Saturday
Tomorrow morning a dozer will be prowling around in my backyard. The dozer man said he would show up at 7:00 am. I bet my neighbors are going to love being awoken early on Sunday morning by the rumbling of a dozer. I bet your glad I don't live next door to you! Originally I was just going to rent a dozer and do it myself but it turns out I can hire someone for less than I can rent the dozer. That doesn't make sense to me.

I watched part of 24 hours of Le Mans today. That seems like it would be a lot of fun. I need to remember to Tivo the US Grand Prix in two weeks.

I replaced the hose on my air compressor with a 50' 3/8" hose today. I got it at Harbor Freight for $10. DM tried to use my new impact wrench on Thursday night. When he put the tires back on the van, it wasn't providing enough torque to tighen up the tire lugs. I thought I was going to have to return it. Then I decided reading the instructions might not be a bad idea. The instructions specified a 3/8" hose. I had been using a rather inexpensive 1/4" hose. The 1/4" hose works fine for a brad nailer. The 3/8" hose made a significant difference with the impact wrench. I guess I won't have to return it after all.

We had dinner at Green Briar tonight. Mmmm, hush puppies and cat fish.

Friday
I went over to DE's house this evening. We decided to put the oven through a trial run. The idea of using a piece of tile as a heat deflector didn't work out. The tile heated up to quickly and cracked into several pieces. We ended up putting the burner at one end and placing the pan at the other. This technique worked out well. We made a small batch of drop biscuits. The biscuits browned to perfection in about 13-15 minutes. The oven will heat to 400 in about 3-4 minutes and it will maintain a temperature of 350F plus with the burner set on it's lowest setting.

We also made a sample batch of ice cream. I believe the ice cream contained only half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. I was working on the grill when Dave mixed it up so I may have overlooked other ingredients. The ice cream mixture is placed in a ziplock bag and then this bag is placed inside a larger ziplock bag along with some ice and rock salt. The larger back is then agitated. We made a small batch. It took just over 10 minute to get it to set up.

I am looking forward to the camping trip. North Carolina here I come. Ok, it is still a few weeks away. I need to begin rounding up my stuff soon.

This was a good week for the Miata. I got to drive it to work every day. The sun is starting to get hot. When I get caught at a long light, I now turn on the A/C. It doesn't providing any real cooling while the car is moving, but it sure feels good while sitting at the light. I turn it off again when the light turns green. You can definitely tell the car is more responsive when the A/C is off.

I drove the Miata to Dave's tonight. I loaded up the burner and grill in the passenger seat. It was a very pleasant drive tonight. The temperature was perfect and I rarely get to open the barn doors.

Thursday
Thursday night the weekly woodworking guild meeting occurred. Things were a bit different this week.

DM brought his wife's mini-van. Instead of working wood, he intended to do a front end brake job. After taking the pads off one side, he decided it didn't need new pads. Checking the otherside showed the same amount of wear. We did learn that not replacing the brake pads takes almost as long as replacing the brake pads.

I was suppose to do some sanding on the headboard/footboard. I have been putting that off. With the upcoming camping trip looming, I decided to do a little work on the camp oven. The time had come to attempt to bring it up to temperature. I put two bricks inside it to provide some thermal mass and fired it up. It heated to 400 very quickly. Looks good so far.

While in San Francisco last week I picked up a couple of inexpensive pipes at a store on Powell street just a few blocks up from Market. DE and I had been considering trying out a pipe this year instead of the usual cigars. Pipes just smell good. I volunteered DM to provide instruction to DE and myself on the proper technique for enjoying a pipe. DE showed around 8:30 and the three of us lit up the pipes and enjoyed a cold one. Two days later the garage still smelled like pipe tobacco. Just for reference, DM had Optimum tobacco which he got at The Humidor. He says it makes a good air freshener it it dries out before you use it up.