22 December 2015
Left Fern Lake well before dawn. Only slowdown was a five mile stop-and-go backup
just before Albany due to a disabled vehicle on the left shoulder. Had to push pretty hard after that to make up
time, as we suddenly had an appointment to potentially sell the Prius immediately
after I got to Virginia. Arrived at the
old homestead in Springfield 9 hours (to the minute) after leaving Kate’s
place. An hour and a half later, signed
over the title to the Prius in return for our full asking price in Benjamin
Franklins, less than 24 hours after posting the car for sale on craigslist.
21 December 2015
Ian and Doug here at 7 for a productive half
day. Ian built the hatch that will allow
access to the attic (a fire code requirement) from the garage and an insulation
cofferdam above the hatch to keep cellulose from pouring down when the hatch is
opened. In environmentally-friendly
mode, to create the hatch
and cofferdam, used “scrap” Advantech Zip System® sheathing, some lumber that formerly was used for making cement forms, and reused the hinges and
latch from the door that was on the old dock shack. Doug installed Roxul® R-15 insulation (until we ran out) in basement wall cavities that I know
will not have any electrical, plumbing, or HVAC lines / ductwork in them. After the guys left at noon, I called Fyles
Brothers and asked for a delivery to both our house and Kate’s for
tomorrow. Five minutes later, their
truck showed up to fill the propane tanks.
Now that’s good service!
(Actually, they were doing half of Tuesday’s route today so they won’t
have to work on Christmas; makes sense.)
After lunch, I did a quick cleaning in the house, then changed and went
to gather all the paperwork needed to get a Vermont Enhanced Drivers License. MAJOR PANIC! Was sure I had put my passport,
Chree’s and my birth certificates, and both of our Social Security cards in my
computer case the other day. No could
find. Searched Kate’s house high and low
(even looked under the bed) and took (I thought) everything out of the
computer case. No could find. Sick at heart, called Chree, who (brilliant
wife that she is) suggested a long walk to lower my stress level (which was in
high orbit). On my way out, intercepted
the Goodro’s truck delivering another four bales of Roxul®. Got back
from clearing my head and immediately found the missing items… in the one
pocket of the computer case I had neglected to empty. By this time, of course, the Rutland DMV
office was about to close… probably just as well, as I was having the worst
hair day of my entire life after the sauna last night. So broke out the scotch, instead of driving
to Rutland. Don’t know if I’m celebrating or trying to drown my sorrows, but it
sure do taste good!
20 December 2015
Woke up to a nice dusting of white on the local landscape. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Continued cleaning the house basement for most of the morning. Responded to an urgent voicemail from Merry at noon triggered by her receiving a phone call about a low heat alarm at Chez Lapidus. The heat in the house was fine, so called Marshall’s Alarm Service, suspecting a problem with the alarm system. Cory Marshall was very prompt in responding. Turned out that the thermostat that is tied into the alarm service was set just a little too high compared to the house thermostat, which is turned down pretty low ‘cause the Lapidii are enjoying a week in Jamaica at the moment. Reinstalled the snow blower on the Kubota. Proficient in their engineering the Japanese may be, but writing directions is not one of their fortés. Eventually figured out how everything was supposed to fit back together… and made copious annotations to the instruction manuals. Perry came over late afternoon and, working together for an hour, we installed the copper heat shields behind the sauna stove. Then fired ‘er up and enjoyed the heat, and a delightful new ambiance, for a couple of hours.
19 December 2015
Saturday = cleaning day. Except, that as I was moving the Kubota from
the Man Cave around to the shop door (in order to shovel out a couple bucket
loads of “stuff” destined for the burn pile), I kind of got distracted by two
rocks that were sticking up out of the driveway just enough to be possible
impediments to the snow blower. Which is
another way of saying that I haven’t had any play-time in far too long. So I dug the rocks out. In typical Leicester fashion, two inches of
rock on the surface was attached to another 1,000 pounds in the ground. Nothing like a good challenge. At least it was spitting snow while I was
digging. About time, there, Old Man
Winter!
