gopher_byrd
Cranky Old Fart
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
VU Patreon
It will be hotter here in Cali today, but nowhere near the humidity. At least we cool off at night.
Become a Patron!
Vaping on the Front or back Porch
- Thread starter SteveS45
- Start date
Getting closer to getting the patio together. Around 2/3 of the sand laid, the larger 6x7 section. Pavers are on it for now but will need reworked and shifted a bit to square everything up, even up the spacing. Might have to add a little sand under them to get them flat. Would go a lot quicker if I'd stop doing dumb shit like losing my balance and biffing with a fatty hand print or some shit in the sand I just smoothed out lol.
Would've rather evened the bricks up as I went but with raccoons and stray cats roaming around, didn't figure it needed to become a kitty litter box. I swear the first load of sand in the wagon from the end of the driveway, here comes one of the cat's swishing her tail looking all spazzed like 'what?! fresh sand?!'. Oh hellll no. Rule of thumb when having to shift pipes as guides for screeding, make sure you begin the next drag ON the pipes. Caught the end of it and shoved the pipe further down and just dug into the part I had smoothed. Dammit. On the bright side it's coming together and there was room for all the intended pavers.
Would've rather evened the bricks up as I went but with raccoons and stray cats roaming around, didn't figure it needed to become a kitty litter box. I swear the first load of sand in the wagon from the end of the driveway, here comes one of the cat's swishing her tail looking all spazzed like 'what?! fresh sand?!'. Oh hellll no. Rule of thumb when having to shift pipes as guides for screeding, make sure you begin the next drag ON the pipes. Caught the end of it and shoved the pipe further down and just dug into the part I had smoothed. Dammit. On the bright side it's coming together and there was room for all the intended pavers.
It was 95 in our area yesterday with 100% humidity. You know it's bad when you're in an air conditioned school building, working and drenched six times over with sweat. Around 1:30/45 we come to a place where we had all the wax & sealer down to dry one "last coat".
My partner went on to another school 15 minutes away to check its bathrooms. I piddled at turning off lights, then checking the set of bathrooms, taking out cafeteria trash at the school I was at. By 2:20 all I could feasibly do was done. So I sat and waited on my ride home.
The school board had its meeting. No call last night which I'm to take as there's no more Summer work for me until called, if called. I'm on though for next school year as a sub.
My partner went on to another school 15 minutes away to check its bathrooms. I piddled at turning off lights, then checking the set of bathrooms, taking out cafeteria trash at the school I was at. By 2:20 all I could feasibly do was done. So I sat and waited on my ride home.
The school board had its meeting. No call last night which I'm to take as there's no more Summer work for me until called, if called. I'm on though for next school year as a sub.
Pictures Please~!
Did it get what it was looking for? I breed my own worms for fishing. Have hundreds! Three breeding trays and a bottom catch tray for the worm juice thats good for plants.
Today did a feed for them, vitamised polenta, oats, wholemeal flour and dehydrated peas and corn. Its worm turbo charge food. In the catch tray, as usual, was dozens of them.
I liberate those there each time in the garden and if birds are around, magpies or blackbirds, hold some up so they see then dump the tray upside down for them.
Some get eaten some I think most get away into the grass then dirt.
We must have the best worm population in our front and back yards here for sure. And best fed birds. Any wonder they love coming here.
Yes, I have been feeding the Birds Dollar Tree Bread~! Usually $1 a loaf but last time it was 4 for a Dollar. They love the Italian or French Bread even more.
Creatures do develop a taste for things thats for sure.
This is true. When I go into the bush detecting I often take things to leave for the animals. Bread and other scraps. Never meat as it attracts feral cats, feral dogs or foxes which have devastated our native animals. The funniest was when I took some cooked rice. Where I was there was a huge ant nest, not our evil bulldog ants, but what are known as here Meat Ants. They bite but it just itches with an initial small sting feeling gone in several seconds. The Bulldogs will ruin your day, and are to be avoided. They have stingers like wasps. One will repeatedly hit you over and over till you kill it. Excruciating crazy pain. Have been hit by them a few times. Worst was several got up the leg of my pants and stung me. I couldn't walk properly for a week and my entire calf from ankle to near knee was actually black and blue swollen to twice its size feeling like it was on fire. Evil things. Very toxic stings.
