The new issue of Popular Mechanics has a list of essential tools for homeowners who work on common household repairs and do it yourself projects. Here is a good checklist of tools to have on hand:
- Sledgehammer (8 or 10 pounds)
- Center Punch
- Putty Knife
- Safety Glasses
- Adjustable Wrench
- Pipe Wrench
- Socket Wrench
- Combination Wrench
- Jigsaw
- Crosscut Saw
- Snips
- Needlenose Pliers
- Power Drill with Drill Bits
- Circular Saw
- Measuring Tape
- Hammer
- Machinist Vise
- Extension Cord (12 or 10 gauge)
- Screwdriver Set (or Multi-bit Screwdriver)
The word is that there are still Myrtle Beach vacation deals available for what is left of the summer season. A lot of school systems are starting school earlier and earlier which cuts out a good amount of vacation time for families. When I went to school, it always started the day after Labor Day, which of course is always in September. But I’m hearing from various friends and family members that most schools are opening in August. One friend’s kid started school yesterday, for goodness sake, it is only the first full week of August. The others that I’ve spoken with are starting August 22nd and the 23rd. I think that is so wrong, but nothing I can do about it at this point.
Anyway if I was to be planning a beach trip I’d being using the Internet to find the best Myrtle Beach hotel that might have accommodations still available. Being an avid golfer I’d certainly be looking for a place that could help with a good golf package to get my business, like what I found at http://www.grandeshores.com. They seem to have something for just about everyone at this resort. Too bad I’ve used up all of my vacation days for this year, the beach sounds great. It has been a long, hot summer this year. Can’t imagine what we are in store for this winter!
One of the best shows that the wife and I both enjoy watching together is America’s Got Talent. It is fun and interesting to watch all the different types of folks that are trying to break into the world of entertainment. There are a lot of good acts out there, I’d hate to be a judge on that show!
I come from a family of avid golfers. Every one in the family enjoys a good game of golf from time to time, it was a good quality sport for the whole family to enjoy together. We were started out pretty young, around the age of 3 or 4 depending on the kid and their comfort level and skills. To hear the words tee times would get the whole house in an uproar, the excitement was very contagious, and it still is to this day.
Even though the family have spread out a whole lot, all across the country, we still manage to get together now and then and enjoy a family game of golf. I found a great site www.48hourteetimes.com that allows you to book games at short notice and in various areas. Our favorite golf courses are in Myrtle Beach, the North Myrtle Beach area to be exact. You can’t ask for much more than what Myrtle Beach as to offer, something for everyone can be found there!
Sometimes the opportunity to get in a game comes up out of no where and if you don’t jump on it, it can leave as quickly as it came. So a site that helps you with 48 hour tee times would certainly be helpful, another example of how the Internet has made life so much easier.
With the serious lack of rain that we have been dealing with this year, it is good to see that people are doing what they can to help conserve our precious rain waters. Rain barrels are coming back in a large variety of styles and prices, which I think is a great way to help out. We used to have several rain barrels in our back yard, back in the day, but they were the standard wooden ones, not much to look at, but they did the trick.
I was online last night and stumbled across a site that is selling rain chains. I really like the idea and looks of these rain chain items. They have a wide variety of these very affordable chains rain and their accessories. I have to tell you that I’ve never seen one before, maybe I am behind in the times, but I’d like to get the word out about this products and see more people investing in them. So if you could take the time to visit rainchainlink.com and see what they are all about and all that they have to offer I’d appreciate it. It can be easy being “green” no matter what Kermit The Frog says. LOL!
My sister was asking me yesterday where she could find a local digital camera repair shop. She says she has been having problems with her camera and wants to get it fixed. She told me that she lent her camera to a friend and she thinks it was dropped.
To be honest, the whole concept of having to need camera repair was a little bit of a surprise to me.
I have had about eight different cameras in my lifetime and none of them have ever broken! I even have my old Polaroid “Swinger” camera and it works just fine! The problem I have with that is finding the film, if I were inclined to want to use it! So I’ve never had to worry about where to take one for camera repair! I usually only buy a new camera when new technological advances inspire me! I guess I’ve been lucky in that department!
My niece is expressing an interest in various Musical Instruments these past few years. Next year she will be entering middle school and will be able to take music lessons with real Flutes and Clarinets like the big kids. I’m sure my sister will be happy with any wind instrument, as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with Drum Sets. There is nothing worse than having to listen to a kid on a loud instrument like the Drums, the Cymbals or God forbid something like the Trombone.
