Zook and I moved the beams and tree that need to be resawn / sawn to where Toby Rheaume will set up his sawmill tomorrow. Have I mentioned just how heavy those suckers are???? Two trips into Middlebury to have my chainsaw low speed idle adjusted (free of charge!) at Taylor Rental and to help Perry a wee bit with a kitchen renovation engagement he is finishing up. Then Zook and I finished parging between-column rocks previously laid. That done, watched in amazement as Zook grabbed no more than a half-dozen rocks and made four of them fit beautifully into one section. He has the “eye” for rock wall building.
31 August 2010
Zook and I moved the beams and tree that need to be resawn / sawn to where Toby Rheaume will set up his sawmill tomorrow. Have I mentioned just how heavy those suckers are???? Two trips into Middlebury to have my chainsaw low speed idle adjusted (free of charge!) at Taylor Rental and to help Perry a wee bit with a kitchen renovation engagement he is finishing up. Then Zook and I finished parging between-column rocks previously laid. That done, watched in amazement as Zook grabbed no more than a half-dozen rocks and made four of them fit beautifully into one section. He has the “eye” for rock wall building.
30 August 2010
From Springfield to Fern Lake with Gene Zukosky (Kristen’s father – and known to all, far and wide, as “Zook”). Pleasant nine-hour, three-stop, trip. Barbeque / canoe / swim after settling into camp.
20 - 23 August 2010
Back to Springfield via Old Saybrook. Lengthy stopover in CT occasioned by Fran’s unexpected hospitalization and subsequent abdominal surgery.
19 August 2010
Fun with rocks in the morning. Chree dry-laid three sections of the third course of the between-column rock walls (her first, quite nice effort, shown here), while I repaired a section that had not bonded properly, laid a missing section of the second course, and parged things together. After lunch we took my malfunctioning brand new chainsaw back to the Jonsered dealer who fixed the problem in 10 seconds flat… which made me feel like a complete, total, quintessential, unadulterated idiot. How many chainsaws have I owned in the last
40 years???? Great solace being told that many before me have come in with the same “problem”… and left similarly embarrassed by the solution. Feeling a bout of Type A disease coming on, completely emptied Delores’ tool storage compartment, cleaned a year’s worth of dirt and associated debris out of that space, put up a bunch of pegboard hooks, and restowed the compartment in an organized and shipshape fashion. I feel SO much better!!!! After a quick swim, went over to Lynne & Perry’s for a wonderful, right-out-of-the-garden dinner.Note to file: Chree did not put on her bee-keepers hat even once all week… that’s how few flying insects there were.
18 August 2010
Laid awake much of the night thinking about beams with too much wane. Bummer! After breakfast, confirmed my fears – three of the six beams do, indeed, have so much wane that the joist hangers will not attach properly. So one of the 10″ beams will have to be resawed into an 8″, one of the 8″ will have to be resawed into a 6″, the 8″ with the hole in it will have to be resawed into a 2″ (thus solving the errant hole problem) and sistered to the 6″, and a large oak top in the house-site pile will have to be sawed into a new 10″ beam. Good news for Toby, bad news for my checkbook. Chree and I took the measurements for where the holes will have to be drilled in each beam. Then she gathered and washed a bucket of small stones (for making concrete) while I hand-dug (literally) the hole for the driveway sign. After retrieving said sign from the Pittsford Kubota dealer and an old plastic pickle barrel that Perry was donating to the cause, Chree learned how to make a batch of concrete so that we could set the sign in place, concreted into the barrel. So now our driveway officially exists! No doubt 1750 Lake Dunmore Road, also known as Triangle Square Circle, will soon be a prominent Google Maps landmark. Hot dogs and marshmallows over the wood fire to celebrate.
17 August 2010
Another gorgeous August day. In Vermont they only have three seasons, and one of them is August. Spent the morning using top’n’bond to level the tops of the shed columns while Chree used a wood chisel to remove bark and cambium remaining on the beams where the log wasn’t quite as big as it needed to be for the size beam being sawn. Spent the afternoon finishing the bark removal process while Chree ran errands in Brandon. Also drilled the first hole in what was supposed to be the north end beam, then realized that that beam will not work in that position because of too much wane (places where the bark and cambium had to be removed after the beam was cut). Fingers crossed that the hole is in the right place for placing that beam in one of the other positions. (Can you hear the hollow laughter in the background, Mr. Murphy????) Also realized that I really, really, really need a backhoe (or a skyhook) for hoisting / moving the beams, as they are far too heavy to be horsed around by hand. Beautiful canoe around the lake after dinner.
