Springtime Projects

Mrs Cat's already had me working, just 'cos the sun finally came out at the weekend.

Painting gloss over the water damage on the kitchen ceiling (an old joint got disturbed when I refurbished the CH, and it took about 3months to show through!).
Finishing the joints in the insulation board I put up in the sunlounge before winter came (they made a big difference).
I've put up a TV aerial too.
Doesn't she know I have bows to make?
Del

Our lawn and garden is pretty close to complete, (so she says) if there is such a thing,

Don't have pictures on me, but my girlfriend had an operation on her foot in February was pretty bored so she started a garden blog, we have some pictures there but is still incomplete.

She was quite inspired when she was in England, and tried to do as much as possible at her home.

I think allot of the big projects are done, I had to budget my time when I was doing it, otherwise the list get pretty big.

Other than that, my goal is to get my Porshe 911 Targa Carrera out of storage for the first time in 5 years. Go through it, and enjoy the spring and summer with the top off.

<...enjoy the spring and summer with the top off...>

"Don't look, Ethel!"

oops,

Various road vehicles have been scraping their oil sumps on the grass that runs down the centre of two lines of broken stone forming the approach to the bothy. Someone has ordered a bulk bag of shingle, found a shovel and a wheelbarrow, and there's no dinner until the shingle is in the holes, raising the surface where the tyres/tires roll so that sumps no longer get scraped. Not even chicken curry.

It's obvious that the grass should be lowered, instead of raising the roadway.

Too late. The job's done.

I've been fattening up a pig all winter, she'll be ready to butcher in about a month.

Also fabricating forms for a 40 x 12 foot concrete patio slab to replace a dilapidated wood deck.

And as luck would have it, the liner in the above ground pool ruptured....just as we come into swimming weather.

Guess which one I have "to do" first.

The pig?

Gonna save some bucks and do a diy roofing job on my old garage. Thought I'd use roll-roofing. Anybody have some praises or nighmares using this stuff? Looks quick and dirty, but holds up if you put it on right.

like you said, its quick and dirty.............

Big projects here.

The old trailer house got moved last fall and we lived in it all winter but I have a months worth of 12 hour days of work to do just to turn it into a guest house. Deck to build, new shed to add, new siding and roof to do, about 1000 yards more of dirt to move, landscaping to do, plus an endless number of "Honey Do" projects I don't even know about yet.

Then after that the new house project starts. Finish the hole for the basement, pour the basement and garage footings, foundations, and slabs. Move the new house in, build the garage, do another 1000 or so yards of dirt work and landscaping all the while while doing the second endless list of "Honey Do" projects relating to the new house, then do the interior of the house and so on.

Did I ever mention that my wife is a impatient busybody as well who thinks I should be one too?

I am too old for this now that I read it.

Heck, you need a secret cat nest to hide in.

Or a nice dangerous hobby that she's scared of ,so she won't come and find you
Del

Any suggestions <shudder>?

I have a list of jobs needed to maintain or improve my own property that is far too long to publish here. All the jobs on the list are planned with sketches/drawings, time estimates and costings, and then they are put in a file awaiting either the time or the cash to complete them. It would take me approximately 4½ months working full time and over £6000 to empty the current contents of the file, but by then my wife would have found more jobs to add. By keeping the file deliberately full with a post-it stuck on the front with the outstanding cost as a running total, she takes the hint not to add non-urgent new jobs.

Last weekend I started replacing 41 6foot wide fence panels running the whole length of one side of my garden. The old fence I installed 39 years ago and despite regular maintenance over the years is now beyond further economic repair. Buying replacement panels would have cost about £800 so I built a jig, bought the timber and am assembling the panels myself. (at half the cost but with a time premium) I have 19 new panels fitted and 22 to go.

I find the best feature of the system is that I do not start jobs in any strict rotation. I choose a job that I have the time to complete, or one where my household budget can be raided for materials without putting strain on other expenditure.

I make it sound very organised, but by the time I have added jobs maintaining my mother's house, and my daughter's house, all fitted around a full time career, it is more a system for keeping track of the chaos.

Fun things planned.

