Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

Unfortunately after several decades of doing design work, I no longer have access to a CAD system otherwise I would have no issue just sending you drawings because that would be the fastest way for me to get a handle on it all and a BOM on this build and scale it. This isn't MY design or even OUR design, it is a traditional design used in these parts with, of course, execution differences of course to suit various tastes. For instance my neighbor behind me has one about 8x12' which has a sliding door on it with a lock (I don't know why). The wall design is the main feature to allow the best airflow.
 After I talk with Bill I will be re-doing the BOM for the purposes of a cut list. I am not sure how I will lay this out but I use 'sheets' on google (it's free and works fine) and if you can work with that format (or anybody else reading with an interest) I can share the sheet(s) to you. I have already gone through 3 versions as things changed. There is nothing special here.
 We currently have orders for 3 sizes: 4x10, 6x10, and 8x10. We are calling theses 1 cord, 2 cord, and 3 cord sheds respectively. If you do the math and figure filling the shed to the height of the back wall (60-14/4") only you will come up a  heavy as the 1 cord shed will hold abut 1.5 cords.  These are rough numbers just for sizing and in the case of the '1 cord shed' you could probably heap in a lot more, nearing 2 cords, especially if we close in the gables.
 If you have an interest I am happy to share. It's just a simple woodshed. 
 Funny, I am making these for others and I wish I had one or two. :D

[beenthere]

And give each member a part # so the buyer can come back for replacement boards that rot or get broken. Send it with the manual.  :

[Nebraska]

This is way outside my wheel house, but I know there are free cad programs floating about. I used one several years ago piddling with a cabin design,  my teenage son showed me how it worked as he was using something similar at school. There many are brighter much more computer adept folks around here who might have an opinion on a free easy to use application that you could use. This is pure selfishness on my end because I am curious as to what you would come up with in your shed designing.  

[Old Greenhorn]

Beenthere, you are sounding a tad bit facetious and I'm not sure why. I was just trying to share info if there was an interest.

 Nebraska, during my working life I learned and forgot more CAD systems than I can recall. IBMCAD, CATIA, ProE, AutoCAD, Solidworks, UniGraphics, ME10, and the few others I can't recall. (the last two sucked and I hated working in them.)
 Learning a new CAD system, free or not, takes a bunch of time even if you are good at it and I really have no plan on doing that again unless we have a 10 day blizzard and it occurs to me at the time as something to break the boredom. I wish those CAD vendors had a retirement edition for long time users and I would pick Solidworks. :D
 No, if I had my druthers and the room, I would set up my 3x6' drafting table with one of the universal drafting machines I have and do line prints like I did back in the 60's. :D They don't get lost in the cloud, or deleted, or expire because there is a 'new version an we can't read your old drawings'. I am full into crotchety old man mode these days. ;D

 Funny thing, when I bought that shed it was because my Pop had passed and there were a lot of tools and things of his I wanted to bring home so they stayed in the family for a while longer and I was trying to figure out how to fit it all in that shed in a clean and useable way. I did a CAD layout at work and over a week of lunchtimes I figured out the best layout going through a half dozen designs. Then I did a floor plan and hung all the drawings on the wall in the shed. My son saw it and was blown away at the pages of D sized drawings I went through before I found what fit and only had to move the stuff in once. I managed to recreate the workbench setup exactly as it was in my Dad's shop when I was a little kid and would sit there watching him make stuff on the lathe or other machines, bore sight rifles, bed actions, and a hundred other things in his shop and I'd ask questions, lots of questions. Same bench, cabinets, stools, floormats, etc. Nobody understood it but me. I don't go to the cemetery to 'spend time with my Dad'. I go out to the shed and I sit on that same stool I sat on when I was 5 and I put my feet up on the bench he worked at for decades and we chat. Weird, ain't it?

[doc henderson]

God Bless!

[Nebraska]

 Not wierd at all I use some my father's veterinary equipment every day. I am blessed to still have him.

