May 14, 2019 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I got a crazy amount of stuff done last night after work. I was uber productive!

Checked on and watered bee hives at work (2 in community garden)
Drove home
Checked on and watered bees at the house
Boiled burr comb (extra comb the bees build in the hive boxes) and turned it into wax patties for candles this fall
Cleaned up front yard.
Moved new table made from a tree trunk slice into the front yard
Added three orange feet to the table
Took out compost, garbage, and recycling
Browned sliced almonds for dinner salad
Shocked and treated hot tub
Emptied hot tub water (only water left in pipes/pump has been treated)
Pulled hot tub filters
Replaced tires on band saw
Installed Wolverine sharpening guides and chisel grinder in shop
Patched nail holes in trim of basement tool organization board and printing press break
Installed 2 GoPro mounts in shop
Put final touches on two hand forged workbench holdfasts each (one for the bench tops and one for the legs) for a couple of friends who are getting into woodworking
Worked on a couple of YouTube films
Applied a the first coat of Silver Tip Epoxy to a canoe paddle
Finished an Audio book
Updated my bee hive performance/health tracking journal

I Have Had Better Weekends

November 12, 2018 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

This weekend was a giant cluster and I am glad it is Monday – those are words I have never said before. 100% first world boogie problems, I get it. My house is not on fire, I am not fleeing disease or a brutal regime, and no one is firing artillery or bullets in my direction. I get it, so please excuse my momentary lapse into the tiny issues in my own little world.

Ran out of ½ and ½ for coffee 1st thing on Saturday
Had to use my wife’s coconut creamer.
Was not happy.
Didn’t matter, spilled the coffee all over robe ½ way through the cup.
Said the F-word loud enough to make both dogs go find their mommy
Looked for a tool for like 40 minutes in house, basement, attic, and garage.
Still haven’t found it.
One of the dogs rolled in shit and then came happily into the house.
Same dog got on the couch.
I had to clean the couch
I lost my favorite fountain pen in the house somewhere while cleaning dog shit!?!
Went to yarn shop for my mother
They are out of a specific yarn she needs to finish a blanket.
“Check back in a month… the dye lot MAY be different though…”
Went to grocery store and someone rammed the parking exit ticket-taking machine.
It was the only exit for cars.
Sat there for an hour+ – grumbling at “people”
Realized I forgot some stuff and had to go back to the damn grocery store.
Went to library to renew book (Chernov’s Grant)
Found that I forgot to return a book 3 months ago
Have a $20 fine.
Opened Twitter
Read that The Cheeto refused to join the leaders of Europe for a 100th anniversary WWI Armistice tribute because of rain…
Got super worked up, hate Tweeted, raised my blood pressure, and then turned off the phone.
We cleaned the hot tub – up to my knees in 40 degree water
Splashed vinegar in BOTH eyes
A Normal coffee stand I frequent has switched to a bikini coffee stand.
My “barista” was wearing pasties, dental floss and a shinny butt plug.
She adjusted said plug absent-mindedly as she was making my coffee
I did not drink the coffee
I sent a joking text that super pissed my kid off.
Was not my intent.
Made a fire Sunday night
Set my phone top of the fireplace insert
Found it an hour later COOKED my iPhone! WAY to hot to even touch
Said very dirty words. Dirty.
Worked on tax receipts because THAT is coming up soon
Said some more dirty words about my own stupidity with the cell phone cooking.
New laptop won’t fit in my messenger bag – by a LOT.
Not buying a new bag!
Went to bed and read until I fell asleep and cracked myself in the face with above mention Grant biography.

The weekend was not total shit though:

I sign up for a blacksmithing workshop for making ram and dragon heads
There was lots of snuggling with my wife and the puppies
Got some of my Christmas shopping done
The hot tub is clean and ready to use
We are geared up for cold weather with plenty of firewood.

Knee Surgery

August 24, 2018 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

I swear to God, I am falling apart! Being over 40 is NOT for Pussies. I tweaked my knee on the last day of snowboard season this year – a season where I took it REALLY easy because of my hip reconstruction surgery last year. Well, the knee kept bugging me and I finally went in early this summer to the same orthopedic surgeon who did my hip for a check out. After a few x-rays and an MRI, it looked like I had a small meniscus tear that he could fix in a few minutes and 2 arthroscopic poke holes. I waited until after The Ruminator’s summer visit last month and went in for a quick “procedure.” That is where reality deviated from my plan… After getting into my knee, the doctor found a second tear: 90+% full thickness and a ligament issue. Two hours later I am out of surgery with a full meniscus repair, lots of stitches, a knee brace for like 6+ weeks, two weeks of bed rest, and months of physical therapy in my future.

Stamps With Foot is not happy. I have been banned from snowboarding, skateboarding, parachuting, jumping on or off anything at all, no powered paragliding, or “any other stupid boy shit you decide to do” unless I have express Doctor’s permission and clearance.

