Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Mikes Man Cave

[lakelandcat]

Almost done with the hardest gable side, this one had the Direct tv dish. After I started to tear off the siding I found out the installer only sank 1 lag bolt in a stud. Now I understand why I would loose my HD when the wind barley blew, even the vertical brace was only held in by composite rotten siding. Braced everything on each side so now its stable. I enclosed my back porch and made a nice 8x10 catio 20 years ago so while I'm at it I sided the catio. Repaired all the rotten wood on the facia and bird bite. I think I'm going to put a little roof over the screen windows and mount some removable plexiglass to keep the heat in this winter.

 

[lakelandcat]

These are some progress pics, 1-catio pic 2- getting close 3-what I started with

 

[lakelandcat]

Gonna send this pic to my greedy punk *** Allstate agent, maybe cc it to Allstate corp. and tell them THIS is what "debris" looks like.

 

[Sifan]

LOL need to add a burn barrel in the middle of it, they LOVE open fires among debris LOL

 

[lakelandcat]

Yep, here we just call that a home made fire pit or a road kill grill.

 

[lakelandcat]

Got into a screaming match with the Allstate agent today, now I realize I lowered myself to her level. They canceled my ins over something that wasn't causing a prob; I called Farmers ins. KMAAS

 

[lakelandcat]

Went with Framers ins. got the house insured for 80,000 more and $700 a year less. Deductable is higher but now I have the time to fix. Car ins. is less also. Bite me Allstate. Now I got the money for Secret Santa.

 

[lakelandcat]

Got my frame for my DYI grow light ready for the LED strips. Should be 12 8' strips - 4 blue, 4 red and 4 white. Brightest strips I can buy, I need to buy a 600W 6V power supply. It will have a total 1800 lights and burn the equipment of a 60W light bulb. $27 for the strips $6 for the connectors to join the strips $35 for the PS, wood for the frame and pegboard scrap from other jobs $0, power cord came from a Direct TV Swim relay$0. I need 4 eye bolts and some ratcheting pulleys, and paint. I should have paint left over from painting the house. I'll post some pics when I get farther along.

 

[BuffettFan]

Progress!

Looking good Mike!

 

[lakelandcat]

Light strips came in. It's getting cold here in Memphis(at least cold for us Southern boys), frost on the windshield. So I brought the pepper plants in the big house. Gonna be busy when it warms up. Mike

 

[lakelandcat]

Progress!

Looking good Mike!

Saw the pic you posted in your album yesterday, I thought the Starwars "Wookie" was a fictional character.

 

[lakelandcat]

Ordered ratcheting pulleys for my DYI grow light. These things are cool, I'll post pics when they come in. Set of 4 $19.50 delivered on Amazon

 

[Henricogolfer]

Ordered ratcheting pulleys for my DYI grow light. These things are cool, I'll post pics when they come in. Set of 4 $19.50 delivered on Amazon

Interested to see!


Sent from my iPad using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[lakelandcat]

These are the ratcheting pulleys I just ordered from Amazon, I will use one on each corner with eye bolts all the way through the light. Each pulley has a 75lb cap which is plenty. The light may weigh 30lb which is heavy for a light, but its a bad *** light. I could put a 2'x8' piece of 1/4" plywood on the top and use it as a shelf. These are what all the high dollar grow lights are coming with.

wow I ordered them Sat. from Amazon and got them Mon. If it had been the USPO I might have got them Fri.

 

[lakelandcat]

Here is what the frame for my LEDs looks like, the 12 strips will go between the peg holes and the whole length. they are applied with 2 sided tape, I can secure with zip ties if I need to. I am thinking of putting a 1/4" piece on top for a shelf. That would give me a place to put my power supply and power strip, plus anything I just want to get out of the way like food, ph up and down. Really anything I want. I figure if I were to buy lights and got them cheap I would have to buy 4 2x2 and it would cost at least $1500-$2000. Mrs. Cat would leave me if I spent 2k for lights and talk bad about my mama.

 

[lakelandcat]

Mrs. Cat and I tested Pos.for Covid 12/30, this stuff is brutal

 

[BuffettFan]

Hate to hear that Mike.
Hang in there, hope you get through it quickly.

