sawduststeve
Well-known member
Bob, I would have thought that the above ^^^ just strengthens the argument for a four car garage.
Great work in rangleing the freezer home.
Steve
Great work in rangleing the freezer home.
Steve
(they knew I wouldn't be interested if it was $300)
(Costco knows I wouldn't but a 6-pound pie for the two of us).
Leonard, I watched that video or a longer one exactly like it several years ago. It made me buy the set of Japanese water stones that live in my tool chest. That led to more purchases because, you know, Parakeet Syndrome.For some reason I had the desire to sharpen my plane irons so I could take a tissue thin slice off.

Leonard, a perfect description of my situation. The dog-squirrel metaphor attaches way too much intelligence to my syndrome.Yes, I do have OCD. But it is tempered with parakeet syndrome. (Look, something new and shiny...)
Steve, excellent point. Liane loves to suggest that whenever we pass a run-down abandoned shop with four or more bays. Women can be cruel. The day before we found our current home we drove out west, close to the Everglades, to check out this house. What looks to be a two-car garage is actually an 8+ car garage. The recently divorced guy parked his crew cab dually and race trailer in there without having to unhitch them. He was asking $235,000. There was so much concrete in that yard I was afraid a pilot would mistake it for a landing strip.Bob, I would have thought that the above ^^^ just strengthens the argument for a four car garage.
Great work in rangleing the freezer home.
Steve![]()

