Crappy jobs you can no longer avoid . . .

thanks to recent events, I find myself minimally employed.  Check email once in a while, go in to work for a few hours, answer a few calls, but I'm at about 90% free time.  Pretty much not going anywhere unnecessary, so I've started digging into the pile of jobs I've been putting off for WAAAAAY too long.  

Current job: Painting trim.  I hate painting.  (More than concrete or roofing if that gives you a benchmark.  Only slightly less than "trying to get a rusty bolt unstuck".)  But at least painting a wall you get a few minutes here and there of "yeeehaaaw!  We're making progress now!"  And when you're done, the room is a different color, which is inherently satisfying.  Trim painting is hours of crawling around on the floor, hunched over and (in my case at least), thinking it's time to ask about bi-focals next time I make my "once every 10 years" visit to the eye doctor.  All the trim around here is white, so the coverage is terrible, and I'm trying to make do with old brushes to save a store trip.  Bleh.  The worst part: when you get done, the house looks marginally less crappy . . . at best.  

Next up: Staining the deck . . . 

Stain trim.

Shoot in trim.

Hang pictures.

Make bookshelf out of milk crates.

Assemble baby crib.

Put garage wall up.

Rewire electronic eye for garage door. 

Clean garage.

Organize garage.

Make more shelves in garage. 

Organize the basement.

Rewire the basement.

Set up craft room. 

Rebuild the deck.

The list never gets any smaller. So just keep plugging.

Rear swap for the suburban. Maybe order the parts for my dod/vvt delete plus a gnarly cam. Get the turbo 2.3 home and in slefain's old ranger.

Organize garage

replace stator on kohler v-twin golf cart

replace carb on v-twin for one with extra full throttle fuel squirt

completely replace cooling system on e36

big brake job on 1 truck

pads on other truck

days worth of various organizing

laundry laundry laundry

get boat water ready, again. Maybe use it this year!

finish fat tire bike buildx2

all the yardwork. Lots of planting

hide slopily ran coax cable in the attic rather than draped around the gutters like the goon installer did. That'll be fun with highs in the upper 80's. 
 

Get some guns/ammo ready to sell off.

run power to tool shed, install security light

and probably about 100 other things i dont recall right now. 

On tap / underway for me in this time of excess capacity due to no daily commute / nowhere to go on the weekends:

Turning 30 year old stained interior trim into freshly painted trim.

Hanging new interior doors.

Cleaning out wife’s and daughter’s slow draining sink pipes.

Re-doing last owner’s crappy basement wall construction.

Staining the deck.

I’m sure there are more to add, but these will keep me busy for a while.

Cleaning the microwave. 

Today I added (and subtracted!) - string 60 feet of cable so KazooJr. can move his desk/computer out of the storage room.  (As a bonus, I now have room for a workbench in the storage room).

Added to the list:

Forage/build/buy workbench.

Hang overhead workbench lighting.  

Figure out some way to keep the garage door quiet for more than a week at a time (it's the rollers and hinges squeaking)  

Clean garage

Put a couple outboards together and on craigslist 

Clean the home office up so its usable and not storage. 

I've gotta replace the air dryer in Moby the Road Condo. This is  not gonna be fun.

So the "move KazooJr." thing worked out OK.  I ended up with my own space in the basement for a "shop" for working on trains.  One of my cop friends said "It looks like a prison cell".  True, but it's my little piece of the world. 

Mr_Asa said:

Figure out some way to keep the garage door quiet for more than a week at a time (it's the rollers and hinges squeaking)  

 

I stopped the roller noise by replacing them with synthetic rollers that have bearings in them.  

Time to clean/sort the garage.  Figure out what I'm doing with the Fiero.  Replace the alternator on the Zoomboni.  Paint the trim.  Get off the couch!

That last one is tough, the couch is so nice and I never properly binge anything.....

In reply to ThurdFerguson :

Rental house so I'm extremely reluctant to spend real money or time on anything.  I'll spray the crap out of some lube, though.

Three hours of spring clean up has me now in the house for some lunch, some Advil for back, and maybe a nap. 

I hate yard work. 

I live about 2 miles from the county compost facility. Now I just have to hope they are still open come Monday.   They were open Friday. 

If not then I just have to be "that guy" who drives around with a truck bed full of uncovered leaves blowing them out all along. 

It's clear but only about 35 degrees out. Some expected rain tonight so yeah, wet leaves when I rake them out at the compost facility tomorrow. 

Yard work. I hate it.

Replace the engine mounts on the MSM. That's supposed to be a nightmare because of the turbo.

More yard work. The zoysia grass usually chokes out the weeds, but this year they got a major head start. Maybe I can find something else Miata-related to do.

Replace the diff in the miata. Started yesterday, axle is firmly entrenched in the hub. 

Scotty Con Queso said:

Cleaning the microwave. 

Throw a mug of water in there and microwave for 2 minutes. Remove mug carefully and set aside. All the crud inside microwave is now steamed and very easy to clean.

calteg said:

Replace the diff in the miata. Started yesterday, axle is firmly entrenched in the hub. 

A pair of small cold chisels was the trick for me.  They are held in with an internal clip.  Drive the chisels into the space between the diff housing and the axles until it pops loose.

Since Friday, I have done the following to my MR2:

• Fixed the non-working tach (replaced the possibly ancient, definitely incorrect) capacitors
• Figured out why the cigarette lighter never worked and ordered a replacement
• Replaced the valve cover gasket & resealed the spark plug tubes in an attempt to produce less smoke on startup than a B-17

I've also changed the oil in my truck and hosed out the clogged gutter in front of the garage.

I was hoping to run the Miata down to my work on a Saturday and use a lift to replace the differential breather, pinion yoke and pinion seal to try and get it to stop puking fluid out when you drive it. Now, the shop is closed on Saturdays, so I guess I'll have to do it at home laying under it on the floor.

fixing the wife's airbag light on her Koup. The code set was for the pre-tensioner resistance. I knew it was a wiring issue. Pulled it apart, checked my previous repair. Could find no issues. Checked the lower pretensioner and the connector fell off. Well, that will do it. 

I hate electrical and interior work on automobiles. 

I'm piecing my house together while they build the new house in the backyard, a window started leaking and the roof needs work but I'm not spending a dollar I don't have to on something I'm tearing down or selling on a trailer in two months. 
 

This window is kicking my butt though and I can't put it off any longer

About 7 1/2 hours of painting today, but I did get the hardest room done.  Probably going to take tomorrow off because my back has pretty much had it.  Respect to those that do this for a living. 

We're trying to get our house ready to sell...during the covid thing. So yeah. This is how we've been spending our weekends.

Me and the wife are both considered essential so what free time?