End of Year Update

The month of December is closing out, so I finally decided to get off of my butt and update the blog one last time. 

So what did I do gaming wise this year? Not very much.

1: I participated in the Bones V KS. 

2: I picked up a couple of pieces of scenics.

And that's about it.

I didn't do any real gaming, as this year has put a massive crimp into my life. 

The first two months were spent mostly in Physical Therapy trying to teach my right leg how to walk again. Then the Pandemic hit. 

And we bought a new house due to the rising taxes and crime in our neighborhood. Wife and I wanted a "fresh start", so we well...bought a house and moved.

But the house does look beautiful in the winter. We got the first snow right about the 16th of December and I took some day and night photos of the place and it's stunning...

The Lord has indeed blessed us with this house...

One of the things I finally got a chance to do was to get the much wanted IKEA Detolf Display Cabinets for my miniatures.

Due to the COVID issues, stock for these were at an all time low. So imagine our joy when the two we ordered finally showed up!

So on Saturday we began to assemble the first one. Yes it is a two person job. We had the box open and in 30 minutes had the base and holding frame assembled.

Then it happened.

My wife was holding the glass side panel in her hands, when suddenly the panel exploded in her very hands, covering her with bits of broken glass, and scaring both of us.

After checking to see if she was okay, I checked the area and took pics of the incident. The pile of glass on the floor was where my wife was standing.  A quick check of "Ikea Detolf exploding" on Google, shows this to be a VERY common issue with these units going as far back as 2014-2015, with no apparent fix by IKEA.

So today I began the process of the refund/exchange process. Rather than even try to work with the second unopened item, I am returning them for a refund. I will save my money up and get better quality cases that won't explode in my wife's hands and shower her with glass.

So you can see what I have to say "No...I don't things that will explode simply because someone is holding it." 

So the setting up of the man cave (paint room and game room) continues, and hopefully will be done within the next 1-2 weeks.

After that I can start up painting and building, and gaming again.

Our 2013 Tree...

 So this is Christmas...and the end of the year.....

The end to 2020 is in sight and we can see 2021 and it's surprises looming ahead of us. What shall it bring?

For myself and my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), we hope for all better things.

2020 hasn't been a good year for the majority of the country or the world. Here in the US between an election fiasco, and talk that sounds very much like South Carolina in 1861 as well as the COVID Pandemic, it has touched a lot of lives. 

2020 has also reminded us in a dark way to be thankful and appreciative for what we have, instead of whining all the time for "what we want."

I'm hoping that 2021 will be good to you and yours dear readers.

See you next year!

The Move In, (and Gameroom setup)...

 As October has faded into the past and the month of November is here in it's chilly, wind gusting manner. We continue to move into "The Old Girl" and learn all of her traditions and quirks. One of the fun things we get to listen to is our boiler down in the basement. She's a 100 year old model from the old National Radiator Corporation and still works like a charm. We named her "Bertha"....

Ready to warm a house or help give steam to move a battleship...

And we gave her a name tag. Radiator...Railway Gun....It's all the same, isn't it?

So Bertha keeps our house nice and warm...sometimes a bit too warm for my tastes but my wife is happy with it.

So we continue to unload the boxes from the garage. Eventually we will have enough room to actually get the car in there and use it for what it is supposed to be...vehicle storage! (what a concept!)...

More boxes to be moved inside and unpacked...most of these are books and stuff that will be moved downstairs to my basement man-cave...(including the bookcase)...

My memorial picture of President Reagan, my first CinC and the first guy I voted for. The man that saved Europe and won the Cold War. He's hanging on the wall downstairs in my paint-room near my desk.

So while moving in, I was able to start setting up the game room as well as the painting room. Each one of these were separate yet joint endeavors as each tied into the other. I had originally set up the painting room with the desk under the window but really didn't like the setup as it didn't optimize the room. A little bit of rearranging later on and I had it the way I wanted it.

The current painting room/workroom setup. I have set up a black bookcase (see below), where the boxes are on the right to currently hold my figures until the display cases arrive, (if they ever arrive). The white middle shelving will hold large boxes of figures and terrain storage, while the far left shelf will hold paints, tools, etc. All the stuff for my work desk, to help keep it neat and tidy (hopefully).  One of my OTT lamps has been installed.

