Speaking of auto electric, our SUV wasn't charging and I would've taken it it IF the stupid check engine light hasn't been lit since we bought it in late 2014. Soooo I went out and click click click. Dead. The headlights auto on hadn't been working for a week or so, I imagine the issues are connected through the computer. <sigh> Charged the battery and drove it to a local shop that's reasonable, doesn't pad the diagnosis and darned fast.

Soooo, I'm driving the pickup on the roads, legal and insured but about 3x as expensive to operate but we have wheels. 

The plumber just left after repairing with mods the outside hose bib. Water keeps freezing in the pipe and splitting it no matter how I drain and blow it out. This has a vertical leg and slopes downwards to the wall penetration to the basement. Should do it. 

About few weeks ago I saw my general about a gum infection, my dentist was booked solid unless it was an emergency. My general prescribed an anti-biotic and I've had the squirts since. I'm eating probiotics to repopulate my gut biota and Kaopectate for some control. My dentist won't do his thing until the infection is cleared completely and that'll take a root canal, in Anchorage. Soooo, the SUV charging system died, of course. I'd take the pickup into town but parking garages are a serious challenge for that wide turning beast.

Things would be sooooo much easier if Deb could drive but she's under doctor's orders not to due to the recent shoulder replacement.

When it rains it pours eh Bro?

Frosty The Lucky.

Yes it does but fortunately i have a good raincoat. 

I installed the pot hanger I made for my wife last week.  It will take her a while to notice.

Trimmed the bushes around the house. I have a pile of brush 5' tall and looks like i am protecting the house from lions on the savannah. Fired up the forge to do a little work, then remembered that i piled all that brush behind the shop. Not a good idea to be forging next to a pile of dry- semidry brush i do not think. 

So today i play with the wood chipper. 

Good choice Billy! Wood chippers are fun, just don't get too deep into them!

Frosty The Lucky.

4 hours ago, Frosty said:

Good choice Billy! Wood chippers are fun, just don't get too deep into them!

Frosty The Lucky.

LOL! One can never be too careful around a wood chipper, right Frosty?

On 5/20/2025 at 2:23 PM, Frosty said:

About few weeks ago I saw my general about a gum infection, my dentist was booked solid unless it was an emergency. My general prescribed an anti-biotic and I've had the squirts since. I'm eating probiotics to repopulate my gut biota and Kaopectate for some control.

Funny you should mention your #2 dilemma.  Having diarrhea is the worst.  Ever since I've been making my own natto, my poop has firmed up quite a bit and is no longer odiferous.  Natto is that Japanese fermented soybean food.  If you don't want to make your own, you can probably buy it at an Oriental market.  Fifty grams per day is what is recommended.

As far as the gum infection, you should floss and gargle twice a day with an astringent.  How is your breath?  If it smells like rotten meat, you should start drinking 8 oz of of either kefir water or kefir milk each day.  I make mine here at home. Flossing and brushing is a must, as well.

You're right about your gut biome.  It controls your libido, your heart health, your moodiness and sensitivity, your blood pressure, practically everything.

I hope your diarrhea gets better.  If you don't have a bidet, get one. It really helps.  Nice cooling effect, especially if you're in Alaska.

Got about 3/4 of this brush done and a huge pile of mulch now. Still have a couple honeysuckles to do but the evergreens and those xxxx old Bradford pear trees are gone. Something kind of Zen about chipping wood. 

I bought this wood chipper last year. It says it can handle up to a 4" branch but i have not pushed it that far yet. It makes fast easy work of getting rid of yard debris. I think i paid ~$650 for it new. One of the best investments i have made. It is also light enough that i can put it in the back of the truck and take to my dad's house if he needs to use it. I would highly suggest investing in one if you own property or have a rental next door the owner of which will not do anything about the brush and trees overhanging your property... 

I am no landscape expert but i figured it would be a good idea to put the evergreen chips someplace i am not concerned about things growing again. Like on the garden or flowerbeds. 

I recently saw a suggestion that those cutting down Bradford/Callery pears could graft fruit-bearing pear trees onto their (famously hardy) rootstock. 

Before I retired and the great white (birch) attack we used chippers that happily turned 12-14" logs into chips frighteningly fast. At work one operator would knock a tree or whatever over with an excavator W/thumb, slam it on the ground to knock the dirt out of the roots and hold it for one of the ground guys to chainsaw the roots and limbs off that wouldn't fit into the chipper attached.

I had plans for a drying silo by the shop and a wood chip stoker furnace inside with in floor heat. The smoke would've driven the stoker and the furnace would've provided warm air to dry the chips. I'd built several vertical barrel stoves in the past proving they drafted way better than horizontal barrels and the smoke velocity let me draw more heat without excessive creosoting. 

Then the tree got me and it never left the cad screen. <sigh> I was SOOO looking forward to seeing how much excess power the stove would produce than it needed to feed chips, circulate water while heating the shop. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Billy.....

