More Shedonism

The shed is almost done with most of the interior fittings in place. The doors have been readied and Dad has painted both sides with the weatherproofing paint. I've been having trouble getting a matching set of hinges to the pair that I have in possession. I'll have to work something out....

Full frontal shot. My lawnmower will be happy to spend Winter indoors. It told me so!!!!

From the side

Shingled roof

Dedicated storage for my shop vac

Dedicated shelf for my fuel canisters

I used the wall cavity on one side for my garden waste bags

Trailer Trash - Part One

I'm not sure at what point I had decided that I needed a trailer to tow behind my bike. Maybe it was when Layla finally graduated to a real cycle that enabled us to start cycling to progressively greater distances. Anyways what I need (want), I cannot normally afford, so I gravitate towards making stuff. However with the very little time that I have being divided between taking the girls cycling and swimming and the rest in construction..... the prospect of building that trailer seems further and further away.

Till yesterday.

I found this left out for garbage collection......

A fully functional child carrier made by our very own "Chariot Carriers" in Alberta. Oh Joy!!!

It's an amazing piece of tech with cast plastic wheels shod with street tyres and with fully sealed roller bearings attached to a solid axle. The frame is aluminum so it will make for easy working. The only problem is with the hitch that attaches to the cycle, but that will be rectified.

I ripped off the protective shell and it is now laid bare for hacking.

I plan to make the trailer look like the Radio Flyer Wagons.

Shedonism

This summer I decided to build a smaller auxiliary shed for my Lawn Mower and garden tools. It would be a lean-to against the shed that I had built last summer. Dad and I poured the concrete pad a couple of weeks ago and while the concrete was wet, we set a small garden plaque into the pour for a touch of whimsy.

We chose to 'Grow Giggles' as we will get a lot of Free Laughs when people see the state of my garden!!!

Yesterday, I built up the frame out of balance 2x4' that I had around the place. That's not bluwood you see, but regular and PT lumber that Dad coated with a coat of Weatherproofing stain that was sold as a mis-tint at the Re-Store.

The plan is that the vacuum cleaner will go on a shelf on the right, below which will be stored my off-season tires. On the Left will be the Lawn Mower, above which on a small shelf will stand my fuel for my gas powered equipment and above that will rest my ladder on two hooks.

I will use one of the in wall cavities to hold the lawn waste bags. I have not as yet decided what I will do with the others. All of my garden implements will hang from the two doors, that we will start building tomorrow.

Curb Appeal - Part 4

Not much progress really, but what does not seem like a lot, actually took three whole days to complete. I wanted the front porch to be free of any visible fastening system and this is what took all of the time. I used Simpson Strong-Tie Deck Board Tie (DBT1Z) to hold the boards in place. The system took a longer time that the traditional method of fastening the boards from the surface down. The results though are quite different. There will be no wear or splintering that is normally evident when screws are driven from the top.

Still a long way to go.

Lucky Luke - Eurokids

I remember first reading Lucky Luke at my neighbour Mr. Robert Dango's house. Incidentally, U. Bobby is from where I get my moniker - Bob!!!

Lucky Luke, penned by Morris (real name Maurice de Bevere) saw it's best books during the time that it was written by Rene Goscinny. Since Goscinny passed away, Morris collaborated with various other writer and kept the series alive. The series are being currently done by Achde & Gerra. It is said that Achde apprenticed with Morris and was a natural choice to take over the reins following morris' passing in 2001.

Pity that we did not see the same thing done with Herge's Tintin.

Anyhoo these comics have been out of print for the longest time, till British publishing house Cinebook started releasing them from 2006 onwards. Needless to say that I've been collecting them faithfully.

Recently, while checking Wikipedia, I found out that a publishing house in India named Eurokids has just released a 24 set of Lucky Luke. Thankfully these differ from the titles that Cinebooks has released and me wants so badly.

I've set the wheels into motion and thanks to my most wonderful cousin Christabelle, should have them soon enough. Cannot Wait!!!!!!

They are also available as 3 in 1 sets. But honestly - would you pass up on the amazing cover art????

Curb Appeal - Part 3

After an agonizing period of trial and error in getting the levels of the framework, we finally drove over to Rona and got the deck boards. Rona had a 10% off deal on PT lumber till the 28th and we got this done in time. We've only thrown the planks on to determine what needs to be cut and to give the planks some time to dry a bit prior to screwing them in place.

Dad and Mum have gone over to A. Joy's for the remainder of the week as the forecast calls for rain. So I will be taking a break as well.

The boards all laid in place. The funky blue is a mis-tint that I got from the restore for CAD 15 and Dad coated the entire framework including the supports so as to offer additional weatherproofing.

Lynda and I took some chairs out and sat out all evening to get a feel of what an evening out on our front 'porch' would feel like. It feels good!!!!

Curb Appeal - Part 2

I finally got work started on the Front Porch. Dad and I pounded in the two support spikes for the pillars that will hold up the trellis over the main door. We then got started on the base. I was forced to use 2x4s as opposed to the preferred 2x6s due to the existing concrete pad. This 'retrofitting' has opened up a brand new set of problems that I have to work around.

