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