Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Chicago noshow again

It's been a while since I posted here. Things have been going on, big things for me that are probably insignificant for other people.

The pipe shop has been idle all winter, unheated, calling to me but getting no response besides "Ugh". The winter snows have almost melted, so of course there is a forecast for more snow.

There are things that I want to be doing in the shop. I've obtained some specially sized stainless-steel tubing, which I hope to use as my tenon material instead of brass. I need to make some modifications to the tailstock of my lathe in order to get threads to come out just right, it's remarkably easy to get them crooked. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be wise to get a second tailstock before hacking on the original one, not that I've had time to do more than think about it.

Most of the winter has been spent working on software. There are a couple of reasons for that. First off, the little heater I have for the shop is just not up to the job of keeping it warm. By "warm" I mean 40F or higher, I refuse to work with tools that have ice on them, even if that makes me a hopeless wussy. Then, there are new features that I want to add to my website. I am not at all impressed by blogger and will write my own forum/blogging software thank you, at my first opportunity. It would be swell if someday the software side of things started kicking a few bucks into the bottom line. But as my wife says, "It's software, it's never done."

Since the first of the year though, a large chunk of my time has been spent designing a house. A very small house. Call it a cabin, that sounds nice and mountainy. Of course hardly anything about the cabin will be done in the usual way. Hopefully we'll soon have the plans finished and will be able to apply for the building permit. As soon as the application is turned in, I'll start building the power shed, which will house the battery bank, hold up the solar array, and give the generator a place to run that's out of the weather. Assuming that I can figure out how to keep the generator from setting off the hydrogen that batteries emit during charging, which I probably can figure out. I hope.

Once the plans are approved, I get to begin digging the foundation. The ground is very much like concrete, every shovelful has to be loosened with a pick. We'll be doing every bit of it ourselves, from the foundation to the roof -- well, we might get some help with the roof, since I tend to fall off ladders taller than a 5-gallon bucket, I have really terrible balance for high work. And we'll get someone to pour the concrete and do that smoothing-out thing they do. But all the framing, siding, interior finishing, plumbing, electrical, and propane will be done by yours truly. Of course it all has to be done according to "code" which means there's a lot of research involved in every aspect. Most of our appliances will run on 12vdc which means we've had to dig a bit to find code-compliant appliances. Everything seems to have several aspects that need to be researched, and each of those has three aspects, and on it goes.

Soon the weather will shift into its summer pattern. I hope. In the summer, it's usually clear and cool in the morning, clear and warm midday, and then in the afternoon it clouds up for a thunderstorm. What I'm expecting is that my days will begin very early, before dawn, with a few hours working on software. Then work on the house until the afternoon storm. And what I'm hoping is that I'll have enough energy left by that point in the day to work in the pipe shop until dinnertime.

Not much time in the shop. I could go out there right now and work on some stuff, but the outside temperature is currently 13F and the shop is unheated. Once the weather shifts into its summer pattern, the temperature won't be a problem.

So again this year I will miss the Chicago show. Well, it certainly won't be the first time I've missed it. Maybe next year.

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