What you can't see in the picture is the bedroom dresser and the chest of drawers that I am using to hold my small boxes of figures. Remember those small boxes that I had labelled 18th Century, etc?...Yeah they are in there. Along with some stuff that will be on the far left plastic storage shelf in the future. 

A smaller bookcase is on the left wall in the 7 o'clock position hidden by the door. And in this picture you can see the corner of the Reagan picture.  There is still much to do here: Better chair, floor protector mat, getting the rest of the lighting set up, getting the rook clean, putting the pictures and corkboard on the wall, etc...but it IS coming along. 

I am hoping to have it up and ready by 12.01 so I can start painting again.

The black bookcase holds all of the IRIS storage containers and clear acryllic boxes that I have to store my painted figures in. It's come in quite handy and convenient. Once the display cases are here (if they ever arrive), then 90% of these figures will be moved into them and then I can install the shelves and use this bookcase for something like....I dunno....maybe even books!

And the current setup for the painting table. I set it up where the brushes etc are divided and on the left of the bankers lamp and the work tools, (X-actos, etc) are on the right. Next year I will look at this nice clean desk and think..."What the heck happened?"

A rare picture indeed...a clean painting table!!!!

While working on the setups, I found myself constantly at odds with "what I had set up vs what I wanted to have set up vs how I wanted it set up." Things were moved, arranged, moved again, rearranged, etc. But it still slowly came forward.

One of the things I did was to move the boxes you see in the photos above to the new storage area.

I had taken some of the white shelving units and ran them side by side in the small passageway. From there I used it as a storage space for terrain, scenics, and of course, boxes of miniatures.

The current holding area and storage setup...

Eventually this will be changed as once the rooms are set up, the minis will be unpacked and put away in their proper holding drawers and this will free up the closest shelving unit for use for more terrain, etc.  It's a slow process but it IS a process...

But then I lost the display case...

So when I was getting things set up, my wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), started unpacking all of the glassware, (much of it antique), and needed a place to set it up and display it.

Naturally being the hero I was, I offered her my display case, and she took it!

But...me being the crafty devil I was, I had decided to go ahead (with her permission), and get TWO "Detolf" display cabinets from Ikea...

And then I found out that Ikea was sold out...

Grrrrr...

So while waiting on IKEA to restock, I found this one for sale on FB Marketplace.

A quick run to the owners home, an exchange of cash, and a trip back and this baby was mine!

So I get it down to the game room. Get it set up and voila...a nice case!

The current location of the case, (soon to be moved), and yes the game-room is still in the disarray of moving and unpacking..

And then IKEA notified me that the Detolfs were back in stock!!!

So I ordered two, (and they will be here this week!)

So the new game plan is the two Detolfs will be assembled and placed in the game room, and the wooden one show, will be moved to another section of the wall. This will end up holding my GAMA award, and memorabilia, and some rare gaming stuff, (like my RPGA tie pie, D&D business card holder, etc..) as well as some other rare items I have. The Detolfs will hold my painted figures.

And then we start with the bookcases.

The walls are a challenging item....As seen in the pictures in previous entries there is a lot of plumbing as well as windows, etc, in the basement. So I have to "improvise, adapt, and overcome" as well as "make do", with what I have.

The two long sections of wall will hold my artwork, gaming display items, military awards, etc while the secret room wall will hold the bookcases of games.

The current setup with more stuff to be added...

The very bottom shelves are going to hold my boxes of Dragon Magazines, as well as other D&D/RPG printed items. (Each in their own labelled box), while more board games and RPGs, etc. go on the other shelves. On the top shelf you can see a variety of headgear. From L to R: My old Steel Pot that I wore in Germany, My ODS/ODS Chocolate Chip Boonie Hat, My 33rd VA Forage Cap, My early impression ACW Forage Cap, A plastic Viking Helmet, (this originally belonged to a computer that I owned....yes a computer of mine wore her own hat), and a Special Black Service Beret with a Special Service insignia on it. I fear that these shelves will soon groan under the weight of gaming items. 

But I was able to get one of my movie posters framed and hung...

A manly mans mans movie for manly men....

And right now for the game-room, that is pretty much where we are at...

I'm hoping to have the setup done within the next 1-2 weeks...and this includes the painting room!

More to come so stay tuned!

