Smells Good

Rick has been working with some cedar in his shop. It has been an interesting wood for him to turn. It is beautiful and boy does it have a strong scent.

My husband had a man come to our house to buy his router bits. Good ole Facebook market or craigslist. I hate these. I worry about who is showing up and if he goes there I worry if he will return. He just laughs at me, but...
It was $200 worth of router bits. The man shows up and says, "why do you only want $200, these are very nice?"  Rick told him he knows they are nicer than average but he felt that was fair because he's had them for a while. The man said, "well then, they're mine!"  Apparently, this man is building a workshop.

Then he sees some of Rick's work. I made Rick put up a metal shelving unit he had in the shop. He can put all his work on it instead of it just being some here, some there. We organized it as accessories, bowls, charcuterie, cutting boards, etc.  He likes it now that he's done it and it does showcase his work and puts it all in one place. The accessories are the big hit and my God did that surprise us. The pipes for pot, the wine stoppers, the bottle openers. All the little stuff that people have asked if he could make sell very well. 

The man sees all of Rick's work and is asking a ton of questions. He tells Rick he moved here from Chicago 6 years ago and bought 30 acres of land. (He is in his 50s now) He shared with Rick that he has some fallen trees on his property and that perhaps he could use some of them for his work.

When this man got home he showed Rick via text some of the wood that had fallen. He had a couple of burls which are very expensive to buy so Rick jumped at the chance to get these for free. Rick offered him money twice and each time he said, "no way, you're helping me out too" 

Now burls mean nothing to you and me but they are coveted by Rick. He has only had one and that was given to him. Some of them (most) are hundreds of dollars so to make something it would have to be priced accordingly. So Rick feels he isn't there yet to be able to sell that high end but he so wants to "play" with some burls.

Rick came home with the cedar wood from his "farm" and began making something right away. I walked into the shop in the afternoon to say Hi and all I could smell was cedar. It smelled like I just walked into a cedar chest. So just like the wood that was from bourbon barrels the smell really permeated the entire shop

At the end of Rick's day, he takes the air pump thingy and blows all the shavings off him before he enters the house - it helps a little bit - trust me I have wood shavings all over the damn place.  Anyway, he takes a shower and then comes into the kitchen. He gives me a big ole bear hug and I smell cedar. I ask, "didn't you just shower?"  He tells me he has and I can see he is wearing clean clothes. Gee that's weird.

We continue to make dinner and as I am standing next to him at the kitchen island I really smell cedar. I saw him blow off the chips, I know he showered, what gives? I bend down to his big ole arm holding on to the island and I smell his forearm. Oh my goodness he still smells like cedar. I laugh and ask if he actually used soap in the shower. He laughs and says, "Yes, I am not 12 anymore."

He lifts his arm to his nose and goes, "Oh my god I smell like a cedar chest"  He went to the sink and tried dawn on his forearms. Then dried them. They still smell like cedar. I told him that I think it is stuck in his hair and skin and I think you are just going to smell like this for a while. We both laughed because what the hell else are you going to do? He kept telling me it could be worse. Indeed it could be. 

So for a few days, everything around here smelled like cedar. There are far worse smells we could have had. But this was funny.  

You see when he is turning a bowl all the shavings will go onto his arm. I will have to video him turning a bowl sometime to show you all. 
He just finished this cedar bowl. He made it to give to the guy who gave him all the wood. He really was admiring all the work in Rick's shop so he thought since this man wouldn't take the money he could at least do this for him.

I asked Rick about this man living on 30 acres an hour away in the middle of nowhere. He said he seems so normal but I drove up and see his small home on these 30 acres. The home was older but nice enough.  He had a barn where he made a workshop like I did to our garage.  He had a feral cat that hung around and it had babies so now he has 7 cats. 

Oooh, creepy to me!!  

I asked if a wife lived there or perhaps a person was locked in a shed or something?  

I had a mental picture of a really creepy dude. 

Rick laughed and replied that his wife was pulling into the driveway as he was walking him to his car. She too looked normal.  Later that evening Rick said, "he was a really cool dude I could be friends with?"  My head snapped back so fast - WHAT? Really? Oh, when you deliver this bowl can I go with you? I won't go far since there are so many damn black cats about but I think I need to witness this person and place.

Its all creepy to me. So if we don't come back - you'll know where to find us.