The Frame Is Together

One more trip to Home Depot down and I’ve got the rest of the bolts that I didn’t have and have gotten the rest of the frame assembly completed. It had to be moved so that it didn’t lay at an angle because, apparently, my back yard has a slope. Now that it’s done, I’ve got an irrigation system to build and dirt to order.

Putting The Frame Together

The boards are dry and the assembly went pretty well, up until the point where I ran out of bolts because I miscounted. The frame is completely together, but there are some places where I’m going to have to put more bolts in. It only took three trips to Home Depot to pick up parts and tools that I either forgot or didn’t have. As for the missing bolts, that’ll be the fourth trip. I’ll pick them up on the way home from church tomorrow.

9mm Cartridges

I’ve been enjoying the CZ-85B that I picked up late last year, but the Wolf ammo that I’ve been using has become suspect. I’ve had persistent misfeeds with it. Nothing that simply pulling back on the slide wouldn’t cure, but still. So that brings me to the point of today’s post. I’ve got before me three 9mm cartridges, one each from Wolf, Winchester, and Remington. Using my trusty digital calipers, here are the dimensions of each one:

Dimension (in mm) Wolf Remington Winchester
Overall length 29.5 28.0 29.4
Case length 18.9 18.8 18.9
Rim diameter 9.9 9.8 9.8
Neck diameter 9.5 9.5 9.4
Base diameter 9.7 9.6 9.6
Extractor groove 8.9 8.5 8.8

It looks like the Wolf’s a little outsized versus the other two so I’m going to run a bunch of rounds of each of them through and see if my feed issues go away.

The Cats’ Feeder Died

Well, it’s been acting a little funny for the last few months and just gave up the ghost. It looks like the stepper motor has shorted out internally, and that means there’s really no way to resurrect it.

I placed an order on AutoPetFeeder.com today for one of their medium sized feeders. I bought the refurb instead of new because of the cost, and hopefully it’ll work out. At least if I have problems with a component I can replace it since they’re all modular. More info when it arrives…

Ordered The Dirt

I got the dirt for the garden ordered from the nice folks over at Living Earth. I’ve got four yards of their Specialty Planting Mix coming over on Friday. It’s going to be a busy weekend shifting all that soil in to the garden frame, but with the planting season just around the corner, it’s got to get done.

Staining The Boards: Part 1

I set up all of the boards for the raised bed garden in the garage and put down the stain/waterproofing on as much bare wood as I could reach. They’ll dry overnight and I’ll flip/move them tomorrow and finish them off. After that, they’ll be waiting to be put together this weekend. Once they’re in place and happy I’ll be able to get the soil ordered, which is good because the first batch of seeds has arrived and the North Texas spring isn’t that far away…

Super Bowl Sunday

I had a few friends over to watch the Super Bowl, and even though the Pats lost, it was still a good evening. Good friends, buffalo burgers, homebrew, and some good scotch makes for a great way to spend an evening.

Starting The Raised Bed Garden

The raised bed garden has been started. Mike and I went up to Home Depot today to pick up the building supplies for it. Here’s the shopping list.

  • 7 10″x12″x10′ boards
  • 12 L-straps
  • 8 straight straps
  • 12 pieces of rebar
  • Screws to fasten the straps to the boards
  • Also pick up some waterproofing stain and brushes

The basic plan is to cut one of the boards in half, using those as the narrow sides of the garden. It will end up being 5’x20′ but there will be a lane down the middle so that it’s easy to walk down, no hard reaching in from the sides to the middle. The rebar is to be pounded into the ground to secure all of the joints so that they won’t buckle with the weight of the soil.

The Jeep Repairs Are Done

I got the call I was waiting for this morning, the dealer letting me know that the Jeep was ready. I got a lift over there and picked it up. Turns out that they replaced all 12 lifters, reground the valves, and installed new valve seals. It’s running well now, no ticking noises to be heard. The only bummer is that they washed it. I’d worked for years to get that patina on the finish and now it’s all nice and shiny, with a coat of wax even! It is good to have it back, clean and shiny or not.