geekhouse23's "LIFE'S WAITING TO BEGIN" Overland & Home build and all the Adventures in between!

Another back breaking weekend..

All the rocks and dirt that needs to be hauled away was moved from the front entryway to the other side of the driveway and we are reaching out to a few companies tomorrow for quotes to have that all hauled away.



We picked up more crushed shell, dirt and bricks for a planter bed in front of the porch. The area around the palm tree and along the sidewalk will be sodded.

Moved some things around in the garage. Got the workbench in the corner and I disassembled it to remove 9" from the width of the bench. Now, I can open the toolbox drawers without hitting the workbench.







- The 5 drawer will be a placeholder for the new miter saw cart.

- The new wheels for the workbench are on hold after Amazon sent me a set of 3 instead of 4.

- I picked up the 2x4's this morning for the shelf above the storage cabinets are going to go.

Today, we got to the beach to relax and I got some fishing in at the home pond.





It's supposed to rain this weekend so I should be able to get the oil changed, tires rotated etc.

 

Made this for the wife. Today's the anniversary of our engagement.

 

Finally received a sent of 4 from Amazon. Placed a second order (these) and filed a return for the set of 3 and they're sending me another set of 4; which I'll use for the mitre saw cart. These things roll like butter.



- Also, NTD. Deal was from last week and I had to run to the store to grab it. Shipping wasn't available.



House update(s)

[RANT]

- water softener; can't seem to win. Called the plumbing company back that rebuilt our water softener tank head since we kept finding water all over the floor in the garage after they came and replaced the tank once. They came Tuesday and replaced the head. Well, come to find more water on the floor in the garage last night. Not a ton but still water.

Called them this morning and the technician came back with the owner of the company and sure enough, found another crack in the tank where the head screws into the tank. If the technician had paid attention Tuesday, he would have seen the crack and didn't have to be on a watch list with the owner.

They're replacing the tank with a brand new one today.

[/RANT]

- renting a dumpster trailer for the weekend to dispose all the landscaping leftovers from our projects.

- have sod coming Saturday afternoon and we'll lay sod on Sunday morning.

Almost there.

 

Rented a dumpster trailer to remove all the previous landscaping to get rid of the river rock and red rock. Ended up removing two bigger bushes, cleaned up the big palm tree a good bit, removed some mulch and smaller bushes and plants and sodded in the rain yesterday. Damaged a sprinkler head while removing one of the bigger bushes and we ended up having to relocate it for a gate we want to put in on one side of the house.









Should have some free time this weekend to finally get to the oil change and tire rotation. Could probably have done it today but we were just too damn sore and tired.

I will snap some better photos once the trailer is picked up and hopefully the sun comes back.

The front landscaping is finally done.

 

Not too shabby..

 

Lookin good!!!

 

Oil change, tire rotation, new wipers and a cabin filter featuring doge.



Shelf for more storage:





Need to empty the cabinets and reorganize everything. Probably add some of those 2x4 supports in the back for added peace of mind. We hit the studs in the back and sides but you can't have too much support. That box in the middle is roughly 50lbs and is one of the lighter boxes that I have..

 

If anything, the top of your cabinet will support it if the 2x4s ever manage to fail. That's a tight fit.

 

Likely going to revisit the cabinets and possibly build shelves instead. The cabinets are nice and might be kept for other purposes, but the amount of space these shelves add would be ideal in this spot. You lose a good foot to foot and half behind them due to a 4" PVC pipe behind the one on the left.

 

Truck stuff:

Last year (May 2023), I noticed an issue with the bumper light bar switch. I am not sure what happened and I know it was nothing that I did (I believe). As far as I know, it was working fine and then one day it wasn't. Previous to noticing this, the only thing I did was repair the sasquatch (roof rack light wiring) and completely wired up a new harness for my rock lights. They're all on their own wiring and switch. Only think "daisy chained" is power to the switches and the backlighting for the switches when the driving/head lights are on.

I was just taking a look at it and when the bumper light bar switch is turned on, the DRLs come on (steady) and halos of the retrofits turn on and flash. When I noticed this last year, the bumper light bar was constantly on while the truck was running and the switch was turned off. I cut the ground and taped it up. It was when we went to get our engagement photos done and I drove there just fine and then leaving the venue where we took photos, the light bar was on. So it wasn't like I was working on the truck in between taking photos.

