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Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole

Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
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jbmatth

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Northern Ok.
Wiring looks night and day better, shortening up the pos. battery cable would help in the looks and shorten up the run for the electrons!

My vote is Bo Jeep...I like that.

I agree, it looks much better and just a bit more to go to have it looking more professional and hopefully increase the likelihood of a quick and profitable sale.

I don't think I've commented before, but I have been following along for quite a while. I enjoy your mechanical adventures, and your approach to challenges. Keep up the good work!

Glenn

Thank you sir and I'll keep working, I do hope it is all good. :p

JB
 
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jbmatth

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BahBah black Jeep. Name it Ewe.

Ewe as in barf?

All,
I finished up what I had planned for the Little Bo Jeep last night, shortened the positive cable, crimped new lug on, installed more braided loom and shrink tube on the ends. Lastly I replaced the **** connector on the electric choke and put shrink tube on it as well:
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And a shot of how it started off:
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Here is a shot of all of the leftover stuff I pulled out:
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I'm happy with the result.

JB
 

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jbmatth

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That MSD 6A is pretty potent, on the Jeep did you experience improved performance and/or fuel economy?

I can't say, it was installed when I bought the Jeep, it does run pretty darn good though for a Jeep on 35" (890mm) tires, of course the 360 cid (5.9L) engine helps as well.

JB
 
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jbmatth

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Next up on the to do list is a chain tensioner, I was struggling to find one I thought would fit and function how I wanted. In the end I purchased one of these and figured I'd find a way to make it work:
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When I pulled it out of the box my impression was a bit low, but that is to be expected for a $10 item. I eventually found a good place it could work but of course needed to build a bracket to get it to mount. In the end I decided it was too flimsy for my needs and would fail quickly so I made my own version:
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Now welded on and in place:
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I'm now working on mounts for lights and blinkers, perhaps I'll fiddle with trying to make it run this weekend when the weather will be ****.

JB
 

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jbmatth

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This past week has been a bit of a wash but also very busy. Last Saturday I spent all day working on the barn and have all of the currently planned rafters up, next would have been the purlins (I'm not sure on the right term.) but started getting pretty cold so I called it a day. Went to town to pick up a bigger chainsaw as my old Stihl MS 170 just wasn't big enough for some upcoming work. I had done some research ahead of time and had it narrowed down to a Stihl Farm Boss 271 and an Echo CS-590 Timber Wolf. Both had similar power but at over $200 more I couldn't be brand loyal so I went with the Echo:
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I decided to cut down a tree to see how it faired and OH MY :rocker: it ripped, in 10 minutes I had two trees down about 8-10" in diameter (200-250mm) and completely cut up ready to move. That night it snowed so it was a good day to burn without risk of spreading. I got this cool shot:
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I'm blown away at this saw and how fast it cuts compared to my older saw. It has 2.2 hp more for a total of 3.9 hp and a 20" bar (500mm) but sadly is a bit heavier.

Here is a shot of the place after our second round of snow, we had a total of around 5" (125mm) which is more than normal for us.
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Pinky Pi and the Chitbox weren't as thrilled:
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The girls however really enjoyed it as it is more snow than either of them had seen before so naturally we built a snowman:
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Cat took went inside before adding the coal and didn't bring her jacket back out for the photo. She did have it on when feeding the horses though:
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Yes horses, apparently they multiply even if the new one is older and bigger, she is well manored. Time will tell how well she rides but we have high hopes for now. I'll try to get more done on the barn this weekend if all goes well I'll be ready for tin around christmas.

Have a safe and happy holiday season all.

JB
 

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OutlawDrifter

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KS
Echo makes a good saw, JB, I don't think you chose wrong. I have an older Farm Boss, and it is HEAVY too, you definitely know when you've been packing it around all day.

Horses....the rabbit hole gets a little deeper...don't be surprised when there is a nice gooseneck horse trailer with living quarters and a new tack room in the WHHH...haha
 

XJSuperman

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Horses are all fun n games til you get the bill for the showing outfits the girls are buying for shows/competitions. After the feed and the above-mentioned trailer, its just a kick in the nuts. Im speaking from second-hand experience however. :lol_hitti:lol_hitti
 
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jbmatth

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Echo makes a good saw, JB, I don't think you chose wrong. I have an older Farm Boss, and it is HEAVY too, you definitely know when you've been packing it around all day.

Horses....the rabbit hole gets a little deeper...don't be surprised when there is a nice gooseneck horse trailer with living quarters and a new tack room in the WHHH...haha

I have been pleased with it so far, I'll know better once I've put a few gallons of gas through it this winter though. I'm blown away at how fast it cuts though.

