What did you do today?

[mattthemuppet]

thanks Dan, I've gardened raised and non-raised beds and the raised beds are all round better in my opinion. Weed control is easier (these have weed mat underneath), better soil control and drainage, easier on the back and easier to keep things contained. We have the opposite problem here - clay. That's what's mostly in the 3rd bed and the difference is profound. If yours is sandy and you have plenty of space then strawberries would be a good choice. They are especially delicious and, other than in the southwest, almost impossible to kill through neglect.

[Tundra Twin Track]

The area between the garden and kids playhouse is going to become a patio, and firepit area starting today. With a future outdoor kitchen and maybe gazebo at some point. Wife has deemed it essential....there's about a 3' drop between the 2 (garden higher), so I'm going to build a rock wall surround around the fireplace that will also provide a convenient place to toss all the rocks that "grow" in the garden. The soil here is much better at "growing" rocks than veggies lol.

Dan this our fire pit area we did a few years back,added a sloped pipe to let rain water out and let air draw in to fire.Really happy how it works.

[Dan Dubeau]

Nice spot Tundra, The air inlet/drain is a great idea, and should keep the smoldering smoke down. Could also toss some coal in the middle and a leaf blower in the pipe for a big forge, or charcoal foundry when the wife isn't looking.... I'm trying to keep the cost down on this, and will just lay some simple patio slabs down for now, but would like to eventually pour a concrete slab there, or something a bit more decorative. I got about 80 slabs free last summer for pulling up a patio and removing them. 3 trips and a few hours later, I'm not sure who got the better deal....

I stripped a small area of sod the other night, but with it being so hot here the last few days I deemed it "non essential work", and will get back to it this weekend when the temps are supposed to drop a bit. Will focus my energy tomorrow on trying to get my tractor running again so I don't have to shovel as much lol.

Instead today I decided to do a bit cooler work and cast some aluminum instead lol.

[Peter.]

wow! That'd be a nice one bedroom home in a British city

By size perhaps, but we don't build timber homes.

Bricks and mortar like you oughta

[Dan Dubeau]

thanks Dan, I've gardened raised and non-raised beds and the raised beds are all round better in my opinion. Weed control is easier (these have weed mat underneath), better soil control and drainage, easier on the back and easier to keep things contained. We have the opposite problem here - clay. That's what's mostly in the 3rd bed and the difference is profound. If yours is sandy and you have plenty of space then strawberries would be a good choice. They are especially delicious and, other than in the southwest, almost impossible to kill through neglect.

We have a few spots with wild strawberries here, but the turkeys beat me to them almost everytime lol. They're good, but very small compared to commercial ones. I did get a bunch of plants a few years ago from a friend whos FIL had a strawberry farm. I planted them in an out of the way spot down by our fruit trees. Cutting the grass one day a few months later I forgot all about planting them there and drove the lawnmower in to turn around....DOH. They didn't survive. We have about 5 strawberry farms that U-pick within a 20 minute drive. I'll let them deal with the hassle of maintaining the crops, and I'll just show up with my little pickers and fill a few freezer bags from now on. I have enough wild black raspberries all around the treeline to keep me busy though. They're every where, and probably my favourite berry ever. Going to try making a wine from them this year if I can keep from eating them all first lol.

[J Tiers]

Those black raspberries are good, if you had a wet spring. If it was a dry spring, they tend to be all seeds.

I have wild strawberries, black raspberries (transplanted wild ones), currants, and blackberries. Haven't gotten much of any of them, the birds like them just before the stage where we think they are ripe enough. If the birds miss them, the squirrels get them. Too close to trees.

[PStechPaul]

Still working on my "outhouse shed" rebuild. In 2004 I tore down an old outhouse that was there when I bought the house in 1977, and replaced it with a woodshed that was about 14 feet wide and 4 feet deep. It was not properly built and maintained, and had been crammed full of old lumber and items removed from the house during renovations in 2009.

