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Been exhausted the last few days and didn't realize I was out of one of my meds. Been without it a couple days and I'm feeling it. I didn't want to mess with black friday traffic so I stayed home and will get it tomorrow. I didn't even wake up until after 4pm. Finally got some energy after 1am and started cleaning. My old dog was confused as I was trying to sweep around her. She was having trouble earlier-- she tried to stand up but her back legs were too weak so she started crying out. I went to check on her, got her some water and held the bowl up to her face (she wouldn't drink it when it was on the floor) and helped her stand up and supported her for a bit until she was stable. Then I fed her. Ran out of her canned food in the house but I have a whole new case in the truck to bring in. Mom surprisingly didn't want stroganoff again so I made something else-- only I grabbed the wrong thing from the freezer but she was ok with it. Meant to get the chicken cordonbleu but accidentally grabbed the stuffed turkey breasts.
Tomorrow (well, later today) I'm going to pick up some groceries for my friend since he's getting screwed from all angles in life right now.
Turns out my tools weren't stolen thankfully. Just need to get my brother to help me lift the door on to the work table on one of his days off. He's been getting slammed at work (they are understaffed so he's doing the job of 3 people) so he's exhausted and in a bad mood.
I'm relaxing a bit right now with my cat on my shoulder. Going to try to get my brain to let me sleep but it keeps having random thoughts.
 
Since my last post my brother did help me with the door that first time to get it on the table. Since then I made a template for the pet door, marked it on the door, drilled holes in every corner, cut a hole for the pet door (but battery ran low on my router so it started to tear the steel instead of cut). I had to use a dremel tool to trim up the steel but it didn't cut as well as I'd hoped. It still did OK. I had to straight out some of the cuts that were curvy. I attempted to put tape over the foam to cover it but ended up getting tape stuck to itself and to me several times before deciding to nix that idea for now. I'm a total monkey when it comes to tape. I'm still going to use it at some point though. I made sure the deeper ring that goes on the inside of the house fit inside (although it warps a bit so I will have to see about using tape to hold it in place properly). I realized that the screws that came with the pet door were not going to work since they would anchor in to foam & they were meant to anchor in to wood. So I went out and got some #6-32 bolts. Longest they had was 2" and they barely go through. Either they didn't come with nuts or I misplaced them (I'll look for them later) I have an idea where I put them if they were included. If they can't fit what little protrudes through I will have to special order some bolts, but at least I got the holes lined up. LOL. I had to make some of the holes through the steel a little larger to allow some wiggle room. I think because the inner ring warped a bit it made it so the holes weren't as widespread as the ones for the rigid piece with the door flap. But I got them in & have it in place temporarily. I will need to take pictures later. My phone has been losing battery at an extraordinary rate so I have it charging.

Right now I have the pet door bolted in, but I'm going to remove it, do a little cleanup on the inside edges of the hole, use some tape to hold the inner ring tight to the edge & seal over the foam (I'm going to bring a better knife down this time to cut the tape because it won't tear with my hands & it sticks to scissors). I'm going to paint the door before I permanently install the pet door. I want to do some touch-up on the primer first and see if it will help disguise some of the scrapes & dings the door got when I had to flip it over a few times. There's a heavy sanding machine up on the work table that I couldn't seem to move out of the way (I think it might be bolted down) & it hit it a few times when I was flipping the door by myself. Some wasps have been getting in to the workshop somehow- not sure where their entry point is, but I have an idea. I annihilated one with a mallet the other day. Nailed one yesterday with a piece of scrap wood. I feel like Mickey Mouse bragging about swatting flies. LOL.

I think I spent 3 hours in the workshop yesterday trimming up the edges of the steel with a dremel tool to make stuff fit better. I had to take 3 tries and twice the battery ran out so I let it charge overnight and was able to get it cleaned up. It didn't help that I realized that I'd been gripping the dremel tool over the buttons for the battery release. LOL. Kind of lowered the power until I realized I'd pulled the battery loose. I made sure to wear gloves and eye protection when using the dremel and it was a good idea. Sparks were flying so the gloves protected my hand- and it saved my hand from when the tool slipped and the metal cutting blade hit my finger (I sort of derped and halfway dropped the tool and it slid toward my hand-- glove wasn't damaged & I didn't even feel it so it was OK).

