Author Archives: Jean

Remember that silly thing

26 Thursday Jun 2014

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billiampool

Remember that silly thing we used to do, keeping time to the point of outright conducting the Star Trek Next Generation theme with our feet, getting more and more raucous with the musical crescendos until the finale when we’d send our feet crashing into each other and giggling uproariously at our child play. Yeah, I still do that, just without the chorus of giggles at the end, and I see your feet.

We finally have Netflix. When you said you thought we’d like Star Trek Enterprise, you were right. You’d have loved it. They took the opening sequence straight out of your head. Long after you might have gotten bored with the episodes, you’d have still tuned in to see the opening. All the things you loved about the history of the space program and your dreams for the future are all there except one. I can hear you complaining “And WHERE is the X-15??” Thanks to you, I noticed that glaring omission by myself on the very first episode I watched.

I finally started getting back in the pool, but I find it’s about deadly dull in there now. I pretty much just do my exercises and cool off. I haven’t gotten out any of the pool toys and the noodles are still in the hall closet where we left them the end of last summer. It’s kind of pointless to have a seahorse race with just one entrant, or torpedo battles with no one to sink or be sunk by. The stealthy ninja tiger shark is still hibernating in the patio cabinet because there’s no one to sneak up on. Even the pretty pool disco lights haven’t been out this year because there’s no big back to swim under them to provide wide screen kaleidoscope viewing.

I finally started reading a little again. Remember how we used to fantasize about 24 hour book stores? Remember how I had a massive migraine one night while living in Montana and you read “Long Dark Teatime of the Soul” to me long distance? Yeah, AT&T loved us. Their stock probably dipped significantly when I moved down here. I haven’t been able to sit still long enough to read more than recipe or project instructions. I can get through a whole chapter, sometimes two, without the sudden urge to get up and wander. I still plug myself into my iPod at night to listen to Harry Potter books, but now it’s not because I want to be told a bedtime story, it’s to drown out my own internal screaming.

Did I just hear you say “Blattner”? I still call them Home Despot, Dead Robin and Ten Minute. You’re still in everything, every day and when I’m alone I find my outside voice saying “Oh god I love you so much!” to the dashboard, the ceiling, the walls and the sky.

billiampoolmonster

 

 

DIY Sofa/Daybed

14 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in General Farm Stuff, Home and other Repairs, Wood Crafts

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Needing a sofa for the den, I’d been looking around for inexpensive ways to build one that would be nice looking, yet be nearly indestructible. You see, again, we’re real people and this house is lived in pretty hard. We also have indoor pets who, despite their small size, can find ways to destroy just about anything. Thankfully, we’ve always had a sense of humor about the chaos, sort of. William used to laugh a lot more than I did when viewing a little dog sitting amidst a pile of chair stuffing, “We can’t have nice things” he’d giggle, while I’d be envisioning doggie handcuffs and mugshots. Bless him, he always was the “better half” of this relationship.

I’d already begun building a patio sectional from plans here: http://www.morelikehome.net/2011/06/our-new-outdoor-sectional.html and had built a very nice patio work table with plans on that same site. Loving the work with inexpensive 2x4s I went back to that site and found plans for a “Simple Modern Sofa” http://www.morelikehome.net/2012/10/day-31-build-simple-modern-sofa-with.html

So, we went to work. First, John started cutting the 2x4s according to the cut list on the plans, and while he was cutting, I drilled the appropriate pocket holes. This way, by the time John was finished cutting the boards, the pocket holes were almost done and within a few minutes we were ready to start putting the frame together. We didn’t speak aloud the niggling feeling that “Wow, this is pretty big”, and trusted the plan, which clearly said “Simple Modern Sofa”.

sofaback2Here you can see John assembling the back of the sofa, drilling into the pocket holes. That blue handled clamp you see is a truly nifty device from Kreg called a right angle clamp. It is built so that one jaw of the clamp is pointed so that it fits down into a pocket hole and holds both boards firmly to prevent movement.

