Monday, July 20, 2020

It's ALIVE!

OK, Campers, it's been a busy week at Rancho Juvat, so let's get started.

 Time hack. It's 0400 out in Tuna-Land, 0600 on the Rancho and those crazy, lazy lugs (you know who you are) on the East Coast are just starting to stir at 0700.

Next we'll go with the Weather.




Nobody does the weather quite like him.  After a week or so of 100o+ days, we're back down to relatively cool mid-90's.  So, the walks up to feed the horses aren't quite so drenching.

On-going Mission Reports

1) Status of Little J.  Still in durance vile.  His replacement had some trouble jumping hoops to get into country which delayed his arrival in country. The past tense of that last verb telling the story.  However, like everyone else with this communist flu, the replacement is now in his quarantine period.  After which Little J and he will do some handover coordination for about a week.  Once that is satisfactorily accomplished, Little J will depart and return to Kuwait where, word on the street right now is, he will be put up in a hotel, by himself, for his 14 day quarantine.  After which, he can rejoin his beloved.  Sometime around August 20th which, if one believes in omens, was my father's birthday.

So, we've got that going for us.

2) MBD construction project status.  Since MBD is working from home (like a bazillion other folks) and SIL is beginning his final year of Seminary School, they need workspace in their house.  MBD asked if I could make a desk big enough for the both of them to work without bumping elbows all the time.

One can ALWAYS make something bigger.  The problem is how big is the container it's going into.  In this case, the living room which is not too big.  So, the desk will be L shaped with one leg at 7' exactly and the other leg at 6' 8".  About 23" deep.  I set out to my favorite big box store to buy some 5/4 cedar deck planks that I'd had great success using on my chair/bench project for the guest house.  On arrival, I found they only had two in stock and both were warped, bent and bowed (AKA unusable except for fire wood).  I asked the friendly guy at customer service when he expected another load.  Well,  apparently, the gummint dictated that saw mills were not essential business, so had been shut down. They had only recently reopened and backlog was large. I mentioned that lumber was essential to my mental health and so that decision was, like so many recently, BS.

He agreed, and asked what I was working on, so I told him and he took me by the hand (ok we stayed 6' apart, but you get my meaning) and walked me to another section of the store where he showed me some cedar boards.

They were gorgeous!  (Gorgeous is the wood worker's term for "expensive".)  So, I did some cipherin' and spoke with my banker.  Mrs J said I could go ahead and get them.  (Apparently, I had been getting cranky lately with nothing to keep me busy other than the house and the foreman was getting tired of my questions so...)


Toldja they were gorgeous

 I loaded 4 8'x12"x11/16" Cedar planks into my truck and headed home.

Now, my workshop is 15' long, so my first thoughts were how the heck am I going to plane them.  I puzzled on that for a day or so when one of those 3AM moments happened.  The Tail Gate of my Truck works pretty well as a bench for a planer and with a Saw horse for an entry support and a roller stand for the output, the planing went relatively smooth.  However, the  thickness was now just over 1/2".  So, I went back to my friend and bought a sheet of 5/8" plywood (one side sanded, no knots).  Cut it in half lengthwise then used each piece as a base to laminate two of the planks side by side together.

Used a couple of pipe clamps to gently force the sides together on the dowels

I used dowels every 6" to keep the top level and was very pleasantly surprised that it worked quite well when I put the pipe clamps on and cranked them down a bit.

Cut a notch in the side that would go against the wall, for an electric/USB charging port, then put a piece of trim around the edge.

Then came....Sanding.

Yes, Beans, I was very religious about wearing a dust mask.  (Sorry, gonna go off topic.  Even with the dusk mask on all the time I was in the shop, I still had saw dust in my nostrils.  My shop mask is much better than all the masks I see being worn at the store.  I can see sawdust, I can't see the communist flu virus.  Tell me again, why we MUST wear masks? Going back on topic,now. Sorry!)

Finally, I got the first leg sanded to satisfaction.  4 coats of Polyurethane later and Voila'.


 This week's project is a repeat of last weeks.  Is Ground Hog Day coming soon?

3) Last week, while waiting for finish coats to dry, Mrs J was being ruthless!