Under construction in 2004:

Rebuilding in 2020:




The new design will use the pre-existing dirt floor, with some concrete added, which also shows the remains of what may be the original pit outhouses from 1877 or thereabouts. The outhouse that was standing when I bought the property in 1977 was probably erected around 1950, and instead of pits, it used 5 gallon buckets that had to be schlepped up the hill and dumped in holes in the woods. It was a duplex house, and so the outhouse was a duplex as well, with a small toolshed in between the two privies. I lived in the house until 1984, but continued working on it, and in 1982 I purchased an adjoining 1 acre lot which allowed me to install a septic system. I bought a house on an adjoining 1/2 acre lot in 1989, and got a septic system and plumbing installed in 1991. But it was not until 1999 that I moved back from my mother's house in Towson, which I sold a few years later.

[DennisCA]

By size perhaps, but we don't build timber homes.

Bricks and mortar like you oughta

You'll freeze to death in those up here.

[challenger]

Still working on my "outhouse shed" rebuild. In 2004 I tore down an old outhouse that was there when I bought the house in 1977, and replaced it with a woodshed that was about 14 feet wide and 4 feet deep. It was not properly built and maintained, and had been crammed full of old lumber and items removed from the house during renovations in 2009.

Under construction in 2004:

Rebuilding in 2020:




The new design will use the pre-existing dirt floor, with some concrete added, which also shows the remains of what may be the original pit outhouses from 1877 or thereabouts. The outhouse that was standing when I bought the property in 1977 was probably erected around 1950, and instead of pits, it used 5 gallon buckets that had to be schlepped up the hill and dumped in holes in the woods. It was a duplex house, and so the outhouse was a duplex as well, with a small toolshed in between the two privies. I lived in the house until 1984, but continued working on it, and in 1982 I purchased an adjoining 1 acre lot which allowed me to install a septic system. I bought a house on an adjoining 1/2 acre lot in 1989, and got a septic system and plumbing installed in 1991. But it was not until 1999 that I moved back from my mother's house in Towson, which I sold a few years later.

Interesting. I just finished installing the bathroom in my shop.
It consists of a gallon bottle and a 5 gallon bucket with trash can liner. 😜

[Mcgyver]

Although I would like to try raising ducks, and pigs at some point for some reason....

pigs are fun, we never had the full grown gigantic ones like you see at the county fair, but we'd get a couple of weaned piglets each year. Super intelligent animals, they like to have toys in the pen and have a ball chasing each other around. Bloody hard to contain though, they are solid and strong and push through about anything you put up in their way.

Buying vegetables is really just buying shop time . If i had all the money wanted I'd have a big garden because it is nice.....but I'd have people come in to do all the gardening lol

[Peter.]

You'll freeze to death in those up here.

I will not! I'm not up there

[Cenedd]

While I have some of the carpet in the hall up (only at the door-joints) I'm going to attack the squeaky floorboards that have been driving me slowly (more) nuts for the last year. A box of 200 screws should be enough for two boards, right?!

At what ratio of screws to wood do you technically have a steel floor?! Nice that it doesn't squeak and feels firm under foot though.

So a new template - mainly as a filing guide - had to be made on the mill and then used. Once I've written it up on my project page on a computer forum I frequent, I'll post a link on the off-chance someone's interested.

Somewhat off topic but this is what the couple of parts I've machined recently were for. What those parts were for: PC Project

[challenger]

I did another bee removal. It was in the floor system of a house. Only been there a few weeks to maybe a month.

[danlb]

I got to know my new niece a little bit. She was put up for adoption 40 years ago, and a few weeks back 23&me showed her as a grandchild to my mom. Since we were unsure of which of my brothers might be the father, my nephew offered to add a third point of reference. He sent in the spit sample and already got the results. It turns out that she is indeed my late brother's daughter and half-sister to my nephew.

It's interesting that a person with a 25% DNA match may be a neice/nephew, half-sibling, grandchild or aunt/uncle. Once you add another dna sample it becomes possible to narrow it down more using logic. When it comes to a 50% match, that's either a sibling or a child.

When I submitted the DNA sample to 23&me I was only really wondering if we could get a family discount at the Indian Casino. Oh well, nothing wrong with finding more potential organ donors if they are ever needed.

[nickel-city-fab]

You'll freeze to death in those up here.

My grandmother once told of the family one-hole in Michigan in the 1920's. It had a tin seat. Quote," You didn't tarry there long in January".