Spring still being stubborn.

The weather was quite miserable two weekends ago.  It was either raining, snowing, icing or some combination thereof.  I went over and helped Anx with some of his projects, most notably adding overhead lights to his living room.  Since all his rooms are wired with 3-way switches, it was a bigger adventure than anticipated.

 

That Saturday was raining and 60, and then Monday I had to scrape ice off the car.  

 

The cold stuck around for most of the week so I didn't do much outside.  I did finally get a nice day last weekend though on Friday, which oddly I had off this year.  I noticed that despite the cold spring, the dandelions are coming up.  I even opened up the windows for the first time this year.  Spring is coming, whether the weather likes it or not.  

 

 

 

Saturday was nicer, albeit not as warm, but I still got to work on some of my outdoor projects.  I got the exterior panel pulled off the tiny home.  It is going to be the sub-panel for the barn down in KY.

 

I noticed that apparently the silicone around the box had failed, and some of the siding has started to rot behind where the panel was.

It was still nice out, so I decided to do something with the mud at the bottom of the driveway.  I tried to dig some of the mud out and replace it with gravel.  It took longer than expected (and used a lot more gravel than expected), but it looks nice.  When I drove over it this morning to come into work it felt like it needs a little more smoothing though.  Time will tell if it is better or not.  

 

It used more of the rock than I expected.  I will have to get another load when the weight limits come off the road.  There is still enough here to get started on the deck though.

 

This is the mud that I dug out.

I got to looking in the bucket after I was done.  I will definitely need to take a grinding wheel and repaint the bucket this year.

I got another "Built Ford Tough" letter yesterday.  This recall is actually something I have seen before, where the trailer lights occasionally fail because Ford drastically overcomplicated trailer wiring.  There have been times I have had to stop and start the truck several times because it threw an error trying to detect whether there was a trailer plugged in or not.

 

Sunday was not as nice, so I worked on the cart for Jess and Heather.  It turns out the 22" drawer slides I had are too long.  I also had a set of 14" that will work though, even if they are shorter than ideal.

 

The box part is completed.  I also took my flush cut saw (not sure its actual name, it is a Japanese saw for making things smooth) and smoothed the top; it is now ready for the butcher block top.  All that is left is to install the center support, back panel, and 

 

I saw my woodchuck out this morning.  This one might be his kid, he isn't nearly as fat as the one that was living in the back yard, but I suppose that he just got out of hibernation.

 

Most of the stuff I needed to do before my spring trip is now done.  All that is left is pulling down the tent garage, build the planter base, whelping boxes, and the cart, which is getting close.  The trip is all planned, I just need to pick a weekend that isn't raining.

 

I have been thinking about the box truck and the long term plan some.  As is annoyingly often the case, it seems what I want is really hard to find.  I wanted single rear wheel because I don't want to lose more space inside and I am not going to be running so heavy that I need a dually, plus I don't want 2 more tires to keep maintained, but all the SRW options I have found have V6's under the hood.  To be honest, I am not sure how well that would work.  It feels rather undersized to me, but perhaps it would be okay.  My current truck only has a V6 in it (though it is a much beefier twin turbo V6 than what I am seeing).  My old white Chevy had a 4.3 V6 in it, and it was adequate for that truck, but I also never ran it with several thousand pounds in the bed, and the truck itself wasn't that heavy either.  But the 250 Transit cutaway I looked at only had a 3.7 V6 in it.  But even though I know it isn't the case, it feels like my options are either that or a Dually and a 6.0L V8 in it (which I don't want either; they aren't reliable and slurp gas).  Even  though I didn't want it as plan A, it makes the U-Haul look better every day (which has the small V8 that I want in it).

First throes of spring.

It warmed up for a day or two last week, and I went and looked at Otter Brook to see if it was passable.  The road in was clear, but the paths were still all thick ice.  Maybe another week or so it will be good, or if I can find my creepers.

 

The water level was high, which isn't surprising during meltoff season.  

The icicles dangling down into the water were cool looking.  

Last Saturday was cold, but dry.  I did go up and take a look at the carport.  Nothing appears damaged.  Some of the pieces fell over, but I will get over it. 

I also went out and picked up a couple new tires for my trailer.  The rims are the right size, but the tires look like lawn mower tires to be honest.  They are one size taller, which is fine.  I need to do something with the trailer soon, and it will be nice to have tires that haven't been flat for two years for it.  

