VogelCam » House

Mending Fences

mike — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 14:44:02 +0000

Over the weekend I took to the task of building a new gate for the side yard. The old gate was literally rotting away. It’s my first ever gate, and I’m quite proud of it. Took me about 6 hours to construct and hang it. The frame is made of redwood and features half-lap construction. Here’s a shot of the back. The sheathing is cedar fence boards. I trimmed out the top curve with my jigsaw.

Lumber Jacked

mike — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 07:07:34 +0000

There are a couple of trees in my front yard that belong to the city. When we moved in a little over a year ago, we were told that we are not allowed to prune them or cut them down. There are very attractive and provide lots of nice shade, but unfortunately, they have very destructive roots, and recently, one started losing branches. This is what saw when I stepped out onto my porch this morning. There was no rain or excessive wind last night, so I’m still pretty baffled how it happened.

Obviously, there’s plenty of room for concern here. For starters, I don’t own a chainsaw and theres a 300 lb branch sitting on my lawn/planter. Imagine if it fell on a kid or, God forbid, my truck! What recourse would I have? Would I be liable? Both good questions I intend to get answered when I call the city today.

Dinette Set Update

mike — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:11:49 +0000

As promised, here’s the before and after on the chairs.

They came out great. They now have a stone-colored vinyl covering that has the appearance of tweed fabric.

Dinette Set

mike — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:00:34 +0000

Well, I finally found some chairs for our dining table, and I learned a little more about eBay, too. (Like don’t ever buy anything from there ever!) We totally love these chairs that we didn’t buy on eBay. They are yellow in color, but they look green in our dining room, so we’re having them recovered. (I will add shots of that when I get them back.) We’re also having these two done at the same time so we have some extras.

If the women don’t find you handsome…

mike — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:00:03 +0000

…they should at least find you handy.

I don’t know which describes me, but I’m trying my darndest to hedge any lack of good looks I might have. So with the workbench complete, I’ve turned myself over to building a set of shelves. Thanks again to the great plans over at HammerZone.com, I’ve made some pretty good progress on a nice shelf unit. Once again, I’ve modified the original plans to make a somewhat larger version. This frame measures 8′W x 79″H x 20″D. Although this has taken considerably longer to build than the bench, it was super easy.

You can see from this picture that it matches nicely with the work bench. All that’s left now is to put on the decking, which should be a snap since I already have the plywood ready to go. Thanks again to the Chevy Cavalier Rally Sport SB Coupe, which, despite it’s small outward appearance, can hold an astounding amount of lumber. I guess since they decided not to clutter up the interior with stuff like cupholders and plush seats and the like, it remains fairly cavernous inside. Total cost for materials was $67 because I had some wood left over from the bench.

I also want to give a special shout out to my Father-In-Law, who, for my birthday this year, bought me a Craftsman variable speed drill and Craftsman jigsaw. And last year for xmas he got me really nice Craftsman Laser-Trac Circular Saw. Another person, without whom, this wouldn’t be possible.

Howdy, Neighbor.

mike — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:43:19 +0000

I spent about an hour this evening preparing the area designated as the permanent home for the new Char-Griller BBQ. I was digging down about an inch to clear a space about 24″ x 36″ for some pavers I wanted to set near the wall that borders my neighbor Tom to the south. I had meant to go to Home Depot and get a beam level to get the job done right, but I didn’t bother because I happen to know a little something about Tom. (1) he’s retired, (2) he’s got pretty much every tool there is, and (3) he’s usually out in the backyard having a smoke this time of evening. The disembodied voice came over wall like a greeting from Wilson on TV’s Home Improvement. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention (4) he’s very willing to lend out pretty much anything he owns. I simply had to mutter what I was up to and he was rushing off to the garage to get his level. I sure am lucky to have a neighbor straight out of my childhood sit-coms! Anyhow, I got the pavers set and level and the BBQ in place. The new grill seems really happy in her new home. I even have a nice custom cover I picked up last weekend to protect her from the elements. Now she sleeps in comfort waiting for her next patio adventure.

New Q

mike — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:33:47 +0000

We came home on friday evening to a nice surprise. My parents had surreptitiously planted one of these beauties in the back yard. Well, semi-surreptitiously. They had called and mentioned they wanted to stop by while we were at work to drop something off, but declined to give any further details. For the last ten years I’ve done all my grilling on the trusty Weber kettle BBQ, and it’s just about reached the end of it’s life cycle so this is a welcome addition to the patio. It features over 800 sq. in. of grilling area and can serve as a traditional smoker, too. I felt kinda sad for the faithful Weber, but only for about a minute. Last night I followed the manufacturer’s instructions for proper seasoning and then threw on a couple of burgers for a test run. Talk about luxury! It has a temperature gauge, adjustable coal rack, and a warming shelf. It also can take an optional side fire box and a rotisserie attachment. Should be good for at least another 10 years. So… how do you like yours done?

Tuffer than Leather

mike — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 21:45:30 +0000

Well, today turned out to be a good day (besides that Apple thing) because we finally got our new furniture. After 9 weeks of an empty living room, we’re stoked it’s finally here. It’s way super comfy, too. We spent the evening sprawled out reading books (mainly because the sofa in the TV room is still out getting new fabric), and it was really nice. The chair on the right tilts all the way back. I took this photo of it just after we got home. We also picked up that cabinet you can see in the background for $400 this weekend. It opens up into a bar. What a steal! Too bad I don’t drink. Hehe.