blog420

My porch project work today was on the poles. I bought them nine feet long, but that turned out to be too tall, so today I cut a foot off each one. When I poured the footings the other day I used the bottom plates as guides to locate the anchor bolts. With that job done, today I began welding the plates to the poles.

Friday, April 3, 2020

Brrrrr! Two weeks into spring, winter has returned. Yesterday I had the shop heater off and the big south door opened. This morning the thermometer said it was 27º. A cold north wind blew and I don't think we ever hit 40º. Being a cold weather sissy, I spent the day inside, of course. Today's accomplishment was to finish welding the bottom plates on the porch poles. It will probably be a couple of days before I take on the outdoor job of setting them up. I'm looking forward to Tuesday and Wednesday, when the forecast shows seventies and eighties.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Another freezing start, and another day indoors. I used a grinder to neaten my sloppy welds on the porch poles, cleaned them, and painted them. I plan to put them up Monday when we're supposed to be back into the seventies, and then I'll paint the parts I didn't do today. Meanwhile I have wood to split, laundry to do, and plenty of other stuff that needs doing.

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Out of clean sox again, it was time to do a wash. The temperature was above freezing and there was no rain, so the solar clothes dryer was in operation. It was a cool enough day for me to bring in wood and lay an evening fire, and there will be more such days through the month, interrupted by warm ones. Early in May it will be warm enough for me to open all the windows, and except during windy rainstorms they will be open until next fall.

Monday, April 6, 2020

This was the day to get some real work done on the new porch roof. First I set up the poles, then made the main beam to sit on top of them. Ideally it would be a single 22' 4x4, but such a thing is not available. So I made it of 6' and 16' 2x4's overlapped. It was heavy enough that my geriatric loss of upper body strength made the job of putting it up on top of the poles a bit of a struggle. But I managed to get it up, and drilled, and attached to the poles with lag screws. Next came the rafters. I'm not a big fan of toenailing, but sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. By quitting time I had a few of them up.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Today's roof work was to finish installing the rafters. It was a warm enough day for me to change from flannel to a light weight shirt, and I felt the need to take a couple of breaks for rest and a cold drink. When my customary quitting time of 5:00 PM rolled around, I had just put the last rafter in place.

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

There are no pictures to show what I did today, which was lay the 1x6 boards across the rafters to hold the corrugated roofing. It was a pretty toasty day, and a couple of times I felt the need to stop for an extended break and rehydrate with a cold drink. When I went to town this afternoon to refill a prescription at the pharmacy I stopped at the lumber yard and bought the roofing, which will be delivered in the morning. I have a morning appointmernt with the doc to see if I'm any worse than I was the last time I saw him. When I get home from that the roofing should be here, and I'll start putting it up.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Well, no. After my appointment with the doc and some shopping I got home about noon and a half, and found no roofing had been delivered. I phoned the lumber yard and was told they were swamped and way behind on deliveries. So instead of working on the roof I enjoyed an afternoon session of yard work.

Friday, April 10, 2020

Still no roofing this morning, so when I went to town for groceries I stopped at the lumber yard to ask about it. It turned out that after I bought it they discovered that the size I want was out of stock. More is expected Tuesday, so until then I'll find other things to do. One of those things this afternoon was sawing and bringing in some firewood. This time of year we're on the temperature roller coaster, with some warm days and some cold days. The forecast shows a couple of mornings below freezing next week. But this afternoon was very pleasant, and when I took out the ashes I found the irises along the road blooming, and took a couple of pictures.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

As the old cliché says, I am a happy camper. With the Dixon ZTR and the Allis Chalmers B both able to work, I enjoyed a nice mowing session. I used the tractor to mow most of the lane to the wood lot. A lot of the grass was already so thick that I had to make a pass with the mower all the way up, then halfway down, then down on the ground. The tractor cuts wide swaths, and I use the Dixon along the edges and around trees and other obstacles. My other job today was fetching gas. I emptied the last gas I had into the Allis, then took seven cans to the gasino and brought home 35 gallons for the yard equipment. I put five gallons into the Dodge and five into the Allis, and I'll refill those two cans Monday. I expect those seven cans will last through most of the summer, maybe even into fall.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Winter weather reared its blustery head again, blowing in on a cold north wind that brought the afternoon temperature down to 40º at 4 PM on its way to a predicted overnight freeze. Am I surprised to see this in the middle of April? No. There will likely be some warm days again soon, but in these parts we can have some chilly days all the way through April. I'll be working outdoors again soon, but this was a good day to stay inside.

