General Hobbies Thread

Joined
Sep 12, 2017
Messages
34
Hey, everyone!

Love this community. Really, full of good people that genuinely seem to want to help you. I've gotten so many great responses, notably from @kinnem , @AROTC-dad , and @DesertCaliMom , among many others. So, because of that, just wanted to maybe make it a comforting place for others with a hobbies thread!

The purpose of this, again, is just to make people feel more comfortable on the site. I know when I first joined, I felt extremely unsure of how the community would react to a newcomer.

All we do is, y'know, talk casually about our hobby accomplishments! I, for example, am an avid coin collector- specifically of American coinage. I got into dollar bills for a while there (Turkish designs were something I avidly enjoyed for some reason :p) but overally, I came to love finding new coins to become a part of my collection! Pictured below is just one of my many dime books, it has an unpictured 1989-2000 dime section as well!

So, let's just talk casually, SAF. Doesn't have to be accomplishments either, if you love to read, kayak, hike, or anything in between, let's get comfy! Share it! :D

 
I used to construct 1/35th scale models (Tamiya were my favorite) & fashion dioramas, usually world War Two. I kinda went overboard in the details, like painting beard stubble on GIs faces with a toothpick. I didn't just build tanks, truck, artillery pieces & troops. Ruined buildings, brick rubble, barbed wire, sandbags, empty ammo clips, "brass" artillery shell casings, broken glass, empty bottles littering the ground, etc. And the ground itself, shrubs, grass, dirt, broken trees, small hills, rivers (very hard), etc.

I'd even paint graffiti on the walls of buildings ("Killroy Was Here", "Gott Mitt Uns").

Packed them all up years in shoe boxes years ago. Tried to get my kids into the model thing about a decade ago but couldn't compete with the video game generation. Not to mention computers. I'll be damned if I can any of them to watch a baseball game with me. I have more luck with football & hockey, but in general they can't keep still long enough to take in an entire game. Stare at their damn phones all the time. (I still don't own a smart phone.)
 
BOURBON:rolleyes:

No, actually I have a cabin (about 450 sq ft) in the woods on some acreage I'm finishing out. I like building things. I spend as much time as possible there away from civilization and the problems of the everyday world. Hunt, observe nature and wildlife, just enjoy life.
It's about 2 miles from a lake to go fishing if I want. I go there every weekend or every other weekend at least. I'd live there if I could get my wife to.

Get myself self reset for the following work week.:bang:
 
@Day-Tripper My father is completely obsessed with 1/35 tank sets. I recently bought him a circa 1943 T-34 Soviet tank along with a 'resting group of Soviet soldiers'. Unfortunately I'm not an invested sport of it, though, so I'm unsure if I got him a proper set for actually building with! :biglaugh:

@AROTC-dad Ha! Nice that your hobby is helping others, bud! :D

@QA1517 I remember back when I was little my grandfather- rest his soul- used to take me out to this small cabin in such a scenic setting on the Appalachian Trail (or somewhere near it, I unfortunately can't tell you off of the top of my head). All I remember vividly was the peace and the quiet. Although it lacked your lucky lake, he'd chop up firewood and boil up strawberry kompot and we'd sit around and he'd read to me. I miss those times, really. When he passed, my family moreorless lost interest in going up there. The issue is that it either passed on to my dad and he forgot about it or it passed on to my aunt and I'll never go up there again (long story...). Good for you man.
 
SAF! Remodeling my house, reading and working out. I spend a lot of my free time at the place I workout (not cross fit... but similar group workout mentality). I also basically do whatever my dog tells me to.
 
Horses. Endurance riding, when I get the time for it. I've ridden 50 miles in one day (one horse), although some do 100. Now I'm older 25-35 is more fun, but I may do 50s again if my horse and I can get in shape. Takes a lot of conditioning, though, and that means hours in the saddle and not working....

Guilty secret hobby: I really enjoy watching (and re-watching) the movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Captain America - the star-spangled man with a plan...

Oh, and NavyHoops - I'm right there with the dog thing, x2.
 
Dogs are popular in our home. So popular it's like the Twilight Bark has advertised us as suckers. We rescue about one a week, they end up in our yard and stay. The vet reads chips for us and we take animals home, or find rescues after reporting them missing to animal control.
 
I'm into search dog training (border collie - air scent), camping hammocks, Dutch oven cooking, restoring old cast iron, hiking, snowmobiling, quilting, and reading.
 
Camping hammocks are great! What kind(s) do you use?

