ReCover-Tree Point-0

This isn't my first time, or even my second time, but here we go again!!!

As you can see, the claw post is way past needing re done again. I've had the idea in my head on how to improve the design for a while.

Every time I've re done it, I've learned lessons. The first time, I learned an important lesson, namely, it takes more than 50' of rope to cover the post!!! The second time came out much improved, but it takes a long time to do it. I completely re-imagined the construction for round 3!!!

I got some 1 x 3" and some 1 x 4" clear pine, a couple of lengths of 3' x 3/8-16" threaded rod, a couple 3/8-16" to 1/4-20" adapters, and some 1/4-20" flat head socket screws, as well as various screws and nuts and washers. I made up a long hollow post and a stubby topper from the 1 x 4's, and another long hollow post of the 1 x 3".

I set a couple of blocks in the ends of the 4" posts with indexing blocks, and the hole pattern for the 3/8-16" threaded rod. I drilled a large hole for the rope in the end of the 3" post, and wrapped it in the rope.

I drilled the same pattern in the existing base (the only part of the original, and it's getting pretty swiss-cheesed!) and attached the 3/8-16" threaded rod with nuts on the top and bottom. Then, slid the long 4", the rope-wrapped 3", and the stubby 4" topper, put on the thread adapters, and capped it off with a thin square of plywood with the 1/4-20" flat head socket screws.

And there it is!!! Finally got it so it's pointing mostly straight up!!!

And another shot, just to bask in it's glory!!!

How does the man-cat like it??? Hmmm, the base smells the same... but the other parts are different...

Aw, what the heck, I'll claw it!!! I knew he would!!! With the old one, he'd hunker down low and claw at the bottom portion, it looked rather uncomfortable. With this new design, all it requires is to remove the flat head screws, the adapters, and it can be re-wound easily... with, what I think is less than 25' of rope!!! The claw zone is right at the height he likes, too!!! I'm very pleased with the results, and so is he!!!

Clawing so fast, his paws are just a blur!!!

Fuzzy Wuzzy

I feel like it's been a long time since I've posted, but it appears I've gotten in at least one a month so far this year. I've got one, maybe two more in me. As far as updates go, I finally was able to dispose of the shell of 3 two weekends ago, nearly a year after the incident. One of them is yet another pet project, but for now, you get this!!!

On my walk the other night, I came across this... very fuzzy Toyota!!! While I don't think I'd ever (never say never) do or have a car like this, I kinda love that it exists!!!

I wasn't aware, but apparently there's a lady wrestler named Candy Pain. In finding a picture of her, I came across the name of the artist who did this to the car, she's named Peggy Noland, and naturally, she's also based in L.A.

The Birthday Thing

My younger son's birthay recently occurred.

We had a get-together at my mom's house. It worked out pretty good, since the older is there these days, and he's quite the chef!!!

He'd asked the younger what he wanted, and he said sloppy joes. Pretty easy, but no!!! The older had to go way above and beyond!!!

To start off, he made his own buns. Pretzel buns, with either coarse kosher salt or everything seasoning!!!

He went crazy on sides, too!!! He made a whole cookie sheet of mozzarella sticks, a bunch of fried zucchini, a few onion rings (he was running out of breading) and sweet potato fries.

Of course, he had to make up a bunch of sauces to go with it. marinara, ranch (because all bottled ranch is trash), and cheese, for on the sloppy joes.

We played cards quite a bit and stuff. Later on in the afternoon, my mom tells me her car has been overheating. I head out to take a look. Everything looks fine, but the coolant looks dirty. I tell my mom I'll get some flush and coolant and clean it out and see if that helps. Things spiraled from there.

I drain the coolant, and my mom comes out and asks if I'm going to do like she's seen my dad & I do for years, splice a flushing tee into a heater hose and back-flush it. I take a quick look around and find a box of a half dozen flushing tees, so I start looking at the heater hoses. They have the squeeze to release clamps, but the upper one is pointing to where I can't get pliers on it. I notice the end of the hose has a sleeve on the end with one screw holding it to where it attaches to the engine, so I try taking the screw out, and find out the hose barb just slides in, with an O-ring seal. I reposition the clamp, and screw it back in... except I end up twisting the head off the screw!!!

