Update on the lack of wood working

Spring has come which always makes it harder to get to work in the shop. The yard needs work, tractors need work, lots of things to do and even though there is more daylight per day there still isn't enough time in a day.

Also before the soon to be built entertainment center can be install the living room is going to get a coat of paint.  Which is my current  BIG project.  The great room is roughly 40' long by 32' wide with 15' high side walls and the cathedral ceiling goes up from there.  Lots of wall surface area.  So Saturday I rented some scaffolding and got it setup. Sunday I primed the burgundy and got the "small" wall painted by the stairs. Progress isn't moving anywhere close to what I would like. Ideally this would be done on Saturday so I can move onto something more fun to work on like DIY dentistry.

I hate heights.

This was he first coat of green, the 2nd coat has been applied.

last week I finalized the plans for the entertainment center and marked the ouline on the wall in painters tape for my wife to check off on the final size.  Last thing I want to do is build it only to hear "it's to big or not big enough."

Last week we had some very intense rain and our driveway was nearly washed away. So I worked with the road commissioner to patch it up and a new culvert is to be installed this week.

large wash outs on each side of the driveway. the water appeared to have backed up enough that it over topped the driveway.

upstream side

downstream side, all this was previously gravel

Well that' s a peak into what has been going on, I am ready to get back into the shop.

A new toy and an update

Last night I bought a surface planer (DeWalt 734). I can't wait to try it out tonight.

I think getting it is what I need to pull me back to the shop. Life has been busy, but with my new philosophy I posted about yesterday I am going to make it an effort to still do some wood working no mater how busy other parts of my life get.

Now for the update on the last month and a half.
Back at the end of April I mentioned having to replace a blown head gasket on my lawn mower.  That project went well and the mower is back into service. Since then I've had to replace a fuel pump on my car also. We were late getting our garden out, it didn't get planted until Memorial Day.  I think it has only rained twice since then. I put the same fence I built last year up for the kids area in the garden but this year we (my wife and daughter helped) built a small arbor for the kids garden.  We planted pole beans next to the arbor so they will climb it.

I should be posting again soon after I get to run some boards through my new planer.

A quick update

Things have been really busy lately at work and at home and I haven't had much time in the shop or time to post anything.

I spent almost a full weekend working my wife's trailblazer, it had been making a noise in the front end. So the intial plan was to replace the wheel bearings. The bearing didn't sound bad, and the noise sounded like it was coming from the upper CV joint on the drivers side.  Replacement drive axles with new CV joints are available so I decided to replace it instead of trying to fix the CV joint.  To replace the drive axle the complete suspension has to be disassembled.  I took it more apart than I had ever had the front end of any vehicle.  

 Sadly when I put the drive axle in it still made the same noise.  At that point I wasn't ready to dig any further and I put it all back together after changing the front deferential fluid.  It all went back together rather easily compared to how difficult it was to take it apart.

I've also done a little work in the garden. Last week a friend came over with a 6' tiller and tilled the garden and the sweet  corn patch.  Before he came and tilled I used my garden tractor and a small dics to break it up some.  The garden had been plowed under last fall.

 We will be planting soon.

My wood working projects are being put on hold while I repair a blown head gasket on my lawn mower. I hope to get that done this weekend so I can get back to building things.