To view the article go here.....Race Talk makes pit stop at Grand Blanc.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
R & G Article in the Local Newspaper
Our local newspaper, The Grand Blanc View, carried a nice story about R & G's racing.
To view the article go here.....Race Talk makes pit stop at Grand Blanc.
To view the article go here.....Race Talk makes pit stop at Grand Blanc.
Monday, June 28, 2010
I Feel the Urge
According to the weather forecast, we have seen the last of the rain for the next week. In addition to the 'no rain' forecast, the rarely correct weathermen are saying that the temperatures will fall nicely into the 70's. Yippee, I couldn't be happier.
Work slows to a snail's pace when the temps are in the mid to high 80's and coupled with high humidity. Throw in rain and absolutely nothing gets done. But I think I feel the urge to get something done.
So here is the plan......quit laughing...it's a plan...not a contract.
Complete all mowing today.
Finish putting down black mulch that was bought on Saturday.
Spray Round Up (this alone should take 4-5 hrs) large yard plus need to refill.
Sand trim on sun room exterior.
Caulk all new trim on sun room exterior.
Prime sun room exterior.
Strip paint on next section of house.
Sand, caulk, prime this section and the doorway section that already has new shingles and trim.
Work on painting the chain link while fence is in the shade.
Photos and progress to follow. Oh oh....man I just had an irresistible urge to take a nap. Not a good sign. Must get moving. NOW!
"Every time I feel the urge to exercise, I sit down until the urge goes away." Mark Twain
Work slows to a snail's pace when the temps are in the mid to high 80's and coupled with high humidity. Throw in rain and absolutely nothing gets done. But I think I feel the urge to get something done.
So here is the plan......quit laughing...it's a plan...not a contract.
Complete all mowing today.
Finish putting down black mulch that was bought on Saturday.
Spray Round Up (this alone should take 4-5 hrs) large yard plus need to refill.
Sand trim on sun room exterior.
Caulk all new trim on sun room exterior.
Prime sun room exterior.
Strip paint on next section of house.
Sand, caulk, prime this section and the doorway section that already has new shingles and trim.
Work on painting the chain link while fence is in the shade.
Photos and progress to follow. Oh oh....man I just had an irresistible urge to take a nap. Not a good sign. Must get moving. NOW!
"Every time I feel the urge to exercise, I sit down until the urge goes away." Mark Twain
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time Out To Do a Radio Show
One of the reasons we are running behind on chores here at 'The Gear' is that on June 9th R and G both displayed their race cars at a local business. I know it doesn't sound like it would take a lot of time but prep and execution required two days.
The radio show 'Race Talk', on 1470AM, was also present and is on air from 7-9PM every Wednesday. Both R and G did interviews that went well since they both have the gift of gab. Here is a photo of G with announcers Ed Inloes and Larry Loynes.
My cousin, Judy and her husband Paul came to watch as did several people I used to work with before I retired to a life of leisure.....leisure? What leisure?
R and G's cars were a hit. Not ever day do you drive by Whigville Market and see these sitting out front.
Of course there were kids who needed help getting in and out of the cars. Isn't he cute?
Several other cars were on display. One was a 4 cylinder Neon that is raced by a 13 year old girl. After the radio show was over everyone loaded their cars into their haulers or on to their trailers. One of our haulers was slightly blocking the young girl's trailer. We said we would move but they indicated it was not a problem and that she would be able to maneuver her car into place without us moving. Sure enough she was able to essentially back in between in a very tight space and load her car and she's only 13! She'll nail the parallel spacing part of driver training.
I purchased a bottle of chocolate red wine from Holland while I was at Whigville Market for the radio show. Very tasty. Make sure and save their website in your favorites. The website is very informative and is loaded with a lot of unusual drink recipes. This was the first time I had ever been to the Whigville Market and was shocked at the variety they carried. You name it, they carry it.
The radio show 'Race Talk', on 1470AM, was also present and is on air from 7-9PM every Wednesday. Both R and G did interviews that went well since they both have the gift of gab. Here is a photo of G with announcers Ed Inloes and Larry Loynes.
My cousin, Judy and her husband Paul came to watch as did several people I used to work with before I retired to a life of leisure.....leisure? What leisure?R and G's cars were a hit. Not ever day do you drive by Whigville Market and see these sitting out front.
Of course there were kids who needed help getting in and out of the cars. Isn't he cute?
