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| 15 April 2011 |
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| 15 October 2011 |
Back to Virginia in just over 8½ hours, ample time to reflect on what was accomplished this summer, and sink into a blue funk at thought of being gone from Vermont for the next six months.
Bit the bullet and picked up another five squares of white cedar shingles needed for siding the shed. Tammy Walsh had warned me that fresh shingles tend to shrink significantly and unpredictably. Buying them now will allow the shingles to dry in the shed over the winter, so they won’t shrink (or at least not as much) when put up next spring. Used a can of spray foam insulation to seal the joint between the rim joists and the top of the between-column rock walls. BIG mistake and made a huge mess. Should have just mortared that joint to prevent air, insect, and rodent incursions. Started cleaning up and stowing the shed lower level, including removing all the leftover rock from the wall building project.
Forecast was for rain, rain, rain. Actual weather: partly cloudy, reasonably warm, and dry, except for one shower during breakfast. Inserted Hopea Kanootti into the shed upper level for winter storage, then built a temporary covering for the shed door opening through which the canoe was slid. Checked all the soffits for rodents and found naught but some moths that had checked out but hadn’t left, á la Hotel California. I officially declare the shed upper level a rodent-free zone for this coming winter. Continued picking up and putting away for the winter all the “stuff” scattered about the work site.
Took Delores into Middlebury for propane and petrol. Put 18.4 gallons of the former into a tank that supposedly only holds 18 gallons… guess I was kinda running on empty. Put 50 gallons of gasoline into the 75 gallon tank, which only set our heirs back $175. Now the bad news: Delores sucked down that 50 gallons while trundling a bit under 300 miles since her last fill up… which works out to an astounding 5.8 mpg. Cruise control worked perfectly on the way north and (thank you very much, Ms. Delores!), wouldn’t work at all on the way back to Fern Lake. Spent some time tidying up the job site in preparation for tomorrow’s forecast rain and this weekend’s packing up and moving out. Went for dinner with Marty & Merry to a nice Italian restaurant on the Killington Mountain Road, which gave us a chance to see some muted fall foliage and the Hurricane Irene flood damage on Route 4 in Mendon. Also gave me a chance to revisit old haunts from the season that I was a professional ski patrolman at Killington. No surprise, things have changed just a bit in the past 40 years, though the Pickle Barrel is still there, the après ski dive where Chree first was introduced to a Rusty Nail.
The between the columns rock walls are DONE!!!! History buffs will note that the first rock in those walls was laid on 26 July 2010… 14½ months ago. Mixed emotions having reached this major milestone: glad to be moving on to something else (laying and mortaring rock day after day after day after day gets a might tedious) but did enjoy the creativity… and found that I was actually a pretty good stone mason. But definitely not twenty-third degree. Oh, yeah, another fabulous Indian Summer day… and the burgers and dogs cooked over the campfire were way beyond fine eats.
Another gorgeous Indian Summer day, with temps in the mid-70’s. Another day spent laying and mortaring rock onto the between-columns walls. One course to go!
If you ever need to know when will be the hottest day of Indian Summer, just ask Perry what day he wants to move firewood from his split pile to the ready-for-burning ricks next to his house. Temps near 80 today as he and I moved and stacked 3-plus cords of wood. The Hurricane LPA slid down real easy afterwards, dinner (as always) was delish, and I’m sure to sleep quite soundly tonight.
Ran errands in Middlebury first thing. Alverta arrived at Fern Lake just before I returned at 9:30, bringing one of my favorite desserts (‘cause, Lynne, she loves me best) and some tomato basil soup. We surveyed the trail where will be built the wooden walkway from the patio down to the waterfront: 440 linear feet with a 56½ foot elevation change. Building that walkway likely is the next project on the list once the shed is complete. After lunch, we painted and applied nonskid to the shed ramp. This being a nice warm day (mid-70’s), decided to go for a swim and raise the dock stairs up into their winter storage position (which has to be done from in the water). Water temp now a two octave 65 degrees; not too bad once you’re in and swimming briskly, but getting to that state…
Six inches left to go… either one or two courses depending on which rocks I choose to use. Jeffrey Many came by to replace the window inserts and make some adjustments to the shed garage door, which was hitting the cable wheels when it was opened manually and was bindin’ somethin’ awful when it tried to close electrically. Even after all Jeff’s machinations, the top west corner still is hitting the cable wheel when the door is opened manually, but does now close properly when you push the magic button. Latest word is that Genie no longer is making the single button remotes that I ordered, though the search is on to see if some distributor has a couple in stock. More to follow…
Another day, another course laid and mortared, though not without considerable frustration… seemed like every rock I touched promptly fell off the wall. Not a good day when you run out of expletives and have to start repeating yourself. Also found out that the rubber gloves used for dishwashing really aren’t rugged enough for washing rocks. But when the temperature is slightly above freezing, having dry hands was nice… for awhile. On a positive note, the auxiliary storage area floor came out reasonably level, in spite of it having been troweled flat purely by eye. Guess that must mean that I’m a (wait for it) level headed guy.
Laid and mortared another course of the between-column rock walls in the three incomplete sections. Mixed up a batch of concrete and poured the floor for the auxiliary storage area. We’ll find out later just how level the floor is… Started moving odds and ends into the shed upper level for winter storage. Cleaned up the mess I made the other day with Mr. Jonsered on the path down to the lake.
Installed the door handle and deadbolt lock on the shed people door. Liam Powers came by to exchange one of the florescent light diffusers (cracked on receipt) and regaled me with the tale of why it has taken nearly six months to get an intact replacement. Finished the course of between-column walls that I’ve been working on since forever. Only five more courses to go and those three sections will be done. Built the form into which I will pour concrete for the auxiliary storage area floor. Started raining just as I finished work for the day.
Stayed up well past midnight reading Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon. Consequently, energy level today was kinda droopin’. Trimmed the rocks already dry laid in the three sections of between-columns rock walls that are still abuilding, then mortared them into place. Put the final top coat of paint on the south wall vertical trim and the people door. Took chainsaw in hand and cleared branches and trees that were impinging on the path down to the water.
Assembled the shed ramp and lag bolted it into place. Should be strong enough: my calculations show that it will support better than 1,600 pounds. Top surface still needs a couple of color coats (gray) with nonskid (sand sprinkled onto the still wet first coat, then, once dry, covered with a second coat). Nailed up the two corner trim pieces on the south wall. Applied one color coat to the corner trim and the people door, which didn’t dry before quitting time due to the cold, moist, cloudy, typical Vermont fall day. Lots of Canada geese overhead all day, headed south.
A totally cold, wet, nasty, miserable, rainy day, perfect for curling up in bed with a good novel. I should be so lucky! Put together the two south wall corner trim pieces, then applied a second coat of primer… which didn’t dry due to the cold, wet, nasty, miserable, rainy day. Also put a coat of primer on the ¾″ Advantech that will become the top surface of the ramp. It, too, didn’t dry because of the… Sealed up the large opening to the left of the people door with odd pieces of ⅝” Advantech, scrap from the roof construction. Took an hour to put together that covering, which will come out in the spring by removing just six screws. Discovered that the inside of the auxiliary storage area was nice and warm, dry, and completely sheltered from the wind. So spent a productive hour smoothing up some crappy concrete work with hand sledge and chisel.
