Monday, March 18, 2024

New birthday toy.

Not too much happened during the week, mostly due to laziness.  I was in training that was scheduled in Mountain time for whatever reason, so I was at work late most of the week.  

My birthday was Tuesday, so I got myself a cake, and I ate it too.  


Wednesday I came out to a rainbow. 


I have had a couple of annoying issues with my truck this week, though nothing that would prevent me from heading to KY for the weekend.  The plastic housing on one of my wipers (the driver's side of course) shattered.  The wiper hasn't fallen off yet and I have used it a few times since, so I am hoping the latch is ok.  I will probably replace it sooner than later though.


I didn't grab a picture of when I first noticed it (which would have been a better picture), but it appears that my rear differential has developed a leak.  I noticed that it was wet when I crawled underneath the truck looking at the wiring harness, since I will have to wire in the cap (third lights are required in NH for inspection).  There were a couple of drops underneath it on the pavement too.  Unfortunately I didn't grab a picture at work where I saw it, I waited until I got home so it is covered in dirt.  Naturally, my truck is about 800 miles past the end of its warranty.


I also have been noticing that my dishwasher is cleaning a lot worse than it used to, so I pulled the filter and cleaned it.  I haven't run it since to see if that fixed it though.  I don't run the dishwasher but once, sometimes twice in a week.


This weekend however had one really nice day on Saturday.  So I pulled out my new toy and put it to work.


It makes a bigger mess than expected.


I bought it to help with finishing.  Dimensional lumber has paint marks from the manufacturer, and is usually really rough and needs a lot of sanding before it can be finished.  The planer (though I am using it more as a jointer than planer) takes all that stuff of with ease.


Here is a better view of a planed vs unplaned board.  You can clearly see the bottom one is rougher 


It is also fast.  I got all the boards cleaned up for the entertainment center in about a half hour.  It would have taken a half day to smooth all the boards with my belt sander.  

So I also decided to try out the other thing I bought.  It was advertised as a waterless cleaner, just wipe it on, wipe it off.  Since I can't pull my hose out yet (it still gets below freezing most nights), I was hoping this would be better.  It isn't.  It works worse than just using my typical car wash stuff.


So I pulled that out and got back to cleaning the cap.


I tried filling the bucket from my creek.  It wasn't faster than just bringing it in and filling it though.  I have to take a very specific route to get to the creek without sinking into the muck at the moment.


I did notice the one time I did try, the first throes of spring are starting to sprout.  The dandelions are just starting to come up.  


I got about half the cap cleaned.  There are still some minor marks on it where I went too long between the washing and the rinsing, but I can clean that up later.  



I also had some thoughts about the lip.  I was originally intending to make a dado cut so that the current lip sat inside the current board, but I am wondering if just laminating the 2x3 (I would probably plane it a little thinner) is adequate.


I also was thinking about the ceiling gap.  It is hollow, and I was wondering whether to fill it or not.  The benefits of filling it would be better thermal and sound insulation, and it would provide another barrier to water leaking through.  I am worried about the pressure generated by the foam though.  Spray foam is designed to fill wall cavities, and even then it can push out siding and sheathing, like it did on the corner of the tiny home.  If it can do that, it could easily wreck the fiberglass, which isn't as rigid if I put too much in a spot or something. I am thinking it might not be worthwhile.  Or perhaps maybe a "down the road in the future" kind of thing.  


It was warm enough to apply stain for a short bit in the afternoon, so I also did a couple of tests.  I picked up two stains trying to replicate the finish on the dining room table and my dresser.  


Sunday was raining off and on, so I didn't do too much noteworthy, mostly just cleaning.  I did plan out the plywood I bought to build the armoire to make sure I get all the parts I need out of two sheets.  I apparently forgot to take a picture though.  

The stain was dry, so I also went and did the comparison test.  The darker one was obviously not a match, but the other one holds promise.  I think it might require more than one coat (the test wood is pine and not oak which surely didn't held), but the coloration is very similar.



