Christmas Break

Happy New Year!  It's pretty shameful that I had a week and a half off of work and didn't find the time to update my blog.  We stayed pretty busy with house guests and family gatherings over the break.  It was nice to have some quality family time, but of course it also was nice to fit in a little project time as well. 

I think the boys and C enjoyed me being off of work as much as I did.  With N in school, he is used to having alot of structure in his day and always having something to do.  Obviously over break he didn't have that, so it took a little while for all of us to adjust.  The first half of break C and I spent alot of time getting ready for or cleaning up from various family events.  This always frustrates the boys because they don't understand why we can't just play all the time.  They also quickly got used to getting a bunch of presents every couple of days, so that was a big let down when that stopped.  After about a week, I think we found a pretty good routine, but of course by then break was almost over.  The routine included going to the gym as a family.  While C and I got our workouts in, L stayed in daycare and N played in the open gym.  From the weight area I could look down and watch N play.  It is always interesting to be a fly on the wall and see how he plays with the other kids.  While waiting for C's class to get over, I was walking around the track and decided to go get N and L and we could all walk together.  They really liked it, and I think getting to run around was good for them. 

 "Real" winter seems to mostly absent so far, which turned out to be a good thing for an unexpected reason.  One afternoon to help entertain L, I decided to take him for a ride on Johnny.  While riding I noticed a squeal coming from one of the front wheels.  I quickly pulled it into the garage to check it out, and found one of the wheel bearings was shot.  I was glad to find it now rather than while I was trying to plow snow.  Fortunately the local Deere dealer had the bearings in stock and they were fairly inexpensive, so I replaced them all. 

Mother nature hasn't totally been resting on her laurels though.  We did have a few days of colder weather and rediculously high winds.  With the winds came another bout of our furnace going out.  With some intervention, I was able to keep it going most of the first day.  I tried going the extra step of building a wind break around the flue outlet, which seemed like it would help, but in the end did not seem to make much of a difference.  The wind picked back up later in the evening, and my efforts to keep the furnace running had minimal success.  Much like the last time, I finally had to throw in the towel by the end of the evening and break out some extra blankets.  By morning it was only 59 degrees in the house.  In the morning I was able to get the the furnace running long enough to get the house warmed up, and called the HVAC guys to come back yet again.  Long story short, they suspected some changes I made to the flue piping when I finished the basement was causing too much backpressure.  Fortunately, it was in a location that was still exposed, so they redid it with fewer bends.  It seemed to help the furnace stay on, but of course by that point the winds had also died down a little.  It remains to be seen if it was enough of an improvement to make it through the next windstorm.  In the meantime, I'm leaving the wind break up just in case. 

In spite of that, I did find some time for some projects not related to combating the elements.  A couple weeks ago, I thought it would be a neat idea to make a Christmas ornament that represents my major project for the year.  I set out to make a Power Wheels Bigfoot to represent 2009, a Caterpillar Ten for 2010 and a John Deere 110 for 2011.  I got the Bigfoot and 110 done, but am still working on the Ten.  I also did a few more Monster Jam trucks.  I still haven't sold all the ones I have been putting up since October, but since I already had the materials I thought I would use them up by doing some new trucks.  The first one from the new batch is already on Ebay, and has a bid, so maybe I just needed to freshen up my offerings to spark some interest. 

Last Minute Shopping/Shipping

The Christmas/Year-End rush is certainly in full swing.  It seems everyone is trying to finish up their Christmas shopping, wrap up projects for the year, and get ready for time with family.  Today is supposed to be the busiest shipping day for the Post Office.  I think last Saturday has to be a close second.  I have never seen the line so long at the Post Office.  It didn't help that several people just brought their items loose and were purchasing boxes and packing them right at the counter.  Thank goodness for Click-and-Ship.  One of my best investments ever was a postal scale.  By having accurate weights, I can print my own postage (which is actually cheaper than paying it at the post office) and just drop the boxes off without waiting in line. 

