31 July 2011

Laid and cemented 4½ cubic feet of rock in three sections of the between-columns rock walls. Note that yesterday I didn’t specify the year that I expect to be done, just that it will be on Christmas.  Found another Vermont-shaped stone in the pile so placed it in a prominent spot.  The rock pile has, once again, reached that state of depletion where finding stones of the right size is extremely problematic.  Case in point: for the first section I’m going to work on tomorrow I need stones 3½ inches thick in order to “hit the mark”.  Don’t got.  So do I go on a search and destroy mission or miss the mark?  News at 11.

30 July 2011

It’s never a good sign when getting out of bed in the morning brings tears to your eyes.  Worse, 800 mg of Vitamin I did not solve the problem.  Fortunately, Chree had left some narcotics behind (from her rib-breaking episode) and, even though it is a Federal offence to take those pills if they have been prescribed for someone else, I figured some jail time couldn’t be any worse than my condition this morning.  By 10 o’clock things were much better and I might even have given a turtle swimming in molasses a run for its money.  At the end of the work day I had finished another course for four sections of the east wall.  Not too shabby, you say, until told that Steve had dry-laid three of those sections yesterday.  Today’s effort added about 5 cubic feet of rock to the walls; there are 65 cubic feet of walls yet to be built.  Hope to be done by Christmas!

P.S.: Two bad tarps do not equal one good tarp.  Also, stick matches left out in a torrential rain don’t work so good anymore.

29 July 2011

Remember: good things ain’t cheap and cheap things ain’t good!  Last fall I bought a good tarp that just covered the shed’s 20′ x 12′ Advantech flooring, instead of the $50 more costly 30′ x 15′  size.  As a consequence, for the last six months there have been major water intrusion issues affecting the flooring edges, oak beams, and the garage interior.  Not good!  First thing this morning Steve and I put my old, cheap, green 30′ x 15′ tarp (that leaks in the middle, but not on the edges) underneath the 20′ x 12′ tarp (that doesn’t leak but doesn’t protect the building edges)… something I should have done ages ago. Today I had a serious case of the clumsies, culminating in taking a situationally-unaware step backwards while working at the rock splitting station… right off the shed turnaround retaining wall. Unfortunately, instead of just falling a few feet to the ground, I fetched up against a large spruce tree, causing some moderate damage to my right-side ribs. But that’s why I keep a large stash of therapeutic strength Ibuprophen on hand!  Perry stopped by around noon to drop off his Remington nail gun, which is a gun in the literal sense – the device shoots specially hardened nails into concrete using 22 caliber rounds.  Just EXACTLY what a person with the clumsies needs to be using!  Perry also brought over a grocery bag filled with vegetables right out of his garden... and the last of the wild red raspberries for this season.  Yummy!!!!  Steve and I finished the west side between-column rock walls, plus we got a course laid in each of the five sections on the east wall that are all that remain to be completed.  The forecast rain arrived just as Steve was leaving at 4 o’clock, so I went into Middlebury to fetch five more 75 pound bags of Type S masonry cement at Goodro’s and a few essentials (more Ben & Jerry’s and honey roasted peanuts) at Hannaford’s.  Back inside Delores during the midst of the downpour (which will be a perfect test of my two-tarp shed protection system), on a whim I pushed the switch to retract the main cabin door steps… which retracted just fine.  Somebody pass me the Scotch!!!!

28 July 2011

Steve Osmer arrived at 8:30, ready, willing, and eager to engage in some serious rock wall building.  I think he expected that we would get all the rest of the walls built in the next two days… and didn’t understand (at first) that getting one course laid and cemented in each of the nine remaining sections in one day was really a phenomenal effort. But by 5 o’clock, that’s exactly what we’d accomplished.  Kingsley’s corn, brews and barbequed bovine for dinner.

27 July 2011

Finished installing the auxiliary storage area light fixture.  Also cleaned a few doggie tar footprints (that would be you, Shlomo!) off the RV carpet.  Then Dan came over for a day of volunteer hard labor and male bonding (Kate being at rehearsal for the play she is in at the Dorset Playhouse).  Together we got a course of rock laid and cemented together in all nine sections of the between-column walls still under construction.  After work we swam across the lake and back, which made us both really, really hungry for chicken BBQ, cooked over the wood fire, and served with all the fixings. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

26 July 2011

Between catching-up-on-the-news visits with Marty and Kate & Dan, spent most of the morning building a stand for the radial arm saw.  Then started placing rock in the sections on the east wall that need to be built up from the top of the concrete pour to the bottom of the rim joist.  Got one course dry laid in two sections before heading into Middlebury to settle my account with Lou Nop.  Worked on installing the auxiliary storage area light after returning to Fern Lake… since that was a nice dry spot to work and a major deluge was occurring.