I also assembled the last set of cabinet racks.  These are extremely cheap and feel flimsy, but I think this might work better in the pantry as long as the basket is strong enough to hold up.

I also started pulling out the stuff that is going down to KY with me this weekend.

It looks like I won't finish my winter projects for the year, since spring is all but here, and I am traveling 2 of the next 3 weekends.  Looks like I will need to set up a priority call.  The drainage in the back yard is obviously the highest priority.  I haven't quite finished doing the deck and back yard design yet, so do I punt the deck back a year in favor of cleaning up the place?  But that means I won't be doing the garage next year.  

Current To-do:
  • Winter projects: 
    • All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
    • Design deck
    • Build armoire.
    • Install whole house filter.
    • Refurb cap
    • Shelving upgrades in master closet.
    • Access panel upgrades in master closet
    • Install cube organizer in living room.
  • 2024 Projects:
    • Back yard drainage.  Complete Mortgage.
    • Insulate the water lines
    • Take scrap metal to Buffum
    • Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
    • Deck
    • Entertainment center
    • Storm doors

Monday, March 11, 2024

Snowier than expected, but cap cut down.

I didn't get a lot done during the week.  I went to go pick up a TV on Tuesday, but the guy gave it to someone else and didn't bother to tell me, but most of the week was very wet.  


I did get some visitors on Thursday though.  


I am doing some Yocto and Linux training this week, which required a native Linux machine.  I didn't want to modify my laptop, so I figured I would use Dad's old PC.  I needed to reinstall the OS on it anyways.  Turns out that he has been running it without a functioning CPU fan, my guess would be for quite some time.  I got a new fan on order, and for the short term, I just took a random fan and plopped it down on the heat sink.  That should be sufficient.  


Friday was gorgeous, so I used the fact that the assessor was coming out to close out the mortgage as an excuse to work from home (partially outside).  The swamp that is my backyard didn't seem to bother her, so I am good to go.  

Saturday was chillier, but still nice.  So I did more work on the cap.  I got fed up with the oscillating tool chewing up blades and switched to the circular saw.


The main reason I didn't use it originally is because of this: fiberglass is kind of fragile and I didn't want to break anything.  It did chip a little, but not as bad as I feared.


Just for comparison, this is the edge using the oscillator tool.  


That said the circular saw definitely made a straighter cut.  You can see where I switched.


The other side is all cut down too.


Next up was working with the windows a bit.  I had to evict my moss.  
 

They slide with a single hand now. The one on the other side makes a bit of noise opening and closing.  

I also took a more detailed look at the holes from the ladder rack.  Looking in the hole, it looks like the inside of the ceiling is hollow.  One of them had something that looked like paper in it, but definitely not foam or wood or anything.


I cut the worse side with the paper-like stuff open a bit to get a better look.  I know the guy I bought the cap from was major redneck and not the brightest bulb in the box, but there was nothing supporting the bolt he put in. 


Just for sanity's sake, I drilled a small hole in the front where it isn't damaged, and that was hollow as well. I am on the fence about whether to fill it with expanding foam or just repair the holes with bondo.


I wasn't the only one out on Saturday.  They looked like mostly robins, but they were out en masse. 


Sunday was mostly napping, playing some games, watching the snow fall and eventually I got around to some chores.  It snowed most of the day.  My yard is white again.  I expect it won't make it a day or two though.


The cap is moving along quite well.  Now that there is daylight at the end of the day again, I might get some more traction on getting the armoire built too.

Current To-do:
  • ASAP
    • Shorten PTO shaft for snowblower
    • Final mowing of leaves?
    • Winterize equipment
  • Winter projects: 
    • All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
    • Design deck
    • Build armoire.
    • Install whole house filter.
    • Refurb cap
    • Shelving upgrades in master closet.
    • Access panel upgrades in master closet
    • Install cube organizer in living room.
  • 2024 Projects:
    • Back yard drainage.  Complete Mortgage.
    • Insulate the water lines
    • Take scrap metal to Buffum
    • Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
    • Deck
    • Entertainment center
    • Storm doors

Monday, March 4, 2024

Another visiting weekend.

