What are you doing today? [Part II]

[BrianF]

Finally got two days off. My wife is marginally better but at least the kids and I are around to keep this dog and pony show going so she can rest.

My plans are to "actually" do the oil and tire rotation on the Trailblazer, not just chirp that I am and then I need to repair a cord end on a waterer. The previous management could nor figure out why this thing kept freezing in the winter. Well, if you opened up the side and actually did your job, you would have found why. There are two heaters, one in the bowl and one down the pipe. I wonder..... well my picture is gone but the cord end completely corroded off. Obvious as all hell.

Also, since its mothers day, we got ribs going and steaks going on later.

 

[flyboy2610]

Temperature wise, it's a nice day, around 65 degrees outside. We had rain overnight and early this morning, though, so everything's all wet. I decided to start on the jig saw puzzle/workbench. I marked out where the lag bolts will go on the upper rails and drilled pilot holes for them. I installed the joist hangers for the 2 x 6 crosspieces. I cut a piece of 2x stock 11” long (5.5” x 2). I marked the centerline on both ends and the middle. On the rails I marked the centerline where the crosspieces will be. Using a couple of large spring clamps, I clamped the joist hanger to the 2x stock, lined everything up and screwed down the hanger. Fear not: all hardware on this project is certified for use with treated wood.








The rail at the top is the front, the one on the bottom is the back. When you flip the top one over, the hangers will be facing each other. Nothing worse than building two of the same side. Not that any of us have EVER done that!

I need to do the same thing for the 2 x 4 bottom rail, and I'll drill pilot holes for the lag bolts and lag screws on the pieces as well. I want to get all the 'busy work' done beforehand, so when I haul all this outside all I need to do is screw it together. This is the part that takes the longest!

 

[northcreek]

Also, since its mothers day, we got ribs going and steaks going on later.

You would get along good with my wife...she's a foodie too...

 

[TollKeeper]

Mothers day stuff..

Saturday, spent the morning taking care of the kids, and letting her sleep in.
Then took her out for a $20+ steak salad (best salad I have found in the area)
Then took her to the mall. Amazingly, she didnt want anything, just wanted out of the house.
Than took her for her favorite, prime rib dinner... And she ordered salmon!

Sunday, tried to let her sleep in. But my 4 year old wasnt having it..
She kept saying she wanted out of the house, and I kept asking her where did she want to go.. I never got an answer (I thought we did this on Saturday?)
Finally she came up that she wanted to go to dinner at Red Robin. Went to dinner at Red Robin.
Came home, put the kids to bed. And we went to bed early ourselves.

(look at that kids demon eyes!)

 

[flyboy2610]

View attachment 103762

(look at that kids demon eyes!)

Gonna grow up to be just like daddy, huh?

 

[Mooseman]

After futzing some more with the pool, retuned (actually detuned) the Caprice trying to figure out the problems with the tranny. Took it for a quick rip and seemed to be better shifting but the TCC is still acting weird. Mrs. Moose had been painting the pool deck so decided to get us some chicken and rib dinners. Took the Caprice to drive it some more and see how it shifts. About 10 minutes out and I get a check RF tire pressure message. Sure enough, had a flat. Problem was that the spare was the original 18" and with the Brembo brakes, it doesn't fit in front so I had to put the spare on the back and move that 19" one to the front. Jacking the car twice with the gawd-awful original jack just sucked. Good thing I put in a tire cross. Man it was squirelly with that crap Eagle RSA so I just took it back home and got the Sierra. Still got dinner, just an hour late.

 

[northcreek]

Finished up taking down a huge Black Walnut tree that I believe was killing our landscape plants with it's toxins. My wife is visiting her sisters in Alb. NM so I could do it without any static.
My son is going to have the Amish turn it into lumber for his project so it all works out...at least till the wife gets back...

 

[Blckshdw]

Took advantage of the lower humidity and decided to get up close and personal with the sinking deck. Took these pics earlier in the week, you can tell how slanted it's gotten. There used to be a roof on it, which I took down years ago, which is why it has those posts on the front. Since it's been pretty dry the last couple of weeks, the water has pulled back some.




