Memorial day is here. Hurray????

  It has been busy around here anyways. You know...projects.

The neighbors have all noticed by now that I am always buried in another project. A week or so ago, the next door neighbors asked if I wanted an expensive Keurig coffee machine to try and fix. I said no...I have enough going on. Noticed a look of disappointment, I changed my mind.

I fixed it. It seems to be a nice machine. I see they run about $300. There is more to the story. I knew they made refillable baskets to put the grounds in, The waste and cost is excessive, so until we found the refillable baskets, I refilled the used ones we had.

They worked fine. I just used the aluminum tape. I also cut pieces of reynolds wrap to put inside the tape. Not really wanting glue in my coffee. A couple days later, when we knew the machine was going to stay working, bought the new baskets and have been enjoying the coffee machine.

   Of course...the list does not stop there. Nor do all my projects make it to the blog.

The outdoor furniture has been needing a new paint job.

So the table was on the chopping block yesterday. The best way is to take it apart first. It is the only way to match a factory paint job. Otherwise you end up with places that get painted over dirt. Peeling paint in said places really looks cruddy later on.







I also had to build a tile with a hole for an umbrella. The shelf below is also an addition to hold umbrella. Tile was a flooring laminate over a polyurethaned piece of plywood. All edges sealed with that rubber used to coat tool handles with. It should last a while. Shelf below is heavily painted plywood with same rubber edging. Boards underneath to stiffen it up and also screwed to sides.

It will not be likely to fall apart. :-)

You may have noticed the greenery in the courtyard is doing well.  That little live-oak tree we rescued last year has got all kinds of new growth just coming out. It should be pretty thick in another month. I have white sage just starting to come up in one planter. The rosemary and lavender are growing like crazy and Vivian just planted new basil and cilantro. I have a big pot of what is supposed to be rainbow chia. Made tea with it already. Not bad.

Certainly not to be left out of this weekends chores. It was time to repaint the faux picket fence and blow the leaves out of the rock beds.

Leaf blowing first.

But not until the crumbling fuel line is replaced.

It was mostly back together before pictures were taken.

The culprit. I am surprised it had even started. The fuel line in the tank just crumbled when it was touched.

One of the well known factoids about Myrtle Beach is the fossilized shark teeth that can always be found on the beach if one looks hard enough for them. We go to the beach close to the house here often. A state park is just about 3 miles away.

  I had never looked for any. Just went to enjoy the beach. As we walked along the other day, Vivian spied this prize.

A couple minutes later we talked to a gal out shark tooth searching. Vivian's is the large one for comparison.

From what I understand, the size of Vivian's is quite exceptional. So off we went our separate ways. On our way back down the beach 20 minutes later. The other gal had all these.

Guess they are there if you really want them.

Next weekend I move Mary Lee back over to Johnson's marina/campground for a month of spring cleaning and to finish the haul down and reef lines. Couple other things and then down to Charleston harbor for July, August and September sailing. Possibly a little October sailing before heading to Florida. Will see how the hurricane season wraps up.


The recovery from my back injury continues. I am buying a gazelle this week.

I have owned them before. People have told me they don't do much. I beg to differ. Get on one a few hours, then, when you crawl off it, tell me what it does not do.




The thing is. Because it is so smooth and non-jarring. It does not feel like it does much while on it. Once you have spent many hours on one, over the course of time, you realize you are walking much faster than you ever did before. You have trained yourself to walk at a faster pace without realizing it. It gets your blood pumping and in my case, it will do a great job on my lower back without jarring it. I have spent over 5 hours on one at a time. I know what I know.

  A thought for today. I have noticed my recovery seems to run two steps forward and one back. It is easy to remember, and even dwell on, the step back. It seems to take a more concentrated effort to remember the steps forward while going backwards. It helps if you can.

All these projects you see me start and not quite finish??? Ever wonder about those?

 I learned a long time ago that some projects need a little stewing time for the idea to come together. Of course...if I were working, I could just buy everything I need for every project and just roll through things like I did when I was. That also includes me being recovered enough to keep up the pace :-)

I think we all know that while other people paid for a formal education, I paid for a hands- on education with me and what books I could find as the instructors. So others have a piece of paper that says someone taught them how to think, I have lot of years spent teaching myself how to logically approach a problem and solve it with my hands, tools and whatever insight I can muster.

