Impulsiveness Attack!

I stared at the "hedge" yesterday morning and suddenly decided I just couldn't live with it another day.



It started out a decade or so ago as one red twigged dogwood shrub. It really did have bright red stems in the Winter. I liked it so much that I bought a dozen more (from a cheap catalog source). Bad decision. Yes, none of them ever had red stems in Winter. I cut them down twice, but they wouldn't die. And I couldn't cut them down low enough with loppers to mow over, so they grew back. In fact, I eventually got used to the ugly things and mowed around them. Naturally, "other stuff" started growing up alongside them and soon it was the ugly thicket shown above...

So it HAD to go. NOW! I plugged in my electric chain saw (no more attempts with the pruners) and hacked into everything at ground level. I got this far before the chain saw wasn't cutting through anything anymore.



After that, I used a hedge trimmer to take out the soft stuff, and an axe to chop out stumps and junk saplings. The hedge trimmer is a rechargeble electric type (I hate noisey gas-power tools and can never keep those 2-stroke tools working anyway). Then I couldn't find the recharger transformer... Argh.

OK, pruners for the vines and the ax for the shrub roots and saplings... I finally got to the top where the one good original red-twigged dogwood is (still surviving, amazingly). It took some real work to get the junk out from around it without damaging it!



And least I had some company! I seem to have made a new friend.



He (I think - well it didn't seem appropriate to investigate too much) seems to live across the street as a daytime outdoors cat. I had never seem him (?) before, but his predecessor was also friendly and would come over for scritches whenever I worked outside in the front yard. He sat in the shade of a bush watching me work and whenever I sat down for a minute, he was right there rubbing and curling up at my feet. Apparently, I am very cat-attractive. He enjoyed investigating the garage thoroughly whenever I got too active with tools.

Well, I managed to fill the trailer with "hedge" debris.



I'll bring it to the brush recycling center Saturday so that I can have the trailer filled with free mulch. The new front landscaping box needs a couple of inches worth and I have places in the backyard perennial bed that are bare ground and want to grow weeds.

I could take tip cuttings from the "good" red-twigged dogwood shrub, but I bought a primo plant of that type named "Arctic Fire" that is suppose to be even brighter red, So I will plant it next to the orginal dogwood and see which looks best. I'll take tip cuttings from the winner next Summer. I LIKE having the hedge along the driveway; I just want it to be something worth looking at and maintaining...

And if the tip cuttings work, I will eventually plant a row on the other side of the driveway.

BTW, the big shrub that appears in some of the pictures is a "burning bush" (Euonymus alata "Compactus"). Praying mantises love it (I sometimes get a couple on me while mowing around it) and it IS a spectacular crimson color in the Fall.

But I have to say that, between moving the upright bar yesterday and all the cutting work today, every muscle in my body hurts. Heck, my toes hurt! Just lifting a beer to my lips hurts (it's the triceps). But I'll manage. ;)

Furniture Rearrangement!

I decided I can't live with the Big Screen TV in the living room. I had the old regular TV in the dining room where I could see it from the kitchen while I was preparing food. But the guidelines said I would see the new HD TV best from at least 8' away and that required the living room. So I had it installed there on a good solid TV table.

A year later I just can't stand it. I am LISTENING to more TV than I actually watch, so that needs to change. I measured how far away it would be if I moved it and sat there for a few hours. It looks just fine. So I am going to move it to the dining room. (very carefully)

Of course, there is furniture that has to be moved. The first thing that had to be moved was the upright bar. That's a neat piece of work my Dad made decades ago. Basically, its a 30" door built into a frame 8" deep and 38" wide. It has glass shelves and a fold out bar shelf 10" wide for mixing drinks on. It is a real wonder of construction. From the back, it is a nightmare of boards and pieces of scrap plywood, but it is as solid a a rock. Typical engineer construction. The outside surfaces are are highly varnished pine and oak. Visitors marvel when they see it. I love it!

But it was where I needed to move chairs to watch the TV, so it needed to be moved. It is "solid" because it is very heavy. I can't even lift it up an inch, for example. I'm not the strongest guy, but I'm not weak either. Moving it takes 2 guys minimum. So I had to think about where to move it and how to move it by myself.

