Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

[Bob Heine]

First of all I want to thank all the people who visit my Emporium and give me encouragement. I've been distracted by small projects and family issues.

I started Memorial day with one small project to do. The garden edging in the Road Verge (had to look it up -- it's the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the roadway) has disintegrated. I was going to dig a small trench to replace it and as I was digging I noticed the grass at the road edge was drying out so I tested the sprinklers.

Almost all my projects develop side-projects (distractions according to my wife). The pop-up sprinklers along the sidewalk are Toro 2-inch heads. The lawn was doing real well and the lawn service cuts it down to about two inches so a week later the spray nozzle hits the grass right next to it and doesn't carry much further. Luckily I have some new 4-inch Toro pop-ups so I dug the short ones up and swapped in the taller ones. One of the heads was next to a low Crown of Thorns bush that was blocking its spray. Dug a bigger hole and installed a 12-inch Toro pop-up head flush with the ground.

Having waited until mid-morning to start, it was now noon and the sun is beating down and the breeze has died. I am once again reminded that only Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun but I go back to digging the trench and three hours later I have the trench finished (pruning Aloe side project completed as well. My wife gave up (she was working in the shade of a tree like a sane person) and went in the house at about 2:00.

I thought it was a good time to take a picture. I sifted out the stone mulch when I removed the dirt so the trench isn't filled back to grade. Gonna need more dirt and more pea gravel for the garden. Also need to straighten the edging with some judicious tamping.

The garden contains another side-project. Painted the brown concrete pelican white, per the wife's "suggestion" and have been assured that no one will take it. After all, it's quite heavy. I have no attachment to the pelican so if someone needs it more than me, so be it. If it lasts in that spot, my faith in humanity will get a positive boost. You can see the pea gravel that will cover the dirt in the aloe and palm garden.

When I was almost finished installing the edging and back-filling, my wife comes back out and I expect a lecture on hydration or sunscreen or waiting until tomorrow.... It's none of the above. Our daughter called to tell us her 50-year-old brother-in-law [FONT=&quot]died. He was out in the Atlantic on his boat with a couple of buddies when he suffered a heart attack. They rushed back to shore as fast as the boat would go, giving him CPR the whole time and calling for the paramedics to meet them at the dock but he was gone.

[/FONT]My wife and I have offered to help or just be there for them. It's the thing I bore my children and grandchildren with every time we get together. Enjoy the day and know that living your life as if there's plenty of time doesn't always work out well.

If I'm MIA or AWOL, please don't worry -- it could be a good thing with some sad but quality family time.

Bob

You are right about Nick Vujicic. I've seen several programs on him (including an Australian 60 Minutes show I think), and his attitude really is empowering. Watching the things he does (not attempts, but DOES) is very stimulating when circumstances get tough.

Lyndon
OK - you have a holiday - we'll work!

Lyndon, I don't think Nick sees the challenges as amazing. For him, necessity is the mother of invention at a different level and normal to him.

When you're retired, holidays are the perfect time to work -- regular work days are my holidays.

Isn't that why they invented air-shocks
Yep, I was guilty as well (I still have a pair of 14x10s in the shed).

Good on ya Mark for admitting that. Corvette's don't need air shocks as bad as most cars. A few turns on the bolt that attaches the transverse leaf spring gives a bit more clearance.

Spot On. I love the look on the 'vette purists faces when a hot rodder cruises in with this look.

Bob.... you da man!

My other favorite... 6 tail lights on the back of a mid-year..

John, I respect the purists and sometimes wish I could get my mind right but I grew up making radical customs out of Revell pure stock plastic models.

And those guys putting 6 taillights on a mid-year were just following GM's styling guys:

He Bob, you might like this!

Can you guess what I got up to this weekend past?

Terrick, you really know how to hurt a guy. I clean the bottom of the body lying on my back and sand the frame with four inches of clearance for my hand and sander. That's part of the reason I have so many air tools -- the air sanders are way more compact than the electric ones.

Bob, very enlightening.

Stewart, I live to enlighten! Enlighten does mean keep one awake during the day, right?

Hey Bob

Like your bottle set up, it's great.

Curious if you had any problems with acetone in a plastic bottle? I read somewhere that acetone will eat plastic.

