Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT A trip back from the edge.

[Kevin54]

I take it she told you to "shut up" and you took it as "stand up"

J/K!!! It great that she finally has someone in her life that she can appreciate, and that you have someone that you can appreciate. Especially when she knows how to turn a wrench.

When I met my wife, she had been single for quite a long while after her divorce. You really have to appreciate those types as they have had to learn a lot on their own. It's a blessing in disguise....and it's also a curse. They are also the ones that can get you in your sleep

 

[xtremek]

I take it she told you to "shut up" and you took it as "stand up"

J/K!!! It great that she finally has someone in her life that she can appreciate, and that you have someone that you can appreciate. Especially when she knows how to turn a wrench.

When I met my wife, she had been single for quite a long while after her divorce. You really have to appreciate those types as they have had to learn a lot on their own. It's a blessing in disguise....and it's also a curse. They are also the ones that can get you in your sleep

LOL!!!

She's a winner. Makes you wonder why she would have me for a husband. I went to the funeral for my uncle and it got me thinking who I should leave my tools to when I kick the bucket and she told that they were HERS!!! Here she is putting in the dishwasher my parents gave us for Christmas. That fact that she's a biology professor probably means she knows how to get rid of the body and leave no evidence.

 

[norsea]

Color this a me too post...

LOL!!!

She's a winner. Makes you wonder why she would have me for a husband. I went to the funeral for my uncle and it got me thinking who I should leave my tools to when I kick the bucket and she told that they were HERS!!! Here she is putting in the dishwasher my parents gave us for Christmas. That fact that she's a biology professor probably means she knows how to get rid of the body and leave no evidence.

I too am a very lucky man to be blessed with wonderful woman as my partner in life for the past 30+ years.

She too is a very capable person. When in college she worked for her step father the contractor and as a result she can sweat copper joints better than anyone I know. And, she's not bad at electrical work either.

For me meeting her was a blessing. You have to understand that I did not realize women could not do anything until Bobby Riggs came along with his rhetoric in the 1970's which led to the infamous tennis match with Billie Jean King.

I grew up in a matriarchal society. My mom had 4 sisters and among the 5 of them they produced only two boys; me and my cousin Tommy; lots of girls. It wasn't until Bobby Riggs came along that I realized women weren't capable of doing anything . At least in my family women did everything, and more, than the men did. Growing up like that proved to put me will ahead of the times in my ability to accept the idea that anyone was capable of doing anything.

Jim

 

[xtremek]

Not much has happened on the last two weeks. Between 14" of snow and a week of travelling to 6 plants, there hasn't been much time. I was able to replace the generator in the Old Mule, almost completely paid for by returning pop bottles(just over $90 and a ton of scowls at Meijers), but I have to repolarize it and the voltage relay(duh, it's positive ground, I'm such a dipstick). I also repaired a kitchen drawer. I did put up a little shelf over the bench to put a bunch of lilttle stuff. My dad made it out of wood scraps and my daughter painted and lettered them. It says "Later Mater the Tater Tot", something we say every time we say good bye on the phone. She also made brackets for a shelf to hold my coffee cans.

 

[xtremek]

Worked on trying to get the wiring in the ceiling finished so I can put up the ceiling insulation down the center without getting the itchies. Only tried to fall through the existing insulation twice. I got most of the outlet boxes mounted and I'm in the process of running wiring for the ceiling fan (leftover from a bedroom remodel). It was in the mid twenties yesterday, with the wall insulation almost complete and 1/6th of the ceiling insulated, I was "forced" to get down to a t-shirt and blue jeans. I'm guessing that when I get everything insulated and the furnace hooked up, it'll be very comfortable and reasonable to heat. I'm looking forward to not relying on the kero torpedo for constant heat, just using it to bring the barn up to temp.

 

[xtremek]

Typical start to a Saturday morning around here. Up around 5:30-5:45, let the dog out, fire up the torpedo, eat breakfast, start the wife's coffee(I take mine cold and carbonated, even at this hour). No one else will be moving for a couple of hours, even the dog goes back to sleep. Time to head out to the barn. On tap for today is to finish the ceiling insulation I have (thanks Dad for scrounging that), put the plastic back up, do some more checks on the Old Mule's charging system, oil change and tire rotation on the wife's Exploder, and plow the driveway. Then some TRACTOR TOBAGANNING!!!

 

[xtremek]

So while I was working in the barn I noticed my wife was up. She usually gets moving around 7:30 on the weekends. I finished putting up the insulation I had for the ceiling and decided to come in for a snack and a shower, since it's the first of the month. Robin is making sausage egg muffin sandwiches. After I finish the snack, it's off to get some gas for the tractor, kero for the torpedo, and staples for the ceiling plastic. Supposed to get another 6" of snow and don't want to forget the tractor tobogganing.

 

[Kent_B]

Great thread! My wife actually grew up in Williamston. I'm quite interested in your driveway repairs, particularly your drainage solutions. We have a short (+/- 1000') circular driveway with some changes in elevation. Please post more pics of yours.

Thanks!

 

[xtremek]

I'll post some more pics and details when we get rid of all of this white stuff. You may not want to follow my example, depending on how it fairs when everything starts melt and the rains hit. We may end up back in the same holes.

 

[xtremek]

So I spent a ton of time plowing the driveway this past weekend. When I finished, I really put the Old Mule to work. I took the girls for a trip out in the weeds and then down to road. And while the rest of the US was watching the "Big Game", I went outside and finished putting the plastic back up on the ceiling, cleaned the barn up a little, and the put spacers behind the outlets in one of girls room (the wife bought 1/2" drywall) so the cover plates fit properly.

 

[Sunbimmer]

You guys have some serious winter weather over there in the US, while we have the warmest winter ever.
We had some five or six nights just below zero that was all
Must be great fun for the kids I think.

 

[48RON54]

Subscribed. You are a good story teller. Living in a housing track in the desert, it is really nice to see all the scenery and land you have there. I look forward to your updates and appreciate the thriftiness aspect of all you've done.

 

[xtremek]

You guys have some serious winter weather over there in the US, while we have the warmest winter ever.
We had some five or six nights just below zero that was all
Must be great fun for the kids I think.

This has been one of the snowiest winters ever here in Michigan. January was the snowiest on rerecord and right now, we have the most snow of any state in the US, even more than Alaska. Unfortunately, the kids have been stuck indoors for most of the winter. But it's been too cold to enjoy much of it. We've seen lows down to -20F/-35C(plus wind chill), and many days where the high was 5F/-15C and a windchills near-40. It's been the coldest winter in my memory. This morning I saw -16F/-27C. Has anyone seen my electric socks?

 

[xtremek]

Subscribed. You are a good story teller. Living in a housing track in the desert, it is really nice to see all the scenery and land you have there. I look forward to your updates and appreciate the thriftiness aspect of all you've done.

Thanks for playing along. If you're ever up this way drop by and I'll show you one of the most gorgeous plots of land the Lord ever put on the planet. We thought about moving closer to our parents, they live a mile a part from each other, but I couldn't leave the little slice of heaven the wife picked out. The next time I take the girls out for a tow, I'll try to remember to take some more pictures. I guess it's all in your perspective. If you look hard enough, you can find beauty everywhere. And the "thriftiness" comes from having expensive tastes on very cheap beer budget. You have three choices, cheap beer, cheap wine, or grow your own grapes and make your own wine. Just be prepared to drink vinegar quite a bit.

 

[xtremek]

So my Old Man gave me an old rectangular tractor seat with an age hardened vinyl cover and a plywood bottom. I think to myself, why do I want this? But I’m not going to hurt his feelings. So the first time I have to plow the driveway with the Old Mule, the temp is about 10F (-12C) and I’m on it for about 4hrs. When I finally finish, my fanny is literally numb. I’m in the house for a few minutes and it starts to hurt as the feeling slowly returns. “My **** hurts”, I exclaim. Robin and the twins burst out in laughter. The next day I go out and rip apart the old seat my pops gave me. Here’s the hack job. Like everything around here, crude but effective. Going to run a bungee cord through it to hold it on. Dang, the Old Man has been around the block. Thanks, Dad.

 

[xtremek]

Over the past weekend, I started reframing the compressor stand/cabinet. This way I can insulate it and it won’t be so loud. The piece of horizontal plywood is to mount this old squirrel cage blower I was going to use for a paint booth for models. I’m hoping this will put enough air across the pump to keep it cool. Put on a remote drain, tie in the electricals, and build a door, and viola’, a quieter, warmer barn.

 

[Vieux]

Read and admired! You did a great job.

 

[Brunow]

love what you do with the place!

 

[xtremek]

Thanks for the compliments. It's been a fun, but tough adventure. The wife gave up on everything but the girls, having to do it all (even when she was married to the sperm donnor), but she's starting to get back into the groove. I think when I put a fence around the garden, she'll hit her stride.

 

[xtremek]

So I've been chipping away at the barn when I'm not moving snow. We got another 8"-9" (20-22cm?) the night before last. I was plowing the widow lady next door's driveway yesterday and was getting tired of pushing the snow so far down the road, so I decided to just push it right across the street. Dimbulb that I am, I didn't check the ditch. I pushed the Old Mule into a 3' straight drop. Then I went to use her late husband's 3/4 ton 4x4 Chevy that hasn't been moved since the fall. It was sitting about 80' off the driveway. I kept inching it back and forth until I got a path about 2 truck lengths long and went for it. I got to the edge of the driveway and got it stuck. Seriously?!? So I waited for Robin to get home with her Exploder. I had dug out a ton from beneath the truck and when Robin arrived, we hooked up her ride to the truck TRIED to yank it out. Her Exploder got stuck in the middle of the driveway. I couldn't get a break. We finally got the Exploder unstuck (spinning on melting snow and burned it's way down). I decided to try the tractor. The blade was already unhooked, so we put the ****** strap to the front bumoer and proceeded to her the Old Mule a tug. She cam up about half way and wouldn't pull any further. I yelled to the wife to stop and try it again. I hit the throttle and the tires started spinning. By pumping the left steering brake, the Mule finally chewed her way out. We latched the Old Mule to the truck and drug it out of the snow. All in all, 12hrs of plowing and digging.

 

[xtremek]

And just so you think I'm not slacking, I did get the one wall of the compressor cabinet insulated, the ducts for the furnace installed, and repaired the broken burners for the furnace. I plan on using muffler putty to seal the brackets to the burners. HOPEFULLY, I'll put the burners in tonight. Getting the ducts up and the burners in gets the barn looking a whole lot better. I'm thinking about lining the the blower hole in the compressor cabinet with some scrap sheet metal . I'm also wondering if I should put some kind of diffuser into the outlet duct of the furnace. If it's still light out when I get home, I'll try to remember to take a pic of the hole I dug with the tractor yesterday.

 

[xtremek]

Hey Brunow, I took a quick look at the BSA, very nice. Did I see a pic of the bike in the snow?

I had a decent day Saturday. Finished fixing the burners on the furnace by caulking the brackets around the holes with muffler cement. Stiffened the cement up using a small propane torch and after it cooled, put the burners back in the furnace. With the duct work in place and the burners back in the furnace, I’m finally able to get the barn back to usable. Won’t be able to reclaim all of it until next spring when we hope to build the wife her duck coop/garden shed. The next step is to rewire the regular lights so that they run off of one switch, wire in the ceiling fan, furnace and attic lights. After that comes plumbing in 3 outlets for air. Then it’ll be back to the outside work. Also spent some time with one of the twins breaking down her bike so that we can redo it. We’ll probably spend more redoing it than it would cost to buy it new, but where’s the challenge and fun in that?

 

[xtremek]

So when the wife was putting the dishwasher in, we found out we needed a compression fitting to garden hose adapter to hook up the water supply. Of course I volunteered to go to Menards and pick it up. Like most warm blooded males (and many warm blooded females, Robin included), I wandered through the place looking at various supplies and TOOLS. I'm building a half baked, shade tree engineered brake into the edge of my work bench. I happened to see a counter sink tool. Cut to the end of the trip, I ended up spending $35-$40 on my "$9" dollar trippurchasing 4-5 items. Robin should know better than to let me go anywhere near tools unescorted. So that brings me to Sunday afternoon and starting to install blinds in the oldest daughter's room. The blinds are designed to go on the outside of the window, but due to the window design and location, not possible. So I made some brackets to mount the blind clips to and I finally got to break-in the countersink bit. See Robin, I really did need that tool.

 

[mwbailey]

Never in doubt about the need for a countersink! Like that you're working with your daughter on repairing/refurbishing bike; besides challenge and fun, there's the educational and independence value. Good luck.

 

[xtremek]

Yeah, out of the 6 kids, she's the only one willing to come out and work in the barn. But the only way I could do it was to get her to fix up her bike. It doesn't matter to me, it fun having her around. The other benefit is that she''l take better care of it once she has to put in the time.

 

[mwbailey]

Funny how a little effort can improve "ownership". . . .

 

[Vieux]

Your daughter is a good helper.

 

[rixtrix1]

See Robin, I really did need that tool. (Quote)

I use the same reasoning in similar situations with my wife, too. She seems to understand, or I'm still naïve after 36 years.

 

[xtremek]

or I'm still naïve after 36 years.

Ric, you're still naive.
Just so you don't think I died, a little update. I'm glad to report I've done nothing since last Tuesday. Wednesday nights are almost always spent helping the twins out (Robin takes the middle girl to dance class). From then to Saturday it was all hands on deck to help my wonderful wife get ready to host our regional Science Olympiad (region 11 Michigan). Her legs are still hurting from being on them ALL day Saturday(over 14 hours straight). Sunday it was about helping her recover. Trying hard to get all the wiring finished and then the insulation. Hopefully I'll get the wiring finished this weekend and continuing the insulation. Getting the itch to fabricate things really bad. MUST RESIST THE URGE. MUST NOT TURN ON THE WELDER OR 4" GRINDER. MUST RESIST..

 

[xtremek]

So Robin left me. She went to a conference for work in Indy. She left last Friday morning and will be back tomorrow afternoon. The oldest girl decided the her boyfriend was more fun to hang with than her stepdad, can't understand that one. The middle one got an invitation to spend most of the weekend with her friend, so she bailed on me So it was just me and the twins. We did the house cleaning and then I spent a little time in the barn. I wired power to the furnace, added another light in the barn attic, ran romex to four more ceiling boxes and got power to the box for the ceiling fan (left over from a bedroom remodel, the middle girl was afraid the thing would fall on her). I've got to mount one more outlet box in the ceiling for a fluorescent fixture and then run the romex between the last two boxes. Once that's done, I can finish up the insulation. We got done early enough to be able to watch a movie each night. The driveway is holding up where I did the repairs, but where it's not finished, boy is it bad. 6"-8" deep trenches. Been on a roll lately, I think because the remote control for the dish box died in the living room and I'm not watching car shows. If I can get this done before the ground thaws, I'll be happy, because the wife wants a deer fence around the garden.