18 December 2015
An extra large glass of red wine sure is sliding
down easy tonight. Day started off okay:
Ian and Doug got here at 7 and we continued the soffit building project. At 9:20 I got a voicemail from the Brandon
Post Office (the call was at 7:15) saying the express mail package from Chree
(containing some financial documents that I had to sign, urgently) had arrived.
The post-mistress wanted to know if they
should hold the package for pickup or send it with the mail delivery person,
and would assume the latter if nothing heard. Called back immediately. The mail
delivery person’s taillights were still visible, but gone he was, with the
package. Delivery finally happened at 1:30 pm.
The person who needed the signed documents departed for Christmas
vacation at noon. The upshot of this disconnect is that we probably won’t have
money in the checking account to pay the bills that will be due in early
January. Lovely!!!! Goodro’s delivered
another 40 2x4x12’s mid-morning… right after we had ripped enough
“scrap” 2x10’s into 2x4’s to just about finish framing. Speaking of noon, by that time the basement
interior wall and soffit framing was complete; all blocking and ceiling drywall
nailers were installed (subject to verification by Sean). Only having a couple
of very small carpentry projects yet to do (other than the sun room vaulted
ceiling that needs Sean’s expertise), I sent the guys home after lunch. After mailing and emailing financial
documents back to Virginia, spent the rest of the afternoon thoroughly
reviewing the construction budget. Boy,
that wine sure do taste good…
17 December 2015
Another productive day
of framing. Ian and Doug were here by 7
and got to work finishing the soffit in the first guest bedroom. I left for Middlebury and Brandon to do
errands soon after their arrival.
Returning to Fern Lake at 10, I found that the Goodro’s truck had
dropped off another 40 2x4’s (more than enough, we thought, to finish the house
framing) and the guys were busy putting up the basement wall between the
stairway and the hallway that leads to the storage room. I took over the job of assisting Ian with
that job so that Doug could finish the framing between the master bedroom and
the walk thru closet. Though Chree has
acquiesced to having a rectangular doorway in that wall, far-sighted guy that I
am, I had Doug frame the wall for the doorway and a pocket door, should
there be a post-occupancy change of heart.
After lunch, Ian and I finished the garage ramps and landing while Doug
got started on framing the soffits in the shop.
Ian and I joined the shop soffit framing project at 2:30. Doug left at 3. By the end of the day we were, once again,
almost out of 2x4 framing lumber, so I called in yet another $216 order
to Goodro’s.
P.S. If you’re wondering why the blog
entries lately are full of start / stop times, that’s because every two weeks I
have to reconcile the Goose Creek bill for labor with the house building
budget, which has 109 separate line items.
The blog is how I’m keeping track of how much labor is going towards
each budget item. Not nearly as exciting
as tales of catching mice or Delores’ peccadilloes, I know…
16 December 2015
Ian and Doug here just after 7. We extended the flat ceiling over the rest of
the kitchen, then tried to figure out how to build the fourth side of the sun
room vaulted ceiling. At 10 I called a
halt, as it became obvious we needed Sean’s expertise in order to make any
headway… and he’s currently taking a much-deserved family vacation at Disney
World. Ian and I moved on to
constructing the double ramp and landing that will allow wheeled access from
the garage into the rest of the house.
Doug went to work finishing the blocking on the main level, then he put
in all the blocking in the basement. At
2 o’clock, with Doug finished with his project and Ian and I at a stopping
point, we three began constructing the basement level soffits (i.e., dropped
ceilings in certain areas needed to conceal plumbing, HVAC duct work, and
electrical wiring). By quitting time,
the soffits in the lower level hall and first guest bedroom were virtually
complete… and we were, once again, nearly out of 2x4 stock. Chree and I decided to use the Kohler
Bancroft pedestal sink in the half bath, and compromised on a rectangular
doorway (vice an arched doorway or a pocket door) between the master bedroom
and the walk thru closet. We also
decided that whichever interior door sticking (Shaker or Ovolo) was least
expensive would be our choice. Went down
to Marty & Merry’s for pizza, a not-too-awful-bad 2012 Sterling (Napa
Valley) Cabernet Sauvignon, and the usual delightful conversation.