Terry

Terry, I was worried about a number of the chemicals, especially the acetone. I set a squeeze bottle full of acetone in a metal can to catch any leak and watched it daily for two weeks. No sign of deterioration. The acetone in the red rack has been there since 11/2/2013 also with no sign of deterioration. Hydrocarbons are one area of concern that I haven't tested. Here's a chart that shows the HDPE plastic's tolerance:

http://www.calpaclab.com/chemical-compatibility-charts/

Bob, like many others, I find your story, and attitude towards life positively refreshing

Dennis, thank you for stopping by and thank you for the compliments. I feel like you are a kindred spirit with better focus.

 

[BBChevro]

Hey Bob, back to the plastic squeeze bottles - I forgot to mention that I had been working on a plan to have some handy liquids dispensers too.




Although, being somewhat of a cheap-skate, mine will need some work (as in "label removal").



I even took a picture to show you...




View media item 61040
These cost a little more per bottle, but I got to enjoy the contents with tacos, etc..

I'm not sure if they'll handle acetone, but they stood up to the sauce OK, so who knows what they'll cope with.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Bob its sad to hear of your daughters BIL passing, our thoughts are with you.

On a lighter note great work on the verge, we call them nature strips out here.

Regards

 

[shortykorte]

Well, I'll be a painted pelican. I've never seen an aloe garden that big.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hey Bob, back to the plastic squeeze bottles - I forgot to mention that I had been working on a plan to have some handy liquids dispensers too.

Although, being somewhat of a cheap-skate, mine will need some work (as in "label removal").

I even took a picture to show you...
View media item 61040
These cost a little more per bottle, but I got to enjoy the contents with tacos, etc..

I'm not sure if they'll handle acetone, but they stood up to the sauce OK, so who knows what they'll cope with.

Mark, I enjoy hot sauce (and spicy foods in general) but we don't have MasterFoods in the US (looks like it's Australia & New Zealand only). Those bottles should work fine as long as they are marked HDPE somewhere on the bottle.

Note to self: make sure the cap is tight before you turn the squeeze bottle over to take a picture....

Speaking of cheap ska.... frugal, I saw Strouty posted a real nice wire spool rack on his thread. I had planned to buy the cheap Harbor Freight version but it came with wire. I prefer to pay a little extra for decent quality automotive wire so I was forced to make my own wire spool rack to replace my bag-o-wire system. Remember those leftover pieces of 1x6 fence board? I screwed them together and drilled some holes, inserted lengths of all-thread with a nut peened to one end and a wingnut on the other. Got fancy and cut some aluminum strap to fit, drilled some more holes (and de-burred them) and pulled the wire ends through. I have two more straps to fit and need to buy some 24-gauge spools to finish it off.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob its sad to hear of your daughters BIL passing, our thoughts are with you.

On a lighter note great work on the verge, we call them nature strips out here.

Regards

Steve, thanks for dropping by and the well-wishes. We are going to the mother's interment tomorrow so I'm taking today off (I'm not really sure what a retiree "taking the day off" means).

Nature strip sounds better or at least more down-to-earth (I think they call them "verges" in the really up-scale gated communities here).

Well, I'll be a painted pelican. I've never seen an aloe garden that big.

Stewart, like all Florida gardens, it started off as a couple of cuttings with Crown of Thorn bushes interspersed. Now it's The Thing (man-eating plant movie reference) and it's crushing the Crown of Thorn bushes. Two weeks ago there were about 40 more Aloe plants and a lot of Sword plants, their only competition. I was surprised when my wife let me throw them in the garden waste pile -- she is still thrilled every time a plant survives and reproduces in Florida.

I'm not crazy about Aloe but they sure keep the weeds down. In 2004 the garden had no Aloe at all and had a very tall coconut palm in it. Hurricane Wilma blew that palm and two others in 2005 and that's when a seed started the Triangle palm that's there now.

 

[wasfast]

Road Verge is being polite. In many neighborhoods, it's called a Weed Strip.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Bob:

Love that wire rack. thumbup:

Your place is looking great.

Regards

 

[BBChevro]

Hey Bob, it's not something that I say out loud very often, but "nice rack".

 

[dlcwent]

Hey Bob, it's not something that I say out loud very often, but "nice rack".

Mark beat me to it.

I hope that the sad reason for bringing the family together turns out to have some positive outcomes. Take care Bob, and we'll be here when you get back.

 

[Bob Heine]

Road Verge is being polite. In many neighborhoods, it's called a Weed Strip.

Wasfast, you've got that right. I'm guessing even green weeds are rare in California these days. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I do appreciate it.

Bob:

Love that wire rack. thumbup:

Your place is looking great.

Regards

Steve, thank you and I like how it turned out. I just wish I had a place to hang it. I need to clean out the workshop, narrow one of the workbenches and re-organize the wall behind it.

