Good morning!!!!

[PJSprog]

55°F and cloudy this morning, going up to 75° today. We got a little rain overnight, but most of the heavier stuff went south of us. Expecting the angry red spots on the radar later today and tonight. Local power companies already have their media peeps out this morning discussing their action plans to restore knocked-out power.

The flooring company showed up yesterday and installed the new vinyl in the sunroom, laundry room, and bathroom. Looks quite nice. The electrician was also there and while he didn't get everything done, he did get to most of it. He'll be back on Thursday to finish. Now, we just need to get the interior trim up around the windows and doors, and that room will be done.

A pic she sent me yesterday afternoon after she moved the furniture back in:

 

[toppop52]

Nice sun room PJ!

62 going to low 70's today, great weather for February. Looks like we might get some severe weather tomorrow night, but the bay is so cold it tends to moderate the storms as they cross. Got doctors appointments for wife and me today.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I'm having trouble posting pics from my gallery on my Android. I don't use the app here, I use the full site. I can pick the pic, but it doesn't upload it anymore as it used to???

I now need some titanium filler rod to proceed with the tig welding. The plates I cut are 1/8" or 3.2mm thick. I'm hoping when I burn in it, I can get those beautiful blue tones that come from heat and oxidization. Also still need to cut out the legs. I can't find the website I borrowed the design from. They wanted IIRC around $1800 for a steel model. (That artisanry must be expensive). It sure would have been easy to make it out of steel. You have to have a carbide tooth bandsaw blade or cut it with endmills on a mill. I chose the latter and used 5 qty 1/8" endmills so far. Slow going. If I can find the pic online again, I will post it. The funny thing is, by the time I finish it, it will be too hot down here to use it this year.

Good day all. Be careful in your endeavors.

 

[txdon]

Don why not hook a hose to your pump and put a spray nozzle on it. Allowing it to spray into pool.

That was an option but:
1. I don't want to take the cover off this soon.
2. A spray will also cool the water and I want to get it warm when I do open it.

 

[sodamo]

64°F and .59 inches rain last 24 hours.

Wife was to go on the Lava boat tour with friend to see Lava Hose but cancelled due to rough wx yesterday. Rescheduled for Fri morning.

Be safe
Have a great day

 

[farmer2009]

54 this morning and headed to 70 today. With thunderstorms around. Could be severe.

All birds are in. They showed up early this morning.

Have some equipment cleanup to do today. Then mail taxes as today is the deadline. . Need to go get some parts for chicken coops.

Don. A diffuser and air pump is the most efficient way to aerate water. A spray can be pretty but it's limited to how much oxygen it can absorb before it hits the surface again.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I'm having trouble posting pics from my gallery on my Android. I don't use the app here, I use the full site. I can pick the pic, but it doesn't upload it anymore as it used to???

I now need some titanium filler rod to proceed with the tig welding. The plates I cut are 1/8" or 3.2mm thick. I'm hoping when I burn in it, I can get those beautiful blue tones that come from heat and oxidization. Also still need to cut out the legs. I can't find the website I borrowed the design from. They wanted IIRC around $1800 for a steel model. (That artisanry must be expensive). It sure would have been easy to make it out of steel. You have to have a carbide tooth bandsaw blade or cut it with endmills on a mill. I chose the latter and used 5 qty 1/8" endmills so far. Slow going. If I can find the pic online again, I will post it. The funny thing is, by the time I finish it, it will be too hot down here to use it this year.

Good day all. Be careful in your endeavors.

Here is a similar design, but mine will be a bit different. I won't run diagonal braces underneath to opposing legs.

 

[Mousefield]

Frosty this morning but nice to have the sun shinning in a blue sky. Still a bit of snow on the ground as it will only warm up to about 38-40 today. I can hear the sea lions barking, herring are on their way.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good afternoon. 53F @ 12:30PM. Plenty of sunshine. High 52F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Sunroom looks real nice, PJ!:thumbsup:

I'm sure you'll get lots of rainbows when you weld that Ti, Kyle. Especially on the back side unless you set up a gas shield for it.

Here's an article that gives a pretty good rundown on what to watch out for.

Wired in a new electrical outlet yesterday for a security cam. The power source was an outlet on the other side of the wall, and it's always a leap of faith making the hole hoping that the wire will reach and isn't on the other side of a stud instead.:confused2: Everything worked out well though.:cool2:

The gang at the Oroville Dam got the water over the spillway stopped yesterday in preparation for dredging the plunge pool so that they can lower the water level at the power plant. They got the reservoir water level down 64' below the emergency spillway, and at about 3'/day rise at the current inflow rate, they'll have lots of time to get the dredging done. It helps that there's no rain in the forecast until next weekend. Posted a link to a drone fly-by video over in the California Drought thread showing the damage to the spillway. Might be they could just pour some retaining walls at the bottom of the spillway as it now stands and call it good. Sure would save a lot of time and money!

