Took a trip to rural king last week and scored some more LED fixtures. 4ft, 3000 lumen, 5000k. 16.99 each
I only have 2 up the 2 in the middle of this picture, 2 more are sitting off to the side looking for a location. I'm trying to decide the best places to put this extra light, so I'm moving them around a bit as I work and clean.
I need more outlets.
Left is original 4, right is new 6
The ladder is currently being used as a table, so I couldn't shut the 4 old lights off and do outside comparisons, so I did this.
Standing in roughly the same spot, camera set on auto like a dumbass, aiming generally at the mockup on the wagon.
There is a difference, and it's nice. The new LEDS are also a different temperature than the old ones, and that makes a real visible difference that won't show up without a tripod.
The momma bird living on my wheels was rather angry with me so I just snapped some quick pictures. How long to robin eggs take to hatch? Or would it be mean to just move the nest out of my workshop?
Didn't know where else to put this, so it can go here.
^The tomatoes are planted. Super million cherry on the left, early girl bush in the middle, chocolate sprinkles cherry on the right. ^
From top left: habenero, bhut jolokia, watermelon in the middle, sweet bana pepper then yellow bell peppers.
Not pictured are the Italian oregano and sweet basil which are in 3 gallon smart pots.
Decided today that I'm getting some heavy duty shelves for my birthday, and have permission to pick them up from the store whenever. I've been looking at this set for a while, and I need it. Oddly, I can't find it online to show off. It's at Sam's Club, $159 I think. 6 feet long, 6 feet tall, about 2 feet deep, and claim to be able to hold 2000lbs PER SHELF on each of the 4 shelves. Heavy steel.
I already know where it's going to go, and how I'll be attaching pegboard to the sides.The only reason I haven't gotten it yet is because I want to put it on pallets because gravel ground.
I really need to get some peg boards down here to hang frequently used tools on. And focus on one thing at a time. Since Thursday I've been bouncing between the quad frame, the wiring harness, the shop lights, the wagon, and adding speakers, and needing to go hunt for the specific tool for each task got pretty ridiculous fast.
Once I get some pallets, and I may even go buy some more plastic ones, I'll be bringing my big 3 piece craftsman tool box down and taking the little one from Aldi up to the house. I don't mind the duplicate tools I've been acquiring, but I need somewhere to actually store them, and the Aldi one is just too small.
Yes, I have a metal bandsaw and drill press, but I haven't used the plasma cutter in a while. I ran out of washers building my speaker mount, so I cut some out with the plasma cutter. I'm using a scrap of expanded metal as a mount, so the large squareyness is ideal for spanning the diamonds and attaching the speaker box from the miata.
Still the best toy I have ever owned.
Coming this week: a new stereo, louder, and with more speakers, the beginnings of a vice mount, and possibly hatched robin eggs if the wiki growth cycle is correct.
Got my pallets today. Thanks craigslist. Now I'm realizing how fun this is going to be, because I need to move everything to put the pallets down then put it all back. I really need a robot.
I need to work out a setup for the new stereo. I've got my spare 12v power supply, a car head unit,and 4 speakers. Maybe one of those plastic 4 drawer table top sort of thing will work, I think I have one sitting around.
Sorry for the lack of pics, just happy to write about progress right now
RevRico said:Coming this week: a new stereo, louder, and with more speakers, the beginnings of a vice mount, and possibly hatched robin eggs if the wiki growth cycle is correct.
Once the baby robins leave the nest, MOVE THE NEST! They can have multiple broods per year (2-3! in just a few months!) so you can be totally shafted if the first babies move out and you dally on getting that nest moved. You'll find another batch of eggs in it before you know it.
Dude, once you get those shelves please share the SKU number. It really sounds like I need those too!
Crackers said:Dude, once you get those shelves please share the SKU number. It really sounds like I need those too!
These are close. I think the only difference is the ones I've seen in store are black. But I'll be going probably this weekend to get them once I get the pallets organized.
The shelves I linked above are 18" deep.
This set, the one I found in store, is 24" deep. $149 at Sam's Club.
