Caleb Village resident has found a wonderful pastime

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

Retirement is a time to cease working; however, 88-year-old Earl Smith, who resides at Caleb Village, keeps very busy during his retirement years. Most days, you will find him in his workshop at Caleb, where he builds birdhouses and beautiful woodworking projects.

One of his most recent projects is a large Purple Martin house, which will be mounted on a 12-foot pole in Caleb Village’s backyard. The Purple Martin house is Earl’s original design.

Earl said Purple Martins come around in the spring, and he’s hoping they’ll stick around now that they have 14 more places in their new birdhouse to make a nest. Earl has also built ten wren houses and five houses for robins.

“It’s a good pastime,” he said. “I give them away as gifts.”

Earl’s love of woodworking began when he was a little boy. “Back then, apples came in boxes,” he explained. “We had no money. I made a picture of a tea kettle out of the base of the apple box and painted it. My mom hung her tea towels on it. That was the first thing I made.”

“I was a farmer and ran an elevator. I never did much woodworking until I retired,” he said. “It’s a pretty wonderful pastime. You get to be my age, and it’s pretty important to have a hobby.”

Not only does Earl excel at building birdhouses, but since 1995 he has been doing Intarsia woodworking. Intarsia uses different shapes and sizes of wood fitted together like a jig-saw to create a picture that gives the illusion of depth. The pieces are glued to a wooden backer-board which is cut to the outline of the pattern.

Earl uses cedar, pine and spruce to make his projects, but he prefers cedar because it’s available in different colours. “I made five different teddy bears out of wood. All fourteen of my grandkids get them. I’ve made about a hundred of those.”

Earl said one of his grandchildren shares his passion for woodworking. “I have a granddaughter who is teaching near Saskatoon. She teaches industrial arts and teaches her students Intarsia woodworking. She said, ‘it all started with you, Grandpa.’ She gets my cedar board for me from Saskatoon.”

Even though the cost of wood products has increased significantly, Earl doesn’t seem to mind. “I don’t care about the cost because I give it away anyway,” he said. One of his Intarsia pieces hangs on the wall in Caleb’s dining room, and Nancy Vanthuyne, the general manager at Caleb, has one of Earl’s pieces hanging in her office.

Just recently, Earl crafted a horse’s head in a horseshoe for one of the residents at Caleb. “It was a surprise,” Earl said. “I told him it’s because he’s my buddy, and he was pretty thankful.”

He also loves to make gifts for the staff at Caleb and described his most recent project, saying, “I’m making an angel for an angel.” His handcrafted angel will be a surprise gift for Angel, one of the staff members at Caleb.

Photos by Joan Janzen

FOR THE BIRDS: Having a hobby is important when you’re retired! 88-year old Earl Smith stands beside the Purple Martin house he built in his workshop at Caleb Village in Kindersley.

A picture that Earl made hangs on the wall if the dining room at Caleb Village.

Intarsia wood projects.