Of course the reason for being at the post office was my Ebaying.  A couple weeks ago I thought the Smokey and the Bandit semi gravy train was coming to an end.  Several other sellers started to get into the act, and prices started to come down.  Then, surprisingly, the competition faded away just as quickly as it arrived.  Demand continues to be strong, so I bought the last four trucks I could find and made one last batch.  The last few days I have entered a new phase, the people that just have to have one for their son and can't wait for the auction to end or they won't get it in time for Christmas.  I always prefer setting some minimum price and letting the bidders decide what something is worth.  Setting a selling price for something someone's kid "just has to have" is never easy. 

When it appeared the Bandit semi sales were going to taper off, I tried to think of a new, unique way to tap into that market.  The Trans-Am has been mass-produced several times, the custom truck market is getting a little too crowded, so what is left?  Why the police cars of course.  One toy project that has been simmering on a far back burner for a while was to complete my "set" with police cars from the different scenes in the movie.  Yes, I am that big of a geek.  In the past year or so, someone has finally made a toy of the correct, late-70's dodge sedan that played such a big role in the Dukes and Bandit police forces.  So, I decided to finally complete that project, and while I am at it, make a couple extra sets to sell.  Much like the last time I took on a big, multi-car project, this one did get a little laborious, but I was happy with the results. The first set I sold easily covered my expenses, but didn't attract the bidding attention I had hoped it would.  Well, they can't all be the home runs that the semis are.

 

Of course it's important not to get too wrapped up in all the rush,  so we've been trying to take time with the boys to make some good holiday memories too. We got rained out of our annual Festival of Lights Parade tradition, but started a new one by taking to the boys to see Santa at Bass Pro.  L still isn't so sure about Santa, but N sat on his lap like a big boy.  L was more intrigued by climbing up on the boats  and checking them out.  We also enjoyed the big fish tanks and trying the shooting range with Grandpa N.  No got to see Santa again when we took him to the Polar Express experience at Wildlife Prairie Park.  We got a sitter for L, so C got to go with N and I this year.  I think N really enjoyed it this year, not just for the Polar Express stuff, but also because he got mommy and daddy all to himself for a night. 

Playing Catch Up

It has now been so long since I last posted, I don't think I will even try to do a complete update.  As usual, it's not that there hasn't been enough to write about, but every night I thought I would sit down and blog, I ended up doing spending the time doing something else.

One of my biggest time burners recently has been doing research on living room decorations/furniture.  Despite being two relatively artistic people, C and I always have a hard time figuring out how to decorate our house.  Whenever we go to someone else's house that is decorated nicely, we always come home wishing ours was decorated better.  I came across a listing on craigslist for a factory cart coffee table that I thought looked neat.  One thing led to another, and I started getting ideas for a complete living room makeover.  After spending too many hours getting ideas and searching for furniture, we decided it was OK to plan, but probably best to hold off on buying new furniture until closer to garage sale season so we can get rid of our existing stuff and not have to store it. 

The other major thing consuming my free time has been my Christmas selling season.  I don't have a ton of stuff to sell on Ebay this year.  I had a few custom monster trucks left over from last year to sell, but so far have only been able to sell one of them.  I had planned on making some more, but just discovered that Hot Wheels is "stealing" my idea and will introduce some classic style trucks of their own next year.  The big success has been my old standby, the Smokey and the Bandit semis.  One of the first things I ever bought on ebay was an old toy Smokey and the Bandit semi.  I scanned the mural off of that trailer, and have been making my own ever since.  I've used a variety of trucks as the basis for my models.  This year's crop is predominantly $7 trucks from Farm and Fleet.  They aren't as nice as some of the others I have used, and I make that clear in my Ebay listings, but that doesn't seem to be hurting their appeal to Ebayers.

