Back to a normal pace

 Hello everyone,

Starting to get back to normal around here. Other than a couple of doctors visits, the schedule is normalizing.

Started out doing a little work on a hand held gas leaf blower that my wife’s friend gave me. It didn’t run so I finally got around to looking at it. Turns out the coil is bad, so I took all the plastic off it and scrapped the engine. Then I had an old chain saw that hadn’t run in forever and I played with it for awhile, it also had more problems than were worth fixing so I scrapped it too. 

All the parts for the van electrical system came in and we sat down and figured out how we wanted it mounted. We bought most of the wood to do the shelves and that, so, that’s this week’s project.

The heart of the electrical system, besides the giant battery, is a 3000 watt inverter. Mostly only worried about coffee and my wife’s hairdryer but, I bought bigger in case we needed a heater or a small air conditioner.

Overnight on Saturday and into Sunday we probably got 8”- 10” of snow. Very wet and heavy snow. So I got up Sunday morning and plowed the driveway and cleaned up a path from the barn.

So, winter in the Midwest never ceases to amaze me. We’ve had a pretty decent winter up until now, and hopefully this was the worst of it.

Well, I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon, 

TVI 

A little better this week

 Hello everyone,

This week moved along a little better. Not much done on the van but got some other things done. The van’s on hold while I’m waiting for the electrical parts. The battery isolator showed up yesterday, still a few more things.

I built that double sided step stool for the shop, that took me a couple of days. It’s hard to get in the top of the big cabinet in the pictures, and when I let my wife help “organize “ the shop, she put stuff she would use in that cabinet. It’s made out of 3/4” plywood, so I cut the circles out of it to make it lighter, and it ended up looking kind of cool!! Two for one, form and functionality!

Wednesday the wife and I kind of took off on an adventure. Drove up north and bought myself a lifetime National Parks card, and then went farther north up into Michigan. Had a nice time, ate a very nice brewery, that happened to be closed to indoor dining but they let us eat inside anyway! It was just us and the owner’s, nice people and good food!

Thursday my middle son and I finally returned the tv the boys bought me for Father’s Day. We had it outside under the pavilion and it worked about 6 weeks and went dark. We had another tv so we just changed it out and put it behind a couch in the house and kind of forgot about it. He had purchased a warranty on it so it was kind of a fiasco but we got her done!! Ended up with a much bigger tv for my shop and it only cost me $150. The difference between the 43” one and the 55” one. Not too bad.

So, the tv is installed but we were having problems solving the surround sound setup. It works but not in surround sound mode. I’ll eventually figure it out. Maybe........

We’re supposed to get some significant snow fall in the next few days and so I wanted to get the tractor ready. I usually remove the mower deck because it’s wider than the bucket. This time I needed it off anyway because it had a broken wheel again( this time it was me!). Removed the deck and put it up on the work table and started whittling away at it and hopefully it’s repaired.

Not too pretty but repaired. The wheels are set that way to slide it back under the tractor, I may not do that just yet. I’m going to order new blades this year and I’ll probably do that now, and get a little ahead of springtime work.

Well, I think that’s it for now.

Talk to you soon,   

TVI

Still slowly plugging along

 Hello everyone,

Well, sort of like last time, things are still moving a little slower. I think my wife needs to go back to work! Oh well, that’s my excuse anyway!! LOL!!

I managed to get the bed part of the van project about 90% finished.

I still need to trim out the boxes and there will be a sort of half wall one the driver’s side. I ordered all the main components for an electrical system on Sunday, that’s the next step in the process.

My oldest son’s mother-in-law passed away last week, and so we went to the wake yesterday. Because of the cooties we went early and didn’t stay long. We decided not to go to the funeral or the after dinner, because there will be so many people.

Other than that not much happening. Just plugging along.

Well, talk to you soon,

TVI

Not much happening here

 Hello everyone, 

Things seemed to have slowed down a little, so I haven’t posted again for a couple of weeks.  I don’t really know why, other than my wife has been around more because her work has shutdown because the doctor got the cooties. He’s one of the few people we know that got them and he’s been very sick.

So, I’ve been spending a lot more time with her rather than working in the shop. Here’s a little of what’s been going on. 

After the Tennessee fiasco, we spent some time working on how we were going to do the new van. Ran a couple of times to the big stores and picked up plywood, etc.. I’ve got most of the parts cut out for phase 1, which is the bed part. I had to run up to my older boy’s house to get my biscuit jointer so I can put the boxes together. 

I’ve refilled the wood shed and am prepared pretty well for January. Still have enough left for February and at least part of March. There’s still plenty of dead stuff on the ground in the woods so, there’ll be no serious shortage for wood. 

