2019 So Far

Projects

• January: painted Living room (Benjamin Moore (BM) Persian Violet 1419), living room shelves (BM Yukon Sky 1439) and front room (BM Bistro Blue 1421), plus put up new shades in the front room. There was some thinning of the book herds as well.
• February: strengthened a previously made cabinet to house the Drill Press. Had changed the layout of the basement work area and thrown out a dresser which had the Drill Press on it and another large cabinet purported to be a work space, but ended up a cluttered mess. Now most storage and work units are on casters.
• March: Replaced electric cord to a Vintage Projection Table. Plugging the Roland Micro-cube amp into the swirched outlet facilitates turning on and off the  amplifier.

• March: Added work light over folding bench in garage.

• March: Replaced casters on the Grill nest, removed rust and repainted the nest.

• April: Made a new handle for the Grill
  
  

• April: Replaced belts on Akia 1700 Reel to Reel recorder that was originally my dad's. Fastforward/rewind cam is missing a lobe (bottom left) that releases the brakes when selecting rewind mode. 
  

• April: Refinished the Outdoor table top. Used Preval Sprayer to apply spar urethane thinned with paint thinner (2:1).

• April: Replaced melted Low Beam bulb socket on Volvo XC90. Soldered connections and used shrink wrap to weatherproof.
  

• Made this for no reason. It was going to be a bird house, or an outdoor storage bin or a stool, but it is not.
  
  
• Figured out combination to old family safe.

Classes

• January: Drill press safety class, SI Makerspace
• March: 3D Printing Primer, SI Makerspace

Garden
Lost several heaths and heathers since last summer, am thinking it due to the rain. The garlic is growing well and all the spring bulbs are blooming.
Planted several plants from Michigan Bulb Sunday April 14.

• Peruvian Daffodils, driveway side
• Liatris, near down spout on driveway side
• Hosta, near down spout on north side
• Dahlia, front garden
• Pink Siam Tulip, front garden
• Black Adder Agastache, driveway side
• Blue Sea Holly, driveway side
• Pink Epimedium, north side under front room window
• some lettuce, spinach and chard

 Books and other media
Finished 13 books so far, mainly mysteries.

Listen to Podcasts on the commute which is fine going in, but usually too long and slow coming home.

• Stuff You Should Know
• Wait Wait don't tell me
• Ask Me Another
• Travel with Rick Steves
• Behind the News with Doug Henwood
• Bon Appetit
• Out to Lunch with Jay Rayner

Have only taken off 2 days so far this year, I need to do better and aim to. No way I am not taking all my previously owed vacation time off.

2018 Recap

Health wise, the only problems I had was an impingement in my shoulder for which I went to Physical therapy for what seemed like forever and Sciatica for which I went to the Chiropractor. Both impacted what I was able to do.

End of last year had an interview to join a local group supporting public parks, the commitment was more than I was willing to commit to, but instead this year we joined the Travis Fourth of July Committee.

On the work front it is "death by many cuts", there were layoffs, then too few people on the project and then the vacation policy was changed so we no longer were entitled to vacation we had earned, but rather we had unlimited time off, just needed to get it OK'ed.

The work issues plus the problems I had working on the Land Rover put me in a deep funk.

Things done:
January

• Staten Island Greenbelt Trail of the Month Hike, trying out our winter wear in preparation for the frozen north of Sweden. Was hoping to do more hikes during the year, Sciatica had other ideas.
• NY Times Travel Show

February

• 11 - 17 Land Rover/Jaguar Ice Academy in Arjeplog, Sweden. Driving fast on frozen lakes.

March

• Lisa Brigantino and sister Lisa at Richmondtown Tavern Concert. 
• Land Rover fuel filter fiasco

April

• Land Rover exhaust manifold snapped stud saga, started March 24.

May

• Land Rover Brake line connection conundrum
• Greg Proops at The Bell House

June

• Red Mill British Car Show, tried hawking Rover parts unsuccessfully
• Helped prep for ROVERS picnic in North NJ.
• Food trucks at Mt. Loretto

July

• Fourth of July parade as Committee Members 
• ROVERS picnic in North NJ, last off-roading in Lump.
• Family Picnic, Eldest in for visit
• New Hope with Eldest 
• NYC with Eldest, Dead Rabbit, Seaport, Strand Books
• Mister Rodgers movie in Cranford, NJ
• Fort Wadsworth tour

August

• Goat beauty contest at Fort Wadsworth.

September

• Forging class at Staten Island Maker Space.
• Jazz Dinner at Christ Church.

October

• CranberryFest Turkey Dinner
• New Hope
• Bowie's album Heroes covered at Winter Garden, NYC

November

• Sold the 1963 Land Rover to a good home.
• Friend's Birthday party at Surf.
• Thanksgiving (8)

December

• Work trip to rainy San Diego.
• Vickie and Nickie's Holiday Sleigh Ride.
• Holiday craft fair at Makerspace
• The Young one and the Eldest, plus spouse in for XMAS XVIII.

