Nice paint job... how did you apply it?

I used aerosol cans this time, some people use HVLP setups which would probably be preferable but a guitar is so small that I don't mind using a few cans. Like anything I learned a lot doing this first one and could probably get a better finish on a second body but I'm very happy with this one so far especially since I am not going for a museum quality finish considering its history.

Played w/ a couple of other hobbies today...


Test-n-Tune day.

50 Cal?

Nah, just a 5.56mm NATO (.223 Rem.). It's a Yugoslavian AK derivative I built a while back called an M-85. It is waaaayyy over-gassed as it was designed for a 10" barrel and I made it a 16" to keep it legal. I had to drill some gas relief holes just below the front sight to reduce to bolt speed. I was trying to look at general operation w/ the GoPro and this was the only frame to catch flame in the brake.

John

My newest hobby as a pepper gardener. It's almost like therapy to me. I have made attempts to grow a healthy garden for the past two years, and have had decent success. Deer and drought have hurt a bit, but I'm shooting for a good crop this coming year. I'm growing many types of peppers, from Anaheim to Trinidad Scorpion. I'm starting seedlings a little early, but hope to have healthy plants by the spring.

The hot peppers are growing nicely. The super hots aren't as hot as they are supposed to be, but at least they are edible. Breakfast is so much better now

Built this guitar over the past 9 months or so. I finished up the woodwork portion of it just in time for winter to set in last year and didn't think spraying the paint would work too well in freezing temps then once it warms up of course theres a ton of humidity in PA. Anyway this has been curing for about a month so I just got it sanded and polished up this past weekend.
Joining the neck to the body

Rubbed some Naphtha on the body to show the grain

Pore filler mixed with red dye on the mahogany back

Assembled, I'm going to let it settle for a few days with the strings on before I adjust everything


Theres some genuine 60's pickups and capacitors in there for real tonez

That is SWEET!!!

Damn Hutch! You are the jack of all trades

Thanks but I've got no vegetables this year, your harvest is making me jealous

That guitar is beautiful!

I'm moving to a new house in about 6 weeks with a garage and a big backyard, and the recent trip to France has me motivated to get a garden going. That little pepper pad is cool! I did not know there were such things.

My wife and I kept talking about getting a pet(s) but the traditional dog/cat thing wouldn't work out for us for a variety of reasons. We've always wanted a pig but came up with some reasons why we shouldn't get one. Then we started thinking that chickens would be fun: they're low maintenance, they live outside, they're better at composting things than I am (I never stir the pile), and they'll give us eggs. They're not super cuddly but they can be friendly. So back in May we got 7 chicks.
Everyone likes "chick pics"




The bird in the last picture is a Black Copper Marans. They have a genetic defect where they sometimes have webbed feet. We got her from a breeder who couldn't keep her because she couldn't be bred due to the syndactyly (there's your vocabulary word for the day!) which was holding two of her toes together. When she was a few weeks old we performed surgery on her toes by cutting the webbing (clean, numb with topical lidocane, cut, glue with surgical super glue). Within hours she stopped falling over and started to perch.

After getting the chickens we then had to build them a coop. We decided on a large (6x10 foot) chicken tractor (mobile coop with attached run). Building it took all of our weekends for about two months.


I chose the color scheme based off some yellow houses we saw in Sweden, many of which had red tile roofs.

Some highlights of their living space:
Made from the lightest construction we could use (3/8" plywood, 2x3 and 1x3 construction, polycarbonate roof)
Interior painted with wooden boat paint for durability and ease of cleaning
Composting floor of the coop (deep litter method)
Water bite nipples that the chickens peck at to get water (prevents the use of water toughs which getting dirty)
Automatic door with solar charger and photosensor (programmed to open 90 mins after sunrise and close at sunset)
Hardware cloth "skirt" around perimeter to deter digging predators
Wheels mounted on levers: flip "skirt" upwards, press lever down and latch in place, coop lifts up allowing us to pick up on the other end and roll it to a new place.

We move it every few days to give them fresh grass. When they get larger we'll put up a fence around part of the yard to give them more space to roam.

By the end of August I need to have their nesting boxes built. We have a mix of different breeds so our eggs might look like this

They're getting bigger but we're still not sure which birds are going to be roosters and which ones will be hens.

"They're getting bigger but we're still not sure which birds are going to be roosters and which ones will be hens."

The roosters will be the ones trying to get laid and the hens will be one ones laying the eggs and sitting on them


Nice job on the chicken house. we have had all sorts of animal pets including chickens, ducks, geese , donkey , horses. They have all been fun and some work to take care of

https://crazyswede.smugmug.com/Other/6791/

After several years of searching and failed attempts to buy land or a house I finally closed on a place in Bridgewater Vermont. The place I bought included a small house with a small garage and 3.5 acres of land which is made up of 3 combined lots and a ROW. The house sits on a small lot measuring about 55’x100’ and this backs up to a large piece of land measuring 350’x450’. The ROW is west of the house and allows additional access to the back lot. The house itself is 700 square feet with a 20’x20’ footprint and a garage with outside dimensions of 12’x18’. The house was built around 1925 and has a drilled well and power from poles at the road and ties into the town sewer system.
We looked the house over before I bought it and though we knew it had some structural issues we really were not concerned due to its selling price and its size. I actually started to tear into the ceiling and walls the day after I closed and I have been slowly doing demolition work all fall. I started to do the structural repair work with my father the weekend before Christmas and then we worked for the last 5 days.
The house is mostly gutted now although there is still insulation in a few walls including the insulation and vapor barrier I put up in the living room. There is also some sheetrock in place on the second floor. The bathroom and kitchen are removed as well as half of the down stairs floor. The things we have to do include:

1. Replace the first floor support beam
2. Level the remaining floor joists
3. Replace the sill under the North wall and parts of the adjoining east and west walls
4. Replace the flooring we removed
5. Double up the remaining first floor joists with 2x8’s as the old ones are only 2x6 rough cut and not tall enough for proper support
6. PT plywood under the new floor joists, new insulation, new ¾” plywood on top
7. Install woodstove
8. Replace the first floor North wall.
9. Install a new post and support beams for the second floor
10. Replace the second floor joists
11. The windows in the bedroom are coming out as they are not egress compliant and will get placed in the first floor North wall.
12. New windows go into the upstairs
13. New bathroom
14. New kitchen
15. New wiring
16. New plumbing
17. Upgrade to 200 amp service
18. New insulation
19. New lighting
20. New sheetrock
21. New flooring
22. Finish shaping the backyard….probably not until spring when I can see the ground again

So we have a lot of work to do. On the plus side this is a small house and though there is a lot to do…there is just not a lot of house to do it to. Also I am not having to pay for labor at the moment so its just raw materials. An added bonus is that I have designed a bathroom for under $1000 and the kitchen will be pretty simple as well.