Today I think I'm going to do a little more cleanup on the edges of the steel to see if I can take the warp out of the more malleable side of the pet door & attempt to tape it in place. I'm going to take a moving blanket down to put underneath the door and over anything that might scrape it up. It's going to be an exterior door so its ok for it to have some dings though.

My mother wants the front door painted the same color as the back door-- she picked out Behr marquee Deep River color as her favorite. It's expensive paint though so I'm going to take her with me to the store to get the military discount. I also need to grab some primer for touch-ups (and if she wants me to paint the front door I will need primer for it since the wood has a dark stain. If it wouldn't have to be off the house for a prolonged period of time, I'd pop the hinge pins & take the door to the workshop.

For now I'm trying to focus on working on the back door though. She stayed up all night again so she doesn't want to go to the store today as she's just now going to sleep.

I need to take updated pics, but I took pictures of the door when I first marked the template & drilled holes in the corners & then after I cut the piece out. You can see where the steel started to tear and fold instead of cut. I flattened it a little bit, but the foam doesn't give me much of a good surface for hammer. LOL.
bdholesdrilled1.jpg bdholecut1.jpg
 
The Dremel tool did ok for cutting the steel. The 2" screws turned out to be too short so I found some 3" ones at the local hardware store. Now they don't want to go through the holes straight. LOL. I managed to get them through to the other side of the door but they didn't want to line up with the other half of the pet door. When I put the bolts through without the outside half of the pet door they go through the inside half. I enlarged the holes on the door a bit to give the screws more wiggle room but I may need to sets of hands to hold everything in place. Worst case I'll drill out parts of the inside pet door if need be & just use washers behind the nuts to hold them on. I don't care if it looks ugly. Also, I was going to paint the door after test-fitting the pet door & then install the pet door permanently, but I think I'm just going to install the pet door first (once I get everything to line up properly), cover it with painter's tape, caulk around it, and paint. Bc screw trying to remove that damn thing & flipping the door over to try to get everything to line up again. LOL.
In the future I need to get myself a jig to make sure I'm drilling straight instead of at an angle. LOL. I think I went at a slight angle without realizing it so that may be why the holes were persnickety.
I did use some of the white duct tape inside and on the edge of the steel to hold it down more and to cover the corners where the foam was eroding too much near the screw holes.
I took more pictures. They start with the threshold. I need to clean the workshop up more. LOL.
bdthreshold1.jpg bdframeworkshop1.jpg bdpetdrouter2.jpg bdpetdrouter1.jpg
 
Breaking News: My best friend decided to actually listen to my advice for once & is trying to finagle working a 2nd job concurrently with the job he has now. He works for an outside company that contracts with the casino to fix the arcades. It's slow & he often just sits around all day with nothing to do because nothing needs to be repaired, but he has to be on call & available in case something breaks. Another similar job actually working for the casino is "Slot Technician" where he would have to be somewhere in the casino and get called to repair slot machines if they broke down. He was thinking of leaving his current job to try to get the slot tech job because it has better medical insurance. I pitched the idea of him asking his boss (who is a pretty cool guy) if he could work the 2nd job concurrently because he'd be in the casino available to fix the arcades AND he could fix the slot machines if they broke down. He could stay at his post in the arcade unless he was called to fix something somewhere inside the casino. It would give him more to do & he'd be able to get extra insurance. It wouldn't hurt his productivity at the primary job. He told me today (well, technically yesterday) that he was asking his boss about it because with the ex lying about the child support he can't afford to pay his utilities anymore since she's taking almost half his paycheck (he gets a lot taken out for tax & the amount she gets paid is based on his gross income).
His lawyer has put in the paperwork to request an adjustment to his child support & to defend himself and explain he was NOT in arrears & that his ex committed fraud by claiming he wasn't paying. His family lawyer was pretty pissed off about it & said it was absolutely fraud. I think he should try to press charges against her for it. Her fat behind needs to go to jail & have some real consequences for that crap.
 