"VE must purge ze junk ve haf accumulated in zis House over ze past twenty years!  Get to Verk!"

"Jawohl, mein Anführer ... ich meine meine Liebe".

When Dad had passed away, we brought most of his "stuff" to our house intending to go through it when we had time.

Yeah, Right!

Well, now was the time.  So I'm going through the stuff and I find an envelope with my Mother's handwriting on it.  So I opened it up.



 This was cool.  They're the ration books for my Aunt and Uncle who were 2 and 8 months old at the time of issue.



This was my first indication that my Favorite Aunt's first name wasn't Janet.



The instructions were interesting.  Not much waffling around back then, I guess.


And signed by my Grandfather.

It was a good moment.

4) Finally, I've got a video of our construction supervisor at a critical moment in the construction process.








Yes, we have electricity and air conditioning!

And flooring and fixtures.


And a front door.

Appliances will be delivered and installed this week and then the inspections will commence.  The last major portion of this project, paving the road and putting down concrete in the low water crossings should begin in the next week or so.  Once that's done, we can set a closing date and start my 45th and last move.

Yeah...I'm a bit excited!

41 comments:

  1. Good news about Little Juvat, apparently there is a light at the end of the table, and it's not a train.

    That desk top is impressive, that's some really nice material.

    The ration books are awesome, what great bits of history.

    Finally, the house is looking awesome, love that front door.

    A lot going on in this post, love it!

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    1. My Aunt called last night after I'd emailed her pictures of the Ration Book. She told me the whole Lillian story. I only remember one of my great grandparents, my maternal great grandmother who had emigrated from the Naples Region of Italy. Lillian was my Paternal great grandmother. Lillian Jane to be precise. My grandmother didn't want to call her Lillian and didn't like Jane so added the T to the end od Jane and called her Janet. When my Aunt turned 18 she had her name legally changed to Janet which is why I never knew otherwise. So...Off to the Post Office to Mail some Ration books.

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  2. That desk wood is....ge...org.....ous. Neat to see the WWII history, "Office of Price Administration"..... ration boards, draft boards....total war back then. Mr. Edison is smiling, juvat and that door.....nice touch on the stars, like the coloring also. Nice update.

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    1. Thanks Nylon, The door really does look great.

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  3. Very cool post. Those cedar boards.... man.... Homer has been selling little Poplar hobby boards for cheap. I've been using them lately. Your comment about essential explains why the first batch of 1 x 3's I got were Finnish Fir.... product of Finland.
    And speaking of finish. I HATE THAT PART OF A PROJECT! I have a devil of a time getting finish the way I like it. My hat is off to you. They look great. My favorite finish for pine is to just seal it up... and let it pumpkin out over time. Cedar is just like that naturally. 1/2 inch veneer is a great idea.

    Ration books were too cool. And I had a great aunt whose name was just backwards of what I was told... Faded memories.

    Nicely done.

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    1. I actually like the finish part, when the first stroke hits the wood and you see the color pop out, Man that makes the project worth the effort. Now, the step immediately prior to the finish is my least favorite. I've got sawdust everywhere in my shop. Just swapped out the air filter filter. It was absolutely full and it's still all over everything. And I've still got one desktop left to sand. I just finished putting the edge band on it. Gonna let the glue dry overnight, then tomorrow.....back on the sander.

      Yippee!

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  4. I added a roller to the top of the planer to make the board passing go easier.
    Yep, adding the infeed and outfeed requirements makes a looooong distance!
    Very nice work.

    We needed a small number of pressure treated boards a couple of weeks ago and our experience was the same as yours. That project is bumped until resupply occurs.

    Family history that you can hold in your hand provides a connection to our past that is very special. And nothing was typed!

    And you are right, part of the isolation induced crankiness is that I'm neither making, nor fixing as much stuff as usual.

    The house continues to march towards completion and becoming a home. Looking good.

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    1. John,
      A week or so after the incident, I had visited Lowe's website. Since our internet provider is headquartered in San Angelo and I'm pretty religious about clearing cookies, the Lowe's site loaded a San Angelo store. They had the deck panels. I searched other store sites a little closer to me and some of them also had them. You might try that trick if needed.

      Thanks.

