12 January 2007
WOW...2007 already!!!
It's been awhile since I updated this page, I just haven't had the time to do much lately what with work being so busy and all. Lots been happening since the last update. First off...I got my new toy, finally! I got a brand spanking new landscaping tractor!!! WOOHOO! Bought in the first week of the new year. I got a Kubota B7800 with a LA402 front loader and a 4672A Backhoe...what a machine this is. Of course I've only played with it a bit in the snow so far but it's a great machine and I can't wait for summer to put it through it's paces. I'm going to add detailed pictures to the landscaping link when I get a chance, but for now you can feast your eyes on this quick shot I took when I got it. I've already installed extra lights and stuff and will highlight that later with better photos.
Sorry for the short update, I'll get more stuff on soon. CIAO.
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25 June 2006
Well I'm under the weather this week-end (bad head cold) but managed to get quite a bit of things done. First off I got my new stereo installed in my car. It's a Sony CDX-M3DI, what a sweet little player this baby is!! It has a TFT display, disc changer controls, plays mp3 files.
Install, however, was anything but sweet...what a @#$%^& nightmare. For some reason the thing worked fine playing the radio, but when playing a CD it wouldn't play any sound out of the speakers, only the trunk subwoofer was firing...WTF??? Anyhow, I gave up on it for the day and I was pretty sick when installing this thing. Weird thing was I was laying in bed just about to fall asleep that night and I had an "insight" and finally figured out what was wrong...and here was the problem.
The last stereo I had installed was a simple deck unit with a FM modulated CD changer. The idiots that installed it (installers from krazy-krazy...the bastards) were too lazy to PROPERLY wire a new cable into the dash from the amp control so they fired the amp from the remote antennae wire. Now when I installed my new stereo the amps were fine running with the radio because the antennae was powered, but when I'd switch to CD mode, the antennae would go down and the amps would power down...what a nightmare to wire that up properly and that first install costs me 150 bucks and the wiring behind the console was a mess. I could of let a bunch of spider-monkeys loose in there with a bale of twine and it would have looked better. Oh well I cleaned up that mess and it works fine now, after a little bit of cussing. All new wire to the head, but I haven't checked on the amp and sub wiring (I'm almost afraid too look)! Another lesson learned, if you know how to do something, do it yourself instead of paying some fools who "think" they know how to do it.
Oh and I made the whole thing removable so for all you thieving bastard crooks out there, don't even bother!
Here's the deck head.
I also did a bit of work on the back house deck. The framing is 100% complete and I got all the cross braces (bridging) in. Hopefully on my next few days off, I'll get the handrail posts and the decking done. I also set up my daughters pool (one of those inflatable dolphino jobs). The water (COLD) was still coming out of the hose and my daughter still jumped in. I couldn't get her out.
That was about it for this week-end!
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19 June 2006
Busy day today, started working on my back deck...actually started a few days ago by bracing the ledger which was MISPLACED on the wall. Since I used "I" beams for the floor joists of the house the ledger board had to be placed so the lag bolts could dig into the top of the I-Joist in the floor.
Instead the ledger fell in between the top and bottom part of the "I" so I had nothing to bolt it too. The ledger was installed during construction but only nailed to the plywood siding. All the siding and flashing on it were already in place so moving it was out of the question.
I had to go in the basement, remove the vapor barrier, make pieces out of 4x4 timber and cut them to fit in between the I-Joists. What a @#$%^& job. The 4x4's are sitting on the top sill plate, bolted to the I-Joists and are snug with the upper sub-floor.
Here's a crappy picture I drew of the problem and my solution!!
The one good thing is that ledger is NEVER gonna move now!
Today I set up the posts, the main beam and all the joists on the deck. So far so good. What's left to do is square it off, secure the joists at the outer end to the main beam, Handrails and decking...and of course installing the BBQ :)
Here's a shot!
Well that's it for today, long enough day LOL
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