As a big time Boy Scout i was really active in the Order of the Arrow and was elected the Chief of the Northeast Region for 1994.  There’s an article in a recent National Bulletin about the crew from 15 years ago.

I got home from work last night and grabbed my shoes and a pair of socks to change into to ride the funbox with Mike.  The weather has been so nice that i’ve been able to wear flipflops to work.  Hey, you would too if your office was at the pool.

While i sat on my front steps waiting for Mike to get there i looked at my lawn and realized i really needed to mow it.  Last year i broke the pull cord on my mower though.  So i paid $40 to have it done once and the other times this year have just used my weed whacker to mow it down.  That’s sloppy.

So i dug out the mower and some tools to try and get into the flywheel contraption.  The mower i have is a John Deere and it is definitely not designed for owner repairs.  There is a plastic cowling that pops off and under that is the cover that needs to be removed.  Unfortunately it is riveted in place.  I grabbed my drill and bored out the rivets.  Then i strung parachute cord around the sping wheel and used short metal screws to remount the wheel.  I put the handle on the other end of the cord and checked the oil (fine) and gas (empty).  So i grabbed my 1 gallon jug and ran to town for $3.21 in fuel.  Mike was at the house when i got back.  He got excited and asked if he could mow.  So he mowed and i trimmed edges with my string trimmer.

We rode the ramps a little (it is really too hot to do much riding and jumping) and then slapped on a waterproofing coating onto the wood of the ramps.  Now i won’t bother with putting tarps over them.  Witht he extra sealant i started to protect the part of the deck that isn’t covered as well as the front steps.  I have more sealant and will finish up the first coat either tonight or during lunch.  I might slap on a second coat on the ramps and porch tomorrow then.

I love getting things done!

On Friday i am heading to Phoenix. I have to overnight in Seattle both coming and going. Look at the temperature…

Ouch.  It is 11 PM there right now and it is 104.  That’s not natural.

ON Sunday Earl and i went to breakfast together… it was his birthday. Then he suggested we hit a garage sale. I bought two VHS tapes and a few DVDs…

A BMX movie with Nicole Kidman? How did i miss this in my childhood? Just $1.

I have the second movie on DVD and have been wanting to watch the first for a while. $1 for the VHS seemed worth it.

For $5 i got this DVD. I don’t need the case – i have plenty. Batman Begins was pretty darn good. Sure it didn’t have the Heath Ledger edge that everyone seemed to love so much, but it blew away most of the previous Batman movies.

A certain friend tends to send me the most obscure sci fi movies. I hope he doesn’t have all 50 of these! $10 for 50 “movies?” Sold!

I have a few thousand 45s.  I estimate 200-2500ish.  Earl and i went through them and we picked out the better music to keep.  I’d like a jukebox that can play about 100 45s.  When we were cherry picking them we also pulled a bunch of colored translucent albums.  I thought i would make a lamp out for them.  Sadly, sometimes i really need to be bribed to get a project done.  This is one that would have probably gone undone for a long time.  I wrote up the project on Instructables for their contest “The Art of Sound” but most entries have more to do with actually making sound as opposed to making something out of something that makes sound.  Oh well.

I love the end result!