Monday, April 13, 2020

Wichita! My plan was to drive to Ponca City and buy a new door for the shop at Lowe's. A phone call to the store put a stop to that. They are out of stock, in the midst of changing suppliers, and have no idea when they will have more. So instead of going south I went north, to the Lowe's in Derby where they had the right door. On the way I stopped at the Winfield Walmart for a gallon of ATF. That's one of several items no longer sold at the Arkansas city Walmart which I now have to buy elsewhere. While in Winfield I was going to buy some steel for a project, but the metal and welding supply was closed. Apparently that's not an essential business. Derby being close to Wichita, after getting my door I went on to Grace Market and bought two gallon jars of kimchi. I buy the big jars for the best price, of course. What I bought today should last until June or July. Next was a stop at Harbor Freight for an air regulator for the shop. It's a replacement for the worthless piece of junk I bought at Orscheln farm supply. The one I bought today is the same one I have on my spark plug tester, and it has been fine so far. By the time I got home the day was spent, and it was time to start the evening fires and chow down.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The new door doesn't weigh a ton literally, but yeah, it's mighty heavy, especially for a feeble elderly person. But I dragged it out of the Suburban and managed to walk it and drag it into the shop like a refrigerator, set it on sawhorses, and applied the stain. Tomorrow I'll slather on a coat of urethane. Today Woods Lumber delivered the new roofing, so I'll start putting that up tomorrow too.

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Today I started putting on the corrugated roofing. I got nine of the eleven panels screwed on. The last two will need to be cut to fit, and I'll get to those tomorrow.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Today I almost finished the new roof. I trimmed the last two panels and installed them, then took on the aluminum flashing. Not having a sheet metal brake, I clamped it between a pair of 2x4's and used the new door as a table to crease it. I got it installed, but putting in the screws I ran out of daylight, so I'll need to finish that tomorrow.

Friday, April 17, 2020

Well, I didn't get those last screws put in. Instead I went to Ponca City. That's the closest place where I can buy the Round House overalls I prefer. I usually buy some in March, so I'm a month late this year. Ponca City also has the nearest Harbor Freight store, and I stopped there to get a mechanc's stethoscope. I'll use that when I try to track down the reason for my 1915 runabout's low compression.

Saturday, April 18, 2020

I've resumed an interrupted project—digitizing slides. I had to stop when my old scanner went belly up. Now that I have a new new one I can get back to that. Today I finished up the box I was working on earlier, pictures from 1956. The shots I did today were taken when I was fourteen, and had been playing photographer for about a year. After finishing that box of pictures I went out and finished up the new roof, then did some mowing along the road with the Dixon. I had to quit that when the mower died. I hate it when that happens.

Beau was a swell dog. He was part poodle, so Mom gave him a French name.
Visitors were afraid of him because they thought he was snarling at them, but he was just smiling.

I don't remember what Mike and I were doing here, but obviously it was something very dramatic.

In 1950 the refinery cat had a litter of kittens.
They got names like Gasoline, Kerosene, etc. The one Dad brought home was Stoveoil. He was a rare critter—a male calico. Here he is six years old.
He once got into a neighbor's house and ate the inside out of a loaf of bread, leaving only the crust.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

The Dixon was down, but the Allis was good to go, and I spent a couple of hours on the first major mowing of the season. It's nice to be able to enjoy a bit of tractor therapy again.

Monday, April 20, 2020

More mowing today, this time mostly along the road east to the cemetery on the south side and the neighbors on the north side. After dinner I fired up the push mower for the first time this year and mowed edges, around the mailbox, around trees and bushes, etc. Tomorrow I'll attack the banks along the road with it, as they're too steep for the tractor.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

It was a lovely morning for outdoor work, and I got started on mowing the bank along the south side of the road. As part of my bank work I removed and cut up a cedar that was threatening to crowd out that redbud you see in the picture changing from blossoms to leaves. The cedar pieces are my first harvest of firewood for next winter. In the afternoon I did laundry. That included sheets off my bed, of course, but not the big winter comforter I'll wash and put away for next fall. It's too big to fit in my Maytag, so I'll have to take it to the coin laundry in town. The last load of laundry I did was Shorty's army blanket, which was so dirty I washed it by itself.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

