What did you do today?

[highup]

Daris called me and we had a good conversation. He called about woodworking but somehow we talked about carpet.

I saw an old friend at the hardware store this afternoon. He was looking for some fix to an edging issue on his lawn. We talked for 20 minutes and we're about to go about our merry ways.
I asked him if he was headed to the grocery store or home. He said home. I said, let me come over and look at your edging issue. He said, that would be great, I'll see you there.
I spent an hour and a half over there with him. By the time I left, I'd turned off "do not disturb" on his I phone. Somehow it got turned on. I learned about his kidney stone issue and how the drain tube is held in place. Learned about his prostate causing week long periods of constipation, and I'm returning to look at a flashing issue on his chimney.
He's 93 and still has 96% of his marbles and still drives. He moves slow , but so do I.
A really nice end to the day.
I've worked for him and family members for decades. His wife passed away about 10 years ago and two of his three kids live here in town. A little company and bs is good for the sole. I had things to do, but this felt more important.
This fella started our local ship piloting business in the early 60's if I had to guess. They had two main pilot boats, both built here in town. He has three boys. Ones an architect, ones a bar pilot in Portland and the youngest is my age. He does machining software stuff for Northrupt and others.
It feels weird just popping to visit him unannounced, so seeing him at the hardware store was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.
Made my day and probably his too.

 

[DarisMulkin]

I always enjoyed just talking with the older people, now I'm the older person.

 

[zannej]

Rusty, that sucks. I hope they can find some sort of cure where you don't need to keep up with infusions. I know that can't be fun.

Highup, that is very cool! I miss my late elderly friends. I'm glad the old man is doing well & that you were able to help him.

Speaking of soles (I know you meant soul), I need to either get new insoles in my crappy shoes or get new shoes. They are beat up and are starting to rub the sides of my feet. The insoles cost more than the shoes did. LOL. When we had those puppies here they tore the insoles out & chewed them up. I have a hard time finding shoes that fit though. Its hard enough to find half sizes but I need them in wide and I need them to come up high on the top of the foot because I have a high arch and most shoes push down too hard on the top of my food. I only wear slip-on shoes because I hate dealing with laces coming untied all the time (snagged on weeds or cat claws or dogs playing with them).

Daris, I did too. Back in the 80s we were sort of adopted by a local family when we moved to town. People used to think my mother was their daughter (at the time they were in their 60s I think). The lady's octogenarian father was living with them. He would sit in a room off to the side of the living room in a recliner with the door open and was mostly left by himself and seemed lonely. I would go in and sit on the floor in front of him and ask him to tell me about his life. He told his daughter that he really liked me because I paid attention to him & actively went to talk with him while most people pretended he didn't exist.

I went in and cut the L-bead trim for the cement board edge to size. It was designed for drywall but mfr said it was ok to use on cement board too. It has a leg with holes/perforations so it can be mudded over on the boards. The other leg of the L is solid and covers up the raw edge of the board. A tear-off bead extends opposite the solid L part to stop mud from going past a certain point. I discovered that it looks good without being torn off so I may keep it on after applying thinset. I have it temporarily taped in place but will have to remove it and the wallset to do aquadefense on the edges & seams before I tape & apply thinset.

I'll be putting PVC trim boards around the perimeter anyway, but one extra layer of protection & less ugliness is nice.

 

[Floorist]

Got the final sanding done on the chair. Only got a couple hours sleep, so that was it for today.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Got the final sanding done on the chair. Only got a couple hours sleep, so that was it for today.

I got mine sanded for the most part and now is dry fitted and will glue it up tomorrow and put it all back together and watch the glue dry. Got a couple glitches to take care of but nothing serious.

 

[highup]

I always enjoyed just talking with the older people, now I'm the older person.

You do know that you just told us who you talk to.

 

[highup]

And you're not 93, you whippersnapper.

 

[highup]

Got the final sanding done on the chair. Only got a couple hours sleep, so that was it for today.

