Aug 26

Aug 26




It is a beautiful morning (7:30) and I’m sitting on the patio with the laptop.

I’m up and have made coffee. I’ve also been putting my new drill to use. I have a wheel stop in the drive. It’s there so that when I’m backing in I don’t have to guess how close I am to hitting the trailer. I had made it earlier this year from three 2x4’s screwed together with decking screws and “nailed” to the ground with some 12” spikes.

A couple of weeks ago one of the boards came loose and exposed the points of the screws to the tire side of the stop. Since my old drill had died I wasn’t able to reassemble it. Now I have it done, finally! This time I drilled about halfway through the boards and then inserted the decking screws.

Last evening I used the drill to do another repair job. The other day while we were gone a stray gust of wind blew our patio umbrella (and table) over. Two of the umbrella ribs broke at the point where a rivet joined them to another piece.

I was not exactly sure ‘how’ I was going to fix it, I went to Home Depot and just looked around at conduit and PVC pipe. I was thinking of fabricating a sleeve to fit over the broken spot. However, it occurred to me that since the ribs were hollow, I could insert a piece of dowel into each end and rejoin them in that manner. Which is what I did.

The ribs are not round but elliptical in shape so I had to do a little whittling on the dowel to make it fit. I inserted about 6” into each end (making sure it was a very snug fit) and then drilled a hole where the original hole for the rivet had been. I also used the drill to grind the end from the rivet so that it could be removed from the other piece of the assembly. I then used some small machine screws to reassemble the parts. It worked!

When I opened the umbrella I discovered that one of the fabric ‘pockets’ that hold the rib ends was torn. I’ll have to get out the needle and thread to repair that. (hey! The drill can only do so much ya know)
Update: I used Gorilla Glue and held it in place with a snap clothes pin.
- - -

On to other news.

Here is an update on the people we’ve been visiting in the hospitals lately. Darleen (ex’s mother. But I don’t consider her an ex-mother-in-law) is doing better and is still in rehab.

Loretta is home and they are using medications to regulate her heart rate. We’ve heard that she is doing well but was tired out with visitors on Sunday.

My sister is home. They’ve changed her medications. She was very glad to get home instead of staying in the hospital or going through rehab.

Lucille, Lynn’s mom, is not doing well. They’ve moved her to hospice care.

- - -

I received a comment from Vincent on a recent posting. It was good to hear from him. He’ll be ‘home’ in Iowa for a couple of days in September. He’s going to California to meet his father and then spend some time with us. He’ll also spend some time in New York City doing some stand-up comedy.  I don't know if he does comedy under his real name or under the name of Freddy Farzadi.

- - -
Skipping ahead in time to 1:30 PM.
I sorted through one of my tool boxes and took out the duplicates.  Our church is having a Rummage Sale the first weekend in September.  So, I'll donate the extra tools to the sale.  I have another tool box in the jobox in the truck.  However, at the moment I don't seem to be able to get it open.  I'm guessing something inside has shifted and is jamming the release mechanizm from the inside.  I may have to manhandle the thing out of the truck and turn it on its side to see if that will let it open.  If that doesn't work, I may just take my frustration out on it and beat it with a crowbar until it opens or breaks.
- - -
My next project is simple to do and difficult to explain.  So, I guess I'll have to take pictures so that you'll understand what I'm talking about.  More on this later.
- - -

Old comercial jingles started popping into my head today.