So I moved into this house in March. No, that simplifies things too much.
Let me try again.
In March I got a job offer contingent on my being able to relocate from
Austin to Houston on VERY short notice. I found a house (that's a whole
story in and of itself, I might add) that had a detached 3 car workshop (it
is illegal, by the way, to store a car in a garage when one has power
tools.. I'll find the statute somewhere.) So I trundled a house full of
kids, furniture and tools from there to here.
Time passes, job settles down, life establishes a rhythm... No, you don't
want to know how much HELL was just compressed into those few words. Well,
maybe you do, but I'm not going to go into the details. Let's just say that
good ol' biblical Job had it REALLY easy.
Weekend #1: Preparing the shop.
Finally, noting that I still have no real bedroom set worth talking about, I
set about turning the mess I created in my 3-car workshop into a true
woodworker's dream. I've already got most of my tools moved, and there's
stuff piled on top of them. Weekend 1 was spent moving everything around
into some semblence of order. No big problem here, 'cept for the fact that
some of that stuff is HEAVY! And there's no SWMBO to worry about, thank
God...
Weekend #2: Powering the shop.
Hmm.. One 20 amp circuit feeds the garage. I'm running a 25 c.f. freezer, a
beer fridge, lights, outlets and garage door openers on that circuit. Let's
see if I can just run a few more amps and turn it into 220v... Wait, what's
this?! That ALSO ran the laundry room, back bathroom, outside lights and
back hallway lights on that circuit? WHAT THE HELL?
So much for a $20 job... Now I get to run #4 wire (3 strands) all the way
from the panel to the garage for a new box: That's 175 feet, folx. Yup.
If it weren't for all the damned rain this past weekend, it would be done.
So let's see... What do I have invested in the first part of this project?
#4 wire - 500 ft. $125.
Various 'stuff': $50
Ok... So I'm just a little over budget -- no big deal.
What am I going to build? I decided on the bed from Woodsmith #108, so I
went out to get some wood, too... $257 worth, to be exact. Some wonderful
cherry, quilted, curled, figured... Can't wait to get power.
This is turning into an episode of "this damned house", I just know it...
-Michael
Michael R. Dow wrote:
> So I moved into this house in March. No, that simplifies things too much.
> Let me try again.
>
> In March I got a job offer contingent on my being able to relocate from
> Austin to Houston on VERY short notice. I found a house (that's a whole
> story in and of itself, I might add) that had a detached 3 car workshop (it
> is illegal, by the way, to store a car in a garage when one has power
> tools.. I'll find the statute somewhere.) So I trundled a house full of
> kids, furniture and tools from there to here.
>
> Time passes, job settles down, life establishes a rhythm... No, you don't
> want to know how much HELL was just compressed into those few words. Well,
> maybe you do, but I'm not going to go into the details. Let's just say that
> good ol' biblical Job had it REALLY easy.
>
> Weekend #1: Preparing the shop.
>
> Finally, noting that I still have no real bedroom set worth talking about, I
> set about turning the mess I created in my 3-car workshop into a true
> woodworker's dream. I've already got most of my tools moved, and there's
> stuff piled on top of them. Weekend 1 was spent moving everything around
> into some semblence of order. No big problem here, 'cept for the fact that
> some of that stuff is HEAVY! And there's no SWMBO to worry about, thank
> God...
>
> Weekend #2: Powering the shop.
>
> Hmm.. One 20 amp circuit feeds the garage. I'm running a 25 c.f. freezer, a
> beer fridge, lights, outlets and garage door openers on that circuit. Let's
> see if I can just run a few more amps and turn it into 220v... Wait, what's
> this?! That ALSO ran the laundry room, back bathroom, outside lights and
> back hallway lights on that circuit? WHAT THE HELL?
>
> So much for a $20 job... Now I get to run #4 wire (3 strands) all the way
> from the panel to the garage for a new box: That's 175 feet, folx. Yup.
>
> If it weren't for all the damned rain this past weekend, it would be done.
> So let's see... What do I have invested in the first part of this project?
>
> #4 wire - 500 ft. $125.
> Various 'stuff': $50
>
> Ok... So I'm just a little over budget -- no big deal.
>
> What am I going to build? I decided on the bed from Woodsmith #108, so I
> went out to get some wood, too... $257 worth, to be exact. Some wonderful
> cherry, quilted, curled, figured... Can't wait to get power.
>
> This is turning into an episode of "this damned house", I just know it...
>
> -Michael
Well, on the positive side, you can have your wife arrested if she tries
to use the garage to park her car while your tools are in there.
Keep us posted ... think Morash would be interested in tackling a little
reality TV?
--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/21/03
"Michael R. Dow" wrote in message
> So I moved into this house in March. No, that simplifies things too much.
> Let me try again.
SNIP
>
> This is turning into an episode of "this damned house", I just know it...
>
> -Michael
Now you've hit on it Woodworkers Reality. DIY needs to cash in. :0
Then there is "when projects go wrong: the good the bad the Gory"
there's a thought.
--
Young Carpenter
"Violin playing and Woodworking are similar, it takes plenty of money,
plenty of practice, and you usually make way more noise than intended"
"Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Keep us posted ... think Morash would be interested in tackling a little
> reality TV?
>
> --
> www.e-woodshop.net
> Last update: 9/21/03
>
> "Michael R. Dow" wrote in message
> > So I moved into this house in March. No, that simplifies things too
much.
> > Let me try again.
>
> SNIP
> >
> > This is turning into an episode of "this damned house", I just know
it...
> >
> > -Michael
>
>
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You want sympathy? You'll have to go to someone who hasn't been there
so many times. I think its a story most of us could tell. I can even
finish it for you. Before you're done, you'll have found an excuse to
buy another tool or two. SWMBO used to ask at the conclusion of each
project,"So how many tools did that cost?" Now, I occasionally beat
her to the punch and say proudly,"And I didn't even have to buy any
tools." Of course router bits don't count . . . do they?
DonkeyHody
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.
"Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Keep us posted ... think Morash would be interested in tackling a little
> reality TV?
>
> --
> www.e-woodshop.net
> Last update: 9/21/03
>
> "Michael R. Dow" wrote in message
> > So I moved into this house in March. No, that simplifies things too much.
> > Let me try again.
>
> SNIP
> >
> > This is turning into an episode of "this damned house", I just know it...
> >
> > -Michael