He gave me the chance to explore some of the woods and fields on his property before we did a little target practice. Perfect day and time of year for it!
2026-10-21
A cool, foggy, fall day
I was off on an adventure for a day of target practice and exploring with ATVs on a foggy day last week. 
Julie’s new end table
We managed to find something that fit the spot well and was really cool at the same time. This is is a set of storage drawers for an old Addressograph machine. The plates were used to print addresses for mass mailings back in the mid to late 1900’s. This cabinet was used to organize and store all the plates. :)
Fun with Andy’s tools
Andy got this set of forming dies to recover the ends of copper pipe if they get banged up. He made up a test and they did an amazing job. The big orange thing is a part I found for him during out antiquing. I had sent him a picture of a huge display of tools, and he spied this in the mix. He sent me back to grab it for him. He needed one to go with the threader adapter for 2”-4” that he’d been contemplating on FB Marketplace, but was hesitant since it was missing this piece… Not any more!
2026-10-20
I remember shopping from displays like this
We used to buy Life Savers, gum, and candy out of shelves like these at the local grocery store and probably the Lakeside Newsstand too. :)
Limitless aisles of collectibles…
I realized that flea markets and antique shops are just the same as storage centers…. Haha. Probably worse. I’m guessing the cost per square foot is higher, but at least you have the “hope” that someone happens to to buy something of yours. I like my method of selling it at the street better 🤪 So far, I’ve kind of managed to stay out of the storage center trap…
Antiquing with my girl
Julie decided she wanted a second end table so we hit up some Springfield area antique places (couldn’t find any on FBMP and Waynesville was bombed by the sauerkraut festival haha). These are some of the cool things we saw in the process. My favorites were the cabinet maker’s tool box in the lower left and the hardware store bolt organizer in the lower right.
The process of replacing my Jeep wheel studs…
It took a decent amount of patience and a LOT of force to get these guys pressed into place in order to replace my broken wheel studs. You have to stack up several washer with just the right ID (some that let the threads pass through on top and some that let the larger swage diameter through on the bottom), upper left pic. Then you have to tighten it enough to swage (smash) the splines into the axle hole (upper middle pic). I had to apply about 1,200 foot pounds of torque to make it work and that was after chasing the threads of the stud and lug nut with a tap and die AND lubricating them. Upper right pic shows one of the old studs where you can see how the splines smoosh down. Lower right shows a new stud, where it fits, and how it compares to an old stud already in pace.
To give you an idea of how much force 1,200 ft-lbs is… The lower left pic shows the first lug nut I tried it on. That little stip of metal that look like a wire is where the force was high enough that it pulled all the treads right out of the nut!
In the end, I got them all in place and didn’t break anything. It was a fun learning process really put my tools to the test too.
Trying out the “walk-thru” at McDonald’s
Andy and Sophie had fun walking through the drive through at McDonald’s during the sauerkraut festival. It was kind of fun. McD’s put tables out in the parking lot and catered to the foot traffic all weekend. Pretty fun.
They even had Grimace and the Hamburgler available for a meet and great! Hahahaha. They were in the area for the grand opening of the new location that replaced our old Burger King in Beavercreek that same weekend.
2026-10-19
It was fun bumping into to this guy at the sauerkraut festival
John was there with his in-laws. We conquered it from opposite ends and met in the middle 🤪
Andy got to show us his handiwork!
It was fun to hear him talk about the extra required in these 200 year old buildings. I remember it all too well and feel his pain having experienced some of it on my own…!
I remember working here
Andy was invited to take us on a tour of where he’d been working. I remembered working in the rooms as soon as I walked in! Especially the basement where I had to shovel out old coal to make room.
Taking donations for this mural
The new owners are trying to raise funds to have this painted on the end of the Hammel House. It was fun to sit and talk with them about my experience working there over the years. He was intrigued by the story of my dad, grandpa and son all being part of it too :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)