Mac, when people ask me the secret to making a marriage last 60+ years my answer is always the same: "Liane [Honey, Dear, Sweetheart or other endearment] you're right, it's my fault and it will never happen again."You’re a very wise man, Bob. For some of us it takes years and years to know which battles to fight and which battles to walk away from. Good choice on leaving the freezer in the car.
Marc, when trying to justify a purchase to Liane, I always quote the price without the 99¢. For the bigger ones I may mumble the $99 as well. Her hearing isn't what it once was but I believe she is a good lip reader when it comes to numbers.Thanks for the chuckle, Bob! I needed that today![]()
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Emil, thank you. From 1958 to 1965 my parents only car was a Rambler station wagon. With no air conditioning Dad would roll down the window in the tailgate to get a breeze. Once under way he would close his window and lots of exhaust fumes were sucked into the car. Those were the days when lead was in everything, with lots of it in paint and gasoline. I was 13 the summer of 1958 so I was no longer eating paint. The exhaust fumes was the primary source of lead in my diet. It explains a lot.Nice job on the extension cord.
You didn’t **** in too much exhaust fumes when bringing home the freezer did you? Years ago I had a RX3 that tail ended by a semi in stop and go traffic. I had come off a side street on to a main thoroughfare that was barely moving. The car ahead of me was the same colour, the truck just coming and coming then crunch. I got out of my car and walked up to his door that KW was so massive he didnt even see me coming. Banged on his door with a surprised look on his face. Said he thought it was the play in his 5th wheel hitch. Remember until it was fixed that I was getting my share of fumes.
We didn’t need a new freezer but found it amazing that we got through life with 2 kids with a normal fridge and a bar fridge in the basement. We now have a full sized fridge downstairs and a beverage fridge in the garage. I blame the second fridge on COSTCO. The one in the garage on thirsty buddies.
Since we have the second full size fridge we still buy the 6 pounder.![]()
Roger, I probably learned it here on GJ because I vividly remember lots of my wiring having the hog in the anaconda look.@Bob Heine - I always do that offset trick when splicing cables. It's just so much cleaner.
I have a 2 alligator clip holder gizmo that I've used as well. Recently bought these but haven't used them yet. They look like they'll do a better job of holding the wires aligned. At least, that's what I told myself when I clicked "Add to cart".
Rian, that's so much better than the $28.99 I paid for a pair. At some point it makes economic sense to get a 3rd class seat on a flight to London. Actually a 1st class AND a 3rd class seat because there's no way Liane is letting me go back to Great Britain without her. Her bloodline goes back to "Fulbert L'Archer, the patriarch of the Lords Archer of Umberslade, in the county of Warwick, appears among the warriors at Hastings, who received recompense from the victor." Her family came to America in 1630 while my slacker Huguenot family didn't arrive until 1702. Obviously we've never been to France but we have made the pilgrimage to Great Britain several times. I yield to the Duchess of Boca.Sorry Bob.
£1.75 on offer.
Yes I bought a few.
I happen to be on this side of the state and leaving tomorrow if you need me to stop in to unload the mini frig .I should not be allowed out of the house. I went to Costco yesterday to get gas, cash the Costco credit card cashback check and get a crabmeat stuffed salmon steak. No stuffed salmon on display but of course I found a couple of Kirkland spices I'm running low on and while heading to check out, saw an 11-cubic foot refrigerator for $299.99 (they knew I wouldn't be interested if it was $300). The refrigerator doesn't have a freezer compartment but its theremostat can be set to 0°F and then used as a frost-free freezer.
Our 7-cubic foot White-Westinghouse upright freezer is working fine but we bought it in 1996 so it's going on 28 years old. I just restored the freezer to full capacity by melting 3 gallons of frost buildup and it is now stuffed full. Mentioned the freezer to Liane and she says she was having premonitions about the freezer. I suggested we invest the $300 in a new freezer to protect the hundreds of dollars worth of food in the old one. She agreed and I went back to Costco today. It was like Times Square on New Year's Eve but I got a flatbed cart and found a Costco employee to help me load it up and take it to the checkout area. While he headed to the checkout, I headed to the prepared food court and got a 5.97-pound rotisserie chicken pot pie (Costco knows I wouldn't but a 6-pound pie for the two of us).
In my rush I failed to remove the back seats from the PT Cruiser. The freezer is 64.7" tall and would have fit inside had I removed the seats. Instead I had to tilt the rear seats forward and leave a fair bit of the freezer hanging out the tailgate. I carry a selection of bungee cords in the cars so I bungeed the tailgate down and secured the freezer. One Costco employee put the freezer on the cart and two Costco employees put it into the back of the Cruiser. I took the backroads home instead of blasting down I95. Made it home safely.
I brought my hand truck to the tailgate and was just about to slide and tilt the freezer out of the car when Liane came out and asked how much it weighed. I had checked and it weighs 128 pounds. She told me to stop and wait for our neighbors to return home on New Year's Day. I began to protest and realized this wasn't an argument I would win. The likelihood I would damage something (the freezer, the car, or something Liane had put a curse on) and the list of 'I-told-you-so's' would have had a new entry, to be brought up several thousand times in the coming year. She suggested turning the car around and tarping the rear to protect the freezer in case of rain.
I believe the courtesy lights will turn off but I wouldn't bet a dead battery on it. I regularly connect a Battery Tender to the cars, including the PT Cruiser in the driveway. I park the car facing the garage so the afternoon sun doesn't fry the dashboard. I connected an extension cord that easily reaches the plug in the PT Cruiser's grille when it's parked like this but it's a few feet too short to reach the plug when the car is backed in.
No problem, I've been meaning to make an extension cord for the Battery Tenders. I saved the 12V cable from a Battery Tender that died last year. I also saved the Alligator clip end from the same Tender. Time for some solder and shrink tubing. I offset cut the cables so the finished product wouldn't look like a snake swallowed a mouse.
Thanks to Mike (@zmotorsports) I have this nifty cable holder. Three pieces of shrink tube and a heat gun later and I have an extension cable.
I even managed to connect the two cables so they don't make the Tender think it's connected to the battery wrong. I did double-check with a multimeter (that needed a battery).
An hour and a half after I brought the freezer home the PT Cruiser is covered and connected to the Tender.
The pot pie is in the oven. Gonna need that bigger freezer real soon.
Thank you Chris but Liane has designated tomorrow as haircut day. I have no idea when our appointment will be but I sure don't want to mess it up. A bad hair day in our house is a really big deal and I've already stalled for five weeks (she had a benign tumor removed from her hairline).I happen to be on this side of the state and leaving tomorrow if you need me to stop in to unload the mini frig .
What looks to be a two-car garage is actually an 8+ car garage. The recently divorced guy parked his crew cab dually and race trailer in there without having to unhitch them
Andy, it is newly diagnosed and apparently there's no treatment. You know you have it when you are happily chirping and focusing on something and a shiny (or dull) object tears your attention away from said thing you were focusing on. It also happens when you aren't focused on anything. It's quite possible I've been mis-diagnosed. I'm pretty sure I have the Double Yellow-Headed Amazon Parrot Syndrome, (aka: Amazon Parrot-Head) which is much harder to identify. Square brown droppings by the front door are common signs you have the syndrome.Parakeet Syndrome? That's new to me. I'm glad I don't have it.
That would be so silly to buy stuff you don't need...
Unless your shop was not full, I guess. I've seen yours.


