Holidays

We had a pretty good holidays with the families, I hope you all did to.  This is the time of year where all that matters is to spend with them and create a good mood and good memories.  canyoudougit

Printer

Our HP printer was jamming all the time when printing or it prints just half of it, paper slipping.  Had to open it up in the back, clean the rollers and then clean the rollers inside.  Paper dust on the back rollers and ink on the inside rollers.  This printer was expensive years ago and it has been good for us.  Now most printers have WiFi these days but this on also has slide and negative scanner built in the lid.  I have always thought that Cannon printers are the cheapest to buy ink for and make the greatest prints, I know the last one we had was great.  Anyone got ideas on the printer front?  canyoudougit  

Free Window, Free Siding

Got the window in, you can see the bad shape of the original siding.

Trimming out the window, half the wall done.

Wall done but have to put the trim on the top.  Boy I like FREE.
Canyoudougit

Free Siding

Had to quit, to cold and getting dark.  The top is not the same color but it looks good anyway and it was all free.

We have enough left over free siding to do this short wall and I have a free window to replace this wrecked window...I LIKE free. 

Finished off the wall as far as we can go, will have to take off the top trim then finish the siding and reattach the siding when the weather gets better is the spring.  Yes this siding needs cleaning but hey it was my favorite price...FREE    canyoudougit???

Free Vinyl Siding

This is as far as we got with the free vinyl siding we 've had for in the yard for the last couple of years.

It looks all washed up, just need MORE!

Bad and Good

Bad news, good news....the van is having trouble and we can not afford to fix it, my sister loaned me a car.  Our families have been very good to us lately and we appreciate it. 
I found a fried chicken receipt that is really easy and does not require much, of course I altered it to our tastes as we do not like the spicy peppery type.
Zazzle has a big sale on cards this week 50% off, so we use the unpaid profits that we had to order a few.
The code is on the top of the zazzle page if you want to check it out.  http://www.zazzle.com/julia_art* or  http://www.zazzle.com/irisart* 
canyoudougit

Reunions

I had some fun with the reunion pictures this year, decided to change the background on the photo from the block building.  I have tried to get the others to upload their photos to the page then I could play with them as well but no go.  Can you guess where the backgrounds are from?  canyoudougit?

AH Nuts!

The black walnut are so heavy this year that the branches are dipping to the ground.

It gets pretty dark under these tall black walnut trees so the other trees either can not grow or grow twisted. 

This is an attempt to show how tall these are, it's 150 feet away.  Thank goodness I have a hard hat so I can Mow that area .  Canyoudougit?

Photo Morphing

This is the original photo.

This is what the sunflowers look like after I morph it with Adobe to make it look like it was drawn with color pencil.
Canyoudougit?

Out of the Gutter

I finally got the pine needles out of the gutters on the front of the house, I need the back ones replaced.  Somehow when I cleaned them out I twisted the wrong way and had to deal with the pain that night and all of the next day.  I mention it because I had gone to the store, got stuff to make a pecan pie and a lemon meringue to take to my sister's to share with my nephews and sisters.  My sisters family all live on the other side of Wisconsin so I never get to see them, they are really VERY good people!
It rained last night so hopefully there will be water in the barrel, save on the water bill by not using city water and the plants like it better.  Canyoudougit 

Oranges

We have three oranges growing on our little orange tree, the flowers that came at the start were little white with a yellow dot in the middle.  This tree was not suppose to flower for two years, so it is a year early.  I will find the photos later and post them.
I got to visist with my cousin Patty this week, it was so great to see her again.  She has a VERY busy life these days with kids, parents, grandkids and school.  I hope she can find time to drop me an email once in a while. 
The government is really doing STUPID things these days!!!  I think it stinks that their ideas do not include having the million and billionaires paying more than the working poor or middle class.
I have been have some nice visits and visits with my sisters, we were even able to get my brother in law comfortable so he could sleep.  Anybody know how to trim an orange tree?  Next time we will get a lemon tree.   Can you Doug it?

Birds

We've been trying to get some pictures of the visitors to one of the birdbaths here as well as at the feeders but haven't had much luck. Still it's nice out in the garden and we've been watching birds pop in and out of the wren house hanging on the arbor as well.

Old Faithful

Our old Faithful sump pump died yesterday, the motor works but the propellers inside do not, so it was running but not pumping.  I pulled it out and took it outside to disassemble it but the screws on the bottom were rusted so bad that it was not possible to get them out.  I really don't think we could have waited for parts anyway as the water runs into the basin like to kitchen faucets turned on.  Our water table is only 12 feet below the floor, something I did not know when we bought this place.  The new pump is submersible, so quieter, just hope it doesn't leak and short out.  Got it on sale as well, bought another check valve so now it has two, on at the motor and one part way up.  canyoudougit

Planned obsolescence.

Old rusted screws on the bottom.

