Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT The "Glendora Garage"

[Dan in Pasadena]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Ok, finally home from the long vacation. I'm a home body so for me it was too long at 18 days. Saw a lot of beautiful places but I''m cruised-out, I'm old peopled-out and yes, even though I fully qualify as an old person. 4pm as I type this but approaching midnight where we came from so I don't know how long I'm gonna last. I'd like to stay up to watch my Dodgers but I likely won't make it.

The lame thin wall irrigation tubing system I spent most of a week repairing before leaving sprung two gushers sometime while we were gone. The tubing slipped off the fittings! I just went out and "fixed" them with automotive type stainless clamps. But it'll hold while I catch up on shearing hedges, spraying weeds, mowing lawns and moving stuff around.
I sheared the lantana May 25th (below). Less than a month later (today) it is hugely overgrown. I love the blooms but it really is a maintenance issue in the Spring & Summer.

 

[PugetDude]

Welcome back Dan.

 

[M.Brane]

Lawns, flowering plants etc. are kinda like horses: I will never own them again unless someone else tends to their daily maintenance. I only have to feed my bikes when I ride 'em, and no daily mess to clean up.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Welcome back Dan.

Thanks! Met couples on the cruise from all over - Canada, Oregon, even England and New Zealand but one couple we got friendly enough to exchange contact information with was from Scottsdale. Very nice people. Had several dinners with them and we were on some excursions too. Maybe it was that they were the only other couple that did NOT have mobility issues, ha ha. I didn't ask details but they own/or did own several pharmacies.

Not that anyone cares but my pups were over-the-top excited to see us but we ruined their evening. We went to bed by about 4pm (midnight to us) and were awake by 2am. I'm **** dragging tired now (3pm) but trying to force myself to stay up longer.

Lawns, flowering plants etc. are kinda like horses: I will never own them again unless someone else tends to their daily maintenance. I only have to feed my bikes when I ride 'em, and no daily mess to clean up.

I'm one of the weirdos that LIKES maintaining and mowing lawns and I really enjoy flowering plants - feeding them, deadheading them, weeding, etc. Yeah, a little psycho. (Perhaps more than a little?)

My truck is STILL not done. It's been almost a month. It doesn't need a new trans - they claim - but something called a "transmission pump" - I don't know how serious but pumping fluid has got to be a LITTLE important, huh? Ha ha.
My truck has the 10 speed and it's worked great til now. Got a loaner Blazer EV from them today. Only driven it a few miles but I'm impressed. Seems like a very nice smaller SUV (as in not a gargantuan Suburban).

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Trying to get over jet lag - UGH, really struggling but I got in the yard today. Mowed, edged, deadheaded, sheared one lantana hedge and it was a job and a half. Pics show Before & After:



Also, the nearly-dead hydrangeas we transplanted in Spring came into full bloom:

 

[Ford52PU]

Beautiful yard!!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Beautiful yard!!

Oh thanks. It’s getting there. I keep working at it.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Well, my truck is FINALLY home....after a month at the dealership. The "whistling" for which I took it in (oil & filter change as well as fuel filter too) turned out to be the transmission pump. An unusual issue on these trucks I'm told (3.0 Duramax straight six with 10 speed automatic). Took awhile for them to get the part. I'll be driving it about 400 miles to Sacramento in about a week and I'll have 3 adults, 2 young grand daughters and 2 dogs with me - yeah, all in the truck! So it HAS to be reliable. Fingers crossed!

I asked what the price for this fix would be if it had not been covered by warranty? "About $4500" was the answer. I am REALLY wondering if I even want to own a modern vehicle that is out of warranty. Yes, because of the expense but also the sheer aggravation. The latest vehicles are more and more complex to meet emissions requirements and efficiency expectations. Anyway, thinking I may replace this in the next year. Too bad because I REALLY like this truck. I like how it looks, drives, the mpg. It's just a cool *** truck...for me.

 

[captain14]

What’s the longest factory warranty can you buy nowadays?
Everything included or just the powertrain.

