What did you do today?

[lynnmor 7,550]

About forty years ago I went to a CPA for my business accounting and taxes, he failed me immediately with three wrong things that I called him on.  That would have cost me thousands so I did my own after that using QuickBooks for accounting and TurboTax for income tax.  After TurboTax put impossible to remove spyware on my computer, I switched to H&R Block software and that worked well till last week when things went crazy.  I attempted to e-file numerous times making adjustments and double checking everything each time only to have the IRS reject it each time and supplying a different cryptic code number as the reason for the rejection.  H&R Block could only say that the return needs to be mailed in.  So what did I pay for?  When will they haul me in?  I don't need this crap! 

[953 nut 57,640]

10 hours ago, lynnmor said:

When will they haul me in?

 

[Mickwhitt 4,985]

Been getting jobs done for the heat pump installation in a weeks time.

 

I had a look under the sub floor and noticed that the piping for the existing boiler is all sitting on top of a ten inch air duct from the old heating system. 

 

It was obviously installed with the floor up which we can't do now.

 

So the duct had to come out to make access for the plumbers a lot easier.

 

 

You can see the copper pipes above the steel sheet ducting. 

 

I used a range of saws and tin snips to hack the ducting away and open up access. 

 

 

Hopefully the copper pipes might end up being a bit less of a rats nest when they refit the heat pump. 

 

It was a right bugger to cut laid on my back in 24 inches of headroom. I'm getting too old for this sort of stuff lol. 

[CCW 1,333]

@Mickwhitt   "I'm getting too old for this sort of stuff lol. "

You got that right.  I'm working on my replacing the old Trex deck board.  Back, knees and legs get tired too quickly these days.

 

  

[Mickwhitt 4,985]

It's not so.much doing the work, it's recovering after lol. 

Everything takes longer to heal, more recovery time. 

But I'd still rather do most jobs myself than trust a trader lol. 

[ebinmaine 70,424]

23 minutes ago, Mickwhitt said:

 

But I'd still rather do most jobs myself. Period.  

 

For us it's about self reliance. 

 

 

We're lucky here in that we have several great sources of skilled professionals when needed.  

 

Electrical. Plumbing. High work like roofing or hanging wires from a 12' foot ceiling, I'd prefer to contract out.  

 

[ebinmaine 70,424]

We spent several hours today unloading,  organizing, and reloading the trailer for a trip to the transfer station. 

More cleaning upon return. 

I got a bunch of vacuuming done in the barn. 

The big space out there is slowly being taken back over by us. 

 

 

Trina removed a piece of wallboard in the basement apartment bathroom to properly align two electric plugs and clean out the dryer vent. 

She then reinstalled that and applied joint compound to the edges. 

 

[8ntruck 7,358]

We are still recovering from the bug we picked up in California 10 days ago, so we opted out of traveling with the high school robotics team I mentor to a competition in Shawnee Oklahoma this weekend.  Rather, we watched it on line.

 

Both the upperclassmen and underclass teams competed in this meet.  Both teams had made some major upgrades to their machines.  Both teams improved their performances at the competition. 

 

The upperclass team ended up being the being the captain of the #1 seated alliance and the underclass team the #4 alliance captain of the 8 alliance double elimination playoff rounds.  

 

The upperclassmen team lost the first match of the playoffs, dropping them into the lower bracket.  From there, they won the rest of the playoff matches and the competition.  They are currently ranked #65 in the world, out of about 3700 teams.

 

The underclass team did well in the playoffs until the came up against the upperclass team in the 5th playoff round.  They are currently ranked #742 in the world.

 

The driver for the upperclass team is a senior.  I'm going to accuse him of sandbagging that first match of the playoffs just so he could drive more matches before his robot driving carreer ends.

Edited Sunday at 04:58 PM by 8ntruck

[ebinmaine 70,424]

Moving and organizing stuff in the new workshop getting ready to hang pegboard on this wall.  

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 70,424]

[ebinmaine 70,424]

 HUGE progress in the new workshop space.  

 

We now have 4 pieces of 4 x 8 pegboard hanging. 

This will be a great place to organize all our tools and supplies out where we can see them.  

 

 

 

These are odd colors because they're from two different vendors and several years age different.  

 

 

 

The opposite wall is all shelves.  

 

 

 

 

[8ntruck 7,358]

@ebinmaine  are the beams in your barn solid wood or LVL 'engineered' lumber?

[HyperPete 447]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

HUGE progress in the new workshop space.

 

I'm jealous.

 

So many projects.

So many other projects!

[ebinmaine 70,424]

45 minutes ago, 8ntruck said:

@ebinmaine  are the beams in your barn solid wood or LVL 'engineered' lumber?

 

All solid actual wood. Locally sourced in fact. 

 

What prompts the question? 

