Work around the house (yard and garage)

Getting ready to seed areas where I removed bushes.

Danika loves to have a job she can help with.

New desk (we have had this set up for a while but I noticed an old photo of my work space on a recent blog post)

Worked on the garden. Removed blackberry bushes.

Weed wacked garden after spraying lawn weeds. It gets dark quickly this time of year.

Echo in its winter parking spot.

4Runner doesn't have a lot of extra room in the garage. It's a cozy fit.

Garage door clearance is 6'10" and this parking structure buzzed at me for being over 6'8"

Washer Drain

No cap or strap

Before

After (have not yet removed the water softener hose yet)

No strap

Before

After

No drain standpipe

Before

After

We are using the sump pump now. Hopefully this set up proves successful. 

$25 repair. 

March 27, 2014

I have been pretty busy at work with residential bidding projects. 

This past Sunday we went on a walk on the board walk

Whenever I can find time I work on my 4Runner to prepare it for Moab at the end of April

We are changing our desks this week but I also have a new desktop and dual screens for bid take offs.

Tacoma replacement - Hulk

We quickly reaized that with 2 kids Moab was going to be no fun this year. We started the hunt for a 4Runner with an elocker to replace the Tacoma.

Plan is to quickly build a SUV that has similar capabilities if the Tacoma. We would have also enjoyed a 4 door Tacoma but the 4Runner has already proven to be a better family vehicle. 

Bumper removed so I can modify the Tacoma bumper to fit.

New sliders to replace the stock step.

Shorter than I would have liked but price was about half of other options.

Cleaning the 'Garage'

3-10-14

Did some spring cleaning tonight. I am really ready for a garage. Until that point I am trying to limit my outdoor storage and tools but it seems to keep overflowing my space. I think I may add to the shed this summer. We will see. Maybe we will finally buy a house with a garage!

Hung up some wall ornaments

Organized Tie down straps

Sunday Hike

It was super windy last night and this morning.  That made the weather a little cold.  This afternoon it warmed up above 70 so we decided to go on a family hike.  Karli and Danika hiked to the meadow and I continued to the top (a little past where the gps stopped).  I must have pushed a button to pause the tracking because it didn't record all the way to the turn around or the decent.

View Sunday Hike - 05/05/2013 4:26pm in a larger map

'06 crf450r Top End

So after getting more involved in motorcycles I quickly learned a few things.  Number one, they are lots of fun; Number two, that fun comes at a cost(literally).  I have enjoyed saving money by working on my bikes myself.  I quickly found out that the bike I had purchased required regular maintenance.  Oil, air filter, rear tire changes and valve adjustments are quite frequent.  I learned how to shim my valves and did that twice last summer.  I thought I had 1 more adjustment left this spring before I would need new valves.  But during my spring adjustment I realized I that my minimum thickness shim was still not thin enough.  So after much research I decided to purchase a whole new head that has stainless steel valves and supposedly will not need any adjustment after the initial adjustment.  There were many different options I could have chosen but this seemed to suit me best.  I also opted for an upgraded '08 head which has smaller exhaust ports and a different intake tract.  Last night I wrenched into the depths of my motor I hadn't before.  All the forums make these 4 stroke motors out to be a nightmare of complicated(compared to two strokes).  But I quickly realized this is much easier than working on a car.  One cylinder equals way less components and that what I am used to which means less parts to keep track of and less time to disassemble   Overall my motor was in way better shape than I expected   I have been very displeased with the external components of my bike.  Most bolts are mostly stripped out(common ones like oil drain).  But apparently previous owners have not been brave enough to venture to the internals much to my gratitude.  So the new head is in the mail.  I need to order with it a gasket kit and possibly a piston kit.  The cylinder is in mint condition.  Also part of this re-build I will be adding a hour meter so I can keep better track of maintenance.

I decided to designate a shelf in my shed so I didn't loos any parts.

The intake valve on the bottom is the one that is failed.  It is hard to see in a photo but visually it can be seen that the valve is deeper into it's seat than the other valves.