Covid Practice Plans (Green Building -- please tell me I'm not nuts!)

[Ross_Albatross]

18 hours ago, DShepley said:

Unrelated to my golf green,...I managed to sneak up north to Muskoka for a quick fall golf trip with three buddies.  Muskoka has some outstanding golf and the colours were incredible!

Don't want to hijack this thread - but since you talked about Muskoka... have you had the chance to play the Taboo course?... not that friendly haha but an awesome challenge... had a few good rounds from the Blue tees (7.2 & 8.9 differentials)... but our weekend highlight was being able to shoot par, playing bestball with two buddies, from the Tips (a 484yds uphill dogleg left par4 is a stretch for my game to say the least)...

 

And then, when chatting about our even round from the Tips to the guy driving the shuttle back to the resort, he tells us that they can strech the course to 7,800yds if need be... and that Mike Weir has the course record with that setup with a 64... these guys play a different game for sure!

[DLiver]

Fantastic golf photos. Nice trip. Thanks for sharing!

[farmer]

Green is looking good, by this time next year, you'll be tired of the drop-ins.  Pics were awesome, Texas leaves just become a depressed looking brown.

[DShepley]

On 10/8/2021 at 9:14 AM, MtlJayMan said:

Don't want to hijack this thread - but since you talked about Muskoka... have you had the chance to play the Taboo course?... not that friendly haha but an awesome challenge... had a few good rounds from the Blue tees (7.2 & 8.9 differentials)... but our weekend highlight was being able to shoot par, playing bestball with two buddies, from the Tips (a 484yds uphill dogleg left par4 is a stretch for my game to say the least)...

 

And then, when chatting about our even round from the Tips to the guy driving the shuttle back to the resort, he tells us that they can strech the course to 7,800yds if need be... and that Mike Weir has the course record with that setup with a 64... these guys play a different game for sure!

I haven't but we may pick it as our premium course next fall, (my friend has a cottage about 30 minutes away from Taboo, and Muskoka Bay).  Taboo recently had a redesign completed and they have reshaped bunkers and some of the green complexes. 

[DShepley]

Aeration....nobody's favourite time of year and a sure sign that winter is coming.  The superintendent of the course I am a member at messaged me yesterday to let me know he was getting his equipment ready and offered to punch my green to test his set up.  He will be unable to complete a core aeration of his course because we have had a crazy amount of rain and the greens are too wet to hold up to the equipment needed to remove plugs, and spread and brush sand.  He is going to do a solid tine aeration this fall and possibly a core aeration in the spring, not ideal but you play with the cards you are dealt.  In my case, a solid tine aeration is fine since the green is still very young and doesn't have much organic build up in the top layer.  Those John Deere aerators sure do make quick and very neat work!  Oh....and on another note I have a line on a Turfco self propelled topdress spreader that I'm thinking of buying, because this amateur greens keeping thing is a bit of a rabbit hole........  If it will allow a discharge opening big enough to spread the composted horse manure from my wife's horses, I have been given the go ahead to buy it.....I'm not sure I need it, but on the other hand it seems like a bargain so....

[DShepley]

Well......probably finished with short sleeves now!

 

[kb7]

23 minutes ago, DShepley said:

Well......probably finished with short sleeves now!

 

This is nightmare fuel...

[DShepley]

On 11/3/2021 at 9:22 AM, kb7 said:

This is nightmare fuel...

12C this weekend, so I may get one more run out of it before I have to watch the weather forecast and plan my pre-snow fungicide application.

[DLiver]

On 11/3/2021 at 8:59 AM, DShepley said:

Well......probably finished with short sleeves now!

 

Stimping at .5 feet...

[DShepley]

Bit of a frost delay this morning....

[DShepley]

Looks like the last days of my 'waiting for the bus' routine are here.  I shot a few short videos while I was messing around today.

 

Slo-Motion

 

Slow Flop

 

And some short chips

 

[DShepley]

Not a lot of action outdoors lately but I have started a project to tidy up my workshop so I can build a retreat of sorts in the back for myself.  The shop is 24'x36' and I will be adding a wall in the back half to create a 15'x24' heated space.  I will move my desk out there, (still working from home), and will also add my NetReturn and a hitting mat as I'm planning on picking up a launch monitor to put together a budget simulator build.  Step one is to organize 7 years worth of clutter in the shop so I have room to build.  That started last night when I installed 24' of shelving to tidy up my greens keeping gear.  Now, to sort the rest of the mess into 'keep or throw' and start filling the dumpster that is parked in my driveway.

[DLiver]

I love your projects. Cool stuff and thanks for sharing.

[DShepley]

Update time!  The past 3-4 weeks have been busy and there have been plenty of late nights, (if I never have to mud and tape, sand or paint a ceiling again I'd be totally fine with that!).  Here are some pictures below of the 'golffice' build in my shop.  The room is just shy of 16'x24'.  There was an overhead door in the one corner that we removed and framed in and after that we framed in our interior wall, added insulation and hung drywall.  I did the mudding and taping myself to save some scratch and if I was super picky there are a couple spots where I could have done better.  I keep telling myself however that it is an office....in a garage, so all in all I am pretty happy with the effort.  I discovered a distaste for mudding and taping inside corners and also ladders....so rather than tape the joint between the ceiling and walls, I opted to caulk the joint and nail in some 1x2 poplar trim.  A few late nights painting this past weekend but I'm starting to see the light.  I hope to be installing my flooring by the end of the week.  Once the floor is in, I'll install the heat, (electric baseboard for now), window and door trim and come up with a creative way to hide the concrete curb so I can get some base trim up, (I think I'll trim it out with good one side plywood?).

