Posts from — June 2010

Parker likes to freestyle in the studio.  “Yeah baby” and “Put your hands in the air like you just don’t care!” are some favorite quips of hers.  SHE’S FIVE!

I guess it doesn’t help that her favorite song is “Insane In The Membrane” by Cypress Hill.  Daddy’s fault.

Anywho, here’s a “chill out” (listen on headphones, repetitive themes that sloooooow yooooou doooooown) tune I whipped up from some of her freestyle riffs in my studio.  It’s repetitive yes, but hey, I had little to work with

Get a glass of wine and put on the headphones and chill out for three and half minutes.  Not bad for a five year old.

Spring.mp3

A friend asked for a copy of this a few days ago…didn’t realize I hadn’t put it online.  Recorded somewhere around 1996, just a simple demo I did.

Cigarette Away.mp3

Four stars.  Several tunes off this record are radio-ready and have hooks like you won’t believe.  The band’s penchant for excellent melodic harmonies along with sparse intros followed by lush, building crescendos is nothing short of awesome.  Check ‘em out.

Since we’re now back in Texas, it’s time to start working on the lake shack we have in East Texas on Stanmire Lake (more to come on this).  The first project was replacing the back (much debate on which side of the house is the “back” but we tend to call the lake side the “front” and the other side the “back”) steps.

Couldn’t have done this without the help of the wife and the in-laws and uncle helping entertain Parker Anne while we worked…

before we started - ignore the fire, and note the stairs in the red box

After we tore down the old steps and move all the wood and stuff, the house looked like this:

nothing left after the old steps were gone - watch your step!

And once we were finished with the whole thing:

time to sit a spell

Now we have a landing so we can stand on the porch without being in the way of the door!  Anyone who has ever carted ice chests up the stairs while trying to open a door handle understands our former pain.

And there’s even room for a chair!

For those do-it-yourself nuts out there, here’s the tools and part list we used:

• (2) 8′ 4×4″ treated posts
• (5) 4-step treated pre-cut stair risers
• (3) 8′ 2×6″ treated boards
• (13) 8′ 1×6″ treated decking planks
• (20) 3″ lag bolts
• (200)+  2 1/2″ coated deck screws
• (10) 2×6″ galvanized hangers
• Circular Saw
• Cordless Drill
• DC Impact Wrench
• Reciprocating Saw
• (2) 12″ Clamp / Spreaders

We ended up with about 3 feet of landing plus three 11″ stairs.  Solid as a rock.