Perfect Timing

Remember that Christmas when you were sick as a dog and spent the day on the couch wishing you could play with your new stuff.  Spencer is having that Christmas.  He claims he didn't throw up in the middle of the night (that was actually night before last) or keep his parents up most of the night (that was last night) but eye witnesses tell it differently. 

Sister Molly was ready to start the day a little before five thirty but mean parents made her wait until after seven.  She is really into reading and Grandpa is trying to get her to start a journal, that will insure that all the really mean things her parents do are documented.  She is just starting cursive at school so I figure it will take hold with proficiency.

Anyway, the day finally got under way till Spencer slowed down and a quick check showed he had a 103 temp.

Meanwhile, Mom got what she wanted.

And we found out that all of Grandma's knitting fit.

Both are wearing two hats and scarves.

Then Spencer went downhill, peaking at a 105 temp.  Even Higgens couldn't cheer him up.

In just an hour or so Mom and Dad got some Ibuprofen in him and a cool bath around him bringing it down to 103.  Right now he is back to singing and playing so looks like the worst is over.

Got to finish up Sound of Music and get into Avengers yet tonight.

Been getting wrong number Christmas greeting texts, so I finally told someone's mother-in-law "Thanks, but I'm a Pastafarian".  She was confused but wished me well anyway, so the least I could do was return the sentiment.

One more day to wrap it all up and get on down the road.  Clear and cold out, 16 degrees. 

Update, Spencer is down to 99 degrees and announcing that he is all better.

Stay warm.

Twas The Night Before Coal

Not snowing yet but supposed to be soon.  Teri, Amy and the kids are snuggled up watching The Sound of Music.  We have watched Iron Man, Thor and Captain America over the past week; you know, all the usual Christmas classics.  Next is The Avengers then on to The Hobbit.  Amy and Derek went to The Hobbit last week to preview it and decided the kids can wait a while but Amy and grandpa could go to the to the 3D version after Christmas.

Got the hot tub steps to a stopping point, so I stopped.

Took about as much framing as I thought.  Would have used more but ran out of room.

I think I can find some good 1x8 for risers that completely fill the space so the plan is to replace them on the next go around. 

Grandma has been cooking up a storm the rest of us eating up a storm.  The grand children have been perfect.  One time, a long time ago, we put a lump of coal in Ryan and Amy's stockings as a joke.  There were real stocking fillers which we brought out after the initial shock passed but Amy still claims it was child abuse.  I figure her trials and tribulations paved the way for her children growing up stress free.  Small price to pay for perfect grand children.

Gotta go and prepare the casserole for breakfast tomorrow.

Stay jolly.

Getting There

There was a Peter Sellers movie made in 1979 "Being There".  I feel like most of my projects are at least a little comedic and most of the time is spent just getting there.  I'm hoping this one gets there before we are scheduled to leave.

The project is to design and build a small (18" tread total 44" rise) circular staircase around a six foot cedar hot tub.  No attachment to tub is allowed and the whole kit & caboodle will be moved next summer.  No problem.

My plan was to build 5 tread supports which look like this.

Then I cheated by attaching some 2x4s to the beams under the tub with a couple of screws that could be removed later for the move.  Now comes the fun part.  Simply support each step in it's proper place and secure them to each other so that an elephant could use them to get into the tub.

 Notice each step covers two of the 2x6 tub perimeter boards.  Notice also that by the time I get to the top (three more steps) I will be running out of slab.  That's when it will get interesting.  The engineering department is still working out the details.  I am pretty sure it will involve a LOT of framing.

I think it would have been easier to start with a tree nine feet in diameter and cut out a four foot section and have at it with a chain saw.

I cheated again by attaching two more 2x4s to the supports (once again with accessible screws) to keep the whole thing in town.  There will be a skirt around it all of 1x6s; 1x8s would have been a better size (something about radials getting farther apart the further out from the center, I suspect it has something to do with the Mayans) but good cedar in the size you want is hard to find.  I did find stainless steel brad nails for attaching the skirt in only one place in town, Woodcrafters and they are only about 35 times more expensive than galvanized.