I lost my satellite tv in the shop so I made an appointment for their crew to come out and fix that, it ended up a bad cable from the dish to the box. Then I made an appointment for the Geek Squad to come out and fix the tv that the middle son bought me for Father’s Day. It was our outside tv and the screen went out. There supposed to be here on Monday. I also have a sleep study test again on Monday to get fitted for a CPAP machine.

After that I should be back busy and posting again regularly.

I think that’s about it for now.

Talk to you soon,

          TVI

Missed a week....

 Hello everyone,

Yep, missed a week. My wife and I had rented a cabin in the mountains of Tennessee to have a small special gathering for Christmas with just our family. We left last Monday and drove down there, it was beautiful. On Tuesday the oldest boy called and said him and his family had the “cooties”. So they weren’t coming, which was fine, we didn’t want to get sick. Wednesday we played around, went to town, came back to the cabin still beautiful. The youngest son came on Thursday and it had rained all day. Right after he got there the rain turned to snow. Spent Christmas Eve talking and eating and having a good time, went to bed about 10:30 or so. About 1:30 there was a huge bang followed by a blue fireball outside the window and the power went out! By the time we got up in the morning the temperature had dropped into the teens and still no power. We made the best of it, Cooked burgers on the grill outside, boiled water for coffee etc.. But, by afternoon the temp still in the low 20’s we decided it was time to go. So, we packed up and got to the bottom of our mountain and started up the next mountain and ...... stuck. Couldn’t get out, so Friday night we camped in the new van. Got up on Saturday and spent the whole day waiting and trying to get out, still couldn’t. Spent that night in the van as well. Got up Sunday and finally made it back over the mountain about 1:30 in the afternoon. It was quite an adventure! Stopped at a hotel near Lexington Kentucky on Sunday and came home on Monday.

Finally got the alternator for the Harley and put it aside. After spending nights in the van, we decided to start planning and building the bed and stuff for that project. In between, I’m going to start working on the Harley. I have a small frame modification to do and then I can start cleaning, sanding and painting or powder coating, whichever I decide on as I go.

So, today is a clean up day in the shop. I moved firewood yesterday and the Gator wouldn’t stay running, so I need to look at that because I don’t have the four wheeler back yet. That I should get back next week.

And so it’s back to the grind, a few old projects and a few new projects. Should be interesting!

I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon,

         TVI

Relaxing week, stuff still got done

 Hello everyone,

I don’t know why but, this week was pretty quiet. Did my usual things. But the weekend was like, nothing going on, as a matter of fact, on Sunday I never got out of my pajamas!!

The week started out making the plates for the golf cart to mount things up.

Finished up installing those and making sure everything was working. I’m waiting for the amp so I can mount it and see if the old speakers work, if not I found another set in the stash. Actually the amp should be here today.

On Wednesday my middle son and I went to the oldest boys house and put up more fence. Actually got a pretty good bit done. 

On Thursday I had to have some tests run for the doctor, kind of typical stuff for my age. Well, the sleep study one had me spend the night in a hospital. Kind of sucked. Friday after I left the hospital I didn’t do much, Saturday I didn’t do too much, I did finally get the new drill press, so I put that together and got it mounted on the box.

Oh, I almost forgot, the water pump for my outdoor boiler went out sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning and I had to replace that.

That wasn’t too bad, there is a local place that stocks those pumps. Sunday I helped the wife sort and wrap Christmas gifts. I have some to buy today for her and then a few odds and ends to pick up. This week, I hope to do the amp and then a huge clean up of the shop. The alternator for the Harley should be here this week, I have one more expensive piece to buy and then I could start on the frame modifications. I’m hoping I can fit that in, in between working on the camper/ van, which will start after Christmas.

Well, I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon, 

TVI

Not as busy, but still moving along

Well, not as busy but got some things accomplished. Started out repairing the old gator again. Broke the hitch off that I welded on it not long after I got it running. Added a gusset and welded it back on, I think I did a little better job this time.

Well, I couldn’t figure out how to rotate the picture but, you get the idea!

Started working on the red golf cart. Put in a converter from36 volts to 12 volts. Pulled out a five gallon bucket full of jacked up wiring. Added some lights, a fuse block and some switches. This week I need to make some mounting plates for the switch panel and a battery gauge so we know when it’s going to die out. I also ordered a little amplifier so we can have some tunes while we’re working and 

I also redid my drill press cabinet, still don’t have my drill press but the cabinet is at least ready.

On the weekend I went to my oldest son’s house and helped him fix his old sliding patio door and started putting up a fence. The fence is kind of a pain in the butt! The guy who owned the house before was an iron worker, so the fence frame is metal. In order to hang pickets from it you have to predrill holes and use self tapping screws. I’m planning on going back on Wednesday and doing some more and then probably Saturday too.

Well, we’ll see how this week shapes up! I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon, TVI

P.S. I also picked up the alternator I was wanting for the old Harley, should be here in a week or so!