Okay, a closer look at what's going on here. The hose is connected to an aluminum bracket with the alternator on it. To get the end of the screw out, I'm going to have to pull it out. I thought it was going to be a typical GM type thing where every accessory is bolted to one bracket, and it was going to take me a day just to remove it. Happily, that turned out not to be the case. Three bolts holding the alternator on, and three more holding the mount to the engine. Of course, the drive belt has to come off to remove those. As I'm removing them, I notice something... on the other side of the mount (why does the heater hose connect to a bracket, anyway???) the coolant line comes out... but the whole top is missing!!! I think I figured out why it was overheating!!! Another run to the parts store, and I've got a replacement (after looking it up on my phone so the counter guy could cross reference the part number) and a couple hours later, everything is back together!!!

Perseverance

Last week NASA & JPL landed the Perseverance rover on Mars. I don't know why, but it seemed like there was a lot more attention paid to it than previous landings. Of course, like all the others, it's going to find evidence of life on Mars.

The landing went off without a hitch. While it was supposed to be live webcast, all they showed was computer generated graphics, and frankly, I've seen better on video games!!! Several minutes after the landing (which was, of course, several minutes behind already, because of the signal lag) Perseverance sent back it's first picture from the surface. In black & white. What is this, the 70's??? Cool that they pulled it off, and it's supposed to do some neat tricks while it's there, but the whole event was rather underwhelming.

Anyway, we all know Mars is the red planet, so I took it on myself to colorize the first picture!!! Fixed it for ya, NASA!!! Your welcome!!!

Slinging Cement

There's always something to do around the house!!! The front stairs had quite a bit of rotted out wood, and I hired a guy to rebuild it towards the end of last year. I had ideas on how to do it myself, but getting the materials here was proving to be difficult, so I hired a guy. He did a pretty bad job, in my opinion.

I painted them, and was doing a lot of patching of the surrounding walls and such. A year or more back, someone had dumped a couple of cans of paint across the street for some reason, and one of them was porch paint that very nearly matched the color that was on there!!! Anyway, at the bottom of the steps there was a section of the cement walkway that was pretty badly cracked, so I tried my hand at patching it up.

Came out pretty decent!!! Time will tell how well it holds up.

The reason I had concrete around is that I have a good amount of old, broken up sidewalk, that used to be stacked up for hillside reenforcement that have since been replaced with block retaining wall. I had the idea of setting them next to the walkway to widen it out, and reduce the amount of lawn area. Turns out it's tedious, time consuming work, but it's coming along, and I'm getting a little better at masonry!!!

On the other end, underneath the stairs was raw earth. I had considered cementing the whole area under there, but reading up on it it seems like it's better keeping the earth so it can vent. Instead, I decided to get a bunch of cement blocks and lay them down to make something of a floor in there.

Came out decent enough, and I like the way the shadows came out in the picture!!!

Daylight

The day after we'd arrived in Oxnard & I'd taken all the great sunset pictures, around mid day I headed out for a walk along the beach.

As has been my custom, I like to try and get a number of steps in each day. Since we were in a place right on the beach, I took advantage!

There was quite a bit more haze out in the day, but there were still quite a bit of scenic views to take pictures of!!!

Once again, the waters receeding leaving a glassy surface to reflect the sky made for a great shot!!!

Looking up the coast towards the hills rolling down to the ocean, with a cloud/mist cover between...

I was headed down towards the south end, where it has the opening to the harbor. The whole time I was headed that way, I could hear a droning off in the distance. It was a longer walk than I thought it was going to be, so I stopped short, but I'm pretty sure that's a dredge down by the breakwater, probably what was making the drone noise.

I don't know if you can make it out, but there's a line of pelicans flying right above the break. Always good seeing pelicans!!!

More birds, kind of looks like momma and some chicks, but I'm pretty sure it was a seagull and a few sand pipers. Also, another shot of a great water spray coming up off the crest of the waves.

Another great day out taking pictures!!!

Sunset

Continuing on the theme of this year, it's been strange. Since options are somewhat limited, my wife and I for our anniversary returned to the same place we had gone last year. Instead of dining at the great Italian restruant and seeing a movie, we got Carl's Jr, pizza, and watched TV. It was a nice getaway, nonetheless.

It's up in Oxnard, a pretty nice resort right on the beach. Really spacious rooms for the price, and they have a breakfast buffett.

