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Finally built a stand for my bandsaw. I spent probably 20 hours designing it over and over again in my head over the past week, and 3 hours building it today while my kids were on a play date. It was a magical moment when I hooked up the motor and saw the bottom wheel spinning. (Nevermind that the rubber crown or whatever it's called flew off with a loud bang.)

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Now all I have to do is secure the motor, clean everything, then get the blade on and set it up. Then find a project to use it for! But right now it's Miller time.
 
Finally built a stand for my bandsaw. I spent probably 20 hours designing it over and over again in my head over the past week, and 3 hours building it today while my kids were on a play date. It was a magical moment when I hooked up the motor and saw the bottom wheel spinning. (Nevermind that the rubber crown or whatever it's called flew off with a loud bang.)

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Now all I have to do is secure the motor, clean everything, then get the blade on and set it up. Then find a project to use it for! But right now it's Miller time.

Nicely done sir! I'll pop a top with ya, been working on a friend of my daughter's boat who failed to winterize it last year. Replacing both exhaust manifolds, core plugs, fuel lines, lower unit hydraulic hoses, braised the oil cooler back together rebuilt the 4 barrel carb. Hopefully I'll get it out of my driveway this weekend. Fingers crossed.
 
Flyover, that is a very cool & sturdy looking stand! Great job!

Oldog, good luck on fixing the boat up.

I got in some sleep today but then had to go to the pharmacy bc they shorted my mother by 15 pills on one of her prescriptions. She called in & they had it behind the counter. I also picked up more lidocain patches on her. I have to swap out to a new one every 12 hours. I'm hoping her back pain will go away soon. She said her throat is hurting so she's having a hard time swallowing the gatorade but she's drinking water as well. When I was at the store I grabbed a box of chicken broth. She asked for half a cup so I heated it up for her & she drank it a few minutes ago. She's now watching Halloween Baking Championship on TV & I'm checking e-mail & about to take a nap.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to rope my brother in to helping me clean up. I haven't told him that yet bc I know if I mention it, he'll stay at a friend's house to avoid coming home bc he hates cleaning.
 
Hurt my back catching my mother when she started to fall in the doorway & hurt it more when I tried to pick her up when she fell in front of the doctor's office. Fortunately, the clerk saw her fall & got the nurse & the doctor. They got a wheelchair out there & I tried again to lift her to her feet but couldn't quite manage so the doctor came over, repositioned her legs, & tried to lift her. He was trying to lift her from the front but her legs were not cooperating so I got behind her & lifted again & together we both got her into the wheelchair. He then canceled her appointment & told his nurse to take her to the ER (right across the street). They did some x-rays on her knee & ankle (which were fine bc I helped break her fall- trying to catch her) and her blood pressure was ok. I think she was weak bc she refused to eat before going. I got her some liquid food stuff & more chicken broth. I just gave her more chicken broth & she's happy. She said her leg doesn't hurt at all but my back really hates me right now. I need to take some classes on how to assist her better & how to do the lifting. I told her she needs to do some exercises to strengthen her legs. I will need to do some squats or something to improve my lifting strength as well.

My sister called & said she's working on the closing for her new house & trying to figure out what to do with the old one. She wants to rent it & is debating whether to go through a rental management company or through a HUD program. I'm wary of HUD bc I worry the tenants won't take care of the place (I've seen how some people treat HUD housing). She needs to replace the carpet & some baseboard. I suggested vinyl baseboard which is waterproof (her sickly cat ruined the wood baseboard). She needs some painting done (which I can do some of if I have enough time when we visit). She's debating getting new carpet or getting LVP. I linked her the LVP we got for the laundry room that is waterproof, has a 20mil wear layer, and built-in underlayment. It's clicklock so it doesn't need to be glued. But it went up in price over $1 since I bought it. She needs 300 to 500 sqft done & it's over $66 a case- eight 7"x48" planks per case. So it would be about $1k just for 300sqft. Not sure if it's worth it or not.

