Pictures taken in the places I’ve called ‘home’ over the years.
Mammatus clouds over Springfield — We’ve had some weird weather lately. I heard about a house being hit by three tornadoes in the past month (around 30 miles from us). This week, we were on the edge of a storm that, according to the radar, was dumping twenty-five inches of rain per hour. +2
Morning tea on an old stool — At some point in life, we learn the value of eschewing the bright, shiny, and new for the well-worn, used, and patinaed that does its job, and does it well enough.
Cocking a snoot — Actually, I was making a snoot to test out a hair light for Ginger’s video setup in her office.
Upon Reflection — I grabbed the camera after the play of light on the bathroom mirrors caught my attention. To quote Ginger, “It’s a very Gary photograph.”
I might regret saying this… Hopefully this is not too prophetic. Today I’m leaving for three days hiking on the Big Piney Trail at Paddy Creek Wilderness. I’ve not been out this month, which means I have 20 miles and 2 nights backpacking to fit in. One-minute read, +2
Finally seeing results — I’ve been regularly exercising for around and hour a day, five days a week for three months now. I read that it takes a lot longer to get results when you get to a ‘certain age,’ and so it has. This week, for the first time the body fat percentage has dropped into the green.
The perils (and perks) of a home office. Dick is ‘helping’ me edit videos.
A break in the weather means I’m off on a four-day hike of the Whites Creek Trail, South and North Loops at Irish Wilderness. Just for a change I thought I’d take out my old 60/70-liter Deuter backpack for a trip. Then I changed my mind. 2
Our grandcat is visiting — Dick is staying with us for a couple of months while his mother is off traveling.
Sunday morning therapy: cleaning — It’s good to push the keyboard away, get out the cleaning materials, and smell the G96 gun oil and Hoppes #9 gun bore cleaner while taking my time cleaning and checking my guns.
Sparkle Zone color. There’s a reason why we call this room of our house the ‘Sparkle Zone.’ +1
Testing, testing. One, two, three — Two outpatient visits to the hospital today for some tests. Ultrasound in the morning, and my annual cardiology checkup in the afternoon. All my results were good. In a little experiment, I used AI to obfuscate the personal information in the image. It makes a nice change from pixelating it.
Bowed — before I threw away the bowed worktop I’d set aside as a workbench top, I decided to check how bad it was: 5/16-inch over 36 inches. No, I wasn’t going to be able to use it for anything, so into the trash, it went.
Small Product Photography Setup — Once we’ve been using it for a while and know what we like and don’t like, I’ll tidy away the cables and power supplies. Until then, it’s going to be a bit messy.
Harbinger — The yellow light at sunset is a warning of the incoming storm.
Table saw cart — completed (for now). That’s another job finished. As I hoped, the dust collection seems to work well. I also made a zero clearance saw blade insert for the saw. 2
Building my table saw cart. One-minute read, +4
New workbench storage — I have finally updated the storage area above my workbench. There used to be five plastic cat litter boxes on the shelf. I made these five wood boxes in an afternoon, so the finish isn’t furniture level, but they fit the space well and look much better. 2
Hitachi C10FR Table Saw — My next project. It’s a very well-used worksite jobbing saw, and it is time to make some improvements.
Set up for a quick test — I used a small hand-held fill in light for the test pictures. It has finely adjustable color temperature and brightness.
Sparkle Zone Storage Center, Stage Two, almost complete — Some final adjustments to the bottom doors to be made. There is still some minor work and finishing touches to be completed. Apart from that, all done. +5
A costly mistake… At $70 per door, and I ruined two doors before I realized my error. I forgot to allow for the Inset panel (at 3/16-inch) when selecting screws to mount the doors on cross braces. That brings my ‘Cock-up Account’ up to $200 in a couple of months (don’t ask).
Sparkle Zone Storage Center, Stage One, almost complete. Now for the fiddly bit of the end panel and the ‘fill-in’ panels. That big gap — that’s a special space, and will be Stage Two!
It fits — Carcasses fitted to the wall, this, and fitting the doors is the easy bit.