I have lived alone for 40 years, so I've gotten used to figuring out how to move large awkward heavy objects by myself. I decided to put it in the guest bedroom. First, I had to figure out if I could even get it into that room. Obviously, I couldn't just carry it there (it must weigh 200 pounds). And at 7' tall, I couldn't get it through any doors upright. It had to be moved on it's side.

I tried to visualize moving it on the side through the house and into the guest bedroom. I decided I needed a piece of something the same height to practice. I looked through the house for something that length. I could have cut an 8' pine stud to 7', but I kept looking around. I finally realized I had a 7' fishing rod.

I took that upstairs and carefully manuvered it through the rooms, hallways, into bedrooms, etc until I was certain that there was sufficient manuvering room. By about an inch! Then there was the carpet to consider in the guest room. The bar door is flush with the bottom of the frame. The frame would sink into the carpet and prevent the door from opening. The entire weight of the frame sits on the 2 outside ends. I cut two 5"x8"pieces of wood to sit the frame on to lift it enough for the door to open easily.

So, how to actually move it? I had a 2' square wheeled support I made years ago. After taking out all the various bar glassware out (wine glasses of several types, beer glasses, steins, etc), I detached the bar from the wall leaving the door open 90 degrees for surrort. It will fall down if not attached to the wall into a stud. From there I "walked it around carefully until I could pull it over on a corner to lay it down on it's side of the wheeled support. It was heavy, but I was careful.

I managed to keep it from tipping over as I wheeled it out of the dining room, into the living room, and slowly into the hallway. Near the guest room, I realized I had it oriented backwards, so I had to push it back ito the living room and slowly turn it around. Then back through the hallway!

To get it into the guest bedroom, I needed to angle it into the master bedroom then into the guest bedroom. It wouldn't make the turns. Not because of the length of the bar, but because the wheeled suooprt was too wide. I stopped and had a beer.

Well, I had some small 3-caster support things. Not very supportive, but they were narrow. It took 30 minutes to get the bar off the large wheeled support and onto the smaller 3 caster supports. The hard part was getting the large wheeled support out from under the bar. I could lift one end AND remove the large wheeled support at the same time. I finally tied twine to the support, looped it around a foot, and yanked one foot while lifting the end of the bar. It took many tries.

That wasn't the end of the problems. The bar kept wanting to fall sideways when I moved it on the narrow casters. And they slipped out several times as they were pushed and pulled from the wood hallway to the carpeted bedrooms.

But I did manage it eventually. I had the bar in the room and the back to the wall. I was finally able to rise the bar upright. I had to open the door to prevent it from falling forward. But then, the door had to be open so that I could drive a couple of screws throuth the back panel and into the wall studs to hold it in place anyway.

There were, of course, some problems I hadn't accounted for. There was an elecrical outlet I didn't want to block, there was a closet door molding I couldn't be up against because it is not plumb, and there was only a few inches of distance to the fully opened door. Fortunately, it turned out that I could expose the entire electric outlet inside the bar by moving it 3" from the closet molding and that left enough space for the room door to open fully. But knowing how awkward access to the electrical outlet was, I put a short extention cord out one side just over the baseboard cutout in the bar.

I had used a stud finder on the walls before I started, so I knew where to attach the bar's back boards to the walls. I missed one somehow, but I got one spot on, so the bar will stay in place. I even pulled on it a bit roughly just to be sure.

So I made dinner and had a whole bottle of wine in celebration! Afterwards, I cleaned all the glass shelves (very carefully) and interior wood and replaced all the glassware. I am quite pleased.

Pictures...












Next, I dare try to move the heavy Flat Screen TV and table myself!

New End Table Plans

Here are the tables I plan to build.



There will be some changes. The basic end table will be built exactly as designed. The "sofa" table will be built to the width and length, the same height as the end table. That is because I want an "end table" that is narrow to fit between an easy chair and a wall. The third table will be a smaller version of the standard end table to serve as a plant stand. I may actually make 2 of those, I just haven't decided yet.

