cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/27167002

If necessity is the mother of invention, laziness is the grandaddy.

I have almost a half acre which gets covered in oak leaves during the fall. I have to get them all to the burn pile on one end of the property which usually involves blowing them into separate piles and transporting each pile to the burn pile a bit at a time.

I figured there has to be an easier way to do this. I used a leaf blower/vac, a 4" flexible hose, and an insulation disposal bag that I had leftover from another project. It works pretty good. Actually better than the vacuum does with the shoulder bag probably because the airflow isn't as restricted.

I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult although I've demonstrated clear symptoms since early childhood. I manage pretty well with medication.

I tend to "fidget" a lot throughout the day with involuntary movements that tend to vary periodically for reasons that I've never understand. Sometimes it's popping my ears or clenching my jaw. Sometimes it's "popping" my toes, bouncing my leg, or snapping my fingers, etc.

Recently, my wife told me something that I did not know. Apparently I do the same sort of involuntary movements at night to the point that it wakes me up. She said it's been going on for years. I honestly had no idea. It kind of fits the description of "Periodic Limb Movement Disorder." There are some theories that "PLMD" can be a comorbidity with ADHD although the research on this is pretty sparse.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing and are there any viable treatment options?

I had to show off my newest acquisition. Picked up an old Rockwell 22-650 planer from a guy on Craigslist. I replaced the knives, greased it, and dialed it in. It works great! If I ever have to move it again, I'll get someone with a tractor to help. Still not sure how I managed to muscle all 400+ lbs of it into the basement by myself. I was dumb enough to try that once but not enough to do it twice.

I've seen several big chains, mostly gas stations and fast food, advertising "daily pay". If you are worried about how you're going to make it until your next paycheck, whether it's tomorrow or next month, or you have no savings to cover any sort of emergency, then you live paycheck-to-paycheck.

Don't be fooled. "Daily Pay" is just a shitty attempt at avoiding paying better wages by giving you your shitty wages faster. It's designed to benefit the company, not you.

Edit: If you don't get to hold on to your pay check long enough to earn interest on any of it, then getting paid daily is not benefiting you.

That was my first attempt at electrifying a gas mower. I used a 2 HP induction motor attached to a mount designed to be a drop in replacement for the engine. The first version used the frame from a Troy Bilt front wheel drive mower. This one only had a single speed transmission and couldn't handle the added weight from the motor. I think I used it for one season before replacing it with Version 2.

If you want to buy a new lawn mower, you can go down to your local big box retailer and find that most of the available options are probably battery electric mowers.

But, not that many years ago, electric mowers kinda sucked. The few choices you had were all corded but more importantly, they were cheaply built and lacked power. They also had none of the features of gas mowers, like being self propelled. After wearing out two of them within a couple years I thought, "This is cannot be that hard. I bet I can build a better electric mower."

A rotary lawn mower is pretty basic. Engine spins blade, blade cuts grass. That's pretty much it. If you wanted to "electrify" a gas mower, you would need a motor that could supply sufficient torque and keep the blade speed within the right range.

I picked up a 2 HP induction motor and mounted it on a frame which would basically serve as a drop-in replacement for the engine. I also built a switch which connected to the dead-man switch/engine brake bar, allowing the motor to be turned on and off.

I quickly learned the importance of selecting the right mower to convert. My first attempt was a Troy Bilt front wheel drive, which did not work well. Electric motors are heavy and the induction motor was substantially heavier than the engine it was replacing. The front wheel drive mechanism was not designed to handle the extra weight and it made navigating difficult.

My next attempt was with a John Deere rear wheel drive. That one was a winner. I ended up building a really solid electric mower that performs nearly on par with a gas mower. The only downside is that it requires a heavy extension cord due to the power draw but once you get used to the cord it's not that bad.

I used this thing for probably 8 years without any problems and no maintenance besides sharpening the blade and greasing the bearings about once a year. I replaced it with a cordless mower last summer but I'm not getting rid of it. It's in my shop getting a badly needed rebuild and a safety upgrade (adding an electric brake). It'll be back on the job, at least part time, whenever I get a chance to put it back together.

More photos in the comments.

Recently had a new standing seam metal roof installed. Roofers could talk the talk but I was not impressed with the quality of work overall. My main complaint is that they installed the roof so that most of the sewer vents go right through the middle of a seam. The boots are clearly not designed to accommodate this and they've succeeded in creating more work for me in the future; which is what I was trying to to avoid by spending the extra money to upgrade to metal. The boots are going to leak. In fact, they already have.

I was pretty pissed about this initially and told the owner of the roofing company that if they had bothered to tell me this was going to happen, I would have moved the damned vent pipes myself if they weren't going to. The right fix would be to replace the panels and move the vent pipes but I have a feeling getting them to do that is going to be difficult if not impossible.

Is there a boot that's designed for this kind of install or a better way of sealing these? Or, am I going to be stuck checking and resealing them every couple of years?

Edit: Resolved. Decorative brick is actually a chase and doesn't need to be completely filled in. Thanks to @[email protected] for advice on rebuilding the crown.

I have a double sided wood burning brick fireplace which is honestly just a big collection of code violations. It was converted to propane shortly after -- I'm assuming -- the people who built the house 50 years ago discovered that it smoked badly in the house. I fixed all the major issues with the firebox and smoke chamber and converted it back to wood burning this past winter.

I had a new steel cap fabricated to replace the old brick and concrete cap, which I removed. During this process, I discovered that the brick is basically just a facade. There are huge gaps on either side of the flues which are encased in 4" cinder blocks. My understanding of fire code (at least in the US) for masonry fireplaces is that the material surrounding the flue is not permitted to have any gaps in it. NFPA says all gaps in the brick should be filled with mortar. However, I'm not sure what to do with a gap this large. I'm not sure if filling it with mortar or concrete is an option. I've considered installing a steel flue liner but those are expensive and there are two flues. I'm also concerned about steel liners changing the draft characteristics since the chimney is on the short side.

If money were no object, I would tear this thing out and put a more efficient steel insert in but that is cost prohibitive.

Anyone have any experience fixing something like this?

Found a piece of bread in a store bought loaf that didn't get sliced properly.

Had a nice little foundation leak during the last rain storm. Installed a drain line last fall to divert two downspouts and front walkway run off away from the house which helped a lot. Front walkway and a big retaining wall next to it ultimately need to be removed and reinstalled with proper grading and drainage. That's going to be a huge and expensive project so for now I'm just replacing all the worn out concrete sealant and hoping for the best.

Took this picture from the top of Hoover Dam about 6 years ago.