Author: Brandon

September 10, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

September 10, 2020 /

We are in day four of the wildfire effects. Many small communities have been effected, including some completely burned to the ground. Fortunately, the weather is trending in our favor at this point, we are still safe and in no imminent threat, but that can change at any moment.

For today, I thought that I would talk about communication devices. It seems like the amount of intelligence is very limited at this point. It feels like unless you are in the line of fire, we are only getting evacuation information. To their credit, emergency officials have stated priority one is human safety followed by structure protection followed distantly by fire containment.

The number one device for information is the cell phone. Sheriffs and fire districts are putting out information over official Facebook pages and Twitter alerts. There is a reverse 911 system that is in place if you are signed up for alerts. Of course, we are getting hearsay information from people on or near the scene on various social media platforms. Don’t forget the voice and text functions for communicating with people that are in or near the scene. Keep it charged, have battery banks and cords available for your number one tool.

My number two tool is the AM radio. Local talk or news only stations have updates on the hour. They are also plugged into the Emergency Broadcast System for localize and targeted information. In fact, I just bought a new C. Crane radio yesterday as I have battled poor reception in my smaller ’emergency’ radio for years. I will probably review it later as I get some hours on it.

If you bug out, it is likely that you are going to take as many vehicles as you have drivers. Maybe the power is out, maybe the cell towers are down or maybe there is no reception in the area, two way communication can be helpful and comes in many forms.

  • CB (Citizens Band) radio – This type of radio has pretty good distance depending on your antenna setup and (in my experience) is primarily used in rural communication settings like logging.
  • FRS (Family Radio Service), GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service), MURS (Multi-Use Radio Service) – These are all small handheld walkie-talkie type radio devices. I have several types and despite what the package says, they have very short broadcast distance. Sometimes they have trouble communicating vehicle to vehicle in a caravan situation. I use mine primarily for household communication (like when you are shutting off breakers).
  • Short Wave – This can be a very powerful radio that can communicate around the world. There is quite a bit of knowledge that goes along with operating this device legally and effectively, but be aware.

Operating some of these devices require a license from the FCC, including FRS/GMRS type radios (depending on the frequency). I am not aware of anyone ever getting in trouble for not having a license, but the intent is to have an educated user and not clogging up the airwaves with non-sense.

Another tool that is a good source of local intel is the scanner. This is not something that I have, but my next-door neighbor does. Since, I live on Main Street, I see or hear probably half of the calls drive by. I usually can go talk to my neighbor to find out what the call is about. You can also judge the severity by the number and types of vehicles that pass by.

I have multiple tools running at the same time. Different perspectives provide different levels of information. Stay safe.

September 9, 2020 – Review: HingeMate 350

September 9, 2020 /

I have been saving this one for a while. I have been waiting for a day where I needed a topic quickly, today isn’t that day but I have been sitting on this for over a month. I am going to discuss the finer points of the HingeMate 350 today.

What is the HingeMate anyway? It is a template set that is used to create mortises for doors and hinges. It has pretty much everything you need to do that job, except the router. I purchased it at Lowes for $38.50.

There are plastic templates for the router to use from 2 1/2″ to 4 1/2″ hinges. It can accommodate three different styles of hinges in those widths, 5/8″ radius, 1/4″ radius and square. In addition, you can also mortise strike plate mortises as well as lock plate mortises.

This was a job that was traditionally done with a mallet and chisel. And it can be done, it is not too hard. But it is tedious and takes quite a while (at least for me). I recently replaced doors on my project after spending hours truing up the frame and opening, so I wasn’t too excited about ripping out the frame along with the finished trim, I thought that I would give this a try.

When would you replace a door only? I would say that if you are happy with the swing operation and the trim detail, it is a perfect scenario to only replace the door. The trick is that this is kind of a precise operation, hinge placements need to be exact in order for the door to work. It is easiest to transfer measurements from the old door to the new door for the best results.

