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What are you doing today, II

Building another bird house
aaaaand another

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The high end junk shops are selling 'em pretty fast
There'll be a lull......then Christmas season

Gotta re-stock my shelves
 
re you using recycled wood from old fences? And branches that you find/cut? What type of finish are you applying? I'd love to see more more detailed photos.
The front and back walls, and floor are from Home Depot's cedar fence boards
The sides are cedar underlayment shakes
The whimsically twisty 'branches' are actually roots from blow over lodge poll pine trees
I have plenty up at the cabin

The finish is liberally applied linseed oil
Birds aren't offended by it

I do feather the rises of the grain with a dark stain

I'll take photos in stages next build

Just remembered, I created a blurb for the shops that carry my stuff

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Funny thing about these weird whimsical builds is, a FUBAR can easily become a feature
 
Day 2 of high school fencing practice for this season of the Great Lakes H.S. Fencing Conference.

We have a big turnout of new fencers but I only have 1 new girl who is interested in Saber. I really need 4 girls. 1 to fill out the varsity squad, and 3 for the Junior Varsity squad. I have 8 or 9 guys who want to be on the men's saber squad, which is great. Some of them seem to be athletic and coordinated and physically fit.

Did my best to scare them away but they actually stuck around.

I don't want to invest time in kids for a couple weeks only to have them switch to a different weapon, under a different coach. I'd rather scare them away on day one and then work with those who stick. Saber is sort the "monday night football" or "monster trucks" of fencing while Foil is more like a ballet and Epee is often called physical chess. Saber is like life: short, fast and brutal. If you are afraid of getting hit, I don't want you as a student. If you aren't willing to attack, I don't want you as a student. If you just want to swash buckle, or do light saber, then I really don't want you as a student. My kids win medals. My kids fence in college. My kids are often some of the best kids in the conference. Play to win, it is more fun than losing. But that means work. Hard work.

I'm not the best coach, but I don't give up on kids who are willing to try. I have 2 senior boys this year. Both should earn medals at every individual event they compete in this season. I have 1 junior girl this year, she should medal in almost every individual event she competes in this season. Not sure what I can do with the freshmen, but we will see. One day a week I co-coach with one of the best fencers in the mid-west. He works the kids really hard. Between the 2 of us we turn them into athletes who do things they didn't know was possible.

One of my best high school fencers is a "nerd" who wants to major in physics in college. His freshman year everyone wrote him off. Out of shape. Nerdy. His senior year he is a beast.

I love seeing the kids thrive.
 
Let's see....first off, I was pretty crippled up today. We're into fall up here with night temps down to near freezing and daytime highs of 10 Celsius. That means the bones and arthritis in my back are in full flare. But, I headed to the city to pickup a grocery order and few items for the house. Came home and tackled cleaning up the attached garage then made a trip to the dump. Came home and dove into an alternator and serpentine belt swap on my son's camry. Kind of a father son in the garage teaching him how to do mechanical work bonding thing. I pulled the camry out of the shop and sent him on a test drive to charge the battery.

Then I prepped the shop for the next project. An older couple we know is going through some medical issues and are having brake problems with their van. I checked it out the other day and the driver's side rear pads were metal on metal. So I offered to replace them free of charge if they bought the parts. I just finished putting the brakes together and discovered a badly worn wheel bearing on the back passenger side. So off to the city I go in the morning to get a new wheel hub and return to replace it. I can't let them drive around like that. Very unsafe.

Here's the rotor before and after.

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Good job on helping the elderly couple.

I feel you on the arthritis pain too. Temps here dropped 20+ degrees (F) and it’s cool but not cold. Cool enough that I am delaying an outdoor project until next week when temps will rise another 10 (F) degrees. When fencing practice ended today I was ‘done’ and took 3 Advil as soon as I got into my truck to drive home. Body aches suck.
 
I was back at her first thing as soon as the kids left for school. Called around and got a good price on a wheel bearing for our friend's van. First time I've done the brakes on a caravan. Does anyone else curse installing new clips on the calipers for the pads to ride on? I spend have the time doing a brake job swearing at those stupid things. I headed to the city and picked up the part and was back home working on it. Took about 1.5hrs to change out mainly because I was trying to figure out the best combination of socket/extensions/swivel/and ratchet to use and how to access the mounting bolts. Once I got it things went quickly. I ordered a second one for the other side. This way I know their vehicle will be safe. One less thing they have to worry about as he's going through palliative radiation for a tumor in his throat that's wrapped around his corroded artery. And they have 4 foster children. I can't help much any other way so if I can help make sure their vehicle is safe, that's something.
 