[thecfarm]

Not weird at all.
I walk the land and I hope I am taking care of it the way my Dad would.
I might go to the cemetery once a year. 
I was there when my parents were alive. I saw them at least 2-3 times a week.
I don't need a grave to make me feel good.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well yesterday was kind of a lost day. I had my monthly Chiro tune-up and he (apparently) found a lot that needed fixing. Between the shed build, milling, the load-in/load-out stuff over the weekend, and that little trailer tongue faux paus I had, he worked hard. After that I went and picked up some spray paint in town and came home for lunch.
 I have a ladder rack that came off my SIL's old truck before he scrapped it that I have been cleaning up to put on my truck. It will help a lot with lumber moving. I had wire brushed the rust spots last week, so I primed and hit it with a coat yesterday. Mounting it will be a task I could use a hand for sometime later. I need to make a side box to keep my saws in because I will not have room for the standard truck toolbox anymore. I can't find one on CL or other sources that is close enough or reasonable in price, and new cost is nuts.

 Lastly I got a call from an old friend. His FIL is nearing his end of life and they are putting his house on the market. The old gent (FIL) is a ham I have known for over 35 years and the family knew I was a ham. They had many boxes of his build components and a few tools and gizmos they needed to get rid of. They felt it a shame to take it to the dump and asked me if I could give it a home or find a home for it. SO I went over and picked it all up. It was all neat and clean and very well organized. Back in my early ham days I would call this a treasure trove of build parts. These days most new hams don't build much of their own gear, they just buy it. Too much work to build things. ;D The stuff filled the back of my pickup.
 So yesterday I called my other old buddy who is still active in a club I am a charter member of and asked about giving this stuff to somebody in the club still building. He suggested I take some photos an write up a general description then send it out to their mailing list which I am still a part of. So I got all that done, had some trouble with the email address for the group, and finally got the email off this morning when I figured out the issue. Hopefully I find a home for it all in one shot. If not, there is a fella I might sell it to for a few bucks and just give the money back to the family. Right now it is just taking up space on my shop floor.

 Still trying to decide what to do today, but I will likely end up at the mill. I am having some trouble with the new stove. It seems the draft bypass plate is jammed and I can't open it, but it is also not fully closed. SO I may call those guys up for advice. I will have to pull the chimney off to get access to it and fix it and that is a real pain. Likely though I will wind up back at the mill straightening the cut list and making more lumber.

 I see blue skies and bright sunshine out there today, so I don't want to spend a lot of time in the shop even though it is cool at 37°.

[thecfarm]

Did that draft control need to be open to get the EPA numbers?  ;)  :(

[Old Greenhorn]

No Ray, it is just a bypass for starting the stove and getting it warm enough to run a good draft. Once you hit that stage, you close it and leave it closed, then the smoke has to go trough the re-burner path which is like a semi-gasification system to burn the particulates out of the smoke. Since it is jammed sideways, there are some leaks which may cause it to not burn right.
 It's brand new, I want it working right.

[newoodguy78]

Just an idea on mounting your ladder rack. If you put angle iron under the bed rails and bolt down through it sandwiching the bed rail it strengthens it a lot. I've always had ladder racks on my trucks and learned the hard way the top of the bed rails turn into a jagged mess of stress cracks if bolted direct. 
I'm sure you'll enjoy having it on there , wouldn't be without one personally. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Catching up here a bit. Friday morning I called the stove builder and left a message, then went out to the shop and tried every which way I could to get that plate to drop loose. Short of beating on it, I had no joy. So I wound up pulling the chimney but still could not get real good access to it. About that time the stove builder called back and when I explained my issue he chuckled and confessed that yeah, they have seen this problem over the years, but it's rare. Usually happens during shipping when the plate gets bounced into an odd position. Sometimes with an over zealous user who rams that control rod back and forth, but he was very quick to add that he was not suggesting I might be such a user. ;D I confessed that in this case, I might be 'that guy', but how do I fix this? He chuckled again and just said 'beat on it'. :D BUT he did explain exactly where to hit it and how to hit it. Sure enough, two taps and it dropped free and all was good. Now it works just fine and the operator has some training under his belt. I put the chimney back on and fired it up. Still just doing smudge fires to keep things dry, but also watching how the stove behaves. I am burning 'junk chunks' from the splitting process and some overlong pieces that would fit in the old stove but have to be placed at an angle in the new one. It's working fine now.
 In the afternoon Friday I went down to the mill and just milled one log to make a kick plate we added to the shed design and was needed to finish it. I milled enough for all 4 sheds on order. Still not sure when we are delivering the first shed.