Pop Can Bird Feeder

Old pop can, wire cutters, the left over end of a wire clothes hanger, and some mesh left over from a sifter we made last year.

Here is my version made with the bottom of two pop cans, the clothes hanger end and a piece of the hanger.

Another view of the feeder with feed in it.

This was an interest project, caused a few scrached, but was surprised by how thin the cans were.  I just cut the bottoms off a couple of cans, cut the hanger and roled the screen to fit between the two ends.  I think this worked out okay.

Recycled siding into a planter

Pocket Jigging the sides together.

All four sides jigged together, makes it really strong.

The finished planter looks pretty good

Time to install the corners of the siding.

Brad nailing the top trim, which is also jigged together, onto the box. 

Getting the materials all together to get started.

Spent the day building this twenty inch tall by three feet long planter with the last of the left over siding from the studio.  We pocket drilled the top into one piece and the sides together so it good and strong.  The lumber is cedar so we did not have to line the inside. Used my Black and Decker drill, the Black and Decker workmate that my brother in law gave us, and my Black and Decker air compressor brad nailer.  It sure is nice to have these nice tools to speed up the job and make it easier.
Of  course I had my Beautiful assistant to help me. canyoudougit ??

$39.00 Planter

Using a pocket jig to make the ends from scrap lumber left over from a previous job.

This is what the ends look like after all the holes are drilled, the glue is applied, and the screws are driven to the bottom.  As you can see the Black and Decker is ever present. 

This is fastening the boards together, we work in the shade in front of the studio as you can see.

Fastening the ends together in the pocket jig, I wish I had put the holes on the outside.  They would have been covered by the siding and it would have been a lot easier.

To make sure that water will not get into the holes Julia covered them with  water proof tape, they will also be under the siding under that we will be putting on the inside, you can see it in the photo.  The inside siding is free off a web side, I got it to do the second building but did not get enough.

How is this for a way to protect the inside of the planter?  The j channel fits perfectly over the top and bottom of the planter so it is like putting the planter in a giant plastic bag.

I hate smacking my fingers with a hammer so I use my van door handle (needle nose pliers) to hold  the nails.

 End siding in place, inside siding in place, support lumber to brace the sides, now for this front piece, which I think is going to look good. I'm glad we spent the money on the cedar for the top trim, finished it off nicely.  After this shot we leveled it off so it would look better.
Be sure to check Julia's site   http://paintersgarden.blogspot.com 

Busy and Concerned

I have been busy lately trying to do things for http://www.zazzle.com/doug_photo  and concerned for my family who is going through a lot of medical stuff right now.
I did get out the old video camera and start looking at the old videos and prepared to convert them to digital.  I have trying to get it to work with skype but it shuts off if it isn't recording, so we work on that as I really do not want to buy another webcam.  Converted some TV shows and movies to a mobile format and bluetoothed them to my phone.  I was able to edit, convert and download Julia's time on TNN cable TV then bluetooth it to her phone and mine.
Anybody want to see these?  Let me know I can email or I can post them here or youtube.
Julia post on her blog a LOT   http://paintersgarden.blogspot.com  
Be sure to check out our sale sites.

For the birds

Time to put up a couple of bird houses that we made last year, Julia painted it all fancy so they will think they moved up town.  Yes that is me with my Black and Decker again.  I've been trying to put things on my zazzle site but I usually don't like my own work so I don't show it. 

Yes I'm Still around

Have been busy creating for zazzle lately and haven't bothered with this, had to clean under the frig. You have to clean the coils from time to time so it will work better, save you money. We created another store with zazzle because Julia has so many Iris things we thought it would be nice to just have an Iris store.... http://www.zazzle.com/Irisart* try it out. I have to put more photos up on this and my store. Enjoy...

Wash, wash, wash

Well the part from Sears finally got here after three weeks and some emails to the order people.  It is running now with nothing in it to clean up the inside but it sounds a lot better than it has for a long time.  We have been going crazy with zazzle, we really like creating things with Julia's art.  After 44 years there a lot of things to scan, had to get a new key board, wore mine out.  I got a Logic Tech wireless, we've always had a wireless mouse so having a mouse and key board wireless is nice.  This board is smaller than the first one so there is a little adjustment. 
Doug

Still waiting

Well a week after I order the parts I finally get one of them, the other will be here next week.  The dishwasher is sitting all torn apart with pieces sitting here and there.
The rain and melting snow has water running in the basement like a broken faucet so the sump pump is running constantly, I had to take the hose outside off when it got below freezing so the water would leave so it was really just running in a circle.  Today I put it back on but it is still running constantly, it was funny to see the black hose melt into the snow when the sun warmed it up.  Hope you like our zazzle store, we post products everyday. 