As you may guess, it will support the elephant but the move will be interesting.  We lost one outside day to snow but the forecast looks good with only a chance of snow on Christmas, so stay tuned as we are scheduled to hit the road again on the 27th.

Stay warm and enjoy the children.

Finally to Work

Planning to add some steps and a small seat around Amy & Derek's new hot tub.  Seen here after final installation.  The plan is to move it to a new slab with an equipment enclosure  next summer.

First, I conned Amy and Derek into spending all of Sunday emptying out the garage then repacking it and leaving me some room to work.  Here is the mini shop, where I can stay warm and dry.

Just a few hours earlier this space was solid boxes and whatever.  The piece of plywood is a full scale plan view drawing of the hot tub with the steps and support framing.  It is a real pain figuring out what amounts to a circular staircase but it should look good when done.

Ran up to Evergreen for breakfast with Jim Browne, his daughter Amiee and friend Marcella.

Looks like snow here soon, weather back in Soldotna sounds perfect, -20.

More soon as I have something to show for my efforts.

Stay warm.

In Denver

No photos yet, will work on that.

Made Denver with time to spare and no adventures to report.

Grand kids are still crazy cute.  As I remember, the brain damaged state doesn't set in until puberty.  I'll work on messing with their minds a bit for the next few weeks.  They are working at messing with mine.  I believe I detect the hand of my daughter in that.

In the 50's today forecasted sunny for Sunday on.

Remember the real reason for the season. 

Axial tilt!

In Boise

Just had an amazing dinner with John & Mary at a place called Toucanos in Boise. A Brazilian grill where after the biggest salad bar ever (complete with quail eggs) they keep bringing by skewers of everything from honey glazed pineapple to garlic steak (my favorite).  It keeps coming until you beg for respite. Quite a few kabobs of things I'd never thought could be done that way.  All delicious!

On to somewhere in Wyoming tomorrow.

Check out the speed of your connection on the gadget I added below.  I thought it was cool.

Small front passes through tonight, should be just windy the rest of the way to Denver.

Stay warm & dry.

OK, On With The Show

Just got back from Portland. Saw the Washington Klein family and got, hopefully, enough grand kid fix to last until March. No way! Louis is rapidly moving up the walking and talking learning curve.

He really knows how to turn on the charm. It's good to be cute.

He has a favorite band.  Anyone recognize them?

Their childhood will be documented.

Here's a link to a Louis video
And another

Tomorrow we shut down the house and head out for Denver via Boise.

Weather's perfect here and looks like it will hold at least till Boise.

Stay warm.

Editorial Note

Made some editorial changes to the blog:

Only showing the last two postings.  The rest are accessible via the archive at the bottom of the page and there is also a search feature (within the blog).

Removed Gadgets from the right side so they wouldn't overlay the first photo if it was landscape orientation.

Slight edit to profile.

Since I can't seem to post on a reliable schedule, I added email notification link at bottom.

House is about ready for winter.  Time to get us packed and on the road.  Details to follow.

Stay warm.

Wrapping Up Projects

The last project until spring is the dust control for the table saw.

It does a good job of delivering the suction to the place where the dust is generated, if not in the most elegant manner.  I could do that with the $450 attachment, but that just doesn't seem right.

The whole overhead portion pivots to allow the garage door to open.  So technically, the garage will still hold the big truck.  You might have a fine time getting out once you drove in but it will fit.

The last foot of the system is the most difficult.  I'll revisit the whole system when we get back in March.  Right now there are two vacuums involved and turning it all on is a bit tedious.

Meanwhile, the knitting also draws to a conclusion. But you know it will still be going strong after we hit the road.  There is always something needing knitting.  We've got till next Thursday to wrap it all up then it is back on the road.

I guess the coast is getting hammered with rain.  Here all we got was wind and a little overnight rain.  Otherwise, the weather remains perfect.

Stay dry.

Still Stuffed

Thanksgiving has come and gone but the left overs, our favorite part, linger.  Saw my first sunrise since daylight savings went away.  That would be because someone dragged me out for the traditional Black Friday sock mania at Freddy's.

