Except for one piece
of 4½″ white trim at the top, THE NORTH WALL IS
DONE!!!! Having Bob Ross’ scaffolding to
work from made all the difference between a job darn near impossible and a job
that took half as long as expected, was totally safe, and resulted in minimal
wear and tear on this olde body. Thank you, thank you, thank you Bob and Perry
(chief procurement official and man about town). With two shingles left to put on the final
course, Marty came up the hill to invite me to a barbecued leg of lamb dinner…
come right now and come as you are. Had
him take some pictures while he was here, then quickly finished the shingling
and headed north at a trot. Merry wisely
had me use the laundry room deep sink to remove at least some of the grime from
my hands… which will need a change of skin before turning back to flesh colored
from gray. The lamb was
d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s… and an Otter Creek Cooper Ale slid down real easy, too! And, surprise, surprise, we had Butter Fudge
Fingers and ice cream for dessert.
Dinner ended just at sunset, so I returned to work in the waning light
to put stain on that final course of shingles, then secured the worksite for
the heavy weather expected to roll in tonight and persist through tomorrow. Lesson learned: the Man Cave is so airtight
that drying the shingles in there over the winter just didn’t happen; should
have put the shingles in the woodshed that is, after all, built especially for
drying wood. Second lesson learned: sun
and air drying loose shingles (i.e., not tightly bundled like they come from
the lumber yard) causes them to warp in all sorts of interesting, but not good,
directions.
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Got another course of
shingles put on before it was time to take the Ranger up to Junction Auto for
restorative welding and pocketbook draining.
Got there 20 minutes earlier than previously arranged only to find Alverta
already waiting. We returned to Fern
Lake by 10:30 and I set Alverta up with a cozy work station in the sun where
she could apply stain to the shingle butt end grain… a critical but very
time-consuming step. While she did that,
I put up another course of shingles.
Then it was time for a huge lasagna and butter fudge finger lunch. This being a union shop, after lunch Alverta
got to take a nap while I applied stain to shingles on the wall. Perry stopped by to give us each some wild
leeks that he had harvested in his secret undisclosed location. (Hint: it starts with “C” as in Cheney.) He went away with a food offering for
Lynne. Alverta headed back north at
5:00, declaring that she’d had so much fun she might even come back again… next
year. I continued working until I couldn’t
go any higher without adding the next level of scaffolding… a good time to
quit. All told, got seven courses put up
today, with only six more to go on this wall.
For some reason I’m just not hungry for dinner…
Used up a fair number
of the “ruined” shingles (the ones with the Lowes Special Wrong Stain) in the
starter course above the shed garage door.
Just as I was finishing that work, Perry arrived for our scaffolding
liberation mission. By mid-morning we
had erected a wonderful platform just the right height for me to work sitting
down all day, putting on an additional five courses of shingles on the north wall. Doing the math, that works out to just over
30 square feet of progress for the day… not too shabby until you consider that
the shed has just over 600 square feet of exterior surface area.
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My reputation for
punctuality is in shreds!!!! Was
supposed to meet my mother and brother in South Burlington at 11:00. At 11:00 I was still in Charlotte (10 miles
south) and both of them were already where we were meeting. Didn’t arrive myself until 11:15, which I’m
sure my family (and friends?) will never let me forget. As the saying goes, “One oh, crap cancels out
ten attaboys”. Had lunch with my mother
at Pauline’s Restaurant, one of her favorites, but which I had found to be
pretty mediocre previously. Not
anymore! A fabulous repast for a very
reasonable price. Before departing for
points north (and the reason I was running late) got a second woodshed door
sheathed with Advantech and then put another course of shingles onto the south
wall of the shed. That done, looked at
the time and said, “Oh, crap (or words to that effect), I was supposed to have
left 15 minutes ago and still have to change.”
Got back to Fern Lake at 3:30 and went back to swearing shingling.
Opened the lower level garage door and found the man cave to be very cool and
dry. A half hour later it looked like
someone had taken a fire hose to the walls… they were literally dripping with
moisture. This might explain why some of
the cedar shingles never dried out over the winter… and why the Ranger has an
advanced case of body rot. Perry came over after he finished work to inspect
recent accomplishments and provide his standard consulting services vis á vis
work in progress. He also said that he
can borrow some scaffolding for this coming week if I want it for working on
the higher reaches of the north wall.
