ShopTalk Sunday: A Short Deck Report

No, not a typo…

I didn’t quite get around to the deck completion this week because of a bout of chest cold and asthma – not my idea of fun.  And then, as I was creeping out of the crud, it was cold and rainy weather.

Since I know the boss around here, I told him – “Down time beats dead time…”  Radical in thinking, conservative in action.

Framing the Railings

Once upon a time, this would have been a big deal.  Nowadays?  Uh…no.

You can make post holders that will provide a female socket for a 4×4 and you can do the install part in an hour, or so.

Today’s Firehouse Engineering Lesson

As you can see above, I have set the post holders in place and even if I didn’t need to have the stairs in the middle, engineering would demand it.

Here’s the secret sauce:  Structures, whether you are talking fiberglass boats or deck railings, all depend on effective depth for their strength.

That’s why you never really want to put in a fence that doesn’t have two ends on it.  The ends, especially if perpendicular, increase the “effective depth” of the fence so that is almost can’t fall over.

The same is true of fiberglass.  As panels – unless you lay up many layers of glass – it will flex like a sunofagun.  BUT if you put a curve in it (think of an old TV dish back in the 3-meter dish days, right?  There’s your effective depth and a strong dish.

The concept applies to sheet metal, too.  Which is one reason old-time cars have huge fenders – very strong and easier to hang off a frame.  (With modern engineering, who knows where frames end and design elements take over, anymore, right?)

True’d and Screwed

This part isn’t particularly tough:  If you were building to code (or have the misfortune of living in a jurisdiction which is more about permits than functionality) you might be held to through-bolting your post holders.  But out here?  1-1/2 inch #14 wood screws of marine stainless work OK. Just donb’t over torque on an angle because stainless heads will break easier than you think. When on an angle with single point of contact.

An important detail is?  If you are screwing the post holder into 2-by-6s for decking, make sure to both pre-drill and angle into the wood, especially on the ends.  Otherwise you can split the ends and there goes your Fine Woodworking creds.

Here’s a Slick Painting Trick

When you run out of a weather window to pre-coat your vertical posts, you can make up a simple “paint collar” out of a piece of cardboard.  Take one of those Amazon boxes, a big flat piece, and go to your miter saw.

Eyeball 3-3/4″ parallel cuts about 4 inches long.  Return to the scene of work and with your pocket knife, cut the width to fit.  Doesn’t even have to be especially tight fitting for outdoor work.  Just enough to catch most  of the big glops.

Since I was using a penetrating oil stain and brushmarks were the least of my issues, I stained all eight posts including clean-up in under 10 minutes.  4-inch chip brushes reduce coating time.  We buy ’em in bulk on Amazon. Toss when done because I can’t buy labor, solvent, soap, and hot water to clean a brush for a buck-thirty each.  Time is currency.

Why, people who love to mask and tape and paper?  They’d still be taping up the third post by the time I was done and into the beer line.

I’ve said this before:

When you’re working for yourself on a job, be the meanest, hardest-driving SOB you can imagine.  Going off in my head most of the time in the shop is “Why so slow? Can’t you find a better or faster way to do…” whatever?

That’s a partial answer to a long-standing reader question:  “How do you get so much done?”

  1. Only watch TV when dead tired after a productive day.
  2. When you wake up, use the remote to turn off the TV.

Simple, is it not?  Yet I hear tell there are people who turn the TV to a new show and then waste perfectly good sleeping time watching crap for average people – the kind with IQs of 100.

Wild Life Notes

“George – you have to come see this.  You know those leftover ham scraps I put out for the feral cats?  A cat and a huge bird are facing off over it…” Sure enough…

That feral cat (if you’re a slicker, the animal with fur, not feathers) is called “Marlin.”

Named him after the late Marlin Perkins who used to host Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.” Marlin  – the cat –  has a similar wild mane and a small Wild Kingdom.

OK, back to recovery mode.

Write when I get better (though I can still read, ostensibly),

George@Ure.net

35 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: A Short Deck Report”

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    • Got Tinfoil ? Got Earplugs ?

      also gonna need some specialized Eye pro, for the “Sparkleies” – think strobe light effect on massive steroids.

      Ask former fibbie director Freeh regards sparkle E’s, he got a warning, though his vehicle received majority damage.

      Full spectrum warfare here we come..write, please when the “Plasmatics” start arriving like they did in Lviv 2 nights ago…boom,boom, out goes the Gas”

      Hey did you hear the one about an ancient race of “Caucasianiods” on Earth teaching and developing the Human Herd. Lil Burd mentioned something about historic echos starting to rhyme?

