Where are the Smelly Protesters?

I am an amazing human being. I built a platform for the pool pump.

I was going to use concrete, but I had a lot of scrap wood lying around, and some of it was pressure-treated, so I figured it would be okay to put it in a humid place where it might get water on it occasionally. I got out the miter saw and the impact driver and the socket set, and before you know it, I had a platform Michael Moore could sit on without crushing it instantly into a quantum singularity.

Note I said “instantly.”

It took me an hour to build the platform, and when I got it out to the pump area, the damn pump was leaking. The “out” fitting was the problem this time. This is another fitting I stupidly used tape on. I had to saw a piece out of a pipe, create a splice out of a male fitting and a female fitting, put the “out” pipe back in with pipe dope, and cement everything together. I hope it doesn’t leak this time. I know I can fix it, but still.

I am now the Apostle of Pipe Dope. That stuff rocks. Explain again why anyone would use Teflon.

The mosquitoes seem really angry. The were forming a cloud over the pump. My guess is, the constant leakage out there found its way into a cavity somewhere, and I have been breeding bugs in it. Now that cavity is drying up. All this time, I blamed the trashy neighbors with the green pool and the crappy cars under stained canvas covers. Oh, well.

I still wish they would move.

A miter saw is an incredible tool. You leave it sitting in the garage on a Workmate, and when you want to saw wood, it’s just THERE. Waiting. And this experience confirmed my indisputable need for a 12″ sliding saw. I had no trouble cutting four-by-fours, but I had to turn the two-by-eight over.

I have decided Ridgid has the optimal 12″ miter saw. It gets reviews nearly as good as Makita and Bosch, and it’s a lot cheaper, and they have that eternal warranty. And my other Ridgid tools seem great. I don’t know how Home Depot ended up with a good product line, but I have no complaints. Today I got an email advertising their weird little 6 1/2″ circular saw, and it looks like that’s a pretty sweet tool, too. It’s very small and light, but you can do a 45-degree bevel in a two-by-whatever.

My 10″ saw gives me a thrill every time I use it. Today I discovered I can get perfect cuts–no fraying–if I saw a little slower than usual.

I wish I could write a book on learning to use tools. Big subject, though. And I’d say something stupid and cause idiots to cut their fingers off.