One of my fence posts on a rental property was leaning over due to the previous owner not securing it correctly in the ground. To make matters worse, I use the fence post to secure a ratchet strap attached to one of 4 corners of a sun shade. Since I didn’t feel like redoing the fence post, and since the back of my property is empty, government land beside a slough, I decided to just pull the fence post back into position using a ratchet strap. It was quick and easy and worked perfectly.
If you don’t feel like redoing a leaning fence post or need a temporary fix, here’s what you can do.
Chicken breast meat is packed with protein and very little fat. But, it often comes out dry after baking. Here’s a recipe that is quick to cook and results in a more tasty, tender meat.
Ingredients
Chicken breast
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbs canola oil or olive oil
Instructions
Mix all spices in a single spice dispenser
Cut up the chicken breast into 1 inch wide strips
In a bowl, rub olive oil over the chicken strips and sprinkle on the seasoning. Mix with hands to ensure complete coverage.
Set air fryer to a target thermometer temperature of 165 F.
Insert thermometer such that tip is at center of thickest part of one chicken strips
When air fryer has preheated, put all strips in
When half way done, turn strips over
When target temperature reached, remove legs and let stand for 5 minutes
Let’s say you want to install a bath exhaust fan in a bathroom that doesn’t have one. You’ll need to cut the wall or ceiling where the fan will go and you’ll also likely need to make holes in the wall or ceiling to run electrical wiring.
In the photo above, you can see that I made two types of openings:
Circular opening
Square opening
Making a Circular Opening
For the circular opening, I just used a hole saw attached to a drill. The benefit of this is it creates a clean, perfectly circular hole and you can reuse the cut drywall later to patch the hole. This type of hole can be made anywhere – it doesn’t need to be near or over a stud or joist.
Patching a Circular Opening
To patch a circular opening, I use a 1″x3″ piece of furring strip wood.
Partially drill a long screw in the middle of a piece of furring strip that is about 3 inches longer than the diameter of the hole. Insert the wood into the hole as pictured below. Then, drill 2 screws while pulling the long center screw so that the wood doesn’t move around. Now you’ve created a backing for the drywall to be screwed into.
Remove the center screw and screw the drywall into the wood.
Making a Square Opening
For the square opening, I like to use a reciprocating saw – specifically, the Milwaukee 12V mini cordless saw because it’s small and lightweight. Use a stud finder to find the studs or joists and draw an outline of the square you want to make such that the square (or rectangle) goes to each stud or joist. Then, try to make a clean rectangular cut so that you can reuse the drywall.
UPDATE: With a reciprocating saw, you may accidentally cut some wires. An easier and safer way is to use a jigsaw with a shortened blade. Insert a blade into your jigsaw, extend the stroke as far as possible, mark 1/2″ or 5/8″ from the jigsaw shoe (bottom part), then, using a bolt cutter, cut to shorten the blade. Now, you can use your jigsaw to safely and easily cut drywall.
Patching a Square Opening
To patch a square opening, I use a 2×4 piece of wood to fur out the studs or joists to create a backing for the drywall will be screwed into. Pre-drive the screws into the wood a little bit and then clamp the wood to the joists to make fastening the wood piece easier. The 2×4 should be longer than the opening so you can position it such that the cut drywall will be level with the existing drywall when you go put it back in.
When you put the cut piece of drywall in the opening, if the four edges are not level with the four edges of the existing drywall, then you either must
If you want to create a video of an animated character that moves its head and lips as you move your head and speak, you can do so easily using Adobe Character Animator. Here’s how.
In Adobe Character Animator, click File > Import and select the puppet file.
2. Import a green screen
Since we’ll want to overlay the exported character animation on other elements in a video editing program, we’ll want to add a green screen so we can key it out. Create a solid green image (RGB = 0,255,0) the size of the scene, e.g. 1920 x 1080. Then, import it and drag the imported item to the lowest layer it the Timeline panel.
3. Enable Puppet Track Behaviors
We can tell Adobe Character Animator which parts of our face and body to track as we move and talk in the camera. Click on the puppet layer to reveal the Puppet Track Behaviors panel.
The red button indicates that the particular item will be tracked when you move in front of the camera. For example, the Face item, when expanded, will show a red dot by “Camera Input” meaning if move your face in front of the camera, your facial gestures will be tracked and the puppet’s face will move accordingly.
For the lip sync item, the red dot is by “Audio Input” so if you speak, the microphone will capture your voice and convert it into lip movements on your puppet.
For Adobe Character Animator to track your head and lip movements, you need to enable your camera and microphone. You’ll see a circle where your face should be centered in your resting position. Once centered, click the “Set Rest Pose”. You’ll then see a bunch of red dots on your face indicating points where Adobe Character Animator will track your facial gestures.
