Backwards, You Say?

So, I finished the ventilation fan for Candice's glasswork studio.  Turns out the intake and outtake were reversed, so that the large hole I thought was outtake was in fact intake.  The intake is the most important part as it needs to take the toxic fumes away from the torch area and siphon them to the outtake.  So, having it wide open is in effect, bad, since it can pull air from basically all over.  So, I changed the design a little and it now is a better design overall because instead of taking it outside to use, it can be left in and has duct work to go through the doggy door and duct work that goes over to her workbench (though the latter needs to be trimmed down in length and fastened better to the fan.  We also used some spray foam

I used my router for the first time this weekend and used it successfully.  Now I feel confident for building the box shelves to hang in Donna's room, and for that matter, to build bookshelves and a better designed glass rod holder for Candice's art studio.  Once I figured out the direction to use the router and the speed control, the only thing I need to do better is to get a more low profile piece of wood to use as a guide, and to measure more precisely (though the latter was a given since I was only practicing and therefore wasn't concerned with precise measurements.

I set up the invisible dog fence this weekend, though I still have to bury the wire in places.  The dogs became terrified to go out in the back yard, so I lowered the intensity several notches and we put them outside agin.  Eventually they ventured out, and we discovered that the intensity was too low as they crossed over the boundary at some point, so we raised it again.  Now Bailey is terrified to go outside again, even when he really needs/wants to.  He'll be spending a good deal of time outside this week, so hopefully he learns where he can and can't go and becomes more comfortable with it.  One thing's for sure, though, they definietely won't be chewing the trampoline or jumping the fences anytime soon.

One side effect of the invisible fence was that they ran back up the stairs on the deck and forced their way through the gate that keeps them out in the yard and not chewing the deck furniture cushions as well as protecting Megi from falling down the stairs.  The gate had a latch on it that we use to lock it.  But because of the gap between the gate and where the latch was mounted, the latch only had two screws holding it in place so that the latch could connect with the side on the gate.  Their forcing their way through bent (yes bent) the slide latch because there were only two screws holding it.  So, I replaced the latch (and drilled two more holes through so it won't bend again) and also added a chain latch to the bottom part which is were they forced their way through, so the deck gate's functionality is restored again.

Candice and I got some exercise yesterday, only our second long walk of the year together.  Walks in warm weather are sort of a tradition for us, and a nice one.  It also has the added benefit of keeping us healthier than we would otherwise be.  She has a desire to runa 5K this summer, so we'll probably add some sprints into the walk soon.

We initially tried to take the dogs with us because we felt bad for them about the invisible fence thing, but they were absolutely AWFUL, so we turned around and took them home and went on a walk just the two of us.

So, I've knocked a few more items off my ToDo list.  The remaining list (minus those things I never wrote down, and thus promptly forgot) is as follows:

- Build, paint, and mount the box shelves for Donna's room.
- Fix the screen door
- Fix the trampoline screen
- Install sprinklers into the flower beds and make them more efficient in the garden.
- Turn on the sprinklers (once I get a good feel for when cold weather is over - we're forecasted for more snow Wednesday)
- Install bumpers on the walls where the closet doors bump into them so that they don't damage the walls
- Finish painting Megi's bedroom
- Level out the ground where we plan to put the pool
- Put up the pool after we get the ground leveled out
- Install security on our wireless router
- Sift through the sand under the deck to remove yet more goat head stickers
- Build Candice an actual workbench for her glasswork
- Build some bookshelves (because we need more)
- Design/build some corner shelves
- Get new curtain rods for our bedroom and for Megi's bedroom
- Get/install a new ceiling fan for Donna's room.  Hopefully, get it wired better than the old one where we can control the fan with one switch and the lights with another.
- Use the scrollsaw to make nameplates for the kids' bedroom doors.

That's all for this non-writing blog entry.  Thanks for reading.