The “what I did during quarantine” thread

http://morrismodels.com/

I got in on his kickstarter about a year ago

The valve train was a little frustrating, but that might have been my fault. I kinda wish he'd offer it without, because it hides the beautiful crankshaft motion.
 
Still commuting to work... 10 ft down the hallway from the bedroom.

So far, I have removed, repaired, and reinstalled the double gate on our privacy fence.
Helped dad fab up an add-on hydraulic system for a grapple for this tractor.
Helped dad build a take-off table for his table saw.
Tilled the garden prepping for spring planting.

Oh.... And got a puppy. 9 week old yellow lab 'Daisy'. Figured it was a good time with the kids being home for an extended time and they can help corral her a bit.

To do:
Help dad with more work on the -7 to get it back flyable.
Plant garden.
Thin the small trees in the backyard so the kids can expand their go-kart track.
 
http://morrismodels.com/

I got in on his kickstarter about a year ago

The valve train was a little frustrating, but that might have been my fault. I kinda wish he'd offer it without, because it hides the beautiful crankshaft motion.

Very neat. I would be interested in buying one but I'm not sure the small one (at 17") would be large enough to have the right impact and I don't think I'm willing to pay the $500 for the larger one. May need to show it to Laurie though.
 
Still going into work, as I work for a DoD contractor. Would be kinda neat to have an F-35 at home to work on, as a nice Deck 2 engine run would help dry the front yard up a bit from all these months of rain. Neighbors might complain a little at it sitting there and running at max burner for 30-40 minutes and doing throttle snaps..:cool:
 
All you energetic, over-achievers (yes, @Ted DuPuis - I'm looking at you, my friend!) are really shaming me! The only change to my last 4 years or so work at home routine is my hours went from part time (12 hours a day/7 days a week) to full time (24/7/365) as the rest of the company is working from home and the need for support across the world has escalated. So, I'm getting NOTHING personal done while working from home. I told them I'm leaving my company cell phone on the desk in my office and I'll get back to them when I can.
Grumpy old man getting older and grumpier by the day.
 
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Since we are retired and no job issues to worry about, can't say this has changed things enormously. Sticking close to home and minimizing our social contact. Have two relatives that do have compromised immune systems, they are locked down pretty tight so I'm helping them a bit. My mom is 91 and in Memory Care, they have a no visitors policy, justified, but she's not happy about that. Canceled a few short trips.

Spending WAY too much time on-line and on POA, but learned a lot. Saw a few never-seen movies, some good, some not so good. Read a few books (highly recommend "The Poison Squad" by Deborah Blum), it's about food safety in the early 1900's and the start of the FDA. Got lots of those small nagging house chores done and way ahead on yard work. Even flew a bit last week, short trip to the avionics shop to fix a radio. No big issue with getting supplies although some items are harder to find. The local supermarket has "senior hours" first thing in the morning, gives us old folks first shot after re-stocking and cleaning, nice touch.

The market sucks, trying not to get obsessed over it, so far, not fatal.

Will admit some cabin fever is creeping in. So long as the electric says on, the food stores stay stocked and the banking system keeps operating, we can go a long time at this pace.
 
Since I got back to Ohio from the annual ski season in Steamboat Springs, I’ve been getting unpacked and laundry. In between, cleaning the house up from 2 (should have been 3) months of idleness.

I need to get rechecked/recurrent in the Ercoupe but it’s a bit difficult to do Social Distancing in the cockpit.

Being retired for a while means not much changes from the past even with the State on whatever the stay home euphemism is current. I plan to use the bike a lot since the gym is shut.

One thing that strikes me is with barber shops shut down but pot stores open, I could go back to the 60’s with long hair and doobies. Missed it the first time around grinding away in Engineering School and a co-op job as an apprentice machinist.

I do like the Geezer hours at the grocery stores. No real shortages I’ve noticed here but I’ve not ventured to Costco. Also plan on getting a lot of takeout to help the local restaurants.

This too shall pass and if the virus claims me (extremely unlikely) “life’s been good so far”.

Cheers
 
Like @SoonerAviator a large part of my job is financial modeling. Lots of requests from corporate right now. Although I do 11 hour days instead of just 10. ;)

Saturday night I got an email at 9pm with an assignment due on Sunday at 11pm. That's how things are going.
 
Like @SoonerAviator a large part of my job is financial modeling. Lots of requests from corporate right now. Although I do 11 hour days instead of just 10. ;)

Saturday night I got an email at 9pm with an assignment due on Sunday at 11pm. That's how things are going.

Lol, yeah I've been living on the Jabra speaker for conference calls. Our sales projections are on their 3rd iteration in less than a week. O&G markets contracting 30%+ by year end is forcing a lot of shifts in production plans and product mix shifts. Only bright side has been the rainy weather clearing up today and temps back into the upper 70's. I did manage to brush the dog out (golden retriever) and go for a couple mile mountain bike ride just to get some fresh air. I bet Russia/Saudi are wishing they hadn't jacked with a good thing right before the markets completely tanked.
 
