25 November 2013
Made the long trek back to Virginia for the winter, made
even longer by having to return north 45 miles to Pete’s RV (dropping off the
dead Storm King battery and the three overlarge replacements that have been
sent to me over the past four months), then stopping at Alverta’s to install a
cane carrying tube on her walker. Traffic light to moderate from there to
Springfield, so made the whole trip in 12½ hours.
24 November 2013
Five inches of fresh snow overnight. Plow truck went up and down the road early,
sanding as it went, but still leaving very dicey driving conditions to be
negotiated with a light pickup and heavy tractor on a big trailer. Surprisingly, made it the five miles down the
hills (in 4WD low range and 2nd gear for the worst parts) to the
paved road with no problems. As always,
drove to Fern Lake via Burlington (going around, vice over, the Green Mountains
with the Kubota in tow). Stopped en
route at Pete’s RV to pick up another replacement battery for the Storm King portable
generator… this one (#3) guaranteed to fit. When I arrived at Fern Lake the tractor,
trailer, and truck were all nice and white… completely coated with road
salt. Absolutely couldn’t put the Kubota
and trailer to bed for the winter in that condition, so, in spite of the
temperature only being in the mid-20’s, washed them off with a hose. Got at least some of the salt off before the
ice coating got too thick. Feeling in my
fingers should come back any day now.
Perry came over shortly after the ice sculptures were complete. We used the backhoe chained to Perry’s
Chinese finger (look it up on Wikipedia if you don’t know what that is) in an
attempt to pull back out of the ground the ½″ PVC pipe that Alex and I had buried in July (but
that now won’t be needed to convey water down to the disapproved waterfront
sauna building). Retrieved some of the
pipe, finding that the strain had broken one of the couplings at the 30 feet point. Perry then helped me tarp Dolores… no mean
feat in the strong, gusty winds that were present. Tucked the Kubota into the shed garage (which
was nice and warm, being mostly underground) for her long winter’s nap, having
put nearly 100 hours on her Hobbs meter this year. Found that, once again, the Storm King
replacement battery was too big. So much for “guarantees”. A fabulous repast and very comfortable
overnight stay at Hotel Pirkkanen.
2 - 23 November 2013
Continued logging in Calais. Sent another 3 truckloads of saw logs and 56
tons of pulp logs off to the mills.
1 November 2013
Drove down to Leicester to meet with Zoning
Administrator Kate Briggs and submit the Building Permit application for our
Fern Lake house. In the course of our
discussions, Kate had me add a Sauna Building and attached deck to the Building
Permit, then approved the whole shooting works on the spot. Prominently attached permit number 47-13-ZA
to a tree at the head of our driveway. A
delightful lunch with Marty & Merry before heading back to Calais.
24 - 31 October
Continued logging in Calais, staying in my brother’s
cabin while he was in Florida for a month, and making a further dent in thinning
the stand of Christmas trees that my uncle and cousins planted in the
mid-1950’s… and never harvested.
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17 October 2013
First thing in the morning took Dolores up to
Kampersville for her final constitutional of the year. By 10:30 had her tucked into bed for the
winter at Fern Lake and was headed south.
Found out right away that “tied down every which way but loose” doesn’t
mean the load can’t shift. Had to stop
three times while still in Vermont to retighten the tie-down straps holding everything
(and the kitchen sink) onto the back of the truck. A little over 9 hours later, arrived safely home
in Virginia. Joan Donahue provided her opinion (via email) that appealing the
Leicester Zoning Board of Adjustment decision about the waterfront building likely
would not be successful.
16 October 2013
At crack of dawn (literally), took Dolores down to
Green Mountain Garage in Brandon to see what was ailing her. Mike “The Ace” Mechanic found water and
“sludge” in the fuel filter that G. Stone Motors replaced last spring. Apparently they didn’t do such a great job
cleaning the fuel tank when they replaced the fuel pump. Mike also found a spark plug wire
disconnected and fried up against the exhaust manifold. Guess I drove to Calais and back on 7
cylinders… We were able to get the slide-out almost in, but, after consulting
with the chief fixing-person at Exit 1 RV in Fairhaven, determined that the
problem most likely is with the slide-out tracks, something Green Mountain
wasn’t equipped to repair and Exit 1 RV was too busy to handle on a walk-in
basis today. Thinking Dolores was as
fixed as she could be, took her for a spin.
Engine performance better, but still weren’t right. Mike took a second look and found another
spark plug wire about to fall off.
Calais and back on 6 cylinders would explain a lot. Fixed that and he took her for a drive. Better yet, but still not right. So Mike replaced all the spark plugs… and
took her for another foray. Better
still, but, again, still not right.
