Not walking tomorrow due to the weather

We're walking tomorrow on the Railroad Trail. Meet at the shelter where Newmarket makes the turn to the Haggen's on Woburn. We start at 10a, walk until 11a, then have coffee and conversation at Haggen's, where coffee is $1. If it's raining, we'll just have coffee at Haggen's.

We delivered the wooden toy cars to Toys for Tots today. Pictured is Santa's elf Kathy with the toys.

We have decided not to hold a meeting in December as so many guys are out of town for the holidays. But we will pick it back up in January. We are currently looking at having a conversation about the current state of solar panels. And we are looking at having a brew master come and speak to us about home brewing. Location and time to be announced.

With Covid still a problem, it's tough for us to get back to our schedule of an event every week. Especially a breakfast or afternoon beer, and factory tours.

Let us know if you know of any good places where 6 to 10 of us can meet for breakfast, or for a beer. And let us know if you have any ideas for conversations and experts to lead them.

We are still walking from Haggen's in Barkley Village at 10a every Tuesday, with coffee after at 11am. If it's raining, we just meet there for coffee. We have considered rainy day mall walks at Bellis Fair. We'd be happy to organize that if there is interest.

15 guys attended the November 18th meeting at the club house of the Village at Cordata Northside. We had a great time and eventually had to be kicked out as out time was up. Kurt did a fantastic job with food and refreshments. Jim Tragresser led an informative discussion about the current state of electric cars.

We have completed 38 wooden toy vehicles that we will donate to Toys for Tots this week. From left are member Floyd Lewis, Makerspace Executive Director Tina Stroh, and member Jack Herring. Thanks to Makerspace for use of there equipment and Dave Lers and Kreig McBride for teaching us how to use the tools, and to Home Depot for donating the wood.

We are planning a meeting in Cordata on November 18. Details to follow.

The Men's Shed of Bellingham's auto plant is ready to launch--we've started working on the Toys for Tots 6" wooden toy cars, trucks and buses. Thanks to Dave Lers and Makerspace for teaching Jack, Floyd and me how to use the CNC router and for the router bits and templates. We ran a test and cut out a bus. Home Depot has donated wood. We have wheels and axles on order. Next up is planing the wood down to size. Then we router the shapes. After that it's using the edge router, sanding, finishing and adding the wheels. We'll need volunteers to help with the work. Let us know your interest.

GROWING VETERANS is a remarkable support system for our local veterans - It's a small farm where they grow Organically Certified crops just north of Bellingham. Our team had a tour and held discussions on how the Men's Shed can assist them. We have several projects planned; Making signs that are organically correct so they can be used in the fields, and building raised beds so disabled vets can work at chair height or while standing.

Project Completed: We had five guys help Makerspace with their theatrical Stage.
At their request to help students MSOB built a structure to support the small raised platform for their theater productions. Thanks to Dave, Time, Jack, Marshall, and Ben.

Aloha guys~
I’m 71 years young, and moved here a bit over a year ago after retiring from project management of a high-end pool/spa/water feature company on the Big Island, Kai Pono Builders.

I have basic wood and metal-working skills, good small engine and vehicle mechanics for many years, moderate computer skills, good writing and word-crafting skills.

I like “playing” with stone, wood, metal and repurposing things/tinkering. Recycling and minimizing my negative impact on the Earth is important to me. Being of service to my community ( large and small) is important to my well-being.

I’d like to share workshop space with someone else as I’m currently limited to 1/2-ish of a 2 car garage…

Anyway, hope to meet some of you guys one of these days.