 I have always searched out new things to figure out and my mind is always working on something. There is no way the average person could afford to work on all the things I want to work on. Between tools to do it and materials/books. Just cannot.

I have drawings of ideas I will likely never get to. I have a couple books I have been mentally writing on when I can.

 It goes on and on. There are always several thoughts going at a time. THAT...is why I had to get away from the pain pills. I love thinking....almost as much as finishing a project. That could be because I am already thinking several projects ahead :-)

And for the record. I always finish what I start. In order of importance.

  I have been learning to sleep more the last couple of weeks. I have been stuck on a four to five hour sleep schedule for so very long. While on pain pills, the medication kept me from sleeping well. Without the medication, pain wakes me up after a very few seemingly short hours.
  I have had this deep tiredness that I just kept pushing through. I was explaining it to Vivian, and although she says she enjoys me getting up in the morning and making coffee/getting breakfast ready....I was told to take a couple of weeks to try catching up on my sleep. It is helping, but I am still tired.
  Remember this guy working to get all those knots worked out of my back?

I think that all those knots were protecting my back(the injury) in a weird kind of way. I seem to hurt myself a little easier now. My guess is that now I need to concentrate on building up my core muscles.
  So...while I was all knotted up and on pain pills my first two summers working on Mary Lee, I got away with doing things I really should not have. Because there is no question, things I did then, I would have trouble repeating right now.
   Just thinking out loud. I will never stop pushing forward.

On the lighter side. I decided to rebuild the paint mixer I had rebuilt.

It needed to be a little longer. But most importantly. I had a sewing machine motor I wanted to use. Sewing machine motor was too fast. It needed to be slowed down.
 So I bought some 1/4 inch bar, a couple of needed pulleys. Some brass bushings for the bars to spin in and built a new box.

It works very well. The gearing is almost exactly right.

And this is the inside.
  You can see the little rubber wheels I used on the bars. Why not just use a voltage regulator on the sewing motor?

I did. When slowed down enough it would get hot. The little internal fan would not keep it cool enough for extended tumbling. You might be asking yourself why I don't just use a drill and paddle to stir paint? Take to hardware store and have it mixed?
  
Paddle is a mess that needs cleaned. Hardware store is not always handy. I can turn this on and the paint, or whatever, is ready when I am. I can take out a half dozen screws and store it in a small space. I can also use this to tumble rocks or to clean brass for reloading and shooting. Should last a long time.
   Cost. I had motor, but you can find one for $20. Including bars, bushings and rubbers. Also pulleys. Maybe $80 if you also buy motor. Cheapest tumbler harbor freight carries will run you over $90 to take it home(with sales tax) and you will never put a gallon of paint on it to mix. Maybe $150 will buy one big enough? Maybe?

Jon, Vivian's son, is now into playoffs with soccer. Single elimination. They won the first game last night.

This clip is from the last regular season game.

Not his most impressive, but the only goal of his we caught on camera.
  I may not get the clip to download right.

So will insert picture.

Jon is in background. His team mate Chris is giving the ball serious attention.

Of course we have the proud soccer Mom.

Vivian is emotional about "Soccer Mom Season" coming to a close. She has done it since he was five.
 Long season. Thirteen years.

And we got a selfie at the last regular season game.

I watched two seasons with her.
I had not watched high school sports since I played basketball in high school. I had never really watched soccer. I have to admit, I enjoyed it.

It has made me ponder what I missed by not having kids of my own.

But no complaints, life has been good to me :-)


 

Last summer....I bought some silver wire and then Vivian and I bought a few handfulls of gemstones. Remember the trip to Texas? Buc-ee's? I mentioned it in the blog.

Saturday night, I decided to freehand wrapping a couple stones.

Didn't seem to difficult. So I decided to try something a bit more elaborate Sunday morning. A five strand braid.

It was a tad bit more detailed and I might add....time consuming.

Maybe a little more practice would have been helpful....maybe not! It took a little time to figure out how to wrap a fairly even wire braid around an uneven rock and make it look somewhat even again.

I took my time. I think it turned out half decent for a learning experience.

Funny how digital cameras tend to wash out color. I flipped it over to show the back.
Same spot as the picture of front. Same light. It is rose quartz. Looked white in last picture.

So now have a new little batch of tools.
Going to be doing more of this. It does not bother my back and it keeps the mind occupied. I actually enjoy it.

We stopped on the way out yesterday to watch some of the Chinese boat races.

