30 April 2012
29 April 2012
All bundled up in my
winter coat, a heavy sweatshirt, a long-sleeve running shirt, and a tee-shirt
in order to stave off the elements while working outside this morning, Kris and
Scott Higman (dear friends from my working days) called to say how much they
were enjoying the blog postings… and that it was 81 degrees in Charleston, SC,
where they live. Always a cheerful time
whenever I chat with Kris. Scott also
reminded me that Who’s on first. Made
some modifications to the Triangle Square Circle sign to thwart any further
theft attempts similar to what was tried last fall after I had decamped for
Virginia. A good thing Perry was keeping
a close eye on the property, as otherwise we’d be buying yet another driveway
sign. Needed a 5/16 – 18 tap to finish
the sign mods, but of course my tap and die set is in Virginia, so went over to
borrow one from Perry… and also steal a small bit more from his roll of (very
expensive!) Grace Ice & Water Shield.
Installed (incorrectly as usual, but that sucker ain’t never coming
down) a header on the right-hand (or starboard, if you prefer) woodshed door
opening to bring that door height down to match the people door. Also installed a ¾” trim piece so that the starboard
door will be the same width as its counterpart on the port side. Then finished putting up 30# felt around the
opening preparatory to installing the door’s exterior trim and threshold.
28 April 2012
27 April 2012
An eventful day. Started out by driving the Ranger to
Desabrais Brothers Glass, then to Windshield World, in Middlebury, to get
estimates for repairing the Sienna faux pas. From there continued up to Junction Auto for the
truck’s annual inspection. Truck passed…
but only with my promise to bring it back on May 7th to have a
“rotten” structural bracket replaced.
Bet you didn’t know steel could “rot”.
Having examined the suspect member myself, I assure you that the term is
an accurate description of what Vermont winter salt has done. Next stop was the Lowe’s in South
Burlington. They don’t carry the Cabot
Weatherizing Stain and can’t even get it via special order. But Kevin, the Paint Department Manager, most
helpfully called Cabot, whose customer service rep was able to point us to two
other stores in the area that should have the product. On to Alverta’s to help her with some
financial planning and computer issues… plus washing to two loads of very
filthy clothes and lunch (which tastes much better after cleaning). After lunch, ventured to Bibens Ace Hardware
(just a mile from Alverta’s condo), where Chris, the Assistant Manager, said
they didn’t have the stain in stock but could order it for delivery next
Wednesday… but with a four gallon minimum order. The coverage info on the New Cedar can says I
only need two gallons to treat the shed siding and doors; my calculations based
on experience with the New Cedar stain says I will probably need three gallons. But Chris said to try Vermont Paint, located
just another mile down the road (just past Pete’s RV of expensive new
refrigerator fame… but more on that later).
As Vermont Paint was the second place the Cabot rep had mentioned, off I
went. Sure enough, Vermont Paint not
only had the stain in stock, but the price was $2 per gallon cheaper than
Lowe’s. Next stop: Pete’s RV to talk
about replacing Delores’ generator and finding/repairing the massive water leak
underneath the forward roof air conditioner.
In order not to even think about the price tag on those two items I have
opened the Johnny Walker Black tonight… which surely do taste good! Back at Alverta’s, as I was getting ready to
head back to Fern Lake I quickly checked my email. A message from Paul Koenig popped up, saying
that the white cedar 1x4’s I ordered last week were ready to go. So Alverta and I went over to Winooski and
loaded the Ranger with a nice, expensive, pile of lumber (being careful not to
break any windows), that now reposes, most appropriately, inside the woodshed. Temperature tonight is supposed to get down
into the low 20’s… and it snowed off and on all day in Burlington. Did I mention that the Scotch do taste
especially good tonight?
26 April 2012
One step forward, two
steps back, that’s my motto! The more I
looked at the stain on the cedar shingles on the north side of the shed, the
more I thought that the color clashed horribly with the roof. Tuesday, while delivering caloric goodies to
Lynne at her office, I passed by a garage up on Lake Dunmore that was done in
white cedar about three years ago… and, lo and behold, that garage has the same
color stain as I’ve been using… and, guess what, the color is the same today as
it was three years ago. So I called the
Cabot stain company, whose technical service representative said that I need
Weatherizing Stain, not New Cedar Stain, if I want the shingles to turn gray. Thank you, not-knowledgeable paint sales
person at Lowe’s who told me otherwise.