Probably going to be a while before I see another, sunrise that is.

Got the table saw side table set up and incorporated the bench planer lift system.

 The pulley is attached to an eye lag that goes through the light fixture, per code.

 Works like a charm. Planer stored in about two minutes.  Now to work on the overhead dust control system.  You're gonna love that.

Meanwhile, back at the elves's workshop........

work continues nonstop.

Weather continues to be perfect.

Stay warm.

Ahhhhhh, The HDR button

Went to a iPhone class this morning at the local Verizon store.  We thought that we had stepped on a wrinkle in the space/time continuum we when we walked through the door.  The entire workshop "class" was over 55; it felt like we were in a Florida Denny's restaurant.  We learned a few things in spite of the need to explain the concept of "touch and hold" several times.  And of course there was the guy who couldn't get out of Cupertino, CA.

The possible problem with the use of Photo Stream in the previous post was the fact that I wasn't using my phone camera at it optimal setting.  Seems that there is a HDR button in the phone mode that maximizes the resolution and gives you two pictures at different exposures.  You then pick the one you want, dump the other and you get the best possible picture.

So, here is our fearless workshop instructor, Joe in HDR mode (2.0 MG).

And again in normal mode (1.9MB).

Due to the minimal improvement in quality, I would say that the reason I get better quality with my camera is optics.  Perhaps I'll try the same comparison between my camera and something with superior optics.  Maybe I need a new camera with superior optics AND a direct link to my photo stream.  First, I'll try using an iPhone 4S, mine is the iPhone 4.  Either way, I'm pretty sure that I need more better stuff.

Poured in Portland; light overnight rain here so, I must say, the weather is still perfect.  If you missed the last Arsenal/Fulham match on 11/10, you need to find it and watch.

Stay warm.

Trying the cloud

I love how this piece of marketing has caught on. It is so reassuring to think of all your stuff floating up in the sky, safe from all harm. That is so much better than the notion that it is being stored in some giant data center heavily dependent on local infrastructure.

We just got new phones (the old ones will be in service for a while yet) and I am trying out the photo stream that mac offers. So here are two similar photos to compare.

They are both of my newly assembled drawers for the shop cabinets.

This one from the camera.

This one is from the iPhone.

The camera definitely has better quality while the iPhone photo is 2.2 MB and the camera photo is 1.7 MB??????

I have more to learn about digital photography.  The camera has a higher resolution than the phone but how does it get that with fewer MB? Comments welcome.

Weather is still perfect, if you are a duck. I'm going out to the garage to get the cabinets ready to receive drawers. The set up has to be perfect or the drawers just don't slide that well.

Stay warm and dry.

Here's a preview of some of the things Teri has been working on in front of the TV.

And the Elves workshop.

Snow not all gone yet.

Weather is perfect though.

Stay warm.

Schadenfreude

Got our first snow last night.  Not too much and melting quickly.  We got up at the crack of 9:00 and the trees are already melting on the south side.

Looking south was a bit gloomier just 5 minutes earlier.

I don't figure that all the storms will be this mild; for now it doesn't look like we'll have to hunker down and wait it out. 

Hope your first storm was/is as mild. 

Unless you are still reeling from Nov 6th, if so you have my most unsympathetic condolences.  Sorry, my schadenfreude is leaking out again.  I liken our current times to the McCarthy era with gays and 47% of the population replacing the communist.  Hopefully, we will be able to look back at these times as another hurdle overcome in our progress to a civilized nation.

Ways to go yet.

Irrelevent

I may revise my position.  The system may not be broken.  If the republican congress can shift out of the obstructionist mode some governing may actually get done in the next few years.  If not then I was right, the government doesn't work, as the republicans have been trying to prove for some time now.

How would you like to be a voter in the great state of Florida?  First you stand in line for hours to get to mark an incredibly lengthy and complicated ballot, then you find out that the results won't be tabulated until the next morning.  But don't fret, the rest of the country decided without you, so your vote is completely irrelevant.  Now you know how it felt to live and vote in Alaska.

