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

[Dan in Pasadena]

I did a small potatoes job around the house today. It doesn't quite fit in the "What Did You Do In Your Garage" or the "What Did You Do In Your Yard" threads so I'll post it here.

The iron gate on the side of the house that never gets used had a gate that only stayed shut because of an interference fit against one of the bolt heads that holds the frame to the block wall.

I've been procrastinating because I thought I'd have toremove the gate take to the garage, weld on a length of bolt w/head to engage the latch, and THEN grind off some of the bolt head that rubbed, paint, etc. It ended up being much easier. I just "King Kong'd" the latch bar about 3/4" back into position using the longest box end wrench I own and found it engages the latch perfectly now. I ground the bolt head very thin but no biggy since there are two other bolts holding the frame AND this gate rarely gets used.

REASON THE PROCRASTINATING STOPPED? Joey, my 12-1/2 year old black miniature poodle best friend disappeared the other night while out to pee. I found the gate was open and immediately thought he'd gotten out, his collar was off as it is in the evening, and he's basically invisible at night except to the many coyotes we have in the neighborhood!! Plus, he's half blind/half deaf (no, his name isn't "Lucky" lol) so he can't hear me call him. My girlfriend and I drove up & down the block, around the corners, walked it too.....only to find him in the backyard still. He was lost in his own yard. Standing stock still in the middle of the grass. He'd fallen in the pool a couple weeks ago and I think he was afraid to fall in again. Usually he hears my voice and sees my flashlight at night (both to SOME degree). Anyway he's safe and sound and the gate can't come open now.

The pics are boring and rotated, so is Joey's pic but he's cute. Never ever thought I'd become the stereotypical-old-guy-with-little-dog!

 

[Bob Heine]

Dan, it appears we can rotate pictures for each other. Glad to hear your buddy is safe and sound. Dogs of all ages, types and sizes fill my heart just like a child.

 

[xtremek]

With a smile like that, what's not to love?

 

[captain14]

My dog disappeared one night, looked and looked didn’t find him until daylight. He must have been chasing a critter and he failed to activate his backup gear. Found location below. He didn’t bark or cry when I called him. Space between my garage and fence.

 

[LeonardY]

Dan,
Glad you got your buddy back.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thank you guys! I'm a total slob for my dogs and always have been. I'm the guy that goes to a party and spends a lot of the time petting and talking to the people's dog!

Captain, We adopted a Craigslist dog years ago that we only lost in December of 2019. She was an odd looking dog that we think was what's called a "Dorgi" by some. A dachshund/corgi mix named Bella. She was not very "bella" but she was the sweetest little soul. The first night we had her she disappeared and like your dog she spent the night next to a wall behind some bushes not making a peep. The minute the sun came up she was scratching at the door - pretty smart for her first night. We lost her to heart disease but she passed on her own bed next to ours where she felt safe and was most comfortable. I still feel happy we gave her a good life for over 10 years we had her.

Rest in paradise sweet Bella:

 

[Bob Heine]

I'm the guy that goes to a party and spends a lot of the time petting and talking to the people's dog!

Dan, I'm the idiot who gets down on his knees to greet the dog when the owners tell me it doesn't like strangers. More than once a cat owner has told me "He/she has never come out of hiding -- or climbed on anyone's lap before." With my resting heart rate in the 40s they are probably just waiting to feast on my carcass.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Dan, I'm the idiot who gets down on his knees to greet the dog when the owners tell me it doesn't like strangers.

Yeah, that's me too. Dogs seem comfortable with me - maybe they're just more comfortable with idiots, ha ha! They're very intuitive, they know who to trust and who to hold back from.

When we moved into our new-to-us house the new neighbor had/has a big mixed dog with a helluva bark and he had the black spotted tongue of a Chow Chow. I know from experience some of them are they're very wary of strangers and they have a heck of a bite! Turned out he is a gentle giant. He barks for me because he knows I'll rub inside his ears and scratch the base of his tail. He just had surgery for a few tumors. Turned out they were fatty, non-malignant. I would scratch around the stitches. Not ON them but around them and he moans in delight.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Duplicate of some stuff I put in the "What Did You Do IN Your Garage Today" thread. Are we supposed to do that? I don't know. Putting it here so I keep a record of when I did what that I can find later:

After MUCH procrastination I took apart a (used to be) nice bird feeder my mother and sisters bought me as a gift years ago. The sun beat the hell out of it. Forgot to take "Before" pics but at least I got some in process.

