Lazy summer update.

I know I didn't post an update last weekend.  Quite frankly, I didn't really do much.  Last week though I started to learn how to bake in the air fryer.  It needs work.  Not hockey pucks, but more well done than desired.

 

The only other thing from that week was that I got the mortgage statement from after making the first big payment for this year (it is actually the second payment in 2026, but the first back in February was catch up from 2025).  To my surprise, I only need to pay another 6k to get to my mortgage principal target for this year.  The regular payments (which were not included in my 20k a year figure) are actually significant now. 

 

This weekend I decided to not put the mowing off any more.  It was at the edge of needing to slow down to mow it.  It was still really wet, but oh well.  There was rain coming, so waiting was not really an option.  As expected, the mower battery needed a little help.  It turned it over, but slowly.  This is what happens when you only mow once every 2+ months.  

 

I noticed while I was mowing the back that a bunch of my moss is dying.  Not sure what causes that.

 

Since Saturday turned out to be chores day, I also finally decided to bite the bullet and cut my hair.  This is another thing I will need to learn how to do when I am on the road.  The last time I cut my own hair it came out dreadful, but that was decades ago at this point, when I had a ton more hair than I do now.  

 

Sunday morning I started off weed whacking.  I got the path to the tiny home cleared, around the trailer.  Apparently though when I ran the battery dead last year I never actually plugged it in.  Oops.  I finally killed the one in it, swapped it out, and the other one died in about 2 minutes, so it was probably never charged.  Oops.  

 

It quickly clouded over and we got a few drizzles, but they were spotty throughout the day, so I went to Otter Brook.  It felt nice to get out.  I was curious what the water levels were like.  On one hand, the last week has had a lot of rain.  On the other hand, prior to that we were bone dry for several weeks.  Turns out there was a fair amount of water, but not excessive.

 

I kind of have split feelings on this park.  On one hand, it is really nice to have a place to go walk around, a disc golf course, and all that kind of stuff really close by and it is usually empty.  On the other hand, it seems a shame that there is a really nice park slowly deteriorating and falling apart basically due to the city's neglect.  Of course, if they did still take care of it and keep it open, it would be crowded.

 

The reason they closed the beach was poor water tests.  Now they don't bother to test anymore.

This tree was confused what season it was 

I did briefly play around with the carport when I got back but it started to rain on me again.  I did do a second run over my hair, and it looks like I missed a few spots.  Not too bad though. 

 

I did also come up with a 4th option for the structural panel.  This would give me R16.5, and be more solid too.  It is more of a pain to build (a lot more layers), but the extra R value might be worth it.

 

Smokey (not the bear)

I didn't do too much last week, since most of last week it looked like a post-apocolyptic movie outside.  It was actually kind of surreal when I go from my normally dingy poorly lit office and look outside and it isn't brighter and cars I know to be white are orange.  Then you walk outside and look up, trying to find the sun, and the sky is perfectly uniform since it is completely bereft of detail except for one circle that is a lighter color than its surroundings. 

 

For those who have read the book that I wrote, add a bit of dust, and it is almost exactly how I envisioned the future atmosphere.

It felt like late fall; it was getting dark when I got home.  On the plus side, the yard didn't grow, so I didn't have to mow.  It does need it, but it doesn't need it any worse than it did a week ago.  

 

Deciding I didn't really want to work outside in the storms or that, I decided to go visit Aunt and Uncle for the weekend.  Fortunately between the change in winds and the storms, it was actually really nice Sunday on the drive back.  

 

During some of the lulls at work, I also started looking at tool systems.  I currently have a Bosch cordless drill and driver.  While I love the Bosch drill, Bosch doesn't make a lot of the stuff I would want to have with me on the road, things like a pruning chainsaw for when I inevitably drive somewhere I didn't have quite enough clearance for as an example.  But if I am going to invest thousands of dollars into a tool system, I will want to make sure it has all the pieces I want both on the road and in the workshop.  So I have started enumerating what those requirements are.  Makita is fairly universally regarded as the best of the best, but cost (and interestingly availability) might drive me to look at other acceptable brands like Milwaukee and DeWalt.  I might poke around at some like Ryobi based solely on cost too, but most of the non-premium brands are missing pieces.

 

At least for the time being the smoke isn't blowing this way anymore, so I can resume working on the carport.

 

It has legs

Not too much went on last week.  Some of my new stuff to hopefully convince me to go outside more came in.  I got new insoles for my walking shoes.  I bought these shoes because they were cheap, and were basically mostly mesh so a lot cooler than my heavier leather Merrels.  Having to replace the insoles after a couple of months though doesn't bode well for them though.  

 

I have been looking for the computer that fell off the bike.  I can't seem to find it anywhere, which is kind of disappointing.  That probably means it fell off in the carport, and is buried in the leaves somewhere.

 

Even the deer chilling in the back yard was chuckling at me. 

 

I also got the bike carrier put back on the car since it is the nicest way to work on the bike. 

 

The reason I was working on the bike was I got a new seat.  The old one the gel pack was getting lumpy.  

 

This is the original seat (the gel thing was just a cover) if anyone likes this type.  I personally never found it comfortable.  I have all the mounting hardware for it too.  Given that I didn't roll out of bed until double digits on Saturday, that took a good chunk of the afternoon.  I missed the parade in Sullivan.  Oh well.   

 

Sunday was carport day.  My first plan was to use my bug zapper stand to hold things up while I attached the legs.  Unfortunately not being pressure treated has finally taken its toll on it though.  It was never intended to last this long, but you know how temporary measures that work become permanent.  Whoops.

 

I ended up just using a 2x3.  

