Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I'm Half Well Baked?

"Somebody Turn Off The Heat..."



I'm seriously considering buying a case of Depends and putting Ice Cubes in them while trying to walk and work outside.

OK...maybe not, but still...

Will Someone Please Stick Me With A Fork And Turn Me Over?

I Think That I'm Cooked "Well Done" On This Side...


OK...what to say and where to go this morning?

I KNOW...WRITE ABOUT THE WEATHER.

Did I mention that it is hot as Heck Hell Hades out here in north eastern Oklahoma these days?

Well...it is

...just in case you haven't been watching the Weather Channel.

So any way... I think that I've mentioned before that our new home out here in the Tulsa Suburbs...also known as "The Turbo Pup Compound...WEST" (conveniently located adjacent to the banks of the mighty Arkansas River) has as one of it's infinite ammenities a three car garage?

And I've been in the process of converting the shorter, smaller, single third bay into a shop/man camp/playground over the past 8 months?

Problem was, and is, my garage is "unconditioned" i.e. void of connection with the "central heating and air conditioning system responsible for keeping the rest of our lovely home operating at civilized levels of temperature and humidity.

Up until the last week or so, I found myself over the past months slowly but surely and totally losing control of the ambient conditions in this important space as summer arrived full force here in our nation's "heartlands."

An injuneering solution was definitely in order, and being an semi-eductated and self proclaimed Injuneer, I guess I had to get to work and solve this problem without expecting to get paid for my services.

Thus in my weather/heat induced insanity, I've constructed something which looks like this on the inside of the single garage bay (unfinished but operational...)


and looks like this on the outside of the building...again unfinished/unpainted but operational none the less...





...featuring two $98 plus tax 5050 BTU "window unit" type air conditioning units from Wal Mart... and producing this result at 6 AM in the morning after enduring two days of 100 plus degree F ambient (with a heat index of 104 deg F.)


In the late afternoon my new system is able to keep the temperature in my garage/shop under 82 degrees F so far without final weather stripping and paint.

All of this comfort for about $350 out of pocket not counting my tools and labor.

COOL?

I'd say so...

I'm not a GENIUS...I'm a FREAKING SUPER GENIUS...aren't I?

Monday, June 25, 2012

Home...Home On...The Range

"Would Someone Please Pass Me The Suntan Lotion?"

OK...after living here for plus or minus EIGHT MONTHS since moving out from Tennessee last fall...

basically we're still stumbling around in the middle of the "Continental United States" trying to figure out the details of how things work.

You know?

So far, so good I think.

In fact, if you consider the cost of living in general, and that we have some of the lowest gasoline prices in the entire US not to mention that they are building new houses every one hundred and twenty five feet up and down our street and the UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS BELOW FIVE PERCENT...

...things are down right "tollerable" as I see them.

Then there is this weather forcast for this week...



Look closely at those predicted high temperature numbers.

Yep...mid 100 to 110 range they say.

I think that I'll make a giant pitcher of Iced Tea with extra Ice and hide inside for the duration.

Everyone please try to stay cool, and Regards Y'all...