Last year we bought our first house. It is a bit smaller then the house we were renting, so some of our furniture didn't quite fit. So, I use that as a challenge to build our own. And boy have I been having so much fun getting back into using the power tools! :)

One of the projects I have recently been working on are end tables for our couch. I cruised Pinterest for ideas and found some table ideas I could use to build to fit our needs. I found one design that was very simple, but they were selling them for $160 - Holy Cow! That is totally out of our price range!

I drew up a plan, went to the local lumber yard (always support local businesses if you can), purchased my lumber and then took it home to get started. Luckily my husband is pretty on board when it comes to my crazy ideas. And, of course I am doing this in winter, so most of the project has been inside. And then having to wait for warm enough days to stain, seal, and poly.

Over the weekend we had the pleasure of meeting the engineers that drive the Grinder Train that was going through Chappell, Nebraska and then to Julesburg, Colorado (and beyond). This train grinds the rails from one end of the country to the other. The guys were very nice, they said that they get LOTS of questions and lots of people wanting to take pictures. So because they were waiting for less traffic on the rails, they let us look at the train up close and take pictures. Each of the guys were from a different state. The one I mostly talked with was from Florida, but he had a southern accent. :) Very nice! We asked about the fire danger because of the sparks and they have quite a few ways to keep the fire danger down. They have 2 large water tank cars at the end of the grinder cars that shoot water out about 10 feet from the rails, soaking everything it passes. Then there is a water truck that drives on the rails about a mile or two behind the train that looks for any hot spots that may have been carried by the wind. Here are some pics and the full video I shot.