Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

25 Jun 2018

Greetings,
This past week, I actually got several things done but none of them are woodworking related. My youngest son, 21 years old, broke my ZTR mower while mowing the yard last week. Had to order all new idler pulleys and also found out that I have bearings going out in 2 of the 3 mower spindles. Needless to say, I had to also order 3 new spindles with shafts for it as well. Spent time Wednesday night as well as Thursday night putting on all the new parts. My son-in-law told me that I needed a new belt, so got one of those and put on the mower deck Thursday night. Worked a 16 hour day on Tuesday of last week for the day job as well as work a few high profile projects that I’ve been given. The LOML and I decided to take a local short vacation so we drove an hour away and stayed in a hotel for the weekend just to get away, de-stress, and just enjoy doing “nothing” for a change.

I go for my liver biopsy this morning and I’m a bit nervous about it, but this isn’t anything I can just figure out and fix on my own. The thought so far is that I have Fatty Liver Disease as they found some scarring and slightly enlarged lobes of my liver and the tests so far indicate fatty liver but they want to do a biopsy to know for sure what we’re up against. My prayer is that it’s only fatty liver and nothing more, but I won’t know more until later this week.

I have plan to revamp my shop space a bit as well as I have 1 king size bed frame and 2 queen size bed frames to build for family this year and I have 2 bowls I need to turn and finish for people that want them. I’m so ready for cooler weather and to be able to work in my shop without the temp being over 105 degrees F plus humidity. The hottest its ever been in my shop is 123 degrees F and that was the day I decided to shut my shop down every summer beginning in mid-June and not open it up again until late September. I guess we’ll see how this goes.

That’s it for me, so what did YOU do this past week?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Dale Murray]

I started building a patio lounge sofa thing.
It is mid-century modern inspired.
I will use white oak in the open area to support the cushions and there will be a back rest.

I also started playing with recording my work.




Patio bench frame.jpg

[Dale Murray]

[Dale Murray]

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, I'll be thinking of you while you get poked and prodded and hope for a definitive result and a good path forward.

I had my usual fun-filled week. Mowed a couple of times to try and get caught up after having to leave part of the front lawn long for a month due to standing water. There will be less "fluff" going forward now I think. Other activities included more paperwork for my mother (never ending it seems when a family member passes away and getting all the fun things setup for the survivor takes over the world!), finally getting the bank account setup for the business, cutting some more sample projects on the CNC, cutting out some parts for Professor Dr. SWMBO's beekeeping on the CNC, watching more video instruction, completion of consolidating (mostly) from two computers to one in my office, cooking a bunch, etc.

This week gets the account system setup for the business, cutting some more marketing samples and hopefully, procuring some material for a personalized product I plan on producing for the equestrian community. Oh, and assembling and painting some more hive boxes for The Professor...'gots to keep the CEO happy!

[Jay Larson]

Very little in the woodworking arena this week. But lots in the landscaping.

We borrowed a rototiller and started digging up some areas for mulch. Mostly, so I don't have to mow right up to the house in a couple of areas. We also rearranged one of the flower beds so it is a bit smaller and again easier to mow around. Next up are some areas around the tree line and a walkway from the patio to the firepit.

Yesterday morning I was tinkering around with my Jeep and finally found the vacuum leak the was causing a high idle. It would idle between 1500 and 2000 RPMs. Normal is about 700-1000. Well, at first I thought it might have been the intake manifold, but after redoing that twice, (before yesterday) I started looking at vacuum lines. Finally found one with a small hole yesterday morning. It seems that a hard line was rubbing up against a plug and wore a small hole in it. Plugged it up with my finger and the idle dropped to 1100. So for now I taped it up. And now to let the computer figure out the change to see if it will drop the next couple hundred.

Then yesterday we went for a motorcycle ride to Manitowoc, WI. Started out sweating in our jackets, but about 10 miles from Lake Michigan, it got chilly. My fiance ended up putting on a denim shirt I had in the saddle bag. Even stayed a bit cool on the way home. 120 miles all told. We stopped at the Maritime museum there. Didn't go in, but we might in the future. They had plaques on the river walk about each of the subs that were built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. By the end of WWII, they were able to build a sub from laying the keel to commissioning in nine months or so.

[Bryan Lisowski]

Dennis best of luck with the Doctor. Jim sorry for your loss. Another weekend sitting on a lacrosse field for 2 days watching my son and his team. They played really well, after losing the first game we won 4 straight to make the championship game, but lost 7-3.

[Rod Sheridan]

It rained all weekend which wasn't great as it was Pride Parade, which is a pretty big deal where I live.

The rain forced me inside so I worked on some cedar frames to go on top of the 3 raised garden beds I'm building and I made 2 cheeses boards for people who are retiring from work this Friday..........Rod.

[Wayne Lomman]

Dennis, all the best with your health issues.

Saturday morning my phone rang early. It was my nearest neighbour about 3km up the valley. Strong catabatic wind overnight had ripped off about a third of her roof and destroyed the verandah. Could I help? We had to work in light drizzle and snow but the framing is repaired and the sheeting is back on the main part of the house roof. Next Sunday I will complete the tie down and bracing on the framing before sheeting the rest of the roof.

For those not so weather obsessed, catabatic wind is caused by cold air dropping off high country down the face of the mountain. It is extremely turbulent but localised. The same night we had no wind at all.

On a different note, I have unexpectedly acquired a 1968 Land rover partly restored for the princely sum of... free! A colleague had to part with it, couldn't sell it, so I have it. It's a long term project but well worth it. Cheers

[Jim Becker]

That's really good of you to help your neighbor, Wayne! And those older LRs are interesting vehicles. A friend of mine in Australia has one that's she's owned for decades. Brutal looking thing, but it "gets there".