Took a long paver that was under the shed, used that as a sturdy base for the jack. Got under the lip, and used my cordless impact to spin it right up. Was a bit noisy, and the Makita did get warm, but it was pretty smooth sailing until I got to about the top. Took a step back, and saw I needed a lot more travel... Not quite there yet.



Grabbed one of the palettes, some bricks and a bunch of scrap pieces of 2x4 to use as a level base for a jack stand. Supported the deck where it was, lowered the jack and stuck a 2x4 vertically to give me some more lift. Did the trick and got the deck nice and level.




Next problem, I made the mistake of wearing shorts, so the mosquitos were going buffet style on me, which discouraged me from messing around in the brush much longer. I poked my head under as best I could to see what I had to work with for reinforcing the base, and there was a giant gap between the stud and the floor. Either the stud used for that leg broke off in the mud, this thing was never built level in the 1st place, or so much dirt eroded away and that's why the corner is sunk. I couldn't tell if there was actually a hole there or not

I grabbed one of my temporary plastic fence posts to use as a visual reference, when I measured the gap, it turned out to be 15" to the bottom of the stud from the floor



As expected, nothing goes according to the original plan, so I need to rethink how I wanna do this. I have some sections of 4x4, not sure how long they are though. Maybe Run one of those along side the post and run some lag bolts through them? Or cut one of the 4x4s to size, stack it vertically under the existing one, and use some metal ties to hold the alignment? I'm open to any ideas besides find 15" of fill, to dump and compact under there.

 

[flyboy2610]

Maybe it's rebuild time with concrete footings?

 

[Blckshdw]

Maybe it's rebuild time with concrete footings?

It wouldn't be worth the effort. The only thing I use it for is to dump random stuff, and stand on it when I trim back tree branches from the neighbor's side of the fence, and brush from the lake. When we got hit by that slow moving tropical storm last July, so much storm water got pumped into the lake, that the deck was under water for about a day.



I do plan to rebuild the roof on the shed extension. Had to tear that out 2 winters ago because many of the shingles had come off, water got down to the plywood, which allowed some of the beams to rot around the nails. Got most of that cleaned out, so when prices come down on building materials, I'll repair the damaged wood, put some metal panels up so I can store more things there and free up some room in the shed.

That deck would be useful for a firm base for the ladder, but after that, it could become another demo project if whatever fix I try doesn't work out.

 

[Reprise]

Got my new laptop in yesterday, and got it configured / set up today. The easiest 'migration' I've ever had (I'll construct a new thread on this, rather than make this post super long). Very happy with the result. Saved days worth of work / aggravation.

Mrs. Moose had been painting the pool deck so decided to get us some chicken and rib dinners. <snippage>

Still got dinner, just an hour late.

Your wife is a saint. She spends the day painting outside, while you work on cars all day (something you enjoy, anyway)... and you *still* make her wait an extra hour for dinner! (the emoji is for her, not you...lol)

Finished up taking down a huge Black Walnut tree that I believe was killing our landscape plants with it's toxins.

Man, I see that wood, and start drooling. Not that I could actually build anything with it... but I could bring it to someone who could. Would be excellent tone wood for a bass guitar, weight be damned. Although I don't think the trunk is thick enough in diameter to yield a 1 piece body.

 

[northcreek]

Man, I see that wood, and start drooling. Not that I could actually build anything with it... but I could bring it to someone who could. Would be excellent tone wood for a bass guitar, weight be damned. Although I don't think the trunk is thick enough in diameter to yield a 1 piece body.

It sure is pretty wood, doesn't split,warp or do anything bad, that other woods do but, I can't think of a worst tree to have near your home (and I have plenty) they are like the bad stepchild of trees.
The diameter is 19" so maybe a guitar?

 

[NJTB]

Brought my TB in last Monday for a trans rebuild, supposed to be ready today, got my fingers crossed.