Instead of sitting behind the desk in my office at Lockheed, I've been sitting behind the desk in my study. Still doing the same crap. The only thing different is my commute changed from a 40 mile drive on I-4 to a walk down my staircase.

Oh, and the coffee's better.
 
Instead of sitting behind the desk in my office at Lockheed, I've been sitting behind the desk in my study. Still doing the same crap. The only thing different is my commute changed from a 40 mile drive on I-4 to a walk down my staircase.

Oh, and the coffee's better.
If you're still getting dressed and combing your hair then you're doing it wrong. :)
 
If you're still getting dressed and combing your hair then you're doing it wrong. :)

I always pictured @Half Fast as being half bald. A slick dome with hair just above his ear and around the back of his head. Like a bullet sticking up out of a towel or something.
 
Well, let's see. We're only a week in so far, and I've been a bit on the lazy side so far. Suddenly having an extra 1.5 hours per day with no commuting is nice.

I've collected most of the pieces necessary to build my home workstation. Amazon delivery tomorrow should allow me to finish that.
I've done a lot of tree pruning. Need to have a bonfire, my burn pile is to that point already.
My wife and son are at my in-laws' since yesterday - They'll be coming home tomorrow when the "safer-at-home" order takes effect. So, I cleaned the corner of the living room behind our TV stand that hasn't had a TV on it in years, and bought a TV and set it up. That'll make the lockdown more tolerable. I don't watch much TV, but my wife watches a LOT. It's an easy way to occupy my son when she's doing something else too.
I've done a lot of reading about the virus, thinking about potential implications for our lives, planning contingencies, and stocking up. Nothing "prepper" level, but trying to make sure we'll be in good shape if this gets any worse over the course of the next couple years.
And finally, doing a lot of fixing of a lot of random things that haven't risen to the priority where they've gotten done before. That will continue.
 
I haven't tracked, but I'll bet my PoA activity is way up.
 
Hauled 1.5 tons of horse crap for my wife.

I really hope she is happy. I became a pilot so I would not have to clean horse stalls, pig pens, chicken coops....
 
Instead of sitting behind the desk in my office at Lockheed, I've been sitting behind the desk in my study. Still doing the same crap. The only thing different is my commute changed from a 40 mile drive on I-4 to a walk down my staircase.

Oh, and the coffee's better.

Funny, that. I'm saving about an hour on commuting. That part by itself doesn't bother me - I enjoy the drive (although the days I'm picking up/dropping off the girls are less pleasant), but that extra hour at home makes a big difference, as well as the ability to just go outside on lunch break. Today I did that and welded the broken brush hog. We'll see how good of a job I did. The metal is right at the limit of what's allowable for my welder, but definitely much better weld and penetration than I had with the flux core I was using previously.

Tomorrow on lunch break I'll probably pull the truck up to the house and start welding up my DPF-back exhaust that I had planned for it (note: that leaves all emissions equipment intact, and thus has no emissions/EPA consequences).

And finally, doing a lot of fixing of a lot of random things that haven't risen to the priority where they've gotten done before. That will continue.

It sounds like you've done a lot of similar type stuff as me. We debated buying a 75" TV at Walmart (saw a very good deal on one while there) given the lockdown, but decided against it. The TVs we have are fine for the time being and we don't have the theater room built just yet, so that's when we'll decide what we really want for a TV. And at this rate, we may start on the theater room in another week or two.
 
Hauled 1.5 tons of horse crap for my wife.

I really hope she is happy. I became a pilot so I would not have to clean horse stalls, pig pens, chicken coops....

About a year ago my wife brought home baby chickens and instructed me to assemble a co-op. Yeah ,the fresh eggs were nice until now, but I was always a little resentful, just didn't seem worth the extra work. Now, however, they're a food source that I don't have to leave our property for, it has changed my stance, I don't mind the work.
 
About a year ago my wife brought home baby chickens and instructed me to assemble a co-op. Yeah ,the fresh eggs were nice until now, but I was always a little resentful, just didn't seem worth the extra work. Now, however, they're a food source that I don't have to leave our property for, it has changed my stance, I don't mind the work.

Love auto-correct! Of course, you wrote "coop"!
 
Since we are retired and no job issues to worry about, can't say this has changed things enormously. Sticking close to home and minimizing our social contact. Have two relatives that do have compromised immune systems, they are locked down pretty tight so I'm helping them a bit. My mom is 91 and in Memory Care, they have a no visitors policy, justified, but she's not happy about that. Canceled a few short trips.