1 - Rebuild the tool shed - requires a lot of work so I can justify buying a framing nail gun

2 - Build/rebuild a large deck on my guest house - another use of the framing nail gun

3 - Replace the stone in the dog kennel. Requires renting a small Kubota tractor with a bucket loader. If the wife is impressed enough maybe I can get one for my self eventually

4 - Put the new 8000 lb winch to good use getting some logs out of the woods. Possibly build a new crane setup for the newer truck it will mount on. The winch mounts to a Reese hitch on the back, but I'm also building a hitch mount for the front of the truck.

So you see my projects are all oriented towards getting some new toys tools?

I plan on walking the beach, teasing the beach bunnies, having the car buffed out, drinking beer in moderation, buying a few more marbles for my collection, playing with my guitars, trying to figure out how to run wire to computer on other side of condo, want to eliminate wireless network....

Let's get something out of the way up front. I'm a slob. And a pack rat.

I've got this small workshop attached to my house. I've been just throwing things in there for so long that I can't get to the drill press or grinder. I have to lean into the door and waaayyy over to the left to turn the compresser on.

Somewhere in there are dozens of new goodies I bought years ago to put on the Vette when I got it rebuilt. It's now on its way to a second shop for installation of front suspension and motor/transmission etc.

I've GOT to dig out all the engine chrome, brackets, Al valve covers, etc. that have been in there for years.

Yes, bob c, it's THAT Vette and I have promised my wife that she WILL be able to drive it again before she dies of old age.

I figure it's about 3 days of work with maybe half a trailer load of junk for the dump.

There, I feel better.

-Finally tear out the barberry hedge and prepare to explain the mauling of my forearms

-Fix the koi pond (by fix I mean either dig it up to find leaks or drain it, fill it, and have a nice new Japanese garden)

-(Possibly) design and (definitely) build my daughter a playhouse

Other than that the usual planting, weeding, edging, etc.

Dude.. Shirley the point of a play house is it isn't designed ... and she should definitely be helping, else she'll never pick up the necessary skills to fix her own car!
Gotta be some great dad/daughter time there.

Del
(Even if she is a tiny tot she can still hand you the tools)

But it's still father/daughter time if she designs it, and I build it. Of course I wasn't expecting her to give me specs for a door that would take two days to build.

She was the project manager, I was just labor!

My wife is a professional architect but unfortunately she feels that if she can draw it in a day it should be built in a day and we both should get the same pay for our work.

As the laborer I highly disagree with all of that!

She seems to think that this whole new house project should not take more than half the summer. I feel that with me working primarily by myself it should be most of the way done in 5 - 8 years. 20 Tops.

Don't make the same mistake I did. Use roofing that will last 30+ years so you're not needing that 2nd roof before the drywall is up.

Whoa, that's impressive. I'm starting to think I should dupe her into helping me build an oversized doghouse, then lead her to it blindfolded and say "Ta-da! Your playhouse..." At least I (acutely) know my limitations.

If that was in a garden in London, it would be rented out by now £4oo £600 per month.
Del

"3 - Replace the stone in the dog kennel. Requires renting a small Kubota tractor with a bucket loader. If the wife is impressed enough maybe I can get one for my self eventually "

Do what I do and train the wife to use it and give her a load of things that she will find fun and beneficial to her to do.

I convinced my wife that running the backhoe tractor is fun and easy. Now anytime I want anything dug up anywhere she is happy to do it for me!

Now if I could only get her to turn the seat around and operate the rest of the tractor I would be thrilled.

You don't know my wife! She's a danger to herself and others without heavy equipment in hand!

Same with my wife! I leave that kind of stuff to the professionals.

They do get training early these days:

http://www.diggerland.com/ (usual disclaimer)

Great fun!

<Anecdote>

There was this little lad of about 9 in there, on one of the larger diggers, and he was Digging For England, really going-for-it - the hole was getting bigger and bigger and the BPOD was getting bigger and bigger. The funny thing was, his legs were so short that his feet didn't reach the floor in the cab!

</Anecdote>

In about 12 years, I'll let him sit up there with the engine running!

Whose list do you want? Mine or my wife's? They're quite different, ya know.

I am a little bit of a pack-rat, so I have to get rid of all of the accumulated stuff by spring cleaning my apartment.

Then I need to get at the island in the middle of the street in front of my house and plant some flowers. I plan on putting in a hydrangea bush and a couple of rose bushes and mulch it so that it will require minimal care from then on. In our neighborhood, we all try to do a little work there to make the street look nice.

I guess that's enough for spring.

Recently spotted in its natural habitat - the first one of Spring in the northern hemisphere: