Life in the Barns

Ford52PU · Jul 15, 2021

Shell Chair looks great!! That stroller conversion is brilliant, now I have to search for a stroller along the curb on large trash day.

Thanks for sharing

Homebody · Jul 15, 2021

Ford52PU said:
Shell Chair looks great!! That stroller conversion is brilliant, now I have to search for a stroller along the curb on large trash day.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks. Those strollers are pretty common at garage sales. Range from 25 - 80 around here. I paid 40 for this one. They're popular for those who do gun competitions, etc also so they usually go fast.

Jayman17 · Jul 15, 2021

Super job on the Shell chair, it looks great! I like the stroller mod too.

Sorry to hear your event venue plans got killed, your barn is perfect for that.

Jay

Homebody · Jul 15, 2021

Jayman17 said:
Super job on the Shell chair, it looks great! I like the stroller mod too. Sorry to hear your event venue plans got killed, your barn is perfect for that.

Jay

Thank You sir! Ya, we're kinda bummed on the barn and could've still gone ahead with it but they only gave us a 3 year permit back in the Fall of 19. Lost last year to Covid, a couple neighbors complaining about literally anything and it just didn't sit well with us to put anymore money into it when the County board could (and most likely would) deny the permit renewal next year simply based on 2 complaints. Oh well - great party barn for friends and family!!

don long · Jul 15, 2021

Laine
Do you need a permit to host private parties? If so I'm in big trouble. I had a car club drop by and enjoy the party garage today and all went well without a request or permission from the city! there were 30 guests here for about 2 and a half hours. Couldn't you do the same?

Homebody · Jul 16, 2021

don long said:
Laine
Do you need a permit to host private parties? If so I'm in big trouble. I had a car club drop by and enjoy the party garage today and all went well without a request or permission from the city! there were 30 guests here for about 2 and a half hours. Couldn't you do the same?

We can use it for private functions like that also without an issue. It's when you start using it regularly and charging for weddings, parties, etc when it becomes a problem and requires a Special Use permit.
We're also directly accross the road from a 500 home lake community and just a few of them keep their noses glued to what those "farmers are doing now"....
Doesn't matter that our place looks nicer than 70% of the homes over there, they just want to be the last ones in the country and have their peace and quiet...

I believe you're more rural than we are Don so you shouldn't have any issues. But never say never if events become a regular occurence. All it takes is one complaint.

Bears Fan · Jul 16, 2021

Love it!!!

don long · Jul 16, 2021

look what I dug out of the container today lol
Thanks to you two. I'll be fixin the broken one next week.

don long · Jul 17, 2021

Homebody said:
We're also directly accross the road from a 500 home lake community and just a few of them keep their noses glued to what those "farmers are doing now"....
Doesn't matter that our place looks nicer than 70% of the homes over there, they just want to be the last ones in the country and have their peace and quiet...

I believe you're more rural than we are Don so you shouldn't have any issues. But never say never if events become a regular occurence. All it takes is one complaint.

I totally understand. I'm not as rural as you may think. I'm right in the middle of our city

THat big bare spot is in front of my property, it is a huge flood basin for the mountains that are behind us.

This may help you understand my property better

Those homes on the right side of this shot are 70 feet above my property and they aren't friendly to our cause.
They look right down into our property.

This is my 8 acres The house with the pink roof is another neighbor. We surround their property. The trees to the rear are my avocado orchard and we own the property along the road way to the top right corner. The big white roof is the party garage and the house on the right side is a rental house that we own. My house is in the top left corner and my property line runs along the line of the party garage with 3 neighbors bordering that property line. The green roof is my work shop. The road in the right lower corner is 25 feet above my property so I guess you could say that I live in a hole so to speak.

Homebody · Jul 18, 2021

don long said:
I totally understand. I'm not as rural as you may think. I'm right in the middle of our city...

Wow, ya I didn't realize you were that surrounded! Don't think I recall seeing an aerial shot of your place. Thanks.
I only have to deal with neighbors on one side. 115 family acres to the South and East of us!
I hate when the neighbors directly across the street sit outside and watch me, I couldn't imagine a whole mountainside of homes...lol

Homebody · Jul 18, 2021

Back to the shop. Sometimes you have to do projects that make the wifey happy and this was one of them that I finished up a few weeks ago. I found these two cabinets on Marketplace this Spring for $30. I immediately new what we could use them for as we needed some storage in our back entryway.
I started out by spraying them white. My first time trying to spray furniture and it had subpar results. If anyone has insight as to what type of spraygun works well with latex I'm all ears!

20210601_175349 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210601_175337 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210601_180022 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

I had to build the cubes that went on top of these two units and a small bench that went between them.

20210423_165956 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210425_140235 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Didn't take many pics of the process as it was just a bunch of painting and screwing it all together. Used a frosted vinyl for the doors. I ended up brush painting it all as I was fed up with spraying it.
In the end though it turned out great and made Trisha super happy!!

20210625_064135 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210624_065322 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

tj675 · Jul 18, 2021

The cabinets look great!

Bears Fan · Jul 19, 2021

Those cabinets came out beautiful! Looks like they were made by a professional, I see Trisha had to put her pillow out there

Homebody · Jul 19, 2021

tj675 said:
The cabinets look great!

Thanks, they worked perfect for the spot!

Bears Fan said:
Those cabinets came out beautiful! Looks like they where made by a professional, I see Trisha had to put here pillow out there

Thanks, I'm pretty good at faking being a professional woodworker...
And yes, the pillow keeps me in check! :bowdown:

Jayman17 · Jul 19, 2021

Wow, now that’s how you do it. Great job re-using those cabinets and adding some shop built
ones to complete the project. Looks like a custom cabinet job.

Jay

harley jim · Jul 19, 2021

Very nice job sir.

Homebody · Jul 19, 2021

Jayman17 said:
Wow, now that’s how you do it. Great job re-using those cabinets and adding some shop built
ones to complete the project. Looks like a custom cabinet job.

Jay

Appreciate it! Thanks for stopping by!

harley jim said:
Very nice job sir.

Thanks!

don long · Jul 19, 2021

Looks good laine and I'm sure it pleased SHMBO

Homebody · Aug 16, 2021

Where were we? I was doing projects at a good rate back in early Summer then one night while the wife and I were on our nightly walk I got some chest pains - followed by the same thing the next two nights!
Went to the doc and they ordered the Stress Test and Echo, both of which I passed then I had to wait 6 weeks for an appointment with a cardiologist while doing no physical activity. wtf
We did manage to drive out to Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone over the 4th of July though so that was fun.
Go in for an Angiogram on Friday where she said they'll most likely put a stent in - then proceeded to tell me that it could be a quadruple bypass also..lol Thanks doc!

Anyways, here are the last two things I finished up. The first being this parking meter that's been sitting in the barn for 20 some years.

20210725_092640 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210725_092647 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210725_092656 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

It even works and I have both keys for it. :willy_nil

Snapchat-1179724693 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

My wife got a new Jeep in May so I had to make a top lifter offer thingamajig for it. $49 HF winch, a steel bar and a couple tow straps and done. Works pretty slick!

20210725_114918 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210725_102539 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Bob Heine · Aug 16, 2021

Laine, good luck with the cardiologist. I wonder if they are going the extra mile for our health or making up for the last year of postponed procedures.

Bears Fan · Aug 25, 2021

Good luck with the stent! the shell chair and parking meter look awesome

Homebody · Aug 26, 2021

Bob Heine said:
Laine, good luck with the cardiologist. I wonder if they are going the extra mile for our health or making up for the last year of postponed procedures.

Bears Fan said:
Good luck with the stent! the shell chair and parking meter look awesome

Thanks guys, all went well and I've only got 20% blockage. Put me on more drugs, yelled at me to exercise more and kicked me out the door!
Back to the barn I go!

Bears Fan · Aug 26, 2021

Homebody said:
Thanks guys, all went well and I've only got 20% blockage. Put me on more drugs, yelled at me to exercise more and kicked me out the door!
Back to the barn I go!

That's great news Laine

Homebody · Sep 17, 2021

Happy Friday guys!
Ya'll remember the drive in speakers I was working on and converting to bluetooth? All done!

Here they are as I got them - for $15. These were from one of three drive in's that we had in the area and just showed up on Marketplace one day and I pounced on em. I love the fact that they're from a place I frequented quite a lot as a youth.

FB_IMG_1631542418246 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

FB_IMG_1631459580083 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Started by completely disassembling them. They were pretty much as expected. just rusty and dirty from years of laying in someone's backyard.

FB_IMG_1631542421984 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

FB_IMG_1631542426357 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

FB_IMG_1631542444579 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

FB_IMG_1631542429765 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

First thing up was scuffing them, lightly sanding and then painting. I just used Rustoleum so they're easy to touch up down the road should they get scuffed or dropped.

FB_IMG_1631542457516 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Next up I had my brother in law weld up a rotor to the post as a solid base that won't tip over. Wish I would have learned to weld!

20210904_161511 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

After painting that it was time for the scary part as I've never wired such a thing before. Ordered the new speakers and potentiometer for the volume control and installed those. No, I didn't paint the inside of the speakers as I wanted to leave something original on them.