25 July 2011

Minimal traffic delays leaving the Washington, DC area and en route meant getting to Brandon in 8½ hours (10 minutes before the bank closed), in spite of heavy rain through most of New York State.  Sun came out, briefly, while I was unloading the van… but started pouring soon after the obligatory full immersion check of the lake temperature was complete.  Oooh la la, 80 degrees of pure bliss!  Truck battery totally dead when I went to fire up Delores to extend the living room slide-out.  Fortunately the coach batteries were fully charged and the RV has that life-saving cross-connect switch.  Main cabin door stairs cycled in  and out several times of their own volition while I was running the truck engine… a strong indicator that a short in the power supply for the stairs was why the truck battery was flat.  Had the first Kingsley sweet corn of the season for dinner.

11 - 12 July 2011

Back to Virginia via a short, but delightful as always, stay with Frank & Fran in Connecticut.

10 July 2011

 

Finished the job of sealing the seam between the underground roof and the rock walls using a different and, I think, much better technique.  First I filled the void almost full with 1 part Type S cement mixed with 2 parts masonry sand, then I filled the final ½″ (very quickly!!!!) with hydraulic cement.  While that was ongoing, Chree continued spreading tar, even getting a fair bit on the walls.  Joining her frolic in the sun, we finished the walls and the underground roof by lunchtime.  Our clothes and sneakers went straight into the empty tar bucket.  Even after lots of mineral spirits, a swim, and a hot, soapy shower, we still left tar stains on everything we touched. Worked in the afternoon moving the sauna stove and other equipment into the shed and straightening up the work site.  After dinner, picked up Lynne & Perry at their place, then went to a concert of west African music at the Middlebury Festival on the Green.  We returned to Fern Lake before the concert was over…

9 July 2011

Up to Taylor Rental first thing in the morning to liberate their monster grinder, the one that ‘bout killed me last summer when I was “fixing” the concrete column heights.  Over the last year the grinder hadn’t lost any weight (15½ pounds) or power (lights throughout the county dimmed every time I pulled the trigger).  Even though the grinding wheel said “concrete”, it did a number on the steel rebar lifting bails in no time flat.  Then I used the grinder to smooth various concrete surfaces that needed attention.  By the end of the morning I was pretty well whipped… but everything needing grinding (and some things that didn’t) was ground. While I was beating myself and everything in sight to death with the grinder, Chree finished disassembling concrete forms.  Applied epoxy to the now-flat ends of the lifting bails to seal them against rust and water intrusion. Started applying hydraulic cement to the too-wide seam between the concrete roof and the rock walls.  When they say in the directions that the mix sets in three minutes they don’t mean three minutes and thirty seconds!  Tried mixing 1 part Type S cement to 2 parts masonry sand to ½ part hydraulic cement to get a (hopefully) somewhat water-resistant mix that had a working life of 10 minutes or so.  Got about half that job done by the time I’d had enough fun for the day. 

