So... What are YOU doing? - Part 8

[Naiwen]

Happy Friday all! How are you? Today, just enjoying my usual TV show before hitting the bed tonight.

 

[Lamb]

Figuring out which cable to get to hook up my laptop to my husband's 30 year old stereo receiver/speakers. I can't wait to hear my music through them! We have our old CDs but I want to play my Amazon Prime and Pandora.

 

[tango]

Trying to figure out if a light switch exists that also operates via remote control. I found one at the hardware store today that operates on wifi but it only works with Amazon Alexa. The last thing I want is Alexa listening to every single thing that's going on, just so I can turn the light on when I get home.

What we have now is a motion sensor that I've permanently shut off, because when we take my car it blasts me full in the face with a floodlight just as I'm at a critical part of backing out of the garage, or blinding me just as I arrive and want to avoid hitting the stuff in the garage. But it would be nice to have something we could use to light the driveway if we're coming in someone else's car, or when my wife is out after dark without me.

 

[Naiwen]

Happy weekend all! How are you? Today, I’ve just had leftover pizza with lemon iced tea for lunch. Tonight, just relaxing online before hitting the sack.

 

[tango]

Got rid of a load of stuff today. My neighbor was very happy to take my 3/4 ton of concrete blocks for a project he plans for the summer, which was a brilliant win-win. Otherwise I'd have had to pay someone to take them away while he paid someone else to deliver them. I helped him load them and now I've got a space on the porch where they used to be.

Next up a friend came by to take away a pile of scrap wood I'd accumulated. I can burn it to get rid of it but when he burns it he uses the heat it provides for his workshop. So another handy win-win situation.

I had hoped it would be warmer today but it's not very warm at all so getting some exercise today is going to be walking at the church. Then I've got a document I promised another friend that I need to write, and I need to check what bedside tables I have in the attic to see if I have one that's presentable without being sanded and refinished. I suspect I'll want to refinish one anyway, so it matches the woodwork in the room it's going into.

 

[Lamb]

Crocheting a baby blanket.

 

[tango]

I found a bedside table in the attic that I can use, but it had a couple of scratches in the wood. Yesterday I sanded the top to get rid of the scratches and a few other blemishes and put a first coat of lacquer on it. Maybe today I can gently sand the lacquer and put a second coat on. Then I need to lay it down on its side, protecting it from scratching against the concrete floor of the basement, while I do the same for a scratch on the other side. It should be easy enough - I've got some strips of OSB I can use to raise it up and a drop sheet that I normally use to catch sawdust and drops of wood stain, which will protect it from getting scratched. Then I can sand and refinish the side. I hope I can get away with just that, but I might need to do the other side as well so they match.

 

[Naiwen]

Yo sup there man sup all! How are you today? Today, I’ve just had leftover pizza with lemon iced tea for lunch again. Tonight, just playing some games on my phone before heading to bed.

 

[tango]

Got distracted from my bedside table project. My wife and I decided to go and check out a local brewery we haven't visited before. The food was good, the beer was good. Served a little on the cold side - the flavors really came out when it had chance to warm up a little - but overall very good. We'll go back.

 

[Naiwen]

Howdy sup there guys man! How are you today? Today, I’ve just had my usual weekly 3 hours therapy session by phone and online. Tonight, just resting in bed before heading to sleep.

 

[tango]

Maybe today I'll get some more work done on this bedside table. I need to sand the first coat of lacquer and then add another coat, then flip it on its side and sand that. Maybe I'll sand the side and the top, lacquer the top, then later on I can just lacquer the side. I prefer not to lacquer a vertical surface, simply because the stuff flows and I end up with drips. Maybe there's a way to avoid that but I haven't found it yet.

It's sunny today and warmer than yesterday, so my wife and I will probably go out for a regular walk outside. It will be a gentler pace than yesterday - I decided to start getting my running legs back and set a faster pace than I expected. When I got home I found I'd taken a full minute off my personal best for the route, which was nice. I felt strong around the route but didn't expect to be in personal best territory, let alone shaving a good chunk off.

 

[Lamb]

I went to Goodwill and picked up some books for my church's new Little Free Library and got 2 skirts for me.

 

[mailmandan]

I stopped by KFC and tried their new spicy chicken sandwich for lunch. Not bad. Now I'm getting ready to take a nap on the deck in my reclining lounge chair and enjoy the 70 degree weather.

 

[tango]

Got a nice walk in. The sun was glorious but the wind had a bit of a chill to it. I got another coat of lacquer on my bedside cabinet, which should be dry about now, so perhaps I can get the side sanded off. I also got a fair bit of paint sanded off another storage cabinet that's sitting out in the garage, but it was sufficiently cold out there I didn't last very long. I wish I could use my belt sander on it but the paint gums up the belts fast enough that it's not really an option. What I think I'll be able to do is use a random orbital sander to cut through the outer surface, then perhaps the belt sander will be able to strip away the bulk of the paint. If I can get that done in the basement it will mean I can connect my shop vac to the sander, and not have to deal with emptying the dust bag or having surplus dust thrown around an enclosed space.

 

[tango]

The side is sanded. It had a nasty scratch in it, and sanding enough to get rid of the scratch meant sanding right back to the bare wood. I suspect from here I'll want to sand the entire thing back to bare wood, then lacquer the whole thing so it all matches. It's a pain effectively losing the work I've already done on the top but c'est la vie I guess. I'll need to take the handles off the drawer so I can sand the front of it. I guess that can be tomorrow's job - my wife is having a video chat with a bunch of the ladies from church later this evening and the noise from me sanding disturbs where she wants to be set up.

 

[Lamb]

It's already 40sF and will get into the 60s so I'm really excited to go for a walk today and will go to the county park for the first time in a very long time!

 

[Naiwen]

Hello morning all! How’s it going so far with your day? Today, just playing some games on my Switch before heading the sack tonight.

 

[tango]

Lovely warm weather today. I would go for a run but my calf muscles are still twinging a little after my run on Sunday. For the most part they are fine but going down stairs they remind me they aren't quite ready yet. So I guess I'll go for a walk instead. Maybe spring is finally here.

Before I go out and enjoy the sunshine I need to do a little work for a client. That shouldn't take long.

 

[Lamb]

Maybe 3 miles for my first hike back at the county park was a mistake? Nah. I loved it. My ankles and knees feel weird from all the mud and mush I had to walk through though. The snow is still melting up in the hills.

 

[tango]

Got a bit more sanding done. I'm not sure how I'm going to get into all the contours of the base. It's possible I'll need to do some of it by hand, which is a bit of a drag. At least most of it can be done with a powered sander.