The tops of the tables are made from Baltic Birch furniture grade plywood, and there is considerable waste from the 2' x 4' sheets. I need to sit down and see if there is enough leftovers for the size plant stand tops I need. The plant stands have to have enough spread between the legs to be sturdy enough to prevent the cats from knocking them over. I am considering making the plant stand tops round, but I might make the square just for consistency of design.

I might have to angle the plant stand legs outward or attach them to a larger plywood base for stability. I might build the coffee table, but I'm not sure where I would put it. As I don't have a sofa, I'm not sure where I would use it. I might build one taller to use as an eating surface. I like to watch science&nature TV while eating, and TV trays are wobbly.

Happy 4th of July

I'm just laying back today and cooking a couple chickens in the smoker... As usual, I read the Declaration of Independence out loud on the deck, and thought about my uncles who fought in WWII. It is good to remember these things.

I did reassemble the table for temporary use, found a good design for a new one, and made a list of the wood I need for it. Three tables actually. One end table, one skinny wall-side table, and one small one as a plant stand. At least I will have some matching furniture!

Making some progress on clearing the vine-overgrown framed garden beds. Will try to post on that tomorrow! I need to dump the pictures into the computer and crop them, etc. But not now; the chicken is ready and I'm starving!

But before I go, I want to say "Let freedom spread. Let it spread. Let freedom ring through the valleys and to spread from every mountainside, from every shore, from every field, from every hill and trench, from the cemetaries of wars to the memorials to the fallen, to the homes, to the bed of the last soldier veteran".

May it rest in all our hearts every day.

I honor and salute you who have fallen in the service of the nation...

Refinish Ocassional Table Project -2

Well, I took the table downstairs and examined it carefully.



It doesn't really look as good as I thought.

When I disassembled it, I discovered that there were some broken boards glued back together. Perhaps someone fell on it decades ago. I couldn't tell from picking up the whole thing, but the individual pieces are extremely light. Some off the receded screw-holes and plagged, and I don't want to damage drills removing the plugs. It appears to be pine that was painted, then stained in some way that appeared to leave a hardwood grain, then varnished (or shellacked - I can't tell). The unfinished wood (under the connections) is even a bit punky. The whole thing is butt-jointed which is not very solid.

It's no family heirloom...



So, I looked through some of my woodworking magazines and found a couple I like. One is even designed so that the top appears to be floating above the frame. I'll decide which one I like best, follow the exact design for 2 regular size end tables and scale it down smaller for 1 as a matching plant stand, get the wood (oak), and go from there. Well, I DID want to build all my own furniture eventually anyway. Might as well start now...

But not this week. I think I will turn my attention back to the garden. There are still 3 framed beds overgrown with vines. It will be better to tackle those now, rather than wait until the heat of late July and August. The temperatures are forecast to stay in the low-mid 80s for a week, and that won't last for long.

A Frustrating Day

I didn't start work on the table today. I got up late, vacuumed the newly renovated jon boat and attempted to put the new boat cover on it. I bought the cover months ago, before I had "done" the boat. The box clearly described that it fitted 16' pointed front and square front boats and that it had reinforced corners.

If you aren't familiar with "square front" (jon) boats, you can slightly see it here.



I unfolded it and found 2 narrow reinforced corners and hooked them on the front corners. I stretched it out toward the back and hooked a third reinforced corner and hooked it on 1 rear corner. No 4th corner! I went round and round the cover trying to find the 4th corner.

Well, sometimes I an more persistent than mentally swift. It took a bit to realize that there were only 3 corners on the cover and I had it backwards. I reversed the cover on the boat after a few minutes. The back corners fit nicely, but I realized the thing was really only designed for a V front boat, not a square front one like mine. I went inside and examined the description on the style of boat the cover was supposed to be designed for.

Yep, it showed a picture of a square front 16' jon boat. But it won't fit. I can hook the front reinforced corner over a trolling motor attachment in the center of the front, but it will NOT stretch out to the sides (and there is no reinforcement there anyway).

I repackaged it (no easy task, they must use elephants to squeeze the cover small enough to fit into the box) and returned it to Walmart. They refused to take it back even with a receipt because it was over 90 days. That wasted 40 minutes of driving there and back and standing in the long return line.

I'm going to email the manufacturer to see if I can mail it to them for a credit. It clearly will not work as advertised.

