Eeh by gum

We are hopefully adopting a dog this week so I needed to put a gate on the backyard asap.

My wife knowing my tendency to procrastinate bought a generic gate kit and latch off Amazon which gave me a good starting point.

Given the deadline and being my first time doing this I figured go simple as possible: rectangular 2x4 frame with 1x6 fence boards across the front and some diagonal braces at the back.

Then I went to double check my measurements and started thinking it would last better if the boards were capped as our old fence ended up pretty snaggle-toothed. Also if I lapped the boards it would match the new fence really nicely and I wouldn't have to rip all the boards to a weird width to fit the gap.

Ah well on to the MK2 version. Didn't need the braces anyway as the kit comes with metal corners.

Made a cut list and $110.30 CAD (ouch!) of pressure treated lumber later was ready to start Saturday afternoon.

Not many progress photos as I was focused on the task at hand.

My favorite detail was using the radial arm saw to buzz down the cap to fit over the top of the hinge and hide it. This thing has proved its value today and I'm going to give it some upgrades (I'll do another post on that)

I started after lunch and got the last hinge hung by the light of the impact driver. (I maintain I'm not stubborn at all - my wife says otherwise). No pics cos it was dark.

Next morning there was rain in the forecast at 10am so I skipped breakfast and jumped straight into cutting and mounting the 4x4 post onto the foundation.

The concrete anchors available were nowhere near long enough to pass through a 4x4 and I thought L- brackets would be hideous so I counterbored more than half way through the piece and tightened the nuts up with an extension.

Mistakes were made; the first cut I did was exactly 1/4" too short when I fixated on getting the saw lined up exactly and forgot the number. Past me was smart enough to foresee such dumbassery however and had plenty of spare material.
I also didn't clean enough concrete dust out of the first hole in the wall and hammered over the thread on the anchor trying to get it in.
Sawzall to the rescue: I zipped the tip off and was back in business.

Got it all finished just in time to take the kids swimming and before the rain started.


Still not 100% happy with it, but I never am. The gate swings open when released and the latch bounces if not closed gently. I figure both can be fixed by adding a spring later and for now its nice and solid.

Just as well since the rescue emailed while I was writing and we pickup the dog tomorrow night!

This was the one I could find on a quick skim but apparently there were others tagged as Mazespin Park, Variante Mazespin, and Nikita Mazespin Playground on Google Maps.

Hat tip to GFYDJT on Kinja

Edit: there's lots more

My VW Jetta wagon is off to Car Heaven (that's literally the name of the organization that coordinates the charity scrap donations).
I'm a bit sad about it but feeling the back caliper drag as I backed it up and hearing the exhaust blow as he drove it up the bed we definitely made the right choice - it was not worth putting money into. I was able snap off a chunk of the rocker with my fingers while cleaning it out over the weekend...
I kept the VW screwdriver as a souvenir after using it to remove the rear plate.

My new favorite thing is is electrek's weird alibaba EV of the week.

Here's an electric RV based on a piaggio ape style scooter.

https://electrek.co/2021/02/27/awesomely-weird-alibaba-ev-of-the-week-a-4800-electric-rv-with-a-small-catch/

Aparently it has a 40kph (25mph) top speed which actually might be alright if you live on a small island in the Atlantic, would allow you to really appreciate the passing scenery in detail.

Here's a video tour

I wondered if this should have been posted to overland but decided against it since this thing can barely over-road..

@RallyDarkstrike

This van for sale on FB marketplace truly is a spiritual successor to the custom conversion vans of yore, all it needs is a wizard.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1521043014908541/

However the extent of the conversion appears only to be sticking a bed in the back (which to be fair is all you need for its stated purpose). Despite the seller's claim of "perfect for camping" it's not exactly #vanlife ready.


I think this guy must be getting high on his own supply too as he's asking $18,500 CAD for it! A y2k Chevy Express van with 214,000km and an airbrush paint job.
For that I price i'd want at least cookin' and possibly shittin' to be installed in addition to the Shaggin'

Congratulations!

Was unloading groceries from my car when I heard a plane coming in, my thought process went something like this:

*Wind must be out of the north today, makes sense, it snowed this morning
<glances up>
*That's a bit of a chubbier boi than usual
*Hang on, are those wheels along the side?
*Holy shit, that's an Antonov!
<desperately grabs phone> shit, shit, shit, shit, shit
I have never been so mad at how slow my phone is to load the camera (mostly my fault for all the other crap I left running) as by the time it booted all I caught was it fading into the distance.
It would hardly have @ttyymmnn's new super camera plane photography even if I'd caught it sooner.

I then pulled up Flightradar: it was this plane operated by Volga-Dnepr airlines coming in from Anchorage, which I have to assume was a refueling stop. Wonder what it's hauling.

VI4524 from Anchorage to Toronto https://fr24.com/VDA4524/277850c2

I remember we had one of the really big Antonovs (edit, there's only one of them) come through YYZ around this time last year too hauling PPE from China, that caused a fair bit of planespotter buzz.

