Wednesday, March 23, 2016

My Last Day

Well today did not go exactly as planned.  It is my last day of PTO and I was expecting a shipment today.  Unfortunately the weather did not help my cause.   I have purchased a 20ft. steel shipping container and it was supposed to be delivered today.  We had a blizzard and it closed several of the highways.  It wasn't bad at our house but Denver and the east side of town got hit pretty hard.  Now we are looking at tomorrow as it is supposed to be nice again.

With having the day off, I needed to find something to do so I spent the day finishing up my bathroom medicine cabinet.   I couldn't use the same light fixtures so had to go to plan B.  All in all it came out pretty nice.  Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.  I am actually thinking about selling this piece.




Sunday, March 13, 2016

Stripping

I made my way over to the shop early Saturday morning.  I was thinking about making up another tiller wheel flower but didn't have all the parts I needed.  I cleaned up a little and once I had things looking pretty good, I started another project.

A year ago I had picked up an old medicine cabinet.  I can't really tell you much about it.  I think it is probably about forty or fifty years old.   I thought the lighting and the hardware on the front for holding soap and shaving cream were pretty cool.  My plan was to restore it at some point.   It was originally white, but someone had painted it red. It has been sitting under my work bench since I bought it, just taking up space.  

So this weekend I pulled it out and starting taking it all apart.  It came apart fairly easy, I couple of the screws took some work to get out.  Once I had it all apart, I started stripping the paint off.  I covered the cabinet in paint stripper and let is set.  The other hardware pieces I used a wire wheel to strip off the paint.  It took me all day just to get the cabinet stripped.  It required a couple of applications of stripper, along with the wire wheel and lot's of sanding.  I took the cabinet and all the hardware back to bare metal.

I returned Sunday morning and did some final sanding on the cabinet.  Blew all the dust out of it and then wiped it down with a rag and alcohol. 

Took the cabinet outside and sat in between two saw horses.   Sprayed a couple coats of primer to cover the bare metal.  In between coats and waiting for it to dry I worked on cleaning up all the other hardware.  

I made pretty decent progress today and even started to put it back together to see how things fit.  Still have work to do on the shaving cream holders, lighting and pull handle, etc. before I can take it apart again and start final painting.








Friday, March 11, 2016

Crazy Week

The week is over and I am ready for a break, been super busy.   Work has been busy and then I have been trying to work on a few projects in the evening if I am not out dumpster diving.   Dumpster diving you say, yes Candy and I did a little dumpster diving Tuesday after work.

So to fill you in, we have a bowling alley a couple of miles away from the house.   I had noticed last weekend that there was a big dumpster placed in front of the building and they were throwing out stuff and filling it up.   Tuesday evening we went out and on our way back we stopped by the bowling alley.

I pulled up along side the dumpster and we got up on the back of the truck so that we could see over the top.  Unfortunately it was mainly full of old boxes of paper, a few broken chairs.   We didn't really see anything that we could use.  I was hoping to find a few bowling balls or lane wood.   Something I could re-purpose.

I did manage to get my last rotary hoe tiller wheel completed for my yard art project.   I just need to spray it with sealer and all my tiller wheel flowers will be completed.   I need to start drawing up the plans for my base so I can estimate what I need.


I didn't get much walking in this week.  I think I managed about six miles for the week.  Shame on me.  At least it is the weekend and I do need to get out.

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend so it should make getting out a little easier.


Sunday, March 6, 2016

No Title

 It’s been a busy weekend.  I spent a good portion of both Saturday and Sunday working at the shop.   I finished up my submarine.   That’s what I am calling it.   I have been working on this project for about six months.   Would add a piece every now and then when I got an idea.  I painted it so guess I am done.   Will most likely hang it from the ceiling at the Shop.



I cleaned up another rotary hoe tiller wheel and got it primed.   Will add some paint to it this week.  This will be my 5th one so I will be just about ready to build the base.

I pretty much spent the rest of the weekend cleaning up around the shop.  I added a new wall shelf which looks pretty good and now I can get some stuff up high for display.  I will take a picture at some point.  I still have another section to go.

I wiped down on the work benches and swept and swept some more.  Now that I have it all cleaned up, I need to figure out another project.

I have been walking just about every day.   Crossed the 20/mile mark for the month.  Candy has been walking me halfway to work and we take Pebbles with us.   This is an image of the routes we have taken this week.


Tuesday, March 1, 2016

It's Always Funny

Don’t think badly of me, but one of my favorite television
shows is, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  What I have yet to figure out is how five people live off a bar that they never work in.   Danny DeVito cracks me up.  I can only imagine that he is having a blast.


Yesterday was an early start for me.  I had a video call at 6:00 AM this morning.  So up at 5:00 AM, showered and got dressed.  The call wrapped up about 6:30 AM.  I changed and put on my walking close.  I left the house at 7:00 AM and started walking to work.  It was a nice morning to be out on the trail.  I stopped and grabbed a breakfast burrito and milk on my way.

By the time I changed and got rolling it was 8:15 AM.  We are pretty lucky to have a shower/locker room at the office.  A quick rinse in the shower and a change of clothes, and I was ready to go.  I ate my burrito and drank my milk while I checked email.

I had planned on walking home that evening but it was gusting pretty decent.   I talked Candy into coming and pick me up.  We got home and she baked some chicken and asparagus.  It was a great dinner, very thankful.

This morning we all got out on the trail.  Candy, Pebbles and I left the house at 7:15 and made our way through the park.  On our way we came across some geese.  Pebbles stayed pretty cool about the situation and Candy snapped a couple of pics.

I left the office at 5:00 and started walking back home.  It was a great evening; the sun was still out so the days are getting longer.  Felt good to be out.

I have been jamming out to Elle King these last two days.  Love her voice and riffs.