greatbear: (forearms)
You might've noticed a bit of quiet around here. This is mostly because I've still being Mr. Crankypants due to an ongoing cold-like thing that both Jeff and I have shared in. Jeff got it first (he probably got it as a free gift from the hospital) and I got the BOGO deal a bit later. Needless to say, days since last week have been a coughy, phlegmy, hacky joyfest, and the absolutely bipolar Maryland weather isn't helping either. Last weekend was nice, practically t-shirt 'n' jeans-like. Monday I awoke to a foot of snow. I grumbled out of bed, opened the door to let By-Tor and the Snow Dog outside to make yellow snow, snapped a couple front door glamor shots of the snow (it was very pretty), then slammed the door on the outside world once the dogs returned. I was in no mood to go and deal with the stuff, and I knew it would be short-lived anyway. With no help from me, by Wednesday afternoon the snow had practically vanished and the more typical March weather had returned. Me and the pooches enjoyed a nice long walk that we hadn't had in a few days and were better off because of it. Today Jeff had come home early due to rejiggering his schedules and we took the time to do some shopping and get some lunch at the Columbia Mall ("Mass-murder free for 53 days!") and run some needed errands. He has to work for some time on Saturday, and possibly next weekend as well, but we can deal with that for the most part. We are moving ahead with wedding plans and prep as well, and both of us are getting excited as the day approaches.

I am almost finished with the computer/network overhaul here, only a few hundred more feet of cable needs to be run as I am able to wrangle my assistant into visiting. The most difficult parts, running cat-6 cabling from the Mayhem Bunker into the attic (two runs) and several runs along with some RG6 and wiring for the security/home automation through the underground conduits to the garage remain, and I hope to get these done sooner rather than later. The garage wiring runs were put off since my initial back issues and surgery in 2010. I have all the supplies, the switch and other sundries needed for the job, I just need a bit of warmer weather and an extra pair of hands. I am hoping the conduit is not broken or flooded. It currently has old phone lines which are still in use and the remains of the original thin-net LAN I set up about 25 years ago that were abandoned once I switched to Fast Ethernet in the house. I just want to finally finish this project so I can completely forget about it for about the next ten or fifteen years. Only some hardware needs to be changed over to upgrade the mess to 10GBEthernet, and beyond that I don't see too much of a need for much more bandwidth in the foreseeable future. I laid enough cabling from various points in the house to be able to trunk them together for higher bandwidth, and the big Synology NAS is already using four cables to hook into the backbone, with four for the main server, two for the small server, and two each for two workstations so far, with more planned. La Casa has intranet bandwidth that rivals what I had when I worked for Northrop Grumman by far.

Another reason I want this computer crap over and done with is because spring is when I turn my attention outdoors. I have a shit-tonne of work to do in the yard as well as some house repairs I need to finish before the wedding. I got sidelined and didn't do a damn lick of any work needed outside since last September, and that includes cleaning up a huge toppled tree taken down during Sandy, lots of general cleaning, and finally erecting the greenhouse in the garden that has otherwise been hogging up space in the garage with all its parts. La Casa will have a new entryway and lots of other goodies. I need to pressure-wash the gazebo as well as apply some stain/sealer to make it look spiffy, since that's where the actual ceremony will be taking place. I hope I can get all of this done. In the middle of all of this, I still have unfinished work on the vehicle fleet, serious cleaning up of the garage, yard beautification, the veggie garden, etc, etc. I sincerely hope I don't have any more health/physical troubles in the meantime, or I will be seriously fucked and moody, not the sort that anyone would want to marry.

Finally, the wedding. If you are reading this and want to be a part of the festivities, which are shaping up to be totes awesomesauce, btw, drop me a line with your mailing addy, and I will send out one of the truly neat invitations we had made up. I want to share my happiness with all my friends.
greatbear: (forearms)
The last several days have been interesting, productive, fun and relaxing. Jeff had accumulated some time off from working extra days, and he bundled them around this particular weekend. All together, he's off from Thursday through Tuesday, and our dance card had already been pretty much filled. On Thursday, we headed down to wild, wonderful West Virginia and the town of Cass to ride the restored rail line, once part of a lumber operation and now a scenic railroad. The three of us boarded the train, the beautifully restored Shay steam locomotive chugged to life and we were on a relaxing excursion through the woods and hills of the area. Scenic is definitely the best way to describe the 11-mile journey as the stout locomotive pushed the cars to over 5000ft in elevation in 11 miles. I will most likely post more about this, as I collect the pics and video. Stupid me, I had forgotten to load a fresh SD card into the camera, and I'm still unaccustomed to how fast the memory gets eaten up taking full HD video. I ran out of space halfway into the trip and had to use my cell phone for the rest of the day. We had a great time, despite the 4+ hour ride to and from the area (neither one of use had to drive). We might do this again in the fall when the leaves change, the colors would be beyond breathtaking. I bought some art as souvenirs, there are quite a few unique items made locally by hand, a refreshing change from finding touristy trinkets crafted from Chinesium in such places. The lady who rung up my one purchase was also the maker. Definitely a friendly place on the "must return to" list.

