| Author | Message | ||
     Ourdee |
Oh, I ache.     720 board feet done. 2160 to go. | ||
| Ourdee |
I know some of you don't look at farcebook. I shared this today after seeing another post that flooded my mind with a memory that I had to let out. The setting is a summer day in my youth: I remember the little boy walking on the train tracks out in the country between the corn fields and woods. Those rails were stinging hot on bare feet in the sun. It was sensory overload when the creosote timber ties left a light scent in the air, and the course cinders that framed them were added in to the picture. The woods were cool with the sound of a babbling creek and taste of stolen sweet corn on my pallet. The thought of climbing shoeless back over the wire farm fence to get home often made you crawl through the culvert where the creek passed through under the tracks on the way to the pond. So young and naive that I had to check that no leaches had latched on to me in the creek. I now know that thought was a piece of wall mother installed in a vain attempt to keep me out of the water. Then up the mud bank and through the tall grassy field filled with sheep. A gravel drive and into grandma's house to find the pitcher of lemonade grandpa kept in the propane powered refridgerator where inevitably grandma would catch me drinking without a glass. Age now fills me with knowledge that escaped that youngster. For Grandpa in first sharing his pitcher of lemonade with me when I had gained the strength to hoist the prize high enough. He would drink heartily from the cold vessle then loudly sigh. It sounded like, "AHHHH" heavy on the h, and with great enthuisiasm. Little did I know he was setting me up to be caught by Grandma when participating in the ritual by myself. I stood in heaven on the tile floor with Grandpa. There was a wood frame screen door between us and the breeze-way. Grandpa had poured the cement in the breeze-way. Him and one of my Great Uncles had worn out a pair of trowls making it pollished smooth as glass. It was cool and removed the memories ingrained in the soles of your feet.  My hope is to inspire you to collect a long forgotten happy memory of your own. | ||
| Ourdee |
Kitchen and family room have been combined with the new flooring installed. I will save the trim for rainy slow days. As I looked at making the floor flow into the living room, I noticed the 36" where someone had trimmed it in the past and hung a crude door. If I ever want to open the wall up, now is the best time. I will only have to re-cut one piece of floor to continue on. On to the pics.     | ||
| Ourdee |
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| Ourdee |
Went from 36" to 49" wide opening. Saves me a foot of travel from the bedroom to the kitchen. And two feet of travel from the table to the restroom and back. Ergonomics brother, ergonomics. | ||
| 1313 |
Went from 36" to 49" wide opening. So, what you are saying is that you added 13 inches to the width of your opening, correct? 13? Huh... | ||
| Ourdee |
That B correct! | ||
| 1313 |
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| Ourdee |
Set 4 corner posts for the MIL today. Only 22 posts to dig and set to go. Then 23 panels and 2 gates of privacy fence. I thought I was retired. | ||
| Ourdee |
So, I am in Chicago yesterday. I look at the ceiling in the hotel in the middle of the night.  Do you think that is radioactive? | ||
| Glitch |
Its a ghoul. You're lucky you survived! | ||
| Ourdee |
A toy I made a long time ago.  | ||
| Ourdee |
Two posts left to install. Have to hand dig out the roots.  | ||
| Ourdee |
I plan on taking a saws-all to the roots in the two remaining post holes tomorrow morning while it is cool out. Got in a ride this morning on Lil Red. Thought I was going for a second ride when I walked into the heat and turned around. I came across this today and started tearing it down:  | ||
| Airbozo |
Awesome project! I've been looking for an affordable sax or clarinet to rebuild for a while. | ||
| Ourdee |
This one is very rough. Most of the pads fell out. A couple of keys were locked solid. It will be challenging. It will not be perfect. | ||
| Airbozo |
When I was in Jr. High, I wanted to play saxophone in jazz band. Too many sax players so they asked if I wanted to play Bass Clarinet. It looked funky and sounded cool, so I said yes. Ended up having to fix 75% of the keys and pads because it had sat in the cabinet for so long, everything dried out. https://omeka1.grinnell.edu/MusicalInstruments/ite ms/show/186 | ||
| Ourdee |
The Bass Clarinet is the cool looking horn. I liked playing the sax to the theme song on "My Three Sons". | ||
| Ourdee |
Today I am thinking of one of those random meeting in life that leaves you contemplating how you were blessed with a Forrest Gump moment. I met a man in the early 80s over-seas. He was an elderly man that looked too old for his position in life. His rank was of a Tech Sergeant in the USAF. He lived in a Barracks ten miles from the main base near a sleepy little town called Feltwell. I wonder if he is still alive. He seamed a wise old man and told fantastic stories. I was impressed that he had been ferreted away to live his days out in obscurity. One day in particular stands out to me. I was prying do to the situation not rhyming or reasoning and I got him to discussing what lead to his predicament. A tale ensued pouring out a foreshadowing in immense darkness. The people he had been working with were all dead. On May 1st, 1946 one of them had a screw