Upshot is, in the spring, I’ll take Dolores back to Green Mountain for
some high temperature spark plug wires… and we’ll see if that does the
trick. Returned to Fern Lake and spent
an hour decompressing by tweaking the rough survey for the Sauna Building
alternative that I like the best. After
lunch, cleaned and packed, then cleaned some more, getting as much of a
head-start on the winterization checklist that is tomorrow morning’s
agenda. A wonderful end-of-season dinner
at Marty & Merry’s to cap off the day.
15 October 2013
Spent most of the morning shampooing Dolores’
carpets, which were miles beyond filthy.
Saw the Fyles Brothers propane truck delivering across the road just
before 9. At 10 called the office to
make sure I was on their delivery schedule for today. Was assured I was. At 10:40 the driver showed up and said I was
not on his schedule but that the office had radioed him to come by. Hmmm…
Perry stopped by shortly before noon to look at some alternative sites I had
picked for constructing a sauna building, then suggested yet another site. Secured the Ranger for winter. For some
reason, only drove that truck 177 miles this year… Loaded 20 pounds of “stuff” into the 5 pound
sack that is the back of the Tacoma.
Just kept piling it on ‘till the pile of tools and other riffraff in the
woodshed was gone, then tied it down every which way but loose. The truck looks like a gypsy caravan on
steroids, but at least all the tools that need to go to Virginia for the winter
(except for the first one I’ll need once I get there) are ready for departure. Lake water temperature is 62 degrees; lake level is14″ below the top of the
dock.
14 October 2013
Met with Joan Donahue in her Middlebury law office
to discuss a possible appeal of the Zoning Board of Adjustment denial of the
proposed waterfront building. Then spent
the day gathering together all of the “stuff” that has to go back to Virginia
from Fern Lake for the winter. Took some
time in the afternoon to rough-survey two alternate sites for a sauna building…
in locations that would not require a property line setback waiver.
13 October 2013
Finished a few logging odds and ends in the morning,
then, with Perry following in the Tacoma (almost to his demise, but more on
that later), drove Dolores back to Fern Lake in the afternoon. Left the Kubota, trailer, and assorted logging
paraphernalia in Calais, as I will be going back there to continue logging in
another 10 days. The battery which is
supposed to start the RV was, of course, completely flat after sitting for six
weeks, even disconnected. The two coach
batteries (which can be used, in extremis, to start the RV) were also hurting,
having provided electricity to Dolores all that time with only 3 hours (on
average) of recharging each day from the Storm King portable generator. But,
with the generator pumping in electrons, the coach batteries were convinced to
turn over the engine just enough for it to start. Whew!!!!
Retracted the living room slide-out, which stuck (and almost stalled the
RV engine) while still sticking out 6 inches.
Did everything I could think of (including cursing it fluently and
repeatedly), but the *#%$^!!! thing wouldn’t come all the way in. Gave up and secured it with the emergency
retraction winch and straps (which also didn’t work to seat the slide-out) so
that the slide-out couldn’t go out again while I was meandering down
forthcoming highways and byways. Suffice
it to say that Dolores did pretty good going downhill, but OMG did she ever labor
going up even the tiniest incline. Took Frenchman’s Hill on I-89 at 45
mph in first gear, with the engine positively screaming! As I was accelerating as hard as I could away
from the stoplight in Shelburne (‘cause there’s a long uphill leaving town),
some bozo made a left turn across the stopped traffic in the oncoming lane… right
in front of me, obviously having no concept of how long it takes 7½ tons of
barreling RV to stop. Slammed on the
brakes, laid on the horn, and almost T-boned the idiot! Perry, caught unawares, almost rear-ended the
RV. Had to pull over three times during
the trip to let the looooong line of cars behind me continue on their way at
the posted speed limit… which Dolores was just laughing at. When we stopped in Middlebury to put $125
into Dolores’ gas tank, forgot that the RV batteries were sick and turned off
the ignition. Came very close to having
to call AAA before, on their last gasp, the batteries agreed to cooperate with
the RV engine once again. Double
whew!!!! Perry said that I had ‘bout
gassed him to death with the toxic fumes Dolores was emitting all afternoon.
(I had wondered why he was following so far back.) Three hours and 100 miles
after leaving Calais (⅓ of which was on an
Interstate highway!), we parked Dolores in her usual spot at Fern Lake… and
Black Label has rarely tasted so good!
25 September - 12 October 2013
Continued logging. Got another two loads of saw logs and two
loads of pulp wood logs out of the woods and off to the mills. On 5 October was notified that
the ZBA had approved the walkway and disapproved the waterfront building.
24 September 2013
Steve & I climbed
Mt. Cardigan in the morning. Wind was
howling at 40+ knots on the summit and our candy bars froze. Lovely weather! Then I drove back to Leicester to attend a
Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) hearing which was considering our request for
property line setback waivers for (1) the already-constructed wooden walkway
and (2) the proposed waterfront sauna building.
After the hearing drove back to Calais.