 

[xtremek]

So, I’m still alive, despite an attempt to shorten my life span (5’ fall when a bracket pulled lose from a stud). I’ve been slowly chipping away on the barn. All the wire has been pulled for all of the outlets in the ceiling. We (the whole famn damily) went and checked out a collapsed horse barn. I’m hoping to get some outlets, beams and siding from it. I’ll used the beams for a lean-to. If I get enough siding, I’ll used it for the ceiling and 4’ wainscoting. This past weekend, I mounted the squirrel cage blower for the compressor cabinet so I finally have something I can show you. I used my brake that I’m in the process of building (yet another project that needs to be finished) into the edge of my bench to build the duct. Next step will be to put a door on the cabinet and wire the compressor and blower to a remote switch. Saturday afternoon, my good friend Uncle Joe came over (contrary to popular belief, I do have friends, just none that will admit to it under oath) and we did some repairs to his Geo Tracker. And last but not least, I reacquainted myself with an old friend,…………the sledgehammer. That’s right, back to work on the driveway. The work I did for the past 2 years is holding up so far, but there’s still a ton left to do on it. The hit list for the summer is to put a fence around the garden, finish the drive and ditches, fix the south railing on the deck, and finish the install on the furnace. Please return your tables to their upright and locked positions, and fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

 

[rixtrix1]

Coming along quite well. Barn is going to be a great space when you get it done, and quite useable until then. I noticed your Snap-On combo in the pic of your daughter working on her bike. Good choice. I happen to have that same style, only it's a Rick Mears Indycar commemorative box.

 

[xtremek]

Coming along quite well. Barn is going to be a great space when you get it done, and quite useable until then. I noticed your Snap-On combo in the pic of your daughter working on her bike. Good choice. I happen to have that same style, only it's a Rick Mears Indycar commemorative box.

Thanks for the complement. This is the first real place I can call my own and it's really nice to have some place that is decent. Yeah, I bought that box used back when my son was about a year old and he's 26 now. Money well spent.

 

[48RON54]

I enjoy your updates. I am attempting to turn a barren desert landscape of a backyard into a play are for my toddler in short order so I can sympathize with the amount of work you have ahead of you. I would make a topic as well but don't think I could handle 50 members all trying to tell me how to put sod in lol. Good luck and I sure enjoy how much you repurpose items if I haven't said it before.

 

[xtremek]

I enjoy your updates. I am attempting to turn a barren desert landscape of a backyard into a play are for my toddler in short order so I can sympathize with the amount of work you have ahead of you. I would make a topic as well but don't think I could handle 50 members all trying to tell me how to put sod in lol. Good luck and I sure enjoy how much you repurpose items if I haven't said it before.

Thanks again, Ron. Some of those peolpe have pretty good ideas that can helpl. But then again..... The repurposing thing comes from being the son of a cheapskate dad, an artistic mom and having expensive tastes and no money. FYI. I love that Chevy in your avatar!!! There's an abandoned 2dr rotting on the in-laws property. I take it that's your ride. If so, give us a walk through. How old is you toddler? I've got 6 kids and 3 grandkids, so I can relate.

 

[xtremek]

Ok....... HELP!!!!!!! The twins are having a birthday party/sleep over tomorrow night. Ten or more screaming little girls jammed into our little house. Save me from the horror!!!!! Somebody, anybody want to trade places? I'll pay you!!! I guess I should build a bunk out in the barn. I let you know if I survive.

 

[48RON54]

It's just an old 54 4 door 210 chevy. Original 235 straight 6 engine and Powerglide 2 speed trans. She tops out around 60 and the engine screams like she's ready to grenade the entire time lol.... She is back in pieces (AGAIN)... Only real modification is that it is lowered.... I like them more or less original...... a Toddler is almost 2 and I have no idea how you will be able to deal with 10 girls.... I can barely handle the one! Good luck! I would advise a couple glasses of wine or beers but sometimes that only makes things worse with that many kids running around lol.........

 

[bazzateer]

I guess I should build a bunk out in the barn.

There's your answer!

That picture of the deer in your garden is beautiful. Almost expect to see the Lady of the Lake holding aloft Excalibur!

 

[mwbailey]

Hope you're surviving. I'm expecting two granddaughters next weekend for a couple of nights while the parents go to a concert in DC and watch a ballgame. Thank goodness for The Wife; she gets along fantastically with the girls. They put up with me for an hour or two and then get bored.

 

[Vieux]

You survive?