I have to give credit to the lawn service that does my yard. They trim the hedges, mow and edge the lawns and get rid of the debris. My wife and I only work on the gardens and over-plant stuff.

Hey Bob, it's not something that I say out loud very often, but "nice rack".

Mark, it's a sad commentary for aging men. If only I had grown man-***** when I was a teenager -- would have concentrated on more important things. Oh, you meant the wire spool rack -- yeah, thanks for that too.

Mark beat me to it.

I hope that the sad reason for bringing the family together turns out to have some positive outcomes. Take care Bob, and we'll be here when you get back.

Dan, as above ^^^^.

The interment was not a happy event but I think I saw my son-in-law waking up to the shortness of our time on this earth. My daughter must have mentioned my brother's passing when I was 19. It's a hole that never gets filled and I have some idea what he's going through. I hugged him and his father -- for the first time in 30 years. Might be a breakthough.

 

[drivesitfar]

Bob: I love reading your thread when I have time to. sorry to hear about your daughter's BIL passing. as you've said our days are numbered and we never know when it's our time.

keep up the great writing and i'll try to stop by more often to see what you have to say.

nice CADDY BTW too.

 

[Bob Heine]

[FONT=&quot]

Please post some more on your moisture removal system.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Stewart[/FONT][FONT=&quot], I have owed you a response for quite a while so I'm going to post some more actual garage stuff.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My compressed air system is one of those projects that had a life of its own. It started with a DeVilbiss 110v 25 gallon 5 hp (alleged) horizontal unit that I bought shortly after we moved into our current house. The Devilbiss had a regulator and M-style (1[FONT=&quot]/[/FONT]4-inch) coupler and it was adequate for my small collection of air tools and antique siphon-feed spray gun. I had 100-feet of black rubber air hose wrapped around the handle. When Costco had a 25-foot air hose reel for $22, I added that to my system.
[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]The problem with my setup was water, not air. When I used a die grinder or other high-volume air tool, the tool would spray a very cold mist in the air and eventually frost would form on the air tool outlet. I didn’t do anything about the problem until early 2009, after I bought a small benchtop blast cabinet (the $100 one from Harbor Freight). The water and sand mixture clogged the nozzle in a matter of minutes. As you know, Florida is humid – air without rain is considered dry.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I decided I needed something to dry the air in my system and a refrigerated dryer looked like the best solution. Unfortunately my garage only had a couple of 15-amp circuits and that’s just barely enough to run the compressor alone. Running a vacuum attached to the blast cabinet tripped the circuit breaker each time the compressor started. I found a non-electrical solution at Harbor Freight. It’s a 2-inch iron pipe you fill with a kilo of silica gel and it was only $40.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] The instruction for this desiccant dryer said it needs at least 40 feet of metal pipe or tubing between the compressor and the dryer to cool the air. My compressor is located less than 20 feet from the garage door so I made up a zig-zag pipeline. If my local Home Depot had black pipe that’s what I would have used but I had to settle for galvanized ½-inch. I would also have used 10-foot lengths but they were also out of that so I bought 5-foot sections and lots of couplers.
[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Harbor Freight no longer sells that yellow pipe setup but I found a home-made desiccant[/FONT][FONT=&quot] dryer on GJ that looks about the same.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1988307&postcount=10[/FONT]

They (people smarter than me) recommend installing the piping high up but standing on a ladder, not holding on and tightening fittings didn’t appeal to me. I mounted the pipe about knee-high under the cabinets. Not having a lot of experience and not knowing about Garage Journal, I put drops everywhere. There’s one at the start of the run under the cabinet, one at the end of the run, one at the desiccant dryer and another near the outlets. In the seven years I have been using the system, the only drops that have water in them are the two nearest the desiccant dryer inlet. I think you can see there is a slight pitch down to this drop on the right – that’s the one that collects most of the water.

I connected the pipe run to the desiccant dryer with unions so I could remove it in the event it stopped working for some reason). I also installed shutoff valves so the desiccant can be changed without letting the air out of the system. Because this plumbing is located at the front of the garage, I added another quick connect to the pipe coming out of the top of the yellow dryer.
[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

There’s another 20 feet of pipe from the yellow dryer back to the compressor location, where my hose reel was located.