driver slip. It was a fatal mistake. One of the words that stuck in my mind was Manhattan. As in Manhattan Project. It was established in 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The accident occurred during a procedure that had became common to those in the room. They called it tickling the dragons tail. When the screw driver slipped there was a blue flash of light. There were three plutonium cores developed. The price of just one was $500,000,000.oo. The first 2 were used in Japan. The third one was played with in a lab. The dragon was woke up one day. It killed everyone in the room. This guy knew them all. There were details he knew that had locked him in the prison he lived in. I remember taking him to an outing at Silverstone Circuit. It always seamed we were watched where ever we went and he mainly stayed in the barracks. The guys around him were always an odd lot. I was on a long tour and over stayed it by half a year. He did not seam like he was ever going to leave. I left there after three and a half years. Uncle Sam was always giving me presents. One Friday they let me have a room mate that was in protective custody. I came home Monday afternoon and he was gone. I didn't ask any questions. So, when I was assigned to a barracks in the country, I didn't ask any questions. There were supposed to be 22 guys living there. There were only 11 of us. We had a maid. Everyone had a private room. We often chipped in and had large dinners or cook outs. The numbers just never jived. There was a steam plant that provided steam to our building through concrete covered trenches. Nearby I would bicycle to EOD's area and watch them play with det. cord and other things. It was foggy most days and rained over half the time. Summer was two weeks long with sun shine and temps in the lower 70s. The local pub imported Jack Daniels for me, kept my glass behind the bar and would put ice in my drink. When anyone else ordered a coke, it was served warm in the can. Most people did not have a refrigerator in their residence at the time. Meat was high priced and not helped by mad cow disease. I am still not allowed to donate blood. Now days I have to tell the blood drive people they don't want my blood. And they agree. Now I ask myself what I was doing there, and did he ever get to leave? I'll never know, and I don't ask questions. | ||
| 86129squids |
..."not helped by mad cow disease." That explains a lot, my friend.   No seriously, thanks for the great story, and for your service. | ||
| Britchri10 |
You didn't like our Norfolk weather? Maybe yer man was being hidden abroad under the cover of "Space Command"? | ||
| Ourdee |
Nope, Don't care for Norfolk weather either. Space Command LOL | ||
| Zac4mac |
Good story RD. Write more please. I can add stories but they are all biker/sailor stories. S,D and R&R. I did hear a tale of a torpedoed US nuke sub... Nothing as good as knowing someone who worked at Alamagordo or Livermore. Z | ||
| Ourdee |
Or seeing the men dressed in Homer Simpson suits open a cap and steam comes out of the dessert ground as the Homers all take off running from it. I couldn't leave because I didn't have permission to abandon my post. | ||
| Ourdee |
Yesterday I got up early to send the dog to the groomer. Then I had been looking for an inversion table. Found one with heat for $20. It is like new with dust. I finished the privacy fence install for the MIL. Cut a lawn for $40. Then cut my own lawn. Then got rained on. Then on Craigslist before midnight I replied to a guy in a high end neighborhood wanting someone to come pick up his riding mower for $20. He called and said come on over. It needs fresh gas and a carb clean. Has a strong battery. Not a bad day for piddling around. | ||
| 86129squids |
Good on ya, bro. We were woken up by my other dog having a seizure in bed with us... don't know what to think anymore. We've been painting, doing a minor bathroom remodel... gotta wonder if the paint and/or construction adhesive could cause a seizure. Our little guy (chihuahua mix) is now on 3 meds to control his seizures... sure hope we won't have to put the Basenji on meds too. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I know my border collie mix - with one eye - went into seizures just from the fire pit. High-functioning brain, combined with one eye, combined with a dark yard and flicker-flicker lighting from the fire pit, sent her over the edge. Haven't used the fire pit in 7 years. She's never had another seizure. | ||
| Ourdee |
I was wrong about the riding mower. Gas and carb were fine. I poured a few drops of fuel in the carb, no fire. I went to check the plug and the boot was off. I plugged it in and it has been running fine ever since. I threw 2 new blades on it. Now I have a mower for clearing out over grown yards. If I trash it on a piece of scrap, no biggie.I have $60 tied up in it now. 38" cut with 12.5 hearse pers. It will scalp dirt. If I don't trade it for a boat. | ||
| 86129squids |
I remember you mentioning that, Joe. We just can't track down the factor(s) that precipitated the Basenji's episode. The Chihuahua mix had a hard blow to the skull that triggered his condition- he tried to jump in my lap under the patio table, I was sitting too close to the table, WHAM! He jumped right into the edge of the table frame. Pardon the thread-jack, RD. Send us some of your good luck, friend. BTW, WDVX is playing "Lawn Mower Man" right now. | ||
| 86129squids |
Have I mentioned that I LOVE WDVX? Best radio station on God's green Earth. |
