For several years I've been wanting a lage book case for my office. I really needed a place to organize my miscellanous collections that now reside in multiple shelves, drawers and boxes. At the office, at home, in the basement and even the garage.

I set out to find a plan that was easy (of course, it has to be easy if I'm going to build it). I found some smaller cases with some basic plans, so I took one of those and altered it to fit my location. This plan has 60 ft of self space at 11 inches deep. The construction is designed so that it can be completed with ordinary tools, circular saw (although a table saw would be very beneficial) jig saw, drill, screw gun, sander, hammer and nails. But if you happen to have a nice shop you could probablu knock this out in a day. The plans include all the materials list and cut guide along with a drill guide for shelves and the back panel.

This plan can easliy be altered to the exact size for you space. Although it's already tall at 7'3" you can easily alter it to be a floor to ceiling built in book case. Or you can adjust the self length to fit a smaller location. Your plan could also include building a third or forth unit for more overall length or a wall to wall application. The enite case is easliy moved by seperating the individual units. Only the crown mold and center fluted stile are installed on site and make the unit look like a permnant install.

I'm starting construction on this plan this weekend, so I'll update this post with cost and hours once I've finished. Or, better yet, you could stop by my office sometime and check it out.

I'll be glad to send you a PDF of the plan detail if you leave me a message.

Or you can see the 3D model on Google Sketchup here. 

Forbes magazine has listed the Northern Kentucky city of Independence as the 99th fastest-growing suburb in America.

The city's population grew to 33.5 percent to 20,254 last year, from 15,169 in 2000, according to Forbes.

The Independence real estate market remains strong in comparison to other parts of the country. The currently absorption rate for single family residential housing is 7.7 months which would indicate a slight lean towards a buyers market.

While slightly still in a buyers market, real estate remains strong with a 7.7 absorption rate for single famly residential house  

Independence, located about 15 miles south of Cincinnati in Kenton County, is one of the largest land mass cities in Kentucky, encompassing about 23 square miles, according to its Web site, www.cityofindependence.org.

Forbes compiled its list of the 100 fastest-growing suburbs using U.S. Census data. The contenders included cities, townships and villages that had more than 10,000 people in 2000.

Read the Forbes Article Here.

At the end of the wood burning season this past spring (2008), Mom asked me to come up with an idea to redo her wood pile, which wasn't much more than a fence with a tarp thrown over it to keep the wood dry. The tarp spent more time on the ground than it did covering the wood. I had an idea for an 8 ft by 16 ft, 3 sided structure with a permanent roof. I searched the Internet for some plans but never could come up with anything like I had in mind so I sketched up something while standing at the lumber yard and set out to build a new wood shed. My son and I spent 3 days removing the remaining fire wood from the area and preparing the site. The end result was pretty good so I decided to detail the plans using Google SketchUp. These plans have every component down to and including the drip edge for the roof. You can view and download this 3D model with Google Sketchup. I free program from Google.

Here's the actual photo of the shed we built.

The plans are free. Feel free to use them in any way you want. With Google SketchUp you can even modify the plans to fit you particular need. If you find the plans useful, leave me a comment and let me know that you got some use from them.

A little known treasure to even Northern Kentuckians are the fabulous murals located on the flood wall between the suspension bridge and Madison Pike in Covington, Ky. The murals where painted in 2002 by the Robert Dafford Company and were made possible by generous sponsors and donations. So, the next time your at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center or the Marriott or Embassy Suites, walk down towards the riverfront and take the 1/4 mile walk toward the suspension bridge. It's a walk through the history and heritage of Northern Kentucky with depictions of people like Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, Danial Beard and events such as the flood of 1937.

In a region rich in fairs and festivals, especially fall festivals, the Kentucky Wool Festivalstands out among the best of the best. Held each year over the first weekend in October, the Kentucky Wool Fest has much to offer for the entire family.

Located about 35 milessouth east of Cincinnati and also easily accessible from Lexington and all parts in the region.

The Kentucky Wool Fest owns it's own facilities adjacent to Kincaid Lake State Park.