The way that this product works is that you select the template that you want to use and place it in the template holder. The template holder is adjusted for the door thickness and placed in the precise spot that you want to work on the door. The whole apparatus is screwed to the door. The bit is put into the router (not included) and then you adjust the depth of cut for the hinge thickness.

Rout the hinge mortise, remove the template and test hinge fit. If you are satisfied, drill the holes for the hinge screws and mount the hinge. Here is a tip, for best door operation, the top of the hinge face should be completely flush to the door edge, not proud and not inset. Otherwise you get into all kinds of binding and geometry problems.

How did it work? Well, it worked perfectly on my first door. It fit on the first test. My second door I had to make modifications to the door in order to make it fit, but I dont believe that it was a problem with the HingeMate but rather the opening was still a half an inch out of plumb.

So, what is the verdict for the HingeMate?

AdvantagesDisadvantages
Value4/5You cant argue with the price. The professional Porter-Cable version is over $250You need to supply your own router. That is another $100 if you do not already own a 1/4″ collet router
I bought this to cut hours of chiseling, I felt that I could do an entire door in the time it would take to do one hinge by hand.If you are only cutting one hinge size (or hinges only) you get a lot of extra pieces that aren’t necessary
Would like to have a storage case for all the parts. You have to cut the packaging open to get them out and there are a lot of loose parts around.
Quality3/5Followed the included instructions and got acceptable results. No flex, no wanderI noticed that the compression fit of the templates tended to loosen with repeated installation into the fixture. I fear over time, the fit would become too loose. That is not substantiated at this time
It was fairly persnickety to accurately place the fixture, the marks are not very precise and required a lot of verification measurements.
Performance3/5Hinges fit tight and flush. I was very happy with the mortises and the speed of the job.The precision of this jig depends on how good you are at measuring and setup. 1/8″ will be extremely difficult to set the door (or repair). I measured four times before cutting.
The only real thing I didn’t like was the screw holes that remained after the fixture was removed. Those had to be filled. It is a cheap and effective way of holding the fixture in place.
The trim router that I used was too small for the template and wanted to fall through in the middle of the cut so I had to freehand. Use a full sized router or an extended base plate to eliminate this problem.

The bottom line is that price for performance is there. I wonder about the durability of this product, but for me I am don’t really see using it much more. Again, my main motivator was saving time on installing the new doors, check that box. If you have a need, I can recommend this product. If you are a finish carpenter, go for the Porter-Cable.

September 8, 2020 – Survived the Apocalypse, Now the Nuclear Winter

September 8, 2020 /

It’s late today. Without getting into too much irrelevant detail, we are currently surrounded by wildfires.

Growing up in the west, fire is an annual event. The mountainous and forested areas are the places that most frequently affected. Lighting and fuel combined with low population density are a common recipe for the big western fires. Typically the area of the state that I live in is a greener and wetter climate. But, when the coast is on fire, you know that there is trouble.

As my wife and I were enjoying a Labor Day drive, I got a reverse 911 call warning of high winds (known as red flag winds). In about two hours the smoke stared blowing in from fires in the central part of the state. Overnight, too many fires to mention kicked up and started burning out of control.

6:45AM, 7:15AM, 8:30AM, 12:30PM, 4:00PM

From what I have seen, the municipal services have done a pretty good job of jumping into action and keeping us to date. It’s no joke, towns have burned and my brother evacuated earlier today. I think that I am in a good position, but I wanted to talk about more concrete actions you can take.

First of all, have a plan. A plan is a place to go and a route to take that is going to be safe. If your party is going to separate, discuss alternate routes to arrive at your destination safely.

Be prepared for evacuation. I would recommend that you gather important documents, medications, glasses, mobile chargers and communication devices and essential non-replaceable items. Pack a bag for extended time away from home. Include items for pets as well like food, bowls, carriers, etc. Make sure your vehicle is fueled and serviceable.

It might be too late, but here are some of the things that are helpful to protect your home. Keep brush and vegetation away from structures. If possible, keep landscaping watered. It has sometimes been beneficial to wet structures with sprinklers or hoses. Native plants tend to fair better to fire either resisting or recovering.