      • What the heck is this dude talking about????? I haven’t read this much gibberish since my kids were in junior high school. Whatever ‘code’ you are using just doesn’t make any sense in the adult world. ‘C,mon man… You can do better.
        __________________________________
        Yan Ar Turner
        January 11, 2026 at 11:34

        Got Tinfoil ? Got Earplugs ?

        also gonna need some specialized Eye pro, for the “Sparkleies” – think strobe light effect on massive steroids.

        Ask former fibbie director Freeh regards sparkle E’s, he got a warning, though his vehicle received majority damage.

        Full spectrum warfare here we come..write, please when the “Plasmatics” start arriving like they did in Lviv 2 nights ago…boom,boom, out goes the Gas”

        Hey did you hear the one about an ancient race of “Caucasianiods” on Earth teaching and developing the Human Herd. Lil Burd mentioned something about historic echos starting to rhyme?

    • Great post by stu… it has me going back through his books..
      the Epstein papers.. seriously did anyone at all think anyone would address this..lol lol they made several decade long investigations whole postings and evidence vanish in what v could be a blink of the eye in politics..
      the recent family business activities.. gone as if they never happened.. politicians that mismanaged trillions gone..news quieted..so Epstein files..
      as foe WW3.. I’m to busy trying to survive the economic turmoil in the usa now until our country goes Zimbabwean economically..to worry about war..

    • Before you have a second coming, you need an apocalypse:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_and_claims_for_the_Second_Coming

      We seem to be running past previously reported dates. John Wesley thought it would be over by 1836 or so. Technology wasn’t there yet.

      Pinning on dates has a long tradition. I tend to take a wait and see attitude about this sort of thing; however, current technology is now there, waiting for madmen to light the fuse. And the more I observe, the more deceptive and deranged all the leaders look.

      • No one is ever going to pin down a date. Every tradition that talks about an ending or a return says the same thing — the exact moment isn’t something people can calculate. There are signs, there are patterns, there are warnings, but the actual event comes suddenly, in a moment no one expects. That’s why arguing over timelines never really gets anyone closer to understanding what’s happening. The focus is on staying aware, not predicting the clock….. When it comes, it will come in a moment — sudden, like a flash. None of us can control the timing. All we can do is prepare our lives in a way that leaves something meaningful behind.

        My own preparations aren’t for myself. They’re for the ones who come after, the ones who might someday uncover what we’ve built or written or preserved. Every civilization before us did the same. They left warnings, stories, and lessons carved into clay, written on bamboo, hidden in scrolls, or passed down through memory. They wanted future generations to understand what they did right, and especially what they did wrong.

        You see it in the Book of Wars among the Dead Sea Scrolls — a record of conflict meant to remind people what unchecked division leads to. You see it in the ancient Chinese texts that teach how people should treat one another, how to live with restraint, compassion, and harmony so that peace is possible.

        Across cultures and centuries, the message is the same:
        Prepare your life so that what you leave behind helps someone else avoid the mistakes of the past…. Sadly man rarely listens to these teachings and focusses on temporal pleasures or things they see as value instead of the true treasures of life..

  2. (“Since I know the boss around here, I told him – “Down time beats dead time…” Radical in thinking, conservative in action.”)

    phew I can relate to that one.. thank god they are playing physician roulette around here and I was forced to seek a new doctor.. the new kid was willing to finally get me an appointment with a specialist and I only had a few months to wait.. got in there and dam this new equipment they have is amazing.. as she snaked the camera through my sinuses I could see exactly what she was seeing.. amazing..she took samples ..said it was one of the worst she’d seen took samples then stuck a needle way into my tongue to get a biopsy there.. so far the lab didn’t have a clue..but I’ve seen the beast making my life miserable..been reading what ancient Chinese did and started taking wormwood again..I’ll call again Monday see if I go to see another doctor in another specialty..
    this little girl though..dam she’s a firecracker smart though..I didn’t even have to pick her braid it just flows out into the open naturally.. I wonder if she needs an adopted grandpa in the usa.. lol lol lol

  3. Last fall, following a small injury suffered by Diana, I was tasked with replacing the rough cedar wooden railings on the back deck, patio and the railings on the small deck off our bedroom. One morning while she was refilling a hummingbird feeder off the bedroom deck while wearing a very flimsy nightgown she received a goodly sized splinter as she leaned over the railing to hang the feeder on its hook. The injury site was just a tiny bit north of 3rd base, if you know what I mean. She yelled for me to come up there to help her remove a splinter but I was not expecting what I found. After she told me where she got it my first question was what were you doing on that railing. My humor was not well received at the time. After applying some proactive iodine to the site and retrieving a set of surgical instruments I set to work. As I was looking to see what the best way to grab hold of the splinter was Diana said, Um, there aren’t any splinters down…. there. I still need to check I said. The extraction went off smoothly.
    A while later we made a trip to town and she selected black aluminum posts and railings and the tool slut added some gear he wan, er needed for the installation. A good day.