Sanded the two piece wood post and metal parts. Sprayed the metal a Rustoleum bronze and did the wood with a all-in-one stain & poly finish. The parts that hold the actual seed with be step 2. It's the same wood and copper plate. I think I'll polish up the copper and maybe shoot a little clear on it so it lasts awhile. Over the years it aged but did NOT develop the nice green patina. No, I don't know why the post came in two pieces from China other than it shipped in a shorter box??

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Put a 2nd coat of the stain & poly on the bird feeder pole today.

Tore down some old Corona loppers to restore them. These are very old but they were top notch back in the day then they sat out too many years - I get an idiot award for that.

Had to drill & drive out the rivets, then I put the metal parts and all the bolts for the bird feeder into phosphoric acid overnight to remove rust. I am always so pleased with how great this stuff works. The parts come out good as new and it's effortless - the best part. I'll be stripping the wood and finishing with clear polyurethane then dipping the handle ends in PlastiDip so it looks the same as new. Bolts w/Nylok nuts will have to replace the rivets

 

[xtremek]

You've been pretty busy lately. Why not put the rivets back in?

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Yeah, I've FINALLY gotten out to the garage to do ANYthing! I mentioned before we've have my girlfriend's 99 year old mother in hospice care at our house for the last 4-5 months. And with that comes an uninterrupted stream of relatives to visit/help care for her,...and she had EIGHT children! Plus a caregiver from 8-3 every day and doctors/bathers/nurses coming & going. It's been very hard to get out and not be interrupted.

Anyway, I had to drill off the clinched part of the rivet and the only rivets I am familiar with is garden variety pop rivets. I have a good pop rivet gun but hadn't considered I might be able to use that on wood. I've been planning 1-1/2" carriage bolts with Nylon nuts to secure the handles back in place. If you think pop rivets would work with (I assume) some kind of washer for the clinch to bear against please advise.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I had planned to use clear polyurethane on the lopper handles but there is deep staining in the wood and I didn't want to sand too deep. SO....I applied the same poly/stain I'm using on the bird feeder above. Here's a "Before" and a couple "In-Process" pic's. I may put another coat of the poly/stain tomorrow then some clear. These loppers handles had a red textured coating where your hands hold them. My Sooner boy (avatar) chewed it off when he was a pup so I picked up some blue old fashioned Plastic-Dip this morning. They didn't have red and I didn't think the color was that important.

 

[xtremek]

You're right, I wouldn't use pop rivets. I would think your local hardware store would have buck rivets that you can buy individually.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I have no idea how to clinch them and look like they've been done right. YouTube to the rescue? (Or more likely just stick with the carriage bolts & Nylok nuts idea)

 

[don long]

Dan
There is a store here by me that has everything you could ever want/need called McFaddendales hardware
I know that they have the rivetts you may want.
I just looked it up and there is a store in ontario too.

 

[PugetDude]

I have no idea how to clinch them and look like they've been done right. YouTube to the rescue? (Or more likely just stick with the carriage bolts & Nylok nuts idea)

Rivet-clinching would look good on your resume, Dan.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

My resume is as retired as I am!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Could you use knife rivets? I can't remember the name of the company I found online to order from, but they had different lengths and special bit so the rivet head is flush. I would think this would be much safer for the hands.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I wussed out and used carriage bolts with Nylok nuts. Cut the bolts off flush with the nuts.

I’m almost finished with these loppers. 2 coats of Rustoleum clear over the poly/stain and the blades came out of the phosphoric acid SO clean. I just dried & wire wheeled them. They look new when they’re AT LEAST 35 years old. But they’re very good steel an ave held a very sharp edge despite my neglect.