Let me tell you, them 1¼″ narrow crown staples do a great job of
fastening the shingles to the wall.
Hurricane proof and then some!
Fortunately, one of the toys tools I bought myself last year
proved to be just the ticket for pulling those staples, so it only took me an
hour to undo 16 courses of shingles that had taken about eight hours to put
up. The weather is supposed to dry out
and warm up some early next week, so hopefully I’ll be able to get into full
swing installing shingles and coating them with the correct sealer / stain… as
I’m starting to run out of small projects to keep me occupied.
25 April 2012
Dolores needed some
exercise after hibernating all winter and she hasn’t kicked her addiction to
propane, so we trundled our way to Agway in Middlebury to get her a fix… at a
bit more than $4/gallon. That’s
expensive heat! And speaking of cold
weather, the temperature was only 48 at 1 o’clock when I broke for lunch. On the can of siding sealer / stain it
clearly says, “do not apply if the temperature is below 50 degrees or expected to be below 50 degrees within 48 hours”. I was wondering why the sealer
/ stain applied over the past couple of days didn’t seem to be drying… Rather than exacerbate that situation by
putting up more shingles, I made a shingle hod, i.e., a tray for quickly
sorting the shingles by width and then even more quickly being able to select
the shingle of the correct width that is needed next. Clever is my middle Type A name.
24 April 2012
The old aphorism about
the weather in Vermont (if you don’t like it, wait five minutes) certainly was
true today. A mix of almost everything,
with emphasis on the cold and windy. In
between rain showers I got some more siding put onto the north wall. Fussy work, as the end shingle in each row
has to be trimmed to fit just so… and these first dozen or so rows only have
two or three shingles each. Vermont has
been in drought conditions up until this week, so had to put off having a
campfire until tonight lest I set the whole county on fire. Heard on the radio the other day that
hamburger has a very high bacteriological contamination rate, but that adding
oregano to the burger (1 tablespoon per pound) before cooking destroys the
nasty bugs. Tried it; ain’t sick yet and
the burgers tasted great. Of course I
also put in some barbeque sauce, lots of garlic, salt, and pepper… plus what
doesn’t taste great cooked over a wood fire?
23 April 2012
Was supposed to rain all day, so headed into Goodro Lumber this morning to see how much money I could spend on lumber, mortar mix, screening, and Home Slicker. Found out, the hard way, that you can’t put a 12′ long 1 x 4 into the 11′ 11¾″ length of the Sienna. Made sure Chree had a LARGE Scotch in her hand when I called her with the news about the broken windshield. Not cracked, B-R-O-K-E-N!!!! Sun came out this noon and it turned into a beautiful day, so started putting cedar shingles on the north wall of the shed. The new toy I got for Christmas (Porter Cable N150A pneumatic narrow crown stapler) worked like a dream! Not sure I like the color of the Cabot New Cedar stain and sealer, but hopefully that will protect the shingles and allow them to turn gray poste haste.
22 April 2012
21 April 2012
18 - 20 April 2012
In Burlington attending to family matters. While there, my much-abused Canon Power Shot A520 camera finally and most emphatically bit the big one. So procured a new Canon Power Shot A2300 at Best Buy. Also ordered from Koenig Lumber the white cedar boards needed to build the two large doors on the west side of the shed upper level.
17 April 2012
Awake for the usual reason at 1 a.m., noticed that the motion sensor-activated security light was on over at Kate & Dan’s. Investigated and found nothing amiss; strongly suspect the same ghost as likes to activate shed garage doors. Took apart the hot water faucet on the RV kitchen sink. Found nothing wrong. Reassembled the faucet and it now works perfectly. This is why plumbers get gray hair… and make so much money! Spent the day finishing the RV reactivation checklist, emptying the van of tools, getting the Ranger out of hibernation (left rear tire completely flat again, but the truck did start with the first turn of the key), running errands (drinking water and Triangle Square Circle sign from Lynne & Perry’s, chain saw gas / 2-cycle oil / fuel stabilizer, ice cream), and cutting up sundry downed trees (plus one standing dead that Perry thought was a widow-maker ready to strike, so he left it for me to take down… which I did and lived to tell the tale). Perry came over after he finished work and helped set up the radial arm saw… then discovered that I (unknowingly, I swear) have started serving non-alcoholic beer. There goes my hard earned reputation…
16 April 2012
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