So I saw this meat ant nest, relatively nice ants
, and thought ill see what they do with the rice. I threw about a bowl full on the nest top. They went nuts 
Walked off detecting, came back after an hour and all gone and taken underground into the nest!
Conclusion....Meat Ants love rice.....Bulldog ants like/hate me.
Creatures do develop a taste for things thats for sure.
This is true. When I go into the bush detecting I often take things to leave for the animals. Bread and other scraps. Never meat as it attracts feral cats, feral dogs or foxes which have devastated our native animals. The funniest was when I took some cooked rice. Where I was there was a huge ant nest, not our evil bulldog ants, but what are known as here Meat Ants. They bite but it just itches with an initial small sting feeling gone in several seconds. The Bulldogs will ruin your day, and are to be avoided. They have stingers like wasps. One will repeatedly hit you over and over till you kill it. Excruciating crazy pain. Have been hit by them a few times. Worst was several got up the leg of my pants and stung me. I couldn't walk properly for a week and my entire calf from ankle to near knee was actually black and blue swollen to twice its size feeling like it was on fire. Evil things. Very toxic stings.
So I saw this meat ant nest, relatively nice ants
Walked off detecting, came back after an hour and all gone and taken underground into the nest!
Conclusion....Meat Ants love rice.....Bulldog ants like/hate me.
We once had an Ant Problem here and I tried all kinds of Pesticides and Baits to kill them. Spent a lot of money and really no results. Thanks to the Internet I found a sure fire way to get rid of Ants. Dish Detergent~! They hate the smell of soap or can't smell what attracted them. I had a swarm of them in a crack in the patio one morning and poured Dawn in it and they have not been back since.
Ok, good one. That will be easy to carry a small 30 to 60 ml vape bottle full of that in my pocket when detecting and get a signal near a Bulldog Ant nest. In another thread here today I mentioned to Dogman that I left a signal next to a Bully nest because they were after me. I'll try that next week when out again and see if it works with those evil things and hopefully it works.
I know petrol they hate but am not keen carrying that about in my pocket for hours. Tried liquid insect deterrents but unless poured on them directly they still have a go.Will let you know. Have left numerous signals over the yrs because of them.
Some have been very funny stories.
Mongrel Ants!
Hi mate. Signals from my detector finding a metal object underground. The detector gives off a wavering sound at a certain level called the Threshold. Like an in between wavery mid line. A high uplift tone is usually a small target, a low below the line tone, dropping sound is usually a larger target. Examples...small uplift pip or other may be a small bit of gold (or shotgun pellet or similar size thing) a low drop tone under the threshold, deep base tone, if its gold will be a larger bit. Its a guess game. Now n then a high can be a .01 to 5 gram bit.
The drop low tones can be an odd shaped 1 gram to any size bigger. You can get bits, done it for 25 yrs, that from 1/2 a g up to say 5 g can give an up. But never does anything bigger do that. After you dig to a certain depth you know if its gonna be junk or gold. Say its an up. You dig a foot deep then more. You can bet your house in our mineralised ground its junk. Do the same with a drop tone and keep smiling until you see it.
Thing is, big musket balls can be detected over a foot deep, drops, iv been disappointed by those a lot. But, now n then a rise near a foot and shallower I was convinced was a bit of junk has been a nice small bit. There are discrimination detectors but our ground is so iron mineralised, known as the worst in the world, that discrimination does not work here on the actual goldfields and gold can show up as iron and iron as gold. A crew from I think it was Whites Detectors came here in the late 90s. The readings from Oz blew them away. In the US the bad ground for example read in the hundreds on their ground mineralisation meter. Here it was in the thousands. I worked in two detector shops here too in the late 90s and early 2000s. Whoah did I see some crazy insane life changing finds. None were mine, I wish, but once two guys came in and layed out a find from a reef they found. The gold covered the shops counter. I held numerous nuggets that entirely filled my hand. Again, not mine but it was nuts to see what some got. Instant millionaires.
Compare me to them. I caught little fish, they caught Marlins.
But im always happy with my lot in life even when I saw those with all that.
Last edited:
@SteveS45
I'll hunt out some pictures that I took for the shops and from articles I wrote for a magazine when I worked in the game to show you. I wrote dozens of articles and stories during my time working in it. Some just a few mine, but most the majority from the experience's of others I knew and just wrote about them. People thought it was all me even though id tell them otherwise, I wish, if they were id be living on my own tropical island instead of renting a home. Gimme a few days to dig (pun intended) them out.