16 August 2010
Rained most of the night, then a few brief showers in the morning, clearing off into a beautiful day. Toby Rheaume arrived shortly after 7 o’clock with his Woodmiser LT 70 portable sawmill. But before starting on sawing the shed beams, we returned to the house site for a large hemlock that had been overlooked during Saturday’s felling operations. A half hour later that tree, too, was in the skid pile destined for a commercial sawmill. Toby then pawed through the log pile set aside last summer
out of which I hoped we would find the six beams needed for the shed. Assured that we had sufficient red oak raw material, Toby and the sawmill went to work. The first two beams he cut are 9 ½″ x 10″ x 12 feet long; straining with all my might I can lift one end an inch or two off the ground. The other four beams are only 9 ½″ x 8″ x 12 feet; those I can lift one end maybe a foot off the ground. Getting these critters to the tops of the concrete columns, 7 feet 8″ in the air, is going to be a challenge. Unless, that is, my fairy godmother suddenly delivers the backhoe I so desperately crave. At his suggestion, Toby also sawed a large maple log into 1″ boards. Depending on how well they come through the drying process, those might become the built-in computer table, cabinets, and shelves in the Study when we build the house. They’ve been cut to a length (10 feet 4″) that will fit inside the van so that they can be taken to Virginia for air drying in our basement. After Toby was gone, Chree and I drove down to the Kubota dealer in Pittsford, who also makes street and driveway signs, and put in an order.
15 August 2010
After a blueberry pancake and strong coffee breakfast, spent an hour fixing the chain on my new saw that had had a “little problem” yesterday afternoon. Chree, Tasi, Kristen, Alex, and Katy set to work chipping brush and tree tops at the house site. In moving the truck and chipper for them, hit a stump that some idiot (that would be me) left too high too close to the “road” to the house site. Alerted to a problem by Tasi yelling, “Dad, STOP, the truck is gushing oil!!!!”, we quickly ascertained that an oil line under the front end had pulled apart. Fixing the disconnected oil line was relatively simple. Figuring out which system had hemorrhaged was not. Drove into Brandon to consult with a mechanic and get gasoline plus other supplies. Unfortunately, the only “mechanic” on duty at any of the stations this Sunday morning was totally clueless. Arriving back at Fern Lake, Alex greeted me with, “Dad, we’ve got some more bad news!”. Oh, joy! Seems the brush chipper had stopped working and was making a funny burnt-rubber smell. Suspecting a clog or jam, removed every access plate I could find, but to no avail. Something definitely ain’t right. Good thing I paid extra for the Taylor Rental damage waiver. Meanwhile, with Perry looking under the hood of his Ranger while I looked under the hood of mine (cell phones in hand), we were able to ascertain that it was the power steering system that had leaked. So Tasi schlepped off to the Leicester General Store for the proper oil. With the dipstick totally dry and large letters on the cap saying, “DO NOT OVERFILL”, I put in maybe a cup of oil and overflowed the system. Gotta love them “engineers” at Ford! Not wishing to waste this golden opportunity to abuse plentiful free labor, we set to work dragging chipper-sized tree limbs close to places where we’ll be able to position the chipper once it’s repaired. Alex and Katy headed back to Boston mid-morning. Tasi and Kristen held on until 5 o’clock. Perry came over mid-afternoon with the leveling transit and verified that the shed columns are “close-enough” to the right heights, with maybe two exceptions that will need some top’n’bond treatment. Started raining right after Tasi and Kristen headed south. Perfect timing… for them.
14 August 2010
Alex and Katy (younger son and wife) arrived for their first-ever visit to the property at 7 o’clock, having arisen at 2:30 and left Boston at 3:45. Toby also returned promptly at 7 o’clock with a very manly Husqvarna 372 chainsaw (took me two hands just to pick the thing up; I wouldn’t last an hour if I tried to use it in the woods. Toby, needless to say, handed the saw like it weighed two pounds.) He quickly set to work dropping trees that could be sent to the sawmill. In his hands, that saw could CUT!!!! A 20″ red oak: about a minute and on the ground and exactly where he planned to put it. Ditto every other tree he dropped. He taught me a ton about tree felling technique. His tractor has an hydraulic PTO-driven ½″ steel cable winch that made child’s play of removing multi-ton logs from the woods. I had a great time playing choker-man while Toby was in winch-operator mode. By noon, every marketable tree (we thought) was in a skid pile out by the road, so Toby departed to enjoy the rest of his weekend. Meanwhile, Tasi had been to Taylor to fetch the brush chipper. After a quick safety briefing (with many references to the movie Fargo), Chree, Tasi, Kristen, Alex, and Katy set to work turning the tops of the trees that Toby was felling and the many large brush piles along the driveway into fair-sized piles of mulch. The first branch that Chree fed into the maw promptly whipped across her face, cutting her cheek and fattening her lip …and I wonder sometimes why she doesn’t just LOVE working in the woods!?!? Alverta arrived at noon, bringing a pan of her special Butter Fudge Fingers, one of my favorite desserts. With her supervision and gasoline-fetching assistance, by swimming time all the brush and newly fallen tree tops east of the shed were history. Lynne, Perry, and Jake (their son), arrived for a visit as we were demolishing a few pounds of under-cooked steaks on the barbee, some divine Kingsley’s corn, and various adult libations.