We used to have a nice basement in the house that we grew up in. It was pretty much sound proof and we did all kinds of crazy and loud things in that house. But the house that my sister currently lives in is pretty small and really couldn’t hold anything large in size anyway. Of course there is always the garage though………….
We do come from a very musical family, so there is hope that she will be accomplished in some type of musical instrument of some sort. It’s all good.
My wife tells me that she has found a website that can give piano lessons! I thought that was remarkable, so I asked her to show me the website. This site actually has videos showing you how to play the piano! I’ve always wanted to take piano lessons but when I was a child my parents said that there was no room in the house for a piano and they couldn’t afford to pay for piano lessons anyway!
Well, now I see that I could use this online method to learn on my younger son’s keyboard that he left behind when he went to college! I think that maybe I’ll give it a try. I’ve got plenty of time and nothing to lose. This should be interesting!
I’ve discovered some nice shepard fairey prints online at shepardfaireyprints.com, along with some pretty interesting obey giant art. I’ve never really been all that keen on art, but now and then I do see some work that catches my eye such as this collection. This shepard fairey art is authentic and they have out of print work offers there as well.
The Internet makes appreciating and learning about artists. They have taken a lot of music and art out of schools, for budgeting issues, which is a real drag. If you aren’t brought up with art in your life and not given a chance in school to find out about it, it makes it difficult to get into later in life. If it wasn’t for what I learned in school, in art class, I really would be pretty much clueless about most art. I basically about shephard fairey art because of his famous Obama HOPE poster that became so popular during last year’s election, how can anyone forget this classic?
I remember when I was a kid, my uncle and his wife picked me up and put me in the back of their station wagon along with their brood of 5 kids, my cousins and was taken to the Houston Rodeo for the day. It was a bit scary at first. Everything was so large and exciting, larger than life like. But after the first initial shock wore off I was good to go and really had a blast for the rest of the day that we were there.
I gained a new respect for these folks who really put their health and their lives on the line to entertain the public and compete against each other. I’ve never been to another rodeo, but I do think about it from time to time. Like when I’m switching channels and I run across a rodeo taking place. I stop and watch for a few minutes, enjoying a few good memories and then move on. Or I see some rodeo going on in a movie or television show.
I’ve heard that they are starting to sell tickets to concerts at the Houston Rodeo and I’ve taken a fancy to the idea of taking the wife and a few other select members of the family to witness this fascinating sport. We haven’t done anything exciting like that in some time. Now that the holidays are all over and done with we need something to pump us up again. The Rodeo might be just what we need!
Have you ever wondered where folks can buy a radar gun to measure how fast someone pitches a ball? My neighbor was telling me that he is thinking about signing on as a volunteer coach for some Parks and Recreation programs for the school kids. He thought it might be fun to buy one to show the kids how radar works to track more than speeding cars!
I went over to his house today to pick up the chain saw he had borrowed from me and he invited me in for coffee and fresh Krispy Kreme donuts. Well, I’m not one to pass up an offer of free coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts so I was in the door pretty quickly! He showed me a website that he was looking at where the company sells different radar equipment for different purposes. I never realized that there were so many different radar devices; some for baseball, some for tennis, even some for golf! I can’t even imagine why anyone would want to know how fast a tennis ball or golf ball was traveling! But this website had other interesting items for sale on it the piqued my interest – such as portable ice rinks. I’ve always wanted to set up an ice rink for the kids to ice skate on in the winter! Now I know where I can get one!
Many of my friends from New England still keep in touch on a regular basis. That sure helps me to get through the many long and lonely days of recovery from my accident! Jarod called me to wish me a Merry Christmas last night. He was telling me that Santa had been really good to him this year. He said that he found a Burton snowboard under the Christmas tree at his parent’s house when he went over there for dinner. Jarod says he’s not quite sure how to send Santa a notice of new address from when he moved out to his own place last year! In addition he got a new Burton beanie and a new Burton jacket to wear while he is out on the slopes trying out his new board.
I never learned to snowboard; I always enjoyed alpine skiing and snowmobiling. Snowboarding always seemed like a lot of fun that I’d like to try someday, but now with all of these back injuries I have I’ll probably never get the chance to try it. My wife says we’re too old for that anyway and it’s time we started acting more our age. To be honest I think she’s just worried that some of the other boarders might run into us and that could really hurt! Well, too old, or too injured, either way it looks like I’ll just have to be satisfied watching that sport from a distance!
