7.31.2025

It rained most of the day and the temperatures went from about 90 to only in the 60s - nice!  I used the rainy day to do some errands after visiting with mom.

Jim did some steel work on his concrete stake holder.  Getting ready to weld end pieces onto the bottoms of the legs...

He tapped holes in the bottom of his welded pieces - his new rachet tap kit makes this much easier...

The he was able to screw in bolts that he will be able to adjust for levelness once he puts the holder in the shed...

All the other pieces are ready to be welded for assembly...

Jim is having some issues with his smaller chainsaw and just wanted to investigate repair/parts options, so we went to the hardware store to look and then went to burger and beer night at The Local.

High 71.6/Low 58.3 - rainy

7.30.2025

Jim had a doctor appointment this morning and we didn't get home until after lunch.  Once he had eaten, he put the auto bay back together.  The floor just sparkles - at least for now!

Our new garage door seals came in, so Jim started prepping them for installation.  This is a totally different material and procedure, so it will be fun to see it go up.  Plus, we learned a new word - snirt!  This company is called SnirtStopper.  Snirt is a combination of snow and soil, often appearing as dirty or muddy snow.  Now you know. 

The instructions call for screws 9" apart.  Jim marked a piece of tape on his workbench so that he could easily mark the locations on the seal...

Then he took the seal down to the auto bay and used his punch to make a small hole...

High 89.4/Low 64.8

7.29.2025

Jim doing a little steel work today... 

It was another warm day, so the perfect day to check off something on Jim's to do list - cleaning the epoxied floors in the auto bay.  He first swept up all the loose debris...

Sweeping around all the cables of the car lift...

Mixing some cleaner in his sprayer...

He first lightly wet the floor...

Then sprayed the cleaner...

Some scrubbing with our new brush...

A rinse...

And using the squeegee to get the water out...

First two sections cleaned...

Continuing to do the rest of the floor...

Wow!  It looks beautiful!

He's letting the floor dry before putting things back together, so it's time to give the cars a wash too...

High 90.9/Low 69.2

7.28.2025

It was a warm day, but still a fun day to play out in the woods!  Jim cut a few of the bigger trunks to size for firewood... 

Then we got the chipper going and we worked on the big pile we accumulated yesterday...

All cleaned up!

We pulled some downed branches behind the rock wall and Jim repositioned the Bobcat so we could chip...

Much better!

Pulling out a few more striped maples...

Another one...

More chipping work to be done!

High 88.7/Low 66.2

7.27.2025

 We got some much needed rain today, so we planned on an inside day.  Jim worked on some organization and I worked on some cleaning.  Jim got all the pieces cut for his steel stake supply...

High 74.5/Low 64 - rainy

7.26.2025

Saturdays are always short days and too hard to start a project, so we headed outside to do some cleanup work around the shed.  A little trimming... 

Makes everything look nicer!

There were some striped maples behind the shed that we wanted to get rid of.  These trees grow like weeds and have very little roots, as you can see in the next pictures.  Jim brought over the excavator, which started right up first time...

He can push the tree over with the excavator bucket...

Then use the teeth to pull out the root...

Another one out...

Then two more...

Lots to clean up now...

Jim got the chainsaw out and cut off the roots as well as branches to make chipping easier...

Lots of chipping awaiting us, but everything looks so much cleaner back there.

Off to see Mom and go to church.

High 83.7/Low 61

7.25.2025

The forecast called for rain today, although as I write this we haven't gotten any.  But Jim worked all morning on some computer problems for an upcoming fire school class test I'm working on.  Then in the afternoon, he worked in the metal shop.  He's going to build a steel structure that will hold all our rebar stakes in one place...

High 85.4/Low 71.5

7.24.2025

It was a clean up day today.  Jim brought down some of the cross braces and stored them in the pole barn...

Then he brought down all of the platforms...

All nicely tucked out of the way and not taking up any floor space...

We stored the other cross braces in the shed for now - Jim wants to build a steel shelf for them, but for now we just put them up against the wall.  He even put the saw horses away for now...

Now that everything is out of the shed, we'll be starting to take it apart, saving anything that is good and getting rid of the rest.  Today was trash day, so we wanted to fill up the can.  Jim knocked down the rest of the wall - you can see pieces flying!

Last piece out on this side!

Breaking up the pieces for the trash...

High 89.9/Low 63.4