Dad and Woodworking

I have SO many memories of dad in the woodshop. In the old house he used the garage for his woodshop. In the winter he had a woodburning stove he used to keep it warm. If you had a quick question you could poke your head through the small window from the back porch.
One year he bought me a wood-burning set and I spend hours making pictures and creations from his scraps. He built the shed in the back yard at the old house and remember hoping they would let me use it as a bedroom. Then he built us the treehouse that we played with for years! He build a laundy folding table, a music holder, a picture frame, valentine for mom, a scout display board for david, all of our physics projects (mine was called the Wimbledon Wacker!) and many other small items that he just whipped up in no time!
One thing that makes dad's woodworking unique is that no matter how small the project is, it is his best work. Once Melissa asked him to make some simple doll furniture and it turned out BEAUTIFULLY! He could have sold it for hundreds of dollars.
I always wanted to help him in the shop, but because so much of it was dangerous, my job was always to clean up the shop. I got to use the HUGE vacuum which was almost cooler than the powertools. We always had to yell to get dad's attention over the noise of the machines and because we was wearing ear protecters (looked like giant headphones). He would turn around abruptly wearing a face mask, ear covers, a jean apron, and covered in sawdust. Usually holding some of powertool like a saw or a hammer. It would have been intimidating if we didn't know him!