I’m impressed by the PlastiDip so far. 3 “dips” a half an hour apart and it looks good so far. The handles were originally red but black is all I could find. I think they look good.

 

[Kevkx125]

Loppers came out nice Dan!!

 

[don long]

Great results there Dan.

 

[PugetDude]

Hey Dan, those loppers look great!
Lorena Bobbit would be proud to use them.

 

[xtremek]

They look very nice, job well done.

 

[Jayman17]

Wow, nice clean up, they look brand new.

Jay

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks you guys. Seems all I do now are small jobs like this but I'm pleased to have that time to do them. In the old house SO many things needed doing I never seemed to get around to these kinds of little projects

 

[xtremek]

I hear on the long list. And.....enjoy your Tg day.

 

[don long]

I like the smaller projects much more now as I age lol.

 

[Jayman17]

Hey Dan, Happy New Year, just checking in to see what’s up. I noticed I haven’t seen any posts from you for awhile. Hope all is well.

Jay

 

[racer-john]

Happy New Year, Dan

 

[PugetDude]

Hey Dan, Happy New Year, just checking in to see what’s up. I noticed I haven’t seen any posts from you for awhile. Hope all is well.

Jay

It's been almost a month since his last post (4 December)
Hope everything's OK.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Everything's fine. Apparently, I'm on "parole".

Installed this brush bar and KC lights on my Gladiator. I'd had them on my JK two door but decided to sell it only about a month after I got them - good thinking, huh? Oh well. I didn't truly need them then and I don't truly need them now but it's better than having them sit in a drawer.

I haven't installed the electrical connections yet but I'll get a round tuit shortly! How've all you guys been?

 

[xtremek]

Not bad. Is the front bumper stock, other than the brush bar?

 

[53PontiacSD]

I've been doing fine after the wreck. I figured you were just out galavanting around in the Gladiator and having too much fun. I knew you'd be back.

 

[PugetDude]

Dan,
Welcome back!
What did you do this time?
Scott

 

[Jayman17]

Glad to hear all is well, not a whole lot going on in my world. Just trying to get motivated.

Jay

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Not bad. Is the front bumper stock, other than the brush bar?

Yup, totally stock Mopar metal bumper. They come with a plastic bumper too though I’m not sure if the metal is stock on Rubicon since I bought it used with 15,000 miles back in July. The slight texture on the bar matches the factory bumper perfectly.

I've been doing fine after the wreck. I figured you were just out galavanting around in the Gladiator and having too much fun. I knew you'd be back.

What wreck and how serious? Sorry to hear it and hope you and yours are alright.

Dan,
Welcome back!
What did you do this time?
Scott

Thanks .... and wouldn't I love to say!

Glad to hear all is well, not a whole lot going on in my world. Just trying to get motivated.

Jay

I can relate. It’s been raining a lot in (“It Never Rains in...) Southern California”. It’s also been cold for here - like 40’s at night so I’ve actually had to wear long pants - when I've almost exclusively worn shorts since I retired at the end of 2017 - Oh the indignity! Ha ha.

PS: Thanks you guys for noticing I wasn’t around. Hope you all had a nice holiday season and that you & yours have survived the virus, et al.

 

[53PontiacSD]

Ok, let me clarify what I said before anybody gets the wrong idea. Back in March of last year at work, an older lady ran into our building, missing me by a foot or so. Fortunately, she hit the end of the counter and stopped. But, in the process, the windows and other displays managed to knock my feet out from under me. An old guy like me doesn't bounce off the floor as I did many years ago. There you have it.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

What I always say about the prospect of taking a hard fall at my age is I'll be a bag of broken sticks afterward! But hopefully I'm wrong because I'm only 67 and in very good shape (well, except a bit overweight) but otherwise two thumbs up from doc on my cholesterol, blood pressure, yada, yada. No broken bones since I was daredevil kid and broke a few back then.

 

[xtremek]

Yeah, once you hit your mid fifties, you don't recover quite as fast as you did when you were younger. I used to pull 30, 40, even 50+ hour days and recover after a 12 hour sleep. Now, if I'm up past 10pm, I struggle the next day.