We started by making two separate frames, each 6' x 12'. That makes my porch a whopping 6' x 24'. While the frame just near the main door is supported by the existing concrete pad, the area under the Bay window is free hanging. We had rented a lawn roller and a manual tamper that we used to level the ground and then started using the slate flagstone and concrete blocks that I culled from the sit out the the PO had made at the end of the garden.

And that is the extent of the work that I've done to date. Pictures below.

Post pounded into the ground to accept 4x4 posts

The Frame in place. Big!

Blocks ready to be placed under the frame

Not to do with the porch, but this is where the bricks and flagstones came from. We filled it with the old sod, rolled it flat, put 8 bags of topsoil, sprinkled lawn seed, kept it moist for 7 days and Voila!!! Grass!!!

Gratuitous Fabulousity

I photographed this image this morning while passing through Queenston on the way from Niagara Falls to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Methinks it came out well.

Specifications as below

Camera: Canon EOS 10D

Lens: Canon 50 mm fixed focal length

Shutter Speed: 1/90 sec

Aperture: F2.8

Flash: No

Zoom in for a better look!! Feel free to download and use it as your wallpaper or what not!!!

Shed Build Diary - 15 - Let us Shingle Together

Tis was not the old month of May. Nay tis was somewhere between June & July and our voices were joyful but definitely not gay!!!

Dad and I finally finished the shingling of the shed. This was to be done last year, but I was not willing to pay CAD 25.00 per pack when I could've got the same from the ReStore at CAD 10.00. All I needed was patience. This paid off in January when I got 4 packets of shingles for CAD 8.00 per pack. All I needed now was the time and the inclination.

I had to re felt the roof as the old layers were trashed by old man winter. Trying to work around the rain that we had this week was another pain, but we did it and the shed is finally 100% done.

CS First

As part of the R&R (Rewards & Recognition not Rest & Recreation) program at Lynda's place of work, the winner of the CS First Campaign will be given a special chair to use for a month. Lynda wanted to dress up the chair a bit to highlight the importance of the winner. There were plans to print out CS First on Self Adhesive paper which would then be affixed to the back of the chair!!!!! Sorry. Not in my lifetime.

This is what I came up with. I conceptualised a shield which obviously stood for a winning - and then the letters C & S entwined around a 1. I used Open Office 'Draw' to create the 1, C & S and I downloaded a simple shield pattern from the net. I used Poster Razor to blow up the Shield and the 1. The C & S were printed as they were.

This is the mock up that I made to show Lynda.

And here is the final product. I made the entire unit from material that I had lying around the house. The Shield is cut from 1/4" Birch Veneered MDF and the C, S & 1 are cut from 1/8" hardboard. I cut them using my new Craftsman Scroll Saw that I scored off Craigslist. The last time I used a Scroll Saw was when I resurrected, renewed & repaired a unit that my first employer Bosco had found. I then proceeded to cut 250 house profiles out of aluminium that he plated and used as give-aways at his wedding.

The colors were corporate colors where Lynda works and the black was chosen as it grounds everything else. I had a bit of an incident with the red and the black as they bubbled when I lay on the 4th coat. I then re sanded down to bare wood and repainted. Sometimes things just do not work to plan.

An angle shot showing the relief of the letters. I used 5 minute rapid set two component epoxy to affix the letters to each other and then finally to the shield.

The chair with the shield affixed to the rear. I used plate hangers that I glued to the rear of the shield. The bottom point is held to the chair with industrial Velcro (which is incidentally made in Brampton!!!)

Chest What We've Always Wanted

I was passing by the Goodwill store yesterday and decided to pop in for a look-see. I normally shy away from the Goodwill stores as they tend to be quite disorganised, but I was on the lookout for No. 9 in the series of Magic Tree House for Aaliyah to complete her collection. I did find it (talk about luck) but I also found out that there was a 50% sale on everything in the store across all the Goodwill stores in the GTA.

Now the Goodwill stores are really disorganised, unlike the Value Village stores (especially the one in Vaughan where the books and the clothes are color co-ordinated!!!!!) and Salvation Army's Thrift Stores which tend to smell so good thanks to the pillar mounted atomisers. Anyhooo - by the nature of the Goodwill stores being disorganised, one tends to find hidden gems if you look hard enough.

And this is what we found. For CAD 12.00!!! A Mucking Fazing!!!!

A Footlocker that was used by someone who once went to Assumption University of Windsor inWindsor, Ontario. The Assumption University is a Roman Catholic College and at one time was a private boarding school for male students only.

The Footlocker is in great condition for it's vintage. The chest had no dings, scratches or tears. The brass plated hardware is tarnished which just adds to the look and charm of the piece. The only issue is that someone broke off the latch, but this is not noticeable when the trunk is closed. This can easily be rectified with a replacement latch from Lee Valley. However the replacement unit is brand new and shiny and will not match the existing tarnished items.

So here she is

The inside will be worked on by my father (he does not know this as yet). It is currently covered in paper, but we are leaning towards having the inside covered in velvet. The outside will be untouched

So. Probable uses. As a coffee table when we redo our living room. As a side table in said living room. As a Footlocker at the base of Aaliyah's bed to house her growing collection of junk. Or finally as a coffee table in our Cabana!

Cabana???? What's that you say??? - Without revealing much....... I won't reveal anything!!!!!