Friday we spent clearing out the rest of the vegetable garden for planting as well as doing other yard work. I also did some upgrades to the truck as prep for next month's PTown trip. We picked up various soil enhancements and I fired up the big Troy-Bilt and tilled the area into a respectable spot and Jeff planted two varieties of sweet corn in that last quadrant of the garden. Jeff was so happy to finally get this done as well. Now we just have to figure a way of preventing damage from the stink bugs and other vermin that have been problems in the past. More research is needed, and I want to minimize the use of chemicals.

We took both pooches to the groomer in Saturday morning, old hat for Kodi but a first for Snickles. While the dogs were away, we continued with the yard stuff a bit and did other things which included a nice lunch devoid of begging dogs. When the call came from the groomer, we picked up our freshly washed pups and brought them home. We cleaned up after a while and headed to the Merriweather Post Pavilion to see the Zac Brown band perform.

IMG_1373


These guys can rock, despite their country leanings. A band for pogonophiles everywhere, they played a tight set and kept everyone on their feet. I was blown away by their cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman," especially with the lead guitar solo being played to the hilt on the fiddle! We both had an awesome time at the show despite the outrageous prices for food and refreshments. There's not much escaping that folly these days, however.

Sunday Jeff took Kodi with him to Pennsyltucky while I kept Da Snick home with me. While he tended to family business as well as getting the trailer cleaned up and ready for the trip, I worked in the garage on various overdue projects. As is usually the case in The Garage of Mayhem, a simple project took a curvy left turn and became something different. The vegetable garden is surrounded with a 4+ foot wire fence to keep the critters out, and there are four "gate" to get in and out. The "main" entrance has an arbor with a double swinging gate, the other three sides have an opening in the fence to get equipment in and out which has a section of the fence wire loosely hung into the openings. The two side openings are about 4 feet wide, the back one is a bit shy of seven feet wide in order to get the tractor and other stuff though. Hanging the wire fencing by itself was never a permanent solution, especially since we have a big, fat, nearly invincible groundhog that likes to work his way under the loose fencing and get at our goodies. We've both shot at him several times and missed. Time had finally come to make use of the rebar I had picked up earlier to make a frame to attach the loose wire to and make the garden groundhog- (and many other critter-) proof. All I wanted originally was to make a simple rectangular frame by cutting and welding the rebar together, attaching a panel of wire fencing, then placing this on the ground against the openings in the fence. Well, the simple rectangular frame looked rather plain, and given the size of it (80 inches wide, 60 inches high) and its location opposite the main entrance, I decided to make it somewhat of an art piece instead. Here is what I came up with, before the wire fencing is attached.

IMG_1402


The fencing will cover the lower 48 inches, with the uppermost divided rectangular area left open. Rather than being hinged, the gate has a pair of spikes that go into the ground and it gets held in place by a couple of clamps. It only gets removed to take equipment in and out of the garden and to deal with weeds. No reason why something utilitarian can't also be attractive at the same time. I have yet to make the smaller side gate frames, those will be simpler, just a square with a crisscrossing reinforcement, and perhaps a rectangular upper panel to match the big gate. I need to extend the fence posts to about seven feet tall, and attach a course or two of wire to keep the deer from jumping in and out. The deer are the worst garden destroyers here at Mayhem Acres, and they keep multiplying. Until it was cleaned out, the southwest quadrant (the bare ground in the photo) had branches and brush piled in it from last fall, and that had gotten overgrown with weeds as we neglected it and worked the other three areas. This had become home to a tiny fawn as Jeff discovered while cleaning. The fawn got trapped in the fence until our dogs began barking and chasing it. Jeff was so close to having another pet.