I'll hunt out some pictures that I took for the shops and from articles I wrote for a magazine when I worked in the game to show you. I wrote dozens of articles and stories during my time working in it. Some just a few mine, but most the majority from the experience's of others I knew and just wrote about them. People thought it was all me even though id tell them otherwise, I wish, if they were id be living on my own tropical island instead of renting a home.
Gimme a few days to dig (pun intended) them out.
I almost bought an Air Rifle because a Wood Pecker put a hole in a post around the top of the garage railing. When freaking Amazon shipped it and then said it never shipped I just canceled the order.
Progress so far.
It was getting dark last night and was hauling just to get a full pass of sand down and pavers plopped down to cover it and protect it. They definitely need touched up to get them lined up properly so the spacing is off right now.
When you are done that is going to look AMAZING~!
Worked today. Went to turn my card in at BOE office. Carol said she would take it as Tina, our new secretary was busy.
Well, I went to leave and heard a commotion behind me as I did. Tina rushed out into the hall behind me with Mr. E in tow. She asked why I wasn't working. I said I had got no call out.
She said they tried but apparently had misinformation. Mr. E was behind her grinning and nodding. She explained I would need to finish the week out at the job, Mr. E would be up the last day with further schedule, checks.
Went out to FIL. He says, "let me guess, Eastwood." "Yep." Got there about two hours late but we got caught up so quickly. We finished what we could do by 1:20 pm.
So that was my day.
Well, I went to leave and heard a commotion behind me as I did. Tina rushed out into the hall behind me with Mr. E in tow. She asked why I wasn't working. I said I had got no call out.
She said they tried but apparently had misinformation. Mr. E was behind her grinning and nodding. She explained I would need to finish the week out at the job, Mr. E would be up the last day with further schedule, checks.
Went out to FIL. He says, "let me guess, Eastwood." "Yep." Got there about two hours late but we got caught up so quickly. We finished what we could do by 1:20 pm.
So that was my day.
Most all the bricks are down. Not sure yet if I'm going to just space the existing pavers or try to shuffle them closer to leave the gap where the piece of 2x4 goes across the walkway and put a line of red bricks there. Spacing isn't completed yet, just have the sand down and bricks on top to protect it. Had to pause for a bit and cover some if for another rain delay this afternoon. Some of the bricks are a bit dirty and need washed off and all that, but progress none the less.
@SteveS45
Here's one good lot that came into the shop I worked at. (Thats the boss there not me)
An awesome specimen.
A good nugget found by a good mate who is sadly gone.
Lovely bit I took a picture of for a cover shot in the magazine.
Another I took for the mag.
This was found by another mate who is also gone. Most of my friends in detecting were older than me so now most have passed away. Great specie he got this one.
Great memories from those days.
Here's one good lot that came into the shop I worked at. (Thats the boss there not me)
An awesome specimen.
A good nugget found by a good mate who is sadly gone.
Lovely bit I took a picture of for a cover shot in the magazine.
Another I took for the mag.
This was found by another mate who is also gone. Most of my friends in detecting were older than me so now most have passed away. Great specie he got this one.
Great memories from those days.
Last edited:
@gadget
Hope it was a good one
! WAKE UP ! from the MEDIA SPELL !
Hope it was a good one
! WAKE UP ! from the MEDIA SPELL !
gopher_byrd
Cranky Old Fart
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
VU Patreon
gopher_byrd
Cranky Old Fart
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
VU Patreon
So the Heat Wave has finally subsided for a while and now we have 4 days of rain and Thunder Storms in the forecast. Sat outside in the Backyard under the awning feeding the birds while vaping in the rain after dinner. Very Peaceful to be honest. Nice and cool and although it is raining still comfortable temperatures.
Had a few days rain here. Enough apparently to wash the sand under the pavers downhill, 1.5" pavers set on top of the sand and some of them are buried to within 1/4" or so of the top. Not sure where the sand washed from exactly, but pain in my fucking ass. HATE the damn rain, far too much of it here.