 

[flyboy2610]

I went to the gas station this morning, put half a tank of gas in Snowball. Cost me $50. 17 months ago it would have cost me half that! Stopped by Menards to get a few things, then went across the street to the grocery store for some needed items. Came home and took the two work bench frames outside. I built the two frames in the basement out of the weather. After I got them outside I installed the ends and crosspieces. On the next to last pilot hole for the 3/8” lag bolts, the drill bit broke off inside the wood!
I'm not too worried, though. Eventually the chemicals in the treated wood will corrode and dissolve the bit. When we first moved into this house, the previous owner left behind an outdoor table. The nails and screws in it corroded and descended into uselessness, much like many politicians of today. The table fell apart after a few years. I don't know if it was built with treated wood or not. All the hardware used on this bench is certified for use with treated wood, so it will probably outlive me!


Since the other wooden table fell apart, this is all that I've had to use for any outdoor projects. Not real confidence inspiring if I had something heavy to work on!


Right now I'm taking a break, then I'll start putting on the lower shelf (1 x 6 boards) and bench top (2 x 6 lumber).

 

[BrianF]

Had some running around today before work. Half a tank of diesel in my 3500 cost me 135$. Then had the Trailblazer in. 70$ for half a tank. Build back better, great reset, sunny ways....... about that....

Anyways, my wife picked me up some early anniversary gifts. Pellets, rubs, cast iron and planks. Gonna be good!!!

Also, our family friend got delivery on her Mustang Mach E. Put a few miles on it. All I can say is WOW!!

 

[Blackwater]

Applying for another security clearance, change oil in the 2020 yukon XL slt and yard work.

 

[Mooseman]

Yesterday, Friday the 13th, was our 27th wedding anniversary. We decided to take a short overnight trip to Kingston. Here's how it went...

Started off by picking up the wheels and tires for the Caprice before leaving. Take them out of the truck and two of the junk BOSS wheels banged together with my right thumb in between them right at the base of my fingernail with the wheel lips. Hurt like a mofo Was wearing mechanics gloves but they were thin and didn't prevent this. A day later and it still hurts.



Takeoff for Kingston, get to the hotel we had booked and it's shit. The parking lot was under construction and parking the Sierra was a bitch. Room itself was nice but the AC window rattler, which was in the wall, rattled the whole room, smelled musty (don't they all?) and garage sale chairs were worn out.

Made reservations at a swanky waterfront restaurant at a downtown hotel. Get there with the Sierra, it's an underground parking lot. Asked the attendant if we'll fit with this beast and he said yes. Guy who directed me first tried to get me in a spot in front of another pickup but because the Sierra is so long, he got me to try to move to another spot. Trying to backup, my wife was watching my front from outside, backing up dead slow, I backed right into a concrete pillar. The guy wasn't even helping and was on his phone! The pillar was the same dark colour as everything else in there, was completely in my blind spot and the camera didn't show it well because it was so dark.


Damaged are the rear corner, quarter panel crumpled, bumper and taillight that's scratched and cracked.

Still went to dinner, which was actually very nice. Talked to the manager and basically I'm screwed because "parking use is at your own risk". Yeah but those pillars are basically camouflaged. In any case, it's going on my insurance and I'll have to eat the deductible.

Back at the hotel, settling down for the night with the AC rattling, what do we hear? A freaking train whistle! Lovely! Came by about every 30 minutes or so. During the night, woke up a few times, either due to my throbbing thumb or that damned train! Did not sleep much.

Today called the insurance and just waiting for the adjusters to call back. From what I hear, there are no patch panels for these yet so the whole bed may need to be replaced. Might ask them to fix the pimple on my mini tailgate at the same time.

Well, it was Friday the 13th after all

 

[BrianF]

Sweet Jesus moose, if it wasn't for bad luck, you would have no luck at all.

 

[northcreek]

Almost makes smashing your thumb, the only good thing that happened....oh yeah, and the meal.

 

[xavierny25]

Went fishing with my my son and his coworker at Autozone on Friday evening. It was really foggy with some rain but we went for it. Good thing we did cause we hooked a few stripped bass.

 

[BrianF]

Xavierny25, just a legend. Goes fishing and no car crashes, fights or busted hands.

 

[Blckshdw]

More work in the yard today. The weeds were starting to get tall, so ran the mower. Decided to run double duty, and mounted the tank sprayer. Realized I forgot to treat things last month, after seeing all the dandelions starting to sprout. Will be easier to stay on top of when the summer rains start. Only half assed ran the weed whacker, was already pretty sweaty, so just wanted to clean up the walkways and around the back patio.

