It actually got warm enough this week to do a bit of thawing.  I even saw a robin in the trees near the office.  Unfortunately, it's still going to be a week of two before any thoughts of summer begin to brew.

So it was a monumental day in the life of the dresser project.  The first dry fit of the cabinet frame occurred.  Not a perfect fit, but it can be.  The lower frames are about 1/32" too long and all frames are maybe 1/16" too wide.  That's great news.  I won't need the wood stretcher on this project...yet.  A little minor trimming and it's done.  The panels assembled nice and snug.

So with that, the project will continue forward.  Spring is approaching, got to get moving on this.

NEWS FLASH!

It's official...our new summer home will be slip #31 at the Mackinaw City Municipal Marina.  We're excited about new adventures in a location we have always enjoyed, but sad that we're leaving our Ludington friends after 15 great years at Harborview Marina.

Now on to the report...

We've been out and about for a couple weeks.  First a week in central Florida.  Then an 8 day cruise aboard Independence of the Seas to the Caribbean and the ports of St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, and Labadie, Haiti.

It was nice to get out of the cold and snow and get in a little beach and swim time in St. Maarten.  The skipper of our charter sailboat said he'd received his training in Traverse City.  Small world.

St. Kitts.

There was no shortage of the "larger" boats in the ports we visited.

This is a view of the yacht that was being built for Apple founder Steve Jobs as it sailed out of St. Maarten. The yacht wasn't completed before his death.

What struck me was all the large yachts on the move in the Caribbean.  There's some nice yachts in the Great Lakes, but they never seem to move much.  In the Caribbean, these boats get used to go places.

We made a stop in San Juan...

where the US Coast Guard saw to it that we were not bothered.

After another beach day at Labadie, Haiti and a day at sea, it was back to...

SNOW!!!

It's been some amount of years since there has been this much snow here. Gauging by the depth on the flag pole, it's a healthy 2 feet in the un-drifted areas.

But on to better news.

There's progress to report on the dresser project.  I've figured out all the framing details and am moving forward.

The end panels are all notched to accept the frames (this was the detail that gave me fits).

And the first of four frame assemblies is in the gluing clamps.

The excitement never ends.