Intervention!

[H Rhodes]

     We all joke about what an addiction bow building can be, but seriously, it can become a problem if you let it.   I had noticed that there were several projects that were getting dusty around my place.  I have a big pole barn that I intend to intall electric service to, trees down on the back ten acres from a storm, brush that needs clearing, home improvements, deck to be built, etc.........  and on and on.  I had to box up pretty much everything archery related and get it out of my sight so that I can get a few things accomplished.  I told the friends and relatives that there is going to be a six month halt to bow making - you would have thought that I had slapped them!   I am going to limit myself to a couple of practice shooting sessions a week and then focus my efforts elsewhere for a little while.  I will need to get a vicarious thrill from looking at the creations posted on PA to get a fix for the next few months.  I will be back before too long - that pole barn is going to be a better bow building shop than I have ever had, so some of these chores I am working on will lead me back in the right direction.   

[Pat B]

Pull a Huck Fin on them. Tell your friends if they do your other chores for you that you will be able to continue to build bows.   

[TRACY]

Man Howard, that is rough! Fully understand though. During this intervention, can you mentor others, say Tommy? You need to get him addicted to the self bow good luck !


Tracy

[H Rhodes]

Pat, wasn't it Tom Sawyer who was the savvy one?  Either way, all this stuff is staring me in the face.  I have to get to it and I am short on helpers.  In the last three days I have already buried 100 ft of wire to an outbuilding, and cut up and box blade hauled off and burned three big trees.  It is amazing how much you can get done in just a short while, when you aren't rasping on a bow stave like a tweeker! 

Tracy, I do have a few friends to talk bows with, so that is easing the withdrawal symptoms. 

[Del the cat]

Can you come round and look at my roof for me? I'm still busy buildin' bows
Del

[H Rhodes]

Thanks Del!  That reminds me to add cool sealing the barn roof to my list......  number 74.

[Badger]

  Howard, I understand exactly what you are talking about. I had to build decks, patio covers , rewire the house, landscape you name it. I made a rule that I couldn't work on bows if I had things on my to do list that I could do. The exception was weekends or if I put 6 hours on projects I could spend the remainder of the day on bows. It worked! I have been doing it for years. My "to do list" has hundereds of completed projects on it with not one singe on incomplete.

      I turned the bow building addiction into a positive force by making it a reward for finishing work I may have otherwise put off. Good luck!

[osage outlaw]

Good luck with the chores Howard.  I have to do the same thing every now and then but not for 6 months.  I don't think I could go that long without making some shavings.

[Aries]

I'd go crazy if I had to go 6 months without making a bow. When I first moved into the city to start college back in the day it was only a couple months before I had build a work bench on my apartment balcony 

[Pat B]

Howard, that must be why none of my projects get done.     

[alwayslookin]

Bow tweaker hahaha that's rich. Moderation is key in all aspects of life so they tell me.

[H Rhodes]

I don't know if I will make it 6 months but I think I need to try it for a while if only to remind me to stay sane with it.    Steve, you may be on to something.  I will try working on them at that pace after I get some of these big chores checked off my list.  It is amazing how much bow building gets to be a part of you.  Hell, even last summer when I was wrapped up after the shoulder surgery, I made a pile of arrows!  This is the longest I have spent away from it in a long time.  I feel like I have gone cold turkey. 

[crooketarrow]

  My familys but me in bow rehab so many times. They realized long ago that I'm a lost cause.

  Like my old lady says. As soon as we all get into ROYS world the better off we'll be.

  So I'm left alone to do as I want. And I do, unless the job just has to be done last month.

 I leave it untill I get to it.

  It was'nt planed this way. It just worked out that way through the years.

  ROY'S world I like that.

[CodyPost]

This is where my wife guides me back down to Earth. If I neglect something too long she has very effective ways of letting me know when I am getting "too obsessed"

[Willibow]

My obsession comes in spurts where I build like a "bow tweaker" (love that!) for a month or two doing usually a bow and a set of arrows. Then I just shoot a little and catch up with the rest of life for two or three months until I get the hankering...

But then again, I work way too many hours, have two young children, am pursuing a masters engineering degree, and have the wife, house, dog, and all the other responsibilities to balance.

We need 48 hour long days. That'd be about right I think 

Catch up with life man. Balance makes building bows an even richer experience as you won't feel guilty about neglecting other important things