15 December 2015
Ian and Doug here at 7. We spent the first 3 hours putting in most of
the rest of the blocking from Sean’s punch list. Goodro’s truck arrived (the
first time) at 10 bringing more 2x4x16’s and other framing material. We transitioned back to wall framing, with
Doug finishing the closet in the first guest bedroom while Ian worked on the wine
cellar nook. As usual, I was the
designated cut man. While outside
ensuring that the foliage was well watered and nourished, the Fyles Brothers
truck showed up to fill Delores’ propane tank, which I had not
ordered. At the same time, the Goodro’s
truck came back with another 25 pound bucket of #9 x 3″ Deck-Tek® screws. We’ve gone through nearly 50 pounds (about
4,000) of them critters in the last 10 days.
I suspect Ian may be eating them for snacks… After lunch, Ian and I installed the Johnson hardware
for the basement pocket door (will allow access to the shop lavatory from the
storage room / grandkids sleeping area), while Doug put in the wall framing for
the pocket door between the walk thru closet and the master bathroom. Finished with both projects at the same time,
Ian and Doug installed the hardware for the master bath pocket door while I
continued putting in blocking upstairs.
The second pocket door hardware went in MUCH faster than the first… In the final hour of the day, we finished
framing the basement interior walls. The
lake temperature (40°) and level (19½″ below the top of the
dock) are the same as they were two weeks ago.
14 December 2015
Ian and Doug here shortly after 7 and the three of
us got right to work putting up basement partition walls. Got the storage room, shop lavatory, cedar
closet, and the second guest bedroom closet framed in before we, once again,
ran out of stud material (and, no, Ian doesn’t count). Sean came by mid-afternoon, bearing an
invoice and tidings of good cheer. He
inspected the main level framing and… I wrote down a page and a half of things
the three Musketeers missed doing last week.
After Sean left, Ian spent a couple of hours putting in additional
cabinetry blocking upstairs, while Doug and I put in the plates and nailers for
the first guest bedroom closet.
13 December 2015
Cleaned the basement… which was a complete disaster
from all the lumber cutting last week.
Kept my promise to Doug not to have him move the rough opening for the
half bath medicine cabinet once he started to frame it in. So spent an hour this morning taking the
whole thing apart (and when Doug puts framing together, it’s not meant to be
taken apart again!), then moved the rough opening north an inch and a
half. Now, no matter what size pedestal
sink we finally decide upon (up to 24″ wide), it will fit the space available and be
centered under the medicine cabinet. Using the Kubota forks, gingerly moved the
snow blower and sub-frame assemblies out of the driveway and into the
garage. Picked two bucket-loads of snow
blower-eating rocks out of the driveway, then rolled the rest into the
ground. Any bets on how many shear pins
I go through, anyway? That is, of
course, assuming that we get some snow one of these years. Enjoyed a before-dinner solo sauna. Soooooo relaxing!!!!
12 December 2015
Spent most of the morning cleaning, then reinstalled
the backhoe on the Kubota. Rounding out the pre-prandial agenda, put the second
coat of Master Protect H440HZ breathable, solvent-based, silane penetrating
water-repellent sealer on the garage floor.
That sealer theoretically will keep road salt from getting into and
destroying the concrete. After a late lunch, mowed the leach field, as I
wouldn’t want the neighbors to think we are disposing of our wastes in an
unkempt manner. Had a bit of the sealer
left over, so spent the rest of the afternoon double-coating the man-cave
floor. Another spectacular sunset this
evening.