So I got home and decided I had to weed the garden some. I had added compost from the Compost-Tumbler I bought a few years ago. Don't ever buy one. It will NOT heat the compost up enough to kill viable seeds. I ended up with hybrid grocery store cantalope seeds EVERYWHERE. Now, that wasn't a problem among the tomatoes, corn, or pole beans. But I can't tell which seedlings are cucumbers that I planted and which are unwanted commercial cantalopes!



I THINK the cucumbers have a slightly more pointed leaf, but I am not confident enough to pull the blunt leaf plants out yet. I knew I could pull out everything that wasn't directly under the trellis. I left 2 large seedling not in the row so that I could see what the melons looked like as they grew. Hopefully, I can use those to differentiate between the melons and the cukes.

After weeding the corn and the new herb garden, it got dark, so I came inside to make dinner (steak, fresh corn, and salad). With wine, of course.

Hopefully, I can start on the table tomorrow...

I suppose that, since this blog is about projects, I can brag about the boat work. After years of making plywood floors that rooted in a few years, I decided to end the problem by getting some heavy duty aluminum plate floors. It wasn't cheap ($300 for a 4'x8' plate) but I think it will be worth it.

I had the sheet cut to 2 pieces, attached outdoor carpet to the aluminum with exterior double-sided tape, and attached bolts with fender washers at the corners. Then I attached seat pedestals in the center (being careful to straddle the ribs of the bottom of the boat. I found there was a slight flex in the aluminum plate which caused some noise walking on it, so I lifted them off and put some cheaper outdoor carpet underneath. That solved the problem.



I have to say it looks a feels "right" now.

Refinish Ocassional Table Project

I have an old table that my Dad built in the 1950's. It was originally built to hold one of those "new-fangled" hi-fi record players. The front part held the "new" LP records and the turntable sat on top.



Your eyes aren't deceiving you, it really does narrow slightly toward the back. I don't know why. Maybe that was the style of the time. I don't remember; I was a kid then. But when I got my first apartment, that was one of the pieces of furniture that my parents were willing to let go and I have brought it with me from place to place to place ever since. I have been using it as a lamp table and magazine holder.

And I'm not surprised they gave it to me. It is a bit of an odd thing. I think Dad is actually a bit embarassed to see it still around (but pleased that I like it). Well, aside from the fact that my Dad made it (which matters to me) it is a bit of a quirky, eccentric piece.

I like weird furniture with a family history. My dining table dates back to when my mother was a child. A matching writing desk serves as my bedroom "collect-all" surface. My bar is a framed door with 8" sides and glass shelves (built by Dad).

I don't like up-to-date, fashionable furniture. Even my swivel-rocker chairs are unique because I sent the manufacturer black fabric to use in place of their standard peach/aqua/brick selections (they were thrilled by my request and did it at no additional cost). The only mass-produced furniture I have is the TV table (I needed one THAT DAY) and the 7 ceiling height bookcases I bought from an office furniture company (because I couldn't find old matching bookcases and REALLY did not feel like making so many).

So this table needs work. It hasn't ever been refinished in its nearly 60 years, it is scratched and stained. And it has a peculiar design flaw (I hope Dad doesn't ever read this) because the back end is supported by a single point. It is tippy when weight is applied to the back corners.



Most of the original finish is gone. I don't know what the finish is (lacquer, shellac, varnish?). I hope modern strippers will remove it. I'll be finding out soon. I might have to plane 1/32" off some surfaces. As far as I can tell by looking at the construction, that shouldn't cause a problem. But it would mean I will have to remove and clean the planer knives afterwards I think.

I plan to add support to the back leg. Cats (and myself) have knocked it over a few times because of that. I think attaching a 1"x3"x12" board inside the back leg should solve the tipping problem. It shouldn't be difficult to match the bevel of the tapered leg. I may notch it in to the leg.

I can't tell what kind of wood it is. It isn't pine or oak. It might be poplar or ash. It might even be maple. I suspect it is even mixed woods. The front bottom on the record holder appears to be baseboard molding. I may be able to tell after the finish and stain is removed.



It has a number of attached smaller boards that make up the surfaces. I hope it doesn't fall apart when I disassemble it... LOL! Well, if the boards separate, I have a biscuit cutter and modern glues.