 Saturday was a hodge podge. My son was supposed to bring over the 3 grandsons 'to help' with fall chores. They all gravitate to the easy stuff like blowing leaves, but if I have help, I ain't wasting it on that stuff I can do myself. They didn't get here until 2pm, so I spent the morning loading a trailer with split wood and roped a tree in the swamp that needs to come down before it wipes out one of my sheds. While I waited I also bucked off two more logs from that ice storm damaged RO and got them to the firewood area, then bucked those logs into rounds. That won't be ready to burn for another year or more.

 When they showed up I moved the trailer over by the house woodpile and the wife helped them stack it. I put my son in the Mule attached to the pull line on that tree, through a snatch for a re-direct and I cut it. It had lean where it could not go (the shed) and there was very little wood left in the trunk, so I had him pull it over rather than take any chances and it dropped exactly on the target. Of course, that's when you learn what was really inside. It was a small stick, about 14" DBH and around 45' tall.

 This is the stump remains when I cleaned it off at ground level after the drop. The full spread is about 2' or a bit more. Not much holding it up. Actually in the left of this photo, you can see a piece of the felling notch section that shattered off the stick. The actual direction of fall was towards the top of this photo.



 


Here is the piece I cut off above the stump below where the felling cut was, you can barely make out the hinge(s).



 

I cut high so I had some wood to work with, but I still didn't have much. When I get the logs all moved to the splitting yard I will see how high that rot hole goes, but I suspect this one goes way up even though it hit the ground pretty heavy.
 So we winched the logs out of the swamp to where I can get the arch on them and skidded just one back. It was getting late. I took one more fully dead, dry, and ready to burn RO that I hadn't noticed before. Only 8" diameter, but 50' tall and all solid wood. Looking at it upright, I thought it would turn to dust when it hit the ground, but no.

 I found a few small things for the boys to help me with and then they left. My yard/shop boots are no longer keeping out incidental water and beginning to approach their 'end of life', so my socks were soaked through with swamp water.
 We got cleaned up and went across the road for dinner with the neighbors. We have talked, but haven't seen them in a couple of months. He had a gig last night and they were supposed to open for another band, but they weren't starting until 9:30pm which is too late for us old folk, so we took a pass on the gig and got home around 8pm.

 I sat in my chair and realized I was pooped out. So I headed to bed at 8:45. Today is another day and I am ready to go.

[Old Greenhorn]

........ You'll have to let us know when the video comes out. And tell us the first time you get recognized for that video.

