4th of July in Pictures.
I’m too tired to write anything about the 4th right now, so enjoy some pictures.
Scouts and Daughters.
Saturday morning, I rose bright and early, got the ladies fed, and hoofed it up to Mariottsville to help a Scout buddy clean out and organize his workshop. He’s come through for me and my Scout on multiple occasions, so it was the least I could do to spend an afternoon elbow deep in insulation and auto parts to begin returning the favor. I also got to meet and work with a bunch of folks I’ve only read or heard about, which was great, and to top it all off, his mom made us some delicious barbecue for dinner.
Finn and I spent Sunday running errands and reading books together so Mama would have a day off; her reward for accompanying me from boring store to boring store was a final stop at the Toys ‘R’ Us to look for some good hand puppets. Sadly, everything we found was associated with a Major Motion Picture or theme park mascot, so we explored everything else. She spent lots of time in the electric car section (she loves to test-drive), the book section, and the Thomas the Train Engine display. I felt awful when it came time to leave, because we had so much fun playing together.
After dinner, I sat on the couch and read books with her, one after the other, until it was time to go upstairs and get ready for bed. As I left the room and clicked off the light, I said, “Thanks for a great day, Finn.” She replied, “You’re welcome. Happy father’s day, Daddy.”
Gift Keg!
Thanks Mr. Scout! Now I have a ton of research to do on regulators, hoses, couplings, and carbon dioxide…
Now, With More Seating.
This weekend, I finally solved the mystery of the rear bench seat. When last I’d attempted to swap out the bench that came with Peer Pressure (a fantastically ugly, ripped pillowed vinyl) I was stymied by two latches that hook around posts mounted on the inner wall of the wheel well. The latches were too high and didn’t catch the posts, making the seat an unsafe proposition for any passengers I might be transporting. (in the event of a sudden stop, the seat would most likely shift forward, squishing passengers between the seat and the seatbelts they were buckled into).
Saturday evening, while moving three benches around the garage, I finally noticed something missing from the original bench, and everything suddenly made sense. IH mounted two feet on the bottom rear of each seat, which propped it up off the floor by about 2″. These feet were missing from the bench the truck came with—they had been knocked off with a hammer. I reasoned that once the feet were gone, the seat sat lower on the floor and the latches were able to swing under the posts correctly. So I busted out the POR-15 and painted up two mounting brackets in preparation for Sunday afternoon.
After I’d knocked the feet off of one of the spare benches (no pillowtop, thank GOD), I sat it in the bed, adjusted the sides, and bolted it into place just as easy as could be. The only thing left to do now is scoot the Tuffy console forward about two inches so that fold becomes fold-and-tumble. And, after unbolting the set of belts it came with, I can get rid of the original bench and reclaim that much more space in the garage.
Sunday afternoon I took a quick trip down to visit Brian H, who has taken a Sawzall to his driver’s floor, and we shot the breeze for a half hour or so. He’s making adjustments to his cab before welding in all new metal—floor mounts, rocker, the whole works. What he’s got done so far looks good, and his welds are really coming along. He’s trying to get her back on the road for next weekend’s trip to Bennett’s farm…I’m pulling for him.
Recapping the Weekend.
The Lockardugans had a busy, busy Memorial Day weekend. First up on our dance card was Aunt Christi’s graduation and celebration dinner. I could not make the ceremony but caught up with everyone later at Sascha’s for the celebration dinner. As we were eating, we recognized the girl in charge of our wedding, who came over to say hi right about the same time I was going to get up to say hello to her.
After the main course, I took the restless girl out for a walk to the Washington Monument, where we made friends with a kennel’s worth of dogs and ran around the empty fountains while couples strolled and chatted in the evening breeze.
Saturday we worked to clean the house up for more guests; my old college pal Chris and his family stopped over for a crab feast at the dining room table, and we shared parenting tips and home renovation stories. Who would have thought that twenty years ago, wandering back buzzed from the jazz clubs downtown at two in the morning, that we’d one day be comparing families and kids and jobs?
We had a bunch of crabs left over on Sunday, so Mama and I made short work of them after a long day in the den and chasing after the girl. Note to the Internets: To reheat crabs, throw them in a covered roasting pan and cook it at 350° for about 15 minutes. Delicious!
Meanwhile, the den is ever so much closer to being finished. All of the small molding is in place, the fireplace is surrounded with clean quarter-round, and the threshold over the bathroom door is in place. Mama rolled the first coat of wall paint over the primer, and I followed behind cutting in with a brush.
We also put a coat of yellow paint on the bathroom wall to see how it looks. At first we were a bit dubious, but I think it’s growing on us. We have some minor stuff to do in order to finish up:
- Putting a second coat of eggshell on the walls, and cutting it in
- Fixing the tape and spackle behind the radiator
- Cutting the toe molding around the back door threshold
- Fixing imperfections in the polyurethane on the floor
- Touch-up on the trim paint
- Replacing the switchplates and covers, and adding a timer to the porch light
I’m Tiled This Morning.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Scout and I ventured down to beautiful Jessup to buy some metal. We’re going to make bumpers for our Scouts, and we needed raw materials to get started. Based on measurements taken from a plan I built in Illustrator, some nice bluehaired ladies in a dark bar-enclosed shed sold us lengths of box steel and plate, and we loaded up the truck with our booty. This place was a picture straight out of 1960, from ancient brick and wood paneling to the yellowing xeroxed cartoons taped to the walls. There were no computers in sight; our order was transcribed into a three-ring notebook and estimated with a calculator. Mr. Scout told me he’d priced out the materials online and what we got was dirt-cheap, which makes me feel good. Now to find the time to get over to Chestertown to start building it all.
