Dear Diary

...that lay in the house that Jack built.

We need to bend wire to make the walkways to finish the kitty cat shelter. To do that, we need to make a Metal Bending Brake. To do that we need to learn some metalworking skillz like... welding.

To do THAT... oh boy.

Obtain some li'l extras that required the unpacking of an Aldi's brand MIG welder Beloved acquired five-ever ago
Return home and assemble everything according to instructions
Aldi's brand MIG welder has the motor going the wrong way. It's supposed to pull the wire out from the box, through a nozzle and into the business end of the welder. It pushes the wire back IN.
We fart around with the settings for like an hour before calling the service people

Them: Hi and thank you for giving money to Aldi
Us: Yeah we have one of your MIG welders and the motor for the wire is going backwards.
T: Lol your wire's in back-to-front.
U: ??? But? We followed the instructions like good customers?
T: No, your wire's in backwards.
U: Backwards how?
T: You're reading page [NUMBER] of the instructions, right?
U: Yeah, we have the spool on the thing and it says to have the wire coming off from the top...
T: Try it upside-down.
U: Uuuuhhh... how is that going to make the motor go clockwise instead of counter-clockwise?
T: ...
T: ...
T: Uh. Yeah. Maybe you should get a refund on that thing.

Sigh.

So now we need a working MIG welder because the refund/replacement process is a 20-week can of arseholes for sure
BACK to the tool ppl to get a decent MIG and a welding table because -hey- we're already spending $700 on a MIG, why not have the whole kit?
Home again, home again, to watch some tutorials (better late than never) on how to actually firkin MIG weld
Whoops, we need more shit
Go out and acquire more shit
Come back and realise time is running out (2PM) and also we don't have nearly enough of the right cable to reach the shed
Beloved goes out for cable, leaving me the task of welding table assembly
Welding table comes with mixed bag of screws, nuts and bolts and a complicated exploded diagram in lieu of instructions
I barely get the first set of screws out and first two pieces together before -whoops!- Bratrun O'clock
Wait for Chaos' bus
Realise where my wallet is (Beloved's car) and message them about needing that shit to fetch Mayhem
Beloved returns before Chaos and I get my shit together
Fetch Mayhem
FINALLY get all our stuff together and weld! But we practice on some scrap first because we're not total idiots
Something is heinously wrong because all we can make are blobs that don't do shit
Research and investigation reveals we were doing everything wrong

UGH

And that was our entire yesterday eaten up by random bullshit.

Okay. I've Got This

Today, my Beloved is having a day "off" to finish building this dang metal bending brake that has vexed us, last weekend. And since I woke at 3AM again, I'll be doing my utmost to get my content out before I have to use all the daylight I've got to build a tool to make the thing so we can finish the cat cage.

It's turning out like The House That Jack Built around here.

Fortunately, I already acquired the steel to

I Have a PLN

Today: The instant Chaos is off to school, I paddle on out to Bunnings and get some steel for bracers for the metal bender. I know we're going to need them, but Beloved is still in denial. We shall see who is correct.

Tomorrow: Beloved is taking a day off, so don't expect much in the way of my output until either the work is done, or we run out of daylight. Be warned.

The stories and writing happen whenever I have

Week 2

So. Making a tool to bend metal for us is harder than it looks. Big shock. I'm going to have to go out for extra matts at some point. Both Beloved and I are very, very tired of all this taking so long. The steps involved seem easy, but... they're not that easy.

A video that takes ten minutes to watch secretly hides two days of agonies. Blugh...

So Beloved is taking a day off later in the week to get these

Uuuuuurrrrrgh...

If firkin course it didn't work out like I had pln'd. Turns out we needed mor tools, mor mats, and mor bits [not mor dakka, but it was a close call].

Sigh.

We resume faffing about later on in the AM.

If I actually get to work on anything during these wee small hours, it'll likely be more of Episode Nine of Inter-Mission.

...my soul hurts, but I still PLN on learning how to weld, and making the firkin walkways at bloody

Shenanigans!

Today, thanks to my numerous errands and trials, we will not be wasting half of today getting matts and tools.

Nope.

TODAY will be halfway wasted by making a tool out of the matts I fetched. Yay!

At least I'll be learning how to weld. Woot.

