No. Figure making coffee pasteurized them pretty well. I can’t overemphasize, the way i do this would probably be a disaster with anything less aggressive than oysters. The need for prep work is much less demanding because of that.
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A railing from the kitchen to the patio. It’s only two steps, but mom frequently has a teapot or coffee grounds in one hand, and there’s not really anything else to hang on to.
The big box stores only have fancy interior railings at $omg/ft, so a sanded bit of patio ceder and linseed oil did the job. Drilling into brick without a hammer drill is slow and tedious work.
Hm. Maybe I should caulk that crack?
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The Ms. and I spent our anniversary getting super baked, listening to dancehall, and making mandalas on the Cricut machine.
The last one is getting watercolors:
ETA: done
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It’s that time of year again: dock repairs. Dismantling the old one and saving the tanks, deck planks, and large hardware for a new dock in the spring. It’ll be like the ship of Theseus.
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Oooh, a Honda C50/70/90! Here in Australia postal delivery folks ride those. They’re generically referred to as “postie bikes”. They are legit indestructible. I rented one in Thailand to get around Sukhothai, the original capital city, and it was a joy to ride.
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Landscaping for the family astronomy patch. Those are the kids’ scopes, under weatherproof insulated bags. They’ll stay outdoors 24/7 so the kids don’t need a grown-up to carry and set up their scopes. My scope will join them soon. Mine has a ground-level base that would make an excellent rodent home, so there are a few rodent-proofing steps needed first (a cage like a rabbit hutch to surround the scope, to be wheeled off when scope is in use).
Gravel for drainage, so that rising dew doesn’t settle all over the optics. The fence looks terrible for views near the horizon, and it kinda is. But from the eyepiece height, the fence top is in line with the neighbour’s treetops, so that’s as good as it gets. 
Lots of observing higher altitude angle things.
My 8-year-old daughter just did her first observing of Jupiter and Saturn with her scope. “Why does Jupiter look all rainbow-y?” When I explained, she had to step back in wonder. “I’m looking at clouds on Jupiter through my telescope?!?!” Followed by a happy dance. Awesome fun.
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Decided to remodel one of the closets. The original 120+ year walls, installed after plumbing was added, were a mess, and there was old termite damage.
Progress after day 1.
Inside wall, with an old alarm system wiring behind it.
Closet wall, in front of an outside wall. There’s an old door next to it that was covered up in the 1950s.
Stack pipe that comes up from the crawl space, installed in the late 1800s. The board to the left is so termite-ridden it is crumbly powder.
Old termite damage.
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That’s always ongoing. So many critters hereabouts. The other day we had a baby anole crawl across the bed. Ugh
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In the 90s my friend and I made some videos with these rubber panda and gorilla puppets we found. The originals decayed because they were exposed to UV light. I’ve had a saved search on ebay forever to find replacements. Several years ago I found the gorilla. A couple weeks ago I finally found the panda. I got him in the mail and first thing went about molding and replicating him. I actually learned this process in an evening class when I was a kid in iowa by a guy who worked for Jim henson making the dinosaurs TV show! In that case the original sculpt was plasticine. But the rest is the same. Plaster mold. Pour in and pour out liquid latex. You could make Halloween masks with this same process.
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Seasoning cast iron with…
MOLTEN ZINC
j/k It’s molten zinc, but it’s for another project. That’s my meltin’ pan.
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Dock repair update: This has turned into a full-on project. The heavy-duty hot-dip-galvanized hardware had some corrosion, so I’m de-rusting and then re-galvanizing.
Power-washed all the algae and crud off the float tanks. One of the six tanks was full of water and will have to be replaced.
All that’s left at the lake is the anchor and a stack of deck boards.
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Well, I’ve not really been good at doing updates, but here is the current status of the bathroom vanity: sufficiently done to be at risk of never being finished!
Frame and top fully finished and assembled. Plumbing will be hooked up in the next couple of days. And then i still need to make the shelves and doors… gonna have to stay motivated 
The last photo is the blocks i made to connect the top to the legs /aprons.
All parts are stained with two colors to get the desired shade. The base is clear coated with spar urethane and the top is flood coated with epoxy. Ask me more about epoxy flood coating red oak without a sealer applied first…
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working vacation: we made these custom bunk beds in a fantastic vacation home on lake Nantahala, NC. you can barely see the circular cutout for the light fixtures and the cubbies at either end also have electrical and usb plugs on the sides. these clients are millionaires; just wiring all that and two junctions for ceiling fans cost them $900 and me as the carpenter’s helper made more than that. unreal.
½” plywood was maple iirc and the shiplap, ladder, rails, and trim is just pine. all built stain grade i.e. no painting over any screwups.
our office:
got to do a little swimming and paddle boarding, too.
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Our neighboring state to the north is just such a beautiful place…
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I feel that.
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A question…
I’ve been image gathering for a couple of customers, and have found a couple of things I would love to turn into wall-sized murals in my apartment in the future when I have the time. Does anyone here have any good recommendations for a portable digital overhead projector that can produce crisp images? I don’t trust many of the reviews I find online, and thought someone here might have some hands-on experience with one of the latest models.
I’m not in any real hurry, just thinking about what I’ll be doing down the road.
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