Mid-morning, while I was disassembling forms and bracing and Chree was busy neatly stacking the used-but-good lumber and plywood, Geisha (our German Sheppard) made an unauthorized visit to the lake. Bad doggie!!!! She spent the rest of the day tied up outside the RV (Geisha, not Chree)… about which situation she was less than happy. Shlomo (our Black Lab) stayed close by where we were working (good doggie!!)… after getting caught twice trying to sneak off to the lake himself. By the end of the day Geisha was reasonably dry and enough of the bracing and forms had been removed from the west side of the shed that we can start building new forms for the walls and roof needed to complete the auxiliary storage area.
Back to Fern Lake via Connecticut with Chree and the dogs. Stopped at Giddings Manufacturing in Pittsford on the way north to pick up the new driveway sign and mounting bracket. Over the course of the two day trip, ALL of the frozen food in the cooler thawed, creating a major mess. While Chree was dealing with that and getting settled, I took the Ranger up to Carrara’s for another 1,000 pounds of stone for making concrete. Then we continued disassembling forms and bracing from the rock wall reinforcing concrete pour.
Back to Virginia via Giddings Manufacturing in Pittsford, where a new Triangle Square Circle driveway sign was put on order. 500+ miles completely uneventful (other than the usual miserable traffic from Baltimore southwards). Five miles from home a Pepsi Cola truck tried to sideswipe the van, but was saved from doing so by my lightening quick reactions… and that there was no traffic in the lane to my immediate left.
Took Delores up to Kampersville for her bi-monthly $15 constitutional. On the way, with the whole road to myself, drifted right and got 4 inches too close to a dirt bank, discovering the expensive way that the main cabin door steps make a lousy plow. Careless, careless, careless!!!! Returned to Fern Lake with plentiful posterior bruises. Did a few more minor repair jobs, then went back to work disassembling concrete form bracing. Have only found one place (so far) where concrete form “A” has to be removed before concrete form “B”, which can’t be removed until concrete form “A” is removed. That’s why they make saws and crowbars… Removed all the east (shady) side bracing, all the ½″ plywood scaffolding we used to access the walls, plus the top-most braces on the south and west sides, before the siren call of the lake became simply overwhelming. The lake level now is officially below the level of the dock.
Have been promising Delores for about a year that the first nice day when not on a tight deadline would be devoted to spring cleaning. That was today. Removed a year’s worth of grime and dog hair from the carpets, then used nearly a roll of paper towels and a quart of Windex to clean the exterior windows and skylights. Also did a bunch of minor repairs that have been festering for awhile. Mid-afternoon saw those jobs complete, so began disassembling concrete form bracing.
After all the hustle and bustle yesterday, decided to put the engines on dead slow ahead for today. Shoveled the 300 pounds of stone still in the Ranger into a pile close to where I’ll be using it to make more concrete at the end of the month. Then overloaded the truck with 10 sheets of unused ¾″ CDX plywood and a bunch of 2 x 4’s (the forming materials I didn’t use to brace the interior side of the rock walls) and returned them to Goodro Lumber for a nice $280 credit on my burgeoning account. After that, emptied all of Delores’ exterior storage compartments, vacuumed them out, then inventoried and restowed their contents. The inventory part was to refresh my brain on what I have and what I’ll need for the next phase of the shed building saga… and remove a few items that have been overtaken by events. The cleaning and neatly rearranging part? Well, that would be Doug AAA in action.
Another 12-hour day, but I THINK we’re ready for concrete. Building and bracing the forms has used 25 pounds of deck screws, 150 8 foot 2 x 4’s, a dozen each of 10 foot and 12 foot 2 x 4’s, 10 sheets of new ¾″ CDX plywood plus virtually all of the plywood salvaged from the forms for the shed footers and concrete columns, and 6 quarts of used motor oil. It takes a lot of “stuff” to hold 14 tons (7 cubic yards) of concrete, which is what I hope to be ordering first thing in the morning.
A nasty, rainy day with temps in the mid-60’s. Second day in a row that the mosquitoes were so benign that no bug dope or insect repelling lantern were needed. Josh (who I had expected to arrive at 8:00) called at 11:00 to let me know that he wouldn’t be coming over to work today… a day when I really could have used his help. Reliability isn’t his strong suit. Continued building and (between downpours) installing concrete forms for the auxiliary storage area walls. Designing as I build is not my forte, as evidenced by the number of pieces that have had to be rebuilt after I saw that they wouldn’t work as originally constructed. However, having a roof overhead really made the whole working-in-the-rain experience much more pleasant. At 5:00, as they were leaving for a restaurant dinner, Marty & Merry invited me to join them. I reluctantly demurred due to general decrepitude and a need to keep working, which I was still doing when they returned a couple of hours later.
Only worked a half day today: 7 to 7. Josh and I continued building, installing, and bracing forms for the auxiliary storage area walls, then installed the rebar that we cut and bent yesterday. Also dug, formed, and installed the rebar for the concrete threshold needed to properly seat a garage door in the north (open) end of the shed lower level. Once Josh departed for his real job late afternoon, spent a frustrating half hour trying to get hold of Carrara Concrete, whose phone answering message assured me that they were open for business… but try as I might, I could get no human on the line. So now I can spend all weekend wondering whether all the people and equipment I have arranged for Monday morning will have any concrete to pour. Thoroughly irked, installed the third and fourth courses of rebar in the shed roof form, completing that job. In keeping with the general ambiance of the moment, had rancid chicken and curdled milk for dinner.