Last night, had gone to the hardware store, decided to pick up a cinder block for the falling deck. Figured, 15" gap, would be filled nicely by a 16" block. Grabbed my spade and tried to grab some dirt from the surrounding area and fill in where the post was. It was a bit mucky due to the standing water, and difficult to gather much material due to all the roots everywhere. I guess that's good erosion prevention to some degree. Did my best to displace the water in that spot, then used the block to pack it down as solidly as I could. I didn't want to gouge out the earth next to the post, as it was pretty solid. The PO who build it, used some kinda ceramic plating on that side, that served as a sort of retaining wall. Most of it was cracked due to being crushed into the ground, and fell apart in my hands, but the ground was firm.

Due to the amount of drop by the corner of the deck, that point had rotated inwards over time. So when I lifted it there was a bit of distance from where the block was comfortably set. Solution? Lift it a little higher, place a paver across the ground and top of the block, let the post rest on that.




While the deck is nice and level, now I have that big ass hole that I have to hop across. lol Will have to build something for that at some point, but since there's no one here but me, that can wait. For the time being, I'll just lay the long palette across the gap and use that as a bridge.

 

[Matt]

First day back at work after 2 weeks.

 

[BrianF]

Before work I got to test out the new post pounder. Took some reading to understand everything. So I thought. Found the grapple attachment had a busted hydraulic fitting from delivery. No biggie as the grapple isn't critical and getting hydraulics fixed around these parts is easy.

Got her mounted and it was supposed to have a control box to remotely switch hydraulics. It was not included. Well shit I said. Called up the manufacturer and after a couple minutes, all done. Easiest place to deal with. The new skid steer does not need the controller, its tied right into the 8 pin connector. Super slick. Two buttons and it pounds and pivots.

I screwed things up detaching it though. Read the instructions wrong and it tipped as I detached it. Ripped the wiring harness right put of the control solenoid. Great. Managed to get it off and tipped back up. Thankfully the wire pulled out of a serviceable connector and I was back in action a short time later...... you can't fix stupid.

Then!!!!! A special present arrived. Still has to be hooked up but the owner had it delivered because she is a great person.

 

[mrrsm]

I was completely surprised to watch this latest Information Conference about the CDC response to the 100,000 people getting Covid-19 on a daily basis and THIS is the most important mention herein:

In a Nut Shell From Dr. Fauci...

"People who get Infected with the Omicron Variant of Covid-19 DO NOT ATTAIN ANY IMMUNITY TO ANY OTHER VARIANTS..."

The recommendations from the CDC is that Folks who get past their Covid Omicron bouts of illness should continue to get their Shots; from either Pfizer or Moderna with the First, Second and follow on Booster Shot (or two) to avoid risking serious illness from those original or other 'Flavors' of this Damned Virus:

Information about some "Pill Form" Therapeutics that will keep very sick Folks from winding up in the IC Ward on Ventilators is also well covered.

 

[aaserv]

The witch next door who put up a 10 ft fence so she wouldnt have to look at my yard........went and bought a 10ft ladder so .........she can stand on it and....you guessed it!!....look at my yard!

My neighbor on the other side had a huge above ground pool for the last 3 yrs or so. My kids talked her out of it and moved it 30 ft into my yard........the Witch called the city and I got flagged for an illegal pool. And while they joined her on the ladder they also wrote me up for the storm debris I still havent gotten picked up and repaired from the hurricane last year. So with the help of some family we've taken 2 16ft trailer loads of junk to the dump this week and have another yet to load.
The pool fell apart when they filled it with water, vinyl was just to thin to support itself having been in the blistering sun for 3 years so that problem solved itself.
I put up a wire fence along the side of my lot to hang a no trespassing sign since thats the only way to keep her off my property so says the Sheriff. Today Im going to get a couple bags of garlic to hang on it in hopes of keeping her away from me.
Shes called the city, fire dept, sheriff and Animal control on me now 16 times in 8 years. She also killed my rose bush and eventually broke it off at the ground because 1 stalk of it hung over the fence about 2". Despite me showing the Sheriff the Louisiana Law stating you have no right to cut someones property that hangs on to your property, you have to send them a demand letter for them to cut it and then get a court order if they dont........The Sheriff told me "she has a right"....lol And since we only have her word that she cut it down and don't actually have her on film doing it they cant do anything about that either!!!!!! You cant make this stuff up, its just to bizarre for words. She TELLS them she did it but thats not proof enough to charge her for a law that they say doesnt say what it says anyway