5. Start recording
Click the red record button. A 3 second countdown timer will begin. Start talking naturally and when you are done, click the red button again to stop recording.
You’ll then see some layers added to the timeline including your voice audio layer.
If some of the layers are longer than the audio layer, e.g. the puppet, Visemes and green screen layers in the screenshot above, trim the scene so the duration of the scene is the duration of the audio. Drag the right end of the gray Work Area bar to the right end of the audio track. Then, right click on that bar and click on “Trim Scene to Work Area”.
Now, your scene duration will just be the duration of the Work Area, in this case 5:20.
6. Preview and export the result
Click the play button to preview the recording. If you are happy with it. you can export it by clicking File > Export > Video via Adobe Media Encoder. This will open Adobe Media Encoder. In the Queue panel, choose a format (h.264) and preset (Match Source – High bitrate or YouTube 1080p Full HD). Then, click the green play button to start encoding.
You will see the encoding progress in the Encoding panel. You’ll also see the video duration as 5:21 seconds as that is the length of the scene in this example.
I recently had to rebuild a bunch of fences on a new rental property. As you may already know, the hardest part is digging the holes and building the frame. This article explains step by step how to quickly and correctly build a fence frame.
1. Run string from one end of new fence to the other end near the ground
In order for the fence to be straight, we need to make a straight line from both ends. Since we haven’t dug holes yet, we put the string near the ground so we can mark where we want the holes for the fence posts to go.
Nylon Mason’s line is thin and can easily break. Instead, you can use paracord.
2. Mark post hole locations
Depending on the existence of neighboring fences, we may or may not need posts at the ends. Mark where the post holes will go. Each fence panel between posts will be 8′ long. For marking the locations, you can use a wood stake, metal stake, flag stake, or spray paint. I prefer using flag stakes.
3. Dig fence post holes
Post type
Normally, people use 8′ long 4×4 pressure-treated wood for fence posts. If you do that, then the horizontal 2x4s (rails) will have to be toenailed into it or secured using metal brackets.
Toenailing 2×4 rail to fence postFence rail bracket
Either way, that’s a lot of work, especially if you later decide to make adjustments. Also, the wood can rot,weaken, and become warped over time. For these reasons, I just spend the extra money and buy steel fence posts.
The post hole diameter should be about 3 times the width of the post. Since the steel posts are 3.5″ wide, then the hole should be about 10.5″ in diameter.
Post hole depth
The post hole depth should be 1/3 to 1/2 the post height above the ground. Since we want our fence to be the standard 6′ tall, and the steel posts are 7.5′ long, we’ll make our holes 2.5′ deep.
Top of fence
The height of the fence post and the top rail above ground will be 5′. Therefore, the top one foot of the 6′ tall vertical fence boards will be above the top rail. The problem with this is the top one-foot portion of the fence boards can warp.
To fix this, you can screw a horizontal piece of wood (2×3 or 2×4) at or near the top of the fence boards on the side where the fence rails are.
Soak the ground
Before digging holes, you’ll want to soak the ground, preferably overnight. This will make it much easier come time to dig. The deeper you dig, the harder the soil. You can dig a small hole first using a hand digger.
Or, preferably, you can just use a jackhammer with a spade bit.
Digging tool
To dig holes, the easiest and cleanest way is to use a gas-powered earth auger. You can rent one from the Home Depot ($55 for 4 hours). You can choose from a variety of auger bit diameters. Choose a 10″ or 12″ diameter auger bit.
When you are digging, if you can’t dig any deeper, then stop and pour water into the hole and let the water drain. You can then dig again.
You may run into roots and rocks while digging with the auger. In this case, you’ll need to cut the roots using a reciprocating saw or break up the rocks using a jack hammer.
4. Tie a string to both end posts
Now that you have 2.5′-deep holes, you can insert the steel posts at each end. Tie string or paracord from one end post to the other both near the bottom and top of each post. The purpose is to adjust the middle posts to be aligned with the end posts. Later on, when concrete is poured into the middle post holes, the middle posts should touch the string.
In the photo below, there are a total of 3 posts and 2 string lines connected to each end post.
5. Plumb and brace the posts
Adjust the position of each post using a fence post level and check for plumb.
To hold the posts in place, if the surrounding ground is dirt, brace them using stakes. I prefer hitting a 2′ long steel stake straight into the ground and then screwing a piece of wood horizontally between the steel stake and the post. The steel stakes are pre-drilled. There should be two braces perpendicular to each other to hold the post plumb.
6. Mix and pour concrete
Buy fence post concrete.
Pour half the bag of concrete in a 5-gallon bucket, add water, and mix using a special mixer for concrete.
The mixer I use is a 2-gear mixer shown below. The first / low gear is for mixing concrete. It has high torque and low speed which is what you want. If you use a high-speed mixer, the concrete mix gets everywhere, creates a mess, and can crack the bucket. I find this particular mixer to be perfect for mixing concrete.