[philsRHman]

What a fun way to spend the past day. You should feel such pride in nurturing that green to life. It looks incredible. Seeing 2 years of work in one thread is kind of like cheating, or binging several seasons of a TV show, but the before-during-after is so remarkable. Congrats and enjoy, and THANK YOU for sharing the ride with us.

[DShepley]

5 minutes ago, philsRHman said:

What a fun way to spend the past day. You should feel such pride in nurturing that green to life. It looks incredible. Seeing 2 years of work in one thread is kind of like cheating, or binging several seasons of a TV show, but the before-during-after is so remarkable. Congrats and enjoy, and THANK YOU for sharing the ride with us.

Thanks!  I'm happy to have this thread and plan to keep it going.  It's nice to have a record of things to look back on.

[betarhoalphadelta]

For the "golffice" are you actually going to turn it into a simulator build? 

[DShepley]

Just now, betarhoalphadelta said:

For the "golffice" are you actually going to turn it into a simulator build? 

That is the eventual plan. It will start out with my net return and a mat until I can save enough pennies for a launch monitor.

[DShepley]

Managed to get my flooring installed last night and also snuck a beer break in because installing flooring is hard on an out of shape 44 year old.  I will say, laminate flooring has come a long way since the last time I installed it.  This floor is pretty nice considering the budget price of $1.49 / sq ft.

[DShepley]

Update time for the 'Golffice' build.  Today I ran an ethernet cable from my house to set up a WiFi network in the office which now has blistering fast Gigabit WiFi, (I will bury the cable under the turf when the weather allows).  The hillbilly golf bay is set up, (hopefully the foam tiles do the trick), and I'm waiting for some foam acoustic tiles to arrive that will protect the wall to the right of the net.  I hung a TRX suspension training system and will move my dumb bell set out here and possibly pick up a couple kettle bells to complete a small gym.  My desk fits nicely in the corner and it is great to put a coat on and leave the house to go to work again, even if the commute is only 35 steps from the back door.  The bare corner will be getting filled with a reclining sectional couch that my brother in law gave me once I find time to pick it up.  After that, I'll start decorating the walls with my collection of golf books, photos, golf flags, etc. and will find a spot to keep my guitars happy.  Oh....the most important bit.....time to start saving for a Mevo+.

[me05501]

Very nice.

 

What's your plan for keeping the humidity regulated? You mentioned guitars so I'm curious. Anything below about 30% humidity is dangerous to your instruments. 

[DShepley]

2 minutes ago, me05501 said:

Very nice.

 

What's your plan for keeping the humidity regulated? You mentioned guitars so I'm curious. Anything below about 30% humidity is dangerous to your instruments. 

It has stayed between 35-45 so far but I'm keeping an eye before I move them out. Likely I'll need a humidifier in the winter and a dehumidifier in the summer.

[me05501]

Makes sense. 
 

I like having mine out of the cases. A few years back we installed a whole house humidifier which helps in the winter. 
 

[DShepley]

6 minutes ago, me05501 said:

Makes sense. 
 

I like having mine out of the cases. A few years back we installed a whole house humidifier which helps in the winter. 
 

Nice! This office is in a detached shop, so I'll have to use portable units.

[DShepley]

3 hours ago, me05501 said:

Makes sense. 
 

I like having mine out of the cases. A few years back we installed a whole house humidifier which helps in the winter. 
 

I'm having some serious Tele envy right now! I don't play electric but want to pick up a telecaster to learn. Is the Flattop a Larivee?

[me05501]

5 hours ago, DShepley said:

I'm having some serious Tele envy right now! I don't play electric but want to pick up a telecaster to learn. Is the Flattop a Larivee?

It’s a Collings. 

 

All the Teles are made from parts actually. 

[DShepley]

12 minutes ago, me05501 said:

It’s a Collings. 

 

All the Teles are made from parts actually. 

Nice. I have been kicking around the idea of building a kit Tele and upgrading components.

[me05501]

25 minutes ago, DShepley said:

Nice. I have been kicking around the idea of building a kit Tele and upgrading components.

It’s a fun hobby. 
 

Fortunately I’m not far from Nashville, so if anything goes haywire there are plenty of world-class luthiers to bail me out. 

[DShepley]

1 hour ago, me05501 said:

It’s a fun hobby. 
 

Fortunately I’m not far from Nashville, so if anything goes haywire there are plenty of world-class luthiers to bail me out. 

Now I'm Nashville jealous! I need to get there at some point,.. the Ryman and Opry are on my bucket list.  I am friends with a very good luthier in Stratford Ontario and he is encouraging me to try a tele kit.  I love how this thread kind of meanders into all sorts of topics, none really related to instruction.  I used to play in a duo with a buddy at bars for about 20 years then sold all of my bulky gear.  All I'm left with are two acoustic guitars.  My first decent 6 string which in reality isn't very decent but it's pretty and is a solid top Epiphone AJ18 in vintage sunburst that tends to stay in tune regardless of the less than ideal environments it's lived in and the action stays in pretty good shape...I bought it around 1996.  I also picked up a Walden G700ce this past year that I have just had set up with a compensated nut and saddle and also upgraded the bridge pins to ebony.  It's a small grand auditorium shape with a solid Sitka top and solid Indian Rosewood back in a satin natural finish.  Not super expensive but it's a joy to play and the mid-range really shines.

Edited February 26, 2022 by DShepley

[DShepley]

A couple more office updates.  I added acoustic foam tiles on the wall to protect it from the unmentionable and have subscribed to a TV service through my internet provider so I now have live sports available.