I HATE the post-op pain killers. They make me loopy and make it so I cannot poop. You don’t know how important that is until you cant do it for like 5 days. Seriously! Have decided to take it easy, follow my recovery plan exactly, and I may heed my wife in all of her wishes this time as I am tired of bed rest and hydrocodone and could do with out either for a few more decades!

Video Update:

Catching up and writing more

June 25, 2018 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I have not been writing as much in the last few months as I should. I have lots of excuses:

House Remodel
Hectic Work Schedule
Jeep Rebuild
A focus on film making and growing my YouTube presence
Lawn and Garden care – seriously, this takes up a lot of my time.
Too much TV and interwebs…
Blah, Blah, Blah…

When you get to the base of it all though, the answer is that I have made time for all the other things that keep me sane/make me crazy except for writing. I am renewing my focus and will be posting more words to go along with all of the pictures and video.

Let’s start with an update of current stuff:

The Attic

We are so close to being done with the attic conversion. I have to put a couple of coats on the closet door and one on the stair railing and paint the 4 walls with a couple coats of the almond eggshell that my wife picked out. The new hardwood flooring is being delivered today and it will be installed on Friday. I will spend the weekend installing the stair treads and kickers/risers. The receptacles, switches and lights are the last serious items that will go in before I touch-up a little paint here & there and I will be done and can focus on the basement.

Basement

We are 75% there. All tiled laid, grout done and a functioning toilet!! I need to finish the trim install, hang two doors and then paint EVERYTHING! I am having a custom shower rod TIG welded together and will be building the double sink vanity. I have to tack together & paint the medicine cabinet door and mirror frames as well. After all is in, we will have a plumber come out for the sink install and shower hook up. I don’t plumb. I am afraid of flooding my house with water or sewage. I leave that job to the professionals.

Main Level Bath

The tube tile surround is being replaced in two weeks with 6” subway and small hex tile. The new bathroom mirror will be going in this week, and I have to have the exhaust fan switch rewired.

Jeep

I had a solid weekend working on the Jeep. The taillights are installed, the winch is re-wired, mirrors installed, windshield back on with new gasket and PLENTY on extra silicone. The upper KC spotlights are re-installed, and an issue with the front speakers if fixed. I still need to paint and install the spare tire rack, as well as the CB, megaphone speaker, 2^nd battery, air compressor, lower KC spot lights, passenger headlight, rub rails, whip antenna, headlight trim rings, and polish the rear tube bumper.

The current plan is to leave the top COMPLETELY off until fall when I re-install the soft top. I need to finish the Hi-Lift Jack rebuild project, have the speedometer serviced, and replace my tube pads as well before the cold winter wind blows.

Garage

The shop of me dreams is packed full of everyone else’s crap right now. It is all leaving by the last weekend in July if I have to put it all out on the road. I need to finish wiring in my 40K lumens of LED lighting, a 50AMP plug, a couple of 220/30amp plugs and have an electrician connect all into my service panel.

House Exterior

Downspout in back needs attention
A section of soffit need looking at and possibly repaired
I need to weld together the Juliet Balcony outside the dining room
Weld railing for rear steps
The new front windows need a little trim and paint
Dining room window needs trim and paint
The rear steps need to be painted
The chimney needs to be repointed before fall/winter
Basement railing needs to be installed
Both front railings need to be sanded and repainted.
External security alarm siren need to be installed
A tiny bit of concrete need to be pouted
Two security cameras need to be swapped out for the lower profile ones

The yard

Man, the front yard is good, a little weeding and bush trimming maybe. The back yard though… It is still a disaster, or at least ½ a disaster. I want to fill 3-4 gabion baskets with all the rocks left over from a previous owner’s attempt at pond-scaping and make benches around out fire pit. We will be adding a steel arbor from the garage to the patio this fall that I am welding up on-site. The patio table and chairs will get a proper sanding and oiling this weekend and we need/want an umbrella of it this year. I want to add a tool shed and additional firewood racks to the side yard. And finally, the small yard next to the garage is my makeshift apiary and I would like to make that both permanent and presentable with some additional hives, gravel and flower plants in narrow garden boxes.

Health

Stamps-With-Foot, my mom, and the kids are good. I am feeling all of my 40+ years lately though. My hip is still painful a full year after reconstruction. I may have torn the meniscus in my left knee, AND I have Fucking Tennis elbow from chopping firewood!! Not being able to run and bike, coupled with my love of cookies, has left me with a classic “Dad-bod” and even my fat pants are tight right now. Eating better now. Trying to get between 7 and 10K steps in a day, having the knee looked at, and working on the elbow. We are going to Hawaii in February and I need at least a 2-pac as there will be MANY shirtless days in and under the water, for my arm to feel better, and my knee and hip to be like 70%.