I pushed myself today too. Friday was a second look-see to see if a customer liked the looks of a trim/transition that I made works for them. This is my first attempt vinyl wrapping a custom trim. Worked out nice. It's quite a learning experience.
Friday was a figure it out day. Yesterday I wrapped the T molding and today I rapped two carpet to LVP transitions. I'm happy the way they turned out. I'm installing them tomorrow. Haven't figured out how to bill my new education. I'm figuring $300 plus some travel time.

 

[zannej]

I talk to myself all the time. Also talk to my cats but might as well be talking to myself. I rested quite a bit and then had trouble getting up. Back was bothering me and didn't agree with me trying to stand up straight.

Highup, I hope the installation goes smoothly.

I went in and vacuumed the cement board debris from the tub but the filter in the shopvac is not working (and I know there is one in there because I had my friend install it a few months back). Dust was flying everywhere so I had to step out until the air was clear. I'll have to run a tack cloth over everything. I took the surround down wanting to do aquadefense on the edges of the cement boards but there was too much dust in the air.
Looks like this right now:

Looks a lot prettier with the surround, but I'm hoping to spruce this up more. Last chance to make sure everything is plumb I guess. Fortunately the surround is forgiving of things being a bit askew.

Waiting for my brother to finish with his computer game so we can go to the store and get foodstuffs. I need to find more stuff to cook in the air fryer. I want to get some pork cops to marinate in the miren (or is it mirin?) It's a seasoned wine stuff for cooking. I found a bunch of it at a store out of town. I haven't had pork chops yet this year.

 

[highup]

Depending on the debris, pad chunks, staples and sawdust or sheetrock and cement dust is the difference between changing or cleaning the filter every 15 minutes or once a day. Until I knew there were shop vac bags, I'd be tapping the dust out of my filter daily. Monthly or longer, especially with fine dust is way too long. That of course depends on hours of use and what's being sucked up.
Fine dust clogs filters quickly. Do a quick sweep, then vacuum.

 

[zannej]

Pretty much every time I've used it since I changed the filter it has been blowing dust everywhere. I think the filter is not good enough. I can't seem to get the thing open myself. My friend was able to open it but I can't get it to open. He changed the filter for me. It has a lot of fine powder from spilled floor leveling powder and other stuff. I was having a hard time getting into the space under the cement board to vacuum so I made an attachment to allow for smaller area of suction. I took a scrap of foam board from the lap desk project, found a straw in the trash, put the straw over some drill bits until I found one the same size, used poked a hole through the center of the foam board chunk with a screw to get it started and then took the drill bit and twisted it manually by hand and pushed it through the hole to make it larger. Tested to see if straw would go through, back to drill bit to make it a little larger, pushed drill bit all the way through to keep the fibers all facing away from the straw so I could push it through a little. Had the hot glue gun heating up and then used hot glue on both top and bottom of the hole to secure the straw. The suction of the vacuum pretty much holds it tight to the hose. I did have to put my hand on it to keep it from tipping away, but it still worked to get into the nooks and crannies. I'm letting the dust settle, but this is my makeshift attachment:

Obviously it needs more refinement. The foam needs to be smaller and I need to make a sleeve that will slip over the hose to hold it more securely. I can see what I have available in plastic or cardboard or something to make the sleeve and then I can glue it together. Despite the simplicity, it worked fairly well. It doesn't have the strongest suction, but its better than nothing. Cheaper than going out and trying to buy a custom attachment.

I also put spray foam in the cavity at the back of the center wall surround piece where the shelf is. I was surprised at how shallow it was and how thick the plastic is for the shelf, but I wanted to reinforce it more and reduce any noise from it. I used low expansion door & window foam. It has a reusable straw thingy but once I put it on I couldn't figure out how to get it off and it has a hair trigger. I want to remove it so I can put the cap back on and not have accidental spraying from it if it gets bumped. Every time I tried to remove it, it would spray out a little. Maybe I need to get one of those caulk condoms to put over it or something. LOL.

Waiting for dust to settle before I go back in, tape up plastic to protect the tub from drips, and get the aquadefense slathered on.