This festival is filled with Craft's, primitive craft's, vendors, food, and of course SHEEP.

I was working on some market data today and thought it would be a good time for a market update on Active Rain and Localism. Although not quite a buyers market, Independence has maintained a decent balanced market throughout 2008.

Like most market this year, Independence has seen it's fair share of ups and downs but it has maintained a fairly well balanced absorption rate. For the absorption rates in your neighborhood give us a call.

CENTURY 21 Garner Properties

Independence Office 859-363-9900

Florence Office 859-525-6777

UPDATE: DAY 10 - Only 6 Customers remain without power in Northern Kentucky. Number from Cincinnati were not available.

INDEPENDENCE, KY. (September 17, 2008) Day 4, since the inland hurricane and there are still 200,000 without power in the Duke Energy Cincinnati service area. We definitely consider ourselves among the lucky ones. We were only without electric for 40 hours, and lost a few shingles. We also had the luxury of an occasional generator boost from a couple good friends and neighbors so we wouldn't lose our refrigerator/freezer food stuff. 

It's almost embarrassing when you come to the realization of how  dependent we've become on electric and technology. Here's a blow-by-blow, so to speak, of my personal experience of 40 hours with no electric. I'm sure thousands of people have similar enlighten experiences, and many who won't consider any of the recent events enlightening or won't even care to recollect. I try to look at it as an adventure that's part of life. Another 20 years from now and our children will be saying "Remember when the electric was off for 4 days?". Wait...... I bet it's only nine months from now and delivery room nurses on overtime will be saying "Remember when the electric was off for 4 days?. 

