First world problems

[LarryHoward]

So I built a nice oversized garage so I could get my long suffering car out of the weather. Why is it that it is quickly filling up with OPC's? My "ridden hard" Lexus RX still sits in the driveway.

From left to right. Lynne's Honda S-2000, Son Chris' new acquisition 997 Carrera S, Daughter Jessica's Abarth 124 Spyder. Yes, the 10X12 doors are gigantic. I never want to think "if only I had installed taller/wider doors."

[Rob McAlpine]

Looks like there's room for me to store a dinghy.....

[kimbottles]

So I built a nice oversized garage so I could get my long suffering car out of the weather. Why is it that it is quickly filling up with OPC's? My "ridden hard" Lexus RX still sits in the driveway.

From left to right. Lynne's Honda S-2000, Son Chris' new acquisition 997 Carrera S, Daughter Jessica's Abarth 124 Spyder. Yes, the 10X12 doors are gigantic. I never want to think "if only I had installed taller/wider doors."

Nice! I wonder how long it will be that empty?

[LarryHoward]

So I built a nice oversized garage so I could get my long suffering car out of the weather. Why is it that it is quickly filling up with OPC's? My "ridden hard" Lexus RX still sits in the driveway.

From left to right. Lynne's Honda S-2000, Son Chris' new acquisition 997 Carrera S, Daughter Jessica's Abarth 124 Spyder. Yes, the 10X12 doors are gigantic. I never want to think "if only I had installed taller/wider doors."

Nice! I wonder how long it will be that empty?

Not long. I have to install a ceiling/attic vent and do some electrical wiring and then the junk, err stuff, starts to gather....

[Ajax]

The garage is 2 cars deep. You probably leave for work first, in the morning. Back the S2000 all the way in and park in front of her. You deserve a space, too. Especially during winter.

[LarryHoward]

The garage is 2 cars deep. You probably leave for work first, in the morning. Back the S2000 all the way in and park in front of her. You deserve a space, too. Especially during winter.

I'm lazy. Sometimes I leave for work first. Sometimes I work from home while having coffee and sometimes I just play hooky until lunchtime.

Actually, Jessica just accepted a job in West Palm Beach and is leaving at the end of the on the so the Abarth is going south to fight salt instead of snow this winter. The P-Car will only live in the garage in winter or bad weather and will double stack with the S-2000 so both my SV and Lynne's old Soccer/Swim Team/Lacrosse Mom mini-van can come inside out of the weather. Chris' Civic SI will probably swap back and forth with the Porsche but the CIvic stays outside unless I can make room for it, the Yamaha Rhino and the mower all at once. I'll have to do some experimentation.

[Ajax]

Vehicle Jenga.

[LarryHoward]

Vehicle Jenga.

might have to get a couple of sets of those tire dollies so I can spin the cars around.

p21697.jpg

[Slick470]

Looks great. How's the house coming?

[Jamie]

Did you install a lift?

[LarryHoward]

Looks great. How's the house coming?

We have to get serious about design for the house. My BIL (retired Home improvement guy) is visiting this fall (Thanksgiving, I think) and I'm hoping he will help us figure it out. We generally know what we want to do from a big picture standpoint but neither of us are architects. We fired the designer we were using as we were not getting anywhere with him. As always, biggest issue is likely to be budget vs wants. Hopefully we'll have a plan to break ground next spring on the house portion and be done about this time of the year.

[LarryHoward]

Did you install a lift?

Made provisions (thicker floor in the RH stall, 14' from the door) but hoping the son will decide he needs a lift bad enough to pay for it himself.

[BeauV]

Did you install a lift?

Made provisions (thicker floor in the RH stall, 14' from the door) but hoping the son will decide he needs a lift bad enough to pay for it himself.

As someone who has owned used Porsches on numerous occasions, he'll want a lift soon.

Next will come the lift/lower device to make it "safe" to remove the engine. He'll start taking to Mom about the near miss when he and his buddy tried to wrestle that engine out of the car while it was over their heads..... LOL!!!

That is a garage to REALLY be envious of.

[LarryHoward]

Did you install a lift?

Made provisions (thicker floor in the RH stall, 14' from the door) but hoping the son will decide he needs a lift bad enough to pay for it himself.

As someone who has owned used Porsches on numerous occasions, he'll want a lift soon.

Next will come the lift/lower device to make it "safe" to remove the engine. He'll start taking to Mom about the near miss when he and his buddy tried to wrestle that engine out of the car while it was over their heads..... LOL!!!

That is a garage to REALLY be envious of.

Oh, he "wants" a lift now. A bit of brinksmanship over funding and I've been known to pull his chain a bit..... It's not on my "must fund" list at present.

As to the engine, we have a friend who has a lift, transmission jacks, etc. so he has access for pretty much everything he might have to do and the 997 transaxle will come out separately so he can do up to a clutch or RMS already. Car has 3/4-1" lowering springs installed which gives it a nice stance but our roads in the "County" probably will require conversion back to stock ride height. The OEM springs came with the car so it's just a matter of a day in the garage and an alignment to do that. Right now, he's trying it out to see if the GT3 front spoiler is going to be able to live at the current clearance.

