50 Miles West of Nowhere.

Took the scouts camping this weekend.  We went to Government Cave, which is almost exactly 50 miles West of Blackfoot.  I'd been there once before, on my bike, but I had some directions and gps coordinates and was meeting another group there but that was 5 years ago.  In the daylight.  We left Friday in the dark, and it took us a while to get there.  Lots of rough desert road and we could only go about 10 mph for the last several miles.  With a little luck, a map, a gps that kept telling us to turn around, and spotty cell / data service, we eventually found it.




Just a hole in the otherwise pretty flat ground.  It's a really cool cave though-  It drops about a hundred feet over bouldery rock falls and levels out.  There are two wings- the right fork only goes in a couple hundred feet and tapers off to nothing.  It's got a great floor though, so thats where we set up camp.




We were intruding on lots of these guys, but they were OUT.  Don't think they'll be moving until spring.




Looking back up the cave towards the rock fall / entrance.  Its a lava tube cave- formed thousands of years ago from molten lava flowing through the ground like an underground river.


About 4 in the morning, we had a visitor.  This little (big) guy decided to go on a chip run and woke us up crunching away on the potato chips.  Wasn't scared of anything, either!




Tried to take a bite out of the boot, then mustve smelled my granola bars 'cause he headed over to me-



Stuck his head in that yellow bag about 6 inches from my face and wouldn't leave for anything until I popped him one on the backside.


Morning finally came, although you wouldn't know it!



Sunrise on the desert.








It was CHILLY...




Fried up some of Kenny's Ca-ca for breakfast and wrapped em up for breakfast burritos.


After breakfast, it was time to head back in and explore the LONG fork of the cave. 


So you head back in there a ways down the left fork, and you come to this: 


Once you get through this little bottle neck (only about 10 feet long) it opens WAY up.  Hard to see but I'm guessing its 30 feet tall through a long portion of it.





 You get to go up to lava spills which are kind of cool.







At the very back is a guest book, and the cave just kinda ends.  Lots of dirt back there.


Headed back out.  This is at the top of the back lava spill, with a big cavern at the bottom.




Planking, of all places...



Other lava spill.  Looks like concrete!


Back to the front, on the way up.  Can finally see daylight at the top of the rock falls!


All present and accounted for, time to head home!



Great trip.  Perfect for "winter" camping- it was CHILLY in the morning, but in the cave we stayed nice and warm.  Guessing it was around 50 degrees.  Can't wait to go back next year!

Alphatig 200x TIG welder: More from vintagespeed, with some updated parts.

Latest from vintagespeed on his TIG welder.


got the cups & lenses, HOW AWESOME! makes it much easier to see, better gas coverage, makes the torch lighter, all the stuff they say on the internet! i got these from HTP.

full size setup:


stubby cup/lens & medium cap:



gas lens made a big difference in color on SS. i'm still under-cutting pretty bad but getting the hang of it, really enjoy welding SS.

This Old House #9- More on the roof.

Well, after several conversations with several different people including the company that sold it to me, we picked a course of action and got it (mostly) done last Saturday. I'm REALLY running out of time, and the weather is NOT cooperating this week. Was hoping to have the little bits finished off but here's where I'm at so far...

Got all the shingles shoved off in the evenings over the week.






Got back from camping with the scouts around 10:30 and the help showed up at 11:00. Cleaned the roof up a bit, got rid of missed nails, etc. Restacked the tin so it was all straight and even and pre-drilled holes through the whole stack. Got the water / ice barrier laid down around the edges, and started hoisting chunks of metal. We ran a string at the bottom, tacked the first 5 sheets together but not to the roof, got it all square, then started screwing 'em down.



I was a little perturbed that my the first couple of sheets got some nice scratches in them as they were pulled off the pile, but no complaints as the help was, er, VERY affordable... :) Got a process in place for pulling sheets and all was good.

The help!





Trimming up the ends. Turns out one side was 4" SHORTER than the other. Thank goodness I measured the long side!