Several other cars were on display. One was a 4 cylinder Neon that is raced by a 13 year old girl. After the radio show was over everyone loaded their cars into their haulers or on to their trailers. One of our haulers was slightly blocking the young girl's trailer. We said we would move but they indicated it was not a problem and that she would be able to maneuver her car into place without us moving. Sure enough she was able to essentially back in between in a very tight space and load her car and she's only 13! She'll nail the parallel spacing part of driver training.I purchased a bottle of chocolate red wine from Holland while I was at Whigville Market for the radio show. Very tasty. Make sure and save their website in your favorites. The website is very informative and is loaded with a lot of unusual drink recipes. This was the first time I had ever been to the Whigville Market and was shocked at the variety they carried. You name it, they carry it.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Trimming Dead Branches with a Chainsaw on a Stick
We decided today to trim dead and low hanging branches since it was again too windy today to spray Round Up on my weeds.
For the small branches R used his chainsaw on a stick (small electric chainsaw on an adjustable pole). Sounds like a good idea but it is killer on the back. I was happy to be the designated ladder holder today.
Oops...I guess I didn't do too good of a job holding the ladder. But it is difficult to get a good photograph using one hand. I believe R's exact words were..."will you put down that #$%^ camera and hold the ladder." To which I replied.."I need a photo for my blog." I won't tell you what he said about my blog. LOL
The plan for tomorrow is to pick up all the branches and finish cutting the dead branches out of the large ash tree that is growing next to the two large pines we trimmed today. The weather forecast is for storms by 2pm on Wednesday. I hope the rain holds off until about 6pm so we can finish up this round of trimming.
The next photo is an after photo. I like the limbs to be the same height all along the bottom. Before we trimmed these pine trees some of the boughs would touch your head when you walked under them. The limbs were also resting on the weeping mulberry tree which would in time kill the part of the mulberry tree that it was touching.
Pray for no rain until late Wednesday. We have had so much rain that it seems that all we do is mow and pull weeds.
For the small branches R used his chainsaw on a stick (small electric chainsaw on an adjustable pole). Sounds like a good idea but it is killer on the back. I was happy to be the designated ladder holder today.
Oops...I guess I didn't do too good of a job holding the ladder. But it is difficult to get a good photograph using one hand. I believe R's exact words were..."will you put down that #$%^ camera and hold the ladder." To which I replied.."I need a photo for my blog." I won't tell you what he said about my blog. LOLThe plan for tomorrow is to pick up all the branches and finish cutting the dead branches out of the large ash tree that is growing next to the two large pines we trimmed today. The weather forecast is for storms by 2pm on Wednesday. I hope the rain holds off until about 6pm so we can finish up this round of trimming.
The next photo is an after photo. I like the limbs to be the same height all along the bottom. Before we trimmed these pine trees some of the boughs would touch your head when you walked under them. The limbs were also resting on the weeping mulberry tree which would in time kill the part of the mulberry tree that it was touching.
Pray for no rain until late Wednesday. We have had so much rain that it seems that all we do is mow and pull weeds.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Pink and Green Bathroom Sinks 4 Sale
Does anyone need a pink or green bathroom sink? Cheap. Twenty bucks a piece.
I have one pink and one green. I know there are two pink sinks in the photo but one is cracked. We only kept it because of the cool retro chrome faucet.
If you buy the first sink you can have your choice of whether to take the broken sink to get the cool faucet. The faucets are in good condition. The chrome is shiny and does not appear to have any corrosion.
The sinks are in good condition. They both have mineral deposits and surface rust around the drain. Nothing a little elbow grease can't cure.
The sinks are marked "Standard" which I assume is American Standard but I could be wrong. The sinks also come with their chrome trim piece. I have also seen these sinks installed without the chrome piece.
Feel free to contact me at the email address located on the right side of the page.
I have one pink and one green. I know there are two pink sinks in the photo but one is cracked. We only kept it because of the cool retro chrome faucet.
If you buy the first sink you can have your choice of whether to take the broken sink to get the cool faucet. The faucets are in good condition. The chrome is shiny and does not appear to have any corrosion.
The sinks are in good condition. They both have mineral deposits and surface rust around the drain. Nothing a little elbow grease can't cure.The sinks are marked "Standard" which I assume is American Standard but I could be wrong. The sinks also come with their chrome trim piece. I have also seen these sinks installed without the chrome piece.
Feel free to contact me at the email address located on the right side of the page.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Painting the Chain Link Fence
Our property is surrounded by a 6 foot tall chain link fence. Simply put.....it is ugly.
In some places the chain link is rusty. It appears that at some time the fence was repainted with silver colored paint. So why not paint it again?
