1 hour ago, Gerald said:

Thanks Cal. The storm went north of us and at least one small town mayor said last night the town was destroyed. I see they are saying 14 dead but probably several more out there.

Happy you all are OK. Just saw a few YT videos from Fox News and some storm chasers. Showing at least 23 died so far. Devastation everywhere. One of the rare times NWS has issued a Tornado Emergency due to the size and furor of this storm. Prayers out to all impacted in your state and others.

Well it has been a crazy weekend thus far.  I am gradually upgrading things around the house to be smarter and today that started with the front door area.

 

Ripped out the existing doorbell and installed the new smart doorbell.  This is where Murphy got involved….

Not enough power from the transformer to run the new doorbell.  So off to the big box…. not so fast… Haven’t driven the FJ in a bit and the battery was dead.

So after testing the battery, jumping the FJ, and making sure the little overhead light was set to OFF… off to the big box store.

 

Acquired a new transformer, a little lumber for the wife’s planter project (yes another new project brought on by the visitation of rabbits to the garden and the subsequent pillaging that has occurred.)  

Drove home and unloaded everything and after some trial and error and digging through an old toolbox to find a set of masonry bits that I KNEW I had somewhere, the new transformer is installed and the smart doorbell and lock retrofit is done.

 

So far today I have managed to play with 12V, 24v, 120V electricity and have managed to not burn anything down or electrocute myself.

This is auspicious on many levels and bodes well for heading out to the shop and having fun with much safer activities like power tools

 

 

Here is a Rarity.....I actually drove PAST a Garage Sale sign...TWICE!  

 

Think about that for a while.....

56 minutes ago, steven newman said:

Here is a Rarity.....I actually drove PAST a Garage Sale sign...TWICE!  

 

Think about that for a while.....

Probably just as well. Likely all they had for sale was Classified Documents.

After 2 1/2 weeks I have a day with no visitors and can relax and catch up on things.  Enjoyed visit with my son.  He got to work at my job and get paid while he was here.  Plus get valuable experience.   Time goes by quick though and he left for his mother's yesterday.   

Just now, Gunny said:

After 2 1/2 weeks I have a day with no visitors and can relax and catch up on things.  Enjoyed visit with my son.  He got to work at my job and get paid while he was here.  Plus get valuable experience.   Time goes by quick though and he left for his mother's yesterday.   

Finally you can come up for air! How's the job been Gunny, same, slowed down a tad, busy as all get out?

24 minutes ago, John Morris said:

How's the job been Gunny, same, slowed down a tad, busy as all get out?

 

Usually, 8-10 tickets deep in the box on my toolbox.  Then another 20 up at managers desk waiting for approvals.   We have plenty of work for any tech to make 45-55 hours flat rate a week.  Somehow I seem to be the only 1 of 4 that likes big paychecks.   While I do not work on diesel engines, anything else is fair game.  Good number of ambulances and firetrucks come through as we have county contracts.  Plus, fleet work from the airport.  

Edited March 26, 20233 yr by Gunny

Ran out of curb space for the heap of yard debris the city will haul away Tuesday.  Mostly volunteer trees that have been taking over the planting areas around the perimeter of my yard.  I bought one of the annoying handheld battery powered chain saws that have been advertised lately to help with the task.   It lasted through 1.5 charges of two batteries it came with before smoking the motor.  Had to dig out my B&D electric chain claws to continue.   Those did the trick.   Going to see if I can catch the city crew when they are here and see if they can pickup and haul away what is left of a tree that got dropped in my side yard during a baby tornado that came by last summer.  Root ball and all.  

 

I've still got to measure the backlash on the X and Y axes of my new CNC mini mill.   Kind of disappointed that a new machine with ball screws on all axes has any.  As there are settings to compensate for it in Mach3 that may just be normal for all I know.  Thinking back to my college days when I had a milling machine to play with in the college shop I don't think I made any cuts that backlash would have mattered on.  When manually moving the axes and keeping an eye on what you are cutting it is the operator that does the compensation to keep the bit where he wants it to be.  I'm so used to letting my wood CNC do the moving and cutting of what I programmed it to that I expected this mini mill to be even more rigid and precise.  

4D

 

 

SWMBO's sick so I'm the quiet attendant.