Small engine maintenance and deaf mice
It isn’t too late to save yourself a lot of money. In this case an ounce of prevention is worth much more than a pound of cure. One ounce of Sta-Bil will treat two and a half gallons of gas. This needs to be in every gas powered engine you own if it is sitting dormant for the winter. I learned the hard way several years ago that gas actually goes bad. Even after just 30 days it can start to breakdown. If this process goes unchecked for a long time, it will eventually break down into a varnish-like consistency and gum up every jet in every carburetor it is sitting in. I am not sure if the gas breaks down faster than it used to, because I never used to use it. Then one spring, everything I owned needed it’s carb cleaned out. Small engine repair shops have a fairly steady business from people that don’t use it now. If you have a tank of gas that sits around for your machines then it needs a dose of it as well. Then pour some of that into your weed eater, leaf blower, chainsaw, lawnmower or anything gas powered and start it up. Run it for a few minutes to make sure you have run it through the whole system, and put it away for the winter.
The best trap ever.
One little note on Operation Eradication. At this writing we are up to 29 mice and zero rats killed in the barn. Most have been dispatched by the mechanical traps. The trap above can be used several times before even needing to be re-baited. The best part about this design, is that it allows you to empty and reset it without getting your hands near the mouse. The old style traps aren’t good for this at all. One final word; do not buy a sonic emitter. How do you catch 29 mice in the same area with one of these running? It either doesn’t work or I have a whole barn full of deaf mice.
Sunday Snow
Psalm 147:16 (New International Version)
16 He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.
Spicy cupboard door
It starts with two pieces of pine for the sides. Cutting the shelf slots (dadoes) with the radial arm saw is the next step. If you started with one wide piece of pine, it could be ripped in half after the dadoes were cut, and avoid this next trick.
If, like me, you start with two pieces of pine, then keeping them together during the dado process is fairly easy after you make one. A small piece of the shelf material works as a key by locking the two pieces together. This insures that both sides of the shelf will be cut the same and keep the shelf level and square. Remember to cut to the line to keep the slots tight. You can always take material off one hair at a time, but it never goes on again. By keeping the slots tight I was able to glue in the shelves and didn’t need nails. The only nails used on this one were on the ends of the rails on each shelf.
Using the pine for the sides gave me something other than one quarter inch plywood for attachment to the cabinet door. Pocket holes are good for this and, (this is important) three quarter inch screws are long enough to get a good grip without breaking out the front of the door.
With this rack covering the remainder of the door I needed to modify the cabinet shelf that was in the way. By cutting out the depth of the spice rack and leaving the edges, the plastic shelf supports can still be used. A little oak veneer covers up some very nasty looking particle board and doesn’t take much time to glue on.
The new one above and the old one below hold 56 tins together.
Nothing left to do but leave the happy chef to alphabetize her spice rack.
Spice rack prototype
I loved Mary’s little spice boxes, and wanted to see if I could make a rack for them that would still allow access to the rest of the cabinet. This is what I came up with so far.
I’m not sure if you can call something a prototype if it is in active use with no plans for replacement. It is the first of two, door mounted spice racks, and by calling it a prototype it gives me an excuse for the rough workmanship. Prototype also implies that the next one should be better. The way the thin, brittle pieces of oak like to split even when using the smallest brads for nailing, I’m not sure I can guarantee even that.
With every project there is always something to learn. When mounting a rack over 2 inches thick to a swinging door it can’t be the same size as the opening it is closing into. The angle of entry for the rack requires it to be smaller. I am sure in the vast internet there is a formula that has you plug in the thickness of your shelf, the opening of the cupboard and then it spits out the exact width of the shelf that will fit on a swinging door. It was faster for me to measure once and then cut it down about half a dozen times to get every thing to fit than to surf the net formula hunting till my eyeballs fell out. Next time I would tape up a cardboard prototype first, but now that I have this one together I should be able to zip through the next one.
Topics
- Animals
- Automotive
- Bible Verses
- Country living
- Entertainment
- Family
- Gardening
- Greenhouse
- Home Repair
- Just waiting for a category
- music
- The Love of my Life
- Travel
- Trees
- Trips
- Woodworking
Fun Blogs
- Dutchnic
- Green Thumb Mama
- Living My Simple Life
- Owlhaven
- Rocks in My Dryer
- Shaun Groves
- The Pioneer Woman
- The Tribe Grows