OK, the video was released today (and my spidey sense was correct, as I and others have yet to be paid as promised). So Austin you asked for it. I am quite certain NOBODY will recognize me from this video. In fact I challenge you to even find me in it without reading further.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Wolf (Official Video) - YouTube
My face is on screen for precisely 1.5 seconds. Most of the details they fussed over never evn showed in the final edit. Now if you gave up looking or don't want to see it twice I can tell you I 'appear' at 2:18 and 2:19 and that's it. So I am done with that nonsense. I do feel bad for my friend the set medic as she is out a fair amount of money for 3 days on set and I know she depends on this for her income, rent, and food money. I think she gets about $400/day. That ain't right. But all these shoots work through the local county film commission and she tells me that they likely will not get any cooperation or support for future shoots in this area once the commission is made aware of their track record which I believe they received at about 9am today. ;D SO that's that. 
 Today after exchanging a bunch of emails regarding the former subject I got some more winter prep cleanup done out back, cutting slabs and other little odds and ends. Got a new tarp hung over the shop woodpile, weedwhacked the swamp, handled some other 'stuff', buried the air line from the shed so I don't cut it (again) with the plow, and messed more with the stove. I'm still trying to get a handle on that thermostatic damper. I also got the chain sharpened on the 450 after all the bucking I did over the weekend and the slabs today. I managed to find a nail in the sawbuck but the chain came through it 'pretty good'. It's good to go again. I do love that X-cut chain! I intended to get some mill time in, but it never happened due to other schedules and folks coming and going.
 Tomorrow is another one.

[thecfarm]

The video star!!!!  ;D
You done and know what it's like.

[doc henderson]

I know a celebrity! 8) 8) 8)

[Nebraska]

Wish more of your watering hole was visible in that video.  Not my speed on the music. Still  was an interesting experience for you. 

[aigheadish]

Interesting video... I hope y'all get paid and it makes me wonder if the Yeah, yeah, yeahs have anything to do with that part or if it's some production company. 

I recognized you pretty easily and the snarl you got (I assume she wasn't even there for that part?) was funny. 

Thanks for sharing. I don't have a clue what it takes to make a video like that but I would have guessed a longer time frame from your part to release, also interesting. 

[Old Greenhorn]

I know a celebrity! 8) 8) 8)

Yeah? WHO? :D
Much of what was shot was not used in the final cut. For instance, the bar's owner (Chet) was behind the bar the entire time but you never see him. Much was lost in the darkness. You sure don't see much of the bar either despite all the dressing up and changes they made, especially to the lighting. The scenes of her (Brit Lower) crawling through the swamp and such were done in the wooded area outside the bar during the day. The shot of her approaching the bar was done just after dusk. Then it all moved inside, so they had a full day long shoot for 20 seconds of video. The walk through in the bar was done in real time (yes, she was there) and the first time Brit walked past me and shot that snarl it startled me a bit. I didn't know it was coming and she had to repeat it right on the same spot every time through, maybe 10 times for different camera angles. The bar scene started with her coming through the door and ended when she just about touched the curtain. The rest was done elsewhere.
 The actress was a real pro, she repeated the exact same footsteps and movements on every take without much ado. That snarl was exactly the same every time. I seem to have that effect on women. ;D
 Not my preferred music either for sure, but it was an interesting experience for a one time deal.
 Another drizzly rainy day here today. Shop work I guess.

[Old Greenhorn]

Short update, boring day doing small but necessary things in the shop, for instance, I can see the top of my workbench again (3 hours) and more tools got put away. I make a real mess during the summer and I still have a lot more cleaning up to do.
 Also I finally got paid for that video. After no response at all to my email yesterday or the one sent by the casting manager I sent on off this morning just asking that if they were going to 'walk away' from their debts, would they at least tell me that so we can move on? I also complained that the money they owed me was minor, but the set medic stood to lose her rent money for the month from the time she put in. A few hours later, the electronic payment showed up. They also told me they put in an edit request to have me added to the credits. It would be poor form, but my next move was to leave a comment on the YOUTUBE video comments saying that I thought the video came out great, but it would be even better if the production company paid the folks who put their time into it as promised. Glad I didn't have to do that. The set medic told me today they had put a check in the mail for her today.
 I think tomorrow I am back at the mill.

[aigheadish]

Yay to getting paid! 