Other

Work is work, but I have really traveled at all this year and that is awesome! Still wish I was building cabinets for a living, covered in man-glitter, smiling but that will have to wait. I will be traveling to Arkansas this fall to see my daughter and her family. My son will be here in Seattle for a couple of weeks this summer. I hope to tour a couple of colleges with him. My wife and I have a couple of road trips planned and I want to get out on my bike, kayak, and skate board a little (don’t tell my wife or knee Dr. about the board…) I have started recording for a monthly Podcast. A friend conned me into it after a few years of asking. I am going to just sit and tell stories without naming names or implicating myself in any illegal activities that are not past the statute of limitations. As a reward for losing weight I will go ahead and finish out both of my tattooed arm sleeves and my wife and I are planning matching bee tattoos for our anniversary. I still have not bought a boat or a motorcycle, so she will keep me for a while longer

This weekend was full. I really need to stop working on my days off.

May 14, 2018 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Welding Cart experienced a failed wheel/axle combo
I said dirty words and decided to replace rather then rebuild
Also decided to upgrade – just a little.
Sourced new cart and used a 20% off Coupon
Assembled new Harbor Freight/General Tools MIG welding cart
Recorded a video of whole experiebce for YouTube channel
Wired in a couple plugs and lights in the attic.
Worked on linocut of our dog Brodie and of a mountain scene print for two letterpress projects.
Wove a 9”+ pine needle coiled basket – because I can.
Made like 6 Instagram posts
Played Ukulele for a bit.
Recorded a couple of riffs and a drum track
Started building a podcast tool for website – slow going
Made a run to the city dump with a trailer load of building material/construction waste.
Mowed and edged yard.
Worked on the washing machine
called it names until it worked
Spent an hour looking for new Jeep parts that disappeared in the garage.
Said more dirty words – there is a theme here…
Found the parts
Installed front blinkers and driver’s side head light.
Completely failed at installing LED tail lights.
Threw a little fit.
Asked questions and then ranted on the Internet forums.
Packet the LEDs back up, returned them, and ordered replacements with regular bulbs.
Sat in yard and drank some Rose’
slept late (8:30) on Sunday morning
Cleaned backyard a little
Took Mom to lunch
Celebrated Mother’s Day
Took mom to nursery for flowers and yarn shop for some skeins of alpaca wool.
Installed new fender flairs on the Jeep.
Installed new Jeep bumper and re-installed winch
HUGE pain and took forever
Two band-Aids with consumed.
Wore good cloths while wrenching.
Wife caught me with grease on shorts
She made wet-cat noise and I got in trouble…
Organized and hauled out all of the recycling from house and garage.
Drank wine in the front yard.
Drank some more wine.
Binged watched season 2 of Westworld to catch up.

I Might need a day off…

April 8, 2018 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

This weekend was super full:

Got a haircut
Published “Week 4” attic remodel vid on YouTube
Cleaned out freezer that shut down and spoiled EVERYTHING in it.
Took freezer and bio-waste contents to dump.
Bagged and took 1200 pounds of construction waste to dump
Got Jeep out of garage, charged battery, and fawned over it.
Cleaned yard a little
Wrote a couple of letters.
Had 2017 taxes done.
Getting a refund for first time in 9 years.
Wife and I are going to splurge on hookers and blow – her idea.
Tried to work on the Jeep, but too much shit in my way.
Cleaned garage some.
Organized and hauled out all of the recycling from house and garage – there was a LOT.
Put together new planer stand and mounted wood planer in shop
Drank wine.
Made and finished a YouTube video of the planer assembly.
Installed security camera in the house.
Installed switch and plug boxes and rafter supports in attic.
Input time sheets for my J-O-B.
Played ZERO music.
Worked on a 3D printing design
Got stuff ready for next week
Drank some more wine.
Going to bed now.

Film Friday – Week 2 of the Attic Rebuild

March 30, 2018 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I know… I have been posting a bunch of videos lately and not a lot of travel, Jeep, Puppy, garden, music, building, or other normal posts. That will change with the coming of Spring and the completion of our attic remodel/rebuild. In that vain, below is the short video documenting week 2 of the process. It looks like it will be a 5-part series.

Film Friday – Mt. Rainier

March 23, 2018 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I am way behind on posting. My J-O-B, video making, house remodeling, class I am taking, and general nerdiness has me swamped. But…. I flew out of Seattle a little while ago and made a little film that has a fantastic view of Mt. Rainier. Enjoy.

Spring Has Sprung – 2018

March 12, 2018 / Matt Talley / 2 Comments

With the official start of Spring – as determined by the fact that my wife was reading a book, enjoying the sunshine, and drinking wine in the yard – we had a busy weekend at La Maison Du Talley:

Moved all the power tools in the shop against the wall for temp storage duty
Ordered material for attic finish
Set up new iPhone (old one a brick!)
Checkout at Pratt to be able to independently use their fabrication shop.
Moved everyone else’s crap out of my basement and temporarily into the garage
Said dirty words about all the other people’s crap being stored in our home
Cleaned the basement completely out
Pruned the apple trees in the backyard
Restacked the firewood wood pile
Cleaned and prepped attic for floor installation
Published two YouTube videos
Set up new condenser microphone in home office/studio
Breakfast with my mom and wife
Went to the Moonshiners 36th Annual Jeep Swap Meet
Did not buy a new-to-me 1946 CJ-2A project Jeep
Stayed Married
Did not buy a motorcycle or boat at the swap meet
Stayed married – there is a theme…
DID buy an ARB on-board air compressor and a duel battery mount – and got a sweet deal!
Signed up for three classes at Pratt for this spring: Block printing, wood carving, and letterpress
Padded and protected the wood floor and built-ins in prep for attic finish
Cleaned the hot tub
Edged and mowed the front and back yard
Spread Weed&Feed on the back yard and parking strip
Re-seeded the front yard

