Epic...

This looks like my kind of movie.  I'll get the DVD when it comes out!

400 Years...

About 400 years ago, a glacier on Ellesmere Island in Canada grew and ran over a clump of moss.  Fast forward to today, when the glacier retreated back over that moss it ran over.  What do you suppose happened?

Some of it sprouted.  Four hundred years under the ice, and it was still viable.

Mighty Moss.  Is there anything it can't do?

That Old Chestnut...

...might be coming back soon to a forest near you.  American Chestnut, that is – the one practically wiped out by an invading fungus from imported Japanese Chestnuts.  Clever geneticists have modified American Chestnut DNA to include resistance to that fungus, and it looks possible that a reintroduction could succeed.

Until the anti-GMO crowd starts squawking, anyway...

Not True...

Last week Covered California officials were crowing about how the Obamacare health insurance exchange prices turned out to be less than the pre-Obamacare prices.  I dismissed that as ludicrous on its face, but didn't dig in to find out how they got those numbers.  Now others have done so, and as I expected, the Covered California claims are bogus.  Basically, they compared 2013 individual rates to 2014 employer rates – very much apples and oranges.  But it made a good sound byte, and the lamestream media faithfully picked it up and repeated it – so now all the low information voters are convinced their insurance rates are going down. 

They have a surprise awaiting them.

Not a happy surprise.

California.  Doom...

FJ Cruiser: Console Nose...

The platform will extend forward a bit more in between the front seats, to nest up nicely with the center console.  To do this, I built a “box” that extends forward from the forward bulkhead of the platform.  This box has to fit around some curved parts of the truck – not too hard if you have a profile gauge...

The sides of the console nose box, attached to the forward bulkhead...

Note the foaming glue (Gorilla Glue).  This foaming glue is a wonderful invention - it expands (even when tightly clamped!) into every nook and cranny between the two objects being glued, making a great bond even when there are dings in the surfaces.  It does make a bit of a mess with glue bubbling out from your work pieces, but a rag soaked in mineral spirits takes care of it quickly...

Attaching the front of the console nose box.  The cutout is for a utility box to hold four 120V outlets that our inverter will power...

The profile gauge I bought for this project.  It's made by Eastwood, and instead of using wires (like all the profile gauges I've ever used before), this one has flat pieces of plastic.  This is a vastly superior design to the wire type of profile gauge.  The plastic pieces are flexible and won't get bent like the wires did so easily.  Even better, the plastic pieces slide together very smoothly and easily.  Eastwood's design allows you to bolt together any number of 10" and 5" long segments (here one of each) to make a profile gauge of any length you need.  For the work on the car it would really be nice to have a gauge that can follow a pattern a foot or so deep, but this one (limited to about 2" of depth) did the job for me...

FJ Cruiser: Hidden Hinges...

The platform I'm building will have two hinged doors, one on each side of the truck.  The door will open up, like a chest, to provide access to the storage area below.  The top of these doors is the platform for our dogs to lie on.  This posed a bit of a design challenge: we wanted the doors to be hinged, but we really didn't want the hinge to be sticking up out of the platform, as an ordinary hinge wood.

I found a hidden cabinet hinge that would work for our purpose, made by SOSS. They're available in multiple sizes, including one that was perfect for us.  Installing these would be a bit tricky, though – you can't just mount them to the plywood that makes up the door.  I got a piece of red oak 2 x 2, finished on all four sides (it's really 1 3/4 inches on a side).  That's plenty strong enough to mount the hinges into, and easy enough to attach to the plywood (some screws and glue will do the trick).  But the hinge needs to be mounted with its centerline just 1/2" below the surface of the door.  Since the door is made of 1/2" thick plywood, that would mean that the hinge's centerline would be right at the joint between the oak and the plywood, and half the hinge would be in the plywood – that's not going to be very strong.

So I decided to make an oak “biscuit” for each hinge.  This biscuit would be a half inch thick (to match the plywood's thickness) and about 5 inches long.  A couple of matching notches in the plywood would allow the plywood and the oak to mate up properly.  Then the hinge would be mounted in solid oak, nice and strong.

Time to fabricate this:

First step for the oak biscuits: rough cut a piece of 2 x 2 to give me boards about 3/4" thick...

To mill the boards to 1/2", ideally I'd use a planer.  I don't have a planer, so I opted for a redneck mill instead.  I swung out the drill press' nice, flat table, then used a couple pieces of oak 2 x 2 to hold up the router.  This securely holds the router precisely level, while allowing me to adjust the bit to any depth I'd like.

Close up view from the side of my redneck mill, where I'll be putting the rough-cut boards...

After a little practice, success!  The end of this rough-cut board has been milled to exactly 1/2"...

The same board, now completely milled...

After milling the two boards, I looked like this from head to toe...

The two milled "biscuit" boards, next to a pair of 2 x 2s.  The red oak is a pleasure to work with...

