Man Cave - Interior

I've finally gotten much of the inside of the Man Cave set up. Here's a look taken from the man door. You can see my mower in the rear. If I move it closer to the the side door, the John Deere will fit right behind it and I'll still have room to get around the back of the boat.

Here's the left side looking in from the main overhead door. I love the metal baker's racks. They have casters so they can be moved around and each of the six shelves will hold 500#. I have two already assembled and in use with two more still in the boxes to be added later. We get them at Sam's Club.

This is my workbench area. The big workbench is 2' x 8'. It's heavy and solid (mostly 2x4 construction) and  is long enough to build rods on. The smaller one is 2' x 4', lightweight and easily movable. The shelf above the main workbench holds my radio - gotta have my tunes - and miscellaneous small items. Above the shelf you see some of my collection of license plates I've had over the years. The windows are 3' x 4' and I've added mini-blinds to keep prying eyes at bay. I've been using the heck out of the new sliding compound miter saw. It sure cuts big jobs down to size in a hurry.

Last but not least is the main reason for the Man Cave - the boat. Another of the baker's racks is behind the boat holding scrap wood and the boat cover. The red cord reel above the rear of the boat is strictly for the onboard charger. Note the lawn chairs - just the place to relax with a cold drink and some good conversation.

Man cave Update

They finished building my man cave last Thursday. The overhead doors will be installed Tuesday. Here are a couple of pictures. The first on is taken from the same spot as 2nd picture from bottom of last entry.

Here's an overall view.

And a side view.

I'll post some more as I get things set up inside. Saturday I built an 8' workbench that now sits between the windows.

Man Cave - Before

I'm having a new man cave/boat barn built. The contractor who will do the clearing, filling, and concrete work is supposed to come later today, so I thought I would post a few "Before" pictures.

This is the view from the street along the south side of the property showing where I've had to park the boat since we moved here. Not very secure.

Here's the same view without the boat. The circle driveway will start at the back of the left lane of the driveway and continue all the way around the back of the house.

Same view taken from the rear corner of house. It looks like a nice, clear, relatively flat expanse of yard, but looks can be deceiving. Directly ahead, taking up almost ALL of the flat area, is the septic tank and laterals. :-(

Which leaves only "The Jungle" to locate the Man Cave. "The Jungle" is a low, wooded and brush-filled area along the north edge of our property. It will require a lot of clearing and filling, but it's really the only possible location for the Man Cave.

These three pictures show the north edge of the property. The house next door has been vacant for over a year and the owner hasn't kept it up. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if it disappeared, but that's another story.

This is from across the street and looking directly into the area where the man cave will be built. This will be the location of the other end of the circle driveway.

Looking down the north property line from the street

Same view taken from the side of the house by the humongous maple tree. The 16x30 concrete apron will start approximately at the bottom of this picture and extend back to the building slab itself, which will be 25' or so behind the back of the house. This is necessary because our lot is deep and narrow. The apron will give me a nice shady spot to park the boat if I need to work on something on a nice day or if I just need some extra space in the Man Cave.

 

BTW - here's a picture of my "fleet of vehicles". L-R: my GMC Yukon XL Denali, John Deere 330 diesel garden tractor, Hustler Fastrak ZTR mower, and my trusty TR-20.

Once You Go BLACK ..........

The hydrilla and milfoil here on Lake Guntersville can get really heavy, making it hard to rip a Rat-L-Trap loose with a normal trap rod. Therefore, I just finished building myself a new "Grass Rat-L-Trap" rod. Since this rod is going to get a work-out, I decided to take a minimalist approach.

- St Croix Avid 3C70HM crankbait blank
- Swampland Tackle black EVA split grip with no foregrip
- Shortened Fuji ECSM reel seat
- Black Fuji Alconite guides spiral wrapped
- Plain black thread wraps - no trim
- Shimano Citica 100DSV spooled with 50# Power Pro braid (to be added soon)

Here are some pictures. I haven't put on the thread finish yet, but hope to do that later today.

Lord willing, I'll get to try it out soon.

Lake Guntersville - June 3rd

My lovely wife Bobbie and I got up real early on Friday and hit Lake Guntersville. It was a beautiful morning and she took a bazillion pictures while I was fishing. Here are a few of the best.

Sunrise over Roseberry Creek

My first bass of the year. It won't win any prizes, but it yanked my line! It came on a SK Rage Toad off the corner of a dock.

 

Got lots of spare $$$$$? This is the new "home" built on the point at the southwest corner of the entrance to Roseberry Creek. Notice the concrete driveway clear down to the water. Must be nice!

 

Fishing the outside grass line near the BB Comer bridge. The fish at the top of the page was caught just a cast or two from here.

A close-up of some of the grass.

Looking east across the Tennessee River along the BB Comer Bridge. That's Sand Mountain on the far side. My home is about 4 miles as the crow flies directly over the tallest crane on the left there.

They are working on a 3rd span to replace the OLD trestle span on the right. At the rate they are moving, they should be done in 8-10 more years!!!!

Another look at the construction.

This is the ramp at the east end of the BB Comer Bridge following the April 27th tornado outbreak. Those of you familiar with it will remember it used to be tree-lined along the water.

The capper to a GREAT DAY was that Bobbie successfully backed the trailer in BY HERSELF for the VERY FIRST TIME!!!

In a previous life ...

I flew competition aerobatics with radio controlled model airplanes for about 25 years.

My wife and I were cleaning out the basement of the home we've lived in for over 29 years today in preparation for our move to Alabama in a couple weeks. All sorts of memories surfaced, including the picture below of me taken at the last contest I attended in August, 2000 in Omaha, NE.

The plane is an OMS - Orland McKee Special  - named for the gentleman from Kansas City who designed and built it. The fuselage is molded fiberglalss, while the wing and horizontal stabilizer are white styrofoam sheeted with balsa wood. It's a 2-meter model - wingspan and length are both a maximum of 2 meters (78.74"). Weight is about 10# and power comes from 1.6 cubic inch 2-stroke engine that puts out over 3 HP on alcohol and nitromethane fuel. Speed is virtually constant in any direction - horizontally, up or down.

I do miss flying and my friends, but not all the practice time required to be competitive.

New Spinning Reel

I've been upgrading my selection of spinning reels for a while and switching over to Shimano reels. Here's my latest acquition. It's a Shimano Saros 2500F which I got for great price. It is VERY lightly used and freshly respooled. One spool have 6# InvisX Fluorocarbon and the other has 20# Sufix braid. I'll be mounting it on my new 7' Medium Fast St Croix Premier spinning rod. The previous owner even has the handle mounted on the correct side! I am a happy camper! :-)

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