Another First: A DNC Demonstration

The DNC Convention is on:

Heard this group go by around noon today. I think they were a prisoner right group. You may be able to see the security around them in the picture. I think the police out numbered the demonstrators.

Everyone was well mannered and after about 10 minutes the mounted police (horses and hanging off SUVs) left.

We actually saw a Tornado

Folks, after living in Nebraska and Minnesota most of our lives Marlys and I saw our first tornado yesterday.

This was a weekend for tornado's in that one even hit up by Hartsel about 30 miles north of the Pinon house. I had never heard of a tornado in the mountains, but I guess they happen. I don't think anyone was hurt, but as you can imagine there was no warning (no sirens in area), and it tossed around a camp ground.

The one in Parker yesterday afternoon was interesting in that when Marlys spotted it we though it was only a funnel cloud because we only saw the top. Then we noticed the debris at ground level. We watched it for about 5-10minutes before it disipated. At one point we were concerned because it was to out SW and I seemed to remember that tornado's move from SW to NE.

Its hard to see in these pictures, but it is behind the lamp post in the center. It was about two miles away.

Snow, Rain, Sun, Rain, Saw Dust and Dial Indicators

We should have known on Friday afternoon when we saw the snowplow on the west side of Kenosha Pass that the weather was going to get interesting.

If you have been following the Colorado weather and fire scene this summer, you probably know how hot and dry it has been. Most areas of Colorado are setting low rain marks and Denver had is most consecutive days about 90 degrees record broken recently.

When we left town on Friday is had been raining most of the day. For that we were very thankful.

As we headed up through Conifer and Bailey the rain was picking up and the sky was charcoal ash dark. We topped Kenosha Pass and could see that South Park was stormy. As we descended the snow on the road shoulder told us it was cool out too, but the plow truck was a sure sign.

On the way to Fairplay, the rain kept playing with us and the sun even came out for a couple of minutes, but by the time we hung a left on to Highway 9 for Hartsel it was dark and raining again. There wasn't much traffic but when we got closer to the Hartsel dogleg more and more vehicles had their 4-ways flashing.

Then, as we crested a shallow hill this was presented for our enjoyment.

A snow covered road and a "yard sale" type accident. Hitting the brakes told the story of how it happened.

It was raining again by the time we pulled out of Hartsel. There were some bikers sitting under the canopy of a local gas station wondering what type of weekend adventure this was going to turn out to be.

For us it was one of those rare couple of days where it rained all the time, sometimes real light, but constantly.

It even tried to fool us on Sunday morning by letting the sun peak out long enough to throw the ball a few time for Dusty, but within 30 minutes it was clouded over and thundering again.

Enough for the weather report.

We were able to get a few things off the to do list because of the rain. Marlys uncovered the glulams in the garage, sanded and covered them in poly. The garage has been her project this summer and after the trim out around the glulams it will be done (waiting on another rainy day).

Most of Saturday morning was spent taking a dial indicator to the tablesaw. After putting a bit of wood through it, a check-up would be in order. In checking the blade the side-to-side run out was .07", which although not much got me wondering if it was the blade or the arbor. So in checking the arbor the side run out was <.005". It appears to be a warped/bent blade. Probably from moving/twisting material while sawing, which is a bad thing to do. A new blade is needed to correct, since I don't know how to re-flatten or true it up. A good couple of hours was spent fooling around with the TS, including building an enclosure for the back (this is a contractor type saw). Even with the dust collector, enclosing the bottom is next to cut down on the saw dust.

BTW, if you have been doing any trim work this is a great gizmo, a Kobalt Portable Compressed CO2 Regulator from Lowe's. It really beats hauling around the air compressor to run a trim or brad nailer. It uses the same air bottles as paintball guns, which gives a wide selection of capacities and ease in getting refills. It is usually setting in the shop ready to go for projects, like pinning spreaders on chairs that have loosened up.

But what I worked on this weekend was a air filtering system for the shop.

During the winter when the front doors are closed a lot of saw dust can get in the air from sanders, saws, jointers, etc. Beyond the impact when applying a finish it probably is not good for the lungs and even though I am good on safety glass use, I seriously lacking when it comes to grabbing a mask.

In searching the usual places looking for a used system and noticing that Home Depot has their small ones on sale, last week, I did a quick Google to see if anyone had made one. Wouldn't you know there many folks have built systems for their places. One that caught my eye used window fans, of which two now in the shop looking for a place to be stored when not being used.

The setup was pretty simple and allowed for movement to the high saw dust making spots in the shop. After grabbing a couple of filters from inventory (I had a few in the furnace room), this is the final product. Very straightforward and they do seem to pull air nicely.
One will probably end up moving over the work bench, as that is where the sanding happens.

The more the $25 radial arm saw is used the more I realize what an overlooked piece of gear this is. Virtually all of the pieces for these were cut using it.

That edge on view of a slab, in the second picture, sitting on the TS out feed table is the last remaining piece from the pallet of curly redwood ordered off eBay back in 2006. it is going to be a wall shelf for the area next to the fireplace (where the other redwood was used) to display Derek's "linen man" wire sculpture. Since this will be on the great room side it will have a finished (vs. wild) edge (see Jekyll and Hyde post).

Next project weekend will be focused on building a lumber rack. I grabbed the picture of one that someone was selling on Craigslist that will be the model, stay tuned.

Heavy Lifting

While Marlys finished staining the decks, Derek and I spent Friday putting in a couple of retaining walls.

For one of them we used locally available rock and when I say locally available I mean everywhere around our little compound (more on this definition later).

The work though became how to move them from where they are to where we want them.

To a great extent we relied on the ATV and our POS trailer. Some on the rocks we moved had to weight in excess of 200#. After about a dozen loads we had the incline beside the garage completely covered. One more task to remove from the to do list. We also started on the wall outside of the downstairs back bedroom, but that won't finish up for another week as we ran out of bricks.

To follow-up Friday's herculean activities, on Saturday we installed 500' of snow fence up top. Remember the rocks I mentioned above, try driving t-post through them, ain't happening. After 5 hours of driving posts and hanging fence we were shot. By Sunday morning we could barely move our arms. There is still about 2500' of snow fence to install. Hopefully, we will get it in before the snow flies.

I also had a few hours to fool around in the barn, so I built this dust hood for the radial arm saw. It works pretty good. I think I am going to make a matching station at the same height for the miter saw, so long pieces can span both work surfaces.

Derek has also started work on a totem pole sculpture. The first task was to joint and glue up some pieces of 5x5 cedar scrap that when glued together will give him a workable size. Jointing this size piece on a 6" jointer made for some real sweat work.

Derek brought everything that could be washed home. I mentioned that when I was here alone I used ~60 gallons of water over the weekend, last weekend Marlys and I used 120 gallons and this weekend 500 gallons.

Part of this is due to Marlys being a serial flusher, where as, I am from the "If its brown flush it down. If its yellow let it mellow." school. There is no winning though in this discussion.

Until the spirit moves me next time.