11 December 2015
Ian and Doug here promptly at 7. Doug spent an hour putting in the rest of the
kitchen wall cabinet blocking while Ian built a wall for one end of the shelves
that will be in the upper hall. I
installed the new and improved (i.e., properly planned) version of the clothes
pass-thru from the master bath to the laundry.
Came out pretty good, too! Then
Doug went on a search and destroy mission for places that still needed nailers,
while Ian and I built the arches for the doorways between the living / dining
room and upper hall, mud room and kitchen, and kitchen and living / dining
room. That took most of the rest of an
abbreviated day; the guys left at 3 for the Goose Creek holiday party… to which
I was not invited. Too bad, so sad! Other than building the vaulted ceiling for
the sun room, the main level is completely framed and blocked… at least until
Sean inspects on Monday. A major
milestone, that! After the guys left, I
filled the roller with water and made several passes up and down Kate’s
driveway. A half ton of pressure drives
the rocks right into the dirt!
Hopefully that means the replacement snow blower shear pins I got the
other day won’t be needed. Of course,
because I just spent $5,000 on a new snow blower, the temperature today was
almost 60°… and is forecast to
be in the 50’s all of next week. Winter,
where the #$%)! art thou????
10 December 2015
Ian and Doug here at 7. Turns out the reason they left earlier than
usual yesterday was because they’d expended all the 16 foot 2x4’s. So we spent the better part of today using up
all the “scrap” pieces we could scrounge up.
Doug even cut out the wall bottom plates in all the doorways so we could
reuse those 2x4’s. Desperate times! By the time the Goodro’s truck arrived at 2
o’clock (with another 50 2x4x16’s on board, plus other goodies), we were down
to one 3 foot long 2x4… period. Ian
excavated the floor in the laundry room for the water catchment pan that will
go under the washing machine. Doug and I
spent 3½ hours putting in blocking where various items will be attached to the
walls on the main level, e.g., kitchen cabinets, closet shelves, towel racks,
and toilet paper holders. While that was
going on, Ian put in perimeter nailers so that there will be a continuous
minimum width 1½″ flat surface to which
the edges of ceiling sheetrock can be attached.
With stud material once again plentiful late afternoon, Doug built the
wall between the kitchen and living / dining room while Ian finished framing
the pantry. I went into Brandon as soon
as the Goodro’s truck departed (my scotch supply definitely needed
replenishing), spent an hour vacuuming the house main level upon return (Mr.
Type A at work), then got busy cooking dinner.
Marty and Merry came up for another delightful visit and some great
(even if I do say so myself) lasagna… and even better walnut-packed brownies
served with Gifford’s frogurt.
9 December 2015
Ian and Doug arrived promptly at 7 to continue
framing the main level of the house. Ian
and I tackled the woodstove nook and framed it correctly (at least, I hope it
was correctly) on almost the first try. The other Doug, meanwhile, finished
framing the half bath (aka: powder room), putting the rough opening for the
medicine cabinet where I directed based on using the smaller pedestal sink that
Chree and I had chosen last night. (The
medicine cabinet needs to be centered above the sink.) No sooner had Doug finished that work when
Tanya from Ryan’s Plumbing called (at Dennis’ behest) to tell me they had a
small pedestal sink on their showroom floor that I could have for a heavily
discounted price. Murphy’s Law! John Williams and Glenn Tupper (Spafford and
Sons Well Drilling) showed up unexpectedly mid-morning to install a T-fitting
and a second pressure transducer in the well water supply line. The second
transducer tells the well pump controller to up the system pressure to 55 psi
when the transducer senses that domestic water is being used. The first transducer tells the controller to
maintain 32 psi, which is the pressure that the geothermal heat exchanger
normally will use. The T, obviously, splits the incoming water between domestic
consumption (roughly a hundred gallons per day) and geothermal heating (as much
as 13,000 gallons per day). Long
conversation at noon with Chree about interior door choices, with her looking
at the on-line version and me looking at the paper version of the Brosco Book
of Designs. Chree and I finally
compromised on a two panel door style (see door 465 on the simpsondoor.com
website), though the type of sticking is still under discussion. (Sticking is a technical term for the detail
where door panels attach to the stiles; there are many different styles, with
Ovolo, Ogee, and Shaker being most common.