 

 

 

[8ntruck 7,358]

26 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

All solid actual wood. Locally sourced in fact. 

 

What prompts the question? 

 

 

 

I recently rebuilt the 10' by 30' porch on our 1914 vintage house in Mo. The cost effective solution to the 30' long 8x12  beam across the front of the porch was LVL lumber. 

Edited Monday at 01:01 AM by 8ntruck

[ebinmaine 70,424]

8 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

I recently rebuilt the 10' by 30' porch on our 1914 vintage house in Mo. The cost effective solution to the 30' long 8x12  beam across the front of the porch was LVL lumber. 

 

 

This particular Pole Barn has four site built beams. One atop each long wall. They're a sandwich 🥪  configuration. 

SPF KD. (Spruce Pine Fir. Kiln Dried.)

1/2" thick (Advantech?)

SPF KD. (Spruce Pine Fir. Kiln Dried.)

1/2" thick (Advantech?)

SPF KD. (Spruce Pine Fir. Kiln Dried.)

 

This gives a total thickness of 5 1/2" to match up to the 6 x 6 PT poles he uses.  

The two inside beams on the 12 ft tall walls are set on top of poles 8 ft apart. 

The two outer ones are set on poles 10 ft apart.

The doorway tops are a piece of 6 x 6 PT layed down and braced from the top. 

Particular care has to be taken in choosing those two.  Because of the long span and gravity combined with natural curing or seasoning,  the beam has to be set with the high spot in the middle and as little twist as possible. 

 

 

[cleat 6,941]

Installed this multi-level bird condo that my neighbor gave me last year.

Time will tell if they will use it or not.

 

 

[Wayne0 873]

2 hours ago, cleat said:

Installed this multi-level bird condo that my neighbor gave me last year.

Time will tell if they will use it or not.

 

 

I know my Blue Birds wouldn't tolerate it. They are wicked territorial!  

[ebinmaine 70,424]

4 hours ago, cleat said:

Installed this multi-level bird condo that my neighbor gave me last year.

Time will tell if they will use it or not.

 

I've always called that style a Purple Martin house. Other insect-eating birds may use it too.  

Also invasive sparrows. 

Much as I love birds they'd be sent off and not flying. 

 

1 hour ago, Wayne0 said:

I know my Blue Birds wouldn't tolerate it. They are wicked territorial!  

 

 

Blue birds here need a single occupancy house and the distance from the next neighbor must be right. 

Even then they'll wrassle.  

 

We've seen a few pairs come through the yard but never nested. The forest is too close.  

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 70,424]

Had a day to home today. 

Set too the chores early and got a LOT done. 

We've had an increasingly large pile and boxes of cutoffs and scrap gathering up. 

This morning I decided to burn it all. 

 

Mid 30s temps.  Perfect for making hot 🔥   

 

Note the dog enjoying the heat and eventually stealing my chair!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that I moved on to more organization in the new workshop space. 

First thing to hang was my maternal Grampa's scythe. 

I taught myself how to use that when I was a teen. Just for the halibut. 

 

 

I then mounted a beautiful pair. 

Of horns. 

Long horn cattle horns to be precise. 

Many thanks to @Docwheelhorse for giving them to me. 

 

 

The rest of the afternoon I spent hanging pegs and tools. 

Several hours of moving swapping picking up and putting down. 

Also got my rolling tool boxes in the new space.  

 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 70,424]

Trina was busy yesterday.

She and her momma built this little kit bridge for us to cross the stream toward the garden. Very small but very strong.

 

 

 

She also moved the gate that holds the dog in the backyard. It was where the red & blue lines are. It's now out away from the steps a few feet. Now we can let the dog out the front door and she can just run ...

 

 

 

[adsm08 2,586]

I ate too much.

 

Fortunately it was mostly healthy stuff. Few oranges, couple bananas, small bowl of raisins (not the sugar coated ones).

[ebinmaine 70,424]

1 minute ago, adsm08 said:

I ate too much.

 

Fortunately it was mostly healthy stuff. Few oranges, couple bananas, small bowl of raisins (not the sugar coated ones).

 

You did OK on the oranges and bananas. 

 

Raisins... not so much. Basically a tiny sugar bomb. 

Fine in small quantities.  

[adsm08 2,586]

6 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

 

 

Raisins... not so much. Basically a tiny sugar bomb. 

Fine in small quantities.  

 

 

It was maybe 1/2 cup. But we don't have any prunes or cereals with the word "bran" in the name and today's events (or lack of) were telling me to get a little extra fiber in today.

[ebinmaine 70,424]

2 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

 

 

It was maybe 1/2 cup. But we don't have any prunes or cereals with the word "bran" in the name and today's events (or lack of) were telling me to get a little extra fiber in today.

 

Good call there then.