Satisfied the itch.

During the week last week, I only did a few things, like hanging a basket since the shelf for my keys and whatnot is too small. 


Saturday I went to a party and didn't get much done, but Sunday was nice so I finally decided to satisfy the itch to build something.   So I built a set of shelves.  I used a pre-laminated 18" board, and solidified the corners with the maple square pieces I got from Tim.  It turned out pretty nice.


Despite it being maple, the circular saw didn't even slow down.  It is time for a new chop saw, mine smokes and tries to die when cutting hardwood.


It might be time for a new compressor too.  The valves on it are leaking badly, and it developed a new issue: the PRV (pressure relief valve) now breaks at random. 


It made a huge difference inside though.  Here is a before and after:




It is also shallower than that old box, meaning I don't have to suck in my gut anymore when I go to crawl into bed.  Since I also cleared off the rolling thing, I also now have full access to the cabinet again too, which is nice.  I still need to work on clearing off that counter though.

I built this one differently than the pantry, and this was definitely easier to build, but wasn't quite as rigid as the pantry, which had 2x3 corner supports.  I think with a back panel though it would be fine.  I think I might use this style when I build the closet. 

Obnoxious weekend.

I apparently didn't take a picture of it, but I replaced my shower head, so that at least is working again. 

Friday I got my new thermometer.  My old one had decided that the screen wasn't going to work anymore, so I got a new one.  The two temperatures and humidities did eventually converge, but it took a long time, and the indoor sensor reacts a lot faster to changes than the outdoor one, which might be a good thing I suppose.   It is really dry in my apartment now. 


As I was out last night, my wiper had started collecting ice so I reached out the window and went to smack it to break up the ice.  The wiper blade however had other ideas and came off in my hand.  As you can see by the picture, this was in the middle of the snowstorm, so I ended up driving home with only one wiper.  I moved the one from the passenger to the driver's side and got a new one today.  I was intending to replace them in the spring anyways.

There is supposed to be more than this attached to the clip....


Last night we got 8-9 inches.  The amount we were supposed to get varied wildly, nobody had any clue, I saw 4-6 and 12-16 less than a day apart.  That means that I spend most of the day today clearing.  I did a more thorough job than normal (I normally don't clear off and move the vehicles) since it was actually quite pleasant outside today and is supposed to be be sunny all week.  I only broke 5 shear pins, which is good for how much I did.  I do need to order more though.


Unfortunately I found this under the truck when I moved it to clear around it.  I will have to keep an eye on the coolant levels.  Sigh.

Snow coverage restored.

So I noticed a small leak in my shower after installing the extension.  I did not however realize that the only part of my shower head that was metal was the screen over the aerator.  Needless to say, I had to shower at work when I tried to tighten it and then the whole nut cracked and splintered.  I think I still have a spare shower head somewhere in the car.


Snow coverage is back up to 100%  It wasn't supposed to be, we were only supposed to get a dusting to a couple inches, but we got 6.  And it is heavy wet stuff too.  So tonight will have a lot snowblowing involved.

Snow coverage dwindling down to about 2%

In an odd turn of events, this weekend was beautiful as I sit here writing this in shorts and flip flops.  It was supposed to be wet and rainy, but both days were dry and nice.  Both days got well into the upper 50s.  Saturday hit 57 in Sullivan, and today felt like mid 50s, though my thermometer appears to have died.

The big project for Saturday was getting the car out.  I didn't need to use any more salt, I just went down with the big iron chisel that Matt got me, and wrecked some ice.  Before too long I was able to just drive it out.  I said it would take a thaw, and we got another one.


I need to find my creepers, this was wet ice and I went sliding a few times.


Took the car out for a drive since it was nice and warm out, and when I got back, I decided to put it up on the slab.


Saturday night after enjoying the warm weather, I also did a a couple of minor improvements, putting up another shelf, and putting up the shower head extension.  The shower head used to spray in an awkward spot, down in front of the toilet where it is narrow.  This should bring it out into the biggest part of the room (I hope, the extension isn't as long as I thought it was).


Today I slept in since it was supposed to wet and rainy all day, with the temperature dropping all day.  That was a bald faced lie.  It never cooled down last night, so it was still in the mid to upper 50s this morning, so I went and enjoyed more warm and surprisingly sunny weather.  I was a little surprised just how much melted off last night, so I went and looked at the creek.  It is high, but not as high as I would expect.


Surprisingly, part of the back yard is still frozen.  It still has a little bit of snow too.


The drainage ditch in the back will need to be dug out.  It is running over the top of the ground it is draining so much water.