    Stay safe. 73

  4. G a steward. Seems on board with 444prophecynews site. In my opinion people get upset from time to time. Stars nova and electrics mess with nerves. Asteroids of iron mess with solar wind also electrics. Studies in sunspots confirm yet more electrics and nerves. Shun man resonance issues upsets people. Much of drug seen seems tied with being upset. As far as world ending it seems more likely passing planets from inner galactic core as our stellar arm sees inner core briefly now may be a seldom occurring issue. Solar micro nova do occur. Sky plasma outcomes accompany it. Earth core magma eruptions like south pacific happen. All physics. Wars ensue as someone is upset. Personally jesus crowd thought 1980 was the date. Never happened.

  5. Wife overboard drill …

    The universe must be demanding 4×4 post engineering and cobbling. I have put off a big one and am material-in, final design stage to replace boathouse patio (3) columns. On the never-ending mission to labor on *one and done* builds, in consideration the wet WX environment, I’m using synthetic 4×4 column stock. Goes against the grain (pun intended) but cover me, I’m going in.

    OK, maybe when the thaw arrives, props go in (temps., to carry the load) then out comes the plumb Bob. For now, I’m watching 3/16″ pellets pile up and have made the executive decision to go nowhere today. Tomorrow for sure but not this day.

    Well done to include quick and dirty cardboard shields when painting. It’s stupid small stuff like that which saves yur buttocks when you do something else stupid (spill, even drips). After exhaustive study we have found cardboard beer case empties work best. But then, one must generate an empty and …

    It’s been a great pleasure to take dear friends on their first Caribbean charter. The same rules apply on Great Lake Michigan (which can throw up 14-footers on a whim). Day One, just before hoisting sails we have a safety meeting. Do this. Don’t do that. Lots of winch know-hows mostly geared to retaining all digits.

    Then, once the big white things are up we’ll role out safety session #2, the traditional *wife overboard* drill. The WOB needed to jump off astern and we’d do seaman like maneuvers to tack, gybe and retrieve her (extra credit if there are seas running). Then, pause, look into the eyes of the first-timer wife and say “we need a volunteer” (priceless, every time, Note : only works once per wife).

    Have a fine day all,
    IceEgor _/)___

  6. Well I haven’t made it yet but hey .. I’m going to..
    Smokey campfire ketchup..
    Ingredients
    4–5 medium tomatoes, chopped
    1 small apple, peeled and diced
    1 small onion, chopped ( the ssme with onions..I like onions so I will double this as well)
    3–4 cloves garlic, smashed ( seriously there’s not enough garlic in this ..my opinion your the boss over your tastes)
    ½ cup apple cider vinegar
    ¼ cup brown sugar (adjust to taste)
    2–3 tablespoons tomato paste
    ½ teaspoon salt
    ½ teaspoon smoked paprika (optional but deepens the smoke)
    A splash of water if needed
    If you’re cooking over an actual fire, even better — the smoke will naturally infuse the pot.

    char or smoke the ingredients…
    This is where the magic happens.

    Either:
    Place tomatoes, onion, apple, and garlic on a grate over the fire
    or
    Put them in a cast?iron skillet right at the edge of the flames
    Let them blister, soften, and pick up smoke.
    A little blackening is good — that’s flavor.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCNP3QWD?
    I gave these away as gifts.. great smoker.. drill a hole in your metal cover..let it happen..
    https://www.amazon.com/HaSteeL-Melting-Basting-Stainless-Accessories/dp/B07Y634WKM/ref=sr_1_17?

    fits over the pan or get the indoor smoker..

    https://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-36556-Stovetop-Kettle/dp/B07FPXMHKF/ref=sr_1_4?

    that’s the one I have but dam the price has gone through the roof I paid twenty nine dollars for it..phew..

    Move everything into a pot
    Add:
    first put a little olive oil and then the onions and garlic sauce them then add
    the smoked tomatoes
    the apple
    apple cider vinegar
    brown sugar
    tomato paste
    salt
    fresh ground pepper to taste
    one bay leaf
    Stir to combine. and coat with the oil..