@Squankum, as I recall (this was 1996) there was a door in the back that accessed a vast concrete slab. I think he said it was for the Kubota tractor he used to mow the 200 square feet of grass out front. There was also a 16-foot drop-down ladder to access the finished room above the garage. A windowless room with lots of soundproofing and insulation -- nothing odd about that. The outside paint scheme was a hint of the inside. Everything was either black or white. Except for the mirrored ceiling in the Master suite.There's now way this maniac builds a garage for this without a door in the back so this rig can pull straight through! I love it!
I joked for years that I wanted a big garage with a small house attached to it. Now I'm older and wiser, I want the house separate to reduce fire risk.
I don't know why she left him...
the finished room above the garage. A windowless room with lots of soundproofing and insulation -- nothing odd about that.






Andy, there's a good chance a house in New York or New Jersey with a really large concrete slab in the yard is hiding a body or two. This guy had the accent and he didn't look like he did a lot of digging with a shovel. Ipso facto he used the Kubota to bury his wife in the backyard before pouring the slab.The Kubota had a backhoe...
@Squankum, that never crossed my mind. Of course he's in a band.Uh, band practice?
This does make me wonder what psychosexual criminals do for a *** bunker when they live in a place with such a high water table.
Can you imagine if the garage journal community lived around each other?
Only two thing would be possible.
Anything could get done. Because the collection of tools and knowledge
Or...
Nothing would get done. Because we would all be partying in each other garages.
Leonard, I can't think of any reason to live in Florida. It's too hot and muggy most of the time, too many bugs and too many people. My job brought us here and I'm too lazy to go looking for another place. Australia was on the list at one time but they dislike immigrants almost as much as we do. Pretty sure my permanent record down under includes the year I was a 'worker' using a 'vistor' visa.Bob,
Now that I think of it. I think I found my one reason to move to Florida. It's you.
Can you imagine if the garage journal community lived around each other?
Only two thing would be possible.
Anything could get done. Because the collection of tools and knowledge
Or...
Nothing would get done. Because we would all be partying in each other garages.
@Squankum, two problems with that scenario:3. We'd stand around and spectate and drive local contractors crazy.
"Is that the right stud spacing?"
"Are you sure that's the right kind of vapor barrier?"
"You really ought to wipe down that saw blade with WD-40 at the end of a workday, son. Especially in this climate."
"In my day we drove in every roofing nail with a hammer!"
"I SAID HIS PORTABLE AIR COMPRESSOR SURE IS NOISY I DON'T KNOW WHY HE DIDN'T SPEND AN EXTRA THREE THOUSAND FOR ONE WITH A SCROLL PUMP."
"TROLL JUMP? THE YOUNGSTER NEEDS A HAIRCUT BUT THERE'S NO NEED TO CALL HIM A TROLL!"
Cody, while not the primary reason, the last time I fired up the big block Corvette the fumes were overpowering. Just the hint of starting it up sets off the Carbon Monoxide alarm in the garage. It might have also set off the CO alarms in a couple of my neighbors' houses. That thing needs a retrofit roller cam and fuel injection for sure.Strange I know, but when I get fuel injection installed on the Camaro I plan to install catalytic converters on the Camaro also. I would do it now, but I know the carb will just plug the catalytic up fast.
The Gulfstream is another likely place to deposit something.It's usually the garage and the evidence goes to the Everglades.
Bob, I did live in Florida for a year and I actually feel the same. But you would be the one good reason.I can't think of any reason to live in Florida. It's too hot and muggy most of the time, too many bugs and too many people.