Interesting! I had never seen anything QUITE like it. Unless a canoe race counts ;-)

Was all set up to paint the van this weekend. It rained yesterday. Was sunny and nice today. But...it is raining now. I guess the van will turn white when the van turns white.

It is just as well. I have had a very rough week as far as my back is concerned. I would like to avoid having many more days like I had this week. 'Nuf said!

This month starts the thinning out of unused worldly possessions. I will not get rid of everything in storage. I have things like chamber reamers for a series of rifle cartridges I designed. One of a kind reloading dies. A few rifles I will not part with. Piles of reloading and gunsmithing/stock making tools. Actually, I sold over 40 guns all together. Every one had been customised in one way or another. I sold them for pennies on the dollar. It is like everything else. Spend all you want modifying something. In the end...it is only worth what someone else will pay you for it.

I can tell you that one rifle had over $2,500 in parts added to it. I did the stock. The cold rust bluing, well..lots of things. I never added up what the labor would have been to pay someone to do it. That was just one gun. Suffice to say. I have been away from shooting and hunting so long now that it matters little.


Will I ever get back into guns again? Not likely unless it becomes necessary to hunt for subsistance or to defend myself. I rest confident that I can shoot just fine with any gun I have. Repair said gun if needed and put food on the table with that same gun.

So....not getting rid of all my unused stuff ;-) Certainly not parting with any more tools. If you have no tools...you have to pay someone else to fix your stuff. I like fixing my own stuff.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Vivian!!!

Yesterday(April 22) was Vivian's birthday.
  It was a busy day. We had an out of town soccer game to attend. So...picked up pizza on the way back home.

Does anyone remember me saying I need to pare down my list of projects so I can concentrate on getting Mary Lee and the nester dinghy finished?

Even when I was working (before getting hurt) I was always working on a project of some kind. So the day before Vivian's birthday, I decided to re-dye her leather jacket. She has had it over ten years. She likes it. She doesn't want a new one. The dye was wore off in a bunch of places like the seams on the sleeves etc.

I researched how the re-dyeing is done at those places you can send them to.

Then did it myself.

It was not difficult. I airbrushed the dye and sealer on. It was a little time consuming, but not bad. The very cheapest I could find to have it done was $100. By the time shipping was paid etc, it was about what a local place charges for a new leather jacket. Did I mention Vivian did not want a different jacket?

It cost me about $4 and about 45 minutes of actual activity. Counting the wait time between coats....about two hours.



It looks a bit shinier in the direct sun. You cannot tell where the worn spots were.

That was my first time doing anything like that. However...since I had everything set up. I decided to do something about the sketchers I had ordered online. They looked much different (color) when they arrived than the picture showed. I decided to just wear them anyway.

They were pretty silverish looking. I was thinking grey when I ordered them....not shiny grey. I had spilled stuff on them and although still comfortable, they were getting pretty dirty looking.

I decided to experiment with the brown dye. They are not shiny anymore.

We spent some time in the courtyard last weekend. I put some of the edging up around some of the flower beds(?). I have a bit left to do. Vivian planted the flower boxes and more herbs. I planted the green bushes by the white fence pieces we put around the heating/cooling unit.

Of course there is always more stuff to do

I got a ticket. Not speeding.

Vivian played Della Street and put together a case file.

I got up in front of the courtroom and pled not guilty. Got to choose between a bench hearing or jury trial. Chose bench. Got to sit in the vacated jury seats while everyone else pled guilty and moved on. By the time they were all done, the officer who wrote my ticket had arrived. I really didn't have much of an argument but.....why not? The fine started at $155. It ended up being $65. It turns out that just showing up cuts it in half. I saved $12.50. Worthwhile effort??? Maybe not. Vivian went with me. We drove the van down, experienced a court proceeding. Watched a couple people argue tickets in ways that were not beneficial. Went out for pizza at a new place(for us). The $12.50 savings just about paid for the pizza. I think we even went to the state park to enjoy a walk on the pier.

It was a great day in all.

Two soccer games this week so far. Socastee(sock-us-tea) won both. Vivian's youngest son Jon plays for Socastee. One more on Friday. Monday's game was also senior night.

Of course...I have a picture of proud Mom with son..

and a couple game shots. Jon is 6'4" and weighs about 180 pounds. Vivian is about 5'10" and maybe 140 pounds sopping wet with a pocket full of rocks. Funny how much bigger Jon looks.