They legalize weed in your neck of the woods? :D
Something happen since you sprained your ankle?
I have restretched two rooms since the Monday before Thanksgiving and one was 8x9. ...dats it. :rolleyes: Have another on Monday finishing up a doorway after wood was installed.
 
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Friend was sick yesterday so he couldn't come over and help with projects. Another friend who owes my mother money just contacted me and wants to come out tomorrow to cut the weeds & work on a repayment plan. It's not as hot now so it should be easier. The weeds are dryer so they are more brittle. I took some out the other day in the front.

I'm going to see if I can get that pet door to line up in a bit. I got too frustrated the other day with it so I decided to step away from it so I didn't break something. Kidney stones are acting up today & naproxyn isn't helping much, but it's tolerable. I'm refraining from playing any video games today until I do something productive. I'm still waiting to see if my mother wants to go to the store to pick out paint.

Highup, I wish I had your work ethic and productivity. I inherited my mother's instead of my father's. Well, I'm somewhat in between my parents on that & I wish I was closer to my father's end of the spectrum. He was a work-a-holic & would just about kill himself with work while my mother is the complete opposite. My main problem is procrastination. I'm mad at myself for it but I'm working on finding ways to overcome it (or at least procrastinate less). So I've been forcing myself to not do things I enjoy until after I do something productive so that the gaming & such is a reward for actually doing something & not just because I feel like it.
 
They legalize weed in your neck of the woods? :D
Something happen since you sprained your ankle?
I have restretched two rooms since the Monday before Thanksgiving and one was 8x9. ...dats it. :rolleyes: Have another on Monday finishing up a doorway after wood was installed.
Been fighting gout. Had it in both feet and my right wrist. Painful crap. Medical pot is legal here but you give up your gun rights. Dr found a pill that is supposed to help with the gout.
 
I'm a procrastinator too zan. I get focused when I have paying work to do...... The yard work and cleaning the gutter s don't pay so good if ya catch my drift.;)
 
The granddaughter on the right, the one who was first in the state last year. Has jumped up two more levels. She is also playing basketball and scored 20 out of her team's 34 points in their first game. Waiting to see how she does on the higher level today.
 
I have so much yard work to do. LOL. And I noticed that I see new water spots on the walls inside the workshop & a piece above the doors fell off. Its got some wood rot going from moisture & I'm going to have to replace/repair a lot of it. The friend couldn't find his chainsaw so he never showed up-- claims he'll be out Monday but we'll see. As much as I procrastinate, if I tell a friend I'm going to be somewhere on a certain day, I will be there (barring a flat tire or some emergency). I often show up a little early because I can get up & out the door pretty fast. It helps that I don't wear makeup or care how my hair looks. My mother doesn't wear makeup (except nail polish) but she takes forever to do her hair.
I ended up going to the store & post office & got back when it was too dark to go down to the workshop so I went down there today instead. I fiddled around to try to get things to fit. I got the bolts to go through the door & the inner half of the pet door and held it on with nuts. The bolts have bent slightly so I kept note of which holes they went in just in case it made a difference. I used the nuts & bolts to hold that half on tightly and used the white duct tape to tape it in place (and cover the rough steel & gaps). I only flipped the door over partway and propped it up so I can see the underside more easily (have it resting against a moving blanket against a sanding machine). After a lot of fiddling and adjusting & trying different methods, I finally got two of the bolts in opposite corners to go through. So the top left corner and bottom right corner are bolted but the bolts don't want to go all the way through the other corners. They go through the outside half and the door, but they snag when trying to line up with the holes on the other half. I'm thinking of getting 2 more bolts that aren't bent to see if that will help or if I just need to drill the plastic to let them through and then use washers under the nuts to make sure they don't slip through the holes. I'm going to have to trim off the excess on the bolts when I'm done & I'll probably put some white tape over the ends to cover them. But at least I made progress. I'll need to look for washers that fit-- I'm hoping I have some in the workshop or in the tool closet. I'm going to use a flashlight next time I go down there to shine it through the holes to see if I can see the light through to get an idea of how far out of alignment it is.
My sister sent me the link to a hilarious Japanese video that I've been watching over and over.
 

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