Weather and labor permitting, should be up and stocked this weekend.
Is together! Sorry for such a crappy photo but obviously I have a lot of cleaning and reorganizing to do.
That's the top shelf. Figure it's head height so I won't be filling it up much, but dang that's a lot of daylight.
Only 130lbs, not quite as heavy as I thought, but since I won't be storing diesel motors on the shelves, I think it will work. Still claims one ton per shelf though.
that filled up quick. Scrap steel on the bottom, accidentally working height work shelf, parts for the vehicles, then lumber.
the other side still needs work. Now the birds need to move.
ugly little berkeleyers hatched yesterday. Momma feeds them whole worms and needs to watch her attitude. You live in my shop rent free, you don't get to attack me for working in it.
The birdies are gone. Saturday they were there and starting to get some coloration in their feathers, Sunday and today, empty nest. No mama, no babies. I didn't think they could fly try, don't see any signs they were eaten, at least not in the carport, but they're gone.
Good, means no interference for the party and I can finish cleaning and reorganizing everything with my pallets. Although I'm going to miss having a perfect height bench to put the quads on to work. I might have to build a table or something.
No real updates because nothing has really been happening. I've just been doing some thinking lately because the humidity just kills my ability to get things done.
I've been thinking a lot about airflow. It's nice, when the wind blows, with the two open ends but could really use some circulation when it's extra humid or still. Would an outdoor ceiling fan be a good idea for the carport? I've found one I like, 18" tall with the lights, 11" without, weighs about 30lbs, and suggests a room size up to 18x18.
Hanging 30lbs from the ceiling doesn't seem like a terrible idea, but I want some reassurance from others. I figure the snow buildup it gets in the winters weighs more, but its also more spread out. There's also the possibility of NVH.
My other option is a 3ft pedestal fan. While I like the maneuverability, I don't like the floor space it would command. Noise is also a factor.
I don't need to cool things down necessarily, just move air around, without needing Keith's level of air movement or budget.
Copying this here from the other thread.
I finally got rid of the shaky old table and the 20 year old sound system that was on it. Now I have Bluetooth in the shop, and all the speakers are hooked up. It's much louder too.
I also added the picture of this year's pig to the wall of plates. I think I'll collect them there.
2019 to do list
I really need more friends that will work for food and beer.
Just leaving myself some notes, since that coop is better and cheaper than one I can build myself
I've decided this thread is where I'm going to try to catalog everything I do around the house and property.
In any event:
I've got half the buckets for the garden this year. Should be getting some more in the coming weeks, and they'll all be ready for transplanting by may 1.
I'm kicking around a sun/rain shield as well to maybe get some more control over watering this year. Some 6mil plastic sheeting attached to the carport and stretched over the top of the garden.
Also considering attaching a gutter to the carport. Just around the garden. If I can't find any scraps at an installer, I'll try cutting down some 4 inch pvc and attaching it just to route the water away.
Either the stereo or power supply has failed to survive the winter, so I guess that needs replaced.
Preparations are being made for a chainsaw party in the spring. Having 4 to 8 people here seemed with chainsaws should make clearing the hill and around the property a one day affair, then borrow a wood chipper and spend the summer cleaning up and making mulch/compost for the trees coming next year.
I'm going back and forth between making a chicken tractor or just fencing off an area in the yard and plopping the coop in it permanently. Good and bad reasons for both.
I also think I've found the flavor of LVP I want the house to be, so now I'm just waiting on sales our for something similar to show up at Ollies. That probably won't get done until September when the kid goes back top school because I have to much to do in the spring, and don't want to fight around her all summer.
I just hope all this motivations stays when the weather breaks and I can actually do work instead of thinking about doing work.
Don't mind me, leaving more notes for myself
Being able to mail order chicks is the coolest thing the post office does. Keep in mind that if you order less than about two dozen, and if it's at all chilly outside they'll probably throw a dozen egg breed roosters in the box to help keep everyone warm. You get to decide what to do with a dozen rooster chicks.
