Father. Uncle. Husband. Grandpa!
Headed to Germany to kick off the build portion of a very exciting new software service! Watch this thread for hopefully some cool pictures!
Had a quick lunch in DFW at Gas Monkey Garage in Terminal D!
Was not able to sleep on flight, even with my friend Ambien helping….
Had a fun 100+ MPH drive to the hotel!
4 hours of sleep and time for meetings!! More tomorrow!!!
Here is the article that Novant Health wrote about the aortic dissection by father experienced.
It was for me an interesting experience as well.
My mom called me on the phone while she was driving my father to the hospital. I was relaying information to my wife who is a Paramedic for Tucson Fire and remember her face go white when I said the words “Aortic Dissection”.
And then her comment “You need to go!”
I was on a plane that evening and was in North Carolina the next morning at 6am.
This is what I found when I arrived on February 27th:
I know right? What hospital in their right mind runs Windows? Really? If you don’t keep your humor…
Through the whole week I had an innate sense of calm – I knew Dad would be ok. I never doubted it, never questioned it, just a solid feeling of faith. A very cool thing indeed.
Here he is on March 5th:
That would be me on the left, freezing, Dad of course in bed, Brent my bro and Amy my sister.
And my last view when heading home, on his feet in his new home!!!
Days until Shelbie’s Wedding
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My nephews CJ, Wade and Ty are the athletic type. Actually their sisters are as well! Apparently the boys were watching You Tube on the ole inner web and come across the stunt shot type videos and were motivated to make their own.
I have no idea who the camera man was or who did the editing or how many millions of “takes” it took but the goofiness is their own!
Is it real? You decide…
Enjoy!
I have been wanting to build a new desk using some barge wood ever since my non-fishing trip to Florida. I picked up the barge wood from BroMike on the way home. Here is a link to the post showing and explaining the barge wood. Check it out.
The plan was to put together two of the 18 inch boards to make the top slab of the desk. This would make the slab 36 inches deep – lots of room. Issue is that I wanted an 8 foot wide desk so I can spread things out. Also, the bigger the better. We had to prep the boards by removing some of the old nails and fixing some of the splits by gluing the boards. and applying pressure. We had cut the boards down from 12 feet to 6 feet for transport. I did not think that far ahead to cut them to 8 feet – I wish I had. So we used a 6 foot board and a 2 foot extension to make up each of the now 8 foot boards.
Picture below is the prep to cut the two foot extensions. Got to use my classic Craftsman circular saw and was reminded that you should use larger teeth on thicker wood.
Here is the desk slab laid out on the garage floor before putting it all together.
We then placed the 2 newly made 8 foot boards together with lots of pocket hole screws. Here is the finished slab. It isn’t perfectly square (on purpose) due to the variations in the boards. I left the natural edges on because I like the look.
For the base of the desk we used 4×6’s for the four corners and 2×6’s for everything else. I built in some lower corner shelves for speakers and will probably add more features later as I use the desk.
I also dado cut the 4×6’s so that the 2×6’s would sit inside the legs giving it a cleaner look. Here is the frame before staining.
No beers were harmed during the making of this desk. A few were consumed, but they were not harmed.
I then had an epiphany – I should probably clean the slab before we actually use it. I sprayed down the slab and removed quite a lot of dirt. I then had ANOTHER epiphany and decided a slight clear coat would be a good idea.
I will probably need to mount more than a few surge suppressors to the back and add some wire management but I love the look of it so far. It is quite a large and beefly looking man-computer-desk!
Here is a close up showing the texture of the slab:
Now I just need a name….
We made it to Bonita Canyon. It’s just under 184 degrees. But we are having a blast and the beer is cold.
Here is Indecision Camp.
There is no cell service at camp which is fine with me. On arrival we made camp and settled in for the night.
I made camping spaghetti on our old Coleman Exponent propane stove. Sautéed mushrooms and spicy sausage with sauce and angel hair pasta. Yummy stuff.
Too many dang rules at this site. We get the “no fires” rules. Some of the others were a bit stupid.
Here is Linda flipping off the rules while she takes a shower. The camp shower worked great!!
In the morning it was “Brad Coates” bacon and eggs. I really need to clean the grill I guess.
I think it was the last night we will ever sleep in a tent. Campsite was not level and the birds at Bonita Canyon seriously can not hold a tune. It was nice and chilly at night however.
Linda does not like it when I take her picture. “She don’t know she’s beautiful” – good country song.
Tank and Milo don’t seem to mind!
It’s a good thing I apologized in advance (I did, truly. Just before we left while sitting in the driveway. I told Linda I am male and I am sorry for what is about to happen. Ask her.).
The weather forecast when I made the reservation showed temps in the high 70’s. Perfect camping weather. Reality is that it was much freakin hotter. The only thing to do at Bonita Canyon is to hike. Not good in this heat. So we decided to make lunch and bolt home!