Saying "Goodbye" to ToD, and moving into the new house...

 As the first part of this got to be pretty long and intensive, I decided to break it into a few parts. Sadly speaking though, it seems that this part is going to be also a bit on the photo intensive side.  So once again, sit back with a nice cup of coffee, tea, or whatever you like to drink as you scroll through this...

GOODBYE ToD:

As referenced before in the previous article, the move from the "old house" to the "new house" was filled with a lot of memories, (good and bad), as well as "stuff".  On the last day I was there, I decided to spend a few moments with an old friend of mine to say "Goodbye".

That old friend was "ToD" (aka: "Tree of Death").

ToD was a huge, elderly, soft maple tree that dominated our backyard, and had gotten semi-legendary status on TMP, as well as some friends of mine, and even the lawn care team. It had done wonders in dealing with someone that needed "dealing with" and was known to kill squirrels, as well, and warn lawn crews when they got "too close".

I loved that tree...

Tree of Death, (aka: ToD): The tree that kept squirrels, useless boyfriends and nosy, pesky, lawn care personnel in line.

Saying farewell to ToD....

A few quiet words were spoken and the wonderful tree showed it's sadness of our leaving by shedding leaves quietly as if they were tears...

And then we pulled away....

At the house...

So we moved...

My first drive down there was not alone. I decided to take "Mr. Bear", (we rescued him from a liquor store where he was going to be thrown out as "they had no room for him, and the advertisement for what he was used for was long over"), and with his own winter scarf, and a spare Desert Storm Veteran Cap, I buckled him in for safety and away we went.

I also went through the drive through at Wendy's with him and the girl on shift loved it.

One of my better passengers...

The sellers had left us a lot of the house history and had even included photos of "The Old Girl" in her snowy winter glory.

Truly this house is like something out of a Normal Rockwell painting.

But it was just beginning to be the Fall Season and the trees were starting to turn their beautiful colors of red and gold...

As said before, the house is essentially four stories, (basement, main floor, upstairs, and attic), and not including the attic, is approx. 3600+ sq ft. Add the attic in, (which we are as my wife has claimed it as her "domain" for her dresses and stuff), and it's approx 4500-5000 sq ft.

The Old Girl has four bedrooms, (three on the main floor and one in the basement), three full baths, and one half bath, kitchen, pantry room, small eating room, dining room, entryway, living room, sunroom, and a master full size walk in closet room, as well as the stuff down in the basement. She also has three fireplaces, (two gas and one wood).

Heat is by boiler and electric baseboard, while cooling is by AC/Air Handler, and ceiling fans.

The house is wonderfully dry, and we won't have to worry about the issues with "Indiana humidity and mold".

This is a "first day photo" of the entryway, looking towards the front door. The living room is on the right, while the dining room, (aka "The Romanov Room"- Courtesy of TMP's Wyatt The Odd), is on the left. 

Looking into the living room, you can see the two ceiling fans, the fireplace (FP#1), and beyond that is the sun room. The brick wood burning fireplace, (FP#2), is on the direct opposite wall of FP#1.

A close up view of FP#1, along with some of the many antique oil lamps that my wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), has reconditioned. Many of these lamps are mid-late 19th Century and can fetch a pretty penny with collectors, reenactors, and historical decorators. The Bible is open to Psalm 91, which I read on each floor of the house.

Going through the French doors, led to the sunroom...

And the brick fireplace, aka "FP#2)...

It's a nice fireplace, but obviously needs some "decoration", (ie: "That Murphy Touch"...)

So since it was getting near Halloween, I decided to "spruce the mantle up a little"...

Hmmm...kind of a "Martha Stewart meets Boris Karloff" type of decor feel, don't you think???...

Naturally my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), said "No!"...

So she "suggested" that we could redecorate it in a "period style"....

I agreed (happy wife, happy life, and all that stuff ya know), and so we did...

Add musket to the wall, and some of our period primitives, and it looks like it's right out of Colonial Williamsburg. Any moment I expect someone in a powdered wig to come wandering through griping about King George III...

The Dining Room, (aka "The Romanov Room")...

The dining room chandelier is not original to the house. 

The chandelier was originally in a local bank during the 1890's to early 1900's, and was set up for gas lighting. When the bank was torn down, the chandelier was taken to a salvage/junk dealer, and from there to an antique/junk shop, where the previous owners found it, had it repaired, cleaned, and set up with electric wiring and installed. It is absolutely gorgeous.