    Simmer low and slow
    Let it bubble gently for 30–45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    You’re looking for:

    softened tomatoes
    thickened sauce
    deepened color
    a smoky aroma
    If it gets too thick, add a splash of water.

    then
    Blend it smooth
    Use:
    an immersion blender
    or
    cool slightly and blend in a regular blender ( I love the Ninja blender)
    Blend until silky.
    Return to the pot and simmer another 10 minutes to marry the flavors.

    then adjust for your tastes..
    Too tangy ? add a pinch more brown sugar
    Too sweet ? add a splash more vinegar
    Want more smoke ? add a pinch of smoked paprika ( or smoke it just a few MI items more.. )
    Want more depth ? add a tiny pinch of cinnamon or allspice

    now here’s another recipe I found for those that don’t grow tomatoes or have access to a farmers market

    Ingredients
    small amount till you get it right..The way you like it then make a bigger batch..I’d use V-8 and maybe a green pepper or red pepper..

    1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
    1 cup tomato juice
    2–3 tablespoons tomato paste
    1 small apple, peeled and diced
    1 small onion, chopped
    3–4 cloves garlic, smashed
    ½ cup apple cider vinegar
    ¼ cup brown sugar (adjust to taste)
    ½ teaspoon salt
    ½ teaspoon smoked paprika (optional but excellent)
    Pinch of cinnamon or allspice (optional)
    Splash of water if needed
    then use your smoker.. salt pepper bay leaf blender..more garlic onions a little olive oil to coat the apples and onions garlic etc..

  7. yeah but when you finish things G they are strong and pretty much durable for a long time . battleship deck !!! but hey yah better get short something and long USD . big storms rolling in

  8. My upcoming spring projects include the cleaning, painting, and final polycoating of a pole barn garage roof. And, can’t forget to do this, reworking the lean-to roofing. With a little luck, I’ll be able to afford to repaint the outer walls, but I’m not holding my breath on that happening in the spring. Indiana weather has a “hold my beer” philosophy when it comes to weather. I promised my husband that I’d get him a climate controlled room in there for him this year, and I suspect it’ll take most of my summer and fall to accomplish this goal. With some luck, maybe I’ll drop that weight that I gain over the holidays!

    • Remember that polyurethanes harden with moisture. Indiana typically has that 2-week (or so) period in spring when its warm, dry, and with relative humidity in the 30% range. That is your window. Recognize it when it arrives and clean/prep as few days into the window as possible.

  9. TV? What TV? Why watch what someone else nefariously programmed for the mundanes down to the day and time? Better to find what you want on the net, download it, and watch if you want when you want. My biggest time sink other than work and trying to learn something about humans is reading untold thousands of words originating from some rural location in the woods near Palestine, Tx. Well worth it for the information, but it still takes time. Perhaps it’s time for a Neuralink, but I really don’t want an extra hole in my head.

    • I’ve learned to combine reading with TV watching whatever we both agree on. If the current show is not interesting, my reading rate jumps. I go through a couple of novels a week, without cutting into my net research or writing time. These days, all my reading is done on my Kindle with the largest font, and so far, it still works for me.

  10. So, is the black king a racial reference, or a metaphorical character reference ?

    The weapon described in the Hal Turner article strongly resembles accounts from targeted US embassy personnel. Sounds like maybe reverse engineered Russky black tech. The small arms tech described sounds like nothing I have previously heard described or demonstrated.

    • Seriously…that weapon they are all talking about has been around since the eighties.. I knew about it way back then along with a couple of others that are not published for the regular people yet.. its just now in the open so it looks new.. I call it the used car new..its new to the public.. like a used car is new to the buyer.. the one I’m waiting for is similar to what was on the tv show star trek.. the hologram deck.. be right in the movie three D spectacular.. I remember seeing the earth in hologram live..it was amazing.. I can seriously say I walked around the earth in five minutes lol.. then a few years later put on some goggles that took me to the edge of the grand canyon.. it was amazing..the technology is already here…

    • You decide…

      Nostradamus Quatrain VI-5
      So great a famine by a pestilent wave,
      By rain extending the length of the Arctic Pole:
      Samarobryn one hundred leagues [135 miles] from the hemisphere,
      Living without law exempt from politics.