Tried scrubbing a couple of the discolored pavers with a little dishsoap and water to see if the faded crap was just something surface, seems not. Still looks off, so going to have to go back and try to get some that match. I know they'll fade some over time but hell, be nice to start off somewhat even. If I have to go back to the hardware store another damn trip I may as well put in for change of address. Shit's ticking me off. Would've thought the ass clowns at the paver factory couldn't managed putting a little darker gray dye in the concrete mix. But it's 2021, so nope. Wouldn't be surprised if next year tires stop being round.
All I know is starting to feel like buying lumber at home dildo. Buy 8500 of something hoping for 12 good ones. Ridiculous. Now I just have to find someplace to offload all the sand I haven't used so I'm not lugging around half a truckload of sand with me all over town.
Tried scrubbing a couple of the discolored pavers with a little dishsoap and water to see if the faded crap was just something surface, seems not. Still looks off, so going to have to go back and try to get some that match. I know they'll fade some over time but hell, be nice to start off somewhat even. If I have to go back to the hardware store another damn trip I may as well put in for change of address. Shit's ticking me off. Would've thought the ass clowns at the paver factory couldn't managed putting a little darker gray dye in the concrete mix. But it's 2021, so nope. Wouldn't be surprised if next year tires stop being round.
All I know is starting to feel like buying lumber at home dildo. Buy 8500 of something hoping for 12 good ones. Ridiculous. Now I just have to find someplace to offload all the sand I haven't used so I'm not lugging around half a truckload of sand with me all over town.
Recent discussion with father in law:
"I think J is really pissed off at me," he said as he exited the car at Kroger's fuel center.
I waited until he got back in. "Hm, do I even want to ask?"
"I asked him to do something for me Saturday. He went on about 'hoping he did enough to offset the rest'. I got a notice about them wanting to shut off the water up there. Seems like he can't pay the water bill. Hell, all there is for bills is it and the electric. I'm putting a roof over his head, giving him a vehicle to drive. He pays no insurance. Where is his money going?"
He then went on about the electric cook stove. He didn't blame me for not wanting to clean it up if me and my wife were not going to use it. He instead was mad at J because he had not cleaned it, got the proper outlet connector for it. The stove is fully functional, or was until it's sat outside in the weather.
And then the biggest shocks. "I see what you and Chris are doing. You're aiming for a goal and working toward it. You're going to take care of her. I know now you are, I can see that. My dad was right."
I then told him she and I would keep helping when/if we could but also that we could only help so much. I said I think he saw why. He agreed and said it was fine. He understood and was only mad at himself and J, J for taking advantage, and himself for letting it happen.
I said I understood that. He then asked me if I had seen all this. I said don't ask, please. Then, told him it wasn't my place to say. He nodded.
"I think J is really pissed off at me," he said as he exited the car at Kroger's fuel center.
I waited until he got back in. "Hm, do I even want to ask?"
"I asked him to do something for me Saturday. He went on about 'hoping he did enough to offset the rest'. I got a notice about them wanting to shut off the water up there. Seems like he can't pay the water bill. Hell, all there is for bills is it and the electric. I'm putting a roof over his head, giving him a vehicle to drive. He pays no insurance. Where is his money going?"
He then went on about the electric cook stove. He didn't blame me for not wanting to clean it up if me and my wife were not going to use it. He instead was mad at J because he had not cleaned it, got the proper outlet connector for it. The stove is fully functional, or was until it's sat outside in the weather.
And then the biggest shocks. "I see what you and Chris are doing. You're aiming for a goal and working toward it. You're going to take care of her. I know now you are, I can see that. My dad was right."
I then told him she and I would keep helping when/if we could but also that we could only help so much. I said I think he saw why. He agreed and said it was fine. He understood and was only mad at himself and J, J for taking advantage, and himself for letting it happen.
I said I understood that. He then asked me if I had seen all this. I said don't ask, please. Then, told him it wasn't my place to say. He nodded.
The sand most probably washed down into the gravel IMO. Try bleach or Muriatic Acid to clean the pavers. When I go to HD for lumber I pick through pallets to find straight ones with no knots~!
gopher_byrd
Cranky Old Fart
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
VU Patreon
Maybe, though the issue I'm facing is the sand level has risen at the lower end. Lower by design, angled slightly to divert water off the outer edges. And the ground isn't level. To keep the pavers near the surface without extending above or below the outer frames I had to ramp part of the walkway. It's a roughly 3 degree pitch over the course of 8ft. I didn't plan to leave it as is for so long until the rain came. A few days it called for rain only got sprinkles and light rain for an hour or two at a time. The other couple days it poured its ass off. The sand was screeded to only 3/4" deep and the pavers sat on top with plans to run pea gravel between them in the joints. But now near the lower edges the sand rose up and all but filled the joints.