I didn't do much over the weekend, I went out to visit Aunt and Uncle.  Called Jess for her day of antiquity.  I got to watch a nice sunset on the way there. 


Some things never change.  As soon as I took my shoes off, there was a cat embedded in them.


The only other thing of note is that my snow is pretty much all gone at this point, though that might change next weekend.  This week is supposed to be rainy pretty much all week, but at least warm.  This coming weekend it looks like the snow returns.  


Hopefully I can find enough dry days this week to get some work done.  I would really like to get the large plywood chunks out of the house.  It would be nice to finish cutting the lip of the cap off too.  If I get far enough, Friday currently still looks nice, and is even forecasted to be warm enough to stain.  

Current To-do:
  • ASAP
    • Shorten PTO shaft for snowblower
    • Final mowing of leaves?
    • Winterize equipment
  • Winter projects: 
    • All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
    • Design deck
    • Build armoire.
    • Install whole house filter.
    • Refurb cap
    • Shelving upgrades in master closet.
    • Access panel upgrades in master closet
    • Install cube organizer in living room.
  • 2024 Projects:
    • Back yard drainage.  Complete Mortgage.
    • Insulate the water lines
    • Take scrap metal to Buffum
    • Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
    • Deck
    • Entertainment center
    • Storm doors

Monday, February 26, 2024

Lots of pictures, though not a ton of progress.

I woke up Friday to a surprise.  


It was in the 40s and sunny though, so it didn't last long.  It only barely lasted until Saturday.  I did get a nice sunset on the drive home from work on Friday though.




Saturday was kind of chilly, and the wind was howling most of the day, so I didn't do much.  All I did on Saturday was go and get parts.  I have the plywood for the armoire and I also picked up fittings for the whole house filter.  I went to mark the plywood, and discovered that my chalk line is no more, so I will pick up another one.


Sunday was gorgeous though, so I got the itch to get outside.  I removed the old metal lip around the outside.  To be honest, I am not entirely certain what its purpose was.  


I also removed the light and stuff in the back.  


The guys sketchy ladder rack is also off.  


The screws had started biodegrading, even despite being metal.  


I cut a chunk out so I could take a look at it.  The lip of the cap is just wood encased in fiberglass.  The wood is thoroughly rotted now.  


I got a little over half the first side cut off.  



After that my saw blade had enough.  Most of the teeth are gone.  These blades apparently don't last very long.  


The oscillating tool itself is coated in goo.  Brown goo sprayed out of the rotted wood when I was cutting it.  In addition to all the fiberglass dust, which is also terrible for tools.  Good thing this is a Harbor Freight cheapie.  


I took a look at the back window.  I think I can fix it.  It looks like some rivets popped out, and that is why this side of the back window is starting to sag.  


After that was done, I still didn't want to go inside, so I went and visited Anx.  He wants to build a new deck off the back of his house.  So I went and got dimensions and will whip up a design at some point this week.  

I still had a little time before sunset at that point, so I stopped at Otter Brook on the way home and went for a short walk.  There was more snow coverage there than I expected.  Even my yard is losing coverage fast, and I am higher elevation than Otter Brook.


The water levels are high.






The beach and pond are still frozen.  That is the dam waay in the distance.


You can see the ice melting around the rocks though, which is kind of cool.


The cap actually isn't on my list of winter projects, so I have added it.  

Current To-do:
  • ASAP
    • Shorten PTO shaft for snowblower
    • Final mowing of leaves?
    • Winterize equipment
  • Winter projects: 
    • All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
    • Design deck
    • Build armoire.
    • Install whole house filter.
    • Refurb cap
    • Shelving upgrades in master closet.
    • Access panel upgrades in master closet
    • Install cube organizer in living room.
  • 2024 Projects:
    • Back yard drainage.  Complete Mortgage.
    • Insulate the water lines
    • Take scrap metal to Buffum
    • Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
    • Deck
    • Entertainment center
    • Storm doors