Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Hunting Moles

Ever since I repaired the lawn near the road I have had moles digging in the nice soft tilled soil making a mess of it. I tried poison and traps with no success. The only thing that works is poking the garden hose at full bore in one of the tunnels just where you see a fresh mound and flood them out. Keep a close watch on the ground shovel in hand. In a minute or two they will poke their nose up through the soil and then its time to play Whak-a-Mole.
Got 3 of them this morning.
These look to be young ones. Not as big as the one I got last fall but if the digging stops then I will know I got them all. Possums will get some diner tonight.


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Exterior trim replacement job

Friday afternoon I set up the pump jack staging and peeled back a bit of the lower fascia.
Monday I removed the old fascia and started applying the new composite material
Repositioned one of the pump jacks and got the top done with some difficulty as it really is a 2 man job and I was working by myself.
 Tuesday in between rain showers
I was able to get started on the lower section and things went a bit quicker
got the lower bit done
a view of the whole thing done
 and the evil ankle snapping door stoop
Monday eve we also officially made the Dodge truck mine. It really is an old-man truck but since I am hitting 50 this year and AARP will be soon sending me an invitation I figured why fight it.  I think at some point I will try and loose the Jimmy Buffet stripe. It is just not me.



Saturday, May 18, 2013

Hampton Fly-Market Fly-In

Went down to Hampton New Hampshire today for the annual Fly-market. For my non aviation friends it is a flea-market/boot sale for aviation stuff. Scored a few goodies for my Jodel project. A nose-bowl for 10 $, a Whitman Tailwind tail-wheel, spring and steering arm for 20$ and a small Denso 40 amp alternator for 50$
The usual suspects were all there and the same junk we see every year. So no pix of the stuff for sale but a few interesting planes were there. What has to be my all time favorite a Curtiss Robbin from the 1920s.
The ever-present J-3 Cubs
Supercubs and Bird-dogs abounded on the flight line.
and a few more looking the other way
A Cessna Bird-dog with a gnarly paint job.
A mongrel experimental made up of a Piper Pacer fuselage, and wings from who knows what.
A delta wing weight shift trike . . . .
  . . . with a Yamaha crotch-rocket engine.
the redrive for the rig
A slick looking Euro-Fox
I always look for interesting details and a few were to be had in the wheel fairing department. In this case a neat looking mudguard on a Cub.
and an Alaskan mud flap on a Cessna 180
 someone even had a 1/2 VW engine for sale
the back side shows the cut case and block off plate
I always have a soft spot for a well pampered Stinson 108-3, circa 1947?
An other interesting experimental mongrel made up of a 1960s Cessna 150 fuselage, Cessna 140 wings, Taylorcraft cowling? hiding a 150 hp engine, and a home made empenage making it all look like a baby Cessna 180. Must be a fun performer.
And then there was this all composite aerobatic monster that came roaring in about 11 am
But the Aircoupe is more my style
A shiny Sonex with a Jabiru engine was there
And a lovely 1940s Piper Pacer undergoing the finishing touches of a total restoration.
In the same shop a sweet looking engine being rebuilt for a total restoration on a WW-1 Fokker DVII
A snappy looking Citabria
and a golden topped RV4
and some more R-amp V-ermin
A Bell 47 stirs the dust up on a Lexus, note the old truck seems to ward it off well.
a mousy looking LSA
A Rotax powered Challenger
And a lovely Waco Travelair




Thursday, May 16, 2013

Another cancer surgery project

Got a call last week from an old client wanting some trim and a couple of garage doors replaced. Dirty messy work, not at all glamorous but it pays.  All that fascia has to be replaced. I replaced all the windows and the atrium door on the back deck in the house 2 years ago.
The doors frames have some serious cancer going on who knows how bad it is underneath once I open it up.

So on Tuesday  I got my new loaner wheels and loaded up for the job. Its a 1994 Dodge Dakota with a 140 K miles from Florida not a spec of rust on it and drives like a dream. A friend who swaps cars for a hobby and has a regular stream of used ones is letting me have it til I finish repairing mine. He is hoping I will like it and do a trade deal for it on a refurb on his bathroom later in the summer... I like it.... a lot
Got all my pump jacks, staging planks ladders loaded and spend a morning shopping and delivered a 900$ load of materials also
Wednesday am got started on the back door, it looked like this.
Took the door out and tore it open and found . . . .
cut it out
and scarfed in a new stud end
and a new jack end and a plywood patch
the  I wrapped it in Bituthane . . .
. . . . and popped he new door in, comes with brick molding trim so that comes off and gets replaced for flat casing in this case Veranda PVC to match the old trim gap.
Ended first day on the job by twisting my right ankle as I stepped over the high threshold. Not sure just what I stepped on but the snapping ankle sounded like tearing denim. For a moment there I thought I had re-broken it. 26 yrs ago I broke both ankles falling 2 stories when a staging plank broke and this one had to be opened up to be set with wires and pins. Considerable pain but managed to hobble around and finished the trim and replaced the corner board as well but forgot to take a photo of the finished job. Spent the evening icing the ankle.
Thursday still hobbling but ambulatory enough to tackle the front door
Pulled the door off and found more of the same cancer
Cut it all out
New jack studs and ply go back in and it all gets wrapped with Bituthane
get the door ready
pop it in....
and trim it out inside and out
Tomorrow I'll set up the pump jack staging and deal with the rotted fascia.