Kitchen Design, and the Spinning Auger of Death

If all goes as planned, we'll be able to order our new kitchen cabinets either in late December or early January. New countertops will be done as well (look at the following pictures and see if you can tell why...).

We're still arguing about granite tile or solid surface. We both like the look of granite more than solid surface, but I'm the one who has to do the installation work and I'm the cook and I really like how solid surface compares when it comes to cleaning, staining, and durability. It's just damn hard to get past how much we like the look of granite.

To make it an even tougher decision, the company Mrs. Muskego Jeff and I work for manufactures solid surface countertops so I can probably get a killer deal compared to what all of you looky-loo's out there can get. Decisions, decisions.

Here's what I've got to start with: a pretty much original 1960's kitchen. No dishwasher, no disposal, but plenty of storage and a metric boatload of ugly. Take special notice of the aquarium in the picture. Notice the nasty looking water? I changed it yesterday - that's the rust in our water. Before starting the kitchen remodel I really need to get an iron filter installed, otherwise all our new appliances are going to look like crap in a matter of months.




We like the layout of this side of the kitchen, so we'll only tweak it a bit. The counter along the wall will be longer by about a foot and the portion which branches off at 90 degrees will be smaller, opening up the path through the kitchen a bit. It'll also house the dishwasher, unless we decide to put that to the left of the sink. I'm still working out the layout in my head and on paper. To the left of the sink would probably be best since it wouldn't block access to the sink, but having it to the left of the sink really limits the stock cabinet sizes available to make it all fit properly.




This side of the kitchen really makes me scratch my head (I'm pretty sure it's not lice this time). It looks like the installer was drunk when this was done. Notice the range hood in relation to the stove. It's not an optical illusion or perspective issue - the hood is about 4" shifted to the right of the stove. Not only that, but just to the left of the microwave is the fridge. The fridge should line up with the upper cabinet, but I have 6" of space there instead. Either the upper cabinets on either side of the range hood were too narrow or the lower cabinets on either side of the stove were too big. Either way, they all match, so I'm guessing that somewhere along the line the previous owners decided they needed more room and installed the same style lower cabinets, but in a slightly wider size. This pushed the fridge over 6" to the left.

Yes, that's bacon in the pan and Mountain Dew on the counter top. The crescent rolls are in the oven and I hadn't started the eggs yet. I cook, clean, renovate, help the kids with their homework, and hold down a good job. Wow my wife got lucky. I'd be all over me if I weren't straight.




Speaking of the Mrs., she read my last post and asked what the hell I was talking about with reference to the snowblower being "single stage". Since you bastards in warm climates probably don't know either, allow me to educate you in the ways of your stupid cousins to the north.

A "single stage" snowblower has what I like to call a "spinning auger of death" on the front (see picture). This sucker spins at a high speed, and the slope of the blades pulls snow into the middle where it is then thrown out the discharge chute (that sounds dirty) at a high rate of speed.

When it's spinning at full speed it's completely freakin' deadly. Picture a 250 pound food processor with no safety protection powered by a gas engine. A neighbor at our previous house lost 1-1/2 fingers trying to clear stuck snow out of his snowblower. He forgot about this little tip: "turn the fvcker off before sticking your hand anywhere near the auger."

There is another type of snowblower which is a lot more common now: a 2-stage snowblower. The main auger runs at a much slower speed, and is designed to pull the snow into a second auger which is running at a high rate of speed. This second auger is located inside and out of the way, so it's "safer". I've never used one, and based on how this tank runs I may never get a chance to.




I noticed that this snowblower has never been too far from home. It was made in Racine (just south of Milwaukee) by Jacobsen. It started it's life around Janesville (south-west of Milwaukee ), and then moved to Whitewater (west of Milwaukee) and then to Milwaukee County. Now it's just west of Milwaukee again. Always less than 100 miles from where it was born.

I couldn't decipher the year the snowblower itself was made from the serial number, but. . .




. . .the ID plate on the engine leads me to believe that the engine was made in either 1972 or 1975. This sucker is almost as old as me, and probably older than most of the people who actually made it this far through the post.

The engine was also made in Wisconsin. Just like me this snowblower is probably stuck here for life.

According to Tecumseh, "lubrication" is important. Words to live by, kids.

Removing Snow, the Old-School Way

How many times have you wanted some shiny new tool or other equipment but just couldn't justify the price? That's what I'm dealing with when it comes to my snowblower. I have no idea how old it is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were over 30 years old. The last time I had it tuned up (10 years ago) the dealer said if it needed parts that I'd be out of luck. Luckily, none were needed.

This thing is big and heavy, and since it's a single-stage blower it can just about destroy anything which hits the blades when they're spinning. I wonder if I can get the cat outside and make it look like an accident... It's old-school snow-blowing at it's finest. If I remember correctly, it belonged to my step-grandmother who gave it to my dad, who eventually gave it to me. I've had it for around 10 years now.

