more fun with empty pop cans
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Posted:Nov 7, 2013 8:00 am
Last Updated:Nov 8, 2013 8:35 am 4376 Views
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i have been at the solar furnaces on and off. i have drilled out somewhere around 300 cans, and i started gluing them together. it seems that a stack of 3 is the ideal stack, as it doesn't wobble without support so they will dry straight. i had to experiment for a while before i decided to make stacks of 3.
i also picked up a bunch of sheet foam on my new room mate's job site. i think that will let me make a few light weight ones for inside. i found a guy on utube that is running one thru glass patio doors and it works. i guess that part of the power of the 'furnace' is that it is enclosed and there are multiple towers. single un-encased towers don't get that hot at all
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god's garage's garage
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Posted:Nov 5, 2013 1:21 pm
Last Updated:Jan 4, 2021 4:39 pm 5773 Views
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i don't know if i mentioned that i had switched the dead rock star stencil collection from the basement wall to my garage door or not, but i did. i JUST finished today.
it is really cool. the predominately latino people around here don't quite get it, but they like it. i put in a couple latino stars on purpose.
Row 1: Shannon Hoon, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis & Tiny Tim, Wolfman Jack, Roy Orbison, Jim Morrison, Tommy Bolan, Jim Musker, Jesus, Barry White, Freddy Prinz, Ravi Shankarr, Richie Valenz.
Row 2: Freddy Fender, Ronnie Van Zandt, Warren Zevon, Kurt Cobaine, Robert Johnson, John Bonham, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Bon Scott, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, George Harrison.
Row 3: Phil Ochs, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, Bobby Darrin, Tupac Shakkur, James Dean, Sid Viscious, Stevie Rae Vaughn, Johnny Cash, Freddy Mercury, Jim Croce, Karen Carpenter, Buddy Holly.
Row 4: Cliff Burton, George Burns, Mamma Cass, John Candy, Sam Cooke, Wendy O’Williams, Jeff Healy, Luciano Pavarotti, George Carlin, Dwayne Alman, Pete Ham, Sam Kennison, Harry Chapin.
Row 5: Tom Fogerty, Randy Rhodes, Harry Nillson, Thelonius Monk, Wesley Willis, Amy Wienhouser, Joe Strummer, Keith Moon, John Entwhistle, Peter Tosh, Judy Garland, Bruce Lee, Big Bopper.
Row 6: Jesus, Andy Warhol, Jim Henson, Selena, Dizzy Guilespe, Muddy Waters, Rick James, Marc Bolin, Whitney Houston, John Wayne, Curly Howard, Alvin Lee.
Row 7: Hobbes, Ray Charles, Joey Ramone, Ronnie James Dio, Frank Zappa, Marvin Gaye, Patty Page, Isaac Hayes, Rory Gallagher, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Calvin.
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being kind to estrangers
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Posted:Nov 4, 2013 7:16 am
Last Updated:Dec 31, 2020 8:10 am 5663 Views
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the evil dragonlady called me up yesterday afternoon saying that she heard i had rooms for rent. nevermind how she got my number or heard that, it took and incredulous amount of cohones to even ask me to put her up.
in the marriage, we went thru hell and back, and then i STILL stayed longer than any normal human man should have. i couldn't leave the . she is a tom boy and was raised with 4 brothers and is something of a brute. things got physical weekly, especially when she was drinking, and i often got hurt just trying to restrain her and trying not to get hurt. i mean much more than a banged elbow hurt. i have scars. lots of them.
even so, i did not have the heart to tell her the answer that was on the tip of my tongue. hell no. not if pigs could fly through a frozen hell and she was the last woman on earth.
i was nice and even tried to be nice for several minutes. i said 'sorry, i just had someone move in' and asked her what was wrong. apparently her new marriage is also not working out so well. they had been seperated and she was staying with her mother for the last year or so, and her mother has recently died. so she moved back in with her new husband and that is not working out. (surprise).
even if i were jesus i don't think i could take that woman back in. my is getting married later this month, and the seating arrangements have her and i at the same table. i am even dreading that. weddings were some of our worst times. she would get drunk and abusive and be furious at me that we had eloped and she didn't get a beautiful wedding. i think i will sneak out before she gets completely hammered. i already told my this.
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solar furnace production (fun with empty pop cans)
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Posted:Oct 31, 2013 10:42 am
Last Updated:Nov 1, 2013 11:18 am 4706 Views
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i am *finally* getting down to the pop can solar furnace thing i have been talking about here. i have been a little side tracked by the new puppy and other obligations. i also have had some outside the box ideas about variations on the theme and have been experimenting putting various black cans in various windows and seeing how hot they get.
i got a drill press online at walmart. they had a deal where if i signed up for a walmart credit account i would get $25 off my first purchase of $75 or more. the drill press was $99. i bought a new hand drill, and assorted hole saws. i could have done it by hand without the press, but i am going to probably be cutting hundreds of these and it will be a lot faster, easier, and cleaner with this setup.