20 - 23 September 2013
After staying overnight
with Marty & Merry, went down to Boston for the weekend to meet my new
grandson, Devin Douglas Perkins, and visit with Alex & Katy. Then drove up the Steve & Carole’s on
Monday by way of an extensive visit to the neighborhood I grew up in
(elementary school years) in Manchester, NH.
19 September 2013
Drove back to Fern
Lake to attend (with Marty) the Vermont Legislature’s Lake Shoreland Protection
Commission Hearing in Middlebury. Except
it weren’t no “hearing”, unless you count the audience hearing a sales pitch
from the Commission leaders and the Vermont Agency for Natural Resources as to
why extensive new restrictions on lake shore development (and new bureaucracy)
are needed to protect the quality of lakes and ponds that are mostly in
excellent condition, except for Eurasian milfoil infestations… and the proposed
new rules wouldn’t address that issue.
3 - 18 September 2013
Logging in
Calais. Sent one truck-load of spruce
and fir logs to be made into 3,185 board feet of lumber.
2 September 2013
Drove the Tacoma with
trailer and Kubota up to Calais. Rode
back to Fern Lake with Lynne & Perry (who had been in Calais for Labor Day
weekend festivities and fireworks). Then
drove Dolores up to Calais. She was
really hesitant to go up any hills… the short, but steep, climb out of New
Haven Junction on US7 almost defeater her. On the other hand, her parking spot at Steve's campground is simply lovely!
1 September 2013
Morning spent doing
laundry at Lynne & Perry’s.
Afternoon spent loading the generator into the RV, tools into the RV and
truck, the tractor onto the trailer, and trying to get the last load of laundry
to air dry. Three out of four ain’t
bad... Swam across the lake and back,
probably for the last time this season.
Put the dock steps up into their winter storage position.
31 August 2013
The last piece of
lumber was attached to the wood walkway at 12:07 this noon, rendering that edifice
complete. Let the celebration begin!!!! Total materials cost: $6,430.65; total
labor: about 1,000 man-hours; seeing the walkway all lit up at night: priceless.
A mostly rainy afternoon (as forecast), so spent time doing Type A things
organizing and cleaning the wood shed shop… TRYING to ensure that everything I
will need in Calais for the rest of the summer does, in fact, end up in Calais
on Monday.
30 August 2013
Cut and installed the
kick plates on the remaining two walkway sections that were barren of that
architectural detail. Then cut and
installed, with minimal fuss, the piece of railing for the Halfway Bench
landing that defeated me last fall. (See
blog post for 8 October 2012.)
Discovered two more items (my 2½ gallon gas can and electric pad sander)
missing from the Vermont inventory ‘cause Mr. Booby left them behind in
Virginia. Grrrrr!!!!! Swam across the lake and back. Marty brought his brother, Sid, up for a tour
as I was finishing dinner… and really enjoying a Labatt Blue.
29 August 2013
Schlepped the Kubota
down to Giddings in the morning for its 50 hour engine oil, oil filter, and
hydraulic oil filter change. Would have
done the work myself (and saved a hundred fifty dollars) except that the
hydraulic oil filter change was a real bear.
Right after lunch Marty came over for an hour to help feed (while I
pulled) the four electric wires down the conduit between the upper and lower
walkway ends. Then I finished connecting
the conduit to the lower junction box and connecting all the wires inside. Flipped on the circuit breaker and… (wait for
it!) everything worked perfectly. I
know, NOT what you were expecting from Mr. Booby. Marty and Merry came over for BBQ spare ribs
(the ones I pre-cooked in the oven for seven hours on Monday). After another hour over a smoky fire they
were absolutely falling-off-the-bone delicious.
Once it got dark, we staggered outside for Le Grande Illumination! Merry did the honors, throwing the switch
that lit up the entire walkway, top to bottom and back again by the southern
route. Stunningly beautiful, as
expected. After the Lapidii left, I went
for a swim to admire the lighting from the offshore vantage point. Even more beautiful (and the water was pretty
nice, too)!
28 August 2013
Why, oh, why does
Dolores hate me so?!?! Took her down to
the Green Mountain Garage in Brandon at 0730, whereupon Mike the Mechanic
changed the engine oil (finding that Junction Auto had put a transmission oil
filter, instead of an engine oil filter, on the engine at the last oil change),
changed the transmission oil (very black; supposed to be red) and filter, lubed
the chassis, checked the engine antifreeze, and replaced the spark plug wires
(original equipment dating from 1996!).
Mike also showed me why you should keep your car battery clean – there
was a 7 volt current flow across the top of the (very dirty) truck battery,
which explained (we hope) why the battery was losing its charge while Dolores
was in repose over several weeks. As
soon as Mike cleaned the battery, Dolores started right up without recourse to
the coach batteries. Amazing! We also found (and cleaned up) an extensive
collection of acorns, pine needles, and other chipmunk detritus on the top of
the engine… a catastrophic fire just waiting for the engine to get really hot,
like on the trip up to Calais next Monday.