I know they just announced the 2026 Dodge Ram powertrain warranty will be 10years/ 100,000 miles.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

What’s the longest factory warranty can you buy nowadays?
Everything included or just the powertrain.

I know they just announced the 2026 Dodge Ram powertrain warranty will be 10years/ 100,000 miles.

Interesting that Ram offers that. I'd assume it's because of recent drivetrain "issues"?

Though I had a purchased-used 2002 Ram 1500 with the old "semi hemi" 4.7 V8, which always ran well it just didn't have enough power for the truck's size & weight so it didn't get very good mileage.

I prefer Chevrolet/GMC but I'd not be opposed to considering a Ram again. Your comment makes me wonder if GM will feel pressed to match Ram's warranty?

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I ordered these German Felco left handed pruners and they're high quality but I've apparently gotten so used right handed ones I can't use these. I'm returning them for less expensive ordinary ones.

A lot of years ago I was a draftsman for Southern California Edison (back when there were such things as draftsmen!) and they ordered a left handed drafting machine for me. I could never get used to it. I ended using a parallel bar - for anyone who remembers what that is - my entire career as a draftsman. All of about 5 years before I got into Quality with Bechtel.

Using "Lucy logic" I spent the savings on returning these on one of those neck fans. Fingers crossed that it is worth a damn for working in the yard.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Posting this in case any other GJ-er is tempted to spend on this:

I bought this blower on a whim after seeing it online. The ad showed a video of it having the power of a larger blower for blowing leaves, drying cars, etc. The packaging claims it works at 600,000 rpm! Really, yikes! It is pretty noisy. They provide 2 sets of ear plugs with the unit so they know it's dangerously loud. Anyway, it just isn't very effective and is kinda "toy-like". So I've already re-packaged it for return.

 

[PugetDude]

Posting this in case any other GJ-er is tempted to spend on this:

I bought this blower on a whim after seeing it online. The ad showed a video of it having the power of a larger blower for blowing leaves, drying cars, etc. The packaging claims it works at 600,000 rpm! Really, yikes! It is pretty noisy. They provide 2 sets of ear plugs with the unit so they know it's dangerously loud. Anyway, it just isn't very effective and is kinda "toy-like". So I've already re-packaged it for return.

With a name like Vuquesen, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

With a name like Vuquesen, what could possibly go wrong?

I'm sure it's a fine traditional Chinese family name!

 

[PugetDude]

I'm sure it's a fine traditional Chinese family name!

Yeah, if your family is AI-generated namebots.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Yeah, if your family is AI-generated namebots.

"...not that there's anything wrong with it...."

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

For those that remember I posted a thread that my beloved older sister, Irene passed away suddenly Jul 11th while we were on vacation in Kauai. I'm still not over it and part of me never will be.

After her service we went to her house and took a lot of her plants including the vinca flowers we'd planted by her front door the last day we were all together on 7/3. Because of her absence they and other potted plants had started to wilt so we got to them just in time. I re-planted the vinca in my backyard and the potted mandevilla vines in a couple empty pots she had. They are doing great which of course pleases me and I hope her too!



This one in the white pot took a beating but has survived with some pruning:

 

[PugetDude]

Believe it or not, Dan but I was just thinking about you....
Working on new deck gates at the new summer place, gonna have to install the cane bolt retainer with a couple of Tapcons...

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Totally different subject:
1. I am a ****** and out-of-practice welder but I tried to repair a potted plant caddy.
The nut where the caster attaches detached - a poor resistance weld from the Chinese factory. Short version: I couldn't get my Hobart 140 MIG welder to make the weld. It would melt the wire into globs but it didn't liquify the caddy metal at all. It just balled up on the surface and could be easily knocked off. To make it worse, the wire feed kept "bird nesting" in the machine.
I wasted a bunch of wire pulling it out of the hand piece and re-threading it, messing with the roller tension. It is .024 wire for sheet metal welding. I ground off paint on both the nut and the base metal. Ground off paint where I attached the ground clamp. Nothing helped so I quit but both the lack of making puddles AND the wire feed issues have me PISSED OFF.