I also did a little selling through Craigslist.  At the height of my Power Wheels phase, I bought a nearly mint condition Power Wheels Bigfoot circa 1988.  Although I still paid less than what a new Power Wheels cost, after the excitement wore off I started thinking I paid too much for it.  Long story short, N was less impressed with the Bigfoot than I was.  Rather than have it sit around the garage I put it away in the basement.  Now, two years later, since it was just taking up space, I thought I would float it out there and see if there was any interest.  I thought I was dreaming even asking for it what I paid for it.  I was in complete shock when only a about a day after listing it, I got an email from a guy in Virginia who wanted to drive the 13 hours each way to buy it.  I had to wait until the weekend for him to have enough time to make the trip, and in the meantime got 5 other people interested in it, but fortunately he followed through. While I was at it, I talked him into another one that wasn't quite as nice.  N was sad to see them go, but we still have his Jeep, and Grave Digger, and Toy Story R/C, and a Black Bigfoot, and...

Of course I can't go this long without doing something with the tractors.  I thought I had the Ten put away for the winter, but winter has held off so I got it out one last time and took L for a nice long ride. We had alot of fun riding, laughing and exploring.  Johnny remains ready and waiting for the first snow.  I found a cheap set of wheel weights for Junior with just one catch; they were still attached to a tractor.  It was a 1990's Murray rider that hadn't run in a while.  I got the whole tractor for less than what wheel weights usually cost.  I could have tried to get it running, but in the end I just took the parts off of it I wanted and scrapped the rest.  Last time I went to the scrap yard, I figured there was a good chance of a tire repair costing more than I got for the scrap, so this time I left it out on the curb and posted a notice for the scrappers to come and get it.  As soon as it stopped raining, they did.

With colder weather, the workshop tends to also become the playshop.  The boys enjoy it when we pull the cars out and they can run or ride around, and they love having picnics in the garage.  One of my "Black Friday" purchases was a little over-the-door basketball hoop to set up out there, so we can play some hoops too.  It should be another good way for them to burn off some energy this winter.

Tricks or Treats

Another eventful week has come and gone.  Last week brought another, short notice trip down to South Carolina.  There are certainly worse places to have to visit.  While the trip was a pleasant one, we still haven't had much success with that machine down there. 

Although short, the trip did cause me to miss a few things at home.  I missed the trick-or-treating at the High School, which we have done with N now the last 3 years.  L is still in his "too scary" phase, so C opted to leave him at home with a sitter.  I also missed a conference with N's teacher.  It didn't come as any surprise to us that his teacher said N is doing very well with his reading.  He is not as advanced in his writing, but still doing well there too.  All-in-all, a pretty good report.  I made it back from my trip in time to go to a show at 5-Points.  This was our date night for our Anniversary, which now and for the forseeable future, will likely be pushed back due to the proximity to L's birthday.  We had an excellent dinner, and the show was good too.  Of course it did conflict with the Cardinals game, but we made it home in time to see the last few innings of their victory. 

The rest of the weekend was heavily focused on the boys.  We were reluctant to let N use the gun part of his Ghostbuster costume, so I had the idea of making a ghost trap for him to use.  This was one instance where saving some unique things paid off.  Somewhere, C had aquired a miniature version of an interlocking lid storage container.  It had been on the verge of getting thrown away several times, but I always thought it would come in handy someday.  That day came this weekend.  A little paint, some yellow electrical tape, and a few other miscellaneous materials from around the workshop, and pretty soon we had a ghost trap.  I am still amazed that despite not actually seeing the movie, he immediately knew how to slide the trap across the floor to "catch the ghosts".  Of course he wanted to be able to open the doors remotely, but I was able to convince him that was a little too elaborate.  L's costume was a little easier.  I found an image online of Slimer from the Ghostbuster cartoon, and printed it out on iron-on paper.  One green t-shirt , the slimer iron-on, and a black sweat suit for underneath was all his costume required.  L's perpetually runny nose was a nice touch of realism for the "slimer" motif though. 

The costumes worked pretty well for the boys. I'm not sure most of the kids knew who the Ghostbusters or Slimer were, but then again, I didn't know who some of them were supposed to be either.  We did a trunk-or-treat with C's moms group friends on Saturday morning, and then the real trick-or-treating on Halloween night.  For that, we met up with some of the neighbors and all of us went together for one lap around the block.  That was just about right for all the kids. 