Anyone here ever had a rental property through HUD? It's in an HOA community so there would be rent & HOA fees. Her new house will be about 2 miles away. I know one stipulation will be that they are not allowed to alter the mantle over the fireplace in any way since my father custom built it.

My brother has avoided cleaning the entire time he had off work, but he did help me get my mother in to the house when we got home from the hospital. We visited my friend & found out more details from a witness to part of the fight the 80lb girl had with the 140lb brat. The brat's brother was coming to pick her up & said he saw his sister get pushed out the door, "trip over her own two feet" and fall down on the porch with her head near the metal column. Said there was no blood before & she wasn't crying until she fell. Then she put her hand over her head, started crying, threw herself on the ground & rolled around dramatically until he told her to get her behind in the car. She got up & walked over & took her hand off her head & blood started gushing out. We think she hit her head on the scrollwork on the column. The girl ran & got her something to sop up the blood and hold on the wound & the brother drove the brat to the hospital. The brat then lied to the cops & said the phone hitting her is what busted her head. I saw the pictures-- it's impossible for the phone to have done that. For one, it's the wrong angle & two, it is far too deep and the wrong shape and size- but it fits perfectly with the shape of the end of the scrollwork. The brother said the sister has a history of lying to the cops & filing false reports against people. She's been threatening to file false claims against him & a friend. He also said that when he went inside the house with my friend & saw no blood inside or in the doorway he realized the sister was lying about the phone causing the injury & that she didn't hit her head until she was outside. But even the same day after she got stitches & everything, she was in front of my friend's house violating the stay away order & laughing & mocking him.
 
Turns out properly mounting the motor for my bandsaw is more involved than just bolting it to a platform. So I've added on a tilting platform, hinged at one end, and at the other end I'll bolt on the motor and affix a spring that will attach to the upper part of the stand. So now I need to do some trash rummaging to find a spring...maybe from a trampoline or a box spring.

@zannej, your life sounds like it's full of enough excitement for ten people, at least. Hope you find some time to relax, away from the circus!
 
Flyover, I hope you can find a spring. I used to collect random stuff like springs & bits of metal. I think they are somewhere in the workshop.

It does get a bit circus-like around here at times. Someone from the hospital called today to check on my mother & see how she was doing. I don't know if it's because she has good insurance or if it was bc we made the nurses laugh. We've never had them call to check up before. She's feeling better today. I made her some egg drop soup and toast. I also got her some carnation breakfast shakes too.

We ran out of cat food & my brother didn't mention it to me (most of the cats are his) so I'm probably going to have to run to the store in a bit to get more. I just don't feel like getting up and driving.
 
@zannej If they consider your mom a "high risk" patient, depending on how you get your health insurance they will assign a whole team to her case. Depending on the size of the team, there might be someone whose job is to make those calls or even visit in-person to check up on your mom, see if she needs anything, whether she's taking her meds, etc. And it's pretty standard, maybe even required, that they follow up after your mom's been in the hospital.
 
@zannej If they consider your mom a "high risk" patient, depending on how you get your health insurance they will assign a whole team to her case. Depending on the size of the team, there might be someone whose job is to make those calls or even visit in-person to check up on your mom, see if she needs anything, whether she's taking her meds, etc. And it's pretty standard, maybe even required, that they follow up after your mom's been in the hospital.
Ah, I suppose maybe it was bc she had to go to the ER twice within a week. But it's the first time they've ever called to check up. They never called to check up on my friend-- but then, he was on Medicaid & they treated him like absolute garbage. Because his teeth were broken in a wreck & he's rather skinny, a lot of people just assume he's on drugs when they first look at him.
I helped him get his new dryer hooked back up with a new cord so he was happy. I got up early to check the post office for the cord. I then had to go back into town to pick up mom's prescriptions. I'm about to take a nap bc I'm always sleepy after eating. Burger King has a 2 for $6 deal on grilled chicken sandwiches so I grabbed that on my way home.
 