I recently heard that the average height of humans these days is around 5’3″. This would explain not only why I have trouble finding size 12 jeans that don’t hit above my ankle, but also why so many furniture plans seem more suitable to children than to my 5’7″, mostly leg, frame. Having been unhappy at the height of the patio chairs in the sectional plans, we added a few inches to the height of the sofa. We should have added fewer inches, because I didn’t take the depth of the cushion into account.

sofaslatsJohn is adding the seat slats for the sofa here. We had finally begun to mention, in passing, “hmm.. this is pretty big”, and at one point I, half jokingly, said “Well, if it’s too big for the living room you could replace the cheap daybed you’re sleeping on with this.” We weren’t deterred. I needed a sofa darnit, and the plan said, this is a sofa.

sofafinishedBecause I am sick to death of staining, waiting, urethaning, waiting, sanding, waiting, urethaning, waiting, etc. We chose a lovely brown paint, Glidden Stewart House Brown, which looks like devils food cake batter in the can, and goes on the color of Hershey’s Syrup chocolate. The chocolate references are important as well as accurate.

The finished “Simple Modern Sofa” looked great on the enormous patio, as you can see in the photo above. We had to open both sides of the patio door in order to schlep it inside where it magically doubled in size. If anyone would like to buy a gorgeous, sturdy daybed with room for a trundle underneath, just let me know, I happen to have one. I’d be willing to trade this great twin sized bed for a dachshund proof sofa.

In the meantime, I’m going to need a great deal of chocolate in order to live with a bed in my den.

 

Sherman the TankChair’s Big Interview!

05 Thursday Jun 2014

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For the past 6 years I have told the inspiring story of the couple behind the TankChair to as many people as I could get to listen. Over the past  month or so, our backyard projects were not only being held up by regular farm chores, but also trying to get the property all spiffy for interviews and video because the folks at Bloomberg TV wanted to include me, Sherman and the ponies in their article and video segment on these fabulous chairs and the fellow that invented them.

Here are links to the video and the wonderful in-depth article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/popout/BAyWMTYSRM6i7lZJDwpMjw/0.047/

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-05/founded-by-army-vet-tankchair-makes-all-terrain-wheelchairs#p1

 

Getting By

26 Monday May 2014

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People ask if I’m doing okay. I’m getting by.

Getting up and getting dressed has become habitual again, rather than the mental whip and chair routine with which I forced myself up for the first four months after William passed away. This doesn’t mean I have been able to put away the whip and chair, but being able to get up and get dressed without them is progress.

The five o’clock blues isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it still hits me from time to time, when I’m tired, look at the clock and think I should be starting his supper. The feeling that I forgot to kiss and wave him goodbye each morning is almost gone and resurfaces only in an occasional “I know I’ve forgotten something” moment on my way down the stone walk to feed the ponies. It helped to move his car to the front driveway, out of sight. The little mind tricks help. When you begin and end your day with the same rituals for almost two decades, they can be hard to let go, but I get by. I’m seeking new rituals.

Weekends are pretty bad still, just because they’re now no different than Mondays or Thursdays, so I need to work on making them different. Maybe it’ll be easier to do this when I get the patio finished and can invite people over on weekends, but I know that too is a trap. I can’t wait until something is done to make things different or I might never make things different. I need to find affordable weekend activities, old things that used to make me happy before William or new things that captivate my spirit now.

I still have to haul out the whip and chair to motivate myself to do simple things, but I’m getting by. I know that keeping my brain and hands busy helps, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to motivate myself to keep my hands and brain busy. Sometimes, finding things I want to do, rather than need to do, is what will get me up and motivated. Before the momentum slows, I do the things I need to do. The only problem with that technique is that there is so little that I want to do right now, or so little that I can afford to do any more, that getting started by dangling a want to do carrot in front of my cart horse is pretty low on the list of successful motivations. Most of the time, it’s just the whip and chair force of will. Sort of like shoving a manual transmission car along until it can be popped into gear and started.

