Gentle ones,

Uh, I haven't been active around here for a long time - though I've
done some lurking all along - but I'm hoping to change that Real Soon
Now.  Life has been taking most of my time for several years but
there's some hope that our new surroundings will help.

----------------------- Start Updated Bio-----------------------------
I'm a married, 46 year old computer programmer who has just moved into
a gorgeous old house (1898 Queen Anne Victorian) in the midwest of the
United States.  I got interested in handtools back in the mid-90's
while living in Tacoma, Washington and found that I enjoyed working
with them much more than I the tailed demons that I had sitting in my
shop.  Since then I've used handtools when I could while doing some
wood mangling and household repairs.

A couple of years ago it struck me that my mood deteriorated markedly
around late September when the sun went away for the next 9 months in
Tacoma.  Hmmmm....  Maybe there's a correlation?  Last year I started
scouring the internet for places that got more sun in the winter than
Tacoma - turns out that virtually everywhere below the Arctic Circle
qualified so we started adding other criteria to our searches and
ended up concentrating on the midwest.  Eventually we found a place in
Missouri that seemed promising but we didn't jump fast enough.  Turned
out that was OK when this place came up in Waupun, Wisconsin:
http://i9.tinypic.com/2j4c113.jpg
http://i17.tinypic.com/2cxxq2v.jpg
http://i18.tinypic.com/2r7byw9.jpg

Since we moved in 3 weeks ago I've only had my handtools available and
they've done just fine with everything that I've need to do around the
house.  I do need to try out a Yankee drill some time - the eggbeater
has been fine but I've heard so many good stories of the usefullness
of the push drill that I know that I've got to give it a shot.
------------------------ End Updated Bio ------------------------

Ken Stagg
Waupun, WI
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