There is too much information to summarize tonight, I will provide some information that I am aware of.

Don’t panic, this will pass.

September 3, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

September 3, 2020 /

I finally got back to the range yesterday. It was the first time that I have been back since early March. The range was closed into May, so it wasn’t total negligence that I didn’t go. My dad asked me to take him in April and I said that when I got through with my project, that would be the time. Well, here we are finally.

October and hunting season is going to be here in a few weeks. The range tends to get really busy in September, so ideally we would have gotten this done two months ago. But this is the time I have, so let’s get this done. I took my dad, uncle and son and spent the better part of the day getting hunting rifles ready for the season.

We had all kinds of maladies to deal with. New shooters, new scopes, unfired rifles caused a long session to get to the results we were looking for. I am going to talk about my process in getting a rifle sighted in.

  1. Determine the load and the likely shooting distance for hunting. Changing those variable after sighting in the rifle requires another verification session.
  2. Bore Sight the scope – I use a laser that is inserted into the barrel. I initially adjust the scope so the crosshairs are centered at a height that is equal to the measurement of center of bore to center of scope.
  3. Shoot at the fifty yard target three times to verify bullet grouping is consistent. If not consistent, verify mounts are solid, ammunition is the same, bullets are the same weight. If consistent, then make adjustments according to scope manufacture to try at 100 yards
  4. Shoot at the 100 yards target three times and repeat the same evaluation as above, including distance.

Now, this is not the most efficient way of doing this. I am not going to go through all the variations and ins and outs of sighting in this post. What I do believe is that a lot of hunters do not spend a lot trigger time. That includes working the action, safety and magazine manipulation as examples. So, firing some extra rounds helps build some of that muscle memory and familiarity.

We had fun. My son was hitting the 200 yard gong consistently. We got our rifles shooting where we wanted. It was one of those waning days of summer, warm and breezy and there were only two other groups of shooters to share the range. I can’t wait until October.

September 2, 2020 – Lessons learned on the Victory Garden

September 2, 2020 /

I believe in transparency, especially in a forum such as this. Not everything can be bang on successful. Not only that, I believe in mistakes are our teachers. In the software industry we used to call project wrap up ‘lesson’s learned’ or using a fancier term ‘plus delta’.

So, look at the picture closely. The first thing you probably see is my dog digging a hole in the bed. Then you might see the bathroom addition that I just finished. Right next to the bathroom, there is a big pile of dirt (it is actually two piles, but the contrast in the picture is not clear).

What kind of plants did I end up with? Good question, I am still not totally sure because my kids planted the seeds in the tray. One of the tray’s was labelled ‘Rainbow’ which they explained to me was all of the leftover seeds mixed into one tray. I noticed that the cabbage tray was growing tomatoes, no peppers actually sprouted. From what I can tell, I ended up with two tomato plants and what I think are two brussel sprout plants.

There are two volunteer tomato plants that I let grow and they are the only thing that is currently producing. The brussel sprouts may have enough time to produce. I don’t think the proper tomato plants will yield anything because it is getting too late in the season. I had some volunteer dill come up as well. This is not exactly the bounty of a Victory Garden.

It is going to be pretty easy to talk about the things that didn’t go well, so let us start with what did.

  • I got seeds started and sprouted
  • I kept the seedlings alive from about mid-April until mid-June before I got them in the ground
  • Most of what got planted is still alive and if the weather holds out, may still produce
  • I got my kids involved in the process

That is pretty much the positives, now for some constructive analysis

  • I went from three beds to one, cutting the opportunity for productivity significantly
  • Because my construction project dominated my life for months, the plants stayed in the trays six weeks too long reducing their vigor and potential for yield
  • I needed to pay more attention to my kids technique when initially planting the seeds
  • The bed location is getting less full sun exposure each year. This year particularly also had construction debris all around, materials dragged over the plants and in general in the way of everything.
  • Some of my seeds are getting long in the tooth. In the past, I was able to get seeds from the library for free and I got kind caught flat footed with COVID and all of the shut downs, including the library

Despite my many issues, and what I consider a nearly wasted effort, I revealed my plans to come back stronger and better. I suppose the good news is that this effort cost nearly nothing. I spent a few dollars to retrofit my irrigation manifold so I could have all soaker lines in the bed.