I was told that a compressed air system needed a coalescing filter to remove oil vapors and contaminants and the standard was the Motor Guard filter. My first attempt installing the filter did not go well. I ran a rubber hose from the compressor to the Motor Guard filter and from there to a water separator and then into the beginning of the pipe run so the oil would be removed first. I also chose the less expensive filter that had ¼” fittings (because the water separator also had ¼” fittings). After an hour of use, I had very clean dry air but pressure at the tools was dropping fast. Putting the coalescing filter at the output from the compressor had it acting as a cooler and the water was accumulating in the toilet-paper style filter media, eventually clogging the outlet with paper mush.

The fix was to connect the compressor to the water separator (which never collected any water) and from there into the cooling pipe. The outlet from the yellow dryer pipe went into the Motor Guard filter and its output went to the hose reel.

I fixed a small issue with the setup. All my compressed air couplers were in the garage so whenever I wanted to use compressed air outside, the hose went through the man door and my cool conditioned air in the garage was wasted. I plumbed one air coupler trough the garage wall. I can hook up my sandblast cabinet outside and whatever mess it makes stays out of the garage.

 

[cbacres]

Bob, sorry to hear of your daughters loss.

When you took the picture of your yard from across the street, at least I'm hoping it across and in it, where was your wife? From what you've told us, you may of gave her a heart attack if she happened to look out and see you out there.

Thanks for that little write up on the air, I've learned a little more on the subject. Someday I'll set up mine for painting and sandblasting.

I thought turning bottles upside down with loose caps was something only I did.

 

[Lyndon]

Bob

Brilliant description of the air compressor line issues. Had me scratching my poor old bald head for a bit trying to figure out which description went with which picture..... But then I remembered your prior position, and realised that's what you guys do normally in Manuals etc that explain the inter web, and HmTL, and other stuff....... (Just joshing or course).

I think you've helped me understand a problem I have with my compressor, but it's not solution I'll be using at this house - but the next one- definitely!

Thanks for that.

Lyndon
Drying out after the big wet.

 

[shortykorte]

Lyndon it's quite easy. You take the bits and run through the I/O until they get to the RAM. If your bits become bytes them you might want to use the bus to get the bytes to the HD. Things can move faster if you use the SCII. Of course this all depends on your MHz.

Thanks Bob. The desiccant dryer looks a lot like the Franznator. It's amazing that we all output moisture-laden compressed air but there are a million different setups. When using my DA on the hood a couple weeks back, it too was spitting out water so I definitely need something.

For some reason you getting wet while using the DA on the Vette thankfully had me thinking of this.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob: I love reading your thread when I have time to. sorry to hear about your daughter's BIL passing. as you've said our days are numbered and we never know when it's our time.

keep up the great writing and i'll try to stop by more often to see what you have to say.

nice CADDY BTW too.

Drives, thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the kind words. The Caddy is my timely reminder to not put things off for the tomorrow that may never come. I expect it to be with me for as long as I'm able to drive.

Bob, sorry to hear of your daughters loss.

When you took the picture of your yard from across the street, at least I'm hoping it across and in it, where was your wife? From what you've told us, you may of gave her a heart attack if she happened to look out and see you out there.

Thanks for that little write up on the air, I've learned a little more on the subject. Someday I'll set up mine for painting and sandblasting.

I thought turning bottles upside down with loose caps was something only I did.

Craig, thanks for your thoughts. Her BIL was younger than she and his passing has hit her pretty hard.

That picture was one of my careful moments. I think I was standing in the bike path, which is the old folks passing lane in Florida (those are the old folks who are down here visiting their parents). I looked in the viewfinder, checked for cars, snapped the picture and jumped back to the sidewalk.

I learned a lot when I started sandblasting. If you have dry air, it's a lot of fun but if there's moisture, it's a lot of frustration and cursing. To clear the clogs I would whack the nozzle on a 4x4 inside the cabinet. There's a sweet spot when the clog clears, just before you break off the tip and have to go order a whole new gun because the nozzles are no longer available.

Getting my pants wet with all kinds of stuff in squeeze bottles is just how I roll.

Bob

Brilliant description of the air compressor line issues. Had me scratching my poor old bald head for a bit trying to figure out which description went with which picture..... But then I remembered your prior position, and realised that's what you guys do normally in Manuals etc that explain the inter web, and HmTL, and other stuff....... (Just joshing or course).

I think you've helped me understand a problem I have with my compressor, but it's not solution I'll be using at this house - but the next one- definitely!

Thanks for that.

Lyndon
Drying out after the big wet.

Thank you very much Lyndon. If my instructions and descriptions have failed to confuse, they need more work. When they are incomprehensible to all, my job is done.

