Monsoon has been teasing us for awhile, yes, no, yes, no but tonight it is here. No Thunderbumpers at my house but outside, several hours after sunset, it is still hot and feels like we are in Houston.
MsBubba was on the roof last night for who knows why and found a couple of the pool's solar heater mounting pads had pulled lose. Long story short, a early morning trip to HD for a gallon of Henry Tropi-Kool to patch the roof. Before I finished the repairs it was boiling hot, I ain't as young and bullet proof as I once was. My butt was well kicked.
I did manage to get one coat of spar varnish on the outdoor sink counter (Bridger had just finished building for us) after the roof work but that was it. The rest of the day was spent watching videos, reading about the sky falling, and nursing my bad back while the AC worked hard, even the dogs looked at me like "fool, there ain't no way no how we are going outside...chill".
Over the next couple of days I will put on another coat or two of varnish on the sink counter, finish hooking up the sink, pull a few wires and my part of the back garden kitchen build will be done. MsBubba should fire the tiles for the bar counter top next week. In a week or so we should have a functioning back garden kitchen and bar.... Now if we just had friends that were not as old, cranky, and broke down as we are :-).
For some time I've been trying to figure out a useable portable work bench to carry in the motorhome. everything I've thought of or looked at was always "yes but" until today's heat forced browsing. Will Myers has a video of building a knock down Moravian work bench. I haven't built a bench in a year or so so it is time to build a bench anyway and this one looks to be perfect. Now I just have to find time to finish it before the September trip to Oregon.
As bad as the Japanese tool box is I expect it will be finished and used for the Oregon trip with, I hope, the knock down Moravian bench. The fun part will be figuring out what goes in the tool box and what stays home.
After a day of "fuck" every time I moved a little wrong I gave in and took a couple of pain pills. Thirty minutes and a little single malt later I was in the shop doing the most enjoyable shop thing there is....sharpening irons and chisels and then turning a nice sized hunk of Walnut into a very small hunk of Walnut mostly with my wood stock planes. It just doesn't get better than a well built, well tuned woodie with a sharp iron on a beautiful wood like Walnut or Cherry, I even took a couple of swipes at some White Oak. Life is good.
See you guys on down the road,
ken
Curious to see your outdoor kitchen / bar. I am planing such a thing myself, probably for next year or the next. Want to redo the back deck first, so I know how much rom I have left :-)
ReplyDeleteI am surprised you are using a solar pool heater in your climate, but I suppose some like it hot :-)
Agreed making shavings is a very therapeutic endeavor ...
Bob, with the grand peanuts for the weekend, by tomorrow we should be dead tired :-)
Hi Ken
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your back.
We are going camping this year, a trip to Austria, but I have to buy myself an old tent wagon at first (a combicamp most likely).
Mrs. Mulesaw does not want a regular caravan taking up space at home.
So I will not be able to make a travelling tool set to bring with me like you can.
I am looking forward to seeing your final tool set.
Brgds
Jonas
Jonas,
ReplyDeleteThanks, as I've posted, nothing is more boring than an OF's rambling about his sciatica.
Mrs. Mulesaw and MsBubba would be friends :-). She, MsBubba, would love to have a tent wagon and be shed of the motorhome, or at least that's what she tells me except after a couple of glasses of wine. Then she admits the motorhome is a great way to travel even if she is embarrassed by it. She keeps me on my toes keeping up.
MsBubbia and I have talked about the next time we go to see her folks in Kilmarnock buying a used caravan and touring around then selling or maybe storing when finished. Of course the train would be cheaper but the caravan more fun. We will see. BTW, she and the kids rented a small caravan last year for a couple of weeks while visiting UK and had a great time.
You are an old hand at traveling tool kits. What was it, a couple of months ago that you posted about your kit? Or am I having a senior moment....they happen often these days.
Take care,
ken
This is the portable bench I always wanted to build.http://lumberjocks.com/projects/102857
ReplyDeleteBob,
ReplyDeletePhotos to follow soon. The kitchen is pretty simple, almost too simple to call a kitchen but I will anyway. We, notice the we, it should be Bridger (a fellow SMC'er) extended the roof of the back garden cover, built a bar and a sink stand.
I traded a bunch of old tools for the labor part of the build. It was pretty much win win for me. I cleaned out some shop storage space and saved my back. Other than helping Bridger go through the tool room looking for treasures my part of the build has been writing the check, running plumbing and pulling wires for electricity. BTW, there wasn't a noticeable change in storage space in the tool room, I really do need help.
This time of the season the pool heater it doesn't do much, what it does is extend the pool season by a couple of months or so on either end. The desert nights are so cool in the Spring and Fall the pool cools too much for the warm/hot days to keep it comfortable. The solar heater helps overcome the temp drop at night.
How long is the peanut there?
ken
Antony,
ReplyDeleteIt is a good looking small bench and I expect reasonably functional. The advantages of the Moravian bench is once together it should be heavy enough to stay put with out adding sandbags or such and it breaks down into a small footprint. The breakdown is one of the major attractions of this bench, the outside bins on the motorhome can hold a lot of stuff but the dimensions can be limiting.
ken
I suppose, you have some extreme swings in temps being near a desert. In Bagotville (2 and a half hours north of Quebec city) there are a lots of pools to be seen when flying over, and they pretty well all have some sort of heater, otherwise it would be a very short pool season :-)
ReplyDeleteThe grand peanuts (2 girls) are here until Sunday AM. We went to see Despicable 3 last nite, we all had a god laugh. The girls love Rudy, who love them back, but he is some tired by the time they go to bed :-)
Bob, with the AC unit running