Yeah I wasn't thrilled at getting this one or the first really...She is welcome to bring home the trailer if she and they can afford it but I don't have a truck with a gooseneck ball in it any longer so I wish them luck pushing it by hand. :bounce:

Horses are all fun n games til you get the bill for the showing outfits the girls are buying for shows/competitions. After the feed and the above-mentioned trailer, its just a kick in the nuts. Im speaking from second-hand experience however. :lol_hitti:lol_hitti

I know this all from second hand experience as well, my HRPT partner in crime has ~12 horses at his house at all times his wife owns or is training. They now have a barn, round pen, arena, paddocks, etc. where there once was just pasture. Newish Cummins and above mentioned trailer, combined would be more than enough for a new C8 Corvette and a few other toys. The hole is deep.

How many days until the promises to feed, water and clean stalls are forgotten?
That will happen the day before I list them for sale. They very rarely as for help unless it is something they just can't do. Well last week it was something they could do but I got the call either way. Turns out squirrels don't last long in ~40°F (~4°C?) water in a half full watering trough. It was time to clean it out either way I suppose. :wtf:

I will give them this, no matter how cold, wet, or snowy they go out every night to break ice, feed, and pet them. Making them learn a little more responsibility and dealing with discomfort is a good thing.

JB
 
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jbmatth

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Another busy weekend, it started off doing a bit of cleaning in the shop along with wiring the lights on the go cart. Sadly it wasn't until after I installed them I realized they weren't the ones I'd ordered. :headscrat They work and were inexpensive so I'm just rolling with it for now:
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This is when I discovered the battery is toast, at least one of the cells is dead now, new replacement is on order though. I had great weather so I kept working on the barn. At the end of Saturday here is where I stood:
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All of the purlins (?) installed except I was 4 short, so made it trip to town and got some Italian with the girls and forgot the boards. :willy_nil

Picked them up Sunday, installed and started on the back wall, it goes pretty quick for doing it alone. I also got the tops of the posts cut before the tin went on also fun to do alone on a ladder.
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Note to file, if you have an old saw blade and a circular saw you can cut the tin 2 layers thick with little effort. I am using a very fine tip blade, goggles, and double hearing protection, works a treat though.

This is when tragedy struck, I went to move the mini bike and knocked over a new bottle of whiskey I'd picked up as a gift. (Staged 3 together for a photo):
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Of course the one I knocked over was Whistle Pig and it broke the bottle, if you know whiskey's this will make you cry. :sad:

JB
 

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Grizz1963

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Rochester, KENT. UK
I recall being very drunk on my honeymoon, sitting drinking with a friend who was in the same special forces unit as to which I had been seconded, and knocking over a 500ml brandy and coke in my,Ford Transit panel van, I lay there sucking up the spilled alcohol..... much to Nicola, my ex wife’s amusement.
I don’t get aggressive or stupid when I drink too much, just quiet.

This was a significant loss you suffered, I feel your pain.
 

isonic

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Aug 1, 2018
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Ham Lake, MN
Went to town to pick up a bigger chainsaw as my old Stihl MS 170 just wasn't big enough for some upcoming work. I had done some research ahead of time and had it narrowed down to a Stihl Farm Boss 271 and an Echo CS-590 Timber Wolf. Both had similar power but at over $200 more I couldn't be brand loyal so I went with the Echo:
attachment.php


I decided to cut down a tree to see how it faired and OH MY :rocker: it ripped, in 10 minutes I had two trees down about 8-10" in diameter (200-250mm) and completely cut up ready to move.

I'm blown away at this saw and how fast it cuts compared to my older saw. It has 2.2 hp more for a total of 3.9 hp and a 20" bar (500mm) but sadly is a bit heavier.

JB

I have been pleased with it so far, I'll know better once I've put a few gallons of gas through it this winter though. I'm blown away at how fast it cuts though.

JB

Please feel free to share as much content and opinions you have about the Timber Wolf. I too have been eyeing up that saw and would appreciate some more real world experience. :rocker:
 
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jbmatth

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I recall being very drunk on my honeymoon, sitting drinking with a friend who was in the same special forces unit as to which I had been seconded, and knocking over a 500ml brandy and coke in my,Ford Transit panel van, I lay there sucking up the spilled alcohol..... much to Nicola, my ex wife’s amusement.
I don’t get aggressive or stupid when I drink too much, just quiet.

This was a significant loss you suffered, I feel your pain.
If there wasn't so much broken glass in it I may have, I carefully inspected the bottle before finishing the last few drops remaining, good but not worth it in the end.

Great progress on the barn JB...bummer about the fire water!

Thank you Outlaw, I guess for every high there needs to be a low to keep me balanced.