The consistency of the mix should be watery but not too watery. You should be able to pour the concrete mix straight out of the bucket. If you can’t pour the concrete mix, then you need to add water.
7. Add concrete to the middle posts
Now that the 2 end posts are done, add concrete to the middle posts. If you haven’t braced the middle posts, that’s fine. Once you add some concrete, you can position the posts while the concrete is still wet. Make sure the middle posts touch the top and bottom string lines to ensure a straight fence.
8. Add horizontal fence rails between posts
Once the posts are secure and the concrete is dry, measure how high you want the horizontal rails to be. Then, add clamps to the posts. The clamps will hold the rails in place before you’ve had a chance to screw them to the posts. Secure a level to the top fence rail
9. Cut posts
Cut the top portion of each post using a reciprocating saw with metal blade.
You can just accept the default values (unless the defaults are asking you to pay for an upgrade).
Change the theme to the Twenty Fifteen
In the WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Themes > Add Themes and search for “Twenty Fifteen”.
Create a child theme of the Twenty Fifteen theme
style.css
Create a folder called mychildtheme or whatever you want to call it.
In the mychildtheme folder, create a style.css file with the following content:
The style.css file tells WordPress to load the Parent Theme’s files after the Child. It will override any styles in the Parent Theme’s style.css file that have the same selectors.
Template:Very Important! This is the folder name of the parent theme. If this variable is not correct the Child Theme will not work.
functions.php
In the mychildtheme folder, create a functions.php file with the following content:
This code tells your theme to call the style.css file and the parent CSS file.
screenshot.png
In the mychildtheme folder, create a screenshot.png file. A theme’s screenshot is the thumbnail image that shows up under Appearance > Themes in the WordPress Dashboard. The recommended image size is 880×660. The screenshot will only be shown as 387×290, but the larger image allows for high-resolution viewing on HiDPI displays.
Upload your child theme
Upload the mychildtheme folder to wp-content/themes.
In the WordPress admin, go to Appearance > Themes in the Dashboard. You should see your theme listed. Click to activate it. In the screenshot below, my theme’s screenshot thumbnail is a picture of a cat.
Edit templates
Any PHP file in your mychildtheme folder will override the same file in the parent theme. For this site, I created some PHP templates so my child theme folder looks like this.
Download all files as a compressed zip file, unzip it, and upload each file to your mychildtheme folder.
Add background images
Search Google Images for large background images. Upload them to your WordPress Admin via the Media page. Make a list of URLs based on what you see for each uploaded image in WordPress.
Add JavaScript to randomly pick a background image
To add custom JavaScript, I just installed the “Simple Custom CSS and JS plugin” . Copy the code below , update the URLs to be the backyard images you uploaded to WP-Admin, then paste the code.
Whenever you update CSS or JS, make sure to flush the cache to see your changes.
So, in my 2 story house my internet modem is in the family room in the back of the house. The internet comes over coaxial cable by Comcast xFinity 1Gbps. There is a security camera at the front of the house facing the driveway. Every now and then, the security camera would go offline. To spread wifi all over the house, I have the tp-link deco M9 plus AC2200 mesh wifi router (3 wifi access points). The backhaul between access points is wifi, unfortunately. I can’t have a wired ethernet backhaul between access points because running ethernet cable would require opening up walls which is a lot of work. Fortunately, however, there is existing coaxial cabling throughout the house. So, I can use MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) adapters to bridge ethernet over coax so I can have a wired coax backhaul between access points. This allows the wifi signal at each access point to be much stronger than with a wifi backhaul. There are many diagrams and tutorials online but none that I found were clear enough hence this blog post. Below is my setup with a diagram which should make it clear what goes where.
The continuity tester doesn’t work through splitters. Once you’ve tested all cables, you can label them in your junction box like I did below. As you can see, there is a 1 – 2 splitter where the one input is the coax cable from xfinity. The two outputs each go to the master bedroom and family room.
I added a new coax cable to go to the garage but it’s not connected in the picture because I need to add another splitter or replace the existing splitter with a 1-3 (or more) splitter. For MoCA to work, you need a splitter that
is not amplified
goes up to at least 1.5 Ghz (1500 Mhz)
GE Digital 4-Way Coaxial Cable Splitter, 2.5 GHz 5-2500 MHz
Before and After
BeforeAfter
Powerline Adapters
You can also bridge ethernet over your home’s existing electrical wiring using Powerline adapters, e.g.
However, these adapters don’t work if there’s a surge suppressor. Also, there’s a lot more activity in your home electrical wiring that could interfere with the signal, e.g. from the refrigerator, hair dryers, air conditioners, washing machines, and other appliances.
