Staying Cool

 

100 Degrees is no fun

I'm so lucky to have an air conditioner out here, but it's not "central air" -  it's a mini-split in the front of the house that does a good job on the living room but doesn't always make it to the dining nook at the other end of the house. And if I'm baking in the kitchen, forget it.

So in my eighth year here, I finally got around to installing a small unit in the dining room.

 Installing these things is not terribly difficult, but the last step requires some special equipment, so most folks hire a pro for that part. When I installed the unit for the shop, I decided that rather than pay big bucks to somebody else, I'd just go to Harbor Freight and buy the tools. So I was ready to go this time.

The special tools were the gauges and a vacuum pump - the thing with the red handle next to the yellow bucket.

Also sprung for the cover kit to hide the pipes and wire.

 So now the house is cool, but you could bake a cake on the dashboard of the poor truck.

 

Shade for The Chief

This would probably be considered tacky in the city, but city folks have nice two-car garages...

 

 

Somewhere in there, a break for an outdoor concert with friends:

 And a couple new cabinets for the shop.

 Stay cool!

Muzzy is Finished! (more or less...)

 Walt Disney is supposed to have said that Disneyland would never be finished as long as there is imagination left in the world... That could be true of van projects too.

 

 

In case you don't remember my last post on the subject, Muzzy is the Dodge van my daughter Jami uses for work travel and to get away from work when she can.  She rented one just like it during Covid and had Old Dad throw together a removable interior for an epic 6000-mile trip across the country.  Muzzy was her grandmother's nickname.

 

Van 1.0 "Betty"

 

Over the last couple of years she has left the van here for anywhere from a weekend to three months, and after the last sprint, we are declaring her finished.  Except for that imagination thing...

 

Muzzy got a solar panel

A new home-made toilet covered in white plastic

And a half-door on the bathroom

 

We had originally planned a full door to match the closet door, but decided it would make the van too claustrophobic.

 

Original plan was for a full door on the bathroom

 

A half-door is enough privacy for a solo..

..But there is a pull-down shade

 Also added what every van needs: a roll-top desk.

Since most of her travel is (unfortunately) work-related, we decided to give her a place to work. Big enough for a monitor and a laptop, but compact enough to fit in the limited space.

 

 

 The desk also supports the upper bunk on that bearing.

Swing-out monitor bracket and pull-out keyboard tray

Home-made roll top

The Star Wars theme lives on...

The bunk pivot got redesigned so the top bunk can now be a backrest.

Happy trails Jami and Muzzy!