He was an offshore fisherman, like so-many FL sportsmen are. One day, he went out, alone, in his sport-fisherman, and he didn't return home as-expected. A search turned-up his boat, and the sole (boat floor) was stained with much blood. His body was never recovered.
Fred, it's quite possible I'm your brother-in-law's lost twin. We've already determined Andy (@oldironfarmer) and Lyndon (@Lyndon) are my brothers by another mother. The story goes that I was born in Douglas, Arizona, nine blocks from the Mexican town of Agua Prieta (aka Dark Water). In the late 1970s I learned my Hospital Certificate, which names "Dr. Quick" as the physician who delivered me, was not a legal Birth Certificate. According to a letter my so-called father sent back home, an iceman might have been involved and the doctor might not have been present at the delivery. The story sounds fishy to me and there's mention of me being all wet, probably code for me being a *******. The letter these excerpts came from was sent to "Mom," my paternal grandmother and "Gonger," my paternal great grandmother. My father may have been covering something up, based on all the ether involved in the "delivery"....Bob, my brother in law could be your doppelgänger, he’s about your age too! He does have all his appendages though….are you certain that your mom didn’t have twins, and they did rock, paper, scissors on which kid to keep?
(I really like my BIL too)

Thanks Eric! You do the same. I love what you do and much of the really amateur fabrication I do is because of what you do.Keep on keeping on buddy!. keep up the good work![]()
Philip, that story brings new meaning to the phrase "Money will not buy you happiness." On the other hand, I'm expecting the splicing pliers will make me happy the next time I need to fix a wiring problem. The extension cord I use with the electric chainsaw being a regular victim.The Gulfstream is another likely place to deposit something.
A story about that. The brother-in-law of one of my fire-rescue co-workers was a FL G.C. Though FL is a 'right to work' state, there are unions. I was a union worker here for 30+ years, but, back to the B.I.L.: he wouldn't hire Teamsters to do the jobs where they were repp'ing for the type of work he needed to have done. He got non-union help instead.
He was an offshore fisherman, like so-many FL sportsmen are. One day, he went out, alone, in his sport-fisherman, and he didn't return home as-expected. A search turned-up his boat, and the sole (boat floor) was stained with much blood. His body was never recovered.
Another 'life in So. FL' story: A rich couple lived in a condo building on the Atlantic Ocean. They were related to a famous haute-couture label. Some 'investors' offered the couple entry into a loan-sharking scheme and the rich couple was asked to contribute a substantial sum of $, at the request of the 'new investors.' They agreed to. The fashion business continued, reportedly with $600 million yearly income, according to Women's Wear Daily (WWD).
The rich couple asked for repayment of their loan to the loan-sharking business, but it was not forthcoming. They made noise about seeking redress.
A relative was unable to contact them at their oceanfront condo, and went there. They found the two creditors, deceased from multiple gunshot wounds apparently delivered from a Miami Vice-style automatic weapon. The investigation initially turned up nothing, and the neighbors didn't hear anything.
Years later, a storage locker in an adjoining city was auctioned-off for rent non-payment. The high-bidder discovered an automatic weapon, which he turned over to the local PD. It came back as a match to the ballistics of the murdered couple from the loan-sharking scheme. It was simple to trace the renter as he used his own name. If he had disposed of the gat in the Everglades or the Gulfstream as named 'burial grounds,' they probably would have gotten away with it. Multiple people were convicted.
About your recent purchase of the splicing pliers, that appears to be a good one to own. I think there will be a Double Yellow-Headed Amazon Parrot Syndrome, (aka: Amazon Parrot-Head) poo-poo dropping soon for me to 'clean-up.'

