Projects

[BigJon]

Yes, I'm very pleased. Especially since I only designed it in 2D and did a lot of handwaving about the details. My nephew was able to turn my thumbnails into the real thing that is very pleasing to the eye.

Just needs three things now. A coat of gray paint to meet the neighborhood covenant, but that will have to wait until spring and warmer weather. Power, so I can install some lights. And the stair treads. I bought a fancy laser level to install the stair treads, when it gets here, I will start.

[analog]

Nice job on both plan and execution!

I see several "divine proportions" ... good thinking.

Will it be a workshop or storage?
I put my workshop outlets about four and a half feet above floor so they'd not get hid by clutter....


a.

[BigJon]

Storage, potting shed for my wife and clubhouse for the kids. My deal was that if the boys would work hard to help me get it ready and get rid of the old shed, they could have part of the upper portion as a clubhouse. They worked hard. We put some chairs and a table up there for them.

I spent many hours driving around looking at other barn roofs and barn-roof sheds. Many were very unpleasing to the eye with odd proportions and strange angles. Some have such a small difference in angle between the upper and lower portion, I wondered why they bothered to use a barn roof style at all.

[piqaboo]

its muy purty.
I'm back to small projects... trying to get loose pix into photo albums mostly.

[dai bread]

Small projects are the fiddly, time-consuming ones.

I shifted a power point and a light switch on a living-room wall. Patching the resulting holes in the plasterboard was the easy bit. I couldn't match the paint colour and ended up repainting the whole wall. Luckily I don't have to repaint the whole room; the mismatch isn't that bad. Then I put up a picture rail. Pre-painted, but the screw-holes need to be filled, the filler needs to dry, then the undercoat goes on, dries (16 hours) then a top coat (another 16 hours). A simple little job has taken a week to do.

[GreatCarouser]

Small projects are the fiddly, time-consuming ones...

I'm reminded of a verse from an old Beatles song:"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in and keeps my mind from wandering where it will go..."

[DavidS]

Small projects are the fiddly, time-consuming ones.

I shifted a power point and a light switch on a living-room wall. Patching the resulting holes in the plasterboard was the easy bit. I couldn't match the paint colour and ended up repainting the whole wall. Luckily I don't have to repaint the whole room; the mismatch isn't that bad. Then I put up a picture rail. Pre-painted, but the screw-holes need to be filled, the filler needs to dry, then the undercoat goes on, dries (16 hours) then a top coat (another 16 hours). A simple little job has taken a week to do.

Parkinson's Law: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."

[jamiebk]

Parkinson's Law: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."

Ain't THAT the truth!

[analog]

Yes I often think of Job's troubles when the world seems to be pushing against an orderly end to a small project.

The primitive peoples are on to something with their "spirits".

Robert Pirsig hit it - "it is very important to be in the proper state of mind"... keeps the spirits friendly.


a.

[Schmeelkie]

FYI - closing went as planned, so we are now the proud owners of only one house! And, here at least, you only go to the closing of the house you're buying, not the one you're selling - lawyers have you fill out all paperwork ahead of time. We were actually driving back from Princeton NJ (in lovely high winds, with snow south of Syracuse once we got out of PA) when the closing happened.

Shed looks great - pity you have to paint it grey - I like the yellow!

I had gotten pull shades for our bedroom and upstairs bathrooms (for the bathrooms - I know noone can really see in - too far and through trees, but I really can't get out of the shower to an uncovered window....) and got them home to find out all were just a tad too long. Went back and got them recut - bedroom ones fit fine, but the bathroom ones were now too short. so they sat for several weeks (so I used a sheet for a curtain in our bath), until yesterday when I opened a game for Bella and found a bunch of ~1inch square pieces of cardboard. Glued 5 together, placed under one mount, so used that to make up the size difference and was able to mount the shades. The next thing I'd like to do is pick colors to paint our bedroom and the living room, so while we can paint in the summer, we could get curtains now.

[dai bread]

One of the things that intrigues me in American movies is that no-one ever draws the curtains or pulls down the blinds. Now this may well be equivalent to always finding a parking place right where the hero wants to go, but it's so common in the movies that I wonder if there's any truth in it. Is there?