Up at 3:45am.

I dunno why.

I'd prefer to have slept until 6. Dogs don't understand why they got fed early. They are asleep again. I'm getting ready to get on the treadmill, not much else to do this early.
 
Packed up for the final couple nights at camp tonight. It's that time of year. I'm bringing out totes and coolers to empty the food then winterize the water system and put away everything for winter.

I brought the dogs in for their semi annual grooming. Waiting to pick them up then head home to swap vehicles and head to camp.
 
Went out bird hunting with a buddy from camp. Got 10 birds in 2 hours. Now back at camp packing stuff away getting ready to winterize.
 
Went out bird hunting with a buddy from camp. Got 10 birds in 2 hours. Now back at camp packing stuff away getting ready to winterize.
I didn't think there were any birds left in Canada after you got done last year. Justin Castro herd about you and next year you will be using a wrist rocket and BB's
 
Pool guys showed up to winterize the big fiberglass hole in the ground.

I was helping clean the house when they showed up, let the dogs out while they were in the yard. Fortunately the dogs are more yap than nip.

Kobe is on his way home for the weekend, he has been with grandma. He also has the dreaded 'pink eye' that seems to spread so fast among kids in daycare, which is where he got it.

Did my exercising but today has been a fairly lazy and fairly casual day for both exercise and diet.
 
Today I went to Harbor Frieght like I do most Friday’s. It’s become an obsession kinda. sad🥴 pissed away $600.00 on shit I don’t really need, but I showed them a coupon I had for a free $2 dollar flashlight… just for coming in… score! 😁
 
I went to camp on Thursday for 2 nights to do a little hunting and start closing up camp for the winter. I managed to get out hunting 3 times and am happy to report that there are 15 less birds in the bush.

That's the good news. The not so good news is that I picked up a stomach bug and spent half the past 2 nights tossing and turning. Then at 4am, it happened 🤮. And again around 7am.

I pulled up my big boy panties and finished packing up food and dealt with the water system. I had already run antifreeze through yesterday but decided last night that if needed, I could manually dump a 5 gallon pail of water down the toilet and re drain the black tank. Yah, lots of fun when you're fighting a bug. She who must be obeyed wants to go back to do a final sweep so I wasn't concerned about getting everything.

It's an hour drive but I had to pull over on the way home for a 10 min power nap.
 
Drove 1.5 hours to do a job at a plant, gate was locked, called everyone I have numbers for with no answers. I waited an hour, about the time I got back to the shop they called??
 
After spending a week building a ship cradle, and then driving the boat from Dallas TX to Springfield MO, I took time off from work to
build this rock trail to the new house.


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And soon as you get the boat off the trailer, you can repurpose the cradle into something around there too. Looking good.
That's very true. Most of the lumber is 8' 2X4 or 2X6's
Just un-screw it and walla, $350 worth of usable lumber. With screws attached!

However, if I need to, I can easily repurpose the parts to cradle the 30 foot Bahama Islander.
 
Took the day off today. Tomorrow will be busy, and Thursday will be more of the same. I've got to take my work truck to the shop when I'm finished for the week. It needs new front and possibly rear brake pads, and a new front tire on my side.

Afterwards, I'm going to my dad's house to do a little cleaning. He's better than he was physically, but still a little fuzzy memory-wise. While we both have a business meeting next Monday afternoon, I don't want to go myself (it's later in the day shortly after I've finished) but I'm happy that he is. He needs to get out more.
 
Took the day off today. Tomorrow will be busy, and Thursday will be more of the same. I've got to take my work truck to the shop when I'm finished for the week. It needs new front and possibly rear brake pads, and a new front tire on my side.

Afterwards, I'm going to my dad's house to do a little cleaning. He's better than he was physically, but still a little fuzzy memory-wise. While we both have a business meeting next Monday afternoon, I don't want to go myself (it's later in the day shortly after I've finished) but I'm happy that he is. He needs to get out more.
The older one gets, the less they want to do. Truth is, one should do more.

"Purpose, Life must have."
yoda
 
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