30 April 2014

Into Burlington to spend money at Lowe’s (always a comforting activity), then took Alverta furniture shopping.  She has an IRS refund check burning a hole in her pocket and I needed to check availability and prices of modular furniture for the Study.  Back to Fern Lake by mid-afternoon, whereupon I put together a spreadsheet with the info from each furniture store and found, surprisingly, that having Goose Creek build custom cabinetry may be a very cost-effective way to go.

29 April 2014

Finished cleaning up the organic material littering the ground at the sauna building site.  Ended up with one enormous brush pile to be burned once the stumps are put on top.  Also ended up with about 6½ cords of prime hardwood firewood… a good mixture of black cherry, white and red oak, beech, and maple, that has to be cut to length, split, and stacked in the woodshed before September 2016.  If I start now, should be done by then.  Dolores drank another 12 gallons of propane last week.  First little stump I dug out down at the sauna site also uncovered a thousand pound rock… that I got out of the ground just enough to block my exit route back up the hill.  With visions of the Kubota spending the rest of the week marooned, crossed my fingers and hooked up my big logging chain and come-along… which moved the rock just enough for me to escape for lunch.  Spent the entire afternoon digging out the oak stump that was right in the wrong place.  Maneuvering around the stump gave me many, many gray hairs… even wearing the Kubota’s seat belt.  Eventually got the stump loose, and found out why my brother keeps urging me to put a winch on the tractor.  Took every chain I had, and countless resets, to drag the stump, using the backhoe, up the hill far enough that I could then tow it the rest of the way to the burn pile.  As a side note, there ain’t no way I’m going to get the footers for the sauna down to the elevation called for on the site plan.  Good thing it’s supposed to rain for the next two days, as some redesign is definitely needed.

28 April 2014

Spent the morning at Lynne & Perry’s doing laundry and working on the design for the sauna building deck.  Want to use 2x4’s for the joists and 2x6’s for the rim joists on the deck, so the design has to incorporate supporting posts in order to keep the load on each joist within its strength limits.  In the afternoon (while the laundry was drying), removed most of the logs and slash from the trees I dropped yesterday.  One more truckload of slash and two logs to go, then I can start pulling stumps at the sauna building site.

27 April 2014

With apologies to The Mamas and the Pappas and Mel Brooks, all the trees are down and the skies are gray.  Snatch block?  I don’t need no stinkin’ snatch block.  Was another cold, wet, and nasty morning, so spent some quality time trying to ascertain how one crams a 10 lb sauna into an area that only appears to hold a 5 lb building.  Eventually figured it out, but the resulting site plan meant a large white oak that I wanted to keep had to join the “to be removed” list.  After lunch the wet went away, so tied the steel cable to the Kubota and, in turn, to all of the rest of the trees in the sauna building location, then pulled them down uphill, away from the wood walkway. No problemo!  Tallest tree missed the tractor (and me!) by at least 30 feet.  Only nerve-wracking part was climbing the extension ladder, leaning against a leaning tree, 25 feet in the air to attach the cable each time.  Was about to put the first fork-full of today’s logs on the firewood pile when I realized that action would completely block access to the Kubota’s backhoe attachment, removed before I started cutting trees so I could put on the 3-point hitch used to skid logs.  So had to take 45 minutes to remove the 3-point hitch, attach the backhoe to the tractor, move the backhoe to a new location, detach the backhoe, reattach the 3-point hitch… and call it quits for the day.

26 April 2014

Saw that our amazon.com account now says that the felling wedges were delivered last Monday, so called to correct that misperception on their part.  In the course of that conversation, found out that the expedited delivery snatch block was sent to… Virginia!  Gaack!  Perry stopped by for an hour to talk about his availability to help with the house and sauna construction this summer.  Spent most of the morning steaming about misdirected snatch blocks calculating this summer’s cash flow so that we’ll have the right amount of money in the checking account when the construction bills start showing up in our new mailbox.  Got our first piece of junk mail.  Spent the afternoon revising the House Specifications document to reflect the scope of work discussion Sean and I had on Thursday.  A totally nasty (rainy and cold) day… perfect for working inside the RV.

