2.29.2024

 

Happy Leap Day!  We lost utility power last night about 11:00 - yet another time we were so grateful to have the generator.  The generator had to run almost 12 hours before utility power came back on.  We had very strong winds last night and throughout the day today, so lots of folks were without power.  The temperatures dropped dramatically from yesterday, with highs today only in the 20s.  It would have been terrible to be without power, so very grateful indeed.

The power outage prompted us to do something we've been talking about for awhile - get rid of our Spectrum wifi router.  It's old and the internal battery doesn't work when the power goes out, causing all the settings that we input to revert to Spectrum settings.  Then nothing connects or works.  So Jim worked on removing that this morning and setting up an older one we had until he can order a new one.  Plus we won't be paying Spectrum for that fee every month.  I made an appointment with Spectrum and Mom and I went and dropped it off.

Jim was gluing up some pieces today in the shop...

Starting to mold pieces for the shop door frames...

Pieces in progress...

High 26.6/Low 18.6 - windy!

2.28.2024

 Jim went back to drilling his holes in the steel table, and then tapping them for the bolts...

In the process...

All four holes drilled and tapped and Jim's vice now has a permanent home on the steel table!

High 53.1/Low 46 - drizzly

2.27.2024

Jim and I both spent time online and on the phone trying to track down his apparently lost computer.  It's made in China and made its way to Albany right on time - then disappeared.  After dealing with UPS AI bots, I finally got a real person who then said they were considering it lost in transit and we had to work with Apple.  Jim took over at that point and dealt with them - they are going to conduct an investigation but ultimately will reship.  From China again, of course, so we'll see if it shows up.

It was a beautiful day - wrongly warm for February.  But Jim took advantage of it to give my car a needed wash...

He's not unhooking the snowblower yet, but he gave it a cleaning too.  It picks up a lot of sand from the end of the driveway at the road, so nice to get it sprayed off...

Jim went back to furnace analyzing again - he did the high/full capacity this afternoon and adjusted everything so that it is perfectly in spec!

Jim had received his magnetic drill press a couple weeks ago, but hadn't had time to unpack it.  It's really nice and will come in handy when he needs to a portable way to drill through steel.  He's drilling holes in the steel table to mount his vice...

High 64.2/Low 27.1

2.26.2024

Jim had computer work this morning, but in the afternoon, he watched some YouTube videos on using the gas analyzer for the furnace, just for some tips, and then got things set up in the control room.  It's really nice - there's a port at the top of the furnace for the probe to fit into and the analyzer is magnetic and attaches to the front... 

This is a very complicated process with a big learning curve.  The furnace has to be set in certain modes and run for a prescribed amount of time.  That means shutting down hot water to the house too.  Then Jim has to learn the analyzer and get it to work with the furnace.  There are two modes he will be testing - low capacity and full capacity.  He started with the low.  Some of the readings were just slightly out of spec - then there's a whole other procedure to adjust things.  But he thinks he has the low capacity done - the analyzer prints readings and also calculates furnace efficiency.  It is at 97% - amazing!  It's a slow process - he'll do some more tomorrow probably.

High 54.4/Low 28.2

2.25.2024

Jim started working on finishing up the kitchen molding after his computer work today.  He got everything taped and ready to go for painting... 

But while we had the appliances out, we wanted to clean them.  And yuck - the refrigerator needed it!  We do this periodically and it probably builds up more since the vent is shared with the laundry room.

Starting to vacuum...

The refrigerator is breathing much better now...

Beverage cooler is next...

Once everything was cleaned up from that job, time to paint...

This side is all done...

After painting was all done, Jim went down and cleaned up all his tools.  When it was time, he started pulling tape off...

Putting the vent back on...

Kitchen looks amazing with its new baseboards along this wall!

High 36.8/Low 9.1

2.24.2024

After Jim did his computer work, Jim started caulking the molding in the kitchen...

Putting on the end blocks...

Love the way this looks!

Some tape to hold everything in place until it dries...

The turkey party continued today - there were over 40 turkeys out front first thing this morning!

High 31.4/Low 12.9

2.23.2024

Jim had to do some cleaning of his bits today - pine pitch builds up and he needs to make sure they are clean and working correctly... 

Jim started making the molding end blocks today...

All the blocks are made, primed, and drying...

Another task Jim wanted to attend to while he's working behind all the appliances is to mount our kitchen fire extinguisher.  (Note - you do have a kitchen fire extinguisher, right?  If not, get one just in case!)  We figured out where we wanted it, and then Jim got to work...

This one has a nice hanging bracket with an easy to remove strap if you need to use it...

All done - this will be hidden behind the beverage cooler but still very accessible...

There was a huge turkey party this evening.  This is typically their taking off spot to fly into the trees, but I didn't wait around to see that.  

High 46.5/Low 32.2

2.22.2024

It was time to do the baseboards along this wall in the kitchen, which meant Jim had to move the refrigerate and beverage cooler out of the way...

First job was to attach the new vent on this side of the shared wall with the laundry room...

Starting to measure...

Checking for studs...

Fitting all the pieces....

Once Jim fit the pieces along the wall, time to fasten...

Jim has to make the end blocks but the molding is all in place!  It really looks good when you walk in the kitchen.  We're leaving the appliances out from the wall until he gets things finished, rather than moving them back and forth.

High 38.4/Low 25.4 - drizzly in afternoon