On a mostly rainy day I mostly stayed inside, and accomplished amazingly little. I went to town for celery and cereal, and installed hinges on the new door for the shop. I expect to hang the door tomorrow. This evening I had what were probably the last fires in the kitchen stove and the living room fireplace until next fall, and burned trash in the fireplace also probably the last time until cold weather returns. The forecast shows a high of 66º on Friday, then seventies and eighties from then on.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Well, it's done. The three hundred pound door is hung. I'm exaggerating of course, but the thing must weigh over a hundred pounds, and rassling it around was quite the challenge for a feeble elderly person. What should have been a job taking an hour or two turned out to be more like six hours, and I wrapped it up a few minutes before 5:00 PM. I'm pooped. I'll put the tools away later.

Friday, April 24, 2020

Never went off the place today. Didn't need a thing. For the second day in a row, I actually finished a project. This was installing a motion-sensor light outside the shop so I won't need a flashlight coming or going on a dark night. This cloudy and cool day was perfect for the job. Without sunshine beating down on the steel roof and turning the attic into an oven, installing the wiring was quite comfortable. I'm not sure the infrared rays will reach as far as I like, so I may install a second light farther toward the house. The box I wired today has two outlets, so adding a second light would be easy.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

One job today was a flop and the other is ongoing. The saucepan I've been using for popcorn developed a little hole in the bottom, and I attempted a repair. It seems that welding stainless is beyond me. All I managed to do was burn more holes in the thing. I don't want to spend $15 for a new pan, so I'll shop for one when we start having auctions again. The ongoing project is a puller to pry small trees out of the ground. It will probably take a few more days tyo finish it. Saturday is my customary restaurant night, but with the current stay-home situation it's my treat night at home. Tonight the treat was tostadas—two with tuna, chopped onion, and jalapeño slices, and three with frijoles refritos, cheese, chopped onion, and jalapeño slices. Tasty stuff.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

It's time for a change of routine. I need to start retiring earlier and getting up earlier so I can do yard work in the cool of the morning. I did more mowing on the south bank this morning, and quit at noon when the work got too toasty to suit me. After a trip to town for groceries, I spent the rest of the day on my tree puller project.

Monday, April 27, 2020

Bummer. I worked on the puller again today, and slowly made some progress, but I had to quit when I ran out of acetylene. Fortunately, when I phoned the welding supply in town I found that they are doing business, so I'll reload in the morning and see if I can finish the thing tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

With my new schedule I was up a little before six, had breakfast, and went to work at 7:10. I mowed the south bank for a couple of hours, and made good progress. Another session like that will finish it. After a trip to town for acetylene and some groceries, I spent the rest of the day on my tree puller. Late in the afternoon I had it near enough finished to try it out on some litle trees, and it worked. I proceded to weld on some braces, and should be able to finish it up tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Nope, not quite done. Getting a later start this morning, I started mowing at eight. The 50º temperature and a stiff north wind had me wearing my shop coat and winter wool cap. By nine I had the south bank finished and started mowing the north bank and around the trees, and was able to shed the coat and switch to my summer straw hat. When my great grandfather homesteaded here in the 1870's, each of the kids planted a tree. Arthur and Hal planted cedars in front of the house, and they were destroyed when the old house burned in 1917. But the trees out along the road survived. I'm not sure about the persimmon, but the two big coffeebean trees are originals from 150 years ago. At ten I quit mowing and went to town for groceries. I was also after a USB hub and new elastic for my welding goggles. Both were still out of stock, of course. In the afternoon I worked on my tree puller some more, using a grinder to neaten up the ugly welding. I still need to add a return spring and a couple of other parts. I didn't find a suitable spring in my collection, so I'll have to spend some actual money for that. Maybe I'll get the thing done and put it to work tomorrow.

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Almost done, again. After a couple more hours of mowing in the morning I made a run to town for a return spring and other shopping, then came back and worked on the tree puller. By quitting time I had the spring installed, then went to enjoy tonight's tasty treat. Normally I don't bother with cooking, but this week I've been treating myself to some cooked goodies. Earlier in the week it was spinach. I've never understood the notion that little kids hate spinach. I've always loved the stuff. A couple of nights ago it was baby limas, which I also love. Tonight's treat was Brussels sprouts. After dinner I went out and tried the tree puller. It got too dark to see what I was doing, but it was obvious that the thing needs more work.