Good job on the band saw Flyover. I like DIY projects.
Hope your Mom gets to feeling better soon Zannej.
I spent the afternoon welding up a drag for the track loader. It's an old square tube table frame I put receivers on and beefed up the front with a steel post. worked pretty well to level out the low spots in the drive after a couple years of driving on the road grindings. Once I had it pretty level I chained it to the lawn tractor for a final smooth out. Should be good to go for awhile again.Front Yard 9 26 19 2.jpg Front Yard 9 26 19 1.jpg
 
Thanks @Gary!

@zannej I don't know how it goes in your state, but in Oh Hah they are required to follow up with high-risk patients after any hospitalization. Looking like a meth-head shouldn't make a difference because it's a compliance thing, plus the people who do that job tend to be "golden retriever" types who want to help everybody no matter what. So maybe the laws are different, maybe your mom only recently got classified as high-risk (the two ER visits might do it), or maybe the rules aren't well-enforced. Maybe it's something else. Who knows. Glad your mom's home safe and that you were able to make your friend's day.
 
Gary, that looks awesome!
Flyover, since I'm in a rural area, the rules are rather lax & the staff aren't always very friendly. They seem better now than they were years ago though. We had some downright rude & lazy nurses & staff before. Couldn't be bothered to do their rounds when they were supposed to. They weren't busy running around working like in larger hospitals-- they were sitting on their asses chewing gum & reading magazines-- for hours. Some of them wouldn't even answer the phone when it rang. Fortunately, the staff are nicer now-- but they are still dismissive of patients who have no insurance or that they think are drug addicts. I've had nurses tell me that they treat people they think are drug addicts differently bc they suspect they are just trying to get pain meds. It really sucked for my friend bc he had to go to the ER 3 times before he finally got diagnosed with kidney stones.

I made his day again both yesterday & today bc I found the pantry cabinet he wanted was back in stock & on sale for 50% off (plus 10% off that bc Mom came along for the military discount). Got that & the cabinet to go above his stove (that the range hood attaches to). Found a liquidation store in that area & found a really nice range hood for $79 (it's normally $189 at big box stores). While we were there to pick it up we found a stainless steel automatic sensor trash can for $35 (retails for $120). His fiance fell on his plastic trash can & broke it. Also got a shelf kit for his pantry, shelf liners, and the toekick trim all for 10% off. He wants to go back for one or two of the ceiling fans when he gets more $.

We're trying to get the witness who saw part of the fight between my friend's fiance & the brat that attacked her. He showed us exactly where she hit her head & he'd even told the local cops that he saw her trip over her own feet & fall. So, it wasn't even being pushed that caused her to hit her head. We also found out that she lied about the guy trying to rape her and the girl who said the guy did assault her was lying as well. This guy is now in prison waiting for trial bc two underage brats lied to the cops. The other girl's mother actually admitted to people that her daughter said she lied. I told the person who was telling me about it to call the parish cops & tell them because they needed to know that. It may also help the fiance bc it will show a pattern of lies from the brat.

I got my friend to take pictures of the new pantry & cabinet with the range hood sitting upsidedown on top of it. He thought the upper cabinet would be deeper & said he wanted to push the cabinet forward. I pointed out that if he did that, then it would cover the knockout spot for the in-room venting. It has a filter so it doesn't need to vent outside. (He has a smoothtop stove so there shouldn't be any fire).

The person who told me about the brats lying is the neighbor who lives across the street. We showed her the kitchen & told her about the discounts. She was impressed. My friend then said that all he has to do is tell me what he's looking for & I can find it cheaper for him. She also really loved the color of the stain on the cabinets. I kept thinking it was minwax, but when I checked the can, it's Rustoleum weathered gray.

Here are some of the pics from the kitchen. My brother had to pose for some with the new shirt I got him.
Mitchkitchenautotrash1.jpgDaveMitchkitchenrangehood1.jpg mitchkitchenpantry1.jpg
 
I took my friend to get a muffler put on his truck & get his exhaust pipe patched & welded back on. The guy who did it only charged for the muffler & the labor was free. Unfortunately, his engine is knocking & he thinks the truck is about dead so he's looking for another vehicle. He passed on the Ford car to one of his uncles who is going to be making the payments from now on. Not sure if he was given any extra $ for it, but he no longer has to worry about paying for the insurance. He wants me to take him to look at an Avalanche tomorrow. It bluebooks for over $11k but they are selling it for around $6k so I know there must be something wrong with it. But I'm going to humor him.