Food Joints:

• Sayori, Japanese, our local
• Surf for brunch multiple times
• Beso, Tapas
• Blue, American
• Chris' Polish
• Inca's Grill, Peruvian
• Darina Cafe, Russian/European
• Phil-Am Kusina, Philipino
• 5 Guys Burgers
• Jimmy Max, pizza just a block away
  

Garden:
No new plants added.
Lost some heaths and heathers.
Lost some alpines.
Planted spring lettuce and spinach in April, only had luck with lettuce
Only 1 squash harvested over the summer.
Few heirloom tomatoes harvested, but plenty of small plums once production outpaced swiping by squirrel.
Planted about 25 new stock garlic (Spanish Royal) and 75 of ours, October 28.

House:
Had chimney flashed professionally
Polyurethaned Master bedroom windows, June, 2 coats.
Painted back bedroom in April, Benjamin Moore Steel Blue #823.
New shades in back bedroom and the Young one's bedroom.
Pressure washed driveway and front steps, November.
Rebuilt backyard bench in May, lumber from Boards and Beams. Used Teak oil on the white oak wood slats.
Re-plumbed kitchen sink drain, May.
Fixed a washing machine.
Discarded an old cabinet and bought a rolling 5 drawer storage unit for the work shop.
Added a folding work top to one wall in the garage.

2018 Book List

OK, so this year I finished 12 more Inspector Maigret books, started on the Raymond Chandler novel series, starting with The Big Sleep. The 1946 movie version is one of my favorite movies and it follows the book quite well.

1. Brief Guide to Philosophy Classics, James M. Russell, 1/7
2. So Anyway, John Cleese, Finished 1/22.
3. Maigret and the Tall Woman, Georges Simenon(GS) 1/22-29
4. Dogopedia, Justin Hankins 1/29 - 2/4
5. Aunt Dimity and the Summer King, Nancy Atherton, finished 2/18
6. Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters, GS 2/11 on the plane to Sweeden.
7. Maigret and the Man on the Bench, GS, 2/19 - 3/1
8. The Big Sleep #1***, Raymond Chandler, 3/2 - 3/8
9. Maigret's Revolver, GS, 3/9 - 3/14
10. Death of a Ghost, M.C. Beaton, 3/15 - 3/21
11. Maigret is Afraid, GS, 3/22-3/27
12. Maigret goes to School, GS, 3/28 - 4/2
13. Maigret's Mistake, GS, 4/4 -
14. Earthly Remains**, Donna Leon, 4/5 - 4/14, Venetian mystery on one of the outer islands, each of the books in this series makes me want to return to Venice. Plus I can get a haircut since our hair lady moved there.
15. Maigret and the Dead Girl, GS, 4/14 - 4/18
16. Death of the Deamon, Anne Holt,  4/19 - 5/6
17. The Taxidermist's Daughter, Keye Mosse, 5/7 - still not done
18. The Lady in the Lake #4***, Raymond Chandler, Author writes great lines.
19. The Waters of Eternal Youth*, Donna Leon, 5/10 - 5/26, starts sad, but has a happy ending.
20. Bryant and May and the Burning Man, Christopher Fowler,  5/28 - 6/9
21. The Bedford Triangle, Martin Bowen, 6/9 - ?, Book about covert flights to Europe from Britian during WWII to drop and pick up people and equipment. Very interesting, but many facts to absorb.
22. Maigret and the Headless Corpse**, GS, ? - 6/30
23. Death of an Honsest man, M.C. Beaton
24. Beyond the Truth, Anne Holt, 7/? - 7/28
25. Maigret Sets a Trap, GS, 7/25 - 7/28
26. The High Window #3, Raymond Chandler, 7/28 - 8/1
27. Growing a Feast**, Kurt Timmermeister, 8/? - 8/24. Follow up to Growing a Farmer, chapter about the cheese cave was among my favorite.
28. The Witches' Tree, M.C. Beaton, 8/25 - 9/5
29. Maigret and the Minister, GS, 9/6 - 9/8
30. Odd Numbers, Anne Holt, 9/9 - 9/21
31. The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg, 9/24 - ?
32. Carsick*, John Waters, October  Enjoyable, what a character he is.
33. Year of the Cow**, Jared Stone,  November, Follow a family as they eat through a whole cow, recipies included.
34.  The Children Return, Martin Walker, 11/21 - December
35. Maigret Enjoys Himself***, GS, 12/4 on a plane to San Diego. Maigret is forced to take vacation and follows a murder as a private citizen does and sends hints to the Inspector in charge anonomously.
36. Maigret's Failure, GS, December

Backyard Bench Upgrade

The planned project for Memorial Day weekend.