Aren’t you glad you asked?) After
lunch, I headed north to do errands in Middlebury, then paid a visit to Tanya
and Amanda (both extremely helpful!) at Ryan’s showroom in
Vergennes. Took pictures and
measurements (for Chree) of the four pedestal sinks that Ryan’s has that might
fit our half bath. Of those choices, Chree likes one and I the other... of course! Then schlepped back
to Middlebury to retrieve the now fully functioning Kubota. Arrived back at Fern Lake before normal
quitting time only to find that the geese already had flown.
8 December 2015
Woke up at 3:30 am and spent the rest of the night
thinking about how to custom build the clothes pass-thru from the master
bathroom to the laundry. Ian and Doug
arrived, per usual, at the crack of dawn. Doug continued putting up wall top
plates and studs while Ian and I concentrated on turning my fuzzy-brained
clothes pass-thru design into reality.
By noon the pieces I had made for the pass-thru were all in the burn
pile and I swore (literally) to properly draw the plans before again trying to
build that feature. Sean came by
mid-morning for a comprehensive review of progress and to discuss details for
the next few days of building, including the particulars for the master bath
medicine cabinet and shower toiletries shelf. We also discussed how the
half-wall / railing around the stairwell will be built. Ditto the water catchment pan under the
washing machine in the laundry. I then
showed him the orientation and size for the two guest bedroom closets that
Chree and I had finally agreed upon (different than what he had recommended),
to which he replied, “The client is always right!”. Fyles Brothers also showed up mid-morning to
fill the 100 pound propane tank we’re using to keep the house above
freezing. We’ve been using one tank since
last Wednesday and it was still going strong (but, of course, it ran dry this
afternoon; no worries: we’ve got two more), so had him fill Kate’s tank instead. Mid-afternoon, Ian and I started on the most
complex part of the wall framing, to wit, the woodstove nook above which will
be a custom-built television enclosure at 45° to the underlying framing orientation. By the end of the day we think we’d
figured out the construction details, but were both looking forward to an adult
beverage this evening… Chree and I had numerous phone calls after dinner while
we researched, and finally found, a smaller pedestal sink we both liked (one of
the more expensive ones we looked at, of course), as I didn’t think the one we had
originally chosen would fit in the half bath space available.
7 December 2015
A very busy, very productive Monday. Ian and Doug
were here shortly after 7 and we got straight to work putting up wall studs,
with the two real carpenters doing the installing while I took their stud
orders, ran down to the basement to make the cuts, brought the studs back
upstairs, then repeated the process ad infinitum. Only inched Ian one time, and
that in the good direction. (For those
who don’t speak carpenter, that means I read the tape wrong and cut a stud exactly
1″ too long.) The guys went through 20 pounds (about 1,400) 3″ deck screws and the pile of 2x4x16’s shrank
considerably. Goodro’s truck came at 8 with a bunch of 2x6’s to build the
(changed) wall between the living / dining room and the master bedroom. Having a thicker wall there will allow us to
better sound-insulate the bedroom. Right after lunch I took the Kubota to
Middlebury and dropped it off for hydraulic hose repairs. By the end of the day most of the north end
of the main level was framed in. The
house is starting to look like a house!
After dinner I did some internet research on laundry chute spring-loaded
covers, needed for the clothes pass-thru from the master bathroom to the
laundry… and didn’t like anything I saw at what I thought was a reasonable
price and didn’t like the price of anything I saw that looked good.