 

[daugen]

Room looks great PJ.
David, how are you handling electricity with the solar panels disconnected? Or is the system still operational, just putting out less?

busy, busy day. Chipper worked great on some small branches, very easy to use and sucks everything in, had no problems being safe around it.
Even better, my neighbor came, we fired up my new welder and it worked great too. I forgot the number on the rod, but he was able to keep it going down as low as 85 amps and tried various ranges up to 120. Everlast 160 something inverter model. Seems you don't need many amps for the thin stuff, lots to learn...
He actually does production TIG work, but said he liked my little welder enough he'd come back and use it to fix the mower deck. Now I have to cut the repair metal, and when I'm done, we will have another work session. And he said I had everything I needed for TIG except the gas.
Will be awhile before I try that.

 

[PJSprog]

Thanks. After dinner last night, we went in there with some tea and just sat around talking until about 9:30.

Is that the HF welding table, Drew? That looks handy.

 

[txdon]

Pj, your wife has the sunroom looking like a English Tea room. Tea and biscuits anyone? Maybe you could give her another wind chime in trade for space for a beer cooler?

(edit we were posting at the same time I did not know it really was a tea room.)

RNG good drone footage on the Drought thread.

Drew, thanks for the action pics. If I was 10 years younger I would get one also.

I went by Dad's today and lined up work for the rest of the week: road repair, fence repair, & cattle feeding.

Asian beetles are making their way inside my house, I think through the bathroom exhaust fan. Screens to be applied today.

ED, still thinking you are out there send a PM.

 

[toppop52]

I'm really concerned about Ed, no indication he would be away, just disappeared.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks. After dinner last night, we went in there with some tea and just sat around talking until about 9:30.

Is that the HF welding table, Drew? That looks handy.

Sounds nice, looks great, enjoy!

I need to fix my noisy garage door. Enough spray grease in the track will quiet it down but if the temps get cold it won't operate. Screw drive genie model. Maybe a new track slider thingamajig dumaflatchee?

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Is that the HF welding table, Drew? That looks handy.

That's the TV tray for Drew's Man Cave.

 

[PJSprog]

Pj, your wife has the sunroom looking like a English Tea room. Tea and biscuits anyone? Maybe you could give her another wind chime in trade for space for a beer cooler?

(edit we were posting at the same time I did not know it really was a tea room.)

Hahaha ... yeah, she likes her wind chimes. There is one in front of every window. There are also two doors across from each other, with that runner extending between them (no chimes in front of them ).

Neither of us drink much anymore, beyond the occasional social drink with friends. I can't even remember the last time I actually finished an entire beer. The room extends right off the kitchen, though, and the 'fridge is in plain view from any seat. However, we actually have a rather substantial wine collection, especially for people who rarely drink. :drink:

 

[sodamo]

You guys sure have been busy

Nice looking sunroom PJ.

Drew, system has been completely operational since new battery install.
When I removed old solar panels, they were on own charge controllers, so just shut that down the appropriate one and used generator to make up shortfall. When installing the new panels, pretty much the opposite, activating each string on the appropriate controller. EXCEPT forgot to move 2 breakers from one combiner box to the other so the last two strings are not one the appropriate controller. That will be corrected when I relocate both combiner boxes. Right now, I just didn't see any value to shut down both boxes to do so. So I currently have 14080watts of producing PV. Unfortunately, wx hasn't been good enough to generate enough power without generator supplementing yet. That will change as Spring comes.

 

[daugen]

that makes your generators really important...backup to your backups.
the ballgame must stay on!

yes, a HF welding table, bought on sale for maybe sixty bucks, a nice table all by itself. I keep my metal chop saw on it normally.
I've always worked in wood, not metal, so this is a good new skill for me. That first rod he used sure didn't last long until we turned down the amps.

I wish there was a way to find out about Ed. We may not like what we find out. Could be either a serious health problem for him or his ward, the latter he loves like a son. He really had his hands full, with the big move and all that entailed.

 

[daugen]

14080watts of producing PV

that's 140 amps approx? remarkable.
Most homes are either 200 or 400 amp.
To have the sun provide almost as much energy as the power company is
just really cool. Here's to rain at night and all day sunshine. :thumbsup:

for generator use, am guessing you use either propane or diesel for longevity. My memory is
you bought a new diesel genset. I think I'd like something with a four cylinder cummins diesel in it.
10,000 hours easy. And hours mount up with continuous running as you sure know. Lot of oil changes
to keep track of. I believe someone makes a model that will send you a text saying it's time to change the oil.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Question for you Drew, about your new chipper.

I was "invited" by my troublesome neighbor to chip all the huge burn piles that were left on the property when I purchased it. Said it increased greenhouse gasses to burn it. I did some research and learned that the same amount of gas would be released burning as decomposing. And leaving those big piles lying around was a fire hazard. So I burned 'em.

Then when I cleared another few acres and got lots more wood on the ground, I burned most of that, too. In big bonfires. And got the fire department called on me for my efforts.

But burning works for me, and I know you burn, too. And it seems that burn or chip, the sticks and limbs still have to be gathered up. But the chipper has to be fed a piece at a time, but a 4-in-1 bucket or a grapple can put a huge amount on a burn pile at a time. So I'm wondering: what did I miss in deciding to burn vs. chipping? Is it because you wanted the chips for mulch?

Inqiring minds...