Some of the pavers are improving now that they're drying out, they were all exposed to the same sun, same rain but some apparently soaked deeper than others. But there's still some lighter marks on the surfaces. I don't mind a little natural variation but when there's a block of darker pavers and it looks like one or two were the wrong color entirely, kinda chaps my ass. And that's already using extras.
I've tried hunting anything that resembles straight at HD, what a miserable chore. I can go through a whole stack here and find only 8 or 9 straight boards. Which is kind of pathetic. Granted it was a more arid region in Arizona but when I worked for a local truss plant we kept quite a few bundles on hand. Various lengths of 2x4 - 2x14 I think, in lengths from 8ft to 16ft, lower grades as well as sp1 and sp2. It was similar to the big box bundles, stickers every so often but not every row. It sat outside in the weather with tarps over it, exposed to heavy sun, rain etc. Maybe once or twice a week we'd come across a board bowed like the stuff at HD. 90-95% of it was so straight you could use it for a straight edge. No bows or cupping.
And that sp1a, good lord. Clear of any knots and so smooth it felt like butter. Like not only had it been planed, like someone rubbed it down with cocoa butter. You could set one board on top of another, give it a bit of a shove and it would sail down the rest of the way like it'd been waxed. I haven't seen anything at the big box stores that compares even in their 'grade 1' crap. The best of what they offer is more like the 2nd or 3rd tier stuff we used. Even grabbing that small piece of treated plywood I needed from Menards. Not just missing layers in the middle with nasty voids (you'd think they could've cut around them for 2x2 squares) but soaking wet. Went to find a less warped 2x2 square of ply and the lower sheets were not only wet, they were moldy with mildew and a few were making a home for some colony of bug. I was buying new from a store, not scavenging for old half rotted crap from a cabin left neglected in the woods or swamps. I was going to pick up a couple pieces of flat stock to place on the sand to screed it. Would have if I could've found any that resembled straight and not Christmas bows.
For the prices these places charge their stock shouldn't be this janky. One bent or bowed something or other, even a couple, sure. Every one of them? It'd be like going to the grocery store where half the milk's already curdled on the shelf, half boxes of cereal with loose cereal scattered all over the floor. And trying to find a candy bar that hadn't been smashed and busted into 3-4 pieces in the package.
Ha ha, got home weed eated for about a half hour. Ran out of string and figure fuel wasn't far behind.
I had a bunch of Onions start going bad and when I went to the Roller Compost Tumbler Bin it was almost full so I took the second plastic barrel I had and drilled some holes and transferred it to the barrel. Not sure how many gallons they are maybe 15?
Got about half the sand under the pavers fixed. What a pain in the ass. Was trying to do one step at a time, but now I'm trying to do one section at a time. So once the sand is fixed, pavers are leveled and shit I can put the gravel down to help hold the sand from washing out again. Don't want to have to do this again. The way it just up and decides to rain I don't want to fix all the sand then go back and do gravel (like I first planned) just to have it all exposed in case the weather dumps again.
As I said, got home and did the weed eating. I was out about half hour. Stopped due to string running out on the machine, besides which it was blistering hot.
Friday/yesterday was the last day of this "big" job for me. I go back to being on call. My partner for the past two weeks told me to not worry about turning in my access card.
They could always push a computer button and disable it. He said hold on to it, in case I got called to that school again. The card is for two schools. So if I have to go to either I'll have access.
Been making some decent pay checks. About 90% of each, or more is going into the bank. Me and wife can live alright off what she's bringing in, and she still has some to bank as well. Eventually that banking will lead up to a down payment.
Friday/yesterday was the last day of this "big" job for me. I go back to being on call. My partner for the past two weeks told me to not worry about turning in my access card.
They could always push a computer button and disable it. He said hold on to it, in case I got called to that school again. The card is for two schools. So if I have to go to either I'll have access.
Been making some decent pay checks. About 90% of each, or more is going into the bank. Me and wife can live alright off what she's bringing in, and she still has some to bank as well. Eventually that banking will lead up to a down payment.