Sunday was snowy and icy, so I went and helped Anx.  He is adding overhead lights in his house, and since it is a real pain to get into his attic, he wanted someone there in case he kicked the ladder or anything.  So we marked the lights, and he was able to find the source wire and all that.

Yesterday was actually quite nice, so I fired up my grill for the first time this year.  The drip pan has rotted completely off, but it still cooks fine, so I will probably just put a dollar store pan under it or something.

Looking at this weekend, it might actually be nice.  I only have a few weekends left before I need to finish planning my trip though.  It is looking cold but clear for this weekend, so I need to get a few things finished before the trip.  I still need to take down the electric box off the tiny home, finish up the cart (I didn't grab pictures, but the sides are built, I just need to finish the box and put a top on it).  Clean off the futon since I piled everything on there when I had the roof leak.  Build the planter base since those will need to be planted when I get back. Drag down the Harbor Freight tent garage thingy, dig out the landscape fabric and stuff, and if I have time Heather asked me to make some whelping boxes. I have extra plywood kicking around for it.  Plus since I am taking the truck (and won't have the car camper) and will be working for a decent chunk of the trip, I have to actually plan the trip and where I am stopping and when.  Busy times ahead.

Birthday and other odds and ends.

My birthday was the 12th.  So I got a small cake and ate it.  

 

I also went and got the larger door organizer.  I plan to use the extra shelves at the bottom for food prep stuff for making my own frozen meals.

 

I took the smaller unit and what remained of the baskets and put it in the third bedroom.  That room is a disaster so I figured it would benefit from more organization.  Since I put as many of them in the kitchen as would fit, this unit is a basket short but should still help. 

 

The tunnel collapsed late last week.  

 

We finally started to clear off the snow, and had gotten down to about 75-80% coverage.

 

But then the weekend happened. 

 

I didn't do much over the weekend.  I spent Saturday trying to find tools (my stapler and sander were both missing) and doing chores.  I did some stuff on Sunday, and started assembling the cabinet.  I have enough pieces to get started at least. 

 

Yesterday was actually rain like it was supposed to be.  We got quite a bit, and all that fresh snow is now gone and then some.  We are down to about 25% coverage now.  The wind last night was howling too and it was around 50 out most of the night.

 

The damage to the trailer from when I got the tractor stuck.  It actually isn't too bad, just the decking which is junk anyways.

 

The nice stretch of weather has ended, but  this week is supposed to be sunny at least.  Good enough to start working on projects and start planning my spring vacation.  I am thinking of taking an abbreviated vacation (I still want to visit Mike and see Assateague) and just making a trip to KY (including Mammoth Cave which I missed on my fall vacation) to save on vacation time.  This way I am not so tight on vacation for the holidays.

Warming up

It warmed up quite a bit last week.  So warm, I went out and checked on stuff in a t-shirt.  And snowshoes; we still have a lot of snow.

 

We did get about 5 inches on Tuesday.  I went and raked the roof again before heading into work.  

 

The carport has created a tunnel. 

 

I had a plan to try to mark the containers with what is in it; just use whiteboard markers.  So I tested one.  The markers I had at home kinda sucked, but it should have been enough to test.

 

Unfortunately the marker didn't come off in the dishwasher, but I was still able to wipe it off afterwards without issue.  So this might still work. 

I went up and tried to renew my registrations during the week as well, and found out that the state never processed the title application for the CR-V.  Quality DMV Bureaucracy, but I just received the updated title over the weekend, so it is finally done.  Thankfully the town clerk got them to process it immediately that day.

Other than that, the big story is the massive amount of meltoff from the weekend.  It rained most of Saturday, and Sunday was 50s and the sun even made an appearance.  It ended up not being a problem, but the roof rake froze into the ice.

 

Sunday was pretty nice, and I went outside for a bit.  The places water runs are clearing.

 

Somehow the tunnel has survived several warm sunny days.  It is starting to look a bit sad though.

 

My creek isn't frozen anymore. 

 

I bought some new sweatpants.  I had noticed they have been leaving little fuzzies everywhere.  Apparently they blew out the exhaust of dryer after they completely filled the lint filter.  

 

The sunset was quite pretty last night too.