Spending WAY too much time on-line and on POA, but learned a lot. Saw a few never-seen movies, some good, some not so good. Read a few books (highly recommend "The Poison Squad" by Deborah Blum), it's about food safety in the early 1900's and the start of the FDA. Got lots of those small nagging house chores done and way ahead on yard work. Even flew a bit last week, short trip to the avionics shop to fix a radio. No big issue with getting supplies although some items are harder to find. The local supermarket has "senior hours" first thing in the morning, gives us old folks first shot after re-stocking and cleaning, nice touch.

The market sucks, trying not to get obsessed over it, so far, not fatal.

Will admit some cabin fever is creeping in. So long as the electric says on, the food stores stay stocked and the banking system keeps operating, we can go a long time at this pace.

WORK is a four letter word. Like you, we are retired, too. My mom is 93 and her retirement place now says "No Visitors", so we won't drive across the state to see her. Missed her birthday last week because of that.

Keeping an eye on UA and Mexico. We have a reservation the first week of May in Puerto Vallarta. Sure hope that doesn't get scratched.
 
I always pictured @Half Fast as being half bald. A slick dome with hair just above his ear and around the back of his head. Like a bullet sticking up out of a towel or something.


Correct. A stunningly handsome example of virile manhood. Bald men don't waste hormones growing hair.
 
Correct. A stunningly handsome example of virile manhood. Bald men don't waste hormones growing hair.

I have hair, yet you'll never catch me saying it makes me more manly or handsome. All it does is make my sink and tub clog more than yours.
 
Mine's an Allen TC-1. I used to be a pipe organ snob (needed to be proper pipe organ or I didn't want to play it). But I was more than a bit spoiled - got to play some truly fantastic organs in New York City growing up, including the one at church I played daily. But when I moved to Pennsylvania and decided I wanted to have one to play, the electric made sense.

The pedals never worked great on it from when I got it. It's a very simple setup - one power wire goes to the pedals and then when you push a pedal it completes the circuit to another single wire (per pedal) going back to the main console. There were 5-7 wires that had broken and needed to be resoldered to their connectors, some of the pedals themselves were a bit corroded at the electric contact points, and I also just cleaned up the pins in general. Only took a few hours and it's working much better now.

But the woofers are completely destroyed (thanks to the kids) so I need to fix/have fixed/replace them. That'll be for another day.

Ted, I fixed some woofer drivers that my son used. I fixed them by sealing the cracks with clear silicone sealant. If there are cracks and not separation, give it a try. It might work better than you might think.

I am envious of your pipe organ experience. Our last European Vacation netted some cathedral visits listening to magnificent pipe organs. If those long pipes can’t move your emotions, I don’t know what can.
 
WORK is a four letter word. Like you, we are retired, too. My mom is 93 and her retirement place now says "No Visitors", so we won't drive across the state to see her. Missed her birthday last week because of that.

Keeping an eye on UA and Mexico. We have a reservation the first week of May in Puerto Vallarta. Sure hope that doesn't get scratched.

My mom is in retirement home 6 hr drive/ 2 hr flight away and they're also on lockdown. She doesn't/won't/can't answer her phone so unless we time a call when nursing is in the room, we don't get to talk to her as much as we would want.

Our Cozumel vacation for end of April was cancelled by United Vacations just the other day.
 
My wife and I are both retired so the only thing that concerns us is the beating our portfolio is taking nearly every day. Fortunately we don’t need most of it for a few years so we can wait it out. We live on Coeur d’Alene Lake in North Idaho so social distancing is not a problem. Out closest neighbor is nearly 1/2 mile away. We have miles of country roads to walk where the only thing we will see are large rodents, aka deer, and an occasional small herd of elk. The other night we counted over 40 deer and about 30 elk at about sunset, all in the same field. The elk herd had a very young bull with them which was pretty unusual. My 93 year old MIL is living with us. She was living in an independent living facility in the Spokane Valley but had to be hospitalized a few weeks ago. After that she spent a few weeks in a rehab facility while we were in Las Vegas for the WCC men’s and women’s basketball tournament and caught Rod Stewart’s opening show. If you get a chance someday, you need to see his show - he puts on a credible performance (for his age) and his back up singers are fantastically talented. When we got back, we managed to get my MIL out of the rehab facility early and before she got sick. Flying occasionally when weather permits since there is nobody at the airport and the price of 100LL is now below $4 a gallon. Started all of my spring projects a month early since all of the snow decided to leave. Besides all of the ski resorts are closed even though they still have lots of snow and there is no NCAA basketball to watch.
 
Home isolation, taking so many pills I set alarms on the phone for all of them, and if the steroids really kick in, probably rearranging and cleaning the entire garage. Monitoring myself for side effects. Walking to keep exercise and moving while I can’t go to PT. Probably come up with some band exercises for the arms and hands.

Also technically working — when not being interrupted by calls from Doctors and such. Ha.