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god's garage and flop house
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Posted:Oct 30, 2013 8:06 pm
Last Updated:Nov 10, 2013 10:26 am 5753 Views
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another friend of mine from church, mike, has just temporarily moved into charlie's old digs in the basement. he used to live in chicago, and us back because of a job offer. he does a lot of independent construction contracting kind of work.
i have been working on the basement since charlie left and it is in a lot better shape. it is nice to have community here again, things have been TOO quiet (even with the new dog).
mike is a pretty good plumber, and he is going to help me get a bathroom into the basement. then it will be a stand alone apartment instead of just a single bedroom. it will have a large front room and a tiny kitchenette. it is really coming along.
my parents own a HUGE apartment building and renovated all the basements into little in-law-ish apartments. EVERY adult in the family has lived in one or more of them at one time or the other. i stayed in one of them with my for almost 10 years, and then again the last 2 years. i also stayed in one when i first got divorced.
my middle is staying now in the apartment there that i stayed in last, and my oldest moved out as she moved in. my brother is going through a divorce and staying in the apartment where i lived with the . before him, my and his girlfriend lived there, and before that, my nephew and his girl.
there are even more family members that stayed there, but the point is that my folks are getting really old. i am hoping that my basement might become the same kind of port in a storm that my folks basements have been.
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my ex uses facebook
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Posted:Oct 28, 2013 10:34 am
Last Updated:Jan 11, 2017 9:46 am 6464 Views
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a picture of me and my nuclear family showed up on one of my ' pages facebook and my ex "liked" it.
my had posted up a page for thier mother and used a really god awful picture, and that has been her only facebook presense until now. i was really incredulous that she even figured out how to turn on a computer (my first ex is the poster for computer illiteracy). my oldest informed me that her new husband had bought a computer and was leaving it on and on the internet.
i am not really worried. i am certain she will not learn to type, it requires too many finely integrated motor skills. she never much liked to read either.
the funny (or sad) thing about the picture is that i remember clearly when it was taken. my brother took it (he is kind of a photographer), and our house had been in a complete uproar while we all got ready to take it.
this was at a time when things had first started getting really out of hand in the marriage and she began being really unkind to me. that is an understatement, i have scars. the real problem was alcohol, which led to infidelity, but i didn't know that yet. even still, she was hurtfull and downright abusive and i am a sensitive guy.
i remember that day. i cried my eyes out at the way she was acting and the things she was saying to me. then when everyone else was finally ready for the picture, i didn't want to participate because i knew my eyes must look like crap.
but the dragonwoman would not allow that. i had to get my pathetic pansy butt over there and take this damn picture or she swore to god she was going to file for divorce.
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TOO cute to be real
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Posted:Oct 27, 2013 6:29 pm
Last Updated:Oct 28, 2013 6:29 pm 4507 Views
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the puppy is adjusting fairly well. this place is like a compound, there are like 15 rooms i think. he is running around like he owns the place. i took him to the park and we jogged a little and he enjoyed that.
he sleeps a lot, but when he wakes up he chews on anything he can find and soils everywhere. he thinks he is supposed to sleep on the pee pads i put down. i have gotten him to go in the 'yard' twice in a row. hopefully it will stick. everytime he wakes up from a nap i take him straight outside and don't go in until he does his duty.
hehehehe. duty 
hobbes gets a kick out of him, and just watches him a lot. he was chewing on a chew stick and she came to see what it was and he growled at her. i came to pet him then and he growled at me too, but it was like a weak little growl with no meat in it and i smooshed his face.
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alas dear BC chat, i knew her well
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Posted:Oct 26, 2013 3:27 pm
Last Updated:Oct 28, 2013 6:31 pm 5497 Views
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i have actually seen ZERO's in that parenthesesis under "chat" on several occaisions. it is just a party that nobody wants to be the only one that comes. nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.
nothing chases away a crowd like a dead room
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introducing calvin the great
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Posted:Oct 25, 2013 11:48 am
Last Updated:Oct 31, 2013 7:42 am 5573 Views
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i did it. i got the dog. he is smaller than hobbes, he is inside her cat tree in the picture.
he is 7 weeks old, and like an infant. when he came here last night, he couldn't climb the stairs or get on the couch. he could kind of roll down the stairs, and if he wanted to go down, that was what he would do. he seems to have no fear.
this morning he is on and off the couch like a pro and getting up stairs on his own, one stair at a time. he attacks the broom when i sweep and the rag when i wipe the floor. which i am doing a LOT since he came.
i pulled up all the rug in the basement and blocked it off as a kind of nursery. i have been remodelling and the rug had to come up anyways. i have to put up drywall down there and have been doing a lot of the electric work. it is pretty big, and it will be his home until he gets potty trained and a little older.
hobbes is not that interested in him at all. which is good, at least she doesn't hate him. he likes her and wants to play, but she just runs away and goes on something way high.
i had been telling hobbes that a doggie is coming, and she is smart enough to know what i was saying. charlie had a chiuahuahua named moby, and she knows he was a doggie. she has seemed like she missed moby's company, although moby was terrified of her.
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extra large puppy?
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Posted:Oct 23, 2013 10:50 am
Last Updated:Oct 30, 2013 7:50 pm 5688 Views
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i have a chance to get a pit bull/mastiff puppy today, and i can't make the decision.
i really really want it, i know another mastiff/pit mix and it is a beautiful dog, but it is HUGE. if i use my brain, it tells me a that big would be a major expense. but the little boy in me doesn't care.
my brain is also telling me that i don't need all the extra work it would be. it is only 2 months old and it would take away at least 2 months of my life to get it situated and everything.
tearing up furniture and stuff, fighting with the cat, getting potty trained, it would be a burden for a while. and it will want to get walked every day all winter. the little boy in me is caring about these things...
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