So maybe we will go look at the Airstream Tommy Bahama Special Edition travel trailer! I said look! Will probably end up with a fifth wheel. However it was good to know I can still put up a mean campsite.
Know anyone who wants a ton of high quality camping gear???
The dog platform worked great. The Engle did its usual great job. The truck performed flawlessly. The dogs didn’t puke on their first long trip in a vehicle and Linda smiled a lot. Especially on the way home and right after we stopped at Dairy Queen!! Ohhhh and I had my yearly Blizzard. Great trip!
We need space in the backseat of the truck for the dogs so they can go with us on some upcoming trips. I started researching some flat platforms for the rear seat of the F250. Apparently there were some model years in which Ford had an option for a flat steel fold out platform. Our truck does not have that platform but rather some very nice underseat storage with a handy 12V DC power outlet. In researching and talking to some guys on the inner web, I located a few of these platforms for purchase.
But then I went to measure how much room the dogs would have with the flat steel platform in and without removing the rear seat. Turns out not too much! I could gain another 1.5 feet of room by rooming the rear sear. More is always better so I decided to remove the rear seat in the King Ranch and build my own dang dog platform!
Note: The middle seatbelt has a very small release hole where the normal red release button should be. Took me a while to find that. Simply insert a pin and push. Make believe your removing a seat belt for a bee. It works. Also, be careful when removing the connector for the under seat 12 volt power socket as that is a bit tricky.
The platform will be about 35.5 inches deep and 57 inches wide in the truck.
Next we need some support slats to run front to back under the platform for support. The issue here is that the floor isn’t “flat”. Ford decided that would just be too simple. SO I invented the special “Schauf Contour Tool” which is a 35.5 inch piece of cardboard to match length of platform with duct tape and bamboo skewers and a level. I am pretty sure Sears will start carrying them soon. This will also me to measure each slat to perfectly match the contour of the floor.
Next using the SCT (catch up people, its an acronym for the tool) I adjusted the skewers along the SCT to match the contour of the floor where this particular slat will make contact.
Hey don’t laugh. Worked pretty well so far!
Update: So apparently this type of tool was already invented and is called a “Contour Tool”. There are up more than a few of them available on Amazon – however they are NOT 35 inches long! Dang another patent down the drain.
At this point I transferred the contour points onto the 35.5 x 6.5 slat and connected the dots. I learned how to do that at an early age. Still can’t stay in the lines though.
Ok, so after cutting it looks like the SCT will work. I need to measure out and cut about 3 more slats. I wish the floor were the same the width of the truck but it isn’t. Thanks Ford.
Since we chose MDF for strength and weight, I had to augment it so the slats have better support. (Zoom in). I used 1×1’s on each side of each slat for extra support and so that I would have a solid surface to drill into from the top.
Also since it’s about 198° in the garage here in Arizona, even at night, I am fabricating in the kitchen. I promise I’ll clean up the mess honey. This picture shows the structurally complete platform.
OK time to see if it fits in the truck! And it does! I forgot to take a picture of the level showing a completely centered bubble.
I then positioned the Engle refrigerator so that I could maximize space for the dogs and determine where to put the tiedown points.
The boys were very excited and have plenty of room!
At some point I’ll finish up with carpet to match the interior of the truck but for now will just use their dog beds.
Found a simple way to toggle the viewing of hidden files on a Mac today (macOS Sierra).
Command-Shft-. (command + shift + period)
This is system wide and is a toggle. This will show hidden files on the desktop too, which is just another instance of Finder. Very handy.
I have been preparing, as I have time, to get us into more Overlanding activities. This includes upgrades to the F250, planning for space in the truck for the dogs and Engle and deciding what other bits of kit we will need ( Leitner Active Cargo System, RTT, etc)
We also need to find great places to go! I had been camping years ago with my kids and our friends the Winn’s. I could not remember where we went but knew the general vicinity (east of Tucson).
I then ran across the site Campendium. It is awesome! It will show you what RV Parks, National Parks and Forests and State parks have camping near you! I was able to quickly use the site to find Riggs Flat Campground which is where we went with the Winn’s!
Anyway it is a great site and we plan on using it to plan some trips hopefully soon!
People from Arizona are always saying “it’s a dry heat” because it actually is. Personally, I like it hot. It’s not “hot” until its over 110. Today its hot.
Just for giggles I used the laser temp gauge to test how how the cement on the patio is – its 132.2 degrees!
Drink lots of water and be safe out there Arizona.
They are actually cancelling flights out of Phoenix because its so hot!
According to American Airlines, the maximum operating temperature for each aircraft is based on manufacturer data:
• Airbus: 127 degrees
• Boeing: 126 degrees
• Bombardier CRJ regional aircraft: 118 degrees