Whew!!!! So, headed north up
Route 7 three and a half hours (and three and a half hundred) later, was just thinking
that Dolores has never run so well when she suddenly started shaking up and
down substantially. Vibration went away
when I lifted my foot off the gas, but came back as soon as I reapplied
power. Oh, fiddlesticks, says I! Limped back to Fern Lake (was somewhat in
denial mode) where I heard a chick, chick, chick sound coming from the engine
exhaust pipe. Suspecting another Dolores
fowl (sic) canard (actually, that one of the newly installed spark plug wires
had become detached), immediately motored slowly back to Brandon. Sure enough,
Mike found no poultry when he crawled back under the beast… but the most
difficult-to-get-to spark plug wire was waving in the breeze! Fingers, toes, arms, and legs crossed that
the problem doesn’t recur on Monday!
Finally back at Fern Lake to stay by noon-thirty, did some grading with
the tractor, cast more grass seed on the slope where the old stairway once
resided, then loaded the Kubota on the trailer for tomorrow’s excursion to
Pittsford. Spent the remainder of the
afternoon mounting various electrical components (low voltage transformer,
weather tight GFI outlet box, and mongo wire junction box) onto the waterfront end
of the wood walkway. An Amber Bock slid
down way too easy at quitting time!
27 August 2013
Surveyed the walkway
so I could accurately draw it on the site plan that has to be submitted with
the Building Permit Application for the Dock Building and Walkway. Got that done just as the Fyles Brothers
truck arrived to deliver 7.2 gallons of propane (all that had been used since
the last fill up at the end of May).
Then started ripping old deck planks into 2 x 2½ ″ boards that will
become kick plates for the 195 feet of the walkway that still need that
component. Was just finishing up that
task when the FedEx truck arrived at 12:45 with the tools Mr. Booby left behind
in Virginia. Thus was able to smoothly
transition to installing said kick plates onto the section of walkway between
landing #7 and the waterfront. Finished
that section, then cut and installed the mounting board for the lower transformer,
just before heeding the siren call of the warm and placid waters. Swam across the lake and back without pausing
to rest on the western side.
26 August 2013
Met with Kate Briggs as planned this morning. She issued, on the spot, our building permit for the Wood Shed, which we have to prominently display for ten days. On a more contentious note, Kate INSISTS that our wood walkway is NOT a handicap access ramp (‘cause, she says, such a ramp can only provide access to a dwelling) and that the walkway is a “structure” in spite of the fact that it is not among the items listed in the Zoning Bylaws structure definition. We agreed to disagree on both those points. Compromise solution: I am adding the walkway to the Building Permit Application that is being submitted for our proposed dock building (that needs a setback waiver) so that the Zoning Board of Adjustment can consider them as a package. The ZBA hearing will be on 24 September. While I was meeting with Kate, the Glassner’s former handyman came in to inquire about building a dock for one of his clients. Kate said that so long as the dock is a temporary structure, i.e., capable of being removed from the water by “two strong men”, then no permit is required from the Town. I don’t think Kate has any idea what even a small wooden dock weighs. The design I am submitting with the dock building / wood walkway application includes the 24 x 12 dock I intend to build, constructed to meet the State requirements for a dock for which no State permit is required. As I was leaving our meeting, Kate expressed regrets that I’m not a full time resident and thus not available to help with rewriting the Leicester Zoning Bylaws… apparently an ongoing project. Methinks a blessing in disguise! Returned to Fern Lake, I put the Ranger into winter storage, i.e., disconnected the battery and called USAA to modify the insurance coverage. Also called the Storm King portable generator manufacturer to find out why the electric start no longer works. Get this: the generator does NOT recharge the starting battery when it is operating, so a few hundred starts later, the battery is out of juice. What idiot designed that system???? Planned to slow cook some spareribs all day. Opened the oven to ignite the pilot light and found… yes, the mouse (mice) had removed all of the rest of Dolores’ insulation and made another Taj Mahal-quality nest therein. Fetched the shop vac to remove said nest and found a baby mouse cowering in the back of the oven. On my way into Middlebury to
25 August 2013
Now you see them, now
you don’t. Backfilled the conduit trench
(mostly by hand, which was an excellent workout), then used the backhoe to dig
a nice deep trench next to the steel pole (and huge concrete base) for the
Glassner’s old satellite dish, toppled the critter over, and laid it to rest
forevermore. In lieu of flowers, the
family requests charitable donations made out to the Christine Tarrio Perkins
Trust. Kate and her houseguest took
Hopea Kanootti for a leisurely spin around the late at noon. While they were out paddling, discovered (no
surprise) that the Ford Ranger battery also was flat, so jumpstarted that truck
with the Tacoma. After letting the
Ranger idle for a half hour, found that the battery is still flat. Merde, alors, if you’ll pardon my
French. Hauled the tandem axle trailer
out of its parking spot to check that all was in working order for its upcoming
trips. One marker light inoperative, but
everything else seems fine. Made an appearance at the annual Lake Dunmore /
Fern Lake Association picnic held at Camp Songadeewin. While there, introduced myself to Kate
Briggs, the Leicester Zoning Administrator, and set up an appointment to see
her officially in her office tomorrow morning.