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    2. I will check it out. Thank you.

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  5. "Such action, like treason, helps the enemy." Nope, the govt didn't mince words. Now that's all most politicians do.

    VE must purge ze junk ve haf in my house too. After seeing and somehow getting rid of all of her mom's stuff my wife was on a little Purge effort here yesterday is well. We do have a lot of stuff including massive amounts of paperwork that was kept for some important reason that we no longer remember, so let the purging begin!

    Really love your front door.

    By the way, I had lunch with a fellow kniggit yesterday who is now retired and can no longer stand California. He said he will be moving out your way. he's in El Paso native though so he probably gets a pass. He's a good man and will not be bringing any of California's values to Texas.

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    1. Hey!
      California values were just fine until the carpetbaggers overwhelmed us.
      Drove property values into the unaffordable range, they did.
      Raised taxes to unconscionable levels, they did.
      Brought us the worst of whatever they had, they did.
      Snuck up on us, they did.

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    2. Tuna,
      You do realize that El Paso is only 508 miles away from where I enter the Interstate, right? We're just like next door neighbors. And the speed limit is 80 all the way!

      Yep, that sentence was the one that caught my eye. Somebody today would probably have a coronary if they read that.

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    3. Skip,
      Yeah and they're moving here, driving up home prices, voting for the same type candidate that screwed up CA, and generally not being Texas Friendly. A pox on all of them.

      Delete
  6. Things winding down on some fronts, cranking up elsewhere.
    It’s always somethin’ innit?
    I look at what we’re up against purgewise here and cringe.
    So much has been done and it looks like a dent hasn’t even been made.
    Yet, it’s only stuff, but it’s kinda cool when it jogs the memories.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It IS always something, Skip. I've said it before, but....The only thing that reproduces faster than rabbits, is "stuff". Tis true.

      We have rediscovered some pretty neat stuff, like the notebook we kept when we came down here the year before I retired from the Air Force and were looking at various towns as possibilities. I made each of us write something they thought about the town. MBD was in 2nd Grade. Little J was going to be a Freshman in HS. Reading through them long after the fact was entertaining and enlightening. To say the least.

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  7. Gee, how can you tell who's a Texan? Don't worry, they'll tell you! (regarding the doors.) I really like how they made the security bars very decorative. Looks really nice. And electricity, too. So what's next to do?

    Does the varnish/finish make the cedar any harder than it is? Other than that, looks really good. As to sawdust, you might consider getting a shop air filter as they actually make big air filters just for the shop (don't get the Harbor Freight version or the Jet version as they are not built very well (duh) but the Laguna Supermax (lagunatools.com) has a good rating.) That and a shopwide vacuum system with one of those big dust collectors (mine is a Shopsmith and works fantastic) really cuts down on airborne dust, which will help you get a better finish (always hate coming back to a freshly finished surface to find suddenly a swarm of bugs or dust or both stuck in the surface.)

    Nice on the ration books. Way things are going, I'm wondering if we're headed there come November and the following January.

    Hope LJ gets things straightened out. Must be murderous to be separated from his family the way he is. Hope his Skype connection (or whatever he is using) is good.

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    Replies
    1. In fact, Beans, I just now got off a 3 way Skype call with he and his wife. So far the plan is being executed as expected, I'll feel better when he's actually out of country even if he is in quarantine on the other side.

      For the builder, it's just install appliances, then clean and touch up paint. I'm supposed to meet with the concrete guy today about the low water crossings. Once those are done, the chip seal guy will finish the road and then we can close. There's a light at the end of the tunnel and I ain't heard a train whistle yet, so....

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  8. Good progress on your house. Looks like you will be in well before Thanksgiving and possibly in it by the end of August but NLT the end of September. Saw your post last week, your granite sure looks familiar! Working at another branch of your favorite Big Box Store (nearly 40 hours a week and generally The Closer at night) puts a damper on my on-line time and so I don't get by as often as I like.

    Real nice work with the cedar. I got the small workshop book STxAR mentioned some time back and saw that one person put in a window size opening to the outside to handle oversized boards.

    I understand about the clean out as we still have stuff from my late mother's estate which includes a lot of my father's things to go through. There are always surprises in there like the ration cards you found.

