Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Christmas of Rubber Chickens


Did I ever mention the time I hid the kids' Christmas gifts in rubber chickens?

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A Blast From the Past

Uncle Don sent me this photo yesterday. Has to be what, 1971 or so?

Monday, January 26, 2009

Timing is Everything When Parts Are Distant

Like the rest of California, we here in This Land enjoyed about 10 days of unseasonably warm weather a week or two back. Sunny days, highs in the upper 60s and low 70s - just perfect spring-like weather.

To take advantage of it, I decided to ride my motorcycle to Angels Camp one afternoon and was letting it warm up while I put on my boots and noticed a fuel leak. The rubber hose had cracked, and replacement was the only option.

I could have bought a short length of regular fuel line from the local Napa, but all the fuel hoses on the bike are wrapped in braided cloth and it wouldn't have matched. Could have - and maybe should have - done it anyway, then replaced it with the right hose when I got it. But I didn't. I looked into ordering, but didn't want to pay what I considered excessive shipping charges for a length of hose. Then last week, I had to be in Modesto and did buy the right fuel line at the BMW dealership there.

It was, of course, raining by then. Yesterday the rain turned to snow and this morning when we got up it was 22 degrees outside and the roads were icy. But my motorcycle doesn't leak!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

A New Use for Superglue

Was doing some work on my car this weekend, and needed to hold a flat washer, lock washer and nut in an awkward position - under the interior carpet even - then thread a bolt onto all three with my other hand. And, because of the odd position, I could really only hold the washers and nut with one finger.

Not easy.

In the end, I superglued the lockwasher to the nut and the flat washer to the lock washer. When they were all held good and tight, I glued the nut to my finger. That held just fine until I got the bolt threaded through.

Monday, January 12, 2009

CS Madness and Proper Dave

GCS = Gus Containment System
FDCS = Future Dog Containment System (not effective as a Real Dave Containment System)
CCCS = Crazy Chicken Containment System
KKOCCCS = Keep Koji Off the Crazy Chickens Containment System
The Haircut = Teca Containment System

And speaking of Real Dave, there was a Doctor Who episode on recently with Proper Dave and Other Dave characters (and Proper Dave sounds cool)

Friday, January 09, 2009

A Finishing Touch and a Picnic Gus

You knew I would.

I just wonder if there was a pool and who won. (Careful readers will notice that I extended the existing checkerboard on the table over to the left so the new pattern on the doors would flow into it.) Yes, I am a geek.

Gus is not a geek. He's a bit odd, but will take the sun wherever he
can find it.

And if nothing else, his head fits.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Doors, Boxes and Space Savings

Here are a couple of my New Year's weekend projects.


I put doors on the new storage cupboard I built a couple of weeks ago. (Warped doors, thanks to Home depot plywood, but doors just the same...) Not only do they make the corner look a little cleaner and neater, they do increase the storage capacity of the cupboard (as you'll see in photo two.) Yes, some slow afternoon I may paint a nice blue stripe or checkerboard on them...



The little gray box is even better. That corner has been pretty much wasted space ever since we moved in. I had the bench grinder mounted on an old plant stand in that corner, which made storing anything else there impossible. On New Year's Eve I built the box out of one sheet of 3/4 MDF. The wheels and paint I had.



What's cool about it is not only does it store all my oil and filters and motorcycle spares, I have both the bench grinder and drill press mounted to the top. When I need them, the box just rolls out .