 

[Incognito]

Made a bench out of scrap 2x6 I hauled off a job.............dumpster dive so to speak. Probably gonna make some indoor and outdoor foot stools, Ottomans...........,and a copy of this bench but in cedar, clear finish. So I've got a lot of lumber and plenty of time on my hands. My scrap wood is premium redwood, medium grade cedar and standard construction grade doug fir. I have quite a lot.

 

[Floorist]

I make these and Daris is making one now.

 

[highup]

I make these and Daris is making one now.

View attachment 16860

I've never gotten that fancy in woodworking. 40 years ago I made hot plates for mom, grandma's, aunts as Christmas gifts. They were $22 at Hallmark and I found ceramic tiles with leaf prints and flowers, stuff like that 25 to 75 cents a piece. I think I bought all the oak for the frames for less than 10 bucks plus a can of stain.
Keepsakes, not just gifts.
Very nice Rusty.

 

[zannej]

What are hot plates? Something to set hot stuff down on?

Incognito, sounds like you'll be busy with woodworking.

Rusty, that is a nice rocking chair!

Today I fed kitties, went out and brought in some PVC boards and trim that were on the porch. Took several trips. Brought in another L-bead trim to my bathroom & cut it to size so I could trim out all around my tub walls. Did a dry fit of the tub walls to get the trim in place. I'll still need to cut a little off the part going over cementboard so it doesn't overlap, but I'm having a hard time getting trim to stay in place when I move the wall panels out of the way.

I really struggled with the center panel. It kept falling over. Its going to suck trying to get it moved out of the way and keep it from toppling. I've asked my friend for help in messenger but he hasn't seen the message yet. I know I won't get any help from my brother. He's been in a really bad mood lately. Last time I tried to ask him something he screamed at me.

Mom forgot to give us the new insurance cards for the vehicles (but claimed she had-- if she had given them to me I would have had them in my wallet). So I dropped by the insurance office to get cards printed. I was not about to play Jenga with the pile of junk on her desk trying to find them. Drove up to HD to get a pickup order. Got some outside corner trim. Only length they had was 12' so it will have to be cut down to size. Went to the local Walmart to return a crappy printer that wouldn't work properly. Couldn't find the paper receipt but I'd taken a picture. Was able to return with that. Also returned the protection plan.

Deli was still closed (they claim there's a problem with the water) so I only managed to grab some salads. Although, I think something may have been wrong with them because it gave me digestive issues. I did more measuring and such in my bathroom. I was thinking I had the same ceiling height as the guest bathroom/laundry area (just under 9'). Nope. I've got just under 8'. Just a hair shorter because of the ceiling tiles I think.

This is what it looks like now (center panel will have to be adjusted and I'll have to make sure the left panel sits flush to the side.

 

[C.J.]

Spent the day packing boxes and loading up one of our pods with all my tools. This time I decided to buy a bunch of boxes from Uhaul and pack as much stuff as I can into boxes even if that item already has its own case. I figure having a bunch of uniformly sized boxes neatly stacked up would make for better travel than trying to Tetris everything I have and hoping nothing gets broken.

I hate moving because there’s always something that gets broke or goes missing. I’m hoping that by packing everything into boxes, it’ll help to eliminate that.

 

[Tile Tom]

Spent the day packing boxes and loading up one of our pods with all my tools. This time I decided to buy a bunch of boxes from Uhaul and pack as much stuff as I can into boxes even if that item already has its own case. I figure having a bunch of uniformly sized boxes neatly stacked up would make for better travel than trying to Tetris everything I have and hoping nothing gets broken.

I hate moving because there’s always something that gets broke or goes missing. I’m hoping that by packing everything into boxes, it’ll help to eliminate that.

Where you going man, Back to NC?

 

[C.J.]

Where you going man, Back to NC?

Yessir.

 

[Floorist]

Yessir.

It will be nice to be home. I worked in KC for 20 years and moved back home. I have never regretted it.

 

[Incognito]

I make these and Daris is making one now.

View attachment 16860

I really like that design. Is it all solid wood?