4.14.2023

Jim has been working on the computer in the mornings on the design for the pavilion.  Down in the shop, he had to lightly sand all the primed pieces... 

Then get everything ready for painting gray...

Starting to paint...

These pieces look so good as they are starting to dry!

Jim rearranged the pieces and then painted one of the seat frames...

After that, it's about 1-1/2 hours of cleaning the paint gun!

With his time before his workout, he was taking apart the old 4Runner license plate frame...

When Mom and I walked down to get the mail this afternoon, we checked on the snow status.  After these couple really warm days, there is just a tiny bit of snow left behind the house!

High 86.3/Low 54.2

4.13.2023

 I had an early morning doctor appointment and then did some pickups at WalMart, Target, and Lowe's as well as some grocery store stops before heading home.  After lunch, Mom and I headed out for a drive along the Hudson River to go pick up some flyers from the printer.

Jim had been busy at home - sanding and getting ready to paint some of the bench seat pieces gray.  I picked up more paint today so he'll be ready to go.

He bought a magnifying light for his electronics desk and got that set up...

It was a very weirdly warm April day, so Jim cranked up the air conditioners to cool things down inside a bit.  Thankfully, we're supposed to be back into the 50s next week.  Too early for 80s!

We decided to head to our favorite Saratoga pub, The Local, for burger and beer night.  It was lots of fun!

High 86.3/Low 55.2

4.12.2023

 Jim had to do yet more sanding and then started priming the other seat back...

Drying...

The seat frame is all primed and drying...

He attached the front pieces and face frame so now those can be taken apart and painted.  I have to pick up more paint tomorrow so he can start on that.

Another beautiful day so we went outside mid-afternoon to do just a little cleanup along the edges of the woods.  In not too much time, we accumulated 3-4 good size piles that we'll be chipping before long.

High 75/Low 51

4.11.2023

 Jim worked in the shop this morning, planing more cherry...

Re-sawing on the bandsaw...

Gluing pieces together...

We had planned to start doing a little outside work today but it was very windy, so not a good day to be playing in the woods.  Instead we did some more gravel cleanup, on the wall...

And doing some hand cleanup in the yard...

This was the first day this year that we got her chair out and Mom supervised...

While it was in the 60s today, the snow isn't gone yet from around the house!

This never ceases to amaze - after having more than 50" of snow just in March, the plain soil areas are dry and cracked.  Never a bit of mud in sight.  In Ohio, it would be wet for months!

We did scope out this damage to a fallen tree in the woods.  Not sure what animal caused this but they sure had a field day!  The wood chips are thick around the tree and they just stripped all the bark off...

Our first little sign of spring...

Jim sprayed off both the cars - they look so good now after their layer of grime is off!

Jim cleaned off the snowblower attachment and the Bobcat and greased them both up before taking off the snowblower.

High 69.5/Low 38.4

4.10.2023

I made a call this morning to the tile store to reorder the new tile from the sample I picked up last week.  If you are following along, the original tile we picked (on the left in the picture) was backordered and not going to come in until the end of April.  While the fact that we don't have it now isn't causing any issues, I brought home another sample - and we ended up liking it better.  Supposedly they have it in stock in the warehouse so we should get it relatively soon.  Ended up being a good thing all the way around!

In the shop, Jim spent most of his time sanding - his least favorite thing.  Here he's rounding up the edges of the frame...

Setting it up in anticipating of being primed soon...

Doing more gluing - this piece will be for the long drawer underneath the bench seat!

He did a little more work on the tailgate as well as doing some gravel work outside...

High 67.1/Low 27.7

4.9.2023

 

Hope everyone had a very blessed Easter!  We're going to watch church services soon and then have our ham dinner afterwards.

In the shop, Jim continued doing wood prep for the cherry drawer parts, gluing up another section...

Doing more re-sawing...

Then glued up another section...

Putting all the plugs in the other seat back section...

Jim did some more 4Runner tailgate work at this point - installed some clips from the other tailgate onto ours.  Our tailgate window has never worked right - it goes down but not back up.  So that's Jim's next task - to see if he can figure out what's wrong.

High 55.9/Low 25

4.8.2023

We started the day off with carrot cake scones, since it's Easter weekend!  

In the shop, Jim got busy getting ready to glue the next panel.  This one is so big that he has to combine his clamps to make one long enough...

Assembling the panel...

Glued and drying...

Look how good the panel looks underneath the seat - can't see any of the steel frame!

Prepping the cherry for drawer parts...

Doing lots of re-sawing on the band saw...

Then gluing pieces together...

More pieces gluing...

Then Jim worked a little on the 4Runner tailgate as well as starting spring machine work.  He worked on the battery charger as well as getting a couple of the batteries ready to go.  After that, he did a little more work outside on the gravel.

High 51.3/Low 23.9