Category Archives: Construction

Apr 18

Sunny, Hot, Busy Day. Yay!

Posted on by

Digger showed up about 0830 (or so) and I’ve been on it all day. Got a lot done!

2016-04-18 15.42.46a2016-04-18 15.42.59a2016-04-18 15.43.21a

Driveway (did both upper & lower), New garden area behind the house, and the place dug out where SWMBO wants to put a rock/brick wall. Also made my new “road” so I can pull the Caravan around the house easily. (Which was why I had to move my garden in the first place.) Took most of the day to get just this done. (Also filled a couple of sink holes and worked on our main road some to get some of the bumps and holes out of it. Neighbors should be a bit happier for it.)

2016-04-18 12.47.58

The new BTech Mini UV-2501+220 came in (along with most of the rest of the “stuff” I ordered a couple of days ago). UPS got lazy and didn’t even try to deliver it (I would have seen the truck! I was doing the driveway) so I had to make a run to the Post Office to pick it up. Got it out of the box but not hooked up yet. Yet.

That GREAT Chiliburger I had at Sisters Restaurant last Saturday

Anywho, it’s almost 1800 and I’m pretty much done with the digger. Did all I’d planned and a couple of “extra” things I hadn’t. Was it worth the $300 to rent this thing for a day? Probably. And it didn’t come out of our pocket/budget. (Thank’s to the Renters!) None of what I did ended up “perfect,” but, pretty near. Now to rent a cement mixer and buy some cement and get my new planter beds started. And SWMBO’s wall, of course. (And I got a new butt-ton of rocks to pick up.)

Think I’ll go play with my new Raspberry PI 3 for awhile before going to bed.

Mar 01

Wow. What A SSDD Sunday!

Posted on by

Mostly. I have been working on my “shack” the past couple of days though. About time. Put in the 2nd counter top yesterday. Today I rewired Our Network and set up the print server and printers. Mounted two monitors on the walls where I want them (for the print server and my radio laptop). You can’t tilt them or anything, but they’ll work fine where they are now. Up off the counters out of the way. I need a lot of counter top for working on computers and “stuff.”

vlcsnap-00187

Slowly getting my shack the way I want it. It looks pretty “homemade” right now; and it’s supposed to cause it is. I build for strength, longevity, and convenience. And it doesn’t have to look “store bought” for me to enjoy using it. And I may re-arrange it at anytime. A good shack can be modified as needed for different operating modes.

vlcsnap-00234

SWMBO had a friend follow her home for some Emergency Genealogy  research so I wound up cooking dinner. Chied Fricken, baked taters, and steamed broccoli/cauliflower combo stuff. SWMBO made some of the corn bread stuff we got from Thrive. Was good if I do say so myself. All of it. Not just the corn bread.

vlcsnap-00003

Not much going on now. Kinda sorta just waiting around for the MCARC 2-meter Sunday Evening Chat Net to start. ARES check-in before hand. Which is good.

Net went really well. Eight check-ins and it actually lasted longer than half an hour! Now I think I’ll finish the movie and hit the rack.

Feb 16

Lots Of Wind Last Night

Posted on by

So much so that I feared for my antenna’s a couple of times. Supposed to be more rain and high winds today; but it hasn’t started yet. Flood watch for Mason County and heavy snow warnings for the mountains. We’ll see…

vlcsnap-00155

Cabinet folks showed up about 1000 this morning to finish the cabinets. At least, they say they should be done today. Hope SWMBO is home when the job is done for the final inspection. (She’s off singing in the Choir this morning.)

Got out and took my 6BTV antenna down and added guy-wires to the 2-meter antenna just in case the weather weenies got it right this time. With possible gusts to 50 mph I figured I’d rather be safe than sorry. Nothing to do about the multi-band fan-dipole on the roof; but it’s faired well in worse so I’m not really worried about it.

My nerves are totally freakin’ shot today. Damned renters started their bullshit @ 0300 this morning and kept me awake until almost 0430. I even yelled “What The Fuck Is Wrong With You People?” once. (Scared SWMBO.) They shut up for about 8 minutes after that but started up again. So I need to get off my “I-really-don’t-like-confrontation” ass and deliver those pay or get out papers to them. Wish I could have the Sheriff do it.

vlcsnap-00187

Started moving things back into the kitchen and SWMBO even made me dinner (liver and onions!). It’ll be nice to get back to “normal” as far as the kitchen is concerned. Kitchen looks nice now. Should for what it cost to get done!

Looking outside it is getting really windy and wet! Seems no one has lost an antenna yet on the MCARC 2-meter Sunday Evening Chat Net. Everyone says it’s really wet and windy at their QTH though. I just watched my long wire antenna really dip towards the ground and the other one is really waving around! (Hope it doesn’t snap!)

Feb 15

Rain. Breeze. Construction.

Posted on by

That was my Saturday.  Cabinet folks are trying to finish up (but I don’t think they’ll actually finish today. Looking good though!

Clipboard3

Straightening up all the pictures I have on my “Skydrive.” (Which will be changing it’s name to “OneDrive” or something like that. Got an e-mail about the change but can’t remember what it said. Link to the right.)

Played around with psk31 earlier. 10-meter band had quite a few signals on it. Switched to voice and am listening on different bands. Danged computer keeps dropping the connection to the radio! I’m going to replace the cable and see if that fixes that problem. (I think it will.)

vlcsnap-00175

Way too wet to get outside today. Did my “usual” chores to the extent possible what with the mess from emptying everything out of the kitchen getting in the way. Renter is still gone so I can’t deliver her eviction notice.

And, finally, the cabinet people are gone for the day. Getting stormy outside and the lights have flickered a couple of times. Will probably turn my computer(s) off for tonight. (Something I rarely do.)