Another delicious dinner and delightful evening at Marty and Merry’s, complete
with pictures of Chree’s and my first grandchild, Devin Douglas Perkins.
25 August 2013
Now you see them, now
you don’t. Backfilled the conduit trench
(mostly by hand, which was an excellent workout), then used the backhoe to dig
a nice deep trench next to the steel pole (and huge concrete base) for the
Glassner’s old satellite dish, toppled the critter over, and laid it to rest
forevermore. In lieu of flowers, the
family requests charitable donations made out to the Christine Tarrio Perkins
Trust. Kate and her houseguest took
Hopea Kanootti for a leisurely spin around the late at noon. While they were out paddling, discovered (no
surprise) that the Ford Ranger battery also was flat, so jumpstarted that truck
with the Tacoma. After letting the
Ranger idle for a half hour, found that the battery is still flat. Merde, alors, if you’ll pardon my
French. Hauled the tandem axle trailer
out of its parking spot to check that all was in working order for its upcoming
trips. One marker light inoperative, but
everything else seems fine. Made an appearance at the annual Lake Dunmore /
Fern Lake Association picnic held at Camp Songadeewin. While there, introduced myself to Kate
Briggs, the Leicester Zoning Administrator, and set up an appointment to see
her officially in her office tomorrow morning.
Another delicious dinner and delightful evening at Marty and Merry’s, complete
with pictures of Chree’s and my first grandchild, Devin Douglas Perkins.
 |
24 August 2013
Took the Kubota down to the waterfront first thing to finish digging the power / water line trench from where Alex and I left off in early July to the end of the wood walkway. Maneuvering the tractor onto the slope from the upper work road was more than a mite hairy. Even with the seatbelt fastened, I thought I’d have to stop and get clean underwear on a couple of occasions before I got situated. Then, trying to dig the trench while pointed uphill, the Kubota kept trying to do a wheelie… which was a tad disconcerting until I solved that problem by filling the front bucket with rocks. Trench dug, assembled the next 40 feet of conduit and pulled the line through with no problems. [The line will be used, eventually, to pull the electrical wires through the conduit.] Went to feed the line through the very last section of conduit and the $%#@!!! thing came apart. Only thing I could do at that point was to pull all the line back out of the conduit, suck a string through, and use the string to re-pull the line. Kate, up for a weekend of R&R, graciously came over to help feed the string into the upper end of the conduit while I created suction at the lower end using the shop vac. Worked just as advertised. Told Kate I could do the rest myself… oh, foolish me! Was re-pulling the line with only moderate difficulty when… the string broke! So, what should have been a 15 minute job took me over three hours… but at the end of a very frustrating day there is a line all the way through the conduit once again. The lake level is 8″ below the top of the dock and the water temperature is 77°. Can’t decide if the swim after work or the lager and wood-fired T-bone for dinner was the highlight of the day.
23 August 2013
Another mouse,
recently residing in the utensils drawer, has been given a new home at the
Silver Lake parking lot. Met with Joan
Donahue, Esq., in her office to discuss questions about the applicability of
the Leicester Zoning Bylaws to the various construction projects (completed,
ongoing, and future) that are the subject of these ramblings. On the way back to Fern Lake stopped at the
Middlebury Hannaford to procure several food items that got left in Virginia
because I’m an idiot. Then started to reinforce
the plastic milk crate mounted on the Kubota for tool carrying (it wasn’t
holding up to the abuse it was getting) and discovered that I’m even more of an
idiot that I thought… except that apparently even such simple thoughts are
beyond my ken, i.e., I also left both cordless drills, my drill bit assortment,
and my hacksaw behind in Virginia. On a positive (????) note: I now have TWO
full bottles of Black Label and FOUR tubs of butter here in Vermont. Do you suppose the Scotch will
counter-balance the cholesterol? Faked repairs
to the milk crate with my monster hammer drill and a ship auger bit while Tasi
was busy in Virginia getting a $50 FedEx shipment together. Spent most of the afternoon filling out
Leicester Building Permit applications and doing the requisite drawings (site
plan, floor plan, and elevation) for the (already built – oops!) Wood Shed and
(wanted to build this summer but that ain’t gonna happen) Dock Building and
Sauna (that will need a setback waiver from the Zoning Board of Adjustment).