The other good news is that my dad grows a giant garden and we got broccoli, cucumbers, corn, beets and swiss chard. Sometimes it is better to know a gardener than to be one.

September 1, 2020 – The results of ‘Participation Trophy’ culture

September 1, 2020 /

I was actually in the midst of writing about another topic this morning. I attempted to leave and go to a local bakery to get some bread to have with our bruschetta that we are having for dinner tonight. I am sure that I was already in a bad mood because I had to stop writing, wait for the train to pass, then find out the bread is not ready until later. Then, I drive past this sign and I got triggered.

I must be old fashioned, because I my youth you had to do something extraordinary in order to get labelled a hero. We are talking not just life saving, but life risking as well. Additionally, it was something that not everyone would or could do. I’m sorry but I don’t think working at the post office counts. I know that they are having some issues and I appreciate the relative consistency of delivery, but heros?

The word hero is cheaply thrown around a lot; teachers, doctors, nurses, emergency service, soldier, on and on. Maybe I should just move on and accept that society has changed the definition and cheapened the word. But I cant, a hero was something that was more than appreciation, it was something that you aspired to be and circumstantially the label was applied. A hero reluctantly (or never) accepted the title, a majority people felt that action was substantially above the call of duty or mission.

When I was a kid, there was a ‘war hero’ in your town or my dad could take your dad (not saying those are right, just saying how the use has changed). This culture has turned the notion of hero into someone that gets paid to pursue their career. I don’t know about you, but I can remember the time that all fifty plus Christmas cards were returned because they were irregularly shaped and required extra postage despite the fact that I paid for the postage in the lobby.

I get that things change and idealism fades, but the people that choose certain careers because they had a passion for helping people, or they thought it had good pay and reasonable benefits. Circumstances change and when times get tough or things are not as they seem we now think an unwarranted label is an appropriate motivator.

State worship is high and the brainwashing is nearly complete when we bestow our highest values to imperialism, advancing propaganda and enforcing total law and order. We claim to embrace and appreciate freedom of speech and ideals and we actually do the opposite. We use our praise to enforce status quo and marginalize differences that are too outside our comfort zones.

I know that I am coming out firing both barrels today, so I want to change my tone to finish. I was talking with my mom not too long ago and she was telling me about the time that she baked the garbage man some cookies because he picked up some extra stuff in the back of the house rather than just emptying the cans. Years later, he still remembered the gesture. I can also remember leaving treats in the mailbox too every now and again. Those seem like appropriate tokens of respect and appreciation.

It’s not like marriage, so stopping a bit before love, honor and cherish is appropriate. Love your fellow man, be courteous and respectful, show appreciation, say ‘Thank You’, treat others as you would want to be treated are all actions that are in line with respecting other people. I am proposing to guard the title and reserve the act of bestowing hero to situations warranted.

August 31, 2020 – Have you ever been audited by the IRS?

August 31, 2020 /

Anybody…? Well, I can tell you from personal experience that it is not fun. I probably didn’t need another issue to deal with right now. Fortunately, I am fairly well organized, understand the risks and rules for the most part and it is still a pain in the butt. Not to mention that the attorney costs $250/hour.

In this age of electronic statements, sometimes it is not even possible obtain information. I have statements that went to my previous work e-mail that do not exist anymore. With rollovers and closed accounts I no longer have information that is being requested.

I will spare all of the analysis and insights of the weekly message. If you are interested, you can watch the link yourself. However, the thrust of the message is “what in your life needs to be reborn?”