40 Hour Journal

• 12:30PM Sunday. As soon as we got home from church I had the bright idea to more tightly secure the tarp covering our chimney from the lightning strike 6 weeks ago. The impending high wind warning had me thinking the tarp would not hold. 
• 12:35PM - NEWS FLASH, the wind blows much stronger on my roof than it does on the ground. After being repeatedly pelted upside my head by a flapping tarp, I realized that 35 ft off the ground on an extension ladder during a high wind warning was not the brightest idea I ever had. I lassoed the worst part, tossed the rope over the edge and headed to the ground. Let the tarp fend for itself. 
• 1:22PM  - Power outage - Darn the inconvenience, I won't get to watch the end of the football game. The Bengals were loosing anyways. No big deal, I guess I'm just a fair weather fan this year.
• 1:30PM Not really sure why, maybe is was just because there was nothing else to do with no power, but the whole family gathered in the garage. Cat's, dog and the 4 of us all in one place at the same time. It was quite cozy and sort of gave ya that Sunday afternoon homey feeling. 
• 1:45PM There goes a porch chair flying by. OK, that's not totally uncommon, the wicker backed chairs always act like a sail in even a light wind. Time to carry in the wicker, take down the porch swing, lay the rockers over on their side, turn off the fountain.  At least we all have a place to sit in the garage now.
• 2:00PM was around the time when we started to think that maybe it was a little more wind than we anticipated. It was about that same time when someone looked up the road to see this massive cloud of dust stretched a quarter mile or so back to a point were we couldn't really see the origin. OK, thats weird, but least it's not raining. 
• 2:15PM A quick walk through the front yard to check on the tarp reveals the beginnings of the unwillingness of our shingles to stay put. We were waiting on a roofer to repair the lightning damage anyways. Thank goodness the tarp is still holding; shredding, but holding none the less.
• 2:30PM A closer look at the countryside was the first sign that not all the trees were fairing so well. Without looking to hard, we spotted many snapped branches in the upper parts of trees all around us. The poor sunflowers in the garden scummed to the pressure and laid down in a row just like they stood tall though out the summer. It's September, the birds had almost cleaned the seeds and it was near the end of their time anyways. 
• 2:45PM It's raining.......... shingles. What's a few more shingles when we're waiting on a new roof anyways, just that much less the roofer has to take off, right? 
• 3:00PM The first time we learned of the massive power outage was when our neighbor pulled in the driveway. He had just driven some 45 miles from Hamilton Ohio and announced that there were not even a half dozen working traffic signals between here and there. Anyone know the score of the game?
• 3:30PM the damage reports start coming in. Mom lost "the" oak tree in her side yard. No need to count the rings on this one. I helped plant it some 40ish years ago. We don't have to worry about scouting out any firewood this year. I think we'll have a good 2 year supply on hand after the 3  trees down in her yard are cut up.
• 4:00PM The time between gusts has lengthened from the 2:30PM sustained blast. A fresh walk around the yard says, so far so good. A few more shingles, a shed roof peeled back, some origin uknown debris strung about.  Don't open the refrigerator or freezer door under any circumstances. Thinking.... I wonder when the power will be back on?
• 5:00PM Time to load up the chain saws and head out. Within a couple miles we could have cut for hours and not made a dent in the downed trees and limbs. In some ways, not as bad as what I expected, in other ways it must have been much worse. Anyways, off to Mom's house, her road is blocked by a fallen tree. 
• 5:30PM Fired up the saw and before I could even look up a dozen people appeared from neighborhood houses. Before I could cut through the first 2 limbs, another chain saw was roaring on the opposite side of the tree. People were dragging off branches as fast as I could cut. Isn't it great how people just love to pitch in and help during an emergency. 
• 6:45PM The winds have subsided, the majority of the outer limbs on the oak are now stacked in a mass and the saw just ran out of gas again. Time to head home and see if the power has been restored. 
• 8:00PM Sun setting. Time to gather up the ridiculous supply of flash lights to see which ones really work and which ones have just been hanging around with dead batteries for the false sense of security. 
• 9:00PM The distant hum of generators begin to fill the neighborhood. Time to start kicking myself in the butt for not buying one at a time when I didn't need it. 
• 9:30PM No TV. No Wii, No Internet, No lights to work in the garage. Who wants to put the porch furniture back? Or, better yet, who wants to bucket some water up from the cistern so we can at least flush the commodes? The silent vote indicated it was more important to flush. Commence operation bucket brigade. 
• 10:00PM A good 2 hour chain saw work out, the quiet hum of a distant generator, a dark room and comfortable recliner sure makes it easy to....... fall....... asleep. 
• 10:30PM A tap tap tap at the garage door was all the dog need to go totally ballistic, leap from my lap like it was his personal spring board and go racing through the family room quickly bringing 4 sleeping people to their feet. Just in the nick of time, the neighbors thought we could use a couple hours a generator time to refreeze the freezers. Another 2 hours and we probably would have lost most everything in the refrigerators. In short order we had everything plugged in through extension cords and running. Wow, we'd better charge the cell phones while we have the chance.  Surely the power will be back on soon. It's not like the lines are coated in ice or anything. 