Sooooo....with all of that we are moving onto "The Basement..." (AKA: "THE MAN CAVE!)....

THE MAN CAVE!!!!!

So, as part of the deal, my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), claimed the attic as her own, and I then claimed the basement.

And what a basement it is.

Forget the days of stinky, dank, dark, musty, holes in the ground...

While the basement of The Old Girl does in fact, contain the full size Laundry and Mechanical room, (with a laundry chute which makes moving the dirty clothes even more fun and easy), she also has a nice large closet (for food storage, and for our wines, as well as a full bathroom, a 12 X 12 bedroom (which becomes my painting/work room), AND a full size basement game room!

My wife was pleased that I would have all of my gaming crap...errr...."stuff" in my own personal "Man Cave", and to top it off, she discovered that there was a nice little key that could lock the basement door...hmmm...

When there is too much "Manliness in the Man Cave", my wife can quietly lock the door...

Going down the stairs to the "Man Cave". You can see the closet door cracked open. The painting/work room is to the right and to the left is the gaming room and the bathroom.

One of the ideas we had with the storage closet downstairs, (besides using it to store some long term shelf life food, and sundries), was to have a place to keep our wines, etc.  True we had the wine jail but the way it sat on the floor didn't make it very useful at all and took up an absurd amount of space.

"Why don't we mount it on the shelf and make it a shelf rack?" My wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), said to me.

"Hmmm..." sez I.

And so we did.

So we took the closet....

And the wine jail, just needing to be set up and filled with all of those wonderful bottles of wine...

Raised it up, laid it on it's side, inserted it onto the shelf, and voila!  Instant shelf wine rack!  The door is currently held open with a green bungee cord, which will eventually be replaced with a more visually appealing brass chain. And although this pic shows a couple of empty spaces for bottles on the rack, I can now vouch that this rack is 100% fully stocked. The small wooden rack contains our Christmas German Gluhweing, a couple of bottles of Sangria, and a bottle each of Delirium Tremens and Delirium Noctem.

Next up is the future painting/work room....

The entrance to the future work area. 12 X 12 with a natural light source, adjustable track lighting, numerous electrical outlets, this room is just ready for me to occupy it with my cra...errr...."stuff"....

Another pic of the room showing the natural lighting. Plans are to have my painting station against the wall with numerous shelves, and storage areas for all of the stuff that is needed for this horrible hobby of ours.

Turning the corner, we come onto the bathroom and the gaming room....

First up...the bathroom...

A fully finished out bathroom done in cedar planking, tile, red highlights, and the wall that you cannot see is tastefully left in it's natural brick.  The cabinet holds extra toilet paper, hand soap, air freshner, etc, because well...we all know "That gamer"....

Inside the bathroom door is this brass duck robe hanger. For some reason this duck seems to attract the attention and it seems to fascinate the hell out of everyone that sees it. 

Next to the bathroom is the brick wall and the entrance to the future game room.

Looking into the future game room, you can see natural lighting, electric lighting, heat, and an already wall mounted white board. The square in the ceiling is the laundry chute.

Looking to the right from the entrance, you can see the natural lighting also, the enclave where the TV, etc, will go, a portable baseboard heater, etc. Also visible is a set of Art Audio stereo speakers already wired and ready to be hooked up.  Future plans for this area include a large screen TV, DVD player, Sofa and chairs, as well as a table against the wall holding a mini fridge, (although the wife wants to put a full scale one down here), and a microwave. All of this is her idea, and I do believe she is planning on having me live down there!!!

The next two pics are of the rest of the gaming room, showing the lighting, the walls for "wall hanging stuff", the small passage with the dart board, and of course, "the hidden secret room".

Yes, we have discovered that we have a hidden room, (hence the strange passage.)

Oddly enough no one seems to know what is on the other side of that wall, (the previous owners said that it was walled up like that when they bought the house in the late 80's...), and they never seemed to show interest in seeing what was behind it.

This open area is going to be where the gaming table and display cases along the walls will be. 

That's it for the current tour of the house and the future man cave for me. I am going to be updating this as I set it the place for painting and gaming and decorating. Stay tuned for more!