Up to Taylor Rental first thing to retrieve my most favorite tool: the rebar cutter / bender. Josh LaFlam arrived at 8:30 and got a great workout using the cutter / bender to fashion rebar for the auxiliary storage area walls and roof. (Sometimes it’s good to be the boss… with a bad back!) When the cutting was done the only thing that wasn’t bloody… no, no, different song. When the cutting was done, we started building the concrete forms for the aforementioned auxiliary storage area walls. The evening occasioned another fabulous repast at Marty & Merry’s, made even more enjoyable by the company of Tammy Walsh and her spouse, Fran Viko.
Laid the second course of rebar in the roof form. The third and fourth courses (18 pieces) need some minor trimming as the rebar layout has changed slightly since Chree and I cut the pieces 14 months ago. Plan early, plan twice… Went over to Lynne & Perry’s to do a load of laundry. While that was going round and round, continued on to Carrara’s for another 750 pound load of stone, this time precisely measured by their mixing plant. Used half that stone to make six wheelbarrow loads (600 pounds) of concrete which was placed, as quickly as I could in the near-90 degree heat, into a 42 inch high between-column form. This was the proof-test to see if, without bracing, 36 inch lifts are feasible when we pour the rest of the walls next Monday. Answer, with fingers firmly crossed, is yes: the test section, not braced at all on the shed interior side, did NOT collapse or show any signs of movement.
Today was another of my “lucky” days. The lasagna sauce I made tasted terrible; the wheelbarrow tire went flat and separated from the rim; and vandals unknown stole the Triangle Square Circle driveway sign. On a positive note: the mechanic at the MacDonough’s gas station in Brandon fixed the wheelbarrow tire quickly for no charge and the mosquito control spray truck just passed through the neighborhood. Rooted around and found enough stones to finish the rest of the mosaic by early afternoon, then laid the first (of four) courses of rebar in the roof form. The lake felt especially wonderful after working all day with the air temp in the mid-80’s. The lasagna was definitely not one of my better creations… but I wolfed down a bunch of it anyway.
Into Burlington in the morning to do some home handyman tasks for Alverta. Spent the afternoon continuing the underground roof mosaic. As anticipated, ran out of previously selected and washed rocks with the form half-filled. Managed to scavenge enough rocks to achieve 75% completion before the siren call of the lake got too overwhelming.
While Katy studied for two final exams that she has to take on Monday, Alex and I built and installed the 2x10 roof frame over the 2x4 base we constructed yesterday. Then the three of us built the insert that will create a void in the bottom of the stone and concrete roof into which a light fixture will be mounted. Katy and Alex left to return to Boston after a late lunch. I then began placing a mosaic of rocks in the bottom of the roof form. The concept is that when you look up at the bottom of the concrete roof from inside the lower level of the shed, you will see the rock mosaic vice an ugly slab of concrete. Fingers crossed that the concrete binds tightly to the rocks… so hard hats will not be required while visiting the cave. Got about ¼ of the mosaic done while using about ½ of the rocks set aside for that purpose. Obviously there’s a reckoning coming.
Spent the morning scrubbing and polishing. Katy and Alex arrived at 11:30, just as I was finishing cleaning. After lunch we built the 2x4 base frame on which the roof framing will sit. After getting the base perfectly level and square, we filled it with compacted sand, creating a firm underlayment for the rock mosaic and, ultimately, a whole lot of rebar and very strong concrete. Alverta arrived at 2 o’clock (with her kayak) and supervised while we finished the sand compacting and leveling process. Steve (brother) and Mary (his girlfriend) arrived about 3, at which time we lit the cooking fire and adjourned to the lake for canoeing, kayaking, and swimming. Lynne and Perry arrived just after we finished our water therapy, which was the trigger for a whole heap of barbequing (chicken shish kabob with lots of veggies) and malt beverage consumption. Used some charcoal briquettes in with the wood fire coals this time, which worked great… a nice even heat for cooking. For dessert we surprised Alverta with a birthday cake and some horrible singing. Tuneful the Perkins family ain’t.
A beautiful, cool, very windy day… perfect for working without being bothered by bloodsucking insects. Took eleven hours, but got the four shorter sections of the east wall formed and braced. Now all of the walls are ready for concrete reinforcement. Originally estimated the forming and bracing would take three days. Actually took four times as long! I must be getting speedy in my old age…
Welcome to Vermont, where, if you don’t like the weather you just have to wait a minute. Yesterday: upper 80’s; today: lower 60’s and windy (which kept the mosquitoes away, thank you very much); tonight: upper 30’s! Needless to say, Delores’ furnace is back in operation… and swimming after work just didn’t seem that appealing. Finished bracing the west wall concrete forms… and in the process used up the ninety 2x4’s I got the other day. Fortunately Goodro’s is VERY responsive. Ordered sixty more at 1 o’clock and they were delivered at 3:15.
Worked on bracing the west wall concrete forms that I built yesterday. It was hot, hot, hot down in the hole… but that meant it was too hot for the mosquitoes for most of the day, so count your blessings. Literally drank a gallon of water, which normally is almost a week’s supply. If I’d been smart, and there hadn’t been so much to do, should have gone for a swim mid-afternoon instead of waiting until quitting time.