Jeff will be in PA with dad for another couple days. In that time I have some mods to do on the truck, fluid changes to do, plus cleaning it up. The Stratus will get a couple more suspension parts (lower control arms w/integral ball joints plus front swaybar links) to satisfy my worry that they, like the tie rod ends, might be close to failing. The replacements will have grease fittings and can receive regular maintenance, giving me some peace of mind.
greatbear: (four cycle)
...for a good old-fashioned valve job. Actually it is also a head job but I didn't want some of you to get the wrong ideas. ;)

The weather here has been nothing short of amazing, and it has become time to start working in the yard, especially catching up from the last few years of disabilities. Last weekend Jeff and I cleaned up a corner of the yard, cutting down trees wrecked by winter weather as well as weeds, vines and brush. Trees became firewood, will become mulch soon, and the brush and trash became a large bonfire. The area looks good, but is only partially done. Hey, I'll take results like this any day.

With weather being warm so early, we will attempt that old farmer's ritual of getting the potatoes in the ground on St. Patrick's Day. To that end, I got the big rototiller out and fired it up the other day. Or tried to, unsuccessfully. Seems the carburetor got fouled up and it wouldn't stay running without the choke set. No big deal, I picked up a carb kit and tore into the thing for the first time, having had no prior trouble with it since buying it new in 1990. With gas being as shitty as it is these days, I honestly expected this problem to show up sooner. There was crud in the float bowl and clogged passages. Some time with cleaners, compressed air and some TLC, it was done and good as new. Later that day I got into the garden and scratched up the soil to mix in the leaves I dumped in there from last fall. The tiller was kinda down on power despite the rather easy task it had, so back to the garage for some more checks. As the engine heated up the exhaust would sputter like a Catholic priest being questioned about altar boys. I suspected a burned exhaust valve and put the tiller away until today, when I did a leakdown test to confirm the problem, then I tore into the engine to make things good again.

IMG_0794


More of the set is here.

It seems the valves were not burned yet, but the clearances were far too tight and the engine would sputter out the muffler the hotter it got. I did a valve job the same way it has been done since the early days. The valves were in decent shape, they got bead blasted and checked, the seats in the cylinder were checked, and I lapped the valves. Lapping involves smearing an abrasive grease onto the seats and the valve faces, then spinning them together with a tool made for the task. It's not unlike cavemen starting fires by spinning a stick. Lapping matches the valve faces to the seats and creates a perfect seal. I used coarse and fine lapping compounds. Some grinding had to be done to get the clearances right, once everything was set up properly, the head and cylinder gets de-carboned and cleaned, the valvetrain reassembled and checked once more. I need to run out and pick up some gaskets to complete the job, and the old Troy-Bilt will be good for at least another 20 years.

This little project, while unexpected, was not unwelcome. Despite always working on things here at Mayhem Acres, a project sometimes becomes a zen-like exercise in quiet concentration. This was one of those times. The tiller was down on power the last few times I used it, and I knew I was going to need to pay it some attention. Rather than approach this as drudgery, I took the opportunity to dig my little-used specialty tools from the back of the toolboxes, take the time to go through motions that still work on even the most modern engines despite the techniques being a couple hundred years old. I find an odd comfort working on low-tech engines and machinery like this. It's completely hands-on work, problems are found by touch, sight, hearing and smelling. There are no downloading of patches or flashing computers and control modules. A handful of basic tools, some time and nice weather made an otherwise humdrum mechanical exercise into a meditation. I can't wait to get the remaining parts and bring it back to life. Few things for me are as enjoyable as starting up an engine after some major work. Silly as it seems, it's my way of bringing things to life, I guess. And this tiller will get used to start the garden that will provide us with food, as I have been doing for decades.
greatbear: (Default)
A few years ago I needed some replacement parts for my Weber gas grill. Not finding anything local and unable to make use of universal parts I had to order from Weber. No big deal, just a bit of wait, and the prices were not outrageous. However, ordering online has, of course, set me up with a bit of bacn (spam from a business you do business with) in the form of a "Recipe of the Week." The recipes all involve some form of drilling, o'course. Most of them look quite good, ranging from basic to exotic. The one from the week before last, however, really intrigued me, and I let Cheff Jeff take a gander. Well, he decided to give this one a go tonight and we were completely blown away. It also helped that we provided some of our own fresh veggies out of our garden for this and our accompanying sides as well.