      OBAMA IS EASILY EXTRACTED FROM SAMAROBRYN
      LEAVING OBAMA S RRYN
      RULES OF ANAGRAMS – ADD OR CHANGE ANY LETTER
      Y CAN BE CHANGED TO I
      CHANGE R TO O AND REPLACE Y WITH I
      FIRST EXTRACT
      OBAMA S ROIN
      REARRANGE
      OBAMA S NOIR
      EXTRACT ROI FROM THE SECOND ANAGRAM NOIR
      OBAMA S ROI NOIR
      OBAMA [I]S BLACK KING

  11. Oh if you want the deep red coloring to your homemade ketchup.. on YouTube a lady suggested either more tomato paste or beet juice powder..

  12. re: St. Peter and the Ham Miracle
    feat: Ham (hot, dark) son of Noah

    George,

    Elaine’s ‘illumination’ to you of the cat – bird ham sandwich is thought provoking. As chance would have it, Marlin is said to derive from Old English such as lake/sea + hill/mound, and perhaps additionally from the Spanish fish merlin (“spear”).

    Perkins apparently translates from Middle English as son of little/descendent of/ Peter (lat: Petrus; gr: Petros = “Rock”). I believe your good charity with the ham deserves to be rewarded.

    Maybe the Prime Meridian should be moved eastwards? Here is a blog to an Islamic travelling artistic type who writes occasionally. The following link connects dots of color, direction, language, and time from his perspective of the world:

    https://www.ibalushi.com/blog/2021/8/13/colours-associated-with-cardinal-directions-turkish

    • I’m afraid I will have to pause this a week, or so, on my reading list. As I am not yet able to ingest enough compensatory mind altering substances to bring it into focus…

      • re: “What hath God wrought”, S. Morse, May 24, 1844

        George,
        Take your time and recuperate fully. The Universe is rewiring itself too.

        Yesterday a planned 4:11 pm flight departure from a Juan José Rondón Airport, Paipo, Colombia failed to remain airborne crashing at approximately 4:20 pm. The plane came down in a field in the rural settlement of La (f.) Romita (“The Little Hermitage”). Popular entertainer Yeison Jimenez and all accompanying plane occupants reportedly perished in the tragedy.

        The Paipo airport is named for Simon Bolivar’s famous officer, Colonel Rondon, whose cavalry lancers gave victory over Spanish forces at Paipo’s Battle of Pantano de Vargas in 1819. The battle brought Colombia and Panama closer to independence from Spain.

        At 6:37 pm a published report of the crash event appeared in “El Universal” whose website-listed public address in Cartegena reads as being on 17th Avenue in the ‘Foot of the Hill’ neighborhood, as well as a pseudonym address Q’hubo (“what’s up”) El Teso (“the hill”). Apparently 17 can symbolize resurrection/victory, and the day Noah rested. However the Roman numeral XVII was considered unlucky due to ‘VIXI’ tombstone inscription practices. The following “El Universal” weblink includes an embedded TikTok video in which the late Yeison Jimenez relates dreams he experienced foretelling his death in a plane crash.

        https://www.eluniversal.com.co/farandula/2026/01/10/sone-que-me-moria-en-un-avion-la-confesion-de-yeison-jimenez-que-hoy-impacta/

        Yeison (Jason) means “the healer” while Jimenez means “son of Simon [Simon, ‘the one who God has heard’]”. Simon is the second son of Leah (“weary, tender one”) who gave birth to 6 of the 12 tribes of Israel. ChatGPT selects the fictional French revolution heroine Marianne of France as the best national matriarchal symbolic match to Leah. It chooses Italy and the person of St. Peter, the Rock of Rome, as the best match to Simon.

  13. Congratulations. You now have a small black-head Mexican vulture grounds keeper, and one very brave but not-so-bright kitty. Don’t let the Mexican vultures sun on Ure roof. Keep the kitty away from the black head vulture. While native red headed turkey vultures are more desirable, they both carry bio-weapon grade bacteria that can kill kitty and owner. One of the reasons that I have never put in water collection is that on cold days, the vultures want to sun on my roof. That poses purification issues I would rather avoid dealing with.

  14. Garlic..ever gone to your rice or flour and found weevil s in it.. well what we do is in our twenty five pound dispenser or buckets..we put oxygen absorbers and garlic cloves lightly crushed..storage tip..

  15. I have waited a few days to comment on the killing of the woman in MN by an ICE agent. I reviewed several videos, starting 3 minutes before the shooting. I would have a hard time being persuaded to convict the ICE agent of a criminal offence. Tactics for dealing with interference could use improvement. Spikes stop vehicles more effectively than bodies.

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