Finally!

Took quite a while, averaging a few minutes a day, but Louis' chair/step stool is done. Well, a few coats of finish to go but will look the same.

Been fun dealing with Juniper.  Basically soft but tears out or chips out at every chance. Challenging.

I'd like to coat it with epoxy before handing it over to a two year old but that's not practical. I plan to see how it does and maybe do some refinishing a few years down the road if necessary.

The above was drafted a few weeks ago. In Portland now and it fits!

Found out it holds two. 

Sort of. 

Big Timbers game this Sun. We are down by two but if we prevail we make the final game Dec 7th. 

UPDATE:  In case you hadn't heard, we lost, season over.

Back home now and awaiting kids visit for Thanksgiving. 

Clear and cold here and supposed to stay that way for a while.

Stay warm.

Stylin

I have a five year old grand daughter. 

I'm supposed to grow longer hair so she'll have more to work with. 

Figure she'll remember?

Two In A Row

Needed more bench space and shelves.  So I made this 12' bench to act as a divider in the two car side of the garage. It soon became obvious that it would really work well if I could move it across the Prius' parking space and get temporary working space, while the Prius was briefly outside.

So I designed this pivoting set of casters to go on each end of the bench.

The 2x4 pivots on a 1/2" bolt. When you push it down it raises the front of the bench with very little effort. Then the wheel passes the pivot point and the weight of the bench works to lower the other end to this position.

Then you push the aluminum arm (which is pivoting on a pin at the top) and it easily moves to the vertical.

And voila, the bench is 3/4" off the ground and easily rolls across the floor to the other side of the garage.

The remarkable thing is that this is the mark I version. Usually it takes three or four modifications to get to this stage. It actually works better than I expected and it all went together as planned.

I'll be running over to the 7/11 to buy a lottery ticket as soon as I finish this.

Emil called today to suggest a fishing trip Monday. I figure my luck will change for sure by then.

Though, the weather should be perfect.

The following weekend we are heading over to Portland for the Timber's playoff game on the 24th. Should have some good photos after that trip.

Stay warm

It Fits!

Mark your calendars. On Wednesday Ryan & I installed the roof on the play structure. 

The remarkable thing about that is the fact that it fit with only very minor trimming. I took measurements, drove back to the comfort of my shop and built the two halves there. Then I loaded them on the Subaru and brought them back. 

It was a bit tricky walking them up a ladder and over the trusses to their final resting place. But Ryan and I managed to do it without falling off the ladder or seriously wrenching a back. They are secured by the trim pieces around the perimeter and two more similar pieces on each side of the center truss. 

The framing is 50% space sheeting. I was trying to go light to enable me to get them onto the car by myself. I guess I succeeded but it was close. 

Big game tonight, but you already know that. Beat Seattle and we move on to the playoff semi finals. Rained like crazy this morning but perfect now. 

Stay warm. 

Back to the Play Structure

Back in Portland with the roof for the play structure. I made up the two sides of the roof in the comfort of my garage and brought them here for installation. 

Stopped at Pelton Dam on the Deschutes. 

View downstream from dam. The white strip between the road and the river is a fish ladder, which provides a safe route for the salmon to get around the dams to Lake Billy Chinook. 

They have a smaller, "reregulating" dam downstream. 

Interesting concept; wish they'd thought of it for the White River in Arkansas. Key phrase would be "maintain stable flows in the river". 

There were still a lot of trees in fall colors. Wait a minute, those are evergreens. 

Closer inspection showed that they were very spruce like. One had very healthy lower branches that were their usual dark green. I thought it might be some kind of fungus or parasite but it just looks like the needles turn golden. Anyone know what it is? I'll try to get some samples on the way back.

 

Also got donuts for all on the way. Nina with the "dirt baby" she made while on a school field trip. 

Weather is "Portland Perfect". You can guess what that means. Hope to have photos of a finished play  structure soon.

Stay warm.