25 April 2014

Called amazon.com again this morning and the nice call center lady agreed to overnight me a snatch block with no charge for the expedited shipping.  Then went into Brandon and bought a mailbox on my way to the Post Office.  Walked into the latter establishment and said I needed to set up a mailing address for 1750 Lake Dunmore Road, figuring I’d be filling out forms in triplicate for awhile.  The guy behind the counter (who I had never seen before in my life) said, “Perkins?”.  I said, “Yes.”  He said, “You’re all set.  I’ll tell the carrier.”  Gotta love small town Vermont!  Ran into (figuratively, not literally) Tom Whittaker (the real estate agent we worked with to acquire the Fern Lake property) as I left the Post Office.  He says the housing market in this area is still really slow.  Back at Fern Lake, quickly installed the new mailbox on the post I made yesterday and then wheeled the contraption out to Route 53.  After that, donned my tree felling regalia and dropped and cleaned up everything that I could (without a snatch block) at the sauna building site.  Six trees left to go, all leaning over the wood walkway.  Based on my conversations last evening with Jimmy and Larry, took down a beautiful white pine (that I really wanted to keep!) right at the entrance to the lower “driveway” into the house site.  With that tree gone there’s a good possibility that a cement truck will be able to use that driveway when it comes time to pour the west frost wall… which would save lots of hard labor and/or the considerable expense of hiring a concrete pump.  Too nice to be inside, so for the remainder of the work day built a bin for lugging firewood around using the hand truck, made almost entirely out of lumber salvaged from the old stairway that went from the Glassner’s deck down to the waterfront.  Reuse, repurpose, recycle, that’s Chree’s motto!

 

24 April 2014

So I ordered a snatch block and some felling wedges from amazon.com before I left Virginia, for delivery to our Leicester address.  Supposed to arrive on Monday or Tuesday this week.  Need the snatch block urgently in order to take down a large cherry tree and a big oak that are leaning right over the walkway and the sauna building site.  Got the UPS tracking number from Chree last night and found out this morning that UPS had given the parcels to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery. Since we haven’t yet established a mailing address at Fern Lake (who wants all that junk mail, anyway????), the Post Office sent the packages back to amazon marked “undeliverable”.  Grrrrr!!!!!  Spent the later part of the morning and early afternoon building a portable post on which to mount a mailbox…  Sean arrived at 3:30. We took out our sharp pencils and went methodically through the construction budget, finding ways to trim another $75K.  One of the first casualties was the surround sound system for the Living Room.  Fingers crossed that the remaining $25K delta somehow shows up as the construction moves forward.  Either that or Santa has to be REALLY good to us this year.  Jimmy Ploof (excavation subcontractor) and Larry Kaufmann (concrete foundation subcontractor) arrived at 6 to review their respective job assignments.  Very positive vibes from both of them… obviously they have a wealth of knowledge and experience.  Jimmy said to plan the ground breaking ceremony for 0730 on 5 May.  Can’t wait!  Sean, Jimmy, and Larry all left at 8.  Good thing Dolores has a microwave!

23 April 2014

Sean arrived shortly after 8 with Dennis following a bit later. Good discussion with Dennis, who had five HVAC system alternatives prepared.  The alternative I prefer is, of course, the most expensive!  Along those same lines, Sean’s initial cost estimate was $170K more than we have money available.  Spent most of the afternoon reviewing Sean’s figures and found $70K worth of shrinkage… Obviously something else is going to have to give, including my sanity. Right now I’m feeling fairly sick and am going to start drinking… heavily!  In other good news, to temporarily escape thinking about the foregoing, moved the stakes demarking the sauna building location to reflect the design that was on the approved Leicester Zoning Permit… and am now thinking the structure ain’t going to fit where I said I want to put it.  Somebody PLEASE pass the Scotch!!!!

22 April 2014

In the morning, using the steel cable and tractor, took down two trees that were leaning the “wrong” way, i.e., over the wood walkway.  No problems doing that as a one-person operation.  Fyles Brothers propane truck arrived late morning to replenish the 14 gallons that Dolores has sucked down in the last week.  Thirsty little Devil!  Started raining (as forecast) at noon, so headed into Brandon after lunch to do errands.  Bet you think I was after more ice cream!  Was still raining when I returned to Fern Lake and didn’t think it wise to climb a wet and slippery 28′ extension latter propped precariously against a severely leaning tree to attach the steel cable, so made a spaghetti sauce instead and prepared for the meeting tomorrow with Sean LaFlam (general contractor) and Dennis Senesac (HVAC subcontractor project manager).

21 April 2014

Spring is officially here: last of the snow melted today and I saw the first black flies.  Finished removing the trees that were in the house foundation excavation area, then started on the ones that need to come down to make way for the sauna building.  Only had one go bad (mis-cut the hinge, whereupon the tree tried to go down 180° from where I wanted it), but used my newly purchased 100′ long steel cable and the tractor to rectify my mistake… and keep the tree from landing on the wood walkway, which would have been beyond ugly.  Still a lot more trees to take down (plus those at the waterfront that are blocking our view of the lake), and most of those are leaning over the walkway and will have to be pulled down with the tractor.  Another wonderful dinner at Chez Lapidii, with Lynne also in attendance.

20 April 2014

Went with Lynne & Perry into Burlington to enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet Easter brunch with Alverta, Steve, and Mary at the Sheraton Hotel.  Won’t be eating again until tomorrow… at the earliest.  Got back to Fern Lake mid-afternoon and spent a couple of hours reestablishing the house perimeter stakes that somehow got flattened during this past week’s tree removal activities.