22 August 2013
Left Springfield at
0600 and set a new land speed record to Baltimore – 3 hours 25 minutes, for an
average “speed” of just over 20 mph for that leg of the trip. Finally got to Fern Lake at 1700, completely
strung out. We had emptied the ice cube
trays when we left in July, so had to drink the requisite restorative beverages
neat. What torture! Good news: 1,600 mg of Naproxen taken just before departure
kept the sciatic nerve pain in check almost all the way. Bad news: Dolores is up to her usual tricks,
AGAIN!!!! Starting battery COMPLETELY
flat. Only took me 2½ hours to remember
that the RV coach batteries can be cross-connected to the engine starting
solenoid, i.e., the RV has the capability to jumpstart itself. That done, Dolores condescended to start so
that I could extend the slide-out. Lots
of mouse “signs” in the usual drawers… looks like they found out that the cat
has been away for six weeks.
7 July 2013
Returned to Virginia from
Old Saybrook in 6½ hours, surprisingly fast given the heavy post-holiday traffic.
6 July 2013
Packed up, cleaned up,
locked up and went down to Charlestown, NH for the annual Tarrio Family
get-together at Chree’s sister Ann’s place.
From there Katy and Alex headed back to Boston and Chree and I drove
down to Old Saybrook to spend what may be our last night at 23 Briarwood Drive,
as Frank and Fran are putting the old homestead up for sale this coming week.
5 July 2013
With Alex
demonstrating such precocious virtuosity with the backhoe, decided to continue
trenching for the waterfront power and water lines. The stretch from where Chree and I left off
the other day down the steep slope and through the wooden walkway was best done
with two people operating the Kubota – one controlling the backhoe and
stabilizers, the other controlling the steering wheel, brakes, front bucket
(used as a sea anchor), and forward / reverse foot pedals. Going down the hill was challenging but
relatively benign, as digging with the backhoe tended to pull the tractor back
uphill. When we reached the waterfront we
turned aside from the trench with no problems.
I might have been able to dig faster, but certainly could not have produced
any nicer trench than what Alex did. Alex and I quickly put 100 feet (each) of ¾″
PVC power line conduit and ½″ PVC waterline in the trench, the latter capped
off at the upper end and marked with a 2x2 wood stake. Going down the hill a second time (backwards)
to fill in the trench was fraught with peril, as digging with the backhoe tended to pull the
tractor downhill and the front bucket was relatively ineffective as a sea
anchor. Alex had to use the backhoe
bucket as an emergency brake a couple of times. Chree, Katy, and Alverta (who
had arrived midway through the digging phase) had to leave off watching my hair
turning white. Alex and I got to the
bottom of the trench with all body parts intact and the tractor upright, but,
when I tried to turn aside, the Kubota fetched up against a stump with the left
rear tire and the front bucket snagged a cherry tree… just as a thunderstorm
was rolling in (of course)! With the tractor well and truly stuck, Alex and I
beat a hasty retreat, on foot, back to the RV, where we discovered that Lynne
had arrived and it was already 3 o’clock… the hour previously appointed for our
family cookout. As soon as the rain
(mostly) abated, I started a cook fire. As
soon as the cook fire was roaring away ANOTHER thunderstorm rolled in and… put the
fire right out of its misery. So we
cooked our “barbeque” on Dolores’ stove and somehow managed to seat seven
people (Perry also having arrived in the midst of the second T-storm) around
the RV settee (which nominally seats four… if they’re not too plump). Can you say, “cozy”? After some beer (medicinal nerve-calming
variety) and dinner, Perry, Alex, and I returned to the scene of the crime in
the Case of the Stuck Tractor. After using
our considerable forensic skills to analyze the situation, we filled in a
couple of holes with rocks, then I jacked the rear of the tractor uphill using
the backhoe so I could cut off the stump using Mr. Jonsered. With some absolutely hair-raising jockeying
(seatbelt firmly fastened and convinced on more than one occasion that the “big
roll” was imminent), I extricated the tractor from the cherry tree’s evil grasp
and got it back onto level ground.
Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 July 2013
Did some serious RV
cleaning while Chree went into Brandon for supplies. Alex and Katy (the latter carrying 8 months
of unnamed male progeny) arrived at 10.
Alex was given the honor of striking the match that set the brush pile
ablaze. By 1:30 most of the brush had
been turned into smoke, so Chree, Katy, and Alex went over to meet Lynne at the
annual ice cream social in Salisbury.
While they were gone I finished backfilling the conduit trench. Alex returned for his first backhoe
lesson. In literally a few minutes, it
was like he had been using a backhoe his whole life. So I set him to work digging out rocks for
the waterfront retaining wall. He
succeeded in pulling out a behemoth that (by measurement and later calculation)
tipped the scales at 1,875 pounds, well more than twice what the Kubota can
lift. Marty & Merry joined us for
mutton cooked on the campfire and much hilarity.
3 July 2013
A decent day
weather-wise, FINALLY! Dug the trench
for the first 70 feet of the waterfront power line conduit. I did the first 30 feet and then turned the
controls over to Chree… who immediately came up against an enormous
boulder. Fortunately there was just
enough room to detour around its southern end.
