During the snowstorm this last December I was in McMinnville working on my lil' live/work deally. It was a lot of fun, Jerry (my mom's partner) is incredibly talented in things wood, so it was great being a little Gepetto Jr. for a couple weeks. I, like Virginia, have been wanting a space I could call my own for a while now. I bought a house about 8 plus years ago with two of my sisters and although it is great finacially, especially investment wise, I've wanted an area where I can work without interruption.
I was thinking how lately I've been really utilizing Jerry and mom's workshop and how about 10 or so years ago a good friend of mine and I really wanted to start making furniture. Neither of us had any clue of nails or screws to use let alone the differences in woods or finishes. We took tons of pictures of these made from found objects sort of pieces that collaborate an old screen door, crown molding, and aged siding. We figured it wouldn't take much to replicate what we saw in small country style garden shops and maybe make a buck. Our first project was a small hutch made from old siding and some crown molding that could be used for storing small gardening pots.
This piece was never finished. I ended up working on it solo because at one point I chose to abandon Nat with my mom and her husband at the time to hang out with a "close" friend at the McMenimans in McMinnville. I told Nat, my mom and her husband that we would be back after a while and not to stay up. Nat and I hadn't had the "I'm gay" talk yet but she and everyone else already knew that Micah and I had been seeing each other off and on. We had both been disfellowshipped from our church for having too much fun together. After Micah and I head out Nat wants to leave because I just abandoned her with my folks. She does and Terry, my mom's partnter at the time, runs after her and tells her that Micah and I are "more than just friends" and to not think it was about her. Or something.
It's such a different life thinking about how hidden everything had to be. Nothing was ever spoken only implied and only if you were in on it. I think Micah and I that night ended up getting really intoxicated and stayed at the McMenamin's Hotel Oregon. Nothing happened between us that night. I think he even slept on the floor. It was always really odd how I never knew if he and I would "have fun" because usually he felt incredibly guilty for "having too much fun," which kind of sucks because it also meant that even after 12 years of off and on engagements we still couldn't discuss what happened the previous night, or in this case why something didn't happen. Nat has been my closest of close friends for I don't know how many years and the guy that I bailed on her for is now married and we don't talk.
The Hovel is great. I love that all of the wood is refurbished. My orange desk is also something we created during the storm and the bench under the desk is something Jerry and I had made prior.