Also, I had better luck with this sort of waterer.
I had two of them, one plumbed to the bottom of a five gallon bucket and one hard plumbed into the water line that goes to my garage. I think my chickens weren't smart enough for the nipple waterers.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Mail order birds is the strangest thing. But I like it enough that I'm keeping it as a last resort. Since this is my first time, and the child is 3.5, I'm going to try getting pullets from the local chicken swap, so I only have to wait a week or so for eggs, and maybe the child won't love them to death.
I'm going to try both watering systems. I'm leaning towards the square nipple bucket because the heater for it is cheap and readily available, but teaching them to use it could be a problem.
Looking like we'll have 4 chickens to start with. I've been seeing some meat breeds that are ready in 8 weeks though, so this could become a floating number if I find them locally. Enough to keep us in eggs but not hurt the wallet if a fox gets in somehow.
I'm thinking this could be a good start to a compost system as well. Chicken poop, grass and leave cuttings, wood chips from the 35ish trees that are coming down.
I think I'm more excited than my daughter, but I don't think she'll understand until they're actually here.
Keeping the water un-frozen isn't something I had to deal with. Didn't think of that.
Currently have chickens in a home built coop and a enclosed fence. Unless you live in a city where wild animals aren't an issue, I wouldn't trust those coops. Raccoons are determined to ruin your keep out methods. Opossums are just dicks that are hard to keep out and murder for fun. Something tries to dig under the fence, but the buried foundation keeps them out. We've had a fox in our yard take out one, Hawks, and other unknown animals. Apparently everything else likes to eat chicken too.
In reply to lnlogauge :
Predators are a concern, especially with recent fox sitings on top of the snakes, possum, raccoon, hawks, bobcat, and bear(never here but spotted within 2 miles regularly).
My first step is spending considerably more and using hardware cloth instead of chicken wire for the chicken tractor. Since I'm getting 4 inch wire mesh for tomato trellis, I'll probably use that too, at least as a floor, but possibly as wall reinforcement. The coop will go inside, up off the ground with a ramp that can be pulled up from the outside. I'll probably drop a rod vertically through the hardware cloth, as well as use a padlock or keyring. There will also be a tarp over most of the top, to provide shade and keep the birds at bay.
If the predators do get really bad, well, I can review some Elmer Fudd videos. The brief period I had ducks before, I drove 4 pieces of rebar into the ground, wrapped it with green plastic fencing, and didn't lose any until they dug their way out, so there's hope metal will suffice.
The plan is to let them roam around the yard most every day, and just put them in the tractor at night. With our rain though, I'm not sure how possible that will be, which had me worry about keeping them entertained, but I've been hearing that hanging a head of lettuce well keep them occupied.
When it comes time for winter, if we like having chickens, I'm going to park everything on top of a sheet of plywood beside, or possibly inside, the carport, then throw down 6 inches of straw and wood chips, and put some boards around the sides to cut the wind. Put a small heater in the coop, and maybe drop down an incandescent bulb on a timer. It would be much better for them if I actually get my billboard doors up this year.
The every other Sunday chicken swaps start the week of Saint Patrick's day, so I'm hoping when we're ready in April some older ones are available.
the garden has arrived
The reapers are for a friend, but I'm excited at the variety of stuff. The micro tomatoes should be great for my daughter to tend, while everything else will make for a good summer feast.
This is the field of trees I'm planning on working down and replacing with my own. It's a wide angle shot, but is about 75 yards from house to pine trees.
the red lines are where I'm planning to cut back. Might look better in a larger screen, but going as far up the hill as the red line on the right is about 60 feet, and all the way over to the line on the left so there's still some buffer between the houses.
Around March or April, the chainsaw party will occur bringing everything down. What isn't claimed by the volunteers for firewood and smoker fuel (poplar is decent for smoking, who knew), will be divided. Anything smaller than 4 inches will be thrown in the burn pile or turned to wood chips, anything over will be cut into 3ft length and given away on Craigslist.
Then throughout the rest of the year I can work on clearing stumps and digging holes for the trees for next year.
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