As long as it continues to run I can't justify spending $500 on a new snowblower. Yeah, a new one would be nice and would throw snow farther, but this bastard just keeps chugging along.



Since that last tune up, it always starts on the second pull. Always. Until today, when I break it out to prepare for the first real snow of the year. I figure I'm ahead of the game by getting started on it as the snow just starts to fall. It's always started, why would today be any different?

Hello, Murphy. I see you brought your Laws with you today.

Yup, it doesn't start. I drain the gas and put in fresh gas. No dice. I pull the carb shield and spray in some starter fluid. Nothing. I pull the plug and find it's got spark, but it's weak and the plug is covered in gas and soot.

Before going to get a new plug I consider that it could be some debris in the bowl of the carb, so I start to unscrew what I assumed was the float bowl's mounting screw. It's actually the carb's needle - I've never seen that kind of setup before. No biggie, it screws right back in place, and I leave the bowl alone.

Off to the local ACE to get a replacement plug and to let my shoulder rest from pulling on the starter for 15 minutes. It had electric start about 20 years ago, but that starter died and could not be fixed.

I drop in the new plug and it fires right up like there was never a problem. It's running a little rough though, and not reaching full RPMs (as determined by my calibrated ear). Either way it still works and I remove the few inches of snow from the drive. I hoped the way it was running was from some remaining old gas, but then I remembered that I probably changed the setting on the carb's needle as I was screwing around looking for the problem. With the throttle set to full speed, I gave the needle a few turns and it's back to running like a raped ape. It actually seems to be running better now than it had for the past few years.

Damn, no new snowblower for me. The driveway is big - two cars wide and at least 3-1/2 cars long. 15 minutes of work now.

Happiness is a Tecumseh engine, blaze orange paint, and surface rust.

Let There be ROCK!

Back in my college days, I used to play a lot of music in the apartment. A lot of loud music. Extremely loud, to the point where I was threatened with a call to the police if I didn't knock it off. Point taken, no need to involve the po-po.

The stereo I had set up was quite capable of causing conversations that went something like this:

Me: "Hey, give me a beer!"

Other Person: yelling "What?"

Me: yelling "Give me a beer!"

OP: yelling "What?"

Me: pointing to fridge "Give me a fvcking beer!"

OP: yelling "What?"

Me: yelling "Your mom really needs to shave her back, now give me a beer!"

OP: yelling "What?"

Me: yelling "Is that your sister? She's hot! Can I have her number?"

OP: yelling "What?"

And on and on. The volume was either low or blaring, usually blaring. That's what college is all about. I listen to a lot of different music, from rock & metal to classical & punk. I really can't stand country, except for Johnny Cash, but that's a whole different story. One of my roommates at the time loved Jimmy Buffet, and more often than not when I returned from class he had Cheeseburger in Paradise or some other song I now can't stand playing. God, how I hate Jimmy Buffet now. I didn't mind him at first, but the same stuff over and over from a roommate I also began to hate with a passion has a way of doing that to a guy.

To get to the point, I finally hooked up the speakers after about 15 years and discovered that they are still capable of being waaaaay too loud. They're the size of furniture, each weigh a good hundred pounds, and still pound out the bass. They'll go great in what will eventually become the TV/family room. After I get around to renovating it that is.

What I really like is how technology has changed since I last used the speakers. Back then, I had the receiver/amp, a CD player, tape player, and equalizer all hooked up into it, and had a couple of huge racks of CDs taking up floor space. Now it's just the receiver/amp and the iPod. All the CDs are in storage, the tapes are long gone, and everything is nice and neat. The equalizer may still be used in the future, but I'm not going to bother with that until I have the room done.

So here's to you, engineers responsible for designing the Cerwin Vega D-9 Loud Speaker! I raise a glass of Mountain Dew to you.

(the picture is from shortly after we moved, with these tanks stacked in the garage)

Come on Baby Light my Fire

Aaaah, if only it were a real fireplace... (notice the glow of the yuletide light bulb behind the plastic logs)



I still can't wait till I get to tear this crappy fake fireplace out. We've been using this 2nd family room as a work and storage room since we moved in, but with Christmas coming we need to make room in the main family room for the tree. Extra furniture and the computer can go in this room for a while. Before that happens, there is a LOT of cleaning to do - all the tools, boxes, new appliances, etc need to be moved around for room. Lots of fun . . .

