Weekend Projects...

So, it was a big weekend at our place.  We had several projects to get done and we "hired" some help to get them all done!

My dad came down to help with the hard labor and engineering, mom came down to relax and enjoy watching/playing with the kids, my sister/her husband came to help with the planning/planting as well as the hard labor.  Plus my sister's kids came and had a great time playing with our kids.

First project was finishing up the garden and getting it planted.  Jennifer Wallman was our green thumb source and she helped Alisha get the garden planned out.  Then off to the store to buy the plants and seeds.

After the ladies got the veggies planted in the yard it was time to get it all fenced in to keep out the critters!!  15 steel posts, 1 wood post, 200 feet of chicken wire, sunburned arms/necks and 6 hours later it was finished...

Our own farmer's market

Complete with gate and walking path (not quite complete - next weekend's project!)

After completing the garden it was on to constructing the compost box.  We found some old fence posts and some spare wood and whipped us up a storage box for all the compost.  The front boards slide up and out when you are ready to use the compost that has been marinating in the box for 6 months or so.  Mmmmm Mmmmm Good!!!!

We need to name the box - any suggestions????

Our final project was to replace the steeper motors on our Suburban's instrument panel.  Our speedometer has been stuck on 130 mph for the last 6 months or so.  Yes, it has cost me 1 speeding ticket and 1 questioning with an officer in his cruiser that I was able to get out of another ticket.  "Do you know how fast you were going?"  "No sir, my speedometer stopped working."  "Oh, well, how long has it not been working?"  "Actually, it went crazy about 100 miles back.  Just kept going and didn't come back.  Shows 130 mph all the time."  "You are gonna have to get that fixed."  "Yes sir, as soon as we get someplace where we can."  "Alright then, I'm just going to give you a warning."  Hallelujah!!!!  Yes, it wasn't actually the complete truth but I couldn't afford another speeding ticket...so, it was worth staring down "the law"!

Anway, around 11pm on Saturday night we finally got around to tackling this project.  My brother replaced his steeper motors a couple months ago and said it was pretty easy.  Well, either we had a stubborn instrument panel or he's just a mechanical wizard.  It wasn't until around 12:30am that we got it all apart and were ready to remove the old motor off the speedometer gauge.  But wouldn't you know it, we forgot a piece to help remove the old motor!!  We worked on it and finally managed to get the old motor off the back of the speedometer and it was time to install the new one.  Our soldering equipment was giving us trouble but we ended up getting it put back on and installed.  Needless to say, our (ok, my) soldering skills wouldn't have passed a high school level electronics class but at least the motor stayed in one place!! 

So, we snapped the panel back together, took it out to the garage and wired it back in the dash.  I turned on the key and the speedometer jumped to 12 mph.  Dad says, uhhhhhh, that's not good.  Thought maybe it just needed a warmup or break-in period so we decided to take it down the road.  By the time we got to the end of the driveway it showed 60 mph.  We have a long driveway but it ain't that long!!!!  So, as you can see from the picture below we are still cruising at 130 mph sitting in the driveway.  Not sure if it was the primative installation or the motor we got was bad.  Either way, I've got another project to do next weekend!!!

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Papa and Binga also brought some garage sale finds!!!  They found a whole bunch of cowboy stuff for the kids - cowboy hats, holsters, and handcuffs.  Bryce will have lots of stuff to play with and the girls were having as much fun as he was dressing up as cowboys and cowgirls!

They also found a little mini motorcycle someone was throwing away.  Apparently all it needed was a battery and charger but someone didn't want to buy new ones so they were just throwing it away.  Papa would have none of that and picked it up.  Using his skills he got it fixed up and running.  As you can imagine it was a big hit and the girls got it figured out pretty quickly.  It took Bryce a good afternoon of practice and coaching but he managed to figure out how to get it going by himself and ride it pretty well.

His own motorcycle before he's 6 years old - yeah, his Dad is a little jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!!  ***And no, he didn't crash it into the garage at the end - :) ***

Thanks so much for all the help from everyone - it was great to get so much done!!!