So anyway also on the agenda is this 06 Denali Ive found at a lot in Dallas.... A days drive from here. Only 145K on it and looks pretty good. But these wheels have me befuddled. Ive never seen these wheels on an Envoy. The dealer (who i know is no expert ) tells me they are stock "premium" wheels and when I asked if there are spacers behind them he says no. They dont look like they stick out but Ive just never saw these wheels before. Anybody know if these or stock??????

 

[TollKeeper]

As a Envoy Sudo-Expert.. Those are aftermarket. Even the Denali's, which i believe that is, didnt come with those wheels. No GMT360 came with those wheels, from the factory.

 

[Blckshdw]

So anyway also on the agenda is this 06 Denali Ive found at a lot in Dallas.... A days drive from here. Only 145K on it and looks pretty good.

Also noticed it doesn't have the Denali grille on it.

It's been a trying day in the office. COO wanted me to do a training presentation to the operations team on how to use our data warehouse tomorrow. Had everything planned, couple of slides, but mostly a walk through demo to keep things high level. Didn't want to overload anyone and make them tune out, if anything leave them with questions they wanted to have answered at breaks or in the end.

So this morning she asks me if I have any slides, and if so to pass them along, which I did. She approves, but wants me to add a list of reports and dashboards as a quick reference. I try to nicely explain that the whole point is to teach and train staff on how to navigate and learn how to use the system that way they know how to find what they're looking for. Spoon feeding them stuff not only undermines that, but due to new requests and changes over time, that list will become obsolete in a matter of months. She wasn't having it and gave me attitude. So now I have to add that, and hope the lazy people don't latch onto the list, instead of learning how to use the system properly.

Spoiler: The whole time I'm thinking...

 

[TollKeeper]

As a Envoy Sudo-Expert.. Those are aftermarket. Even the Denali's, which i believe that is, didnt come with those wheels. No GMT360 came with those wheels, from the factory.

Everything I am finding says those are Crager wheels, but I cant find the model number. And they take GMC Sierra Center Caps for the GMC logo.

 

[azswiss]

Nursing a bricked laptop back to health after an aborted Win 10 update. Naturally this happened at the client's office!@#$ Not sure how/why this happened as auto update is disabled. @#$%%^&*(

Update: 7 hours later things are finally back to where they need to be. Whew!

 

[Mooseman]

Yesterday, started work on the deck to add privacy screens. Found these anchors where I don't have to make holes in the deck and just screw into the deck instead.



And today, wake up with the sniffles. Do a rapid test and... it shows positive! WTF?!? So my son goes to get more tests from the pharmacy, rerun the test and also test the Mrs, it's now negative. Reading up on rapid test accuracy and it gets more false negatives (63%) than false positives (0.05%). I'll have to retest tomorrow. Accuracy increases over time.

In the meanwhile, I might work some more on the deck and may have to prep the RV trailer as the kids may want to stay in there while we determine the Covid situation. Me and my wife doesn't really matter however they will miss work again if they become positive.

 

[Reprise]

With the Sierra in good shape, I moved the Envoy into the garage in order to start removing the front diff / associated hardware, although as I write this post, I'm inclined to pull it out and work on the Accord's rust issues first.

The Accord's worst rust is limited to the rear fenderwell lips (if I get to it early enough and do it right, I'll save myself from having to have new (partial) rear quarters welded in. Or at least buy a good 2-3 years until it has to be done). There's also a small spot that I'll need to remove the rear bumper cover to get to. In short... 'now' is the time to get it done.

With only 145K on the clock, and having a 5MT, the Accord has many years of life left in it, and it's my daily these days (I get 26 mpg with it, all suburban driving). The Envoy gets driven about once every two weeks or so, just to keep the battery charged and the fluids lubricating things. There's more work planned for the Sierra, but nothing more until at least autumn, or even later.