President’s Day 2018

February 20, 2018 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

President’s Day is here and it is time to prune the fruit trees, roses, and lavender. Or at least that was my plan for yesterday. Instead, I spent WAY TOO MUCH time on Twitter – ranting about sensible gun laws and the current US administration. I also spent a couple of hours cleaning the house, washing dishes, working on 2 videos, walking the puppies, and working in the shop. So the entire day was not wasted on-line.

In the shop, I am building a Screen Printers Workbench for a local artist, Amy M. Douglas. She does some pretty amazing prints and oil/acrylic work. We are trading my time for art, so it is a win/win for both of us. Below are a couple of shots taken during the build and I will have a whole YouTube video about the build in a week or so.

I will spend an afternoon this coming weekend pruning, re-stacking firewood, and cleaning the yard – I see a dump run in my future.

3/4/2018 Update:

The bench is done and delivered.

Chopping Firewood Warms You Twice

November 30, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I have some on the most awesome neighbors ever. I know a lot of people say that, but I firmly believe in mine. One of my neighbors across the street took down a maple and a cedar and offered both up as fire wood for me to just HAVE! Now, two trees is a lot of wood to and split and the cedar looked nasty with lots of knots and limbs. I decided to rent a $70 hydraulic log splitter for the day and just get it done.

I showed up with a chainsaw, bar-oil, and the splitter and he had it all laid out and ready to go. He gave me pre-mixed gas for the saw and spent 9 hours helping me bust it all up – just because!! Even though we used the splitter, it was still HARD work and we lifted/rolled/moved/cut/shoved 2+cords of wet heavy wood around. It was work! I bought him lunch and a bottle of Bushmills 10yo Whiskey, but that is nowhere near enough payment for all he did!

The maple is enough to supply around a third of our wood for next winter (takes a while to season) and the cedar will make for awesome fire pit wood in the back yard and at the beach! I am on the lookout for some oak to lay up this winter and I would commit heinous acts for a load of madrona…

Thanksgiving 2017 and the judicious exercising of my liver.

November 27, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We drove 6+ hours each way for Thanksgiving this year and it was all that an annual family Thanksgiving Hell weekend should be: A late start, Farting dogs, forgotten items, foul weather, snarled traffic, booze, weird family drama, unhappy wife, alcohol, some yelling, miscommunicated plans, mountains of guilt, one dog escape, unmedicated crazy, some tears, no turkey, more alcohol, slamming doors, heartburn, someone that showed up super-high, fits thrown, 1 minor meltdown, fitful dreams… You know, the usual stuff. It is going to take a week and a cleanse to get my liver and mood back to a moderately-normal functionality.

After we got home LATE Sunday night, I started a fire in the living room stove insert, fed the puppies, we ate a little something, unpacked, and said a little prayer of thanks that no one went full-postal.

“Next Year” we are doing something different. Seriously. Like a cruise or our own private affair with a fried turkey, soft white rolls, butter, cranberry & pine nut stuffing, corn on the cob, more butter, apple pie, peach cobbler, expensive/tasty booze and ZERO drama.

Amazon is my friend.

October 31, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Amazon makes me happy. I need a tool or a book or a part and a few clicks and 24-48 hours later I have the stuff I need. In the last month I have purchased the following and help make Jeff Bazos officially the worlds richest man:

1-3/16-Inch Combination Wrench
1/2″ drive 6 PT STD Socket 1 3/16
Book: The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Valvoline SynPower Synthetic Automotive Grease – 14.1oz
Conan The Barbarian Thulsa Doom Iron/Sew On Embroidered Patch
Winter is Coming / Stark Wolf / Game of Thrones 2×3 Patch
Dropping F Bomb WW 2 Style Tactical morale 3.5 X 1.25 Hook Patch
1 $25 gift Card
Book: The Weight of Ink
Dickies Men’s Short Sleeve Shirt, Blue Chambray, Medium
Book: The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language
DCDEAL Large Size 24 Compartments Adjustable Plastic Electronics Parts Gadgets Tool Storage Box
Biotics Research – CoQ-Zyme 30mg 60 Tabs
Book: Spoonbenders: A novel
Book: South Pole Station: A Novel
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse
Pampers Swaddlers Disposable Diapers Size 2, 204 Count
Baqua Spa Metal Control (1 pt)
Crosman Squirrel Reset Target, Metal
2 of Philips 416131 Clear Appliance 15-Watt T7 Intermediate Base Light Bulb
A Court of Thorns and Roses Coloring Book
Smittybilt 2733 Tire Plug and Seal Kit
all Mighty Pacs Laundry Detergent with OXI Stain Removers and Whiteners, Free Clear, Pouch, 38 Count
Echo Dot (2nd Generation) – Black
Westmark Germany Vegetable and Salad Spinner with Pouring Spout (Red)