If I were thinking of moving, I would never have wasted all that time setting up my system. I failed to mention that wasn't the end of the compressor story. Part deux will be forced upon my unsuspecting friends and readers shortly.

Lyndon it's quite easy. You take the bits and run through the I/O until they get to the RAM. If your bits become bytes them you might want to use the bus to get the bytes to the HD. Things can move faster if you use the SCII. Of course this all depends on your MHz.

Thanks Bob. The desiccant dryer looks a lot like the Franznator. It's amazing that we all output moisture-laden compressed air but there are a million different setups. When using my DA on the hood a couple weeks back, it too was spitting out water so I definitely need something.

For some reason you getting wet while using the DA on the Vette thankfully had me thinking of this.

Good on ya Stewart! Obviously you have read some of the IBM PC manuals I foisted on the public.

I am confident that a desiccant dryer is not absolutely necessary. The long pipe run does a great job condensing the water and if you use copper pipe it's way more effective.

I'm glad you have that image when thinking of getting wet. My reality is more like this.

 

[shortykorte]

I don't know, Boss.

 

[Craptain]

Hi Bob. I can't believe that I didn't know about this thread. I guess its because I use Tapatalk a lot and it does not put signature lines in.
Any way I know have some reading to do to catch up. And I am subscribed to stay in the loop.

 

[taumac]

Drives, thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the kind words. The Caddy is my timely reminder to not put things off for the tomorrow that may never come. I expect it to be with me for as long as I'm able to drive.

Craig, thanks for your thoughts. Her BIL was younger than she and his passing has hit her pretty hard.

That picture was one of my careful moments. I think I was standing in the bike path, which is the old folks passing lane in Florida (those are the old folks who are down here visiting their parents). I looked in the viewfinder, checked for cars, snapped the picture and jumped back to the sidewalk.

I learned a lot when I started sandblasting. If you have dry air, it's a lot of fun but if there's moisture, it's a lot of frustration and cursing. To clear the clogs I would whack the nozzle on a 4x4 inside the cabinet. There's a sweet spot when the clog clears, just before you break off the tip and have to go order a whole new gun because the nozzles are no longer available.

Getting my pants wet with all kinds of stuff in squeeze bottles is just how I roll.

Thank you very much Lyndon. If my instructions and descriptions have failed to confuse, they need more work. When they are incomprehensible to all, my job is done.

If I were thinking of moving, I would never have wasted all that time setting up my system. I failed to mention that wasn't the end of the compressor story. Part deux will be forced upon my unsuspecting friends and readers shortly.

Good on ya Stewart! Obviously you have read some of the IBM PC manuals I foisted on the public.

I am confident that a desiccant dryer is not absolutely necessary. The long pipe run does a great job condensing the water and if you use copper pipe it's way more effective.

I'm glad you have that image when thinking of getting wet. My reality is more like this.

What a great movie seen! [emoji482]

 

[Bob Heine]

I don't know, Boss.

Stewart, "What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach."

Hi Bob. I can't believe that I didn't know about this thread. I guess its because I use Tapatalk a lot and it does not put signature lines in.
Any way I know have some reading to do to catch up. And I am subscribed to stay in the loop.

Craptain, you haven't missed much. Just the ramblings of an old man....

What a great movie seen! [emoji482]

Gerard, it's one of my all-time favorite movies and I still remember being disappointed that neither the movie nor Paul Newman won an Oscar. Aside from the car wash scene, I really liked the scene where Carr (the floorwalker) tells Luke the rules:

Carr: "Them clothes got laundry numbers on them. You remember your number and always wear the ones that has your number. Any man forgets his number spends a night in the box. These here spoons you keep with you. Any man loses his spoon spends a night in the box. There's no playing grab-*** or fighting in the building. You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon. Any man playing grab-*** or fighting in the building spends a night in the box. First bell's at five minutes of eight when you will get in your bunk. Last bell is at eight. Any man not in his bunk at eight spends the night in the box. There is no smoking in the prone position in bed. To smoke you must have both legs over the side of your bunk. Any man caught smoking in the prone position in bed... spends a night in the box. You get two sheets. Every Saturday, you put the clean sheet on the top... the top sheet on the bottom... and the bottom sheet you turn in to the laundry boy. Any man turns in the wrong sheet spends a night in the box. No one'll sit in the bunks with dirty pants on. Any man with dirty pants on sitting on the bunks spends a night in the box. Any man don't bring back his empty pop bottle spends a night in the box. Any man loud talking spends a night in the box. You got questions, you come to me. I'm Carr, the floor walker. I'm responsible for order in here. Any man don't keep order spends a night in..."
Luke: "...the box."
Carr: "I hope you ain't going to be a hard case."
Luke: [Smiles, shakes head].

