Lots of activity around the underground yellow jacket nest this morning, so they got another dose of spray. Unfortunately the nest entrances (note the plural) are in the tangle of roots belonging to the huge white pine next to the shed excavation, so firing for effect is more than tricky. The Goodro Lumber truck showed up at 7:30 with the Advantech ¾″ tongue and grove engineered wood and construction adhesive needed to create the shed floor. Tammy came back about 8:00, just as Zook and I were finishing making some thick cribbing needed to raise the working
end of her Kubota higher off the ground… and hopefully high enough for her to be able to set the shed beams in place. Miracle of miracles, the first four beams went up and on with minimal fuss and bother, though the hole for the J-bolt obviously was an inch too far south on the west end of the first 10″ beam. No one to blame but me for that little faux pas, as I both measured for and drilled that hole. Raising the second 10″ beam was another matter entirely. The Kubota’s main boom kept dropping with that heavy a load, so we despaired of ever getting the beam high enough to go over the J-bolt pins. To make an hour long tale of really hard travail mercifully short, we eventually prevailed… and with all fingers and toes intact. After Tammy left, I redrilled the hole that was
out of place in the first 10″ beam, creating a REALLY ugly cavity, big enough to
hide a Volkswagen in, that will (mercifully) be hidden under the shed upper level flooring. Zook also redrilled several countersink holes that were either not deep or wide enough. During that process my Makita 3/8″ drill gave up the ghost (bearings making an awful bad grinding sound). On a positive note, we checked dimensions and found that the end beams are only 1/16″ out of square… more than good enough for this project. Then we tried to trim off the ends of the two end beams, first using Perry’s Milwaukee Sawsall with a new 12″ blade, then using a very dead hand saw, then using my trusty brush saw. No joy… and three strikes means bring in the relief pitcher, Mr. Jonsered. By well-earned adult beverage time, three of the four corners were cut to length, though one cut was not even close to perfect. Guess I won’t be entering the chainsaw ice sculpture carving contest this winter… Marty, Merry, and Perry arrived to admire the day’s progress… and just in time to help Zook and me keep the Fern Lake beer consumption metric at a proper level. Still lots of activity around the evil stinging insect nest all day… so emptied the Raid can into the entrance holes at dusk.
Lots of activity around the underground yellow jacket nest this morning, so they got another dose of spray. Unfortunately the nest entrances (note the plural) are in the tangle of roots belonging to the huge white pine next to the shed excavation, so firing for effect is more than tricky. The Goodro Lumber truck showed up at 7:30 with the Advantech ¾″ tongue and grove engineered wood and construction adhesive needed to create the shed floor. Tammy came back about 8:00, just as Zook and I were finishing making some thick cribbing needed to raise the working 
end of her Kubota higher off the ground… and hopefully high enough for her to be able to set the shed beams in place. Miracle of miracles, the first four beams went up and on with minimal fuss and bother, though the hole for the J-bolt obviously was an inch too far south on the west end of the first 10″ beam. No one to blame but me for that little faux pas, as I both measured for and drilled that hole. Raising the second 10″ beam was another matter entirely. The Kubota’s main boom kept dropping with that heavy a load, so we despaired of ever getting the beam high enough to go over the J-bolt pins. To make an hour long tale of really hard travail mercifully short, we eventually prevailed… and with all fingers and toes intact. After Tammy left, I redrilled the hole that was
out of place in the first 10″ beam, creating a REALLY ugly cavity, big enough to hide a Volkswagen in, that will (mercifully) be hidden under the shed upper level flooring. Zook also redrilled several countersink holes that were either not deep or wide enough. During that process my Makita 3/8″ drill gave up the ghost (bearings making an awful bad grinding sound). On a positive note, we checked dimensions and found that the end beams are only 1/16″ out of square… more than good enough for this project. Then we tried to trim off the ends of the two end beams, first using Perry’s Milwaukee Sawsall with a new 12″ blade, then using a very dead hand saw, then using my trusty brush saw. No joy… and three strikes means bring in the relief pitcher, Mr. Jonsered. By well-earned adult beverage time, three of the four corners were cut to length, though one cut was not even close to perfect. Guess I won’t be entering the chainsaw ice sculpture carving contest this winter… Marty, Merry, and Perry arrived to admire the day’s progress… and just in time to help Zook and me keep the Fern Lake beer consumption metric at a proper level. Still lots of activity around the evil stinging insect nest all day… so emptied the Raid can into the entrance holes at dusk.