No sure what would cause this. Never had an issue before with this with any of the switches. All the other switches work and engage their corresponding accessory successfully. It's just this one switch. I haven't noticed anything factory that's been having issues as a result of this and the DRLs, corners and halos all work normally without this switch being engaged.

Not really sure what to troubleshoot here. So, I just purchased a new rocker switch body from otrattw.net and I will try that when it arrives. That's a relatively inexpensive and quick step towards figuring out what's happening.

Has anyone ever come across something like this?

 

Also, this just arrived:

 

Love new tool day!

 

What a weekend. Offshore fishing was cancelled, but I didn't let that stop me. It was quite the weekend.

 

Been getting some things done in the garage:

@fatfurious2

Mounted an extension cord reel, my little vacuum and a shelf for storage. Recycled some scrap wood from the previous owners and some 2x4 scraps I had brought with. It really only cost me a new 2x4.



Moved most of my fishing rods out of my office and into the garage. Had to build an expanded fishing rod holder. This one holds 16. Almost full again.. almost



Got the laundry room cabinets hung up today..still need to clean and organize. Hoping to get some truck mods done and clean out my totes.

Mitre saw coming soon..



The third bay is really coming along nicely.



This was fun:



Got some gutters put up on the front:



Still can't believe this is real..

 

Is that a shop vac mounted on the wall? If so, thats a really smart idea. I may need to do that at my next house. Get a long hose as well.

I cant even put mine in the garage. I have it in my office, and move it to the garage when i need it. Really inconvenient. I also see ads for Giraffe tools, so that may be on the never ending list.

For now, garage is full, and will not be adding any more tools that wont fit in already specified places (but planning on adding a m12 3/8" Milwaukee impact next month. It fits in the toolbox though)

 

Here's the vacuum:
https://www.toolbarn.com/products/vacmaster-vwmb508-101?variant=42060672073925&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_qMWe8JdZYShMP6EEWL3oaLUh0a&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhtWvBhD9ARIsAOP0GoguhnBdERvOHmhpx1_8MTRQZVbdNOKXXaB4RaRLh7dFaorH_nePw64aAksUEALw_wcB

It has a long hose and I can reach 80% of the garage and if I need to remove it from the wall, it comes off with ease. I was able to reach the cabinets to vacuum them out before filling them up today. The other weekend, I cleaned out the wife's SUV leaving it on the wall. No issues. It even has a remote control to use it without going back to the vacuum to turn it on or off.

I'm really trying to get the third garage bay emptied out for some more toys. Really happy so far with my vision coming to life.

 

Remote control vacuum.. thats new!

 

More.

Pool "flood" light



The wife's new closet light. There was a florescent "shop" light that flickered.



Master ceiling fan feat. makeover.



Updated organization of the top drawer of the 72. Planning on some changes in the garage and part of it will involve completely overhauling the service cart and reorganizing the triple bank. The top drawer of the service cart is empty for now. Should make using the top as a work service much easier without having to access the 1/4" and 3/8" ratchets that used to be in there. Just need to move the screwdrivers over, now.

Note: this was a quick 35-40 minutes during a break today. I will probably be reworking it in the future. Not bad overall.

 

A few things have been done since my last post:

Peg board above the workbench:



A small project the wife did:



Neighborhood watch at it in comfort and style:



Two bald eagles graced our presence at the backyard pond:



Calculating location to hang the RTT for more garage wall storage:



Tools!



Bench vise 2.0:



Birthday presents (4/8)



This present came with a "honey-do" list:



Working out flooring for the front (formal) living room that compliments the current flooring throughout:



I'd say it's going to look much better..



Removed the old, warn out flag vinyl amongst other stickers:



Removed everything in the bed, cut the bolt holding the bed mat down, scrubbed the tailgate, vacuumed out the bed and scrubbed and washed the bed mat and cleaned all the windows. Not sure why the netting is sagging so bad. Might remove it and replace it. We'll see.



New punch rig; 7'11" XH Super duty rod, Mach Crush on 65lb braid, 1.5 oz lead weight and a 6th sense flipping hook.
The rod took a month to be delivered but showed up in time for my birthday (4/8). Can't wait to punch some grass mats:



Exciting things happening and more to come.

 

HB