 

[wasfast]

"what's your dirt doin' in Bosses hole?"

 

[shortykorte]

Boss, don't wanna spend the night in the box. I got the whip, Boss.


When I was getting the hose and regulator, I was thinking this could get expensive with a regulator on each hose. While putting it together, I remember you have one regulator (belt clip) that each tool plugs into. Thanks for sharing your setup.

 

[HSpencer]

All

I kinda wish I hadn't seen this post about the prison movie. This week I actually dreamed I was sent to prison for not paying my taxes. ( I always pay them as soon as due). Anyway, I was in the Tucker Farm (Arkansas) and just being placed in a cell. I was getting read the rules but I was thinking about my age and all and what will that do for my survival there. Then I woke up in a total sweat and realized we had gone to bed without setting the A/C to 72 deg where we usually keep it. I was being choked by the comforter and sweating terribly and my wife said I was shaking!! LOL. Let me tell you right now I DON'T want to go to prison, I wouldn't like the food!!!

Best Regards
Herb

 

[NedNorton]

Bob,
I just spent the last few hours reading through and, like the other folks have said, what a life! Thanks for taking the time to tell us the stories.

Looking forward to reading the next installment.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Mudnut]

Hi Bob,

Great to read your thread! You have certainly had an exceptional life, and thank you for sharing it with us. I especially like your old family holiday trip details.
I Have recently gone through this with my Father, as we showed him photos of our holidays, and where we used to live. He is 85, and has Alzheimers.
I had some chances to re-live some of our past recently as we picked him up from a nursing home outside of Houston, and flew him to Ft Lauderdale where we boarded a cruise ship for the Caribbean. We lived on Grand Bahama Island for almost 6 years, and I went to high school there.
Had a chance to see where we lived, and experience the Bahamas and Virgin islands again, all relatively secure whilst on a cruise ship. He remembered some things, and not others. We decided not to correct his memories of what he thinks happened. Some was more interesting than reality even. He and I shared a cabin, with my wife and son next door. Actually only my wife slept next door, as we did not see much of our son for the whole cruise. Don't mean to hijack your thread so will stop there.

Thanks for your input on my "Aussie Garage starts next week" thread. Lots of encouragement and knowledge on this forum.

It's funny, we have never met, but feel a connection none the less.

Keep posting your experiences, people all over the world appreciate it.

Cheers,

Ken

 

[Bob Heine]

"what's your dirt doin' in Bosses hole?"

Thanks wasfast, another great line. It's such a classic guy movie. If Paul Newman wasn't in it, I doubt my wife would have watched it with me.

Boss, don't wanna spend the night in the box. I got the whip, Boss.


When I was getting the hose and regulator, I was thinking this could get expensive with a regulator on each hose. While putting it together, I remember you have one regulator (belt clip) that each tool plugs into. Thanks for sharing your setup.

Stewart, I'm gonna call the 12x18 shop at the back of the yard "The Box" so my wife can send me there for the night -- I'm gettin' tired of the whip!

Glad you have a use for that little project.

All

I kinda wish I hadn't seen this post about the prison movie. This week I actually dreamed I was sent to prison for not paying my taxes. ( I always pay them as soon as due). Anyway, I was in the Tucker Farm (Arkansas) and just being placed in a cell. I was getting read the rules but I was thinking about my age and all and what will that do for my survival there. Then I woke up in a total sweat and realized we had gone to bed without setting the A/C to 72 deg where we usually keep it. I was being choked by the comforter and sweating terribly and my wife said I was shaking!! LOL. Let me tell you right now I DON'T want to go to prison, I wouldn't like the food!!!

Best Regards
Herb

Herb, I've had my fair share of nightmares about unpaid taxes but I always ended up naked and homeless. I'm going to commit my crimes in Norway. Their prison cells are like an IKEA advertisement. Three hots and a cot has a whole different meaning over threre:

Bob,
I just spent the last few hours reading through and, like the other folks have said, what a life! Thanks for taking the time to tell us the stories.

Looking forward to reading the next installment.

Cheers,
Chris

Chris, I am honored to have you stop by. I was slaving in the gardens this weekend and have only had time to check my favorite threads, yours being one of them. From your Wall Of Sha...Fame to the milling machine resurrection, you have set a very nice and high (or highly polished) bar.