With the weather finally turning cooler and being forced to spend more time inside, N's (and therefore L's) interest in trains has been on the rise again.  Saturday I set up a train set in the garage so they could play while I got some work done.  It was a nice compromise of being able to get fresh air and see the sun, but being out of the wind.  Them playing allowed me to finally got the snowplow mounted on Johnny.  It's going to be a little painful to actually take it out the first time in the snow and scuff it up.  Looks pretty nice right now though. 

N played with the trains by himself just long enough for me to get the snowplow on, and then asked if he could invite the neighbor boy over to play.  It didn't take long though before only having one of that kind of train became a problem.  So, we had to go back inside to set up the trains that he has multiples of.  Unfortunately, we spent most of the time N's friend was over trying to remember how to set up the train set.  We made it up to him the next day by inviting him back over once it was all set up.  The boys (and Dad) had a good time setting it up and playing together. 

Season Changeover

The last couple weeks we have had a lot of fun enjoying the typical activities that come with fall.  A trip to the orchard, a U of I football game with the family, a couple weenie roasts, and in general just enjoying the beautiful fall weather we’ve been having.  Indian summer has thus far held out, but I think we all know it can’t hang on indefinitely.  Like it or not, winter is just around the corner. 

With that inevitable onset of colder weather, one of the main projects for last weekend was starting to put away the summer toys and equipment, and get out the winter stuff.  I performed what I am assuming will be the last mowing of the year.  Following that, I cleaned the push mower and Johnny’s mowing deck, and then winterized the mower, and the rototiller.  Of course, putting the mower away for the season also means it’s time to get the snowblower out.  I’m anxious to try out the snowplow on Johnny, but not ready to get rid of that snowblower just yet.  I also started putting away some of the big toys for the winter.  Since it was such a nice weekend, I didn’t want to put all the toys away.  I also didn’t quite get all the winter preparation completed, because I was taking advantage of the nice weather some myself.

Every time I walked past Junior, his cracked hood stared back at me just begging to be fixed.  With the good weather forecasted for the weekend, I figured it would be a good time to make that repair.  It appears at some point someone ran Junior into something.  There was a couple inch long crack in the hood, and immediately below it, a small dent in the grill.  The hood also had cracks in the corners, which Johnny also had, and is pretty common for that hood design. 

  

The first step was reinforcing the fiberglass, followed by filling in the cracks with bondo.  This produced one of those “you know you’re an engineer if…” moments.  There probably aren’t a lot of people that the smell of fiberglass resin and bondo triggers college flashbacks, but if you every worked on a Formula SAE team, you know what I’m talking about.  The bondo also proved to be a fun activity with N.  He saw me mixing up a batch, and was curious what I was up to.  I told him it was like playdough for daddies.  He thought that was cool, and helped me fill in a few little divots I missed with the first coat. 

Fortunately, the weekend weather proved ideal for painting.  I had the perfect temperature and wind conditions for painting the hood and grill outside.  Also, since we’ve had a few frosts, I didn’t have to worry so much about bugs flying into the wet paint.  I was extremely pleased with the results.  The only problem is it might look too good, and get me thinking more about painting the rest of the tractor. 

Painting the rest of Junior will have to take a back seat for at least a little while though.  Ebay season officially started last week as well.  I need to get busy in Santa’s workshop to take advantage of the holiday buying season, and replenish the toy/tractor fund. 

Pickin' makes for Grinnin'

It should come as no surprise that I am a fan of the show American Pickers.  I love the idea of finding something valuable in other what other people think is just "junk".  While I don't drive around the countryside exploring barns and farmyards, I do indulge my Picker instincts a couple times a year during bulk trash week, one of which was last week.  Just a few years ago I would not have though  of driving around looking at other people's trash as entertainment.  Then, early in my (ongoing) Power Wheels phase, I was enlightened to the fact that when most people are done with a Power Wheels, they just throw it away.  The thought of getting one (or several) for free rather than spending the $200-$300 most people spend on a new one made me curious, so I thought I would give it a try.  

