Barn progress: the hatch and hoist...

Barn progress: the hatch and hoist... The barn's second floor is almost 14 feet above the first floor, accessed via a long, narrow flight of stairs.  While it's possible to carry many heavy things up those stairs, it's certainly no fun.  If you have something large, long, or awkwardly shaped, it may not even be possible.  So when we were designing the barn, I had the builders put a 4' x 10' “hatch” in the ceiling of the first floor (which is also the floor of the second floor).

My builder made a couple of doors designed to open like a clam shell.  They sit in a frame, and weigh about 30 pounds apiece (they're made of steel-faced foam).  I installed big strap hinges on them, and an eye-bolt connected to a rope, pulley, and cleat system that lets me easily open and secure the hatch doors.  Then I installed a half-ton electric hoist above the center of the hatch, with a 4x6 spreader to share the hoist's load across six trusses.  The last step, just completed, was to wire the hoist into my second floor electrical subpanel.  I made a test run with a load of about 500 pounds – worked great!

Left-to-right below: the hatches opened wide, a close up of the hoist, and the hatches closed.

Barn progress...

Barn progress...  I forgot to mention this a few days ago: I got an 8" grinder, mainly for sharpening woodworking tools (it's much easier than hand sharpening!).  Like almost all the other gear I've been getting, it came as a kit, with bags of nuts and bolts, and odd-looking machined or formed metal parts.  Unlike most of these kits, it didn't come with directions!  I was able to figure it all out, though...

Snowy flowers...

Snowy flowers...  From our yard a couple of days ago, when we had snow.  It's all melted now...

If Hillary is your champion...

If Hillary is your champion ... you don't need an adversary.  Dave Carter must read...

Pluto and Charon...

Pluto and Charon...  The New Horizons mission is approaching; the fly-by is on July 14th.  Charon looks big and very close to Pluto in this photo.  I suspect that's because Charon is substantially closer to the spacecraft than Pluto is...

A lazy day yesterday...

A lazy day yesterday...  It felt as though I was goofing off, though I actually did get a few things done. 

Two fun things: first, in the morning I picked up our Honda Rincon ATV (just like the one at right).  This is a model intended for use by farmers and ranchers, part of Honda's utility series (as opposed to the sport series that are designed for trails).  There are basically two ways to use one of these (other than just personal transportation): you either tow things (like a trailer or sprayer), or you mount things on the front (like a snow blade).  I'm planning to tow a trailer (mainly for brush as I prune) and a sprayer (for the lawn).  Given that such uses are the design use for the vehicle, I was really surprised that a trailer hitch was an optional accessory.  Really, Honda?  Sheesh.  I have one on order, along with a 12V outlet so I can plug my sprayer pump in.  It's a very nice little vehicle, though.  Starts instantly, thanks to an electric starter and a fuel-injected engine.  I was a bit surprised how fast these things go.  I got a farmer's license, so I'm allowed on the county roads with it – that actually might come in handy on a really snowy day; I can get to the post office and the market even before the roads are plowed, or if there's ice.

The other fun thing was dinner – we met up with a couple of friends (Bruce & June N.) and went to Maddox Ranch House just south of Brigham City.  Several locals have told us that if we had a hankering for beef, that was the place to go.  They have a few other things as well, such as bison, some very conventional seafood, and chicken – but beef is definitely the main theme on the menu.  I had an excellent T-bone steak, cooked rare just as I like it (and very hard to get in California!).  Debbie had a rib eye, and she said is was perfectly cooked.  We both had a nice cream of chicken soup, and birch beer (real!) to drink.  They had an entire menu of luscious looking fruit pies, but we were so full that wasn't even a possibility.  An evening of good food and good company...

I also got Debbie's exercise bar finished and mounted.  This is just a 6' long piece of hemlock stair railing (2" round) mounted level on the wall.  I bought raw milled hemlock, sanded it, and finished it with just clear coat.  It's mounted to the wall with cast aluminum rail hangers, finished to look like wrought iron.  They trick your brain into thinking they're heavy (because they really do look like wrought iron!), but they're actually quite light...

Human towers..

Human towers...

Morning smile...

Morning smile...

Long-standing mystery solved at last!

Long-standing mystery solved at last!  What makes the sound when you crack your knuckles?  It's a bubble of gas forming.

Fun knuckle-cracking facts...  It's not just your finger joints that can be cracked – some people can crack their toes, too.  And did you know that there are (at least) three different parts of your finger joints that can be cracked?  Some people can crack all three on the same fingers...

“So Hillary asks me...”

“So Hillary asks me...” Put your morning beverage down before watching...

Best code ever!

Best code ever!  Remy with a Tax Day special...

It's a winter wonderland!

It's a winter wonderland!  A few photos from our yard, all taken just a few minutes ago...

The importance of accuracy on your Federal tax return...