I tried to nap but my brain wasn't resting. Got a phone call from CyberpowerPC about the laptop that was supposed to be for my birthday (but they putzed on the order so it won't arrive for another few days). They were confused about the billing address being different from the delivery address despite me sending them picture ID with physical address along with a photo of the credit card (with 1st 12 digits covered). I mentioned to them that we've ordered 2 computers from them before & not had a problem. They confirmed it was assembled & ready to ship-- then called back & said that the sales tax was going to be higher than they charged. It was 9.15% before but they said that my delivery address put it up to 10.4% (which made no sense whatsoever bc I live outside the town & am not subject to city tax. It should be lower where I live, not higher-- in fact the 9.15% is too high as well). They argued back & forth with my mother on the phone & finally accepted the lower tax rate which was already paid.

I ended up going over to my friend's house after 8pm & stained his newer cabinets & touched up the older ones. Took pics while the cabinets were still wet so we'll have to see how it looks when they dried. I didn't have a stepstool to reach the tops of the pantry on the sides & he's thinking of getting some sort of peel & stick stuff for the sides anyway. Maybe a faux stainless steel look. I can still stain the sides later bc there's enough stain in the can for it, but for now I left them as-is. I did stain the side of the base cabinet I'd left bare before & I stained the sides of the cabinet that will go over the range.

Over-the-range cabinet
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Pantry
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Pantry & base cabinets upper view (with over-the-range cabinet poking in on the right)
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lower view
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Wide shot of the range, touched up base cabinets with over-the-sink rack, & fridge. Side of range cabinet is poking in on the left. Range hood is sitting on the range. The reviews were not kidding about those LEDs being bright (friend already wired it to a plug)
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The puppy that photobombed is named Brownie & he's part chihuahua. Adorable little bugger.
 
Thanks, Flyover. I went over to see my friend yesterday because the motor in his truck is going out & he was really depressed about it. The motor alone is more than half the price of his truck. So my brother & I went over to try to cheer him up a little & offer some emotional support. My brother also offered to let him use his truck to get to work while my brother uses the CRV until my friend can get enough $ scraped together to buy a cheap used car. He saw a little Suzuki that he liked locally, but I think he still needs to test drive it.

I looked up the faux stainless steel peel & stick stuff & read that it sticks better to stain/paint than to unfinished wood so I stained the sides. Little brownie apparently huffed some of the stain because he started running around like a little maniac. My friend's fiance decided to lie down on the floor to play with him & he started hopping all around her, barking at her, lunging, running under the couch, then back out to repeat. He's so tiny that it was just hilarious.

I finished off the older can of stain (which had gotten much thicker) on the outer side of the pantry & then opened a new can for the side closer to the counter. It was much thinner so it will need more coats to take the color. But it might not matter too much so long as I get the surface smooth. The peel & stick stuff requires a smooth surface to adhere so I might put a gloss finish on just the sides where it will go to make it stick better.
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I was absolutely exhausted yesterday & pretty much only got cooking & feeding the pets done. I need to do some cleaning & refill the waterers today. The weather has slowly been getting cooler so its slightly more tolerable to go outside. I spent the day brainstorming & trying to find new tires for the CR-V bc at least one of them is already bald. Think I might get some Yokohamas because they are slightly cheaper than the Toyos but both have good treads on them. The CR-V doesn't get quite as much use, although my brother is using it now that he's letting our friend borrow his truck. Motor blew in his Colorado & it costs $4400 for a new motor. That's more than he paid for the truck. My friend now wants a Ridgeline. LOL. I found him one like mine fully loaded- backup camera, toneaux cover, navigation, roof rack, stepbars, etc. Only thing it's missing is the brush bars & door side molding. I can't remember whether or not it has good floor mats.