[DavidS]

One of the things that intrigues me in American movies is that no-one ever draws the curtains or pulls down the blinds. Now this may well be equivalent to always finding a parking place right where the hero wants to go, but it's so common in the movies that I wonder if there's any truth in it. Is there?

And after getting out of the car, no-one ever locks it - and that was long before keychain remote controls were invented...

[jamiebk]

One of the things that intrigues me in American movies is that no-one ever draws the curtains or pulls down the blinds. Now this may well be equivalent to always finding a parking place right where the hero wants to go, but it's so common in the movies that I wonder if there's any truth in it. Is there?

We never draw our shades or curtains. Although we live in a rather closely-built subdivision, we have lots of trees, especially in the back that shield us from curious neighbors. However, speaking of this, we do have a funny story in that regard. A number of years ago our next door neighbors remodled their bathroom and in doing so hired a supposed, feng shui expert to assist in the design. It ended up that they replaced the common shoulder high frosted window with a floor to ceiling mottled glass block wall (to allow the energy to flow or some nonsense like that). Well...you can guess the result. This glass wall is right in front of the toilet. The window to our office (where I often work) looks directly to that side of their house. So...while the images are obscured during daylight hours, we get quite a show when the bathroom is "backlit" in the dark hours. It's pretty vivid in spite of the swirly, thick glass. My wife and I have planted an apple tree to strategically block the unwanted display, but it is taking some time to grow to the necessary height. In the meantime, we have from time to time, been witness to all sorts of bathroom activities including the sex-capades of their teenage son...He seems to like looking at certain magazines in there.

[Schmeelkie]

I close all shades at night. In the winter it's an energy saver... and I just feel weird about passersby at night seeing what's going on inside. In the summer I close shades or curtains on the side of the house where the sun is coming in also to save energy. In the old house we had shears in the living room and I would just keep those closed so we'd get light, but less direct sun when everyone was home. Hoping to do the same in the living room and playroom that face south in the new house. And I only started locking the car when we were living in a not totally safe location outside of Detroit, then got out of the habit, then back when I got a new vehicle, then keep forgetting....at least at home.

[Shapley]

When we built our house, we decided to do away with carpeting and draperies. My stepson's breathing difficulties have been considerably lessened, which I attribute to this. For the first few years, we just had bare windows. Living, as we do, in the boonies that was never a problem. We added shutters to the windows, one room at a time, over the past few years, finally completing the last room sometime in late 2008. In the Summer, we close them during the day and open them at night. In the winter we do the opposite.

[piqaboo]

Close yes, lock yes.

[Haggis@wk]

One of the things that intrigues me in American movies is that no-one ever draws the curtains or pulls down the blinds. Now this may well be equivalent to always finding a parking place right where the hero wants to go, but it's so common in the movies that I wonder if there's any truth in it. Is there?

When I was in Holland I was struck by the common practice of not closing drapes or shutters at night.

[Giant Communist Robot]

I've noticed on crime shows like CSI the lab work is done in dark and poorly lit facilities.

[dai bread]

Two of the most blatant pieces of dramatic licence I've ever seen were in a movie called "Reign of Fire". It's a survival movie. I won't detail it's plot here, but the licence taking is, first, right at the beginning, where a boy of about 12 is allowed on to a construction site without a hard hat. To make the licence even more blatant, it's a tunnelling site and the boy is allowed underground.

Second, when the cavalry arrive, they have fuel for a tank, trucks and a helicopter, and this 20 years after the collapse of society. Petrol not only evaporates readily, even from nominally sealed drums, but also spoils. "Goes off", rather like food. So does diesel, only not as fast.

[Shapley]

Second, when the cavalry arrive, they have fuel for a tank, trucks and a helicopter, and this 20 years after the collapse of society. Petrol not only evaporates readily, even from nominally sealed drums, but also spoils. "Goes off", rather like food. So does diesel, only not as fast.

They probably picked some up from the post-apocalyptic engineers in Road Warrior (Mad Max II, to those of you down under), before they blew up their refinery...