• 12:30AM Monday. My cell phone alarm goes off reminding me it's time to return the generator. I had forgotten how much light a full moon puts out when your in total darkness. It felt so good to be windless, but so Eire to look around and see no lights.  Time to go the bed and boy will it feel good to get a hot shower in the morning. Think ....I'll just ..... hit the recliner here ....... until the power comes back on........YAWWWN. 
• 1:30AM The dog can't stand the pressure of no background noise, we always have a couple fans running during the night. He must be hearing things he's never experienced before. You know how dogs have different barks? Well, our dogs "get your butt up and see what that noise is" bark is this really high ear piercing, smoke alarm sounding, repeated squeal.  It's not the funnest thing you'll ever wake up to. Especially, when it's waking you up every 15 minutes or so. 
• 3:00AM We finally figured out what the dog was sensing while we couldn't hear anything. Under the shadows of a full moon, in the depths of an area wide blackout emergency, the outdoor cats had invited some neighbors over for some late night World Wrestling Federation action. It's just hard to believe, until you hear it for yourself, how much loud noise can come from such a small creature with a tiny little meow.  I run to the garage door and flip on the light switch (hah) to find.... nothing. I guess they heard me running through the house and decided to high tail it out of there before they seen one of their nine lives flash before their eyes. Pull the emergency cord, close the garage door, find my way back in the house without tripping over the half dozen extension cords thrown about in maze from the earlier generator boost. Then it's, calm the dog and back to the recliner. 
• 4:15AM Chirp Chirp Chirp and the dog ballistic again. Who even needs a smoke alarm when you have a Moe? Evidently they were sending enough low voltage across the lines to make the real smoke alarms think they must warn someone of impending doom. Not just a few chirp chirps, they come in waves, about every 10 minutes. That's right, you guessed it. With every new chirp, starts the dog on a whole new cycle of his patent pending Banchy squeal that last not quite, but almost as long as the cycle between chirps. Come ON!!!! Just turn the darn power on already and stop teasing us with the false hope. 
• 7:30AM the sun comes glaring through the window into my eyes and shortly my cell is ringing with the ever so welcome invitation to come and get the generator for a couple of hours.
• 8:30AM No power at the office, actually no power anywhere between here and the office, not one working traffic signal. Of course no power means no phones and no internet. May as well go back home. 
• 9:30AM Return the generator. A hot shower sounds good about now. I drag out the turkey fryer, hook up the propane and drip the bucket in the cistern for some water. Heat the water on the driveway pour it in a tea pot and head for the ole sink bath routine. Not the most refreshing experience but hey, it's the thought the counts.
• 10:00AM The roofer drops by on his way to look at the neighbors house. Bad news, he's already been on the phone with his shingle supplier and there are no shingles to be had anywhere from Ohio to Texas. Which is REALLY bad news because I've already been waiting 6 weeks for a new roof anyways and now, finally, the roofer could start after Wednesday, when the brick layer is done. Oh well, what's another couple weeks? 
• Noon A generator magically appears in my driveway. Enough said.
• 12:30PM Brick layer shows up and acts shocked to learn we don't have power yet. No power means no water, no water means no mortar, no motor means no brick laying. He builds some scaffolding and announces that we'll see him tomorrow. Wait! This guy lives 10 miles farther out in the country than I do and HE HAS POWER!
• 4:00PM I get the offer of some help and a log splitter if I'm ready to cut up the tree in Mom's yard. I'm tired, a little hungry for a hot meal and I'm off to cut some wood. I'm never one to turn away volunteer help. 
• 7:00PM Hot, sweaty, tired and perfectly satisfied that we just rip through and split and stacked 3 cords of fire wood in about 2 hours. Time to head home and get the flashlight situation organized before dark. 
• 7:10PM Although I've spent very little time in the car with the radio on. Anyways, on the way home I hear this really annoying public service announcement by Duke Energy. It starts with something like. We have had a very serious wind storm (DUH) and please be patient while they repair thethe lines and restore power to 900,000 customers. And, BTW, it might be another 5 or 6 days before we can get your power back on. WHAT? 8 days without power? I wanted to pick up the phone and call them. We've had region wide blizzards with ice strorms in below zero temperatures and 18 hours was as lon as it took to restore power. This is September, it's was a high of 72 degrees today and sunny. How could it possibly take 8 days to restore power?  Now I'm just mad, get out of my way.
• 9:00PM As the sun sets and the full moon rises we are huddled arounf the turkey fryer with our mouths wattering over some boiling maccaroni. Mac and cheese on paper plate with a side of tomatoes never tasted so good. 
• 10:00PM Heat the water for another sink bath. Exhausted and achey from using a chain saw for 2 hours I was ready to crash. From lessons learned the night before, close the garage door to deter meandering stray kitties, flip off the breaker that supplies power to the smoke alarms. Settle in for a much needed sleep without distraction. 
• 4:00AM Tuesday - Like walking from a dark cave, face into the sun...... BAM. lights blaring from every direction. FINALLY....... we have electric.
• 4:06AM Yeah, Yeah, I bet some line crew is busting a  gut in laughter. Power off again. Like a carrot on a stick, it was just a tease. Good thing I didn't even have time to turn off the generator. Back to sleep.
• 6:30AM We wake to find power fully restored. 40 Hours later, just as though it never happened. Who won the Bengals game anyway?