20210905_171715 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

I also did some research and ordered a blutooth/wifi board that was small enough to fit inside the speaker hanging box.

20210905_152342 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

It was at this point that I thought damn - I'm waaaay out of my comfort zone on this as I had zero idea of how to wire any of it. The directions got me as far as where the speaker wires go, but I was unsure as to how to power it and get the volume control knobs on each speaker to actually function as they should individually.
I persevered though and asked around, searched Google, ordered a 110 to 24volt power supply and over a month or so felt I had enough info to try it and hope for the best!
I was pretty stoked when it all worked the first time on my rough wire up!

20210905_154839 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Snapchat-84625893 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Homebody · Sep 17, 2021

And here's the finished product. :bounce:

20210912_115252 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

20210912_115247 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Homebody · Sep 17, 2021

Sorry for the large pics, i'll try to change them. :headscrat

I have some videos, but Flickr isn't loading them right for some reason... :rant:

budro35 · Sep 17, 2021

Oh how I remember the drive inn speakers! Very nice job and I’m sure they sound WAY better than they used to! Big pictures suit my tired old eyes better!

Toolfool · Sep 17, 2021

Excellent job ! Cool addition to your garage. Now I want a set.

FMB4 · Sep 17, 2021

Quote: "Life is better, spent in a barn!".

Wife and I just drove through one of the higher end, lower population, towns near our place. We saw 2 high end and obviously high $ 'barns' that were just off the chart. Can't really explain them without pics, but they were really something to see.

harley jim · Sep 17, 2021

When I was a kid I always envisioned growing up and converting a barn into my house. It never happened but they make great homes.

bugnut · Sep 18, 2021

Great job on the speakers!

Bob Heine · Sep 18, 2021

I have memories connected to those speakers.

The best memories were with my grandparents who drove from their home outside Fair Haven VT to the Whitehall NY drive-in just across the border when it was only two or three years old (1952-4). [http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/62349]

The fun memories were with teenage friends who wanted to save a couple of quarters. The owner of the car ('54 Pontiac) packed two of us in the trunk a few blocks before reaching the drive-in entrance. That way only the two people in the front seat had to pay $0.25 each. Us trunkees still paid but our $0.50 went to the driver for gas in the Pontiac (two gallons).

Jayman17 · Sep 18, 2021

Awesome job on the speaker conversion.

How do they sound?

Jay

Vette60 · Sep 18, 2021

Really enjoyed catching up on your posts. The speakers turned out great! The Shell Chair is awesome as well.

Homebody · Sep 20, 2021

Video test... :headscrat

Homebody · Sep 20, 2021

budro35 said:
Oh how I remember the drive inn speakers! Very nice job and I’m sure they sound WAY better than they used to! Big pictures suit my tired old eyes better!

Thanks! They do sound way better. A couple of those pics were supposed to be videos but...

Toolfool said:
Excellent job ! Cool addition to your garage. Now I want a set.

Thanks! Best part is they are mobile also. I can actually hook a battery pack to em and use anywhere.

FMB4 said:
Quote: "Life is better, spent in a barn!".

Wife and I just drove through one of the higher end, lower population, towns near our place. We saw 2 high end and obviously high $ 'barns' that were just off the chart. Can't really explain them without pics, but they were really something to see.

Cool. There are some pretty sweet ones out there!

harley jim said:
When I was a kid I always envisioned growing up and converting a barn into my house. It never happened but they make great homes.

Agreed. We've talked about it many times but that will be left to the next generation.

bugnut said:
Great job on the speakers!

Thanks!

Bob Heine said:
I have memories connected to those speakers.

The best memories were with my grandparents who drove from their home outside Fair Haven VT to the Whitehall NY drive-in just across the border when it was only two or three years old (1952-4). [http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/62349]

The fun memories were with teenage friends who wanted to save a couple of quarters. The owner of the car ('54 Pontiac) packed two of us in the trunk a few blocks before reaching the drive-in entrance. That way only the two people in the front seat had to pay $0.25 each. Us trunkees still paid but our $0.50 went to the driver for gas in the Pontiac (two gallons).

Yup, did that many times ourselves! Great memories!

Jayman17 said:
Awesome job on the speaker conversion. How do they sound?

Jay

Thanks, they sound great. Trying to get a video uploaded, but no luck...

Vette60 said:
Really enjoyed catching up on your posts. The speakers turned out great! The Shell Chair is awesome as well.

Thank You sir!

If any of you know which link I need to copy from Flickr for a video please let me know. I can't seem to get any of em to work so you can hear the speakers.
Coolest thing about these is I can take them out by our firepit and simply plug them in to a lead off our low voltage lights or a battery pack for endless mobile options.
Thanks for stopping by everyone.