Weekend accomplishments June 7-8

[atgcpaul]

My almost 4 year old counts down the days to the weekend, too. When I drive her to daycare/school, she'll ask, "Daddy, what day is it?"--every day. Then from there she'll count how many days until Saturday. It's Wednesday morning, for example, "So it's three more days of school then it's stay home day? The weekend?" Yes. "Yippee!". She enjoys school, but like me, likes the weekends better.

This weekend was exhausting. Saturday morning I woke up early--couldn't sleep--and painted the back side of the garage in a couple of hours before everyone woke up. This was the side with the most siding damage. Then we went yardsaling at a big community sale--should have skipped it. Had lunch and while the fam napped, I stole away to HD and bought 50' of gutters and supplies. I spent the rest of the day hanging gutters on my garage/shop and tying into an existing gutter. That should address all the rain water that gets splashed back onto the structure causing the rotted siding. I slept really well Saturday night.

On Sunday we played hooky from church. I had to move my CL wood haul from the patio--we're having a party next weekend. The red oak boards went to the attic of the house and the poplar boards went into the shop. At noon we had to go to a kid's B-day party and didn't get back until 5pm. The kids splashed in the kiddie pool and I setup a large plastic storage box behind the garage to store excess crap.

I slipped away to HD again to buy some molding to finish the uppers in the kitchen. I still need to install the molding, paint them and the face frames as well as the soffits, and then hang the new doors. I want to do this by next Sunday for our party.

[twistsol]

I billed 26 hours on Saturday and Sunday in Sacramento and 77 during the week trying to help a client clean up a customer data load that went horribly wrong while I was on vacation for week. I haven't been home in three weeks.

On a happy note it more than made up for the week of vacation where I had 0 billable. When the invoice gets paid there may be some more green tools for my shop.

[dbhost]

Got the compressed air system done as it is going to be for quite a while, tested it out and seems to hold pressure fine...

Was awakened to some unwanted bandit masked squatters in my attic and some siding damage. Not completely certain, but reasonably sure I drove them out. I put a boom box up there and dialed in a station somewhat off so I had fairly loud, static filled dischordant "music" playing up there all weekend, I turned on my attic lights and left them on, and placed several bowls of vinegar up there to stink up the joint... I haven't heard so much as a paw since Saturday night / sunday morning... I blocked the damaged siding with a wad of newspaper to determine if that was their route (I found 4 holes that are all new, grrr!).

I may have mentioned I was previously prepping siding for a different area of the house. I bought excess, but need more. Looks like at a minimum, I am going to need 6 more sheets of Hardie Panel, and about 2 joints of Hardie Plank just to fix the holes... Plus Hardie Trim... Ugh...

Seriously considering making some "temporary" patches for the torn out siding out of the masonite I have left in my shop just to close it up and buy some time so I can sensibly gather materials and help to get the job done...

I cut back my magnolia which is getting too close to the house. LOML didn't want me to touch it as it was in bloom, but those branches HAD to go!

I have a hackberry too close to the house as well, need to get the taller ladder, and start dropping limbs there...

My Ryobi recip saw soft case suffered a catastrophic zipper failure and I had to utility knife it off... Didn't cut anything BUT the zipper so I may be able to get the sewing shop on main street to replace it for me. I know I am odd, but I LIKE having my tools in proper cases, and not being able to close them up / put them away properly gives me fits...

Started on material prep for a storage / gift box for a new hot glue gun for LOML. The little one she has is starting to die off, so I figured I would get her one of those nice cordless dual temp models and build a retainer box for it, and the glue sticks out of walnut... Hopefully she will appreciate it... The stock is far too wide for my 6" jointer, so I had to hot glue it (with the failing gun) to the planer sled, and I am ready to make some flat and parallel wood when I get home tonight... Planning on machining it down to 1/2". I haven't decided if I am going to use Dovetails, or box joints for this. I need practice with both types of joinery, but I am thinking box joints might be better for this application...

[atgcpaul]

Was awakened to some unwanted bandit masked squatters in my attic and some siding damage.

Man, those Youtube videos of people trying to get animals out of their house is hilarious. Hopefully that never becomes me.

How do you think they got there in the first place? Did they climb up one of the trees you're cutting down?

One of the creepiest moments I have witnessed involved a racoon and a cat. I was walking the dogs one morning and heard cat-like screaming. I look around and pinpoint a tree across the street. I figure a cat got into it with a squirrel. Nope. I look closer and it's a full sized cat being hauled up a tree by a racoon! I get chills thinking about it now.

[dbhost]

Man, those Youtube videos of people trying to get animals out of their house is hilarious. Hopefully that never becomes me.

How do you think they got there in the first place? Did they climb up one of the trees you're cutting down?

One of the creepiest moments I have witnessed involved a racoon and a cat. I was walking the dogs one morning and heard cat-like screaming. I look around and pinpoint a tree across the street. I figure a cat got into it with a squirrel. Nope. I look closer and it's a full sized cat being hauled up a tree by a racoon! I get chills thinking about it now.

The hole in the siding that is big enough for an adult racoon is in the big gables. It seems to have been pulled out from the bottom, the Masonite is good and soft so pulling through the staples was no big deal... The wall below it is straight up, but it is brick, and pretty easy for them to get a good grip on... The tree over the front dormer however was a path for something, it seems there is a clawed / gnawed hole there as well...

I figure the Hardie siding will be MUCH harder for the critters to get through next time!

[Neal]

BBQ'd ribs for my Son's birthday dinner.

Helped clean the house

Yard work, including spreading of weed killer on the lawn.

A little more assembly work for the UTS.

Disassembled my "old" work bench (first WW project I ever really did.) Thank goodness for my inability to pound nails into anything. Drywall screws all around! Now have some scrap 2x4 pieces to use for 'other things.' This also freed up some room in my garage to move around a little if I need to, at least until we get my step daughter moved.

Started building drawers for the UTS...Didn't get very far. ripped the frames to width and cut the groove for the drawer bottom.

Limited amount of sawdust time, though...

[capncarl]

If you have any coon hunting buddies get the to drop off their dogs in your yard, they will find where the coons are living quickly, then you get them moved. That will get every cat in the neighborhood run up a tree and impress all of your neighbors, give them something to talk about.