Brad OKeefe
Member
- Messages
- 27
- Location
- Houston, TX
Hello All
I'm Brad OKeefe and wanted to say hi and introduce myself. About 5 years ago, my wife and I were out on a date on a rainy and stormy evening and spotted a dog standing in the middle of the highway looking very confused and scared. I pulled over and coaxed him over to the side of the road and got him into our vehicle.
He was wet, flea infested, half starved and looked about 12 years old (back teeth were already worn to the gums). We took him home and got him cleaned up the best we could and made a bed for him in our garage. My brother commented that he had the "smell of death" about him and probably wouldn't last much longer. We couldn't locate his owner, so we decided to make him as comfortable as possible in what we thought were his "last days."
Initially, I felt so sorry for the old fart, that I started spending time in the garage every evening reading a book while he ate and slept. He seemed much more content when I was with him. As the days rolled on, Storm (appropriately named), begin to recover and gain some strength but still seemed very happy when I visited him in the garage. So, tiring of reading, I decided to try my hand at building a small book shelf for my wife. I've always been a hands on type of person and quickly caught the woodworking bug.
Well, four years later, after building that book shelf, a router table, laundry center, table and chairs for my daughter, RV console, and a 490 DVD capacity drawer style cabinet, Storm finally succumbed to cancer and I had to put him down.
Storm and I had become very close, he was my woodworking buddy and was always content to sleep his time away while I sawed and sanded away in that garage. And he always looked forward to our evening walks after I finished cleaning up my area.
Storm is gone now, but he gave me a great gift in learning about woodworking and I have enjoyed it greatly.
My current project is a low profile entertainment center that will be placed under a wall mounted flat screen TV. Have been using Sketch Up to design it and begin my first cuts last weekend.
Oh, and I'm 47, married for 19 years, 3 kids (25,21,17), served in the Marine Corp, software developer by trade, and woodwork for fun
Brad
I'm Brad OKeefe and wanted to say hi and introduce myself. About 5 years ago, my wife and I were out on a date on a rainy and stormy evening and spotted a dog standing in the middle of the highway looking very confused and scared. I pulled over and coaxed him over to the side of the road and got him into our vehicle.
He was wet, flea infested, half starved and looked about 12 years old (back teeth were already worn to the gums). We took him home and got him cleaned up the best we could and made a bed for him in our garage. My brother commented that he had the "smell of death" about him and probably wouldn't last much longer. We couldn't locate his owner, so we decided to make him as comfortable as possible in what we thought were his "last days."
Initially, I felt so sorry for the old fart, that I started spending time in the garage every evening reading a book while he ate and slept. He seemed much more content when I was with him. As the days rolled on, Storm (appropriately named), begin to recover and gain some strength but still seemed very happy when I visited him in the garage. So, tiring of reading, I decided to try my hand at building a small book shelf for my wife. I've always been a hands on type of person and quickly caught the woodworking bug.
Well, four years later, after building that book shelf, a router table, laundry center, table and chairs for my daughter, RV console, and a 490 DVD capacity drawer style cabinet, Storm finally succumbed to cancer and I had to put him down.
Storm and I had become very close, he was my woodworking buddy and was always content to sleep his time away while I sawed and sanded away in that garage. And he always looked forward to our evening walks after I finished cleaning up my area.
Storm is gone now, but he gave me a great gift in learning about woodworking and I have enjoyed it greatly.
My current project is a low profile entertainment center that will be placed under a wall mounted flat screen TV. Have been using Sketch Up to design it and begin my first cuts last weekend.
Oh, and I'm 47, married for 19 years, 3 kids (25,21,17), served in the Marine Corp, software developer by trade, and woodwork for fun
Brad