Answered with a strong affirmative (or words to that effect).
Put the ⅝” Advantech backing on one of the door frames… which added considerably
more poundage than I was expecting.
Think I’d better use three hinges on each door instead of the two I had
planned on. Then put some Home Slicker
on the shed south wall, finagled the insect screen into place at the bottom,
and started laying shingles. The
critically important trick is, of course, to lay each course exactly level,
with each shingle spaced exactly 3/16″ from its neighbors, and each course
exactly 5 1/16″ apart. That’s a lot of
exactlies and no close enoughs. Started
out trying to use my level and quick square to position the shingles… and
quickly ran out of hands. Then dawn came to Marblehead… and I snapped a chalk
line between the story board marks at the end of each row and, le voilá,
positioning the shingles could be done quickly and easily with one hand,
leaving the other hand free to handle the pneumatic stapler. By quitting time had five courses done and
very sore knees. Then scurried around
like crazy for an hour trying to get Delores presentable before Marty and Merry
arrived for the grand tour and barbecued spareribs with all the fixin’s. As always, good food, good wine, and great
company.
Built a second frame
for the woodshed doors while waiting for Agway to open. Stephanie Sturtevant
called to say she would not be coming to assist me today... assistance that is
sorely needed if I’m to make any progress with siding the east wall and the upper
reaches of the north wall. At the appointed hour, Delores and I waltzed our way
into Middlebury for another $40 worth of propane. While the weather for the
next few days is supposed to be warmer, colder weather is forecast for early
next week and running out of propane makes Doug a very cold camper. Returned to Fern Lake by 10:30 and started
putting up cedar shingles on the north wall.
By the end of the day had reinstalled the 16 courses that I ripped down
due to having the wrong stain. The
Weatherizing Stain, in sharp contrast, looks to be exactly what we wanted. So I’m now back to where I was on April 24th. Marty came up to inspect progress, so having
a second strong back available, we moved the radial arm saw from next to the
shed to the south side of the driveway.
Two reasons: the saw will be in the way when I shingle the shed south
wall and, instead of being protected from rain underneath the roof overhang,
the rain from the roof was landing directly on the saw (tarped, but still not
good).
A nasty rainy morning,
perfect for reading an Orson Scott Card novel in the waiting area while Todd
Desabrais did his magic with the Sienna windshield. He even transferred the inspection sticker to
the new glass. Returned to Fern Lake
shortly before noon, surmised that Delores somehow heard from yesterday’s blog
about putting her back into the repair shop, ‘cause now she’s seriously trying
to kill me. “How so?”, you ask. Well, found a puddle of water on the counter
next to the stove. “Now that’s kinda
peculiar”, I says to myself, “to have a puddle of water on the counter like
that. Wonder where it’s comin’
from?” Don’t ya know, that water was
coming out of the electrical outlet into which are plugged the coffee maker and
the toaster. Delores, up to her old
tricks… again! “Why don’t you have an English muffin with your coffee”,
she says, “seeing how it’s raining outside this morning?” Kazzzap!
Having foiled her evil plot (had a Pop Tart instead), put paint on the
woodshed door trim that was procured yesterday… which took forever to dry due
to the 100% humidity. When the rain
finally abated enough to uncover the radial arm saw, built a jig for making the
frames for the woodshed doors by screwing some 2x4’s to the shed floor. As the
jig is exactly the size the doors need to be and is perfectly square, there is
a better than even chance that the assembled doors will fit the opening where
they will be hung. Got one done, made entirely out of stock from my used but good, if maybe a bit
cement stained, pile. Also designed a
jig for using my router to precisely cut the hinge pockets for the woodshed
doors. Now if I only had my jigsaw (in
Virginia, of course) I could actually make the jig… The we could all dance a jig, ‘cause the door
hinges are mounted correctly. Living the motto, “Waste not, want not”, sawed up
a bunch of ⅝″ Advantech “scrap”
(left from sheathing the shed roof) to make the backing boards that will cover
the woodshed door frames and onto which the cedar 1x4’s will be glued and
nailed. Exciting work, but somebody has
to do it.
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