After digging for awhile, Chree named the Kubota Sisyphus and said,
“Digging in Leicester is like trying to put socks on an octopus!” Once the
trench was dug, started laying conduit.
Got two 10-foot sections glued together when I remembered that we needed
to run a line through the conduit with which to pull the electrical wires
later. Major head slap! Have you ever tried to push a ¼″ nylon rope
through a 90° bend and then down 20 feet of ¾″ conduit? That weren’t goin’ t’ work! So used the shop vac to suck a string through
the conduit with which to pull the rope… which worked like magic! The conduit’s closest point of approach to
the (future) house is 8 feet from the southwest corner of the Sun Room. The conduit is at least 10 feet below the
baseline house elevation (top of the foundation walls) from where it crosses
the lower access work road until it turns west, 25 feet west of the house west
wall. By sunset the trench was
backfilled enough for the Kubota to escape back to the shed for the night and I
was more than ready for a plunge in the lake, which is up to a perfect
78°F. Chree and the dogs, meanwhile,
were making sure that Dolores’ air conditioners were in proper working order.
2 July 2013
Very heavy rain all
night and forecast to continue all day, so Chree went into Brandon to do some
more teacher homework this morning.
Stopped raining soon after she left…
Miracle of miracles, got a phone call inquiring about the Ranger. After being honest with the caller about the
underbody rust situation, that was the end of that. Dave Todd stopped by to make sure that the
location where he wanted to stack some firewood for Kate was, in fact, on her
property. It was. Karen and Mark Evans stopped by to invite us
to their annual party across the lake.
Unfortunately we already have plans for Friday evening. Patched the hole that Art Tournet found in
the between-column rocks that could have been an ingress point for the
carpenter ants. After lunch, Chree
practiced her backhoe skills for a couple of hours by digging largish rocks out
of the house-site area for use in the waterfront retaining walls. When she had exhausted her fun quota for the
day, I took the backhoe down the work road to try and move the last rock out of
the way of where the power line conduit trench will go. Almost got the rock moved, and almost got the
tractor stuck (again), but almost only counts... While I was doing that, Shlomo found a dead
fish to roll on down at the waterfront, so Chree had an extra bit of fun trying
to give him a sponge bath afterwards. Took the ½ ton come-along and some
logging chains down the hill just before dinner and had the rock moved out of
the way in less than five minutes. Heavy
rain started again during dinner which is not going to help the widespread
flooding that already is occurring. Cribbage
tournament score stands at: Chree 10 / Doug 0. Glad we aren’t playing for the
usual stakes!
1 July 2013
A totally yucky day. (That’s another of those technical weather-speak terms that means rain, rain, and more rain.) Took the Kubota in the lower work road to haul out some brush and really didn’t like the side hill in the area where the Ranger slid off the other day. So spent an hour with the backhoe leveling that area out… probably something that should already have been done. The load of brush that I subsequently was hauling out decided to part company with the tow chain right at the fateful spot. Figured I’d done a good enough job making the “road” passable that the Ranger could manage, so brought it in to retrieve the stray brush… no problem! Somewhere along in here Shlomo managed to get tangled in the power cord for my computer and pulled the whole shootin’ works off the table, breaking off the power supply coaxial cable pin that goes into the computer. As Chree and I had had enough fun in the wet, we went down to Rutland (where it was nice and dry, of course) to get a new power supply. The cost will be coming out of Shlomo’s allowance! On the way back, we stopped for a tasting session at the recently established Otter Valley Winery in Brandon. Good company, fair wine. Started raining again as soon as we got back to Fern Lake. Feeling daring, backed the Ranger all the way to the end of the work road… with minimal difficulties. Chree and I piled on another truckload of brush for deposit on the ever burgeoning burn pile. Then I took the Kubota back in to move some very large rocks (just up-slope from the wooden walkway north of the half-way bench) that were in the way of where the waterfront power line conduit needs to run. Got all but one rock moved out of the way… and came very close to getting the Kubota well and truly stuck. After that hair-graying experience, decided to call it a day. Got permission from the Leicester Fire Warden to burn brush on Thursday… assuming the weather breaks as forecast.
29 - 30 June 2013
Down to Old Saybrook,
CT for Chree’s Aunt Pat’s 90th birthday party and family
reunion. Four hours each way. In another example of perfect timing, Perry
called just as we were arriving at the party to request help in loading some
furniture into his truck… here in VT.