The last time we were there, the wind was whipping in off the ocean, freezing cold, and the visibility wasn't great.

This year, it was a lot nicer, and clear. I headed out to the beach the first night just as the sun was setting, and it was stunning!!!

I couldn't stop taking pictures, and they for the most part came out great!!!

This family with two girls were heading out to check it out, too, and I happened to get them silouhetted against the water. I considered showing it to the parents and offering to text it to them, but decided against it.

The moon was just a sliver, and I was trying to get it in several pictures, and did, but it's pretty small in most of them.

In case you were wondering, those are the channel islands out there.

The water receding with the sky reflecting was a good subject, as well as the waves crashing sending up plumes of spray, and the occasional sea birds.

And, as I headed back, I decided to mess with the night shot setting, and got this dramatic shot of the sand!!!

The Catbird Seat

Another thing I ended up doing on Christmas day here!!!

The day before my younger son and I were cleaning off the patio in preperation for having people over. One of the things that was back there was the foot rest from another recliner that we'd trashed. This was probably over a year ago, I'd saved the foot rest with the intention of just such a project as this!!!

I'd done it before, and it's still in use. Since cats tend to like high perches, I thought the boy cat would like this!!!

Once again, I mounted the rest to some wood bars to span the width, then mounted it to a couple of angle brackets, and ran one long to add a pad to lengthen it, and put it close to the 2 x 4 claw post I'd mounted to the end of the original perch, with the thought that it might be used as the egress to get up to it. It all mounts above the back door, and he should have a view into the boy's room from up there.

I placed him up there, and he investigated it for a bit, then appeared to make himself comfortable up there for a while. I stuck him up there again today, and he watched as the boy exited his room. I have yet to see him head up there on his own, but he doesn't have a problem getting down, so hopefully he gets some use out of it!!!

Interior Design

Welcome to the day after Christmas post!!! What a Christmas it was!!! I don't think I've posted about it here, but around the time we were swapping engines, my mom ended up having to go into the hospital. From around the time my father died, she had been having quite a bit of pain in her hip. Turned out to be pseudogout, and she had surgery for it. While she was in a rehab place, her implanted defibulator went off, and after that they didn't want her going home unless there was someone else there. I asked my first born if he thought he could handle it, and he's been living with her ever since!!! She says he takes very good care of her, and he's always cooking something fancy up. Anyway, we'd had Thanksgiving at her house, and that was overwhelming for her, so she wanted to come to our house for Christmas. My sister and her son also came, as well as my wife's uncle. Said uncle and I were out on the back patio when my mom and firstborn showed up, and we were heading down to give her a hand up to the house, as the street is sloped, and then there's the stairs. While we were on the way down, she got out of the car, and promptly fell over!!! Got her up, cleaned off the pine needles and detrius, and got her an ice pack. Apparently, she's doing much better today. Later on in the afternoon, the cat attacked my nephew and sister!!! My first born ended up getting a long scratch down the length of his arm while breaking up the attack, then, appalled at the state of the cabinet under the sink while my wife searched for gauze, re-organized that!!!

But back to Christmas and the topic at hand for this post. The younger had been mentioning that he'd like to get a New California Republic flag from the Fallout game series. I picked up on that, and had one thing to get for him for Christmas. We hung it in his room that very day.

And, while on the topic of hanging things up, at the same time I went ahead and hung up this tapestry he'd come across back before his last birthday, which we got for him back then. I knew I had a box of screw in hooks, but I couldn't locate where they'd gotten off to!!! Bought another box, and a week or two later, I came across some loops with clips on 'em, which I thought would work out good for hanging it. That was a long time coming!!! I'd actually written it down on a list of things to do after I got off work, along with painting the front steps that I recently had replaced, just a couple of weeks ago.

I was trying to get a picture with them in it, but they were showing up as white when I tried. Last year for Christmas we'd gotten him an LED rope light that you can adjust the color by remote with. Orange is his favorite color, so that's the color he almost always has it on. Originally, we'd stuck it to the celieng with the enclosed adhesive squares, but that lasted less than a week. That's where the first box of hooks came in, screwed several in, and have the rope swagged around the room with them. It makes the tapestry look pretty nice!!!

One of his friends had visited, and noting that his room is the only one with the wood paneled walls, that it's like a man cave!!! Got manny in there, too!!!