It cooled off here, down to the low forties at night.  They say we might even see some snow this week.

I decided the clamp/lumber rack wasn't working so I cut it down to below the table saw height and put the clamps on the wall.  Much better.

Here is a twelve drawer kit.  Got three sheets of MDO sign board plywood for my shop drawers and cut them into parts.

Will work on assembly over the next few weeks.

Stay warm.

4 Seasons

One of the reasons we picked central Oregon for retirement was that we wanted a 4 season climate. Portland seems to have two, a rainy season and a more rainy season. Alaska has two also, winter and road construction.

So we've seen a bit of the Spring, all of the Summer and now the Fall. We are seeing lows in the 40's and highs in the mid 60's so I'm pretty sure it is not winter yet.

The trees seem to be confused.

Some are just starting to turn.

Some are done.

Some are resisting.

And some haven't gotten the memo.
I can tell things are changing because I now occasionally get up in time to see the sunrise (just before 8:00).

John and Mary are due in just a few hours.  Wish they could stay long enough to see the area but John has to get back for his mid week hunting.

We'll have to settle for catching up over meals and maybe a quick trip to Crooked creek and Smith Rock.

Hope they like our perfect weather. I hear it is a lot like winter back home.

Stay warm.

Wimpy Goblins

The neighbors said to expect 50 to 100 trick or treaters.
We got two.

Can't imagine what scared them away.  The weather was perfect and there were friendly old men offering children candy.

Stay strong, the election will soon be past.

Waiting For The Goblins

Halloween night approaches as does a bit of rain in a blustery cold front.  I'll try to not eat all the candy before the kiddies arrive.

Went to Portland for some more pumpkin hunting and the last Timbers game.  Grandma took Nina to the top of the pyramid.  Nina was hesitant at first but it soon became her favorite place.

 Scarecrow Nina

Nina's preschool class at the Pumpkin farm

 
This pumpkin cannon is just north of us; haven't seen it in action but would like to.
Looks like a few bucks went into it; that bore looks to be about 16".  I'll try to get closer sometime for more info.

We are home for a few weeks so we'll be getting ready to hit the road again in December.  It will be Christmas in Denver then January in Florida and February on the road back to Redmond.

Cooling off here but some of the trees still haven't got the memo, so I'm holding off on the leaf raking.  No sense rushing it.  Hope my neighbors understand.

Stay warm.

Tables & Blocks

We have a work bench/assembly table.

The foundation. Made from many 3.5" strips of 1.125" floor plywood.

 The top; made from two layers of same. Tool shelf is 3/4" plywood.

Now I can make things besides sawdust and noise, although there will still be plenty of that.  Emil gave me a great idea for the storage/use of the bench top planer.  I plan to add hinges and pulleys to his idea. Either that or a hydraulic lift.  All I have to do is figure out how to get an eye bolt through the middle of the light fixture.  This is going to be great!

Had a bunch of writers block the past two weeks. Don't know if I'm over it.  The blockage seems to be a memory issue; I know what I want to say but my on board search engine keeps giving me "no results found for your request".  I've found that a certain potato distillate is a fine mental laxative but don't want to subject you all to the literary (?) diarrhea that usually results.  So I'll hack away at it and save as draft until I get it right. Or not.

Headed for Portland for Final Timbers game and, of course, a grand kid fix.  I'm sure you have all heard about their heroic (?) win in Vancouver (the Timbers, not the grand kids).  If not, they won the Cascadia Cup.  The bad news, it was their only away win this year.

Snowed in Bend the other day, only skiffs of corn snow here.

Weather is still perfect in the garage.

Stay warm.

And Then There Were Pumpkins

Made it to the pumpkin patch and corn maze.

We are looking for a pumpkin this big.

But first there were ponies.

Then the maze.

The slide in the maze and the view from the slide.

And the pumpkin cannons.

We could have spent a fortune there.

A cool old barn.

And, finally,

Pumpkins.

Weather still perfect. After a little lunch and a nap for grandpa we'll look into a brew pub. I hear there are a few hereabouts.