6 December 2015
Spent most of the day cleaning hither and yon. Assembled the 24″ diameter by 60″ long lawn roller, filled weight somewhat over 1,100
pounds, that I will use to pack down all the rocks in the driveway each fall so
that there is less chance of picking one up with the snow blower. Mid-afternoon, after much skull-sweat (only one
chance to get this right!), drilled the attachment holes in the two v∙e∙r∙y expensive 36″ x 48″ 16 gauge copper sheets that I bought to serve
as heat shields behind the sauna stove.
Perry came over after dinner to check that the sauna still is
functioning properly. It is…
5 December 2015
Sometimes you catch the bear and sometimes the bear
catches you. After two Geek Squad people
at Best Buy last week told me to buy the wrong cable to attach my laptop to my
new Epson XP-630 printer, the helpful person at the Radio Shack outlet in
Martin’s Lumber and Hardware sold me the correct cable during my morning errands
foray into Middlebury. One bear caught! While
reconciling my checkbook, caught a $2,000 subtraction error, not in my
favor. With no checks bounced as a
result, we’ll call that one a draw. After lunch, following the detailed
instructions in their respective user’s manuals, quickly detached the new snow
blower and sub-frame assembly from the Kubota.
Another couple of bears caught!
Then I tried to reattach the Kubota’s front-end loader, which requires plugging
in four quick-connect hydraulic hoses.
One of those hoses (the one color coded red) was very difficult
to undo when I took the loader off the tractor (for the first time since I’ve
owned it) before having the snow blower put on.
Well, that red-coded connection absolutely refused to be remade this
afternoon. Looks like the fitting is out
of round from a manufacturing defect. Any guesses whether that defect will be
covered under warranty???? No problem, he says, ignoring the claw marks, I just
need to move the loader into the garage and take it off again, for which I probably
won’t need whatever function the red hose controls (oh, please, do bite me
again!). Well, without the red hose
connected, the loader came off “funny” (a family-friendly term that is a lot
more benign than what really happened), causing another hydraulic line to get
pinched, causing the fitting for that line to start leaking hydraulic fluid all
over the floor. And at this point the
loader is off on one side only, severely canted in a way that I’m sure it was not
designed to be, seemingly impossible to get back on without the function that
the red hose controls, and it’s looking like I am totally dead meat. Fortunately,
sometimes I am trickier than the average bear, and I eventually horsed the
loader back into enough alignment (my back may never be the same) that I could
reattach it. At that point, somewhat ravaged, I hooked up the trailer and
loaded the tractor, to be hauled to Champlain Valley Equipment at their first
service opening. Being (temporarily, I assure you) out of scotch, I just cried
myself to sleep instead of assuaging my wounds the old fashioned way… though,
come to think of it, an Old Fashioned is made with bourbon, not scotch.
4 December 2015
Ian and Doug arrived shortly after 7 and we
continued putting in wall bottom plates on the house main level. As part of
that process, we replaced the two temporary 2x4 posts under the long LVL beam with
permanent 4x4 PT posts to help support the ceiling load that beam carries. In theory, those two posts are over the steel
columns in the basement so that those two point loads are properly carried down
to the house foundation. Sean came to
review progress shortly after lunch, the upshot of which was me spending an
hour taking up bottom plates and moving them into the “correct” position. Guess I should have insisted that Sean be
present for the entire layout process.
Sean also recommended that we cut out the area where the master bedroom roll-in
shower pan will go, as that job, difficult now, would be virtually impossible
once the walls are up. More
already-installed bottom plates were taken up…
Ian and I got the shower pan area excavated while Doug put in blocking
between the ceiling joists, to which will be fastened the wall top plates. Then as day turned into dark, Ian and I got
some of the wall top plates put up.