8 July 2011

The day of the Big Lift!  Kevin, the crane operator from Nop’s Metalworks, arrived at 6:45 a.m. to inspect the shed underground roof and lifting situation.  He asked that the 26″ diameter stump from the red oak that Toby Rheaume took down last fall be cut down to ground level.  Now cutting a 26″ diameter stump with a 16″ chainsaw bar is an iffy proposition at the best of times… at least for me.  Plus, the wood close to the ground in a tree stump is particularly tough.  Had to stop twice to resharpen the chain.  After the second stop, the saw refused to start.  And then it refused to start some more.  In extremis, called Perry, catching him just as he was leaving his house, and asked that he bring his chainsaw over when he came to observe the Big Lift.  That meant, of course, that as soon as I hung up the phone my saw started and ran just fine.  By 8:30 all was ready and Alverta, Marty, and Perry were on hand to witness events.  At 10:15 Kevin returned with a gigantic mobile crane… emphasis on the gigantic part.  The delay in his return was caused by the less than Indy car speeds at which the crane travels down the road.  Rigging the crane (which was parked right on top of the now-flat red oak stump) took about 45 minutes.  Then it was time for me to make a serious mistake.  Chree and I mixed up 60 pounds of loose mortar and placed it in a 1″ high ribbon around the walls on which the roof would sit.  I figured the mortar would be squeezed nearly flat by the 6 ton roof and would provide both an absolutely perfect bearing surface for the roof and seal the joint between roof and walls. Wrong!!!!  The mortar only squeezed to ½″ thickness, so instead of the roof resting on 10″ thick walls, it is resting on a 2″ wide bed of mortar.  (Note to file: next time use a thin layer of Top ‘n Bond spread full width on the walls.)  On a positive note, in only 15 minutes (start to finish) the roof was hoisted and fit into position on the walls just as planned… and no rocks fell out the bottom.  Then we discovered that pouring the 7 inch slump concrete on 6 mil polyethylene was maybe not such a good idea… the mix that seeped through the rock matrix took on the high-gloss patina of polyethylene.  That is not the rough hewn “look” that was desired.  However, a few hours with a cold chisel, rock hammer, and a crick in my neck should correct that not-so-little booboo...  or maybe Taylor Rental has a needle gun.  After the crane left to lumber back to East Middlebury, Alverta provided lunch, then we went canoeing and took the dogs swimming.  Once Alverta headed back to South Burlington, I used Perry’s Sawsall to roughly remove the lifting bails from the concrete roof.  Tried to grind them flat with my 18v DeWalt drill with a metal grinding wheel, but that dog just weren’t goin' to hunt.  So I tackled the job of removing the wood insert that created a void in the roof where a light fixture will be installed.  Some of that wood came out pretty easily once the securing screws were removed and a proper sized wrecking bar was put to use.  But, and don’t try this at home, some of the wood had to be sawed before it could be pried, which meant holding a Skilsaw upside down over my head, then executing a plunge cut and rip with my eyes closed because of the rain of sawdust. Oh, what fun!  Undoubtedly OSHA agents will be here soon to arrest my sorry butt.  After the sawing was done, had to dive in the lake with my eyes open just to rinse the big pieces out and off.  Approaching the RV after my swim, and very short on minutes to get ready for dinner at the Pirkkanen’s, I discovered that Bob LaPorte had just arrived to discuss backfilling the shed cellar hole and building the car turnaround area retaining wall. A beer later (the universal lubricant for Vermont business discussions), Chree and I arrived 45 minutes late for dinner and without the promised wine.  Dinner was already on a tight timeline because we were going to the Salisbury Congregational Church afterwards to hear the Point Counter Point (a summer camp on Lake Dunmore for aspiring string musicians) faculty demonstrating their virtuosity… which was pretty awesome (and some of you know how little I enjoy classical music).  Dinner was delicious, as always, and featured the first honey and gold corn of the season, imported all the way from… (wait for it) Virginia!

7 July 2011

 
Finished stuccoing the wall reinforcing concrete while Chree continued the concrete form disassembly process.  Then we shoveled and swept the wall footers, preparatory to tar and feathering.  You haven’t really had fun until you’ve spent an afternoon in the hot sun putting really thick tar-based foundation coating on concrete walls with a stiff bristle brush.  As you can see in the picture (that Chree insisted be put in the blog), stirring the tar bucket contents was way too exciting.  Amazingly, we got ¾ of the walls coated with one 5-gallon bucket of tar, in spite of applying most of it to ourselves.  How, one wonders, do you get tar on the skin of your back while wearing a shirt… or tar on the skin of your arms while wearing a long-sleeved shirt and gloves?  Just raw talent, I guess.  Jeremy Hughes from The Door Doctor of Middlebury came by late morning to discuss garage door options and pricing.  Having heard both his and Jeff Many’s sales pitches, the only thing clear is that no two companies offer products that can be compared to each other very easily.

6 July 2011

Spent the day, trowel in hand, stuccoing the many places where the wall reinforcing concrete was, shall we say, less than smooth.  Used a fairly stiff mortar made from 1 part Type S cement to 2 parts masonry sand which adhered really well.  (Normal mortar for laying stone is made with a 1 to 3 ratio of cement to sand.)  Chree spent the day, drill driver in hand, disassembling concrete forms and putting the resultant lumber and plywood into the to-be-used-again and to-be-bonfire piles.  Another fabulous dinner at Marty’s and Merry’s – butterflied lamb and roasted veggies done on the grill, along with one of Merry’s to-die-for garden salads, and a very good Jason’s Vineyard merlot from the north fork of Long Island.

5 July 2011

Jeff Many from Green Mountain Door came by early afternoon (and less than two hours after I called him) to discuss options and pricing for the garage door needed for the north end of the shed lower level.  Chree and I spent the day sweating bullets taking apart the rest of the wall reinforcing forms and bracing. The first concrete form I put on (bottom section on the south wall) was the hardest to remove due to perpetual landslide action from the south bank. By the time I got to that section it was in full afternoon sunlight… just brutal working conditions.  Five minutes after that section came off Chree was taking a cold shower and I was in the lake.  It was so hot that Shlomo made several unauthorized trips to the lake throughout the day to cool off… and we didn’t care.  Geisha, on the other hand, is limping badly, probably from spraining one of her joints while chasing Shlomo through the woods, so she stayed close by when not snoozing in the RV.