My brother-in-law loves to deer hunt. We drew his name in the annual Christmas gift exchange, so my wife and I have decided that we would buy him a casio pathfinder watch for the Christmas gift this year. They are on sale now at the bluedial.com website, and they offer free shipping as well! His wife says that would be the perfect gift for him because when he is out hunting he loses track of time and is never home in time for dinner!
This particular watch never needs batteries because it is solar powered. And a compass is included in the watch, so there will be no excuses for getting lost!
We’ve lived in this area for almost three years now, and we are still learning our way around. We have a jet ski, but I don’t know where there are local public boat landings to launch it for us to use it. I have looked at maps and see lakes, but don’t know if any of the lakes are better for jet ski use than other lakes are, or if any of the lakes restrict the usage of jet skis! So, I want to learn some of that information so we can have some jet ski fun this summer!
If you eat, sleep, and drink golf, then you should check out the Myrtle Beach Golf Vacations for your next vacation. You could stay and Golf Myrtle Beach courses every day for a month and not play the same golf course twice!
I have never heard of an area where the concentration of golf courses is so dense! And in that area, in addition to Myrtle Beach Golf Packages to entertain yourself and your family, you can enjoy the ocean’s sandy beaches, great restaurants and amusement parks. There are great shows you can go to for an evening’s entertainment.
There are a wide variety of lodging accommodations to stay in as well. From standard motel rooms to luxury condominium suites, whatever suits your fancy you are sure to find it there! And what is really great about this is that you don’t even have to leave the country to enjoy every minute of your vacation!
If you’ve been reading my blog from the beginning you’ll remember that I love cars, trucks, motorcycles, and machines in general. You know, stuff like John Deere tractors, not stuff like ipods. Don’t get me wrong, ipods have their place, but I like big noisy things that you can ride!
My wife has suggested that since we haven’t lived here very long, and since I’ve just recently discovered the joys of the computer and the Internet (although I like working on my hot rod truck more) that I might benefit from joining the new social networking site that she has found. She said that the members join up and find topics of common interest and share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences about the different topics. She told me that they have an auto network that I might be able to use to find people that are interested in hot rods and chat with them over the networking site.
A nephew of my sister-in-law has decided to befriend our family, and it seems that he spends every waking minute here. If he’s not here, he seems to be calling here. He likes to come over and help me work on my truck, and sometimes I help him work on his car. He is in the antique business, and he has a booth at an indoor flear market in a nearby city. He’s been trying to convince me to take a booth at the flea market too. I’ve been talking about it with my wife, and she suggested that I give it a try for a couple of months and see how it goes. We certainly have enough “junk” to haul down there to try to sell! It wouldn’t hurt to clear some of it out of our basement and make a few dollars from it! And it would be nice to get out of the house a little bit more now that the good weather is coming. The only thing that bothers me about it though is that if I do the flea market venture then I would not be available to go to the car shows that are held every weekend around here. Well, maybe I can alternate weekends so I can still go to a few car shows.
But if I DO get into the flea market business and it works well, I’m going to be looking at buying a van to haul the merchandise to the flea market. My wife has been telling me for many years that she has always wanted to buy one of the mini vans that were so popular a few years back. But now that the children are grown, I’m not so sure a minivan would do the trick for me with my needs for a flea market vehicle. I think that with the family situation the way it is now, my wife might be happy with something more like the Toyota Highlander or a Saturn Vue than a mini-van. They both seem like a good family car.
Besides, I don’t consider myself a mini-van type of guy! I’m much more the type of guy that would drive a sports car. I used to own a Mazda RX-7 back in my youth! It was silver and what a chick magnet that was! And it wasn’t too long ago that I had a corvette. Believe it or not I traded that in for my current truck! What can I say, I needed the truck!
I really like wearing hiking shoes when I’m out working in the yard. Unless of course I need steel-toed shoes when I’m working with my power equipment! But for the most part, hiking shoes fit comfortably and give me the support I need when I’m out there tending to the chores that need to be done, such as raking and weeding and picking up the brush. We have a three acre lot that I’d like to work on clearing a little bit more. Cut down a few trees and clear out the underbrush. My wife keeps telling me that I should leave it alone because that is where the deer hide and sleep, but I keep telling her that they will like it better cleared out. It doesn’t really matter who is right, I’m planning on clearing it out anyway!
The hiking boots that I have been wearing over the past couple of summers have pretty well worn out. They’ve certainly earned their way! I’m hard on boots, but the regular “work boot” just isn’t comfortable enough for me to wear when I’m doing yard work. I was looking out the window at supper time tonight and was realizing that it is time to drag out the lawn mower and start the yard work for the season. So I’d better get cracking and buy my new hiking shoes this week!