The word on the street was that the greatest odds for finding one was during "bulk trash" or "fall/spring cleanup" weeks where people are cleaning up their garages and yards.  When the next one rolled around, after we put the boys to bed for the night, I headed out.  It was an interesting experience to say the least.  You would be amazed how many people there are out there.  The most persistent are the "scrappers".  They are out day and night looking for anything with enough metal content to be worth taking to the scrap yard.  Then there are specialist.  There's guys that fix and sell bicycles, guys that fix and sell small engine equipment, and second-hand stores that look for furniture in decent condition.  The last group is the treasure hunters.  They look for the big piles, and then systematically go through it looking for anything good.  Obviously there is overlap between those groups, so there is competition amongst them.  Aside from the interesting people, it is interesting to see what people are throwing away.  Toilets and matresses are probably the most common, but then you'll see strange stuff like a house with 6 or 8 bowling balls out at the curb.  

I guess I would fall in the specialist category.  Power Wheels are nice because there is not alot of competition for them, and they are big and easy to spot.  Occasionally there is stuff stacked on top of them, but usually they are sitting by themselves on the curb.  They may be dirty, but you usually don't have to dig through trash to get them.  Of course condition varies widely.  I've seen everything from broken, sat in the yard for 10 years and then used for target practice; to grandma and grandpa bought it for the grandkids, it got used a couple times and now the grandkids are too old and they don't want it taking up space.   I'd say close to half don't need anything but a bath and a new battery.  Some do need some kind of repair, and a few really are only good for parts.  For me, there is certainly thrill in "the hunt" for them, but the boys always seem excited when I bring a new one home, and even enjoy playing with the hose helping me wash them.  Once the "new" wears off, and they have tested it out thoroughly, I'll put it up on craigslist and sell it.

The last few bulk trash weeks I haven't been as hard-core about it as I was initially, but it is still fun to go out a night or two and see what I can find.  This past week I picked up a little VW Bug and a Harley.  The Bug was cute and perfect for L.  It was pretty clean, had the battery charger with it, and worked fine when I hooked up a good battery to it.  The Harley was a little rougher.  It's was pretty faded and dirty, and initially only one of the two motors worked.  While I was cleaning it, I found a loose wire on one motor and now it works fine.  It's probably too beat up to resell whole, but we've had a couple of these and N likes them for a while.  The big surprise this time was how much L liked it.  Not only that, he does pretty well driving it too.  I'll probably part it out eventually, but for now the boys can enjoy it.  C also mentioned a while back a decorating idea that involved a Radio Flyer wagon, and I happened to find one of those while I was out too.  

After just a couple nights, I decided to declare my Power Wheels Pickin' a success, and turned my attention back to tractors.  The 70, or "Junior" as I have dubbed it, had a front tire that would go flat after sitting overnight, and the other tire didn't look that great either.  I ordered a new set of front tires, and set out to get the old ones off and rims repainted while I waited for them to come in.  For Johnny, I let the tire shop do the removal and reinstallation.  That was fine, and they probably did a better job of preserving the freshly applied powder coat on those rims, but for Junior the $10/tire change fee was going to add about 50% to the cost of replacing the tires.  Rather than do that, I found a mini tire changer at Harbor Freight.  OK, so the changer cost a little more than what it would have cost me to have the tires changed at the shop, but now should the need arise again in the future, I can do it myself.  Getting the old tires off the rim was far from the 5 minute task they showed in the tire changer demo video.  In fact, it took a sawzall to get one of them off.  Nevertheless, I was able to get them off.  After the new tires arrived, they went on much more easily, and now Junior sports a nice tri-rib front tire look.  

