Yep, that day again....how'd YOUR weekend go?

Better than I expected, but not as well as I wanted. This week I hope to get a few things done before my hernia repair surgery on Friday...which I really want to get done. The hernia has become quite a pain in the, well, groin.

A (very) little shop cleaning.

Doing a little router table work. Then, clean up the mess that the vac system didn't catch. 

 

 

Had a good weekend . Woodturners club meeting Saturday with chili cook had a great day. I was pooped the a friend brought over a huge cherry burl. I got the saw out to cut the plain wood off the back and would not crank. I put some carb cleaner in and pulled the cord till that came out and it cranked and ran fine.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 20232 yr by Gerald

Playing catch-up after last week. Coached, via phone, oldest granddaughter through a dead battery issue on her car. Battery bad-Auto-Zone replaced it. 

 

Men's breakfast Saturday AM, then to Boilertown for haircut, trip to Menards, Harbor-Freight (go H-F). Followed youngest granddaughters swim meet via phone app. Good day for her; 1st & 2nd.

 

Sunday, church, gas up car, light lunch after; hauled recycling, then diagnosed CEL on Buick; P0420. Likely a bad O2 sensor, we'll see? Covered tomato plants.

 

This week: Annual meeting with Insurance rep tomorrow. Rest will be determined by weather. Sunny today but cold with 35+mph winds already. Lots of outside work to do. Mrs. went back to work today so I'm unsupervised again during the day-time.

Little slow today since my schedule has been out of whack it just registered with me. Another demerit for @John Morrisfor failing to report in on a Monday. Anyone see his picture on your milk carton this morning?

Finalized the 2M/70cm coax, lighting arrestor, ground rod bonding.  Learned how to solder on PL-259 connectors.  Saves $$ and makes the coax easier to run into the "shack".   Ordered some aluminium stock to make a spreader bar for the mast.  

 

Put the Alpha DX-CC dipole up and took it right back down.  Rejected with poor results from the Antenna Analyzer.  8:1 SWR up and down the bands.  Ideally this should be as close to 1:1 as possible.  Visited the Palomar Engineering website and purchased a ladder line type dipole fed with an impedance matching balun.   

.40

55 minutes ago, forty_caliber said:

Learned how to solder on PL-259 connectors.  Saves $$ and makes the coax easier to run into the "shack". 

Good ol' 259's best friend-

 

This is an interesting read- 

https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/tbwfui/made_a_dipole_for_20m_but_getting_bad_swr_readings/

Edited October 23, 20232 yr by lew

my morning fun:  sanded and first coat of Spar Urethane, another coat tomorrow.

 

 

1 hour ago, DAB said:

my morning fun:  sanded and first coat of Spar Urethane, another coat tomorrow.

 

 

Nice!

Beautiful job,  DAB. Love the Santa Fe architecture, too.

11 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Beautiful job,  DAB. Love the Santa Fe architecture, too.

 

the prior poly job was at it's end of life, much flaking, but the larger cracks are still filled with clear caulk.  mostly sanded down to bare wood and applied poly.  a few spots didn't get sanded all the way down, and appear either white-ish or darker.  eh, it's rustic, so i'm good with it.  this set of coats should last 5-7 years, then do it again.

 

stucco (actually STO) is still in pretty good shape after 12 years, i've had to patch a few small areas here and there. thankfully, picked a stock color, so pretty easy to get matching color mixed up, about $85/5 gal.

My weekend didn't go quite as planned, but it was all good.

While washing my truck on Sat. the Fed Ex truck pulled up and unloaded a mail order sofa that our daughter had ordered.  Not knowing when it would be done or when she would be in her house, she had it delivered here.  So I loaded up the truck (mine) and backed into the shop for the night and left out first thing Sunday AM for Atlanta.  Traffic not bad going in, but the usual hold up coming back through in mid afternoon.

Since the weekend, wife's covid test came back negative (good) - but a bad sinus infection (bad).

Yesterday I mowed the front lawn, mostly to chop up the leaves that have started falling.

Eleagnus (Russian Olive) is in full bloom, wonderful fragrance and makes any outside work on a beautiful fall day much more enjoyable

 

Monday I took my 2010 Ford transit connect van in for some loving care.  Found a local used Ram 1500 ProMaster low roof van with 8'+ of storage length locally that I may trade for it if it'll fit in my garage.  Goal is to get something I can use for lumber runs, hauling furniture and tools and maybe my electric motorcycle in.  Been scouting for a new house/shop with less human space and more shop space.  With 3 vehicles and living alone my mind had been contemplating how to move 3 vehicles to a new house without having to walk back for the next one. Thinking if I can fit the electric motorcycle in the van I can leave it at the new house and drive the van back home.  Next drive the Chevy Bolt to the new place, and ride the motorcycle back.  Put the motorcycle in the van and drive both to the new house.  Only limit is how far the motorcycle can drive on one charge.  No recharging it on the road. 

 

4D

10 hours ago, 4DThinker said:

Been scouting for a new house/shop with less human space and more shop space. 

 

Good luck with the hunt 4D, sounds like the first puzzle has been solved.  I did not know that electric m/c could not be charged on the road.  What is the range of the one you have?

1 minute ago, Cal said:

 

Good luck with the hunt 4D, sounds like the first puzzle has been solved.  I did not know that electric m/c could not be charged on the road.  What is the range of the one you have?

My MC is an OSA+ from RideCake.com.   I added a cargo box I made on the back for trips to the grocery store and picking up pizza, etc..    Range is stated at 57-68 miles but that is for flat land, slow speed, wind at your back according to my experiences.  In my hilly town I might see 20 miles before the battery limits my speed.   Battery has a proprietary charge plug that only works with the 120v AC charger it came with.  I have two chargers so I could keep one at both houses, or carry one with me in the cargo box. 

https://ridecake.com/en-US/p/osa

 Monday  When did that happen?  Better yet. Why? 

Got back from "2.75 Weeks From Anywhere" around 9:00 last night. 

Of course, it will    most of today. Why would I think otherwise. 

53 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

 

Got back from "2.75 Weeks From Anywhere"

 

What??? Did Anywhere move farther away??

Laundry Detail, today...guess you all know what that means...