My hope was that by painting the fence in a satin black that it would recede into the background and disappear. I'm using Rust Oleum black satin enamel. This is the same paint I used on the wrought iron driveway gates.
Here is what the fence in the right side of the driveway looked before painting. These photos are not the best. Photographing chain link fence while facing the sun rarely results in a good photo.
Here is the fence after painting the posts and top rails. You can see my neighbors chain link fence on the right side of the photo. The fence no longer jumps out at you. It recedes nicely into the background. Of course I would rather have wrought iron to match the gate but as R would say,"If wishes were horses we could all take a ride." Where in heck does he come up with these sayings?
I still need to paint the chain link but I want to wait until I can do both sides of the chain link at the same time. It was getting late when I finished painting the posts and top rails this evening. I will use a small roller to paint the chain link.
That was several days ago. I have now started painting with the small roller. That is going slower than I expected but I like the results.
Painting has come to a standstill between the rain and intense heat. At this point I have about 20% of the fence painted.
In some places the chain link is rusty. It appears that at some time the fence was repainted with silver colored paint. So why not paint it again?
My hope was that by painting the fence in a satin black that it would recede into the background and disappear. I'm using Rust Oleum black satin enamel. This is the same paint I used on the wrought iron driveway gates.
Here is what the fence in the right side of the driveway looked before painting. These photos are not the best. Photographing chain link fence while facing the sun rarely results in a good photo.
Here is the fence after painting the posts and top rails. You can see my neighbors chain link fence on the right side of the photo. The fence no longer jumps out at you. It recedes nicely into the background. Of course I would rather have wrought iron to match the gate but as R would say,"If wishes were horses we could all take a ride." Where in heck does he come up with these sayings?
I still need to paint the chain link but I want to wait until I can do both sides of the chain link at the same time. It was getting late when I finished painting the posts and top rails this evening. I will use a small roller to paint the chain link.That was several days ago. I have now started painting with the small roller. That is going slower than I expected but I like the results.
Painting has come to a standstill between the rain and intense heat. At this point I have about 20% of the fence painted.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Another New Birdbath
We have been so busy this past month that I just haven't had time to post about any of the things going on around The Gear. Things have slowed down a bit so I will try and catch up.
I last posted about the 5 dollar birdbath base and the new top we purchased. Both the top and base needed painting. Here's a before shot to refresh your memory.
And here is the finished painted birdbath. Please ignore the weeds that are among my hostas. This summer has had plenty of rain and the weeds have enjoyed every drop.
The Flint Art Fair was June 12th and 13th and with our Flint Institute of Arts membership we received 2 free passes.
We got a late start because R slept in since he got home late from a full weekend of racing. I noticed that this year there seemed to be an abundance of lawn objet de' art. Then we both spotted this....
How cool is that? A birdbath made out of a rotary lawnmower blade and a large gear. "R go look and see how much it is." He reported back that it was $350 bucks and was sold. To tell you the truth I was glad it was sold because I really did not want to pay 350 smackers. So we moved on.
Then we spied this little gem over by the lady on the right side of the photo
Here's a closer look. OK R, go work your magic. He's a much better wheeler dealer than I am. Remember the patio furniture he bought for $15.00? We sold it last week for $75.00. LOL
Well, he must have done good because there he goes past the Whiting Auditorium and all the future graduates.....
and past the Sarvis Food Center on his way to the SUV.
And here is it in place amongst the roses and lavender. The price? $65.00
I last posted about the 5 dollar birdbath base and the new top we purchased. Both the top and base needed painting. Here's a before shot to refresh your memory.
And here is the finished painted birdbath. Please ignore the weeds that are among my hostas. This summer has had plenty of rain and the weeds have enjoyed every drop.
The Flint Art Fair was June 12th and 13th and with our Flint Institute of Arts membership we received 2 free passes.
We got a late start because R slept in since he got home late from a full weekend of racing. I noticed that this year there seemed to be an abundance of lawn objet de' art. Then we both spotted this....
How cool is that? A birdbath made out of a rotary lawnmower blade and a large gear. "R go look and see how much it is." He reported back that it was $350 bucks and was sold. To tell you the truth I was glad it was sold because I really did not want to pay 350 smackers. So we moved on.Then we spied this little gem over by the lady on the right side of the photo
Here's a closer look. OK R, go work your magic. He's a much better wheeler dealer than I am. Remember the patio furniture he bought for $15.00? We sold it last week for $75.00. LOL
Well, he must have done good because there he goes past the Whiting Auditorium and all the future graduates.....
and past the Sarvis Food Center on his way to the SUV.
And here is it in place amongst the roses and lavender. The price? $65.00