Also got the new tires for the trailer in, and will get those installed over the next week or two. I had put in a 'lottery' entry for an upcoming event at the Smoky Mtns NP, but didn't 'win' a spot, so I'm not in an urgent hurry to get there, now (since the event only happens once a year).

 

[Mooseman]

Well, worked some more on the deck... and a storm hit. Power out and unknown when it will be back. Dragged the generator out and hooked it up to the transfer switch so we got some of the important circuits working like the water pump, some of the lights, the freezer and the fridge. Not sure about the fridge though as it's flashing all 88 88 and doesn't seem to cool. Hopefully I didn't blow the controller, but then this fridge needs replacing.

Drove around a bit to find a gas station with power and saw a bunch of downed trees and poles, idiots that don't know to stop at intersections with traffic lights out so a bunch of accidents and more idiots that don't know how to use a damned gas pump at the one of the few gas stations that had power. All I saw was dumb people

May be days before power comes back.

 

[Mooseman]

Sunday, day after the storm. My two other generators weren't working. The inverter one I have for the RV was leaking gas from the carb and another old one I have wouldn't run right. Both got their carbs cleaned and running. The old one I loaned to a neighbour so he could run his fridge but didn't have connectors to run his water pump. The inverter one I was going to loan to another neighbour that has an oxygen generator but by the time I got back with gas and supplies, the power was back in the afternoon. My generator kept things running fine at our house. Figured out that the fridge panel just needed to be reset when on generator power.

Yesterday had to put up the RV's cell booster antenna to at least get phone and text service but data wasn't working. Internet had also been out since the storm. Luckily I have an HDTV antenna to at least watch some news.

Last night, the internet finally came back on and cell service this morning. We were lucky that there wasn't too much damage around here. Others aren't so lucky.

They're talking weeks for some places to be restored.

 

[BrianF]

Sweet Jesus thats some serious damage. We are so lucky out here that we have yet to see that kind of damage. Hippies and severe storms sure hate this province.

Well this guy has to find time today to prep the garden and get it planted this week. Things have been super hectic around here. But have at least found some time to enjoy the new hot tub.

Tomorrow we are off to Saskatoon to pick up some odds and ends, which includes looking at a pull behind rough cut mower.

 

[Blckshdw]

Since January, I've had a partial blockage in the sewer line from the master bathroom. Snaking and chemical applications haven't helped. Initial suspect was root intrusion, since there's a tree near the neighboring wall, but foaming root killer a couple weeks ago didn't change anything. Couldn't get a snake through the toilet so that didn't work. This evening, decided to pull the toilet, and see if I could attach my endoscope to the snake and find what's going on down there.

Well as soon as I pulled the toilet free, I was greeted by a host of roots that had grown up through the pipe, and were filling the wax ring! Well I guess that confirms my earlier suspicion. Pulled those out, sent the snake down and ripped out some more, but there were still roots I could see but not reach. Thicker but shorter snake wasn't grabbing anything, and the thinner but longer snake wasn't doing much better.

Off to the hardware store, gonna try the copper sulfate crystals this time. If this doesn't work, I'm cutting that stupid tree down!

 

[Reprise]

Well as soon as I pulled the toilet free, I was greeted by a host of roots that had grown up through the pipe, and were filling the wax ring!

My mind is racing with witty repartee right now, but I'll refrain.
You have a sh!tty enough task right now, without me rubbing your face in it.

 

[Mooseman]

Today, worked some more on the deck. Went to Homeless Despot for some more boards and saw this. They had just finished cutting up and disposing the light posts that had fallen on them. The cars were still there after 3 days. There was another parked in another area.




Lots of areas still no power and crews working.

 

[BrianF]

Just balancing the chemicals in the tub. Will be soaking tonight as the old back is quite sore. I got my fake beer chilling and life should be good.

Hauled the new dump trailer to the city and grabbed that used Swisher rough cut mower along with some other assorted garbage.

 

[Mooseman]

Worked some more on the deck. Completed the louvered privacy screens and started on the skirting to hide the underside of the deck. Ran out of boards so will have to get some more tomorrow.