Please feel free to share as much content and opinions you have about the Timber Wolf. I too have been eyeing up that saw and would appreciate some more real world experience. :rocker:

Isonic,
I don't have a ton of experience with it still but did use it to top the poles on the barn as well as a couple of small trees. So far I'm blown away at the difference in power and cutting speed compared to my small Stihl. Not down playing the Stihl in any way, it was great for me for 4 years using it way more than it was ever designed for in a much harsher environment. But going from it to the Timber Wolf was like driving a 4 cylinder 1999 ****** then getting in a Cobra. The one downside is how much more it weighs but that will work out in time is suppose, manageable but noticable.

JB
 
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jbmatth

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Merry Christmas

I know that I don't drop by as often as I should but wanted to be sure and wish you and your family a Merry Christmas

Don


All,
Thank you for the Christmas time greetings, I apologize I didn't get on here sooner to reciprocate but was pre-occupied with the festivities and family. It is truly appreciated though.

To everyone I missed, I hope you had a happy and wonderful holiday and I wish you a great new year as well.

JB
 
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jbmatth

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Back at it after the holiday break, I have a few projects I've been working on I can't post just yet to keep from spoiling the surprise, but here is what I can show. I worked on the barn some more and would have finished if the wind hadn't have picked up when doing the roof:
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The other project is just for fun, a friend sent me a video of one in operation so I decided to make one:
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Pneumatic can crusher with sketchy feed chute. It works pretty darn well other than the feed chute but the proof of concept has been a great success. I have shop air into the spring loaded valve, push and hold to crush:
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Release the valve to retract the ram then the next can falls right into the now vacant space:
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This happens because the crushed can falls out of the opening at the end of the crusher bed:
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The ram I chose is a 2.5" (63mm) bore with a 6" (150mm) stroke using the air plumbed in the shop it creates 450-550 pounds (200-250 kg) of can crushing force. This means that it will crush the can shallower than I can with my bodyweight:
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Fun easy project that I have about $70 in parts and a bunch of leftover parts and scraps in, and it is satisfying to watch.

JB
 

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racer-john

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Newmarket, ON Canada
The price on that Pneumatic Can Crusher is ridiculous no self-respecting Canuk would go for that.
I bought my house mate a manual can crusher from Princess Auto. The only problem is he has a hard time bagging them, the closet has a mountain of cans.
 
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jbmatth

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The price on that Pneumatic Can Crusher is ridiculous no self-respecting Canuk would go for that.
I bought my house mate a manual can crusher from Princess Auto. The only problem is he has a hard time bagging them, the closet has a mountain of cans.

John,
I have a manual can crusher as well but it didn't get them flat enough for my liking. Thus taking up too much space in the can bin before being transferred to the can crate, then to the bags. This necessitated more frequent trips between the three requiring additional hydration trips to the fridge and more trips to the recycling center, these extra trips increased my carbon footprint and contributed to global warming. See it was an environmental decision in the end, generations of my offspring will thank me. :rocker: :beer: :lol_hitti

I have thought about building on to run off the PTO on the tractor.

I used the bucket on my tractor to smash one and it does an incredible job, pretty amazing what a few tons of steel will do to a can.

JB
 
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jbmatth

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I have a few cans laying around from time to time. :beer: It is a blast either way just to watch it function.

Yep close to 0°C here today but the high is near 10°C before dropping down to -5°C for a couple nights this week. Burr All fun and games though.

JB
 

bowtiguy

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Jan 21, 2009
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Front Range Colorado & Northern Illinois
Can crusher is cool! I’d love to build one but the project list is already too long ( cars first). Hopefully amazon gives you some kick back from the link you left, cuz I bought one! Even though I’ve cut the beer consumption back a bit, my wife drinks 2x as much in flavored seltzer water. I’m at about 50 cans/ week.
 
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jbmatth

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Can crusher is cool! I’d love to build one but the project list is already too long ( cars first). Hopefully amazon gives you some kick back from the link you left, cuz I bought one! Even though I’ve cut the beer consumption back a bit, my wife drinks 2x as much in flavored seltzer water. I’m at about 50 cans/ week.

I hope you enjoy it, it seems pretty solid and can crush cans up to the tall cans, but is only a single shot compared to my semi-automatic. I've seen some pretty complex versions that use "eyes" to detect the presence of a can and will crush them automatically if loaded, essentially an assault can crusher. :uzi:

I needed to save up a few to give this one a good trial run, now I just want to crush all of the cans. Mine enjoys cola drinks and I just can't handle more than a few sips unless there is a splash of whiskey in with it.