Finish CFI renewal which will probably now get screwed up by virus crap.

Interested to see how much I waver from wide awake to instant sleep required.
So, everything is good then? :D
 
Ted, I fixed some woofer drivers that my son used. I fixed them by sealing the cracks with clear silicone sealant. If there are cracks and not separation, give it a try. It might work better than you might think.

I am envious of your pipe organ experience. Our last European Vacation netted some cathedral visits listening to magnificent pipe organs. If those long pipes can’t move your emotions, I don’t know what can.

I don’t think a little silicone will fix these speaker cones. ;)

upload_2020-3-25_7-19-15.jpeg

I was certainly privileged with my musical upbringing. New York City is a great place for a musician in general. Aside from going to a church with a fantastic organ, organists are always eager to let other organists play whatever pipe organs they have access to. The acoustics of many churches in New York are also quite amazing.
 
The acoustics of many churches in New York are also quite amazing.
My wife made the comment a few days ago that apparently most architects have zero knowledge of acoustics (or even the need to address it) in churches...modern church builds have terrible acoustics.
 
My wife made the comment a few days ago that apparently most architects have zero knowledge of acoustics (or even the need to address it) in churches...modern church builds have terrible acoustics.

I would believe that. In New York most churches are old (probably all the ones I saw) - the concept of a strip-mall church or a "modern" church was extremely foreign to me growing up. So, pretty much all large stone buildings.
 
I would believe that. In New York most churches are old (probably all the ones I saw) - the concept of a strip-mall church or a "modern" church was extremely foreign to me growing up. So, pretty much all large stone buildings.
You should go visit @SixPapaCharlie and have him take you to UNT to play their awesome organ at the Murchison Center.
 
I would believe that. In New York most churches are old (probably all the ones I saw) - the concept of a strip-mall church or a "modern" church was extremely foreign to me growing up. So, pretty much all large stone buildings.
The acoustics in our old maintenance hangar were near perfect, though. :D
 
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You should go visit @SixPapaCharlie and have him take you to UNT to play their awesome organ at the Murchison Center.

I'm far out of practice now, so I don't make pilgrimages like I used to. Plus, I need to stay at least 600 miles away from @SixPapaCharlie for social distancing requirements if I read it right.
 
My wife and I are both retired so the only thing that concerns us is the beating our portfolio is taking nearly every day. Fortunately we don’t need most of it for a few years so we can wait it out. We live on Coeur d’Alene Lake in North Idaho so social distancing is not a problem. Out closest neighbor is nearly 1/2 mile away. We have miles of country roads to walk where the only thing we will see are large rodents, aka deer, and an occasional small herd of elk. The other night we counted over 40 deer and about 30 elk at about sunset, all in the same field. The elk herd had a very young bull with them which was pretty unusual. My 93 year old MIL is living with us. She was living in an independent living facility in the Spokane Valley but had to be hospitalized a few weeks ago. After that she spent a few weeks in a rehab facility while we were in Las Vegas for the WCC men’s and women’s basketball tournament and caught Rod Stewart’s opening show. If you get a chance someday, you need to see his show - he puts on a credible performance (for his age) and his back up singers are fantastically talented. When we got back, we managed to get my MIL out of the rehab facility early and before she got sick. Flying occasionally when weather permits since there is nobody at the airport and the price of 100LL is now below $4 a gallon. Started all of my spring projects a month early since all of the snow decided to leave. Besides all of the ski resorts are closed even though they still have lots of snow and there is no NCAA basketball to watch.

We love that area. My wife and I did an anniversary stay in Hope on the other side of the lake from CdA a couple of years ago. If this whole thing goes sideways and the ATL area becomes uninhabitable, expect to have another neighbor in your area. :)
 
Been self-isolated since a week ago last Thursday (mostly because I'm retired so I can, and I'm an introvert). My wife did her last Citation flight for awhile on last Thursday, getting her boss home to Ohio.

Retired computer geek and have a killer sim set-up down the basement, so that's all updated, and we're maintaining instrument/procedures proficiency. I SHOULD be spending time at the hangar (house is across the runway from it) cleaning airplanes...deferring til cabin fever kicks in. I'm mostly ignoring the home gym down the basement.

My only digression from isolation was a grocery store/liquor store run on Monday, before the official 'stay-at-home' order kicked in. I wore my aircraft painting mask (the double dual-stage filters for poly kind). Interestingly enough, I never got a second look from anyone. :)

Feeling doubley-blessed to have both a State and Fortune 50 company pension coming in at this point.

My wife just got off the phone with the professional cleaner folks that do the Citation. They're now offered a 'full' disinfectant package for around $3K. Claim it's 'guaranteed for a year'. I'm dubious....comments?

Jim

PS- When I went to the store, my wife told me not to bring home a case of Corona, so I just got a couple six-packs and some limes :) ....and scotch!
 
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