What I have been up to lately

[J.A.F.E.]

I realized yesterday after I saw Tactical Funs post in the Check in Friends thread started by skfarmer http://garagegazette.com/index.php?topic=2533.0 I have sort of been out of touch. So here is the saga. Might be a while so maybe grab a cup of coffee. I will break this into two parts because as I proof it I see it's pretty long.

Late last year my wife and I sold our house in anticipation of moving and once escrow closed we were homeless. I had three storage lockers full of UFO parts and no where to put them plus a fourth one with the Spitfire and a non running TR6 in yet another place. Fast forward and finally we got a new place and moving started. But we didn't have time to paint and prep the new place so once we were in I was juggling setting up and prepping the place and moving everything to paint.

In the meantime my friend I have known since high school (we went to the same school at the same time but never had a class together - the school was that big, he was best man at my wedding and I was best man at two or three of his) had major back surgery with some serious complications. We live about 250 miles apart so I went to stay with him. I'm not a very good nurse, not a very good housekeeper, can't cook and he has a full time nurses aid for getting dressed and stuff so all I can do is crack stupid jokes, sling insults only a long term friend can get away with, check on him during the night and watch him fall when he tries to walk with his walker. But I guess that was enough and he asked me to stay longer than I had planned and no way would I deny a friend. So my wife was understanding for the first few weeks (she even spent a week there with me) but her patience wore thin. We don't know anyone in the neighborhood yet and I was feeling bad (and more than a little worried) about her being alone in a new house in a place she didn't have anyone to call or could rely on and living in a house not even half done. My empathy wore a little thin as she nagged me about coming home but in truth I don't blame her and she was isolated because of the virus restrictions.

Going home involved crossing a state line and honestly I was afraid travel might be restricted across state lines so I finally went home but in the meantime my whole life had been on hold. Pretty much everything was on a back burner while I was there.

Now I have been trying to catch up on painting and all the rooms left have a vaulted ceiling - 13' at the peak. I got a 10' step ladder and that is about as high as I'm willing to climb a ladder. Any higher and I would have had to use scaffolding. The good news is I discovered the joy of using an airless sprayer. The bad news is everything has to be masked and covered and if you count the time between masking and cleanup I'm not sure it's any faster than a roller. But it is easier although redefines messy. The unit I have has a paint cup as opposed to better models with a feed hose so doing the ceiling is limited as the cup has to be almost full to spray up so I'll still be rolling the ceilings (fortunately they are texture coat to match the walls and not popcorn ceilings). Then there's the garage...

The walls were all painted either various blues/blue greens or browns. Dark dark brown. So everything has to be primed and then painted. One room had to be primed twice with two coats of paint before the brown didn't bleed through and this is good quality Dunn Edwards paint. Doing the walls first and I'll do the baseboards, trim and doors separately. At least I can take the doors off and spray them and doors are something I hate painting even more than I hate painting walls.

Three car garage (yay!) but PO left old kitchen cabinets he had been using as benches and I was hoping to keep them. But turns out one set was all broken up crap and so disgusting the words unspeakably filthy don't even begin to describe the mess - I need to invent a new word for how dirty and disgusting that was. So when I'm not painting I'm trying to clean and organize the garage which did I mention had become the parking area for everything that was waiting to be put away or find a home for. For weeks there was a path from the overhead door to the interior door opening to the laundry room to get into the house and that was it. Fortunately there is also a storage shed so I got some shelves and have been organizing that in anticipation of a garage cleaning.

Continued in part 2.

[J.A.F.E.]

Part 2.


I removed one set of cabinets just today (taking a break from that) and now want to take a shower so hot it will kill anything crawling on me from that while I have my clothes cleaned and burned.

