Havel’s Helmet

Long story short don’t give up.  Wherever you are at it’s progress from where you started even if it’s 12 steps back.  The delay actually turned out pretty cool because had I done this 7 years ago he would have outgrown it.  Now he should be able to wear this for as many years as he wants to.  This started 7 years ago with a promise to my youngest son that I would make him Havel’s armor from Dark Soul’s.  Fast forward to today, still no armor.

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Custom Foam Inserts or how to test your marriage Part 1

When you take the bottle stoppers your husband turned.  Take everything out of a storage box in his office and head to the office with a can of spray foam even the best of marriages is put to the test.

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Makers Spaces

SHAK maker space kokomo iN front of building

What is a “Makers Space” and why would you want to join? Continue reading

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Laser Engraving Pens

Years ago, shortly after I began pen turning, I discovered that you can have your turned pens laser engraved.  I would send them off and they would be returned with my requested text engraved on them.  They were always spectacular, and I wondered what it would take to be able to do this myself.

Curly Satinwood

Curly Satinwood

With the price of lasers as the currently are, this now became a possibility.  It was one of the primary things I wanted one for.

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Fertigation

Ever since installing drip irrigation to our gardens, it has greatly reduced the amount of time spent each day watering.  One of the things I wanted to add from the start was a fertigation system.  We currently have 5 zones set up on 2 timers.  I plan to add 2 more zones to one of the timers, and add an additional timer with 3 zones.

Fertigation Setup

Fertigation Setup

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The Littles are Sleeping!

They are all asleep, and that lasted about 10 minutes.  They came home on May 7th for comparison here is how they fit in that box back then.  The Littles on May 7th

They now take up the entire box and stand about as tall as the sides.  Introducing them to the big kids can be a little complicated especially since we have a rooster.  Max is a good guy but if anything makes a weird noise or moves to quick he freaks out and well tries to create the new generation.  This is hard on the girls who are his size I worry about these girls who are much smaller.  For the past month I’ve been taking them and their tub outside and putting them in a fenced in area just outside of the big kid fenced in area.  They can look at each other and get used to each other and maybe that will reduce some fighting.  The past week or so I’ve been shutting the inner door to the big kids and opening the other inner door so the Littles can get in the inner pen and inside the coop.  It just so happens that there is a hen that we believe was injured by Mac in one of his attempts at romance.  To keep her safe we have her in a small caged area from night to morning when we come down to let the big kids into the main pen.  She is getting better, thanks for asking, but still not well enough to get away from Max.  This has worked out with the Littles because they like her and she isn’t fast enough to teach them any hard life lessons.  On top of that on several days another one of the hens would be in the inner pen and I wasn’t making a big deal about getting them out.  So far so good.  If I can rotate enough of the hens in with the Littles they may be fine with each other when the Littles go out full time.  For now I’m waiting a few more weeks till the Littles are Max’s size.  At least that way they will stand a chance against him and hopefully have learned from the girls to run and don’t make weird noises.

I hate to break this to Max but he is kind of small for his breed and these girls are a breed that is large, they will be larger than him.  Look out Max there coming for you!

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Cabela’s 36″ Griddle – Happy Father’s Day

Cabela's 36" griddle

The Father’s Day gift that just keeps on giving.  Bill received his gift early, and has used it just about everyday.  If you are still looking for gift ideas and you have a griller in your life I would highly suggest one of these.  It is listed on the website for $349.98 the day we  bought it at the store it was on sale.  The sales flyer said it was $50.00 off but there had been an additional in store mark down of another $50.00.  Our purchase price was $249.98!  The stores offer free assembly of their grills which we did not take advantage of.  They also offer free shipping for orders of $50 or more which we did take advantage of.   We went to the store to purchase the griddle and a bundle package that contains a vacuum sealer, meat grinder, and meat slicer.  They had the griddle in stock but not the bundle package so we had that shipped directly to our house.  It arrived earlier than expected and all pieces were in great shape.  (I love the vacuum sealer oh my gosh how I love that thing.)

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-4-burner-gas-griddle
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RYOBI ONE+ 18V Patio Cleaner with Wire Brush Edger – REVIEW

Years ago I bought the RYOBI Cordless Leaf Blower and regretted it.  It was light weight, easy to use, and I thought it would give our youngest son a way to help clean the upper deck.  Plus it would be easier than our gas blower which was difficult to start.

The RYOBI had no power, whenever I took it outside, the forest laughed at me.  It died of shame in less than a year.  Needless to say I was not impressed with RYOBI and even though I now owned the original battery plus a battery upgrade I was not interested in replacing the blower with the same model when it died.  I did not toss the batteries and charger bonus points for past me.

Enter the RYOBI ONE+ 18V Patio Cleaner with Wire Brush Edger.

Ryobi one+ paver cleaner with wire brush 18 volt with charger

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Cheap Lathe Tools

About 20 years ago, Marisa and I went to a woodworking demo at a nearby woodworking store.  At this Demo, many tools were being displayed and demonstrated.  Among them, Dick Sing was turning Christmas ornaments on a Jet 1236 lathe.  His turning was so fluid and effortless.  He turned an ornament with a captive ring in about 10 minutes.  We were awestruck.  Marisa turned to me and said “You need one of those.”  We left with a Jet tablesaw, a Jet jointer, and, a Jet 1236 Lathe.

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I Accidentally Bought Another Chainsaw

Ooops!  I saw a Jonsered CS 2240 on Ebay.  Ever since my 24 year old CS 2050 hasn’t been running well, I’ve wanted another mid size chainsaw.  This 2240 showed up on one of my searches.  There were no bids, and only about 8 hours left, so I bid $100.  And won.  Ooops.  I mean, I did buy a DeWalt 20V chainsaw last year, which I will be reviewing shortly.  So, I didn’t REALLY need another one.  But can you ever have too many chainsaws?  I mean, really?

Jonsered CS 2240

Jonsered CS 2240

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