So this morning is going to be devoted to those episodes of Inter-Mission that I'm lagging on. By the way, you may have noticed that the link to my podcast has changed sites. That's because Soundcloud

I Run Around... From Town to Town...

So. Yesterday, I had to get a whole bunch of stuff so we can bend the metal mesh and thereby make the walkways. Metal-bending tools exist but the CO$T is more than we can bear. Besides, you can make your own for like $300.

I only forgot one thing - C-clamps :P

So today:

Clean the house
Write the instant
Get the C-clamps
Also acquire cream and sour cream
The Brat Run

So yeah. I'm a busy li'l bumblebee today. I

OK now what?

I did my 3K words this week, leaving me today and tomorrow to fart around with building the kitty kondo(tm).

Thing is, we need stuff to do the thing. Bending that much metal needs a metal-bending press, which needs materials to make. Unfortunately, the design is in Beloved's head. So about all I can do is gather the mats and hope the crafting doesn't take long when Beloved returns to actually make the thing.

As I understand bending tools, you need

Another Imp's Ass

Kitty shelter skin: Complete(ish) with the caveat of needing to be tol to take care of the last of it.

Skillz for the next bit: nonexistent.

I know vaguely what we're doing next, but not how we're doing it next. I suspect that learning to weld will be on my itinerary at some point.

I want to do something to finish this project, but I either don't have the stuff or I don't have the skill. It's infuriating.

Fingers crossed that

GDI it's cold

There's something wrong about it being the coldest days of the year after the winter equinox. I can't put my finger on it, precisely, but it strikes me as the height of illogic that all the cold happens after the shortest day of the year.

I'm still journeying out in this noise to add staples and screws to the Kitty Kondo(tm) frame. My weak noodly writer muscles weren't enough to hold the staplegun above my shoulders, so Beloved kindly stapled the

Week 2

Four weeks to go in the agent hunt. I'm hoping for good results. If not, I have four more attempts at trawling #MSWL on Twitter to sell Adapting.

The goal this week is 12K in Kingdom of Sand: Border of Bones. I also aim to have the Kitty Kondo finished by the end of this coming weekend.

I should be using the early hours at my current disposal to record some audio for Inter-Mission, but my throat is demanding a day of

Another day of shenanigans ahead

This time, we're finishing up the paint job and maybe attaching the roof. I'm getting used to the idea that we're going to just... spend half of Saturdays just getting stuff, now.

So yeah, we now own a new paint sprayer and this one might suffer the slings and arrows of being stored for extended periods and not develop leaks like the old one.
The old one did more resemble a Super Soaker than anything industrial.

The new one looks a bit

HRNNNGGH!

Thant's the sound I'm making in the attempt to get this project up and complete to the last yard.

To do:

Attach roof beams.
Paint frame and door
Attach door
Attach skin
Acquire materials for walkway
Make walkway
Furnish interior of kittycat condo.

I'm planning to use all the daylight at my disposal for this, and you'd never guess that Beloved wants to do this at all.

Therefore, the story will be happening way, way, WAY later in the day. After we

Game night woot woot!

I'm super excited for tonight and dreading tomorrow. Excited for tonight because I have another chance to RIDE THAT ANGST TRAIN HARD.

Choo choo motherflakker.

Tomorrow I must get the wriggles on to finish building the thing because the concrete we poured and moulded should be set enough to walk around on. Note that qualifier and the fact that Murphy has been laughing at us ever since the cement truck got bogged. Also note that I shall be exhausted out of my

The Waiting Game

We have a concrete floor to the Kitty Kondo(tm) and, because the cement truck got bogged, we have a war zone in our backyard. The concrete needs today and tomorrow to cure, then things can get started again with the Spakfilla and the roof beams and the paint and the sundry whatnot.

Protip from an ameteur: Always budget more time than you think you need for your concrete. Trust me on this. We paid for half and hour and most of

Menu

A 3613-post collection

...that lay in the house that Jack built.

Okay. I've Got This

I Have a PLN

Week 2

Uuuuuurrrrrgh...

Shenanigans!

I Run Around... From Town to Town...

OK now what?

Another Imp's Ass

GDI it's cold

Week 2

Another day of shenanigans ahead

HRNNNGGH!

Game night woot woot!

The Waiting Game