They make GOOD File Handles!!

Neil

So, both in and out of the shop: a part of my lawnmower broke, so I ground off the plating and welded it back together. The lawn is mowed!

Swede, the pear trees? I actually kept a couple about 3" dia. base and 10' long to dry out for staves. I also have a couple maples staves about the same size. The maple makes a good bow and i was going to see if the pear would as well, or something. If you can get the honeysuckle to dry right some of it makes a good shillelagh. 

4 hours ago, BillyBones said:

Swede, the pear trees? I actually kept a couple about 3" dia. base and 10' long to dry out for staves. I also have a couple maples staves about the same size.

I have a big maple in my backyard that my mother-in-law gave us as a sapling.  The tree split during a storm, and I cut up the sizeable bough with a chainsaw, then decided I'd haul it off later.  So, a year later I split one log open.  It turned into beautiful spalted maple.

Procrastinating isn't always bad. 

Lockpicking progress: I've successfully picked my practice lock several times with six pins in a variety of configurations, so I've moved on to adding security (aka "pick-resistant") pins.

Do you time yourself or is that for later?

Frosty The Lucky.

Not really. If I find that I'm able to get a particular setting of the practice lock open with consistent quickness, I'll switch up the pinning. My first practice set (the "FNG" set from Covert Instruments) included a padlock with a clear acrylic body so you can see what's happening inside. By the time I moved up to the current practice lock, I was getting the acrylic lock open (with single-pin picking) in as little as nine seconds.

I just skimmed a how to site . . . AGAIN. While fascinating I'm gritting my teeth and not getting out one of my old master locks and making tools. 

Still, it's pretty irresistible. How much feel do you get through the torque wrench when a pin sets?

I'd watch a video or six but Google and I are having issues. The computer tech that transferred OS, files, etc. from my old laptop to this one assigned a Gmail address instead of using my address and I can't get Google to recognize it. I can't log in and the old address is defunct. Of course Google doesn't have "help" it shunts you to a chatroom which is just babble. 

long rant deleted.

Frosty The Lucky.

17 minutes ago, Frosty said:

How much feel do you get through the torque wrench when a pin sets?

Depends. Sometimes, it's a very little "click"; sometimes, almost a "clunk". I seem to feel it more through the pick than through the tensioner, though. Tensioning is its own subject, and learning how to judge how much tension is needed at any given moment is presenting a most agreeable challenge.

One very cool thing happens when you're setting a key pin with a spool pin on top of it. The spool is designed to allow the cylinder to rotate slightly and then jam. At that point, you back off the tension just a little bit and continue to push the key pin upward, and as you do so, the cylinder actually rotates backwards very slightly before the pin releases (they call this "counterrotation"). The first time I did this, it was a great "Wow, this really does work" moment.

I may have mentioned this earlier but i have a friend that is a locksmith. Most of his work now is reprogramming ATM machines. Banks and other financial institutions use locksmiths for that job becuase they have to be licensed IIRC through the state and have gone through background checks and the like. A few years back he moved to Vegas and is making big bank becuase of all the ATM machines there and how often they break down from use. 

I used to make parts for S&G locks. They make the locks for bank vaults and high security  gov't buildings. A simple padlock from them costs like $400. They are made for security where Master locks are made for the insurance company. 

Yeah, Master locks are more minor deterrent than security. When we were building this place I bought American locks for added deterrence and made a shield so folks couldn't take a hammer to them. 

I'll bet not talking about it is a good practice for a high end locksmith.

Frosty The Lucky.

The Lockpicking subreddit has a whole section about an optional "belt ranking system", in the manner of belt rankings in karate. One can earn ranks by picking locks of increasing difficulty, and there's a whole page listing many hundreds of locks and what belts they qualify one for. 

Naturally, one must document that one has actually picked a lock open, usually with a video clip submitted to the monitors. Photos are acceptable for lower rankings, but they have to show the lock with the cylinder turned and no key present, which can only be achieved through picking.

Interestingly, the ranking system isn't just about picking locks. Qualifications for higher ranks involve designing new tools, demonstrating the ability to disassemble and reassemble locks, creating challenges for other pickers, and otherwise helping advance the locksport community. Kinda cool.

5 hours ago, Frosty said:

While fascinating I'm gritting my teeth and not getting out one of my old master locks and making tools. 

I dunno Jerry, a modest lockpicking practice kit might be just the thing when you guys go off on an RV-jaunt... [says Larry who knows better than to nudge someone about acquiring more tools...] 

--Larry

It's not a bad thought Larry I might do that.

You did know I married a Uper and we both have lots of friends in the mid west. Be fun to drop by some evening with a bag of tricks. N picks.

Frosty The Lucky.

The lockpicking redditors often suggest the metal reinforcing strips from windshield wipers as stock for making picks and tensioning tools.