30 April 2013

Did small chores early morning while waiting for the propane truck, which arrived at 9:30 just as I finished putting up (AGAIN!) the ∆□O driveway sign.  Any side bets on how long it lasts this time????  Spent the rest of the day with the tractor, smoothing out the old stairway path, then carving a rough access “road” across the hill where the current walking path from the house site comes down to the lake.  Why, you ask, have I just spent the better part of a day and a half doing tractor work (besides the obvious fun factor)?  Because there was a huge rock right where one of the wooden walkway in-ground posts will need to go in the next day or so.  A rock that needed to be moved to where it can be used (much later) in a retaining wall, but which would have been impossible to move by single-hand. Gnats came out today.  Not too bad so long as there were diesel fumes in the air, but certainly pesky when the tractor was shut off.  At least they only last two weeks.

 

29 April 2013

Finished landing #5.  Then had an hour or so to spare at the end of the day so took the Kubota and started smoothing out where the old staircase used to be.  Had to move a two-ton rock and transplant a 3-foot tall, beautiful white pine to start.  The rock was a challenge.  The tree was one scoop and done.  By the time it got dark (my how the time flies when you’re having fun), about ¾ of the stairway area was rough graded. Ain’t no superhighway yet, but the slope is already very drivable… had the tractor all the way down to the lake at one point. 

 

28 April 2013

An absolutely glorious day, weather-wise.  Spent the day rooting… and I ain’t referring to the Red Sox.  Every in-ground post for #5 landing needed to be right where one (or more) Sawzall-sized roots were hiding.  Got three more posts in the ground, which doesn’t seem like a major accomplishment but was a full, hard day’s work.

27 April 2013

Round robin trip from Fern Lake to Calais by way of errands along the way. Couldn’t pass by Lowes in South Burlington without spending several hundred dollars (PT 4x4’s for the walkway and Schedule 40 PVC for an electrical conduit and water line down to the waterfront) and needed to make the Treetops Association happy by cleaning the dryer vent hose at our condo.  Helped Steve & Mary move furniture from their self-storage unit in Berlin up to Calais, where I picked up four gallons of 2013 vintage maple syrup from my supplier and walked the land, eyeballing the logging work to be done this fall.

26 April 2013

By 10:30 was back to where I’d left off yesterday, having spent several hours tearing out an 8 foot stretch that did not pass the “bounce test” after I got the deck boards put on.  Had to start anew with stiffer 2x4 longitudinals.  By quitting time had the entire 60 foot section between the halfway bench and landing #5 done except for railings and kick plates.

25 April 2013

Spent most of the morning hand excavating the side-slope where landing #5 will be situated.  The worst digging conditions encountered thus far: nothing but thick roots and rocks.  Put the stringers on the in-ground posts planted two days ago, then realized that the last one (which starts the landing platform) was installed ½″ too high.  It gets worse!  Went to put on the final 16 foot long longitudinals and discovered that I’d planted the in-ground posts for the start of the landing 4½″ too far down the path.  After exhausting my panoply of curses, decided to cut longitudinals to fit the gap rather than dig out and replant the posts.  Got lots of exercise going up and down the walkway retrieving tools from the shed that I’d forgotten to take down to the work site the first time.  Got some deck boards for this final stretch put on when it was time to quit for an adult beverage… or two.

24 April 2013

Took the Kubota down to Pittsford first thing to have 220 pounds of liquid ballast added to each of the rear tires, which greatly improves the tractor’s stability.  Interestingly, the “stuff” they use for ballast these days is what’s left over after pressing sugar beets and soybeans… so it’s noncorrosive and completely biodegradable. Rachel (Giddings chief mechanic) says it doesn’t taste so good, though.  Rachel also fixed the mechanical thumb pin that was binding.  Back to Fern Lake by 9:45 and over to Perry’s by 10:45, having unloaded the tractor from the trailer, suffered some embarrassment as Marty watched me try to back the Kubota into the shed garage with the rollover protection bar in the up position (can you say “crunch”?), swapped out the backhoe attachment for the three-point hitch used to skid logs, reloaded the tractor onto the trailer, and made the commute, remembering en route that I not only had forgotten to lock the RV, but I’d left the keys hanging in the main cabin door lock.  Marty!?!?  Spent an enjoyable 5 hours helping Perry get a bunch of logs out of his neighbor’s woods (with permission), mostly beech intended for firewood, but including two mill-quality black cherry logs containing 150 board feet of potentially beautiful lumber.  Lynne & Perry fed me lunch, beer, and dinner.  Upon return to ∆□O, took some brownies down to Marty & Merry to exchange for the stray RV keys.