4 July 2011

 

Alex and I built the form for the last part of the auxiliary storage area roof while Katy and Chree shoveled out Delores.  Amazing how much dirt and associated detritus four people and two dogs can track inside when the ground is wet and muddy.  Discovered the hard way, while trying to “adjust” a piece of rebar that will anchor the roof to the wall, that 15 hour-old concrete is not as strong as I thought it would be.  How much damage was done will be revealed when the forms come off on Wednesday.  Be afraid; be very afraid!  Once the roof form was in place and securely braced, all four of us mixed and placed the 400 pounds of concrete that it took to fill an area 4′ long x 2′ wide x 4″ deep.  That job was done and all tools cleaned by 11.  Alverta arrived at 11:30.  By 1 o’clock we couldn’t resist the call of the lake any longer. Alex and Katy decided to go canoeing.  Immediately after they got underway, Shlomo decided that he wanted to go for a ride, too.  He made a giant leap off the dock… onto Alex, who reacted by leaning just a little too far to port, causing everyone to go for an unexpected swim.  After the canoe was dewatered, Geisha and Shlomo spent their time herding whoever was in the water, canoe, or  kayak back to shore.  Meanwhile, Frank, Fran, and Anne arrived, but sans bathing suits.  So we repaired to the campfire for Hummel hot dogs (the BEST!), burgers, and marinated veggies, chased down by the usual Independence Day beverages, including a surprisingly good Josh Beckett’s Chardon-K, a Longball Cellars chardonnay.  (You’ll understand the subtle play on words only if, like Frank, you’re a devout Boston Red Sox fan.)  Completely sated, it was then time to attend the Salisbury Congregational Church ice cream social, where we managed to do some serious damage to assorted pies, ice cream, and toppings.  Lynne and Perry were there also, entertaining friends from the Big Apple.  Once back at Fern Lake with all guests headed homeward, Chree and I went for a canoe ourselves before tackling an eight person mountain of dishes and empty bottles.  For some reason the dogs seem especially tuckered this evening…

3 July 2011

 
While Alex, Katy, and I were putting together the rest of the forms for the auxiliary storage area walls in the morning, a cold front rolled through, heralded by a wicked good thunderstorm.  Afterwards Katy and Chree removed the forms from the underground roof, discovering that the wooden Triangle Square Circle insets seem to be swollen in place... at least for the forseeable future.  By 2:30 the auxiliary storage area wall forms were in place and the sun was peeking out, so all four of us began the back-breaking task of hand-mixing and placing, one wheelbarrow load at a time, the 2,200 pounds of concrete that it took to fill them up.  I had anticipated that job would take between four and five hours; we finished in 2½, though there weren’t much left of any of us by the end.  Used the form tie and rebar system for the first time and the result, though not perfect, was much better than previously achieved with external form bracing.  A dip in the lake, some Chrysalis Vineyards Sarah’s Patio Red over ice, and wonderful spare ribs done over the campfire soon dulled the pain.  Alex made a tremendous bonfire out of the scrap plywood and lumber.  But, having killed my bottle of Sapling liqueur, we all were abed by 9:30.  Katy slept right through the midnight rainstorm.

2 July 2011

Attended the annual Lake Dunmore / Fern Lake Association meeting for an hour in the morning.  Interesting guest speakers, as always.  Then drove down to sister-in-law Anne Swanson’s place in Charlestown, NH for the annual Tarrio family get-together, this year honoring mother-in-law Fran’s 80^th birthday.  After stuffing ourselves silly with the usual fabulous repast, Katy and Alex followed us back to Fern Lake.

1 July 2011

Worked all day building forms for the auxiliary storage area walls.  Screwed up virtually everything I touched all morning; just one of those days!  Consequently, only got the two forms for the exterior side done, but did install the wall reinforcing steel mesh and roof reinforcing rebar.  This puts us well behind schedule, as I had hoped to place concrete for those walls and the roof on Sunday while Katy and Alex are here to help.  Chree only saw one mosquito all day, but a sudden influx of deer flies late afternoon caused her to don her bee keepers helmet for the last hour of work.  The air temp today was 70 degrees; the lake temperature is 75.  Ahhhhh!!!!!  After a steak-on-the-grill dinner, began the substantial task of making used-but-not-worth-keeping lumber and plywood become pretty flames and smoke.