DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Battery Powered Pruner

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Marisa

?The problem and the solution

large oak tree after tree service cut two large branches off

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Into Each Life a Little Rain Must Fall

Posted on August 12, 2024 by Marisa

When it’s too little you have to step up your watering game.  We have been adding automatic watering solutions into our gardens and it’s been wonderful.  A problem that we have is getting water to areas that have no access to water.  I’ve been filling up empty cat litter containers and hauling them around and it’s worked.  Until we planted around 80 mums in areas without access to water last fall.  This fall we will probably plant more mums and we have about 1k spring bulbs on order.

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Happy Mother’s Day

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Marisa

Happy Mother’s Day.  At our house we say that with flowers but not cut flowers with flats of flowers.  I bought, delivered, and then planted flowers for my mom, whose birthday fell very close to Mother’s Day, so she got double the flowers.  My family has bought, delivered and helped with planting for me as well. Continue reading →

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3D Printed M12 Drill Slatwall Holder

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Bill

Continuing on the SlatWall custom tool holders, I have designed one (or two) to hold Milwaukee M12 drills and drivers.  My first attempt used a lot of filament and took a long time to print.

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3D Printed Milwaukee M12 Charger Slatwall Mount + Free Plans

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Bill

I have some slatwall in the garage and in my office for hanging tools and things.  For a long time, we only had it in the garage, and only had straight hooks for hanging things. The specialty hooks for hanging things were very expensive, so we didn’t have very many things hanging on it.  I found some additional straight hooks of various sizes on Amazon for a decent price.

Office Slatwall

Office Slatwall

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Changing Motor Brushes on Milwaukee 12 Inch Miter Saw

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Bill

The motor brake on Marisa’s miter saw stopped working, so in doing some research I found that the most likely way to repair it is to change out the motor brushes.

Disassembling the Miter Saw

Disassembling the Miter Saw

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Ryobi Cordless Power Scrubber

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Marisa

We live in the country and have well water and a septic system. A long time ago I learned, the hard way, that bleach is not my friend because it bonds with certain molecules and creates a brand new molecule which leaves your whites a crinkly, rough feeling material in a lovely shade of orange, and it will also damage your septic system. For laundry I now use a product called Iron Out. This stuff also works to clean showers, sinks and toilets. My other goto is Bar Keepers Friend, preferably the powder but I also have the spray. The stage has been set to let the story unfold.

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Update on the Fi Dog Tracker

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Marisa

Fi dog tracking collar and device

How does it work when you really need it to work?  The answer is better than a sharp stick in the eye.  Seriously we were all very thankful we had it.  We moved here with a puggle, think stomach with legs and a breathing problem, and added a pyrenes/lab.   The puggle with bad knees came free with a load of landscaping rock, the pyr mix was an adopted lost dog.  They were both stubborn and loved to roam.  The puggle would eventually come back if she could remember where home was after she had followed her nose all over the county.  The pyr mix was too busy singing born free and trying to expand his flocks range to care too much about this thing called home.  We spent many hours randomly driving the roads, walking miles of road and woods with no clue which direction to even go.  They thought it was the best game we ever came up with.  It’s depressing when you realize you are not smarter than your pet and no matter what you come up with to keep them contained to your yard they will figure out how to defeat you.

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Harbor Freight Circular Saw Blade Sharpener Mod

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Bill

A while ago I purchased the Chicago Electric Power Tools Professional Series 9 Amp Circular Saw Blade Sharpener from Harbor Freight.  I did not think that I would be able to get the professional results I got when I sent away my saw blades to be sharpened, however I did believe I could touch up the blades after a cleaning and stretch out the life of them.  After all, getting them professionally sharpened costs $20 to $30 per blade, depending on the number of teeth.  Sending in a half dozen blades would typically cost about $150.

Harbor Freight Saw Blade Sharpener

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Potato Shaker / Soil Sifter

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Bill

Last year I made a sifter for sifting compost.  It’s just some 2×4’s screwed together with a piece of 1/2″ hardware cloth stapled to one side.  The rectangle is 35 x 27, with the two shorter sides of the rectangle extended so that it can sit on our dump trailer or gorilla wagon.  This is just a little smaller than the gorilla wagon opening.

Sifter

Sifter

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