The biscuits are cut; now it's time to mount them.  I'm drilling the pilot holes for the #12 wood screw; absolutely essential in hardwood...

Drilling the second screw hole, pinning the first hole with a screw to ensure proper hole alignment.  Notice that I'm using a tapered drill bit, shaped specially for wood screws.  The resulting tapered hole allows the wood screws to be easily screwed in, but still provide all of their purchase.  Using a non-tapered bit in wood like oak would me compromising the strength or making it very challenging to screw in...

A mounted biscuit, glued and screwed...

Laying out the hinge locations for a pair of oak frame pieces - one for the door, one for the stationary part.  These must match up precisely, so the layout must be made with great care...

Preparing for milling the hinge mounting hole.  The short piece of oak is a “fence” set up precisely 1/2" from the drill bit's centerline.  The drill bit is a 5/8" Forstner bit, which will make a clean, straight hole.

Let the drilling commence!

First I drilled three deeper holes, to match the deep part of the hinge.  The drill press makes it easy to drill to a particular depth with its adjustable drill stop...

Next comes four shallower holes to match the rest of the hinge...

Then comes some tedious work with a chisel and hammer, to make the shape of the hole match the shape of the hinge...

After a few minutes of chisel work, the hole starts to look like the hinge might actually fit in it...

The end result: a nice, tight fit for the hinge.  It's actually quite strong even before putting in the screws!

Now its time to cut the notches in the plywood to fit the biscuits.  Here I've made the first cut with the router (taking out a bit of my sawhorse along the way!), and I have the fences set up to make the final two cuts...

A biscuit notch!

Then two notches...

But the notches have round corners, and they need to be square.  Time to sharpen up the chisel!  The perforated metal is the surface of a diamond hone, which works beautifully on the chisel...

Corner on the right, nice and square.  Corner on the left, not so much.  Not yet, anyway...

The first test fitting.  The round mallet is a perfect “bonker” for encouraging the pieces to mate up...

A little bit of sanding and we've got a perfect fit...

Laying out the screw holes...

Drilling the screw holes with a tapered, countersunk bit...

Lots of lovely screw holes, all ready for gluing and screwing...

FJ Cruiser: Attaching the Platform Ribs...

I'm still working on the platform/storage compartment for the FJ Cruiser.  A few days ago I completed the “ribs” that connect the fore and aft bulkheads.  The connection between these pieces has to be strong, but removable (to allow access to certain parts of the FJ, for repair or modification).  To make these joints, I used a pair of angle iron brackets permanently attached to the bulkheads, spaced so that a rib could slip between them.  Bolts hold the rib in place.  The process looked like this:

Marking the centers of the holes needed, with an automatic center punch...

Drilled pilot holes, using a backer board to prevent splintering.  The pilot holes basically transfer the position of the holes from the side I marked (opposite of what you're seeing here) to the side I'm going to drill the real hole from.  This was necessary because the real hole is countersunk, and must be drilled from this side...

The angle iron brackets in place, bolted and glued to the forward bulkhead...

Assembled - a nice, strong joint!

May Mornings...

Several mornings a week, Debbie and I have been walking up the dirt road that goes past our house and up toward Skyline Truck Trail.  It's good physical therapy for her, good exercise for me, and it's often quite pretty – scenery and sometimes flowers.  Here's a few snapshots from that walk over the past week or so:

From our front yard, as we set out one morning...

San Diego's famous "June gloom", at our altitude, is more like "June morning mists".  We have this sort of thing nearly every morning, but it's never the same from day-to-day...

From nearly at the top of the road, about a mile and a half from home.  You can see Cuyamaca Mountain on the horizon, just to the left of the sunrise, and Viejas Mountain just to the left of it.  North is just between them...

We never tire of the mists.  I'd love to have a time-lapse movie of them...

From the very top of the road, looking east into the end of Lawson Valley, with Lawson Peak on the horizon.  Gaskill Peak is just out of the frame to the left...

Palo Verde Tree...

Several years ago we bought a Palo Verde (Desert Museum hybrid) tree from Kniffings and planted it in our front yard, next to our hummingbird feeders.  We'd read that the blooms attract hummingbirds, and the twiggy aspect of it seemed like it would make good perches for them.  It's a native to arid regions with high drainage, so it should do fine in our yard even without irrigation.

We can report now that on all counts the Palo Verde excels. It's thriving – growing faster than the references say it should, and putting on quite a show with its flowers for several months out of the year.  Right now it's in prime:

It's about 12 feet tall now.  The tall trees behind the gazebo are 50' to 60' tall eucalyptus...

Standing next to a branch, when you look down you see the branch covered with blooms, and the ground littered with the earlier blossoms...

Get down on your knees, and you see a carpet of dessicated petals...

Thousands upon thousands of these right now, visited frequently by hummingbirds, bees, and big fat black bumblebees...