Can anyone enlighten me? After I quit and put everything away I was thinking about it and I realized I forgot to turn on the gas - yes, idiocy - but I don't THINK that should have had any impact on liquifying the metal. I'm sure it contributed to the crappy balled filler metal. I messed with the wire feed speed and amperage settings until both were at their max - no love. I should have taken a picture of the machine settings but was so frustrated I just wanted to quit. Here's the very simple job I was trying to fix:

 

[PugetDude]

Totally different subject:
1. I am a ****** and out-of-practice welder but I tried to repair a potted plant caddy.
The nut where the caster attaches came apart - a poor resistance weld from the Chinese factory. Short version: I couldn't get my Hobart 140 MIG welder to make the weld. It would melt the wire into globs but it didn't liquify the caddy metal at all. It just balled up on the surface and could be easily knocked off. To make it worse, the wire feed kept "bird nesting" in the machine.
I wasted a bunch of wire pulling it out of the hand piece and re-threading it, messing with the roller tension. It is .020 wire for sheet metal welding. I ground off paint on both the nut and the base metal. Ground off paint where I attached the ground clamp. Nothing helped so I quit but both the lack of making puddles AND the wire feed issues have me PISSED OFF.

Can anyone enlighten me? After I quit and put everything away I was thinking about it and I realized I forgot to turn on the gas - yes, idiocy - but I don't THINK that should have had any impact on liquifying the metal. I'm sure it contributed to the crappy balled filler metal. I messed with the wire feed speed and amperage settings until both were at their max - no love. I should have taken a picture of the machine settings but was so frustrated I just wanted to quit. Here's he very simple job I was trying to fix:

What were your wire speed and amp settings?

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Believe it or not, Dan but I was just thinking about you....
Working on new deck gates at the new summer place, gonna have to install the cane bolt retainer with a couple of Tapcons...

Ha! Me and Tapcons. What could possibly go wrong?!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

What were your wire speed and amp settings?

Wire feed max is 100. Voltage setting just has 1, 2,3,4. I tried at each setting and nothing improved.

 

[PugetDude]

Do you have any .030 wire you can try ? Might be the .020 isn't making good contact with the feed or the tip.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Can anyone enlighten me? After I quit and put everything away I was thinking about it and I realized I forgot to turn on the gas - yes, idiocy - but I don't THINK that should have had any impact on liquifying the metal. I'm sure it contributed to the crappy balled filler metal. I messed with the wire feed speed and amperage settings until both were at their max - no love. I should have taken a picture of the machine settings but was so frustrated I just wanted to quit. Here's the very simple job I was trying to fix:

No shield gas, no weld. Period.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Do you have any .030 wire you can try ? Might be the .020 isn't making good contact with the feed or the tip.

No additional wire. Now that I think of it it’s .023” wire from back when I was doing sheet metal repairs on my ‘55 truck.

No shield gas, no weld. Period.

Hmmm, really? Yeah I know without gas the filler metal is contaminated but the gas is needed just to puddle the parent metal? The caddy “plate” in this case?

 

[kaymccampbell]

No additional wire. Now that I think of it it’s .023” wire from back when I was doing sheet metal repairs on my ‘55 truck.

Hmmm, really? Yeah I know without gas the filler metal is contaminated but the gas is needed just to puddle the parent metal? The caddy “plate” in this case?

Yup. Especially at low power.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ok, well that means I will have to go give it another go. Though the wire feed issue is seriously frustrating. There is no obvious reason it should do that. I've looked at the orifice in the hand piece carefully as well as the wire feed rollers and there is nothing at all amiss that I can see. I'll slow the feed speed as low as I can so that if it does want to mess up again at least I won't waste quite so much wire. Thanks you guys.