Film Friday – The Garage Sidewalk Pour

October 27, 2017 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

Below is a short film documenting all the steps taken in pouring a walkway between our existing patio and my garage/shop, as also discussed in less detail in a previous post. I MAY have overbuilt it… a little… maybe…

Garage sidewalk now poured with a side of cat-related drama

October 25, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

The sidewalk to the garage is finally poured – 8 weeks after I put the forms in… To recap, it is 20’X4′ and 4″ deep. I used 3500PSI with fiber added and lots of steel, because I hate cracking sidewalks. I paid a guy working on the house next door give me a hand with the wheel barrow concrete moving and to move-hold the other side of the scree board. It took two hours from the minute the truck rolled up until I was cleaning up my tools and I saved >$1500 doing it myself, even with the cost of material, delivery and a couple of new tools.

I was super happy with the results when I went inside at 5:30. When I went back out to check on it at 9:30, the cat had walked up one side all the way to the garage, walked across, and back down the other side. I now have cat prints in my “perfect” sidewalk until the end of days…

I am not anthropomorphizing, she did it as a “Fuck You bald monkey!” because I would not let her in the house. It was too dry to re-float. This morning, to add insult, the hate-cat dropped a giant turd in the middle of the thing up by the garage door. I said such dirty words! This is the last straw!

Who would like an overweight white fluffy cat that is passive aggressive and shits on the things I love? I will throw in 2 bags of food, a carrier, shot records, box of band-aids, half eaten mouse, and 3 cat-nip impregnated toys. It is an awesome deal! Won’t last! Act now before someone else snatches her up!

Film Friday – Jeep Paint Prep

October 13, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

…And so begins my plan for interweb domination… This is the 1st in a series of videos detailing my Jeep re-painting project. I am doing the prep work and getting ready for my 1986 CJ-7 to go into the shop for a little cosmetic make-over. It was painted black at the factory in Toledo, has been black ever since, and will stay black until they make something darker. I also give a little bit of an update to what I have been up to of late, some projects that are in the works, and a quick pan view of part of a dirty, disorganized, and cluttered shop.

Forging and Fabricating

October 6, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I can do and make bunches of stuff: Everything from joinery to electronics, from wood turning to machining, from bookbinding to electrical, from carving to heavy machine operation, but there are certain things that I have never really been able to do in the world of hand-craft, mostly due to lack of exposure or instruction. Chiefly among these things are/were forging/blacksmithing and metal shaping. The latter composed of shaping and bending sheet metal into forms and objects.

I decided this year to work on those deficits and have been taking some forging and fabrication classes at The Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. A couple nights a week, I leave work and hammer, shape, weld, grind, and make stuff out of steel. I have been at it for 5 weeks and am really please with both The Pratt and all that I am learning. I have also learned that while I have dipped my toe in these waters, that there is a ocean of knowledge out there. I do not have any want to be a full-time blacksmith or fabricator, but I want to keep learning, so I can add some of the techniques and pieces to stuff that I already build and add to my repertoire of ability and understanding. Below are some of the pieces that I have made, tools I am using, and some stuff that I am working on. I am putting together a little video as well.

People Suck

September 27, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I went out to the car this morning to head into work and something was off: glove box open, center console open… fuck… our car was prowled. The only thing missing were my 14 year old Oakley prescription sunglasses. Seriously!? They are useless to anyone without nearsightedness, a stronger prescription in the left eye, and a double astigmatism. Some asshat woke up today at noon after a hard night of car prowls and probable raccoon-raping, put my sunglasses on, and I am sure promptly threw them away.

Since I have nothing better to do with my hard-earned pay, I will have to get a new set this week and take them to the optometrist for a prescription. It should be super-cheap…

I hate thieving little bastards.

More G-Mail Woes.

September 11, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

A Little rant:

My G-mail that is linked to my site stopped working due to some sort of host/server issue last week-ish. I use a G-Mail proxy through my domain and I called and chatted and e-mailed for days before a resolution was found. After the server issue was fixed, I then had a Tucows registration issue and I had to prove that I was me and that I owned my site. I have had limited access for a few days and just now got full access back. Very frustrating and time consuming. Looks to be all fixed now, but I hope I didn’t piss off too many folks by not answering their mail. I am wading through it all today and tonight.

Sometimes tech makes life harder and I long for a small A-frame cabin in the woods near water, a pantry full of good coffee, my wife reading with the puppies on the couch, a fully stocked shop, lots of firewood, a source of independent wealth, and no wireless connection.

Dreams..

Labor Day Weekend – 2017

September 5, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I was at home for Labor Day weekend this year and spend the time working on the house and yard. I dug up a cubic yard+ of dirt where the garage walkway will be and then built concrete forms, added rebar, and welded wire for a 20′ X 4′ sidewalk pour next week.