23 April 2013

With Dolores being in questionable road-worthy condition and the weather having been rather cold this past week, the approaching need to replenish her propane supply and her ability to trundle into Middlebury are in conflict.  So called Fyles Brothers (the company who delivers propane to Kate’s place), set up an account,  and arranged for them to top up Dolores’ tank right here at ∆□O next Tuesday.  One does wonder why one hasn’t done this heretofore.  Put on a bunch of deck boards, then dug the holes for and planted the last four posts for this section of the walkway. Replaced a clearance light (smashed to hell and gone, don’t ask me how/when) and a turn signal light bulb (old bulb looked fine but sure wasn’t working) on the trailer. Loaded the Kubota aboard preparatory to a visit to Giddings tomorrow for installing liquid wheel weight and rectifying a manufacturing defect in the mechanical thumb on the backhoe.  Planted the greenery and rose bushes that Perry brought over the other evening.

22 April 2013

Amazing how much you can get done when not distracted by sub-freezing temperatures and sick vehicles. Got the in-ground posts, stringers, longitudinals, railing posts, and over half the deck boards installed for the next 24 feet of the walkway.  Chuck from Cararra Concrete stopped by early afternoon to see if a concrete truck could make it down the former stairway slope to the waterfront.  Answer: a definite maybe… and have him come back once the slope is graded smooth.

21 April 2013

It were more than a mite chilly this morning, so spent a couple of hours in the warmth of the RV doing dinner prep work until it seemed that working outside without gloves would be only moderately painful.  Fastened on 16 feet of deck boards, cut the deck boards for the next section of the walkway, then dug the holes for the next two in-ground posts. Got one of those posts buried before it was time to resume cooking.  Lynne and Perry came over for a (even if I do say so myself) fabulous lasagna dinner, garden salad, Ghirardelli chocolate walnut brownies (with extra walnuts), topped off with chocolate chip ice cream.  Except for beer, that ‘bout covers all the major food groups… and we got double credit for chocolate.  

20 April 2013

Cold front came roaring through overnight: lots of wind and periods of heavy rain.  Was still pretty unpleasant this morning, so spent some time cooking, installed the shelf in the shed lower level and gave that area a thorough cleaning (wouldn’t want to have a dirty dirt-floor garage for the tractor, after all), then went into Middlebury to run errands.  Met Marty at Hannaford’s, where I was buying ice cream since it’s supposed to get down to 25°F tonight.  Have tractor, will play!  Did some driveway grading for an hour after returning to Fern Lake until I decided it had finally warmed up enough to do some real work.  Installed the railing posts and longitudinals for the next 16 feet of walkway, then cut deck boards until dinnertime.  Bought a new thermometer today (how can a thermometer go bad just hanging on the wall over the winter????) so can attest that the lake temperature is now a balmy 49°, two feet below the surface. Discovered that one of the six former milk jugs in which drinking water is kept (which are stored out of the way in the back of a clothes closet) was only ⅔ full.  You can paint the rest of the picture, soggy clothes and all…

 

19 April 2013

Dolores is parked back in her accustomed spot… and the hot water faucets are even working properly… finally!  Dolores has a new fuel pump, fuel filter, and engine air filter.  The G. Stone folks showed me a sample of what was in the old fuel filter. I wouldn’t burn that stuff in an oil fired furnace.  Nasty!!!!  They also showed me the completely decrepit air “filter” that was on the engine.  Really, really nasty!!!!  Am surprised Dolores was even running with that “stuff” in her main artery and over her nose.  Mind you, she aint’t running all that well even with those two new filters… a serious tune-up and (speak softly) a front wheel brake job are in her near-term future.  Worked the morning and early afternoon putting in the next four in-ground posts for the wooden walkway and attaching the associated stringers.  Marty graciously helped schlep the Ranger back up to Junction Auto for the required body work and then dropped me off at G. Stone to get Dolores out of hock... very, very expensive hock.  Our kids inheritance just took another major hit… but, on the bright side, old G. Stone can now afford to send his kids to Europe for the summer.