I mentioned getting paid because I was thinking along the same lines of making noise about it online if they didn't pay up. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Getting paid is a sore spot for me and I can tend to over react when I get shorted. Back in the mid 80's with my first house and a baby my employed at the time got shut down by his investors and the Sheriff put a pad lock on the door after allowing me to remove my personal tools from the building. The boss 'walked away' from his debts (turned out most of the business was a scam which I was just beginning to suspect). He owed me a weeks pay, so while I was packing out my tools (most of a pickup load) the brand new shop abrasive cutoff saw wound up in my truck as 'security' and it was worth a few bucks more than my week of pay. Turned out to be a good move, because he finally paid me....... with a bad check. >:( I was there a year and a half.
 The next job I had was as a Shop foreman with 20 employees and the owners would only move enough money into the payroll account each week to barely cover it. The clerks at the local bank would have one person checking the running balance as they cashed the crews checks and often would call a halt to anymore when the funds ran out and the last few guys in line sometimes did not get paid that day. This really did wonders for my credibility with my crew and had a predictable effect on morale and cooperation. >:( I was there just under a year.
 At my NEXT job, during the interview I asked when was the last time they had a paycheck bounce? The two owners looked at me horrified and stammered. They said "You can't bounce a paycheck, it's illegal and just plain WRONG. That has never happened here." I just chuckled, they could not believe somebody would do that. I assured them, that yes, they would. I stayed at that job 18 years. There was never a payroll issue. Other issues? Yeah, plenty, but you always got paid on time.
 So yeah, when I see that nonsense now I tend to get a little 'miffed'. It's not the money, it's the message it sends that gets me riled.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well it's been a week since my last deposit here (your welcome) and most stuff here is on autopilot for the fall schedule, messed up a bit by the warm weather, and of course, behind schedule. My brain has been tied up lately with dealing with life. Things are getting tight and finances seem to be crushing in a bit more each month. When I first retired, we would run out of money around the 3rd week  and either I or my wife would fill in with some petty cash from our respective side business. It wasn't much, maybe a tank of gas or other incidentals. The last 6 months it seems like we run out of money in two weeks after paying bills and I am hitting the business up pretty regular for a lot of stuff as is she. We have not changed what we are consuming, but the money to cover it just isn't there anymore. I depend on the business income to cover the taxes and insurance on my folks house (long story, not going there) and a few carefully planned small capitol things for the business, tools, and supplies. Now I find myself having to make more money just to cover the important stuff with little left for the business. I don't enjoy this situation as you might guess, so I am re-thinking my approach on everything. The milling work is heavy and takes a physical toll, so I can't make that closer to full time, I have to mix things up. So I am trying to figure out how to generate more in places where the margin is better. Simple things, like having my daily shop boots blow out yesterday requiring replacement give me a lot of stress. A year ago, I just would have got a new (better) pair and not thought twice. Now I have to 'figure it out' and wait until I find some money.

 Add to all that the stress and inherent depression that comes with the mid-term elections and I am a bit depressed in general. Dang but I am disappointed in the election results, but it seems I have always been, every year, since I can't remember (maybe the early 70's?). Let's just say it seems like I can't vote for anybody that wins, and my state is in bad shape and will get much worse after this go round.

 My Sister-in-law is back east on her bi-annual visit, so the wife took my truck up to Albany last week to spend time with her and her brother, they came back Saturday. Her and her sister, then Monday they left for LI with my daughter to visit their other brother and his kids and grandkids. They return tomorrow sometime, the the SIL gets picked up on Friday by my BIL and brought back to Albany for her flight home to Oregon on Saturday (I think). This has all been very confusing to me to keep track of as I try to get stuff done and not make the wife mad because I forgot some detail. I have been 'batching it' off and on, which is fine. Easy or skipped meals and lots of time in the shop.