Dishwasher Repair

This is the impeller and chopper, the chopper broke which took out the impeller...load noises.  The little missing piece was down inside it all.  I used a grill cleaning brush to clean out the screen, the brass bristles clean well and will not damage other metals.  Julia helped me clean up the rest of the housing so it is ready to start to put back together when the new parts get here.  I sat down to the computer, went to Sears parts and order them right away. I probably could have gone to the Sears store on Rice Street in ST Paul and picked them up but it would cost more in gas than the shipping.  I have a Black and Decker bit set that has all types of bits including Tork bits, this with the handy Black and Decker adjustable tork cordless drill made this job a LOT easier. This ten dollar repair would have cost hundreds from a service call, ah thanks to my Black and Decker and my God given ingenuity.  Canyoudougit?

Where is he?

Yes I've been gone, not much to say.  I did something wrong and adsense pulled their ads and the money we had earned, don't know what I did.  I think it might be the ZAZZLE scroll I put in.
I take photos then edit them for content then I resize them so they well be big enough to be able to sreach on the products we create. 
The dishwasher started leaving specks behind so I took the arm apart and cleaned it.  Now the pump is really winning, so I will have to take the straner apart on the bottom and clean it out.  It will drain but something is plugging the spray channels. Oh joy!

I made a short flix about roof raking, this after most of the snow is gone and the second time we did it.  Hope you like it.

What a day!

It was a below zero night, still below zero on Wednesday morning when we were going to go meet Julia's parents for lunch.  Running late, I opened the passenger side, reached through, put my spare key in the ignition, turned and heard RRRR....nothing.  With the battery dead, Julia called her parents, who had left home already, then called the resturuant to give them a heads up while I got  out the charger and the long extension cord.  Plugged in the cord, got the hood up, went to put the clamp on the battery, snap...it broke off and fell under the battery deep into the fender housing where it was unreachable.  Remember what my dad would do, I went to get a clamp, stripped the wire and used a wood clamp to hold it on the battery post.  Ten minutes later the battery was charged enough to start old faithful, yes I know I need a new battery but for now I can get around, as to the clamp, it will either stay there or I will have to disassemble the fender.  OH fun!

Why did this curl??

This is the wiper blade from the back of the van, why did it curl?

As you can see the  blade is still straight but the spring on the mounting hardware is so strong that it only touchs the glass at the ends, making it useless.  I could not figure it out or make it correct and they don't make them this small anymore, which okay as I did not want to buy a new one. 
When I buy blades I get a set and replace both, if one of the old ones isn't shot I hang it on a nail out in the building just in case I might need it.  Well I needed it, again I get something fixed for free (MY Favorite price).  Can you Doug it?

For Odd

My left arm aches like I have tennis elbow, I hold a racket with my right, so where does it  come from as I haven't played for a long time.  To solve the problem I wear a watch with a tight band on that wrist for a few hours.  Can you Doug it? 
My left leg has had a ton of problems from assorted injuries over the years.  Doctor says the muscles are bending it wrong at the knee, so it acts up from time to time.  To get this thing to work right where it wants to rebel I put on knee pads that I got to work on the studio and they push everything back into the correct space.  So a little persuasion and everything is good for days... Can you Doug it??

Oh to sit down

After fixing the love seat I went off, flopped in my recliner, leaned back and...crack....something broke in the mechanism.  This morning I as I lean back the chair tipped to the right.  I remembered I had a mechanism in the basement from the last time one side broke, with the good lord's help it happened that the one that was still good was the broke this time.

Here it is bottoms up so I can work on it, the back is fairly easy to remove so you can get at the under carriage.

Yes it's me bottoms up.  I'm trying to get the springs off the old hardware, tight spring, good for the chair bad for me...OUCH!!

Finally time to work it back into the chair and refasten it, thanks to my Black & Decker case of driver bits and my cordless drill. 

The project is completed, I can sit back and write this from my easy chair.
Can you Doug it?

Fixed the love seat with a furnace filter

The rod across the middle broke at the junction with a spring and all the elastic was broken so it would sink into the mechanism.  I happen to remember  we had a thick fiber furnace filter that came with the furnace 5 years ago, it is made of the same stuff as the stiffener used in furniture.  After I got it from the basement I realised it had rods in it that are exactly the right size for the broken cross rod under the seat.  We then went to the store and got elastic which I used to tie up the springs.  Now it is just like new.  It cost $1.94  plus tax and the unused furnace filter.  Can you Doug IT?

Another day in the city by the lake

It was a cool and snowy night, the snow crunched under my feet as ventured out to check on the heat in the studio.  Have to clean the dungeon a little everyday so the furnace tune up people can think we're normal.  I am still trying to get all the drivers into my computer after the new hard drive was installed, $366 and I have to spend months getting it all back.  I was able to update the laptop at half that cost and it was a lot more than just replacing the hard drive.  Doug

Sharing

We are trying to share this blogging bit, I will post some of my own stuff.  DM