Hi Bob,

Great to read your thread! You have certainly had an exceptional life, and thank you for sharing it with us. I especially like your old family holiday trip details.
I Have recently gone through this with my Father, as we showed him photos of our holidays, and where we used to live. He is 85, and has Alzheimers.
I had some chances to re-live some of our past recently as we picked him up from a nursing home outside of Houston, and flew him to Ft Lauderdale where we boarded a cruise ship for the Caribbean. We lived on Grand Bahama Island for almost 6 years, and I went to high school there.
Had a chance to see where we lived, and experience the Bahamas and Virgin islands again, all relatively secure whilst on a cruise ship. He remembered some things, and not others. We decided not to correct his memories of what he thinks happened. Some was more interesting than reality even. He and I shared a cabin, with my wife and son next door. Actually only my wife slept next door, as we did not see much of our son for the whole cruise. Don't mean to hijack your thread so will stop there.

Thanks for your input on my "Aussie Garage starts next week" thread. Lots of encouragement and knowledge on this forum.

It's funny, we have never met, but feel a connection none the less.

Keep posting your experiences, people all over the world appreciate it.

Cheers,

Ken

Ken, I took care of my mother when she developed dementia. When we visited her doctors and they asked how old she was she always said "I'm almost 100" and I kept correcting her and reminding her she was only 94. Her greatest joy was seeing her great grandchildren and her fondest wish was to live to 100. For her 95th birthday I decorated her cake and put a "100" candle on it. She passed away on Mother's day six months later still happy to tell everyone she was 100. It is both sad and wonderful to be able to pay our parents back in some small way.

You never know, we may have passed in the night. Our last holiday in our two-year Australian assignment was in Far North Queensland. Landed in Cairns and drove to Port Douglas, which we used as home base for two weeks. It was August 1991 and on our late-night drive there were some bush fires (may have been cane fields) near the road. We pulled over on one of the ocean overlooks and to this day I have never seen that many stars at one time. Drove around the Tablelands and visited the crocodile farm/exhibit and almost freaked out when I saw the termite mounds -- I completely understand your desire to build a steel structure. Rust is nothing compared to what those buggers can do.

As to hijacking this thread, I don't think that's possible. I am pretty much holding everyone hostage with old-man ramblings about childhood with rare garage-related side-trips just to keep the mods from shutting me down.

 

[Mudnut]

Thanks for your kind words Bob.

In 91 I was working in Melbourne, as an ex pat yank. Worked there for 22 years, and retired at 50 up here in 2005. Am now back to work in a job I would have never considered, but it is one that I don't have to think at.

cheers,

Ken

 

[Bob Heine]

Thanks for your kind words Bob.

In 91 I was working in Melbourne, as an ex pat yank. Worked there for 22 years, and retired at 50 up here in 2005. Am now back to work in a job I would have never considered, but it is one that I don't have to think at.

cheers,

Ken

Ken, I envy your years Down Under. We left in '91 because my son and his wife were expecting their first child and we wanted to be there for the event. They got married in December 1990 three weeks before we were scheduled to come home on leave. It was good they didn't delay the wedding for us as IBM asked us to cancel our travel plans when the first Iraq War broke out. Once we were back in the US, each time we talked about going back to Australia, another grandchild arrived. By the time there were nine, just the idea of flying back for birthdays and family celebrations was overwhelming.

I too retired at 50 in 1994 but at that age I couldn't touch my IRAs or 401ks without huge penalties. I did work as a contractor for AOL for five years so we only struggled for a couple of years after that. The big issue for us turned out to be health care.

It's funny how fast time flies when you aren't watching the clock Monday to Friday....

 

[Bob Heine]

Well, if you don't have to be in that "special club", I guess I'm in as well Bob. You know how impressed I am with you. Nice garage and property. Let's see some more of your surrounding area. (The yard)

Dan, you thought I forgot didn't you! Actually, I didn't want to post Florida yard pictures in February because I know how depressing the "Dark 90s" can be. By now every part of the country is enjoying the green and the warm weather that goes along with it.

I took these pictures today and they show one of the features/failures of gardening in Florida. If you stick a two-by-four in the ground, a pine tree will appear in a few weeks.

Front yard from the earlier vantage point and progressing to the south (right).

 

[Bob Heine]

I don't want too many pictures in each post to hopefully limit the size of "QUOTE" replies. I know it annoys quite a few readers so I'll do what I can to control it.

The gate on the South side of the front yard leads to the gardening bench, A/C compressor, hurricane shutter collection and garbage can storage area. To make it a little more attractive I put up a couple of arbors to allow the weeping hibiscus do its thing. Hopefully walking through a flower tunnel distracts the eye from the eyesores.

