Winter's here.

So after like 2 years of dealing with the stupid buggy ignition switch, I finally got fed up with it and swapped it out. Also borrowed the battery from the 316, and now it fire's right up without the song and dance. Got our first snow so I went out and put the Plow on. Also got to test the lights out for the first time ever, and WOW are they bright!





The middle lights leave a little bit of a dark spot but not to bad!



Now that the plow's on, we probably won't get any more snow for the rest of this season...

This Old House #10: Winters on it's way.

Few more items checked off the list. Been busy with the roof so I haven't had time to work on the leaf situation... Spent Saturday vacuuming up leaves and hauling them to the back. Only got one little corner of the yard done but there were a LOT of leaves just in that one corner. Spent an evening draining the pump and the hoses too...



Taped the leaf blower up to the line and went down it pushing the air out.





Even managed to get all 9 billion feet of hose unhooked and drug over out of the way.



Canals are finally empty, so the boys went exploring. Found some racoon? tracks and some dead crawdads.





Still hoping to get more of the leaves picked up over Thanksgiving break.

Custom Hot Wheels: Lickety Split #8

Final pics.











And done.



This was a way fun build. Very challenging and very rewarding. Tried lots of new things and they ended up working out great. Pretty proud of this one!

Ready for another? The Steampunk build is up next!

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.