19 April 2014

Took down, bucked up, and hauled away the slash from eight more trees at the house site.  All the trees on the north, east, and west sides of the house that needed to be removed now are awaiting their final resting place inside a wood stove.  There still are a dozen trees on the south side of the house site that Mr. Jonsered will attend to early next week.

18 April 2014

Finished cutting up and hauling away the last tree that was down as a result of Wednesday’s Attack of the Beavers.  Figure there are another 15 or maybe 20 trees that need to come down to clear the house site… plus several where the sauna building is going… plus a bunch down by the lake that are blocking the view.  Looks like the beavers will be busy again next week!  Washed and waxed the Kubota, something that SHOULD have been done last fall.  Quite a bit of corrosion evident from sitting covered with salt all winter.  Even from 6 miles away, could hear Gifford’s Wild Blueberry calling me, so went into Brandon to take care of that summons and pick up some more bar & chain oil (which doesn’t taste nearly as good).  Spent much of the afternoon cooking and cleaning.  Marty, Merry, and Lynne came for another scrumptious mega-calorie lasagna dinner with all the trimmings.

17 April 2014

Spent the day removing downed trees and brush from the house site.  Only took me 4 hours yesterday to create a mess that will take me two full days to clean up.  Was pretty whipped by quitting time, which JWB (stirred, not shaken) only partly attenuated. The problem with sitting around doing nothing all winter is that the first few days of real work are beyond brutal… especially when you ain’t no spring chicken anymore.

16 April 2014

Two inches of snow arrived overnight. 80° on Monday and snow on Tuesday… what’s not to like?!?!  Dropped 15 trees at the house site this morning, all landing where I intended.  In the midst of that endeavor the tax assessor showed up.  We had a nice chat.  Unfortunately he was really impressed with the woodshed…  Took off my logging tool belt preparatory to having lunch and discovered that my cell phone was no longer in the pouch where it had been “secured”.  Merde alors! (If you’ll pardon my French.)  Trees and brush and snow everywhere I had walked all morning.  But sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good… just as I reached the last area to be searched, there was the phone sitting in plain sight on the ground.  Spent the afternoon getting the Ranger back running, turning the Kubota back into a skidder, and hauling brush and logs away from the mess I had made in the morning.  Also spent time searching for the phone AGAIN, ‘cause this time it had fallen out of the pants pocket in which it was “secured” (I apparently having learned only part of a lesson earlier today). With the high temp today in the upper 30’s there was nary a mosquito.

 

15 April 2014

Jeffrey Many, sole proprietor of Green Mountain Door, arrived at 8:30 to repair the shed garage door that was damaged last winter when I tried to open it with the door seal frozen to the threshold. Result of that faux pas was a door that only opened 9″ before jamming. Jeff bolted the delaminated door panels back together, then put on new and different top roller brackets, and, just like that, door fixed! Cleaned the accumulated detritus off the wood walkway and saw that, in spite of a particularly deep frost this past winter, the walkway hasn’t moved.  Started raining in earnest, as forecast, just as that job ended.  After lunch, ran errands into Middlebury (diesel fuel for the tractor) and Brandon (Gifford’s Sugarloaf Mint Chip You-Won’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Ice-Cream was calling my name, even though it’s supposed to get down into the 20’s tonight AND snow).  Also stopped into the Brandon Free Library, signed up for a card, and took away 627 pages of Outlander light reading to keep me entertained during non-work hours.  Returned to Fern Lake and, warmly ensconced in dry Dolores comfort, cooked up a large batch of lasagna sauce for forthcoming festivities.

14 April 2014

Just before 5 a.m. left Springfield (aka “The Tropics”, where the temps yesterday were in the low 80’s).  The three hours of missed beauty sleep will be sorely missed by any who see me in the next few days.  Leaving that early, missed the Washington and Baltimore rush hour traffic entirely and was to mid-town Philadelphia in only 2½ hours, a new record.  Thereafter set the cruise control for 5 mph less than usual (due to the load on the truck) and made it to Fern Lake in 8¾ hours (aka “The Tropics”, where it was a breezy 80°F).  There is still ice on the south end of the lake, so, tempting as the waters looked, decided to forego a swim. Twenty minutes after arriving, having just removed the blue tarp from Dolores, heard a loud crash right behind me.  After returning to Earth, found that the dead tree immediately behind the RV had blown over, fortunately not on either me or Dolores.  Dolores must have been sufficiently startled that she started with the first turn of the key.  Lots of signs that mice had visited over the winter but, myth confirmed, not in any of the places where I had put out fabric softener dryer sheets (Spring Scent variety).  Most notably, there was NO nest in the oven… or anywhere else that I’ve yet found.  However, I did swat the first mosquito of the season, which is NOT a good sign!  Spent the rest of the day and evening emptying the truck and stowing all that “stuff” away.  Remembered to call and wish Alex’s voicemail a Happy Birthday!  A semi-cool Beck’s Dark slid down real easy for dinner.