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!