Last but not least. Vivian works at the university. Last week the mascot (chauncy?)was caught on break.

Yup...mascot is a chicken!

I had a pretty ambitious weekend planned. Turns out, my body is still not able to get everything done that my brain plans.

 More on that later. I now have a van. Yes....I guess I did just re-enter the world of vehicle ownership again. I will need a vehicle to work again. More importantly though. Need a vehicle in Marathon, FL. this fall. So here it is.

It was the very best GMC offered in 1994. The diamond executive vandura. It needs a little tlc.

I spent some time looking for the right one. It needed to be cheap. Run out good and not have a destroyed interior.

We actually drove 3 1\2  hours up to Saluda, SC. to look at one. I felt like the guy deserved knots on his head for the misleading ad. Seven hours driving to look at a piece of junk. I won't say more than that. I should have taken a picture.


That was last Saturday. April 4th. Tuesday we drove 3 1\2 hours to Durham, N.C. and bought this van.

We knew we had new neighbors before we had made last Saturday's drive. We had not seen them yet. When I walked out to the car with Vivian Monday morning, we found a green conversion van in their driveway. So Wednesday morning it looked like vans were overtaking the neighborhood.

Wonder what the rest of the neighbors thought? :-)



So with the great price of $1,200. The van needs a few repairs and paint. Not fond of the purple carpet and door panels but have a very good cure for that.
 It had a wheel bearing in the rear end that needed replaced.

I also needed to replace one axle. Since it was apart, I replaced bearings and seals on both sides. The home owners association would have had fits if I had done this job at home. I drove up to Mary Beth's home in Southport,N.C. to do it.

I should have got a few more pictures. Maybe at least one of the slide hammer bearing puller I used to get wheel bearings out. Or of differential while pulling clips out. But I didn't. Just know that there were several steps not photographed. Actually, you can see the bearing puller case opened up on the tire.

The rear end went together without a hitch.
 I had picked up about $500 in parts all totalled.

This was the first pile on the counter at parts place. The rearend parts were about $200. They were another pile. My back was pretty sore. I decided that the radiator hoses, rebuilding the power steering pump, serpentine belt(fan belt) and tensioner pulley, thermostat and power steering hoses can all be replaced at home. I am sure I missed something in the list.

Actually :-) I did forget to mention one thing. Dad taught us boys how to paint cars when we were kids. Small paint shop next to the house. We rebuilt engines and all kinds of things in that shop. I can and have painted vehicles for a living.
So when I tell you Dad will cringe when he hears how I am going to paint the van....I am not kidding.

I am going to roll and tip it with rustoleum. :-) :-) :-)
I gave it quite a bit of thought. Black is too hot. In Marathon, that thing would be like crawling in an oven. White will help. I need to practice roll and tip painting on something.  It is likely I will end up doing it on a boat. The van has some rust. Doing a standard auto paint job would be very labor intensive. I don't have the place or time for that. About $180 for the rustoleum primer, paint and accoutraments. You aren't going to buy all the materials for a car paint job for remotely close to that.

I watched a utube video where a guy rolled and tipped his pickup. The more I thought about it....the more I liked it. I do not even have to do it all at once. It will look fine when done. If you never knew how it was painted...you would never guess without close inspection

The van drives like a cadillac. Has a queen bed when rear seat is folded down. Can pull a trailer or haul full sheets of plywood. Not likely to own it for more than a couple years. Will look clean, bright and be reliable. Very important piece of the puzzle for our near future plans. Let's not forget me needing to just lay down when my back hurts.

Vivian and I jokingly call it a big horking van. Shortened to horking van. Gonna call it Orca. It is kind of a whale-of-a-van!

Last...and certainly not least. Went out to dinner at the Dead End Saloon in Southport, next to where I had Mary Lee while there. They got $18 out of me for dinner. My favorite.

Fish and chips. With the tip, it may be the most expensive fish and chips I have ever had. But, you know, fish and chips is my favorite. It was a pretty big plate of food. I was barely able to eat it all.

Next post should see van painted...or at least in process. For now...finishing coffee and then going grocery shopping with my honey bunchess in a huge black van.

I have been bragging. Although Vivian and I do not always agree on everything. We are at our two year anniversary and still not one fight(probably because neither of us cares for fighting). I sure do love this woman. We are two peas in a pod.