 

[PugetDude]

Ok, well that means I will have to go give it another go. Though the wire feed issue is seriously frustrating. There is no obvious reason it should do that. I've looked at the orifice in the hand piece carefully as well as the wire feed rollers and there is nothing at all amiss that I can see. I'll slow the feed speed as low as I can so that if it does want to mess up again at least I won't waste quite so much wire. Thanks you guys.

If you're feeding wire at high speed without a molten puddle consuming it, it's going to start backing up. If it cannot get out of the nozzle unimpeded it will eventually start birdsnesting.

I've run out of shielding gas while welding before; got a pretty nasty looking pile of porosity instead of a puddle. Didn't try to continue, though.

 

[kaymccampbell]

There should be a chart inside the door on the welder. I'd go with that for first blush. Also, do you have a fresh tip? The right size?
You want your liner to be really close to the roller, so you don't get birds nests. You also want to be sure you're using the correct roller, or groove on the roller. And that the roller is clean.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Yes, there's a chart inside the door though I admit I didn't even look at it (we don't need no stinkin' instructions!). I do have new tips though I've welded so little with this machine it didn't occur to me that could be the issue since the orifice appeared perfectly symmetrical, no wear shown. This bird nesting is happening right at the roller inside. I'll try to go take a pic and come back shortly.

Guessing the caddy material is thinner than 1/8" so I'll try again using gas (of course, duh!) and settings at 3/40 or 3/50. Of course the nut is the thicker part being welded so I hope this works. I'm using 75% Argon/25% CO2 gas

As you can see, the weld wire started to kink. I pulled it back slightly and then quit because it was the 3rd or 4th time it had happened. Trying to "straighten" the wire doesnt work. I just have to cut it off, pull it back out of the hand piece and running several feet of new wire through to the tip. Bad picture of the tip but you can see the hole isn't worn. But per your suggestions I'll swap in a new tip.

 

[PugetDude]

Yes, there's a chart inside the door though I admit I didn't even look at it (we don't need no stinkin' instructions!). I do have new tips though I've welded so little with this machine it didn't occur to me that could be the issue since the orifice appeared perfectly symmetrical, no wear shown. This bird nesting is happening right at the roller inside. I'll try to go take a pic and come back shortly.

Hopefully it's a picture of a weld and not a bunch of dog-knotted wire.

 

[M.Brane]

Other than what has already been said when welding different thickness I like to split the difference on settings, start on the thicker piece, and work quickly kinda like soldering. It's all about making it flow. If it ain't flowing something's wrong.

 

[Ford52PU]

I have a Lincoln Mig but I’ve had trouble at time with the wire bunching up mine has a spring tension adjustment where it enters the cable going to the gun make sure that’s not too tight also the wire needs to track in a roller. Gas flow is needed to be there unless your using a flux core welding wire. Gas flow show be fairly low and on mine you can hear a valve click and see the regulator needle dip a bit to show your flowing.
Good luck you’ll get it

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Follow up on my welding issues above: - A You Tube video about wire feed issues on MIG welders fixed me up. I followed directions and no more "bird nest" wire - excellent. It was about the feed tensioner on the wire roll and the tension on the roller that feeds the wire into the handle. I put a new tip on the handle too per Kay's recommendation though I didn't see anything wrong with the one already there. Better safe than sorry. Then turned on the gas this time (yes, I am an occasional *****) regulated per directions on the machine's inner door. Amazing how following direction makes things work - AND annoying because I always think I know better.

Anyway, I was repairing two large flower pot dollies. One was just re-welding a factory resistance welded nut. The other was all screwed up. Maybe not worth saving. It's made of coils of large diameter wire welded to 1/2" strips of metal. A 1-1/2" piece of one of those strips had broken off and a couple of the hoop end welds broke. I grinded (ground?) the joints clean of rust, clamped it all with vice grips and Bob's your uncle! I'm a better grinder and spray painter so I won't shock you with my ****** welding but it all works now and is under huge flower pots, never to be seen again - black paint makes everything look better!! But they're strong, I beat on the welds with a ball peen hammer as a test.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Next project: Repairing a metal garden hose. I've thrown away a couple of these in the past. Wasteful. But this one is 75ft. and it came from my recently deceased sister's garden when she moved 8 months ago. A stupid item to assign sentimental value to....but I do.