If I knew when it was scheduled to leave again I'd be tempted to scoot up to the airport with the kids and see if we could watch it takeoff.

Some awesome old photos on English Russia today

https://englishrussia.com/2021/06/15/archive-photos-of-soviet-aiports/

But the one that really struck me is this photo of Andrey Tupolev and Sergey Ilyushin in 1966, Moscow.

So we needed more storage in the family room and on Friday my wife half jokingly sent me a Kijiji listing for a gigantic 8' x 6' mid-century teak wall unit in great condition for $150

I only thing I love more than mid-century furniture is a bargain so booked the big boy 6'x12' U-Haul box trailer and I headed the hour north to Barrie Saturday morning.

I am a pretty frequent flyer with Uhaul after the last couple of years of moving/reno so helped the girl in the yard hookup the trailer which was too heavy for her to lift onto the ball (weirdly the big box ones don't have trailer jacks like the utilities do) then she chained and wired it up. All set, I texted the seller a Waze link with my eta and pulled away.

"Damn this thing feels heavy, no I don't have the parking brake on" <looks backward again> "oh shit there's two of them!?"

Turns out it's friend wanted to come too!

See the scrape?

EDIT: ahahahaha I just looked more closely at the photo above and saw all the other scrapes on the floor alongside! This is clearly a common event

What had happened is they'd parked the two trailers super tight together with the tongue of the back one under the front. When we leveled up my trailer the back axle came down and snagged top of the rear one's tongue.

Shit

There's no employees anywhere around and now I'm on the clock to meet the seller. How do I get out of this without having to completely unhitch and/or go all the way back up to the office?

We'll it's only hanging on by a thread maybe I can pop it up and off. Scavenging around the yard I was able to find a short piece of 2x4 and a chunk of concrete about the same height. Wedged them under the back wheels of the trailer put it in low range and inched forward. Success, it's free but now I've left a trailer in the middle of the aisle. At this point an employee swung by; he didn't seem too concerned that I'd attempted the 2-4-1 deal and sent me on my way while shuttling the escapee back with a hand dolly.

The rest of the trip went reasonably smoothly and despite some cottage country traffic I made it there during the window I said I would (I've been jerked around by enough flaky sellers - I always show up on time)

Nice old couple moving out of their condo to live with their daughter so needed to shift it quickly. Their son helped me load carry it out the patio doors into the trailer then I strapped it in place. All very smooth.

Weirdly the trailer felt worse coming home loaded, definite faint porpoising sensation even at steady speed on the highway. Made me wonder if the surge brake was set too sensitive although when I mentioned it to the guy at dropoff he said the brake was only for emergencies if it comes unhitched. I know there's a third chain for that purpose but I'm pretty sure those springs and that linkage are to activate when it pushes forwards against the hitch.

The unload into our house was the worst part; it splits into 3 pieces but they're still bloody heavy and we scuffed paint on a couple of places coming in. I'm reasonably confident it'll buff out but anyone got any tips for cleaning teak?

Aside from that it's in fantastic shape, one of the bar hinges is broken so I'll have to fix that but worst case I'll 3d print a part.
Spent today loading it up and adding Lego to display on the shelf.

@kiltedpadre oh I've gotta see the treasure island one now. The straight Muppet movies I've seen just haven't been as good.

Clearly Michael Caine, giving an Oscar worthy performance alongside Kermit the Frog

@thebarber so we're going to risk life and limb to check the sprinkler heads which are located directly above a massive pool of water? - ok boss

@ttyymmnn this was hot shit when I was in elementary school to the point where they held a massive concert in Leeds Town Hall with kids from dozens of elementary schools singing the songs from it. I think there was an orchestra on stage and then we were packed into the bleachers all the way up around the organ (it felt quite high)

It must have sounded dreadful but presumably they sold out the tickets to our parents.
Sidebar do not bother with the dead dog mediocre sequel.

@davesaddiction the dumbest part is that lift looks like it might be a rental. Pretty sure there are boom lifts available that would reach that spot from dry land.

@nauraushaun that's from when I went on a Hysteria kick some time in the Spring. It told me I listened to 340+ different artists this year but most of the stuff here is from me binging it for a week straight.

@bicyclebuck YES! That's been constant loop for me all week. There's a sequel album too and this playlist puts them both together with a few of the other old standards.
Honorable mention should go to the Ultra-Lounge Christmas albums too for something a bit more mid-mod

@daswauto it's actually not too shocking given the stat that over half of Toronto's population was born outside Canada.
I grew up in the UK, met a cute Canadian girl at university and figured I'd come give it a try. That was in '06, two kids and a labrador later here we are.
Should get my kids UK passports at some point in case they ever want to go study/work there but they aren't so valuable now it's not an EU multi-pass.

Mine is heavily mangled by not using it for 90% of the year and blaring just a few heavy albums to wake myself or big band to focus over the last month.

Top pick holds up though

@daswauto did mine when we saw it was easier than the PR renewal application.