3 December 2015
Ian and Doug got here somewhat after 7, having
stopped en route to retrieve Sonny’s Ramset™ gun (the device that fires nails into concrete
using .22 caliber blank cartridges). We
set to work Lumber Lock® gluing and Ramset™ nailing the wall plates to the basement
concrete floor. Got all done (except for
the closets in the two guest bedrooms) and realized that the first plate we’d
put down was 1¼″ out of position,
since overnight we cleverly forgot about the change in wall position made late
yesterday afternoon. Fortunately it
takes Lumber Lock® 72 hours to fully
cure, so prying up the miscreant piece and reattaching it was not
difficult. And good practice for later,
as you shall see… Then we moved up to
the main level and the fun began in earnest, as the upstairs wall plates zigzag
all over the place, with many constraints on where each one had to be placed. The computer floor plan drawings were of
limited use because the 3D Home Architect
program I use only shows 4″ or 6″ walls, which allows for ½″ drywall on one side of the wall, but not
both. So which side of the wall has the
drywall, i.e., which line on the computer drawing shows where the wall plate is
supposed to be? Only Johnnie Walker
knows for sure! Turns out the “mistake”
that Sonny and I made with the guest bathroom wall (setting it ½″ wider than the vanity) was not a mistake
after all, as Ian and Doug both assured me that doing the same thing in the
master bathroom was a smart move that will be much appreciated when it comes
time to install that vanity. So that’s
what we did. By sunset (which was
spectacular tonight!), we had all but a couple of wall plates glued and screwed
into place… and only had to remove and re-cut one of them 4, yes f∙o∙u∙r, times
as we fit the puzzle together. A good
day’s effort, but oh, so very, very stressful!!!!
2 December 2015
Entered the house this morning to the strong smell
of propane. Without lighting any
matches, groped my way down to the utility room and shut off the valve on the
propane tank I filled yesterday. Then opened some doors and aired out the
place. The propane heater was not working (probably some good news, that) and had
an error code showing on the control panel.
Apparently error code ″12″ means the place will
go up in flames with the slightest provocation. While waiting for the promised
geese to arrive, trimmed the garage people-door threshold screws to see if
lowering the threshold ¼″ will keep it from
sticking. Didn’t work. The flock finally pulled in just after 9:30: Ben,
Ian, and Doug Devoid. After they got set
up (including firing up a different and much more powerful propane space
heater), we got to work laying out the remaining partition walls in the
basement. Himself (that would be Sean)
arrived just after noon. Sean and I started laying out the walls up on the main
level while Ben, Ian, and the other Doug cut basement wall bottom plates,
installed ceiling blocking where needed, then cut and installed wall top
plates. Ben left at 2 for another
job. Sean left about 3, whereupon I
decided that one of the basement partition walls was going to be 1¼″ too far west and needed to be moved, which is
what we did for the remainder of the afternoon. Almost dark when we quit work
at 4:30.
1 December 2015
No geese again today… While waiting for them to not show up,
cleaned the main level of the new house, as there was a lot of detritus left
from the spray foam job done last month.
Ran errands in Brandon afterwards.
Started to rain (the cold, nasty kind) at noon, so repaired to the cozy
couch in Kate’s living room (the one right in front of the propane stove; oh,
yeah, baby!) and caught up on paperwork and computer entries. Mid-afternoon,
Champlain Valley Equipment called to say the Kubota, with snow blower, was
ready for pickup. En route, stopped at
Agway to fill the propane tank that is powering a portable space heater keeping
the pipes from freezing in the house utility room. Retrieving the Kubota was a
miserable job, especially as it was dark and still raining (the cold, nasty
kind) when I got back to Fern Lake. Went over to Marty & Merry’s for a
fishy dinner (the warm, delicious kind), a surprisingly good California white
wine (couldn’t resist buying a vintage named Fifty Shades of Grey), and a lengthy visit catching up on events
since last we conversed. Their wood
stove also was delightfully warm and inviting…
The lake is 19½″ below the top of the
dock and a refreshing 40°F.
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