IMAG0867

DIY Billiam’s List Patio Chair

25 Sunday May 2014

Posted by in General Farm Stuff, Home and other Repairs, Wood Crafts

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Working strictly with the 2x4s that were included in the Craig’s List haul several months ago, I built a patio chair this weekend. You folks could do this in just a few hours, but I have to take frequent and extended breaks. Even with breaks, I’m a hurting unit right now and will need to take a couple of days off. However, as I recline with my bottle of Tylenol, binge watching Netflix, while my back and hip realign themselves, I will be smiling with pride, because this is the first of our many projects that I built entirely without help.

The original project plans, not using 2x4s, by Ana White, can be found here: http://ana-white.com/2010/05/plans/simple-modern-outdoor-sectional-armless-section

The above plans were modified for using 2x4s which changes the “cut list”. If you plan to make yours out of 2x4s, which to me are sturdier as well as less expensive, use the cut list on this page: http://www.morelikehome.net/2011/06/our-new-outdoor-sectional.html

To the above cut list, you should add another 2×4 cut to 21″. As you will see in my photos, the chair really needs another back board midway between the top of the back and the back of the seat. This board is not added to the 2×4 cut list, yet it is shown in her photos of the finished sectional.  Ana White’s page doesn’t show this board at all in her diagrams and only shows cushions resting against the back, which doesn’t look comfy.

patiochairsectionseatbottomFirst I put together the seat using the Kreg Pocket hole system. This photo shows the pocket holes at each end of the seat boards. This is the bottom of the chair seat which will be unseen unless someone turns the chair over to check my handiwork and that someone will likely not be invited back anytime soon. Using the pocket holes on the bottom saves you from screwing in from the top to attach everything, leaving visible screws if you care about things like that.

patiochairsectionalseatThis is the top side of the chair seat. See? No screws. It’s magic! This technique also seemed to make the seat very easy to attach to the support frame.

patiochairsectionalsupportAlthough neither of the above sites mentioned it, I used pocket holes in the support frame, not only to attach the frame to the front and back of the chair, but also to the seat boards. I placed three pocket holes along the top edge of each support board as well as the side and front aprons. I laid each piece out on the chair seat and marked where the pocket screws would connect to the seat and then drilled the holes. This took all guess work out of attaching the seat and, again, left no visible screws in the top of the seat.

Ana White’s measurements for the distance between the side apron and the seat support boards is only 3 inches. This is fine until you have to attach those support boards to the back apron. By then, you have all your side aprons and seat support boards firmly attached to the front apron, the seat, and the front legs. I saw this problem coming, so I added another inch and a half between the sides and the supports to allow for the drill. That still was not enough room for my small hands and my Ryobi drill to get between the boards and attach them to the back apron. I would suggest you leave at least 5″ inches of space between these boards.

patiochairsectionalbackIf you are making this chair from the 2x4s, remember that many of the measurements change. Be sure to check the site for the 2×4 built sectional for these changes. For instance, the back seat board for the 2×4 plan needs to be 13 and 1/2 inches from the ground, rather than the 15″ shown on the Ana White plan. One day, I’m going to do the smart thing and print these plans out so that I don’t have to burn wheelchair batteries running back and forth to my computer to double check! I did double check the measurements and instructions each step of the way, and wrote myself about a dozen sticky notes, so I didn’t have any major oopses. Also, you can really see in this picture that another board across the back is needed.

patiochairsectionalfrontHere is the finished patio chair. The plan is for a sectional which I hope to build. Ana White’s page shows how to attach the pieces to each other. To me, that defeats the purpose of having a sectional, so I’m not going to attach each piece. This way, if I need extra chairs by the pool or by the fire pit, I can just swipe a couple from the sectional.

Remember, this is reclaimed wood from Craig’s List. The boards are not perfect and, therefore, neither is the chair they’ve been used to build. If you’re using reclaimed wood, prepare for a few surprises. The board you cut so precisely to fit, may have just enough of a mild twist or bow that it doesn’t fit the way you expected. This is what they make wood clamps, power sanders and cuss words for.