Leonard, to me, Florida is karma. My first manager at the IBM East Fishkill site didn't like me. I was doing favors for engineers (helping them get published in Electronics magazine) and executives at IBM's headquarters. When he couldn't ding me on my review for the work I was assigned, he lowered my rating for "taking too much time off." I had taken a day off twice to get my artificial arm repaired (required a trip to Manhattan each time), three days off to attend my grandfather's funeral in Vermont and five days off recovering from my first eye surgery (cut eye muscles, move eyeball and sew muscles back on). Apparently ten paid leave days was a horrendous crime. I stopped attending funerals, put off sinus surgery, stopped wearing my artificial arm and didn't take any paid leave for the next seven years. My rating went up and my nemesis was promoted to second- and eventually third-line manager.Bob, I did live in Florida for a year and I actually feel the same. But you would be the one good reason.
BTW. The house next door to me is for sale. It gets hot here but not very humid. We have bugs but nothing like Florida. But there are too many people here too.
Talk to me about your printer. I can help even from the other side of the country.
Rian,I am sorry.
Not sorry.
Just because you are into this sort of thing……..
Thought you would appreciate this
Doorbell rings…..
Courier delivery
Cold chain box.
Opening it, a note at the top of a sealed foil pack.
Opening the foil bag……
A whole selection of pasties.
So I unpacked them into the refrigerator.
Later I zapped one in the microwave. Oven heating would be better.
I added a bit of Sweet Cider Chutney.
So….?
Who would send me a load of amazing pasties?
Mate Steve, another one of those guys whose actions speak louder than words.
Kindness.
Thank you very much mate.
Life is good.


Mike, the magnetic wire holder is especially useful for me. I can remove either of the alligator clips, place them at the perfect spot on the cable insulation and re-mount them clips to the magnetized pedestal. Perfect when soldering at the vise or near a steel surface.Bob, looks like you're putting that magnetic wire holder to good use.
I haven't seen the plier version before. That looks interesting as well but I sure like the magnetic one and find myself using it a lot.

@Squankum, you never know, coulda been bears....Danged barracudas!
Andy, I think he did!Post it again, Rian...
True, Bob is a wise guy.You’re a very wise man, Bob. For some of us it takes years and years to know which battles to fight and which battles to walk away from. Good choice on leaving the freezer in the car.
A good man is hard to find. A good carpenter -- priceless.Truth Bob. Truth.
@Squankum, "Life's a ***** and then you die." Or "valar morghulis."
@Squankum, there are a couple of current commercials I really like. That's one and the others are from Chewy.
Andy, in my younger days I was frequently called a Smart A$$.True, Bob is a wise guy.
Philip, being a lifelong car fanatic and visiting California when I was 10 gave me a strong desire to live there. When I was in San Jose on a business trip in 1973, I looked at a 4-bedroom, 3 bath, 2-car garage model home for $53,000 and knew I could afford it.I'm perfectly happy to be in So. FL, especially as snow hits the Great Lakes. No more 'snow-effect!' Yes, lots of rush hour traffic, but in retirement, I don't go out at those times unless I have to.
I'd like a bigger garage, but that's something I don't need to exist, and it helps me to economize.







Hewey, I don't think it was my experience that caused it but my nemesis was taken out of management, transferreed to a staff job in the basement of an IBM office building 40 miles south (sorry, I just Googled it and it was 45.9 miles) meaning he had a two or three hour commute on a good day. I came across his office on the way to the basement garage on one of my business trips to White Plains. I've mentioned it before but he made his first visit to the IBM Boca Raton site the day my promotion to second-line manager appeared on the bulletin board. Patience and karma are wonderful things.That's a hell of a story about how you made the shift to Florida. Got to 'love' people with toxic egos and their personal approach to politics. And of course, these are just the kind of guys who get promoted in to senior management. To be honest they can keep it.
Like anything, not surprised that both you and Liane take a positive approach to making the most of it.