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    1. Thanks, Bill. I had wondered why you had dropped off line. Now I know. I also bought STxAR's book, there's some pretty good stuff in there.

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    2. You guys made my day! I am always glad to help a brother out.

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  9. Your wood shop skills continue to impress. Great post.
    I always wondered what my Flight Surgeon buddy did after he separated. Now I know. Speaking of being old, the spectre of Miss. Jeanie and I having to return to the Left Coast may become a possibility/necessity. Drat! Not yet, though. We're hanging on to the beach as best we can. MSG SECRET NOFORN

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    1. The Aunt I mentioned is still living out there near San Rafael. She and my Uncle are a couple of the "good ones". So there are still some of them around.

      Hang in there, D4. Thanks

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    2. That's close-by to Hamilton AFB (RIP) where I got my first $ ride in a T-bird in 1960. Got commissioned there out of AFROTC Summer Camp. Oh, and, my very first salute from a MSGT who knew to wait outside the barracks for us new brown bars. Made some dough, he did.

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    3. D4,
      I was born on Hamilton. Dad was an F-86 guy when he met Mom in 53, married her in 54. I was birn in 55 and rode a troopship to Okinawa in 56. I liked that tradition of a buck for first salute. It was $2 for me. $1 for the ROTC SGT outside and an additional buck to the SP at Main Gate at Laughlin when I reported in.

      Th

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  10. Way much coolness in this post juvat!

    I find it so hard believe that well over 99 percent of the people who live in this land believe in the majik virus. I wonder if they realize that they're for the immediate chop once el salvadore takes over.

    Those ration books are treasure!

    House is looking fantastic and your woodworking skills deserve to be showcased.

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    1. Thanks Hoss. Yeah, I’m having a hard time getting my head around the hysteria.

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  11. Woodworking looks lovely Juvat. Good (hopefully) about little J.

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    1. Thanks. We're keeping the prayers going until RTB is complete.

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  12. That laminated cedar desk is a sight to behold. Gorgeous is understating things. But that's just me, I love this big, thick, manly wooden stuff. The bigger, thicker, manlier and glossier, the better. Verithane is OK, but fiberglass is better. More manly.

    Again, maybe that's just me.

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    1. I’m interested about fiberglass. Got a website with a “ how to”?

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  13. Dust mask? Man, you need a P100 respirator! That's all that was allowed way back almost 3 decades ago when I worked in the finish department at Gibson Guitar (and I still kick myself for not taking advantage of their 50% employee discount when I was there, but the 12-string I really liked was a bit out of budget, and the low-end 6-string just didn't do it for me). Nowadays, I wear a P100 full-face respirator since with some operations, I need something to keep dust out of my eyes, too, and it makes zero sense to wear both a respirator and separate goggles when I can just wear a one-piece bit of gear. I just need to remember to use the air compressor to blow dust off the face shield part, and not to wipe it off to avoid scratches.

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    1. Does that work with glasses? Keeping the dust out of my eyes (as well as my lungs of course) would be kinda nice.

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  14. Woo hoo! Beautiful work on the table too!

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  15. Spent the last couple of days admiring that table, and have finally thought to ask - what are you using for the edge around the table?
    Frank

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    1. A relatively inexpensive 1/4 “ x 1.25 “ x 84” pine strip x 6. Fits the edges and gives me a 1/4” or so to hide the leg attachment hardware. Got some nice striping to counterbalance the wide color changes of the cedar.



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  16. Thanks, I thought it looked like pine from the pic. Just completed a potting bench for the missus using a drill, circular saw, sander, and what I could remember from Jr High shop class mumble-mumble years ago. Work area was the car port floor - no shop, more's the pity. When things start coming together it is quite a feeling.
    Frank

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    1. To hide the plywood layer, I edge banded it with pine, so that's probably what pointed you in that direction. Before I got my table saw and built my work bench, the floor of the shop WAS the workbench. However as I learned shortly thereafter, getting down on the floor was significantly easier than getting UP off the floor.

      Thanks.

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    2. Oh, yes. My knees, and other body parts, were screaming at me about the floor business - "STOP THAT, you're not a kid anymore!!!".

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