I also took a couple of hours to rebuild a 10′ section of fence on our south side. A 40′ (12.2m) tree had grown through it from the neighbor’s yard. He let me cut it down a couple of weeks ago and rebuilding the fence was required. Note: Stamps-With-Foot did not see me roped up, hanging in the harness, topping the tree, so I didn’t get in trouble for being a “stupid man” until later 🙂

Film Friday – Lincoln Park in West Seattle, Washington

August 13, 2017 / Matt Talley / 4 Comments

OK, so it is not Friday, but I started working on this video Friday night… Does that count?

Lincoln Park in West Seattle is one of my favorite spaces in all of the Seattle metro area. It is a phenomenal urban space: Stamps-With-Foot and I go there all the time just to hang out, I used to run there along the beach and through the trees in the mornings, it was my first outing after hip surgery, our ~~monsters~~ puppies love it there, it is romantic, great for picnics, strolling hand and hand along the beach, a fine hour+ long hike after work, a protected kayak launching point, good fishing spot when the salmon are running (the pink run started earlier this week…), there is a public pool, bald eagles nest in the trees along the shore, and sometimes I go and watch the sunset from on e of the many benches when I have had a bad day. I hope this little film captures part of the magic of the place.

Garage, lawn, and house work this weekend

August 8, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Worked in the basement a bit to make Stamps-With-Foot’s sewing room/project space usable.
Made two trips to the dump.
Built screw clamp holder.
Did a little Amazon shopping for a gift and a part that I needed.
Went shooting at the range – shot like a blind squirrel.
Cleaned pistol, muttering disappointment in self whole time.
Hip super-hurt all weekend.
Went to see Atomic Blond for date night. Great movie.
Bought two bookshelf cabinets for garage at Second Use – got a super good deal (hard to do these days at Second Use)
Picked up 2 cases of oil at discount from NAPA
Put down a little 1/4 round trim in dining room.
Washed Stamps-With-Foot’s car.
Filled the washer fluid.
Worked on a couple of films.
Cleaned lighting contacts on the trailer light harness.
Took a load of recycling to the dump.
Organized shop a little and hung the two cabinets.
My shop now has all the storage I will ever need – until I fill it all up 🙂
Consumed some rosé while sitting in sunshine in back yard.
Snuggled wife and puppies.
Installed my welding cabinet and filled it with helms, jacket, gloves, sticks, and welding tools.
Made a happy face.
Did not mow lawn…
Ran two lighting circuits and one 220VAC circuit in garage.
Need to install the 4 florescent lights.
One 220VAC circuit to run and all shop wiring will be complete!
Flew drone a bit to work out new firmware update.
Took a few macro photos with camera
Spent too long on Instagram and Twitter.
Ignored the grass some more.
Changed oil in my father-in-law’s truck.
Picked-up/was given wrong oil filter!
Said dirty words…
Made it to parts store 3 minutes before they closed for new filter.
41 more oil changes and the lift pays for itself!

Car Lift and Jeep CJ-7 Saga/Search/Information

July 21, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Before putting 4000 pounds of 31 year old Toledo steel above my head for the first time I really needed the correct locations for a 2-post-lift pad placement points on a CJ-7. I like who I am and I have some plans for the next 30 years or so and really didn’t not want to be that guy who squashed himself in his own garage. It happens.

I have seen two jeeps on their sides at dealerships after falling off lifts, countless other lift fails, and have seen CJs put up in the air at least four different ways. I have had a couple of cars in the air since building the garage, referencing their owner manuals for lift placement, but not the Jeep yet. Again, I didn’t want to be the guy that drops his 4X4 pride off the lift in his own garage. I started doing a little research and asking questions.

After a fairly fruitless internet Search, I called the company that built my lift (it is a Rotary Revolution RPT10) and they referred me to The American Lift Institute (ALI) manual that came with the lift. The 2016 version of the manual only goes back to 1991 for most vehicles and when I called them, there was no answer that they could give me. They referred me to “a local Jeep dealer.”

I dropped in the one nearest the house and there was not an “old-guy consensus” on how to life a CJ: on the frame behind the shackle mounts, on the shackles, on the spring plates, on the axles, etc… My Chilton and Hayes manuals have nothing and I am still trying to source a good 1986 Service Manual (can’t find anything in the downloaded ’82) and would love an original Owners manual. I went by a 4X4 shop a bit ago and the tech there said “lift it on the shackles…” and posed it as sort of a question. I walked away swiftly.

So, relying on Cunningham’s Law, I asked the internet via the JeepForum if anyone had some documentation on where to apply the lift arms/pads on a CJ-7 frame and where the balance point/center of gravity of the vehicle was to put in-line with the lift posts? I got some helpful suggestions and a couple answers that were on the edge of trolling, but the general consensus from CJ owners and mechanics on the forum was to follow the guidelines for the 1991 Jeep Wrangler and their frames, suspension, and balance points are very similar: The lift pads are placed under the frame (centered on the pads), directly adjacent to spring hangers/shackles. Sounded reasonable and plausible, so I decided to go with that. The balance point/CoG is between my dash and the bottom of the steering wheel and that point goes on center between the two posts of my symmetrical lift.

