The Christmas of Rubber Chickens

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

A Blast From the Past

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

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!

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.

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)

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.

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 .

Leaping Lizzards! (And Gus...)

Did I mention that Gus likes the snow?

And that Idgie still looks regal.

A Christmas Wish

May you always have someplace to curl up where you are safe, and warm, and loved.

(And having a few chewy toys around isn't bad, either...)

A Winter Wonderland, with Shoveling

Look at all the snow on top of my poor little car!

A White Christmas Perhaps?

Got the tree decorated today and the snow started falling tonight. A sign, perhaps?

And a word about the tree - it's nearly nine feet tall and Diane got it for $20 at Save Mart. (And thanks again to the bag boy who helped her hoist it onto her roof and tie it down - you did a nice thing, Sir.)

My car will get its first test in the snow tomorrow (or at least its first test with me behind the wheel.) I figure the Germans should ought to build a car that can handle snow, since they get a fair amount. I've got Z-chains to fit it and two bags of rocks to give the back some weight and bite. I should be fine. There's a story over at Everything's Shiny for those who like their car news served separately.

For the Christmas crew coming here - we'll ferry any and all who don't have four-wheel drive or chains from dry land in the SUV. It's too pretty to miss and we're comfortable with the driving.

Dogs like snow.

The King is Dead. Long Live the King!

Yesterday was Frankie's last halftime show at Memorial Stadium. (A Disney show, beginning with Lion King themes as you might have guessed from the picture...)

Good game, great show and a great season. He'll lead the band onto the field at AT&T Park for the Emerald Bowl as his last official act as the Drum Major of the University of California Marching Band. ("The Best Damn Band in the Land!") A new drum major will be elected this Tuesday, and he or she will then have responsibility for the 230-member company that is the Cal Band.

It was an amazing experience, watching this from our Proud Parent seats in Section X of the Gold Zone. I simply could not be more impressed by or more proud of Frankie. Go Bears!

What the UPS Guy Brought

Got the first galleys of The Portable Dad today.

Kinda cool. Kinda a lot of damn work.

I'll focus on the cool side tonight...

The Idgie Containment System

Well it is after today.

It was a beautiful day today - mid to upper-70s, leaves changing, etc. etc. I was outside fussing with the wiring on the '02, and let the dogs come out with me. AD was in a class at the gym, (so it's not all my fault...)

Anyway, the horn is on the bad circuit I was working on and I got it to work and tested it a few times and AD gets home and the dogs are gone. Gus visits his dog friends sometimes when he's out, but always comes home. Idgie doesn't wander. When I let her out like that she snuffles in the creekbed and suns herself on the steps.

But she doesn't like high-pitched noises and apparently the horn chased her away.

It's 11 a.m. when we start looking for her. (Found Gus in like two minutes.) Can't find Idgie, and she's so deaf that she's not going to hear us call and whistle even if she's two feet away. (I think the only noises she can hear are the ones she doesn't like.)

We look all day, walking and driving, and no Idgie. I hoped that I'd have luck after dark with a flashlight - she can see. It worked. She was two blocks away, belly was wet (how, we don't know) but not in any apparent duress after her 6-hour outing.

So quite a stressful day, all in all.

Let's Hear it for Australian Doctors!

For it was a doctor in Queensland who claimed the honor of buying the first item from the Some Say... superstore.

The latest design is this - the autobahn sign signifying no speed limit. Saw it in a catalog and replicated it on a nice selection of items. Check them out!

More Stuff. No Sales.

But who wouldn't like this to keep car-related notes?

Having Far Too Much Fun

My shop isn't setting any first-day sales records or anything, but I'm having far too much fun designing stuff.

It'd be easier, of course, if I had any actual design ability...

Just in Time for Holiday Shopping

Check out my growing selection of quality Top Gear at my new Cafe Press store, Some Say...

(And notice how deftly I sidestep copyright laws...)

We Like a Project...

This planting bed that dresses up the parking area fence is the latest. The ground was hardpan clay and came out slow. (Picks are evil tools. Effective, but evil.) Dug out about 18-20 inches, added rock and a 4" perforated drain pipe. Diane dug up nice soil from the creek area to refill the planter bed, and bulbs are going in it soon. The cedar border I made from the cut-off ends of split rail fence posts I'd saved from that project.

Notice anything different on the '02? Check out Everything's Shiny for the answer...

Like Water off a Duck's Back

Yep, we did go to the Cal-Oregon game yesterday, and yep, we got wet. VERY wet. Pruney-finger wet. Wore water repellent coats and pants and it didn't make a damn bit of difference wet. The saving factor was that it wasn't freezing. (That would have been really bad and somewhat dangerous.) Frankie did catch the baton - two hands - but a catch is a catch, especially given the weather. Cal won, which was a nice bonus for us.

Today I built this compost bin. All wood I had in the scrap pile. It's 3 x 3 x 2 feet tall - plenty to get us started. None of the fence-board pieces I had left over were 3 feet long, so all the slats are made from two 18-inch pieces. The 2x4s sticking up at the corners were on purpose. Diane thought she might want it one board higher, so I left the corner posts sticking up to make that easy should we choose to do it. I think this will work out, though, and if so I'll cut them off flush.

I also made some improvements to the '02, but you'll have to visit Everything's Shiny for the details...