Getting ready for the drilling season (another kind of report)

[mudworm]

Pinnacles, watch out! Jim is getting ready for the drilling season. That's what he did this weekend. He showed up at our house with tons of tools, dove in the crawl space, and would not come out for water, snack, or anything! He was determined!







That was for leveling the floor under a wall in the living room. Mr. Mud was tired by the end of the day too. (Don't ask me why.)

A couple of pix to show a recent state of the Mud house (taken on Saturday morning):

Living room wall (right opening). I have removed the sheetrock around the opening since the picture was taken.


The ceiling in the kitchen. It took me almost all day just to redirect and replace the knob and tubes circuit (not even very extensive). Sheesh... I can't afford myself as an electrician.  Good news is the house has not burnt down.


Thanks Jim for the generous help: Thursday night - walk through at the house to figure out shopping and tool list; Friday night - Home Depot to pick out lumbar for us; Sunday all day - wrestling in crawl space. We owe you big!

To the contrary... last weekend when we were painting the exterior of the house, F4 stopped by in between his parties. Mud and I had a bet: "Would F4 paint, or would he not?" I won a dollar. Thank you F4! 

[mungeclimber]

whoa

DIY eh?  or DIJIM heheheh

so, is it just me or does that wiring look scary?  is it exposed copper? 

[mudworm]

Not exposed. Not scary. Just old.

[mynameismud]

and now no longer there.

[F4?]

I thought I was there for moral support?

Yah, that wiring was nasty, nasty.

Oddly, I bet Jenny $20 that Jim would help Jack the house.

The real $$$ is how level the place now is.

I'd have helped this last weekend, but was busy with squiddo wrecking some locals day on a new Sierra route. Then getting sick from the lee v mobile station. Then hurling while leading! Sorry about the rope Squiddo.

[Brad Young]

Good news is the house has not burnt down.

Yet.   

[Brad Young]

So the old wiring is gone? Are you re-wiring yourselves? I do many things to and around the house, but wiring scares the crap out of me.

[mudworm]

So the old wiring is gone? Are you re-wiring yourselves? I do many things to and around the house, but wiring scares the crap out of me.

Gone? Good Grief. 

Imagine somebody spent all day pounding, bouncing, hauling and finally inched up an A5 pitch near the bottom of El Cap. He calls you to tell you about that pitch and you ask, "so have you topped out?"

Okay, replacing old wiring is not as scary as climbing an A5 pitch (in my imagination), but that's the analogy I just came up with.

Inch by inch, I'm getting there...

[mynameismud]

We were not trying to level the floor, couple of people have helped me come to the realization that doing so really is not possible.  Well not possible within the context of what we are doing.  What we did helped to strengthen what was there so it does not get worse.  Have a bit more work to do.

[Brad Young]

Gone? Good Grief. 

Imagine somebody spent all day pounding, bouncing, hauling and finally inched up an A5 pitch near the bottom of El Cap. He calls you to tell you about that pitch and you ask, "so have you topped out?"

Okay, replacing old wiring is not as scary as climbing an A5 pitch (in my imagination), but that's the analogy I just came up with.

Inch by inch, I'm getting there...

I'll take that as a "no."

[skully]

Determination is a beautiful thing.

[waldo]

I'd like to avoid painting my house (or at least preparing my house to be painted), so thinking about a useful activity like drilling is a welcome diversion.  I went out to an unnamed pinnacle in July exactly between the Balconies and the Flumes.  It's a true pile of rubble, but an old friend thought he'd spotted a route on it.  Nope.  After we gave up at the NE base, we top-roped the west face.  That didn't go well either.  His helmet will never be the same.  October is coming. 

[Brad Young]

Bob, that pinnacle is a pile of rubble all right. But did you see the hangerless 3/8" bolt on top of it? Who would ever waste the effort to place a bolt in rock that looks that crappy? Not to mention the waste of metal.

October is indeed coming.

[waldo]

Brad, I added an old SMC hanger from the bottom of my bolt kit to that bolt and wrapped the summit up with a 32' runner (an uncut length of tubular I carry around) to back up the bolt.  My partner, Chip Kosty, came off multiple times due to broken holds and the rope knocked off a couple that dented his hat.  We went over to the Flumes wall as fast as we could.   

[mynameismud]

freaking awesome!  Sounds like a great day.

[F4?]

We need an epoxy spray that will keep the hold on the wall. That or an exfoliant...but the much shitty ridge would be 200"

Back to my beer

[waldo]

That could be a thread:  is beer better at Pinnacles?

[mudworm]

The preparation for the drilling season continued this Sunday.

Before:: the two openings in the living room were not at the same height. And the framing around the right opening was hard to comprehend. (What were they smoking?)




After:: the header was jacked up and support was beef'ed up. Added a pony wall for my sewing center. Do not laugh please!


In between following activities happened:







Okay, for this picture, I staged my camera in timer mode and snuck in the scene just for the shot. They didn't know.

I wasn't playing all the time while they were working though. Okay, I was playing with my vibration tool. Not THAT of course! This is what I was talking about:


With the help of the tool, I stripped part of our vinyl floor. Decided to leave part of it since it's still ways before we take down those cabinets and sinks.

[F4?]

Back to beer and the pinnacles.

Best to carry them in a soft cooler, bottom of the pack. I'm still waiting for a climbing pack w a cooler in the bottom.

[squiddo]

cool stuff, glad this is coming along. Love the picture, especially of the flexing stud.