I went ahead a couple weekends ago and decided to put it up and do a little general maintenance. After everything checked out – raising the Jeep 6″ off the ground and giving it a serious shake on all 4 corners, raising it up and down a few times, I spent 30 minute for full oil and filter change. I lubed all the zert points on the drive-line and chassis while I was there. No squashing or falling Jeeps. 🙂

Weekend Activities

July 12, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Seattle is in early summer full bloom. The sun is out and the temperature is perfect! These conditions led to a really good weekend:

Slept had friends stay with us Friday night and Saturday morning
Big yummy breakfast
Picked three big bowls of ripe Lapin cherries
Ate a lot of cherries
Went over to my mother’s house
Took care of house projects for her
Had a yummy dinner
Nice bottle of red wine was opened and mostly consumed
Read American Gods aloud with Stamps-With-Foot before bed

Brunch with Friends
Went to the Sunday farmer’s market
Bought cheese and honey!
Went to the garden store
Bought a bunch of flowers for the yard
Walked the puppies
Planted flowers
Scattered weed&feed in the 1/3 of the back yard that is void of Ireland-green grass
scattered and raked grass seed.
Murdered dandelions
Picked up a mountain of puppy-made landmines 🙁
Mowed the yard
Installed new tire cover on Jeep spare
Put Jeep on the car lift – also now refereed to as “The Jeep Sex Swing”
Changed oil and filter
Only 42 more Oil Changes and the lift pays for itself!! 🙂
Lubed the chassis
Checked and topped off all the fluids
Made happy noises
Had a Coke and smile afterward while sitting in the shade
Printed out GAINT ’84-’86 Jeep Maintenance Manual
Let my internal OCD monster out to play
Custom labels and tabbed separators were made…
Added folders with Maintenance Manuals to shelf in the garage
Watered the garden, yard, and newly seeded dirt patch
More reading
Sleep

Going Topless

June 30, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I made a short film showing all the steps in removing the Hard Top from my 1986 CJ7 Jeep for the first time in 1.5 years. I couldn’t round up the help to pull it off, so I put on my thunking’ cap and used the lift. The garage is a MESS, but my excuse is that we are still remodeling the house and it has been a wet winter and spring so there are materials and projects in work everywhere.

Tuesday After Work 6-27-17

June 27, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Came home after regular work day at my J-O-B. Was tired, a little frustrated, and grumpy. Put on my work boots and overalls before going out into the yard. Mowed, edged, trimmed with the weed-eater, applied infill grass seed in the yard and to a couple of patchy spots in the front parking strip. Finished off with weed&feed, then turned the sprinklers on to activate. Murdering Dandelions and making the grass grow green makes me happy.

Watered the garden – the corn, tomatoes, and peppers are doing very well so far! Stamps-with-Foot called me into the house to eat. She made breakfast for supper – my all time favorite!

I got caught wearing my work boots in the “fancy dining room” at home. Wife made angry wet cat sounds. I got in trouble.

My Week in Review

June 18, 2017 / Matt Talley / 3 Comments

This past week has been a week of mish-mash happenings:

90-day Post-surgery hip appointment: Could have gone better.
Fruit tree pruning
I built a lid for the compost boxes
A rat didn’t like my lid and chewed through the side to get at the worms in the compost bin
I said dirty words
Mounted 7 up-cycled cabinets in the garage
Finished painting 80 liner feet of 1/4 round trim.
Sweep and cleaned GROP
Organized some stuff into new shelves and cabinets.
Finished painting the corner shelf doors – 5 total coats of fresh paint
Installed the hinges and hung the doors on wrong cabinets
Said dirty words
Re-hung doors on the correct cabinet.
Scratched paint
More dirty words
Touched up paint
Finished corner cabinet install
Did some Physical Therapy for my Old Man hip
Mowed and edged the yard
Read a book
Made a few Instagram and Twitter posts
Amazon sent me a new tool!
Flew drone one afternoon after J-O-B
Planted the boxwood shrubs
Bought garden starts at Nursery: tomatoes, corn, squash, zucchini, peppers,herbs, lettuce, etc…
50+ hours at my J-O-B, hustlin’ to keep us fed and the lights on
Watched about 2 hours of NetFlix
Gave away a bed in our home office
Had to delver it to new owner
Drank some French wine
Worked on cedar log garden table
Bought couch/guest bed for the office/TV room
Braved the gauntlet at IKEA – three hours to pick up a pre-ordered couch 🙁
IKEA gave me a $50 discount for the trouble
Had to source clear glass Victorian-style pull knobs for the corner cabinet doors
Spoke to both of my children for Father’s Day
Heart Happy
Planted summer garden
There was some coffee drinking and puppy snuggling
Took top off of Jeep for the first time in 1.5 years
Started Raining the second I took it out of the Garage
Made grumpy noises
Had coffee and listened to a bluegrass jam session at favorite coffee shop
Watched a movie
Was prolific on Twitter and Instagram
Murdered some dandelions
Rode around neighborhood on errands in topless Jeep when it stopped raining
Made happy noises
Sent some J-O-B e-mails from home
Started reading American Gods out loud with my awesome wife
Went to bed to start it all over again on Monday morning

A Year Later – The Garage is Finally Legal and Inspected

June 7, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Holy crap… I got notice from our former garage contractor that the city permit for the build was about to expire. WhAt tHe FUCK!?!? Apparently, he had never called for the final inspection. It just never ends with this guy and the inattention to detail.

