What did you do today?

[Coop]

Very well done Paul!

[wtnhighlander]

Excellent! 

[Mark J]

It's a sad story, but beautiful work.

[Tom King]

34 is not only too young, it's scary.  Our youngest child is 34.

We had a couple of days between renters, so I rented a trencher for half a day and put a yard hydrant down by the fire pit on what we call the "beach".  It was dumb not to do it back when I ran the water line down on the point, but we were just working on cleaning up the beach area then and didn't think this far ahead.

I found the pictures I had in my gallery here when the cove was still full of weeds about 6 months after we got that house.  The kayak rack is sitting where those two Poplar trees are behind the CTL.  They died for some reason.  One fell and I took the other one down.  At that point we didn't have any overall plans for it other than to clean it up.  The beach came out better than we had ever hoped.

 

[treeslayer]

So the exposed part of the foundation on my walk out ranch house needed painting, I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep but I got a big shock at Sherwin Williams, 80 bucks a gallon for primer and almost as much for the color coat on top, and I saw the price of their Emerald at 112 a gallon , even at their 40 % off sale I think it was outrageous 

[wtnhighlander]

@treeslayer, you ain't just whistling Dixie. I got the same shock when I had to by 56 gallons of SW exterior stain to do my house last summer. And that doesn't count the trim color or the deck ... 

[Tom King]

The first time I ever saw over a hundred bucks a gallon for house paint was when I decided to try their Emerald Rain Refresh.  With some of it up for over a year now I can say compared to anything else it's well worth its price. 

I always buy some paint when they have 40% off if I know I'm going to need it in a few months.  I get some sort of contractors price discount anyway.  Depending on who is running the place when I go, sometimes they add the discount on top of my pro price and sometimes they don't.

They have 30% off a lot more often than 40%.  I don't buy anything but SW best at the time.  I have never been disappointed with it.  Any time I have ever used anything else I have been disappointed some sort of way and wished that I hadn't tried to save that money.

[JohnG]

We are in SoCal for a family wedding. We were taking a day trip back to the area where we lived in CA, and our rental car broke down in the middle of the highway. All was fine, then it beeped and said to pull over - vehicle will shut down soon. By the time we checked the mirrors to see if we could get over (was 2nd from left on 4 lane road), it shut off and we had no drive. It was rush hour and we were on an incline so we couldn’t coast to the shoulder. So we had to sit in the traveling lane until the CHP came and pushed us about 1/4mi until there was a good shoulder. CHP and tow truck took us to an exit with fast food, then we waited for an uber to pick us up and take us to an airport to get a new rental car. Exciting day.

[JohnG]

+1 for quality SW paint. It’s expensive but certainly worth the difference. 

[legenddc]

On 6/11/2024 at 7:07 PM, treeslayer said:

So the exposed part of the foundation on my walk out ranch house needed painting, I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep but I got a big shock at Sherwin Williams, 80 bucks a gallon for primer and almost as much for the color coat on top, and I saw the price of their Emerald at 112 a gallon , even at their 40 % off sale I think it was outrageous 

I think it's actually down some too. I just looked at my Home Depot history and compared to a year ago the price is down 10%.

[Mark J]

8 hours ago, JohnG said:

We are in SoCal for a family wedding. We were taking a day trip back to the area where we lived in CA, and our rental car broke down in the middle of the highway. All was fine, then it beeped and said to pull over - vehicle will shut down soon. By the time we checked the mirrors to see if we could get over (was 2nd from left on 4 lane road), it shut off and we had no drive. It was rush hour and we were on an incline so we couldn’t coast to the shoulder. So we had to sit in the traveling lane until the CHP came and pushed us about 1/4mi until there was a good shoulder. CHP and tow truck took us to an exit with fast food, then we waited for an uber to pick us up and take us to an airport to get a new rental car. Exciting day.

Was that a gas powered car?

[h3nry]

I wish boat paint were that cheap ... I just spent $398 for a gallon of paint ... fortunately my boat is small enough so that put 2 coats on the bottom.

[pkinneb]

On 6/11/2024 at 11:38 PM, JohnG said:

We are in SoCal for a family wedding. We were taking a day trip back to the area where we lived in CA, and our rental car broke down in the middle of the highway. All was fine, then it beeped and said to pull over - vehicle will shut down soon. By the time we checked the mirrors to see if we could get over (was 2nd from left on 4 lane road), it shut off and we had no drive. It was rush hour and we were on an incline so we couldn’t coast to the shoulder. So we had to sit in the traveling lane until the CHP came and pushed us about 1/4mi until there was a good shoulder. CHP and tow truck took us to an exit with fast food, then we waited for an uber to pick us up and take us to an airport to get a new rental car. Exciting day.

Well that does not sound like any fun at all!! Hopefully the rest of your trip will better  

[JohnG]

On 6/12/2024 at 5:58 AM, Mark J said:

Was that a gas powered car?

It was a hybrid Chrysler Pacifica van. 

