Now that we have both left the structure of full-time employment, we finally have time for all of the projects we have been putting off! We started with house projects and maintenance work, but after joining a maker space in Lynchburg we spent more time doing projects just for fun.
House Projects
Emily jumped right in and worked on repainting our basement office room in a much lighter color that made the space so much more enjoyable! We eventually brought back Andrew’s childhood furniture from Richmond and turned it into a bunkroom (so if you want to visit us at the lake and have kids, now you know where they can stay!). Emily also did some gardening around the house, planting some fun deer-proof flowers.
We did a lot of work on the dock over the winter too. The sailboat got moved to a new side lift, opening up the middle of the dock for other uses. When the weather started to get warmer Emily cleaned and painted the space and we started treating the exposed wood for carpenter bees. The boathouse got thoroughly cleaned and reorganized so it can fit all of the fun lake toys!
While we were in Richmond stealing furniture, we helped out Andrew’s parents with a few projects too. We painted their garage and assembled some replacement (more adult) furniture for their house.
Lynchburg Maker Space
Just before Christmas we took a blacksmithing class in Lynchburg where we got to make fun candy-cane inspired iron-forged ornaments. It was a great experience with a fun teacher, so when Vector Space began accepting new members in January we jumped at the opportunity! They have a great community with an incredibly diverse set of skills (sewing, embroidery, woodworking, metal crafting, programming, electronics, stained glass, and more!) who love to teach and learn.
After taking some initial shop safety training classes we got to know a few of the members with similar interests. Eventually, we got roped into a fun group project where the goal was to make a CNC foam cutting machine in time to show off at the Lynchburg Maker Faire. It was a great opportunity to meet new people, learn more about the maker community, and build something fun without the pressures of work! In the end we focused in on the ability to cut out the profile (silhouette) of a person’s head based on a photo. We cut almost 100 custom foam profiles at the maker faire and enjoyed getting to work with a group of people that was diverse in a very different way from the teams we were in at SpaceX.
Fun Projects
While still juggling some contract engineering work Andrew continued to make progress on his CNC Router project. The parts finally left his computer and started coming to life on the ever-increasing number of tools now living in the garage. Emily has joined in with some occasional build help and recently took over the electrical design responsibilities.
Emily finished a few sewing projects and even learned how to use the embroidery machine at the maker space! Family members started making requests and Emily began delivering customizations in time for Mother’s Day.
We brewed two beers in the spring: an all-mosaic double IPA, and a deliciously malty brown ale. Hopefully the two kegs last us into the summer when we have visitors!
The fun project that really took over our attention in the spring was planning two trips to Europe! We have one trip planned to Portugal, Spain, and Greece in May (where we meet up with some friends) and another trip planned to Italy in June (based around a backpacking trip in the dolomites).