Later that day, I bought some underlayment for the bathroom and began the tiling process. Sadly, this meant the sink and toilet had to be removed, at a crucial time for our household: Finn is on a potty-training program which means we have to get her upstairs every 45 minutes or so before she leaves a puddle somewhere on the floor. She’s doing really well, though; there were only a few accidents and she woke from both weekend naps completely dry. She’s also sleeping in her big-girl bed, which is a huge step for all of us. Saturday and Sunday morning she peeked in our room before dawn and woke me quietly, and both times she was dry—this after about 8 hours of sleep. Then I’d hoist her into our bed and she’d thrash around between us until I took her downstairs; clearly I need to get to sleep much earlier if this is how the pattern is going to change.
The underlayment went down quickly and with minimal fuss.
Waiting for the adhesive to cure, I finished off the kickplate, top trim, and other bits of carpentry and slapped a first coat of gloss white on as much as I could see clearly at 11:30PM. Mr. Scout brought a 1/4″ router bit with him, and we quickly milled a piece of wood for the space between the two right-hand windows. He also pointed out that I’d been using the wrong gauge nails in my pneumatic gun, which is information I could really have used about two months ago. (Thanks, Mr. Scout!)
Sunday morning Finn and I let Mama sleep in as long as she wanted, and we all spent the morning together before I got started tiling. It went in pretty easily. Mama suggested laying it with the points facing inward, so the hexagon shape stands out in the pattern, and I think it was the right move. We have a bit more trim work to do, and I need to cut about twenty pieces in half for the threshold, but we’re almost ready for grout.
Catching Up.
Last night I left work and picked up my old college friend Chris at a downtown hotel and drove into Federal Hill for dinner. We’ve been meaning to get together since we connected up on Facebook a year ago. He hasn’t aged a day, looks fit and tan, and it felt like we picked up where we left off 15 or so years ago.
I’ve been getting the feeling that I should reach out and connect back up with old friends lately. I’m terrible at keeping in touch with people, and even worse at admitting that to myself. Facebook is great for that sort of thing, but there are a few folks who haven’t been lured to the dark side yet; a little google-fu will (hopefully) change that.
Bottled.
Mr. Scout stopped by on Friday and, among other things, got the upstairs bathroom ready for lights, cooked us a delicious dinner of coq au vin, and helped me bottle the american amber that’s been bubbling in the basement. The gravity reading we took was a lot higher than we’d been expecting, so it may be that the beer got infected, which would suck.
Pressing on, we added sugar and bottled two full cases, figuring it will be extra-sweet when it’s ready.
Saturday, our electrician neighbor knocked at 9 and we got started working on the remainder of the electrical projects both upstairs and down. There’s a newer, larger subpanel on the first floor with correct breakers for the office, working cans in the ceiling, a heater mounted in the bathroom, outlets on the chimney wall, and 3-way wiring at each end of the room. I also added insulation in the wall gaps and down under the threshold of the outside door. Upstairs, we got the wiring run to the bathroom, cans in the ceiling, a run for the 3-way switches, holes cut for the sink outlets, and runs for the floor heater and bathroom fan. This evening he’s going to stop back out to fish a wire through the living room ceiling for a fan before we close everything off. Once I know that’s going in, I’m scheduling the drywall delivery and installation.
Update: All of September and October 2003 is entered into WordPress. Next up is August.
Rear Bumper Fabrication
Mr. Scout and I have been talking about getting materials together and building a pair of rear bumpers jointly to save on materials and time, and he sent me a link this morning: a write-up on a project from the Binder Planet. The author built it for an 800B but the design could be modified for a Scout II pretty easily, we figure. The part that interests me is the swing-away tire carrier and Hi-Lift jack mounts, which would clear up a ton of space in the back of Peer Pressure.
A Spare, and Chewbacca Comes To Visit.
I chose an absolutely glorious day to drive up into Monkton/White Hall to meet with a nice fellow and buy a spare Thermoquad for Peer Pressure today. Apart from one minor hiccup with lousy battery cabling, the old girl ran like a top, and we ventured out into farm country, blowing up clouds of leaves and passing by cows, horses, and IH farm equipment of all vintages. Erik is a real nice guy with a stable of drool-worthy trucks, and he gave me my pick of two Thermoquads. The one I chose looks like it was recently rebuilt itself, and comes with all the associated hardware I’ll need in case of replacement.
Later in the afternoon, I got a call from Mr. Scout, who was in town and behind the wheel of Chewbacca on her maiden voyage across the Bay Bridge. He stopped in to say hi and we looked her over; the work he did is spotless and the truck is beautiful. We took a short spin up the block and he made me get behind the wheel for the return trip. She feels great; the engine is strong, the brakes are sharp, the wheel is straight, and the truck feels tight, like it just came off the showroom floor. Well done, sir. You’ve made me proud.
Interesting...
Genius: Yo, Should I Dump This Asshole?.
I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I at least keep an eye on the home teams. This article describes perfectly why I haven't given a shit about the Baltimore Orioles for, oh, 15 years.
I read about this on a WWII message board a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't believe it then: British WWII fighter found in Egyptian desert. Hopefully they can get it out and into a museum before people start scavenging bits from it.
Hmm. SPIN's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Interesting choices.
19 Regional Words All Americans Should Adopt Immediately.
jasm (n.), Connecticut
Meaning “intense energy or vitality,” the sentence provided in the dictionary was so good, I wanted to share it with you all, too: “If you’ll take thunder and lightening, and a steamboat and a buzz-saw, and mix ‘em up, and out ‘em into a woman, that’s jasm.”
Handy tip, via Sean Carton on Facebook: Find and Download PDF Manuals of Electronic Products using Amazon.