The importance of accuracy on your Federal tax return...  Via my brother Scott, who made me smile even though it's (spit! hiss! creative cursing!) Tax Day:

The IRS has returned the Tax Return to a man in New York City
after he apparently answered one of the questions incorrectly.

In response to the question,... "Do you have anyone dependent on you ?" the man wrote: "2.1 million illegal immigrants, 1.1 million crackheads, 4.4 million unemployable scroungers, 80,000 criminals in over 85 prisons plus 450 idiots in Congress and a group that call themselves Politicians".

The IRS stated that the response he gave was unacceptable.

The man's response back to the IRS was, ... " Who did I leave out?"

Who indeed?

First turnings...

First turnings...  I've now finished sanding them, and have given them a good treatment with clear Watco.  The bowl has developed a few small cracks, but the goblet is still crack-free.  These cracks are to be expected, as I was turning wood that wasn't completely dried – about halfway between green and dry.  The bowl is more likely to crack because it's a larger diameter...

Strange weather yesterday...

Strange weather yesterday...  First it was wind – 60 MPH gusts, and steady winds of 40 MPH or more for several hours.  Our pines were bent into odd shapes, and lost a few small branches; our choke-cherries were bent over nearly sideways to the ground.  The flags were snapping like crazy, and of course standing straight out – even the small and heavy Gadsden flag.  I was surprised (and happy!) to see that the top of the flagpole didn't move around much.

Then later in the afternoon we got a few sprinkles, and then it started snowing.  In the high winds the snow swirled all around in the vortexes around the house, even though it was wet and heavy snow.  We got about two inches all together.  The driveway is well above freezing, so nothing stuck to that.  The trees and grass are all covered, though.  This is exactly what the local farmers were hoping for, to get a nice soak into the just-planted fields.  The 12 acre field south of our house is planted with alfalfa, after a nice dose of cow manure and careful mechanical preparation this year.  The 2.5 acre field northwest of our house has been mechanically prepared, and will be planted with a grass/alfalfa mix next week.

Around 6 pm we lost power, and it wasn't restored for almost three hours.  There was a downed power line a mile or so from our house that took out power to 391 homes, naturally including ours.  This reinforces our goal of getting a backup generator in place.  We'll probably do that later this spring...

Claire Berlinski is worried...

Claire Berlinski is worried ... and so am I...

I've been expecting this...

I've been expecting this...  But I didn't expect it to come from an (alleged) conservative.  Governor Awesome just became Governor CINO to me...

Before I retired, I paid hard-earned dollars into Social Security for 45 years.  For about 25 of those years, I paid the maximum amount.  If I live to be 100, my “benefits” won't even come close to matching what I contributed.  Had I invested that money even in something with really low yield, like CDs, I'd be far better off.  These days I'm considering that an absolutely best case scenario.  What I'm actually expecting is that before I can draw even a single dollar of my “benefits”, the progressives will find a way to deny them.  With, apparently, Chris Christie's encouragement and help...

I wonder...

I wonder ... what life insurance costs for this guy?  Full screen it...

A nice drive in the mountains...

A nice drive in the mountains...  We drove up past Hardware Ranch toward Ant Flats, just enjoying the signs of spring and watching for wildlife.  It was getting toward dusk, and the deer were coming out to forage – we saw lots of them, most especially along the road to Ant Flats.  We also saw a pair of peregrine falcons, several large hawks, and a multitude of ground squirrels.  The signs of spring are everywhere.

As we drove past the entrance to Hardware Ranch on the way back, we came across some horses enjoying themselves in the low sunlight:

Racer boo-boo...

Racer boo-boo...  Race's favorite entertainment is to chase a ball when I take him for a walk.  He doesn't do this like most dogs, because he's a border collie.  Instead, catching that ball becomes an existential challenge.  He accelerates toward it straining every muscle that could possibly help to the utter maximum.  He pays no attention to anything that might be in his way (which is how Debbie got injured a couple years ago while running him – she got in the way).  He pays no attention to his footing.  Consequently, with some degree of regularity he injures his foot – most commonly, by splitting a nail.  I think it happens when he's putting his foot down at supersonic speed and there happens to be a stone underneath. 

Those split nails bleed like a cheap horror movie, and they look like they must be painful.  He did it again yesterday, so we stopped by the Blacksmith Fork Veterinary clinic to see if they could patch him up.  Within two minutes Race was whisked back to see Dr. Russell, and just 8 minutes after we walked in, Dr. Russell walked out with a bandaged up Race (he had a nice pink foot) and all his front nails trimmed up.  I love this place!

Last night, we crated Race for the night (as usual).  This morning when I took him out for his morning walk, the bandage was gone.  There wasn't a trace of it anywhere in his crate.  He ate it.  He ate his bandage. 

I guess he doesn't like pink :)

So Debbie bandaged him back up with a purple bandage, and we put an Elizabethan collar on him to keep him from eating his bandage.  What a border collie!