[Ajax]

He could have had a lift already if he hadn't bought the Porsche.

[Audrey]

He could have had a lift already if he hadn't bought the Porsche.

+1. I had to buy a garage before I bought another car. The townhouse came with it...

And lifts are cheap compared to dropping a 6 spd transmission on your shoulder.... ask me how I know.

[kdh]

He could have had a lift already if he hadn't bought the Porsche.

+1. I had to buy a garage before I bought another car. The townhouse came with it...

And lifts are cheap compared to dropping a 6 spd transmission on your shoulder.... ask me how I know.

That's how my Ferrari came about. Ann wanted a snowmobile ($6k) so we could pack down the snow with it to walk the dog in the woods.

As it sat next to the wood pile mice moved into the snowmobile so we built a barn ($don't ask) to house it.

Room for a Ferrari ($don't ask).

End result (note mouse execution chamber):

[BeauV]

Keith, I love that story!! Around our place we use these:



The granddaughters all run out into the back yard and ask if they can "Check for dead rats" with me. I pull them out of the traps (the rats, not the granddaughters) and the granddaughters dig the holes to bury them in. We catch about 3 a week. It's a long term war we're waging. (Given rat reproductive rates.)

We put the traps into these (box inverted and trap stapled to the inside of the lid. Rate sized hole cut to allow entrance) so that Misty the dog doesn't get her nose caught in one:

[Ajax]

Definitely better to use mechanical traps rather than pesticides and chemical traps.
Many times, the rodent won't get a lethal dose or won't yet be dead when it gets picked up by a raptor. These toxins enter the food web and create problems up and down the line.

When my wife was the manager of PLO state park, she lived in a nearly 100 year old beach home on the park. We found that the mice came in waves, probably when a female gave birth. We made sure to clean up the kitchen really well and leave no food sources available but they came in anyway. We'd put out over a half dozen traps and they'd be full by morning. Then, we'd have a long stretch of peace and quiet until the next female gave birth under the house and the next generation tried to move in.

In my current home, I've identified the entrance points and packed them with steel wool and pest resistant expanding foam. Rodents hate the taste of the foam and they can't chew through steel wool so this has been very effective.

[kdh]

I've used the classic trap, but I've found the electric execution traps to be more effective killers. Sometimes the snap trap just gets a leg so the mouse drags the trap off or I'll find just the leg in the trap. The zappers execute a clean kill.

We also have an indoor cat and a rescued dog that clearly has some vermin-hunter of some sort in him. He dragged a rabbit out of the woods for us recently, entrails dragging behind it.

Ajax, I've found the same thing. We went through a month of consistently catching mice but it tailed off and now we haven't been catching any.

[kdh]

By the way, not sure I've mentioned this here but the garage and our barn are post and beam. It was all done on a CAD system, all the timbers were shaped in Vermont and the completed frame pieces were trucked down and assembled on site. Traditional construction using modern methods. Here's the assembled frame for the barn. It was a shame to sheath it.

https://www.vermonttimberworks.com/our-work/post-and-beam-barns/horse-barn-storage-loft/

[LarryHoward]

Very nice!

[Charlie]

Looks great, Keith.

I did a lot of timber framing a few years ago. Built and raised about 12 barns with a crew of guys. Mostly with hand tools (100+ year old chisels and slicks, and modern power saws and drills). CNC and a crane would have made things much faster and easier.

The raisings were human powered, which required practiced and well-coordinated folks working together- something than sailors would find very familiar.

Here’s a house we did in Cushing ME, back in 2006.

Kim, you may recognize my brother in that middle shot.

[TheOffice]

You've got height to install a loft in the first 2 bays. Think of all the boat gear you could put up there!

[kimbottles]

Looks great, Keith.

I did a lot of timber framing a few years ago. Built and raised about 12 barns with a crew of guys. Mostly with hand tools (100+ year old chisels and slicks, and modern power saws and drills). CNC and a crane would have made things much faster and easier.

The raisings were human powered, which required practiced and well-coordinated folks working together- something than sailors would find very familiar.

Here’s a house we did in Cushing ME, back in 2006.

Kim, you may recognize my brother in that middle shot.

Yup, there he is, how is he?

[Charlie]

Looks great, Keith.

I did a lot of timber framing a few years ago. Built and raised about 12 barns with a crew of guys. Mostly with hand tools (100+ year old chisels and slicks, and modern power saws and drills). CNC and a crane would have made things much faster and easier.

The raisings were human powered, which required practiced and well-coordinated folks working together- something than sailors would find very familiar.

Here’s a house we did in Cushing ME, back in 2006.

Kim, you may recognize my brother in that middle shot.

Yup, there he is, how is he?

Good. Getting ready to move to Germany. Exact timeframe TBD.