For me, shooting sports (3 gun), camping, and watching movies, when I'm not working or studying.
 
I use a DIY one. The first one I bought was just a cheap one from Fox Outfitters. I bought one for my son during a Buy One Get One Free sale, and I got the free one. That's what got me into it. I ended up making myself an underquilt for it. The underquilt really makes a difference.

Since then, I've made several hammocks. I even offered a class at the library teaching how to make them from taffeta tablecloths. Several Boy Scouts took the class. One mom told me her son had slept outside in his every night after making it. It was still cold here in South Dakota at the time, so I was impressed.
 
I sew. I've loved sewing ever since I had my first lesson in my 8th grade home ec class. And I've been sewing ever since. Now that my kids are grown, I have much more time to devote to sewing. This year the ladies in my quilt guild will work together to make a Quilt of Valor which will be given to a local veteran.

One new thing I've started doing is I take the class t-shirt or tote bag (each Service Academy sells a t-shirt and a tote bag with the names of all the cadets in that class year) and turn it into a throw pillow. Everyone likes to buy them because how cool it is that your kid's name is on it! But most don't use it all that much. So, by turning it into a pillow, you get it out of your drawer and instead get to enjoy seeing it. My youngest attends West Point, so most of the pillows I've made have been WP class pillows but I have also made them for CGA, NA and AFA parents.
 
Hey, everyone!

Love this community. Really, full of good people that genuinely seem to want to help you. I've gotten so many great responses, notably from @kinnem , @AROTC-dad , and @DesertCaliMom , among many others. So, because of that, just wanted to maybe make it a comforting place for others with a hobbies thread!

The purpose of this, again, is just to make people feel more comfortable on the site. I know when I first joined, I felt extremely unsure of how the community would react to a newcomer.

All we do is, y'know, talk casually about our hobby accomplishments! I, for example, am an avid coin collector- specifically of American coinage. I got into dollar bills for a while there (Turkish designs were something I avidly enjoyed for some reason :p) but overally, I came to love finding new coins to become a part of my collection! Pictured below is just one of my many dime books, it has an unpictured 1989-2000 dime section as well!

So, let's just talk casually, SAF. Doesn't have to be accomplishments either, if you love to read, kayak, hike, or anything in between, let's get comfy! Share it! :D

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Hobbies...I am getting back into them since I am now 1) an empty nester and 2) unemployed for the first time in many years. Love to run and participate in events from 5ks on up (used to be marathoner but too much work for me anymore!), play and listen to all sorts of music, make scrapbooks, and show up on my son's college campuses for home games or occassionally take them to a nice meal (they go to rival schools in our state...one is in the marching band and we help feed his section at all the home games).
 
each Service Academy sells a t-shirt and a tote bag with the names of all the cadets in that class year)
I still have and use my bag. It is an ice breaker, especially with long weather delays in Dallas or Denver or anywhere really. And it is sturdier than many pieces of luggage I have owned.

Fencersmother is president of two religious based organizations: St Gianna Molla Association & Militia of the Immaculata. SGMA does corporal and spiritual works of mercy for moms in troubled pregnancies (including finding housing, jobs, food, furniture, clothing, doctor care, etc,). The Militia of the Immaculata is an apostolate founded by St Maximilian Kolbe. Here is some info on it: http://missionimmaculata.com/ My "Village" visits hospitals, nursing homes, and other places where people need prayer, sacramentals, or material help.

Unfortunately, for the past three years, I've mostly been having or recovering from surgery (6 in past 3 years - not recommended). ::shrugs::

On the plus side: I have my FIFTH GRANDCHILD in three years coming New Years'!!!! Each former cadet is married, one with 2 boys, one having his second girl (see above). Fencers-sister has a 5 mo old girl - a REDHEAD!
 
@fencersmother - CONGRATULATIONS on #5!!! This is the best news. I have one so far and I love every minute I get to be with her. And sewing her sweet little girl dresses - my favorite hobby. :)

The tote bags are pretty nice but each year they are made by a different manufacturer and I have noticed huge quality differences in the various class years. Some years have nice thick canvas fabric, heavy weight thread and reinforced seams. In more recent years, the printing hasn't been very good, the canvas fabric and the thread have gotten thinner and I can very quickly deconstruct them. The older bags take much longer to deconstruct. To be honest, I sometimes feel bad deconstructing some of the older tote bags because they are so well constructed.
This is the case at USMA. The old expression 'the corps has' needs to altered a bit to 'the corps tote bags have.'
 
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