Some thanks Are In Order...

First, my thanks to all the kitty blog friends who have visited the new blog.

Second, my thanks to Scott (Foot Butter Guy) who suggested that Caladiums are toxic to cats. I checked and he is correct. Caladiums are routinely listed among the top 10 toxic houseplants to cats (and probably other animals).

As a result, I will grow them only in the hanging pots the cats can't reach, only in the front yard where the cats never go, and in some pots on the top of bookcases (where even Ayla cannot reach). And I will not attempt to save any (except for a few dozen for the indoors hanging baskets next year). And that is assuming they grow well indoors.

The front left landscaping box will become Snow on the Mountain next year.

Thank you, Scott, for the advice. I didn't suspect caladiums were a danger...

Planted The New Landscape Box

I don't believe I planted about 500 Caladiums today! Oh my back...



Well first, I set down 4 paver blocks (so I can reach my hose faucet and the water company can read their meter without trampling emerging plants). I rooted tip cuttings of Nandina to be planted in the back corners (which matches the Right Front Landscaping Box which is full of hostas and Japanese Painted Ferns).

I was careful not to compress the soil. I spread a plastic tarp 2' shy of the back edge and dropped a sheet of plywood on it to spread my weight (no sense in getting the plywood dirty). Every few inches, I jammed a trowel into the soil, lifted a bit and slid a Caladium bulb in (a corm, if you want to get technical about it).

I put them in irregularly, but every couple of feet I pulled the tarp and plywood forward.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat...

I saved the forward front corner for the 2 dozen tulip bulbs I dug up mixing the soil. That should be impressive next Spring.

The soil level is at least an inch lower than the frame. That leaves room to add shredded bark mulch. That part was planned.

I'm annoyed at the person I bought the Caladium bulbs from. I emailed him saying I had a 12x8' area. He said I needed the 40 pound box. Right! There must be 3,000 bulbs in the box and the instructions say to plant them 6 inches apart. So I used 500 of them. They're not perennial even in my area, so I can't just plant them all over the garden and ignore them. Any I want to save for next year, I have to dig up this Fall.

I'll pot up a lot for inside the house (they love deep shade). But aside from that the rest are expensive compost. I hate waste like that. I tried to give buckets of them to neighbors, but no one wanted them (They didn't even know what Caladiums are). I think I will just give it up as a bad idea. I can transplant Snow On The Mountain from my hosta bed next year and that will fill the spot up for a decade. For free.



Well, you live and learn... I went to a garden catalog rating site and gave the company a negative rating. And I think I will contact the company and complain about be seriously "oversold". They might respond.

A Few Days Without Rain?

Wow, that will be amazing! I was able to mow the lawn yesterday. It was 6" high and falling over. I had to do it slowly because there was so much grass it was choking even a lawn tractor. And I think I have to get at the bottom of the mower deck and pry crushed grass off of it. It reduces the area where grass blades can be recut. I bet the stuff is an inch thick.

Speaking of the lawn tractor, I have to start it with a portable battery pack these days. The battery is just dead! But the problem isn't the battery. I replaced that last spring and late last summer. The problem is whatever recharges the battery. I'm not good at that stuff.

I assume there is an alternator or a generator that has failed. But the last time I took apart an engine, it stayed "taken apart".

I've taken a look at the engine and couldn't even figure out how to GET at any of the parts. Things are actively designed these days to deliberately thwart owner repairs. I can't even get at the spark plugs without detaching the engine and raising it, which I can't do.

It seems I will have to jump start the mower, drive it onto my trailer, haul it to a repair place, then jump start it again just to drive it off the trailer into the repair shop. ARGH!

I am very close to just buying a new one. Consumer Reports says great things about a John Deere 42" lawn tractor. I've only had this White-Outdoor brand lawn tractor 8 years, and it has given me nothing but trouble. It doesn't even cut level no matter how I adjust the tire inflation. My cheap Hechinger model lasted 12 years and worked better.

Hmmm, I think I've talked myself into a new lawn tractor... Now what do I do with the existing one? I bet it can be fixed, so it must be worth something... Sell it $200 "as is"?