 

[lakelandcat]

Hate to hear that Mike.
Hang in there, hope you get through it quickly.

had a fever of 102.5 for a couple of days. It broke last night, now having a hard time catching my breath. Going to call my doc tomorrow and see if there is anything she can give me to make me more comfortable. Anxiety issues are the worst., zaps all your strength, no appetite, dehydrated, try to hydrate and have trouble peeing, can't sleep. Wife went through fine I have the sever. Health dept called to confirm, said it just has to run its corse.

 

[Henricogolfer]

Hang in there, had false positive before Thanksgiving. Was viral pneumonia, not sure I could have handled the real deal.


Sent from my iPad using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[lakelandcat]

Hang in there, had false positive before Thanksgiving. Was viral pneumonia, not sure I could have handled the real deal.


Sent from my iPad using The Garage Journal mobile app

Ask about that but Mrs. Cat Is a sub teacher and got a call to sub a class and found out the teacher and her whole family tested pos. so she was direct contact with covid. Lucky she's flying right through, mine is all the sever symptoms.

 

[lakelandcat]

Thanks for the Well Wishes guys, when you feel like **** it really means a lot, its 1/5/2021 the CDC has taken me off hold but its not over. Still alive but have no energy and my fever broke 2 days ago. Mike

 

[BuffettFan]

Glad you're on the mend, Mike.
Sounds like some nasty ****.

 

[lakelandcat]

Glad you're on the mend, Mike.
Sounds like some nasty ****.

Nasty **** runs from this stuff. People are dying from this because they want to. It hits everyone different most don't have the sever symptoms I had. I don't know if I could walk to the end of the block or not.

 

[lakelandcat]

1/8 fever gone, sinus still congested but a lot better, still weak, sleeping better.

 

[BuffettFan]

That's great news, Mike!
Very happy you've turned the corner.

 

[lakelandcat]

found a video on you tube when I was researching starting pepper plants, made me feel stupid, the guy removed seeds from bell pepper. Planted said seeds "1/4" covered with dirt and said thin them out when they come up.

 

[lakelandcat]

1/13 Still weak, no taste or smell, but getting good sleep. Sinus best its been in years.

 

[lakelandcat]

2/3/2021 Got out of the house for the first time, went to Lowes for a ball **** to the toilet, picked up some seeds for the garden, went to the store picked up veggies and wine for Mrs. Cat, (she needs it because I haven't been in the best of moods) made a trip to the bank and got gas in Mrs. Cats car. I'm wore out, but the weather was nice and it felt good. 2/2/21 Found out the city came by and replaced my water meter. drained my waterlines without telling me. Flushed the toilet and blew up the ball ****. Last nigh noticed a water stain on ceiling under the HW heater. Went into the attic and found out drain pan PVC had a bad washer, only thing I can fig is change in pressure release the pop off valve or my HW needs to be replaced because I have a lot of rust up to in the Cold in and Hot out lines. Lucky a little Kilz will fix the stain no damage to sheetrock.

 

[Henricogolfer]

Glad you’re up and about.


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[lakelandcat]

***** getting old...last Mon. pinched my sciatica nerve, pain shot down my leg from my *** to my toes. started eating IBProfen like Pez, nothing happened, first thought was I busted a hip or pelvis. I couldn't move more than 20' without almost coming to tears. Told Mrs. Cat if Im not better by tomorrow I was going to hospital. God looked down and said your not going anywhere and dropped the temp to 0 and a wind chill of -9, with humility at 94%, on top of that the snow hit, by Thur. it had dumped 9.5". Everything closed down. I knew we were stuck in the drive. Sat. I called a ambulance and they had to help me to the street because they couldn't get a gurney to the house. Saw the Doc and he said it was a pinched nerve. Gave me pain killers and antiinflamitories. Big relief, went in thinking surgery came out with pain killers. WOO HOO. Doc said to go back to my family doc and follow up Mon. Now Ive blasted through the PK and not much progress. Talked to a nurse that had contracted covid on 11/08/20 and she said she was just approved to go back to work 30 days ago. We had the same severity of symptoms. Im 63 my Grandfather RIP use to tell me "Mike you'd never know the good if you didn't have the bad". Should I start buying Lottery tickets? Can't wait to get started on the garden greenhouse (before lumber gets out of hand) Today it's 59 with a 37% humidity. Mike

 

[BuffettFan]

Mike, I feel your pain, literally.
I pinched my sciatic in '11.
Like you said, couldn't walk more than 20' at a time, if that.
That is the worst pain I've ever been in and nothing helped.
I went to a chiropractor who wouldn't touch me without x-ray s first.
He offered me pain relievers but I turned them down. Told him to fix the problem, not mask the pain.
It took a couple weeks of adjusting and traction, but he got me walking again.

