PEP Badge: Oddball

Do I get a .25 for re-caulking kitchen trim? I could have fit a penny through that gap.

Well, I was trying to use my truck to pull a short school bus about 15 feet forward. Problem was it had sat for 8 years or so and old the wheels were locked up, as I later confirmed. Anyway, a chain link broke and took out the rear glass of my camper top. I did have things wrapped around the chains for such scenarios but clearly it wasn't at enough points (the truck could only get to about 40ft from the bus without spending days moving obstacles).

After the wasted time of cleaning up every little piece of glass a cursory search on the internet for somewhere nearby to get it cheaply replaced proved frustrating.  I decided to try to do it myself and save my money. I had a decent piece of plexi glass the right thickness and big enough for the job laying around in the miscellaneous junk. Some rivets had to be drilled out to dismantle the window frame and clean out the rest of the shattered glass and remove the old gasket. I traced the frame opening onto the acrylic sheet and taped both sides with masking tape along the cut line. I used a jig saw to cut out the replacement window which worked pretty well, but felt it would be easy to ruin it with a crack. A test fit showed that I needed to remove material along the straight edge at the bottom. I taped it as well and used a utility knife and straight edge on both sides to score the line. I used a small sheet metal hand brake to break off the waste, it didn't do so in one piece but it worked out okay. I used a product I found at the big box store for a new seal and finished the repair with new rivets in the holes of the frame. Success! It felt good to fix my mistake without having to pay for anything other than the butyl tape which was under $10.

I humbly request 1/2 point for: "Hauling 100+ lbs of freshly cut wood on a bicycle for about a mile."

Back awhile ago, while riding my bicycle through the neighborhood (about a mile away from home), I saw someone had cut down a tree in their yard, and the trunk wood was set out for 'free.'

This was back when I was searching for wood to use in my hand-dug 7' hugelkultur (https://permies.com/t/148606/Ash-Hand-Dug-Hugelkultur-PEP), but couldn't start without the wood. (It's the second picture of wood in that thread, but was the first batch obtained, chronologically).

On principle, I wanted to use my cargo bike* to bring the wood home. I also wanted to grab the wood before someone else did, and my car was unavailable. Double incentive to use my bike, which I did.

I think this should qualify for oddball, on the grounds of it being a creative, no-gick solution to my problem at the time, and an expert would have spent at least 7 minutes doing.

*Not an e-bike, pedal power only!

Thank you for your consideration!

I have a bifold door frame I'm repairing due to rot at the base of the frame.

Is it nest/straw/fix-baseboard-trim
( https://permies.com/wiki/157694/pep-nest/Fix-Basebaord-Trim-PEP-BB )?

Or does the door (and un- and re-hanging it) push the bb into oddball?

I'm cool either way, I just wanna put it in the right place (and not miss out on oddball points if I can get 'em).

I'd go oddball or homesteading oddball

Mike Haasl wrote:I'd go oddball or homesteading oddball

Will do! Thanks, Mike

I humbly request 1-1/2 points for: "Fix Trim issue at Bifold Door, where it's messing up the door, also add a handle to the door and then put the door back also yikes"

My my rationale for requesting this number of points is the BB is an expansion of a 1pt Nest-Sand BB: https://permies.com/wiki/157694/pep-nest/Fix-Basebaord-Trim-PEP-BB

A bifold door frame had rotted away, causing the bottom door thingy to be screwed into air. Pretty sure that's not how air works!

So I chisled out the rotted bit where the thingy attaches, filled the capacious hole first with wood putty (to create a workable substrate) and then with wood filler. I let the combo dry for 24-hours, and then successfully screwed the thingy back in.

Yikes! I also gave the door and floor in the closet a thorough cleaning. Turns out the only way to get the dust off every single slat was to give attention to... You guessed it, every single slat.

I decided part of this issue is that the bifold door doesn't have a handle, so I bought a handle in keeping with my landlord's silver/white aesthetic, and I drilled a now hole (and countersunk the back a bit) in the door stile to add the handle.

Now the door and thingy stay put when I open and close the door. Hurray! (Maybe this means the air filter will get changed more frequently?) Pics below.

A good reminder to take (and post!) good cleaning pictures.

I humbly submit these for an additional 1/2 point to the above BB.

More details on cleaning: I used a battery powered hand-vac, specifically because using my vinegar spray and a rag meant the rag got caught on little nicks in the wood, leaving behind tiny rag fibers (dirtier than it started). The closet floor I cleaned with a stiff bristle scrubber and vinegar spray.

I humbly request 1/2 point for: "Make a hand-burned roundwood name badge, with hand-made PEP Badges, on braided cotton floss to wear around your neck"

My worked time for this definitely exceeded one hour, with each of the three tasks going over half an hour each. But I could maybe see getting under an hour total with skill and luck. Not by much, though. Maybe it's a skill issue.

I've always liked the idea of Paul's wood burned name badges, for plastic-free nametags. I also love the idea of physical badges for PEP.

So, I took a bit of christmas tree trunk cut I've been saving for years for this very purpose, drilled a big hole and burned in my name. Wood burner this time was 'the big flathead screwdriver bit I never use' and a candle flame for heat. I drove the hot bit into the wood to get some indentation, too.

Then I made physical PEP badges, by tracing in pencil Nicole's lovely badge art, which I scaled up and printed at 1"x2". I feel like sand badges made of paper is about the right level of permanence. I have thoughts for the higher level badges. I didn't make a BB100, because PEP1 is the 'big badge' I care about.

I created a QR code on the back of each badge that goes to permies.com/skip so that I can more easily explain 'WTF is PEP' to anyone who asks.
...and Yes, that's a 'Paul jar' for Food Prep.

Lastly, I braided floss just long enough to get it over my head. I dislike when my name badge hangs too low. I tied a square knot just right so I can undo it to add/upgrade my PEP badges.