Bids, Bird Feeders, and Stone Work

hooo its HOT here! Just got back from the Ranch where its hot too, but worth it. And there's always the crick for cooling off.
Those interested in bidding on the Bocote hook (see post below this one) are welcome to send bids now.... one more day till the auction closes (you have till Tuesday Aug 4 10pm Pacific Std Time).
In the mean time I'll show you what's been happening out on the Front Porch.
The porch (THE Front Porch, this blog's namesake) up on the ranch works well but I never liked the look of the concrete pillars underneath. I love stone work. So, I decided to stack rock around the pillars to hide the concrete. Three are finished. Did the last one yesterday and last night. HOT heavy and HARD work but I sure like the results. All the rock has been taken from the ranch. In fact lots of the rock you see in the stack on the far right was taken from our old home site. The old place is hardly a flat spot on the ground, but I was able to gather some of the rock used for the foundation and now its part of the new place. Makes it all more special, and I think my Dad would have approved.
The other picture is of a bird feeder that my buddy Jim Kester and I made of sticks and such we rustled up on the ranch. I mounted it on one of the posts on the porch that one day will help support a roof. We did almost all the work by hand. See those really nice dovetails? Jim made those with his back saw and chisel. Cool eh? And I hand made the trusses, timber frame style, and hand split the shakes. Fun. Now I'm waiting for the birds to find it. Hope they do. We have some pretty birds around the Ranch and it'll be fun watching them in the bird feeder.
Ok enough drivel for a day, eh?

On to the Fast and furious bidding!!

Hope everyone's staying cool.
Jimbo