hell out of my "Kinky Boots" soundtrack. It'll take a CD halfway in, then spit it out or it'll jam it halfway in. Sometimes, it will take the CD the right way and play it fine. Till I eject it and try to put another in.

So, if I can get a CD into the player, it has to be a looong one. I got Panic! at the Disco in the other day, but the CD is so short, I got tired of it fast. I could stand a several-hour long CD of "Nights with Alice Cooper".

It was because of "Kinky Boots" that I discovered a problem. I've used a scratch repair kit on it, but on my "space-saver" CD player in my kitchen, it still skips and screws up. And of course, it screws up on my favorite tracks.

I'll just take 20 bucks of the puppy money next month and buy another copy, I suppose. At least I didn't ruin the mix CDs Shawn took the time to make me a few years ago. Those were on his old computer, which up and died on him last Fall.

Yeah, I regret not ripping Kinky Boots... But, I'll survive.

The soundtrack is pretty good because in the movie the songs are shortened or interupted by scenes and such. And for the "final" song (in the movie, I think its track 9 on the CD), it includes Lola's dialogue: "Why am I leaving you? It seems in this life that Lola has always been drawn to the most exciting, the most daring... the most sexy..." and it goes on till she introduces "The Kinky Boot Factory!" and goes into the song. The CD version only lacks the crowd noise and applause.

I think its safe to say I've watched the movie a few times...