Other hobbies / pastimes
- Thread starter Zorba
- Start date
ranger101
TJ Addict
Machining is my career but also a hobby/side job to help fund my other interests. Pretty much anything automotive: Jeeps, cars(mainly my AMG currently as I prep it to sell), trucks, motorcycles(do a couple 300-400mi rides a year) and atv’s. I usually get back into my guns around winter time when being out in the garage isn’t bearable. It’s kinda hard to juggle multiple hobbies and honestly, it gets a little stressful at times when I find myself getting behind on maintenance or something breaks. But that’s all part of it 
everything’s paid for so I have no issues with tucking it away in the back of the garage until I get around to it or until the funds are there, as long as it’s not excessive. I think the biggest thing is staying motivated though. Knowing that a little extra work is all it takes to stay on top of things.
everything’s paid for so I have no issues with tucking it away in the back of the garage until I get around to it or until the funds are there, as long as it’s not excessive. I think the biggest thing is staying motivated though. Knowing that a little extra work is all it takes to stay on top of things.
Here’s my 47.
It was part of a lot of three I bought at an auction. As pointed out by many ‘Pros’, the chain guard isn’t correct. At $3.50 for the guard, it’s correct enough. It’s a pleasant ride if you aren’t in a hurry. The low gear on the Bendix Power Brake hub is a godsend, but as with most multi speed hubs with coaster brakes, braking is marginal in any gear other than direct. Bit of an “Oh Shit” factor at times.
What?! If you get rid of three cars, I've got the perfect new addition for youSometimes the wife intervenes. I've been trying to bring home a hearse for the last nine years, and she has said not only "No", but "Hell, no!". Tonight she informed me that if I got rid of three of my project cars, I could buy one. I told her that I'd do that, but only if she agreed to go camping in it with me.
***crickets***
I tell ya, sometimes that woman has no sense of humor!
My hobbies used to be Martial Arts, but after several injuries including a partially detached retina, I got back into riding motorcycles and racing cars. Mainly Miatas in Solo II, but I also breifly worked on a Spec Miata race team. I've built and modified several vintage bikes into Cafe Racers, I've also built, restored and modified about 14 Miatas and about 7 or 8 BMW E30's. I still have one newer Miata, a 2008 PRHT with a 5 speed, but it's up for sale. The several miles of Forest Service Road down to our cabin is not to friendly to it, so it sits on a trickle charger in the garage at our house in town.
We also used to have a Venture 25 sailboat that I restored and we kept and sailed on the Tennessee River. specifically at Lake Guntersville.
Before all that I was a 13 handicap at our local Country Club. Shooting par on a few courses.
Ironically riding our motorcycles in the Appalachian Mountains led us to this great desire to have a place in the mountains and that endeavor has basically pushed out all our other hobbies, so for the last several years we have worked on clearing land and building our own mortgage free cabin in the North Alabama mountains.
My next hobby will be building my mountain workshop and once that is built my hobbies will include:
Kayak and fly fishing in Little River, Chattooga River and Weiss Lake
Brewing beer
Distilling whiskey
Woodworking
Forging
Hunting on the game preserve across the road from the cabin
Traditional Archery
Leather work
Flint knapping
I have an older buddy up here who has a cabin near ours and he is quite the renaissance man. He has a forge and helped me forge and build my first hunting knife a few years ago and I have been hooked ever since. He also is a flint knapper and is going to show me the ropes on that as well. He's 76 so I want to learn as much from him as I can while he's still healthy and willing to teach a youngster like me.
I have read Clay Hayes' book and watched a lot of his videos of making traditional bows, arrows and hunting with them, and I would like to do that as well. And of course I plan on having a big garden, because we both love to cook.
So I plan on staying busy in my retirement on our little homestead up here in the hills.
One of my old Cafe Racer builds...
Mrs. Irish helping me bottle some beer...
Probably my favorite BMW E30...
His and Her's Miatas in the garage with Black Betty sitting out front...
Black Betty and her twin sister from a different mother...
My turbocharged Miata build making 225 horsepower. She was a little beast...
My first attempt at forging my own knife. They style is called a Brute De Forge...
We also used to have a Venture 25 sailboat that I restored and we kept and sailed on the Tennessee River. specifically at Lake Guntersville.
Before all that I was a 13 handicap at our local Country Club. Shooting par on a few courses.
Ironically riding our motorcycles in the Appalachian Mountains led us to this great desire to have a place in the mountains and that endeavor has basically pushed out all our other hobbies, so for the last several years we have worked on clearing land and building our own mortgage free cabin in the North Alabama mountains.
My next hobby will be building my mountain workshop and once that is built my hobbies will include:
Kayak and fly fishing in Little River, Chattooga River and Weiss Lake
Brewing beer
Distilling whiskey
Woodworking
Forging
Hunting on the game preserve across the road from the cabin
Traditional Archery
Leather work
Flint knapping
I have an older buddy up here who has a cabin near ours and he is quite the renaissance man. He has a forge and helped me forge and build my first hunting knife a few years ago and I have been hooked ever since. He also is a flint knapper and is going to show me the ropes on that as well. He's 76 so I want to learn as much from him as I can while he's still healthy and willing to teach a youngster like me.