 

I got all the legs on but one.  I think I need to move it into place now, and finish building the retaining wall for the side, it tried to roll down the hill when I was attaching the last couple.  It is g ood to have solid progress on it though.

I have also started fine tuning my trip and picking out hotels, though I haven't made reservations yet.

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day and 250th.  

 

I finally got around to pulling out the weed whacker.  I had a spiky tree that was hitting the truck going up and down the driveway.

 

While I had it out, I also pushed this back a bit so I can see when I pull out again. 

 

Last week I also finally got the Troy Bilt working.  To be honest, I am not sure why it gave me problems earlier in the spring.  The battery needed a boost (but wasn't dead), and it smoked a bit when I first fired it up, but it is the first time it ran in about a year, so a little smoke was expected.  I didn't have to do anything special to start it though.  My phone didn't capture it well, but the haze in this picture was all smoke.

It gave me a rough go the first lap around the yard as is its way, but once it settled in and warmed up, it mowed the entire yard with only one more stall.  Both sections of the front, and even the far back which hasn't been done yet this year.

 

I figured I would reward it with a proper tune up, but apparently my Tractor Supply has decided to stop selling parts.  I couldn't get an air filter for it (they only carry one Kohler air filter now), and they don't sell any spark plugs at all.  So it is only getting an oil change, a new fuel filter, and a new fuel shutoff, since that has started leaking too now.  I did pull the air filter, while it is worth a change, it isn't bad.  Next year it looks like I will have to order everything online.

 

Other than having a mini-cookout, I didn't do much myself.  I did attempt to do the next stage of the carport.  Turns out my tractor doesn't have nearly enough lift.  

 

I did come up with a better idea than what is in the video, just build a wood jig for it.  Or just bite the bullet and round up some help.

 

Other than that, I made a milkshake, watched some fireworks (admittedly there weren't as many as I expected), and that was about it.  After some brief discussion with Matt, I am looking at a total of 3 possible composite panel construction techniques.  The first is traditional, with two layers of plywood sandwiching a foam polyiso core.  This gives me wood on both sides to work with; if I want to hang recovery boards off the side, I can do that.  It also gives me the least insulation.  The next would be sandwiching plywood interior, and diamond plate aluminum on the outside.  It forces me into a thicker diamond plate sheet for the exterior, which would look kind of weird.  But after chatting with Matt, I think I might be able to use a regular roll of metal from Mansea for the exterior, attach it to an extruded aluminum frame, and then seal everything together with a spray foam kit.  That gives me the strength of a real frame, an exterior I can paint, and the best possible R-value (spray foam is better than foam boards).  Intriguing idea.

 

Seeing Dad post pictures from his vacation made me realize that I need to make reservations for mine.  I am also going to make the first big payment of the year on the mortgage.  I am still on track for the long term plans

Back from BBQ

I apparently forgot to write a post last week.  The big thing from two weeks ago is that the truck is back.  This time with a front license plate holder.

 

One thing I didn't miss about the truck.  This fill-up will likely last until September though since I am not driving the truck much.

 

I also got my bike back with brand new tires.  I got a little bit more tread on these since the trails in NH aren't as well groomed as what I used to ride on in Syracuse.  Bike tires cost a lot more than I thought they did, but I looked it up and he was cheaper than what they cost on Amazon.  Still a bummer for over 50 bucks a tire for a bike. 

 

I was poking around a bit with the repairs, there is only one thing I am not a huge fan of; the drivers door doesn't swing very well.  I think it just needs grease though.  I will pick up some white lithium tonight when I go shopping.  I vaguely recall using all mine up last year.

 

I was surprised to see while the skin of the door was replaced, they didn't actually replace the door.  All the stains from before are still on the interior part of the door.

There have been lots of deer about and the young'ens are about now.

 

Last weekend I went to Krass' on Long Island for a barbeque.  I took a different ferry this time, one that was recommended by Jake (one of my coworkers).  It is slightly further, but I didn't feel like CT should be removed from the earth forcibly afterwards.  I would even dare to say that the drive was actually pleasant. I didn't realize this, but apparently the ferry ships are large enough for semi trucks.  Impressive.

This ferry actually had real food too, which was nice.  It was roughly Panera caliber, so not like the day old microwave burger I got on the Bridgeport ferry.  This is grilled chicken and pesto with mozzarella cheese with garlic aioli on a ciabatta bun.  I got a big pretzel on the way back.

 

As I was milling about the ship, I noticed that my camera neck band is looking a little sad and flaking apart.  I have all the pictures downloaded and sorted, I will edit this post with the link. UPDATE - here is the link: https://photobucket.com/share/8f4842fd-8a3c-4109-9b80-c34c6925e5cd Here are the highlights though: 

 

 

The new route took me to the very end of Long Island, but the drive across the island wasn't bad (I avoided the LIE).  The sunset was rather pretty.  I didn't get a good photo of it.  It also surprised me how many farms are out there, and with large Argyle-caliber fields.  I had always assumed that land on Long Island was too valuable to be used for farming, and it would have been sold off to develop by now, but not yet at least.

 

The cookout was excellent.  Krass did have some excellent burgers too.  He uses his own meat blend for the ground which is pretty good.  Dan brought a cheese platter which was also excellent.  

 

The main event was brisket though.  This was round 2 (and I had already eaten the chunk that produced the fatty bits).  Brisket makes an amazing sandwich.  The beans were smoked for 5 hours and were also really good.

 

I have a short week this week, but the yard needs mowing, so my week is pretty much taken up already.  I am working late on Wednesday unless I can weasel out of it.  I need to replace some hardware in our build room and don't want to take everything down during normal work hours.  I don't have any plans for the long weekend currently unless I decide to go visit Tim or someone though, so it isn't a big deal.