[Beechwood Chip]

On 6/12/2024 at 7:10 PM, JohnG said:

It was a hybrid Chrysler Pacifica van. 

Darn, that was my top choice for my next vehicle, because it can take full sheets of plywood inside.  I'm tired of heaving sheet goods onto my roof rack and then driving under 40 to keep them from blowing off.

[wtnhighlander]

@Beechwood Chip, maybe consider a regular combustion engine. The controls on them are generally programmed to keep you going for as ling as possible. Electric drivetrains have more immediate shutdown failure modes. Nature of the system, not unique to electric vehicles.

[Beechwood Chip]

On 6/12/2024 at 8:54 PM, wtnhighlander said:

@Beechwood Chip, maybe consider a regular combustion engine. The controls on them are generally programmed to keep you going for as ling as possible. Electric drivetrains have more immediate shutdown failure modes. Nature of the system, not unique to electric vehicles.

I've covered my house with solar panels, and now I sell electricity instead of paying for it.  As things die and need to be replaced, I hope to go electric as much as possible (car, heat, hot water, stove).  I was thinking plug in hybrid so I could charge in my garage, but not have to worry about long trips.

I'll drive my existing vehicle until it dies, and who knows what the technology will be like, then.  I was just pipe-dreaming about what I'd get if my vehicle died tomorrow.

[Mark J]

11 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

@Beechwood Chip, ...Electric drivetrains have more immediate shutdown failure modes. Nature of the system, not unique to electric vehicles.

One thing to know about some (all?) electric vehicles is that if you can't "turn it on" it can't be put into neutral.  So the tow truck needs to be equipped with some kind of slides or skates that can be put under the vehicle's wheels.

[JohnG]

Some EVs still have a typical 12v battery that can be used to shift the car into neutral/tow mode if the primary battery dies. 

The CHP officer said they are seeing a lot of problems with plug-in hybrids. His first question when he arrived was “Is this a hybrid?”

[Mark J]

With our old i3 we had the 12V fail and lost the primary on another occasion.   In both instances the car couldn't be turned on/put in neutral.   Hopefully our new Bolt EUV will be better behaved.  Just something to keep in mind if an electric needs a tow.

[JohnG]

Our Tesla has jump contacts for the 12v under the front hood and leads at the tow hook attachment point so that the computer can be powered even if the primary and 12v batteries both die. Not sure if this is standard practice these days, but should be. Certainly good to consider and be aware of the added complexity in regards to breakdowns and recovery. 

Definitely less ability to do roadside repairs, though that is also the case with modern ICE cars. One of the reasons I love my ‘73 pickup. 

[legenddc]

On 6/12/2024 at 8:31 PM, Beechwood Chip said:

Darn, that was my top choice for my next vehicle, because it can take full sheets of plywood inside.  I'm tired of heaving sheet goods onto my roof rack and then driving under 40 to keep them from blowing off.

I've got two neighbors with them and haven't heard of any issues.

The Ram 1500 Ramcharger is a hybrid that uses the gas engine to recharge the battery. Should be over 100 miles on electric range only.

Who knows what will be out there by the time you need to replace your car.

[pkinneb]

Well after weeks away from this project I was able to mix the second coat of milk paint for the sack back chair and get it applied. This turned out much better then the first coat which I made a bit too thin. Have I mentioned that milk paint is an art all its own  

Mixing the paint takes about 6+ hours to get it mixed properly, just stir about every 30 min.

Here I am filtering off the good paint under the thicker foam etc through a filter

first leg done and I am liking this batch good coverage and not quite as thin (runny) as the first coat

 

All done. Next up two coats of black which I hope to do Saturday

[Coop]

A long time friend of mine and I left Houston Sunday morning and drove to Little Rock. The next morning, we drove to Smithville TN, just outside of Nashville, to visit @RichardA for a couple of days. As Richard has given up woodworking due to a few health issues, we purchased several of his nice hand tools and were gifted several others. We broke bread and enjoyed a couple of his customary “welcome to my home” fine bourbon toasts! While there, we visited @Spanky (Ricky) in McMinnville, a few miles down the road. Ricky no longer does milling on a full time basis and has taken up raising bees. He gave us a wonderful tour of his facilities and also gave us a jar of the fantastic honey that he and his wife Donna were in the process of “spinning off” from the honey comb frames. Probably the best I’ve ever had. Not sure if he ships this stuff but well worth the money if he does. Let me know if you’re interested and I will check. We then had dinner with him and his lovely wife. 
 Yesterday, we left McMinnville and drove to Jackson TN and met @wtnhighlander (Ross) and his really cool son Cody, for lunch. After lunch, Cody and Ross took us to the Casey Jones Museum, there in Jackson. Cody, as a life time member and a very, very knowledgeable young man on railroads and trains, gave us a very enlightening tour of the museum. 
Yesterday morning we drove back to Little Rock and this evening, back in Houston’s heat and humidity. 
Thank all five  of you guys and gals for a wonderful time. 

[wtnhighlander]

Glad to hear you made home safely, @Coop! Thanks for stopping to visit!