I have a mountain of boxes in the back I am slowly getting rid of. Most are folded but they all had either newsprint or newspaper stuffing so theres a stack of boxes full of that stuff (the bubble wrap I was able to give to someone). But it was worth it - I used more stuffing than I had to and it took more boxes than I should have but nothing got damaged or broken in the move (really two moves once to storage and once from storage to the new place). I did have help loading the truck from storage and unloading at the other end but I learned some important lessons. One all boxes were marked what was inside, what room it was destined for and if the contents were fragile or if the box should be at the top of the stack, etc. I should not have bothered. No one read them and even though I asked to please keep all the labels facing out that didn't happen either. If I were to do it again I'd use some spray paint or something on each box to designate where it was going and tape some colored paper or something on each door way with that color. And label both ends and the top so it didn't matter which way they were facing.

I thought it was going to require two trips to move everything from storage plus a trip each for the Triumphs but the guys loading the truck managed to get all three storage units in. I rented a 26' box truck from Ryder. Nice truck, suspension seat, comfortable ride for a truck that size and easy to drive. It had an automatic and I'm not used to an auto in something that size. Last one had a manual and starting in second or third even loaded was fine but this has to go through all the gears and that took some getting used to. Maybe there's a way to bypass but I didn't have enough seat time to explore that.

I never gave weight a thought. Originally I figured two trips and split up the tools and shop stuff between them but since everything went it never occurred to me weight could be an issue. Especially because almost no furniture went we kept very little of it as most of it was old and had seen better days.

Gross vehicle weight on this 26,000 and 16 of that is truck. At least if you don't have a CDL 26 is the limit. I don't. Really it surprised me because this truck had airbrakes and I thought you needed a CDL for air but apparently not. In any event when moving we were on the interstate and came to a truck scale. Of course I get sidelined for an inspection had to pull into an inspection garage and run through the lights and turn signals and so on. Finally I was informed I was over by 3500 pounds. My heart was in my throat as I had visions of unloading the truck and having to rent a second truck and a huge ticket and I had help scheduled to arrive at the other end to help unload but the inspector was very nice and said since I did not have a CDL he would not cite me or make me pull part of the load. That was my lucky day and I was quite appreciative.

Still have to move the cars but that will wait until the garage is (finally) finished.

Thanks for reading this if you got this far. Please feel free to post up comments, questions or your own experiences especially during these interesting times.

[goodfellow]

Wow -- good luck to you Steve! You've cached some good Karma by staying with your friend, and although it threw a wrench in the works, I'm sure it will work out in the long run.

[J.A.F.E.]

Thanks Ray. The karma is not something I worry about much he's a friend and that's just what you do for friends. Besides he laughs at my jokes - in fact it was because of a joke we became friends.

We've been through some adventures together especially before we were about 25 or 40. Or 50. Some make great stories now and some are better left in past tense.

[slip knot]

Sounds like you got a lot to pass the quarantine time with. I would hate to think about moving. it'd take 2 18 wheelers for the shop and most everything in the house, I would just sell with the house

[Heiny57]

You HAVE been a little busy.     I’m sure your friend appreciates it. And good for you helping. 

[jabberwoki]

Phew I need a rest.

[DeadNutz]

Thanks for the update Steve. Your friend is quite lucky to have a true friend like you. Great that you are going to have a nice work area in a 3 car garage.
I know I never want to move again and deal with the headaches. We had over a third of the large van lines truck and a 48' flatbed for the shop equipment, crates, rolling ladder and forklift. We had 2 huge storage units up here packed full until we bought the house and built the shop. I also dragged the trailer every trip to L.A. and came back with the truck and trailer fully loaded. Plus before the shop was done we sold the house in Vegas and I rented a 28' box truck and it was packed full and everything went in this house and the garage and ended up with a pathway through everything in the garage to get in the house.

[J.A.F.E.]

<snip> I would hate to think about moving. it'd take 2 18 wheelers for the shop and most everything in the house, I would just sell with the house

I hope to not have to move again but if the men in black find me again...

<snip>  I’m sure your friend appreciates it. And good for you helping. 

He's a good guy. I just don't want him to know I said that.

Phew I need a rest.

I've been looking for that cable too by the way haven't forgotten about it.