The ditch is still very full.


I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and do a couple of things I should have done in the fall.  I put stabilizer in the mowers, but never ran it into the engine since they got buried in snow.  Unfortunately the push mower wouldn't start so I poured some mechanic in a bottle in it, since that is the only stuff that has dry gas in it that I can find.


I also and went and cranked on the tractor until the battery started to die.  On the plus side, the battery charger works.


I also took advantage of most of the ground being thawed and put out my driveway markers, even though I pretty clearly don't need them, since I have been snowblowing without them all winter.


The driveway is mushy.  Even where I put down gravel is soft.  That footprint is three inches deep.


Remember the ice patch from above?  It is all but gone.


I decided to go take a tour of my property, to see how much snow was left, and there wasn't much.  Less than 5%.  The spots where there is no sun and protection from the wind are the only spots there is snow outside of the banks.
The creek further back.


The woods at the back edge.


Even my rock ledge has been cleared of ice.




There is still some snow kicking around in the woods though. 


After sitting on the charger, I decided to give the mower one more kick before saying "I will deal with it in the spring.  It actually started this time.  The dry gas did its job.


With that success, I tried the push mower again.  Still no go on that front.

Post holiday update. Unfortunate resemblance to last winter.

I am finally back from the holidays and weddings.  Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Year, Congrats to Mike and Sarah.

For Christmas I got a battery charger (I was tired of jumping whichever vehicle I wasn't actively driving), and a new toaster oven.  I had two objectives for this weekend: testing the new toaster oven and unburying the car.  

The first part went well.  The toaster is the perfect size for the pizza crusts I normally use.

I will have to figure out something on the counter end.  It and the Foreman don't really fit together side by side.

It looks odd when it is running.  It is an infrared toaster oven, it isn't just a heating element.  This allows it to bake with no pre-heat time.  There are things that cook differently like this, which I will be finding out as they come.  I started with a mexican pizza, using queso blanco for the sauce and with some spicy ranchero sauce on top of the mexican cheese and taco chicken.

The heating is actually invisible, the light inside the toaster oven toggles along with the heating element so you don't do something foolish.  

12 minutes, with no preheating and the pizza was done.  When it is heaped this high, this would actually take 15 minutes in the oven.

Since aluminum reflects a lot of the infrared spectrum, the pan can be grabbed without oven mitts about a minute after opening.  

The next test was chicken tenders and fries.  I haven't made french fries since the bag I bought when I first got the oven hooked up because it immediately meant 45 minutes for a meal.  the two cooked roughly the same amount (the chicken was 450 for 11-13 minutes, the fries 400 for 19-22 or vice versa).  I just put the whole thing in for 19 minutes at 400, and everything came out nice and crisp.  Normally I make chicken tenders in the microwave.  They take 4 minutes that way, but are normally disappointingly mushy, this might change that.

I have used this model before at one of the airbnb I stayed at, so I already know it toasts really good.  All in all, I would consider this a success.  

A little snow update before getting to the car.  Earlier in the week we got a half inch of ice, then a couple of inches of snow.  Then more freezing rain and ice, and then more snow.  The snowblower fired up immediately upon my return, despite not running before I left in December.  This weekend we got rain followed by a little snow after it froze.  Which was annoying because I couldn't scrape the ice off my steps.  

 

A couple of the places where the water normally runs the rain was enough to get all the way through.

Most of the driveway however is straight ice now.  This spot down at the bottom is probably 3-4 inches thick.  

Now to get to the car.  It is cleaned off.  It really didn't want to, but it did start without the battery charger (good insurance).

The car however is stuck.  The rain melted things down and the water ran under the car around the tires and built up ice around them.  I tried just dropping the hammer and pushed it until the tires started smoking but it still won't move more than a quarter inch.  Ugh.

This is unfortunately exactly how last winter went.  It snowed, the car got put at the bottom of the hill because the truck became the primary driver, and then it rained and then everything froze, which is exactly how the car got stuck last year.  At this point I will have to find a way to pull it (when I can't get the truck in front of it really), jack it up and put boards under it to get it out, or wait for a true thaw.  Ugh.  Also like last year, I have gone through a ton of salt because there has been more ice than snow.  Even where I am in the higher elevations.  I have already gone through half a thing of calcium chloride, and since I don't want to leave the car until spring like I did last year, I might use the rest of that container trying to get the car out.  

There won't be too many updates during the weeks anymore until spring, but one last thing I want to do is point and laugh at the Patriots for losing to Ryan Tannehill and the Titans yet again.  That helps ease the way that the Bills lost. :)