Perceptive Gazette readers will recall our recent traumatic bicycle wheel failure, which necessitated the replacement of both wheels on our recumbent tandem (the rear wheel failed, but we also replaced the front one out of an abundance of caution as well as to make sure the two matched). I’m happy to report that after a… Continue reading Attraction Satisfaction
Category: Tools & DIY
DIY: Installing a Cylinder Lock in Drawers
My latest DIY project was pretty simple but still intimidating as it involved drilling holes in our custom built-in cabinetry. As my pal Gene and I discussed over breakfast this morning, you can’t uncut lumber or undrill holes (well, I can’t), so measuring twice was just a starting point for me. Here’s one of the… Continue reading DIY: Installing a Cylinder Lock in Drawers
Installing Lockey Mechanical Digital Lock: Abandon hope…
I’ve hired teenagers to mow our lawn for the past two summers, and one of the challenges in those arrangements was remembering to leave a gate unlocked so they could access the back yard. Because of travel plans and other scheduling uncertainties, that sometimes meant leaving the gate unlocked for days at a time. Our… Continue reading Installing Lockey Mechanical Digital Lock: Abandon hope…
Adventures in TV mounting
I bought an LED TV as a Christmas present for MLB as a replacement for the remaining CRT set in the house. That TV was installed inside the built-in cabinets in our workout room, mounted on a sliding metal platform that has a few degrees of rotation so that we theoretically could view it from… Continue reading Adventures in TV mounting
Winter is Coming
No, this isn’t a Game of Thrones post. But we are anticipating our first freezing temperatures of the season this week, so preparations are underway at Casa Fire Ant. It’s slightly ironic that our landscape is looking better than it has all year, just in time for a killing frost. Here’s a sample of some… Continue reading Winter is Coming
Slinging Henry
After almost a year of fearful contemplation, and thanks in no small part to a bit of cabin fever (it’s been really cold for TWO DAYS!), I finally worked up the courage to mount a sling to my Henry Golden Boy rifle. If that doesn’t sound all that courageous, then you’ve never seen that beautiful… Continue reading Slinging Henry
DIY: Secure your door with a security hinge plate stud
We’re going to have some remodeling work done on the house, meaning that we’ll have a crew of people we don’t know in our home for a week. And while they work for a reputable local contractor, there’s something a little unsettling about having strangers in your house while you’re not there. While we could… Continue reading DIY: Secure your door with a security hinge plate stud
Life Hacks (or, Solutions to First World Problems)
Fellow [occasional] blogger Jen posted a link to this list of “50 Life Hacks to Simplify Your World.” In a previous era, “life hacks” were referred to as “Hints from Heloise,” but that’s another topic for another time. Anyway, after skimming through the article, I started wondering what future extraterrestrial archeologists might glean about our… Continue reading Life Hacks (or, Solutions to First World Problems)
Air Conditioning for the Great Outdoors
Cue “Tim Taylor Official Primal Ape Tool Time Grunts” Do you have one of these in your garage? No? So sad. How can you resist a massive device called the Cyclone 3000? My wife claims that it will make the area much more comfortable for practicing ballroom dance steps during summer months, but I can… Continue reading Air Conditioning for the Great Outdoors
Big Toys Time
It’s only appropriate on this Super Bowl Sunday, a day devoted to over-the-top, larger-than-life, dumber-than-a-stump shenanigans that we at the Gazette focus briefly (in keeping with our attention spans) on some truly big toys. I shot the following video through my pickup window on Friday, in Fort Stockton. It shows a coupla BA’d truck beds… Continue reading Big Toys Time