DeadNutz that sounds very familiar although you hauled a lot more than I did. A whole lot more.  The house is put together for the most part except for the painting and then I need to rework the bathrooms a bit. But that's another time. Meanwhile the garage has seen a lot of progress and hopefully usable tomorrow. Then I bring the Triumphs home. 

[Lookin4_67GalaxieConv]

Steve, I hear you about the stepladder.  I have a 10 footer and that's as far up as I want to go.  Amazing how much bigger a ten footer seems than an eight footer.  And how much heavier the damn thing is to carry. 

[J.A.F.E.]

Yes a 10 is a lot more to wrangle than an 8. I got an all Al one because it's lighter than fiberglass. Seems a lot higher when you're standing at the top as well.

[john k]

Just getting things out of storage lockers during remodeling.  Hated paying those monthly fees.  Glad to hear of your getting under your own roof again.  Put up 2 new storm windows last summer.  18 feet up an extension ladder, about high enough for this 68 year old.

[J.A.F.E.]

We are in a one story so no second story windows. Thinking was some day stairs might be an issue and we don't want to move again. It would have been easier to find a two story with more total square feet but no stairs to worry about.

[DeadNutz]

I have a light out in the motion sensor light above the shop door. It is about 16' high. I either have to get out the 20' extension ladder or put the man basket on the forklift. Either way it sucks.

[J.A.F.E.]

I never really trust an extension ladder. I do have a Cosco like the Little Giant and that seems more stable than a regular extension but it is heavy. I do like using it because it is pretty versatile. I had a picture hanging in a stairwell in the old place and used the Cosco to install it originally and to get it down and patch the wall when we moved (I filled all the nail holes and touched up the paint before we moved and we have a lot of pictures).

It felt quite secure because the ladder couldn't slip. (The guy at the bottom is not me he helped me setup the ladder.)

[J.A.F.E.]

Heres a guy that clearly doesn't have my discomfort with extension ladders.

[skfarmer]

i have that same cosco ladder and it is great. very sturdy and versatile. but yes it is on the heavy side.

[Lookin4_67GalaxieConv]

Heres a guy that clearly doesn't have my discomfort with extension ladders.

Oh hell no!   

[bonneyman]

Glad to hear you're OK, Steve.

And that ladder scene is nuts. Where are the robots when you need them?   

[jabberwoki]

Pixs of the garage ps.
Or is it the Alien grotto?

[J.A.F.E.]

Pixs of the garage ps.
Or is it the Alien grotto?

I will take some today or tomorrow when it is a little more presentable. Still very much the 5 pound sack but today should bring some progress.

[coolmercury]

No more 12 foot step ladders for me, left it with the last house that had 13 foot ceilings and windows that went to the roof.  Cannot complain however, as I designed and built that house, but I was younger then.  I designed and built the house we have now, 10 foot ceilings and an 8 foot step ladder works okay.

[J.A.F.E.]

I was tapped on the shoulder earlier reminding me I have not posted pix of the garage. The garage pix show a mess that has mostly been cleaned up and there is a TR6 that will be living in one corner in the next few weeks. So pardon the mess.

[J.A.F.E.]

Some more.

[J.A.F.E.]

In case you're really bored. Yes, that is a HF box and I wanted to try the green just to mix it up a bit.

This is the garage. Area 52 is a different place.

[goodfellow]

Very nice setuo Steve!!

[DeadNutz]

Glad to see you have plenty of room now. It must be nice to move around without bumping into stuff and good workbench space.

[J.A.F.E.]

Thanks Ray. So close to being finished yet so much more to do.

DN it's only a matter of how long before it gets that full.

[jabberwoki]

The Roswell shack is coming together!

[jeffmoss26]

ooh liking the green.

[J.A.F.E.]

The Roswell shack is coming together!

It ain't called Area 52 for nothing.

[Heiny57]

Really nice space. Please take some pics as you get things set up permanently. I have my foundation poured on the new house so I will be looking for tips.

  

[J.A.F.E.]

My best tip is however big your shop will be make it bigger. That and you can't have too much light. OK, so those were my best tips.

[muddy]

Great looking space you got there....looks like plenty of room for the spaceship

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