I'm Dreaming of a Hillbilly Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving I set up the outdoor Christmas decorations. Previous years, I've had Christmas lights, starting soon after we'd moved in with strings of incandescant lights. I bought a few strings, and later found some true vintage ones that came with the house. In the last 5 or 6 years, I replaced those with LED lights. The last couple of years, I hadn't been able to find them, since the firstborn moved into the basement and moved a lot of stuff around. Last year I picked up a laser pattern projector for a very reasonable price. It's a great little device, easy to set up and makes a good look.

Right before Thanksgiving, one of my co-workers had their Christmas tree set up in the background in one of our video meetings. It got a little attention, and got me to thinking... I've got my workspace set up in the corner, one of the best seats in the house, with windows to my left and behind me. I could do some decoraton behind myself, some lights or garland or possibly a wreath, but there's no way I could set up a Christmas tree. Or is there??? The wheels began to turn...

We have aluminum awinings over the windows, and we have a fairly campy and hideous pink artifical tree. A few years back, we replaced pinky with a white one to work with the color wheel that was also in the basement that came with the house. It's fairly lightweight. I took some bailing wire and wrapped it around the upper part of the tree, and suspended it from the awining, just over my left shoulder while I'm working. The second picture, you can see some of the laser projections on the house.

I also bought another string of lights, solar powered LED with a remote, that I used on the tree, as well as about half of the awning along the front. I set the solar panel up on a board under the air conditiong unit for now. I may just keep the lights on the awinings permanent, and if I do, I'll make up a better mount. I'm not sure if I will, the remote doesn't work very well.

When we have our morninig huddle, it's still dark out, so I can turn the lights on for it. It shows up nice in the afternoons on the video, too. My co-workers have voiced their approvoal, and I'm pleased with the way it came out. From the outside of the house, though, I have a feeling it may look more than a little bizzare to passerby!!!

Met the Man, Shook his Hand

I had a dream thanksgiving night. It was interesting & pretty vivid, so I thought I'd share it here!!!

We were in a hotel on a vacation. It was south of here, part way to San Diego, probably around the Carlsbad area, but in my dream it was in Chula Vista, even though that is pretty much right by San Diego. It was a large suite with seperate rooms, and a large living room area and full kitchen, a nice place. It was around 11 AM and we were just getting up (you know, because we're on vacation!) My wife had made a small batch of oatmeal cookies the previous night, and she had gotten up and said she was going to make another batch up for breakfast. OK, sounds good!!! I had a couple of other places I was thinking of going to to eat, one of them Smash Burger, don't remember what the other was, and figured we'd make those lunch and dinner.

About 10 minuites later, I realized that it was our last day there!!! Ut oh!!! I told everyone to start getting their stuff together, but I'm going to call the front desk and see if we can get a late check-out. I picked up the phone that was on the bar adjacent to the kitchen, an old style touch tone phone, and hit the button for the desk. I told the lady who answered it is our last day, but we're not quite ready to go, could we get a late check-out? She replies, "I can give you a $20 credit". I ask what does that mean? Is there a charge to stay later, and we'll get a credit towards it??? Do we have to pay for another day, but we can apply the $20 to that??? She's not sure, and is going to check with someone and puts me on hold. I'm holding, and thinking I'm OK with paying for another day, I've got more time off and wouldn't mind staying another day. I grab an apple out of the fridge and start eating it, because there's no cookies yet, and I'm a little hungry. I don't know if she'd stopped making them or they just weren't ready.

Sometime around this, while I'm holding, the scene shifts, as sometimes happens in dreams. I'm still at a counter like the bar the phone was on, but now I'm in what looks like a large, open concept office. There's very few people there, and some of the lights are off. Then, in through one of the doors, comes Alex Trebek!!!

It's a younger Alex than we've been seeing lately, he has the bushy black mustache, but his hair is short and slicked to his head. He's walking into an office just by where I'm at, and I must have said something to him, because he stops and we talk. I tell him I'd shake his hand, but I've got apple juice sticky all over that hand. He replies something to the effect of, "Apple juice washes off, but you won't have a chance to shake my hand again."

So I reach out and shook hands with Alex.

And I tell him, "You son of a bitch!!!", because I'd realized right around that point that I was dreaming.