Despite all that activity, the past week wasn't only focused on powered vehicles of one sort or another.  We also managed to take full advantage of the great weather.  Friday I took the day off and we made a trip up to the apple orchard for some apple donuts and fun at the playground.  It seems like every year they add another fun activity.  This year they added a restored caboose that the kids could play in, and some pedal cars for both the kids and adults.  That night, N and I camped out on the deck in the tent.  I had my hopes doubts he would stay out there all night, but he loved it.  Saturday, after recovering a little from sleeping in the tent, I got the new tires installed on Junior and put some finishing touches on the rock table.  N decided his Jeep needed a little work as well.  We also had to get ready for our neighborhood weiner roast.  We had talked about the idea with the neighbors earlier in the Summer, but never got around to it.  The week of unseasonably nice weather provided a great opportunity to do it, and we put it together less than a week in advance.  It ended up working out great and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.  Sunday L and I went for two nice long rides on the Ten, and wrapped the weekend up with more time outside playing with the neighbors, and grandma and grandpa.

Of course the incredibly nice weather can't last forever, and it looks like it won't stick around for another weekend.  I think it's fair to say though that we made the most of it while it was here.

Fall Flying By

I'm long overdue for a post, since we are closing in on a month since my last one.  

We've had a few projects in the workshop over the past few weeks, although the bulk of the progress on them has been made over the weekends.  With this beautiful weather we've been having lately, we've been spending our weekday evenings outside playing, which has tended to push workouts and chores to after the boys' bedtimes, leaving less time for other things.

The first project started (and yet to be finished) is repainting the snowplow for Johnny.  I had located a snowplow earlier this summer, and then another one to provide some parts in better condition.  This turned into a true case of using two to make one.  The first one had less rust, but had been used and abused.  The cutting edge was worn completely down and it had several large dents in the blade surface.  Also, one bracket was bent, and no amount of heat and force seemed to be able to straighten it.  I got the second blade primarily to replace the bent bracket, but the hardly used cutting edge for less than what a replacement one cost was a nice bonus. I ended up completely disassembled both and used the best parts from each.   At this point, all the parts have been sanded, primed and repainted, but other projects have taken priority over reassembly.   

One of said "other projects" is a new addition to the Tallon tractor fleet.  One of the dangers in getting a collector tractor to use around the house, and subsequently using a collector forum (Weekend Freedom Machines) for technical help on that tractor, is that you run the risk of becoming a collector yourself.  That risk is even greater if you are one that is predisposed to collecting stuff like I am.  Back when I was first researching a garden tractor, I was debating on the 110 or the smaller 60/70.  Both had that "new generation" look like grandpa's 4010 and 6030.  Ultimately, the 110 won out due to being more common, and more versatile.  I have not once regretted getting Johnny, but the appeal of the smaller 60/70 still lingered in the back of my mind.  When a good condition, good running 70 came up for sale, for a pretty cheap price, I could not resist.  I've subsequently given it the once-over and mowed with it a little bit.  It does need a new front tire, and some adjustment to the throttle linkage, however  being a "lawn tractor" and not a "garden tractor" like the 110, the 70 actually mows a little better than Johnny does.  At this point, I don't know what the long-term plans are for it.  I've considered everything from keeping it to ride around tractor shows, to sprucing it up a little and try to sell it at a profit.  For now, it's just another fun little project.

All the tractors took a back seat to a project for the boys last weekend.  While the weather has been perfect as of late, it won't last forever.  Pretty soon my dirt-loving boys won't be able to go outside and get their digging fix.  The last two winters we have set up a "sand box" in the garage for them to dig in.  That pretty much just consisted of a plastic storage container filled with gravel.  While better than nothing, it isn't ideal because the gravel goes everywhere, and the container isn't really big enough for both of them to play in.  I had been thinking about how to do something better, and last weekend finally built it.  The end result is a two level, 4' x 3' table with small rocks to scoop and dump.  I think it will do the trick, but it still isn't as good as digging in the dirt outside, which the weather is still permitting them to do.  I'm anxious to see how well the table works, but certainly willing to let this weather stick around as long as it wants to.