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been spending a lot more time out in the workshop in my garage. I’ve been checking over my tools and accessories; seeing what works and what doesn’t. What needs to be repaired or replaced. Organizing, cleaning, getting ready for warmer weather when I can spend more time out there tinkering.
I’ve noticed that over the past couple of months a lot of my hand tools have been used and simply “put down” and not “put away” in the tool chest. I wish I could say that someone else is to blame for not putting them away after they were used, but I know that I’m the one that used them last, so there is no one to blame but myself! I hate when that happens!
I’m glad to say that most of my tools and hardware are in pretty good shape! I’m going to have to buy some new tubes of goop and a few rolls of duct tape; mostly minor things. Oh, and I did find a hammer that had lost it’s head! So I’ll need to replace that one! But for the most part, I’m fairly pleased with my workshop tools for now.
I’ve been telling my wife that I want to buy a new pair of motorcycle boots to wear this year when I’m riding my Harley WideGlide. My old boots are worn out, and I need a new pair. She’s concerned that I’ll be spending too much money on a pair of fancy boots. I told her that I was thinking about buying some factory seconds from the copshoes.com website. Factory seconds are usually a good deal; they usually look fine, last fine, work fine and and cost less. My brother in-law told me about this website; he told me he had bought a pair of Timberland Boots from them and he was very happy with them, and with their customer service. He said that he was surprised to see that they had the full line of the Timberland Force Multiplier Series; he said that they are hard to find!
My wife and I bought a used car two years ago, a 1996 Chevrolet Lumina. It had really low mileage on it and is in excellent shape. My wife uses it more than I do, because we also have a Chevy truck that I like to drive. I’m a truck man at heart. Anyway, my wife has mentioned a few times that one of the things that she does NOT like about the Lumina is that it has manual windows. So last week I bought a kit that will convert the manual windows to power windows. She is going to be so surprised and happy when I install it! I can’t wait to see her face the first time she pushes the button and the windows just go up and down without any hand cranking involved!
A friend of mine is a vendor at a flea market in a city about an hour’s drive from my house. He invited me to bring some stuff of mine that I’d like to sell to the flea market today and put it in his booth to try to sell it. I figured “what have I got to lose?” so I took some stuff I’ve been wanting to get rid of and went down there. I’d never been to that flea market before. I was rather impressed, and I sold most of the stuff I wanted to get rid of! I think I might get into this flea market stuff! I’m going to ask my wife to come check it out with me next weekend and see what she thinks of it all.
We live in an area that is largely horse farms. It seems that the biggest interest in the area is with horse-related activities, from horse & pony shows to fox hunts. When we drive from town to our house, we drive past a lot of horse farms. They really are beautiful horses! There is one pasture we drive past that my wife always looks closely at. There are some Belgium draft horses usuallyi n that field, and my wife always wants to catch a glimpse of them.
Almost a day doesn’t go by when I’m driving somewhere that I don’t end up driving behind someone’s horse trailer! I recently was talking with one of my neighbors about the “horse community” and how they manage to meet other people that are also “horse people.”
She told me that mostly they meet each other through events that they go to, but some of them also use online dating services. She said that she found out about a dating service that is dedicated exclusively to horse lovers that her friend has joined recently. The service offers FREE sign-up and gives members two levels of membership to choose from; a guest membership and a gold membership.
I was so happy to see the warmer weather today! My sister-in-law needed me to do a little bit of work on her car, so it was good timing. A friend came over to help me out; she needed hinges welded onto her car door – they had broken off. It took quite a while to do it, but we got it done and fixed a few more things on it. The thermometer said it was only 50 degrees out, but working out in the driveway in the sun he felt much warmer than that. It was good to get outside in that kind of warmer air and tinker with a car! That is something I really love to do!
Having lived so far away in an area of the country where you had to drive at least four hours to go watch the closest NFL game, I never got that interested in sports. It was usually a passing conversation. Well, okay, I admit I was really into NASCAR and went to some local races because we had racetracks near where I lived. I loved buying a pit pass and going into the pits and talking with the drivers and crews. I actually had my business sponsor a few cars for a couple of years! It was cool going to the races and seeing the car racing with my business logo on it!
But when I moved here I despaired that I didn’t seem to be able to find any racetracks. And I wondered about all of the folks here talking about their favorite football team. So I learned after a while that in order to “fit in” around here I needed to start getting more interested and involved in football, at least to be able to keep up with the conversations! A buddy of mine suggested that I try going to the Comcast.net’s website to find out the current NFL football scores and keep up with all of the action. The site also has scoreboards, schedules, standings, statistics, forums, and videos. I think this will definitely come in handy!