18 April 2013

Took the Ranger to Junction Auto for annual inspection… which it did not pass, in keeping with my recent string of good luck.  The truck needs some rust issues taken care of, most notably where the rocker panels have pretty much rotted out and where a hole has mysteriously appeared in the main frame. On the way back south saw that Dolores was sitting out in the G. Stone parking lot, so stopped to inquire.  Seems that soon after she was dropped off yesterday afternoon the mechanic tried to start her up… which she did first turn of the key. So they moved her out to the parking lot and tried to start her again this morning.  First turn of the key again!  After some hemming, hawing, and brainstorming with the mechanic, bit the bullet and told him to replace the fuel pump.  Returned to Fern Lake, where I spent the afternoon breathing stone dust while removing protuberances from the back wall of the shed lower level.  Also drilled ½″ x 2″ holes for the shelf mounting bolts in two concrete columns, which was a major job because that 3,500 psi concrete is tough stuff!  Mid-afternoon Bryon from Goodro Lumber dropped off the pressure treated lumber needed to complete the wooden walkway.  Another wonderful evening at Marty’s and Merry’s catching up on the last six months news and enjoying an I-can’t-believe-I-ate-so-much steak dinner. Overnight again at Hotel Pirkkanen.

17 April 2013

Had Dolores ready to travel by 8:00.  Eric Murray showed up with his monster tow truck at 1:00.  Getting Dolores in tow was not a trivial exercise, nor was getting the tow truck and RV out the driveway onto Route 53. Cost to tow Dolores from Fern Lake to G. Stone Motors: $35 / mile.  While awaiting Eric’s arrival, surveyed the new route that the wooden walkway will be taking from the halfway point down to the waterfront.  (Decided last fall that we want the walkway to approach the waterfront from the north vice the original plan to have it approach from the south.)  Also surveyed the slope where the old stairway once was to see if there is any possibility of getting a cement truck down there when it comes time to pour the dock building foundation.  News at 11.  A fabulous repast and overnight accommodations provided by Lynne & Perry.

16 April 2013

Didn’t want to run the RV batteries down by using  the furnace, so got a mite nippy last night.  However, the furnace fired right up when asked to do so this morning.  Thought for a few panic-stricken moments that I’d forgotten to pack the coffee, but found the container after diligent search. Whew!  Now if somebody could just tell me where I put the salt and pepper that I KNOW I packed…  The portable Storm King generator also didn’t want to start until I said a few magic words, which you don’t want to see repeated here. Once running, used the generator to recharge the RV batteries and, more importantly, provide 110v power to the coffee maker.  Zack, ace Junction Auto mechanic, showed up at 8:30 and quickly determined that Dolores’ starting problem is because her engine isn’t getting fuel for some reason.  Further investigation has to be done in a shop familiar with Ford trucks (Junction Auto specializes in Subarus), so arranged for a monster tow truck ($$$) to haul Dolores to G. Stone Motors (the $$$$ local Ford dealer) on Wednesday morning.  Ouch and double ouch!!!  Spent most of the day getting the Tacoma unloaded and everything stowed away. Over the winter, manufactured an equipment shelf for the shed lower level. While it was raining this afternoon, thought it would be a good time to bolt the shelf up into its intended position, but discovered that SOMEBODY laid the between-column rocks proud of the interior face of the columns where the shelf needs to go, so those rocks will have to be trimmed off before the shelf can be put up.  Grumble, bitch, moan…

15 April 2013

Left Virginia at the crack of dawn and made it to Fern Lake exactly nine hours later.  Still snow on the peaks of the Green Mountains, but all the ice is gone off the lake.  Weather steadily improved (from rain showers to clear skies) the further north I got.  A good omen?  NOT!!!!  Dolores refused to start when I got to that point in the reanimation process.  Called AAA.  Seems we don’t have RV coverage on our “policy”…  So called my good friends (since I spend so much money there) at Junction Auto, who agreed to send a swat team down to Fern Lake first thing in the morning.  Since I cleverly moved Dolores over next to the shed so that the dead branch which overhangs her windshield could refuse to fall off once again this winter, I can’t plug into power until she’s moved back to her regular parking spot.  Thus dark (7:45 pm) = bedtime. Just a few mouse droppings in the usual spots, almost a nonevent.