13 August 2010
From Old Saybrook to Fern Lake via Ehler’s RV in Essex Junction (to retrieve Delores, looking oh, so, suave with her new $600 main cabin door steps) and Agway in Middlebury (for a propane fill up). As soon as Delores was parked and the van unloaded, headed for Taylor Rental to retrieve their brush chipper. Alas, they had told another customer that the chipper was available without consulting the reservation log. That person showed up just as I was headed out back to hook the chipper up to the Ranger . Needless to say, he was quite disappointed to learn that he had been misinformed. So I asked him how long he needed the chipper, thinking we could split the time over the weekend and save both of us some money. Bottom line is that I returned to Fern Lake chipper-less, but with a promise that the chipper would be ours come 10 o’clock Saturday morning. Tasi and Kristen arrived while I was away not renting a brush chipper. While we were getting the fire ready for cooking dinner, heard some banging and crashing out by the road, but didn’t think that had anything to do with us. A few minutes later a tractor came lumbering down the driveway with none other than Toby Rheaume at the controls. He was just getting the tractor pre-positioned for the following day’s activities. A quick beer, a chat about the plan of attack, and he was gone.
12 August 2010
From Springfield to Old Saybrook, CT with Chree and the dogs. Took an hour to go the first 20 miles ‘cause of stop-n-go rush hour traffic in the I-395 HOV lanes. VERY frustrating because the regular lanes were speeding along just fine.
9 August 2010
10 hours from South Burlington to Springfield. Would have been at least 45 minutes faster except for a miles-long construction delay on I-87 in New York.
7 August 2010
Alverta and I drove down to Fern Lake to retrieve the van and secure the site for a further week’s absence. Did a short canoe, picnicked on the dock (beautiful sunshine, perfect temperature, NO bugs), installed 12v solar-powered lights along the path, and emptied all the rocks out of the pickup. The resulting pile is impressive, but definitely far short of what will be needed to complete the shed between-column walls. After Alverta headed back north, mixed up a batch of mortar and parged three more sections of the second course. Then, after a quick dip in the lake, headed for South Burlington (via Kingsley’s Farm Stand) in the van.
6 August 2010
Repairs, painting, and cleaning at our condo. Late afternoon, Bill from Ehler’s informed me that the RV stairs would not be repaired this week. So drove out there to remove all perishables from the refrigerator and retrieve items that needed to go to Virginia, such as the keys to the van, dirty linen, the shopping list, etc. When I closed the main cabin door for the final time the steps cycled in (like they were supposed to), then out, then back in again. Almost like Delores was sticking her tongue out at me for leaving her parked in a foreign field for two weeks. Returning to Ehler’s office to drop off the RV keys, I parked in front of an RV that was backed up to the building. When I got out of the car, noticed that there was a driver in the left front seat of the RV and it looked like I had just blocked him in from leaving. Long story short, the RV was just arriving, not leaving, and was a 2010 Winnebago Adventurer – same model as Delores, only 14 years newer. The couple who owned that magnificent creature had me in for a tour. Wow!!!! All the bells and whistles, including a washer and dryer, solar panel array on the roof, a king bed, and a big screen TV. If we ever trade in Delores for a younger woman, I know just the one to go for. Of course, the price tag was somewhat over 10 times what we’ve spent for Delores… and you’d definitely have to shave and put on clean underwear every day if you owned her younger sister.
5 August 2010
Repairs, painting, and cleaning at our condo. Late afternoon, said, for the umpteenth time, “The $#@! tool I need is in the RV”. So drove out to Ehler’s to see how things were progressing… and to grab every tool I could think of possibly needing. Bill, the Service Department Manager, said the RV steps were working perfectly, though right after I dropped Delores off the technicians watched the steps go in and out and in and out a bunch of times of their own volition. Bill said that was symptomatic of the electronic controller going bad.. a $350 item. He also said the bounciness in the steps was due to one broken bolt and another about to let go. If the second bolt had failed, the stairs would have collapsed, potentially causing serious injury. Not a good thought!!!! After discussing the options, elected to go with a whole new stairs unit.
3 - 4 August 2010
Spent these fun-filled days doing ceiling and other repairs at our condo in South Burlington.
2 August 2010
Spent the morning parging first and second course rocks on the east and south between-column walls. So long as it doesn’t fall apart again, the first course is complete! Break out the champagne! No, wait, there are another 24 courses to go… After five hours of work it was time to give the ole back a rest… and there are still five sections of the second course that are incomplete. Mid-afternoon drove Delores up to Ehler's RV in Essex Junction through a roads-flooded thunderstorm. Any side bets on how many hundreds of dollars Ehler's will demand before they’ll give me back the keys?
1 August 2010
Picked rock along the driveway in the morning. Found one perfect rock and a truckload of what I hope are more acceptable shapes than I’ve been using. Spent the afternoon parging the second course of rock on the shed east wall. Backbreaking work due to the bent-over position needed for that job. Lynne and Perry came over for fabulous lasagna (made by yours truly, so no bias), fresh Kingsley corn, and a nice salad mostly from Lynne’s garden. Ate outside – NO bugs!
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