 So in consideration of the need to generate some funds, I decided I need to make stuff even if I don't have orders, then I need to generate outlets for that stuff. I looked around the shop and found stuff I had started and not continued on. I also need to make a tool box for the truck. So I alternated working on the stuff for the toolbox, making another cherry bench like the one I did a year or so ago (blind spline joints), and finishing off a coat rack I had started a year or more ago. I'd work on one until I had something drying (like epoxy) and move to the next one, then the third, then either it was the end of the day, or I could rotate back to the first project. It's been working OK so far and I am hoping to keep this going and knock out a lot of stuff I had material cut for and never had time for the next stage. Mostly they are 'smalls' like $50 items or less, but that Cherry bench should bring a nice price if I get it right. Then I gotta work on marketing it, that's the tough part. I am no Bruno. :D

 While doing the shop work I have been messing with the new stove trying to figure it out. Mostly it's been smudge fires because the afternoons warm up to hotter than I want the shop temp (62-65 or so). But last night it was cool through the night and bottomed out at 30 before dawn. I threw in some semi-decent wood but was way short of filling it last night, for the overnight I wanted to see how it would do. It did well and the shop was at around 60 when I got up this morning after staying up past 1am watching the returns come in. The morning results sucked, but the shop was warm and an easy stove restart. Still having issues with that bypass plate, but I really don't need it. It is jammed closed again though. I'll give it another whack in the morning when the stove is cooled off and I can reach in there.

 We got another lumber order last night for fence boards (1x10x12') so tomorrow I will go and get started on that and see if I can knock it out. I'd prefer one milling session, but it might take me two. Friday is supposed to be a rain out and the boys are planning to build, either fully or partially, an 8x10' woodshed. The issue is moving something that big down the road. It has to go just a mile, but the logistics can still be a bit hairy on a single lane dirt road. My choice would be to build the deck, then prebuild the walls and flat pack them on the deck and assemble on site and do the rafters and roof. I bet this one goes faster. I will bring my miter saw over and I have a full cut list of every stud, stringer, sill, cap, etc. So I am hoping we blow this one out. That is, assuming, they have moved out the previously built 4x10 shed from the shop. :D ;D Last I saw, it was still there. That one has to travel about 20 miles on public highways. Could be interesting. ;D ;D No guts, no glory, right? :D What could go wrong? (Note to self, check bridge clearances.  )

 Sorry for the long ramble, I didn't mean it, but maybe I needed the therapy.

[Wlmedley]

Inflation is hard on retirement income for sure.What I have been running into is having to be very careful about getting beat out of money ether accidentally or intentionally.Went to the store yesterday and bought two cans of spray paint.Clearly marked $4 a can.Bought some other stuff.Thought total was a little off.Got charged $8 a can.Accident? Who knows.Happens a lot especially at convenience stores and when you call them on it they get mad.Got a doctor bill a couple days ago for my wife for $250 for a visit which she had and bill said I got a discount because I didn't have any insurance.I have insurance and pay dearly for it.I called and gave her name and invoice number and when I told them about the bill they knew what kind of insurance she had before I could tell them.They said disregard bill.Why did they send it?Seems like a person is constantly tested to see what others can get away with. I don't mind paying what I owe but that's enough.Your right OGH this is good therapy.I feel a little bit better already.

[Old Greenhorn]

OH man, you've got that right! I am now working on the habit of running up my tab in my head before I get my turn at the cashier. 2 weeks ago I was in a convenience store and the total she gave me was "Wait WHAT?!" no I said, that ain't right and as you said, she got really mad, then realized she messed up, but never apologized and gave me the corrected total which was about $85 dollars less. Convenience store clerks are the worst, and I get it, they are entry level mostly so I try to be light, pleasant, and understanding, but when they get snotty because I asked for something 3 times and they have not LISTENED to what I asked for and keep bringing me the wrong thing from behind the counter, I go from 'pleasant old fella' into 'grumpy pithed off old fart' in just a few seconds.
 Caveat emptor (or something like that, my Latin is rusty).

[Nebraska]

Tom your work is beautiful, I think you are in an area where the pieces will sell.
That will help the financial funk.  If you were a young man I'd tell you to go West.  ;) It's better out here. Just short on trees.