Looking at things, I think you could say that many of my former peers might say that that I need to rebuild my life. But in this context, you might say that my life is being reborn. A rebuilt life would be moving into a similar job in a related field. It would also be working seven days a week if necessary and being available 24 hours a day. It would be prioritizing a customers/clients desires over my family. It would be taking phone calls during my kids Christmas concerts and having meetings on Christmas Day.

I am not totally against all of that, I am just against it for me now. Everyone needs to hustle, make a name for themselves and learn what they like and are capable of. Everyone needs to push lines until they realize that they are on the wrong side or went too far.

I am at the point where I have learned many of those lessons. I am also trying something new, letting go of control and the safe choices that went along with those choices. That is really scary, but I think that it is a lesson in faith for me. I don’t really want to retire from life, I just want to do something that is less demanding of my attention and loyalties.

I hope that there is something moving me to a stronger and healthier direction. This audit will pass, this season will pass. With the benefit of hindsight, it will be much clearer what is happing.

August 28, 2020 – Talking ’bout gardening again, finally

August 28, 2020 /

We have had a landscaper for probably eleven years. It was really helpful when I was frequently travelling to keep up on the yard maintenance. Of course I have established that I have not worked in over a year and how busy I was this spring/summer, but now that is over, we let Jose go yesterday.

It is sad, he has a son the same age as mine. When you have someone work for you that long, they are more than a contractor. He used to come every week summer or winter and do things in the yard. I really didn’t think that he needed to do that, but he was trying to make a go of things and I could afford to support him.

Ultimately, it worked out for both of us. We were the only house that he was doing in this geographical direction. He told us that he was hoping to pass us to his brother next month so that he could focus on a more concentrated area closer to where he lived. So, with that I broke the news to my boys yesterday that we now have new responsibilities. Ones that they have never been a part of, routine yard maintenance.

So, with that change there are going to be some other changes to the yard. We are going to try and focus on a more productive yard and food systems. We investigating remodeling the yard to more intensively grow more food. In addition, I want to do some experimenting with greens, grow lights and hydroponics for a more year round harvest. More details about the plan later, we just started talking about this yesterday and I haven’t had time

This could probably be a four post topic. Next subject is the Victory Garden. Hopefully we won’t have to rely on the harvest for survival. I will post results maybe next week.

Finally, what I really wanted to show was what a coastal, USDA zone 9a, temperate rain forest garden looks like. I was very impressed with this yard. I should have taken more pictures.

Do you see the size of the hydrangeas in the background? They are massive. This picture does not do the color or the plants justice. I looked up the climate particulars and thought that I would share what zone 9a looks like. The average annual low of 37 degrees with an all time record low of 6 degrees. The annual high of 80 degrees with an all time record high of 99 degrees. Seventy-two inches of rain fall in a year, mostly in the winter and spring, but some rain all year long.

All this lushness comes at a price. There is a lot of gray throughout the year. The dampness (or humidity) and wind is always present, so it often feels colder than the actual thermometer. It is typical to be pretty breezy when the sun is out, I find it a unpleasant at times. Soils are sandy with little organic matter or clay and water holding ability.

But grow where you are planted. I am going to try and take advantage of what I can do where I am at. For the most part in temperate zones, every climate has conditions that are good for some things and not others. Have a good weekend.

August 27, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

August 27, 2020 /

There are so many more fun things to write about, but it starts with staying alive. I am going to quote someone, I am going to credit Frank Sharpe Jr on the The Survival Podcast. “Don’t do stupid things, with stupid people at stupid places.” Last night I watched this video in horror at all of these principles violated.

Don’t watch this video all the way through if you don’t want to see the real results of getting shot. I would say stop watching when the shooting starts.

I am not going to go into politics, nor am I going to pick a side here. I bet you can guess how I feel, however I see a clear cut case of both side being wrong. Don’t be here!

Don’t antagonize a group of people carrying rifles, don’t carry a rifle down to a mass protest. Nothing good can come from this. Even if this was your property, is it really worth the potential legal issues from defending it? Is it worth your life? Is is worth perpetuating a situation where neither side feels there is an equitable ending? Who are we going to convince a change in attitude or opinion from engaging here?