The walkway from the garage man door on the left connects to the main walk down to the back yard.

The fence on the right, across from the man door is a convenient place to hang bananas. They are a feast or famine commodity at our house and at the moment there are four green bunches growing in addition to the ripe one hanging. When the bananas get too ripe they go into the Staghorn Ferns in the front yard, serving as excellent fertilizer.

If it were up to me there would be another walkway leading from the screened patio screen door to the main walkway but SWMBO rejected my suggestion as aesthetically unacceptable. OK, less work for me....

 

[Bob Heine]

Our house is in the downtown area and that makes the size of our yard unusual. Most lots have room for the house and pool/patio. We have a whole yard behind that. My shop is in the southeast corner of the yard a hundred feet from the garage man door.

There's room for storing roof tiles and garden carts beyond the shop and one side has a gate to hide the tiles, flower pots and ladders. We're also growing a Cuban coconut palm but it will be a while before I can harvest any coconuts,

The yard is also unique in Florida because there is a "hill." The houses on our street are built on a coral ridge that is about 28 feet above sea level. That's not very high but most of the developed land in South Florida is 13 feet above sea level. We could end up living on an island if sea levels continue to rise.

My wife planted a tree a friend gave us next to my shop. The friend was near death with lung cancer so it became a little memorial garden.

 

[Grizz1963]

Nothing clever to add but I do love every aspect of your home.

The gardens really do it for me as well.

As always Bob, I just grin madly when I read and enjoy your updates.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Bob, thank you so much for sharing, your pictures speak a thousand words.

 

[shortykorte]

Bob, I think your banana picture is from when you were living Downunder.

 

[Mudnut]

Ken, I envy your years Down Under. We left in '91 because my son and his wife were expecting their first child and we wanted to be there for the event. They got married in December 1990 three weeks before we were scheduled to come home on leave. It was good they didn't delay the wedding for us as IBM asked us to cancel our travel plans when the first Iraq War broke out. Once we were back in the US, each time we talked about going back to Australia, another grandchild arrived. By the time there were nine, just the idea of flying back for birthdays and family celebrations was overwhelming.

I too retired at 50 in 1994 but at that age I couldn't touch my IRAs or 401ks without huge penalties. I did work as a contractor for AOL for five years so we only struggled for a couple of years after that. The big issue for us turned out to be health care.

It's funny how fast time flies when you aren't watching the clock Monday to Friday....

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the background. I can bore you with some of mine. Was born in LA, and grew up in San Francisco during the 60's and 70's. Moved to the Bahamas in 76, and left in 81. Joined the US Navy for 6 years, and then to Uni.
I came out here after Uni. Mum was Australian, and dad is American, so the move made sense to me. Went to Uni, and graduated from UT Health Science Ctr in Houston. Degree was in Cardiovascular Perfusion, and they needed perfusionists here in Aus.
Moved to Melbourne, and met my wife shortly afterwards (didn't know it at the time). We got together after a few years, and she has been by my side for the last 22. Funny she loves the house we live in now, and says she never wants to leave. I keep pointing out spots where I can bury her
Worked in heart surgery for 24 years, and became exhausted with the hours.
Moved up to Clifton Beach to retire, and got bored going to coffee and lunch with SHMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed). Ended up with a job as a Corrections Officer at the prison near by. Hence a job I don't have to think at, and good pay for the amount of work I actually do. Good retirement job.

Great to see pictures of your yard. Looks beautiful, and well looked after. We have lots of the same plants here in the tropics. Fla. is a place I would consider if we ever moved to the US.

Schooling, lifestyle, and healthcare are some of the reasons we still live here.
Photo of my wife's obsession, with mine in the background.

 

[Bears Fan]

Bob you have done a wonderful job with your property! It is simply gorgeous

 

[BBChevro]

Great tour of your yard Bob, thanks for sharing.

 

[taumac]

Beautiful Bob just beautiful.

 

[dlcwent]

Thank you Bob. I wasn't thinking you ignored me (OH YES I WAS).JK. You have beautiful property. That memorial garden is very nice, both in thought and visual delight (once you move the bag of )

I very much enjoy gardening (flowers as well as vegetables) but I haven't kept up with it in the last few years. If I had, I would be able to show you some our work. Maybe you've inspired me to get back at it and show off a little of our effort. I'll see where the summer (and my ambition) take me.

Again, thanks for sharing. Now go move that bag out of the memorial garden and take another picture of it.