After a flurry of calls and e-mails, the city inspector came out yesterday and looked at the framing, roof, gutters, paint, electrical final. He signed off thew garage as legal and conforming but, said that we should have not moved in and started the insulation and drywall until the final was signed and in hand. He was the guy that did the initial inspection and remembered us and the build, so I didn’t have to tear anything out. While I appreciate the contractor letting me know about the expiration, I would have preferred that the inspections were done a year ago when the structure was done.

Update:

The day after the Final Inspection was signed off, I got a notice that a Waste Diversion Report (WDR) needs to be submitted to Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) for all demolition projects as well as any new construction and alteration permits where the project value is $30,000 or greater. Normally this falls to the party that pulled the building permit, but as I did the demo myself it got forwarded to me. Links to the forms are below in case anyone in Seattle needs them.

SPU Waste Diversion Report Manual Form
Seattle WDR Letter 2016

Apparently, if you live in Seattle, our local utility company wants to make triple-extra sure you did not dump any building or demo waste inappropriately. I have the receipts from the equipment company and the hauling company, so there should be no issue.

Getting Stuff Done Over the Weekend

June 5, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We had a really productive weekend around the house – so much so that I to take an old guy nap on Sunday. In no particular order:

Organized and cleaned up shop from Garage sale two weekends ago
Took 10 boxes of good stuff to Goodwill
Bought and brought home cabinets and wine racks from Habitat for Humanity in Tukwila
Sourced and purchased some additional boxwood shrubs and mulch for the yard
Mowed the new sod in the yard for the first time
Took the puppies for a walk
Date Night: Burgers and a late 3D showing of Wonder Woman.
Cleaned house
Spent 1.5 hours looking for either one of my orbital sanders
Said dirty words the whole time
Sanded Corner cabinet doors
Shocked the hot-tub with chemicals getting ready for water and filter change
ad a couple of nice glasses of French rosé in the sunshine.
Made lid from up-cycled ceder fence boards and used hardware for the compost bins
Hung two paintings
Organized dining room
mounted 6 stringed instruments in the hallway
Installed new toilet seat
Ran the chainsaw a bit
Made some woodchips and used as garden bed mulch
Picked up 4 huge rounds of cedar from a neighbor who has a tree cut down to split for kindling
Took out trash and recycling – there was a LOT of the latter
Met new neighbor
Another walk with the puppies
Made a trip to CostCo and dropped more $$ that we wanted to
Paid $12 for a used plywood miter saw station – SCORE!
Drank lots of coffee
Murdered some dandelions in the yard
Paid some bills
Wrote a couple “Thank You” notes
Read a little
Didn’t sleep enough

Making the yard pretty for 2017

May 26, 2017 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

Our back yard has been a mess for over a year: Stacked with left over construction debris, seriously over-grown raised garden beds, unturned compost bins, blackberries along both fences, piles of landscaping stones, weeds, etc.… The front yard was presentable, but only just barely. 2016 was the year of house and garage construction and 2017 was meant to be the year that we focused on the yard. Surgery delayed that a bit and the state of the grounds at La Maison du Talley was getting embarrassing.

I had a couple of guys come out and take a look at our mess to see what it would cost to get it back in home-show worthy shape. I didn’t like either answer. Without going into too much detail about the different bids, the low one was $3500 and the high was almost $5000. There was no way in Hell that the frugal DNA coursing through my veins, passed down from both the Talley and Webster lines, would biologically allow me to spend that kind of money on grass, mulch, and a few flowers.

After I was well on the mend and cleared by my physical therapist, I did some planning, logistic estimation, material cost math, and decided to do it myself with a bit of casual day labor. I also decided that the mature ornamental cherry trees I wanted for the parking strip would have to wait, that I didn’t need to bring in topsoil and plant grass seed. I scaled back the dream a little bit, bought 86 rolls of sod, 19 bags of mulch, 8 bags of garden soil, some boxwood shrubs, 15 Spanish lavender plants, and let my sweet wife buy all the pretty flowers that her heart desired.

In two days, the front and back yards were transformed! I hauled away 1600 pounds of yard waste, made one dump run for trash, one run full of recyclables, and we spent less than $1000. We will spend the next few weeks watering and fussing over little details, but by July 4th, we should have Ireland-green grass, pretty flowers, healthy fruit trees and the BBQ grill roaring. Money and time well spent.