JB
 

Bob Heine

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JB, for the past 40 years we've had a trash compactor. Found a GE with a round chamber on a trash pile and fixed it for a couple of bucks. When we moved in 1996 Liane wanted a trash compactor in the kitchen but decided against it for several reasons. I paid $250 for a scratched and dented Kenmore that couldn't be returned so it was relegated to the garage, where I use it to crush cans in bulk. It takes 18 cans to fill a layer but I've never counted the layers. We drink one or two cans of soda a day so it takes a couple of months to fill the compactor. The ram doesn't fill the rectangle very well so I engineered and labeled a space age solution made of plywood.
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This is nowhere near as much fun as yours and it doesn't crush cans as flat but it's even less impressive than my elderly next door neighbor in our old house.
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The old man used to ride his tricycle around the neighborhood on trash pickup day, pulling out all the soda cans he could. By the end of the day he usually had two and sometimes three 55-gallon garbage bags full of cans. Between the twice-weekly pickups he would remove the tabs with a pair of pliers (tabless cans fetch a better scrap price) and then crush the cans with a 10-pound sledge. Two (sometimes three) drops of the sledge and he had a flat hunk of aluminum. Every month he took a couple of bags to a recycler in his AMC Concord station wagon. His chair for the crushing process was a vintage aluminum beach model.
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Every morning I woke to the muffled thuds of the sledge hitting a can on a 2x12 (saving the concrete driveway). Liane said it helped her fall asleep for her afternoon nap. It turned out his can crushing side gig was not that bad. He put his grandson through four years at Purdue with the proceeds.

EDIT: I recommend not looking for a new compactor. They want stupid money for them now.
 

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jbmatth

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As always Bob, great to hear the stories and that would be a lot cans to crush to pay for college at any time in the recent past. I've never had a trash compactor nor have I ever seen one in use, how do you like it and would you consider one being worth the time and money? Good call on the wood to make it work though.

I started collecting can tabs when my nephew was diagnosed with leukemia last year, before then I didn't bother collecting the tabs. When I went to help them out for a couple of weeks at St. Jude's they were collecting tabs at the Ronald McDonald House from around the area, they had 8 or so fruit transport boxes full of tabs, the best photo I could find online for reference is below:
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It was something that made me do a double take, I thought the ziplock bag full we had after a year was a lot but holy cow!

JB
 

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mybigwarwagon

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That's a lot of can tabs!

I have dumped out cans on a piece of steel and ran over then with the tractor. It wound up being more of a pain that I wanted to deal with. If I could find the two electric actuators I have around here somewhere iI might see about cobbling something together.
 

Bob Heine

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I've never had a trash compactor nor have I ever seen one in use, how do you like it and would you consider one being worth the time and money?
JB
JB, I was surprised how quickly it became an important appliance (not quite dishwasher important) and I would miss it if it was gone. It's mostly a lazy person thing -- way fewer garbage runs. My limit is in the $250 range and they appear on eBay, Craigs list and probably Facebook Marketplace for a lot less than that. I think a lot of people give up on the compactor because the bags are expensive, like $2 a piece. I keep using the same bag for a year or two when it no longer resembles a bag (the cans tear a lot of holes in the bags).

EDIT: You're right on the tabs -- I thought he had a lot. He waited until he had a 5-gallon bucket full before turning them in. A few years ago one of my grandsons asked me to save the tabs for a fund raiser. I had a gallon bag full when he told me it had finished a year earlier.
 
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jbmatth

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That's a lot of can tabs!

I have dumped out cans on a piece of steel and ran over then with the tractor. It wound up being more of a pain that I wanted to deal with. If I could find the two electric actuators I have around here somewhere iI might see about cobbling something together.

That is where I was getting to as well, smashing then picking up all of the cans off of the floor became a huge pain in the back, so I feel your pain. I have a smaller actuator coming from China that should be here late February if all goes well, it only has 125lbs of force though. I'll probably make another one and give it away to a friend here.

JB, I was surprised how quickly it became an important appliance (not quite dishwasher important) and I would miss it if it was gone. It's mostly a lazy person thing -- way fewer garbage runs. My limit is in the $250 range and they appear on eBay, Craigs list and probably Facebook Marketplace for a lot less than that. I think a lot of people give up on the compactor because the bags are expensive, like $2 a piece. I keep using the same bag for a year or two when it no longer resembles a bag (the cans tear a lot of holes in the bags).

EDIT: You're right on the tabs -- I thought he had a lot. He waited until he had a 5-gallon bucket full before turning them in. A few years ago one of my grandsons asked me to save the tabs for a fund raiser. I had a gallon bag full when he told me it had finished a year earlier.

I'll probably pass on one, with 4 of us and three of them being girls we end up with a couple of tall kitchen bags full a week. It is pretty easy to just toss them in my can and drop them on before work. I don't think I have that many tabs, I'm probably close to a couple gallons and many of those have come from friends and family saving them for us as well.

JB
 
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