I have read Clay Hayes' book and watched a lot of his videos of making traditional bows, arrows and hunting with them, and I would like to do that as well. And of course I plan on having a big garden, because we both love to cook.
So I plan on staying busy in my retirement on our little homestead up here in the hills.
One of my old Cafe Racer builds...
Mrs. Irish helping me bottle some beer...
Probably my favorite BMW E30...
His and Her's Miatas in the garage with Black Betty sitting out front...
Black Betty and her twin sister from a different mother...
My turbocharged Miata build making 225 horsepower. She was a little beast...
My first attempt at forging my own knife. They style is called a Brute De Forge...
Head Lice
TJ Addict
There was a beautifully restored/converted gas pump in a local tavern here. This one was in the large deeply carpeted lobby where the lighting was quite muted. It had the lighted chrome and enameled company emblem on the top, and all the rest of it was beautifully redone in a deep burgundy enamel and deep chrome.
It had been converted to an aquarium. Lighting was from the bottom of the glass tank and a few steady streams of bubbles enhanced the lighting and the exotic highly colored fish. Folks would stop in just to see this beautiful creation . . .
I do a lot of hunting too, including Coues deer. If you haven't heard of them, take a minute to Google. They're a tiny subspecies of white tail that only live in the Sonoran desert; about 90 lbs on the hoof and they appear/disappear into thin air (they call them the Grey Ghosts of the desert). They live in some really nasty terrain and if you can get within 400 yards for a shot, that's close.
After the first couple of years trying to lob shots in on these tiny little guys with my .30-06 and 3x9 scope at 450 - 600 yards, I bought a 7MM Rem Mag for flatter shooting and a ballistic scope customized to my rifle and ammo. I'm not up to competition status, but this setup drives tacks at 700 yards. My buddies and I regularly practice to 600 yds....and since getting this set up and becoming proficient with it, I've not had to take a shot over 300 yds. Go figure! I will say though,that being proficient at those ranges has made the other shots feel like nothing.
I do know of the Coues deer. My wife and I only got started in Long Range shooting for hunting only, no competition shooting. The deer she shot in the heart at 502 yards was a pure Columbian Blacktail here in Northern California, a little larger then the Coues deer (body wise).
OP
An old hearse is on my want list too. 'Old Skool' hotrod with velocity stacks, side pipes, deep dish "mag" wheels, purple metal flake paint, casket in the back and the obligatory Phantasm sphere hanging in the rear window!Sometimes the wife intervenes. I've been trying to bring home a hearse for the last nine years, and she has said not only "No", but "Hell, no!". Tonight she informed me that if I got rid of three of my project cars, I could buy one. I told her that I'd do that, but only if she agreed to go camping in it with me.
***crickets***
I tell ya, sometimes that woman has no sense of humor!
BBOOOOOOYYYYY!!!
My passion! I ski better than I walk and if it’s winter, I’m on the mountain.
OP
Everybody I know that skis comes back mangled sooner or later!
Broken heel, ribs, thumb and nose. Sprained hip (yes you can sprain a hip) and knocked myself out cold on 2 occasions but in 30 years I've never needed the dead-sled to bring me down a slope. I've also been lucky enough to avoid any knee and/or back injuries. That's what ends ski careers.
Fun fact. I snapped my wrist snowboarding a few years back. They put a permanent plate in which had to be removed two years later since it was giving me a lot of pain. They gave me the plate back so now I keep it on my keys.
OP
Head Lice
TJ Addict
For the BC Big Game Record Book, the pure Columbian Black-tails come from Vancouver Island. They are considered the 'mother species' of the Mule deer by most biologists . . . and the Island deer are isolated from cross breeding with the mainland Mule deer. The heaviest Island buck I've taken was 166lbs. field dressed. Any rack that tapes out over 100+ inches is an admirable trophy. They live in some of the thickest, wettest, steepest country you'll ever see. Apparently there's also a Columbian White-tailed deer from the coastal reaches of the Columbia River.
That's kinda cool. I'm sure the multiple surgeries and years dealing with the wrist sucks tho.
Fun fact that's sort of related. The reason I broke the thumb is because I was skiing with a broken wrist. I couldn't grip the pole so I duct taped it to my casted hand. Didn't turn out so hot. The briliant things we do in our teens!!
Head Lice
TJ Addict
Just remember that Pro bull rider saying : "It ain't nothin' a few bone screws can't fix"
It's amazing how much we all have in common, but then we all love/hate TJs so not that surprising i guess.
alittleoff
TJ Addict
“When” you save this and use it, it’s required for you to be wearing tan slacks, black shoes w/white socks. Shirt optional of course.I want this. I don't need this. And yet I want this. Shall I get this? This has yet to be determined.
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