I've also been working on the planning for my friend's kitchen. I found some LED strips for under the cabinet (still have 2 options to consider that are similar in price). I went off of measurements I remembered to figure out the ceiling height & then found we were limited in options for the upper cabinets because of the sizes available at the store. The idea was to get some 18" high ones that would be the same height as the pantry but there weren't any in the right widths that would add up to fit between the corner cabinet & the pantry. I also had to try to remember how much we cut off the shorter run of countertop to figure out how much space I had for the shorter run. Came out to around 29" so a 30" would be in the doorway. I did find a 27" one that should work. I plugged in the measurements & started doing rough drawings in Sketchup to figure out how much space was available & hope that things aren't too wonky. I know we will need a lot of shims to make sure the wall cabinets are plumb. When I showed my friend the sketches he actually liked how it looked so he's ok with the cabinets having to go all the way to the ceiling (which is 10" higher than the pantry by my calculations-- will have to actually measure to see).

So, based on the guesses & what I remember, this is the plan:
sketchupcabinetsdoors.png
The 24x30 ones in between the corner cabinet are about $65 each-- although I think they sell a 48" wide double cabinet as well-- just need to see if it comes out cheaper than two cabinets. I found out that the samples for the formica countertop are 25cents each so we might be able to create some sort of backsplash that mimics tile. Just use some adhesive & put a backer board or something to cover the gap between the wall & the cabinets (bc the walls lean back it leaves a gap). I also found some caulk that is colormatched to the countertop. I just realized I forgot to draw in the backsplash built in to the countertops... I will have to remedy that.
 
I fixed it -although I'm not drawing in the curves for stuff- just leaving the edges squared off bc I'm not good enough with sketchup to get the curves right.sketchupcabinetlayout2.png
 
I did a little bit of cleaning, searched for stuff online (trying to find a good mat for my elderly dog who is getting bed sores from the carpet). Dog won't climb up on the dog bed bc it's too thick so I need to get her something she can walk on but that is cushioned better.
Heated up some veggies before cooking stroganoff. stuffed my face and am now back at my computer relaxing.
 
I made it safely to my sister's house for a visit. It was a long drive & my mother missed a turn that added an extra hour or two to the trip. Made it in just before midnight. She got us set up in the upstairs room-- her stairs are steep so it was tough getting up them after all that driving. We alternated driving & Mom drank some Mt Dew to get energy. Caffeine just makes me jittery & causes irregular heartbeat instead of giving me energy so I stuck to water. There's a small shower with a very high showerhead but no grab bars or anything for Mom to be able to shower. No ADA friendly stuff in the house. We're going to have to rectify that.

Moen now makes a magnetic dock for their Magnetix line of showerheads so I want to see if they have any decent ones in stock at any of the local stores & get the dock so we can have a handheld shower low enough for Mom to use.

Looks like they mixed fixture finishes in the bathroom-- it has brushed nickel for some and chrome for others. I need to figure out how the one-handle faucet works. I'm sorely tempted to use the jetted tub but it would take a lot of water & Albuquerque is dry. I don't want to drive up her water bill.

We were so tired we slept until almost 3pm. When my sister knocked on the door & wanted to know if we wanted to go eat we thought it was breakfast time but it was lunch. I ended up just eating a little bit of leftover chicken & some asparagus.

My sister works tomorrow so I might see about going with Mom to the store to get some supplies we forgot. There were things I could have sworn I packed that are missing so they must have fallen out or I derped & left them at home. Need to see about faucets Mom can use & a shower seat.
 
Remember that bandsaw stand I built? I finally obtained a trampoline spring to suspend the platform for the motor. I sat the motor on the platform to weigh it down while I installed the spring. At some point something slipped and the platform rocked diagonally. My motor tipped forward off the platform. I broke the fall with my foot but it still tumbled off my foot and onto my garage floor with a loud cracking sound.

Inspecting the motor casing, it has a small dent in the top. And the motor now won't turn on.

Now what? I feel like a total idiot. (More than usual!)
 
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