Picked up 1 x 3 x  48" white oak from Boards and Beams Lumber in NJ.
They had a very good selection, everything was well marked and the place was very tidy. Needed 7 slats, but boards were 9 foot lenghts so I got 8 slats and 4 scrap pieces which I am sure will see good use.

Procedure:
Disassemble bench, retain brass fasteners.
Clean off metal bench ends and back with scotch-brite abrasive disc.
Prime bench ends and back with red oxide paint.

Paint bench ends and back with Krylon Regal Blue.

Drill hole in ends of bench slats using bench drill press.
Sand slats severely.
Apply Teak Oil, both sides, 2 coats.

Attach metal back to 2 slats, measuring multiple times prior to using drill press to drill pilot holes. Initially used brass #8 x 3/4" screws, but the head snapped off on 2 of them so I switched over to stainless.

 Reassembled on a non-rainy day.

 There is room for 2 small side wood trim pieces on the back, but I may omit them.

 Finished product. Bench initially had metal strapping under the middle of the slats to distribute weight between adjacent slats. I had purchased copper plated pipe strapping which I might add.

Memorial Day 2018

Problem:
Commander-in-chief is a draft dodger and consummate liar.

Plumbing Problem:
Water not draining from kitchen sink.

Solution:
Remove old 1.5" pipes, which were slightly corroded and 2 of the slip joint nuts broke upon removal.
Remove the Trap and the Tee and flush out. Quite disgusting.
Snake out the section of the drain pipe below the kitchen with the trap and tee removed.
Dump the prescribed amount of pequa down the drain, wait and flush with hot water.
Leave bucket under sink in case I forgot I had removed the drain pipes.
Reassemble with new parts. Heavy brass dishwasher connection fittings was reused.

New Parts:
2" EZ hub
6" x 1.5" flanged tailpiece in rough brass
sink tailpiece washer
1.5" slip joint nut for tailpiece
9.5" x 1.5"  double offset tube in rough brass (cut in half)
12" x 1.5 straight tube, store only had chrome.

Disassembly Sunday after Dinner.
Reassembly Monday morning.

Trap and Tee reconnected to drainpipe with new EZ Hub.
Dishwasher connection connected to trap with slip joint washer.
Half of offset tube connected to dishwasher connection with rubber washer and thread sealant(not a slip joint).

Straight tube, other half of offset tube and tail piece connected with slip joint washers and slip joint nuts, hand tight.
Those pipes inserted into first offset and then connected to sink with sink tailpiece washer and slip joint nut.
Ran water, looked for leaks, cleaned up.

Spring Flowers 2018

April and May flowers.

Primula

Tulips, Dicentra, grape hyachinth, weeds

 Iris Henryi (yes yi)

Gentiana

A tree

Primula

Violet

Lilly of the Valley

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)

Lump Exhaust Replacement, Exhausting.

Needed to replace the front pipe of Lump's exhaust system, there had been some rust-through and presumed carbon monoxide leakage which I heard is not a good thing.

Purchased a side exit front pipe (GEX1563) and gasket (213358) from DAP Enterprises.

Leading up to the simple task of replacing the front pipe I saturated all the fasteners with penetrating oil and I painted the pipe with high temperature paint. The 3 bolts connecting the first and intermediate pipe came apart easie-peasie. Hurrah for SS fittings. Removing the 4 nuts connecting the front pipe to the exhaust manifold were going according to plan up until the last nut. There was movement, but not on the part of the nut. The last stud snapped, bottom right, worse possible place.

Initial attempts to loosen it failed; threading the stud(not enough thread for second bolt to hold), vice grips, more penetrating oil, heat, even more penetrating oil, praying. No luck.

 Purchased better grippy pliers, but no better luck, then purchased some specialized stud extractors, the first only managed to snap the stud closer to the manifold.

 This second one didn't really have enough stud to keep a hold on, but I reckon it would have disapointed as well.

 I then drilled and tapped in a square stud extractor, but it did not live up to its name. I drilled a larger hole and used the next size square stud extractor. Same unrewarding result.
 Lastly, I decided to drill an even larger hole and the drill bit snapped off and became lodged inside the stud that was rusted in place. Finally, I managed to extricate the end of the drill bit and then I knocked the remains of the stud inwards and the stubborn stud finally came out.

 Connecting the new front pipe to the manifold with the new gasket sandwiched between was quick.

A view from the wheel well.

 Connection of the Front and intermediate pipes mit exhaust putty for a tight connection.

Connection and hanger.

  Hanger closeup, the Brass Acorn nuts from an old water meter on the hanger look quite nice and protect the threads too.

Gathering quite a selection of specialized tools which I hope I never have to use again.