I did some quick research, Kenosha is a city that is about 100,000 people. It is close to both Milwaukee WI and Chicago IL. Based on those demographics, it seems like it could be nearly Anytown USA. It would considered a mid-sized town, or a suburb of a major city, or a midwestern town or a blue collar town, or port town or whatever descriptor that fit most towns in the US. It’s in a blue state or is it a red state? Therefore, this is your town.

It was Tom Gresham that said, “If you bring a gun to a fight, it is now a gun fight” whether the other person has a gun or not. I am all for self defense and if necessary, using force to protect yourself. This seems like a case of antagonism and itchy fingers. Since we cannot see the entire context from the video, those facts will have to be sorted out in court. It does appear that the second guy shot was in self defense, but be it as it may this kid is likely in serious trouble. Not to mention, two people are dead – probably because they acted like jerks – but one transgression does not beget another.

I think that I have been clear on my views about freedom and rights. I support the right to have an opinion different than my own. I support the right to be in the minority or to even be wrong. There have been daily protest in my town for months. Even though I think their opinion is wrong, I support the ability to peacefully assemble and express their views. This activity is causing a clear division between people, but it only happens when you engage at their level.

I want to go back to where I started, don’t be here. Don’t bring a rifle to stop a riot, leave when a protest becomes destructive. When you are confrontational to an armed person, you can have Kent State or Kenosha. You don’t want to be the shooter or be shot.

August 26, 2020 – Just a car…

August 26, 2020 /

Tomorrow I say goodbye to the Mustang. It was tentatively sold within one hour of being put on Craigslist. I had heard that this was a buyer’s market but man, I was not prepared for this.

We stand to make significantly more than we currently owe, and with it we will pay off our other car loan as well as pocket some money. You could say that God provides because we are in a position where we need to get some financial momentum. This will make our obligations $1200/mo less than last month. We will also be able to reduce our insurance bill as well, not sure what the total benefit will be.

Despite the very positive, I am sad. I wanted to drive that car more. I wanted to be involved in a car club, go on rally runs and drive it on the track. I wanted to make cool modifications and show the car off. Lots of places I went, I got compliments on the car. You could often start up conversations with people about the cars they used to own.

Did you know that Mustang drivers have a secret club? They often wave at drivers of other Mustangs. There have been countless times I have gotten a friendly wave from people just to say that “I see your car”. There have also been times when people want to race you off the line or down the freeway. I never did, but its the little things that I will miss.

Here are some final pictures to remember the car.

It is after all just a car. I enjoyed it as much as I could. When I worked, Friday would be the day I would put it into sport mode and use the paddle shifters. I loved getting it up to 6000 RPM before shifting into the next gear and hearing the engine roar.

It was a bit indulgent to purchase this car in the first place. I got kind of caught up in the want over the need. I was looking at used Porsches and this was a more affordable entry into sports cars and performance driving then the latter. We kind of purchased it on a whim, without too much thought. Now, it has turned into more of a financial liability as I work to repair the income side of our lives.

What I learned from this was that there is something as too much car. When you cannot actually use the power that the machine possesses, you have exceeded the necessity to have any more. My biggest regret was that I could never drive the car to it’s full potential. I never got to try launch control or put it into racing mode to really put the power to the test.

Some of the biggest things that I won’t miss are having a back seat too small for anyone but children. I won’t miss people making assumptions about your personality by the kind of car that you drive and leaving nasty notes on the windshield. I like to be able to see the parking lines when I am trying to park; this was a very difficult car to park, often I had to get out to see if I was in a good position.

I am now relegated back to my old F-150. It will continue to do journeyman’s work even though it has probably felt pretty lonely in the last four years. I did drive it a bit as I was working on the house all spring and summer, but it is in the need of some TLC. After seventeen years, things are finally starting to give up. I need a new battery, an emission line hose is leaking, the A/C is not working. So, those will need to get addressed shortly.