I got up early this morning to stuff the stockings and start breakfast for my wife and family. It’s unusual for her to sleep this late any morning; I’m surprised that isn’t awake yet! I’m looking forward to watching her open her Christmas gift this morning; I bought her exactly what she told me that she wanted. I bought her a couple of miniature buildings of our town made by company BrandyWine. They are similar in nature to the Cat’s Meow Village pieces that she had collected from the town that we used to live in. When we moved here she tried to find Cat’s Meow pieces of our new town, but had no luck finding them anywhere.
One day she was at a friend’s house and saw what looked like Cat’s Meow pieces and asked her friend where she bought them. So she was told where to get them, and that is how it came to be! We’ve been told since then that Cat’s Meow had gone out of business, but was trying to get started back up again. It will be interesting to see if they can, and do start up again. I hope so, because my wife really enjoyed collecting them and would like to have a collection of our new town!
Yesterday my sister-in-law came over in her dilapidated old Suburban. The hinges on the driver’s side door had been sprung so she could no longer close the door, and the driver’s side window would no longer roll up or down. She asked me to take a look at it a couple of weeks ago and see if I could fix it for her. So I went up to her place and checked it out and told her that I could fix it, but she needed to pick up a few parts and bring it to my place for me to fix it (because my tools are here.)
So yesterday she came over and I fixed her junker Suburban for her. While I was working on it, she went inside and helped us out by doing some much neglected/needed dusting. So that worked out nicely. My wife has been too busy to clean house and I told her I’d take care of it but have not been keeping up with the work. So it was nice that my sister-in-law worked on that while I worked on her car! A little bit of “I’ll help you if you help me” going on there!
Years of building hot rods and making sure not to miss any details, especially what was under the vehicle, and not just over and around it, I have learned many auto detailing tips such as saving old toothbrushes and dishrags from my mother’s kitchen. Over the years I’ve used many types of compounds, buffing solutions, and cleaning solutions; one of them recently being Black Magic. Of the three kinds that I’ve used, I’ve always enjoyed having a wet shine on my tires. And a dry glossy look on my rims. I’m very partial to aluminum wheels. And they take twice as long as any other type of wheel to keep clean and looking like new. Anybody can clean a chrome wheel and make it look good from two feet away; aluminum requires anyone looking at from six inches away to look like brand new at any given time.
By hiding any type of pits and gouges that can come from the road film and conditions, Black Magic has come a long ways in producing a chemical compound that not only cleans and polishes but almost restores almost any type of aluminum wheel. But back to the few tips; take this one big tip and go down to your local auto store and buy a new electric powered cleaning brush with four different heads. You’ll find your wheels come out immaculately!
Since I’ve been spending more time at home because of my car accident and injuries, I’ve been spending more time on the Internet. At first it was curiousity, wondering what is so fascinating that keeps the rest of my family glued to the computer for so many hours of the day? A few months after I was injured my wife got tired of me asking her to send email messages to my family and friends and she set me up with my own email account and taught me how to use it! Well, after that I was hooked! She showed me her blog, and explained what she did with it and helped me set up my own blog. (You’re reading it!) Since my physical activities have become so limited I’ve become quite intrigued with figuring out the hows, whats, whos and whys of the Internet and am thinking about setting up a web page dedicated to the business that I’m working on – classic car consulation.
From what I understand I will need to buy my own domain, and a web hosting service. My wife suggested that I might learn quite a bit about the Internet by reading the web hosting blog put on the Internet by the webhostinggeeks, so I’ve started reading that. Some of it is still confusing to me, because I’m a beginner, but I have to admit that it has taught me quite a bit!
If you are thinking about getting a new webhosting service, check out the recommondations at the webhostinggeeks.com website before making a commitiment; it’s worth a read!
I was changing the oil in my truck this morning. During my oil changing routine I always climb under the truck and give it a good “look over” to see if anything is worn out or needs greasing. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that the driver side front upper ball joint needs replacing. I’ve never replaced one of those before, but I’ve done a lot of work on a lot of vehicles, so I’m confident I can replace it myself; I just didn’t want to deal with the extra expense and labor involved in replacing it. The replacement ball joint is going to cost me almost $50, which is a hard hit this close to Christmas, and I really need to fix it before winter really settles in. I wonder how my wife would like to open a box with a new ball joint in it on Christmas morning? (Just kidding!)