Found this video on YouTube:

It's exactly my job. Mine just sprung a leak somewhere in the middle. May be hard to find the exact spot. Already ordered the marine grade heat shrink tubing and the Everbilt 3/8" hose barb. I picked 304 stainless barbs instead of the brass in the video.

Tomorrow is a family pool party - 24 people, yikes. Been CRAZY hot here. Much higher than forecasted 99*. 108-109* in the shade!

Separate from all the above, I ordered and received the same day a flower pot dolly for a huge pot we have. Claims to support 500lbs! Ours doesn't weigh quite that much, maybe 250- 300 lbs.

Made of the finest Chineseium plastic I'm sure. I like that it has a center caster:

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

This job kicked my **** today, it was 90*. I should have trimmed it even shorter but I filled my large yard trash and a neighbor's too. I got bitten about 100,000 gnat bites too. Finally, I wet a big garage towel and draped it over my head to keep them off my ears & neck - then they bit behind my elbows and a little on the ankles.

Trash day tomorrow so I MAY go back and trim another 4-6" off the top. I had let them overgrow a LOT because we had a family pool party over the weekend and wanted the flowers plus my older sister didn't like when I trimmed off the blooms and I am still struggling with mourning her so I let them go quite awhile.

Before and After's below: PS: Now I'm seeing how the tree by the garage needs a serious thinning and tipping back.

 

[rharman]

< snip > This job kicked my **** today, it was 90*. I should have trimmed it even shorter but I filled my large yard trash and a neighbor's too. I got bitten about 100,000 gnat bites too. Finally, I wet a big garage towel and draped it over my head to keep them off my ears & neck - then they bit behind my elbows and a little on the ankles.
< /snip >

I sympathize with you.

I've long made it a habit (successfully for the most part) to wipe down or spray myself with OFF repellent before doing yardwork. I now keep a can of it in the yard shed with my ear muffs & safety glasses. And, always a hat with neck drape and long sleeve t-shirt - regardless of the weather.

Mosquitos are super drawn to me. Got a huge attack of the no-see-ums once too. It was just awful. Oatmeal bath soaks for a week and more calamine lotion than I could imagine. Just miserable.

Yard work tomorrow morning. I'll be out in full regalia....

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I sympathize with you.

I've long made it a habit (successfully for the most part) to wipe down or spray myself with OFF repellent before doing yardwork. I now keep a can of it in the yard shed with my ear muffs & safety glasses. And, always a hat with neck drape and long sleeve t-shirt - regardless of the weather.

Mosquitos are super drawn to me. Got a huge attack of the no-see-ums once too. It was just awful. Oatmeal bath soaks for a week and more calamine lotion than I could imagine. Just miserable.

Yard work tomorrow morning. I'll be out in full regalia....

Yeah, I'll be out there again today too. As a kid I got four perfectly spaced mosquito bites across my forehead the night before school pictures!
I noticed as I was shearing the hedge all the gnats flying off it. Pretty sure they are the "no-see-ums". I will be spraying but it never seems to truly eradicate them, only reduce them and only for a short while.

I really hate spraying myself with "stuff" but of course I should.

 

[rharman]

Just finished 3 hours of mow, edge, hedge trim (ours and the neighbors that hangs over our fence) and, so far, I appear to be unscathed.

Could have done a lot more of the neighbors but we only took the low-hanging stuff. He's usually really on top of getting someone out to trim his trees and hedges. I think he may have delayed since the kids are spending a LOT of time in the above-ground pool this year.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Just finished 3 hours of mow, edge, hedge trim (ours and the neighbors that hangs over our fence) and, so far, I appear to be unscathed.

I went out and mowed the back lawn, no edging, took the trash cans to the street. I'm coming down with a bad cold and feel AWFUL so came inside and crashed.