Thai Shrimp with Watermelon Salsa
Recipe from Weber’s Way To Grill™ by Jamie Purviance
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Grilling Time: 3 to 5 minutes
Marinating Time: 30 minutes

Salsa
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1–2 tablespoons minced jalapeño chile pepper
2 cups seedless watermelon, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 three-inch section English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced into half-moons
1 teaspoon minced fresh mint leaves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Marinade
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
3 medium garlic cloves
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1-1/4 pounds extra-large shrimp (16/20 count), peeled and
deveined, tails left on

1. In a large bowl mix the shallot, vinegar, sugar, and jalapeño. Add the watermelon, cucumber, mint, and salt, and toss gently to combine. To fully incorporate the flavors, allow the salsa to stand at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes.

2. In a food processor combine the marinade ingredients. Process to create a coarse puree, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl to incorporate the ingredients evenly.

3. Transfer the marinade to a medium bowl, add the shrimp, and toss to coat them evenly. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes, turning the shrimp after 15 minutes.

4. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over high heat (450° to 550°F).

5. Remove the shrimp from the bowl and discard the marinade. Thread the shrimp onto skewers. Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the shrimp over direct high heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until they are firm to the touch, lightly charred, and just turning opaque in the center, 3 to 5 minutes, turning once. Remove from the grill and serve warm or at room temperature with the salsa.


The watermelon came from our garden as well, one of the prime motivators for picking this recipe. Jeff halved the jalapeño just in case, yet it was not spicy at all. OMG it was so good, served over couscous and barley and with a side of sauteed grape tomatoes, zucchini and onions. I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it.

Jeff was in full kitchen mode today, making this along with stuff for later in the week plus four loaves of zucchini bread (can you tell what veggie we had a bumper crop of while we were away?). Soon to be on tap, or, shall we say, up to our ears in: Tomatoes and apples.

In bloom

Apr. 24th, 2009 01:11 am
greatbear: (blackness)
Given our somewhat sluggish arrival of Spring this year it's taking a while for the various plants, trees and bushes to wake up from their wintry slumber. The lilac bushes are finally starting to bloom, which is always special to me. Some of the bushes here are taken from ones from where I grew up and predate me. The smell takes me back to my youngest days the instant it hits my face. When I came home from work today it was a sunny, clear day for a change, and I walked over to the big old bush to bury my nose into the blossoms. I knew very well what was going to happen. As I inhaled, memories of my early childhood came flooding back, all those good times, and, most of all, memories of Mom. I bawled my eyes out.

Of all the senses, the sense of smell elicits the greatest reactions in the human brain relating to memories. It's a purely chemical process, not at all different than in (other) animals, a product of millions of years of evolutionary process yet relatively unchanged in that time. It's a raw, basic process geared towards survival instincts and self preservation. But it has a wonderful emotional aspect as well. And I am very thankful for it. Especially now.
greatbear: (forearms)
I overslept today.

The ongoing heavy rains and winds currently gripping Casa Greatbear and The Garage of Mayhem knocked out the power sometime this morning around the time Jeff left earlier. As a result, the alarm did not go off. However, when the power came back on, it was accompanied by strange sounds and bizarre behavior of light controls, appliances and whatnot. A strange smell emanated from the basement I found to be a blown power supply that operates a car radio I have down there as an 'entertainment center' in the workshop. Checking in the Lab of Doom on the other side I find my server off, the UPS running and things generally haphazard in an electrical sense. Turning on the UPS that runs an old PC I used down there I was greeted by a loud bang and more odd smells despite everything functioning normally. I shut all that down and will track down the culprit later. Most likely a blown surge strip or noise filter.

With all the potential (no pun intended) electrical hell and the mental exhaustion from the past couple days, I took the day off for obvious reasons. Outside resembles a rain forest, with some climbing plants under the deck pulled away and slumped over, while everything else is drooping and soaked from the most rain we had in ages. It feels more like early March than the middle of May. The rain is much needed, though. I would tell you how much has fallen, but the rain gauge I got a couple days prior got knocked off it's perch by winds and is no longer sending to the base station.

The grass will undoubtedly be knee high before it dries up enough to cut. The veggie garden is a mud bog. I have been trying to take care of indoor tasks in the meantime. It seems to never end, but such is life here. I'd have it no other way.

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greatbear: (Default)
Phil

December 2016

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