28 June 2013
Some rain last night and gusty winds at breakfast time, but nowhere near the monsoon that NOAA was bleating about. So Chree and I had a great workout this morning moving 3,850 pounds of hemlock boards into the woodshed and putting them into a neatly ricked stack. Well over half the boards are 12″ wide… and currently weigh a plump 35 pounds apiece! Calculated that the pile actually contains well over 850 board feet of lumber, which, by the time it finishes drying, will lose over 1,600 pounds of water. While it does so, the woodshed will be smelling absolutely heavenly! When all was done, Chree and I took the surveying gear down to the waterfront to stake the 6 foot riparian buffer that we want to leave between the lakeshore and the excavated area that the dock building will occupy. Then, while Chree was doing teacher summer homework at the Brandon Free Library after lunch, I used the backhoe to start leveling out the path that the electrical conduit will follow between the top and bottom of the walkway. Had to dig almost to China to get out two stumps that were in the way. When Chree returned, we tried to take the Ranger down my new “road” in order to pick up brush. (At this point, read the blog for 4 August 2012, the tale of last time we tried to take the Ranger down this way to pick up brush.) You guessed it! At almost the same spot that the Ranger got hung up on a rock last year, we (I have a mouse in my pocket) hung it up on another rock this afternoon. Unlike last time, however, now we have a tractor. Hooked a logging chain to the towing ball on the stern of the Ranger, ran the other end to the backhoe, gave a hydraulically-assisted gentle pull, and presto change-o, the Ranger was free of its precarious perch. No harm, no foul!
27 June 2013
Toby Rheaume called at 7:30 to say he was on his way over to pick up the hemlock saw logs… just about the time I realized that the heaviest log (that would have to be loaded first into his dump trailer) was buried on the bottom of the stack. Got the stack resorted just as he arrived. Loading the logs was not without its moments… the Kubota was being asked to operate at the very limits of its (and its operator’s) capabilities. After Toby headed out, Chree and I set to work clearing out one side of the woodshed to create space for ricking the hemlock for drying. Then we cleaned up the limbs from the red oak and spruce felled yesterday and bucked the trunks into 8-foot lengths. The unsold Ranger is proving to be a blessing in disguise… taking abuse that otherwise would cause rapid depreciation in the Tacoma’s value. The burn pile is, once again, huge… with more brush to be added before ignition and lift-off. That done, we sorted through the dead ¾″ plywood previously used for cement forms until we found enough “okay” pieces that could be sawed into ricks for the hemlock. Rick sawing accomplished, was doing a few small chores right after lunch when Toby returned with 700+ board feet of freshly sawn hemlock. Had him dump his load beside the
26 June 2013
In between periods of rain this morning we got the rest of the two hemlocks bucked into lengths for sawing, then skidded out of the woods. Have ended up with nine saw logs ranging in diameter from 9 to 19 inches, which should produce 620 board feet of lumber… just slightly less than I figure we’ll need for interior paneling in the waterfront building. Then we took down a 9″ spruce that would have shaded the Sun Room… and was in the way of the trench that needs to be dug for an electrical line running from one end of the walkway to the other. Since we still have Toby’s snatch block and steel cable, used them to take down a 12″ red oak that was, again, right next to where the Sun Room will be and which had a severe lean towards the walkway. As before, Chree did a great job pulling with the Kubota, causing the oak to land right where we wanted it. That tree down, the rain started again in earnest, so we changed clothes and spent a delightful afternoon and some money at the Marble Museum (and Gift Shop) in Proctor. Lake water temperature is 76°.
25 June 2013
Tackled the two big
hemlocks next to the woodshed today. First
one lost its top last winter and the other died this summer. First tree was 26″ thru the butt, which is a
bit of a challenge for a chainsaw with a 16″ bar. Down and bucked, that tree created three 8′6″
logs with 345 board feet of lumber in them… and a really nice chopping block
for over by the campfire. I calculated
the weight of the butt end log as 840 pounds, which the Kubota just barely lifted
off the ground. Then came the real
challenge. Used our 28′ aluminum
extension ladder to hook Toby Rheaume’s steel cable high up in the second tree. Chree didn’t get a picture of that evolution
‘cause the camera was in the RV and she wanted to stay close by in case she had
to call 9∙1∙1. Led the other end of the
cable through Toby’s snatch block (chained to the base of a sturdy beech tree) thence
to the rear end of the Kubota. The concept
was that, as I finished cutting the tree, Chree would pull it down with the
tractor in the direction we wanted it to go.
Only two small problems: Chree had never done such a maneuver before and
she couldn’t see me from where the tractor was positioned for the pull. Can you spell “recipe for disaster”? Next question: Do you know what a “sound
shot” is in deer hunting? Same concept:
when Chree heard me rev up the chainsaw to start the final cut, away she went
on her steed of orange. The end
result? The tree came down within an
inch of where we wanted it, with minimal damage to the surrounding flora and no
damage to the fauna (we being counted among the latter). Would have had that tree pulled out and
bucked this afternoon but we had to make a full-speed run over the Lynne &
Perry’s after lunch for our laundry, arriving (this time) five minutes before
the thunderstorm… which then persisted on hanging around for the rest of day.
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