Traded a bunch more of our kids’ inheritance for another passel of Goodro Lumber construction materials, which were delivered mid-morning, just as Steve Osmer was arriving for another three-day stint of abuse. After stowing all the lumber close by where it will be used, we quickly set up the radial arm saw, which, miracle of miracles, was still in perfect cutting alignment after 500 miles of jouncing around in the back of the van. (The alignment process is VERY finicky and typically takes better than an hour to achieve Type-A tolerances.) First mission for the saw was to trim a new thwart for Marty Lapidus’s canoe. Then, because somebody’s brain was only running on five cylinders, Steve and I moved quite a bit of the lumber we had just finished stacking (oh, so neatly – as those of you who know us both can well imagine), as it was in the way of what we had to do next. That being, marking the four corners of the shed on the footers, adjusting until the marks were PERFECTLY spaced and formed a rectangle with PERFECTLY square corners. Perry arrived as we were eating lunch and just as I was reaching for the phone to call him. We needed his special chalk line which leaves a semi-permanent mark on concrete. Steve and I used that line to join the corner marks together, thus establishing the pier form front-face alignment. That done, we laid out the perpendicular lines showing exactly where the pier forms are to be set lateral to each other. Then the fun started, i.e., Steve’s MOST favorite activity (NOT!!!!), building the steel rebar bundles around which the pier concrete will be poured. We got 14 of the 20 done. Fortunately for our continued friendship, this time the work mostly could be accomplished standing upright and without a cascade of snow pouring down from on high. Mind you, today the temperature easily reached 90 degrees in the shade, so the swim after work was most refreshing, as was the ice-cold beer that followed. Many pounds of BBQ spareribs, perfectly cooked on the camp fire and accompanied by more cold beer, really hit the spot. Unfortunately, adjourning to the campfire after a leisurely post-prandial canoe around the lake, the mosquitoes finally got the better of us, forcing a retreat into the toasty-warm RV.
25 May 2010
Traded a bunch more of our kids’ inheritance for another passel of Goodro Lumber construction materials, which were delivered mid-morning, just as Steve Osmer was arriving for another three-day stint of abuse. After stowing all the lumber close by where it will be used, we quickly set up the radial arm saw, which, miracle of miracles, was still in perfect cutting alignment after 500 miles of jouncing around in the back of the van. (The alignment process is VERY finicky and typically takes better than an hour to achieve Type-A tolerances.) First mission for the saw was to trim a new thwart for Marty Lapidus’s canoe. Then, because somebody’s brain was only running on five cylinders, Steve and I moved quite a bit of the lumber we had just finished stacking (oh, so neatly – as those of you who know us both can well imagine), as it was in the way of what we had to do next. That being, marking the four corners of the shed on the footers, adjusting until the marks were PERFECTLY spaced and formed a rectangle with PERFECTLY square corners. Perry arrived as we were eating lunch and just as I was reaching for the phone to call him. We needed his special chalk line which leaves a semi-permanent mark on concrete. Steve and I used that line to join the corner marks together, thus establishing the pier form front-face alignment. That done, we laid out the perpendicular lines showing exactly where the pier forms are to be set lateral to each other. Then the fun started, i.e., Steve’s MOST favorite activity (NOT!!!!), building the steel rebar bundles around which the pier concrete will be poured. We got 14 of the 20 done. Fortunately for our continued friendship, this time the work mostly could be accomplished standing upright and without a cascade of snow pouring down from on high. Mind you, today the temperature easily reached 90 degrees in the shade, so the swim after work was most refreshing, as was the ice-cold beer that followed. Many pounds of BBQ spareribs, perfectly cooked on the camp fire and accompanied by more cold beer, really hit the spot. Unfortunately, adjourning to the campfire after a leisurely post-prandial canoe around the lake, the mosquitoes finally got the better of us, forcing a retreat into the toasty-warm RV.