Most of the tin down. Still have a little sliver on each side at the outside edge, the ridge cap, and the house flashing to put down. Oh, and the vents...







By this time I was beat and had other things that needed to get done too. I finally looked at the forecast later that evening, and it SUCKED. Decided to tack the ridgecap on real quick- spent an hour looking for the dang nut driver and finally had to go buy a new one. Got it tacked on though, and good thing because its been raining and SNOWING this week. Haven't dared get back up there when its wet to finish the last couple of pieces off...



And thats where it still sits. Hoping to get up there tomorrow. It's gotta be done this weekend no matter what unfortunately.

Funky Fierro.

An "update"

Sick of this stupid car. Haven't done anything with it for a long time. Drove it for a while, but it has some funky handling issues that I think stem from out of round tires, dragging brakes, and rotten / loose / misaligned suspension. I suspect it has been wrecked at some point in the past. It's been sitting for at least a year.



Drug it over to the new house / shop, gave it a bath or three, and stuffed it in the back.



It'll probably just sit there for another few months until Dad decides what he wants to do with it. For some reason now it wont even crank- sounds horrible if you try and spin the engine over. No idea whats going on there, I drove it to where it was parked and it has been under a carport, so kinda protected from the elements. Just want this thing gone!

Hot Rod Scooter.

One of our secretaries had her feet operated on and got this cool little scooter. She left it behind one evening, so I customized it for her...





Of course, it wouldn't be custom without the cardboard clothespinned to the frame for the *frrrrrrrrrrrrrttttt* noises!

This Old House #8: Rip Roarin Roofin.

Running out of time to get the roof done before the ins. cancels my policy, so here goes... Few before pics.



















And here's whats going back on it.


Spent the day ripping the old roof off.



But mad sure to stay hydrated...



Even had a little help.



Didn't even need to use a ladder. NEW that door would come in handy! Wife looked at me a little weird though as I walked through the house wearing the backpack blower. Maybe I should have had it running?



Got 'er all ripped off except for the edges under the piles of shingles. Waiting for the dumptruck to show up at this point.

The dumptruck. Well, this was exciting. Borrowed it from the teacher across the hall- let me use it free of charge for helping him bleed the brakes. Brakes are still marginal at best, and as I was pulling out of his yard he told me to go slow over any bumps or the front end will start to death wobble. Great. 11 miles to go...

Made it home fine though. Great old rig!



Got the roof all swept off, parked the truck under an eave, and thats it until Monday.



 
We picked a great day for doing this, no wind and lower temps made it nice work. We are replacing the old metal / shingle roof with all metal, black so it kinda matches the rest of the house which is shingled. Don't have the time or the money at the moment to do the carport with shingles to match the house, but it's in the back so we'll be the only ones who ever see it and it won't bother me that much.

Have the rest of the week to finish pushing the shingles in and strip whats under the piles.  Sounds like I have some help showing up Saturday to lift the metal sheets up on the roof and tack them in place.  

Want to help out!? LEGO ROBOTS!

I needed a simple basic robot for my students to learn to program with, so here's the design I came up with.

Make a GREAT BIG MESS:



Sort parts into kits,



and BUILD BUILD BUILD!



I changed my simple sensor bar on the last one and have since converted them all over. The new version holds an ultrasonic sensor, light / color sensor, and a third motor that can act as an arm for lifting things.





Once I got it figured out, it took about 5 minutes to build each bot. Should be pretty easy to maintain. Still need to buy 5 more kits and build 7 more robots! Anyone want to put some money towards a good cause?

Here's the old ones we are replacing.




PLEASE HELP ME OUT!!!  Share this page, or this link:  http://www.donorschoose.org/project/welcome-to-the-next-level-ev3-lego-robo/1747807/?rf=link-siteshare-2015-10-teacher-teacher_2238585&challengeid=373576

And donate to a great cause!  I've had some great donations already but still need $600 more.  You can try the promo code "spark" and it may double your donation, but I think its expired...

Thanks in advance for your help!