Hope your doc gets you fixed up soon!

 

[lakelandcat]

Mike, I feel your pain, literally.
I pinched my sciatic in '11.
Like you said, couldn't walk more than 20' at a time, if that.
That is the worst pain I've ever been in and nothing helped.
I went to a chiropractor who wouldn't touch me without x-ray s first.
He offered me pain relievers but I turned them down. Told him to fix the problem, not mask the pain.
It took a couple weeks of adjusting and traction, but he got me walking again.

Hope your doc gets you fixed up soon!

Real pain in the ***

 

[lakelandcat]

Got the funds to continue on the Greenhouse, lumber just jumped to 2x looks like I might have to hit some construction sites and ask for scrap, old pallets work also. Ordered my power supply for the led grow lights. Now all I have to do is get healthy and let the weather warm up. Right now its in the 50s. Mike

 

[lakelandcat]

I ordered clay pellets, 2" and 3" pot cups for the Hydro system. Gotta get over this nerve thing, its been 3 weeks and I went to a Neurologist yesterday. He set me up for a MRI, and EMG. We'll see.

 

[BuffettFan]

Mike, have you tried a chiropractor

I was skeptical for years, but it really helped me. YMMV.

 

[BuffettFan]

Dupe.

 

[lakelandcat]

Ive lived a hard life and the body has taken a lot of abuse. Chiropractor was good at one time, but this is a combination of a lot of prob. I use to be a scale man, had to lift 50lb weights all day to calibrate industrial scales, good day was how many tons I lifted, was young enough I thought real serious about going into pro arm wrestling. Bad thing it was hard on my back. #2 I was a Beer man for awhile and had to deliver kegs to bars. one day I dropped a keg on my big toe, never been right since. Anyway sometimes made me limp which is hard on the back. #3 Worked Lowes for 10 years on a concrete floor. #4 Carpenter built new homes, need I say more, built my man cave all by myself.#5 got old and started to fall from ladders. last count 4. Its time to get it checked out. Im having a EMG done and they are going to stick me with needles to see where the damage is. My Neurologist sat me on the table and pushed down on my left knee and told me to push up and he couldn't hold it down, when he did the same thing with my right knee he push it down real easy no matter how hard I tried, it was shocking. Somethings not right. Mike

 

[lakelandcat]

Well its been almost 5 weeks and I am starting to walk normal again, Im not so sure it wasn't from the covid I tested pos 12/30. In sever cases it takes longer. I have a appointment Thurs. 4/11 for a vaccine shot. It will be a Johnson and Johnson. This is the first chance I have had. I'm 63yo and have DVT, should have gone with the first round, but cases outweigh the doses. I thought I'd better get in before the 16YO. Mrs. Cat is a retired elementary librarian and now she subs, she could only get in 2 weeks ago. She's 66. Got food for the Hydro system I'm using Jacks321, put togather the water in lines and I'm going to start the drains. Started Broccoli, and Cauliflower from seed. Have about a dozen of each. Bought radish, Romain lettuce, catnip, basil, and gourd seeds. I think I'm going to make raised beds from old fence pickets, my neighborhood is almost 25 years old and a lot of fences need repaired or replaced. Free wood.

 

[bighammer]

I had a very mild case of covid middle of last sept and it took a few weeks to get my stamina back. I donated blood in Jan 21 and still had the antibodies. I've also had both Maderna Shots now. Hang in there.

 

[lakelandcat]

I had a very mild case of covid middle of last sept and it took a few weeks to get my stamina back. I donated blood in Jan 21 and still had the antibodies. I've also had both Maderna Shots now. Hang in there.

Thanks Mrs. Cat had a mild case and she was back at it in a couple of weeks, mine is the sever and it just kicked me in the nads. I talked to a nurse in the emergency room who said she came down with it mid Nov. didn't get approved to go back to work for 16 weeks. Im coming up to 14wks. Mike