This is also the room where the Great Mouse Eradication of '07 is taking place. My fear is that now that we've moved so much stuff around, that they'll go elsewhere. To help keep the odds in my favor I finally picked up the Victor snap-traps - 8 of 'em. 4 in this room, 4 in the basement ('cause I think they might be coming in there and then migrating upstairs), 2 in the garage, and 1 on the stairs. Yeah, I know that adds up to more than 8. Included in the counts are the crappy traps I've been using plus one covered trap for the stairs that the cat probably won't get caught in (and oh, I'd feel so bad if that were to happen...).

I've also looked at the TomCat traps in a little more detail and think I understand why they don't kill the mice quickly.

When the mouse trips the trap the jaws close quickly, but don't gain enough momentum and don't have a strong enough "snap" to really feed the mouse a cup of hot death. The Victor traps, on the other hand, use a thin metal bar which travels 180 degrees, allowing it to gain some good momentum. Plus, that bar is a lot thinner than the "jaws" of the TomCat trap meaning a more localized impact on the mouse. For a comparison, hit your hand with a rubber mallet and then with a regular hammer. Which hurts more? The smaller face of the hammer.


To test my theory (and look like either an idiot or a God to my kids), I put my finger in each trap. By far, the Victor trap scared me more before the experiment and did hurt a lot more. The TomCat didn't hurt at all, while the Victor trap hurt like hell.

Get ready mice, I'm bringin' the pain!

Tunnel Vision

There is more to life than killing mice. I've actually been doing a little extra work here and there to finish up some of the projects already started.

Trim was finished around the front door, garage was cleaned out, basement organized (a little), etc. Just nothing that really resembles a "project".

I still have a few outdoor projects to finish before winter really hits. Mulching the last of the leaves which finally fell, brining in the hoses, cleaning out the gutters. You know, fun stuff like that.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my brother "Smudgemo". Here's your cake! Sorry it's late, blame dad.

Freddie Mercury? Two Minutes Till Showtime, Sir.

Ba da bup, bup, bup, another one bites the dust!

I wish I could say the mice are dropping like flies, but with only two dead varmint under my belt, I'm far from being the "Great White Hunter". And no, I don't really keep the dead ones under my belt. I keep 'em under my pillow like any normal person would.

I'll put some of the blame on the traps. I've had no "real" success with the sticky-traps, although they've been a lot of fun for me to play with. Stick finger to pad, pull finger off pad and giggle at how sticky it is. Repeat.

The snap-traps I got are the TomCat line.



They kind of suck - in a bad way. Too many times I've checked the traps only to find them empty of peanut butter. They're super-easy to set, but require too much weight to set 'em off. I did find that if I stick the peanut butter WAY onto the back of the trap's lever and on the main spring that it forces the moue to really get far into the trap which hopefully increases my KPD ratio. That's "kills-per-day", for those of you who don't read Mouse Killer's Digest (honest, I buy it for the articles!). It's in all the finer book stores and WalMarts.

If (when) I find one more trap licked clean I'm going back to the hardware store to get some good ol' fashioned wood base spring-traps-of-death. Trickier to set, but it's hard to beat how well they work.

Maybe I should try some cheese in the traps. I haven't seen this brand before, wonder if it's good...



Somebody with lots of expensive tools has too much time on his hands.


UPDATE:
Score! One more mouse and one pilfered trap. I'm still making the call Jeff 3, Mice 0 (Since I'm not dead. Yet.)

UPDATE #2:
Overnight, one more mouse. It's a blood-bath! Well, not really. And those traps really suck worse than I expected. I was hoping the first mouse was just a mutant, but all three mice I've got so far survived the trap and had to be taken for a swim to finish 'em off. I've never had to do that with the old Victor board traps. I'm going to get a couple today before the Packer game:


Not because I feel bad for the mice, but because I don't want mice paralyzed from the waste down crawling around the house demanding better parking spots. Jeff 4, Mice 0.

UPDATE #3
Cue the Count from Sesame Street: 1 dead mouse! 2 dead mice! 3 dead mice, hahahahaha! 4 dead mice! 5! 5 dead mice! Let me count them again!



I also had a neighbor e-mail me this f'd up little gem of a picture:



Awwww yeah, shake that tail if you want me to call you again!

The Mouse Went Out Fighting

Hopefully it's the only mouse, 'cause if it isn't, the other ones are smarter and I'm in trouble. It actually took two traps to catch this first one.

I wasn't sure if the sticky-traps would work, so I put a snap-trap right next to the sticky one in an area I was reasonably certain was in the mouse's regular path.

This morning, success! And confusion, since the mouse was caught in both the sticky and the snap traps. Front-half sticky, back-half snap. I don't know if it was just running past the snap and got caught or what exactly happened, but I chalk this one up as a Win for me!

So far, no signs of other mice.


Update:
The following bit of brilliance was stolen from "The House and I" blog, obviously proving that I'm not the only one with too much free time. I'm almost tempted to use this as my new screen background.